1, October 2018

Yaounde insists it will be ready to host Africa Cup of Nations ⁰

A top Cameroon football official told AFP on Sunday his nation “will be ready” to host next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), even though the final decision has been delayed.

Cameroon’s hosting of African football’s showpiece event has been in jeopardy for months since the decision to increase the tournament from 16 to 24 teams.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) had been expected to confirm Cameroon as host on Friday at their meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, but instead postponed a vote until the end of November.

It said there had been a “big delay in the building of infrastructure” in Cameroon. But Dieudonne Happi, the interim head of the west African country’s crisis-hit football federation, said: “In the current state of things, I can tell you bluntly and without any risk of being wrong that Cameroon will be ready.

“The delay will be made up,” said Happi, the chairman of the Cameroonian federation’s normalisation committee, adding that the country will be ready “no later than December 31”, the deadline set by CAF in March.

An inspection committee from CAF and world football’s governing body FIFA will visit Cameroon in October to assess preparations.

The Cameroonian league is currently suspended because of funding issues and the federation is without a president.

Morocco, which unsuccessfully bid to host the 2026 World Cup, has lobbied to replace Cameroon as hosts.

“We are obviously ready to organise a major African event,” said Hamza El Hajoui, the president of the Moroccan football federation, adding that his country was “respectful” of both the CAF process and “the candidacy of a friendly country that is Cameroon.”

Ahmad Ahmad, the CAF president, denied that his organisation had already decided to take the tournament away from Cameroon.

“CAF has not yet taken any decision to the contrary… that the Cup of Nations will be origanized in Cameroon,” he told a press conference.

The tournament will take place on June 15-July 13. The tournament used to be in January, forcing European clubs to release their players in the middle of the season.

AFP

1, October 2018

Southern Cameroons conflict, rooted 100 years ago ⁰

Cameroon elects its president on October 7 against the backdrop of bloody violence in its two separatist English-speaking regions, which have vowed to not let voting take place.

Tensions can be traced back to events a century ago when Britain and France occupied Cameroon, taking over Germany’s major colony in West Africa.

Some background:

World War I split

Cameroon was a German colony until 1916, when British and French troops forced the Germans out.

The two countries divided it into separate spheres of influence that were later formalised by the League of Nations, the forerunner to the UN.

The much larger French colony gained independence in 1960.

A year later, the British colony also gained independence. Some of the English-speaking areas chose to join newly formed Nigeria, others to become part of the federation of Cameroon.

In 1972 the Cameroon’s federal structure was scrapped and it became one state.

English-speaking minority

Cameroon’s two mainly English-speaking southern provinces are home to around a fifth of its 23 million population.

Named the Northwest Region and Southwest Region, they jut into southeastern Nigeria.

The English-speaking areas are allowed some self-governance and national authorities have made concessions to their language, for example opening bilingual schools.

But many English speakers complain of discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority in education, the justice system and the economy.

Disputed ‘unity’

Calls for a breakaway English-speaking state mounted in the 1990s, with demands for a referendum on independence accompanied by low-level unrest.

In 2001 banned protest rallies turned violent. Several people were killed when security forces moved in and secessionist leaders were arrested.

The separatist Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) set up a “government” in Britain and leaders moved into exile.

2016 flare-up

There was a new outbreak of tensions in November 2016.

Lawyers in two regions, which are also strongholds for the political opposition, went on strike to demand the right to use Anglo-Saxon common law.

Teachers followed, protesting at the appointment of francophones in the regions’ education system.

The following month the national flag was torched at protests and a separatist version hoisted.

Demands for greater autonomy were rejected by President Paul Biya, in power for more than 35 years, leading to an escalation.

In 2017 anglophone separatists took up arms, attacking security forces and torching symbols of the administration, such as schools.

They kidnapped police officers, civil servants and businessmen, sometimes foreigners.

Biya branded the secessionists “a band of terrorists” and ordered a crackdown with curfews, raids and other restrictions.

In January 2017 senior secessionist activists were arrested and charged with terrorism and rebellion.

In an apparent effort to calm the situation Biya halted the secessionists’ trials in August.

In October separatists made a symbolic declaration of independence. “We are no longer slaves of Cameroon,” said Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the self-declared “president” of a new republic called “Ambazonia”.

2018: election threat

The standoff has escalated into daily acts of violence.

It had degenerated into a “civil war”, the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) said in April.

The International Crisis Group said in September that at least 400 civilians and 170 members of the security forces had been killed in a year.

The government says that 109 members of the police and security forces have been killed. The separatists have not issued a reliable toll.

Around 200,000 people have fled their homes.

Amnesty International has condemned a “horrific escalation of violence” and called for an investigation into crimes by both sides.

Hundreds of families have been fleeing the regions in advance of the October 7 vote, fearing an upsurge in violence.

Source: AFP

1, October 2018

Yaounde: Camrail to appeal disaster conviction ⁰

Cameroon rail company Camrail said on Thursday it will appeal its conviction along with 10 of its executives of manslaughter for a 2016 rail disaster that killed 79 people and injured around 600.

The Cameroonian branch of France’s Bollore group, in which the state holds a 13 percent stake, was Wednesday also ordered to pay $89 000 to the victims, Guy-Olivier Moteng, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, told AFP.

Camrail said it would “immediately appeal this decision”, in a statement sent to AFP.

The train was travelling between the capital Yaounde and the economic hub of Douala when it derailed on October 21, 2016. A government inquiry found that Camrail was mainly to blame for the derailment as the train was going at more than twice the speed limit, was overloaded and its brakes were defective.

Moteng said the compensation ordered by the court was far higher than the initial estimate of three million euros. Camrail said the government inquiry was marked by a “complete lack of qualified and competent expertise” and said the experts were former employees who bore a grudge against the company. It said the engine of the train had undergone the necessary checks and tests.

Source: AFP

1, October 2018

US First Lady starts African tour: What she said about her hosts ⁰

Melania Trump, the United States First Lady is expected in Ghana today, October 1, as she kick starts a four-nation African tour. The tour is her first solo trip as First Lady and will take her to a region each across the continent except for Central Africa. An African trip was announced in August before the specific countries were listed last week.

Mrs. Trump, leading her ‘BE BEST’ campaign will partner with USAID to undertake a series of events in Ghana, Malawi, Egypt and Kenya. She described her hosts as four beautiful and very different countries.”

October 1 will mark the first day of my solo visit to four beautiful and very different countries in Africa – Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt – all of which have worked alongside USAID and our partners to make great progress in overcoming some of their biggest challenges.

BE BEST, was launched with “the goal of combating some of the issues that children face today by shining a spotlight on successful programs and organizations that teach children the tools and skills needed for emotional, social and physical well-being,” Melania said.

So what did she say about each host? The White House published her comments of September 26 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

What Melania said about Ghana

I’d like to take a moment and thank the First Lady of Ghana for being with us today. Mrs. Akufo-Addo, I look forward to visiting your country and know we will find ways to continue working together even after my visit.

In Ghana, USAID’s programs have focused on healthcare by supporting efforts to expand the coverage and quality of healthcare for mothers and newborns, and educating women and young children about the importance of proper nutrition.

What Melania said about Malawi

I see the First Lady of Malawi is also with us today. Professor Mutharika, thank you for being here. In Malawi, USAID has demonstrated that education is one of the keys to combating poverty and promoting prosperity.

Their efforts aim to increase access to education, and work to ensure all children acquire the skills needed to succeed in school and life.

I am very excited to have the opportunity to visit Malawi and better understand how our countries can continue working together for a prosperous future.

What Melania said about Kenya

I also want to recognize Mrs. Kenyatta, of Kenya. Wonderful to see you again. It was great to host you in the White House a few weeks ago.

In Kenya, USAID works on a variety of programs, including early-childhood education, wildlife conservation, and HIV prevention.

Mrs. Kenyatta, I look forward to visiting your country and know that together, we will be able to do great things on behalf of children.

What Melania said about Egypt

My final stop, which is Egypt, will focus on the country’s tourism and conservation projects, but I know that through USAID, we have worked with the people of Egypt to promote an environment in which all groups of society – including women and religious minorities – can lead productive and healthy lives.

In fact, their programs have directly supported a reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates, improved early-grade reading, and restored and preserved historical sites vital to Egypt’s tourism.

Source: Africa News

30, September 2018

Ambazonia National Day: Biya regime declares 48-hour curfew in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Government officials in Cameroon’s strife-torn Anglophone Southwest and Northwest regions on Saturday declared a 48-hour curfew ahead of planned “independence” celebrations by armed separatist forces.

“Movement of persons from one sub-division to another within the Northwest region is hereby prohibited for a period of 48 hours from Sept. 30 to Monday Oct. 1, 2018” said Adolph Lele Lafrique, governor of the Northwest region, adding that public gatherings and assembly of more than four persons shall be strictly forbidden.

“All off-licenses, snack bars and night clubs shall not operate. Motor parks shall remain closed and the circulation of motorbikes completely suspended,” Lafrique said in a statement that was released on Saturday.

In Buea, chief town of Southwest region, local authorities also announced a curfew from Sept 30 to Oct. 1.

“During the period there shall be systematic closure of all business and drinking places, suspension of leisure activities, be it cultural, social or sporting, prohibition of all forms of transport, both public and private, and closure of motor parks,” said Kouam Wokam Paul, divisional officer for Buea sub-division.

Authorities in the restive regions had earlier imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew indefinitely but extended the measure to a 48-hour one after armed separatists’ announcement that they will be celebrating the “independence” of Anglophone regions on Oct. 1.

On Oct. 1, 1961, Francophone and Anglophone Cameroon officially reunited to form one country, after Anglophone Cameroonians voted to join Francophone Cameroon in a plebiscite that was organized by the United Nations on Feb. 11, 1961.

However, separatists now want the two Anglophone regions to secede from French-majority Cameroon to form a new nation called “Ambazionia,” complaining that they have been marginalized since unification.

In the midst of a presidential campaign, fighting is escalating in the two Anglophone regions, displacing over 180,000 people internally, according to the United Nations.

By Haggai Fung Achuo

30, September 2018

Grand Prix Chantal Biya: Things fall apart as 17 injured in International Cycling Tour ⁰

Seventeen people including 15 cyclists, one driver and one race commissioner were injured after a coaster bus transporting international cyclists, Honore Yossi, president of Cameroon Cycling Federation said on Saturday.

The accident occurred early Saturday at a place called “Memiam” on the Mbalmayo-Zoetele highway, Yossi said.

“The 17 victims were immediately transported by ambulances of the caravan to Mbalmayo District Hospital where they were placed under the care of doctors and nurses. No one died. The victims sustained minor injuries,” Yossi said.

He said, the incident will not interrupt the competition.

“The teams from Rwanda and Burkina Faso have left the hospital and are now observing in Yaounde. The Ivoirians have decided to continue the race. The competition continues for the other runners,” Yossi said.

The 18th edition of the International Cycling Tour of Cameroon dubbed Grand Prix Chantal Biya started on Wednesday. 10 teams from Europe and Africa are taking part in the competition that ends on September 30.

The tour is organized by Cameroon Cycling Federation under the supervision of International Cycling Union.

Source: Xinhuanet

30, September 2018

Southern Cameroons War: Cameroon faces being dropped as African Cup host ⁰

Fighting between separatists and government forces, along with concerns its stadiums won’t be ready, have left Cameroon facing the possibility Saturday of being stripped of its hosting of next year’s African Cup of Nations soccer tournament.

Tournament organizer the Confederation of African Football declined to back the country as host after a two-day meeting of its executive committee in Egypt. Instead, CAF said it was delaying a decision on Cameroon’s staging of the continent’s top soccer event until the end of November, and after two more inspection visits.

That will be just over six months before the African Cup kicks off. Morocco is a possible replacement host for the tournament in June and July if Cameroon, which was chosen in 2014, is dropped. The first inspection visit next month will be by a joint CAF-FIFA delegation to assess the security situation in the western part of Cameroon, where bloody fighting between the government and English-speaking separatists started in late 2016 and has escalated this year.

That visit by CAF and security experts from world body FIFA will come after Cameroon’s Oct. 7 presidential election, when the violence could come to a head.

“We have to wait (to see) what is going to happen with the elections,” CAF deputy secretary general Anthony Baffoe said in an interview with the BBC. “That is why also we said after the elections we do the next inspection visit.

“Then I think you can have a bit more feeling about the political situation and what is going on.”

There has been “horrific escalation of violence” in Cameroon’s southwest and northwest, Amnesty International said this month, citing a graphic video of a beheaded security officer.

Two cities due to host African Cup games, Limbe and Bafoussam, are deep in those regions where the fighting is.

Claiming they are being marginalized in the largely French-speaking country, the English-speaking, or Anglophone, separatists have vowed to disrupt the presidential election and also the African Cup if it goes ahead in Cameroon next summer.

In a thinly-veiled threat, they said soccer players, officials and fans may not be safe.

“We shall not be able to guarantee the security of football players, technical staffs, members of official delegations and thousands of soccer lovers from across the world,” some separatist groups said in a letter they claim to have sent to CAF in August.

If Cameroon is retained as host, it’s possible that some of Africa’s biggest soccer stars who feature for top European clubs would decline to go and play in a region where people are being shot and killed, bridges are being blown up and buildings torched. Up to 400 civilians have died in the violence, Amnesty said, and the killing, looting and burning has sent nearly 200,000 fleeing.

The security concern has now overtaken serious delays with stadiums and related tournament infrastructure as Cameroon’s No. 1 problem.

The readiness of the country’s six stadiums had already been a major headache for CAF before the upsurge in deadly violence.

Cameroon’s team is the African champion and was hoping to defend its title at home.

The country’s tournament preparations were also complicated when CAF expanded the tournament from 16 to 24 teams after the country was chosen as host. That increased pressure on the struggling infrastructure, requiring six stadiums and not just four like the previous two versions of the African Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

“Definitely six venues is not easy in Africa,” Baffoe said in the BBC interview.

CAF said its most recent report on Cameroon’s preparations “revealed a significant delay as far as the delivery of infrastructures is concerned.”

The Cup of Nations is Africa’s showcase soccer tournament — probably its biggest sports event — but it’s also been highly problematic for CAF in recent years.

South Africa took on the 2013 version after war-torn Libya admitted it couldn’t host. Morocco was stripped as the 2015 host because of plans it was proposing to stop fans traveling from regions affected by that year’s Ebola outbreak. Libya again withdrew as host two years ago, sending the African Cup back to Gabon for the second time in five years.

Held every two years, the African Cup in Ivory Coast in 2021 is also already a cause for concern, CAF said Saturday.

“Of the six stadiums required for the competition, four are to be built and two are undergoing major renovations,” CAF said. “For accommodation, three out of five cities do not have the required infrastructure.”

Source: Fox News

30, September 2018

Southern Cameroons crisis: Cameroon Concord News Group journalists targeted ⁰

The Southern Cameroons crisis has entered a very critical phase, with journalists now being targeted as a means of hiding crimes against humanity committed in Cameroon’s English-speaking cities and towns. As the government seeks to wrap up things very fast, it is now targeting young male adults and it has, over the last month, ordered its troops to shoot and kill.

This order is in force in the two English-speaking regions and journalists are not exempt, especially those who are under cover. Two weeks ago, Kingsley Betek almost lost his life in Muyuka as he was under cover to investigate the killings in Fako Division. While trying to check out a timber truck that was being escorted to Douala, Kingsley Betek missed the bullets of a trigger happy soldier.

He missed death by the skin of his teeth as the bullet scraped his hair before finding accommodation in a nearby tree. Luckily for him, the soldiers just continued their journey as the timber was more important than human beings.

He has been stopped on many occasions in Buea and Limbe while seeking to cover some events. Many soldiers have stopped him, but have never really linked him to the famous news group that is providing a balanced report of the crisis.

But it is Irene Nanyongo who is having a tough time plying her trade in the region. She is permanently harassed and she has already received many death threats from some unknown individuals.

It is becoming dangerous to practice this profession today in Cameroon. Other journalists such as Mimi Mefo and Nfor Prince of other media groups are permanently in fear of their lives.

With the passing of each day, the regime is becoming more desperate and it does not want its atrocities in the region to be reported. The international community is breathing down its neck and this is causing it to be erratic in its efforts to hide the crimes against humanity that its soldiers are committing.

By Asu Vera Eyere

30, September 2018

US Calls Cameroon To Hold Soldiers Accountable ⁰

The US has implored the government of Cameroon to hold its soldiers to account. The call follows a recent investigation by BBC’s Africa Eye, which revealed Cameroonian soldiers are behind atrocities against civilians in the country.

Pentagon spokeswoman Maj Sheryll Klinkel said the US military was working with the State Department to “ensure the government of Cameroon holds accountable any individuals found to be responsible”.

BBC Africa Eye’s investigation showed two women and two young children being led away at gunpoint by a group of Cameroonian soldiers. The captives were blindfolded, forced to the ground, and shot 22 times.

The investigation revealed where the incident happened, when it happened, and who is responsible for the killing.

The government of Cameroon initially dismissed the video as “fake news” but subsequently arrested some of the soldiers captured in the video.

According to reports by VOA, the US has about 300 military personnel in Cameroon as part of an international effort to stop the spread of violent extremism in West Africa.

Source: tv360

30, September 2018

Yaounde holds its breath as Ambazonian anniversary looms ⁰

Cameroon is nervously awaiting the first anniversary on Monday of a declaration of independence by its English-speaking minority less than a week before the country plunges into presidential elections.

Attacks are occurring daily in the two regions that are home to this French-speaking country’s anglophones, and many say they are afraid.

In the worst-affected areas, some people have fled with whatever possessions they can carry. Others say they rarely venture out of their homes, fearing separatists as well as the security forces.

On October 1 2017, radicals declared the creation of the “Republic of Ambazonia,” covering two English-speaking regions incorporated into francophone Cameroon in 1961.

The declaration went largely unnoticed outside Cameroon, and “Ambazonia” — named after a bay at the mouth of the Douala River — has been recognised by no-one.

But the move marked the start of a crisis that has cast a shadow over the October 7 elections, in which 85-year-old president Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for 35 years, is seeking a seventh straight term in office.

“The army killed lots of people on October 1,” Monsignor Emmanuel Bushu, bishop of the Buea, capital of Southwest Region, said at the time.

“For nearly two weeks, they shot at people like you shoot at birds.”

Mounting toll

Biya’s crackdown coincided with a surge of bloody attacks by the separatists, gunning down troops and police and burning schools and other perceived symbols of the Cameroonian state.

At least 400 civilians have been killed this year, according to the International Crisis Group think-tank. The government says 109 members of the security forces have been killed since the end of 2017.

Atrocities have been committed on both sides, according to watchdogs.

“The brutal attacks against ordinary people and security forces are further proof of the horrific escalation of violence,” Amnesty International said on September 19.

According to UN figures, 246,000 people in the Southwest Region have fled their homes, and 25,000 have sought shelter in neighbouring Nigeria, many of them living from hand-to-mouth in the forests.

Estimates of displaced people in the neighbouring Northwest Region — the other restive anglophone region — are not available.

Map of Cameroon locating English-speaking regions and their capitals, Bamenda and Buea.

The government has imposed tight controls, including over the mainstream media, and both sides are fighting for public opinion in the domain of social media.

The economic damage, too, has been severe. The state-run palm oil company Pamol has deserted some of its plantations, and cocoa and coffee production has stopped because villages have abandoned their crops, the Cameroon NGO Human Is Right said in July.

The government has set up an emergency aid fund for the two regions, to which many Cameroonians have given generously.

Legacy of history

Around a fifth of Cameroon’s 22 million people are English-speaking. The legacy dates back to the colonial period.

Cameroon, once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War I. The French colony gained independence in 1960, becoming Cameroon. The following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, giving rise to the Northwest and Southwest regions.

But resentment at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority, especially in education and the judiciary, began to build.

Demands for greater autonomy grew but were always rebuffed by Biya, culminating in the October 1 declaration.

Shadow over elections

President Paul Biya, 85, has been head of state for 35 years. He has sternly rejected independence or a federal status for the two anglophone regions.

The upcoming elections, a symbol of national sovereignty, have placed the separatists and the authorities in a toe-to-toe fight over who controls the two restive regions.

Attacks on schools rose in September after the return of classes following the summer break. A 12-hour night-time curfew has been declared in the Northwest Region.

The separatists — known as the “Ambazonians” or “Amba Boys” — have vowed to prevent the elections from taking place.

“I’m afraid. I won’t turn out to vote,” said Elizabeth, who lives in the holiday resort of Limbe in the Southwest Region, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I’m afraid of the Ambazonians but also of the police and military who kill… things could go very badly on polling day.”

Another voter, who gave her name as Ruth, said, “I won’t vote, and many people I know won’t be voting either, because of the threats of the Ambazonians.”

The government has declared that the poll will take place in all of the country’s 360 districts, although some ballot stations will be “relocated” to reduce the risk of attacks.

“I’m sure the elections will go ahead… but the turnout is likely to be low,” said a worker with an NGO which will be monitoring the ballot.

Culled from ModernGhana.Com