Douala was plunged into darkness, but cries pierced the silent night: the water was rising. Alerted by the neighbors, Hummel put some of his belongings to safety and hurriedly sent the children away. A few minutes later, the blackish liquid invaded the house.

In mid-August, like every year during the rainy season, the informal neighborhood of Makèpè-Missoké was invaded by water in the heart of Cameroon’s economic capital. Under the effect of global warming, floods are becoming more and more frequent in this port city of more than three million inhabitants, which is constantly expanding.

“Burned out TV, burned-out refrigerator… Everything is wasted,” sighs Hummel Tsafack, 35.

“As soon as the thunder rumbles, we raise the beds. We are always afraid here. The water comes so quickly,” agrees his neighbor François, in his fifties. He still has a bitter memory of the flood of the summer of 2020 that paralyzed the city and devastated the neighborhood.

In his small house soaked with humidity, all the household appliances are out of order. On the floor, the concrete is dotted with a few holes. “This place, we’ve already cemented it seven times. Every time it floods, it breaks and we have to start over.”

Population growth

“We moved here because it was cheaper. We’re not going to move,” he warns. This precarious neighborhood is in a flood zone that cannot be built on. But residents continue to pile in, driven by the lack of space in a city with a population growth rate of over 5.5% per year.

Each year, nearly 110,000 new city dwellers move into the megalopolis and the gap between supply and demand for available land is growing.

Douala is prone to flooding with nearly 250 km of rivers and heavy rainfall averaging 4,000 mm per year. It is located at the mouth of the Wouri River, on a low coastal plateau, bordering the Atlantic Ocean and is influenced by the tides.

Meteorological data for the last 20 years indicate a decrease in rainfall, which masks an increase in extreme events, and very violent rain episodes, causing flooding.

The temperature of the metropolis is increasing, as it is at the global level. According to the latest report of the UN climate experts (IPCC), coastal cities are in the front line of the climate crisis and risk being “wiped out by long-term flooding” and rising sea levels.

According to the IPCC, floods will displace an average of 2.7 million people in Africa and flood-related costs could increase tenfold by 2050, to $60 billion a year, in the 136 largest coastal cities.

Plastic waste

In Makèpè-Missoké, plastic waste litters the river. “Look at all the garbage thrown away by the residents. In addition to this, the soil is silting up and invasive plants are colonizing the riverbed. In case of heavy rains, the water overflows,” explains environmental specialist Didier Yimkwa.

To address the problem, the city has built about 40 kilometers of drains since 2012. Some at-risk, unsanitary and precarious neighborhoods have also been upgraded to allow access to city services, especially those for waste collection.

But garbage and garbage are everywhere in Douala’s poor neighborhoods, and the drains are often covered with plastic, preventing water from draining away.

“It is estimated that 30% of waste is lost in nature,” said Dr. Joseph Magloire Olinga, Deputy Director of Studies and Environmental Protection in Douala.

At the same time, another program has developed a hydro meteorological observatory to collect reliable local data on rainfall and prevent the risk of flooding. The participation of the French Development Agency and the World Bank is essential, says Olinga, who is in charge of monitoring the “Douala, sustainable city” project.

“The response is not enough,” he admits, however. “We need a serious alternative in terms of land to accommodate the population. This involves the densification of the city center, and the construction of high-rise buildings, but some sectors are blocked by real estate developers who have bought the land and no longer want to sell it,” he explains.

Some flood-prone areas also continue to be allocated to real estate projects, which is the responsibility of the state.

In neighborhoods like Makèpè-Missoké, the goal is to learn to live with the risk of flooding. “But it is certain that some inhabitants for whom the threat is too great will also have to leave,” concludes Mr. Olinga.

Source: AFP

If anybody thought the sex scandal in the University of Buea will be leaving the headlines anytime soon, that person is totally mistaken. More evidence of sexual misconduct at the University of Buea is gradually emerging as some girls who have been victims of the University of Buea sex ring are getting bolder by the day and they really want to talk.

A tape has been sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group which details a conversation between Prof. Ernest Molua and one of his victims. The lady, who has asked for her identity to be protected for now, said she taped the discussion because she felt it could be useful someday. The tape delivers details of Prof. Molua’s carefully crafted intimidation tactics and how he runs down his victims before making the most of his opportunity.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s permanent correspondent in Buea, Molua’s victim said the former registrar was a master at manipulation and intimidation. She said he preyed on his victims by making them feel helpless and useless. He derived a lot of pleasure from diminishing other human beings.  

“Prof. Molua, who is vertically challenged, seems to make up for that deficiency by intimidating people, especially young girls he wants to have fun with. He demands for sex as if that is part of his benefits package. He lacks tact and diplomatic skills when it comes to talking to young girls,” the desperate lady said.

She added that “when he needs sex, he needs it immediately. It is like all the girls at the university are at his beck and call. In ordinary life, it is held that variety is the spice of life, but to Molua, variety is more than a spice. If sex is food to him, then variety should be a life-saving drug. Molua has lost respect among young girls. He used to be admired when he started his career at the university. He was elegant, smart, and friendly. But over the last years, he has become cocky, condescending, and even despicable. Many students do not trust him and no young girl who goes to his office comes out happy,” the lady stressed.

“He must be stopped. He has had more than his fair share of free sex. Sending him back to the classroom only makes it easy for him to prey on many young and vulnerable girls. Molua should be reduced to an administrator who has little or no contact with young girls. In a civilized society, he will be fired forthwith. As a registrar, he did protect other members of his sex ring. He was the one who got Prof. Kingsley Kange off the hook when there were massive allegations of sexual misconduct against Prof. Kange. He even supported Kange in his bid to frustrate PHD students who had to defend their thesis a couple of years ago. A registrar has no business with academic matters but Molua was always crossing those red lines with impunity. He must be checked or else he will continue to give the university a bad name. He is a reputational risk to the University of Buea,” the lady stressed.    

For Prof. Agborbechem whose destructive sexual prowess is known beyond the University of Buea, his main client, Eta Palace, is already witnessing a drop in business activities ever since the “satyr” got exposed. Before the scandal, Agborbechem was always seen at the hotel, seeking to take a room, sometimes on credit. Many people in Molyko wondered why a man who had a good home in Buea was always reserving hotel rooms. 

Professor Agborbechem’s criminal activities did not start today. While a teacher in Government High School Mamfe, he was the “silent terror” who kept female students permanently ill at ease.  His destructive tendencies know no age and no bounds. By Cameroon’s educational policy, a form three student should be between 14 and 15 years old and such students are considered internationally as underage, but Agborbechem did not care. He slept with them as if they were his wives. He is supposed to be investigated and, if possible, taken to court for abuse of minors and rape.

According to a former student of the professor who is known for his sexual vagrancy, he will even complicate his exams just to render his targets more vulnerable. The former student, who reacted to the first article published on the professor’s highly unusual and uncontrollable libido, said that:

“Prof. Agborbechem has been like that since in GHS Mamfe. He taught me mathematics in form three. He was already doing well in his sexual drama with girls that were beautiful but could not pass mathematics in form three. He sometimes even made the tests more difficult only to trap more customers,” the student who elected anonymity said.

Agborbechem is a juggernaut. He is indeed a whirlpool that picks up anything in skirt in its path. Any girl whose path crosses the learned professor’s path knows that she is in real trouble. He has a huge sexual appetite for young slim girls, and he will stop at nothing when it comes to sleeping with them. 

A source close to Eta Palace has hinted that Prof. Agborbechem is always broke, insinuating that casual sex was taking a huge bite out of his meager income. He seems to be addicted to it and his whole world revolves around that.

 “He really needs to see a psychotherapist. He is sick. Something is wrong with him. Once he takes a little alcohol, he loses control of himself and sometimes he can even confuse a man for a woman. As a man, if you do not want to be harassed by Agborbechem, make sure you are dressed up properly,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the Cameroon Concord News Group tried on Friday, August 27, 2021 to contact the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea to discuss the current sex and money scandals that are eroding the university’s reputation and the Vice Chancellor’s determination to bring sanity to the university.  The Group’s editor-in-chief will be calling the vice chancellor again on Monday to schedule that interview.

With the Group having a permanent correspondent in Buea, the university must get to the bottom of this matter if it really wants to restore its lost reputation. The Group’s correspondent will be keeping an eye on some lecturers who are known to be a source of trouble to young girls who only want to study and leave the place. The University of Buea cannot be transformed into a brothel by the very people who are supposed to empower these girls academically. The Vice Chancellor must come up with policies that will result in a lecturer’s dismissal if he or she is found to be engaged in behavior that calls the university’s reputation into question. 

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report

Two Cameroon government soldiers deployed to Ekondo Titi were killed late Saturday in an Ambazonian attack in Lipenja, military sources said Sunday.

The Amba fighters, on foot attacked Cameroon government soldiers stationed at Lipenja killing 2 in the 30-minute gunfight.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that two other servicemen were injured in the fight.

The Anglophone regions’ relatively quiet start to 2021 was shattered in March by an intense series of IED attacks. Marking a new development in the Cameroonian conflict that has simmered for four years, at least one harrowing new video emerged every day. Each showcased the same pattern: the lumbering roll of a military convoy down a muddy forested road; the explosion underneath a lightly armoured Toyota; the immediate covering fire laid down in anticipation of an ambush; and, eventually, a silence punctuated by the cries of the wounded.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been used by separatists in the Anglophone conflict since at least late-2018, but the tactic has now reached maturity. Extensive video evidence reveals increasingly sophisticated use of the explosives, including the deliberate targeting of the army’s least protected vehicles, remote detonations, and the use of multiple IEDs. These attacks have been more frequent, more deadly and, most importantly, have not stopped.

By Chi Prudence Asong with additional reporting