22, December 2023

We want, We go: Biya regime to build 3,060 housing units in Olembe to address shortage ⁰

The Cameroonian government launched the construction of 3,060 new housing units in Olembe, Yaoundé. The foundation stone was laid last December 19 by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development (Minhdu), Célestine Ketcha Courtès.

The initial pilot phase aims to build 60 housing units within nine months on a 5,000 m² space, including three buildings and a green area. The second phase will involve constructing the remaining 3,000 housing units on 20 hectares, starting in 2024 and spanning four years.

The project, entrusted to the Spanish group Pablo y Natalia Holding Group (PNHG), aligns with the government’s program to build 10,000 social housing units and develop 50,000 buildable plots. The Ministry said PNHG has a pragmatic approach to revitalizing the program and meeting the increasing demand, following less satisfactory results from previous initiatives.

The housing deficit in Cameroon is estimated at 2.5 million units. Authorities said the situation is due to demographic growth, poverty, and unemployment. To address this shortfall, the government initiated a program in 2010 to construct 10,000 units, aiming to provide access to decent housing for Cameroonians. The initial phase of this program included the construction of 1,675 homes in Yaoundé and Douala, with 500 planned for Olembe.

Source: Business in Cameroon

22, December 2023

Last French troops leave Niger ⁰

The last French troops deployed in Niger left on Friday, an AFP journalist reported, marking an end to more than a decade of French anti-jihadist operations in west Africa’s Sahel region.

“Today’s date (…) marks the end of the disengagement process of French forces in the Sahel,” Niger army lieutenant Salim Ibrahim said at a ceremony in Niamey marking the end of France’s military presence.

The French exit from Niger leaves hundreds of US military personnel, and a number of Italian and German troops, remaining in the country.

France said it would pull out its roughly 1,500 soldiers and pilots from Niger after the former French colony’s new ruling generals demanded they depart following the coup on July 26.

It was the third time in less than 18 months that French troops were sent packing from a country in the Sahel.

They were forced to leave fellow former colonies Mali last year and Burkina Faso earlier this year following military takeovers in those countries too.

All three nations are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, later spreading to Niger and Burkina Faso.

But a string of coups in the region since 2020 have seen relations nosedive with former colonial power France and a pivot towards greater rapprochement with Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron in September announced the withdrawal of all French troops from Niger by the end of the year, with a first contingent leaving in October.

The Nigerien army said last week their departure would be complete by Friday.

Perilous desert routes

Most French troops in Niger are at an air base in the capital Niamey.

Smaller groups have been deployed alongside Nigerien soldiers to the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, where jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State group and al Qaeda are believed to operate.

The withdrawal is a complex operation, with road convoys having to drive up to 1,700 kilometres (1,000 miles) on sometimes perilous desert routes to the French centre for Sahel operations in neighbouring Chad.

The first French road convoy of troops withdrawing from Niger arrived in neighbouring Chad’s capital N’Djamena in October, after 10 days on the road.

From Chad, French troops can leave by air with their most sensitive equipment, although most of the rest has to be moved by land and sea.

According to a source close to the matter, some of the French containers carrying equipment will be driven from Chad on to the port of Douala in Cameroon, before they can be ferried back to France by sea.

US, German troops

France’s former ally in Niger, overthrown president Mohamed Bazoum, remains under house arrest.

A US official said in October that Washington was keeping about 1,000 military personnel in Niger but was no longer actively training or assisting Niger forces.

The United States said earlier this month it was ready to resume cooperation with Niger on the condition its military regime committed to a rapid transition to civilian rule.

Niger’s rulers want up to three years for a transition back to a civilian government.

Military leaders in Niamey early this month said they were ending two European Union security and defence missions in the country.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius visited Niger earlier this week to discuss the fate of around 120 German troops based in the country.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in September banded together in a joint defence pact to fight jihadists.

France’s withdrawal from Mali last year left a bitter aftertaste, after the bases it once occupied in Menaka, Gossi and Timbuktu were rapidly taken over by the Wagner Russian paramilitary group.

Source: AFP

22, December 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: 5 government soldiers killed in Mbakong ⁰

Hundreds of Cameroon government troops have gone on a violent rampage in Mbakong, setting alight dozens of homes after five soldiers were killed by Ambazonia fighters on Wednesday.

Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Bamenda said the five army soldiers were killed by an explosive device on the Mile 24 road linking Bafut in Bamenda to Wum, the chief town in Menchum Division in the North West region.

The deadly incident on Wednesday, followed by several attacks against Cameroon government military installations throughout Southern Cameroons immediately raised doubts about the feasibility of the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé to calm the seven year-long wave of bloodshed.

Local media houses in Bamenda reported that about 20 homes were torched on Wednesday evening and many innocent Southern Cameroons civilians were arrested in Mbakong.

We gathered that the Francophone leadership of the military deployed to the North West region ordered soldiers to strike Mbakong “without mercy”.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

21, December 2023

US: Rudy Giuliani files for bankruptcy after $148 million defamation judgment ⁰

Rudy Giuliani has filed for bankruptcy, days after being ordered to pay $148 million in a defamation lawsuit brought by two former election workers in Georgia who said his targeting of them led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.

In his filing Thursday, the former New York City mayor listed nearly $153 million in existing or potential debts, including close to a million dollars in tax liabilities, money he owes his lawyers and many millions of dollars in potential legal judgements in lawsuits against him. He estimated his assets to be between $1 million and $10 million.

The biggest debt is the $148 million he was ordered to pay a week ago for making false statements about the election workers in Georgia stemming from the 2020 presidential contest.

Ted Goodman, a political adviser and spokesperson for Giuliani, a one-time Republican presidential candidate and high-ranking Justice Department official, said in a statement that the filing “should be a surprise to no one.”

“No person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount,” Goodman said. He said the bankruptcy filing would give Giuliani “the opportunity and time to pursue an appeal, while providing transparency for his finances under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, to ensure all creditors are treated equally and fairly throughout the process.”

Last week’s jury verdict was the latest and costliest sign of Giuliani’s mounting financial strain, exacerbated by investigations, lawsuits, fines, sanctions, and damages related to his work helping then-Republican President Donald Trump try to overturn the 2020 election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Declaring bankruptcy likely will not erase the $148 million in damages a jury awarded to the former Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea’ “Shaye” Moss. Bankruptcy law does not allow for the dissolution of debts that come from a “willful and malicious injury” inflicted on someone else.

And Giuliani’s filing came a day after U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington said Freeman and Moss did not have to wait the standard 30 days before starting work to collect the judgement, finding that Giuliani could use that time to hide his assets.

Giuliani has said he would appeal and said the damages award was “absurd.” Speaking outside Washington’s federal courthouse after the verdict, he repeated his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. In a video later on X, formerly known as Twitter, Giuliani insisted he did nothing wrong and suggested he will keep pressing his claims even if it means losing all his money or ending up in jail.

The bankruptcy filing listed other potential verdicts against him in lawsuits related to his promotion of conspiracy theories about that election, including suits filed by the elections technology companies Dominion and Smartmatic.

He also listed lawsuits by a woman who filed a lawsuit claiming that Giuliani had coerced her into sex and failed to pay her $2 million in wages, and numerous claims related to unpaid legal bills.

In September, Giuliani’s former lawyer Robert Costello sued him for about $1.4 million in unpaid legal fees, alleging that Giuliani breached his retainer agreement by failing to pay invoices in full and a timely fashion. Giuliani has asked a judge to dismiss the case, claiming he never received the invoices at issue. The case is pending.

Costello represented Giuliani from November 2019 to this past July in matters ranging from an investigation into his business dealings in Ukraine, which resulted in an FBI raid on his home and office in April 2021, to state and federal investigations of his work in the wake of Trump’s 2020 election loss.

In August, the IRS filed a $549,435 tax lien against Giuliani for the 2021 tax year.

Copies were filed in Palm Beach County, Florida, where he owns a condominium and New York, under the name of his outside accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP. That’s the same firm that Trump used for years before it dropped him as a client amid questions about his financial statements.

Giuliani, still somewhat popular among conservatives in the city he once ran, hosts a daily radio show in his hometown on a station owned by a local Republican grocery store magnate. Giuliani also hosts a nightly streaming show watched by a few hundred people on social media, which he calls “America’s Mayor Live.”

Meantime, a criminal trial awaits in Georgia. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty in the case, which accuses him of participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to thwart the will of Georgia’s voters who had selected Biden over Trump. Giuliani faces 13 charges, including violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, the federal version of which was one of his favorite tools as prosecutor in the 1980s.

Giuliani is also an alleged co-conspirator listed in the federal case charging Trump with illegally working to overturn the results of the election. Giuliani is not charged in that case.

Source: AP

21, December 2023

Martinez Zogo Affair: Dismissal of two judges has opened up debates about poor delivery of justice ⁰

Two prominent judges of the Military Tribunal have been removed by the 91-year-old President Biya in a move described by many as an unexpected blow to the reputation of the judiciary.

The dismissal of the two Francophone judges in Yaoundé has sparked fierce debates around the conditions under which judges’ work.

The Biya decision to sack the judges caught the attention of the media because both were involved in the Martinez Zogo murder case.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that Biya fired Colonel Sipa Didier Dongmo, the Director of Military Justice and Lieutenant Colonel Sikati II Kamwo Florent Aimé the investigating judge at the Yaoundé Military Court after it was revealed that they received bribes from members of the gang that murdered journalist Martinez Zogo. Both men were replaced by Colonel Djiofack Sylvestre Pascal and magistrate Lieutenant-Colonel Nzie Pierrot Narcisse respectively.

Lieutenant-Colonel Sikati, the investigating judge at the Yaoundé military court as he then was, signed a decision ordering the release of business tycoon Jean Pierre Amougou and the disgraced spy Chief Maxime Eko EKo. But less than 24 hours later, the same judge made public another decision denying the release of Amougou Belinga and Maxime Eko Eko.

Moving the goal posts is not illegal in Cameroon but doing so in a matter that involves the Beti-Bulu ruling clan is considered a serious act of misconduct that undermines public confidence in the judiciary. Dismissal was seen as a necessary punishment for the two military judges whose love for money raised questions about their impartiality.

There is no appeal within Cameroon’s disciplinary procedure or a judicial review challenge when President gives you a P45.

It is also not known whether any of the two Francophone judges have disputed Biya’s claim.

By Staff man Alain Tabot-Tanyi

20, December 2023

Biya needs to leave, says Cameroon Concord News Editor ⁰

Soter Agbaw-Ebai, chairman and editor-in-chief of the Cameroon Concord Group has said that Paul Biya’s 41 years at the head of the Cameroonian nation has to end.

In a presentation today in Dublin, Ireland on the hydra headed political situation in Yaoundé, Soter Agbaw-Ebai stated that there is a ghost president in Cameroon and a pretended government.

Agbaw-Ebai furthered that an intellectual coup d’etat has already taken place in Yaoundé and he wondered aloud when the physical coup d’etat will take place, adding that the overwhelming majority of Cameroonians agree.

Soter Agbaw-Ebai told the sell-out crowd that Biya is naked and Cameroon is naked. He stated that the new generation of Cameroonians has the right to see a new head of state.

Soter Agbaw-Ebai, a former Yaoundé City Correspondent with The Herald Newspaper in the 90s said “Cameroon has a Paul Biya problem and that for 41 years of Biya’s rule, Cameroonians have been sitting in a car that has a puncture in all four tyres.”

Agbaw-Ebai also doesn’t think Biya and his Francophone dominated military will be able to eliminate Ambazonia Restoration Forces. He told the Irish present that both sides must end the war properly, stressing that it was up to Southern Cameroonians and their jailed leaders to handle the aftermath of the conflict as a united people.

Agbaw-Ebai opined that moderate French Cameroun political elites should start talking to the Ambazonian leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and that the jailed Southern Cameroons leaders should be in the driving seat. “The idea that only Southern Cameroonians who have served in the Biya regime can do the trick isn’t going to work” Agbaw-Ebai submitted.

By Isong Asu on Special assignment in Dublin

20, December 2023

Ambazonia fighters invade Cross River community in Nigeria ⁰

The Ambazonia rebels fighting in southwest Cameroon for sovereignty have reportedly invaded Okwa community, in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State.

Okwa is located at the border with Southwest Cameroon within the Gorilla Protection Unit of the Okwangwo Division of the Cross River National Park.

Two weeks ago, they took over Belegete community in Obanliku LGA, neighbouring community to Okwa, abducted over 40 natives, killed a clan head, Chief Francis Okweshi, raped women, burnt houses and occupied it for over a week.

The House of Representatives member for Ikom/Boki federal constituency, Victor Abang confirmed the invasion in a statement signed by his media aide, Simon Abang.

Abang said the continued invasion of parts of the State was a high level security threat on the country’s national boundary which must stop.

The Reps member said the latest invasion showed there was a plan by the bandits to cause mayhem in the area.

He recounted instances where the Cameroonian terrorists have made dangerous incursions into Boki LGA, saying they faced a severe security threat from them.

“On December 17, 2023, these aggressors invaded the community, causing panic by firing indiscriminately, issuing threats, and restricting locals from accessing their farmland without cause.

“This incident follows the tragic execution of Chief Ogweshi Francis Ongwele in Belegette, a neighboring community, resulting in injuries, kidnappings, and destruction of properties; this must stop,” he warned.

He said the invaders’ actions have instilled fear, leading villagers to desert their homes and become refugees in neighboring communities.

He cautioned that if prompt measures were not implemented to safeguard the borderlands, there was an impending risk of jeopardizing the lives and livelihood of Nigerians living on the borderline communities to Cameroon.

He called on President Bola Tinubu, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to deploy military forces to Okwa to safeguard Nigerian territorial integrity and citizens’ lives in the area.

“Additionally, diplomatic efforts must be initiated with Cameroon for a peaceful resolution of the security challenges,” he said.

Source: Dailypost.ng

20, December 2023

Congo-Kinshasa: Polls open in high-stakes election after fraught campaign ⁰

Polling stations opened Wednesday in a high-stakes Democratic Republic of Congo general election pitting the incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi against a fragmented opposition, as much of the east of the country is mired in conflict.

Polling stations opened in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country at 6 am (0400 GMT) and will close at 5 pm local time.

AFP journalists saw the first voter casting his ballot at a polling station in the eastern city of Kisangani, which sits in a region an hour ahead of the rest of the huge country, which straddles two time zones.

Voters still waiting in line at 5 pm will be given tokens and polling booths will stay open until they cast their votes, an official at the electoral commission told AFP.

The government declared a bank holiday for Wednesday, and as during previous elections, it closed the borders and suspended domestic flights.

Around 44 million Congolese, in a nation of 100 million, are registered to choose their president as well as lawmakers in national and provincial assemblies, and local councillors.

In a first, Congolese citizens residing in South Africa, Belgium, the United States and France will also cast ballots.

More than 100,000 candidates are running for various positions, and while counting is set to begin as soon as polling stations close, results are not expected to be announced for several days.

Several observation missions will be watching the voting process, with the largest one run by a union of Catholic and Protestant churches mobilising 25,000 election observers.

Leaders of this influential mission promised Tuesday to conduct a “parallel count” for the presidential election.

‘Foreign candidates’

Tshisekedi, 60, faces 18 challengers.

The incumbent, who took office in 2019 and is running for a second five-year term, is considered the front-runner to win in the single-round presidential vote.

Tshisekedi’s record, as he himself has acknowledged, is mixed. He has presided over years of economic growth but little job creation and soaring inflation. He is asking for another term to “consolidate his gains”.

Throughout the campaign, he also poured scorn on what he termed “foreign candidates” – suggesting that his opponents have dual loyalties and lack the will to stand up to Rwanda, which the DRC accuses of funding rebel groups on its soil.

Moise Katumbi, a 58-year-old businessman and former governor of mineral-rich Katanga province, is the main target of such attacks.

Armed conflict in eastern DRC overshadowed much of the electoral campaign. Militias have plagued the troubled region for decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.

Tensions have resumed since the M23 group, which is allegedly backed by Rwanda, began capturing swathes of territory in late 2021.

Clashes with M23 fighters have subsided in recent weeks but the rebels continue to hold sway over large parts of North Kivu province. Citizens living in those areas will not be able to vote.

Other presidential candidates include Martin Fayulu, a 67-year-old former oil executive who says he was the true winner of the 2018 election that brought Tshisekedi to power.

Surgical gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, 68, who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work helping rape victims, is also running.

All the major opposition candidates say they suspect the government of preparing electoral fraud.

Flory Tshimanga, a 32-year-old seller of mobile phone credits in Kinshasa, said he thought the vote would proceed without hiccups.

“It’s when the results come in that there could be problems,” he said.

Source: AFP

20, December 2023

Ambazonia determination to fight occupation outweighs Biya’s appointments ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) says the will and determination of Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces to fight French Cameroun occupation outweighs Biya’s appointment of some few Anglophone elites in the French Cameroun government.

Comrade Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief on Monday, during which he discussed the reasons behind the Ambazonia Interim Government’s support for “kontry Sunday” that was launched by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Vice President Dabney Yerima said the most significant factor Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces possess is that they are fighters with a right and a just cause and fighters who believe in the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and are ready to sacrifice for it.

Yerima noted that Biya and his French Cameroun political elites cannot destroy the Southern Cameroons struggle and all Yaounde’s attempts to destroy the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will fail.

Dabney Yerima emphasized that the Ambazonia Interim Government is the legitimate leadership body of the Southern Cameroons people both at home and in the diaspora and the IG will continue to fight and stand against the Biya French Cameroun brutality with will and determination.

Dabney Yerima concluded that Amba fighters will carry out self defense operations this December that will surprise and shock La Republique du Cameroun.

By Alain Tabot-Tanyi

19, December 2023

Uncertainty to Cameroon’s power supply: Eneo’s debt standoff threatens prolonged blackouts ⁰

As of September 2023, Eneo reveals receivables from the public sector, including the government and other public entities, totaling CFA234.5 billion, based on an internal document read by Business in Cameroon. Although CFA43.1 billion has been paid this year, CFA 131.7 billion is still owed by the central government, CFA55 billion by public enterprises, and CFA47.8 billion by other public entities.

Eneo claims that the amounts owed by the Cameroonian government have increased by CFA38.5 billion since the letter sent on April 14 to the Cameroonian Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, by Actis, the majority shareholder of Eneo (51% of the shares). In this letter signed by David Grylls, a partner at Actis, the British investment fund estimated the debt of the public sector to its local subsidiary at CFA186 billion.

The Cameroonian government promptly contested this sum, leading to the establishment of commissions to determine the public sector’s debt to Eneo. However, according to the communiqué released after the electricity company’s board meeting on December 7, 2023, in Yaoundé, this process remains unfinished several months later. The communiqué states, “Management has been urged to persist in dialog with the regulator to address outstanding matters, including the acknowledgment of Eneo’s investments, tariff compensation, and public lighting.”

Compensation and public lighting billing have always been the subject of fierce negotiations between Actis’ subsidiary and the government. To better understand, it should be noted that tariff compensation (consumer subsidy supported by the state, representing the difference between the actual cost of the kilowatt-hour and what the consumer pays) depends on several factors, including the level of investment made by Eneo, the evaluation of which is still the subject of lengthy negotiations with the government. Moreover, in cities without a modern public lighting network, consumption is estimated based on the number of identified street lamps. However, municipalities and Eneo still struggle to agree on the number of functional street lamps over a given period, often requiring counter-expertise.

Year-end celebrations with power cuts

Eneo estimates tariff compensation as of the end of September 2023, at CFA75 billion and the public lighting bill at CFA68.8 billion. This means that out of the CFA234.5 billion claimed by the electricity company from its reference shareholder (44% of the shares), only CFA90.7 billion is already consolidated. Uncertainty continues to weigh on an amount of CFA143.8 billion, or more than 61.3% of the total amount.

For several months, discussions between Eneo and the government have been ongoing to settle part of the public debt owed to the electricity company. The issue, presented as an “emergency,” was at the center of the board meeting on December 7. “The directors were assured of the government’s full support in finding rapid solutions to the sector’s urgent payments,” reads the press release signed by Séraphin Magloire Fouda, Chairman of Eneo’s Board of Directors.

But, according to our information, nothing concrete has been achieved to date on this issue. The structuring of an operation to monetize part of the state’s debt to Eneo is mentioned to allow the company to settle part of its debt to its suppliers. Especially since “nothing concrete on the amount and timing of the monetization operation is determined,” independent power producer Globeleq, which claims up to CFA107.7 billion from Eneo, has stopped its 304 MW installed capacity plants for the second time since December 1, 2023, causing power cuts lasting more than six hours.

The financing of the monetization operation is one of the sticking points that is blocking the operation. The Actis subsidiary, which has borne these charges representing between 7 and 8% of the amount to be raised, now refuses to do so. And on its side, the state does not seem willing to bear them either. Hence the deadlock, which should maintain tension in the country’s electricity supply during the year-end celebrations. Sources close to the matter revealed that the situation will worsen during the dry season. For example, at the peak of the low-water period, the Memve’ele hydroelectric plant, with an installed capacity of 211 MW, often produces zero watt-hours at certain times of the day, due to the lack of water flow to turn its turbines.

Source: Business in Cameroon