9, February 2017

Fru Ndi’s praise of goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa is really a slam at Biya ⁰

The Chairman of the Social Democratic Front has said that the victory of the indomitable Lions should not be politicized. Fru Ndi made the declaration inside the Unity Palace during the presentation ceremony of the 2017 African Cup of Nations trophy to the Head of State, President Paul Biya.

The SDF Chairman dwelled on the Anglophone problem rather than the ceremony and showered praises on goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa for standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Anglophone community. “I came to tell Mr Biya that he should step and say something about the North West and South West. I had to come here to congratulate Ondoa who understood the problem. He said he is Bamenda. Football should not be politicized. In the North West and South West, anybody talking about federalism is locked up, arrested … they continue to arrest, kill “.

It should be recalled that a few hours after the Cameroon – Egypt encounter, Fabrice Ondoa made a video in which he dedicated the trophy to Anglophone Cameroonians. He said he was wholeheartedly with them and pronounced the famous phrase “I am Bamenda”.

By Rita Akana

9, February 2017

Buea Catholic Education Secretary, the Bishops and the strike: Love the sinner, hate the sin approach ²

If “actions speak louder than words,” as the saying goes, the message from the Anglophone Roman Catholic Bishops on reopening of schools is increasingly confusing. On the one hand, the Bishops had reiterated the Church’s stance on the Anglophone problem and even repeatedly condemned the rapes, killings and arbitrary arrest going on in Southern Cameroons. However both in their recent deeds – most notably the press release from the Catholic Education Secretary in Buea, have left an impression in many minds that the Roman Catholic Church in Anglophone Cameroon is badly in need of new leadership.

It is not only the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and their majority following who have observed these mixed signals but the entire nation including even Francophone political elites. The statement from the Catholic Education Secretary in the Dioceses of Buea has also raised the issue of legitimate authority.

Roman Catholic schools and colleges belong to the Bishops and only the Bishops have legitimate authority to open or close those institutions. For an Education Secretary to have come out strong during this difficult period in Southern Cameroons history is very disturbing. Many Roman Catholics can’t help but suspect that the recent shift in position has been orchestrated from the presidency of the republic via its brutal Secret Service. It will be hard for West Cameroonians to uphold Catholic traditions if the Bishops fail to come out clean.

This editorial is presented with love and respect for the Bishops in answer to their call for open dialogue to resolve the Anglophone problem. President Biya has chosen to remain silent at key intervals, most especially in the aftermath of the historic memorandum sent to him by the Anglophone Bishops. This significant shift in the earlier position regarding the Anglophone problem is completely unacceptable to both the detained and interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Although the Consortium has not asked for comment from the Episcopal Conclave, we of this publication think that it would be proper for the Bishops to clarify their current decision. But if it is true that the Anglophone Bishops have ordered Roman Catholic academic establishments in Southern Cameroons to reopen their doors, then it is indeed a defeat for humanity.

The Anglophone Roman Catholic Bishops may as well be following the Holy Father Pope Francis “who am I to judge” comment leaving Biya and his Francophone Beti Ewondo regime to ride over Southern Cameroonians. Equally concerning is the fact that the Bishops of Cameroon Conference that recently held in Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu Division failed to condemn the rapes, extra judicial killings and arbitrary arrest going on in Southern Cameroons. This is the “love the sinner, hate the sin” approach.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

8, February 2017

Bidoung Kpwatt Challenge: Adolphe Teikeu is new King ¹

The Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Pierre Ismaël Bidoung Kpwatt has had his record beaten in the so-called Bidoung Kpwatt Challenge that came into existence following the minister’s mark of reverence before President Paul Biya on December 9, 2016.

Minister Pierre Ismael Bidoung Kpwatt lost his crown to Adolphe Teikeu of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon during a civic reception offered at State House by Cameroon’s first couple. The Bidoung Kpwatt Challenge also came into effect during a similar reception Offered to the indomitable Lionesses when the girls emerged as Vice-champions of Africa.

By Eyong Johnson with files from CIN

8, February 2017

Biya receives the Indomitable Lions, Says “Vous les avez mis dans la sauce” ⁰

President Biya and Ni John Fru Ndi of the SDF have both congratulated the indomitable lions for their brilliant victory at the Total Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon 2017. Biya used a recent popular expression in Cameroon “Vous les avez mis dans la sauce”, to describe how the Lions thrashed their opponents.

In his keynote address, Paul Biya who has been in power since 1982 happily received his fifth Africa Cup of Nations title and praised the performances of Hugo Broos, the new manager of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

Paul Biya compared the players of the national football team to the soldiers engaged in the war against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram, who relentlessly and selflessly defend the intangibility of Cameroon’s borders since 2014.

The Cameroonian Chief Executive elevated some of the Lions to the rank of commander of the order of valor and others to the rank of knights. The master ceremony attempted to be bilingual but put up a very poor show.

By Rita Akana

8, February 2017

Somali hotel attack kills six ⁰

A terrorist attack by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants on a hotel in Somalia’s port city of Bosasso has left four guards and two assailants dead.

“Three al-Shabab fighters stormed the International Village Hotel this morning. Four guards and two of the attackers died in the fighting,” said Bari region Governor Yusuf Mohamed on Wednesday.

According to the governor, none of the guests at the hotel, which is popular with foreigners, were hurt in the armed assault. He said one of the assailants fled the scene and remained at large.

“Fortunately, the attackers did not enter the rooms. The fighting took place inside the compound. A third fighter escaped and we are pursuing him. All the people in the hotel are safe,” Mohamed said.

The development came as Somalia’s legislators are set to elect the country’s next president in the capital of Mogadishu later in the day.

Somalia’s current President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (seen) faces chances of potential re-election by the country’s legislators on February 8, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Somali authorities have enforced a security lockdown of Mogadishu in order to step up safety across the capital ahead of the planned legislative process.

Somalia’s Police Commander Mohamed Sheikh Hassan Haamud announced on Tuesday that security forces had blocked main roads and barred vehicles from driving near the secure airport compound.

“Police forces will secure the election scene and streets, and the vote will take place peacefully as planned,” the police chief added.

Presstv

8, February 2017

Biya regime in secret plan to disable all cell phone service in Southern Cameroons ⁰

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has uncovered a secret Francophone government plans to disable all cell phone service and declare a state of emergency in Southern Cameroons. The interim leaders have sounded a note of caution to all Southern Cameroonians about La Republique’s proposed move and the Consortium has also made public a detail plan for the civil disobedience campaign that will run though the 11^th of February 2017.

The mobile telephone services which are part of the National Communications System managed by the inexperienced Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng will be shut down in West Cameroon as part of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government policy to stifle the Anglophone uprising.

The secret President of the Republic, Martin Belinga Eboutou who reportedly appointed Minette Libom Li Likeng into the Biya’s cabinet has ruled that the Francophone government will take all necessary steps to destroy the Southern Cameroons struggle. Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Yaounde regime has informed the international community that the shutting down of both internet and telephone services is deemed vital to the preservation of national security and public safety.

Our informant in Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng entourage hinted that the presidency has already demanded the the ministry of telecom to shut down all cell phone service in a bid to quell a protest related to the 11^th of February celebrations in West Cameroon. Information filtered that most of the mobile telephone service providers have signed into the CPDM government’s unified voluntary process for the orderly shut-down of wireless services during critical emergencies such as the threat posed by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with cables from Sonne Peter in Yaounde

8, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Cameroon Intelligence Report says death toll rises to at least 102 ⁰

Cameroon Intelligence Report has collected figures from 6 detention centers in Douala, Bafoussam and Yaoundé giving a total of at least 102 killed in the unrest in Southern Cameroons since 2016. The breakdown of these figures is: 52 in Yaoundé- Sao, 40 in Douala, and 10 in Bafoussam. These figures are based on unofficial cables obtained from Francophone government sources at the Kondengui prison in Yaoundé and security sources including medical doctors in Douala and Bafoussam.

Authorities in the Ministry of Communication have rejected our findings and those of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium as false, and said that the ministry would issue an official death toll when told to do so by the presidency of the republic. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Africa Union have both turned a blind eye on the genocide going on in Anglophone Cameroon.

In detention facilities in French Cameroun, our intelligence officers obtained unofficial lists with names of those who had died and buried in mass graves. We have received figures of the number of persons killed during the protests from doctors in Kumba, Buea, Kumbo and Bamenda who were on duty on the emergency wards. Our intelligence officers also regularly visited the many torture facilities in Douala, Edea and Mbouda and obtained the number of confirmed deaths from doctors there.

According to anonymous Francophone government sources, many of these deaths occurred in 2016 as a result of live gunfire and rubber bullets. A significant proportion of deaths were caused by teargas canisters fired at close range in Bamenda and Kumbo. Access to the Kondengui high security prison and the detention center at the Secretariat for Defense was very difficult and only possible after personal assurances that Cameroon Intelligence Report would protect the names of the security agents who agreed to speak to us. Cameroon Intelligence Report has been unable to see death certificates citing causes of death or to gather the names of all those killed. In all the cases, families have also been unable to obtain certificates stating the cause of death.

Some of the Francophone security personnel who spoke to our undercover reporters hinted that the prison wardens have been under pressure to downplay the overall number of deaths. A senior aide to the regime in Yaounde who hails from the Foumban constituency in the West region observed that it is possible the actual number of deaths is significantly higher than the 102 reported to our investigative team because that figure is based on only three localities.

Culled from CIR

8, February 2017

Ivory Coast: Alassane Ouattara caught in the pangs of a monster he created ⁰

Soldiers in Ivory Coast have mutinied in a town in the southeast of the country, renewing an attempt to secure promised bonuses and make other grievances heard. Witnesses in the town of Adiake said on Tuesday that soldiers opened fire and blocked roads earlier in the day, similar to what happened in Bouake and other cities a month ago. “The soldiers erected barricades blocking traffic near their camp. The population has left the streets and we let the students out because we were afraid,” said a teacher in Adiake, adding that schools and other government institutions were shuttered as a result of the mutiny.

Another teacher said gunfire had begun earlier in the Special Forces’ camp in Adiake, adding that the entire town began panicking after armed soldiers left the barracks. A spokesman for the army confirmed that there was gunfire in Adiake, a town located nearly 100 kilometers east of Ivory Coast’s commercial hub Abidjan. The official did not immediately confirm the mutiny.

There was also no report on what the shooters were demanding, but the similar revolt in Bouake last month saw soldiers mutinying over unpaid bonuses and other grievances. The Bouake unrest quickly spread to other cities, including Abidjan. The government then agreed to pay more than 8,000 soldiers, most of them former militants who controlled northern Ivory Coast from 2002 to 2011, bonuses of nearly $20,000.

Other soldiers and elements of security forces have sought similar bonuses since the deal in January. Military sources said on Tuesday that mutineers in Adiake were seeking a similar payoff, which also included bonuses promised to them when they fought for former President Laurent Gbagbo. Hospital sources said the gunfire stopped around 1:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, but people in Adiake were still panicked.

Presstv

7, February 2017

Nigeria: Hundreds take to streets to protest economic crisis ⁰

Hundreds of Nigerians have taken to the streets in the country’s most populous city of Lagos to protest against the government’s handling of the West African country’s economic crisis. Some 500 angry protesters gathered from early morning at the National Stadium in the commercial capital to protest against the prevailing economic hardships, high cost of living and poor government handling of the economic crisis in the country.

The demonstrators, who marched through the streets to the rhythm of drums and trumpets, demanded solutions to the ongoing crippling recession. Protesters held placards and banners that read, “The unemployed are hungry and angry” and “I will not be silent.” They also chanted slogans such as “enough is enough.”

Elias Ozikpu, a student who attended the rally in Lagos, complained about skyrocketing prices. “Everything is very expensive today: the price of food, the price of gasoline has increased. We suffer but politicians do not care,” Ozikpu said, adding, “Two years ago we elected a new government because the previous one was corrupt but we don’t see any change, it’s even worse now.”

Meanwhile, in the administrative capital of Abuja, dozens of people also marched to the presidential villa in protest at President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic policies. The protest rallies took place despite warnings by the police not to assemble because of fears of a “breakdown of law and order with attendant loss of lives and property.” Responding to Monday’s rallies, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the protest was noted.

“We hear you loud and clear, those who are on the streets protesting the economic situation and even those who are not, but feel the pain of economic hardship,” Osinbajo said.

“We hear you loud and clear. You deserve a decent life and we are working night and day to make life easier.” Nigerians have been suffering after a fall in oil prices since mid-2014 slashed government revenue. The developments have pushed up inflation to more than 20 percent and weakened the naira currency.

Presstv

7, February 2017

Man who condemns the Consortium had once championed case for a return to federalism ¹

Caven Nnoko Mbele who recently joined forces with former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge and launched a vicious attack against the North West people and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has been uncovered as the most inconsistent Southern Cameroons political figure. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that during Nnoko Mbele’s time as Secretary General of the South West Elites Association, he made the case for federalism-a position recently adopted by the Consortium.

To be sure, in November 1994, Caven Nnoko Mbele made SWELA’s case for a ten-state federation. Caven Nnoko Mbele’s speech worried many political leaders including the leadership of the Anglophone separatist movement- the Southern Cameroons National Council. Inside sources deep within the Buea province of West Cameroon say, Caven Nnoko Mbele’s dramatic U-turn against the demands made by Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium for federalism is frightening. Below is a synopsis of the Nnoko Mbele 1994 presentation:

1-That a ten-state federal structure in the Republic of Cameroon gives room for the authentic recognition of the genius in each ethnic group. It recognizes the capacities and potential in each culture, climate, history, language and tradition of thought and habit of Cameroon. It galvanizes all these traits into possibilities in the tasks of nation-building. It calls for a wider loyalty, a larger legitimate aspiration than any that has ever animated the Cameroonian. It repudiates the views of excessive centralization on the one hand and blights all attempts at apparent uniformity on the other. Indeed unity in diversity on a transparent administrative basis is better than unity in deception.

2-SWELA reaffirm that a Union of States in a federation along the carvings of the present 10 provincial structure should be our spring-board for the future and provide the solution for Cameroon to lay the foundation for national unity and prepare the way for peace and security-conditions vitally needed to release the potentialities buried in Cameroonians and to make a definitive step towards the full measure of our collective and individual destinies.

3-To the doubtful, skeptical and fearful of a Federation, we wish to reiterate that the ultimate goal of any government is to provide opportunities, possibilities and resources required to raise the quality of life of all its citizens through the judicious and efficient use of national resources, both human and natural.

Culled from CIR