The 24th edition of Mount Cameroon Race, Africa’s oldest international athletic competition, held early Saturday in Buea, chief town of Southwest, one of the two English-speaking regions of the country torn by an armed conflict.

Close to 250 athletes from Cameroon, Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, Kenya, Nigeria, Niger and Zimbabwe took part in the race. The race was staged under tight security amidst threats from armed separatists to disrupt the event.

All sorts of activities in the town were not operational following an order from the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

Since November 2017, government forces have been clashing with armed separatist forces who want the two Anglophone regions of in northwest and southwest to secede from the largely French-speaking nation and form a new country they called “Ambazonia”.

Officials said in spite of the prevailing situation, the race must take place to strengthen Cameroon’s unity and integrity.

“This edition of the race gives us the opportunity to further prove our desire of living together because in spite of linguistic and political diversity, the Cameroonian people are and must remain one and indivisible,” Cameroon’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi told reporters at the start of the competition.

All safety measures were put in place by the Francophone dominated army for the successful unfolding of the race, the region’s governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai said.

The race dubbed Race of Hope is of a particularly difficult terrain with athletes going up and down the mountain which is over 4,100 metres above sea level.

The people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia can no longer accept France-Afrique’s primitive old school dictatorship imposed on the country by the government of the 86 year old President Paul Biya. Biya has only accepted controversial constitutional amendments that guaranteed his continued stay in power in French Cameroun with the support of some Southern Cameroons criminal gangs.

Biya has been in power for 36 years now and both French and Southern Cameroons have been more of a dictatorship than anything else. This generation of Southern Cameroonians is more educated and the primitive old school dictatorship is not working anymore.

The corrupt Francophone Beti Ewondo despot keeps on blaming everything on different elements, but the truth of the matter is that this generation of Ambazonians is not standing for it and they will keep on sustaining the war in Southern Cameroons until and unless they get a result that they want-which is simply an independent state of Southern Cameroons.

Citizens of both La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons are suffering, while, he (Biya) thinks he can call the shots and dictate what is going on including the policy without any opposition or disagreement.

How can a government be reveling in denial and self-delusion by pretending that things are normal in Southern Cameroons? The French Cameroun’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education Narcisse Mouelle Kombi presided at the official launch of activities to mark the 2019 Mount Cameroon Race of Hope in Buea. But the heavily militarized event looked more like a military parade and a hostage situation.

The Biya regime should stop playing the ostrich because images like these only further reinforce Cameroon’s beleaguered image as a country bedevilled by insecurity where bizarre things are happening and this only scare foreign investors.

By Sama Ernest

Cameroonian first and second division players have been organizing several strikes over the past few weeks to pressure the country’s FA into settling outstanding payments owed to them since the 2017/2018 season.

Geremi Njitap, the president of the National Syndicate of Footballers in Cameroon (NSFC) and former Indomitable Lions captain, filed a complaint to FIFA on 5 February asking them to intervene and settle the matter.

“We are asking you to take urgent measures to ensure that the salaries and bonuses of the players from 24 clubs should be paid according to their contractual obligations,” FIFA said on Monday in a letter addressed to the Cameroonian FA. The world governing body has set a 4 March date to solve the issue.

The threat has resonated well, with the government allocating 84 million Cameroonian francs as a first tranche for the clubs. Cameroonian clubs rely heavily on allocations from the state, which have been stalled over the past two years, and some sponsorship deals.

According to a letter published by the NSFC on Tuesday, each Ligue 1 club will receive three million while second-division teams will get two million, to be spent exclusively on salaries.

Ghanasoccernet

Cameroon’s 2019 top tier domestic championship failed to get underway on Saturday after teams staged a boycott of the opening game at the Yaoundé Military Stadium.

The 2018 Cup of Cameroon winners Eding Sports of Lekie were set to play Yong Sports Academy of Bamenda.

They stayed away following a call from the syndicate of elite clubs (SYCEC) to boycott the competition amidst a dispute with the head of Cameroon’s Professional Football League (LFPC), Pierre Semengue.

“In solidarity with the trade union of elite clubs, we wouldn’t travel to Yaoundé to kick off the championship. The decision was taken solely in the interest of our football and in all integrity,” Yong Sports chairman, Jacques Yong, said in a club statement.

“The decision has been taken because last minute attempts to solve the problems plaguing our elite football have failed,” he added.

SYCEC, led by Union of Douala president Frank Happi, say they are unhappy with how league football is managed in Cameroon.

“It’s outrageous to imagine that the league president wants the first and second division tournaments to start when clubs aren’t aware of the amount they will receive as subvention,” Happi told BBC Sport.

“Clubs weren’t sure when the championship was supposed to start and so most of them kept their teams together, paying out training bonuses regularly.

“It’s only fair for them to know how much they will get before stepping on the pitch. The teams are ready and want to play football but everything isn’t right for the league to start.

“Most of the country’s top stadiums are being renovated or constructed and the question as to where games will be staged has remained unanswered.

“These uncertainties make us think it’s not reasonable starting the championship now,” said Happi.

The clubs’ heads say they are concerned about a lack of consultation over key decisions taken by 83-year-old LFPC boss, Pierre Semengue.

These decisions include increasing Cameroon’s Elite 1 championship from 18 to 20 amidst financial difficulties and a move to split the championship into a two-pool tournament where only one outfit would be relegated.

Hopes were high that both opposing camps could come to a compromise following a meeting with Cameroon’s Sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi and Fecafoot president Seidou Mbombo Njoya.

But failure to find concrete solutions to the current crisis means most, if not all of the teams in the country’s top football league, will not play this weekend.

SYSEC, currently made up of 27 teams in the top two divisions, has called on league authorities to respect the agreements of a meeting between the syndicate, the Cameroon football federation (Fecafoot) and the league president as well as an article of the league’s blueprint which called for the convening of a general assembly before the start of the championship.

The President of Cameroon’s Professional football league, Pierre Semengue has described the syndicate as an illegal institution and has said clubs that fail to show up for games will be relegated to the country’s third tier leagues, as per league statutes.

BBC

After leading the Indomitable Lionesses to their second World Cup appearance, the gaffer has been fired from his post  

Cameroon Football Federation has shockingly sacked Joseph Ndoko from his role as head coach five months to their campaign at this summer’s Women’s World Cup in France.

The surprise development is coming a week after Australia parted ways with  Alen Stajcic and Ndoko now becomes the second France bound coach to be sacked from his role.

Ndoko, who replaced 13-year long serving Enow Ngachu in July 2017, guided the Indomitable Lionesses to a third-place finish at the 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations and subsequently secured them a qualification ticket to this year’s global showpiece.

Source: Goal.com