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25, February 2023

Buea Race of Hope: Nineteen athletes wounded after blasts ⁰

Nineteen athletes were being treated for blast injuries on Saturday after multiple small explosions during a running race in part of western Cameroon where English-speaking separatists are fighting government forces, a local doctor said.

There was no immediate comment from authorities in the town of Buea in South-West Region, where 529 athletes were running up the highest mountain in West and Central Africa as they competed in the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope.

The armed wing of Ambazonia Governing Council, one of the separatist militia groups, claimed responsibility for the blasts.

“Our primary target was the Cameroon elite forces … that were providing security for the athletes. We will not allow Cameroon to continue its occupation,” the group’s spokesperson Capo Daniel told Reuters.

A video shared widely on social media that Reuters was not immediately able to verify showed spectators cheering on a runner before dashing for cover when a small explosion goes off in the distance. Another video showed a different explosion going off near a pack of runners elsewhere on the route.

“Nineteen athletes have been brought to our facility with injuries. We have operated upon three of them. Their condition is stable and we haven’t recorded any deaths,” Martin Mokake, the director of Buea Regional Hospital, told Reuters by phone.

One of those being treated was a Gabonese citizen, he said.

Participants in the race included athletes from East, Central and Northern Africa and France.

The separatist insurgency began in Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West and South-West regions in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested against their perceived marginalisation by the primarily French-speaking national government.

A violent crackdown by security forces helped radicalise the movement, and the ensuing conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly 1 million.

Source: Reuters

25, February 2023

Buea Mountain Race: Bombs go off, interrupting the race of hope ⁰

Bombs have gone off in the Southwest regional headquarters of Buea today disrupting the Mountain Race of Hope which is supposed to bring hope and promise to the people of the region.

Ambazonian separatists had called for a boycott of the event, advising athletes and the population to stay away from the government-financed event which has no economic value.

Separatists had promised that there would be consequences for those who would not comply with the call for a boycott and they have been as good as their word.

Though no casualties have yet been reported, Cameroon Concord News sources in Buea have said that there is panic all over the city of Buea following the bomb explosions.

According to the sources, many onlookers have simply returned to their homes and some Mountain Race participants have walked away from the race to spare themselves any pain that might come their way.

As at the time of publishing this article, the government had not made any statement regarding the explosions and it is obvious that the Yaounde government cannot provide proper security in the two English-speaking regions of the country where an insurgency has lasted for seven years.

Violence has increased in the two English-speaking regions of the country following the government’s refusal to participate in the Canada-led peace talks and the insurgents are not in a hurry to down their weapons.

Since starting in 2016 due to frustrations resulting from the marginalization of the country’s English-speaking minority, and injustice which has become a cancer in the country, the civil war in Cameroon has already resulted in the deaths of some 10,000 Cameroonians and there is no end in sight.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

25, February 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Explosions rocks Buea mountain race ⁰

Explosions were heard early Saturday after Mount Cameroon Race of Hope, an international athletic competition, kicked off in Buea, the chief city in the Southwest, according to police and eyewitnesses.

The blasts went off in three locations just a few minutes after the race began, Buea police said.

“We lined up along the road to watch the athletes as they were racing. The bomb exploded just along the road. There was smoke and the sound was loud,” Johnson Nfor, a witness, told Chinese media house Xinhua by phone.

“Five athletes were in front of me. Just when I was about to overtake them, the bomb exploded and hit my leg,” Obamissang Dimitri, an athlete who was taking part in the race, told reporters in a hospital where he was rushed to after the injury.

Bomb blasts occur sporadically in Southern Cameroons where Ambazonia Restoration Forces are seeking to create an independent nation known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Nelly Epupa with files

23, February 2023

Thomas Sankara reburied in Burkina Faso ⁰

Burkina Faso’s revolutionary leader, Thomas Sankara, was reburied Thursday, eight years after his body was exhumed as part of an investigation.

Sankara’s body, and those of the 12 people who died with him, were reburied at the site of his assassination, which has since become a memorial for Sankara featuring a life-size statue of the former leader pumping his fist in the air.

Soldiers and community leaders paid tribute during a ceremony Thursday, some posing for pictures by Sankara’s coffin. All the coffins were draped in Burkina Faso flags with a photo beside them.

Sankara and the others were gunned down in the capital, Ouagadougou, during a 1987 coup and buried hastily, their bodies only allowed to be dug up in 2015, after the ousting of former President Blaise Compaore.

Sankara, a charismatic Marxist leader with a reputation as “Africa’s Che Guevara,” came to power in 1983 at the age of 33 after he and Compaore led a leftist coup that overthrew a moderate military faction. But in 1987, Compaore turned on his former friend in a coup in which he seized power and then ruled the country for 30 years.

Last year, Compaore, who now lives in Ivory Coast, was tried in absentia and convicted of complicity in their murders. A Burkina Faso military tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment. Compaore’s right-hand man, Gilbert Diendere, and former spy chief Tousma Yacinthe Kafando were also given life sentences. Eight other people were found guilty of a range of charges including giving false testimonies and complicity in undermining state security.

While Sankara’s family was happy that he was finally laid to rest, they said the place of burial was like a slap in the face because of the horrors that occurred there.

“That place is painful for us to put our feet there. A lot of people were tortured there and crimes committed there and murders,” his younger brother Paul Sankara told The Associated Press by phone from the United States where he lives. The family asked the government to bury him elsewhere but was told it was at the army’s discretion since he was a soldier.

The West African nation has been struggling with a jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced nearly 2 million people and sowed division among the population leading to two coups last year. The current junta leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, has been likened by some to Sankara, as an anti-imperialist pan-African leader, and is using the reburial to increase support, analysts say.

“With undertaking a symbolic state funeral for Sankara, Traore aims to boost his image by appealing to the collective memory of the young revolutionary leader that still shapes society in Burkina Faso,” said Mucahid Durmaz, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk intelligence firm.

Source: AP

23, February 2023

La Republique collapse in Southern Cameroons inevitable notwithstanding French support ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government says the French Cameroun regime is doomed to collapse, and the support coming from its backers in France will not change the regime’s inevitable fate in Southern Cameroons.

Comrade Dabney Yerima made the remarks in a conversation with Cameroon Concord News on Wednesday, a day after the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military announced that its soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons have killed dozens of Amba fighters in the North West Region. Yerima warned that the occupying French Cameroun regime is some few months away from falling apart in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dabney Yerima also warned Southern Cameroonians participating in the French Cameroun teleguided senatorial elections of severe consequences and that the Biya French Cameroun regime is not worth their investment.

The Southern Cameroons exiled leader said that even though France, as Yaounde’s main strategic ally, can continue supporting Biya and his criminal gangs and pressuring pro Yaoundé English speaking Cameroonians to accept the present status quo, the decline and ultimate collapse of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime cannot be prevented.

Yerima further slammed the French Cameroun regime for pulling out of the Canada peace talks and its continued military operations in Southern Cameroons.

By Nelly Epupa with additional reporting from Chi Prudence Asong

23, February 2023

Mamfe District Hospital Fire: More people are dying ⁰

You never know what you have until you lose it and this aptly applies to the people of Mamfe, indeed, the entire Manyu Division following the burning of the Division’s lone hospital.

It is almost one year since some God-forsaken arsonists set the Mamfe District Hospital on fire and for one year, the population of Manyu Division has been dealing with a challenging situation as the people are passing through tough health challenges.

Although the government promptly relocated the services which were provided by the Mamfe District Hospital to the preventive health facility in Mamfe, the services at the hospital’s new location leave much to be desired, as health staffs are now bound to treat through guesswork instead by running tests because there are no pieces of medical equipment.

The equipment at the Mamfe District Hospital was damaged alongside the infrastructure when the arsonists set the hospital ablaze.

Many people are dropping dead like flies in Mamfe due to the lack of equipment to properly diagnose their diseases with a view to providing much-needed treatment.

This was the case of a nurse who worked at the Mamfe District Hospital before the heartless arsonists sent an entire people into a state of medical uncertainty.

Mbi Semoh, a native of Ndekwai, a village some four miles from the Mamfe District Hospital, spent a good part of her life helping the sick at that hospital before the hospital was burned down to ashes. Nobody ever thought that the very first victims of this unfortunate situation would be health workers who had spent their entire lives helping others.

Ms. Mbi last week lost her battle against an unknown illness which had attacked her just a few days earlier.

The absence of state-of- the-art equipment implied Ms. Mbi would take medication without knowing exactly what was ailing her.

The time of voodoo medicine has long gone, but Manyu Division, one of the Divisions in the country with many intellectuals, has been rolled back into the dark ages when demon-possessed arsonists set a modern health facility on fire one year ago.

Ms. Mbi’s case is not isolated. Children, women and the old are dropping dead in Mamfe and it seems nothing can be done to stem this tide of death which is sending many sons and daughters of Manyu to an early grave.

The Mamfe District Hospital is a government health facility and government matters are usually painfully slow.

Nobody knows if there is a budget for the reconstruction of the Mamfe District Hospital which has stood the people of Manyu in good stead for decades.

While things appear to be gloomy, there is however a silver lining on the dark ominous clouds which have been hanging over Manyu for a year.

Manyu sons and daughters around the world are concerned about the family members they have left behind.

No true son or daughter of Manyu forgets his people, even when he or she has been away from home for decades. Putting smiles on the faces of his or her relatives is the hallmark of the Manyu man and woman, and this explains why there were spontaneous reactions when news that the lone hospital in Manyu Division had been burned down.

In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, women associations, especially MOHWA, immediately sprang into action to mobilize resources for the equipment of the hospital once the government completes the reconstruction. There are CFAF millions sitting in Banks in the West waiting for the right moment for them to migrate to Cameroon.

MECA Toronto in Canada also has a running fundraiser and many people have already sent in their modest contributions though there will still be a massive fundraiser for the hospital in the summer of 2023.

Back home, the Division’s political authorities led by the Minister in Charge of Special Duties at the Presidency, Victor Mengot Arrey, have also raised money for the Mamfe District Hospital and they too are frustrated with the long wait as they are aware that death is hanging over their people like the Sword of Damocles.

A source close to the government has revealed that Manyu Members of Parliament have been in touch with the Minister of Public Health about this hospital.

The source added that a Manyu MP even asked questions during a parliamentary plenary session in November 2022 to the Minister of Public Health about the burned down hospital.

The source also added that Minister Mengot had been active, stressing that he had contacted the Reconstruction Program when Minister Tassong was the Coordinator and something concerning the Mamfe District Hospital is in the pipeline.

Despite these efforts, the people of Manyu Division will have to continue to wait, though death is threatening to claim more lives. The desperation in Manyu has driven many people into the waiting hands of false prophets who are doing their best to offer false consolation in a situation which clearly needs vivid medical solutions.

Due to the uncertainty, many Manyu sons and daughters around the world are calling on those responsible for fundraisers abroad to purchase equipment and send home with whatever is available.

They are calling on MOHWA and Ekpe to step up to the plate and provide much-needed leadership during these trying moments. EKPE USA, in particular, is expected to come up with a clear plan on how more money can be raised for state-of-the- art equipment to be purchased and sent home.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

23, February 2023

The Beautiful Catholic Priesthood Today: The Three Central Questions of Eden, Caesarea Philippi and Tiberias ⁰

Perhaps of all the days in the Liturgical Calendar, it might appear out of sync for one to reflect on the meaning of the Catholic Priesthood on Ash Wednesday. After all, this day, as does the Church’s Liturgy, constitutes an invitation to reflect on two not very uplifting realities of human existence, namely, our mortality – remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return; and our frailty – turn away from your sins and believe the Gospel. These two refrains of the ritual of the imposition of ashes – the outward penitential sign of inward repentance, capture in a most sublime manner, the central message of the holy season of Lent: return to the Lord with all your heart, as the Prophet Joel declares. But a deeper reflection into the mystery of the Catholic priesthood can lead us into a more comprehensive correlation between being and remaining a priest today, and the overall invitation of the season of Lent.

At the beginning of Dante’s Divine Comedy, that is, The Inferno, the drama between Dante, Virgil and Beatrice is captured in the existential tension best characterized as the unfolding of Dante’s sinfulness, lived out under the capacities of Reason and Faith. Virgil, as Human Reason, is capable of helping Dante to recognize his sinfulness, and by so doing, begin the path of renouncing sin through Hell and Purgatory. But once Dante gets to the summit of Purgatory, Reason is unable to continue to guide Dante. To enter the Divine Mystery of Paradise, Dante has to count now on Divine Love, Beatrice, to lead him on to Paradise. Faith takes over from Reason, as Dante makes a retrospective understanding of Sin, Reason, and Faith – Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Hell is Dante’s recognition of his sinfulness. Purgatory is Dante’s renunciation of his sinfulness. Heaven is Dante in the experience of the light of glory.

As I reflected about being and remaining a priest today, this Ash Wednesday 2023, Isee the connection between this thirteenth century literary mystic’s Comedy, Lent, and the Catholic Priesthood, in that the drama of being a Catholic priest today really unfolds in this hermeneutical framework of human frailty, human mortality (Lent), and most especially, the decisive step towards the Light of Glory (Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso), which is what every priest who embraces the call to the priesthood sets out to do. Whether this is always attained remains another question all together. In effect, being a Catholic priest today unfolds from the Inferno through Purgatorio into the Paradiso. And as I further reflected on this existential condition of the Catholic priest today, I was struck by how at three key points in Sacred Scripture, we find the three central questions that shape the three phases of the life of the Catholic priest today.

The first question is what I will qualify as the Question of Eden: Where are you? (Genesis 3:9). The Story of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is well known and need not be repeated here. And neither should we occupy ourselves with the whole exegetical question about the relationship between form and content or the literary genre of the text. Aristotle opened his Metaphysics by declaring that all human beings desire to know. In my opinion, this constitutes the logic of questioning. Aquinas opens his Summa by stating one of the qualities of God as omniscience, God knows everything. So, what do we make of God asking a question to Adam, given that God knows everything? It is certainly not for want of knowledge on the part of God. It appears to me that the Question of Eden is an invitation to a realistic assessment of Adam’s existential situation before the truth of God. Now, let’s turn back events to Genesis 1, and there, in the Priestly Account of creation, we find Adam the priest, who on the Seventh Day of God’s rest, offers all of creation back to God in the Cosmic Liturgy of Praise. And now, two chapters later, Adam is hiding from God because he is naked. And not only that, but God also compels Adam to confront the reality of his nakedness: Where are you, Adam? In effect, what has become of the grandeur that I bestowed in and upon you on the day of your priestly ordination, the seventh day of creation, when I ordained you a priest? When I was assigned to the seminary in Boston, I asked a very wise and elderly bishop here in Boston what I should do when I get to the seminary. He said to me, Maurice, help the young men to recognize their own frailty, the Adam in them, accept it, turn to the Lord for forgiveness, and having experienced the Lord’s forgiveness, go out into the whole world to bring the same to all! Eden is where the Catholic priesthood begins. The first ordination happened in Eden on the seventh day. And the Garden of Eden still has much to say about the meaning of being a Catholic priest today.

I will characterize the second as the Question of Caesarea Philippi: Who do you say that the Son of Man is? (Mathew 16:13). If the first question leads the priest today to a recognition of his own frailty, his own sinfulness, a consciousness of the Adam in him, Caesarea Philippi is the deepening and missioning of the mysterious grace of priestly ordination: You are the Christ! Peter’s Profession of Faith is the Purgatorio that moves the priest today from the Inferno of Eden. Like Peter, who himself will become a member of the first batch of priests that the Lord will ordain on Holy Thursday in the Upper Room, the priest today, in the here and now of his existence, is invited to that recognition of utter dependence on the Son of the Carpenter. In spite of Peter’s glaring failures, Jesus the Christ ordains Peter a priest of the New Covenant, for reasons best known to the Christ alone. I sometimes think that Peter might not have made it through the rigors of seminary training today! What categories might one use to explain Hegel’s Phenomenologyor Kant’s Three Critiques to a first century fisherman? And yet, Peter, following the logic of the Cross of the Nazarene, is wiser than Hegel and Kant, with a wisdom that remains relevant to priests today, namely, to depend on Jesus of Nazareth. Isn’t that what Peter’s Profession of Faith is about? Every priest today is invited to say: You, Jesus of Nazareth, are the Christ! And because you are the Christ, I totally depend on you. I will prefer to fall into your hands rather than elsewhere. As the Christ, if I have you, I have everything. And I, finding you as the Christ, have ended up finding myself. I now know myself as the Delphic Oracle had charged Socrates to do, because I have come to know you, the Christ.

The third is the Question of Tiberias: Simon, Son of John, do you love me more than these others? (John 21:15). Cardinal O’Malley of Boston calls this the Last Breakfast, obviously keeping in mind the Last Supper. Again, I will spare us the details of the story, and the exegetical and linguistic acrobatics of an Epilogue and the Greek nuances of agape that is played out in the Greek rendition of the text. What is useful is that we now have the full meaning of being a priest today, namely, one who loves the Christ more than all others. Theology calls this unconditional and absolute love for Jesus, pastoral charity. This is the basis for the priestly commitment to celibate chastity, which remains beautiful, even today, or more so, for today, when the horizon of Paradiso has been greatly eclipsed by a secular immanentism, what Benedict XVI refers to as living a life in a bungalow with no windows! The priest today is a frail man, like Adam. He experiences the Inferno of his own sinfulness and brokenness. But like Peter, he recognizes that only in and with the Christ is help readily available. And the beauty about the life of Peter the Priest is that even when his priestly love falls short, the Christ, whose love is beyond compare, still invites Peter the Priest and by extension, every priest to a new beginning, each day, every time, to rise from his sinfulness and feed Christ’s sheep. And there is no more beautiful vocation in life that to be counted upon by God to do that: bring God to God’s people, and God’s people to God. It is a life of heaven on earth, of the Paradiso of Dante, Inferno and Purgatorio notwithstanding. If anything, the Inferno and the Purgatorio make the Paradiso more beautiful, for where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more, as Paul wrote centuries ago. And that is why being and remaining a Catholic priest today is still beautiful and worth the effort – to continue to bring God to all people and all people to God. And Eden, Caesarea Philippi and Tiberias, can still speak meaningfully about the beauty of the Catholic priesthood today.

By Maurice Agbaw-Ebai

22, February 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Scores killed in battles with Amba fighters ahead of Senate Elections ⁰

Cameroon’s military says it has killed scores of armed separatists in clashes this month and at least 15 have surrendered. The rebels, who vowed to disrupt March senate elections in Cameroon’s western regions, claim to have killed scores of government troops.

Ndop district residents in Cameroon’s restive Northwest region say seven bodies were found in bushes Tuesday morning, following heavy fighting between separatist rebels and government troops.

Ndop businessman Anyam Edison Penn said the clashes halted trade in Ngoketunjia, where Ndop is located. He spoke to VOA from Ndop via a messaging app.

“For the past weeks fighting in Ngoketunjia has been very very intensive between the separatists and the defense forces, and this has been affecting so many lives, so many persons killed and it has been a burden on our side,” Penn said. “Thousands of people were like they were in a cage. I pray and hope that the crisis will be resolved so that we, the civilians, should not be suffering like this.”

Cameroon’s Anglophone separatists have vowed to disrupt the March 12 elections for Senate and last month killed two election officials.

Cameroon’s government said at least 15 rebel fighters were killed in ongoing clashes this month around Ndop while the military said it killed at least 30 rebels in other northwestern towns.

Cameroon’s highest-ranking official in the area, Handerson Quetong Kongeh, said military raids Monday night targeted at least five separatist camps.

Cameroon’s military acknowledged it took casualties in the fighting but would not give any figures and has not responded to requests for comment.

Despite the threats and ongoing clashes, Cameroon officials say election preparations will continue.

The military said about 15 rebels surrendered. The separatist conflict broke out in 2016 when Anglophone Cameroonians protested discrimination by the Francophone majority.

Cameroon’s military responded with a crackdown and rebels took up arms with the aim of carving out an independent state they call Ambazonia.

The U.N. says fighting has since killed at least 3,500 people and displaced 750,000.

Canada, which is attempting to negotiate an end to the conflict, says more than 6,000 people have been killed and the unrest has deprived 600,000 children of education.

Source: VOA

21, February 2023

Football: Gabrielle Onguene says ‘World Cup without Cameroon is like McDonald’s without fries’ ⁰

Cameroon’s Gabrielle Onguene says the 2023 Women’s World Cup without her country would be “like McDonald’s without fries”.

The CSKA Moscow forward, 33, came off the bench to score both goals as the Indomitable Lionesses beat Thailand 2-0 in a play-off match on Saturday.

Only Portugal now stand in Cameroon’s way as they target a third consecutive appearance in the finals.

“It’s always a pleasure and a big joy for football players to participate at a World Cup,” she told organisers Fifa after the victory in Hamilton, New Zealand.

“When I went on the pitch, every ball I got I tried to stay as calm as possible.

“Now, we want our third ticket, our third participation, because we believe that a World Cup without Cameroon is like McDonald’s without fries.”

Onguene opened the scoring in the 79th minute at the Waikato Stadium – only five minutes after coming on as a substitute – before doubling the lead three minutes later.

The winners of Wednesday’s match against Portugal will book their place in the finals, to be held in Australia and New Zealand later this year.

But Senegal’s hopes of reaching their first finals ended with a 4-0 defeat to Haiti, who now face Chile in their final play-off game.

Estelle Johnson

Estelle Johnson and Cameroon must overcome the team 36 place above them in the Fifa rankings, Portugal, if they are to reach the finals.

The Indomitable Lionesses return to the Waikato Stadium on Wednesday for the clash with Portugal, who have yet to take part in a World Cup finals.

The Europeans, however, sit 22nd in the Fifa rankings so go into the game as favourites against a Cameroon side ranked 58th in the world.

“Obviously, they are a very strong team,” said Cameroon defender, Estelle Johnson.

“We watched some films on them and we know that they like to attack, and they like to attack quickly.

“So, that is something we definitely have to focus on, and make sure we handle that correctly.

“We are going to give everything on the pitch – do every single thing we can to bring our participation in this World Cup back to Cameroon.”

The West Africans will have to do the job without first choice goalkeeper Ange Bawou who was sent off towards the end of the Thailand game.

“Obviously, not having our first (choice) goalkeeper is tough but we brought three goalkeepers for a reason,” added Johnson.

“We believe that every single person on this team can play and play well in a big match. We have all the confidence in the world that our goalkeepers are going to step up and handle it for us.”

Cameroon are hoping to join South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, and Zambia at the Women’s World Cup, which will feature 32 teams for the first time.

Source: BBC

21, February 2023

Yaoundé: University students bear the brunt of surging food prices ⁰

When the 2022-23 school year resumed in Cameroon’s universities in October 2022, Rose Amandy, a second-year law student at the University of Yaounde 11, Soa, was surprised at the sharp increase in the prices of basic commodities in the local market near campus. This has made life perilous, she said because, unfortunately, the food allowance her parents provided for the semester remained the same.

“The prices of some basic food items have increased by over 50% and this is making life hard for students who depend on our parents. Unfortunately, my allowance from my parents has not changed and this makes it difficult. My semester allowance that was meant to last three months cannot support me for a month,” she complained.

“A tray of eggs that used to sell at XAF1,000 (Central African franc, equal to US$1.62) has gone up to XAF1,500 (US$2.43), while a kilo of rice increased from XAF400 (US$0.65) in 2021 to XAF650 (about US$1) in 2022,” she said.

Like Amandy, University students in the major cities in Cameroon say they are going without food to pay the higher transport fees to school and foregoing social activities in a bid to continue their education in a tough economic environment.

Inflationary pressures on food products have intensified in Cameroon since the start of the Ukraine war.

Difficult global economy

According to the Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, the increase in the prices of mostly imported food items is the consequence of a perilous global economy triggered by the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The increase in prices of basic food items is not an isolated situation in Cameroon. It is the consequence of a difficult global economy,” the minister told the press at the end of 2022 to justify the increase in prices.

According to the Cameroon National Institute of Statistics, the country had a general inflation rate of 6.61% in August 2022, which is above the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) zone inflation threshold of 3%. Compared with the same month in 2021, general inflation in August 2022 increased by 7.4% in Yaoundé and 6.6% in Douala, driven by a 14.5% to 14.9% increase in food prices – in particular oils and fats, bread and cereals, and meats. During this period, prices of locally produced food products in these cities also rose by 13.3% to 14.4%.

Benson Agbor, an economics student at the University of Yaounde 1, says he can barely buy food. “Now I am obliged to draw up a scale of preference when shopping as prices for commodities and services continue to rise,” he said.

Students suffer due to high prices

Students who live off campus had to deal with an increase in urban transport fares from XAF250 to XAF300 (about US$0.35). At the beginning of February 2023, the government, after conferring with the urban transport union, increased taxi fares following an increase in fuel prices from XAF650 to XAF750 a litre.

At the universities of Bamenda and Buea in the Northwest and Southwest regions where armed conflict between government regular soldiers and Anglophone rebels fighting for independence continues, the increase in staple food prices has exacerbated an already challenging situation for university students.

“Access to food has been difficult here for the past five years since the Anglophone crisis began. Now, with inflation characterised by hikes in food prices, we are going to die of hunger,” said Akuro Jane, a student in the faculty of education at the University of Bamenda.

The scarcity in food supply has continued to increase following global and internal crises, experts say.

According to the World Food Programme 2022 report, the onset of the war in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 saw price hikes globally on key commodities exported by both Ukraine and Russia, such as wheat, maize, and also fuel and fertiliser. This has had major implications for food security on the African continent, including in Cameroon, where food commodity prices have been on the rise.

Cameroon should become more independent

Despite proving resilient to shocks, including multiple crises in the northern part of the country, the north-west and south-west regions, Cameroon’s economic growth continues to be hampered by structural factors, including the over-reliance on oil, high debt levels, and limited investment in job-creating sectors, especially agriculture. As a result, Cameroon failed to reach its objective of achieving an average 5.5% annual growth during the 2010-20 time frame of its Growth and Employment Strategy Paper, experts say.

“Cameroon needs to depart from over-reliance on imports and adopt the policy of encouraging local production, especially the transformation of its primary agricultural products,” said Dieudonné Essomba, economist and former director in the ministry of the economy.

Finance Minister Louis-Paul Motaze, however, said the government is not folding its arms in the face of the crises. The government aims to keep public debt below 50% of GDP during the current fiscal year, despite the CEMAC target threshold of about 70%.

Plans to lower prices for students

The government has also announced the intensification of price controls in 2023 on some consumer products, including alcohol, margarine, sugar, refined vegetable oils, pasta and soap, in addition to some goods used in the construction industry, such as cement, tiles, electric cabling and paint.

Following complaints by university authorities, the ministry of commerce has announced a move to bring food items to university communities at lower prices.

“We are seeking to organise some temporal measures with mobile markets through shopping vans around university vicinities, with goods sold at wholesale market prices,” the minister of trade announced recently.

Source: University World News