Monthly Archives: March 2024

22, March 2024

Nintcheu and Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Meeting: Biya regime bans opposition coalitions ⁰

A declaration by Cameroon’s territorial administration minister to make two opposition coalitions illegal is part of a government crackdown on opposition and dissent.

On March 12, 2024, the minister, Paul Atanga Nji, said in a statement that the Political Alliance for Change (Alliance politique pour le changement, APC), led by Jean-Michel Nintcheu, and the Political Alliance for Transition in Cameroon (Alliance politique pour la transition, APT), led by Olivier Bile, are “illegal,” calling them “clandestine movements.” The minister also referenced a recent meeting at a prison in Yaoundé between Nintcheu and Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, a leader of the Anglophone separatist group Ambazonia Interim Government, as a factor in the decision to ban the coalition.

“The government’s move against these coalitions shows how the Cameroonian authorities are moving to close down space for the opposition and for public debate ahead of the 2025 presidential elections,” said Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately lift the ban and allow opposition parties to continue working without harassment.”

In December 2023, a prominent opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, was reelected as the leader of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun, MRC), one of the most prominent opposition groups in the country. Kamto used his reelection to announce the creation of the APC.

The current president, Paul Biya, has been in power since 1982 and is serving out his seventh term. Biya, 91, was last reelected in 2018 after a contested vote-counting process. Kamto challenged the official results and declared himself winner of the election.

Biya’s 2018 election sparked a wave of political repression. After the 2018 vote, opposition-led protests occurred across the country, and the government responded with a heavy crackdown and the use of excessive force by the police, army, and gendarmes. In January 2019, Kamto and over 200 of his supporters were arrested and detained. Kamto was charged with insurrection, hostility against the homeland, criminal association, threats to public order, rebellion, and inciting insurrection, crimes that can carry the death penalty. He was freed on October 5, 2019, and the charges were dropped, though the crackdown on the opposition continued.

In early September 2020, Cameroon authorities banned demonstrations across the country after Kamto’s MRC encouraged people to take to the streets over the government’s decision to call regional elections in December 2020. Opposition parties had expressed concerns that the elections could not be conducted freely and fairly without reforming the electoral code and addressing the lack of security in the country’s minority Anglophone regions, where separatist groups and security forces have repeatedly clashed.

On September 22, 2020, Cameroonian security forces fired tear gas and water cannons and arrested over 550 people, mainly opposition party members and supporters, to disperse peaceful protests across the country. Many peaceful protesters were beaten and mistreated while being arrested and in detention.

While the majority of Kamto’s supporters who were arrested in 2019 were eventually released, 41, including Olivier Bibou Nissack and Alain Fogue Tedom, two of the group’s leaders, remain behind bars after being sentenced to seven years.

When initiating the APC in December 2023, Kamto said that the opposition should rally behind one candidate for the next presidential elections, slated for late 2025. Biya has not announced if he will run again for reelection.

Opposition groups simply coordinating activities and forming alliances cannot be considered “clandestine movements;” instead, this coordination should be considered a normal and important feature of the democratic process, Human Rights Watch said.

Activists have expressed doubts over the legality of the government’s ban. “This decision is not based on any legal texts,” Emmanuel Simh, a prominent rights activist and lawyer for the MRC, told Human Rights Watch. “No law in Cameroon prevents legally established parties getting together to establish a coalition. It’s just repression and another attempt to muzzle the opposition, to prevent it from organizing ahead of the next presidential elections.”

The government’s decision to ban the two political coalitions violates the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and the right to participate in political life . These rights are guaranteed under international human rights law including expressly in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which Cameroon has ratified.

“Cameroonians have watched Biya weaken any meaningful political opposition over the course of the last four decades and this ban is yet another example of the government’s repression,” Nantulya said. “He should consider his legacy and encourage authorities to facilitate and deliver a credible election process with full respect for fundamental rights and freedoms.”

Culled from Human Rights Watch

22, March 2024

Football: Former Brazil international Robinho arrested to serve rape sentence ⁰

Former Brazil international football player Robinho has been arrested to serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape.

He was convicted two years ago in Italy for his part in the gang rape of an Albanian woman at a night club in Milan in 2013.

Robinho, 40, was arrested at his flat in his home city of Santos.

The Italian government had requested that he serve his sentence in Brazil after failing to get him extradited.

On Wednesday, a court in Brazil upheld the decision and also ruled that he should serve his time behind bars instead of under house arrest.

Earlier on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge rejected a request to halt his detention.

The decisive action taken by Brazil’s justice system has been praised by many on local media, who feared that Robinho would evade justice thanks to his fame and his wealth.

The former Brazil international, who has 100 caps for his country, was playing for AC Milan at the time of the crime. After being found guilty, he lost an appeal in 2020 before Italy’s highest court upheld his sentence in 2022.

Italian prosecutors then issued an international arrest warrant for him.

The footballer, who spent two years with Manchester City, told a Brazilian network on Sunday that the sex had been “consensual”.

Source: BBC

22, March 2024

Douala Sanitation Day: A mockery of sanitation! ⁰

When officials of Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, instituted a sanitation day which is supposed to take place every Thursday, many in the city were elated, hoping that such an action would roll back the garbage that lined the city’s streets.

But this hope has been short-lived as the sanitation day is being used by alcohol addicts in the city to recover after heavy drinking every Wednesday evening.

Like most laws in Cameroon, the Douala City’s bylaw on sanitation lacks teeth as there are no enforcement mechanisms. The city’s officials have good intentions, but they lack the means to enforce their own laws.

They made the law without thinking of how to enforce it and today, many residents of Douala are simply not participating in the effort and there are no consequences for non-compliance.

Douala City officials have to go back to the drawing board to see how they can ensure that residents see that the sanitation day is in their best interest.

The Douala Sanitation Day has delivered some results but there is more to be done. Douala as a city is still very dirty. Resident dump their garbage on the streets everyday instead of keeping it at home until the garbage trucks come for the garbage.

According to analysts and observers, the city’s garbage issue is a real millstone around the necks of the population. Each day, thousands of Douala residents get hit by malaria due to poor sanitation and this is taking a toll on the people’s meager salaries.

Children and women are the hardest hit by malaria and deaths from malaria are always in the thousands in a city whose sanitation situation will not be improving as planned by city officials because most of the population does not pull its fair share of the weight.

More needs to be done in terms of enforcement if the city’s sanitation law has to deliver real results.

Alain A. Ebot

21, March 2024

Anti-extortion campaign: North West mayors commit to free civil registration document issuance ⁰

At least 13 of the 34 mayors in the North West Region of Cameroon have issued statements emphasizing their commitment to ensuring the free issuance of civil status documents in their respective councils henceforth. They have also expressed their resolve to dismantle “middlemen” networks which often mastermind extortion from those seeking civil registration services.

The announcements come as a response to a campaign led last year by the office of the Public Independent Conciliator (PIC) of the region, condemning extortion by council authorities in the issuance of these important documents.

Among the councils that have announced the free issuance of civil status registration documents, according to the office of the PIC, are those of Andek, Balikumbat, Benakuma, Mbengwi, Misaje, Ndop, Ndu, Njinikom, Nkor, Nkum, Zhoa, Bamenda I, Tubah and Wum.

Last year, the office of the PIC launched a region-wide campaign which was aimed at discouraging the practice whereby poor citizens are made to cough out huge sums of money to either obtain birth, death or marriage certificates in many councils across the region.

The PIC, Simon Tamfu Fai, told Biometric Update in an interview at the time that the campaign was to remind council authorities that collecting money from citizens to register births, deaths or marriages is against the law and that all those involved in such illegal practices were exposing themselves to sanctions spelled out by the laws in force.

“This campaign is prompted by the growing and persistent complaints reported to the Office of the Public Independent Conciliator (PIC) in the North West Region. It is also confirmed by a survey carried out in 2022 which revealed that council administrators collect as much as FACF 15,000 for the issuance of birth certificates and as much as FCFA 100,000 to celebrate marriages,” Fai said then.

Months after the campaign was launched, the PIC reports that many councils in the region are now increasing becoming compliant with the civil status legislation law.

“Following the campaign to promote the free establishment of civil status documents, some mayors have signed municipal orders announcing the free establishment of these documents in their municipalities. The number of press releases signed by mayors in this regard keeps increasing,” the office of the PIC said in a statement posted to its official Facebook page.

“The Public Independent Conciliator, Tamfu Simon Fai, encourages mayors who haven’t started issuing civil status documents free of charge in their municipality to do so, and to sign press releases in this light, as other mayors have done,” the statement adds.

It is expected that the move by the office of the PIC will go a long way in increasing the rate of obtaining civil status documents in the crisis-ridden region, and probably serve as a lesson to the rest of the country where access to civil status registration services remains difficult and expensive.

Source: Biometricupdate

21, March 2024

Bishops of Yaoundé Ecclesiastical Province discuss Church and the digital world ⁰

The first ordinary annual session of the Bishops’ Conference of the Ecclesiastical Province of Yaoundé in Cameroon, was held recently. “The Church and the digital world: issues and challenges for evangelization,” was the theme of the plenary. The assembly took place at the Pastoral Centre of Saint Joseph in the town of Kribi, a beach resort and sea port in Southwestern Cameroon.

Throughout their discussions, the Bishops belonging to the of the Ecclesiastical Province of Yaoundé agreed on the need for the local Church to integrate the digital culture into work of evangelization, because, “digital technologies offers pastoral opportunities that open up infinite gateways to Christian life,” they said.

Christianising the digital and digitising Christianity

With reference to digital technologies, Archbishop Jean Mbarga, the Metropolitan of Yaoundé Archdiocese stressed that “the Church needs to be at the rendezvous of history, and above all at its helm.” To this end, he continued, “our commitment from now on will be to Christianise the digital and to digitalise Christianity … These are openings that give rise to pastoral avenues that open gateways of Christian lives to you, the people of God, and that pour graces into the heart of a world that wants only to materialise and institute atheism,” said the prelate of Yaoundé.

Investing in innovation

The Archbishop of Yaoundé praised the City of Kribi as well as the Diocese of Kribi for leading the way in investing in innovation and creativity. He urged young people to seize the immense opportunities for economic development currently being offered by the City of Kribi, “a modern city located by the sea, bearing rich hopes, but also under the prism of problems linked to urbanization,” he said.

Source: Vatican News

20, March 2024

Spanish court sets €1.1 million bail for footballer Alves as he appeals rape conviction ⁰

Former Brazil international Dani Alves is to be released from jail pending an appeal against his rape conviction in a one-million-euro bail agreement denounced by the victim’s lawyer as “justice for the rich”.

The ruling came a day after his lawyer requested the 40-year-old’s release on grounds he had already served a quarter of his four-and-a-half-year sentence in pre-trial detention following his arrest in January 2023.

In its ruling, the Barcelona court granted him “provisional release” in exchange for “the bail payment of 1,000,000 euros” ($1.08 million) also requiring he hand over his Spanish and Brazilian passports, remain in Spain and present himself to court “on a weekly basis”.

But the decision drew a furious response from the lawyer of the young woman who was raped by Alves at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.

“I’m very surprised and totally outraged… because it’s like this is justice for the rich,” Ester Garcia told RAC1 radio in the northeastern Catalonia region and pledging to appeal on grounds it was “not in line with the law”.

“It is scandalous that they can free a person who they know can get hold of a million euros in a heartbeat,” she said.

One of the world’s most decorated footballers who played for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, Alves was convicted last month of raping the young woman in the VIP bathroom of Sutton nightclub in the early hours of December 31, 2022.

His lawyers swiftly appealed the conviction.

The court’s decision on Wednesday also bars him from “coming within 1,000 metres (yards) of the plaintiff, her home, her workplace and whatever other place that she is, as well as making any attempt to communicate with her”.

‘Patriarchal justice system’

The decision was also swiftly denounced by the radical left-wing Sumar alliance, which is part of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s leftist coalition.

“Dani Alves can wait at home for his definitive sentencing for RAPE because he has a million euros. The justice system is patriarchal and classist. Enough is enough,” the party wrote on its X account.

Since his arrest 14 months ago, Alves’ legal team has repeatedly asked for his release on bail but the request was always rejected by the court on grounds he was a flight risk.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Alves – who spoke by videoconference from prison – promised the judges he would not flee, with public prosecutors again opposing the request on grounds he posed a high flight risk.

Brazil does not extradite its citizens when they are sentenced in other countries.

The victim, who testified behind a screen to protect her identity, said Alves had violently forced her to have sex in a private bathroom of the nightclub despite begging him to let her go, causing her “anguish and terror”, prosecutors said.

Alves’ lawyers had argued the victim had been “glued” to the player while dancing at the nightclub, saying there was “sexual tension” between them.

But in its 61-page decision, the court said that did not mean “that she consented to anything that might have subsequently happened”.

Source: AFP

20, March 2024

Leo Varadkar: I am no longer best man to be Irish PM ⁰

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar will step down as party leader immediately and will resign as taoiseach as soon as his Fine Gael successor is selected.

Announcing his resignation, Mr Varadkar described leading his country as “the most fulfilling time of my life”.

He said he was stepping down for “personal and political” reasons and was “not the best person for the job anymore”.

He was Ireland’s youngest PM when he became Fine Gael leader at 38 in 2017.

He currently leads the coalition government in Dublin, along with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party.

Speaking from the steps of government buildings in Dublin on Wednesday, Mr Varadkar said he had “led Ireland from unemployment to full employment, from budget deficit to budget surplus, from austerity to prosperity”.

PA MediaMr Varadkar said he felt he was not the “best person for the job anymore”

Mr Varadkar added that he was “proud that we have made the country a more equal and more modern place when it comes to the rights of children, the LGBT community, equality for women and their bodily autonomy”.

During his time as taoiseach, Mr Varadkar championed referendums to change the Irish constitution legalising same-sex marriage and abortion.

Mr Varadkar also listed work to improve the affordability of childcare among his achievements as well as increasing government spending on arts and culture, international development, and public infrastructure.

He also conceded that “there are areas where we have been much less successful” but added: “I hope you’ll forgive me if I leave it to others to point them out on a day like this.”

Why did Leo Varadkar resign?

Mr Varadkar said his reasons for stepping down were “both personal and political”.

He said that he felt the current government “could be re-elected” but he felt he was “not the best person for the job anymore”.

Nick Bradshaw

When is the next general election in Ireland?

The Irish government parties have said they do not expect Wednesday’s announcement to trigger a general election.

In the election of 2020, Mr Varadkar led his party to a third-place finish in terms of number of seats in Dáil Éireann, the lower house in the country’s parliament.

As part of the coalition deal struck between the parties it was agreed that Mr Varadkar and Micheál Martin would each hold the position of taoiseach for two years.

In 2020, Mr Martin was appointed taoiseach with Mr Varadkar serving as his tánaiste (deputy PM), before the two swapped roles in 2022.

Speaking after Mr Varadkar’s resignation announcement, Mr Martin said he had been “surprised” by the decision.

“I want to take the opportunity to thank him sincerely, we got on very well,” Mr Martin added.

Mr Martin said he remained committed to fulfilling the full term of the coalition government.

PA MediaMicheál Martin said he was “surprised” when he heard that Mr Varadkar was stepping down

Eamon Ryan, leader of the Green Party, the smallest of the three coalition partners, said Mr Varadkar had been “an energetic and committed leader of the country who was always supportive of his government colleagues”.

Mr Ryan said his party looked forward to the Fine Gael leadership contest and the election of a new taoiseach.

In the interim, he said, the government would continue to fulfil its mandate.

“I would like to offer my good wishes to Leo as he prepares to depart the taoiseach’s office,” he added.

‘Run out of road’

Speaking in the Dáil, (lower house of Irish parliament) Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald, who is leader of the Opposition, called for a general election.

She said it was “unthinkable” for the next taoiseach to be chosen by a “conclave” of Fine Gael politicians.

“This is a time for fresh leadership. Not just a change of taoiseach, but a change of government, and a change of direction,” she said.

Ms McDonald claimed that when Fine Gael took power in 2011 Ireland had one of the highest levels of home ownership in Europe, but it had since declined to one of the worst.

“This government has now run out of steam and run out of road, so rather than limping on in a caretaking capacity let’s go to the people,” she said.

PA MediaFirst Minister Michelle O’Neill (left) called for a general election in the Republic of Ireland

The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, wished Leo Varadkar well following his resignation.

A spokesperson said the PM would “work closely with him and his successor”.

“Ireland is a vital partner of the UK,” the spokesperson added.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle ‘O’Neill also said it was “time for an election” in the Republic of Ireland.

“Now is not a “time for the rearranging of the deck chairs,” the Sinn Féin vice president said.

She described Fine Gael’s time in power as “13 years of failure”.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said: “Leo Varadkar and unionism didn’t often see eye to eye, if at all”.

However, the Democratic Unionist Party MLA wished him “all the best”.

DUP Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he and Mr Varadkar “were very often on different ends of the political spectrum”.

“We differed on the Republic of Ireland’s approach to legacy, and sharply differed on his approach and attitude on the [Northern Ireland] Protocol and the constitutional future of Northern Ireland,” he said.

“Where we differed, we did so respectfully.”

Sir Jeffrey added that there were other areas where they worked together on matters of mutual benefit “for both our countries”.

Ireland’s President Michael D Higgins was told of the taoiseach’s intention to resign shortly before Wednesday’s press conference and the pair spoke immediately afterwards.

A spokesman for the president said: “Over the course of this, the president thanked the taoiseach for his service.”

Who could be the next taoiseach?

Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Simon Coveney, 51, who is deputy leader of Fine Gael, has ruled himself out.

Speaking on RTÉ, he said he made a decision “quite some time ago” that he would not stand in another leadership contest after losing to Mr Varadkar in 2017.

There will be a Fine Gael National Executive emergency meeting on Wednesday evening to start the process of selecting a new leader.

This process should take 18 or 19 days, Mr Coveney said.

He added that “there may well be” more than one candidate.

Getty ImagesHigher Education Minister Simon Harris is the early favourite with many bookmakers

At the moment four names are being mentioned.

Further and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris, 37, is the early favourite with many bookmakers.

He gained a high profile as health minister when the Republic of Ireland voted to amend its constitution to legalise abortion in 2018 and subsequently served as justice minister.

Helen McEntee became a TD at the age of 26, succeeding her father after he took his own life.

Niall CarsonAfter widespread disorder in Dublin last year, Helen McEntee faced down calls to resign from opposition parties

In 2017 she took on the high-profile role as minister of state for European affairs and in June 2020 she was promoted to become minister of justice.

After widespread disorder in Dublin in November 2023 she faced down calls to resign from opposition parties.

Paschal Donohoe is the public expenditure minister and was previously finance minister from 2017 to 2022, arguable the second-most important cabinet post.

The Dublin Central representative is also president of the Eurogroup – which brings together the finance ministers of the eurozone for informal meetings.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys represents the Cavan-Monaghan constituency which borders Northern Ireland.

As well as her main cabinet post, she covered the justice ministry for two periods while McEntee took maternity leave.

If she became taoiseach she would be the first Protestant to hold the post.

Source: BBC

19, March 2024

Deposing the Beti-Bulu Monarch after 42 years in power ⁰

Paul Biya, the tribal chief passing for a head of state, has faced allegations of corruption and authoritarianism during his long tenure. Critics have accused his Beti-Bulu-Ewondo government of widespread corruption, human rights abuses and political repression. And he remains the master at curbing press freedoms.

Is Biya taking the last kicks of a dying horse? The Francophone dominated Cameroon government military is presently occupying most of Southern Cameroons. Cameroonians are being told that the dictator intends to run again in the 2025 presidential election.

Boko Haram is alive and active in the Far North region. The security situation in the East region is deteriorating. Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces have now killed more than three thousands government soldiers and police, an indication that the Ambazonia conflict is intensifying.

Meanwhile the prolonged, miserable plight of large numbers of citizens both in English and French Cameroun has grown. The on-going ill-treatment of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians in the seven year conflict is now unacceptable in the eyes of many deep within the African Union, even to Yaounde’s friends. Pretending in French speaking Cameroun that all is well, allowing crime to flourish and spread in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé, while refusing to dialogue with the jailed Southern Cameroons leaders is not the proper way to conduct politics.

Some of Cameroon’s European allies including Canada and the US, understandably, are out of patience with the government of the 91-year-old President Biya. The general consensus is that Biya should go! After 42 years in power, even prominent Francophone CPDM officials are now recalibrating their positions and saying Biya should be replaced.

We of the Cameroon Concord Group are pushing the military to begin setting out the various ways in which Cameroon as a nation could dump Mr Biya as leader. Biya is not a cure. He has never been a cure. He was never going to be a cure.

We now know that Cameroon’s presidential election is coming up next year, though no campaign has started but threats from the Minister of Territorial Administration against some progressive political parties.

The 2025 election offers the right opportunity for Cameroonians including those in the military and the National Gendarmerie to depose the Beti Monarch.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

19, March 2024

Biya regime says Ambazonia fighters have killed 84 soldiers since Sept. 2017 ⁰

Armed separatists in Southern Cameroons have killed over 80 soldiers and police since their insurgency began in September last year, the government said in a report on Wednesday that suggests the conflict is intensifying.

What began in late 2016 as a peaceful movement calling for greater representation of the mostly French-speaking country’s Anglophone minority morphed into conflict after a heavy-handed government response, in which troops shot at civilians from helicopter gunships and burned villages. That bolstered support for some in Anglophone Cameroon who want to form a new state called the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The unrest in the oil- and cocoa-producing Southwest and Northwest regions often involves hit-and-run attacks by insurgents on the army. “Statistics as of 11 June 2018 showed that 123 attacks had been carried out claiming 84 lives, including 32 soldiers, 42 gendarmes, seven police officers, two prison warders and one eco-guard,” said the report, presented by Prime Minister Philemon Yang at a news conference in Yaounde.

In February, an army spokesman told Reuters separatists had killed 22 soldiers and policemen in the previous five months. No figures are available for casualties on the separatist side, but its leaders says there have been some. The fighting has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee over the border into Nigeria.

In the report, the government pledged 12.7 billion CFA francs ($21.7 million) over 18 months to help nearly 75,000 people who have been displaced across the two Anglophone regions. President Paul Biya seeks reelection in October polls, after leading the country for more than three decades.

Source: Reuters

18, March 2024

CPDM criminals won’t live to see dream of defeating Ambazonia come true ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has condemned the latest military deployment in Southern Cameroons by the French Cameroun dictatorship in Yaoundé stressing that the Biya regime’s criminals will never see their pipe dream of the one and indivisible Cameroon come true.

Comrade Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Cameroon Concord News on Saturday in reaction to Cameroon government recent military deployment to Bui Division.

“Such deployments explicitly reveal the sinister intentions of our so called French speaking brothers against our dear Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Southern Cameroonians have been subjected to all forms of crimes against humanity for more than four decades. It, nevertheless, continues its honorable life of resistance more vigorously than ever,” Dabney Yerima said.

Dabney Yerima added that French Cameroun authorities should be reminded that nearly 25,000 Southern Cameroonians have sacrificed their lives over the past 6 years for the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to maintain its independence and strongly safeguard every iota of its territory.

“Those who are fighting with their lives for the glory and sovereignty of Southern Cameroons are men and women who come from all the nooks and crannies of Ambazonia,” Dabney Yerima stated.

“Francophone criminals, who are currently overseeing the massacring of Southern Cameroons women and children in order to compensate for their successful failures in La Republique du Cameroun, will never live to see their pipe dream of defeating Ambazonia fulfilled,” the exiled Southern Cameroons leader emphasized.

By Alain Tabot-Tanyi