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22, April 2024

FAO formally launches Green Cities Initiative in Cameroon ⁰

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations today held an official launch here of its Green Cities Initiative, which is already being piloted in Cameroon, with seven municipalities submitting letters of intent to join the initiative.

In remarks at the launch event, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu noted that with two thirds of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050 – urban areas are facing major challenges.

“Municipalities are at the frontline of citizens’ expectations to improve their livelihoods and well-being, from accessing nutritious foods, adequate water, energy, and housing”, Qu said

They must also address “multiple challenges such as the impacts of the climate crisis, environment degradation, waste management and urban inequality, among others,” he added.

Enthusiastic welcome

Georges Elanga Obam, Cameroon’s Minister of Decentralization and local development described the rapid growth of the country’s urban population and the associated challenges and said Cameroon could not but enthusiastically welcome FAO’s Green Cities Initiative.

The Yaoundé City Mayor, Luc Messi Atangana, also expressed his appreciation for the initiative.

In Cameroon, the number of city dwellers has increased by 50 percent between 2010 and 2020, with more than 15 million urban residents now, half of them living in Yaoundé and Douala. Since March 2023, a pilot Green Cities Initiative project has been underway in the capital’s Yaoundé 4 district. Its implementation, focusing on a micro-project for training of waste collectors who visit households and collect waste for composting, the process of composting itself and promotion of urban agriculture, has attracted interest from other municipalities in Yaoundé and elsewhere.

At today’s meeting, seven more municipalities formally handed over letters of intent to Qu to join the initiative. The Director-General expressed FAO’s eagerness to support them with innovative actions on the ground with impact to be upscaled and expanded.

Qu told the municipalities’ mayors he was confident that in partnership with FAO they could make their cities “greener, healthier, and more sustainable through among others expanding urban forestry and agriculture and creation of green jobs for the younger generation.”

Vibrant inclusive cities

FAO’s flagship Green Cities Initiative was launched globally in 2020. It envisions vibrant and inclusive cities where urban green and productive spaces catalyze climate resilience, social cohesion, and economic prosperity. It also aims at bridging the gap between urban and rural areas and between citizens and nature. The FAO GCI supports cities to develop through the availability and access to goods and services provided by urban and peri-urban forestry, agriculture as well as through the circular bioeconomy.

Building on FAO’s expertise on sustainable urban and peri urban agriculture and forestry, and urban food systems, the Green Cities Initiative supports local governments to plan, design and implement innovative green actions bringing together efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, multifunctional green infrastructure, and natural resources management.

The Green Cities Initiative seeks to improve the livelihoods and well-being of urban and peri-urban populations in at least 100 cities (15 metropolitan, 40 intermediate and 45 small cities) around the world and aims to have 1000 cities join by 2030.

Culled from the FAO

22, April 2024

Football: Barcelona wants Clasico replay if Yamal ‘ghost goal’ call wrong ⁰

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said Monday the club will demand a Clasico replay if they can prove officials made a mistake by not allowing Lamine Yamal’s “ghost goal”.

The champions fell to a 3-2 defeat against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday in a match which featured multiple controversial incidents, leaving their arch-rivals 11 points clear at the top of La Liga.

The most debated was 16-year-old winger Yamal’s first-half flick from a corner which may have crossed the line before Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin pushed it away.

Without goal-line technology in Spain, officials used VAR to try and confirm if the ball had crossed the line but could not be certain it had and so play continued with the score level at 1-1.

Laporta demanded the Spanish football federation and the refereeing committee send Barcelona all footage of the incident and audio recordings of the officials’ conversations.

“If, once the documentation has been analysed, the club understands that there was an error in the assessment of the play, as we think there was, we will take all the necessary steps to reverse the situation, without ruling out any legal action that may be necessary,” said Laporta in a video published by Barcelona.

“If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, as we believe it was, we will go further and ask for a replay of the match, as has happened in another European match due to a VAR error.”

Laporta was referring to a match between Anderlecht and Genk in January in the Belgian top flight which was replayed following a misapplication of the laws of the game.

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said Sunday it was a “disgrace” that Spanish football did not have goal-line technology.

Laporta also criticised a general “misuse” of VAR, saying there appeared to be “contradictory criteria” for its intervention depending on the teams involved.

Barcelona had two penalty appeals turned down during the Clasico defeat for what they said were fouls on Yamal and Fermin Lopez.

Source: AFP

21, April 2024

Poverty under Biya: Cameroonians embrace Chinese language for brighter futures ⁰

In a bustling classroom at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, students are immersed in learning the Chinese language. Their teacher, known as Sema, originally studied physics but found a passion for Chinese language and culture at the Confucius Institute.

After obtaining a master’s degree in Chinese language in China, Sema returned to Cameroon, where he now teaches Chinese language and culture at the university.

Sema expressed his deep connection to Chinese culture, saying, “When I was in China, I felt like I was a Chinese person because their culture is very similar to African culture.”

He emphasized the opportunities that speaking Chinese has brought him, including a significant increase in income. “When I returned from China, I started with 500,000 francs CFA (about 814 U.S. dollars) as monthly salary working as an interpreter for some Chinese. That is a lot of money for a Cameroonian,” he said.

Completing a Chinese language course opens up a wealth of opportunities. Graduates can pursue careers as interpreters or explore various fields beyond language, and moreover, they have the option to further their studies in China in any discipline, Sema said.

Sema gives a Chinese language class at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, April 18, 2024. (Xinhua/Muleng Timngum)

Rokis Petou, a business manager for the Chinese firm Sinohydro Corporation Limited in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, also highlighted the advantages of learning Chinese.

In 2017, Petou traveled to China for PhD research studies in geophysics and geological engineering. Despite pursuing his research without a language requirement, Petou recognized the value of speaking Chinese in his professional life.

He said his ability to communicate in Chinese has not only provided him with a well-paid job but has also elevated his social standing. “Being able to speak a language that very few people understand in my environment makes one be treated with special attention,” he added.

Similarly, Eric Sama Doh found employment in 2014 working with Chinese engineers on a construction project in Cameroon.

“When some of my Cameroonian colleagues see me, they always say ‘ni hao’ (hello),” said Doh who has been working with China Machinery Engineering Corporation.

“With this job, I am able to feed my family and send my children to school. In fact, I am living a comfortable life thanks to the opportunity that Chinese language has offered me,” he said.

These stories are just a few examples of how learning Chinese has opened doors for Cameroonians in a challenging job market. According to Didier Nama, national pedagogic inspector of Chinese Language in the Ministry of Secondary Education of Cameroon, there are nearly 20,000 Chinese learners in the country, with nearly 200 secondary schools providing Chinese courses.

Nama highlighted the government’s efforts to promote Chinese language learning, with several state universities now offering Chinese courses and hundreds of Cameroonians trained to teach Chinese in schools across the country.

Sema gives a Chinese language class at the University of Buea in southwestern Cameroon, April 18, 2024.(Xinhua/Muleng Timngum)

In 2008, only one state university in the country offered a Chinese language diploma. However, as of now, four other state universities have formally applied to offer Chinese courses, Nama said, adding that nearly 300 Cameroonians, co-trained by the University of Maroua and the Confucius Institute, are currently teaching the Chinese language in schools nationwide.

Sandra Mefou and Viviane Limunga, two students attending Sema’s lecture, expressed their intentions to pursue further studies in Chinese language and linguistics in China after graduation, citing the limitless opportunities that speaking Chinese provides.

“Chinese-owned companies are everywhere in Cameroon and across the African continent. I want to learn the language to work with them,” Mefou said.

“I plan to pursue further studies in Mandarin and linguistics in China after graduation,” Viviane Limunga added.

“These young people represent a growing trend of cultural exchanges and understanding between Cameroon and China,” Sema said.

20, April 2024

US agrees to withdraw troops from key drone base in Niger ⁰

The United States agreed Friday to withdraw its more than 1,000 troops from Niger, officials said, upending its posture in West Africa where the country was home to a major drone base.

The long-expected move effectively marks a new regional gain for Russia, which has ramped up its focus on Africa and backed military regimes in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell accepted the call to remove troops in a meeting in Washington with the prime minister of the junta, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, US officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

They agreed that a US delegation would head within days to the capital Niamey to arrange an orderly withdrawal, the officials said. Nigerien state television earlier announced that the US officials would visit next week.

The State Department made no immediate public announcement and officials said no timeline was yet set to withdraw the troops.

Niger was long a linchpin in the US and French strategy to combat jihadists in West Africa. The United States built a base in the desert city of Agadez at the cost of $100 million to fly a fleet of drones.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March 2023 became the highest-ranking American ever to visit Niger, vowing economic support for one of the world’s poorest countries and seeking to bolster elected president Mohamed Bazoum, a stalwart Western ally.

But the military four months later sacked Bazoum and quickly kicked out troops from former colonial power France.

Unlike its anger toward France, the junta initially sounded an openness to maintaining its longtime defense relationship with the United States.

President Joe Biden’s administration, however, has refused to mute concerns, insisting on the return of civilian rule and the release of Bazoum.

Russian military instructors arrived in Niger this month with an air defense system and other equipment, state media said, after talks between military ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nigerien message becomes clear

The Nigerien military had announced last month in a statement on state television that it was breaking off a defense agreement with the United States with immediate effect.

But diplomats said the Nigerian leadership had sent mixed messages and the United States initially said it was awaiting confirmation.

The United States puts a high priority on troops’ safety, and concerns rose last week when thousands rallied outside the National Assembly headquarters chanting for US troops to leave.

Despite maintaining dialogue with the junta, the United States has for months been preparing for the likelihood it will need to exit Niger.

General James Hecker, the US Air Force commander for both Europe and Africa, said late last year that the United States was in discussions for “several locations” elsewhere in West Africa to station drones.

While not publicly asking to station drones, the United States has pursued close cooperation with coastal democracies including Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Western governments feared that the remote Sahel will offer a new hub for Islamist militants after jihadists overran much of Mali in 2012 as part of a rebellion by ethnic Tuaregs.

With Niger seen as comparatively stable, the United States based its drones in Agadez, building the site known as Air Base 101.

The United States resumed drone operations after the July coup in Niger but one of its main functions soon became surveillance for the sake of protecting the US troops based there.

With support from both parties, the United States in recent years has been retrenching its once sprawling military network set up as part of the “war on terror” following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Representative Matt Gaetz, a hard-right Republican known for his brash statements, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Niger was an “extraordinary Biden foreign policy failure” and urged the safe withdrawal of troops.

Source: AFP

19, April 2024

CPDM Crime Syndicate repays CFA39.8bn debt with new borrowings ⁰

On April 17, Cameroon reimbursed CFA39.8 billion on the public securities market of the Central African States Bank (BEAC). Renowned for its solvency since the establishment of this market nearly 13 years ago, Cameroon used its usual borrowing strategy to make this repayment.

To this end, two new issuances of fungible Treasury bills (BTA) were carried out on April 15, two days before the repayment date. These issuances, consisting of securities with maturities of 26 weeks for CFA40 billion and 52 weeks for CFA25 billion, raised CFA49.4 billion from investors. This sum not only covered the due repayment but also generated a cash surplus of CFA10 billion for Cameroon.

The interest rates applied in these operations reflected the increasing tension in the market, which has seen its requirements rise over the months due to a restrictive monetary policy. Cameroon offered an average interest rate of 6.3% on the 26-week BTAs and 6.5% on the 52-week ones. The rates are significantly higher than the 3% ceiling commonly practiced by the Cameroonian Treasury on these securities a few years ago.

Source: Business in Cameroon

18, April 2024

Kenya: Helicopter crash kills defense chief and nine senior officers ⁰

Kenya’s defence chief and nine other senior military officers died in a helicopter crash on Thursday, President William Ruto announced.

“Today at 2:20 pm, our nation suffered a tragic air accident… I am deeply saddened to announce the passing on of General Francis Omondi Ogolla,” Ruto told reporters, adding that nine other officers were also killed while two survived.

He said the Kenya Air Force has dispatched an air investigation team to establish the cause of the crash, which took place in Elgeyo Marakwet county, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.

“A distinguished four-star general has fallen in the course of duty and in the service of the country,” Ruto said, announcing three days of mourning from Friday.

Source: AFP

18, April 2024

Cocoa Farmer Household Income New Methodology: Any hope for African farmers? ⁰

The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) on April 3, 2024, announced the launch of an important new methodology for measuring cocoa household income and living incomes. Led and funded by WCF and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa (SWISSCO), the methodology is expected to go a long way in help experts and actors in the cocoa sector gain a better understanding of the impact of sustainability interventions on cocoa farmer households and the environment.

The methodology was delivered by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) who partnered with the Centre Ivoirien de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (CIRES) and Etudes de Marché et Conseils (EMC) from Côte d’Ivoire. Until recently, there has not been any authoritative way to measure cocoa farmer household income across the sector, yet accurately measuring cocoa farmer household income is key to understanding the impact of sustainability interventions on cocoa farmer households and the environment.

Existing methods still struggle to account for the costs of cocoa production and to capture non-cocoa income whilst data gathered by individual companies offers a picture based solely on their direct supply chains – leaving cocoa growers, especially in African countries where data does not drive processes and there are no organized systems, in the indirect supply chain underrepresented. Individual data gathering by companies and other institutions also currently relies on a variety of different methods.

This new methodology solves many of these challenges and offers a standard that can be applied to all future studies, research and data collection to make them more widely comparable and better representative of the sector as a whole. It includes groups that have not been intensively involved in sustainability interventions in the past as well as underrepresented groups such as sharecroppers, women and cocoa farmers on the African continent who are not in the indirect supply chain.

It also includes robust means of collecting data on diversified household income that does not stem from cocoa. The methodology was completed with inputs from numerous stakeholders across the cocoa sector including the Alliance on Living Income in Cocoa (ALICO), Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP), representatives from producing country governments, NGOs and civil society organizations and WCF member companies. It is designed to determine the living income status of cocoa farming households and the impact of sustainability interventions on household incomes. These two elements are essential to defining and aligning stakeholders’ efforts around the interventions that are most effective.

“To understand what works in helping raise cocoa farmers’ incomes we first need to be able to consistently measure how activities affect those incomes,” said Michael Matarasso, WCF Director of Monitoring and Evaluation. “This methodology gives everyone in the sector a firm foundation to stand on and will help us to drive collective progress to improve cocoa farmers’ incomes.”

As the second phase of this collaboration, WCF, GIZ and SWISSCO will use this methodology to conduct baseline studies on cocoa farmer household income in three landscapes in Côte d’Ivoire. WCF will implement an income study in the Yapo Abbé Forest, GIZ in Bossématié whilst SWISSCO plans to deliver a cocoa household income study in the Cavally Forest Reserve in having recently completed an income study in Ghana aligned with this new measurement methodology. Similarly, other academic institutions, companies and government agencies can use the methodology in their own research and data collection, reinforcing a common standard for the entire industry.

“This methodology is important as it enables evidence-based policy and intervention design based on the analysis of good quality data for different household groups. We hope that it contributes to greatly reducing or closing the living income gaps of farming households,” said Yuca Waarts, Senior Researcher at Wageningen University & Research.

Lisa Kirfel-Rühle, overseeing cocoa supply chains at BMZ, emphasizes the significance of the methodology, stating: “Through this methodology, we and our partners advocate for standardized high-quality income data of cocoa farmers to strengthen political discourse, whether past interventions have been sufficient to ensure decent incomes for cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire or whether we still have to address imbalances in value chain distributions.”

“Helping cocoa farmers succeed requires everyone in the cocoa sector to work together. Therefore having a common methodology to measure and compare the income of cocoa farmer families is important to accurately understand their economic situation,” said Nicoletta Lumaldo, Manager Innovation and Member Engagement at SWISSCO.

The new methodology measuring cocoa farmer household income is the result of several months of work and deep collaboration among all the organizations involved.

Culled from WCF By Cecilia M. Manjang

18, April 2024

4th Cameroon Investment Forum opens in Douala ⁰

The 4th edition of the Cameroon Investment Forum, a flagship biennial event that brings together high-level government officials, development partners, and various business stakeholders from around the world, opened on Wednesday in the commercial hub of Douala.

Organized by the state-run Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), the forum aims to intensify the import substitution dynamic in Cameroon by mobilizing and directing investments into niche sectors such as rice, maize, fish, milk, and palm oil, said CIPA Acting General Manager Donatus Boma.

“It is a platform for high-level consultations and exchange of experiences. It is an excellent opportunity for investors to understand why Cameroon is an investment destination,” Boma said during the opening ceremony, which was attended by African, Chinese, Russian, and European investors.

“The main objective is to encourage local investors and attract foreign direct investment in products aimed at increasing local production and processing. This initiative should help reduce Cameroon’s deficit caused by the importation of staple foods in large quantities,” he added.

The forum, held after years of postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will end on Friday.

Source: Xinhuanet

18, April 2024

Cameroon doctors flee to Europe, North America for lucrative jobs ⁰

The state of health care in Cameroon is a source of growing concern, with thousands of doctors fleeing the central African country for lucrative jobs elsewhere, especially in Europe and North America, according to officials.

The number of people, including doctors, acquiring passports and applying for visas has increased by 70 percent, officials say. In addition, 75 percent of the 1,000 doctors that Cameroon’s government trains each year are leaving.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health reports that several hundred doctors are enrolled in what members of the profession see as lucrative schemes to emigrate to Canada. Also, the number of health workers, including doctors, applying for the U.S. government’s Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the Green Card Lottery, is rising.

The Cameroon Medical Council, an association of doctors, says the doctor-patient ratio in Cameroon has sunk to one doctor per 50,000 people, instead of the World Health Organization’s recommended ratio of one doctor per 10,000 patients. The group reports that the doctors are fleeing to escape hardship, poor pay, difficult working conditions and unemployment.

Doctor Peter Louis Ndifor, the council’s vice president, said it is unfortunate that Cameroon trains but does not recruit thousands of its doctors. He spoke to VOA via telephone from Buea, an English-speaking town in southwestern Cameroon.

“The number of registered doctors on the roll[s] of the Cameroon Medical Council is about 13,000, but we have 5,000 to 6,000 doctors in Cameroon presently,” he said. “Doctors quitting Cameroon is an eloquent testimony that doctors are in discomfort, doctors are in distress.”

Cameroon says it currently needs at least 30,000 health workers, including doctors. The country is facing attacks from Boko Haram that have left more than 36,000 people dead, a separatist crisis that has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced about 750,000 others, and the spillover of sectarian violence from neighboring Central African Republic.

The Cameroon Medical Council says the central African country in 2013 launched a program to train about 1,000 doctors in order to improve the doctor-patient ratio, which was then one doctor per 17,000 patients.

However, the government recruits less than 100 doctors each year due to financial constraints, officials say. Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health says it expected privately owned hospitals to recruit a majority of the doctors upon graduation from medical school, but hospitals owned by individuals, communities and churches also recruit less than 100 doctors each year.

Even when recruited, the doctors say they are paid about $100 per month in private hospitals and about $220 per month in government hospitals.

Jathor Godlove, 29, is an unemployed doctor. After seven years of study at the faculty of medicine of Cameroon’s University of Bamenda, he says hardship is forcing him to consider leaving the country.

“I find myself being very restrained and restricted in my capacity to help my family,” he said. “I even have some peers who venture out of medicine because they see that as a medic, when you get somewhere to offer your services, they will tell you they want to pay you 50,000 [Central African CFA] francs a month [around $80 U.S.], which is very funny. Some of them have families, when they find themselves in such situations, they see better opportunities abroad. I think you can’t blame them.”

He says poor working conditions — including the lack of hospital equipment and poor pay — are pushing nurses, midwives and laboratory technicians to join doctors in leaving Cameroon for Europe and North America.

However, some medical staff members who have not been able to travel out of Cameroon offer voluntary services in hospitals like in Bamenda, capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest Region.

Doctor Denis Nsame, director of the Regional Hospital in Bamenda, says unemployed health care workers outnumber health workers hired by the government.

“At the Regional Hospital in Bamenda, out of 600 staff, only 146 are state-employed staff, and we consult on average 45,000 patients per year, carry out about 1,900 surgeries per year, we have deliveries [of babies] close to 250 to 300 every month,” Nsame said.

The Cameroon Medical Council says that some health workers, including doctors, at times go several months without pay. Many of the health workers count on donations and consultation fees from well-wishers and patients to make a living.

In a message to Cameroonian youths last February 11, Cameroonian President Paul Biya said young people’s growing desire to emigrate is increasingly a cause for concern. He said Cameroonians should be patriotic and serve their homeland because the country is facing difficulties and leaving is not a solution.

Doctors and other health workers say the president, if he wants to curb emigration, should improve their living conditions and hospital equipment.

Source: VOA

16, April 2024

Dortmund sink Atletico to reach Champions League semi-finals ⁰

Borussia Dortmund fought back to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 in their quarter-final second leg on Tuesday, securing a 5-4 aggregate victory and a first Champions League semi-final since 2013.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, goals from Julian Brandt and Ian Maatsen had Dortmund 2-0 up at half-time.

Visiting coach Diego Simeone made three changes at half-time including bringing on Angel Correa and his energy told immediately, Mats Hummels conceding a poor own goal before the Argentine netted to put Atletico back ahead in the tie.

But those goals brought a sluggish Dortmund back to life, with Niclas Fuellkrug and Marcel Sabitzer each scoring in a three-minute period to send the Bundesliga club through.

Former winners Dortmund, fifth in the German top flight and struggling to qualify for next season’s Champions League, will next face Paris Saint-Germain for a place in the final at Wembley on June 1.

The home side should have been level in the tie after three minutes but Sabitzer took an extra touch with the goal beckoning, allowing Atletico to cover.

Just moments later, Atletico had a major chance of their own, as Alvaro Morata raced through one-on-one with the goalkeeper but chipped the ball well wide of the post.

Buoyed by an 80,000-strong home crowd trying to one-up last week’s atmosphere in the Spanish capital, Dortmund pushed and prodded, with Karim Adeyemi blasting straight at Jan Oblak.

Dortmund broke through after 34 minutes, Brandt collecting a Hummels chip and shooting on the turn, the ball bouncing through Oblak’s hands.

The home side were ahead in the tie just five minutes later, Maatsen threading in from an acute angle after he was given space to run in the Atletico box.

With Simeone sensing his chances of qualifying for the semis for a fourth time as Atletico boss slipping away, he shuffled his deck at half-time, making three changes including hooking the ineffective Morata for Correa.

Dortmund’s wobbles suddenly returned, letting the visitors back into the tie.

Hummels turned Mario Hermoso’s header into his own net from an Atletico corner under little pressure and with goalkeeper Gregor Kobel waiting to save.

Atletico smelt blood and could have levelled when Correa dragged the ball just wide.

The World Cup winner made up for his miss on 64 minutes when he cut through a penalty area crowded with yellow shirts and smacked the ball in, sending Atletico in front on aggregate.

The goal jolted Dortmund back into action and Edin Terzic’s men scored twice in three minutes to retake the overall lead.

Fuellkrug headed in a Sabitzer cross and the Austrian midfielder then got a goal of his own, shooting through the Atletico defence and into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, grabbing Dortmund a famous victory.

Source: AFP