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29, June 2023

Madonna in hospital due to ‘serious bacterial infection’, tour postponed ⁰

Madonna is recovering after falling ill with a “serious bacterial infection” that landed her in an intensive care unit for several days, her manager Guy Oseary said in a statement Wednesday.

“Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care,” he said. “A full recovery is expected.”

Oseary said the 64-year-old pop icon’s “Celebrations” tour, due to start July 15 in Vancouver, Canada, was postponed until further notice.

The New York Post’s Page Six website said the pop star was taken to a hospital in the city after becoming unwell.

Her global, nearly sold-out tour was billed as paying homage to Madonna’s more than four-decade long career, and according to her website boasted 84 concert dates.

Stops in the United States were to include Detroit, Chicago, Miami and New York, the city where her storied rise to superstardom began.

She was then slated to continue in Europe, with dates in London, Barcelona and Paris, as well as four dates in Mexico City.

The Grammy-winning megastar behind classics including “Like a Virgin” has asserted incalculable influence over her stellar career as one of music’s top stars.

In his statement on social media, her manager vowed to provide more information when available, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows.

In 2020 Madonna underwent hip replacement surgery following an injury sustained on her “Madame X” tour.

‘Material Girl’

Born in 1958, the Catholic-educated artist headed to New York in the late 1970s with just 35 dollars in her pocket.

She scraped a living through everything from nude modeling to selling donuts.

Her first big single was “Everybody” in 1982, followed by a string of hits including “Lucky Star,” “Borderline,” and “Holiday.”

The 1984 release of “Like A Virgin” propelled Madonna onto the international stage.

She followed up in 1985 with another disco anthem, “Material Girl.”

Madonna hospitalized for several days, tour postponedThe early 1990s saw her don infamous pointy cone-shaped bras on her “Blond Ambition” Tour in 1990.

She also released a racy book called “Sex,” filled with photographs of sexual acts that was released to accompany her 1992 album “Erotica.”

In the late 1990s her music took off in a new direction, thumping to a new dance-flavored beat on her multi award-winning 1998 album “Ray of Light.”

In 2003 she grabbed the showbiz world’s attention by clinching pop princess Britney Spears in a lingering kiss on stage at that year’s MTV Music Video Awards.

And she still displays the provocative streak for which she is both beloved and notorious.

In January, news dropped of her forthcoming tour in a video nodding to her 1991 documentary “Truth or Dare.”

In the clip, the Queen of Pop plays the classic sleepover game with fellow celebrities, all with risque undertones.

“I am excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for,” she said when announcing the tour.

Source: AFP

29, June 2023

CNPS joins Africa Finance Corporation as shareholder ⁰

The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has two new shareholders, including Cameroon’s public pension fund, the CNPS. The Pan-African Corporation announced the news on June 20, 2023.

“We warmly welcome CNPS and SBM Capital Market Securities as investors in AFC. This step is evidence of AFC’s role as a preferred partner for infrastructure investment on the continent, to deepen economic integration, enable import substitution, and develop Africa’s manufacturing and industrial capacity,” commented Samaila Zubairu, CEO of AFC.

While the investment’s amount and the stake acquired by the CNPS are yet to be known, the move should, according to the pension fund, help it achieve its goal of bringing its annual return on financial investments to around XAF40 billion by 2026. “For the next five years, we intend to double the [financial investment income from 2021],” said CNPS boss, Alain Olivier Mekulu Mvondo Akam, in an interview with Cameroon Tribune, a state-owned newspaper. He referred to the increase in return on investments from only XAF7 billion in 2017 to XAF20.5 billion in 2021.

Last year, gains from financial investments stood at XAF24.2 billion, thus up by 18% YoY, according to official data from CNPS. They are expected to increase further in 2023 following CNPS’s recent participation in the capital of Chanas Assurances Vie, another public pension fund investment. CNPS has joined the insurance company’s shareholding alongside the National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH), the state’s entity responsible for oil and gas exploration and production. These two state-owned enterprises have also recently offered to buy the assets of British investment fund Actis in ENEO, Cameroon’s power utility.

Established in 2007, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is a pan-African financial institution that addresses the continent’s infrastructure deficit.

Source: Business in Cameroon

29, June 2023

Yaoundé: Treasury earns CFA51 billion in tax revenues from Guinness deal ⁰

The Cameroonian public treasury earned 51 billion FCFA from taxes during the acquisition of Guinness Cameroon by the French group Castel. This comprises 36 billion FCFA from capital gains tax and 15 billion FCFA from registration fees, according to Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana.

The official revealed this to the parliament on June 23, 2023, while answering concerns voiced by one of the deputies, Daniel Ngalle Etongo, who feared Castel’s domination of the local market (80%) and the deal’s impact on consumers (price hike). The deputy also feared that the transaction violated antitrust laws. In response, Minister Atangana said the acquisition was in line with the Central African Economic Union’s common market rules.

“Notwithstanding the strengthened dominant position of the acquiring company, the acquisition of Guinness Cameroon SA by the Brasseries et Glacières Internationales SA (BGI, parent company of the Castel Group) is in line with the common market rules within the Central African Economic Union. This is subject to the involved companies’ adherence to the commitments they have made,” Atangana said.

Investment program

“This acquisition operation was not within the national jurisdiction of the State of Cameroon but fell exclusively under the Community Council of Competition and the CEMAC Commission. It is now up to Cameroon, in perfect understanding with the CEMAC Commission, to ensure strict compliance with the commitments made, particularly in terms of planned investments in production tools, expansion and improvement of the distribution network, preservation and creation of jobs, and consumer rights protection. The Ministry of Commerce has ensured this, especially as beer is one of the products whose prices are subject to prior approval,” he added.

Announced on July 14, 2022, by both brewers involved, the purchase of Guinness Cameroon by Castel was approved on March 28, 2023 by the CEMAC’s Competition Community Council.

The CFA300 billion includes a 200 billion FCFA investment program to boost Guinness products in Cameroon over 5 years. This involves building three new production lines in Yaoundé, Garoua, and Bafoussam. These lines will have an annual production capacity of 2.1 million hectolitres. The details were revealed to the press on December 13, 2022, by Stéphane Descazeaud, MD of Société anonyme des boissons du Cameroun, a local company controlled by Castel. The Cameroonian government will see to it that these commitments are implemented.

Source: Business in Cameroon

28, June 2023

French Cameroun agents, Anglophone traitors can never feel safe anywhere in Ambazonia ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has warned that all French Cameroun agents and Anglophone traitors will never feel safe anywhere in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia because restoration forces will not tolerate any schemes to undermine the independence of British Southern Cameroons.

Vice President Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a town hall meeting in Belfast city on Tuesday as he addressed Southern Cameroonians as well as a number of Anglophone Cameroon elites in the UK.

“Even after Biya, the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will not allow La Republique agents and Anglophone traitors to conspire against the independence struggle of the Ambazonian nation. Our fighters in Ground Zero will make sure that there will be no safe place for anyone pursuing anti-Ambazonia plots,” Yerima told the sell-out crowd in Belfast.

The exiled Ambazonia leader highlighted that pro Yaoundé Anglophone leaders like John Fru Ndi waged several conspiracies and seditious plots against the people of Southern Cameroons using his so-called SDF party but quitted the political stage in French Cameroun with very negative ratings due to his incestuous relationship with the ruling CPDM party.

“Yaoundé wants poverty and the collapse of everything in Southern Cameroons. This is the sinister scheme that men like Atanga Nji, Victor Mengot, Paul Tasong, Philemon Yang, Peter Musonge have been chasing in Ambazonia, and they will fail” Yerima observed.

Dabney Yerima also pointed to Yaounde’s anger at the unity which now reigns among Southern Cameroons restoration groups, saying Biya regime has been employing all their political and strategic means as well as divisive and destabilizing mechanisms in order to keep Southern Cameroonians divided and underdeveloped.

By Isong Asu, London Bureau Chief Camcordnews

28, June 2023

US President says Putin ‘clearly losing’ Ukraine war ⁰

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that “pariah” Vladimir Putin is “losing” the war in Ukraine, but it is too early to tell whether the Russian president has been weakened by the mercenary Wagner group’s aborted rebellion.

Asked by reporters at the White House whether Putin is now weaker, Biden said: “It’s hard to tell, but he’s clearly losing the war” in Ukraine and “he’s losing the war at home.”

Putin is now “a pariah around the world,” Biden added.

In his brief remarks, Biden mistakenly referred to Russia “losing the war in Iraq” — a gaffe he also made late Tuesday when he told a group of re-election campaign donors that he’d united the West in opposing Moscow’s “onslaught on Iraq.”

The White House remains cautious on interpreting the fallout from last week’s extraordinary events in Russia where the forces from the Wagner group — one of the most capable parts of the Russian military in Ukraine — mutinied and threatened to attack Moscow, before reversing course.

Biden, 80, is leading a Western drive to support Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion launched in February last year.

Source: AFP

28, June 2023

France braces for protests as Macron slams ‘unforgivable’ police shooting of teen driver ⁰

France braced for more angry protests Wednesday after the killing of a teenager by police during a traffic stop that President Emmanuel Macron called “unforgivable”.

The government said it would deploy 2,000 riot police to deal with any unrest, a day after a 17-year-old was shot in the chest by a police officer who then appeared to lie about the circumstances of the killing.

The shooting had already sparked unrest in several Paris suburbs overnight.

Celebrities and politicians expressed outrage and grief at the death of the teenager, with Macron calling it “inexplicable” and “unforgivable”.

The teenager, named only as Nael M., was pulled over by two policemen on Tuesday for breaking traffic rules, prosecutors said.

Police initially reported that one officer shot at the teenager because he was driving his car at him, but this version of events was contradicted by a video circulating on social media and authenticated by AFP.

The footage shows the two policemen actually standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver. A voice is heard saying “You are going to get a bullet in the head.”

The police officer then appears to fire point blank as the car abruptly drives off.

The car moved a few dozen metres before crashing. The driver died shortly after.

His death sparked immediate protests in Nanterre, a western Paris suburb.

Bins were set alight and a fire broke out at a music school, while police tried to disperse the protesters with tear gas.

Protests then broke out in some neighbouring suburbs.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Wednesday that 31 people had been arrested overnight, 24 police slightly injured and around 40 cars torched.

Darmanin added that 2,000 police would be deployed to deal with any further violence later Wednesday.

‘Revolt for my son’

Government spokesman Olivier Veran told reporters that Macron had expressed “emotion” at the shooting during Wednesday’s weekly cabinet meeting, and called for “calm” on behalf of the government.

Source: AFP

28, June 2023

Sierra Leone: Calm despite contested election outcome ⁰

The streets of Sierra Leone’s capital were quiet on Wednesday, a day after President Julius Maada Bio was sworn in for a second term following an election his main rival slammed as “not credible.”

Many people in central Freetown said they were relieved at the peaceful atmosphere as they went about their business at the start of Muslim festival of Eid, a public holiday.

Some women were selling food at market and commercial drivers of motorcycles and tuk-tuks were out in rain-soaked streets scouting for customers.

“I’m happy, not even because of the result, but I’m happy with the way everything came and went, because our expectations were really high that it was going to be like a catastrophe”, said Amanda, 40, a hotel employee who did not want to give her last name.

“(…) We can have the votes but if we don’t have the peace it doesn’t make a difference.”

“Everyone is cool, everyone is doing well, everyone is happy. Everyone is going on with its normal business,” said Abu Kailesie, a 24-year-old student and Bio supporter. “We are OK.”

But Alpha Kaloko, a 20-year-old bike rider, said, “I’m not happy about these results, because I think this election is not right. It’s not fair… We need changes.”

Bio, 59, who leads the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), was sworn in at State House on Tuesday immediately after the Electoral Commission announced he had narrowly won outright victory in the first round of voting, with 56.17 percent of the ballot.

Presidential candidates need 55 percent of the vote in the first round to avoid a run-off.

Since the end of Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war, no incumbent has failed to secure a victory in the first round.

Sierra Leone has a two-term presidential limit.

Tense rematch

The vote on Saturday was a rematch of a 2018 race that saw Bio, a former coup leader who campaigned on progressive policies, edge out Samura Kamara of the All People’s Congress (APC).

But he took the helm just before the West African state was pummelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by crippling levels of inflation.

EU observers denounced violence by security forces at the APC headquarters in Freetown on Sunday night, in what the police said was an effort to disperse opposition supporters, which left one woman dead.

Kamara, an ex-minister and economist, does not appear to have conceded defeat.

“I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission,” the candidate — who won 41.16 percent of the vote, according to the Electoral Commission — said on Twitter on Tuesday evening.

He has not given a speech since the results were announced. But shortly before the announcement of results, he denounced a “total lack of transparency and accountability” by the election overseer.

National Election Watch, a coalition of civil society organisations, issued a statement late Tuesday pointing to alleged irregularities in the electoral commission’s data.

It said that, based on its own calculations, turnout was between 75.4 and 79 percent, not 83 percent as the electoral commission announced.

It also said that Bio should have received between 47.7 and 53.1 percent of the vote, while Kamara should have received between 43.8 and 49.2 percent.

Cameron Hume, a former US ambassador who headed an observation mission by the Carter Center, told AFP on Wednesday that there had been some flaws in the process.

“The voting seemed to take place in a credible manner,” Hume said.

“But when it came to the delivery of ballots and the opening of ballot boxes at tabulation centres, there were numerous incidents where we saw a break in the chain of credibility.”

Source: AFP

27, June 2023

Football: CAF, Man City pay tribute to Marc-Vivien Foé ⁰

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) is celebrating the life of Cameroon football icon Marc-Vivien Foé, who tragically collapsed and passed away during a Fifa Confederations Cup semi-final match against Colombia in 2006.

Monday marked the 20th anniversary of his tragic death, whose life was cut short after at the peak of his football career at age 28.

Vivien Foé plied most of his trade in the France topflight, where he played for RC Lens and Olympique Lyon, respectively.

The tenacious and skilful midfielder also had brief stint with English Premier League sides West Ham United, spending one season with them, and Manchester City on a season long loan.

Caf have since paid tribute to the former Indomitable Lions football star, including Cameroon striker Roger Milla.

“Monday marked the solemn occasion of the 20th anniversary of the tragic death of Cameroonian football star Marc-Vivien Foé,” Caf said in a statement.

“As CAFOnline.com reflects on this tragic event, we pay tribute to a remarkable African footballer Marc-Vivien Foé, whose life was tragically cut short on June 26, 2003, during a FIFA Confederations Cup match in France.

“We pay homage to Foe’s extraordinary playing career, his unwavering dedication to the Cameroon national team, his immense contributions to his clubs, as his enduring legacy both on and off the pitch continue to inspire the current generation.”

Source: Sunday World

27, June 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Extrajudicial killings by Francophone soldiers growing ⁰

Women in the Belo subdivision of the northwestern part of Cameroon say they have been burying young boys executed by military officials between June 10 – 19. The latest batch of burials was of five bodies picked up from the bushes. They had been allegedly suspected of aiding separatists.

Cameroon military forces are fighting Separatist fighters who want to build the country of Ambazonia from the two English-speaking regions of the country. Many extrajudicial killings have been recorded in this process.

Rose, whose brother Terence was killed during the latest operation, said her brother had merely visited the village to see his sick father.

“They passed a military checkpoint and soldiers didn’t stop them. It was on his way back that they shot him,” she said.

With over six years of armed conflict in the English-speaking part of Cameroon, there have been reports of people being arrested and killed by armed forces without passing through regular court trials.

More cases

A joint military front raided Big Babanki on June 16, killing at least six persons. Locals say both separatist fighters and civilians were targeted. Some of them were arrested, interrogated, and later killed. The military operation came a few weeks after separatist terrorists abducted and released some 50 women. These women were kidnapped for staging a protest against them. In response, the military went on a “cleansing” mission.

In most cases where the military seized separatist fighters in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, few were sent to prison. Many were instantly killed while others were kept for days in the cell and later executed.

Human Rights Watch in its 2023 report revealed that soldiers from the 53rd Motorized Infantry Battalion killed nine people, including four women and an 18-month-old girl, in Missong village in the northwestern region, in an operation against a community suspected of harbouring separatist fighters.

Reprisal operations last week in Bamenda have seen the killing of over 10 persons. Like in all other past military raids, those arrested sometimes plead for mercy and are transferred to prisons in Yaoundé and Douala. However, only a few get pardoned or taken to jail.

When Tiffang Eric, a business operator, was arrested two years ago while playing Chess with his three friends, he was interrogated and instantly executed.

An eyewitness said military officials saw a big scar on his leg and considered him a separatist fighter who got shot during a previous exchange with them.

“He pleaded and even cried but one of the officers kept calling him Ambazonian,” said an eyewitness.

Eric was shot and his corpse abandoned in a bush. The others were allowed to go after they convinced the soldiers they had family in the military. To date, his friends are yet to recover from the shocking scene.

Accountability

The killings of two women and three children by the military were captured on a video circulated in 2018. Four soldiers were sentenced to 10 years for their roles in the shooting. This is one of few cases where erring soldiers are held accountable for their crimes.

Two years later in Feb. 2020, three Cameroonian soldiers were charged with murder after killing three women and 10 children during a raid in Ngarbuh, Northwest Cameroon. The case is getting cold, however, and the victims are yet to get justice.

The government has maintained silence in most military raids and reprisals in the conflict-hit regions. Human rights activist and Archbishop Andrew Nkea said in April Cameroon has reached an alarming level in extrajudicial killings.

Source: Human angle media

27, June 2023

Cameroon is the biggest energy provider in Sub Saharan Africa ⁰

Cameroon remains the largest energy supplier in the Cemac region, with a total installed capacity of 1,750 MW, equivalent to the combined capacities of Congo, Gabon, and E. Guinea.

In a special report focused on energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development revealed that the country holds the largest share of installed power in the Cemac region, accounting for 48% of the total capacity of 3,700 MW. Gabon follows with 780 MW, representing 21% of the sub-regional total, ahead of Congo with 640 MW (18%), and Equatorial Guinea with 350 MW (10%). These figures imply that the capacity of the Songloulou hydroelectric dam (384 MW) in Cameroon surpasses that of Equatorial Guinea as a whole.

Despite this lead over other Cemac countries, Cameroon still faces significant challenges in providing efficient electricity access to its entire population. To address this issue, the country has undertaken multiple energy projects in recent years. As a result, all turbines of the Nachtigal dam (420 MW) are set to be operational by 2024. This single infrastructure project will then account for nearly 66% of Congo’s current total capacity and about 54% of Gabon’s.

However, compared to other African countries with the same level of development, Cameroon is behind. For example, Côte d’Ivoire has an installed capacity of 2,230 MW, 480 MW more than its Central African peer. This means that even the full commissioning of its Nachtigal dam will not bring Cameroon to the same level as Côte d’Ivoire. Also, around 10% of Côte d’Ivoire’s electricity production is exported to other West African countries (Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Liberia, notably), whereas Cameroon often finds itself in production deficits of up to 100 MW at certain times of the year, according to its power utility Eneo. Similarly, the Central African country is only aiming for a capacity of 5,000 MW by 2030, while its West African counterpart rather eyes 6,000 MW.

The major barrier to a developed electricity sector, according to Cameroonian authorities, is the lack of financial resources to carry out projects and the shortcomings in the country’s energy policy. Yet, the country boasts the third largest hydroelectric potential in sub-Saharan Africa (12,000 MW), behind the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.

Source: Business in Cameroon