7, September 2017

Maroua: Boko Haram kills 3 in dawn ambush ⁰

Three people were killed in an attack attributed to Boko Haram last night in the small border town of Dzaba, in the Mayo Moskota Division in the Far North region of La Republique du Cameroun. Security officials operating within the area say 9 people including women and children are missing.

According to another community source, the missing persons were kidnapped by militants of the Nigerian Islamic sect. We also gathered that 48 businesses and homes were burnt down by Boko Haram assailants during the attack.

Amnesty International recently reported that Boko Haram has killed at least 158 civilians since April 2017 in Cameroon, in armed attacks and suicide bombings. This is four times more than in the first five months of the year.

This upsurge in attacks is occurring in a context where the Nigerian Islamic sect, which has paid allegiance to the organization of the Islamic state and is now called the Islamic Province in West Africa, was announced militarily weakened.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News

6, September 2017

Boko Haram Crisis: Cholera spreading in Nigeria ⁰

Cholera is spreading fast through camps housing people displaced by Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Most deaths were recorded in Muna Garage camp on the outskirts of state capital Maiduguri, the epicenter of the extremist insurgency that has also destabilized neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

A UN report said more than 530 suspected cases of cholera had been registered by Tuesday – more than three times the number reported five days earlier.

Twenty-three people had died, it added, up from 11 reported on Aug. 31.

The outbreak began late last month, and aid workers had already warned that Nigeria’s rainy season could spread disease in already unsanitary displacement camps.

About 1.8 million people have abandoned their homes because of violence or food shortages during the conflict, UN agencies say.

Displaced families stand at the main gate of a camp for internally displaced people at Monguno district of Borno State on February 14, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

As well as Muna Garage, the nearby camps of Custom House, Ruwan Zafi and Bolori II also had cholera cases, and there were reports of outbreaks in the areas of Moguno and Dikwa, northeast and east of Maiduguri, the UN note said.

In Dikwa, 80 km (50 miles) from Maiduguri, there were 103 suspected cholera cases, 17 of which had been confirmed with a rapid screening test at the local hospital, but no outbreak had been officially declared.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection spread by contaminated food and water. It can be easily treated with oral rehydration solution if caught early, but the disease can kill within hours if left untreated.

The latest figures suggested a 4.3 percent fatality rate – well above the 1 percent rate that the World Health Organization rates as an emergency. The short incubation period of two hours to five days means the disease can spread with explosive speed.

(Source: Reuters)

6, September 2017

US ambassador to Cameroon is leaving in the middle of the Anglophone Crisis ⁰

French Cameroun dictator, Paul BIYA has granted a farewell audience to the outgoing U.S. Ambassador – Michael Stephen Hoza. Both personalities met at the Unity Palace on Wednesday 6 September 2017.

Speaking to reporters after the audience, Ambassador Stephen Hoza emphasised that the U.S. will prolong its partnership with Cameroon – “a country with a bright future”.

Stephen Hoza noted that he was “proud to say that the United States and Cameroon broadened cooperation in numerous areas, such as in security, politics, economics, health, education, and the environment- issues that were never felt by the local population.

The U.S. Diplomat’s three-year stay in Cameroon significantly strengthened bilateral relations with CPDM sources claiming U.S. commercial investment rose from approximately US$300 million to over US$2 billion.

In his normal pro government pattern, Ambassador Stephen Hoza commended President Paul BIYA’s consolidation of peace and stability, which are keys to the attainment of an emerging economy. He also underlined the Head of State’s leadership in the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, and his handling of the refugee crisis in the Central African Republic.

Culled from the Presidency of the Republic

6, September 2017

Crop-eating army worm hits Northern Cameroon, Worsening Food Crisis ⁰

Crop-eating fall army worms have attacked nearly 37,000 hectares of maize in northern Cameroon, officials said on Wednesday, accentuating an already dire humanitarian crisis provoked by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram’s cross-border insurgency.

More than two dozen African nations have reported outbreaks of the invasive Central American variety of the pest, which is harder to detect and eradicate than its African counterpart.

They have now spread to all of Cameroon’s 10 administrative regions, though maize crops in the Extreme North region have only been heavily affected since July, Deputy Agriculture Minister Clementine Ananga Messina told Reuters.

“The army worm attack endangers the entire maize sector and is creating serious risks of food insecurity, because it’s the most commonly grown cereal in Cameroon,” she said. The Extreme North region bordering Chad and Nigeria has been hit hard by Boko Haram, whose campaign of violence and cross-border attacks has sent more than 93,000 Nigerians fleeing into Cameroon where some 235,000 people have also been displaced.

Across the Lake Chad region around 1.5 million people are confronting a food crisis, according to the United Nations. Cameroonian authorities have launched an action plan to fight against the infestation, but so far pesticides have failed to contain it.

“There are no effective means to fight armyworm currently existing in Cameroon,” said Agriculture Ministry expert Andre Marie Elombat Assoua. “The chemical products now being used by farmers are ineffective and too expensive.”
Around 12 million Cameroonians, more than half of the national population, regularly consume maize. It is also an important ingredient for the central African nation’s breweries and in the production of feed for livestock. Though the fall armyworm prefers maize, it also attacked sorghum and millet, two of Cameroon’s other staple crops, earlier this year.

Source: Reuters

6, September 2017

US: Thousands protest against rescinding ‘dreamer’ immigration program ⁰

Mass protests have been held in cities across the United States after President Donald Trump canceled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that protected young immigrants.

The DACA program allowed nearly 800,000 young men and women, often called “dreamers”, who had entered the country as illegal immigrants, to stay in the US.

After Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the announcement on Tuesday, thousands of demonstrators held protests in different cities including Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, Washington DC, New York City and elsewhere.

Students from South Mountain High School walk out of class in Phoenix, Sept. 5, 2017. They were protesting the elimination of the program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. (Photo via The Republic)

In Chicago, hundreds of protesters marched through downtown to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. Their demonstration forced the diversion of traffic from an entrance to an expressway.

In Los Angeles, some protesters were holding signs, denouncing Trump’s decision, while some others told their stories.

One woman said her family had come to the US when she was seven to escape violence in Guatemala, but now, “Where do I go from here?” she asked.

“We went through so much things that a 7-year-old should never have to go,” said Yamilex, who asked to only be identified by her first name.

In Manhattan, where activists gathered on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower, police arrested at least 34 protesters, a New York Police Department spokesperson told CBS News.

A protester is arrested for blocking traffic at the Brooklyn Bridge at a rally to defend DACA, on September 5, 2017 in New York. (Photo by AFP)

“I don’t consider Mexico my home,” said a woman, 24, who came to the US from Mexico when she was 4. “Home is here in New York.”

In Denver, high school students took to the streets, holding signs in support of DACA. They later joined a larger demonstration downtown.

“I started crying because I don’t think it’s fair that people think that DACA is something wrong when it’s not,” said Maria Daniela Lopez, a DACA applicant.

Hours before Sessions announced the decision, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the White House, shouting, “We are America” and “We want education. Down with deportation.”

They then marched toward the Department of Justice, where the announcement was made, and later to the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue and began a sit-in.

Pro-DACA protesters march away from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, September 5, 2017. (Photo via slate.com)

Trump’s administration said the move was necessary to show respect for the country’s immigration laws, and said nobody covered by the program would be affected before March 5.

Trump ordered a phased-out dismantling of DACA that gives a gridlocked Congress six months to decide the fate of these immigrants.

Source: Presstv

6, September 2017

President Putin says Trump is not my bride, and I’m not his groom ⁰

Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to comment on domestic American politics and to criticize his US counterpart, taking a jab at Donald Trump by saying “He is not my bride, and I’m not his groom.”

Putin made the remarks at a news conference on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in China on Tuesday, answering a question whether the Russian leader was “disappointed” in Trump and in the improvement of Moscow-Washington relations amid a simmering diplomatic feud between the two countries.

Dismissing the question as “very naive,” Putin chastised the reporter and said, “He is not my bride, neither am I his bride or groom,” referring to the US president.

“Trump is guided by the national interests of his country, and I by mine. I very much hope that we will be able, as the current US president has said, to reach some compromise in resolving bilateral and international problems,” the Russian president added.

Putin also declined to comment on the prospect of the US president being impeached, saying it would be “absolutely wrong” to discuss US domestic politics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference after BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China, on September 5, 2017.

During the conference, the Russian president censured as “uncivil,” the recent US decision to expel Russian diplomats from a consulate in San Francisco with just two days’ notice.

“The Americans had the right to reduce the number of our diplomatic offices. It is another matter altogether that they have done this in way that was absolutely uncivil. This does not do reflect well on our American partners,” he said.

“It is difficult to talk to people who confuse Austria and Australia. But there is nothing we can do about this; this is the level of political culture among part of the American establishment,” Putin noted.

The Russian president further called the shuttering of some Russian diplomatic facilities in the US “an obvious violation of property rights” and said that, “for starters,” he would instruct the Foreign Ministry to challenge the decision in court.

Ties between US and Russia have deteriorated especially since the US intelligence community concluded that Russia meddled in last year’s election to help Trump over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. The Kremlin has verily dismissed the allegations of interference in the US elections.

In December 2016, then US president Barack Obama ordered out 35 Russian diplomats and closed down two embassy summer houses over reports of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Putin on Ukrainian conflict

At the Tuesday conference, Putin also warned the US against supplying weapons to Kiev, arguing that the decision would fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Putin said arming Ukraine will possibly prompt pro-Russia forces to expand their campaign, stressing that the move would not change the situation and would only add to the number of casualties.

“The delivery of weapons to a conflict zone doesn’t help peacekeeping efforts, but only worsens the situation,” he said. “Such a decision would not change the situation but the number of casualties could increase.”

The Russian president expressed alarm that the self-declared republics in eastern Ukraine have enough weapons to manage any possible war with Ukraine.

Putin also said he would submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council and propose the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in eastern Ukraine.

A Ukrainian serviceman fires a grenade launcher during fighting with pro-Russia forces in Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on March 30, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine after people in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea voted for unification with Russia in March 2014. The West brands the unification as annexation of the territory by Russia. The US and its allies in Europe also accuse Russia of having a major hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, an allegation denied by Moscow.

The crisis has left over 10,000 people dead and more than a million others displaced, according to the United Nations.

In September 2014, the government in Kiev and the pro-Russia forces signed a ceasefire agreement in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk in a bid to halt the fighting in Ukraine’s eastern regions, collectively known as the Donbass.

The warring sides also inked another truce deal, dubbed Minsk II, in February 2015 under the supervision of Russia, Germany, and France. Since then, however, sporadic fighting has occurred, with the parties blaming each other for initiating the violations.

Culled from Presstv

5, September 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Bui SDO’s office set on fire by protesters ⁰

Southern Cameroons protesters have set fire on an administrative building in Kumbo, the chief town in the Bui County. Cameroon Concord News learnt that the Senior Divisional Officer for Bui, Mooh Simon Émile was seriously wounded.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) dated 4 September 2017, a gendarme opened fire in self-defense against an attack that came while investigating a narcotics problem. The officer shot and killed one of his assailants who possessed homemade weapons, noted Joseph Beti Assomo.

Southern Cameroonians dissatisfied with the situation set ablaze the SDO’s office. Military reinforcements were carried out. The Secretary of State for Defense (SED) Jean Baptiste Bokam announced that he has suspended the Commander of the brigade concerned.

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

5, September 2017

Juventus and Italy legend Gianluigi Buffon says Thomas N’kono made him a goalkeeper ⁰

Veteran Gianluigi Buffon has confessed his own inspirations behind him being a goalkeeper, beginning with Cameroon goalie Thomas N’Kono. The goalkeeping talisman for both Juventus as well as the Italian national side has had a footballing career that has spanned four decades, and he has revealed how watching the 1990 World Cup at aged 12 moulded his dreams of his professional goalkeeping career.

It was not by watching the Italian team at the tournament that made him want to pursue a career with football – it came, instead, by watching goalkeeper N’Kono play for the Cameroon national team. Defending In Numbers is a new Deezer Originals football podcast, created by Squawka. Listen to the latest episode and subscribe to the podcast on Deezer and iTunes.

“When I was little, there was someone mythical in my life: Thomas N’Kono, the Cameroon goalkeeper,” said Buffon to Marca. “I saw him play at the 1990 World Cup and, after Italy, Cameroon were the team of my heart. It was at the 1990 World Cup in Italy. I remember the day of the first match, it was Argentina-Cameroon.

“Cameroon won and, at that moment, I decided to become a goalkeeper.” N’Kono is widely believed to be the greatest goalkeeper Africa has ever produced and similar narratives have surrounded Buffon for years. The 39-year-old veteran often being lauded as the best goalkeeper his international side has seen.

Last year, he established a record for most consecutive unbeaten minutes in the Italian league. This calendar year, he was the goalkeeper who drove Juventus from the group stages to place in the final of the Champions League, amassing 600 unbroken minutes of clean-sheet football.

The Italian shot-stopper, however, was met with harsh criticism following his side’s 3-0 defeat to Spain in a World Cup qualifying match last weekend. Ever since turning 35, Buffon has had varying levels of consistency, with critics debating whether or not he was already in the twilight years of his career – looking a bit sluggish when Isco’s free-kick had flew past him on the night.

“If you aren’t attentive against Spain, they’ll hurt you a lot. Spain’s players change but not the philosophy,” said Buffon about the match. These World Cup qualifying matches could be Buffon’s last-ever on the international scene, as he has already announced his decision to retire from national team duty following the 2018 finals.

Source: Squawka.com

5, September 2017

2018 World Cup: La Republique fail to qualify after Nigeria draw ⁰

African champions La Republique du Cameroun cannot qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia after a 1-1 draw with Nigeria in Yaounde on Monday. The result means La Republique have just three points from four matches and can no longer finish top of Group B.

“There’s no-one in life who achieves all his goals [but] it’s a disappointment,” Indomitable Lions coach Hugo Broos said after the game. In Monday’s other match, Libya earned a 1-0 win over Guinea in Group A. Nigeria took the lead in Yaounde after 30 minutes through Moses Simon but their hosts equalised with 15 minutes to go through a Vincent Aboubakar penalty.

The Super Eagles’ goal came after La Republique failed to clear and Simon profited after touches from Odion Ighalo and Victor Moses. On the hour, Cameroon coach Hugo Broos made two changes as Vincent Aboubakar and Christian Bassagog came on to replace Benjamin Moukandjo and Jean-Pierre Nsame.

The changes had the desired affect as the Indomitable Lions pushed forward and forced Nigeria’s third choice keeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa into a foul in the area. Aboubakar stepped up to score the penalty in the 75th minute firing the ball straight down the middle. But Ezenwa made amends for the penalty error with two saves in quick succession to deny first Nicolas Moumi and moments later Collins Fai.

The other match in Group B sees Algeria host Zambia in Constantine later on Tuesday. A win for Zambia will take them to seven points, just three behind Nigeria with two games to play – while Algeria must win to keep alive any slim hopes they still have of going to Russia.

In Monastir, Libya got their first points of this stage of the campaign despite being down to 10 men for the last quarter of their match against Guinea. Hamdou Mohamed scored the only goal of the game towards the end of the first half. Should Tunisia get a point against DR Congo on Tuesday, then both Libya and Guinea will be formally ruled out of contention for Russia 2018.

Source: BBC

4, September 2017

Anglophone crisis: The agony continues ⁰

The government of Cameroon has been in the business of gambling for a long time and it has been successful in many cases. In the 1990s, it played and won in the game of democracy that was supposed to reduce the president’s power, and this has given it the impression that it will always win. Its appetite for political victory is permanently on the rise and its weapon of choice has been manipulation and it has been effective over the last thirty-five years. Due to this growing confidence, it seems to have forgotten that its role is to settle issues facing the population and not winning arguments or wars against its own people. But this time around, the government’s charm is failing it. It is also suffering from senility and it is simply not producing the right impact. Anglophones both at home and abroad have united in their purpose and are giving the government a good run for its money. Schools have remained closed in many cities in the Anglophone region and ghost town operations in most cities and towns in the region have exceeded expectations.

Last week, Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, felt he would break the back of the Anglophone struggle by releasing Anglophone leaders and others who had been wrongfully arrested within the context of the Anglophone problem that has hurt the country’s economy and dealt a severe blow to the government’s reputation. The crisis has not only demonstrated that Anglophones are sick and tired of the mistreatment they have suffered for more than five decades, it has also illustrated that the government is out of touch with reality and it is too inefficient to deal with some of the tricky issues that a well-organized democracy can easily handle.

The president’s act of “magnanimity” hailed by many regime surrogates has not really cut ice with Anglophones and many,such as Barrister Harmony Bobga,hold that “Our Colleagues and Compatriots, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla and co. committed no offence to warrant abduction, incarceration and dehumanization for 195 days as of date.” He adds that “the discontinuance of proceedings before the military Tribunal of Yaoundé against them is of no legal moment, it is neither a Nolle Prosequi nor finding of not guilty. There is therefore no guarantee of their future pursuit so long as our nation is not restored.” He argues that “If it is a recognition of an error on the part of Mr. Paul Biya and his Government, it must be accompanied by an unqualified apology and due compensation.” Barrister Bobga further contends that “the avoidance of clear statistics of how many persons were arrested, detained, forced to disappear of purely and simply extra-judicially executed is a matter that raises concern. It is suggested that there must be a census from point of arrest or abduction to the point of release so as to ensure accountability.” This argument seems to be gaining traction among Anglophones who consider the release of their leaders as a well-orchestrated ploy to derail the struggle that has been playing out for more than ten months and whose objective is to compel the government to engage them in a discussion on the form of the State; an argument the government has vehemently refused to buy into. This is a government that is wont to manipulating and intimidating its people. Many of its members are frozen in time and the only language they understand is an iron fist.

As Anglophones and the government stick to their positions, the possibility of pulling the country out of the political quagmire looks really slim and this is no good news to the students who have unfortunately been caught in the fight that is likely to drag on for many months, except the government decides to come down from its Ivory Tower to understand that its first duty is to attend to the people and address their concerns in a democratic manner. The government needs to look for a way to retire this issue before it gets out of control. The problem has been a millstone around its neck for a long time, but from the look of things, it could spiral out of control, transforming the country into the continent’s newest hotspot.

Hopes of schools resuming today, September 4, 2017, had been very high last weekend following the release of Anglophone leaders, but the delay in releasing many others and the government’s refusal to propose a calendar for the discussion of the form of the state made many analysts to be skeptical about the resumption of schools and their fears have actually come through, leaving many students and parents heartbroken. The agony of the students is expected to continue and the consequences of the failure to find a long-lasting solution to this crisis will linger for a long time. Many girls are already pregnant and teachers are leaving the country in droves. Cameroon, the once-upon-a-time oasis of peace and stability, is gradually carving out a bad name for itself. Its reputation has been dented.

But it is the economy that is taking some of the most dangerous punches. Today, the economy of the Anglophone region has taken a nosedive and poverty is gradually taking root, especially in rural areas where agriculture is the mainstay. In cities, things are deteriorating at a very fast pace. Buea, the Southwest region’s capital is a ghost of its former self. Its popular Silicon Mountain has simply disappeared, and many locals are unemployed. This is causing many people to ask if the government and its leader actually understand the depth of the anger and frustration that inhabit the Anglophone mind.

A little strike that was supposed to have been dealt with in a democratic manner was allowed to escalate due to the government’s ill-advised decision to use brute force to cow Anglophones into silence. Anglophones have been nursing grudges for too long and the government has been behaving as if it was not aware of the long list of things that were gradually sapping the English-speaking minority of its love for the country. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse, the possibility of the government winning this war through military action is very slim. Civil disobedience seems to be working and many government officials are losing sleep over this mess created for them by Anglophones. Neither the Prime Minister nor his collaborators have been good enough to come up with solutions that can calm flaring tempers. Even ministers like Issa Tchiroma, Atanga Nji, Fame Ndongo and Laurent Esso who thought the problem would fizzle out, are today marveled at the unity of purpose Anglophone Cameroonians across the globe have displayed. Their determination is worthy of admiration and commendation, but many conflict management experts advise that Anglophones should be willing to meet the government half-way if the crisis has to be laid to rest. That is, if the government will walk away from the unitary state that has been spreading death and hardship across the country.

But the government has a long to-do list if Anglophones have to be part of a country they want to walk away from. The current elites of the region need to be retired. They have not only demonstrated their inefficiency, they have also proven that they lack the respect and credibility to bring their people behind them. Anglophone leadership needs to be renewed. The current leadership is ineffective. The elites, especially the ministers, have only worked hard to feather their personal nest. The people are angry and have clearly rejected them. If Mr. Biya wants a speedy resolution of this conflict, he has to retire some of the people who have been around him for too long, especially the hardliners, as they are no longer relevant. If he does not take actions that will help calm down tempers, Cameroon will continue to be in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons and the agony that is clearly visible in the country will continue for a long time.

From the Editorial Desk

Cameroon Concord News