14, February 2018

Nigeria’s Islamic Movement holds rally to demand justice for slain members ⁰

Supporters of the Islamic Movement (IMN) in Nigeria have staged yet another peaceful protest, demanding justice for a slain Muslim cleric and their leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, Press TV reports.

On Tuesday, hundreds of members of the Islamic Movement poured onto the streets of the capital Abuja to demand justice for the slain cleric Sheikh Qassim Umar. They said the perpetrators of the crime must be brought to justice.

Umar recently died of wounds he sustained during an earlier protest in January.

The procession further pressed for the immediate and unconditional release of their leader Sheikh Zakzaky, who has been held in custody for more than two years in Nigeria.

The top Shia cleric lost his left eyesight in a raid which was carried out by the Nigerian army on his residence in the northern town of Zaria in December 2015.

This photo taken on August 11, 2016 shows protesters from the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) holding a banner with a photograph of detained leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky to press for his release, in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. (Photo by AFP)

During the raid, Zakzaky’s wife sustained serious wounds too and more than 300 of his followers and three of his sons were killed. Zakzaky, his wife, and a large number of the cleric’s followers have since been in custody.

The raid occurred a day after Nigerian soldiers attacked a group of Shia Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious center in the city of Zaria, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army’s chief of staff and attempting to “assassinate” him, which the Shia Muslims strongly denied.

Despite the ruling of a Federal High Court, which ordered his unconditional release in 2016, the Nigerian government has refused to set him free.

Last month, a UK-based NGO known as the Islamic Human Rights Commission, voiced concern over the health condition of the detained Muslim cleric. The commission in a statement also called on Nigerian authorities to immediately release Shiekh Zakzaky over his deteriorating health condition.

“In view of his deteriorating health, it is now more urgent than ever to allow Sheikh Zakzaky to be allowed access to immediate medical attention in order to assess the extent of his injuries caused by the stroke and access the necessary medical treatment,” read the statement.

Nigeria allowed Zakzaky to make a rare public appearance last month to counter rumors that he had died.

IMN’s followers have been subjected to a heavy-handed crackdown since two years ago when the army attacked a religious ceremony in their stronghold of Zaria.

Source: Presstv

14, February 2018

South Africa facing political showdown on President Zuma fate ⁰

South Africa braced Tuesday for a major political showdown as scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma rejected a direct order from the ruling ANC party to leave office.

The power struggle over Zuma’s departure put the president at loggerheads with Cyril Ramaphosa, his expected successor, who is the new head of the African National Congress.

The party’s powerful 107-member national executive committee (NEC) met for 13 hours at a hotel outside Pretoria, and decided in the early hours of Tuesday to “recall” Zuma from his post.

Ramaphosa and Ace Magashule, the party’s secretary-general, had personally delivered a request for Zuma to resign to the president’s official residence in Pretoria at about midnight.

South African ruling Party African National Congress Secretary General Ace Magashule gives a press briefing on February 13, 2018 on the outcome of the ANC National Executive Committee, in Johannesburg at the African National Congress Headquarters. (Photo by AFP)

But Zuma “was very arrogant. He told them he was not going anywhere as he did nothing wrong,” an unnamed ANC committee member told the Mail and Guardian newspaper.

“He told them if the ANC issued a statement on its decision to recall him, he will retaliate.”

The ANC — which was once led by anti-apartheid struggle leader Nelson Mandela — reportedly gave Zuma 48 hours to step down.

ANC officials were not reachable Tuesday, but the party called a press conference for 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) at its headquarters in Johannesburg.

The ANC can “recall” the head of state, essentially forcing him to resign, but the process is a party-level instruction and he is under no constitutional obligation to obey.

If he refuses, Zuma would then likely be ousted via a parliamentary vote of no-confidence within days.

Ramaphosa, the de facto president-in-waiting, has been in deadlocked negotiations with Zuma, who first dismissed a request from party leaders to resign more than a week ago.

The stalemate has plunged South Africa — Africa’s most developed economy — into uncertainty over who is running the country, with a series of public events cancelled last week including the annual State of the Nation address to parliament.

South African opposition parties have called for early elections as the ANC’s leadership battle grinds on.

An opposition request for a no-confidence vote against Zuma, 75, this week was still being considered by the parliamentary Speaker.

(Source: AFP)

14, February 2018

Cameroon: Biya celebrates birthday while country is on the brink ⁰

Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, on Wednesday, February 13, 2018, celebrated his 85th birthday with very expensive cakes, even as the country and its economy continue their onward march to the bottom of the abyss. The Yaoundé strong man cut the huge cake in the presence of his wife while onlookers at the presidency cheered him on.

Mr. Biya who has been declared either critically sick or dead used the occasion to prove that he was still hale and hearty, and was still in command of things in the country. The 85 – year-old dictator has been allowing his actions to shut up his critics who have been saying that he was either on life support or dead.

The dictator’s birthday has been celebrated with pump and pageantry at a time when the country is dealing with Boko Haram insurgency in the north, rebels in the east and Southern Cameroons separatists in the country’s English-speaking regions.

However, opponents of the dictator point out that the picture used to support the assertion that Mr. Biya celebrated his birthday was photo-shopped, arguing that Mr. Biya and his government are used to manipulating Cameroonians.

It should be recalled that the crisis in the country’s English-speaking regions has lasted for about 15 months despite government efforts to impose peace in the region.

Since October 2016 when the crisis started, more than 500 civilians have been killed, several villages torched by retaliating soldiers, and some 300 uniformed officers have been sent to an early grave.

Despite numerous calls by the international community for inclusive dialogue, Mr. Biya and his government have insisted on using military violence as their tool of choice to end the rebellion.

But their methods have only radicalized most Southern Cameroonian s and spurred the various armed groups into intensifying their attacks on soldiers and Gendarmes as a means of self-defense.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde

13, February 2018

Cameroon: Second-hand goods users and dealers lament over high prices ⁰

The second-hand goods business has known heydays in Cameroon, but current trends are a little disturbing for both users and importers of these goods. In Cameroon more than 80 percent of the population survives thanks to second-hand goods imported mostly from Europe and North America.

Users of these products are usually considered as low-income earners whose resources cannot let them walk into some of the chic shops in the country. In the past, while the rich considered these goods as being underneath their social class, users of imported second-hand good held that these goods were not only more durable than brand new goods, they were within reach financially.

Today, as the prices of goods escalate worldwide, these goods have become rare and obtaining them is becoming a nightmare to the population. All over the country, consumers are complaining that these goods have become very difficult to access due to high prices.

Exif_JPEG_420

Talking to some second-hand household equipment retailers at the Obili and Essos neighborhoods in Yaounde, we figured out that the high prices are due to high importation cost importers have to pay to get the goods into Cameroon.

While retailers blame this unfortunate situation on importers of these goods, the importers, for their part, blame the unfortunate situation on high taxes, corrupt customs officers and high custom duties. Many Cameroonians hold that D.I.T, the company in charge of imported containers at the Douala seaport, is also to blame due to arbitrary decisions and corrupt practices that are hurting Cameroonians financially and the company’s reputation.

Focusing on second-hand cars which are highly solicited by Cameroonians, we were told by dealers that, the prices of these cars had increased because the government had tactically increased some taxes at the Douala Port. Some of the taxes on second-hand cars, they say, can be witnessed at SOCOMAR, a company in charge of imported cars at the Douala seaport. Many used car importers claim that some taxes have increased from about CFAF 21,000 to about CFAF 35,000 for vehicles whose first registration was in 2000 and from about CFAF 18,000 to about CFAF 25,000 for vehicles whose first registration was in 1992 and up.

Meanwhile, duty has increased from about 67% to about 87%. Some of the taxes that are posing challenges to car importers and clearing agents include the “stationing tax” and “the entry or pass tax”. The stationing tax has increased from CFAF 350 to CFAF 1,650 per day, while the entry or pass tax has increased from CFAF 500 to CFAF 1,850 per day.

The stationing tax is the tax paid per day for space occupied by an imported car at the SOCOMAR car park. Despite threats of a strike action by car importers and clearing agents, SOCOMAR authorities are turning a deaf ear. Clearing a car at the SOCOMAR car park takes more than 14 days instead of 5 days as it was in the past.

According to the car importers and clearing agents, the increase in these two taxes in particular and the dereliction duty on the part of SOCOMAR authorities are deliberate attempts by these authorities to extort money from them.

Many used car importers hold that SOCOMAR is one of the most corrupt company at the Douala seaport. It is common knowledge that custom officers and other taxation officers usually use coded language like “five greens, two greens, one green and half green” to refer to CFAF 50,000, CFAF 20,000, CFAF 10,000 and CFAF 5,000 respectively when asking for a bribe.

Talking to some clearing agents on the coded language used by custom officials, they all angrily referred to a certain Muslim lady who is an Inspector of customs at SOCOMAR whose name Cameroon Concord News has decided to withhold.

Exif_JPEG_420

It should be recalled that on December 22, 2017, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC) published a list of 21 custom officers who own many luxurious buildings in Cameroon and bank accounts of over CFAF 134 million. Cameroonians are still waiting to see if legal actions will be taken against them.

Many are also looking forward to this ill-gotten wealth to be recovered by the state. On August 4, 2016, Cameroon and the European Union signed an economic partnership agreement exempting some goods from taxes and custom duty with the objective of improving the country’s economic situation.

Despite these exemptions, the country’s economy is not improving as thought. Many importers are still facing the same situation and corruption that has made life challenging to the ordinary man is still persisting and blighting many lives.

Meanwhile, President Paul Biya in his February 10, 2018, speech to the country’s youths, blamed the economic hardship in the country on the insecurity in the Northern Region as well as the Anglophone crisis that has been playout for over fifteen months.

He tactically avoided touching on the corrupt activities of government officials who due to continuous unnecessary increase in state budget have created loopholes that are helping some individuals to line their pockets to the detriment of ordinary citizens who are made to pay some of those punitive taxes.

For two years running, custom duty and other taxes have been increased and this is discouraging many young businessmen who want to join the goods importation business. This is not pleasing to many young Cameroonians who hold that business will be an opportunity for them to escape poverty and unemployment that have transformed the country into a living hell.

By Meshack Mbeng Enowmbi in Yaounde

13, February 2018

Poachers kill six troops, two others in Cameroon wildlife park ⁰

Poachers killed six troops and two guides in a wildlife park in northern Cameroon, Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said Monday.

“Six members of the defence forces and two civilian guides were killed ” on Thursday during a clash with heavily-armed men on horseback in Bouba Ndjida national park in the north of the country, Beti Assomo said in a statement aired on state radio.

In 2012, 128 elephants were killed in the Bouba Ndjida park within two months, according to the government. The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) put the figure at 480.

The WWF attributed that massacre to poachers from Sudan and Chad.

Since March 2012, Cameroon has deployed a hundred troops in the wildlife reserve to help deal with the threat from poachers and protect the elephant population for which the park is known.

The eight people killed in Thursday´s violence were carrying out a routine patrol, source said.

Poaching has killed an estimated 110,000 elephants over the last decade, with transnational organised crime syndicates taking over the illicit trade.

The most recent figures, for 2016, showed the global trade in illegal ivory continues to thrive in light of record seizures despite a decline in poaching.

According to the Great Elephant Census in 2016, the first ever pan-African survey of savanna elephants, numbers are estimated to have fallen to 352,000, down from 1.3 million in 1979.

Source: The News.com

13, February 2018

Ambazonia Defense Force claim to have kidnapped Cameroon official ⁰

Namata Diteng, the deputy head of the anglophone Batibo district, has been missing since Sunday, when his burnt-out car was found in an isolated area

Cameroon’s army said on Monday that it was continuing to search for a local official after separatists in a restive English-speaking region claimed to have captured him.

Namata Diteng, the deputy head of the anglophone Batibo district, has been missing since Sunday, when his burnt-out car was found in an isolated area.

He had been meant to preside over local festivities for Cameroon Youth Day, a controversial day in the country’s two anglophone regions — in the northwest and southwest — where dozens of people have been killed since October after a violent crackdown on protests against the mainly French-speaking government.

The leader of an anglophone separatist movement, Ayaba Lucas Cho, said on social media Sunday that his group had captured Diteng. There were numerous appeals by separatists online to “kill the prisoner” of the “colonial army”.

Army spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck told AFP that Cameroon forces were continuing their search for Diteng on Monday night.

Badjeck also dismissed as “fake news” a picture of a dead man circulating online that some separatists claimed was Diteng.

A week-long curfew was imposed on Saturday after separatists made threats on social media to disrupt the celebrations on February 11, the date a referendum was held in 1961 on whether the English-speaking regions would join French-speaking Cameroon.

Cameroon forces killed 23 assailants on Sunday in the southwestern village of Kembong, Badjeck said, in an attack in which three soldiers also died.

Badjeck said there was another separatist attack on a police station in Ekok, in the southwest of the country near the border with Nigeria, on Sunday night.

Members of the Cameroonian army and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) “routed the attackers”, he said, adding that “15 terrorists” were arrested in the area on Monday.

The bloodshed is the latest episode in an escalating crisis in the country’s southwest and northwest regions, home to an English-speaking minority that accounts for about a fifth of the population.

Many English-speakers have accused the francophone majority of discrimination and that has fuelled a separatist movement.

In October, the separatists declared the anglophone regions as the self-proclaimed republic of “Ambazonia”, prompting a forceful reaction by the government.

Source: Mail Online

13, February 2018

Former US Vice President Joe Biden says Trump presidency ‘a tragedy’ ⁰

US President Donald Trump’s presidency is a “tragedy,” says former Vice president Joe Biden, accusing the Republican head of state of “shredding” America’s core values.

“I look at the Trump presidency as a tragedy in two acts,” Biden said last week, addressing the House Democrats Issues Conference at the US Capitol, Newsweek reported Monday night.

“The first is to what we stand for as a nation, with the core values and our standing in the world and in many cases, the democracy,” he argued.

The second act of Trump’s presidency, according to Biden, was his behavior that kept members of the US Congress from doing their job.

“This president is doing great damage,” Biden added. “We are so concerned with stopping the attack, as we should be, on American values, on our principles, that we’re having great trouble getting to the point of doing the real work of restoring the middle class and the working class.”

The former VP, who served under President Barack Obama and is said to be one of the Democratic Party’s hopefuls to confront Trump in the 2020 race for the White House, called on Trump to stop acting like “the neighborhood bully” by using insulting words to refer to others.

Trump has stirred controversy by calling top Democratic Senator Adam Schiff as “little Adam Schiff” and attacking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “short and fat madman.”

Biden also blasted the president for mixing his act with an “ugly and phony populism” that was putting the “moral fabric” of American society to the test.

“You know what that fabric’s made of. It’s made of decency. Just simple honesty; just the notion that dignity and respect… treat your opponent as well as your friend with respect,” Biden said.

Biden said he had decided not to publicly criticize Trump but could no longer keep quiet after the president’s handling of violent clashes between white supremacists and counter protesters in Charlottesville, last August.

Trump blamed both sides for the violence, which killed a young woman and injured several others.

Back in November, Biden took another shot at Trump, this time calling him a “charlatan” for taking advantage of frustrated middle class voters.

Source: Presstv

13, February 2018

Construction starts on Cameroon’s first destination retail mall ⁰

Actis (www.Act.is), a leading growth markets investor has started construction on “Douala Grand Mall & Business Park”, Cameroon’s first destination retail & leisure mall.

Developed by Actis and local partner Craft Development, Douala Grand Mall will comprise of 18,000 square metres of retail and leisure space, close to Bonapriso in Cameroon’s largest city. The mall will include multiple restaurants, a children’s play zone, a five screen cinema, a supermarket and retail shops. The Mall is Phase 1 of the development which also includes a business park hosting a hotel and corporate offices spaces.

To continue its strategic roll-out in modern trade, CFAO the international group specialised in distribution in Africa, has signed an agreement to set up and operate a Carrefour Market in the shopping mall and the leading Hospitality & Entertainment conglomerate Genesis Group is the cinema anchor.

The South African contractor, Raubex has been appointed as the general contractor and is now mobilised on site. A formal ground-breaking will take place mid-2018. The project is expected to create over 4,500 jobs using local material and labour and has been granted tax incentives following a convention signed with the Government of the Republic of Cameroon.

Amanda Jean-Baptiste, Partner, Head of West Africa, Real Estate at Actis, said: “Actis is thrilled to reach this key milestone in delivering Cameroon’s first destination retail mall; anchored by two flagship brands seeking to benefit from the growing consumer power. The Mall will make a significant contribution to job creation and other economic indicators in the Cameroonian economy.”

Mathurin Jidjouc Kamdem CEO of Craft Development added: this is a landmark project that will provide the vibrant city of Douala with one of its biggest international standard mixed-used development, with over 4,500 jobs created in both the construction and the operation phases.

Actis is also invested in the electricity sector in Cameroon. In partnership with the government Actis holds a majority interest in the country’s electricity utility, Eneo. Actis is in advanced discussions with the Government to facilitate further significant investment into the energy sector to continue to expand the electricity grid and improve the quality of supply. Actis has also established Honoris United Universities, a pan-African higher education business which brings together the most prestigious universities, Actis also has a strong presence across the wider Francophone Africa region including energy, education and healthcare businesses.

Source: Internationalsupermarketnews

13, February 2018

Cameroon villagers killed, Church torched, As Boko Haram Militants Attack Christians ⁰

A Christian advocacy and aid group has urged prayers for “traumatized” Christians in Cameroon after at least four villagers were reportedly killed by Islamic militants.

Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC) said fighters of the Islamic terror group Boko Haram stormed the village of Roum in Cameroon’s Far North Region late January 16 and destroyed churches and other properties. “Residents…were abruptly awoken…as blazing fires engulfed two churches and numerous homes in their village community,” VOMC added in a statement to BosNewsLife.

“In addition to the destruction of the Union des Eglise Evangelique Church and a Catholic parish, the fire also destroyed 93 huts, 20 food storehouses, and 11 motorbikes,” VOMC noted. Near the village, a health center of the evangelical church was also attacked, Christians said.

Nigeria-based Boko Haram reportedly claimed responsibility for the violence, which followed its raids in nearby towns, including Mozogo and Moskota, BosNewsLife learned.

Christian communities in the Far North Region sharing a border with Nigeria have been most affected by Boko Haram’s suicide bombings and raids for some nine years said activists familiar with the situation.

ISLAMIST INSURGENCY

The Islamist insurgency spilled over the border from Nigeria, killing 20,000 and uprooting nearly 3 million in the Lake Chad region, according to several estimates.

“The department of Mayo-Tsanga, which includes Mozogo and Moskota, is one of the militants’ constant targets,” VOMC explained.

In August last year, six siblings were reportedly kidnapped from Moskota during a night raid by Boko Haram. Their father, Adamu Nguda, who served as a church elder, was killed and their mother “left behind in a state of total shock,” VOMC recalled.

“Thankfully, the children, who were between the ages of three and 15 at the time, managed to escape from captivity safely. They were later found close to the country’s border near Nigeria by a group of vigilantes,” the group said.

URGING PRAYERS

VOMC urged its supporters to pray that “these many traumatized victims of terrorism be kept safe from any further threats or attacks.” And, it’s crucial to “Ask the Lord to lovingly minister great comfort and hope as they recover from their loss,” the group stressed.

VOMC said Christians in the region should also “receive practical assistance — such as shelter, food, transportation, places of worship — so they will know of His provision and restoration in their lives and communities.”

Church followers comprise a majority of Cameroon’s population of roughly 25 million people but are facing increasingly Islamic attacks.

Poverty also remains an issue with life expectancy low at about 55 years due to the prevalence of the AIDS virus HIV and an elevated maternal mortality rate, which has remained high since 1990, according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

“Cameroon, particularly the northern region, is [also] vulnerable to food insecurity largely because of government mismanagement, corruption, high production costs, inadequate infrastructure, and natural disasters,” the agency added in a recent assessment.

Source: Bosnewslife

13, February 2018

Ruler since 1982, Biya turns 85 as strife grips parts of Cameroon ⁰

President Paul Biya of Cameroon celebrates his 85th birthday on Tuesday after 35 years at the helm of a country that today faces daunting problems, including a separatist revolt.

“The Cameroon of tomorrow, which is developing before our eyes, will have little connection with the Cameroon of yesterday… Let us seize the chance and take up the challenge,” Biya on Saturday said in a speech on the nation’s youth.

Three-quarters of Cameroon’s population, according to the most recent available statistics from 2014, are under 25. They were yet to be born when Biya in November 1982 settled into the presidential residence of Etoudi in the capital Yaounde, also called the Palace of Unity.

Biya urged young Cameroonians to vote in the next general elections due at the end of 2018, including a presidential poll.

But — true to his nickname of “the Sphinx” — he remained silent on whether he plans to run for a seventh term.

Several candidates have already declared their intentions, but the presidential camp has long since learned to keep a close watch over dissenting voices.

– ‘Divide and rule’ –

Biya has locked down all key posts and institutions, up to the creation early in February of a Constitutional Council of 11 members, the majority of whom come from the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC). Their duties will notably include the validation of election results.

A former student in a Roman Catholic seminary and then of political science in Paris, Biya “has put the saying ‘divide and rule’ into practice,” said Stephane Akoa, a researcher at the Paul Ango Ela Foundation.

“This is how he is able to remain at the apex of the system — forces who might have contested his power can’t get organised, let alone form a coalition.”

The most obvious threats to this picture come from separatists in the anglophone west, where two provinces were united with French-speaking Cameroon after independence in 1960. English-speakers comprise a fifth of the population.

Resentment runs high over perceived neglect by the francophone-majority regime. Dozens of people have been killed on both sides since a bloody crackdown on protest by October, sparking an escalation of bloodshed that led to a week-long curfew on Saturday.

Northern Cameroon, meanwhile, is vulnerable to raids against civilians and troops from across the border by Nigeria’s jihadist group Boko Haram. Cameroon is part of a regional military coalition formed to crush the movement.

– Foreign trips –

Biya’s taste for alpaca suits and silk ties and repeated and often lengthy absences, especially to Switzerland, have been a source for criticism in a nation where more than a third of the population still survives on less than two euros ($2.40) a day.

The foreign trips in particular have raised questions about Biya’s health. Rumours that he was sick circulated again at the end of January, but they were confounded by his television appearance on Saturday. His public appearances are so rare that they are closely scrutinised.

Biya offered an upbeat assessment of the state of the nation. The threat from Boko Haram is “considerably reduced”, the anglophone regions have “calmed down” — though three gendarmes were killed on Sunday — and the national economy has been “embellished”, as he put it.

External commentators, though, say the threat of instability is casting a lengthening shadow.

“With the troubles in anglophone regions and the persistent threat from Boko Haram, the 2018 elections will be a greater challenge than previous votes,” said Hans De Marie Heungoup, a researcher with the International Crisis Group (ICG) thinktank.

Source: The Citizen