News

20, July 2016

Three French soldiers killed in Libya ⁰

France’s defence ministry says three of its soldiers have died in Libya, reportedly after their helicopter was shot down. A short statement said the soldiers died “while on mission”.

Earlier on Wednesday, ministry spokesman Stephane Le Foll confirmed for the first time that French special forces were in Libya. On Tuesday, Associated Press quoted Libyan officials as saying an Islamist militia shot down a French helicopter. The attack on Sunday happened near the city of Benghazi, and left no survivors, AP reported.

BBC

19, July 2016

Mali: 12 soldiers killed in militant attack on army base ⁰

At least a dozen Malian soldiers were killed Tuesday in an attack by militants on an army base in the city of Nampala in central Mali.

Ousmane Diallo, the deputy mayor of the nearby town of Diabaly, and a security source both confirmed that assailants also wounded at least 27 people as they took control of the military base, which is located close to Mauritania’s border.

“The army is regrouping in town (Diabaly) and is preparing a counter-attack to retake the base, which fell into the hands of the assailants,” Diallo said.

Presstv

18, July 2016

King Mohammed VI of Morocco announces plans to rejoin the African Union ⁰

Morocco has officially announced plans to rejoin the African Union more than three decades after it left the bloc in protest at the independence of Western Sahara. King Mohammed VI sent a message to the leaders of the union as they began a two-day summit in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Sunday, saying it’s time for his country to retake its position in the organization.

“For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them, so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family. The moment has now come,” said the monarch. He said although Morocco left the club, “it never quit Africa.” In 1984, King Mohammed’s father, King Hassan II, pulled the North African country out of the union over the decision to accept the independence of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as a formal member.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 and considers it the kingdom’s “southern province.” For decades, the United Nations has been seeking to hold a referendum on independence for the territory. While the government in Morocco continues to carry out multi-million-dollar development projects in the territory, several African countries recognize the area as the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Morocco has offered wide-ranging autonomy for the region, but the Polisario Front, the independence movement in the Western Sahara insists that a referendum be held so that the local population can decide their fate. Leaders of the movement warned in April that that if the UN Security Council fails to set a timetable for a vote on self-determination, war will be possible over the disputed territory.

Presstv

18, July 2016

Russia delivers advanced S-300 air defense system to Iran ⁰

Russia has reportedly delivered the first missiles of the advanced S-300 long-range air defense system as part of a military contract between Moscow and Tehran. According to a report published by Tasnim news agency on Monday, the first shipment of the missiles was delivered to Iran “recently.”

Russia had committed to delivering the systems to Iran under an 800-million-dollar deal in 2007. It, however, refused to deliver the systems to Tehran in 2010 under the pretext that the agreement was covered by the fourth round of the United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Following Moscow’s refusal to deliver the systems, Tehran filed a complaint against the relevant Russian arms firm with the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva. In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree, paving the way for the long-overdue delivery of the missile defense systems to Iran.

The decision to deliver the S-300 long-range air defense system came after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia plus Germany — reached mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2, 2015.

Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, said on July 1 that the S-300 missile defense system is to go operational in Iran by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending on March 20, 2017).

Presstv

18, July 2016

Cameroon arrest 4 fake price controllers ⁰

Four suspected fake price controllers are presently in detention at the Special Unit for the Control of Services at in the General Delegation of National Security in Yaounde. The suspects who are yet to be identified were arrested at 2:00 p.m. on Friday July 15, 2016 in Nkolfoulou, Soa, in the Mefou and Afamba Division of the Centre Region. Some of the traders immediately informed the Control Brigade of the Ministry of Trade in the Mefou and Afamba Division who immediately informed the police.

Reports say, the suspected fake price controllers who claimed to be on an official mission of the Ministry of Trade harassed traders in the area and seized some of their goods such as cartons of whisky, wine, and other household goods. According to the reports, the fake price controllers produced fake documents showing their belonging to an Association for the Protection of the Rights of Consumers. The group is made up of two men, one woman and was accompanied by a police officer who works in the Centre Region.

One of the suspects disappeared into thin air while at the police station. A man hunt was immediately put in place to get the fugitive. Sources in Soa said the suspected fake controllers have been harassing traders in the Mfoundi Division for the past three weeks and were only caught in the fourth week in the Mefou and Afamba Division.

The Centre Regional Delegate for Trade, Ombele Nama Alain called on traders to be vigilant and to always verify whether the service note provided by the controllers have been signed by the chief of brigade for trade before attending to them. He said traders should always be in direct contact with the chief of brigade so that each time there is a control team before them they will be able to contact the brigade to be sure that the team is legal. He also called on the public to report to the services of the Ministry of Trade in case of any fake products for action to be taken.

Cameroon Tribune

18, July 2016

South West journalists to boycott Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s visit today in Buea ⁰

Journalists in the South West region have announced a boycott of Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s visit to the region today. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that the media gurus and journalists are protesting against the arrest of one of their colleagues, Teke Julius serving with the Cameroon Radio and Television.

The South West reporters revealed that coverage of the Prime Minister’s visit that begins today in Buea will only go ahead if the head of government or the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako issues an open apology and order the immediate release from illegal detention since April the 9^th 2016 of Teke Julius.

Nfor Hanson Nchanji, a long standing Cameroonian journalist championing the release of Teke Julius observed that the journalist was arrested on lame and ridiculous reasons that he recorded a conversation of the Prime Minister and a contractor.

Chama Victor Bama (Cameroon Concord News Group)

17, July 2016

President Putin condemns recent botched military coup in Turkey ⁰

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a phone call to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to condemn the recent botched military coup attempt in Turkey and express hope that the country would soon embrace stability. In the phone call on Sunday, Putin described as categorically unacceptable the “anti-constitutional acts and violence” in the life of a state, saying that he “wishes for a speedy restoration of strong constitutional order and stability in Turkey.”

The Kremlin said in a statement that the Russian leader also offered condolences on the death of 161 troops and civilians killed during the coup attempt. The Turkish government and the military say more than 100 coup plotters were also killed in the course of state action against the military intervention which unfolded late Friday and was declared as failed a day later.

Russia and Turkey last month restored ties which had been badly strained following Ankara’s shooting of a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last year. The restoration came after Erdogan apologized to Putin over the incident and passed on his condolences to the families of the jet’s pilot and the crew member killed after the downing.

The Kremlin said the two leaders also confirmed during the Sunday phone call plans for a personal meeting in the nearest future. Turkish officials said earlier this month that Erdogan would fly to the Russian resort of Suchi to meet Putin in August. The Sunday statement said Erdogan also vowed to take “all necessary steps” to ensure the safety of Russian tourists visiting Turkey. Later on Sunday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, quoting presidential sources, reported that Erdogan and his Russian counterpart will meet in the first week of August.

Presstv

16, July 2016

Nice attack: Prime Minister Philemon Yang tells French ambassador “Cameroon stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the French nation” ⁰

Yaoundé has presented a condolence message to the French nation following the deadly attacks in Nice. To be sure, it was the sixth attack in France just within a year. At least 84 people were killed by a truck driven by a suicide bomber while they were celebrating the last hours of the national holiday at a place called “Promenade des Anglais”

Less than 24 hours after the tragedy, President Paul Biya sent a condolence message to Francois Hollande, his French counterpart in which he condemned in the strongest terms the “cowardly, barbaric and heinous acts that nothing can justify” wrote the Cameroonian chief executive.

Soon after the correspondence to President Hollande, Prime Minister Philemon Yang went to the residence of the French ambassador in Yaoundé on Friday afternoon where he was received by Christine Robichon, the Ambassador of France to Cameroon. Philemon Yang did sign a condolence book and assured the ambassador of the esteem and support of the Cameroonian people.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Cameroon Concord News Group)

15, July 2016

Biya’s Cameroon: 31 years old Cameroonian sentenced in France for attempting to collect money from the Bataclan terror attacks fund ⁰

A 31 years old Cameroonian has been given a 6 months suspended sentence by the Court of First Instance in Bobigny in France and ordered to pay a token of one euro to the Bataclan Memorial Fund for posing as a victim of the Bataclan terror attacks. She was sentenced on Wednesday. She reportedly demanded the sum of 10,000 Euros from the fund for victims of the Bataclan attacks using falsified medical certificates and false testimony.

The young lady, whose name the French judiciary refused to make public, arrived France in 2007 and seek political asylum. She fabricated documents painting herself as a victim of the Bataclan attacks on November 13, 2015. In her account, the young Cameroonian said she managed to escape through a window and seriously damaged her finger.

A delay in the payment of the money into her account pushed her to write seven letters to the French Ministry of Interior accusing the French government of “discrimination.” During her period in police custody, she admitted having invented everything.

She told the French Court that “I had problems; I could not pay my medical bills in a Paris hospital! I owed 144 Euros. And then I had problems of unpaid rents, I lost my job at Franprix “. The head of the Bataclan Memorial Fund, Barrister Jean-Francoise Laigneau noted after the trial that Cameroon is morally bankrupt.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)

15, July 2016

CPDM government identifies the teaching of local languages as a tool for development ⁰

After failing to deliver best practice in economic and social development in the country, the government of Cameroon has identified the teaching and learning of local languages as a tool for development.

The idea was made concrete through a convention signed between the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation (MINRESI) and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) International, on the 13^th of July 2016.

The MINRESI boss, Madeleine Tchuinte signed on behalf of the CPDM regime while the Director General of SIL represented his organization.

The agreement comes to buttress other actions by Cameroon government to promote the teaching of many native languages in schools especially at the level of basic education.

CRTV