Monthly Archives: January 2017

11, January 2017

There are reasons why the Consortium should snub Garga Haman Adji ⁰

Cameroon Concord News is calling on the leaders of the Consortium not to hold any talks with the so-called special envoy of President Paul Biya, Garga Haman Adji. Garga pretends to be a nationalist but carries with him anti Anglophone sentiments. Such an expired Francophone politician should never in the first place be designated to break the deadlock in the ongoing crisis rocking the two English speaking regions.

His trip to Bamenda on Tuesday January 10, 2017 remains a primitive and cheap design by the 83 year old Right Royal President to continue to snub Southern Cameroonians. We understand, Garga Haman met with members of the Consortium in a briefing before heading to the governor’s office where he held talks with his Francophone brother, Adolphe LELE L’AFRIQUE.

Even though nothing filtered out of the two briefings, Garga Haman reportedly sounded positive to some media gurus and observed that all will be well. For those who do not know, Garga Haman resigned from the Biya regime as Minister of State Control and declared his support for Ni John Fru Ndi in the presidential elections of 1992.

Gargo told the world that his decision was because Fru Ndi had a 2 year transition program. Intelligence later revealed that Garga had mustered a group of Nordists to flush out Fru Ndi and take power back to the North. At Yaounde Hilton Hotel, when Fru Ndi and the Union for Change could no longer be an item in 1994, Garga Haman held a press conference and insulted every Anglophone personality including Ni John Fru Ndi.

How could a man whose house in Yaounde was attacked by CPDM militia in 1992 after the proclamation of the presidential election and whose cars were burnt and could only transport his children to school using a car that was given to him by an Anglophone, the late Dr Ben AgborBessong demonstrated such a frightful and unloving attitude towards Anglophones? We can now reveal that Garga Haman belongs to that generation of Francophones who see Anglophones as second class citizens.

His visit is also to make a mockery of Prime Minister Yang Philemon efforts and to inform the international community that the PM and his Director of Cabinet failed to solve the on-going Southern Cameroons crisis. His nomination as the President Biya’s special envoy came shortly after the head of State’s end of year message to the Nation on December 31, 2016. What we of Cameroon Concord News are saying is simply that the Southern Cameroons Problem is not a CPDM/SDF kind of affair. It cannot be resolved by appointing a South Westerner as Prime Minister as the regime is planning to do. The problems cannot be solved by sending highly placed civil servants and Francophone government officials to Southern Cameroons.

The late Amadou Ahidjo met with a teacher and a lawyer in Foumban to agree on reunification matters, Biya should travel to Buea or Bamenda and meet with that teacher and that lawyer of the Consortium and seek a way forward. It is no longer an issue of Head of State and common teachers and obscure lawyers!! It is that Southern Cameroonians have handed over leadership of their territory to the Consortium and whosoever is going by that name La Republique du Cameroun and who genuinely wants a One and Indivisible Cameroon, should and must speak to The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Several meetings with the Anglophone Leaders and the Ad hoc Committee have ended in a deadlock. The Garga Mission to us is a waste of Anglophone time. Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho, President of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, told the media that they are ready for dialogue but insisted that the remaining 20 youths be released. It is not yet clear whether the Consortium will agree to dialogue with Garga Haman Adji. We of Cameroon Concord News think that the Southern Cameroons Problem is bigger than any Francophone personality and that only Paul Biya should head any meaningful dialogue.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

10, January 2017

South West pro Biya comedians holding emergency meeting in Buea ¹

Following the successful civil disobedience campaign staged by the leaders of the Southern Cameroons consortium on the 9th of January 2017 during which it resolved to extend the strike action until Anglophone demands are met, an emergency meeting of all political elites of the South West region is currently holding in Buea under the direct supervision of the former Prime Minister and Grand Chancellor of the National Orders, Peter Mafany Musonge.

Cameroon Concord News learnt that Musonge who himself was humiliated by the Francophone regime during his time as Prime Minister and Head of Government opened the session expressing regrets that schools have definitely not resumed in West Cameroons. A source in the meeting quoted the Grand Chancellor and Senator as observing that the scenario in British Southern Cameroons was shameful, disgusting and disgraceful to the Yaounde regime and by extrapolation, the South West political elites.

Our informant also revealed at the time of filing this report that some of the CPDM officials in the forum have not been allowed to speak. The Musonge meeting is a vain attempt to the South West to counter the all powerful and truthful Consortium. Our senior political correspondent in the South West who confirmed the arrival of the pro Biya comedians in Buea late today, opined that the so-called South West CPDM leaders are taking the last kicks of a dying horse. With Biya already releasing Southern Cameroons political detainees, it is evidently clear that Yaounde is about to open direct talks with members of the Consortium widely believed to have legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong in Buea

10, January 2017

Anglophone detainees being received by North West governor ¹

Southern Cameroons detainees released late last night in Yaounde have arrived Bamenda, the capital of the North West region. The freedom fighters were welcomed home by the Francophone governor. The whereabouts of many are still not known.

10, January 2017

Panic in Yaounde as Southern Cameroon engineers release photo of Made in Bamenda AK47 ⁴

Southern Cameroon engineers will begin mass production of the largest AK47 rifle ever. The demand for the made in Bamenda weapon has been alarming following the atrocities committed recently in Southern Cameroons by the Francophone army. A senior Southern Cameroons commander announced the decision on Tuesday, adding that Anglophones are also building a strategy of self defense if talks between the Consortium and the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime fail.

The commander further pointed out that Southern Cameroonians who have served in the US, French and British militaries abroad have been contacted to start the process of building a Southern Cameroons army. One of the foot soldiers of the last riots in Kumba told Cameroon Intelligence Report that the Southern Cameroons military will be a a strategic force with the power and capabilities of playing a very influential role in protecting British Southern Cameroons interests both at home and abroad.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

10, January 2017

24 Anglophone detainees released: Reports ⁰

Unconfirmed report say the CPDM government has released 24 of the Anglophone detainees arrested in Bamenda in 2016.

10, January 2017

FIFA expands World Cup to 48 countries ⁰

FIFA has unanimously decided the World Cup will be expanded to feature 48 countries from 2026. The football body’s ruling council said on Tuesday the tournament would see 16 groups of three nations.

Approval for the increase from 32 teams meets President Gianni Infantino’s election pledge to expand the World Cup and could help fund extra money for FIFA’s 211 members.

It will mean the current tournament format of 64 matches increasing to 80, which FIFA has forecast will equate to $1bn (£823m) of extra income from broadcasting and sponsorship deals as well as ticket sales. The 2018 World Cup in Russia is expected to generate $5.5bn (£4.5bn) in income.

FIFA’s six confederations will find out in May how many extra places they will get for the competition. UEFA has said it wants 16 European teams in the 2026 tournament, which will likely be held in North America.

The CONCACAF region – which also includes Canada and Central America – has not hosted the World Cup since it was held in the US in 1994. Football bodies from the US, Canada and Mexico have held initial talks about co-hosting a bid for 2026.

Africa and Asia could also benefit from the expansion, with up to nine places each. Africa had five and Asia only four at the 2014 World Cup.

But FIFA has admitted it expects the standard of the tournament to drop with an additional 16 teams. In a research document sent out to members last month, it said the “absolute quality” of play – defined by high-ranked teams facing each other most often – is achieved by 32 teams.

Three-team groups mean one country will be left idle for the final group matches, and concerns have been raised over collusion between the two remaining teams. FIFA has said it could guard against result rigging by introducing penalty shootouts if group games end in draws.

Culled from Sky Sports News

10, January 2017

Gambia: Communication Minister resigns, escapes to neighboring Senegal ⁰

Gambian Communication Minister Sheriif Bojang has left his post in protest at President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to concede defeat in last month’s election. Bojang’s resignation is the first high-profile cabinet defection since Jammeh refused to accept the outcome of the presidential election held in December 2016. In a statement, Bojang said Jammeh’s defiance was an attempt to subvert the will of the Gambian people, adding that the voters’ decision had to be respected.

Bojang has fled The Gambia to neighboring Senegal. Jammeh, who has been in power for 22 years, lost last month’s vote to the opposition coalition’s candidate Adama Barrow by a thin margin. The veteran leader initially conceded, but later changed his mind and called for a new vote, saying he would challenge the result in the Supreme Court. Barrow has nevertheless asserted that his inauguration will go ahead regardless of the court case.

Back in October, Bojang announced that The Gambia had decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, calling the body the “International Caucasian Court” and accusing it of racism and bias against Africa. The news made headlines as The Gambia was following in the footsteps of South Africa and Burundi. Several officials have already either fled the country or resigned fearing a crackdown by Jammah who is notorious for stifling his opponents. Early in January, the electoral commission’s chairman fled the country after he received threats for declaring Jammeh as the loser of the election. Foreign minister Neneh Macdouall Gaye also resigned in December.

On Wednesday, three leaders from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, will visit The Gambia to mediate a solution to the country’s political impasse. This is going to be the second visit by ECOWAS leaders to The Gambia in less than a month. West African leaders have repeatedly pursued mediation to ensure a peaceful transfer of power in The Gambia. Last month, after a visit to the country, they declared that ECOWAS did not yet intend to deploy its standby military force and sought a peaceful transfer of power.

Nevertheless, if Jammeh refuses to step down by January 18, when his term expires, ECOWAS may use military intervention. Jammah has already dismissed ECOWAS mediation efforts and accused the body of declaring a war against his country. The Gambia’s army announced loyalty to Jammah last week, going back on its initial pledge of allegiance to President-elect Adama Barrow.

Presstv

10, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: Former Governor David Abouèm à Tchoyi sounds a note of caution to Biya ¹

The former governor of the South West and North West region, David Abouèm à Tchoyi has sounded a note of caution to President Biya and his Beti Ewondo gang, that the Anglophone crisis may become a more dangerous version of Boko Haram. The respected former civil administrator who served as governor of the two Anglophone regions noted recently that “One can remain deaf to appeals, close one’s eyes to the obvious, clash in denial, or even think like the first Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Cameroon who, answering this question in 1964, had this memorable phrase: “There is no Anglophone problem; All Anglophones learn French very quickly “. But it is all of us who, very quickly, will be able to be caught up by the realities, warned the experienced administrator.

David Abouèm à Tchoyi pointed out that the Anglophone problem is not about vain threats and rhetoric that Cameroon is one and indivisible. The former governor observed that it is not a problem of living together. He revealed that Southern Cameroons as a nation welcomed thousands of French Cameroonians who escaped indigenous and forced labor from the French colonialists and other French Cameroonians who were involved in the UPC struggle for independence including thousands of men and women from African countries who lived and prospered there in harmony.

So, what’s the problem? How does it arise? Why these recurring eruptions in these two regions? David Abouèm à Tchoyi said there is obviously, an Anglophone problem in Cameroon. “This is not a problem between Anglophones and Francophones: there has never been a conflict between compatriots on both shores of the Mungo, on the basis of linguistic differences. It is not the rejection of what comes from Francophone Cameroon: no community in the North West or South West has ever opposed the practice in its territory of Bassa, Beti, Bamileke, Peuhl, Sawa … or other communities of the former East Cameroon.

David Abouèm à Tchoyi indicated that six facets come to mind:

1- Criticism of the centralized state.

2- The transfer of the decision-making centers to Yaoundé, far from the populations and their problems.

3- Failure to respect commitments to equitably take into account the institutional, legal and administrative cultures and traditions inherited from the former administering powers.

4- Non-compliance with the solemn promises made during the referendum campaign.

5- The change of the name of the State: replacement of “the United Republic of Cameroon” by “the Republic of Cameroon”.

6- Non-respect of bilingualism in the public sector, although the Constitution makes French and English two official languages of equal value.

The former has been making public a better understanding of the Anglophone problem to his French audience.

By Rita Akana with files from CIN

10, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Civil Disobedience: THIS IS WHAT OUR CHILDREN SHOULD LEARN ⁰

Let’s teach the children that today’s act of civil disobedience is the ultimate expression of their power over the dictator Biya and his coterie of corrupt ministers.

Let’s tell our children, that this act of civic education- of boycotting school, to demand accountability from an insensitive government is what developed countries have done to become developed.

Let’s teach our children that true education is an outgrowth of the needs of society, and that even the best education in a society where one is treated as a second-class citizen only diminishes one’s self-esteem.

Let’s teach our children that the ultimate purpose of education is to mould a free individual, who can think critically, and that having the best education and remaining under bondage is a negation of that education.

Let’s teach our children that the best education is the attainment of self-government where we can decide how far we want to go, and not forced to live in a system where we can only aspire to play second fiddle.

Let’s give our children historical examples where students stayed away from school for a year, and gained the right to earn a substantively richer education, through the use of cutting edge technology that is available in more open societies.

Let’s take advantage of this teachable moment empower our children to aspire to a genuine education that no despotism can enslave.

By Larry Eyong

9, January 2017

Ivory Coast: Prime Minister resigns along with his cabinet ⁰

Ivory Coast Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan has resigned along with his cabinet amid political tensions in the West African country. “I have tendered my resignation and that of the government,” Duncan said Monday, two days later than he was expected to step down based on the standard procedure for changing the government in the country.

Duncan made the resignation announcement after a meeting with President Alassane Ouattara, who kept hold of his majority in the December 18 parliamentary elections. However, the government was expected to resign by Saturday to give leeway to a new government which could allow the implementation of measures contained in a new constitution, signed by Ouattara in November.

Ivory Coast’s presidency announced that Ouattara had accepted Duncan’s resignation. The two-day delay in the announcement of the government’s resignation came after a group of dissident army soldiers took over army bases in cities across Ivory Coast, demanding bonus payments. The government then reached an agreement with the army for the revolt to end. Reports said former premier and current Parliament Speaker Guillaume Soro was behind the mutiny as he is believed to be seeking the post of premiership or vice presidency. Some also said that the revolt could have been masterminded by Ouattara.

State employees also began a five-day strike on Monday, demanding that the government scrap pension cuts and another plan to increase the retirement age from 55 to 60. Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, is West Africa’s largest and most prosperous economy.The French-speaking country emerged from nearly a decade of short wars and a protracted crisis in 2011. However, the factionalized, ill-disciplined military and increasing political divisions have sparked fresh concerns about the state of security in the country and how the government could continue to realize its economic objectives in the future.

Presstv