Politics

19, March 2017

Yaounde: Mystery shrouds Minister Martin Belinga’s Health condition ⁰

Francophone media houses in Yaounde have once again questioned the where about of the Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, Martin Belinga Eboutou. The Biya confidante has disappeared from the public eye of late and he is conspicuously absent from the Biya delegation in Rome.

Presidential press releases published recently such as the one announcing Paul Biya’s trip to Italy carried but the signature of the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and in some occasions, Joseph Le, who is currently deputizing for Martin Belinga Eboutou.

A sister publication, Cameroun Info.Net contacted the State House on the sudden disappearance of Martin Belinga but got a laconic reply from the presidency saying the Minister was “simply unavailable”. Some sources say the Minister Director of Civil Cabinet is absent due to poor health.

77-year-old Martin Belinga Eboutou, took ill last year and was evacuated to Europe. He returned safely in July 2017 and ended a rumor that had announced his death.

Here is the list of personalities who are currently with the Cameroonian dictator in Rome for a three-day state visit.

-Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, Minister of Public Works

-Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development

-Jacques Fame Ndongo, Minister of Higher Education

– Mbella Mbella, Minister of Foreign Affairs

-Paul Elung Che, Delegate to the Minister of Finance in charge of the Budget

-Hamadou Moustapha, Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic

-Mengot Victor Arrey-Nkongho, Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic

-Joseph Le, Deputy Director of the Civil Cabinet

-Luc Sindjoun, Special Adviser

-Joseph Fouda, Special Advisor

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

18, March 2017

Biya heading to Italy ¹

The 84 year old Cameroonian dictator, Paul Biya and wife Chantal Biya shall on Monday 20^th of March 2017 begin a state visit to Italy. The visit comes at the invitation of his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella.

The Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, made public a press release stating that the visit will end on 22nd March 2017 but did not say if the CPDM Chairman will return home or jet to his second home in Swiss. President Paul Biya and his wife will be hosted in Rome – the political capital of Italy.

State radio and television reported that the visit will provide an opportunity to strengthen cooperation ties between Italy and Cameroon which came into focus a year ago when President Sergio Mattarella made a four day marathon trip to Cameroon. An agreement on visa exemption for holders of service and diplomatic passport was signed on the 17th March 2016.

CRTV

16, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Biya playing for time with Bilingual Commission ²

Southern Cameroon groups fighting for an independent state have reacted to the appointment of members into the so-called National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism in Cameroon by President Biya. The exiled leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have appealed to Southern Cameroonians to isolate the Biya regime and its agents such as ministers, governors, SDOs and Dos.

The Consortium maintains the degree was a ploy for Biya to buy time and eventually stifle the people’s revolution. Prominent Southern Cameroonians contacted by our reporters have all observed that the government was unwilling to concede to any Southern Cameroons proposals for institutional changes to usher in genuine federalism. All what Mr. Biya and the CPDM was bent on doing, an operations manager of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium remarked, was to promote laws and policies that would continue to marginalized Anglophones and return the country to a one-party Francophone system.

Southern Cameroonians are now watching with concern the Biya’s Francophone Beti Ewondo government’s resolve to destroy the Anglophone identity by out rightly refusing the dialogue with the detained leaders of the Consortium and also rejecting the idea of federalism. The current Biya appointments of CPDM agents clarified a senior aide to the detained Chairman of the Consortium, Barrister Agbor Balla has not been welcomed by Southern Cameroonians and it is not any reliable means to defuse the political tension created by the Anglophone crisis.

The exiled leaders of the Consortium have warned Southern Cameroonians including CPDM political elites not to betray the struggle by accepting appointments from a man who has a track record of anti-Anglophone policies. The Consortium has uncovered a plan hatched by the Biya Francophone regime to destabilize Southern Cameroonians and have called on all Anglophones to resolutely fight against La Republique du Cameroun and its against the intrigues and malpractices of its cabinet ministers.

Citing the case of Southern Cameroonian detainees, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium exile leaders bashed the regime for gross violation of human rights in Southern Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

14, March 2017

Biya appoints another Oroko as governor of Center region ¹

President Biya has finally appointed a new governor for the Center region. Following a series of decrees made public on Monday the 13^th of March 2017, the Cameroonian dictator appointed Paul Naseri Bea, the current Senior Divisional Officer for Wouri in the Littoral region as governor of the Center region, replacing the late Joseph Otto Wilson who died last year.

In another decree appointing Prefects, the Secretary General at the North West governor’s office, Absolon Monono Wulua was appointed Senior Divisional Officer for Momo Division in the North West. It is important to include in this report that Paul Naseri Bea also hails from the Ndian constituency like his late predecessor.

By Sonne Peter

13, March 2017

Biya stands with Cavaye and Niat ¹

The National Assembly and the Senate will today Monday, March 13 renew the members of their respective bureau. The electoral process in both the Upper and Lower Houses remains a traditional ritual performed on the occasion of the first ordinary session of every legislative year which opens in Yaounde, the nation’s capital.

In the National Assembly, the 77 year old Speaker, Cavaye Yeguié Djibril from the Far North region who will also be celebrating his 47^th year as a member of parliament is expected to be re-elected to the post he has held for 25 years. President Biya reportedly lobbied the MPs to maintain the leaders of both houses.

The 83 year old Marcel Niat Njifenji who is also the first president of the House of Senate will also be re-elected to his post. It should be noted that this year’s first ordinary session is being held in the context of a serious socio-political crisis that has rocked the Anglophone regions of the country.

The Anglophone crisis will undoubtedly invite itself to parliament, and could force the President of the Republic to redistribute ministerial portfolios to gain some kind of regional balance in a country that counts at least 220 ethnic groups.

Reported by Cameroon Intelligence Report

12, March 2017

Germany: Merkel to meet Trump in US visit ⁰

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to travel to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump and discuss with him issues of mutual concern. The meeting, due to take place at the White House on Tuesday, would be Merkel’s first face-to-face with Trump since he took office on January 20 this year. Merkel has been Germany’s chancellor since 2005.

The leader of Europe’s most powerful economy has emphasized that she would be representing the European Union (EU) in her meeting with the US president. “I will of course point out that for us, our country and our membership in the European Union are two sides of the same coin,” Merkel said at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, ahead of the visit.

Trump and his officials have previously questioned the institutional foundation of the EU. A spokeswoman for Merkel has said the two leaders would discuss “bilateral and international topics, and transatlantic ties.” US sources have said the two would discuss issues related to NATO, refugees, the EU, and Russia.

On almost all of those topics, Trump has adopted stances diverging — sometimes radically — from those of European leaders. One such area would be Russia. Trump has said he favors better, possibly even strategic cooperation with Russia. European leaders, on the other hand, have had serious reservations about ties with Moscow, particularly over the Ukrainian conflict.

Trump is “very interested in hearing her (Merkel’s) insights on what it’s like to deal with the Russians,” a US official said anonymously. Transatlantic trade is another area of concern for Berlin. Trump has said he plans to renegotiate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Presstv

12, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Too much uncertainty inside the Biya regime ¹

The plenary session of both the so-called Upper and Lower Houses of parliament begins on Monday March 13, 2017. As a tradition, the election of the bureau members takes place at the first session of every legislative year. This year’s maiden parliamentary sessions have been convened by both the President of the National Assembly, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril and the President of the Senate Marcel Niat Njifenji.

In the context of a crisis that has rocked the Anglophone regions of the country since the end of 2016 and the Francophone dominated government’s inability to find a solution, it would not be surprising to see some political adjustments in the Biya regime. However, the question that arises mainly is who should be sacrificed between Cavaye Yeguié Djibril and Marcel Niat Njifenji, if the head of state wants to satisfy the Anglophones?

Understandably, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has made it clear that the current Southern Cameroon political elites of the ruling CPDM no longer represent the aspirations of West Cameroonians. However, the Yaoundé regime still intends to try its last joker.

Using their old guerilla tactics, the Presidency of the Republic is already circulating the name of Peter Mafany Musonge as President of the Senate. The Biya men reportedly observed that Simon Achidi Achu is currently very old and weak. A reliable source hinted Cameroon Concord News that the post of Prime Minister will return to the Far North and added that the personality most foretold to this post Is Alamine Ousmane Mey, current Minister of Finance.

A journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report quoted a source in Paris in the case of a constitutional revision, for the introduction of the post of Vice-President of the Republic. What we know is that several possibilities could arise for possible appointments which will have no impact on the Southern Cameroons quest for an independent state.

By Rita Akana

12, March 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Part of the solution is the removal of Biya from office ⁴

After four months of inactivity, the so-called members of parliament and senators will resume their hand clapping exercise on Monday the 13 of March 2017 in Yaoundé. This first parliamentary session of the year will of course begin in a particular context, marked by the crisis in Southern Cameroons that has shaken the Biya Francophone regime and for the first time in 34 years prevented the 84 year old dictator from travelling out of the country.

For four months, the Francophone regime has failed in stopping the Southern Cameroons uprising and day-by-day after the Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s recent tour of the Bamenda province of West Cameroon, it is evidently clear that the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the people of Southern Cameroons are winning and secession is indeed at the door of Cameroon.

The measures taken by the Beti Ewondo ruling think thank have been crude, intolerable, unbearable, unacceptable and at best primitive. And this is due to the fact that the tank they think from is too shallow. The shutting down of the internet services in West Cameroon was aimed at cutting off communications between Southern Cameroonians back home and those in the Diaspora. From every indication, the policy failed woefully and instead recruited genuine CPDM followers into the resistance.

The Anglophone crisis will be at the center of discussions in both the Upper and Lower Houses. Ghost town operations will continue tomorrow Monday as many Southern Cameroonians including some Francophone political elites now believe and fervently too that Paul Biya himself does not want the crisis to be resolved.

Correspondingly, MPs and Senators will pretend on camera to question members of government on the Southern Cameroons situation. The cabinet ministers are all Francophone citizens who are obviously reading from the same script with the man who appointed them into government. Consequently, Southern Cameroonians would be watching CRTV as a foreign news channel during the parliamentary debates.

The general understanding is that if these MPs and Senators were truly the representatives of the Cameroonian people, they would have condemned the rapes, extra judicial killings, massive arrests and abductions going on in Southern Cameroons. Above all, they would have during their last session in November 2016, focused their concerns on the situation of the Anglophone lawyers and teachers including the students of the University of Buea.

Their failure to stand up as a group and be counted led to the transformation of the corporate crisis into a political issue. To save Cameroon from disintegrating as a nation, the National Assembly should legislate on matters related to the resolution of the Anglophone problem. The MPs should bear in mind that part of the solution to the Anglophone crisis is the removal of President Biya from office not any form of CPDM process of decentralization.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

10, March 2017

UN and Burkinabe officials at Unity Palace ¹

The Resident Coordinator of the United Nations Development Program System, Najat Rochdi has come to the end of her mission to Cameroon. She held a farewell audience on the 8^th of March 2017 at the Presidency of the Republic with Minister Secretary General, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh on behalf of the Head of State.

The outgoing UN coordinator after the audience expressed satisfaction with achievements of the UN System which she partly attributed to the hospitality of the Cameroonian people. She leaves Cameroon after a four year diplomatic mission. Najat Rochdi has been appointed to the Central African Republic as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Multi- Dimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission MINUSCA and also as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator, and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program UNDP.

The Secretary General also received in audience a Special Envoy of the President of Burkina Faso. Thierry Hot was bearer of a special message from President Rorc Marc Christian Kabore. Thierry Hot had served as a correspondent with the BBC and Africa 24.

CRTV

10, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Philemon Yang treated like a “common politician” ⁰

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has completed his tour of the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons some two months after his last visit to his home constituency. The Premier traveled to the region and made an ultimate plea for the resumption of schools in West Cameroon.

The Yang Philemon trip that took him to the seven divisional headquarters that make up the Bamenda province failed to yield the anticipated results. Southern Cameroonian groups who received the Head of Government challenged him to openly condemn the rapes, extra judicial killings and the numerous arrests and abductions currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

From Ngo-Kentungia to Boyo via Donga-Mantung and Menchum including Mezam, Momo, and Bui, Philemon Yang was treated like a common politician. Cameroon Concord News understands the Prime Minister’s visit has helped to energize the people’s revolution as schools have still not started.

It is hard to say who is really in charge in Yaoundé as the decision to travel to the North West came only after the Ministries in charge of Education, made public a statement that students and pupils, the strike notwithstanding, still have an opportunity to attend catch-up classes to cover-up for lost time.

The frustrated members of the Cameroon GCE Board, also met last week, and announced an extension for registration of the GCE. The Prime Minister’s trip to the North West Region therefore was another vain opportunity for schools to re-open. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has applauded the people of Southern Cameroons for their resistance.

By Rita Akana