6, July 2017

Justice Minister Laurent Esso under attack for squalid backing of Biya regime’s handling of the Anglophone Crisis ⁰

The Biya Francophone regime has voted into law a Common Law Section within the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court. The bill was adopted in the Senate on the 4th of July 2017 in two readings. The controversial and anti Anglophone Minister of State in charge of Justice, Laurent Esso said that the project would make the Cameroonian law uniform.

The creation of the Common Law Section within the Judicial Chamber of the Supreme Court was defended in Parliament by Minister Laurent Esso. The bill was passed by the Senators on second reading. Senator Sonken, who asked for clarification on the bill, questioned the raison d’être behind the killing of innocent Southern Cameroonians and arresting hundreds in order to accept a project such as the Common Law Section in the Supreme Court.

Laurent Esso reportedly with too much blood in his hands remained defiant and said that the establishment of the Common Law Section within the Supreme Court was not made to resolve the problems raised in the context of the Anglophone crisis. He arrogantly observed that it is rather a section that is part of the reform process instituted by the President of the Republic in 2015.

Esso dabbled in a typical Francophone pattern and noted that “This bill addresses concerns that may become real problems tomorrow. It is not an adjustment of Anglophone law or Francophone law but a standardization of Cameroonian law.”

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

6, July 2017

Japan: 10 missing, 400,000 flee flooding ⁰

At least 10 people, including a child, were missing and 400,000 were forced from their homes after record rains battered southwestern Japan for a second day on Thursday, sending rivers surging over their banks, a government official and media said.

Parts of Fukuoka Prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu were hit by 774 mm of rain in nine hours on Wednesday, about 2.2 times the amount of rain that falls in a normal July, NHK national television said.
Some 7,500 rescuers, including police, firefighters, and soldiers from Japan’s Self Defense Forces, were mobilized to help with evacuations and search for the missing. Forty helicopters were on standby until the weather improved.

“There are many reports of people whose safety cannot be confirmed, things like ‘a child was swept away by the river’ and ‘my house was swept away and I can’t get in touch with my parents,'” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told an emergency early morning news conference.

“We will keep in close contact with the disaster-hit areas and work with all our energy to save lives and ascertain the extent of the damage,” he said. Fukuoka and Oita prefectures, both largely rural areas, were the worst-hit by the rain, which was caused by a low pressure area on the Pacific Ocean that fed warm, moist air into Japan’s seasonal rainy front.

Residents spent a worried night at evacuation centers set up at schools and government buildings on high ground amid reports of landslides and flooded roads. “It wasn’t just the rain, there was thunder and lightning, too. I couldn’t see anything ahead of me,” one woman at an evacuation center told NHK.

A schoolboy sitting with his family told NHK, “I haven’t heard from some of my friends, and I’m really worried.” There were no immediate reports of major transportation problems, but television footage showed a railway line left broken and twisted by floodwaters.

The same area was pounded by heavy rain earlier this week from Tropical Storm Nanmadol, which has since passed out to sea. The rain in Japan comes on the heels of a storm system that caused severe flooding across southern China and that killed 56 people and cost almost $4 billion in damage.

(Source: Reuters)

6, July 2017

Turkish President Erdogan says Saudi list of demands from Qatar not acceptable ⁰

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stressed that his country will remain loyal to Qatar and that a list of demands by Saudi Arabia and its allies from the Persian Gulf country are under no circumstances acceptable. “When it comes to this list of 13 items… it’s not acceptable under any circumstances,” said Erdogan in an interview with France 24 television on Wednesday.

He added that such demands are the equivalent of “stripping” Qatar of its statehood. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain all cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, after officially accusing it of “sponsoring terrorism.”

On June 23, Saudi Arabia and its allies released a 13-point list of demands, including the severance of all Qatar’s ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement. The closing down of a Turkish military base in Qatar is one of the demands on the list. Erdogan stated the he was willing to close the base if Doha requested to do so.

“The Americans are also there, with 9,000 soldiers, and so are the French… Why are the Saudis disturbed by us and not by that? This is unacceptable,” he added. Meanwhile, the four Arab countries seeking to isolate Qatar have said in a statement that Doha’s response to their demands to end the Persian Gulf diplomatic crisis was “not serious.”
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir talks to reporters during a joint press conference with his Emirati, Egyptian, and Bahraini counterparts after their meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo on July 5, 2017. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also stated that the boycott of Qatar will continue until the Persian Gulf kingdom changes its policies in line with those of the Riyadh regime.

Source: Presstv

5, July 2017

Yaounde: CamTel and China Unicom sign agreement to construct a South Atlantic Inter Link ⁰

China United Network Communications (China Unicom) has signed an agreement with Cameroon Telecom (CamTel) to construct a South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) cable network, 6,000-km. in length. China Unicom and CamTel will work with Huawei Marine Networks Co. Ltd., a submarine cable networks solutions provider, to connect an undersea cable that runs from Kribi Deep Sea Port, Cameroon to Fortaleza Brazil.

Total construction costs are expected to hit US$136 million and take about 24 months to complete. SAIL will possess the largest data transmission capacity between Africa and South America. SAIL would provide reliable intercontinental telecom services for Brazilians and Cameroonians. It’s the first large-scale project in the region led by one of the Big 3 Chinese Telecom operators and China-based equipment manufacturers.

China Unicom and CamTel are responsible for the building and maintenance of SAIL, while Huawei Marine Networks delivers systematic solutions. US$85 million of SAIL was funded by Export-Import Bank of China, while the remainder was covered by CamTel, which includes China Unicom financing US$34 million to the Cameroon-based telecom.

In Cameroon’s capital city – Yaounde – on June 27, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Guo Ping, China Unicom CEO Lu Yimin and CamTel General Manager (GM) David Nkoto Emane, signed the formal agreement. “China has strategic partnerships with Africa and South America,” the Global Times quotes Lu as saying. “SAIL not only provides high-quality international communications services to countries in these two continents, but also serves Chinese companies to develop their business in the region.”

The project can advance Cameroon’s digital economy, so its nation’s citizens gain better access to phone service and the Internet. Huawei Marine Networks will utilize an advanced 100G technology system with 4 fiber optics pairs that holds a design capacity – 32T-bit/s. SAIL can bridge technology gaps in the South-South region, so Africans and South Americans can enjoy a brighter future.

Beijing has embarked on South-South Cooperation to boost trade, investments and infrastructure building in Africa and South America. Chinese companies are exploring new regions to open up manufacturing zones, tap into natural resources and to develop a growing consumers’ base in the emerging markets. Cameroon, located in Central Africa, offers major opportunities for Chinese firms.

“It is a great pleasure to partner with China Unicom and Huawei Marine Networks on building the SAIL cable system,” Emane told Global Times. He added, “When it is completed, it will provide new international connectivity to facilitate band-width demand between Africa and support the booming economies in the two continents.” In its current state, Cameroon’s cables cannot support all the telecom connections in the country. SAIL can build capacity to meet national coverage. China Unicom, the world’s 4th-largest mobile service provider by subscriber base, will extend its National Broadband Network (NBN) to Cameroon.

Constructing infrastructure that includes telecom networks along with roads and railways in Africa can help people on the continent rise above poverty. But Africans also need better education and job skills to succeed in our globalized economy.

Huawei Technologies has invited young Cameroonians to participate in a training project, known as “Seeds of the Future,” according to Business in Cameroon Website. After a careful selection process, 10 young Cameroonians will receive information and communications training (ICT) at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China.
Trainees will participate in a 1-week program, attending lectures and practical classes to strengthen their knowledge, according to Li Dafeng, senior vice president of Huawei Group. Students can also interact with Huawei’s engineers and learn more about the latest innovations developed by the hi-tech giant.

Constructing an undersea fiberoptics cable line is no easy task, especially when telecom cable operators must stretch it to 6,000-km. in length. But, Chinese companies have introduced major equipment upgrades in the field. The people of Brazil and Cameroon will benefit tremendously from such advances, while Chinese investors and companies can expand into key emerging markets in South America and Africa.

China’s South-South Cooperation will open doors for Cameroon when SAIL is fully-connected and performing to capacity. Those living in Central Africa can dial up their phones, click on the internet to enjoy a more convenient connection with people, or to conduct business in a more efficient manner. Accordingly, SAIL will serve as the vital connector for Cameroon’s future and path to prosperity.

Source: CCTV.com

5, July 2017

Swiss Ambassador bids farewell to Biya ⁰

President Paul Biya has met for the last time the outgoing Swiss Ambassador to Cameroon, Claude Altermatt. The Swiss diplomat is presently at the Unity Palace today Wednesday the 5th of July 2017 to thank the Cameroonian dictator for the hospitality received during his four-year stay in the country.

Both men have examined the bilateral ties between Cameroon and Switzerland including Cameroonian migrants residing in the small but beautiful European country.

Claude Altermatt has reportedly hailed the cordial relations existing between Cameroon and Switzerland and hoped that they will be further strengthened when the new ambassador takes office.

Source: CRTV

5, July 2017

Cameroon military morale at rock bottom and sinking at catastrophic rapidity ⁰

Since the beginning of the war against the Nigerian Islamic sect, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has not spent a single franc on programs aimed at improving morale within the Cameroonian military, which is currently shouldering two major combat deployments in the Central Africa Republic and Boko Haram.

The regime’s recruitment policy of mainly Francophones into the army over the years may have been largely fruitless, as more that 70% of soldiers across all branches remain pessimistic about their future in the Cameroon army. For decades, only Southern Cameroon news tabloids have consistently reported on supposedly declining Cameroon military morale, even before the wars against Boko Haram and in Bangui.

In the past, flagging morale may have been attributable to factors like repeated Bakassi or Cambodia deployments. But in 2014 a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report suggested a financial cause for flagging morale. In 2016, 89 percent of active-duty troops serving with the Rapid Intervention Battalion that was miraculously created to help the regime in Gabon rated their pay and allowances as poor.

The Biya regime claimed to have increased military pay in 2016, but soldiers returning from the Central Africa Republic had to stage a demonstration before their money was made available to them. Few soldiers believe their situation will improve under this present Biya administration as 70 percent of our servicemen and women combating Boko Haram expect quality of life under military employment to decrease further in the future.

Pay and benefits aren’t the only cause of pessimism in the ranks. Some in the military worry that the Cameroonian armed forces aren’t being adequately led into the future, and declining morale could signal a general lack of confidence in the Commander-in-Chief and the military’s leadership.

According to Cameroon Intelligence Report, only 15 percent of soldiers think that the Biya leadership have their best interests at heart. Correspondingly, suicide attacks in the Mayo-Sava Division in the Far-North region are increasing at an alarming proportion. There are no more days without suicide bombings in the border villages of Nigeria including Kolofata, Tokombéré and Mora which are the key cities in the Mayo-Sava constituency.

Security sources had earlier announced that the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram has been militarily weakened. However, the terror group recently paid allegiance to the Organization of Islamic state and is now called the Province of the Islamic State in West Africa. There are conflicting reports that Boko Haram is visibly struggling for its survival.

The group has multiplied attacks against Cameroon army positions and defied the numerous non state policing institutions established by the Biya regime. More than twenty attacks including incursions into Cameroonian territory and suicide bombings were recorded in June alone- the most recent being that of yesterday in Homaka, precisely 1 km from Mora.

The army placed the provisional record of yesterday’s terrorist act attributed to Boko Haram at 4 dead and many wounded. The incident was preceded by the attack on a Cameroonian military post. At the end of last week, 7 suicide bombings were recorded within 24 hours in the cities of Mayo-Sava.

All these are happening under the watchful eyes of a regime that has detained 33 of its own soldiers over unpaid bonuses. Our reporter in Maroua hinted that morale in the army is slowly but surely fading away.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Group

5, July 2017

Russia may deploy troops to police Syria’s de-escalation zones ⁰

Russia has announced that it may deploy troops to de-escalation zones in Syria after agreement from Turkey and Iran. Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev made the announcement during talks being held in the Kazakh capital Astana on Tuesday.

“Overall, (the agreement) provides for the presence of Russian military police in the buffer zones, but once again this matter has not been agreed yet…Depending on when the documents on safe zones are signed, I think one should expect concrete measures on the deployment of forces within 2-3 weeks,” he said.

“So far it is hard to talk about presence of the Russian observers and representatives of the Russian defense ministry. But nevertheless overall there are plans for the Russian military police presence in the buffer zones. But still this matter has not been fully agreed yet. It will be related to the question about the status of de-escalation monitoring forces,” he added.

The final document pertaining to the de-escalation zones are expected to be signed on Wednesday, he added, noting that the principles of the zones have already been agreed upon in the former rounds of the talks.

In May, Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to establish four “de-escalation zones” in Syria. Lavrentyev added that Russia and its partners are still engaged in negotiations concerning detailed maps and other conditions related to the Idlib province and southern regions while the borders of two other zones, in Homs province and near Damascus, had been agreed upon.

“One thing is to work with maps and another one is to apply it to reality on the ground which is rather complicated. And this process of course takes a long time. But nevertheless I would like to say that we have practically determined the contact lines and borders of the second and third de-escalation zones. We still have questions on Idlib and the southern zone,” he added.

The fifth round of Astana talks kicked off earlier on Tuesday. More than 2.5 million people are believed to be living in the general area of the four zones. The Syrian army unilaterally announced a halt to fighting until midnight July 6 in one of the zones that spans the southern provinces of Dara’a, Quneitra, and Sweida.

Source: Presstv

5, July 2017

Half Americans trust CNN more than Trump ⁰

A new opinion poll shows that half of all Americans have more trust in the CNN news outlet than President Donald Trump, as tensions escalate between the US administration and the media. The online poll, conducted by Survey Monkey and reported by Axios Media Company on Tuesday, found that 50 percent of the respondents believed the CNN broadcaster was more trustworthy than Trump, compared to 43 percent who thought the opposite.

Trust, however, is largely split among partisan lines with 89 percent of Republicans favoring the US president and 91 percent of Democrats viewing the CNN news outlet as more trustworthy. Trump was also pitted against the American press and lost out to The Washington Post and The New York Times, with the newspapers being judged more trustworthy by 9 points.

Additionally, the Survey Monkey poll analyzed the attitude of US citizens toward Trump’s tweets, of which the majority of adults with 64 percent (89 percent of Democrats and 38 percent of Republicans) expressed their disapproval. Forty-seven percent of all adults responded by calling the tweets “undignified” and 34 percent describing them as “mean.” The Tuesday poll surveyed 4,965 adults between June 29 and July 3, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Since his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump has repeatedly used the term “fake news” to accuse the CNN and mostly for any coverage criticizing him or his allies. On Sunday, Trump posted on Twitter an altered video of himself wrestling and punching a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his face. The 30-second video became an instant hit after it was retweeted by more than 93 thousand users in less than three hours.

Source: Presstv

4, July 2017

Lake Chad Basin Intelligence Chiefs in Yaounde ⁰

Security experts and military advisers from member countries of the Lake Chad basin Commission and Benin are holding a meeting in Yaoundé ahead of the Defense Chiefs of Staff and Intelligence and Securities Chiefs forum.
The experts from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Benin are drafting proposals to be presented to the Ministers of Defense and Defense Chiefs of Staff of the respective counties during their forthcoming three day meeting in Yaoundé. The meeting will discuss inter alia, the security situation in the sub region.

The Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force, reassured participants that calm has returned to the sub region after the combine forces, in conjunction with national armies flushed out all the major pockets of Boko Haram fighters. The frequency of Boko Haram attacks and suicide bombings have consequently reduced to the lowest since the Joint Multinational Force went operational.

He however stated that sporadic attacks in remote areas, with the use of improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers are still reported. The experts are also examining the humanitarian situation of persons affected by the war against Boko Haram.

The Multinational Joint Task Force remains a good example of south – south military cooperation. The force is composed essentially of soldiers from member countries and has carry out joint operations across the different countries.

Source: CRTV

4, July 2017

Why won’t the Biya regime release first autopsy report on late Bishop Balla? ⁰

The Procureur General of the Centre Court of Appeal has signed a communiqué today the 4th of July 2017, updating the public on investigations relating to the death of the Bishop of Bafia. The press release states that two separate autopsies were carried out on the remains of Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala.

After health experts in Cameroon did the first part of the autopsy, international forensic experts invited by INTERPOOL performed the second. The Procureur General stated that according to findings, the most probable cause of death of the man of God was drowning.

Though investigations as to the circumstances under which the prelate died are still on-going, his remains have been handed over to the National Episcopal Council for burial. On 2nd June 2017, the Catholic Community and Cameroonians as a whole were bewildered by the disappearance of the Bishop of Bafia.

His vehicle was eventually spotted on the Ebebda bridge and the corpse retrieved from the River Sanaga two days later. After the corpse was placed in the mortuary, competent officials opened a judicial investigation as to the cause of death that was considered suspicious.

Source: CRTV