2, March 2018

Cabinet Reshuffle: Change without change ⁰

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, on Friday, March 2, 2018, announced his “new cabinet” which many analysts said was long overdue given the political issues that have plagued the country for more than fifteen months.

The cabinet, which includes Anglophones such as Mr.Atanga Nji, Minister of Territorial Administration, and Ms. Nalova Lyonga, Minister of Secondary Education, is currently the subject of many discussions across the country and among the country’s Diaspora.

Speaking to ordinary Cameroonians, the Cameroon Concord News Group gathered that Mr. Biya’s cabinet reshuffle is actually change without change as he has simply reshuffled his card.

A Southern Cameroonian fighter who called the Cameroon Concord News Group’s global headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, shortly after the “pseudo reshuffle” said that Mr. Biya’s false steps would continue to motivate them.

“We will continue to strike fear in the government’s mind until we are taken seriously. I have just listened to the cabinet reshuffle, but it makes no sense to me. Our goal is to restore our independence and we will achieve that some day. The government is trembling. Last week, we conducted a successful operation in Muyenge in the South West Region and after we had left, the government rolled out its old equipment to come and stop us from advancing. Our objective is to head to Buea to wreak havoc. We need to chase the noisy governor out of Buea. He has to return to his own part of the country. This cabinet reshuffle tells me that Anglophones do not count and will never count in Cameroon. If Atanga Nji and Nalova Lyonga are considered as the best among us, then we are doomed.”

According to a Southern Cameroonian living in North America, it is clear that Mr. Biya is not taking Southern Cameroonians seriously despite the crisis which is tearing the country apart.

The Southern Cameroonian, who elected anonymity, said that “the fighting must continue. Mr. Biya is taking us for a ride. We cannot be complaining about a system that has marginalized us for decades and he is appointing the same people who have been responsible for the Southern Cameroons crisis.”

“It is unbelievable that he will be rewarding Atanga Nji who has been rejected by his people in the North West Region. Atanga Nji, an ex-convict, will find it hard to operate in the North West. We have rejected him and he should not deceive himself that he is representing anybody. He is surely representing Mr. Biya and his bunch of old people who are out of touch with the political reality in Southern Cameroons,” the Washington-based Southern Cameroonian said.

“Mr. Biya does not seem to understand what is happening in Cameroon. The Southern Cameroonians appointed do not represent anybody. This decision will not go down well with many Cameroonians, especially Southern Cameroonians, who have rejected the current political class. More people will still have to die for Mr. Biya to understand that his choices are not the best for this country,” he regretted

“How can Nalova Lyonga who caused Buea University students to be beaten and made to drink raw sewage be rewarded with a ministerial position? Does it imply Mr. Biya only likes people who work against their own people? I am really disappointed and I think the current crisis tearing the country apart will continue for a very long time,” he lamented.

According to another Southern Cameroonian living in West Africa who spoke with the Cameroon Concord News Group Chairman, it is obvious that “our country is in for tough times,” the vocal Cameroonian who has been a close observer of the country’s political scene said, adding that “our government does not understand that it is dealing with very angry citizens. Cameroon is a ticking time bomb and Mr. Biya’s action are only helping that bomb to go off when the right moment comes.”

“Cameroonians must rise up against this government that is making a mockery of them. How can we be complaining about bad governance and Mr. Biya is still appointing people who have been around for decades and have never really posted any impressive results?” he asked, stressing that “using the same people to run the country for a long time only creates the right conditions for inaction and laziness.”

“I thought Mr. Biya will bring into the government some members of the Anglophone Diaspora in a bid to appease the angry Diaspora that is doing everything to destabilize the country. If Mr. Biya does not reconcile with the Southern Cameroons Diaspora, he will be having lots of sleepless nights. The Southern Cameroons Diaspora is hell-bent on making its influence felt and over the last fifteen months, it has gone the extra mile of financing the purchase and shipment of weapons to Cameroon and these weapons are sending many young soldiers to an early grave,” he said.

“The Diaspora is a huge source of financing for the country’s development projects if the government partners with it. But if Mr. Biya and his collaborators continue to disrespect and ignore the Diaspora, then they have accepted to leave a life of instability for a long time.

As we speak, there are shipments of weapons heading to Cameroon and these weapons have been purchased by the Southern Cameroons Diasporaand some members of the Francophone Diaspora are already joining the struggle and are willing to make huge financial contributions,” the highly intellectual Cameroonian said.

“We cannot continue to take Mr. Biya’s mess. He has ruined the country and if care is not taken, he might take the country with him to the grave. Mr. Biya needs to be called to order and only a huge people power revolution can make him understand that he has taken the country down the wrong path. Our country has deteriorated so badly. We do not have good roads and our hospitals are not the best places for anybody who is critically sick. What type of country is this? Where on earth will some people be in the political arena for more than 40 years. Cameroonians have to come together to stop this bunch of old people who are destroying our country.If something is not down now, our country will go down the drain and future generations will have to pay a huge price,” he stressed.

Other observers have indicated that despite Mr. Biya’s gimmick, many Southern Cameroonians are still arguing that Southern Cameroonians will never be given any strategic positions in Cameroon. The finance, communication, foreign affairs, economy and planning as well as the defense portfolios are still being held by Francophones. Atanga Nji may be at the ministry of territorial administration, but that ministry has been sapped of its powers as election organization is now in the hands of ELECAM and decentralization is anything but serious. The presidency will continue to dictate to stooges like Atanga Nji and he will be used as a rubber stamp.

From an interview with Cameroonians on the streets, the Cameroon Concord News Group noticed that there was a lot of frustration. Jean-Philip Mboule, a street vendor in Yaounde, said that to be a member of government in Cameroon, you must be called Paul. He cited a few names like Paul Biya, Elung Paul, Paul Atanga Nji, Paul Motaze and Paul Tasong who are all members of the current government. For women, they must be called Pauline. That’s why Nalova Lyonga Pauline Egbe has made it into the cabinet. He joked that before long, all Cameroonians will be rebaptized and their baptismal name will surely be Paul or Pauline.

From every indication, Cameroon is moving toward more serious andtougher times. The change that a cabinet reshuffle is supposed to bring does not exist in Mr. Biya’s cabinet reshuffle that has offended instead of appeasing Cameroonians.

With Boko Haram maiming people in the North, Central African rebels kidnapping innocent people for ransom and Southern Cameroonians making the country ungovernable, Cameroon is sliding down a slippery slope. Mr. Biya has missed another opportunity to hold the country together. If he is alive and healthy, then he should know he has created a storm that might sweep him out of power sooner rather than later.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

2, March 2018

Gunmen attack army headquarters, French embassy in Burkina Faso ⁰

Nearly 30 people, including civilians and soldiers, have been killed when gunmen launched a coordinated attack in Burkina Faso’s capital, targeting the army headquarters and the French embassy.

Five assailants reportedly got out of a pick-up truck in the center of the capital Ouagadougou and opened fire on passersby before heading towards the French embassy on Friday morning. They then set fire to the car.

Meanwhile, a blast took place near the headquarters of the Burkinabe armed forces and the French cultural center, which are located around a kilometer (half a mile) from the area of the first assault that houses the embassies, the prime minister’s office and the United Nations offices, witnesses said.

“I saw people with sacks on their backs attack the guard. Then I heard the explosion. I saw soldiers flee the army headquarters building running,” witness Kader Sanou said. The explosion hit the army compound, setting the building on fire.

Men escape from Burkina Faso’s army headquarters during an attack in the capital Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on March 2, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Media reports quoted three security sources, two in France and one in West Africa, as saying that at least 28 people lost their lives in the attack on the military headquarters.

Two of the sources said 28 people were killed and a third reported that “around 30” died in the attack in the capital.

Government spokesman Remi Dandjinou had earlier said the attackers killed five people and injured about 50 others during the attack on the military headquarters.

Speaking on state television, he added that two paramilitary gendarmes lost their lives while defending the French embassy.

According to the government, four gunmen were killed in the embassy attack and two in the second assault.

Burkina Faso’s government had said in a statement posted on the government’s Information Service website, “Special units of the defense and security forces have been deployed.”

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but previous assaults were conducted by allies of al-Qaeda in retaliation for the country’s participation in a regional fight against Takfiri militants.

Jean-Marc Châtaigner, France’s ambassador to West Africa’s Sahel region described the assault as a “terrorist attack.”

The attack was the third major attack in Ouagadougou in just over two years.

In August 2017, a terrorist attack on the upscale Turkish restaurant Aziz Istanbul in Ouagadougou killed 19 people, many of them children, and injured 21 others.

In January 2016, assailants launched an attack on a hotel also popular with foreigners and a café in the capital, killing at least 30 people from 18 different nationalities. The al-Qaeda Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, shares a northern border with Mali, which has long been battling al-Qaeda.

French Special Forces have been present in Burkina Faso since 2010 on a declared mission to help regional governments in the Sahel tackle extremism, particularly in neighboring Mali.

France was a former colonial power in Africa, ruling over Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast as well as the Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, and Algeria. Ghana was a former British colony.

Source: Presstv

2, March 2018

Cameroonian arrested in connection with murder of African priest in Berlin ⁰

A 26-year-old man from Cameroon has been arrested in connection with the crime

Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin paid tribute to Fr Alain-Florent Gandoulou, the head of the archdiocese’s French-speaking ministry, who was murdered in his office.

Archbishop Koch said Fr Gandoulou, born in the Republic of Congo, “applied himself with great engagement to his community, whose members come from every French-speaking country in the world.”

“His musical talent that he brought to Masses and presentations deeply affected the community,” said Archbishop Koch. “Fr Gandoulou was like a father to believers (and he) was also approachable in social matters.”

The archbishop said Fr Gandoulou was a dynamic catechist who promoted teaching and faith-building for people of all ages. In addition to his parish duties, since 2011, he worked as a counsellor at Berlin’s Sacred Heart Parish.

The archbishop said he would celebrate a special Mass on March 2 to pray for the priest and for his murderer. Afterwards, Fr Gandoulou’s remains will be returned to his hometown in the Archdiocese of Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, for burial.

Late on February 22, police responded to a call from witnesses reporting a loud argument. Police say Fr Gandoulou sustained fatal injuries from being beaten with objects and was stabbed in the head with an umbrella tip, according to Bild newspaper.

A 26-year-old man from Cameroon was arrested in connection with the crime. The suspect has since been detained in a psychiatric ward. Police have not released the suspect’s name, and no motive has been established.

Source: Catholic Herald

2, March 2018

Israeli police question Netanyahu for eighth time over fraud, bribery allegations ⁰

Israeli police arrived on Friday at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home where media reports said they were to question him for an eighth time over allegations of fraud and bribery.

An AFP journalist saw detectives arriving at Netanyahu’s official Jerusalem residence in two vehicles at around 9 am (0700 GMT). Police issued no official confirmation that questioning was under way. Investigators were at the same time to take a statement from his wife Sara at national fraud squad headquarters near Tel Aviv, media said.

A former Netanyahu aide and a top businessman are both in custody, linked to allegations of suspected fraud by the premier.

Nir Hefetz, a former media adviser to the Netanyahu family, and Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of telecoms group Bezeq, were among seven suspects arrested last week as fraud suspicions against Netanyahu snowballed.

Police suspect Elovitch was given business concessions in return for Netanyahu receiving good press on Walla!, a news website he owns. Hefetz is alleged to have acted as a messenger between Netanyahu and Bezeq and Walla! bosses.

He is also suspected of trying to bribe a retired judge to block a probe into the prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, over alleged misuse of public funds.

Police have now questioned the premier eight times since the beginning of 2017, and last month said there was sufficient evidence to charge him for graft, fraud and breach of trust in two other cases.

In one, he and family members are suspected of receiving one million shekels ($285,000, 230,000 euros) of luxury cigars, champagne and jewellery from wealthy personalities in exchange for financial or personal favours.

In the other case, investigators suspect the premier of trying to reach an agreement with the owner of Yediot Aharonot, a top Israeli daily newspaper, for more favourable coverage.

Israeli media said police would question him on the Bezeq affair for the first time on Friday and would also take from him a statement as a witness in suspected corruption around Israel’s purchase of three submarines from German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp.

The cases have fuelled speculation he could be forced to step down or call an early election but Netanyahu says he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Eli Kamir, another former Netanyahu adviser arrested last week, was on Wednesday released from police custody but placed under house arrest.

Shlomo Filber, a Netanyahu ally for more than 20 years and former director general of the communications ministry, was freed last week after agreeing to turn state’s witness in exchange for avoiding jail, police said.

He is suspected of mediating between Netanyahu and Elovitch and promoting regulatory changes worth millions to Bezeq.

(AFP)

2, March 2018

Cold snap paralyzes Europe, more die ⁰

An extreme cold snap across Europe claimed more lives, forced the closure of airports in Scotland, Switzerland, France, and Ireland, and left hundreds of drivers stranded on snowy highways Thursday.

Heavy snow and high winds halted all flights in and out of Dublin Airport, with authorities saying they are unlikely to resume until Saturday. Irish Rail said no trains are likely to run until Saturday.

Forecasters said a new storm is bringing blizzards, 100-kph winds, freezing rain, and thunderstorms to Ireland, southwestern England, and Wales later Thursday. They predicted zero visibility and deep pockets of snow.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged people to get home by 4 pm Thursday and stay there until the storm has passed. The Irish stock exchange shut down at midday and will be closed all day Friday.

“The risk to life and limb presented by severe weather conditions should not be underestimated,” said Varadkar.

The World Health Organization warned Thursday that the cold weather poses particular risks to vulnerable people such as the elderly, children, and those with chronic diseases or disabilities.

Swedish media reported that a woman who had left her home at an asylum center with her daughter and son, aged 8 and 9, was pronounced dead in the hospital after being found in a forest.

Danish police said an 84-year-old woman with dementia became the second person to die in the country because of the cold weather.

It was travel chaos at Europe’s airports and on its highways.

People walk on the tracks after the tram service was stopped due to snowfall in Tours, France, on March 1, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Geneva’s airport closed after the Swiss city was hit with 13 centimeters of snow over a three-hour period early Thursday. It reopened several hours later after extensive de-icing of the runway, plans and facilities.

Snow also shut down Glasgow and Edinburgh airports in Scotland, and there were cancellations at Heathrow and other airports in Britain. Airports in the southern French cities of Montpellier and the Atlantic beach resort of Biarritz were also affected.

Around the Paris region, about two dozen officials braved Arctic temperatures for a night outdoors to call attention to the plight of the homeless after at least 13 died from exposure since January 1.

Dragging blankets and sleeping bags, officials from an array of political parties wearing their blue, white, and red sashes hunkered down near Austerlitz train station as snow began falling early Thursday.

Hundreds of drivers were trapped in their cars overnight in Scotland, and authorities said everyone except emergency workers should stay off the roads.

Police in the county of Lincolnshire in eastern England said most roads there are impassable, with as much as 60 centimeters of snow in rural areas.

In southern France, about 2,000 cars were blocked on highways in the Herault region, where snow — and snowplows — are extremely rare.

Macedonia’s government urged employers to exempt pregnant women and people over 60 from working for a day and to pay special attention to keeping construction workers warm due to the freezing conditions. The low temperature Thursday in Macedonia dropped to -18 Celsius near the border with Bulgaria.

(Source: AP)

2, March 2018

Cedric Bakambu could be Africa’s most expensive footballer ⁰

After protracted negotiations, Cedric Bakambu has joined China’s Beijing Guoan in a deal that is understood to make him Africa’s most expensive player ever.

I’ve been told by a source close to Bakambu that the deal totals $90m (£65m), beating the previous African record of $77m paid by Arsenal for Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.

The same source – who works with Bakambu on image-related contracts – says the 26-year-old player from the Democratic Republic of Congo has signed a four-year deal.

Both the club and the player have posted images about the move – but without giving any details.

Source: BBC Sports

2, March 2018

France: Far-right leader Le Pen charged over Daesh tweets ⁰

French prosecutors have filed charges against far-right leader Marine le Pen over a series of tweets showing gruesome executions by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

A judicial source said Thursday that Le Pen was being investigated over suspicions of disseminating violent images.

The embarrassing tweets were posted in December 2015 and contained three graphic images of Daesh beheading American journalist James Foley.

The investigation comes as Le Pen prepares to present her plans for a restructuring of her National Front party in its annual congress next week. Le Pen lost to Emmanuel Macron during last year’s presidential election despite huge anticipations for her victory.

The probe is not expected to cost Le Pen her popularity among National Front loyalists although it could further affect her approval rating among the public.

Le Pen, who had described the investigation in its earlier stages as a “political interference,” said Thursday the probe was a sign the political establishment was trying to silence her.

“If they are trying to silence me, they will not succeed,” she said.

Le Pen and her party face other investigations into their financial conduct. In one case, the National Front is accused of paying parliamentary assistants from the European Union funds. There is also a probe into how the party has financed the past election campaigns.

Under the French judicial law, if a person is placed under formal investigation, like the one Le Pen is involved in over Daesh tweets, the person could be sent to trial. If Le Pen is convicted of the charges, she could face a maximum sentence of several years in jail and a 75,000 euro fine.

Source: Presstv

2, March 2018

Teachers detained in Cameroon over pay protest ⁰

More than 200 Cameroonian teachers demanding back pay and allowances have been arrested and detained in police stations across the capital Yaoundé after attempting to hold street protests on Tuesday.

Their family members say they have not had any contact since.

The leader of group, Samuel Ekoto, told BBC Afrique that plans to resolve the pay dispute last year weren’t honoured, adding:

We demand the release of our colleagues. Some of us have been waiting one, two, three years [for a resolution over pay] but there’s a lack of commitment from the authorities.”

But some teachers disagree. A spokesman for another teacher’s body, Jacques Bessala Ngono, told BBC Afrique it believed progress was being made in talks with the authorities and so had cut ties with those who protested.

Culled from the BBC

1, March 2018

Cardinal Sarah: High-ranking prelates are trying to change Christian morality ⁰

Cardinal Sarah has pointed out that high-ranking prelates are trying to change Christian morality. The cardinal also said the West was ‘committing suicide’ by losing its Christian faith

Senior churchmen are undermining Church teaching on life, marriage and the family, Cardinal Robert Sarah has said.

In a speech in Belgium, the cardinal accused high-ranking prelates from “opulent nations” of trying to modify Christian morality, and attacked pressure groups that “with powerful financial means and ties to the media, attack the natural purpose of marriage and commit themselves to destroying the family unit.”

Cardinal Sarah made the remarks – reported in La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana and translated by Giuseppe Pellegrino – in front of several senior Belgian churchmen, including Cardinal Josef De Kesel, the apostolic nuncio and Abbot Philippe Mawet.

Abbot Mawet had criticised Cardinal Sarah just days earlier in an article for Libre Belgique.

The cardinal said:

Some high-ranking prelates, above all those coming from opulent nations, are working to cause modifications to Christian morality with regard to the absolute respect for life from conception until natural death, the question of the divorced and civilly remarried, and other problematic family situations. These ‘guardians of the faith’ however ought not to lose sight of the fact that the problem posed by the fragmentation of the ends of marriage is a problem of natural morality.

He continued:

The great derivations became manifest when some prelates or Catholic intellectuals began to say or write ‘a green light for abortion,’ ‘a green light for euthanasia.’ Now, from the moment that Catholics abandon the teaching of Jesus and the Magisterium of the Church, they contribute to the destruction of the natural institution of marriage as well as the family and it is now the entire human family which finds itself fractured by this new betrayal on the part of priests.

During his visit to Belgium, Cardinal Sarah also gave an interview with Catholic media outlet Cathobel in which he repeated his criticism of fellow clergy.

“Faith has become lacking, not only on the level of the people of God but also among those responsible for the Church,” he said. “Sometimes we can ask ourselves if we really have faith.”

This lack of faith is also affecting the wider culture, he added:

“Not only is the West losing its soul, but it is committing suicide, because a tree without roots is condemned to death. I think that the West cannot renounce its roots, which created its culture and its values.”

The cardinal said “chilling things” were happening in the West, and Western nations were exporting those things to the developing world.

“I think that a parliament which authorizes the death of an innocent baby, without defence, is committing a grave act of violence against the human person.

“When abortion is imposed, especially on nations in the developing world, saying that if they do not accept it they will no longer receive aid, it is an act of violence. And it is no surprise.

“When God is abandoned, man is also abandoned; there is no longer a clear vision of who man is. This is a great anthropological crisis in the West. And it leads to people being treated like objects.”

Culled from the Catholic Herald

1, March 2018

Cameroon Gambling – youth and old going-gaga over new gaming machines ⁰

The China coin operated tabletop gambling machines have become so much in vogue in most parts of Cameroon, with youth going gaga-over and turning out to be the main users.Playing games of chance have become the latest fad in most towns and villages in the country. With FCFA 100, small attractive machines stationed in roadside shops and beer parlours in the nooks and corners of the country has become an epicentre of attraction for both young and old as huge masses line up in front of them in order to make money.

When Cameroon Tribune (CT) called on some of the towns and villages in the country found out that many young people are fascinated and hooked up to these machines. Most operators wish to conceal about the gambling business and how the machines got into their shops. During a trip to the Mintom Sub-division in the Dja and Lobo Division in the South Region, CT reporters met a throng of youth inserting FCFA 100 coins into one of such machines. When asked the name of the machine and the reasons for the different football teams written on the machine, none of them had an answer. Information on the machines is written in English Language, in some cases with erroneous spelling such as football being spelt as “foorball”. The only thing most Mintom youths, just like those in other neighbourhoods in Yaounde could say about the gambling machine is where to insert FCFA 100, the start button and the “retreat” button in case the machine indicates you have won some coins which could be between one coin (FCFA 100) to 50 coins or FCFA 5,000.

CT gathered that the name of the machine is China coin operated table top gambling machines. On these machines, is written only old or new FCFA 100 coins are accepted with a warning: “not for persons under 18 years”.It is a portable machine that carries the names of popular football teams in the world such as Chelsea, FC Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus and Cameroon in some. Each team is found several times on the playing board, representing a particular number of coins. If an individual picks a team which is later selected by the machine as the winning team, the machine tells you the number of coins that team represents. If the selected team does not match with what the machine selects, the player loses. One of such machines is found in a roadside shop at the Mvog-Atangana Mballa neighbourhood in Yaounde. The owner of the shop refused to comment on how he got the machine. All he said was that the operator of the machine is not around. When asked the contacts of the operator, the shopkeeper said he does not have. After some days, the machine was no longer available at the spot.

At another neighbourhood in Yaounde, the bar attendant who refused to be identified said the machine belongs to “Chinese people”. When asked the contacts of the “Chinese people” he replied that they do not speak French or English and that one can only talk to them through an interpreter. But he needed the consent of the interpreter before handing his contacts to CT reporters, a thing he has not been ready to do so far. However, a bar operator said the machines were brought into the country by some Chinese businessmen residing in the Elig-Essono neighbourhood in Yaounde.

As CT reporters tried to know the exact location of the businessmen, the bar owner quickly said: “They are in a home, not an open shop.” Before placing the machines in any shop or bar, the Chinese partner gets into a deal with the bar owner to give them 30 percent of profit each time they come to empty the content of the machines.

The machine is computerised and programmed by the Chinese. The machine records the number of coins inserted and the number of players that won. Thus, each week a Chinese is seen collecting the machine to withdraw the numerous coins of FCFA 100 left within. These machines have become the best playground for many young people in the country. Some of them, in their school attire, are seen gambling for several hours. Recently in Yaounde around the Soa neighbourhood, the forces of law and order went on the offensive to rid the area of these machines.

Source: cameroon-tribune.cm