News

Yaounde: International War College graduates 62 students

20, July 2017

Yaounde: International War College graduates 62 students 0

The flags of 21 countries in Africa, Europe and America were hoisted at the courtyard of the International War College Simbock Yaoundé to mark the end of 11 months of war training. The senior military officers received lectures in strategic and operational planning, geopolitics and how to command joint military and multinational forces.

The 12th batch composed of 62 senior military officers is the highest in number ever trained in one session since the establishment of the institution. The Commander of the Institution, Major General Esaïe Ngambo referred to the trainees as fine grains in the domains of conception and elaboration, analysis and decision making at strategic level within national and multinational armies.

Each laureate received an attestation (War College Certificate) and insignias of the institution, on Wednesday the 19th July 2017, during a ceremony presided over by the Secretary of state in the Ministry of Defense in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam. The Gendarmerie boss challenged the officers to use the newly acquired knowledge to end conflicts and fight against terrorism in Africa.

A keynote presentation from one of the trainees on the theme “What Development Model for Africa” focused on the need for African countries to think beyond national boundaries and set common development agenda based on the 2060 vision of the African Union. The graduation ceremony was also occasion to pay tribute to some 34 Cameroon soldiers who went missing after their ship wrecked off the coast of Dibunsha in the South West region.

Major General Esaïe Ngambo regretted the loss and announced that one of the victims of the accident, Lieutenant Colonel Moussa who was leading the troops received training from the War College in 2016. The French government which is a key partner with the war college was represented by Ambassador Gilles Thibault who congratulated the trainees and pledged continuous French support in the areas of training and logistics essential to continental security.

Source: CRTV


Trump picks Peter Henry Barlerin to be US Ambassador to Cameroon

20, July 2017

Trump picks Peter Henry Barlerin to be US Ambassador to Cameroon 0

President Donald Trump has replace Michael Stephen Hoza as US ambassador to Cameroon. The decision nominating Peter Henry Barlerin as the new US ambassador was made public on July the 18th 2017.

Trump’s decision comes at a time when the US diplomatic mission in Cameroon is badly in need of a decent man to run its affair. The new American ambassador is a senior Foreign Service officer and deputy secretary in the African Affairs Bureau in the US State Department.

Peter Henry Barlerin served as Director of Economic and Regional Affairs in the Africa Bureau of the US State Department and in that capacity participated in the 14th International Forum of the African Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) in Libreville, Gabon.

The new US diplomat in Yaoundé knows Africa very well. He had worked in Bamako, Mali, as part of the Kimberley process, whose mission was to prevent the illicit exploitation of diamonds.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News


Amnesty says Boko Haram suspects tortured in Cameroon

20, July 2017

Amnesty says Boko Haram suspects tortured in Cameroon 0

Suspected Boko Haram fighters have been “brutally tortured” by security forces in Cameroon, a rights group says. Amnesty International said in a report that the suspects, including women and children, were beaten, water-boarded and forced into stress positions.

The cases allegedly happened between 2013 and 2017, and dozens of detainees died as a result, it added. Cameroon’s government has not commented. Boko Haram frequently carries out attacks in the country.

The Islamist group, based in neighbouring Nigeria, has killed more than 1,500 civilians in Cameroon since 2014, and abducted many others, Amnesty said. Victims described a least 24 methods of torture at more than 20 different sites, the report said.

In one of those places, it said, there was the presence of US and French military personnel. There was no evidence that foreign forces were involved, but Amnesty urged both countries to investigate the allegations. The report added that people suspected of supporting the militants were often being detained without evidence.

Source: BBC



French army chief resigns

19, July 2017

French army chief resigns 0

France’s military chief has resigned following a public dispute with President Emmanuel Macron over the government’s proposed defense budget cuts. The head of the French armed forces, General Pierre de Villiers, said in a statement on Wednesday that he had tendered his resignation to the president and that it had been accepted.

Villiers explained that with the financial constraints imposed on the army, he was “no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country.”

A disagreement between the army chief and Macron started last week when the government revealed the details of a plan to make 850-million-euro cuts to the 2017 military spending. The government said the move was aimed at bringing France’s deficit to below the European Union’s limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The general protested the plan the following day at the president’s own council of defense and the parliament’s defense commission. Macron reacted to his remarks last Friday, saying, “For me, it is undignified to wash dirty linen in public. I am your leader; I need no pressure, no comment.”

Only two days later, Macron told Journal du Dimanche that if de Villiers “has an issue with the President of the Republic, the chief of staff will be changed.” General de Villiers reacted in a Facebook post this week, saying he could resign.

His open disagreement with Macron was untypical of French military officials, who are historically silent on government policy. The French army is nicknamed “la grande muette” — “the great and silent” — because of that tradition.

But Macron has come under fire over the cuts from other parties, too, including members of his own party. The chairman of the parliamentary committee on defense, Jean-Jacques Bridey, who is also a Macron ally, said last week that he regretted the proposed cuts “while our men risk their lives every day.” Alexis Corbière, a leftwing member of the National Assembly, also warned that consequences of austerity on the French army would be “intolerable.”

Source: Presstv



Minister Bidoung Mpkwatt says Cameroon able to host best Africa Cup of Nations

19, July 2017

Minister Bidoung Mpkwatt says Cameroon able to host best Africa Cup of Nations 0

The construction and renovation of football and other sporting facilities to host the 2019 AFCON games in Cameroon will be completed three months before the start of the football tournament according to a Biya comedian heading the ministry of sports and physical education.

Cameroon’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Bidoung Mpkwatt assured stakeholders during a media outing on the 18th of July 2017 at the Yaoundé Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium. He opined that all facilities to be used during the competition will be constructed and old ones renovated in conformity with the African Football Confederation standards and on record time.

The Sports Minister made the declaration a day after the Italian ambassador and other officials involved in the construction of the Paul Biya stadium in Olembe made similar pronouncements to the media. It’s worth observing that matches for the AFCON 2019 will be staged in many stadiums in the country including Limbe, Douala, Yaoundé and Bafoussam.

Source: CRTV



“Mayor Ekema Patrick is building houses everywhere and changing employees”

18, July 2017

“Mayor Ekema Patrick is building houses everywhere and changing employees” 0

Four employees of the Buea city council have been on strike since Monday morning demonstrating at the esplanade of the residence of the Francophone governor of the Southwest region.

They say the current Buea council leadership is owing them 24 months of wage arrears. The strikers who sought an audience with the CPDM boss of the Southwest region were unable to obtain it. Nevertheless, they are determined to carry on with their strike action.

“They want to see how far we can go but we are determined to go all the way, it’s our right, it’s our money, we do not know how we’re going to send our children to school. The Mayor is building houses everywhere, changing employees all the time,” said Hans Manga, one of the protesters contacted by Radio Equinoxe.

A staff delegate who spoke earlier on the same radio noted that the strikers did nothing to try to meet the mayor before embarking on their disengagement action.

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News



Revealed: Cameroon military vessel sank with 37 people on board

18, July 2017

Revealed: Cameroon military vessel sank with 37 people on board 0

An investigation is underway and a crisis committee has been set up after the sinking of a military vessel that left Douala on Sunday morning en route to the Bakassi peninsula. The nation’s military spokesman confirmed late yesterday that 34 soldiers were missing and that there were only three survivors. The boat was ferrying soldiers of the Rapid Intervention Battalion BIR, on a logistical mission transporting equipment destined for the military base in Bakassi.

According to a statement from the Cameroon army, the ship was an LCM, a ship designed to carry and disembark vehicles. It was commissioned in 2009 and was currently shuttling between Limbe and Bakassi on the border with Nigeria. It carried “supplies and equipment” for BIR’s civil-military activities in the peninsula. The Rapid Response Battalion is currently building infrastructure there and carries out development work.

The army says the sea was very rough on that fateful Sunday and the weather conditions abruptly deteriorated. And it was six in the morning when the “Mundemba” sank with 37 people on board. According to Colonel Didier Badjeck, bad weather was responsible for the accident. “This zone is a zone that is particularly dangerous and so the weather can change very, very brutally. Sure they were caught in a bad wave that had to overturn the boat. The operation station immediately lost the boat. There was no alert from the crew. It’s an accident that happened suddenly, “he says.

For the time being, rescue operations are continuing. The navy has deployed its diving teams, but the chances of finding survivors are dwindling hour by hour. A source inside the military hinted Cameroon Concord News that the army was now involved in a recovery operation.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News



Boko Haram bomber kills eight in fresh attack in Nigeria

17, July 2017

Boko Haram bomber kills eight in fresh attack in Nigeria 0

A bomb attack has claimed the lives of at least eight people and wounded several others in Nigeria’s troubled northeast, officials say. The attack was carried out by a suspected female member of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, local Nigerian officials said on Monday.

The head of the Borno state emergency management agency, Ahmed Satomi, said that the female bomber had detonated her explosives at a mosque in the London Ciki area of Maiduguri at about 5:30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT). “She killed eight people and injured 15 others. The mosque was being guarded by civilian JTF (joint task force) militia during prayers,” media outlets quoted Satomi as saying.

“Unknown to them, the girl was being pursued from another part of town by residents who were suspicious of her movement at the time,” he added, noting, “When she approached the mosque, they demanded that she stop to be searched but she suddenly bolted into the mosque and set off her bombs.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Satomi pointed out that three other female bombers were located in Maiduguri at about the same time. He went onto say that two were killed in Mammanti area as they tried to cross the ditch around the city perimeter. This is while another set off her explosives in the suburb of Simari.

It is the second time in a week that Boko Haram bombers have sought to cause carnage in Maiduguri. Last Monday, at least 19 people were killed and nearly two dozen others injured when four women set off their bombs in the Molai Kolemari area of the city. In recent weeks, a number of bomb attacks by suspected members of Boko Haram have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs. Militants have regularly targeted mosques, markets, camps for those displaced by the conflict and other civilians across the troubled region.

In December 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno. The group has, however, resorted to sporadic shooting and bombing attacks in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among local residents.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly terror attacks in Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.7 million displaced.

The United Nations has warned that areas affected by the Boko Haram militancy face a humanitarian crisis. Back in February 2016, four nations of the Lake Chad Basin — Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria –launched a campaign, together with a contingent from Benin, to confront the threat from Boko Haram in the region.

Source: Presstv



Many feared dead after Cameroon military vessel capsizes in Debuncha

17, July 2017

Many feared dead after Cameroon military vessel capsizes in Debuncha 0

The regime in Yaoundé has confirmed that a logistics boat of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR that left the Douala metropolis en route to Mudemba on Sunday the 16th of July 2017 disappeared with 30 soldiers on-board.

The CPDM government statement said, the ship was heading to the Bakassi peninsula and the crew was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Moussa. We understand the logistics boat of the Rapid Intervention Battalion sank to the bottom of the waters at Debuncha in the South West region.

President Biya has reportedly set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shipwreck en route to Bakassi. A crisis unit has been working since yesterday at the Ministry of Defense in Yaoundé and Limbé.

A statement by Joseph Beti Assomo, the minister delegate at the presidency in charge of defense, revealed that three soldiers were rescued after the boat capsized. The outcome of this sad incident is expected soon from the commission of inquiry chaired by the Secretary of State for Defense in charge of the Gendarmerie.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News


La Republique to begin direct flights to the Bamenda-Bafut airport

15, July 2017

La Republique to begin direct flights to the Bamenda-Bafut airport 0

The Bafut airport in the Bamenda County is set to begin receiving airplanes from La Republique du Cameroun. With no roads linking Bamenda and the West region, the man representing Francophone interest in the county, Governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique and the General Manager of Camairco, Ernest Dikoum have ascertained the readiness of the airport ahead of the inaugural flight on 20th July 2017 inaugural flight.

During an evaluation visit to the airport the GM of the Cameroon Airlines company and the Governor were satisfied with the state of equipment and the enthusiasm of the staff. The Director of the Airport’s management Corporation (ADC), Angu Anyangwe Richard and the civil aviation team leader, Mukete Simon took the visiting delegation round the different installation including the Control Tower which they confirm was in good working condition and eagerly waiting for planes.

A brand new automatic weather station which is indispensable during landing and takeoff of flights was presented to the visiting delegation by the head of the metro-logical facility, Tamfu Julius. Airport authorities noted that repairs works are on course to check cracks and grass on the run way. They also reassured the officials that potable water will be made available at the airport and a standby generator has already been installed to pre-empt eventual blackouts.

With regards to airport safety, they expressed satisfaction with the equipment and readiness of the Fire Brigade. Other issues related to security were discussed during a close door session. Governor, Adolphe Lele Lafrique reassured Camairco boss of the assistance of the administration and security forces. The launch of direct flights to Bamenda is in line with the new policy of the national carrier to capitalize and develop internal and sub-regional flights.

Source: CRTV


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