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3, June 2023

Cameroon: Cholera death toll rises to over 420 ⁰

A further 26 people have died in Cameroon’s ongoing cholera outbreak in the past two weeks, taking the overall death toll to 426, a health ministry official said on Thursday.

The outbreak was declared in October 2021 and has seen a strong increase in cases since late March of this year after a period of low transmission, according to the World Health Organization.

The number of confirmed cases in Cameroon now stands at 1,868, said ministry official Linda Esso.

Cholera can cause acute diarrhoea, vomiting and weakness and is mainly spread by contaminated food or water. It can kill within hours if untreated. Fourteen African countries have reported cases since the start of 2023, the WHO said in a report on Thursday.

It said it was particularly concerned as many countries were reporting higher case fatality ratios than in previous years.

In Cameroon, “more than 79% of cases reach health facilities in a moderate or severe state,” increasing the chances of the cases proving fatal, the health ministry said in situation report, seen by Reuters.

Source: Reuters

1, June 2023

US: President Joe Biden trips and falls at Colorado event ⁰

US President Joe Biden tripped and fell while handing out diplomas at a graduation ceremony for the US Air Force Academy in Colorado on Thursday.

Mr Biden, who is the nation’s oldest serving president at 80, was seen being helped up by Air Force officials and walking back to his seat unassisted.

The president had been standing for about an hour and half to shake hands with each of the 921 graduating cadets.

The White House communications director said “he’s fine”.

“There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands,” Ben LaBolt wrote on Twitter.

A White House press pool report also earlier said Mr Biden had tripped on a black sandbag while moving on stage.

Footage of the incident shows Mr Biden appearing to point at the sandbag as he gets back on his feet.

He was seen jogging back to his motorcade, apparently uninjured, when the ceremony ended shortly after the accident.

Critics have said he is too old to run for a second term as president.

Recent polls have suggested a majority of US voters are concerned about his advanced age. He would be 82 at the start of a second term if he wins.

This fall, in addition to previous stumbles off his bicycle and on the way up the Air Force One stairs, may add to concerns.

Source: BBC

1, June 2023

Football: PSG manager confirms Messi’s last match for club this weekend ⁰

Lionel Messi arrived two years ago wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with ”Ici C’est Paris” (This Is Paris) — a favorite cry among Paris Saint-Germain fans — and to chants of “Messi! Messi! Messi!”

The soccer superstar will leave the team on Saturday not quite so revered.

The cheers have been replaced by jeers and boos in recent weeks at the Parc des Princes, where the World Cup winner will play his final game for the French league champion.

Christophe Galtier confirmed on Thursday that the looming end of the season is also the end of Messi’s time at PSG.

Messi will bow out in their league finale against Clermont on Saturday. His contract expires at the end of June.

“I had the privilege of coaching the best player in the history of soccer,” Galtier said. “This will be his last match at the Parc des Princes, and I hope that he will receive the warmest of welcomes.”

PSG recruited Messi in August 2021 with the ambition to finally win the Champions League. The team is still waiting.

Although PSG won its record-extending 11th French league title last weekend, it again exited Europe’s top tournament in the round of 16.

Messi’s adventure in France has been bittersweet. In spite of pretty good statistics, he has been embodying the team’s shortcomings in the view of many PSG fans who have repeatedly whistled his name sarcastically in recent weeks.

After struggling to adapt to the French league — the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner scored only six league goals in his first 26 games — Messi improved this season as he developed an efficient understanding with forward Kylian Mbappe.

In 31 league matches, the 35-year-old Messi has 16 goals and delivered as many assists. In all competitions, Messi netted 21 times and had 20 assists for PSG.

“This year, he has been an important part of the team, always available, always committed during training sessions,” Galtier said. “I don’t think any of the comments or criticisms are justified.”

Despite Galtier’s support, PSG’s appreciation of Messi has not always been so positive.

Last month, the club suspended him following an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia. Messi has a commercial contract with Saudi Arabia to promote tourism and has been linked with a lucrative move there at the end of the season.

There has also been talk of a return to Barcelona, where he spent the majority of his career, or to the United States to play in MLS.

Messi arrived at Barcelona at age 13 and left having won 35 titles. He helped the club win the four Champions Leagues, 10 Spanish leagues, and seven Copa del Reys.

Source: AP

1, June 2023

French Cameroun: France helps strengthen fire department ⁰

The Cameroonian government has obtained a €50 million (about CFA32.8 billion) loan from France to strengthen its fire department. Per the related deal signed yesterday, the terms of which remain undisclosed, the beneficiary will receive 227 new fire and rescue vehicles over the next few years.

Alamine Ousmane Mey, the Cameroonian Minister of the Economy, revealed that the equipment will be supplied by French manufacturer Desautel, which specializes in the supply of civil security equipment. In addition, France will also provide staff training and help in the construction of a maintenance unit for the equipment. This is good news for local firefighters, who will benefit from improved working conditions and better response equipment. Minister Mey explained that of the 37 fire department centers in the country, 15 are not operational, lacking equipment and qualified personnel.

“The project aimed at acquiring equipment for the national fire department will undoubtedly bring Cameroon a high-performance risk management system. This advanced system is designed to effectively tackle the continuously evolving challenges, particularly those associated with risk prevention and the protection of individuals and assets against accidents, disasters, and catastrophes,” said Alamine Ousmane Mey.

Source: Business in Cameroon

1, June 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Explosion kills 1 Francophone soldier in Mbengwi ⁰

A soldier of the Francophone dominated elite force, Rapid Intervention Battalion; BIR was killed in an explosion in Mbengwi on Wednesday.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the BIR serviceman identified as Lieutenant Fabrice Boutou was killed when his vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) during an operation in Momo division.

The IED, which was planted and remotely detonated, destroyed his vehicle.

A Southern Cameroons Self Defense Group has claimed responsibility for the roadside attack.

The security situation in Southern Cameroons has improved since the start of the year, but clashes between the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military and Ambazonia fighters are still occasionally reported.

By Fon Lawrence

1, June 2023

Cameroon Marine Services seeks $6.5bn expansion fund from IFC ⁰

The Cameroonian marine services company APM SA is seeking a loan of €10 million (about CFA6.5 billion) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to finance its expansion strategy. The request will be reviewed by the IFC’s board of directors on June 20, according to a recent information note from the institution.

If approved, the resources will specifically enable the beneficiary to “expand its existing warehousing facilities in the port area of Douala, construct additional warehousing facilities in the largest industrial zone of Douala, build a timber park in the port area of Kribi, and refinance existing long-term local currency debt facilities,” IFC said.

The financial package proposed by the institution includes a €5 million loan from its account, while the remaining €5 million will be granted through the International Development Association (IDA)’s private sector window mixed financing mechanism.

Let’s note that APM owns and operates a wide range of equipment (loaders, trailers, forklifts, trucks) used for handling goods at the quayside and also has rental warehousing properties for third parties. The company also provides transportation services for clients’ goods in the hinterland. APM is owned by local investors, including Gabriel Manimben (30%), Messac Kwete (25%), Roch Mbanya (14%), Steve Yoh (11%), Joseph Faufack (10%), and five other shareholders.

Source: Business in Cameroon

31, May 2023

Boko Haram: Far North Governor Asks for More Border Troops after New Attacks ⁰

Officials in northern Cameroon have in a crisis meeting on Wednesday requested more troops from Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad to be deployed to their common border after fresh Boko Haran attacks killed at least 12 people including six soldiers on Tuesday. The officials say several hundred heavily armed Islamist extremists have infiltrated the volatile Lake Chad region attacking, looting and causing panic.

Cameroon military and government officials in the central African state’s northern border with Nigeria say they held a crisis meeting on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after a fresh wave of deadly Boko Haram attacks were reported.

Midjiyawa Bakari is the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region that shares a border with Chad and Nigeria. Bakari spoke on Cameroon state broadcaster CRTV on Wednesday.

Bakari said Cameroonian President Paul Biya ordered officials and troops in Cameroon’s Far North region to hold an emergency crisis meeting and make sure armed Islamist extremists who infiltrate the volatile Lake Chad region are stopped. He said Biya ordered the crisis meeting after several hundred militants killed three soldiers, two customs officers and two civilians in surprise attacks on Cameroon government troops stationed in the northern towns of Mora and Zigague on Tuesday.

Mora and Zigague are towns in Cameroon’s Far North region that share a border with Nigeria and Chad.

Bakari said Boko Haram is weakened but still very actively attacking communities to kill their opponents and to steal cattle, food and money.

The Cameroon military on Wednesday said troops found five other civilian corpses in the bush near Zigague and several dozen houses and government buildings were destroyed by the insurgents.

Military officials say soldiers killed several insurgents along the border with Nigeria and Chad but gave no details.

Government officials say villagers who escaped to the bush should return and be protected by the Cameroon military.

Bakari said civilians should help stop the new wave of attacks by reporting suspected militants to military officials. He said local chiefs and community leaders should reactivate militias to assist government troops in fighting the militants.

Hamidou Aladji is a community leader in Mora.

He said Tuesday’s attack on civilians and government troops in Mora indicate that Boko Haram is still a nuisance with an ability to create surprises. He said while the military is protecting civilians, it is imperative for community leaders and the clergy to assist in stopping or reducing terrorist attacks by reporting strangers in their communities to the military.

The Cameroon government says Boko Haram fighters crossed into the central African state from Nigeria in large numbers on Sunday and Monday evening before carrying out the attacks.

Military officials say the vast Lake Chad basin that stretches across the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad is infiltrated by the militants who want to reestablish bases on the lake’s many small islands.

In June 2022, the Multinational National Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin said 3,000 troops it deployed killed more than 800 extremists in about two months of fighting in the volatile Lake Chad region.

The force is made up of 11,000 troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

Officials at the crisis meeting ordered by President Paul Biya on Wednesday in Maroua, the capital of Cameroon’s Far North region, requested that troops from Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad be deployed to stop militants from reconstituting groups and advancing.

VOA could not independently verify if Chad and Nigeria have agreed to deploy troops to the three nations’ common border.

Boko Haram attacks escalated in northern Nigeria in 2009 before spreading to neighboring countries.

The United Nations says more than 36,000 people have been killed, mainly in Nigeria, and three million have fled their homes.

Source: VOA

31, May 2023

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Report the Ambazonia conflict and perish ⁰

In Cameroon’s capital city Yaoundé lives a baker like no other. He did not want to be a baker, but circumstances forced him to become one to remain alive.

Lambert Kehven did not dream of becoming a baker, but a journalist. He started working as a journalist in Kumbo in the Bui division in the restive northwest region of Cameroon for a local media house, Canal 2 International. When the Anglophone conflict spiked in 2017, he found himself caught between state security forces and non-state armed groups who all wanted him to report their own sides of the story. They wanted to read his reports before they were published.

Kehven was arrested in December 2019, accused of working with non-state actors, and released on January 10, 2020, when he fled the conflict zone for his life and safety.

Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, popularly called Samuel Wazizi who reported the Anglophone conflict for Chillen Media TV, was not as fortunate. He was arrested on August 2, 2019, supposedly because he allowed his farm to be used by armed groups and allegedly filmed military atrocities, the footage of which he supplied to the international media, the Cameroon police told journalists.

Samuel Wazizi died in custody; his death was reported by Equinoxe TV during their prime time news on June 2, 2019. His family has no clue where his remains could be. The military said he died of sepsis, no independent investigation has opened, and journalists dare not ask questions or investigate for fear of being killed.

As Cameroonian journalists were still processing Wazizi’s case, another journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka was arrested on May 15, 2020, in connection with his reports and Facebook posts on the Anglophone conflict, for allegedly sourcing his information by “sponsoring” terrorists in the region. Njoka was kept incommunicado for weeks. The military court later charged him with acts of terrorism, and he has been awaiting trial for about two years.

The most recent is the murder Martinez Zogo, a radio journalist investigating corruption who disappeared and whose mutilated remains were found along the Soa road on the outskirts of Yaoundé on January 22. Reporters Without Borders describes this as a “state crime.”

The scenarios painted above depict how journalists who are critical in their reports on the Anglophone conflict, both online and offline, are either jailed or forced to desert the conflict zones and journalism or die in the process. These also demonstrate how far the state can go to silence dissent and suppress critical reporting.

The Anglophone conflict

The Anglophone conflict is deeply rooted in the history of the partition of Africa where Cameroon was partitioned between France and Britain, with the former having a greater share. French Cameroons got independence first. The English side had to achieve independence by either joining French Cameroons or Nigeria. They chose to join French Cameroons to form a two-state federation, but the terms of the federation eroded, and as the English side was marginalized, which metamorphosed into a crisis and later a conflict.

In 1972, a new constitution revoked the autonomy of the English-speaking parts of the country, giving more power to the president, leading to friction with the leaders of the erstwhile autonomous Anglophone region of Southern Cameroons. Neglect, marginalisation and the erosion of the terms of the federation are the root causes of the ongoing Anglophone conflict in Cameroon, with devastating effects.

The Anglophone conflict reached its peak in 2016 when teachers and lawyers took to the streets with peace plants to denounce the diluting of the Anglo Saxon systems of education and law. The state responded with force, arresting and jailing the leaders. Separatist tendencies took over, and non-state armed groups took arms against the state security forces.

Seven years later, the conflict is ongoing, and the government is not tolerant of critical views on its handling of the conflict.

Four thousand civilians have been killed by both state security agents and non-state armed groups, with 87,000 refugees in Nigeria, and people 628,000 internally displaced as of December 2022. Arrests related to the conflict took place under the penal code punishing alleged acts of secession and terrorism, felony, and territorial integrity. The government does not define who a terrorist is, but the anti-terrorism law seems to trap more journalists than terrorists in its net. Arrested journalists are not given the right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial court, but are tried at the military court.

Freedom of the press

Freedom of the press is enshrined in the preamble of the Cameroon constitution. “The freedom of communication, of expression, of the press, assembly, association, and trade unionism, as well as the right to strike, shall be guaranteed under conditions fixed by the law.” Yet, Cameroon is described as the third worst jailer of journalists by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) said about 80 journalists had fled the two regions, and a total of nine journalists were arrested in 2022.

The government has been criticized for limiting the freedom of the press and cracking down on journalists and media outlets that are critical of the government. According to the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, Cameroon ranks 135th out of 180 countries, which is a decline from its 2020 ranking of 134th. The report notes that journalists in Cameroon face harassment, intimidation, and physical attacks, and that the government has suspended or shut down media outlets that report on sensitive topics or criticize government officials. Additionally, the government has been accused of using the December 2014 anti-terrorism law to silence dissent and restrict freedom of expression.

In 2022, CPJ joined Amnesty International and 29 other civil society organizations, local and international in a letter demanded that President Biya free persons arrested for exercising their right to freedom of expression, among them journalists Tsi Conrad, Mancho Bibixy, Thomas Awah, and Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka.

CPJ argues that journalists are not terrorists, but the government brandishes territorial integrity, public peace, and security to justify its actions. Government spokesperson Communication Minister Rene Sadi tacitly warned journalists against tarnishing the image of the country, saying that “incitement to violence and hostility against the homeland is not tolerable in the rule of law and in a society of freedom and responsibility.

Journalists have not been silent. World Press Freedom Day 2022 provided an avenue for CAMASEJ to register discontent with the treatment of journalists and call on both state security forces and non-state armed groups to stop attacks on journalists. It made little difference.

Culled from advox.globalvoices.org

31, May 2023

Criticizing Biya or the CPDM online or offline calls for trouble ⁰

The plantation town of Mbanga in the Littoral region, 310 km from the capital Yaoundé, is known for its banana plantations. But that’s not why it was in the spotlight on June 10, 2020. A video with plantation worker Clement Ytembe Bonda had gone viral, and it was going to haunt him forever.

It all started when news spread about how government ministries had mismanaged COVID-19 funds to the tune of XCF 180 billion (USD 226 million). When the pandemic hit in 2020, the IMF gave Cameroon this money to help deal with the pandemic.

In June 2020, civil society organizations, opposition party members sounded an alert on the mismanagement of the COVID-19 fund. Jean Michel Nintcheu, opposition Member of Parliament from the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, observed that there were no beds and toilets in one of the COVID-19 treatment centres in the Littoral region of Cameroon, even though XCF 100 million (about USD 165,000) was earmarked to hire mobile toilets. On orders from the presidency, the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court investigated the management of the funds later released a summary of investigation.

The summary indicated that the Ministry of Scientific Research had been importing hydroxychloroquine, and azithromycin, labeling them as their products instead of producing chloroquine. The XCF 15 million (about USD 25,000) meant for renovating the production unit was therefore allegedly not spent. The Ministry of Public Health was involved in overbilling and the mismanagement of funds.

In 2021, Cameroon was ranked 144/188 on the Transparency International corruption index. A report from the National Anti-corruption Commission highlights the most corrupt entities in Cameroon, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of State Property and Land Tenure, and the police and gendarmerie. Former Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono is in jail for the mismanagement of HIV/AIDS funds. This is why rights groups and opposition sounded an alert over the alleged embezzlement.

Clement Ytembe Bonda could not digest the news of the mismanagement of COVID-19 funds. On that fateful morning he took his phone and asked his friends Wameni André Boris and Flavy Kamou Wouwe to film him as he poured out his anger. “We have to get up at 4:00 am for XCF 32,000, while another [the ministers] will wake up at 8:00 am, and go to an air-conditioned office to steal XCF 180,000 billion. See bananas everywhere but you cannot touch even one.” Bonda used explicit language to talk about the head of state and government ministers responsible for the alleged embezzlement.

Through the video, Bonda exposed the employment situation in Cameroon, where a university graduate, for the lack of employment, is forced to work in a plantation. He also revealed the living conditions of plantation workers in Cameroon who toil the whole day without food to produce bananas for the owners. The minimum wage in Cameroon in 2022 is XAF 36,270, (USD 60.05) but Bonda and his friends were paid XAF 32,000 (USD 52.94), which is less than the minimum wage.

The video went viral on social media and Bonda soon became a wanted man, because speaking this way about the president and ministers provokes a strong response in Cameroon. The police accused him of insulting president Biya. He was tracked down and arrested, with his friends Andre Boris Wameni and Flavy Kamou Wouwe, at the Plantation des Haut Penja, an affiliate of a French agro-industrial company.

Arrested on June 11, 2021, Bonda and his friends first appeared in court on June 14, 2021. On June 17, 2021, they were tried at the Njombe Court for outrage against the head of state and for spreading false information on social media under article 78 of the cybercrime law. It states that “Whoever uses electronic communications or an information system to design, to publish or propagate a piece of information without being able to attest its veracity or prove that the said piece of information was true shall be punished with imprisonment for from 06 (six) months to 02 (two) years or a fine of from 5,000,000 (five million) to 10,000,000 (ten million) CFA francs or both of such fine and imprisonment.”

Article 113 of the Criminal Procedure Code punishes with imprisonment from three months to three years anyone who issues or spreads false news when such news is likely to harm the public authorities or national cohesion.

A year later, Andre Boris Wameni and Flavy Kamou Wouwe were freed, but Bonda remained in jail.

There were divergent opinions as some have argued that the young man deserves to be jailed because it is impolite to insult President Biya using vulgar language. Some have linked the arrest with the state of freedom of expression in the country — Cameroonians are free as long as they don’t criticize president Biya on or offline.

This is not the only case of cracking down on free expression. In 2009, journalist Jean Bosco Talla was jailed for insulting President Biya, but he said he had only published passages from a book in his newspaper.

The case of a TV program presenter Serge Alain Ottou and his guest Engelbert Le Bon Datchoua, a member of the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM party on Equinoxe TV, a local online broadcast channel, is also still fresh in the minds of Cameroonians. The guest said President Biya “is the worst thing that happened to Cameroon,” and the Minister of Territorial Administration ordered an interrogation. The Ottou and Datchoua were questioned at the Littoral regional delegation of police. The Communication Council summoned the proprietor of Equinoxe TV and the presenter Ottou in November 2022 for questioning. The issue has not been mentioned again.

Freedom after expression

The 1996 Cameroon constitution guarantees freedom of expression. “The freedom of communication, of expression, of the press, of assembly, of association and of trade unionism as well as the right to strike shall be guaranteed under conditions fixed by the law.”

But it is an open secret that criticizing the head of state and his government online or offline calls for trouble. The police, armed forces, the ministries of territorial administration, and communication, and the courts are state apparatuses used to keep firm control on the people to prevent criticism and dissent. The state brandishes its traditional role of safeguarding public security and peace but tramples on freedom of expression.

Culled from advox.globalvoices.org

30, May 2023

Ambazonia Vice President in South Africa, highlights the comradeship between PAC and IG ⁰

For the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima and the leadership of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania in the Republic of South Africa, the people of Southern Cameroons and the people of South Africa are comrades in arms.

Yerima was in Polokwane Limpopo, the birth place of the President of the Pan Africanist Congress on May 27, 2023.

The comradeship between the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and people of South Africa was highlighted by the exiled Ambazonian leader.

During the rally held in Polokwane Limpopo, Yerima embraced Marius Moloto and Moloto intend reiterated PAC support for the Ambazonia Interim Government and the Southern Cameroons struggle telling the sell-out crowd that Dabney Yerima was fighting against a very dangerous form of colonialism and needed the support of the people of South Africa.

Comrade Marius Moloto told Yerima and his delegation that PAC identifies with Southern Cameroonians because the members of PAC do not believe it is right for the French Cameroun government to suppress basic human rights in Southern Cameroons under a primitive and cheap design scheme known as special status.

The leadership of PAC went on to tell the South African media that the party did not consider the Ambazonia Interim Government a terrorist group, stating. “If one has to refer to any of the parties involved in the conflict in Southern Cameroons as a terrorist, one might refer to the French speaking government in Yaoundé, because they are the people who are slaughtering defenseless and innocent Southern Cameroonians in their homeland, and we think this is completely unacceptable.”

For his part, Vice President Dabney Yerima said it is important for South Africans all over the world to add their voices to the universal call for Southern Cameroons self-determination and statehood.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Polokwane Limpopo, South Africa