29, April 2023

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Public debt estimated at CFA12.203 billion over first three months of 2023 ⁰

The public debt of Cameroon was estimated at CFA12.203 billion over the first three months of 2023. Compared to the same period last year, the amount is up 5.2%, and now represents 43.7% of the country’s GDP, according to data published by the Autonomous Depreciation Fund (CAA).

This debt level remains bearable and in line with the government’s 2023-2025 strategy, which aims to keep it below 50% of GDP, the threshold for the CEMAC region being 70% of GDP. The large part of Cameroon’s outstanding public debt during the period under review was incurred by the central government. The outstanding direct debt of the central government grew by 5.6% YoY over the period to CFA11,314 billion, representing 40.5% of GDP.

“The direct debt of public enterprises and entities, at the end of March 2023, is estimated at CFA879 billion, or 3.1% of GDP. This amount is up 0.9% YoY, but down 1.1% MoM and 1.9% QoQ,” the CAA said.

At the same time, the outstanding debt of decentralized local authorities reached about CFA10.2 billion in Q1 2023. It was mainly driven by the Urban Community of Douala. “Work to evaluate this category of debt is ongoing, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development,” the Autonomous Depreciation Fund explained.

Source: Business in Cameroon

28, April 2023

Pope Francis warns of rising nationalism, calls for accepting migrants on Hungary visit ⁰

Pope Francis, starting a trip to Hungary, on Friday pointedly warned of the dangers of rising nationalism in Europe and told the Budapest government that accepting migrants along with the rest of the continent would be a true sign of Christianity.

In a hard-hitting speech to government leaders including Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has had a series of run-ins with the European Union, Francis also urged a rejection of “self-referential forms of populism” and strictly nationalist interests.

He called for a return to the “European spirit” envisioned by the founders of modern Europe after World War Two, saying nations had to “look beyond national boundaries”.

Speaking on the day that Russia hit Ukraine with the first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months, Francis made another appeal for an end to the war there, calling for “creative efforts for peace” to drown out those he called “soloists of war”.

The three-day visit is his first trip since he was admitted to hospital for bronchitis in March.

Looking cheerful, Francis, who has a knee ailment, used a cane to walk by welcoming dignitaries and children in national dress at the airport. In recent arrivals, he used a wheelchair.

Asked by reporters about his health on the flight from Rome, the pope joked, saying “I’m still alive” and “stubborn weeds never die”.

He also walked with a cane to greet journalists individually in their section of the plane whereas on some recent trips he remained seated and the journalists went to him.

Francis is keeping a promise of an official visit to Hungary after a stop of only seven hours to close a Church congress in Budapest in 2021 on his way to Slovakia left many feeling slighted.

Orban 59, and the pope have differing views on handling migration from the Middle East and Africa to Europe, with Francis believing migrants fleeing poverty should be welcomed.

Orban, whose government built a steel fence on the border with Serbia to keep out migrants, has refused to let Hungary be transformed into an “immigrant country” like he says others in Europe have become.

He asked Francis in 2021, during the pope’s last visit, “not to let Christian Hungary perish”.

In his speech in the presidential palace overlooking the River Danube, Francis quoted St Stephen, the 11th century founder of Christian Hungary.

“Those who profess themselves Christian, in the company of the witnesses of faith, are called to bear witness to and to join forces with everyone in cultivating a humanism inspired by the Gospel and moving along two fundamental tracks: acknowledging ourselves to be beloved children of the Father and loving one another as brothers and sisters,” Francis said.

“In this regard, Saint Stephen bequeathed to his son extraordinary words of fraternity when he told him that those who arrive with different languages and customs ‘adorn the country,'”, Francis said, quoting the saint’s command to ‘welcome strangers with benevolence and to hold them in esteem’.

Source: Reuters

27, April 2023

Martinez Zogo Affair: Business tycoon Amougou Belinga fails in bail attempt ⁰

A Yaoundé judge rejected a request for provisional release submitted by the CEO of the press group Anecdote, detained at the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison in Yaoundé over the Martinez Zogo affair.

Judge Gilbert Schlick ruled that even though the disgraced Francophone business guru was willing to double his proposed security, the risk of interfering with witnesses and destroying evidence remained too high, Judge Schlick said Thursday. “He has access to resources” Schlick said.

The tycoon faces charges of sponsoring and participating in the murder of journalist Martnez Zogo, according to an investigation that was ordered by President Paul Biya.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that Amougou Belinga had destroyed phones and servers, was telling a witness what to say and luring others to Paris to influence them with the help of associates.

Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga is reportedly a diabolical maniac and a cold-blooded and hardened criminal with strong ties to the Biya regime.

He was remanded in custody on Saturday, March 4, 2023 by the Military Court in Yaoundé for “complicity in torture by aiding” in the case of Martinez Zogo, a whistleblower journalist kidnapped on January 17, 2023 before being murdered shortly after.

By Rita Akana in Yaoundé

27, April 2023

Cameroon, Chad agree to resolve dispute over Exxon Mobil sale ⁰

Cameroon and Chad have agreed to resolve their dispute over assets belonging to a multinational oil giant, Exxon Mobil, an official said Wednesday.

Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, a Cameroonian presidential official, announced this after a meeting with Chad’s transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Deby, in the capital N’Djamena, according to Chad Information Agency.

The centuries-old relations between our two countries, which have “always been excellent remain the same” and the two heads of state are “willing to continue to work to strengthen these relations for the well-being of their states and their peoples,” Ngoh was quoted as saying.

“Some misunderstandings have been dispelled and there is really no cloud in the relationship between Cameroon and Chad.”

Ngoh, who visited the country as a special envoy, days after Chad recalled its ambassador to the neighboring country over the dispute, handed Deby “a message of friendship, a message of fraternity” from his counterpart Paul Biya.

Chad recalled its ambassador to Cameroon on April 21 amid a dispute over assets belonging to a multinational oil giant, Exxon Mobil, which the Chadian government nationalized.

Last month, the Chadian government nationalized assets of Exxon Mobil which include the company’s interest in the more than 1,000 km (621 miles) Chad-Cameroon pipeline from Chad to the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea coast used to export crude.

The controversial move came months after ExxonMobil had in December closed the sale of its operations in Chad and Cameroon to British-listed Africa-focused oil and gas energy company, Savannah Energy, in a $407 million deal.

The sale was contested by the Chadian military government.

Chad was infuriated over reports that Savannah Energy had decided to sell its 10% stake in a company that controls the Cameroonian section of the Chad-Cameroon oil export pipeline to Cameroon state oil company, at $44.9 million — which the Chadian authorities were against.

The Chadian presidency accused the Cameroonian authorities of being dishonest in negotiations aimed to resolve the disputes regarding the acquisition of the assets of ExxonMobil by Savannah Energy.

Gali Ngothe Gatta, a Chad presidential official, had warned that the “dispute undermines relations between the two countries and could have consequences on economic and political cooperation.”

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

27, April 2023

World Bank says commodity prices to register sharpest drop since the pandemic ⁰

Global commodity prices are expected to decline this year at the fastest clip since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, clouding the growth prospects of almost two-thirds of developing economies that depend on commodity exports, according to the World Bank’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook report.

The drop in prices, however, is expected to bring little relief to the nearly 350 million people across the world who face food insecurity. Although food prices are expected to fall by 8% in 2023, they will be at the second-highest level since 1975. Moreover, as of February this year, annual food price inflation is at 20% globally, the highest level over the past two decades.

“The surge in food and energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has largely passed due to slowing economic growth, a moderate winter, and reallocations in the commodity trade,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. “But this is of little comfort to consumers in many countries. In real terms, food prices will remain at one of the highest levels of the past five decades. Governments should avoid trade restrictions and protect their poorest citizens using targeted income-support programs rather than price controls.”

Overall, commodity prices are expected to fall by 21% in 2023 relative to last year. Energy prices are projected to decline by 26% this year. The price of Brent crude oil in U.S. dollars is expected to average $84 a barrel this year—down 16% from the 2022 average. European and U.S. natural-gas prices are forecast to halve between 2022 and 2023, while coal prices are expected to decrease 42% in 2023. Fertilizer prices are also projected to fall by 37% in 2023, which would mark the largest annual drop since 1974. However, fertilizer prices are still near their recent high last seen during the 2008-09 food crisis.

Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s Deputy Chief Economist and Director of Prospects Group, said: “The decline in commodity prices over the past year has helped reduce global headline inflation. However, central bankers need to remain vigilant as a wide range of factors, including weaker-than-expected oil supply, a more commodity-intensive recovery in China, an intensification of geopolitical tensions, or unfavorable weather conditions, could push prices higher and reignite inflationary pressures.”

Despite the large declines expected this year, prices of all major commodity groups will remain well above their 2015-2019 average levels. European natural gas prices will hover at almost three times the average in 2015-19. Energy and coal prices will also remain above the pre-pandemic average.

“Metal prices, which increased slightly early in the year, are expected to fall by 8% relative to last year, primarily because of weak global demand and improved supplies,” said Valerie Mercer-Blackman, Lead Economist in the World Bank’s Prospects Group. “In the longer term, however, the energy transition could significantly lift the demand for some metals, notably lithium, copper, and nickel.”

A Special Focus section of the report evaluates the performance of a wide range of approaches used to forecast prices of seven industrial commodities (oil and six industrial metals). A key finding of the study is that futures prices, which are widely used for price forecasts, often lead to large forecast errors. Econometric models based on multiple independent variables tend to outperform other approaches as well as futures prices. The analysis suggests that augmenting model-based forecasting approaches—by incorporating the dynamics of commodity prices over time and controlling for other economic factors—enhances forecast accuracy.

27, April 2023

Marguerite Fonkwen Atanga is new director of CCA Bank ⁰

Marguerite Fonkwen Atanga became the new managing director of CCA Bank, a former microfinance institution that obtained its banking license in 2018. Her appointment to replace Alexis Megudjou was announced at the end of the board meeting held last April 24 in Yaoundé.

Before she became the new CCA Bank’s head, Marguerite Fonkwen Atanga was the deputy executive director of the local subsidiary of the Nigerian banking group UBA. She was promoted to this position in 2018 when she was UBA Cameroon’s Director of Retail & Transaction Banking. The newly appointed director thus becomes the second woman to hold this position within CCA. The first was Charlotte Chekep Kouecheu, who was replaced in April 2020 by Alexis Megudjou.

Marguerite Fonkwen Atanga will be assisted in her new position by Ibrahim Oumarou Sanda, the deputy executive. The latter was also part of the UBA team.

Source: Business in Cameroon

27, April 2023

Biya and Déby’s feud: Minister Ngoh Ngoh en route to Chad ⁰

Cameroon’s Minister of State and Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh on Wednesday departed to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, to meet President of Chad’s Transitional Military Council Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, Cameroon presidency said in a statement.

The statement said Ngoh was a “special envoy” of President Paul Biya.

The visit comes six days after Chad recalled its ambassador to neighboring Cameroon following an escalation of a dispute over the sale by ExxonMobil of its oil assets in both countries to Savannah Energy, a British oil company.

According to local media, Ngoh and Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno will discuss how to resolve the dispute “amicably.”

Source: Xinhuanet

26, April 2023

Boko Haram: Biya regime to redeploy troops to CAR, Nigeria borders amid spike in attacks ⁰

Cameroon’s military plans to redeploy troops to its borders with Nigeria and the Central African Republic after an increase in attacks from militants and rebels.

The military said hundreds of Boko Haram fighters are hiding in the bush after last week’s invasion of the Mayo Moskota district on the northern border with Nigeria. The Cameroon government reported several hundred homes were set on fire, leaving thousands homeless.

Joseph Beti Assomo, Cameroon’s defense minister, said President Paul Biya ordered him to convene an emergency security meeting in Yaounde this week to examine ways of stopping the attacks.

Assomo said a resurgence of Boko Haram attacks is causing untold suffering on civilians on the border with Nigeria after a long period of relative peace. He said militias created by civilians are struggling to combat thousands of Islamist extremists who have been crossing to Cameroon from Nigeria since January to commit atrocities on civilians and government troops.

Assomo, who spoke on Tuesday during the top security meeting also attended by police chiefs, said a week hardly goes by without large-scale attacks by the extremists.

Northern border villagers said Cameroon’s military began withdrawing troops when Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Boko Haram terror group, was declared killed. Nigeria’s government confirms Shekau died in May 2021.

Cameroon’s military denied accusations that troops have abandoned civilians. The military said it has changed its strategy, but the protection of civilians and their property remains a priority.

Meanwhile, the military said the security meeting concluded that Central African Republic rebels fleeing clashes with the U.N. peacekeeping force known as MINUSCA are regularly crossing into eastern Cameroon for supplies. The rebels also abduct civilians for ransom.

Military officials said they have examined ways of fully stopping separatist attacks in Cameroon’s western regions. Separatists have been fighting to carve out an independent English-speaking state from the French majority nation since 2017.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest region, said the military is in control of all 34 districts in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region, despite separatists attacking civilians and burning public edifices at regular intervals. Many civilians have returned to their villages, and children are returning to schools in huge numbers which, he added, is an indication that current attacks by fighters are like the last kicks of a dying horse.

Cameroon’s military said it will redeploy troops to western regions and the borders with Nigeria and Central African Republic. The government said troops will be deployed to new areas where separatists, terrorists and rebels are attacking, but did not say how many forces will be deployed or redeployed.

In March, 2,500 troops graduated from Cameroon’s military training institutes. The government said it will train 3,000 fresh troops within the next 20 months to protect civilians and their property all over the central African state.

Source: VOA

26, April 2023

Ireland: Cameroonian women travel to Dublin to thank nuns who taught them ⁰

A group of 21 women are travelling to Dublin to show their appreciation for Irish nuns who taught them in Cameroon during the 1980s.

The women, who are all graduates of Lourdes Secondary School for Girls in Mankon, a town in western Cameroon, will be paying tribute to the Holy Rosary Sisters, who empowered them when they were teenagers.

The group, who called themselves the “Pacesetters”, include members who have worked and travelled the world, some earning PhDs and Masters with careers in engineering, nursing, medicine and more.

They are due to land in Dublin Airport this afternoon.

Dr Claire Minang, one of the students from the class of 1986, said the trip was an opportunity to thank the sisters.

“They gave us everything we needed to excel in the world when we got out. That’s why we’re so grateful,” she told RTÉ News.

During their trip to Dublin, the group will be visiting Sr Mary Neville, 90, who served as their principal.

For Nagella Nwana Nukuna, now a technical manager at DuPont, the multinational chemicals firm, the school, while strict and structured, allowed them to grow.

“They were loving sisters to us. And, as we have grown up, we could all see that that level of structure is sometimes good,” Ms Nakuna said.

Although Sr Mary has long since retired, she remembers her time at the school, and her time with her girls fondly.

She said that each of the women appreciated the opportunity of education, during a time when it was generally the males that went to highs school and further education.

“The girls were anxious to make the best of their opportunity, and they worked very hard. I found them very conscientious and responsible people,” she said.

Sr Mary also applauded their parents who sent them to the school, acknowledging that, for many, it was a big financial sacrifice.

During her time there, she tried to ensure the best learning environment, working closely with the other teachers and prefects, even banning corporal punishment.

“I encouraged them to say what kind of school they want, how are you going to achieve that and having great pride in your own compound, in your school and in your own family” Sr Mary said.

Nogwa Fonjoe, who now works in cloud computing, remembers joining the school. She said that she had initially felt homesick after leaving her parents’ home.

However, despite the often strict curriculum and daily structure, she credits Sr Mary and the rest of the Holy Rosary Sisters for teaching her discipline.

Speaking to RTÉ News, she said it helped the students be more organised.

“It helped us appreciate what a good education is and we’re able to pass that on as well to our children.”

Today, the women are all still in touch with each other, regularly in contact through WhatsApp and supporting each other through their milestones.

For Sr Mary, it is an opportunity to reunite with the girls she once knew and celebrate the heights they have reached.

“Now they’ll be women, some of them grandmothers, well dressed and very mature. I’m so excited to be meeting them again.”

Source: RTE

25, April 2023

US: Joe Biden announces 2024 presidential run ⁰

US President Joe Biden has confirmed he’s seeking re-election with Vice President Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2024

Aged 80, Biden is already the oldest US president in history and would be 86 at the end of a second term, a cause of concern for some voters

Biden launched his campaign on social media early Tuesday morning, with a three-minute video that begins with a one-word pitch: freedom

Republicans were clearly ready for this. Soon after the launch, the party released a statement calling the Democrat “out of touch” for seeking re-election and claiming US citizens were counting down the days until they can send him “packing”

Donald Trump has already launched his bid for the Republicans, meaning the pair could be set for a rematch of the 2020 election in November 2024 – but there are still many candidates to declare.

Source: BBC