News

20, August 2025

Old CPDM Tricks: Sonara to audit staff as part of refinery restructuring plan ⁰

Cameroon’s state-owned oil refinery Sonara has launched an audit of its human resources and career management. The company has opened a CFA80 million tender, according to a call for bids signed by Managing Director Bako Harouna.

The goal is to give management “an effective and lasting match between its workforce and its jobs, in terms of staffing, qualifications, and profiles.”

The selected firm will be tasked with reviewing staff numbers, evaluating the quality of job profiles, and assessing the alignment between skills and roles. The audit will also include an evaluation of the monitoring and control systems for human resources to determine whether they are suited to Sonara’s responsibilities and workload.

The review will extend to career management, including promotions, identifying shortcomings, and recommending improvements to boost management efficiency. It will also highlight areas where new human resources policies and procedures are needed.

The initiative follows the board of directors’ approval of an ambitious restructuring plan known as the Acceleration Plan for Restructuring and Rehabilitation Measures for Refining Recovery within 24 Months (Parras 24). The program aims to restore the refinery’s capacity to pre-2019 levels, before a fire destroyed part of its facilities.

Sonara has been out of operation for six years, adding to its debt burden with traders, banks, and the tax authorities. In this context, the staff audit is seen as a key step to determine whether the refinery has the skills needed for its industrial revival.

Source: Business in Cameroon

19, August 2025

Security guarantees for Ukraine still unclear after Washington summit ⁰

President Donald Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending US troops to back up any Ukraine peace deal but suggested air support instead, as European nations began hashing out security guarantees ahead of a potential Russia summit.

In a flurry of diplomacy aimed at ending the war, Trump brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to the White House on Monday, three days after his landmark encounter with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

But while Trump said Putin had agreed to meet Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine, those promises have been met with extreme caution by Kyiv and Western capitals, and many details remain vague.

Putin proposed holding the summit with Zelensky in Moscow, three sources familiar with Trump call told AFP. One source said Zelensky immediately said “no” to meeting in the capital of his country’s invader.

Source: France 24

16, August 2025

Newspaper Publishers welcome CAMASEJ Ethics Committee ⁰

The newly-installed Ethics & Disciplinary Committee (EDC) of the Cameroon Association of English-speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) has been well received by newspaper publishers.

Publishers of newspapers who are the main employers of members of CAMASEJ expressed kind words and made proposals to the Executive Secretary of EDC in the first outing by the Ethics Committee since it began its operations about a week ago.

Paying a courtesy call on newspaper publishers in Buea on 5 June, EDC’s Executive Secretary, Franklin Sone Bayen, had a brief exchange with them on the sidelines of the CENPA Awards organized by the Cameroon English Language Newspaper Publishers’ Association (CENPA) at Mountain Hotel in Buea.

For about 30 minutes, Bayen engaged with nearly 20 newspaper publishers, explaining the vision, mission and methods of EDC to achieve its objectives.

“As newspaper publishers, you are employers of CAMASEJ members as well as many of you are members of CAMASEJ, thus EDC concerns you,” said the EDC Executive Secretary in his opening statement.

“We are told Jesus came to die for our sins but I think he also came to understand mankind, to have our human experience so that when he sits in judgement besides God the Father, he would use his experience in human frailty to tamper the wrath of God who is perfect. He would beg the Father to take it easy because he lived the experience of the temptations that lead Man to commit sin. He would tell the Father, for example, that being in the company of Mary and Martha and feeling the sensation of a woman oiling his feet, He understands better why Man can fall into sin, though sexual misconduct may not be totally excused,” Bayen went on.

“Likewise, we, members of EDC, being your colleagues, will not act as if we are perfect. We’ll act with an understanding of the challenges of our profession and its pitfalls though we must uphold values because blatant misconduct must not be tolerated, else impunity and abuses would thrive,” he said.

Bayen said that is why the best media regulation is self-regulation under peer review.

He told the publishers that EDC is not a declaration of war on journalists and publishers but a partner to assist publishers in maintaining order in their newsrooms by guiding and cautioning reporters and editors who could be perpetrators of professional ethical misconduct which could be costly to publishers themselves.

“Unlike undertakers and others in the death industry like coffin makers and hearse rentals who may wish for people to die for their business to thrive, we at ED rather wish for fewer or no media offences as the absence of offences would be good news to us, because it means less work for us and also that would suggest that journalists are increasingly ethically consciousness,” the Ethics henchman went on.

Bayen said EDC wishes to collaborate with publishers for a number of reasons. He said EDC wants publishers to give it logistic support by making available their newspapers to ease EDC monitoring due to its limited means.

EDC also wants publishers to take the commitment to enforce EDC recommendations and decisions on its staff because that would also save them the troubles the unethical misconduct of their staff can bring upon them.

Reacting, some newspaper publishers expressed certain concerns. Choves Loh, publisher of The News newspaper, proposed the inclusion of non-CAMASEJ members in EDC to broaden its scope of influence beyond just CAMASEJ members.

Elias Ngalame, publisher of Eco-Outlook advised EDC to bear in mind the commercial interests of newspapers and understand that ethical considerations may be limited in commercial reporting or “advertorials” in the local Press parlance.

Bouddih Adams of The Post said clearcut distinctions between news, editorials and commercial or advertorial content would save newspapers EDC’s wrath.

Responding to the publishers, the EDC Executive Secretary said EDC would take their concerns into consideration where possible but pointed out that as a general principle, commercial stories must be labelled as “advertorial” or “spotlight” or “special report”, without which they are ethically wrong.

Bayen told the publishers that in continuation of EDC’s outreach, it will visit individual newsrooms in the coming days to hold working sessions with their staff and sign Memorandums of Understand with publishers.

Besides watching over ethics in news media, EDC also has the duty of ensuring discipline among CAMASEJ members.

15, August 2025

Maroua: Boko Haram militants abduct 11 bus passengers ⁰

About 11 passengers of a bus have been kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants in Cameroon’s Far North region, security sources said on Thursday.

The bus left the town of Kousseri in the region on Wednesday and was heading to the region’s chief town, Maroua, when it was intercepted by gunmen.

“The terrorists kidnapped all the men on the bus and freed the women. They allowed the driver to continue the journey with the women but seized his documents,” an official in the region, who asked not to be named, said by phone.

“We only learned about the abduction today (Thursday). Our forces have launched an operation to rescue them,” the official added.

Abduction for ransom is common in the region where the terror group Boko Haram has been operating since 2014.

Culled from Xinhuanet by Miriam Metchane Ewang

14, August 2025

Rome: Philémon Yang meets Pope Leo XIV ⁰

Pope Leo XIV received Philémon Yang, the president of the UN General Assembly, on August 11, as his one-year presidential term nears its completion. Neither the Vatican nor the United Nations issued a statement on the topics of the conversation.

The president of the UN General Assembly, elected by his peers, chairs the meetings of the body. Shortly after Pope Francis’s death, Yang, a Cameroonian diplomat, paid tribute to the late Pontiff as “a moral voice and a global conscience. With humility and courage, he championed the dignity of the marginalized, the poor and the voiceless.”

Source: Catholic World News

12, August 2025

Macron admits France’s ‘repressive violence’ in Cameroon during decolonisation ⁰

Macron has acknowledged that France waged a “war” in Cameroon during and after the African country’s decolonisation in the late 1950s, marked by “repressive violence”, in a letter published Tuesday.

The letter, sent to his Cameroonian counterpart last month, follows an officially commissioned report, published in January, which said that France implemented mass forced displacement, pushed hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians into internment camps and supported brutal militias to squash the central African country’s push for sovereignty.

The historical commission, the creation of which had been announced by Macron during a 2022 trip to Yaounde, examined France’s role leading up to when Cameroon gained independence from France on January 1, 1960, but also during the subsequent years.

“The historians of the commission made it very clear that there was a war in Cameroon, during which the colonial authorities and the French army carried out repressive violence of several kinds in certain parts of the country in a war that continued after 1960 when France supported the actions carried out by the independent Cameroon authorities,” Macron said in the letter to Cameroonian President Paul Biya, published by the French presidency.

“It is incumbent on me today to accept France’s role and responsibility in these events,” he said.

Source: AFP

12, August 2025

‘The Elders’ group of global leaders warns of ‘unfolding genocide’ in Gaza ⁰

A group of distinguished world leaders, known as The Elders, has characterized the situation in the Gaza Strip as an “unfolding genocide,” calling for decisive measures to halt Israel’s obstruction of aid into the besieged Palestinian territory, which is causing a “famine.”

The Elders, a nongovernmental organization founded by former South African President Nelson Mandela in 2007 to address global human rights issues and abuses, made the remarks in a statement on Tuesday, following its delegates’ visit to the Rafah border crossing in Egypt.

“Today we express our shock and outrage at Israel’s deliberate obstruction of the entry of life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the group said.

“What we saw and heard underlines our personal conviction that there is not only an unfolding, human-caused famine in Gaza. There is an unfolding genocide,” it added.

Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, emphasized the urgent need for Israel to open the Rafah border crossing to allow the delivery of aid after her visit to the site.

Source: Presstv

11, August 2025

Nyene Mawn: Key takeaways and talking points from Paris 2025 ⁰

The Manyu Women’s International Organisation (Nyene Mawn) members gathered in Paris over the weekend for the association’s second annual residential convention. Chi Prudence and Soter Agbaw-Ebai report

The sun in Paris was shining, the good weather added to a sense of optimism for a Manyu women’s group that was clearly on the brink of collapse.

Despite social media negativity orchestrated by some rogue elements against Nyene Mawn, the mood in the French capital was du jamais vu indicating that Nyene Mawn queens had move away from the nasty past and the embarrassing so-called conference of presidents’ scandal which had attempted to destroy the Nyene Mawn brand.

Here are the key talking points from the Nyene Mawn Residential Convention

The President-General Dr Mrs Patience Abangma promised the Nyene Mawn queens that she was going to step down and usher in the new generation. This is after she repaired the financial damage caused by the disgraced suspended seven.

Dr Patience Abangma did not need to put a positive spin on her speech to get the Nyene Mawn queens smiling and sharing tears of joy as much as she was.

Delegates from all over the world were in great spirit at the respective meetings that started on Friday and ended Sunday evening.

Nyene Mawn is riding high with their favourite slogan: Nyene Mawn leads, others follow.

This time last year, Nyene Mawn queens crammed into a dour, stuffy hall in the middle of the afternoon in Brussels to discuss their progress and their plans for the future. The atmosphere among Nyene Mawn queens in Brussels that day might be described as quietly confident. If the sense that day was of a Manyu women association on the rise, then Paris 2025, in its glitzier environs, was that of a Nyene Mawn whose time had come.

When the convention started in Paris Noisy Le Sec, Nyene Mawn announced a new interim body headed by Queen Maureen Tabe as President-General, which aims to speed up development deep within the association while Dr Patience Abangma used her speech to promise the women of her complete and total support for the new governing body.

Nyene Mawn queens thanked their out gone President-General Dr Patience Abangma for sustaining the Nyene Mawn cause, the association, the argument against a vicious campaign of blackmail. “Mami Abangma didn’t just win for herself, she won for all the Nyene Mawn queens”, Chief Stella Ntui Arhewoh from the Federal Republic of Nigeria who also moonlights as Second Vice President said, describing how Dr Patience Abangma had challenged attempts aimed at destroying the image of the Manyu Women’s International Association.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News, Nyene Mawn’s new strong woman Lady Maureen Tabe said “We’re not going to screw Mami Abangma’s legacy up; we’re going to make sure that we use her leadership style and use our majority following to transform Nyene Mawn and attract quality membership not quantity.”

Whether Nyene Mawn achieves its goals for the female child in Manyu Division in Cameroon remains to be seen. But what’s clear from Paris 2025 is that Nyene Mawn queens are now strong and growing in confidence.

At the gala night on Saturday evening animated by renowned Manyu artist Etando Moh Manyu, Soter Agbaw-Ebai caught up with the President General Maureen Tabe and pressed the new leader on a range of Nyene Mawn matters, including plans to recover the embezzled funds, the indefinite suspension of the dodgy seven and also the key issue of developmental projects back home.

According to Soter Agbaw-Ebai, Nyene Mawn’s new leader was able to provide strong assurance on the issues, and a discussion with our editor showed that Nyene Mawn finally emerged stronger and united than expected.

“I’ll put my hands up any day, any time and say I was one of the Nyene Mawn queens who fought tooth and nail to preserve the image of the Manyu Women’s International Association,” Queen Regina AyukEtah, First Vice President from the Kingdom of Belgium said, explaining that Paris 2025 has given birth to a new spirit in Nyene Mawn.

Inside business day at the Nyene Mawn Residential Convention

Lady Collect Tambeagbor, Nyene Mawn’s Communication Secretary predictably, spoke about getting Nyene Mawn building bridges with other Manyu women groups both at home and abroad.

Another issue that did not receive a clear answer from delegates was why Nyene Mawn decided to suspend the seven members indefinitely instead of the agreed dismissal as recommended by the general assembly.

Lady Priscillia Morand, the new Secretary General of Nyene Mawn spoke in strong terms about the importance of moving the association forward, explaining that Nyene Mawn should not be over reliant on its members in Europe but needed to tap into the Nyene Mawn worldwide diversity.

Support for the girl child in Manyu was also a theme in the residential convention discourse during the AGM, which saw a huge number of Nyene Mawn queens come together. Speaker after speaker gave barnstorming speeches at the AGM.

Many in Paris called for Nyene Mawn to empower its chapters in Cameroon if it wanted to fulfil its pledge to ensure growth across Manyu Division, and recognise this would not happen without transformative investment on the girl child project.

Conveniently, Nyene Mawn is currently trying to rebuild again on its image and finances.

11, August 2025

Cameroon concludes AI training for indigenous people ⁰

Cameroon on Saturday concluded a weeklong training for indigenous people in artificial intelligence (AI) as part of activities to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Minister of Social Affairs Pauline Irene Nguene said the Central African nation is working to ensure that indigenous people benefit from the opportunities provided by the advent of AI.

“Indigenous people should not be left out in the changing world. It is their right to learn and apply AI. That is why this training contributes to the fight against social exclusion,” Nguene said in Yaoundé, the country’s capital, while awarding certificates at the end of the training.

Efforts are underway to establish a tiered AI education system to guide indigenous people in rural areas from foundational cognitive awareness to practical technological innovation, according to Cameroonian officials.

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is commemorated annually on Aug. 9, with this year’s theme being “Indigenous Peoples and AI: Defending Rights, Shaping Futures.”

By Miriam Metchane Ewang

9, August 2025

Biya regime seeks extradition of protesters after embassy demonstrations ⁰

Several people were arrested during protests outside Cameroonian embassies in Belgium and France. The demonstrations were a response to the Constitutional Council’s rejection of Maurice Kamto’s appeal.

In an August 5 statement, Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji said that “in accordance with current judicial cooperation agreements, these individuals will be brought before local courts or extradited to face justice in Cameroon with the full force of the law.”

In Belgium, police intervened to disperse protesters who tried to enter the Cameroonian embassy. They arrested several people suspected of belonging to the Anti-Sardinards Brigade.

On July 31, Minister of External Relations Lejeune Mbella Mbella had already reminded ambassadors in Yaoundé of the international obligation to protect diplomatic missions before the presidential election. He stressed “the strict enforcement of protection measures for personnel and diplomatic and consular buildings.”

This initiative aimed to prevent a repeat of the violence that occurred after the 2018 presidential election. At that time, members of the Cameroonian diaspora attacked several embassies, including the one in Paris, and assaulted the Cameroonian ambassador in Belgium.

In his statement, the minister of territorial administration reaffirmed “the unwavering commitment of public authorities to uphold the laws of the Republic in all places and under all circumstances.”

Source: Sbbc