Monthly Archives: August 2020

31, August 2020

French Cameroun: Customs intercepts dynamite, explosives in Garoua ⁰

200 explosives have been seized in Garoua in northern French Cameroun by custom officers. A security source hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that this is the largest seizure of military hardware by the Customs Department.

This seizure comes at a time when several towns and cities including the nation’s capital Yaoundé have been rocked by a multiplication of explosions. We understand the seizure took place on Saturday in Pakete, a village located in the Demsa district whose capital is Gashiga, Benue Division in bordering the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

A spokesperson for the French Cameroun Customs Department revealed that the improvised explosive devices were packed in a vehicle coming from Nigeria.

According to security experts in the CEMAC region, the highly porous, poorly secured and easy to cross border between Nigeria and French Cameroun is conducive for smuggling and illegal migration.

Elements of French Cameroun defence and security forces have tested and confirmed the dangerousness of the explosives.

It is vital to include in this report that in recent months several bombs have exploded in Yaoundé causing many injuries and significant material damage.

By Fon Lawrence

31, August 2020

Football: Arsenal beat Liverpool in 5-4 in shootout ⁰

Arsenal have overcome Premier League champions Liverpool on penalties to secure the Community Shield after a 1-all draw at an empty Wembley Stadium.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the Gunners in front after just 12 minutes of play with a brilliant finish, following a sweeping move.

But, the Merseyside Reds got the equalizer after the break when Japanese striker Takumi Minamino slotted home in the 73rd minute to send the match into a penalty shootout.

Rhian Brewster missed his spot kick, allowing Aubameyang to step up and seal the victory for the Gunners as they clinched their 16th Community Shield trophy.

This is also the second time Arsenal have defeated Liverpool this year.

31, August 2020

US Covid-19 cases surpass 6 million as Midwest, schools report outbreaks ⁰

U.S. cases of the novel coronavirus surpassed 6 million on Sunday as many states in the Midwest reported increasing infections, according to a Reuters tally.

Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have recently reported record one-day increases in new cases while Montana and Idaho are seeing record numbers of currently hospitalised Covid-19 patients.

Nationally, metrics on new cases, deaths, hospitalisations and the positivity rates of tests are all declining, but there are emerging hotspots in the Midwest.

Many of the new cases in Iowa are in the counties that are home to the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, which are holding some in-person classes. Colleges and universities around the country have seen outbreaks after students returned to campus, forcing some to switch to online-only learning.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said his state was sending a “SWAT team” to a State University of New York (SUNY) campus in Oneonta in upstate New York to contain a Covid-19 outbreak. Fall classes, which started last week at the college, were suspended for two weeks after more than 100 people tested positive for the virus, about 3% of the total student and faculty population, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras said.

“We have had reports of several large parties of our students at Oneonta last week, and unfortunately because of those larger gatherings, there were several students who were symptomatic of Covid,” Malatras said.

Across the Midwest, infections have also risen after an annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota drew more than 365,000 people from across the country from Aug. 7 to 16. The South Dakota health department said 88 cases have been traced to the rally.

More than eight months into the pandemic, the United States continues to struggle with testing. The number of people tested has fallen in recent weeks.

Many health officials and at least 33 states have rejected the new Covid-19 testing guidance issued by the Trump administration last week that said those exposed to the virus and without symptoms may not need testing.

Public health officials believe the United States needs to test more frequently to find asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers to slow the spread of the disease.

While the United States has the most recorded infections in the world, it ranks tenth based on cases per capita, with Brazil, Peru and Chile having higher rates of infection, according to a Reuters tally.

The United States also has the most deaths in the world at nearly 183,000 and ranks 11th for deaths per capita, exceeded by Sweden, Brazil, Italy, Chile, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Peru.

(REUTERS)

31, August 2020

French Cameroun on the verge of a civil war ⁰

La Republique du Cameroun is evidently on the verge of a civil war, more likely a tribal war, instigated by the Beti, Bulu and Ewondo tribes of the Central and South Regions. The President of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon Prof Maurice Kamto has invited all political entities including the diaspora to pool their efforts to oust the 87 year old President Paul Biya.

Beti Ewondo servicemen and women, armed Bulu militias’ including senior army officers all backing President Biya are ready to stage attacks against the Bamilekes who are pushing for change in Etoudi.

Yaoundé inhabitants are reportedly preparing for a nightmare scenario as they believe there is the prospect that Biya loyalists will fight to hold on to power and will refuse to accept any outcome that will keep the ruling CPDM party out of government.

Biya and his kinsmen are also preparing for the anticipated fight and the regime is doing everything to intimidate the population of the capital city with regular fake bomb alerts.

Prof Maurice Kamto has blamed the fighting in Southern Cameroons on the Biya regime and he is also pressing the government to reform the electoral law that has legalized electoral fraud, voter suppression, irregularities, late ballots and long lines at the polls which are problems often manufactured by ELECAM the French Cameroun body responsible for organizing elections run by persons appointed by President Biya.

Ever since the 1988 Kaki and Green parliamentary elections, the ruling CPDM crime syndicate has excelled at rigging their own internal elections for the party’s favorites and National Chairman Paul Biya by suppressing and targeting potential challengers. The late Ayissi Mvodo, Prof Titus Edzoa and Albert Nzongang have all been victims.

The situation in French Cameroun has become very complicated. To be sure, what is different in this recent appeal by Prof Kamto is that the Beti Bulu Ewondo political and military elites, who usually work overtime to suppress citizens from other ethnic extraction on election days, now have a president whose end is looming!

A likely outcome is that there might be a major split in the French Cameroun army if someone from the Biya family is chosen to succeed the 87 year old dictator. Both sides of the French Cameroun divide are “Frenching” up in Paris for an epic fight.

Conditions in French Cameroun are dire now. La Republique du Cameroun is on the verge of a civil war, more likely a tribal war. Even if Biya agrees to step outside, such a war might still be in the offing, as some CPDM hardliners have been hungering for such a war against the Bamilekes for decades and the emergence of Prof Kamto and Biya’s imminent departure has green lighted the plan.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

31, August 2020

Football: Clinton N’Jie on target as Dynamo Moscow hold FC Ufa ⁰

The Cameroon international scored his second goal of the season to help the White and Blues avoid defeat at Neftyanik Stadium

Clinton N’Jie found the back of the net to inspire Dynamo Moscow to a 1-1 draw against FC Ufa in Sunday’s Russian Premier League game.

The forward teamed up with the White and Blues last summer from French side Marseille but did not have the best time in his debut season in Russia.

The striker only scored one goal in 19 league appearances but has hit the ground running in the 2020-21 season.

N’Jie was handed his fifth start in this campaign by manager Kirill Novikov against Vadim Evseev’s side and made the most of the opportunity.

The centre-forward shone in the encounter to ensure his side avoided defeat and stretched their unbeaten run to two games after securing victory over Zenit last time out.

N’Jie opened the scoring in the 43rd minute for the White and Blues after both sides had failed to convert the few chances that came to their ways.

Timur Zhamaletdinov then levelled proceedings moments before the hour mark after he was set up by Aleksandr Sukhov.

The draw is Dynamo Moscow’s second this season, having also won three games and lost one in six outings so far.

N’Jie featured for 78 minutes before he made way for Vyacheslav Grulev while Nigeria international Sylvester Igboun was a second-half substitute for the White and Blues.

The Cameroon striker has played for French side Lyon and Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur before he signed for Marseille permanently in 2019 after impressing while on loan with the side.

N’Jie has been a key member of the Cameroon national team since he made a scoring debut for the West Africans against the Democratic Republic of Congo in September 2014.

The forward has featured 32 times for the Indomitable Lions, scoring seven goals and was part of the side that won the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations title.

N’Jie will hope to continue his fine start to the season when Dynamo Moscow take on Rubin Kazan in their next Premier League game on September 12.

Source: Goal.com

30, August 2020

Mali in crisis: Divisions emerge between junta, opposition leaders ⁰

Tensions mounted on Saturday between Mali’s military junta and the country’s longtime political opposition after the coup leaders failed to invite prominent opposition figures to a planned forum on the country’s political future.

The meeting ultimately was cancelled and the junta leadership instead met with imam Mahmoud Dicko, an opposition leader who on Friday urged the junta to speed up the transition to civilian rule so the West African country could avoid further crushing financial sanctions.

“I ask them to be part of the solution and not another problem,” he said.

Only a week earlier, the opposition coalition known as M5-RFP that includes Dicko had publicly backed the coup, with thousands of their supporters taking to the streets after the junta’s overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. M5-RFP had led several months of demonstrations calling for his resignation three years before his final term was due to end.

In a statement late Friday, one M5-RFP leader said the alliance regretted not being invited to take part in Saturday’s planned discussions between the junta and various political actors.

“The M5-RFP is and remains a major player in this desired change and must be at the forefront in determining the structure of the transition,” Choguel Maiga said.

The path back to democracy has been a stumbling point with West African heads of state, who on Friday urged the junta to restore civilian rule within a year. But the junta has proposed a three-year timeline. That has led to the unraveling of talks and more threats of sanctions.

The regional bloc known as ECOWAS already has cut financial flows to Mali, and neighboring countries have closed their borders in a bid to step up pressure on the coup leaders.

The international community has expressed alarm over the coup, fearing that the political vacuum could allow Islamic extremists to expand their reach. A similar coup in 2012 led to the militants overtaking major towns in the north where they implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law, amputating the hands of those charged with theft.

A French-led military operation in 2013 ousted the extremists from power but the Malian military and its partners have faced an insurgency ever since.

There are concerns that the new political upheaval could erode what gains have been made in the fight to stabilize Mali.

Source: AP

30, August 2020

French magazine depicts Black MP as a slave ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron led nationwide outrage Saturday after an ultra-conservative magazine portrayed a black lawmaker as a slave.

The French presidency said Macron called Danielle Obono from the far-left party France Unbowed and “expressed his clear condemnation of any form of racism”.

The magazine, Valeurs Actuelles, which caters to readers on the right and far right, showed Obono in chains with an iron collar on her neck to illustrate a seven-page imaginary story.

Prime Minister Jean Castex said it was a “revolting publication that calls for clear condemnation” and told Obono that she had the government’s backing.

“I share the indignation of lawmaker Obono,” he said.

“One is free to write a putrid novel within the limits fixed by the law. One is free to hate it. I hate it,” said Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti.

Obono tweeted: “The extreme right — odious, stupid and cruel. In brief, like itself.”

The anti-racism body SOS Racisme deplored rising hate speech against African and Arab politicians and said it was mulling what legal measures could be taken to counter this.

The magazine however denied it was racist, saying the story concerning Obono was “a work of fiction… but never nasty.”

An official from France’s far-right National Rally party, Wallerand de Saint-Just, said the story was “in absolute bad taste”.

France witnessed several protests in June and July against racial injustice as well as colonial and police brutality, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd’s death at the knee of police in the United States.

Macron, a centrist, who raised eyebrows when he gave an interview to Valeurs Actuelles last year and praised it as a “good magazine”, has pledged to root out racism.

But he also said France will not take down statues of figures linked to the colonial era or the slave trade, as has happened in other countries recently.

(AFP)

30, August 2020

Bakassi: Nigerian Group wants Buhari to probe ceding of peninsula to Cameroon ⁰

A group, Save Nigeria Movement (SNM), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to, as a matter of urgency, set up a judicial commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances that led to the decision of ceding the oil rich Bakassi peninsula to neighbouring Cameroun.

Convener of the group, Mr. Solomon Semaka, also stressed the need to revisit several unresolved incidents, including the tragic 1992 Airforce military aircraft C-130 Crash in Lagos State in which over 160 senior and middle level military officers and the entire crew died.

The group is seeking probe into the 2006 tragic occurrence of an airforce donier 228 aircraft crash in Benue State that killed about 15 senior military officers and the entire crew, as well as the sad incident of Boeing 737 plane crash that occurred in October 2006 in Abuja, which claimed the lives the late Sultan of Sokoko, Alhaji Maccido, his son, Senator Maccido, grand son, as well the then deputy governor, Alhaji Garba Muhammad, as well as 98 others.

Other probe requests, include the need to unravel the circumstances of the tragic crash of a naval helicopter in 2012 in Nembe, Bayelsa State, which claimed the lives of Governor Patrick Yakowa and Gen. Andrew Azazi, the circumstances surrounding the bombing and subsequent murder of the famous journalist, Dele Giwa, through a parcel bomb.

It also includes the need to unravel the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Gloria Okon and her subsequent mysterious death, “the circumstances surrounding the murder of Chief Bola Ige in 2001, the burning and killing of the Resident Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Commissioner and his family in Kano in 2015, the 2011 bombings of the INEC office in Suleja, which killed over 25 people and the annulment of June 12 election, among others.”

The group in the statement signed by Richard Oduma of Coalition of Minority Tribes in Nigeria and Dr. Ndubisi Okon, Center for Advanced History and Civil Right contended that the issues if left unchecked could pose grave danger to the corporate existence of Nigeria.

Source: The Guardian

29, August 2020

Yaounde: Captain Stephen Tataw going home to rest ⁰

Stephen Eta Tataw 57, the renowned Southern Cameroons footballer who captained the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will be buried today Saturday, August 29, 2020, at 1 p.m. at the Catholic cemetery at Mvolyé, located in the 3rd district of the French Cameroun capital, Yaoundé.

The late captain of the 1990 Cameroon team will be accorded final tributes during a ceremony scheduled at the Yaounde Sports Palace, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi and a so-called personal representative of the Head of State.

In addition to the Requiem Mass, the late Javion as he was popularly known will receive a posthumous decoration after testimonies from his family, former teammates, FECAFOOT and the Biya regime.

Yesterday’s ceremony at the Yaounde Central Hospital was very popular, despite measures to limit gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several generations of the Indomitable Lions, including Samuel Eto’o and Roger Milla answered present. French Cameroun political and sports authorities also took part notably the Minister of Sports, Mr. Mouelle Kombi and Seidou Mbombo Njoya, the President of FECAFOOT.

Winner of the 1988 African Cup of Nations in Morocco, the man with 43 caps went down in history as captain of the mythical team that reached the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Cup.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

29, August 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Hard-hit Presbyterian church leads peace efforts ⁰

Cameroon’s 27 million people have two official languages – English and French – but the people in the two linguistic groups are divided, adding to the nation’s woes and those for its church leaders, along with another affliction, Boko Haram extremists.

Rev. Miki Hans Abia, synod clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, lives in the southwestern part where most of the minority Anglophones live as the result of the country’s complex colonial history and explains his church’s role in the peace process.

“I believe that the Church in Cameroon is part of the solution to bring about peace and reconciliation to these conflicts,” he said. The church has more than 500 pastors serving 1.5 million Christians in the country.

Most Anglophones live in the southwest, and they are a significant minority in the country, where about 70 percent of the population are Christians, and some 24 percent are Muslims.

“It is no secret that the once-admirable nation of peace in the African continent is today experiencing the worst crisis or conflict situation in her history,” he says. “I won’t dwell on the Boko Haram incursions in the northern part of our country. I would rather focus on the Anglophone crisis because it affects our community and the church directly.”

One million displaced

Increasing violence and insecurity in Cameroon has forced more than one million people from their homes. Since 2014, Cameroon has also struggled to support refugees fleeing violence and civil war in neighbouring countries, according to the International Rescue Committee.

The scourge of 2020, COVID-19, and the related conflict in Africa’s Sahel region have dwarfed Cameroon’s Anglophone-Francophone conflict in people’s minds.

“It is now at the level of violent armed conflict between the English-speaking militia (Amba Boys) and the nation’s military and security forces. The devastation is enormous.

“There are hundreds of thousands of persons internally displaced. Thousands are refugees in neighbouring countries, many brutally murdered, many more living in sorrowful conditions in faraway bushes, kidnapping and requests for huge ransoms, wanton destruction of property and whole villages burnt down,” said Abia.

News outlets report on the government cracking down on protests and political opponents.

Njie Samuel Kale is the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon’s education secretary and said that the church has struggled to convince parents to send the children to school in some safe areas due to threats, acts of arson, kidnappings and killings.

“Some scholarships and materials were offered to needy kids as well as continuous support to internally displaced persons. Over 60 percent of our operations are grounded in terms of schools, health facilities and even churches.

“We continue to witness a growing number of displaced people,” said Kale.

Peace proposals

The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon has submitted a list of proposals to the national president, Paul Biya.

These call for the holding of an inclusive national dialogue, release of all those detained in connection with the unrest, a decentralized government system, and conservation of the Anglo-Saxon system of education that was “adulterated.” It also seeks a ceasefire, withdrawal of the military from the streets, and protection of the English judicial system of common law.

“The clergy and top laity also took part in several top meetings called by the government to bring peace and held audiences with ministers, the prime minister and the head of state,” said Kale.

From the latter part of the 19th century until World War I, Cameroon was a German colony. During that conflict, the British invaded from Nigeria, and the French took the bigger northern part under League of Nations mandates, the start of the current linguistic divide.

Reunification started in 1961

Created in 1961 by the unification of a British and a French colony, the modern state of Cameroon has also struggled to find peace and unity. The mainly-Muslim far north has been drawn into the regional Islamist insurgency of the Boko Haram group.

Abia said, “The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, in communion with other churches and religious bodies, has played a very active role in an attempt to bring peace and reconciliation to conflicting parties and situations.”

He noted that the church is hard-hit in the country’s conflict because about 80 percent of its adherents, activities and economic ventures are found “in the war zone” and the church is predominantly English-speaking.

The Cameroon Presbyterians’ leadership has intervened and mediated in what he refers to as “the Anglophone crisis rocking the restive north-west and southwest regions of Cameroon.”

“The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon has organized, amongst others, interfaith services for all religious bodies in Cameroon. In some of such gatherings, her international partners were invited and actively took part in the peace discussions. Resolutions from such discussions aimed at peace and reconciliation were forwarded to the government of Cameroon,” explained Abia.

The church’s hierarchy championed by its head, the moderator, has regularly signed pastoral letters to its communion recommending “salient proposals” for the reinstitution of peace and tranquillity in war-torn areas in Cameroon.

“The church has been actively involved in peacebuilding initiatives from time immemorial and has continued to remain a cardinal point in preaching peace and reconciliation.”

Grand National Debate

For example, the church took part in actively organizing with the government a Grand National Debate (2019) to reinstate peace in Cameroon.

“Currently, the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon is a major player in the government-led Reconstruction Plan; advising that peace and reconciliation are prerequisites for reconstruction, that the minds of all parties and stakeholders must be reconstructed first before material things,” said Abia.

The church works with its foreign partners to help counsel the Cameroon government and other conflicting parties.

For example, in March 2020, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon led an international delegation for a meeting with the prime minister of Cameron to brainstorm on concrete measures to resolve the crisis in Cameroon.

“The prophetic voice of the church through her pastors and other preachers of peace have been of great importance to de-escalate the conflict in the two Anglophone regions,” said Abia.

The church has a committed group called the Peace Office that engages in peace workshops with a variety of funding partners.

“I believe that the church in Cameroon is part of the solution to bring about peace and reconciliation,” said Abia.

Culled from World Council of Churches