The Cameroonian government is appealing for hundreds of millions of dollars to help vulnerable groups such as children, people with disability, and women who are the most affected by conflict.

The government, along with humanitarian agencies, says they must raise $407 million to meet the needs of the approximately 3 million most vulnerable people in the country.

Overall 4.7 million people in the country could be classed as “vulnerable”, it was revealed. That’s one in six people who need assistance. More than three quarters of them are women and children.

About 3 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and more than 2 million people are internally displaced, refugees, or returnees.

The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan drawn up by the government and International humanitarian agencies says they need money for protection services and life-saving assistance for people suffering the effects of violence, natural disasters, climate shocks, and disease outbreaks.

The announcement did not specify who they would ask for this money, but the request was aimed at “the international community”.

Sufficient funding

Matthias Naab, Humanitarian Coordination in Cameroon during his presentation on Thursday urged the international community to provide “early, flexible and sufficient funding”.

“It will support livelihoods and resilience, to ensure that affected women, men, girls and boys can meet their basic needs. Priority will be given to interventions for those in greatest need, including internally displaced persons, returnees, refugees, and host communities who continue to generously open their homes to those in need,” he said.

Cameroon is dealing with terrorist attacks in the Far North region, where the civilian population continues to be subject to armed attacks, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), kidnappings, including of children, looting, and destruction of property and infrastructure, by Islamist militants.

Seven years after separatists embarked on a mission to independence in the Northwest and Southwest, there have been reports of human rights violations that have led to important population displacements.

Insecurity in the neighboring Central African Republic has seen the influx of over 340,009 refugees in the East, Adamawa, and Mort regions.

Over 224 humanitarian organizations are working with the United Nations and government to boost response in Cameroon.

Source: Humanglemedia.com

The Cameroonian government has secured new financial support as part of the reconstruction of the war-torn Anglophone regions of the Northwest and Southwest. Yesterday, the Minister of Economy, Alamine Ousmane Mey, signed a loan agreement of €32.250 million (about CFA21.1555 billion) with Muhmmad Al Jasser, Head of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).

This financing, the Cameroonian official said, “will support the government’s efforts to rebuild and rehabilitate essential infrastructure, strengthen social cohesion and revitalize the local economy in the targeted regions”. It is another helping hand in this reconstruction process, for which fund mobilization remains a headache.

Out of a requested CFA154 billion (about $258 million), Cameroon only raised CFA11.5 billion by mid-2022, representing a mobilization rate of 7.4%, official data showed. In detail, Paul Tasong, who coordinates the project, explained that 75% of this amount came from the State itself; the private sector contributed CFA1.2 billion; the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) CFA400 million; and Japan CFA1.5 billion. Last March, Japan approved an additional CFA1.3 billion, bringing its total contribution so far to CFA2.8 billion.

Source: Business in Cameroon

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government says October 1, 2023 will begin a new path of the struggle for liberation of the entire Southern Cameroons territories from the clutches of the vicious French Cameroun regime.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Intelligence Report on Tuesday about the situation of the Southern Cameroons resistance, Dabney Yerima stated that October 1 this year will be a new beginning for the Ambazonia revolution and actions will be staged by Amba fighters that will hasten the liberation of the entire British Southern Cameroons.

Yerima said that all Southern Cameroons restoration groups will be at the forefront of such a campaign, emphasizing that the actions will go beyond the Moungo.

Dabney Yerima highlighted that Southern Cameroons resistance groups are moving towards the formation of a central command system in Ground Zero that will end the French Cameroun occupation.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Yerima also condemned the recent killing of a Southern Cameroons journalist in Bemanda and he underscored the need for Amba fighters to protect the people of Southern Cameroons.

Dabney Yerima stated that the Ambazonia Interim Government under the stewardship of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has gloriously and proudly emerged triumphant over problems in the past years, describing the extent of internal crises that the Biya French Cameroun regime is currently facing in Yaoundé as unprecedented since the 1984 coup.

He went on to note that Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero are at the forefront of defending the homeland, emphasizing that special emphasis must be laid on providing generous support to Amba fighters.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Hundreds of biometric visas have already been issued by different diplomatic services of Cameroon since the online application system went live on May 1.

The country’s embassy in Belgium said it issued more than one hundred visas within two days after the system rolled out, according to information from the Foreign Ministry in Yaoundé.

Ahead of the launch, Foreign Minister Mbella Mbella, in a briefing on April 25, explained the purpose and functionalities of the biometric visa system, saying it is the first step in a series of government efforts aimed at improving the country’s diplomatic machinery by aligning it with cutting-edge international best practices in the domain of visa issuance.

“Cameroon is writing a new page in its history. If things go on as planned, from May 1, applicants will be able to get their entry visa into Cameroon within a period of 72 hours upon submission of the online application,” said Mbella Mbella at the briefing.

He also explained the category of visas available for long and short visits and their fees, which have seen an increase from the previous visa regime, in line with the prescriptions of the 2023 state budget.

Short-stay visas have a validity of six months while long-stay ones are valid for 12 months, costing between 100,000 Central African francs (US$167) and XAF 200,000 ($334) depending on the type (either ordinary or express). Express visas are issued within 24 hours.

The government official also explained that the new system has been designed in a flexible way to deliver secure visa stickers. The process is fast, efficient and cuts wait time and other procedural bottlenecks, he added.

In a previous government communication, Mbella Mbella had explained how the system works and the various stages involved in the application process.

Impact Palmarès R&D SAS is the Cote d’Ivoire-based company running the system under a ten-year contract on a Public-Private Partnership basis. It is reported that per the contract terms, the company earns 30 percent of the fee paid for each visa issued.

Since the system went live, the Foreign Ministry has been running an awareness campaign on its official social media pages on how the system works. It publishes short messages explaining the online application process to applicants, and calling on them to guard against cybercriminals who may try to create a prototype system.

Source: Biometric update

At least 15 people have been killed and 19 others injured in a bus accident in Cameroon, local police said.

The tragedy occurred Tuesday afternoon in a village along the highway linking the East and Adamawa regions.

Police said the driver of the bus, which was heading to Adamawa regional chief town of Ngaoundere, lost control, and the vehicle crashed and then exploded because it was also transporting fuel.

Cameroon Radio Television, the state television, reported that a three-year-old child was among the dead. Local media reported that seven women were also killed.

The injured were rushed to hospital and “are under intensive medical care,” the police said.

The Cameroonian Ministry of Transport estimates that 1,500 people die in road accidents each year in the central African nation.

Source: Xinhuanet