6, September 2023

Anglophone journalist Kingsley Njoka jailed with dangerous criminals ⁰

Authorities in Yaoundé have transferred journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka to the ward housing dangerous criminals in the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaoundé, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learned.

The transfer took place recently after he was again questioned about his journalism covering the conflicts in Southern Cameroons.

Plainclothes security agents abducted journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka in May 2020. He is being held in pretrial detention in Kondengui.

Njoka formerly worked as a correspondent for “Tough Talk,” a current affairs show on local broadcaster Canal 2 English, at a Catholic biweekly magazine, L’Effort Camerounais, and the Catholic-owned printing house Macacos, according to his lawyer Amungwa Tanyi and Canal 2 English host Divine Nyaryike, both of whom spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Njoka is also a member of the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists.

By Ewang Miriam Metchane

6, September 2023

Cancer surging among under-50s worldwide ⁰

The number of people under 50 diagnosed with cancer has surged worldwide in the last three decades but it is not fully clear why, a study said on Wednesday.

Cases of cancer among people aged 14 to 49 rose by nearly 80 percent, from 1.82 million to 3.26 million, between 1990 to 2019, according to the study published in the journal BMJ Oncology.

While experts cautioned that some of that increase was explained by population growth, previous research has also indicated that cancer is becoming more commonly diagnosed among under-50s.

The international team of researchers behind the new study pointed to poor diet, smoking and alcohol as major risk factors underlying cancer in the age group.

But “the increasing trend of early-onset cancer burden is still unclear,” they added.

A little over one million people under 50 died of cancer in 2019, up 28 percent from 1990, the study said.

The deadliest cancers were breast, windpipe, lung, bowel and stomach cancers, according to the study.

Breast cancer was the most commonly diagnosed over the three decades.

But the cancers that rose the fastest were of the nasopharynx, where the back of the nose meets the top of the throat, and prostate.

Liver cancer meanwhile fell by 2.9 percent a year.

– Causes remain ‘elusive’ –

The researchers used data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study, analysing the rates of 29 different cancers in 204 countries.

The more developed the country, the more likely it was to have a higher rate of under-50s diagnosed with cancer, the study said.

This could suggest that wealthier countries with better healthcare systems catch cancer earlier, but only a few nations screen for certain cancers in people under 50, the study added.

As well as poor diet, smoking and drinking, genetic factors, physical inactivity and obesity could also contribute to the trend, the study said.

Modelling predicted that the number of global cancer cases in under 50s will rise a further 31 percent by 2030, mostly among people aged 40-49.

The researchers acknowledged that cancer data from different countries varied greatly, with developing nations potentially under-reporting cases and deaths.

Experts not involved in the study said the slower increase in deaths compared to cases was likely due to improvements in early detection and treatment.

Dorothy Bennett, a researcher at the University of London, pointed out that the world’s population grew by roughly 46 percent between 1990 and 2019, accounting for some of the increasing cases.

Two doctors at Queen’s University Belfast, Ashleigh Hamilton and Helen Coleman, said it was “crucial” to work out what was behind the increasing cases.

“Full understanding of the reasons driving the observed trends remains elusive, although lifestyle factors are likely contributing, and novel areas of research such as antibiotic usage, the gut microbiome, outdoor air pollution and early life exposures are being explored,” they said in an editorial linked to the study.

Source: AFP

5, September 2023

Make Noise: Central African States Suspend Gabon’s Membership ⁰

The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) has suspended Gabon’s membership during an extraordinary summit in Djibloho, Equatorial Guinea, and condemned the use of force to resolve political conflicts.

One week after a coup ousted Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo, little has been said about him and he hasn’t been seen since a video in which he was pleading for international help.

Monday’s extraordinary summit was held under the presidency of Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Obiang said ECCAS wants Gabon to return to constitutional order so that all the institutions in the country can function. ECCAS said it expects the international and regional communities to help Gabon out of difficult times, but gave no details.

ECCAS said Gabon was suspended from proceedings because of an unconstitutional power change.

Chad’s foreign affairs minister, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, read the summit’s resolutions on Equatorial Guinea’s National Television.

He said ECCAS leaders are asking the military junta in Gabon to guarantee the physical integrity, safety and security of ousted President Bongo and his family. He said Gabon has an obligation under international law to protect all citizens and ensure a quick return to civilian rule.

Annadif said the summit designated Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera to negotiate with Gabon’s military junta to hand over power.

Etienne Ngola, an international affairs lecturer at the Omar Bongo University in Libreville, said via a messaging app that the coup in Gabon was one of the most peaceful in the world with no bloodshed. He said ECCAS should allow Gabon’s military junta, which has much internal support, enough time to bring back order and prepare civilians for democratic rule before handing over power.

Gabon’s ousted president has not been seen in public since August 30, when a group of Gabon military officers appeared on national television and announced that they had seized power and put Bongo under house arrest.

But an audio extract from a video of Bongo has gone viral on social media platforms. In the video, Bongo cries for help, asking people he calls his friends to come to his rescue.

“I am Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon, and I want to send a message to all the friends that we have all over the world, to tell them to make noise for the people here have arrested me and my family,” he said on the video. “My son is somewhere and my wife is in another place and I am at the residence, nothing is happening, I don’t know what is going on so I am calling you to make noise. I am thanking you.”

Shortly after the coup, Bongo’s son, 31-year-old Noureddin Bongo Valentin, was arrested and accused of high treason and corruption.

The ECCAS summit did not make any public statements regarding the arrest of Bongo’s son.

The military junta led by General Brice Oligui Nguema, a former commander of the Republican Guard, who was sworn in on Monday as Gabon’s transitional president, has not commented on his predecessor’s family situation.

During the summit, Niger-born Abdou Abarry, who is the special representative of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Central Africa and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, pleaded for the establishment of rules and strong institutions he said will consolidate Gabon’s democratic foundations at the end of a transition within a reasonable time.

Abarry also expressed hope that ECCAS and the regional office of Central Africa would equip themselves with what he called adequate instruments to deal with the resurgence of unconstitutional changes.

Presidents Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, Joao Lourenco of Angola, Faustin-Archange Touadera of the Central African Republic, as well as Sao Tome and Principe Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada and a representative of Cameroonian President Paul Biya were present at the ECCAS summit. ECCAS also has Chad, Burundi, Gabon, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo and Rwanda as members.

The summit said all member states agreed that more sanctions will be meted out on Gabon should the military junta fail to hand over to civilian rule soonest.

During his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, Nguema said he would hand over civilian rule, but did not say when.

Source: VOA

5, September 2023

Archbishop Andrew Nkea disowns ‘fake’ Ugandan priest ⁰

The Metropolitan Archbishop of the Bamenda Ecclesiastic Province has disowned a priest reportedly ordained in Anglophone Cameroon when the laity and the Bishop of Lugazi Diocese in Uganda questioned Mr. Francis Xavier Luyinda’s worthiness.

In a correspondence addressed to His Lordship Bishop Christopher Kakooza of the Lugazi Diocese, His Grace Archbishop Andrew Nkea stated that from the photos sent to the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, the bishop who performed the ordination rituals on Mr. Francis Xavier Luyinda is not a Catholic bishop.

Archbishop Nkea furthered that there are many such fake bishops in Cameroon causing confusion.

The fake priest had settled in Our Lady Consolata Catholic Parish, Bweyogere in Uganda and claimed to have been ordained in Cameroon.

In a pastoral letter dated September 4, 2023; Bishop Christopher Kakooza appealed for calm and called on Christians to wait for the official communication from the Ugandan Episcopal Conference.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

5, September 2023

“Democracy” or Progress: What do Africans want? ⁰

There is a deadly bug spreading across Africa like wildfire. And this time, it is not the coronavirus. It is military coup d’états which have been designed to take down monarchies or incompetent African leaders.

This contagion has moved from Sudan to Mali, spreading to Chad, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, and recently to Gabon.

The question now is who is going to be the virus’ next victim; the bug which is causing ineffective African leaders to tremble in their pants?

The bug is relentless in its attack and giving its mutatinality, it has struck fear in many. It is a matter of when it next gets a victim, not if it will attack those who have made themselves unpopular due to their economic and political reasons.

With flu and other contagious infections, people take vaccines to protect themselves, but this new infection in Africa has prompted the leaders of Rwanda, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo Brazzaville to take proactive measures to keep themselves safe by restructuring their security and defense teams.

Following the recent military coup in Gabon, where the reign of the Bongo family was ended after 56 years, President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria declared that this is “a contagion of autocracy.”

President Tinubu is only half right. The men in military fatigues who now occupy some presidential palaces in Africa through coups are not democratically elected, have seized power through arms, and are autocrats. But for President Tinubu to consider Omar al-Bashir, Ali Bongo, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and some deposed leaders as representatives of democracy is outright incorrect.

Democracy is more than just elections. Most of the elections held on the continent of Africa are sham elections designed to keep the international community and donors off the backs of African leaders.

In a democratic polity, the government must be created and maintained with the people’s consent, with a clearly defined system of conducting free and fair elections with the citizens encouraged to participate in the political process.

Genuine democracies have a separation of power where authority is not concentrated in the hands of a single individual.

A genuine democracy must have a mechanism for protecting Human Rights and guaranteeing freedom of speech.

Finally, a proper democratic system embodies the rule of law or due process of law where all citizens are accountable to laws publicly passed and equitably enforced by an independent judicial system.

John Stuart Mill argued that democracy gives each person a share of political power, forcing leaders to consider the rights and interests of the wider population.

But this cannot be true of the people in Niger, Gabon, Mali, Burkina Faso and most African countries. In politics, we learn that coups will likely happen in unconsolidated democracies where leaders abuse the state apparatus for personal gain.

One doesn’t have to be a genius to identify the problems facing the countries that have recently had military coups and most of Africa– poverty, inequality, lack of basic infrastructure, non-existent healthcare systems, corruption, poor educational set-up, hopelessness, sky-high youth and adult unemployment, unaffordable food prices, illiteracy, high fertility rate, food insecurity, insecurity, bad governance, frequent power cuts and much more.

If democracy is a government of the people and for the people, as Lincoln stated, its purpose must be to provide economic benefits, development, and human dignity to its citizens.

Despite the obvious failure of the recently deposed leaders and the political class in Africa to live up to what democracy stands for, some are calling for ECOWAS to intervene in Niger to restore a version of democracy that doesn’t consider the best interests of citizens.

The people clamouring for ECOWAS to intervene militarily in Niger to restore “democracy” are not doing that for Niger or Africa’s interests. A war to restore what ECOWAS and France call democracy in Niger will be a monumental error of judgment and a failure of diplomacy by Nigeria, the regional powerhouse.

President Bola Tinubu has more than enough on his plate in Nigeria and should not fall into the trap of playing to the gallery of the world stage. He has access to a sea of gifted IR scholars and historians in Nigeria; he should listen to their wise counsel.

The imminent challenge for President Tinubu and a few other decent African leaders is to design an immediate and binding architecture for good government in Africa.

Civilian coups through sham elections and presidencies for life through constitutional amendments must be frowned upon and discontinued.

This move will restore confidence in the state governing structure. Until the AU gets member states to sign up to a binding architecture on government for the people, coups will be more frequent in the foreseeable future.

According to Schmitter and Karl, modern political democracy is a system of governance in which citizens hold rulers accountable for their actions in the public realm.

But most African presidents are civilian coup leaders who have never won genuine elections and treat the state as their private property.

Most of them are accomplished kleptocrats who are not responsible to anyone. The celebration of coup leaders in many countries is a massive indictment of the quality of democracy in Africa.

President J F Kennedy observed “that those who possess wealth and power in poor nations must accept their own responsibilities. They must lead the fight for those basic reforms which alone can preserve the fabric of their societies. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

The tyranny of the minority at the top of governments in Africa is irresponsible and a catalyst for coups. Africans want good infrastructure, education, sound healthcare systems, food and energy security and a responsible state.

Democracy is a fantastic and non-negotiable political concept when appropriately practiced. But Africans must look at the infrastructure miracle, economic development and progress in China over the last 30 years and contemplate that despite the absence of democracy in that country, anyone who can deliver such improvement for Africa would be welcome.

Until democracy is defined and practiced to benefit the people of Africa, military coups are here to stay.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief, Cameroon Concord News Group

Asu is a researcher and columnist with interests in Public Policy, Economic Development, and Institutions of Democracy in the Developing World. He is a Department of Government, University of Essex graduate, earning a BA in Politics and International Relations, and is pursuing an MA in Public Policy. He is researching and writing his maiden book on Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa and lives in London, UK. Talk back at asu.ashu@yahoo.co.uk

4, September 2023

Southern Cameroons Back-To- School: 2 head teachers killed in Boyo ⁰

Two teachers were killed by a group of Ambazonia Restoration Forces in Boyo Division, Biya regime said Sunday. The victims were two male teachers in their 40s.

The Francophone dominated police have still not disclose how the head teachers were killed. A motive hasn’t been established.

But fingers are pointing to Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups that are strongly against the reopening of schools.

“For now it is far too early to comment on that,” a police officer in Boyo contacted by Cameroon Concord News said.

Our correspondent in Bamenda, citing administrative sources, said the Amba fighters were heavily armed with AK 47s.

The two head teachers Eric Foinjang and Ndim John Boudji reportedly attended a back-to-school meeting on Saturday in Kom and were targeted by Ambazonia fighters operating in the Ijim Mountain.

By Fon Lawrence

4, September 2023

Southern Cameroons Back-To- School: Female student killed in Kumba gun battle ⁰

The Senior Divisional Officer for Meme says a GHS Kake female student was killed today morning by Ambazonia Restoration Forces at the Kumba Mile 1 area.

The young girl identified as Hilda Ajeck got caught by a stray bullet during sporadic gun battle.

The Kumba Mile 1 fighting reportedly lasted for more than four hours.

Cameroon government troops came under fire as they patrolled the area and the Francophone army soldiers responded with heavy artillery fire.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that two soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

By Rita Akana

4, September 2023

Gabon new leader takes presidential oath ⁰

General Brice Oligui Nguema has taken the oath of office as Gabon’s interim president, less than a week after he led a coup that toppled the 55-year-old ruling dynasty.

Oligui, the head of the republican guard, led officers in detaining President Ali Bongo Ondimba in the early hours of July 30, moments after the election body announced President Ali Bongo had won a third term.

Hours later, the president appeared in a video and called on his “friends” to “make noise.” He said he was under house arrest at his residence and that his wife and son were being held separately. In a speech after taking the oath, General Oligui promised “free, transparent and credible elections” to restore civilian rule.

He said he was seeking the participation of all “core groups” in the country to draft a new constitution, which “will be adopted by referendum.”

The general did not give a timeframe for election though.

“When the people are crushed by their leaders … it’s the army that gives them back their dignity,” he said. “People of Gabon, today the times of happiness that our ancestors dreamt of are finally coming.”

Oligui said he would instruct the future government “to consider ways of amnestying prisoners of conscience” and “facilitating the return of all exiles” from abroad.

The general strongly defended last week’s coup, describing it as a moment of national liberation and a manifestation of God’s will.

He said the military had acted to save lives following “an electoral process that was obviously loaded.”

After detaining the president, the coup leaders said they had dissolved the institutions, cancelled the election results and temporarily closed the borders.

In his remarks on Monday, Oligui hit out at “international organizations” for criticizing the military takeover.

“We are greatly surprised to hear certain international organizations condemn the act taken by soldiers who were simply upholding their oath to the flag – to save their country at the risk of their lives.”

The United States, Britain, France and certain other states have condemned the coup in Gabon.

Gabon joined Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger in the ranks of African countries that have undergone coups in the past three years.

Source: Presstv

4, September 2023

Niger re-opens airspace to commercial flights ⁰

Niger on Monday reopened its airspace nearly a month after imposing a ban following a military coup in July, the official Nigerien news agency ANP said.

After taking power on July 26, the coup leaders closed the country’s airspace before reopening it again on August 2 – a measure that was reversed on August 6 after regional countries threatened to intervene militarily to restore civilian rule.

“The airspace of the Republic of Niger is open to all national and international commercial flights,” the agency quoted a transport ministry spokesman as saying, adding that ground services had also resumed.

It added that Niger airspace remained closed to all operational military flights and others requiring prior authorisation from the relevant authorities.

The Economic Community of West African States has imposed sanctions on Niger after the ousting of President Mohamed Bazoum and the bloc threatened military intervention as a last resort if talks fail to restore civilian rule.

On August 2, Niger reopened land and air borders with five neighbouring countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad.

Some flights that have received special authorisation have been able to continue to use the airport in the capital Niamey.

On Friday, the United Nations warned that tons of food aid destined for Niger was stuck in transit due to border closures.

Source: AFP

3, September 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Three government soldiers killed in Kumbo ⁰

The Ministry of Defense said three soldiers were killed Friday in firing from Southern Cameroons restoration forces as tensions between Yaoundé and the Ambazonia Interim Government persist over reopening of schools.

Yaoundé initially reported four soldiers were killed and one wounded, but later said one of those believed to have died was resuscitated.

The ministry said government positions were hit in Kumbo the chief town in Bui Division.

While confrontations between the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military and Southern Cameroonian fighters are rare today, it cannot be said that the war, which has raged for more than six years is over.

The soldiers have been identified by Cameroon News Agency, a sister publication as Nupoh, Meka, and Njikam.

If the killings have reduced, it is more because government troops have been ordered not to kill like they used to kill in the past.

Their recklessness with their guns is to blame for the streams of blood which have flowed in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Actions by Southern Cameroonian fighters are just acts of retaliation whenever the sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy Francophone soldiers went on a killing spree.

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has sent more than 7,000 Cameroonians to an early grave, with soldiers accounting for 40% of the deaths.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai