11, April 2019

African Development Bank hosts Urban and Municipal Development Fund ⁰

The African Development Bank last week hosted the launch of the Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF) at is Headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF) is a multi-donor Trust Fund to scale up interventions in urban development and drive sustainable growth in cities across the African continent.

The UMDF is designed to improve resilience and better manage urban growth, by means of tailored technical assistance to municipalities and urban entities in the areas of urban planning and mobility, project preparation, and municipal governance and finance. UMDF will focus on areas identified as being detrimental to accessing finance, the main ones being the preparation, management and implementation of bankable projects by municipalities, updates to master plans, the review of the regulatory environment to facilitate access to market financing and the use of tools to manage and deliver municipal services.

During the presentation session, initial partners presented their stake in the fund and their focus areas for sustainable investment in urban development. Stefan Atchia Officer in charge of the UMDF at the Bank, presented how the fund would provide integrated city planning expertise and technical support for municipalities. Aage Jorgensen, Program Manager at the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) spoke on priority interventions in Africa in the fund’s focus area of climate change resilience. Patrick Heinrichs, Export Finance Manager of the Wallonia Export Investment Agency (AWEX), presented the importance of a combined academic and technical approach to solve the challenges of urban development in Africa.

The open discussion which followed the presentations was centred on how the UMDF could assist cities in drafting their master plan for urban development, support dialogue between national and local governance structures and create learning opportunities between cities. The first oversight meeting between the partners was held after the launch event to discuss practical implementation of the fund and eligibility of cities for assistance by the UMDF.

The event was attended by a Belgian delegation and senior representatives of African municipalities and private sector delegates with a stake in urban development in African cities. It was also attended . Mr Hugues Chantry, the Belgian Ambassador in Cote d’Ivoire, and senior officials of the African Development Bank. The launch was considered as a timely response to the challenges of rapid urbanization in Africa and to the strong need for integrated city planning expertise.

By Bamba Gaoussou

10, April 2019

Algeria’s New Dictator Abdelkader Bensalah ⁰

Algeria’s parliament on Tuesday confirmed Abdelkader Bensalah as the new interim president of the country, following lat week’s resignation by the ailing Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Bouteflika’s resignation, fuelled by protests that have lasted over a month, means Algeria has a new president for the first time in 20 years.

In this article, we profile the new president, who protesters have insisted is equally unfit to govern the North African nation.

It’s a great responsibility that the constitution demands of me.

President-in-Waiting

Bensalah is a seasoned establishment insider who has a track record of stepping in for his veteran predecessor.

Bensalah has served as a lawmaker, ambassador, civil servant and senator, but it is his role as upper house speaker which paved the way for his appointment to the presidency.

Like Bouteflika, the interim president was also a young veteran of Algeria’s independence struggle.

In recent years he has often stepped in at home and abroad for Bouteflika, who has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke, last month taking Algeria’s seat at the Arab League summit in neighbouring Tunisia.

But such a close alliance with his predecessor has also seen 77-year-old Bensalah targeted by protesters, who on Tuesday gathered in their thousands in Algiers to oppose his appointment.

Bensalah’s life before politics

While his 17 years as parliamentary speaker build on a lengthy political career, Bensalah initially took a different path.

Following Algerian independence in 1962, Bensalah won a scholarship to study law in the Syrian capital Damascus and returned home five years later.

He joined an Arabic-language national newspaper and spent around a decade working for state media—including stints as a foreign correspondent—before being elected to parliament in 1977.

A skilled politician

Bensalah’s political career also took on an international dimension. He chaired the lower chamber’s foreign affairs commission for 10 years and went on to serve as an ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a foreign ministry spokesman.

“Making himself useful at the right time is what he knows how to do, he who rarely speaks on issues related to the management of state affairs,” Algerian daily El Watan wrote in 2015.

After returning to national politics, Bensalah was nominated speaker by Bouteflika in 2002 and has been re-elected every three years since.

The holder of the position is tasked with taking over the presidency in case of resignation, death or an impediment such as long-term illness.

“It’s a great responsibility that the constitution demands of me,” Bensalah told parliament as he began his 90-day interim presidency.

On the streets of Algiers, the scale of the challenge facing him was evident as protesters chanted: “Bensalah go away!”

Despite facing tear gas and water cannon, the students continued to rally against their new president and the political system which he has served for decades.

AFP

10, April 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: New HRW Report Indicts Government Forces ⁰

Human Rights Watch (HRW), the global human rights watchdog, has investigated murders in many Cameroonian villages in the country’s northwest region. The report published in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has accused Cameroonian soldiers, gendarmes, and members of the Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR) of carrying out a deadly attack on the North-West region village of Meluf on April 4, 2019.

The report points out that Government forces killed five civilian men, including one with a mental disability, and wounded one woman. Three of the bodies were later found mutilated, including one that had been decapitated.

The report says further attacks could occur if government forces are not reined in. The authorities should investigate members of the security forces alleged to have carried out these killings, and prosecute those responsible. The attack on Meluf occurred as violence by the security forces in and around health centers and against medical workers in the North-West is increasing.

“Government forces are committing abuses against people living in the Anglophone areas of Cameroon,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Cameroon’s civilian and military authorities should make it clear that these types of abuses will not be tolerated and hold commanders responsible,” he added.

Based on interviews with 10 witnesses and residents and reviews of video and photographic sources, Human Rights Watch found that the victims were either executed or shot as they attempted to flee when the security forces raided their neighborhood, located near an armed separatists’ camp.

One resident of Meluf, a 45-year-old man, said that soldiers broke into his house, shot his aunt, and killed his uncle. “We woke up to the sound of guns. A soldier broke the window, and asked my aunt where the Amba boys [separatists] were hiding. She told him that she didn’t know, so he shot her in the right arm,” he said.

Multiple witnesses said that the security forces entered Meluf on foot, and later with military vehicles, including one armored car with a machine gun mounted on top, at least three military trucks and a bulldozer. The forces forcibly entered at least 80 homes in Meluf, looted some, and burned down seven.

“They used the bulldozer to open the road, which had been blocked with trees, and they shot in all directions,” one witness said. “Some [security forces] were shooting from their vehicles, others were on foot. More than 60 soldiers came.”

Relatives of victims and residents who participated in the victims’ burial said that three bodies were found desecrated. A teacher from Meluf who attended the burial ceremony of the man whose body was found beheaded said that “We proceeded with the burial of the body because we could not find the head, as it had been dumped elsewhere. After the burial, the head was found in the nearby area of Ngoonjo. So, residents picked it up, went back to the grave, dug another hole and buried it.”

He added that “the genitals were cut off of two of the victims’ bodies. A relative of the men said that he found the victims dead and lying on the floor of their home, their hands tied up and their bodies mutilated. Residents said the mutilation of dead civilians has been traumatizing for the community.”

Meluf was also the target of a December 5, 2018 attack, when the army killed seven people, including a 70-year-old man with a hearing impairment who was burned inside his neighbor’s home. Dozens of homes were destroyed in that attack.

Meluf was not the only village in the North-West region to be attacked in recent weeks. Security forces attacked Noi village on March 25, burning and looting eight homes.

The attack on Meluf comes as violence by state security forces in and around health facilities and against medical staff is increasing in the North-West region.

In the early morning of April 1, soldiers and gendarmes carried out an operation in a residential area on the grounds of the Mbingo Baptist Hospital. They killed a 32-year-old mother of three and shot another man while searching for separatists. The woman had tried to warn people that soldiers were coming. “She was shot at close range,” a witness said. “She was shot in the back and bled to death because we could not take her over to the hospital itself.”

On March 27, security forces took their casualties to the same hospital for treatment after clashes with separatists. Witnesses said that a soldier fired several shots inside the hospital, between the women’s ward and the staff room, forcing staff to abandon patients.

On March 21, soldiers entered the Wainamah health center in search of wounded separatists. They accused a motorbike driver waiting outside for a patient of being a separatist. Witnesses said that security forces shot him dead on the main road. A nurse said that the soldiers forced the driver to undress and shot him four times.

Five medical professionals working in several health facilities in the North-West region said that the number of people seeking care at the hospitals has dropped drastically over roughly the last six months because patients don’t feel safe. “Patients prefer to die at home,” a doctor from Kumbo said.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch documented the killing of a pregnant nurse, and three attacks by security forces on health facilities in Kumbo, North-West region.

Security force violence directed against medical facilities and health workers is emerging as a worrying trend in the Anglophone regions, one that risks depriving the population of health services when they need them the most, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Cameroonian government’s failure to hold its security forces to account has only encouraged abusive units to commit more crimes,” Mudge said. “Government forces need to respect basic human rights, and stop targeting civilians.”

Culled from HRW with comments from Linda Embi

10, April 2019

Open Letter to Chief V. E. Mukete ⁰

Your Royal Highness,
In 1990, the founding National Vice President of the CPDM party, Dr. John Ngu Foncha resigned from the party, citing some of the issues you are now complaining about.

By remaining inside that party, did you hope to correct those wrongs or did you consider that John Ngu Foncha was just a nuisance and ought to be dispensed with? In 1993 both John Ngu Foncha and S. T. Muna, who are considered as the fathers of the nation used the opportunity of AAC1 to offer their apologies to the people of Southern Cameroons for having driven them into an unfortunate marriage with a barbaric people.

Since you say you are like them because you fought for reunification, do you think that what you said in the upper house of parliament on 9th April 2019 is enough to atone for the killings and burning of villages under your jurisdiction as paramount traditional ruler, by the army of Mr. Paul Biya who recruits and pays you? In June/July 2017, Dr. Simon Munzu spent a week in Yaoundé, plying all Anglophone MPs and Senators (after he had travelled the entire North West and South West appealing to all traditional rulers) to form a delegation and seek audience with Mr. Paul Biya to request that he convene a national dialogue.

How did you receive Munzu’s advocacy and how did you react? Did you even summon a meeting to consider his plea or you just ignored him the way your younger brother and employer, Mr. Paul Biya has treated Anglophones with spite and disdain, beginning from John Ngu Foncha to that grandmother whom his army burnt in her house in Kwa Kwa and that child whom he sent his army to wake him up from sleep at 5a.m and shoot him dead in Batibo?

Well, your Highness, it seems to me that after publishing a well written book in 2014 which recounts the history of this country, you feel like you have still not done enough by way of legacy and you thought by that outburst in senate in Wirba-like fashion you are doing something to be remembered by.

I think that the reception which that drama you put up got from the Anglophone public tells you there is more you can do if you don’t want people to attend your funeral only to grab what they can.

You have two options: either you apologize to us and immediately resign from that moribund house of ghosts called senate, and also pull out of that masquerade called CPDM, or you form a delegation of about fifty Anglophones, including Musonge, Achidi Achu and all the others of that ilk, to take up permanent position in front of that house where Paul Biya works and stay there until he convenes a national dialogue as the international community has demanded of him.

I can bet you my life that if you do this, all the people of Southern Cameroon in Yaounde will join you there and even if you die in that action, you will be better immortalized.

What you did in senate recently was just a lame aping of the Wirba phenomenon and was quickly ignored.

Atemkeng in Madrid, Spain

10, April 2019

What’s next in Brexit? The possible scenarios ⁰

As British Prime Minister Theresa May scrambles to secure a Brexit extension at Wednesday’s crucial EU summit, what are the possible scenarios in the days to come?

Here are the possibilities:

No-deal Brexit on April 12

May is seeking a Brexit delay until June 30. MPs this week forced through legislation to force the prime minister to always seek an extension rather than leave the EU without a deal.

But the EU appears to be more keen on a longer “flextension” of around a year.

If no agreement is reached on Wednesday, the legal default is that Britain leaves the EU without a deal on Friday.

The EU has already granted one delay — the original deadline was March 29 — and EU leaders will ask May to explain what another postponement would achieve.

Economists warn a no-deal Brexit could generate economic shockwaves on both sides of the Channel and cause severe delays at border points, despite preparations to mitigate these risks.

Leave with changes to May’s deal

After failing three times to get her deal through parliament, May is currently locked in talks with the opposition Labour Party — who favour keeping closer ties with the EU — to try and break the impasse.

Labour is demanding Britain remain in a customs union, angering the rank-and-file in May’s Tory party.

If they agree a deal, Brexit could still happen before Britain has to take part in European Union elections on May 23.

The withdrawal agreement allows for a long transition period and time for trade ties to be negotiated.

The EU has ruled out any changes to it but has said it could speedily rewrite the political declaration — an accompanying document on future trade ties.

In a desperate gamble to get the deal over the line, May even told her MPs that she would resign before the start of full-blown trade negotiations with the EU if they backed it, but it still failed.

It seems unlikely that this option could happen, as May would have to agree to a softer Brexit that will placate members of the opposition, and give up on some of her staunchly-held positions.

New plan, long Brexit delay

If no deal is agreed in the coming days, Britain will likely face a delay of up to a year, which would entail it holding European Parliament elections.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has advised EU leaders that this longer extension should be at least until the end of 2019 and possibly much longer to allow for a proper change in Brexit strategy. If Britain finds an agreement before the end of the extension period, it would be able to leave the bloc earlier.

Under the “flextension”, Britain could leave the EU once it found a plan commanding domestic support, but a longer delay would open up options such as holding a general election, a leadership election to replace May or, perhaps, a second referendum.

A general election would reset parliament, and a clear outcome with a government majority could result in a much stronger administration.

But there is a danger it could result in the same situation as now with no one party holding a majority.

And for both major parties, finding a definitive manifesto position on Brexit that all their MPs can commit to could prove a challenge.

A long delay also opens up the possibility of another referendum.

The Labour Party is reported to be pushing for one in return for approving May’s deal.

A referendum could come in different flavours: either a second referendum that poses the same question to the British public on whether to leave the EU, or a “confirmatory referendum”, in which any deal struck would be put to a public confirmatory vote.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

10, April 2019

Boko Haram: 3 soldiers, dozen militants killed in Cameroon raid ⁰

Three Cameroonian soldiers were killed in the locality of Sagme (Far-North), during an assault by Boko Haram militants a dozen of whom also died in the ensuing gunfight, APA learns Monday from the Defense ministry.

According to the ministry, the raid took place on Sunday and left three personnel of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), an elite unit under the coordination of the Multinational Joint Force (MFF) dead.

Apart from the dozen insurgents killed, over twenty more were apprehended. The Cameroonian army seized an important “arsenal of war”, consisting of weapons and ammunition as well as motorcycles. Two vehicles belonging to the insurgents were destroyed.

APA

10, April 2019

Yaounde receives FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy on tour for France 2019 ⁰

Cameroon on Tuesday received the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy, which arrived in the capital Yaounde in the company of FIFA officials, as part of its global tour en route to France. The trophy came after concluding a tour in South Africa and is expected to head to neighbouring Nigeria. It is the second time the trophy is stopping in Cameroon after 2015 during the first ever participation of Indomitable Lionesses at FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Sara Booth Mbe, FIFA’s Head of Women’s Football Competitions led the delegation that presented the trophy to Cameroon’s Prime Minister and Head of government, Joseph Dion Ngute. “We hope today by bringing the trophy to Cameroon, lots of people will fall in love with the competition and the Cameroon team, the Lionesses (Cameroon women’s national football team) and will support them from home during the competition,” Mbe told reporters.

Cameroon’s striker Gaelle Deborah Enganamouit said, the arrival of the trophy served as an inspiration for Cameroon to win the World Cup for the first time. “It is a great pleasure to have the FIFA trophy here. It is also good for the development of football in Cameroon. We pray to work hard to have this cup here in Cameroon,” she said.

Cameroon will intensify training at home and abroad before the championship. “They (Indomitable Lionesses) went to China for a very important international tournament with high level of participation. We had good results though China defeated us with one goal in the finals. But it was good preparation for our girls. They will camp in Cameroon to ameliorate performance and the last camp will be in Spain just before the competition,” President of Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), Seidou Mbombo Njoya said. The tour of the women’s trophy which started in February is at its 15th stop in Cameroon and will be back in Paris before the kickoff of the women’s world cup in June in France.

Source: Xinhuanet

10, April 2019

Biya regime mastering the art of muzzling opposition ⁰

International rights group, Human Rights Watch, HRW, says it is worried about the Cameroonian government’s continued muzzling of the dissenting voices, especially that of the opposition.

HRW’s concerns were primarily set around the recent banning of an assembly by the main opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC.

In a statement titled, ‘Cameroon Tightens Screws on Opposition,’ HRW bemoaned what it described as a crackdown on the Maurice Kamto-led MRC’s right to assemble and to protest same. The statement came barely 24-hours to Kamto’s next court appearance.

The group cited a key instance where the Minister of Interior banned MRC demonstrations with the reason that it had destabilizing motives.

“The minister, Atanga Nji, also accused the MRC of an act of provocation, having chosen to organise demonstrations on April 6, a date which marks the anniversary of a 1984 coup attempt to oust President Biya.

“This move is part of a growing trend in Cameroon. Since late 2016, the government has repeatedly blocked peaceful anti-government protests with force, arbitrary arrest, and detention of protesters.

“In January 2017, the Minister of Territorial Administration banned the activities of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), a leading civil society organization working in the volatile anglophone regions,” the statement added.

In the case of rebellion which he currently faces, MRC leader Kamto is expected to appear before a Yaounde Appeal Court today (April 9). Political watchers largely expect the court to confirm the decision of a lower court to keep Kamto in prison awaiting trial.

During his last appearance (April 2), his defense lawyers walked out of the court room in protest of the decision to hold the proceedings behind closed doors. Kamto placed a distant second to President Paul Biya in October 2018 polls.

A move to contest the outcome at the Constitutional Court was thrown out by judges. His decision to form a resistance movement subsequently resulted in his arrest and trial for rebellion against the state.

“The government’s ban on MRC rallies is a step backward for Cameroon and should be lifted immediately. Rather than forbid dissent and lock up opponents, the government should respect democratic principles and allow peaceful protest,” HRW’s statement concluded.

Africa News

10, April 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Switzerland rejects Biya’s request ⁰

The President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, has just faced a major setback as the Swiss government turns down his request for him to be accompanied to Switzerland by heavily armed Cameroon uniformed officers.

A source at the Presidency of the Republic has hinted Cameroon Concord News Group that Cameroon government officials are very disappointed with the Swiss government’s response to Mr. Biya’s request.

“There is total sadness today at the presidency. The Swiss have rejected President Biya’s request for heavily armed soldiers to accompany him to Switzerland where he is expected to undergo treatment,” our source at the Unity Palace which elected anonymity said.

“The Swiss are open to Mr. Biya heading to Geneva for treatment, but they are reluctant to let heavily armed Cameroon soldiers on their territory given that the country’s Diaspora is prepared to sow chaos in the Swiss city if Mr. Biya goes there for health care,” the source stressed.

Our source also said that Mr. Biya and his team were contemplating going to Saudi Arabia given that the Swiss government cannot guarantee that Cameroon’s Diaspora will not disrupt the 86-year-old’s health care programme in Switzerland.

The Saudi are willing to welcome Mr. Biya and his large entourage but are not comfortable with the idea that Mr. Biya should be in their country with armed officials who may be trigger-happy.

It should be pointed out that Mr. Biya and his government have become very unpopular in Western capitals, especially as many Cameroonians living abroad are prepared to give the government a very bad name.

Over the last three years, Cameroon has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. The Southern Cameroons crisis which has caught the international community’s attention has eroded the country’s reputation as an Island of peace in a desert of chaos.

But it is the arrest and detention of opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, that has really angered the country’s Diaspora and created an opportunity for Southern Cameroonians and the Francophone Diaspora to collaborate so as to destabilize the country.

Even the international community, led by the United States, is gradually expressing its indignation at the gross human rights violations in the country.

With people power revolutions spreading across the continent, it is becoming obvious that Cameroon might be the next destination. Algerians have succeeded to unseat their 82-year-old dictator while Sudanese have taken to the streets to kick out Oumar El-Bechir who is considered as one of the most brutal dictators on the African continent.

“Cameroon is certainly in the eye of the storm,” a source in Yaounde said, adding that “ there is no way our country can avoid the chaos that is playing out in Algeria and Sudan, except the country’s authorities change their ways. The international community is sick and tired of seeing a man who has ruled his country for 36 years and has no results to show for his long stay in power.”

“Cameroonian authorities are watching what is playing out in Algeria and Sudan very closely. They are living in fear, especially as the Southern Cameroons crisis has revealed a lot about the regime. Francophones are gradually understanding that with the same people in power, their country’s political and economic woes might not be over anytime soon,” the source which is close to the country’s military said.

The fear is increasing, especially as Southern Cameroonian politicians have begun breaking ranks. Recently, Chief Victor Mukete, the Paramount Chief of the Bafaws in the South West region and the oldest member of the country’s senate, called on the government to stop playing with an issue that might split up the country.

Mr. Mukete, who is a staunch member of the ruling party, expressed his anger with the regime, urging law-makers to consider extensive decentralization as an option that might bring peace to the country.

The changing rhetoric is keeping the government awake. However, Southern Cameroonian leaders who are calling for the total liberation and independence of Southern Cameroons have tagged Mr. Mukete’s outburst as ‘the government’s diabolic attempt to test the waters as its crackdown is failing’.

Many Southern Cameroonian activists have called on their followers not to take Mr. Mukete seriously, adding that his call for the issue to be addressed comes too late as many people have been killed and thousands displaced.

“102-year-old Mukete should not be taken seriously. He is a buffoon who is simply seeking attention. He has aided and abetted the Yaounde regime in its reckless killing of our people and he wants to be a hero now. He clearly belongs to the past, indeed to the grave. He is done feathering his family nest and now needs forgiveness from the people. He will not get that. He will carry his guilt to his grave. We are going to fight to the end. We will not accept anything short of total independence,” a frustrated Southern Cameroonian in Yaounde said.

The coming days will be very critical to the country and if care is not taken, Cameroon might be the theater of public demonstrations like those taking place in Algeria and Sudan.

The telltale signs of frustration are already there as on Tuesday, supporters of jailed opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, defied the military and held a demonstration for the release of their leader.

Similarly, Mr. Kamto and his fellow detainees refused to go to court on Tuesday, stating that they would not be legitimizing the charade that is being organized by the aging Yaounde government.

The country is faced with many issues and from every indication, it looks more like a ticking time bomb that might go off very soon if it is not defused through appeasement and dialogue.

By Linda Embi and Kingsley Betek in Cameroon

9, April 2019

UK: House of Lords approve Brexit law forcing Prime Minister to consult parliament on delay ⁰

Britain’s House of Lords approved legislation on Monday that will give parliament the power to scrutinize and even change Prime Minister Theresa May’s request that the European Union agree to delay Brexit until June 30.

The legislation, which is being passed despite government opposition to it, will now return to the elected House of Commons for further consideration with a view to being finalized and turned into law later on Monday.

May has already asked Brussels to extend Britain’s EU membership until June 30 to allow talks with the opposition Labour Party in search of different exit plan – a last-ditch attempt to keep control after parliament rejected her own Brexit deal three times.

But lawmakers want additional legal guarantees against a “no-deal” exit happening on April 12 – the current exit day – and have crafted a law forcing ministers to consult with parliament on Tuesday (April 9) before she goes to Brussels.

That would give lawmakers the chance to make legally binding changes to May’s requested departure date during a debate scheduled to last 90 minutes on Tuesday (April 9).

Source: Presstv