News

10, June 2024

Journalists covering Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) assaulted, threatened ⁰

Cameroon Concord News Group has written to Reporters Without Borders over the treatment of its staff correspondents by members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) covering the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

In a strongly worded statement, the Editor-In-Chief of the Concord Group stated that Besong Eunice Nchong and Alain Agbor Ebot including Cameroon Concord’s Bamenda and Buea city reporters were assaulted and threatened by elements of Cameroon’s elite force.

The Concord Statement to Reporters Without Borders also said that seven of its staff had been made to flee the country to Europe and North America.

Besong Eunice Nchong and Alain Agbor Ebot have continuously faced death threats from plain cloth security officers supporting the brutal regime in Yaoundé.

During a recent press conference in Yaoundé, Alain Agbor Ebot reportedly spoke of the ruckus in Cameroonian football and the rift between the Cameroonian FA and the Ministry of Sports and received a veiled threat from the head of protocol in the Sports Minister’s cabinet that “You are skating on thin ice. We advise you to err on the side of the government if you want to continue to practice this profession in Cameroon.”

Cameroon Concord News Chairman and Editor called on Reporters Without Borders to criticize such unacceptable behavior and to address instances of repression by the 42 year-old Biya regime against English-speaking journalists.

The Republic of Cameroon is among the world’s top oppressors of journalists and free speech.

The Minister of Communication was heard murmuring privately that all English-speaking media outlets operating outside of Cameroon are enemy media and their reporters inside Cameroon will not be safe.

By Alain Tabot-Tanyi

6, June 2024

Paris: Cameroon Colonel fighting to dodge rape charges ⁰

According to French publications, Law Enforcement News and the Parisien, a Cameroonian colonel has claimed diplomatic immunity in Paris, France after being accused of raping his daughter while in the country on military orders. This colonel is reportedly the assistant defense attaché to Paris from Cameroon.

On May 26th, 2024, the stepmother of the 16-year-old victim called police after the child complained of vaginal pain and after she admitted her father had raped her, this incident being the third time.

On May 27th, 2024, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office called the suspect, who immediately claimed diplomatic immunity. Over the past week, the French Foreign Ministry has been in contact with the Cameroonian Foreign Ministry and is reportedly in talks to remove the colonel’s diplomatic immunity so the Paris Prosecutor’s Office can act.

The child was placed in a temporary home, but immediately ran away, her current whereabouts are unknown, and the Cameroonian embassy has not released a statement.

France has, perhaps, the strongest European relations with Cameroon and was the first nation to recognize sovereignty in 1960.

Source: Atlas News

6, June 2024

419: Cameroonian nabbed for ‘black dollar’ scam in the Philippines ⁰

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested a Cameroonian national for allegedly collecting at least P4 million in exchange for fake dollar bills at a hotel in Makati.

Members of the NBI Cybercrime Division posed as investors to apprehend Khan Fonkam, who allegedly promised to convert fake US dollars into real currency using a chemical process.

The NBI agents recovered the fake US dollars in Fonkam’s hotel room.

The scheme, known as the “black dollar” scam, involves convincing victims to pay money for chemicals purportedly needed to convert counterfeit currency into real dollars.

The suspect’s arrest stemmed from the complaint of a victim, who reported that Fonkam gave him a suitcase of fake money in exchange for P4 million.

The NBI said the victim met Fonkam through social media.

“The agreement was to split the amount, with each of them getting $2.5 million. The victim shelled out P4 million to buy the chemical,” Van Homer Angluben, executive officer of the NBI Cybercrime Division, said.

Fonkam is being held on charges of estafa and illegal use of false treasury bank notes.

Source: The Philippine Star

5, June 2024

Yaoundé: Biya green lights €79.11mln agricultural expansion funding ⁰

President Paul Biya has ratified two financing agreements totaling €79.11 million (about CFA52 billion). The deals aim to support the implementation of the Hydro-Agricultural Development Project covering 15,280 hectares in the Mbéré, Vina, and Faro-et-Déo departments in the Adamaoua region. The first agreement, valued at €76.23 million (around CFA50 billion) is a buyer credit and the second, worth €2.89 million (nearly CFA1.89 billion), is a commercial credit. These deals were concluded with the British group Standard Chartered Bank on January 30 in Yaoundé.

This financing is part of the three-year Emergency Plan to Accelerate Economic Growth in Cameroon (Planut), specifically focusing on territorial development. It marks the initial phase of an ambitious program to develop 35,000 hectares of cultivable land in Cameroon. The project, to be technically implemented by the Spanish company Incatema, involves constructing irrigation systems for extensive cultivable areas, building 100 kilometers of roads, establishing several production units, and procuring various agricultural equipment.

Additionally, the project includes conducting a financial study to ensure youth employment and facilitate the marketing of agro-pastoral products. Besides enhancing food security, this initiative is expected to boost the country’s economic growth, as outlined by the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Territorial Development. It also aligns with Cameroon’s commitments in combating climate change, including its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).

In the medium term, the project aims to enhance the capacities and productivity of a national agriculture resilient to climate change. Long-term objectives involve developing a smart second-generation agriculture, combining structural transformation and environmental preservation. Furthermore, it aims to “give stronger impetus to the government’s import-substitution policy, aimed at producing more to meet domestic demand and reduce imports,” according to Economy Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey.

Source: Business in Cameroon

5, June 2024

Menchum: Amba fighters kill Zhoa councilor ⁰

Gunmen suspected to be separatist fighters have killed a municipal councilor in Cameroon’s war-torn English-speaking region of Northwest, according to local and security sources.

Councilor Mathias Bang of the Zhoa Council in the Menchum Division of the region was ambushed and killed by 5 a.m., local time, Wednesday in Befang locality, a council official said.

“He was heading to Bamenda on a motorcycle when they (gunmen) stopped him and shot him. He died on the spot. The motorcyclist was seriously injured. He is in the hospital,” the official who asked not to be named said. “We condemn this senseless killing and demand that authorities do something about it immediately. We can’t continue dying like flies.”

There has been renewed fighting in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest, where an armed separatist conflict has been waging since 2017.

Last week, gunmen attacked a bar in Bamenda, chief town of Northwest, killing two people and injuring 39 others.

Separatists want to create an independent nation in the regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

4, June 2024

Slovenia becomes latest EU country to recognise Palestine as a state ⁰

Slovenia recognised a Palestinian state on Tuesday after its parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move, following in the recent steps of three other European countries.

Slovenia’s government endorsed a motion last week to recognize a Palestinian state , and sent the proposal to the parliament for final approval, which was needed for the decision to take effect.

Lawmakers on Tuesday voted with 52 in favor and no one against recognition in the 90-seat parliament. The remaining lawmakers were not present for the vote.

“Dear people of Palestine, today’s final decision of Slovenia is a message of hope and peace,” Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said on the social media platform X. “We believe that only a two-state solution can lead to a lasting peace in the #MiddleEast . Slovenia will tirelessly continue to work on the security of both nations, Palestinians and Israelis.”

Slovenia’s decision came days after Spain, Norway and Ireland recognized a Palestinian state, a move that was condemned by Israel.

Previously, only seven members of the 27-nation European Union officially recognized a Palestinian state. Five of them are former East bloc countries that announced recognition in 1988, as did Cyprus, before joining the EU. Sweden’s recognition came in 2014.

“We started talking with our allies about the recognition of Palestine in February this year,” Prime Minister Robert Golob told lawmakers before Tuesday’s vote. “At the time, the assessment was — the time is not yet ripe … we warned that we, Europe, have a … duty to act.”

The ruling coalition led by Golob holds a comfortable majority in Slovenia’s assembly and the vote was expected to be a formality.

Golob also evoked Slovenia’s independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 in his remarks to parliament.

“We Slovenians have dreamed of this right for 1,000 years. We got it 33 years ago,” Golob said. “Unfortunately, the Palestinian nation has not yet received this right.”

Slovenia’s main opposition party, the Slovenian Democratic Party, opposes the recognition. The right-wing party has demanded a referendum on the issue that would delay the vote, but on Tuesday withdrew the bid before again filing another one that was rejected by parliament.

Slovenia first began the recognition process in early May, but said it would wait until the situation in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza improved. Golob has explained he was speeding up the process in reaction to Israel’s latest attacks on the southern Gaza city of Rafah , which have caused more than 1 million Palestinians to flee.

The war was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in which militants stormed across the Gaza border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. Israel’s air and land attacks have since killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry , which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state — more than two-thirds of the United Nations.

Source: AP

1, June 2024

BIR gunboat capsize during exchange of gunfire with Biafra separatists in Bakassi ⁰

A military gunboat belonging to the Rapid d’intervention Battalions, BIR, have capsized at Idabato high sea during an exchange of gunfire between government forces and the Black Marine. No casualties yet as at the time of this report.

31, May 2024

US: Jury finds Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts in hush money trial ⁰

A New York jury convicted Donald Trump on all charges in his hush money case Thursday in a seismic development barely five months ahead of the election where he seeks to recapture the White House.

The first criminal trial of a former US president ended with the 77-year-old Trump found guilty on each of the 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a payment meant to silence porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump — who was released without bail and is all but certain to appeal — initially sat still in the drab Manhattan courtroom, shoulders dipping.

Addressing reporters outside minutes later, though, he branded the result a “disgrace” and “rigged,” vowing that the “real verdict” would come from voters in the November 5 presidential election.

The conviction thrusts the United States into uncharted political territory.

However, it does not bar Trump from his continuing his White House run, even in the unlikely event that Judge Juan Merchan sentences him to prison.

Sentencing was set for July 11 — right before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is due to receive the party’s formal nomination to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the election.

Biden’s campaign issued a statement saying that the trial showed “no one is above the law.” It added that “the threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater.”

The 12-member jury deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days before announcing the unanimous conclusion within a matter of minutes.

Merchan thanked the jurors for completing the “difficult and stressful task.”

Their identities had been kept secret throughout proceedings, a rare practice more often see in cases involving mafia or other violent defendants.

Election conspiracy

Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election, when her claim to have had sex with him could have proved fatal to his campaign.

The trial featured lengthy testimony from the adult performer, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and who described to the court in graphic detail what she says was a 2006 sexual encounter with the married Trump.

Prosecutors successfully laid out a case alleging that the hush money and the illegal covering up of the payment was part of a broader crime to prevent voters from knowing about Trump’s behavior.

Trump’s defense attorneys had countered that “trying to influence an election” was simply “democracy” and that the former president did nothing wrong.

Campaigning in courthouse

The trial has distracted Trump from his campaign to unseat Biden.

However, he milked the media attention throughout, with daily speeches in front of the cameras outside the courtroom in which he complained about being a political victim.

Yet after teasing the prospect for weeks, Trump — who denied ever having sex with Daniels at a 2006 celebrity golf tournament — opted not to testify.

Keith Gaddie, a political analyst and professor at Texas Christian University, said the political impact of the shocking events has yet to be determined.

“It probably doesn’t move a lot of votes, but in particular states with particular swing votes, it could matter around the margins. So in particularly tight races, it can tip things back from one direction to the other,” she said.

The Republican, who made his name as a brash real estate mogul before a stunning ascent to the nation’s highest office in the 2016 election, now faces prison or, more likely, probation.

In theory, he could face up to four years in jail for each count of falsifying business records but legal experts said as a first-time offender he is unlikely to go behind bars.

An appeal could take months to complete.

Should he win the presidency he will not be able to pardon himself, given that the case was not brought by the federal government but by the state of New York, where only the governor could clear his name.

Trump also faces federal and state charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Biden, and for hoarding secret documents after leaving the White House.

Source: AFP

28, May 2024

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Student, police officer injured in Bamenda attack ⁰

One student and a police officer were injured on Tuesday after Ambazonia fighters attacked a school in Bamenda the chief city in the Northwest, according to local and security sources.

Amba fighters opened fire in front of the school where students were sitting for a public exam, a local security source said.

“A police officer was shot in the leg and another student was also shot. Students were dispelled. Our brave soldiers are pursuing the terrorists,” the Biya regime source said. The injured student and police officer have been sent to a hospital for treatment.

Separatist fighters in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest frequently kidnap teachers and students. In 2019, they abducted 170 students and their teacher in Kumbo locality of Northwest region.

Since 2017, government forces and separatist fighters have been clashing with each other in the two regions where the separatists want to create an independent nation.

By Queen Besumbu Agbaw

27, May 2024

Reporters Without Borders files ICC case over journalists’ deaths in Gaza ⁰

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Monday it had filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court over Palestinian journalists killed or injured in Gaza.

RSF said it was asking the ICC’s prosecutor to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the Israeli army against at least nine Palestinian reporters since December 15.

The ICC said in January it was probing potential crimes against journalists since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, which has cost the lives of more than 100 reporters.

RSF said it had “reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF (Israel Defence Force) attacks against civilians.”

This specific complaint — the third the RSF has made — concerns eight Palestinian journalists killed between December 20 and May 20, and one other who sustained injuries.

“All concerned journalists were killed (or injured) in the course of their work,” RSF said in a statement.

Antoine Bernard, RSF advocacy and assistance director, said: “Those who kill journalists are attacking the public’s right to information, which is even more essential in times of conflict.”

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan last week asked the court to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes and crimes and humanity.

Israel has strongly denied the allegation and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that to draw a parallel between Hamas and Israeli leaders was “despicable”.

‘Deadliest period for journalists’

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 107 journalists and media workers have been killed during the Gaza war, the “deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992”.

The RSF complaint includes the case of two Palestinian journalists killed in January while working for Al Jazeera.

Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, who also worked as a video stringer for AFP and other news organisations, were killed while they were “on their way to carry out their duty” for the channel in the Gaza Strip, the network said.

The Israeli army told AFP at the time it had “struck a terrorist who operated an aircraft that posed a threat to IDF troops”.

It added it was “aware of the reports that during the strike, two other suspects who were in the same vehicle as the terrorist were also hit”.

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Source: AFP