Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Works (MINTP) announced progress on the Bangem-Nguti road project in the Kupe-Muanenguba department, despite ongoing security challenges in the region.

As of May 12, topographical and geotechnical studies have concluded on the first 10 kilometres of the 53-kilometre road. Laboratory analysis of soil samples is underway.

The Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), contracted for the project, continues laying the sub-base between kilometre points (KP) 0+900 and 4+250. Construction of a 3 x 2 x 19-metre culvert at KP 0+893 has begun. Living quarters at KP 4+000 are 80% complete, and earthworks proceed between KP 0+500 and KP 8+000.

Despite the security challenges,  local communities support the work, helping teams navigate security constraints linked to the regional crisis. The MINTP set up a task force to coordinate activities with the BIR.

Additional work includes depositing excavated material from KP 0+900 to KP 7+950, building masonry ditches, and creating drainage outlets between KP 0+893 and KP 4+000. Mintp plans to continue studies, open the full road length, and supply aggregates for the base course.

Challenges include difficulty in accessing some areas, compensation for affected plantations and dwellings, and delays caused by the absence of an on-site geotechnical laboratory.

The MINTP has allocated CFA10 billion to the project, which serves a landlocked area.

Source: Business in Cameroon

This month, the European Union marked 50 years of its delegation in Cameroon with a new book. Brussels calls Cameroon “a key player in European cooperation in Africa.” The statement highlights Yaoundé’s role in 1963, when it hosted the first free trade convention between the European Economic Community (EEC)-the EU’s predecessor–and 18 African states.

Walter Hallstein, the first President of the European Commission, praised this choice at the time. He said, “The fact that our friends from the Associated States have chosen Yaoundé is of symbolic value. In this city with its fraternal welcome, for which we too are deeply grateful, we understand and feel the difficult but peaceful and confident effort of an entire people to melt into the crucible of unity so many different races, religions and historical heritages – a fine symbol and fine example indeed for the whole of Africa”.

Hallstein’s words carry weight. Cameroon’s colonial past is complex. It was once a German protectorate and later governed by France and Great Britain. The country is often called “Africa in miniature” because it features all the continent’s geographical zones. It also hosts hundreds of tribes.

Beyond symbolism, Cameroon holds a strategic location. It sits at Africa’s center and the heart of the Gulf of Guinea. The book “50 years of the European Union delegation in Cameroon, a strategic partnership with Cameroon” explains: “Just independent since 1960, Cameroon was becoming a hub for trade and development in the region. Its location made it a natural link for cooperation between Europe and Africa.”

Source: Business in Cameroon

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 34-year-old Cameroonian citizen involved in a money laundering and elder fraud conspiracy, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Leslie Kibula Bongajum faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and could face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

Bongajum is the fourth Cameroonian national charged in connection with a transnational criminal organization conducting elder fraud scams and laundering stolen money. Three other Cameroonian nationals, 38-year-old Sylas Nyuydzene Verdzekov of Chino Hills, 44-year-old Lovert Che of Lomita, and 29-year-old Mustapha Nkachiwouo Selly Yamie of Inglewood, were arrested in Southern California on February 27 and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The criminal complaint alleges that from at least November 2021, Bongajum, Verdzekov, Yamie, Che, and their co-conspirators created fake identification documents and established at least 36 shell companies in California. These companies, which conducted no legitimate business, were used to further their criminal activities.

Source: Mountain Democrat

The Southwest is slated to receive approximately 8 billion CFA francs in funding by 2027, according to Minister of Decentralization and Local Development Georges Elanga Obam. The minister disclosed this information during an April 29 signing ceremony between the President of the Southwest Regional Assembly and the coordinator of the Local Governance and Resilient Communities Project (Prolog).

Minister Elanga Obam noted that the region is expected to receive subsidies totaling about 3 billion CFA francs in 2026. However, he emphasized that these subsidies are contingent on the performance of the regional executive. An additional 1.5 billion CFA francs is planned for 2027.

Separately, municipalities within the South-West region are projected to receive 2.6 billion CFA francs in financial support this year as part of a broader program benefiting 70 municipalities nationwide.

The agreement signed with Prolog entails 1.1 billion CFA francs in funding for the construction of essential socioeconomic infrastructure. This Prolog-provided funding will specifically support the construction of a 12-meter reinforced concrete bridge over the Mbabe 2 River, including paving its access road connecting the Nsuke-Mbabe-Ngusi Nyandong communal road in the Tombel and Konye districts (Kupe Muanenguba and Meme divisions).

The project also includes equipping medical imaging centers at the Mamfe District Hospital (Manyu division) and the annex of the Kumba Regional Hospital (Meme division), as well as constructing an eight-classroom educational block with four offices and four toilets at Limbe High School.

Source: Sbbc

The situation in the North-West and South-West regions (NWSW) remains dire with multiple incidents of violence directly targeting civilians and leading to displacements in certain circumstances. On 11 March, over 710 people temporarily fled their homes in Owe village in the SW, seeking refuge in nearby bushes and villages following clashes between non-State armed groups (NSAGs) and State security forces (SSFs).

The situation is exacerbated by farmer-grazer conflicts within the NWSW, as well as between local and some predominantly grazer communities from Nigeria. On 18 March, herdsmen reportedly moving from Nigeria attacked Benabinge village, destroying farmlands and houses, and displacing around 180 people. At the beginning of the year, similar clashes with herdsmen from the same country led to the loss of human lives and the displacement of over 3,500 persons in Akwaya sub-division in the SW.

Civilian population’s movement restrictions continue to be enforced by various parties for diverse reasons. The Monday ghost town imposed by NSAGs in NWSW, banning movement and economic activities, remains in effect. Following a NSAG attack on a SSF position in Ndu town (NW region) during the early hours of 10 March, authorities issued a communiqué prohibiting movement and business operations in the town between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m until further notice. The violence and the proliferation of illegal checkpoints across the two regions further hinders the movement of goods and people including humanitarian aid and personnel. Approximately 290 people reportedly had their identification documents seized at NSAG checkpoints in the NWSW. In the NW, some partners’ convoys faced security challenges due to exchange of gunfire.

The recent funding cuts/suspension has led to budget and staff downsizing among partners, affecting the humanitarian response in the NWSW.

Despite these challenges, partners remain committed to providing lifesaving assistance. In addition to existing response activities, partners were able to respond to urgent needs of IDPs displaced from Besoro Balue village to Kumba in Meme division and Ballin Court area in Akwaya sub-division in the SW. In Kumba, 168 displaced persons, representing 45 households, received multi-purpose cash assistance, medical aid, protection case management, and child protection kits. In Ballin Court area, 3,682 persons, representing over 560 households, received assistance in protection, education, WASH, health, nutrition, food security, and shelter/NFI.

Source: unocha.org

The daughter of the president of Cameroon has been convicted in Geneva. The case sheds new light on the presidential family’s unofficial second home in a Geneva hotel.

When Brenda Biya, the daughter of the Cameroonian president, was taken to court, the trial was held in Geneva. She had insulted the Cameroonian-Nigerian singer Dencia on social media, calling her a “scammer”, a “dope dealer” and a “lil coke whore”. The background to all this was a dispute over the authorisation of beauty products. The singer sued the president’s daughter, who was found guilty of defamation, slander and insult.

The journalist François Pilet, who also works for SWI swissinfo.ch, revealedExternal link the penal order on the online portal Gotham City. “The case is more than a dispute between two public figures. It proves that the daughter of the Cameroonian president lives part-time in Geneva,” Pilet says.

Who foots the hotel bill?

The public prosecutor’s office was able to prove that Brenda Biya was staying in Geneva when she posted the messages on social media. It concluded from its questioning that the accused had long been a regular guest at the luxury InterContinental hotel, where a room is reserved for her all year round. Biya herself admitted, according to the penal order, that she had been travelling back and forth between Cameroon and Switzerland since the age of 12.

“This was long suspected to be the case and has now been confirmed,” says Pilet, calling it a scandal. “It can be assumed that the hotel stays are paid for from the Cameroonian state coffers; just like the Geneva visits of President Paul Biya, which have long been publicly known.”

Pilet was the co-author of a documentary by Swiss public television, RTS, in 2018 entitledGeneva, A Dictator’s ParadiseExternal link, which traced Paul Biya’s visits to Geneva. According to the report, the Cameroonian president travels to Geneva by private jet at least twice a year to stay at the InterContinental hotel for several months. He does not travel alone – but with an entourage of around 60 people, who occupy an entire floor.

Paul Biya has been in power for over 42 years, and human rights organisations point to growing repressionExternal link in the country. According to research by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)External link, between taking office in 1982 and 2018 he has spent around four-and-a-half years on private visits abroad, mainly in Geneva. In the process, he is reckoned to have spent at least CHF150 million ($177 million), with hotel stays amounting to some CHF40,000 a night. According to former employees of the hotel, he always pays for everything in cash and gives out generous tips. “Given these sums, the state treasury is very unlikely to be spared,” says Pilet.

The president’s luxurious stays in Switzerland have long been a thorn in the side of many Cameroonians. A Cameroonian journalist, who wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons, said on enquiry: “It is unacceptable for the majority of the population that their president lives in the lap of luxury abroad, while his country is battered by economic crises, food shortages and internal conflict.”

In the journalist’s mind there is no doubt that the funds for Brenda Biya’s hotel stays in Geneva also come from state coffers. “It is unclear where the president’s daughter is working at the moment,” the journalist said. She refused to disclose any of her finances to the Geneva public prosecutor’s office. But, although many Cameroonians suspect misuse of public money, precise information is hard to obtain, the journalist said. Press freedom in the country is severely curtailed. Several investigative journalists have been tortured or murderedExternal link in custody in recent years.

At 92, Paul Biya is the oldest president in the world; he plans to stand for re-election in October. He has ruled Cameroon since 1982, amid accusations of electoral fraud, clientelism and embezzlement. The country ranked 140th out of 180 in Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Political tensions have been escalating for several years. In the west of the country, separatists are demanding the independence of two mainly English-speaking regions. The conflict has claimed more than 6,500 lives so far, and the national army is accused of massive human rights violations and war crimes. Protest movements against the long-time ruler have been growing, although public criticism in Cameroon is suppressed.

Conflicts at home, luxury in Geneva

The Cameroonian diaspora, meanwhile, stage regular protests. Whenever Cameroonian exiles learn that the president has arrived in Geneva, they organise demonstrations in front of the InterContinental hotel. Among them is Francis Awudu, president of the English-speaking Cameroonian Society of Switzerland, who supports the separatists’ demands for independence. He accuses Switzerland of protecting a “genocidal dictator”. “We demonstrators have repeatedly been intimidated and attacked by Biya’s security detail,” he says. “Switzerland should denounce this.”

It is not the first time that the Biyas have run into trouble with the law in Geneva. In 2019, six of the president’s bodyguards were convicted of physically assaulting a journalist from Swiss public broadcaster, RTS.

In response, a group led by Awudu and Sylvain Thévoz, Social Democrat member of the Geneva cantonal parliament, launched a petitionExternal link calling on the cantonal legislature to declare Paul Biya “persona non grata” in Geneva. In other words, the city should ban him from visiting and call on the federal government to do likewise countrywide.

The petition was rejected by the centre-right majority in the cantonal parliament. “One member of parliament openly stated that Geneva could not afford to lose the Biyas,” Awubu says. He is convinced that the authorities are “part of the problem”.

Meanwhile, Thévoz says: “The regular presence of the Cameroonian president is a slap in the face for human rights defenders and an embarrassment for Geneva. Why do we continue to roll out the carpet for a dictator who breaks the law?”

When contacted on the matter, the Swiss foreign ministry stated that it does not comment on private visits by foreign heads of state to Switzerland. However, “a head of state and their family members sojourning in Switzerland are subject to the same regulations as all other foreigners.”

The ministry further noted that “international law grants heads of state immunity from jurisdiction, even during private visits”, but this does not generally apply to their family members.

Presidential children thick on the ground

The president’s daughter seems not to have reckoned with all this. The penalty order quotes an exchange of messages between the two women. In it, Brenda Biya claims she is not afraid of being sued and that her father has “connections in Switzerland”.

In this case at least, this did not help: Brenda Biya was sentenced to a monetary penalty of 60 daily units of CHF200 each, suspended for three years, and a CHF2,400 fine. The defence lawyers for the plaintiff, Dencia, spoke positively to Gotham City: “We welcome the fact that the Swiss judiciary did not hesitate to punish the defendant, despite her status as the daughter of the president of the Republic of Cameroon.”

Paul Biya is not the only foreign ruler who enjoys prolonged stays in Geneva. In recent years, cases have repeatedly emerged in which potentates have purchased entire villas on Lake Geneva. These include the clans of the former presidents of KazakhstanExternal link and Uzbekistan, whose respective daughters have been the subject of investigationsExternal link.

Culled from Swissinfo