18, November 2022

Who the hell is Rigobert Song? ⁰

A former international footballer Rigobert Song, famous for his defending, played four World Cups for Cameroon in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010, respectively. He debuted against Mexico on September 22, 1993.

Song had an illustrious career, playing for Liverpool, West Ham United in England, Lens in France and Galatasaray in Turkey.

He retired in 2010 after playing 414 matches in club football and 137 matches for Cameroon. He also holds the record for the most appearances in the African Cup of Nations at eight.

Song has been associated with Cameroon’s national set-up since 2016 as a coach. Since then, he managed Cameroon A, the U-23 side, and the senior national team as a caretaker manager for a year.

Song was appointed as the head coach of Cameroon in February 2022 after Toni Conceicao quit in the aftermath of Cameroon’s third-place finish in the AFCONS earlier this year. This is Song’s first managerial experience at the senior level.

The Indomitable Lions confirmed its ticket to Qatar, beating Algeria in the playoffs to be one of the five African teams in the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup.

Under Song’s coaching, Cameroon usually lines up in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation.

Song would be hoping to see his team go beyond its best performance – a quarterfinal finish in the 1990 World Cup – with players from the domestic league and Europe joining the squad. The most notable name from those who arrived from Europe is Bryan Mbeumo. The Brentford forward decided to represent Cameroon instead of France in the World Cup.

Source: Sportstar

18, November 2022

Beer sales banned around Qatar World Cup stadiums ⁰

FIFA and Qatar on Friday banned beer sales around the eight World Cup stadiums in a stunning policy u-turn just two days before the start of the tournament.

Football’s world body said the decision was taken following “discussions” with World Cup hosts Qatar, an Islamic state which severely restricts alcohol consumption.

It gave no reason for the surprise decision, however.

A FIFA statement said alcohol would be focused on fan zones, “removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters.”

Dozens of beer tents had already been set up at stadiums ahead of the first game Sunday between Qatar and Ecuador.

Qatar has predicted that more than one million fans will visit the country for the 29-day tournament and FIFA has had a longstanding sponsorship deal with major beer producer Budweiser, which is owned by AB InBev.

“The tournament organisers appreciate AB InBev’s understanding and continuous support to our joint commitment to cater for everyone during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” added the statement.

Beer will remain available in VIP suites in stadiums, which are sold by world football’s governing body, at the main FIFA fan zone in Doha, some private fan zones and in about 35 hotel and restaurant bars.

Source: AFP

17, November 2022

Can the Indomitable Lions overcome issues at home to secure World Cup success? ⁰

In November, national legend and Cameroonian Football Federation (FECAFOOT) President Samuel Eto’o heaped pressure on the senior football team by predicting an all-African affair at the World Cup 2022 final.

“Africa has always had the potential to achieve a successful World Cup, but we haven’t always shown our best face up to now,” Eto’o said.

“During the years, African teams have acquired more and more experience, and I think they’re ready not only to participate in a World Cup, but also to win it.

“Cameroon will win the World Cup final against Morocco” – Samuel Eto’o

It’s a tall order for a team which had a rocky route to qualification for what is their eighth World Cup appearance, the most ever by an African team. It took an extra-time goal from winger Karl Toko Ekambi in the second leg of a tie against Algeria to qualify, and only on the away goals rule.

Controversy has also trailed the selection of the World Cup squad after coach Rigobert Song had difficulty reading some names during the announcement, leading to speculation of interference from Eto’o, in the local media.

All of this has made Song’s task of getting out of a group with Switzerland, Serbia and pre-tournament favourites Brazil a Herculean one.

To spearhead what may seem like a “mission impossible” are goalkeeper Andre Onana and star midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa who both play in the Italian Serie A, as well as captain and veteran forward Vincent Aboubakar of Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr FC.

Zambo Anguissa, the team’s defensive linchpin, has the work rate of a stallion and an eye for a goal to match. Should he hit top form and propel the team to effective performances, the team could be poised to make history again.

The Indomitable Lions also made history in 1990 when they qualified for the quarter-finals, the first team from the continent to do so – only Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) have done so since. To achieve the milestone, Cameroon beat defending champions Argentina 1-0.

At the next tournament, they also made history again despite finishing bottom of the group. In its 1994 squad was the veteran Roger Milla who, at 42, holds the record for the oldest goalscorer at any World Cup.

And after missing out on Russia four years ago, Song’s wards are keen to show that their status as a nation to reckon with on the global stage remains undiminished. But can they go on against all odds to top their own records and match Eto’o’s words?

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

17, November 2022

CPDM billionaire tales: New revelations in the “Baba Danpullo affair” ⁰

Baba Ahmadou Danpullo of Cameroon and Aliko Dangote of Nigeria are both wealthy African businessmen. The similarities end there!

In early 2020 financial regulators in South Africa seized and liquidated all of Danpullo’s properties valued at 277 million US dollars.

The chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate and powerful acolyte of the 89-year-old President Paul Biya has reportedly been operating in South Africa for over 35 years, creating employment from many of his investments and sponsoring the killings of thousands of people in Anglophone Cameroon with the proceeds.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Baba Danpullo’s criminal business empire is managed by Bestinver Company South Africa Ltd, Joburg Skyscraper Pty Ltd, and Bestinver Prop 01 Proprietary Ltd, which are all subsidiaries of Bestinver, the group he founded with political support from the regime in Yaoundé.

Things are falling apart for the Francophone Cameroon criminal and like he evicted the Aghem people from their ancestral lands in Menchum Division in the North West region with the support of President Biya in order to settle his cows, so too is he being evicted from the properties that he built in South Africa with fraudulent loans and blood money from Cameroon.

Baba Danpullo says the happenings in the Republic of South Africa is racist and xenophobic and borders on exclusionism aimed at retarding African progress by targeting black African businesspeople. This is simply not true!!

Over the years, Baba Danpullo has represented ill-gotten wealth from senior Cameroon government officials including the Biya family which he used in building a vast property portfolio in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth). Franck Biya, President Biya’s eldest son spent years in South Africa monitoring his father’s own share of the Baba Danpullo criminal enterprise.

Danpullo’s lawyers have been telling the courts in South Africa that the so-called Cameroonian business tycoon’s properties generate approximately R20m a month, creating employment across the real estate sector and supporting jobs along the value chain. But coming from a country in Sub Saharan Africa that has nothing to show the world! Danpullo’s crime syndicate has inflicted a lot of pain on Cameroonians and his demise in South Africa is a welcome relief to the Cameroonian people.

Cameroon’s economy remains an equation that might not be solved by the South Africa seizure alone. Cameroon is in the abyss of a financial crisis and corrupt businessmen like Danpullo are helping slowly but surely to make the country spiral into chaos.

Danpullo and the Biya family are investing in far away South Africa while Cameroon’s economy is on life support. Years of mismanagement and incompetence have eroded the country’s financial base.

Not being able to influence the judicial system in South Africa, the conman in early September had the accounts of subsidiaries of South African groups seized in Yaoundé, in order to obtain payment of more than €370m ($371m).

Like what all CPDM criminals do, on September 5 Baba Ahmadou Danpullo obtained from Quentin Djapité Ndoumbe, the president of the Court of First Instance in Bonanjo in Douala an order to seize the accounts of the operator MTN Cameroon and chocolate maker Chococam (a subsidiary of the South African food group Tiger Brands) at local banks. Danpullo is demanding payment of 243bn CFA franc (more than $371m).

By some strange happenstance, the liquidation of Danpullo’s company in South Africa and intervention by President Paul Biya is making matters more intractable.

According to Baba Danpullo’s spokesperson, the Covid-19 crisis and the arrival of a new manager at the First National Bank (FNB) are at the root of his setbacks in South Africa.

However, commenting on the matter, Jeune Afrique observed that a certain vagueness remains as the South African liquidators of Baba Danpullo’s company Bestinver reported difficulties beginning as early as late 2019, a few months before the start of the pandemic. It was indeed exactly when he reportedly made millions of US dollars available to the Cameroonian military to continue the war in Anglophone Cameroon.

Jeune Afrique also noted that the confinements imposed by Pretoria in 2020 did not help. Bestinver’s shopping centres, Princess Crossing in the suburbs of Johannesburg, Moffet on Main and Kings Court in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), have seen frequentation plummet.

Cameroon Intelligence Report is keeping a watchful eye on the Danpullo Affair and we will keep our readers posted as we get more details.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

17, November 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima stresses need for dialog among Ambazonia groups ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has underlined the need for intensive and productive dialog among all Southern Cameroons restoration groups in order to address ongoing differences in the struggle and respond to the challenges facing Southern Cameroonians.

Dabney Yerima made the comments in a meeting with members of the Ambazonia war cabinet on Tuesday.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader also hailed all Amba fighters in Ground Zero and Ground One for their continued sacrifices, stating that the history of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will never forget them.

The Ambazonia war cabinet members also exchanged viewpoints on the latest developments in Ground Zero and the plight of all Southern Cameroons detainees including Ambazonia refugees in neighboring Nigeria.

Dabney Yerima stressed that the Ambazonia Interim Government will continue to play a pivotal role in the struggle and that the Interim Government is keen to continue consultations and close coordination with every Southern Cameroons front line figure.

Vice President Dabney Yerima noted that the Interim Government attaches great significance to the Big Rubbergun Gun Project but donations from the diaspora has been very slow because of the nasty happenings in the USA.

By Chi Prudence Asong

17, November 2022

Congo-Kinshasa: M23 rebels advance in eastern region ⁰

The M23 rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has pushed into fresh territory, officials said, after a regional bloc issued a call to lay down arms.

A resurgent group mostly drawn from Congolese Tutsis, the M23 has swept across North Kivu province, triggering a humanitarian crisis and a showdown between the DRC and Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of supporting the rebels.

In recent weeks, fighters have been edging closer towards Goma, an important commercial hub of one million people on the border with Rwanda.

But local residents and administrative officials told AFP that the armed group had also begun a push westwards into Masisi territory.

“The rebels are here,” a resident of Tongo, a town in wildlife haven Virunga National Park, which lies on the road leading to Masisi territory, said on Thursday.

An official in the local administration, who requested anonymity, also told AFP late Wednesday that M23 fighters had entered his office.

M23 fighters and Congolese troops were clashing this week in Kibumba, which is just 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Goma.

A security official, who declined to be named, said Thursday the M23 now controlled the settlement.

The DRC’s army has yet to communicate officially about the rebel advance.

On Wednesday, the head of the newly created East African Community (EAC) military force in eastern DR Congo, Jeff Nyagah, said that rebels that must pursue political negotiations and disarm.

“Those who fail or refuse to voluntarily disarm, then we’ll go for them,” the Kenyan general warned.

Nyagah also vowed that the EAC force would protect Goma.

Despite official denials from Kigali, an unpublished report for the United Nations seen by AFP in August pointed to Rwandan involvement with the M23.

The report also said the M23 plans to capture Goma in order to extract political concessions from the government in Kinshasa.

The M23 first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it captured Goma, before being driven out and going to ground.

But the rebel group re-emerged late last year, claiming that the DRC had failed to honour a pledge to integrate its fighters into the army, among other grievances.

Source: AFP

16, November 2022

Cameroon celebrates the legacy of cotton ⁰

A fashion week has kicked off in Yaoundé with an urban parade dedicated to the celebration of cotton.

Models opened the way to an impressive parade of dancers, performers, clowns and even giant puppets. The show was called “Cotton Pride, from seed to dress” .

“When you see a woman walking by in a beautiful dress or a man in beautiful cotton trousers, you can’t imagine the whole chain of work that goes into it. So in fact Cotton Pride is the pride of cotton work. It means that before you can wear this beautiful dress, there are people who cut, there are people who sew, there are people who spin the fibres, there are people who sow the seed, others who pick the flowers and others who transport these cotton flowers to the spinning mill. So in fact all these pictures show the different stages of cotton processing”, said show director, Nathalie Veuillet.

The show was a prelude to the Fashion and Design Forum.

The urban parade was an initiative of the Centre des Créateurs de Mode du Cameroun (CCMC), which is headed by Yves Eya’a .

“The theme of the designers’ collections is Let fashion express itself. And for us it was important that fashion went to the streets because today when we look at the streets, it’s all that inspires us as designers, as fashion, as fashionistas. And so it was important for us to be able to take to the streets to show the Cameroonian public the fashion that is expressed today in Cameroon”, added the CCMC promoter.

With its carnival atmosphere, Cotton Pride attracted many people.

“This show is really beautiful. It’s beautiful because it’s typically African, it’s beautiful, I love it so much,” said one onlooker.

Africanews reporter, Philippe Anatole Malong , added:

“Yaoundé’s Fashion Week features exhibitions, conferences, debates, fashion shows and other activities aimed at bringing fashion design closer to the Cameroonian public”.

Culled from iol.co.za

16, November 2022

Legendary Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon says he will support Cameroon during world cup ⁰

Italian well-known goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said on Tuesday that he would back Cameroon during the 2022 World Cup.

The tournament is scheduled to take place in Qatar from 20th November till 18th December.

In statements to “Football Italy,” he said that he will back Cameroon team during the most-anticipated tournament.

“When Italy is out from World Cup, I try to support the team, which include my friends,” he said.

Cameroon have been drawn in Group G alongside Switzerland, Serbia, and Brazil.

Source: See.news

16, November 2022

Italy: Cameroonian medical doctor to quit after patient insults ⁰

A Cameroon-born GP is set to quit his practice in Varese after patients refused to be treated by him telling him to “go home and tend to your goats”, Italian media reported Tuesday.

Enock Rodrigue Emvolo, 48, moved to Italy from Cameroon almost 30 years ago and graduated in medicine from Rome’s Sapienza University.

He told the Italian press that he was fed up with insults from his clients, who call him “the Senegalese man”.

Source: ANSA

16, November 2022

Football: Cristiano Ronaldo enroute to Bayern Munich ⁰

Cristiano Ronaldo is on the way out of Old Trafford following his incendiary interview with Piers Morgan that is due to air on Wednesday.

Segments from the interview have filtered through social media since yesterday in which Ronaldo says he feels “betrayed” by Manchester United and Erik ten Hag.

He also says he feels he is being forced out of Old Trafford by certain powers-that-be at the club.

Now it has emerged that his agent Jorge Mendes and the player himself met with Bayern Munich chiefs last week to discuss a potential move in January.

Chelsea had been in the frame but it’s believed Graham Potter has no interest in bringing the Portugal star to Stamford Bridge despite the overtures of Chelsea owner Todd Boehly.

Other clubs in the frame are Newcastle and Napoli, but Bayern is looking the most likely with CEO Oliver Kahn saying in July that they had considered a move for Ronaldo.

Ronaldo is eager to play in the Champions League and if he made the move to Bayern he could potentially line out against Lionel Messi in February when Bayern face PSG in the CL last-16 round.

Source: MSN