Monthly Archives: March 2017

11, March 2017

Indomitable Lions: Anglophone striker dropped for disrespecting Roger Milla ⁴

Cameroon’s Belgian technician made public on Friday the list of players selected for the upcoming friendly matches. Six players who contributed to the victory of the Lions in the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon are not included.

Hugo Broos’s new list of 23 players will play two friendly matches in the next FIFA period, against Tunisia on 24 March in Monastir (Tunisia) and against Guinea Conakry on 28 March in Brussels, Belgium. The absence of Clinton Njié, Sébastien Siani, Robert Ndip Tambe, Edgar Salli and Jonathan Ngwem has not gone unnoticed.

The fact that the coach did not take time to clarify the non-convocation of these players who were part of the glorious expedition in Gabon, piles up many ambiguities. Cameroon Concord News learnt that the absence of Clinton Njié would amount to a sanction imposed by FECAFOOT for seriously disrespecting Roger Milla in Gabon.

For the moment, Hugo Broos has still not explained his choices. The thesis of the exclusion of some players is already fueling the debates since the two friendly matches are part of the preparations for the next FIFA World Cup, which will be played from 17 June to 2 July 2017 in Russia.

By Sonne Peter

10, March 2017

UN and Burkinabe officials at Unity Palace ¹

The Resident Coordinator of the United Nations Development Program System, Najat Rochdi has come to the end of her mission to Cameroon. She held a farewell audience on the 8^th of March 2017 at the Presidency of the Republic with Minister Secretary General, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh on behalf of the Head of State.

The outgoing UN coordinator after the audience expressed satisfaction with achievements of the UN System which she partly attributed to the hospitality of the Cameroonian people. She leaves Cameroon after a four year diplomatic mission. Najat Rochdi has been appointed to the Central African Republic as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Multi- Dimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission MINUSCA and also as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator, and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program UNDP.

The Secretary General also received in audience a Special Envoy of the President of Burkina Faso. Thierry Hot was bearer of a special message from President Rorc Marc Christian Kabore. Thierry Hot had served as a correspondent with the BBC and Africa 24.

CRTV

10, March 2017

Fru Ndi says Prime Minister Philemon Yang is making a mockery of himself ²

The Chairman of the Social Democratic Front has made public an assessment of Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s tour of the North West Region plagued by the Anglophone uprising. Fru Ndi told reporters that it is not with force that the Biya Francophone government would convince parents to send their children to school.

On the instruction of the President of the Republic, Prime Minister Philemon Yang traveled to the North West for a soothing tour. Since last Monday, the Head of the Government visited all the seven administrative constituencies that make up the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons. Ni John Fru Ndi, said that the PM’s mission so far was not a success.

“I learned that the Prime Minister was in the city of Bamenda. He did not invite me and the observation that emerges is that the schools have not resumed! And it is not with force that teachers and students will return to the classrooms. The Prime Minister only ridiculed himself. He knows the problem and he just has to be truthful with the parents. They expected the head of the government to come and talk to them and ask for what they wanted. He did not do it. He came to say what Biya wanted Anglophones to do, to invite the parents and pupils to resume classes. This is not the way to go. The Government must engage in frank dialogue. I must say that Mr. Biya knows the problem of teachers and lawyers, “said Ni John Fru Ndi the leader of the SDF.

Cameroon Intelligence Report

10, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Philemon Yang treated like a “common politician” ⁰

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has completed his tour of the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons some two months after his last visit to his home constituency. The Premier traveled to the region and made an ultimate plea for the resumption of schools in West Cameroon.

The Yang Philemon trip that took him to the seven divisional headquarters that make up the Bamenda province failed to yield the anticipated results. Southern Cameroonian groups who received the Head of Government challenged him to openly condemn the rapes, extra judicial killings and the numerous arrests and abductions currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

From Ngo-Kentungia to Boyo via Donga-Mantung and Menchum including Mezam, Momo, and Bui, Philemon Yang was treated like a common politician. Cameroon Concord News understands the Prime Minister’s visit has helped to energize the people’s revolution as schools have still not started.

It is hard to say who is really in charge in Yaoundé as the decision to travel to the North West came only after the Ministries in charge of Education, made public a statement that students and pupils, the strike notwithstanding, still have an opportunity to attend catch-up classes to cover-up for lost time.

The frustrated members of the Cameroon GCE Board, also met last week, and announced an extension for registration of the GCE. The Prime Minister’s trip to the North West Region therefore was another vain opportunity for schools to re-open. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has applauded the people of Southern Cameroons for their resistance.

By Rita Akana

10, March 2017

China says Power-for-money deals directed 2016 US presidential vote ⁰

China has strongly rejected US criticism of its human rights record, accusing American politicians of corruption and hypocrisy. China’s State Council Information Office, in a report entitled “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2016” and released on Thursday, scoffed at Washington’s repeated pose as “the judge of human rights.”

The report stated that the United States continues to wield “the baton of human rights” and criticize many countries for the human rights situation while it takes no heed of its own “terrible human rights problems.” It added that “the self-proclaimed human rights advocate has exposed its human rights myth” with “the gunshots lingering in people’s ears behind the Statue of Liberty, worsening racial discrimination and the election farce dominated by money politics and power-for-money deals.”

“Waves of boycotts and protests fully exposed the hypocritical nature of US democracy,” the report pointed out. The United States had the second highest prisoner rate last year, with 693 prisoners per 100,000 of the national population. Gun-related crimes also reached a high level, according to the report. There were a total of 58,125 gun violence incidents, including 385 mass shootings, in the United States in 2016, leaving 15,039 killed and 30,589 injured, the report cited figures from a report by the Gun Violence Archive.

Moreover, US social polarization worsened in 2016 and the proportion of adults who had full-time jobs hit a new low since 1983, income gaps continued to grow, the size of middle class began to shrink, and living conditions of the lower class deteriorated, the report added.

The percentage of Americans who said they were in the middle or upper-middle class dropped by 10 percentage points, from an average of 61 percent between 2000 and 2008 to 51 percent in 2016. That descent meant 25 million people in the United States fared much worse in economic terms, the report highlighted.

It added that race relations continued to deteriorate in the US last year, and the wage gap between blacks and whites was the worst in nearly four decades. The report came in response to “The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016” issued by the US State Department on March 3. Washington’s report accused China of “repression and coercion” of civil society groups, and claimed that Beijing is impinging on people’s liberties in Hong Kong and Macau.

Presstv

9, March 2017

1000s of AK 47 rifles intercepted in Douala ⁰

Some 6,000 AK 47 rifles were intercepted on Wednesday in Douala by the national gendarmerie. The information reported by a private radio station in the economic capital was confirmed to Cameroon Concord News by a leading security source of the gendarmerie brigade in Douala.

Our source revealed that a retired police officer was also arrested during the operation that took place around 3am in a travel agency. The man is the head of a gang suspected of belonging to a network of arms traffickers.

Cameroon security officials noted that the guns were destined for Central African Republic militia groups operating in the North and the East of Cameroon.

By Rita Akana

9, March 2017

International Women’s Day: All is well in French Cameroun ²

The First Lady, Mrs. Chantal BIYA has presided over an orderly and colourful march-past at the 20^th May Boulevard – Yaounde, to commemorate the 32^nd International Women’s Day in Cameroon.

A mammoth crowd of women from several walks of life participated in the event, organised by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, MINPROFF. The event was characterised by the passage of a large Cameroonian flag and the effigies of President Paul BIYA and wife, Mrs. Chantal BIYA.

Special messages on banners were also used to clamour for gender equality, women empowerment, and an end to child marriages in Cameroon. Majority of the slogans were directly connected to this year’s theme: “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”.

The women who were particularly happy with the presence of the First Lady at the grandstand, equally seized the opportunity to denounce acts of terrorism and other forms of extremism that are aimed at destabilising Cameroon.

Groups from friendly and neighbouring countries such as the USA, France, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, participated the march-past.

Culled from the Presidency of the Republic

9, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Biya wants to get rid of Speaker or Senate Head ⁵

Panic has allegedly gripped the President of The Senate and Speaker of the National Assembly as the first ordinary session of parliament for the 2017 legislative year is due to open on Monday. After three months of parliamentary recess, legislators from the nooks and crannies of the country are expected in Yaounde on Monday 13 March for the first ordinary session of parliament for the 2017 legislative year.

According to two separate bureau orders signed on Tuesday 7 March by the Speaker of the National Assembly and the President of The Senate, the Lower House will convene at 1pm at the Ngoa-Ekellé glass house while members of the Upper House will sit at 4pm at their temporary Yaounde conference center meeting place.

With the first session of each legislative year traditionally devoted to the renewal of bureaus, there are already allegations that President Paul Biya is contemplating dropping one of the Francophone heads of the two legislative institutions for an Anglophone.

There’s an unwritten law in the country which stipulates that when the Head of State is a Francophone, the second in command must be an Anglophone. The Speaker (president) of the National Assembly, Rt Hon Cavaye Yeguié Djibril has been at the helm of the lawmaking institution since 1992.

The leading member of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), enjoyed the position and benefits of the second personality in the country until the senate was put in place about four years ago. The Senate was created following an amendment to the 1996 constitution but President Paul Biya kept the power to convene the Electoral College close to his chest.

The maiden elections to the Upper House were held in April 2013 and Senator Marcel Niat Njifenji was elected the first president of the house in June of same year. The Francophone senator has since been re-elected to the post that makes him second personality according to state protocol, and constitutional successor to the President of the Republic in case of a vacancy in the latter office.

With the recent Anglophone uprising in the country and reports that the Head of State is “gradually yielding to” the demands of the minority English speakers, sources say one of the two personalities above would be replaced by an Anglophone during the “elective” parliamentary session due to open on Monday.

Who therefore will President Biya sacrifice, Hon Cavaye Yeguié Djibril or Senator Marcel Niat Njifenji? The geo-political calculation is that should President Biya “fire” one of the Francophone personalities above, Anglophones might also have to “sacrifice” the Prime Minister’s office which they have also occupied since 1992.

Cameroun Info.Net

9, March 2017

Southern Cameroons Women’s Day: Attendance noticeably less than expected ¹

Hundredths gathered at the Commercial Avenue in Bamenda, North West region to commemorate the 32nd International Women’s day amidst ghost town that was being observed by the population. The scantily attended event lacked the fanfare that usually accompany it, reports Cameroun Info.Net.

Most of the women who took part in the parade were under the banner of regional delegations including some few associations. However the Governor of the North West region Adolphe LELE L’Afrique said he was satisfied with the turn out especially as messages had been circulated calling for boycott in the two English speaking regions. He congratulated women who showed up saying it was a wonderful move.

Some women who took part in the parade were transported back to their destinations in military trucks. The situation in Buea was not different, turnout was low compared to previous years but like his North West counterpart, Bernard Okalia Bilai congratulated the women who showed up for the celebration saying that they also have to play a key role in maintaining peace during this period of crisis. He urged women to send their children to school by also convincing their husbands to see the need for educating their children.

8, March 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Mo Ibrahim Foundation calls for the restoration of internet services ¹

In a statement on the use of internet and cellphone services in Africa published on Tuesday, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation noted that there has been a significant progress in almost all countries in Africa. The African foundation which shares the belief that governance and leadership lie at the heart of any tangible and shared improvement in the quality of life of African citizens however said it was concerned about the prolonged internet blockade in the North the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.

The Foundation that follows with attention the development of internet and mobile services on the African continent said such blockades have potential devastating consequences for economy, education and health, and prevent citizens to access news and to engage socially. “We hope that the government of Cameroon, and others will share our concern and facilitate the access of internet and mobile phone services to all its citizens,” Mo Ibrahim urged in the statement.

The Mo Ibrahim statement coincided with the Prime Minister’s visit to the North West region in an attempt to negotiate the resumption of classes. At a stakeholders’ meeting in Bamenda on Monday, North Westerners told PM Yang that schools will only re-open if detained strike leaders are released, internet restored and the region demilitarized.

One of the speakers at the meeting, Hon Wilfred Fusi Naamukong told the PM and his entourage that the state hasn’t yet given a statement to apologize for the massive killings orchestrated by armed government troops on unarmed civilians carrying out peaceful protests. “Our detainees because of these grievances that the president himself has acknowledged should be freed and our internet restored,” the people’s representative told the government envoys as an obligation for school resumption in the region.

In response, the Head of Government urged the population of his native region not to sacrifice the education of their children for whatever grievances. “The greatest empowerment you can ever have is education. Don’t give it away for anything even if you are angry and you don’t eat. Even if you cannot go out to see your friends and drink a beer, do not sacrifice on education; that’s a wrong place to go. It is an embarrassment to the international scene,” the Prime Minister said calling on parents in the region to accompany their kids to school latest Tuesday March 7. However, the plea seems to have fallen on deaf ears as schools are yet to resume in the region.

Cameroun Info Net