News

7, September 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima categorically rejects Yaoundé reconstruction project ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government has strongly rejected the so-called reconstruction project announced by the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé warning that the scheme is a continuation of French Cameroun’s annexation policy.

Addressing the Ambazonia war cabinet late on Monday, Dabney Yerima stated that all Southern Cameroons Self Defense groups with ties to the Interim Government have unanimously decided to prohibit the Biya French Cameroun reconstruction project in Southern Cameroons.

Yerima stressed that the so-called scheme constituted a dangerous part of Yaoundé’s continued marginalization project aimed at ultimately keeping the people of Southern Cameroons in poverty and suffering.

Dabney Yerima pointed out that once the people of Southern Cameroons get to their historic capital in Buea, the Interim Government with international partners would launched a massive development project to rebuild the homeland.

By Chi Prudence Asong

7, September 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: IG must supply the Big Rubber gun to all resistance groups ⁰

A Southern Cameroons front line leader says Vice President Dabney Yerima of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government should ensure that all Ambazonia resistance groups in Ground Zero get the big rubber guns as soon as possible.

“The Interim Government must offer as many Big Rubberguns that it can to all Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups, so that they would not face any difficulty when confronting the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military,” Dr Ngassa Anyangwe a member of the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation board told Cameroon Concord News in an exclusive interview on Monday.

Dr Ngassa, who was elaborating on Vice President Dabney Yerima’s recent measure to send some Big Rubber guns to Ground Zero, added that the big rubber project is going to be a game changer in the war in Southern Cameroons.

The German based Southern Cameroons academic described it as important to the Ambazonia Interim Government to meet the needs of all Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups.

Dr Ngassa Anyangwe went on to say that several big rubber guns have already been sent to Amba fighters and a trial process will begin soonest.

By Isong Asu

5, September 2021

South Africa’s former president Zuma released from prison on medical parole ⁰

South Africa’s jailed former president Jacob Zuma has been placed on medical parole because of his ill health, the government’s correctional services department said on Sunday.

Last month prison authorities said Zuma, serving a 15-month sentence in Estcourt prison for contempt of court, underwent unspecified surgery at an outside hospital where he had been sent for observation. He remained in hospital with more operations planned.

The 79-year old’s eligibility for medical parole follows a medical report received by the Department of Correctional Services, it said in a statement.

“Medical parole placement for Mr Zuma means that he will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections, whereby he must comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until his sentence expires,” the department added.

Its spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo said that Zuma, who was imprisoned in early July, was still in hospital but could go home to continue receiving medical care. He gave no details on Zuma’s illness, his parole conditions nor whether his health had deteriorated since surgery.

Mzwanele Manyi, a spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, said it welcomed the decision of the parole board and a more detailed statement would be issued after consultation with Zuma’s legal team.

Zuma was jailed for defying a Constitutional Court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level corruption during his nine years in office until 2018.

When Zuma handed himself in on July 7, protests by his supporters escalated into riots involving looting and arson that President Cyril Ramaphosa described as an “insurrection”.

(REUTERS)

5, September 2021

Coup d’etat in Guinea Conakry: President Alpha Condé arrested ⁰

The President of Guinea Conakry, Alpha Condé has been arrested by troops of the country’s Special Forces; Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from media sources in Guinea.

Information also filtered that gunshots were fired in Camayenne, a neighbourhood in Conakry. Witnesses say some top members of government have equally been arrested.

At least two people were injured during the heavy gunfire that broke out near the presidential palace in Conakry on Sunday morning, while military vehicles patrolled the streets.

The army has released photos of the 83-year-old President Alpha Conde who is presently under protective custody.

A military source announced that Alpha Conde was no longer in command and said the gunfire involved angry members of the Special Forces, an elite army corps.

This item is still developing

5, September 2021

Heavy gunfire, troops on streets reported in Guinea capital Conakry ⁰

At least two people were injured as heavy gunfire broke out near the presidential palace in Guinea’s capital Conakry on Sunday morning, while military vehicles patrolled the streets, witnesses said and videos shared on social media showed.

It was not clear who was exchanging fire.

A senior government official said 83-year-old President Alpha Conde was unharmed but gave no further details.

A military source said the gunfire involved angry members of the special forces, an elite army corps. The source did not say what caused the anger.

Another military source said the only bridge connecting the mainland to the Kaloum neighbourhood, which houses most of the ministries and the presidential palace, had been sealed off and many soldiers, some heavily armed, were posted around the palace.

Three witnesses told Reuters they saw two civilians with gunshot wounds.

“I see groups of soldiers heading towards the presidency. There has been a lot of shooting,” said Ousmane Camara, a resident of Kaloum.

A Reuters reporter saw two convoys of armoured vehicles and pick-up trucks heading towards Conakry Autonomous Port, also near the palace. The convoy was accompanied by a white vehicle that appeared to be an ambulance.

Conde won a controversial third term in October after changing the constitution to allow him to stand again despite violent protests from the opposition, raising concerns of a backslide in a region that has seen coups in Mali and Chad in recent months. Footage shared on social media, which Reuters was not immediately able to verify, showed heavy gunfire ringing out over Conakry, and vehicles full of soldiers approaching the central bank, close to the palace.

“President Alpha Conde is doing extremely well… the situation is under control,” an ally of the president said in a video shared on Whatsapp.

Guinea has seen sustained economic growth during Conde’s decade in power thanks to its bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamond wealth, but few of its citizens have seen the benefits.

Critics say the government has used restrictive criminal laws to discourage dissent, while ethnic divisions and endemic graft have sharpened political rivalries.

(REUTERS)

5, September 2021

Cameroon army generals lining their pockets off Southern Cameroons war ⁰

Senior military officials who are commanding Cameroon government troops deployed to Southern Cameroons are amassing fortunes from their postings there despite their disastrous conduct in the occupied British Southern Cameroons territory.

Six generals including the Joint Chief of Staff Rene Meka and Valere Nka who are supervising the troops now have family relations serving as military contractors, according to Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in Yaoundé.

Our sources hinted that the wives and brothers of top Francophone army generals who are leading the mission in Southern Cameroons are thriving in the private sector responsible for army logistics and feeding.

Through their family relations, these Francophone army officials have amassed influence within businesses in Douala and Yaoundé with ties to the military and are making hundreds of millions of FCFA monthly in a conflict that has left thousands of Southern Cameroonians dead and displaced, and costing the Cameroon government millions of US dollars and will conclude with the holding of a frank and genuine dialogue with the people of Ambazonia.

Meanwhile, the Biya regime is censoring all televised debates in the country over what was the essence of the Southern Cameroons war and who is benefiting from the 4-year war against the impoverished people of Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong

3, September 2021

BEWARE OF FAKE NEWS ⁰

This is to advise that there is a video being circulated on the Internet which is being erroneously and maliciously attributed to Cameroon’s Permanent Representative to Ethiopia, H.E. Churchill Ewumbwe Monono.

A copy of the video has been sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group which condemns this gross irresponsible behavior on the part of the author known as “Sense Pass King”.

After a thorough examination of the video, the Cameroon Concord News Group’s experts have concluded that the video is that of a popular businessperson in Buea whose phones were stolen by some dishonest Cameroonians and who felt they could use the video to extort money from the honest and hardworking businessman.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s Board of Directors would like to reiterate that it stands by H.E Churchill Ewumbwe Monono who is an honest and decent person and who will never engage in such degrading and dishonorable activities.

The Cameroon Concord News Group urges the public to be vigilant as there are some people with malicious intensions to destabilize and sling mud at a Cameroonian who has served his country with love and honesty both at home and abroad.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman Board of Directors

Cameroon Concord News Group

2, September 2021

Political Islam: Biya-Buhari Negotiate Ex-Boko Haram Militants’ Return ⁰

During a visit to Cameroon, Nigerian officials Thursday asked for the return of more than 1,000 former Boko Haram militants to Nigeria. Hundreds of the Islamist group’s former fighters have surrendered in Cameroon since May, when the terrorist group’s leader was killed.

Umar Usman Kadafur, the deputy governor of Nigeria’s Borno state, greeted former Boko Haram militants at the disarmament center in Meri, a town near Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria. He spoke with the militants in Hausa, a language used in northern Cameroon and southeast Nigeria.

Kadafur visited Cameroon’s Far North region on Thursday, and led a delegation of 14 Nigerian lawmakers, lawyers, administrators and rights group representatives, to negotiate the voluntary return of former Nigerian Boko Haram militants.

Among the former militants attending the meeting where Kadafur spoke was 34-year-old Kadir Hassan. Hassan said he escaped from the Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram stronghold on the Cameroon-Nigeria border, in August.

Hassan said Boko Haram commanders deceived him in March of last year, saying he should leave Kukawa, a town in Nigeria’s Borno state, for a job. However, when he arrived in the Sambisa Forest, he was given a gun instead of the job he was promised. He said since the death of the jihadist group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, in May, several hundred fighters have been struggling to escape from the Sambisa Forest.

Hassan said he escaped alongside 35 combatants and surrendered to the Multinational Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin that is fighting the jihadist group. The task force is made up of troops from Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. He said the task force later took them to the DDR, or demobilization center in Meri.

Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region that borders Nigeria’s Borno state and is said to be an epicenter for jihadist groups including Boko Haram, says Cameroon has been overwhelmed with former militants since Shekau was killed.

“We have more than 1,000 Nigerians here, all of them from Borno state. At the end of the rainy season, they will go back home. We congratulate Governor Babagana Umara [of Nigeria’s Borno state]. He sent a commission here to accompany those Nigerians to go back home,” he said.

Bakari said the delegation from Borno state will register former militants who are planning to return to Nigeria voluntarily. He said heavy rains on the Cameroon and Nigeria borders make it difficult for the ex-combatants to return this week. Nigeria and Cameroon agreed to facilitate returns during a security meeting held from August 26 to August 28 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Umar Usman Kadafur deputy governor of Borno state says the ex-militants will go back to Nigeria by November, when heavy rains are likely to decrease.

“I know your facilities are overstretched. We will try as much as possible to repatriate these surrendered Boko Haram members back to our land in Nigeria so that you [Cameroon] can have free space in the DDR centers and we remain grateful for all what you have been doing for our people,” Kadafur said.

In August, Cameroon said it was negotiating to return the ex-militants to Nigeria as the DDR centers in northern Cameroon were becoming overcrowded. Cameroonian officials said the centers host former militants from Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Source: VOA

2, September 2021

La Republique: Concern over increased flooding ⁰

In Cameroon, heavy rains in July and August cause devastating floods. The consequences are becoming more serious over the years, even leading to loss of life. This situation worries many observers who are calling for an effective climate-related natural disaster management plan.

On the night of Saturday August 21st, 2021, heavy rain fell on the town of Ngaoundéré in northern Cameroon, causing flooding and resulting in several material damages. The Far North region has not been left out, since the beginning of August 2021; floods have destroyed houses, farms and plantations in several departments of the region. The case of the city of Douala in the south of the country is quite symptomatic of the situation. With an estimated population of more than 3 million and a demographic growth rate of about 3.5% per year, the economic capital of Cameroon lies on the Wouri delta in an area of former swamps and mangroves that is extremely flat. Floods can be very devastating, even causing loss of life.

These floods, which are one of the strongest signs of climate change, are a cause for concern in Cameroon, because of their increase. In 2020 alone, nearly 160,000 people were affected by floods in the Far North of Cameroon, a region already heavily affected by the exactions of the Boko Haram sect and which, like the rest of the world, had to face the Covid 19 pandemic.

An effective climate disaster management plan

It is indeed during each rainy season that Cameroon is plunged under water. But the government’s actions so far do not seem to be bearing fruit. Greenpeace Africa calls on the government of Cameroon to take its responsibilities and reconsider its international commitments in terms of risk management and natural disasters, protection of people and the fight against climate change. “We note that, for cities like Douala and Yaoundé, the outflow of rivers is partly linked to the clogging of drains by plastic bottles. Where are we with the ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic packaging decided in 2014? It is clear that its implementation was limited to the first few weeks of the signing of the decree,” notes Ranèce Jovial Ndjeudja, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.

Source: Afrik21

2, September 2021

War between Biya’s barons: Consultant gets caught up ⁰

A French Cameroun Consultant Lazare Atou has reportedly been caught up in war between Biya’s barons, Africa Intelligence reports.

The consultant was told to stop managing the assets of three former state-owned companies just after he testified in an investigation into the conduct of the general manager of the Port of Douala at the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé.

Cyrus Ngo’o, the general manager of the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD) seen here on photo attached to this report was auditioned last Wednesday at the Special Criminal Court.

Ngo.o is a suspect of embezzlement of public funds, as part of an investigation opened at the Special Criminal Court.

More concretely, Cyrus Ngo’o is accused by a bailiff of fraudulent outflow of funds from the coffers of the Douala port following a contract awarded by mutual agreement and endorsed by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic.

According to some opinions, underneath the affair which now involves many financial experts is a war between two camps of powerful members of the Biya regime.

One, embodied by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic and the other by the powerful Minister of State in charge of Justice Laurent Esso.

On August 5, Cyrus Ngo’o was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for five years. He was prosecuted by a private company for “abuse of office” and “misappropriation of funds”.

At the end of the hearing, the general manager of the PAD was also ordered to pay FCFA 1.7 million in fines and FCFA 162 million in legal costs.

By Rita Akana