Four people died and another 12 were seriously injured when a building under construction collapsed in the Cameroon capital Yaounde, authorities said Sunday, adding that the death toll could rise.

Three were killed on the spot, while the fourth died in hospital following the accident on Friday, said defence ministry spokesman Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo.

The injured were in intensive care, he added in a statement.

The three-day search for survivors has ended, but clearing work could uncover more victims, Guemo said.

The main support pillars of the three-storey building under construction “gave way… causing a vertical and total collapse,” the statement said.

Authorities in the central African country have launched an investigation into the disaster, it said.

Source: AFP

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, ADFD, has announced the approval of a concessionary loan worth AED55 million (US$15 million) for the Olama-Kribi Road project in Cameroon.

In a statement, the Fund said that the 204-kilometre road will link the capital Yaoundé to Kribi – one of the largest seaports in the country. “Aimed at enhancing the country’s transportation sector, the strategic project will go a long way in stimulating Cameroon’s economy, facilitating trade exchange, as well as easing the movement of people, vehicles, and goods,” ADFD added.

Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, ADFD Director-General, and Iya Tidjani, Ambassador of the Cameroon to Saudi Arabia, signed the loan agreement outlining the terms of the funding at ADFD’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

The signing ceremony drew the participation of Khalifa Al Qubaisi, ADFD Deputy Director-General, Mebouegue Donancien, Consul of Cameroon in Dubai, and several senior representatives of the two parties.

Commenting on the concessionary loan agreement, Al Suwaidi said, “ADFD is proud to work as a strategic partner with the governments of beneficiary countries to help achieve their development objectives with a focus on financing projects that improve infrastructure and drive sustainable economic growth.”

“The Fund believes that the development of the transportation sector increases nationwide and cross-country trade. We are delighted to collaborate with the Cameroonian government for the first time and continue to support global efforts to implement the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, on the African continent,” he added.

For his part, Iya Tidjani praised the strong fraternal ties between the UAE and Cameroon across all fields, as well as the UAE’s global aid endeavours, noting ADFD’s development activities worldwide.

Explaining the importance of the Olama-Kribi strategic road project, the Ambassador thanked ADFD for its crucial support in advancing the implementation of objectives outlined in the Cameroon Vision 2035 and contribution to one of the priority infrastructure projects.

Since its inception in 1971, ADFD has funded development projects in 95 countries, including 40 African nations, to the tune of AED92 billion through concessionary loans, government grants, and investments. The Fund’s total expenditure in Africa amounts to an estimated AED23 billion. ADFD has also invested in eight companies and two private equity funds to boost a variety of sectors on the African continent.

Source: Emirates News Agency

Out-of-control French Cameroun soldiers have fired bullets through homes of petrol dealers along the Mamfe-Ekok highway killing 5 and injuring many in a move described by eye witnesses as unprecedented ever since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons crisis.

The Francophone soldiers stationed in Mamfe destroyed houses, confiscated fuel and forced residents to flee.  Cameroon government administrative cars at the local ‘funge’ stations were caught in the action.

Manyu County is preparing for the worse as tension is reportedly mounting in all the sub constituencies bordering Nigeria.  More than 100 French Cameroun troops from the Besongabang Army Camp were involved in the incident.

One resident in Ekok said he saw soldiers firing at a road side petrol station and flames approaching the council hall.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Francophone army colonel in Mamfe ordered the attack which saw soldiers collecting huge amount of monies from fuel and cocoa dealers.

 At the time of filing this report, the body of one man killed by the Cameroon government army was found along the Mamfe -Ekok highway.

 By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap with files from Rita Akana

Armed separatist movements in Cameroon have dismissed the approval of a spacial status to Anglophone regions by the country’s parliament, insisting that only independence would satisfy them.

Parliament on Friday granted special status to the North West and South West English-speaking regions to try to calm a separatist insurgency that has killed 2,000 people.

The law, passed in a special session of parliament, says the Anglophone regions “benefit from a special status founded on their linguistic particularity and historic heritage”.

We want independence and nothing else.

It mentioned schools and the judiciary system as part of the special status — a delayed response to protests in 2016 by teachers and lawyers.

Conflict between Cameroon’s army and English-speaking militias seeking to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia began after the government cracked down violently on peaceful protesters complaining of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority.

The insurgency has forced half a million people to flee and presented President Paul Biya with his biggest threat in nearly 40 years of rule.

Reactions

“This is a law unique in the world,” said senator Samuel Obam Assam, from the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, the majority group in the Senate. “It is an answer to our fellow countrymen’s concerns.”

But Jean-Michel Nintcheu, a parliamentarian from the main opposition party, said he did not believe the law would solve the crisis.

“The Anglophones, even the moderate ones, want a federal state. This law is not the result of a dialogue.. we were against it,” he said.

The reforms were recommended at the end of national talks organised by Biya in October to chart a way out of the conflict.

But separatists boycotted that dialogue, saying they would negotiate only if the government released all political prisoners and withdrew the military from the Northwest and Southwest.

“We want independence and nothing else,” said Ivo Tapang, a spokesman for 13 armed groups called the Contender Forces of Ambazonia.

He said the special status made no difference as no law passed in the Cameroonian parliament should be imposed in Ambazonia.

The roots of Cameroonian English speakers’ grievances go back a century to the League of Nations’ decision to split the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors at the end of World War One.

Source: REUTERS