Cameroon Concord News Group holds President Biya and his ruling Beti Ewondo political elites accountable for the unfolding sexual exploitation and harassment of Southern Cameroons girls in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Hundreds of young Southern Cameroons girls lured also to East Cameroun territory have been subjected to sexual abuse and they and many young teenage boys suffer a contemporary form of slavery.

Our cream of reporters both in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Cameroon have hinted of deeply upsetting testimonies. Our correspondent in Abuja, Engelis Okesack Besong who contributed to this report said several Southern Cameroons girls’ have been accosted and raped in Nigeria.

Engelis Okesack Besong went on to point to the high number of Southern Cameroons women raped in Nigeria, stating that the Biya Francophone regime should be held accountable for the adverse consequences and deterioration of conditions in Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Transport Minister Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe warned on Wednesday that Cameroon will experience heavy rains, sometimes followed by violent winds, throughout October and November.

Six regions, including the Far North, North, Adamawa, Northwest, West, and East, will be affected.

The rains will be in excess relative to the climatology of the regions, Bibehe said in a statement Wednesday night.

“This could lead to erosion, pollution of drinkable water, flooding in low-lying areas, landslides in accident-prone areas,” Bibehe said, urging residents to remain vigilant and “vacate risk areas.”

Heavy rains have caused devastating consequences in the country since the rainy season began in March.

On Sunday, landslides triggered by heavy downpours killed 30 people in the capital of Yaoundé, according to officials.

Source: Xinhuanet

A 26-year-old oil tanker, part of the shadow fleet hauling Russian crude, is currently adrift in the Indian Ocean.

As first reported by Bloomberg, the 106,547 dwt aframax tanker Turba is located some 300 km west of Aceh, Indonesia, and is signalling that it is not under command – meaning it cannot manoeuvre on its own.

Vessels use this status to keep out of the way of other traffic, usually because of mechanical or related failures.

The Turba has previously been caught in the act of transporting and transferring Russian crude to other vessels. In mid-September, Bloomberg even photographed the transfer between the Turba and Simba tankers in the Laconian Gulf offshore Greece.

The catch was that, according to AIS data at least, the two were supposed to be miles apart. The deviation in the real and electronic locations of over four miles is one of the ways used to conduct ship-to-ship transport of sanctioned Russian fuel and crude.

Giving fake coordinates to AIS, otherwise known as spoofing, allows buyers to hide buying Russian crude and fuel above approved prices. The G7 granted exemptions for handling Russian oil and fuel traded at or below fixed levels — $60 a barrel for crude and $100 for premium refined fuels like gasoline and diesel.

Even though most tankers that age have already been turned to scrap, that is not Turba’s largest problem. It also flies the flag of Cameroon which is blacklisted on the Paris MoU on Port State Control. On top of that the vessel is not insured by International Group P&I clubs with the last full inspection of the tanker being done in 2017.

At least 40 vessels hauling Russian oil to China and India between early December and early February lacked insurance from members of the International Group of P&I clubs or routine safety-management certificates, according to Equasis. Three vessels, including the Turba, didn’t have classification to demonstrate seaworthiness.

When the European Union put sanctions on Russia, the quite out-of-form Turba became part of the vast shadow fleet carrying the country’s oil and fuel. The rise of the vintage shadow fleet hauling cargoes for Iran, Venezuela, and Russia has grown to number more than 600 ships today.

Southeast Asia – a major crossroads for international tanker trades – has seen its fair share of dark fleet mishaps recently with the explosion of the Pablo aframax in May and the grounding of the VLCC Young Yang last year.

There were at least eight groundings, collisions or near misses involving tankers carrying sanctioned oil products in 2022 – the same number as in the previous three years, according to insurance firm Allianz.

Tankers still working above 20 years of age made up just 1% of the global tanker fleet pre-covid and were still a rarity at 3% before the invasion of Ukraine in late February last year. They’re now on track to make up 11% of all tanker demand by mid-2025, according to data from brokers Braemar.

Culled from Splash247

The Yaoundé floods disaster which has already killed more than 20 people and rendered hundreds of Cameroonians homeless is clearly being blamed on Gregoire Owona, a government minister in the Biya regime who has a massive illegal fish pond in the neighborhood.

On the fateful night of the accident, heavy rains in Yaoundé breached the holding walls of Mr. Owona’s fish pond, sending very strong water currents down the houses of hundreds of residents who were already asleep.

Entire families have been killed in the accident, with one man losing up to eight children.

Many survivors are holding the minister responsible for their pain and suffering, but government officials are avoiding the discussion, hoping that the country’s ailing and old president, Paul Biya, will order an investigation.

A woman who lost two of her family members was heard saying in a video shot by a resident of the neighborhood that Owona should be held responsible, adding that Mr. Owona who was running an illegal fish farm has been deceiving locals with rice and beer to ensure they never report his illegal fish farming activities to the officials.

“We must call a spade a spade. This disaster must not be covered up. The minister is to blame for our pain. We are used to hiding the truth in this country but we are not going to hide the truth surrounding this unfortunate situation. The old man must be held accountable,” the angry Yaoundé resident said.

More videos are emerging and residents of the city (shitty) are speaking up and they are calling on the head of state to order an in-depth investigation.

The survivors are also calling for compensation, especially as the government of Cameroon is not in the habit of compensating victims of any disaster.

The Cameroon Concord News Yaoundé correspondent, Rita Akana, has visited the disaster site and she reports that the residents of the area are bitter and they want justice.

Though many are scared of their security given that the disaster has been caused by a government minister, they are however complaining that the minister’s fish farm was illegal and that he should be interrogated about his illegal business.

Many are calling for severe sanctions, but so far, the government is maintaining a kind of deliberate silence and no investigation has been ordered.

“This country has become a living hell for many Cameroonians. This is the only country in the world where senior government officials who are supposed to be our role models get away with their crimes,” a gentleman who lost the sister to the Gregoire Owona-made disaster said.

“We have not yet received any assistance from the government though a few cabinet ministers have stopped by to see the disaster site. Atanga Nji, the country’s territorial administration minister, was here but he was more interested in projecting the fact that the president had sent mattresses to the victims, but I have not yet seen a mattress,” he said angrily.

“The president’s gift if he actually gifted us those mattresses is unfortunately inappropriate. Most of us are homeless and we are in the middle of a rainy season. If we will ever get the mattresses, where will we use them? We are spending the nights in the open and more rains are in the forecast. The most appropriate thing will be for the government to house all those whose houses have been destroyed. This is however not going to happen because the Cameroon government is not in the business of taking care of its citizens who are facing tough times,” the angry gentleman told Rita Akana.

“We are helpless and we are calling on anybody who can reach out to us to do so. We are really desperate. We need help. Gregoire Owona’s fish farm has ruined our lives. We have lost many people while he is still enjoying his life. This greed, which has become our country’s hallmark, must stop,” he added.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai