14, January 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders Welcomes Release of Staff Accused of Aiding Ambazonians ⁰

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French abbreviation MSF, welcomed Cameroon’s release of five members of its staff detained for a year on charges of helping separatists. MSF maintains it helps anyone who needs medical care and says it will only resume work in separatist areas with government security guarantees.

The group this week welcomed the military tribunal’s December 29 acquittal of the five workers – four of them Cameroonians and one Indian.

The military arrested two of the staff in December 2021 in Nguti, a southwestern town on the border with Nigeria, while they were transporting a patient with a gunshot wound to a hospital.

The military said the patient was a separatist and the next month arrested two more MSF staff members, accusing them of collaboration.

The French aid group said they abide by medical ethics of helping all in need but could not continue in the area under the threat of arrest.

In May, MSF suspended operations in Cameroon’s southwest.

Despite the dropped charges, MSF’s Operations Manager for Central Africa Sylvain Groulx said they cannot yet resume the needed aid work.

“We are obviously waiting to try to engage with the government so that we may resume our activity and we hope that they [the government] will be willing to sit down and discuss with us because these are lifesaving activities that we had to stop. It is very difficult for ministry of health ambulances to access certain areas. We were able to negotiate our access with all the actors and we were exceptionally allowed to do that, saving many lives,” said Groulx.

Paul Atanga Nji is Cameroon’s minister of territorial administration. While not specifically mentioning MSF, he told state broadcaster CRTV Tuesday that any aid groups helping rebels would be charged in court.

He said they will not allow aid groups that are believed to be separatist accomplices to operate in Cameroon. Nji said Cameroon’s military is working hard to bring order in the restive western regions. He said government hospitals have proven they have all that it takes to save the lives of people who need assistance.

Hospitals in Cameroon’s conflict areas have struggled to maintain services and staff, who say they have been victims of both military and separatists.

Nineteen-year-old University of Buea student Benedict Luma said MSF saved his uncle’s life in 2020.

“My uncle bled excessively when he was shot in the leg. Everyone was afraid he would die because there was no hospital around. Our neighbors advised us to call Doctors Without Borders on the phone, and in less than an hour, their ambulance came to save my uncle’s life,” he said.

Doctors Without Borders has provided medical aid in Cameroon to victims of Boko Haram Islamist militants along the northern border with Nigeria since 1984.

Until last May it also provided surgical care and malaria and COVID-19 treatment in Cameroon’s restive South-West region.

The aid group says it treated more than 1 million patients in Cameroon in 2020 alone.

Cameroon’s English-speaking separatists are fighting to break away from the French-speaking majority that it says treats them as second-class citizens.

Since the conflict broke out in 2017, the UN says more than 3,500 people have been killed and 750,000 displaced.

Source: VOA

14, January 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba fighters kill police in Kumba ⁰

There is a general belief that things are getting better in the country’s two English-speaking regions as some calm has returned but it is obvious that it will take time for genuine and sustainable peace to return to the two restless regions.

The new-found peace may still be hiding some dangers and it will not be out of place to see some destruction and killings in many parts of the two English-speaking regions of the country.

In Kumba, a police officer was brought down yesterday by people suspected of being Amba fighters and this incident is a sordid reminder of a past when it was a death sentence to be a uniformed officer in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon.

While confrontations between the military and Southern Cameroonian fighters are rare today, it cannot be said that the war, which has raged for more than five years, is over.

Today, many cars can go to Mamfe, Ekondo-titi and many towns in the two English-speaking regions, but the fear of being caught up in crossfire is still there as the issues which triggered the Southern Cameroons crisis have not yet been addressed.

More killings have also been taking place in the Northwest region. Two soldiers were also sent to an early grave this week and this underscores the fact that until genuine dialogue takes place, Cameroon might never come out of its madness of killings.

If the killings have reduced, it is more because government troops have been ordered not to kill like they used to kill in the past.

Their recklessness with their guns is to blame for the streams of blood which have flowed in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Actions by Southern Cameroonian fighters were just acts of retaliation whenever the sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy soldiers went on a killing spree.

The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has sent more than 7,000 Cameroonians to an early grave, with soldiers accounting for 40% of the deaths.

The number of soldiers and civilians living with mental, physical and psychological scars will never be known as the Yaoundé government is not in the business of keeping statistics and when it even tries its hands at that, its old habit of lying always stands in the way, making it hard for any reasonable person to trust its data.

Economically, the conflict has driven the sick economy to the bottom of the abyss. Government corporations like the CDC, PAMOL and others are still struggling and the government is too cash-strapped to engineer any sustainable solutions for these ailing corporations.

The road to economic recovery is tortuous and replete with bumps. The government is desperate and has resorted to tough financial and fiscal measures to refill its empty coffers, measures which are leaving many desperate and poor.

Over the last few weeks, the cost of government services to the citizens has gone up. Fuel prices have gone up and a bottle of gas now costs CFAF 10,000, well beyond the reach of many families.

The rationing of fuel is now a daily occurrence even in the country’s capital, Yaoundé. The Biya government is out of cash and it is using even unorthodox means to sustain itself in power.

It is being rumored that school fees in government universities will soon rise from CFAF 50,000 to CFAF 300,000 and this will be beyond the reach of many desperate and helpless families which view their children’s education as a visa out of grinding poverty.

Cameroon is going through a lot and it is becoming clearer by the day that Biya, the man many thought would take the country to the land of promise, has driven the country into a rabbit hole which will keep generations of Cameroonians in desperation for a long time.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

13, January 2023

Elvis Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, dead at 54 ⁰

Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley, died on Thursday after being rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital suffering from cardiac arrest, according to media reports.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” her mother, Priscilla Presley, said in a statement.

“She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known. We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss,” the statement added.

Lisa Marie Presley suffered cardiac arrest in her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas, according to entertainment website TMZ. She was then taken to hospital on Thursday.

She attended the Golden Globes awards show in Beverly Hills earlier this week, where actor Austin Butler won the best actor award for portraying her father in the film “Elvis.” Butler paid tribute to Lisa Marie Presley and her mother during his acceptance speech.

Elvis Presley died of cardiac arrest in August 1977 at the age of 42.

Lisa Marie Presley was born on Feb. 1, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee and became the owner of her father’s Graceland mansion a popular tourist attraction in the city. She was nine years old when Elvis died there.

Her own music career began with a 2003 debut album “To Whom It May Concern.” It was followed by 2005’s “Now What,” and both hit the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart. A third album, “Storm and Grace,” was released in 2012.

She was married four times. She wed pop star Michael Jackson in 1994, just 20 days after her divorce from her first husband, musician Danny Keough.

The high-profile couple divorced in 1996 as Jackson was battling child molestation allegations.

Presley married actor Nicholas Cage, a huge fan of her father, in 2002. Cage filed for divorce four months later.

Her fourth marriage was to her guitarist and music producer Michael Lockwood. Their divorce was finalized in 2021.

She had four children. Her only son, Benjamin Keough, himself a musician, died in 2020 at age 27, a death ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County coroner. Daughter Riley Keough, 33, is an actress.

Her two other daughters are twins Harper and Finley Lockwood, 14.

Source: Reuters

13, January 2023

Sand Miners in Muyuka reject the introduction of technology ⁰

Life could be challenging in rural Cameroon, especially in conflict-hit Southwest, but many people are seeking ways to overcome the challenges and people in Muyuka in the Southwest region are no exception and they are using sand mining to eke out a livelihood.

Sand mining is still a major source of livelihood to many youths in Muyuka, but technology is threatening to render them unemployed and financially poor.

Recently, some youths in Muyuka took to the streets to protest against the use of machines in sand quarries and they are determined to take their fight to the highest office in the land.

Based on expert opinion, technology will surely improve productivity and profits but not for the youths who do not have faith in it and they are not in the mood to welcome such technology.

According to sources in Muyuka, a certain businessman from Buea had introduced the use of machines in the sand quarries, making it possible for just seven people to be employed, thus rendering many youths jobless since the machines are likely to replace human labour.

One of the sources disclosed that, sand quarries employ about ninety five percent of the youths, and that had been their main source of livelihood since the start of the armed conflict.

The use of technology, which is supposed to be an event for jubilation, is causing a nightmare for these youths who prefer digging and extracting sand the traditional way.

Several young men and women turned to sand digging as the only means of survival when the crisis escalated and they are willing to continue doing so in the years to come.

By Cecilia Manjang

13, January 2023

Yaoundé: Many prayer sessions are underway and Biya is the reason for the prayers ⁰

Cameroonians are known for being prayerful, but very few of them ever tell you why they are praying so hard.

Many Cameroonians will spend time in churches praying for work, even when they know their own churches do not create jobs.

Students will spend the entire academic year praying for excellent grades instead of reading and their pastors will continue to encourage them to hope against hope even the grades indicate that some of those students are engaged in truancy and other vices which are hurting their scores.

But in 2023, more Cameroonians have opted to join the ever growing number of popularly unpopular prayer warriors.

Cost of living and government taxes have left many Cameroonians wondering if they will be able to make it to the next year, but the government is not yet done with Cameroonians.

The worst is yet to happen. The government is still holding its cards so close to its chest but the Cameroon Concord News is aware of some of those plans.

A liter of fuel will soon be CFAF 900 and cooking gas will hit CFAF 8,500. The government wants to squeeze Cameroonians into total submission and their indolence and fear are really helping the government.

The pain is real and many Cameroonians know that death is in the offing for them if something is not done and urgently. Charges in government-run hospitals will soon go up, but private clinics have already set the pace, with some private clinics already charging as much as three times what they charged last year.

In their helplessness, many Cameroonians have decided to become dangerous prayer warriors and these prayers are not really taking place in churches.

Cameroonians know that Biya is to blame for their sorry plight and since they cannot take him down through the ballot boxes or through a people power revolution, they have decided to weaponize prayers, with the key prayer point being that God should recall Mr. Biya who is already a colony of diseases.

It is even within Mr. Biya’s government that the prayers are more aggressive. Some of the president’s collaborators are sick and tired of Mr. Biya embarrassing them and the country and given that a popular uprising is a distant tomorrow affair, Mr. Biya’s collaborators are imploring the Almighty to intervene in the country’s favor.

Mr. Biya is an ill wind which has not blown any good to the country. For forty years, the man many thought would take the country to the land of promise has incompetently and quietly taken the country to the brink of collapse.

Corruption has become the country’s distinctive feature and the pillaging has entered a higher gear as some unscrupulous collaborators are picking up any dime and penny they find in their path.

Many suspect the end is near. They know that without steroids Mr. Biya would have already been dumped on the ash heap of history. They however know that his body has become steroid-resistant.

The events in Washington DC during the Africa-US Leader Summit where Mr. Biya lost his mind and was heard speaking “in tongues” during an event seem to confirm that his days are numbered.

According to sources at the Presidency of the Republic, Biya is even too tired to attend certain official events. Sometimes, he invites his own ministers to come and see him, but when they come, the tired and helpless Biya will still be sleeping and even his own social workers will still be waiting for him to wake up.

Biya will never leave power voluntarily. He is aware of his crimes, especially those against his predecessor. He understands he has failed and disappointed Cameroonians and he is in no mood to answer embarrassing questions.

Tribalism and nepotism are at their highest. The country has been polarized and 80% of the country is clearly against Mr. Biya’s ethnic group for the nepotism which has become the country’s hallmark.

Inflation is at its apex with many Cameroonians not even sure of a meal a day. Moral decadence has become the order of the day and many young girls have been morally disarmed. Prostitution is now an acceptable way of life and it is being practiced even in religious and political milieu.

Today, it is hard for a Cameroonian to achieve anything without government officials asking for a reward. Sex has become a medium of exchange in Cameroon. Where girls do not have money, they can pay with sex. Young boys are also delivering their bodies to old men whose key objective is to destroy anything in their path before they die. Homosexuality, once a Western phenomenon, has taken root in the country.

While the national desperation continues, Cameroonians hope that their prayers will be heard by a God who seems to be deaf and on Biya’s side.

According to some sources, it is being alleged that Cameroonians have been praying to the wrong God. By being indolent, they have chosen peace over political violence and the God of change is not a God of peace.

If Cameroonians have to see their dreams take shape, then they must change their ways. Biya knows he is going and he is not in a haste to change his strategy which has helped to keep him in power for more than four decades. Cameroonians will therefore have to pray to the right God if Mr. Biya must stop being a millstone around their necks.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

12, January 2023

Football: Messi and Mbappe among nominees for FIFA Best award ⁰

Fresh from their brilliant performances at the World Cup, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe are among the nominees for FIFA’s The Best award for last year, world football’s governing body announced on Thursday.

Messi, who has won the prize once before, captained Argentina to victory in Qatar, a career-defining triumph that has boosted his chances of winning an eighth Ballon d’Or but may also make him favourite for this prize.

As well as Mbappe, who netted a hat-trick in the World Cup final, another two Paris Saint-Germain players are nominated in Neymar and Achraf Hakimi.

Karim Benzema, who won last year’s Ballon d’Or for his performances with Real Madrid, is also nominated, as is Robert Lewandowski, winner of the FIFA prize in the last two years.

The list of nominees is completed by Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland; the Real Madrid pair of Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior; Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Jude Bellingham.

Alexia Putellas is nominated for the women’s award despite being out for the last six months due to injury.

The Barcelona and Spain midfielder won the award last year and retained the Ballon d’Or in October.

Arsenal striker Beth Mead, runner-up to Putellas for the Ballon d’Or, is also nominated, as are two other members of the England team that won the European Championship on home soil in Leah Williamson and Keira Walsh.

There are also prizes for the best male and female coach, the best goalkeeper, and the Puskas Award for the best goal of 2022.

A public vote, open until February 3, will decide the three finalists in each category.

The winner is then voted for by a jury made up of national team coaches and captains as well as journalists and fans.

Source: AFP

12, January 2023

Cameroon Burning: UN releases funds to help victims of floods, violence ⁰

The United Nations has released 6 million U.S. dollars in emergency funding to aid thousands of victims of floods and violence in Cameroon, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths, the world organization’s emergency relief coordinator, allocated the Central Emergency Response Fund’s aid to help people in Cameroon’s far north, northwest, and southwest regions, said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“Last year, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and abandon their property because of violence or floods,” Dujarric said. “These forced displacements increased protection risks, loss of livelihoods and food insecurity in those impacted areas.”

He said the funds would help provide protection, shelter services, food and nutritional assistance.

“Despite the challenges faced by humanitarian organizations to access remote areas due to violence, impediments to movement and poor road conditions, we, along with our partners remain mobilized to provide aid to the most vulnerable,” the spokesman said.

Humanitarians will need more than 413 million dollars to help 2.4 million people in Cameroon this year, he said.

Source: Xinhaunet

12, January 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister says Africa should be stage for cooperation, not international competition ⁰

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang says Africa should not be a competition arena between world powers, as he opened a new headquarters for a pan-African health body.

Qin made the remark on Wednesday as he visited the Chinese-built headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

He emphasized China’s partnership with Africa in security areas and economic development.

“No country, no people have the right to force the African countries and people to take sides,” the Chinese foreign minister said at a joint news conference with African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat.

“Africa should be a big stage for international cooperation, not an arena for major countries’ competition,” he said, adding, “China’s contribution is concrete in bettering the lives of African people.”

Qin, who had been ambassador to the United States until December last year, is on his first overseas visit as foreign minister and a weeklong trip to Africa that will also take him to Gabon, Angola, Benin, and Egypt.

His visit marks the 33rd consecutive year that Africa has been the destination of a Chinese foreign minister’s first overseas tour of the calendar year.

Faki Mahamat said in the news conference that Africa’s lack of permanent representation on the Security Council was a “burning issue” considering that most issues on the Council’s agenda were related to African countries.

“It is unacceptable that others decide in the place of others. It is not fair. We need a new order at the international level which will respect the interests of others,” he said.

The AUC chairperson said, “Africa refuses to be considered to be an arena of exchange of influence… We are open to cooperation and partnership with everybody, but our principles, our priorities and our interests have to be respected. The partnership we have with China is based on these principles.”

Qin also met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and other government officials on Tuesday, announcing the cancellation of part of Ethiopia’s debt to China during the visit, although no party provided details.

Ethiopia has borrowed $13.7 billion from China since 2000 and has been seeking to restructure its debt to foreign lenders since 2021.

Qin also called for better relations between the US and China, the world’s two biggest economies, saying the nations should cooperate and co-exist peacefully rather than compete.

China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for over a decade. It competes for influence there with the United States — which hosted leaders from 49 African countries last month — as well as with former colonial powers Britain and France.

According to the Chinese General Administration of Customs, in the first three months of 2022, trade between China and Africa reached nearly $65 billion, registering a 23% increase over the same period in 2021.

Western nations have accused China of using the so-called “death trap” of offering massive loans for infrastructure projects to put African countries in debt to Beijing, both politically and economically. Beijing rejects those allegations.

Source: Presstv

Chinese Foreign Minister says Africa should be stage for cooperation, not international competition

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang says Africa should not be a competition arena between world powers, as he opened a new headquarters for a pan-African health body.

Qin made the remark on Wednesday as he visited the Chinese-built headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

He emphasized China’s partnership with Africa in security areas and economic development.

His visit marks the 33rd consecutive year that Africa has been the destination of a Chinese foreign minister’s first overseas tour of the calendar year.

“It is unacceptable that others decide in the place of others. It is not fair. We need a new order at the international level which will respect the interests of others,” he said.

Ethiopia has borrowed $13.7 billion from China since 2000 and has been seeking to restructure its debt to foreign lenders since 2021.

Qin also called for better relations between the US and China, the world’s two biggest economies, saying the nations should cooperate and co-exist peacefully rather than compete.

Source: Presstv

11, January 2023

Roman Catholic Bishops meet in Ebolowa ⁰

Members of the Cameroon Catholic Bishops’ Conference known also as the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) are gathering in-person in Ebolowa for their 2023 General Meeting.

Topics being discussed by the Bishops’ Conference include the difficulties of sharing the Gospel in the modern world within the framework of the apostolic constitution; the work of the Bishops’, praying for peace and making sure that the cry of the poor is heard.

The 2023 National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) an annual seminar of the Bishops of Cameroon started on Saturday 7, 2023 and will end on Saturday 14, 2023.

By Rita Akana

11, January 2023

World Bank: Sharp, Long-lasting Slowdown to Hit Developing Countries Hard ⁰

Global growth is slowing sharply in the face of elevated inflation, higher interest rates, reduced investment, and disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report.

Given fragile economic conditions, any new adverse development—such as higher-than-expected inflation, abrupt rises in interest rates to contain it, a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, or escalating geopolitical tensions—could push the global economy into recession. This would mark the first time in more than 80 years that two global recessions have occurred within the same decade.

The global economy is projected to grow by 1.7% in 2023 and 2.7% in 2024. The sharp downturn in growth is expected to be widespread, with forecasts in 2023 revised down for 95% of advanced economies and nearly 70% of emerging market and developing economies.

Over the next two years, per-capita income growth in emerging market and developing economies is projected to average 2.8%—a full percentage point lower than the 2010-2019 average. In Sub-Saharan Africa—which accounts for about 60% of the world’s extreme poor—growth in per capita income over 2023-24 is expected to average just 1.2%, a rate that could cause poverty rates to rise, not fall.

“The crisis facing development is intensifying as the global growth outlook deteriorates,” said World Bank Group President David Malpass. “Emerging and developing countries are facing a multi-year period of slow growth driven by heavy debt burdens and weak investment as global capital is absorbed by advanced economies faced with extremely high government debt levels and rising interest rates. Weakness in growth and business investment will compound the already-devastating reversals in education, health, poverty, and infrastructure and the increasing demands from climate change.”

Growth in advanced economies is projected to slow from 2.5% in 2022 to 0.5% in 2023. Over the past two decades, slowdowns of this scale have foreshadowed a global recession. In the United States, growth is forecast to fall to 0.5% in 2023—1.9 percentage points below previous forecasts and the weakest performance outside of official recessions since 1970. In 2023, euro-area growth is expected at zero percent—a downward revision of 1.9 percentage points. In China, growth is projected at 4.3% in 2023—0.9 percentage point below previous forecasts.

Excluding China, growth in emerging market and developing economies is expected to decelerate from 3.8% in 2022 to 2.7% in 2023, reflecting significantly weaker external demand compounded by high inflation, currency depreciation, tighter financing conditions, and other domestic headwinds.

By the end of 2024, GDP levels in emerging and developing economies will be roughly 6% below levels expected before the pandemic. Although global inflation is expected to moderate, it will remain above pre-pandemic levels.

The report offers the first comprehensive assessment of the medium-term outlook for investment growth in emerging market and developing economies. Over the 2022-2024 period, gross investment in these economies is likely to grow by about 3.5% on average—less than half the rate that prevailed in the previous two decades. The report lays out a menu of options for policy makers to accelerate investment growth.

“Subdued investment is a serious concern because it is associated with weak productivity and trade and dampens overall economic prospects. Without strong and sustained investment growth, it is simply impossible to make meaningful progress in achieving broader development and climate-related goals,” said Ayhan Kose, Director of the World Bank’s Prospects Group. “National policies to boost investment growth need to be tailored to country circumstances but they always start with establishing sound fiscal and monetary policy frameworks and undertaking comprehensive reforms in the investment climate.”

The report also sheds light on the dilemma of 37 small states—countries with a population of 1.5 million or less. These states suffered a sharper COVID-19 recession and a much weaker rebound than other economies, partly because of prolonged disruptions to tourism. In 2020, economic output in small states fell by more than 11%— seven times the decline in other emerging and developing economies. The report finds that small states often experience disaster-related losses that average roughly 5% of GDP per year. This creates severe obstacles to economic development.

Policymakers in small states can improve long-term growth prospects by bolstering resilience to climate change, fostering effective economic diversification, and improving government efficiency. The report calls upon the global community to assist small states by maintaining the flow of official assistance to support climate-change adaptation and help restore debt sustainability.