Monthly Archives: January 2017

UN World Food Programme says millions of Nigerians at risk of dying from starvation

27, January 2017

UN World Food Programme says millions of Nigerians at risk of dying from starvation 0

The United Nations World Food Programme has sounded the alarm for millions of people who are at risk of dying from starvation in the militant-infested northeastern region of Nigeria. The Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists are obstructing efforts to deliver food to the crisis-hit region, the WFP warned on Friday.

Ertharin Cousin, the WFP executive director, said there were areas unreachable to the UN agency. “The challenge is that there are areas in Borno state, in particular, that are still inaccessible, and we have no idea of the food security situation,” she said, adding that an estimated 4.4 million people needed food assistance in the northeast.

Even in parts of the northeast held and defended by the army, Boko Haram attacks were jeopardizing aid programs, Cousin said. Ending the insurgency will require a political as well as a military solution, said Cousin, adding, “Until we resolve those issues the humanitarian situation will not improve to a level that allows us to reach all of those in need.”

The government has told aid agencies it expects the conflict to end in six months, she said. “I am imploring the international community to continue to provide us with the support that is necessary,” said Cousin. The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

Presstv

Bishop Bushu and Governor Okalia deadlocked over strikes in Southern Cameroons

27, January 2017

Bishop Bushu and Governor Okalia deadlocked over strikes in Southern Cameroons 1

Governor Bernard Okalia who was appointed to the South West region due to his family ties with the first lady of La Republique du Cameroun, Chantal Biya has seen his effort to stop the strike by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium ended in fiasco as a closed-door meeting held between him and His Lordship Bishop Bushu of the Buea Diocese was deadlocked.

At the meeting convened by the loud sounding nothing governor and attended by Francophone security agents serving in the South West, Bishop Bushu informed Mr Okalia that the leadership of the Consortium has vowed to continue with the strike including a massive civil disobedience campaign.

The governor and the mayor of Buea had faked a press release as coming from the Bishop’s House ordering the Catholic University to resume classes. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium had on Monday announced that ghost towns will be staged for a period of one month with the possibility of an indefinite extension.

The Southern Cameroons strike action that has paralyzed all academic establishments came over the failure of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime to implement the demands made by the Consortium. But in a swift reaction, the Yaounde government mandated its tribal secret service to intervene in the matter and arrested the Anglophone leaders including a judge of the Supreme Court of Cameroun.

Both the Roman Catholic Bishop and the appointed Francophone governor agreed at some point in the meeting that the 83 year-old Paul Biya should restate genuine dialogue with the Consortium and open a window for solution to be found. Ghost town returns on Monday and Southern Cameroonians have been told to listen to the interim leaders of the Consortium.

By Rita Akana in Buea

 

What do these 3 have in common: Test your understanding of the Southern Cameroons Revolution

27, January 2017

What do these 3 have in common: Test your understanding of the Southern Cameroons Revolution 0

The world will not turn a blind eye on the rapes, extra judicial killings and crime against humanity going on in Southern Cameroons.

The leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have been arrested and detained in French Cameroun. French Cameroun surrogates like Mayor Ekema Patrick, Minister Atanga Nji and Paul Ghogomu Minglo are using blood money to stifle the Anglophone nationalism.

West Cameroonians say the resistance must go on as ghost town returns on Monday the 30th 2017. Cameroon Concord News is asking our readers to test their understanding of the on-going Anglophone crisis. What actually do these three men have in common?

Southern Cameroons Internet affair: Nigerian diplomat says Francophone action is against the 1963 Vienna Convention

27, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Internet affair: Nigerian diplomat says Francophone action is against the 1963 Vienna Convention 3

The Consul General of Nigeria to the South West and North West regions, Dan Wari Nwazim has strongly criticized internet disconnection in the two regions for over a week now.

In an interview with Buea based Newspaper The Rambler, the Nigerian Diplomat said the act by the Government is against the 1963 Vienna Convention on diplomatic and Consular relations which stipulates that “Communication of Diplomatic and Consular missions are invaluable and the host Government should do nothing to tamper with them.”

Dan Wari Nwazim told The Rambler that for over a week Communication between his office and head Office in Abuja in particular and the world in General has been grounded, yet nobody has cared to explain to them why they should suffer such fate.

The Consul General said the only thing he has come across in Newspapers as reason for such action by Government is that, they disconnected internet in the South West and North West Regions of the country because of ‘irresponsible use of Cyber space by some individuals’.

Dan Wari noted that it will be of the interest of Cameroon Government to restore internet in the Consulate, “We are telling the Government of Cameroon to restore our internet. We are not part of irresponsible internet users.”

Cameroun Info.Net

Anglophone Problem: Operation Ghost Town to continue on Monday

27, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: Operation Ghost Town to continue on Monday 1

The leadership of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has announced that ghost town operations will continue on Monday the 30th and Tuesday the 31st of January 2017.  The Consortium has called on all its operation managers within and out of Southern Cameroons to resist the Francophone oppressors with more intense ferocity.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that Southern Cameroonians guided by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have resolved to continue their civil disobedience campaign against the current Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime. This comes after more than a 1000 desperate attempts at bribing some teachers in the Consortium to call off the strikes.

Last night on al jazeera news channel, the ruling CPDM crime syndicate got Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, former cabinet minister who presently has no constituent base in his native Kupe Muanenguba and who’s only power comes because of his friendship with some local Francophone political elites at the International Relations Institute, IRIC to try to sell the outrageous decision to shut down internet services in Anglophone Cameroon.

A majority of the Francophone political elites are overwhelmed by the sheer number of Southern Cameroonians who are now demanding an independent Southern Cameroons state. The mass civil disobedience campaign is expected to last for a month. However, the interim leaders of the Consortium are considering an indefinite extension of the ghost town activity.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has gotten the backing of all Southern Cameroon groups for the total and complete boycott of the so-called 11th of February celebrations. Inside sources say the Consortium is also planning a massive boycott of the Guinness Mount Cameroon Race. Southern Cameroonians have been told to make sure that parents, students, lawyers, okada riders, teachers and the business community all adhere to the leadership of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

The strike actions including the ghost town have been successful on all counts and day-by-day; the Biya Francophone administrative authority is not only being suspended throughout West Cameroon but also eroded. On Monday the 30th of January 2017, Southern Cameroonians will continue their civil disobedience campaign and all academic institutions will remain closed.

The interim leaders say the Consortium will stop at nothing to make sure that all Anglophone demands are met. “The longer the Yaoundé regime ignores us and the more arrest and extra judicial killings in our territory, the more means we will use to get what we deserve.”

By Chi Prudence Asong

New Gambian president returns home

27, January 2017

New Gambian president returns home 0

The Gambia’s newly-elected President Adama Barrow has returned to the nation after his predecessor finally agreed to cede power under international pressure and went into exile. On Thursday, Barrow arrived in Banjul from Senegal, where he had sought refuge in mid-January after his predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, refused to concede defeat in the presidential election and stand down.

Barrow won in the national election late last year, but Jammah’s clinging to power threw The Gambia’s political scene into turmoil. Upon arrival, the new head of state was welcomed by military officials and senior members of his coalition government.

Barrow’s supporters had gathered along the capital’s streets to welcome the president home. “We also hope that if he (Barrow) comes as a president, there will be some changes,” said a supporter. Barrow was inaugurated as president in neighboring Senegal on January 19.

Over two decades of Jammeh’s rule came to an end last week after he fled to Equatorial Guinea as thousands of soldiers from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were deployed to the country to force him out of office.

A United Nations official announced earlier in the day that Barrow had asked the 7,000-strong ECOWAS military contingent to remain in the country for six months. Barrow requested the forces sent by ECOWAS to remain in Gambia for six months, said Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the United Nations’ most senior official in West Africa. In the meantime, the ECOWAS contingent in Gambia is carrying out a sweep operation to neutralize possible security threats against the new head of state.

Presstv

Open letter to Mayor Ekema Patrick of Buea, Southern Cameroons

27, January 2017

Open letter to Mayor Ekema Patrick of Buea, Southern Cameroons 8

Dear Mayor Ekema,

Let me congratulate you for the efforts you are making to ensure that the economy of your city does not take a nosedive due to the strikes and ghost town operations taking place across the English-Speaking part of our country. I do agree that as a mayor, the plight of your city should be a constant concern to you, especially at this time when the country has been caught in a downward political spiral.

As you know, I am also an eminent son of the southwest region and I should be concerned as well that our region will be caught in the throes of an economic crisis if urgent measures are not taken to get businesses back to the level they were before the outbreak of the people power revolution in Southern Cameroons. However, your approach is a huge cause for concern for many honest and objective citizens of our region. Based on pictures I have seen on national television, you have been using measures that smack of dictatorship and this is helping to fuel radicalism in the region.

I strongly believe that you should moderate your ways and seek to persuade the residents of Buea that it is in their best interest to get back to business rather than threaten them. Your attitude speaks to your ignorance of the radical changes that have taken place in Cameroon. Please be advised that intimidation clearly belongs to the past and you cannot use it as a political tool to achieve whatever goals you have set for yourself. From the population’s behaviour, you should figure out that the wall of fear has collapsed and that dialogue has validly replaced intimidation.

I would also like to use this opportunity to address your purchase of taxis in preparation for the ghost town operations called by the Consortium. As you know, the current situation in Cameroon is a people power revolution and not even soldiers and murder squads can stop the people from expressing their frustration with a government they hold has failed to live up to their expectation.

Of course, there is nothing wrong for a municipality to invest. It is always a laudable idea for a municipality to have multiple income streams, but the timing of your purchase of taxis calls into question your intentions. However, I hope you understand that while your taxis will be plying on the days when the peaceful and responsible people of Buea will be helping to enforce the Consortium’s call for ghost towns, you will not be able to oblige anybody to jump into your taxis. Rather than project yourself as a thug, it will be proper for you to tread the path of peace so as to avoid any confrontation with the local population.

I understand you are a career politician and your future depends on you proving to your masters in Yaounde that you are doing a great job. I have no issue with that if only you conduct yourself as a democrat. However, from the look of things, you are slowly running out of luck as the party you represent is no longer popular among Southern Cameroonians. The next elections are around the corner and given the way things are playing out, the ruling party is headed for a crash in the English-speaking part of the country. If I were in your shoes, I would tread very carefully in order not to make a bad situation worse. A good politician is he who knows how to exercise restraint, he who knows when and how to speak and he who can win hearts and minds even during challenging times.

Your approach to the issues affecting our country leaves much to be desired. As a career politician, you must learn how to address these issues without declaring war on those who disagree with you. You should learn to refine, not only your language, but also your ways, so as to win hearts and minds. Political thuggery has no place in today’s Cameroon. You stand to gain if you tread carefully.

The world is watching you. The manner in which you deal with these issues will either make or mar you in the upcoming elections. You either seek to endear yourself to the people’s mind or declare yourself a relic of an outdated brand of dictatorship. Moderation is an idea whose time has come. I would suggest you make the most of it.

Sincerely,

Joachim Arrey

About the Author: The author of this letter has served as a journalist and editor for many news organizations and institutions in Africa and North America. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator. He holds a Ph.D.

Anglophone Problem: International Federation of Journalists calls for an end to threats against the media

26, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: International Federation of Journalists calls for an end to threats against the media 1

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denounced all forms of intimidation by the National Council of Communication towards the Cameroonian media. The international union grouping media gurus has called on the so-called Cameroonian media watchdog to respect international norms. The National Communication Council body headed by one Mr. Peter Esoka has threatened to shut down any media organization that host members of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

In a statement released Thursday, January 26, 2017, IFJ President Philippe Leruth called on the Cameroonian authorities to put an end to threats against the media and journalists in order to engage in dialogue with the media and have a better understanding of the role of the media and journalists in the current situation in the country.

By Rita Akana

Supreme Court Judges protest CENER arrest of Lord Justice Ayah Paul

26, January 2017

Supreme Court Judges protest CENER arrest of Lord Justice Ayah Paul 1

Some judges of the Supreme Court of Cameroun have openly protested the arrest of Lord Justice Ayah Paul Abine by secret service agents loyal to the 83 year-old dictator, Paul Biya. According to the judges, Ayah’s arrest occurred in violation of article 629 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Supreme Court judges pointed out that the nation is now being run like a banana republic. The leaders of the judiciary also indicated via a Yaoundé based tabloid that the legal provision to which a judge of the Supreme Court or a magistrate of the judicial order is liable to be charged with an offense has been violated.

The Judges revealed that for any arrest to be carried out, the competent Attorney-General must submit an application to the President of the Supreme Court who has to appoint a magistrate responsible for examining the case and three others, with a rank at least equal to that of the defendant, with a view to the eventual judgment of the case.

Lord Justice Paul Ayah Abine was arrested last Saturday at his home by six armed men and taken to the Secretary of State for Defense (SED) where he remains detained. The executive branch of the government reportedly wrote a letter to the President of the Supreme Court claiming that Ayah Paul was involved in politics as leader of the People’s Action Party. The Cameroonian judges have however made it abundantly clear that this part of his life cannot justify the form of his arrest.

“He was arrested because he expressed his opinions. But when he was appointed to the Supreme Court, they knew who he was, what political ideas he had! Why pretend today to be surprised by his political struggle? “Said a Judge. For them, the arrest of Paul Ayah Abine shows them that no one is safe.

By Sonne Peter

Anglophone Problem: Exiled American Computer scientist condemns the shutting down of internet services

26, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: Exiled American Computer scientist condemns the shutting down of internet services 0

The famous American computer scientist exiled in Russia for making public information classified as “top-secrets” by the CIA  has denounced the shutting down of Internet services in the Anglophone part of Cameroon.

The former CIA employee, tweeted that “this is a form of repression, against which we must mobilize and fight, # keepItOn # BringBackOurInternet,” he wrote. The reaction of the famous American computer scientist, Edward Joseph Snowden, provoked an avalanche of comments on the web.

After this unexpected support from the American, many Cameroonians close to English cyber activists, changed their profile with the hashtag, # BringBackOurInternet #. The Francophone dominated government of the 83 year-old dictator Paul Biya cut Internet in the regions of South West and North West in a bid to stifle the growing Anglophone nationalism and demands for a Southern Cameroons state.

By Chi Prudence Asong

 

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