18, July 2022

Diageo to sell Guinness Cameroon to Castel Group for £389m ⁰

Beverage company Diageo DGE.L has agreed to sell its Guinness Cameroon brewery to France’s Castel Group for £389 million, the company has said in a statement.

Details

Castel will take over the production and nationwide distribution of Guinness in Cameroon under a licence and royalty agreement, it said.

“Under this new agreement, the brand will have both expanded brewing capacity and distribution. It will remain part of the global Guinness family through direct marketing oversight,” Dayalan Nayager, president of Diageo Africa, said in the statement.

The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of fiscal 2023, subject to regulatory clearances. When completed, the transaction will result in an exceptional gain on disposal of approximately £250 million after tax, Diageo said.

Source: Hospitality Ireland

18, July 2022

French Cameroun: Two civilians killed in Boko Haram attack ⁰

At least two civilians were killed in an attack by the Boko Haram militants in Cameroon’s Far North region, according to security and local sources.

Boko Haram militants raided Gouzoudou locality of the region Friday night, killing two civilians. The military repelled the attack and killed one of the militants as they were struggling to escape, an official of the Cameroon army familiar with the attack told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

“Our troops continued to pursue the terrorists this morning (Saturday). We are stepping up security to protect civilians who have been regularly targeted in the region,” the official said.

Source: Xinhuanet

18, July 2022

Iran capable of building nuclear bomb ⁰

Iran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has not decided whether to build one, a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Qatar’s al Jazeera TV on Sunday.

Kamal Kharrazi spoke a day after U.S. President Joe Biden ended his four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, vowing to stop Iran from “acquiring a nuclear weapon.”

Kharrazi’s comments were a rare suggestion that Iran might have an interest in nuclear weapons, which it has long denied seeking.

“In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium … Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one,” Kharrazi said.

Iran is already enriching to up to 60%, far above a cap of 3.67% under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Uranium enriched to 90% is suitable for a nuclear bomb.

In 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the nuclear pact, under which Iran curbed its uranium enrichment work, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

In reaction to Washington’s withdrawal and its reimposition of harsh sanctions, Tehran started violating the pact’s nuclear restrictions.

Last year, Iran’s intelligence minister said Western pressure could push Tehran to seek nuclear weapons, the development of which Khamenei banned in a fatwa, or religious decree, in the early 2000s.

Iran says it is refining uranium only for civilian energy uses, and has said its breaches of the international deal are reversible if the United States lifts sanctions and rejoins the agreement.

The broad outline of a revived deal was essentially agreed in March after 11 months of indirect talks between Tehran and Biden’s administration in Vienna.

But talks then broke down over obstacles including Tehran’s demand that Washington should give guarantees that no U.S. president will abandon the deal, the same way Trump did.

Biden cannot promise this because the nuclear deal is a non-binding political understanding, not a legally-binding treaty.

“The United States has not provided guarantees on preserving the nuclear deal and this ruins the possibility of any agreement,” Kharrazi said.

Israel, which Iran does not recognise, has threatened to attack Iranian nuclear sites if diplomacy fails to contain Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Kharrazi said Iran would never negotiate its balistic missile programme and regional policy, as demanded by the West and its allies in the Middle East.

“Any targeting of our security from neighbouring countries will be met with direct response to these countries and Israel.”

Source: REUTERS

18, July 2022

Battle for Ukraine: President Zelensky sacks top prosecutor, security head ⁰

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday sacked his chief prosecutor and the head of the country’s security agency in the largest government shakeup since the start of Russia’s invasion nearly five months ago.

Zelensky said he was firing Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and security chief Ivan Bakanov amid a high number of cases of suspected treason by Ukrainian law enforcement officials.

“Today, I made the decision of relieving of their duties the prosecutor general and the head of Ukraine’s security service,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.

Zelensky said over 650 cases of suspected treason and aiding and abetting Russia by Ukrainian security officials are currently being investigated, including 60 cases of officials who have remained in territories occupied by Russia and are working against Ukraine.

“Such a great number of crimes against the foundations of national security and the connections established between Ukrainian law enforcement officials and Russian special services pose very serious questions to the relevant leaders,” Zelensky said. “Each such question will be answered.”

Source: France 24

18, July 2022

European heatwave turns deadly as wildfires rage from Spain to Greece ⁰

Firefighters battled to contain wildfires sweeping across southwest Europe on Sunday as a heatwave showed no sign of abating, with Britain poised to set new temperature records this coming week.

Blazes raging in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain have destroyed thousands of hectares of land and forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to flee.

It is the second heatwave to engulf parts of southwest Europe in weeks. Scientists blame climate change and predict more frequent and intense episodes of extreme weather such as heatwaves and drought.

Spanish authorities reported around 20 wildfires still raging out of control in different parts of the country from the south to Galicia in the far northwest, where blazes have destroyed around 4,500 hectares of land.

The fires have already killed several emergency personnel since last week, most recently a fireman who died late on Sunday while battling a blaze in northwestern Spain.

In France, the situation deteriorated in the southwestern Gironde region where firefighters were fighting to control forest blazes that have devoured nearly 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) since Tuesday.

‘A heat apocalypse’

The wildfires in France forced more than 16,000 people—residents and tourists combined—to decamp. Seven emergency shelters have been set up for evacuees.

France’s interior ministry announced it would send an extra three firefighting planes, 200 firefighters and more trucks.

Meteo France forecast temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of southern France on Sunday, with new heat records expected on Monday.

“In some southwestern areas, it will be a heat apocalypse,” meteorologist Francois Gourand told AFP.

France placed 15 departments, mainly down its western seaboard, on red alert—the highest on the scale—on Sunday while 51 were on orange high alert.

The chapel of a historic hospital in the southeastern city of Lyon, Grand Hotel Dieu, offered refuge to tourists on Sunday including Jean-Marc, 51, who was visiting from Alsace.

“We came back to admire the place, but we can’t leave, it’s too hot outside. We say a prayer before the fire!” he quipped.

French cyclist Mikael Cherel, taking part in the Tour de France’s 15th stage between Rodez and Carcassonne in southern France on Sunday, described “very, very difficult conditions”.

“I’ve never known such a hot day on a bike. It really was no picnic.”

Deaths

In Spain, firefighters managed to stabilise a wildfire that ravaged 2,000 hectares of woods and bushes in the southern region of Andalusia, regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno said.

The blaze started on Friday in the Mijas mountain range inland from the southern coastal city of Malaga and it spurred the evacuation of about 3,000 people.

Around 2,000 people had since returned home and now that the blaze has stabilised, Moreno said the remaining evacuees may do the same.

A fireman died from burns on Sunday while battling a blaze in Spain’s northwestern province of Zamora, the regional government said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his “condolences and affection” to the man’s family and colleagues.

“There are no words to express thanks to those who fight fires without rest for their immense work. RIP,” he added in a tweet.

Sanchez is due to visit the hard-hit eastern region of Extremadura on Monday where various fires have been raging for days.

The fireman’s death comes after a pilot was killed last week when his plane crashed in northern Portugal, and two crew members died in Greece when their helicopter fell into the sea.

The extreme heat also claimed the lives of two men in Spain over the weekend.

A 50-year-old man in Torrejon de Ardoz just outside of Madrid died on Sunday after suffering heat stroke while out for a walk, local emergency services said.

And on Saturday, a 60-year-old street cleaner in Madrid died after suffering heat stroke while working the previous day.

‘Risk to life’ in UK

In Portugal, almost the entire country remained on high alert for wildfires despite a slight drop in temperatures, after hitting 47C—a record for the month of July—on Thursday.

Only one major fire was burning on Sunday in the north.

The fires have killed two, injured around 60 and destroyed between 12,000 and 15,000 hectares of land in Portugal.

In the United Kingdom, the weather office issued a first-ever “red” warning for extreme heat, cautioning there was a “risk to life”.

The Met Office said temperatures in southern England could exceed 40C on Monday or Tuesday for the first time, leading some schools to say they would stay closed next week.

Organisers of a four-day march in the Netherlands cancelled the first day of the mass event due to start on Tuesday because of extreme heat.

The mercury is set to reach 38C in parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday.

Source: AFP

16, July 2022

Biden in Saudi Arabia: ‘Washington needs a reset with the Kingdom’ ⁰

Saudi officials indicated Saturday they were keen to move on from the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, one day after US President Joe Biden raised it in his talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Tensions between the two men had been high ahead of their first meeting, especially after Biden’s administration last year released an assessment by the intelligence community that Prince Mohammed “approved” the operation that led to Khashoggi’s killing and dismemberment in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

In remarks Friday night, Biden called Khashoggi’s death “outrageous” and said he had warned Prince Mohammed against further attacks on dissidents, without specifying what actions he might take.

The Al-Arabiya channel quoted a Saudi official saying the pair “addressed the issue of Jamal Khashoggi quickly” and that Prince Mohammed “confirmed that what happened is regrettable and we have taken all legal measures to prevent” a recurrence.

Prince Mohammed also pointed out that “such an incident occurs anywhere in the world”, highlighting “a number of mistakes” made by Washington such as torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Al-Arabiya reported.

In an interview with CNN, Adel al-Jubeir, minister of state for foreign affairs, cast doubt on the intelligence community’s determination that Prince Mohammed ordered the 2018 operation, something Prince Mohammed has denied.

“We know what the intelligence community’s assessment was with regard to Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction,” Jubeir shot back in an exchange with Wolf Blitzer shared widely on Saudi social media.

Accusations that the Iraqi dictator had such weapons trigged the 2003 Iraq War. None were found.

‘Double standards’

Jubeir also made clear the kingdom believed the Khashoggi affair had been sufficiently dealt with, even though Khashoggi’s remains have never been found.

A Saudi court in 2020 jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing. Their names were never released, and Khashoggi’s fiancee branded the ruling a “farce”.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia investigated this crime. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia held those responsible for it accountable, and they are paying the price of the crime they committed as we speak,” Jubeir said.

“We investigated, we punished and we put in place procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen again. This is what countries do in situations like this.”

Despite lingering discord over the Khashoggi affair, the meeting between Prince Mohammed and Biden “went well with a frank exchange of opinions,” Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst, told AFP.

Prince Mohammed “responded to Biden, pointing out US double standards of making a huge noise about Khashoggi (a Saudi) while trying their best to downplay the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh even though she is a US citizen,” Shihabi said, referring to the Palestinian-American journalist shot dead in May while covering an Israeli army raid in the West Bank.

“But beyond that frank exchange the meeting was very cordial and important to put the bad blood created by Biden’s statement behind them,” he said.

White House: Biden will not return from Gulf summit with agreement on oil production increase

Source: AFP

16, July 2022

Cameroonian basketball star granted French citizenship ⁰

Cameroonian basketball star Joel Embiid has been granted citizenship by France, clearing the path for him to play internationally for the Europeans.

The Philadelphia 76ers centre, who rejected a call-up to represent Cameroon at the 2017 AfroBasket championship, first opened the door to a nationality switch between 2016 and 2018.

The 28-year-old has had his naturalisation approved by the French government two months after the general manager of France’s national team, Boris Diaw, revealed Embiid had commenced his bid to obtain citizenship.

He benefited from a proposal by the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs to allow citizenship to be conferred on any French-speaking alien who “contributes by his eminent deeds to the influence of France”.

Recovering from thumb, finger and facial injuries after helping the Sixers to the NBA Eastern Conference play-off semi-finals, Embiid – who has no direct relationship with France – will be hoping to represent Les Bleus at the 2023 World Cup and Paris 2024 Olympics.

Embiid has never played in an official competition for Cameroon, making him eligible for another country, and the rules of basketball’s world governing body Fiba allow each team to have one naturalised player in its squad.

France’s gain is Cameroon’s loss

Born in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde in 1994, Embiid spent his childhood in the Central African nation before moving to the United States with his family aged 15.

Yet the Sixers star has always had a special bond with France, where he spent holidays as a child and where he still has relatives living.

Embiid said he was “a fan of France in general” and willing to spend more time there in an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe in 2018.

He held discussions with the French Basketball Federation four years ago, but gave up the idea of switching nationality to focus on his NBA career.

However, he and his camp revived the conversation with France earlier this year.

Cameroon’s basketball body, Fecabasket, told BBC Sport Africa back in May it would like Embiid to play for them, but admitted it could not prevent him appearing for France if Fiba regulations allow him to.

Embiid’s arrival would be a massive asset for the French team, who took bronze at the past two World Cups and silver at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

He has just had his best season in the NBA – becoming the first non-American to finish as best points scorer with an average of 30.6 points per game.

Embiid also ended the campaign on the MVP podium for the second year in a row, ultimately beaten to the top prize by Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic.

Source: BBC

16, July 2022

Women’s Football: Nigeria beat Cameroon to book World Cup place ⁰

Nigeria beat Cameroon 1-0 to reach 12th consecutive semi-final in the Women’s African Cup of Nations

The Super Falcons of Nigeria beat the Lionesses of Cameroon 1-0 to progress to the semi-final of the ongoing Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Rasheedat Ajibade fired Nigeria into the lead in the second half of a competitive match between the West Africa neighbours.

The win ensured that the Super Falcons qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The four teams that progress to the semi-finals of the WAFCON get automatic tickets for the Women’s World Cup to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand next year.

The team adjudged to have finished fifth would be presented with a chance via a Playoff Tournament in January 2023 to join the party.

Source: Chronicle

16, July 2022

Yaoundé: Drivers Protest as Fuel Shortage Spreads ⁰

Authorities in Cameroon say thousands of vehicles have been halted by a fresh scarcity of fuel caused, in part, by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Cameroon’s government says it’s been forced to spend nearly half-a-billion dollars in fuel subsidies since Russia’s February invasion, as western sanctions have hindered trade with Moscow.

More than 100 drivers pack a filling station in the Etoudi neighborhood of Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, Friday, honking their horns to protest a fresh fuel shortage.

The drivers say their incomes have nosedived since Yaoundé ran short of fuel this month and the scarcity spread to other towns.

Yves Honore Minka is with the waste disposal company Hygiene and Sanitation of Cameroon (HYSACAM) in Ebolowa, on the border with Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

He says the town of Ebolowa and its surroundings are a mess because his company’s waste and refuse collection vehicles have been halted by a lack of fuel. Minka says his company will be able to resume refuse collection only after diesel fuel becomes available.

Cameroon’s government says several thousand public buses, taxis, and trucks are not in use because of the fuel shortage, the second one to hit the country since April.

Some of the vehicles were destined for the neighboring Central African Republic, Chad, and Gabon, slowing regional trade and transport.

Cameroon’s energy minister, in a press release Monday, again blamed Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.

Western sanctions for Russia’s assault have hampered its trade and led to volatile, higher prices for oil and gas.

Cameroon buys more than half its gasoline from Russia, one of the world’s top suppliers of petroleum products, wheat, and fertilizer.

Veronique Moampea Mbio is director general of Cameroon’s Petroleum Distribution Company (SCDP). Speaking Friday on Cameroon’s state broadcaster, CRTV, she said Cameroonians should be patient.

Mbio says the shortage of petroleum products is provoked by the inability of marketers to pay the surplus sums of money requested before delivery of fuel. She says banks are reluctant to exceed credit limits to marketers of petroleum products because regular loan repayments may be hindered by unpredictable market prices.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed global oil prices above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014, while those for natural gas and fertilizer have more than doubled. Cameroon’s government says it has already spent $485 million on fuel subsidies since Russia’s invasion in February and may need to spend more than $1 billion this year.

Mbio says Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, has ordered the government to immediately pay needed subsidies for petroleum products to be imported in coming weeks.

Source: VOA

16, July 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders to close projects in Mamfe and Kumba ⁰

After suspending activities in March 2022 to focus on securing the release of four detained staff members, MSF will close projects in Kumba and Mamfe on August 1.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has made the difficult decision to close our projects—which were suspended in March— in Kumba and Mamfe, in the South-West region of Cameroon.

This closure will take effect on August 1, 2022, and will result in the termination of contracts of the majority of MSF’s staff. The closure follows the suspension of MSF activities in the region three months ago.

MSF has been working to secure the release of four colleagues who were unjustly detained in December 2021 and January 2022 while carrying out medical humanitarian activities in in the South-West region. While two of our four colleagues were conditionally released in May, two remain in prison, and all are set to face trial.

A small team will remain in the South-West region to support the release and resolution of the cases, as well as to continue dialogue with the authorities as MSF seeks to re-establish conditions that will enable our teams to carry out medical activities in a safe environment. MSF made this decision as are unable to indefinitely maintain our teams with no clear vision of when we may be able to restart our activities, or when our staff will be able to work without being prosecuted for providing medical assistance to those in need.

MSF will consider reviewing this decision following the trial and based on our exchanges with Cameroon’s government. We continue to seek to improve the humanitarian notification system, so that staff can hopefully return to their jobs in confidence that their lifesaving work will not put them at risk of legal prosecution. MSF remains hopeful that we will be able to find an understanding with the authorities that could enable MSF to support the local health system and deliver medical assistance to local people.

As an international medical humanitarian organization, MSF provides impartial medical support to every patient in need, in line with medical ethics and international humanitarian law.

For almost five years, South-West Cameroon has been impacted by violence between separatist armed groups and state armed forces. MSF provided free health care to people in the region until March 29, 2022, when we made the difficult decision to focus on obtaining the safe release of our colleagues. MSF has specified that, as a neutral and impartial medical organization, it has supported wounded patients from both sides of the conflict in South-West Cameroon, including those from the state armed forces. MSF always provides free medical to those who need it most, based solely on need.

Culled from MSF