17, September 2018
Mass Exodus Underway From Southern Cameroons 0
People fleeing the violence in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon are going through systematic searches before being allowed to enter the French-speaking regions of the central African state after the government claimed fighters were trying to enter with weapons.
It is very busy here at the Mile 17 bus station in the English speaking Southwestern town of Buea, where at least 30 transport buses leave daily for either the French-speaking town of Douala, or Cameroon’s capital city, Yaounde. Many people remain at the station, some with their mattresses, dresses and kitchen utensils, expecting more buses to arrive and transport them.
Gabriel Mbinkar, an official of a bus agency says they have doubled fares from $8 to $16 because their vehicles return from the French-speaking towns empty, since many people are fleeing English-speaking towns and villages and no one is coming in.
“As you will see behind me passengers are there, waiting for vehicles, the vehicles that were there this morning are already gone and we are trying to see what is available if it can get these people by the latter hours of the day so that they can go out in order for people not to fall into trouble,” said Mbinkar.
Among those leaving is businesswoman Philomena Maloke. She says the military searched her luggage and that of her two-month-old daughter at least seven times between Kumba, her town of origin and Buea where she arrived Saturday to continue to Yaounde.
“It is a pity that it is happening here in our country,” she said.
Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the English-speaking Southwest region of Cameroon visited the Mile 17 motor park Saturday to plead with people to stop the mass exodus.
He says people are running away because of threats from separatist fighters to disrupt the October 7 presidential election, and because of rumors the military is planning raids against the armed separatists that invaded many towns in the region.
“There is fake news that the army will attack, will launch an attack, no, the army is not launching attacks,” said Bilai. “The army are there to protect the population and their property. Those who are abandoning their homes, you can see here, we have beds, furniture, no, where are they going. No, we want them to stay at home.”
The governor of Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest, Deben Tchoffo, says thousands are also leaving his region. He says the military has seized weapons some suspected fighters were hiding in their luggage as they left for French-speaking towns. Tchoffo says he is making an appeal for every one travelling to verify their luggage to make sure traffickers are not hiding weapons in their bags.
“I will like to launch an appeal here to ask them to collaborate with security services. To denounce those that are threatening them to the security services, so that together, we fight to bring back the situation back to normalcy,” he said.
Unrest began in Cameroon in November 2016 when English speaking teachers and lawyers demonstrated against the overbearing use of the French language. Separatists took over and started demanding the independence of the English speaking from the French-speaking regions of the bilingual country.
The separatists have on social media insisted that they will disrupt Cameroon’s October 7 presidential election in the English-speaking regions. They say they are an independent nation called Ambazonia and will not allow such an election in their land. The government is assuring the people of security.
The United Nations reports that 300 people including 130 policemen and the military have been killed, hundreds of thousands have fled for their lives to the bushes and towns in the French-speaking regions. At least 20,000 have crossed over to Nigeria.
Culled from the VOA
17, September 2018
France: Macron sparks Marie-Antoinette jibe after jobless remark 0
French President Emmanuel Macron has sparked criticism over comments to an unemployed man deemed insensitive. But is it really possible, as he claimed, to find a job in a Parisian restaurant just by crossing the street?
Welcoming the public to the presidential palace on Saturday as part of an open-doors event, Macron got talking to a 25-year-old who said he was having no luck finding work as a gardener. “I send resumes and cover letters, they don’t lead to anything,” he told Macron, in a clip that quickly went viral.
Macron advised him to head to the bustling Montparnasse neighbourhood of Paris, saying he could find a job as a waiter in the blink of an eye. “If you’re willing and motivated, in hotels, cafes and restaurants, construction, there’s not a single place I go where they don’t say they’re looking for people,” he said.
“If I crossed the street I’d find you one.” The exchange ended with a handshake, but provided instant ammunition for leftist critics of Macron, a former investment banker, accusing him of being patronising and out of touch with ordinary people.
The Liberation daily went so far as to draw a comparison with the supposed suggestion by France’s last queen, Marie-Antoinette, that if the poor had no bread they should eat cake instead.
After several previous headline-grabbing encounters with members of the public, including telling off a teenager for not calling him “Mr President”, the paper advised Macron to stop “lecturing everyone”.
Elected in May 2017 on a promise to reinvigorate a sluggish economy, unemployment has yet to budge much under Macron’s pro-business policies. He is keen to encourage people to move between sectors to bring joblessness down from its current rate of 9.1 percent.
But Liberation accused Macron of “a purely technocratic vision under which if there are vacant jobs all you need to do is stick job-seekers in them, regardless of their training, their situation, or what they want to do with their lives.
“Blaming (job-seekers for their unemployment) in the style of Marie-Antoinette, that’s what is weighing this presidency down,” it concluded.
– ‘Turning customers away’ –
Yet some have sprung to Macron’s defence over his advice to the gardener, pointing out that France does indeed have a surplus of low-skilled jobs in the construction and restaurant industries.
Industry officials say there are up to 100,000 hotel and restaurant jobs that need filling in France, and have even called on Macron to grant legal status to more illegal immigrants to help cover the shortage.
Montparnasse, a commercial district whose bistrots were once favoured hangouts for the likes of Ernest Hemingway, is indeed packed with restaurants.
Many of their managers say they are chronically short-staffed, suffering high turnover due to high pressure and unsociable hours.
“We sometimes have to refuse customers or groups because we don’t have enough workers,” said the maitre d’ at La Rotonde, the upmarket restaurant where Macron celebrated winning the first round of the presidential election. Declining to give his name, he added however that the restaurant was selective in its hiring.
“We’re looking for serious people. They have to want to work,” he said. Jose Vicente, a waiter at the nearby Kibaloma cafe, said “absolutely”, restaurant jobs were available, although contrary to Macron’s words “you can’t just cross the road to find one”.
“Not everyone is cut out for it,” said Vicente, who has been waiting tables for 30 years. Those who turn up looking for work are usually aspiring dish-washers — mostly immigrants who “don’t have qualifications and don’t speak French properly”, Vicente said.
The latest controversy comes as Macron’s ratings have slumped, weighed down by a scandal over a former bodyguard and with economic growth set to come in at a lower-than-expected 1.6 percent this year. A Kantar Sofres Onepoint poll released Monday found only 19 percent had a positive view of the president.
Source: France 24