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3, April 2024

Douala: police tear gas residents fighting eviction near airport ⁰

Police in Cameroon fired tear gas on Saturday morning as they clashed with residents fighting eviction from a neighbourhood adjacent to Newton Airport in the country’s economic capital Douala.

An official said inhabitants of the informal settlement, known locally as Fret Aeroport, were illegally occupying government land and that they would not be compensated.

Some residents, many of whom have lived next to the airport for decades despite repeated attempts by the authorities to move them, said they were given less than two days to move out.

“This is airport land, the airport has its land title here, and these populations have settled anarchically,” said Hector Eto Fame, a local government representative.

“People who illegally occupy the private domain of the state do not deserve, according to the law, compensation.”

Riot police fought pitched battles with people throwing stones as they went from house to house, creeping through streets choked with furniture, mattresses and tear gas. A barricade of burning tables was seen blocking one road.

Elsewhere, women and children cried as they watched a large excavator tear down buildings amid a wasteland of concrete and crumpled metal roofing.

It’s the second time people have been evicted from the neighbourhood this year. In January almost 200 families were forced out of their homes, according to local rights groups.

The government has said previously more than 100,000 people were living within the airport perimeter, and it was necessary to move them to prevent people crossing the runway and to protect aircraft.

“We were given the formal notice less than a day before the destruction. I’m overwhelmed,” said Daïkolé Mama, a resident.

“We were not told anything about the motivation for the destruction. I have been living in this neighbourhood for 30 years.”

Source: Reuters

3, April 2024

Francophonie: FECAFOOT surprised at naming of new national team coach ⁰

Cameroon’s football federation (FECAFOOT) did not know about the appointment of a new national team coach and were surprised by the sports ministry announcement naming Belgian Marc Brys.

Cameroon Sports Minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi said 61-year-old Brys was taking over as coach of the Indomitable Lions following the dismissal of Rigobert Song in February.

But the federation said on Wednesday it was taken aback by the news, setting up the potential of conflict between the sports ministry and soccer federation which could lead to a ban for one of Africa’s footballing heavyweights.

“The Cameroonian Football Federation has learned, at the same time as all Cameroonians, the appointment to positions of responsibility for the national senior men’s football team. FECAFOOT expresses its great surprise at this act,” the statement said.

“This unilateral decision comes at the same time as FECAFOOT agreed frank cooperation to achieve a beneficial solution for the future of our dear Indomitable Lions.

“FECAFOOT intends to seek an explanation on this regrettable situation,” it added.

Normally, the football federation would appoint and pay its coaches but in some African countries this is done by the government, especially when federations are cash-strapped.

FECAFOOT is headed by former African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o, who had a storied career playing in Europe.

Eto’o has tried to assert some independence but has also had to tread carefully in a country where matters around the football team are high priority for the government.

Long-standing Cameroon president Paul Biya has often weighed in on team affairs, famously demanding that 38-year-old Roger Milla be included in the squad for the 1990 World Cup.

The veteran striker went on to score key goals as Cameroon became the first African country to reach the quarter-finals.

Cameroon have qualified for eight World Cup tournaments, more than any other African country, making the Indomitable Lions one of the country’s major assets.

World soccer’s governing body FIFA has frequently banned countries when governments interfere in the football federation’s affairs. Kenya and Zimbabwe are two African countries who have only recently had such a ban lifted.

The much-anticipated announcement of the new coach was made on Cameroon television on Tuesday.

Brys has coached clubs in Belgium, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, but this is his first national team appointment.

Source: Reuters

3, April 2024

Indomitable Lions: Biya appoints Marc Brys as new head coach ⁰

Belgian Marc Brys has been appointed Rigobert Song’s replacement as Cameroon’s national team coach, the country’s sports ministry announced on Tuesday.

The 61-year-old has coached 15 clubs in his career, in Belgium, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.

His last job was a three-year stint with Leuven.

Brys’ assistant coach will be former Cameroon forward Francois Omam-Biyik, who scored 26 international goals between 1985 and 1998.

He takes over a team who were dumped out of the recent Africa Cup of Nations by Nigeria in the last 16.

Cameroon are currently top of Group D of African qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, following a win over Mauritius and an away draw with Libya.

Song’s contract was not renewed by Cameroonian football federation president Samuel Eto’o after the AFCON exit.

Source: AFP

2, April 2024

Replacing Biya: What else do French-speaking Cameroonians want? ⁰

Cameroon is going down the drain and only Cameroonian citizens, especially French-speaking, can end the mess playing out in the country.

They claim they are scared of soldiers because Mr. Biya’s military is wicked and trained to kill. But this is not totally true. There is an issue of courage in this whole situation.

English-speaking Cameroonians have proven that the so-called well trained army is a myth. The soldiers are simply armed scouts in military fatigue.

At the height of the Southern Cameroons war of independence, Ambazonians slaughtered the country’s military like fouls and goats, sometimes chopping off their heads, limbs and hands in front of a camera. Some of the soldiers were even robbed of their manhood as a way of telling them that they were in the wrong territory.

When arrested by brave Ambazonian fighters, Francophone soldiers cried like babies, sometimes pleading with brave Amba fighters to forgive their sins as if Amba fighters were Roman Catholic priest to whom they had to confess.

More than four thousand Cameroon government soldiers have been killed during the fierce fighting, with more than three thousand scarred both mentally and physically.

Some of those so-called soldiers even walked away from the war front, screaming and crying for mercy as brave Southern Cameroonian fighters pursued them.

Many of those Biya regime soldiers even had to bribe their bosses for them not to be sent to the war front.

Stories told by their colleagues who survived Amba onslaughts rang in their minds and many simply deserted and left the country. Amba fighters have succeeded to strike fear in the minds of those La Republique du Cameroun scouts who are erroneously known as BIR soldiers. Even the Rapid Intervention Squad (BIR) has been kicked out of Southern Cameroons with their tail between their legs.

So, what are French-speaking Cameroonians still waiting for? They want the entire country to disappear for them to understand that the solutions to the mess playing out in the country are in their hands?

It is time for young French-speaking Cameroonians to muster courage to face the armed scouts in their country. If they think someone else will bail them out of their predicament, then they will have to wait forever.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

2, April 2024

Indomitable Lions: Choupo-Moting’s future is open at Bayern Munich ⁰

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s current contract with Bayern Munich is set to expire at the end of this season, but it is still unclear what, exactly, his future holds from that point on. Before it was announced that Thomas Tuchel would be leaving the club at the end of the season, it was pretty much understood that the Cameroon international would more than likely be leaving on a free transfer as a free agent, but now that is not entirely set in stone.

Per information from Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg (as per @iMiaSanMia), Choupo-Moting has not yet been notified as to whether or not the club plans on letting him leave on a free transfer or not. Amongst his teammates in the squad and in the dressing room, he is a well-liked figure and very much get along quite well with everyone, but the uncertain status of who Bayern’s next manager will be comes in to play.

Bayern still does not know who will replace Tuchel and the search is being spearheaded by Max Eberl, Christoph Freund and the rest of Bayern’s front office in concert with the supervisory board. Depending on who the new manager is, Eberl and Freund could open discussions with Choupo-Moting about a potential contract extension. It could very well be that Tuchel’s replacement would like for the striker to stick around for at least another season if it is feasible.

Source: Bavarianfootballworks

1, April 2024

Yaoundé: opposition says Senegal is example for fair elections, ousting entrenched leader ⁰

Members of Cameroon’s opposition parties are encouraging citizens to learn from Senegal, where a 44-year-old politician was elected last week as the youngest leader on the African continent. They say it’s time for change in Cameroon, where President Paul Biya, now in his 90s, has ruled for more than four decades and is preparing to run for re-election.

Nothing has generated debates on the streets, in offices, within political parties and in Cameroon’s media organs so much as Senegal’s March 24 elections.

Participants in a debate program aired by Equinox Television said civilians in central African countries, especially Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, Congo and Gabon should emulate the example from Senegal and democratically oust leaders who keep a tight grip on power and rule with an iron fist.

Njamnsi Theodore is a 35-year-old teacher who hopes Cameroonians will get inspired by what just happened in Senegal.

“The results of the presidential election in Senegal and the entire process sends a very clear message to Cameroonians especially the youths,” he said. “Register and vote. If you don’t register, you wouldn’t vote and if you don’t vote you wouldn’t have that chance of getting the leaders that you really want, so register, that is the clear message, that is the lesson we get from the Senegalese situation.”

Opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye is now Senegal’s president-elect after winning a first-round victory fueled largely by young voters.

In Cameroon, opposition and civil society groups say voter apathy is high because elections are always marred by fraud.

Ninety-one-year-old President Paul Biya has won all presidential elections since the return of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990 and is preparing to run again next year.

The opposition says Senegal’s election shows it is possible to stop leaders from clinging to power. Senegal’s President Macky Sall attempted to postpone this year’s election but backed down after widespread protests.

Mbang Boniface is a member of Cameroon’s Renaissance Movement Party. He says youth can remove Biya from power if they register as voters, choose their candidate, vote and defend their votes if necessary after the polls.

He says Senegal’s youths massively voted for Bassirou Diomaye Faye because they believe only young people can effect changes needed on a continent where leaders are generally old and out of touch with the views and aspirations of the population.

“Of course, Senegal is sending a very strong message to Cameroon,” he said. “The Senegalese president is 44 years [old], meaning he is young and able to understand the problems of the youth. Here in Cameroon, we have a president who is 91 years. He started ruling when Faye was just born. Faye is able to understand the problems of the youths unlike here in Cameroon, where the youths will have to sort their problems by themselves.”

But Samson Websi, political analyst at Cameroon’s National Institute of Management and Technology says it will be difficult to oust Biya in an election.

He says unlike in Senegal where government institutions are independent, Biya has loyalists planted throughout the government.

“Senegal stands out as an example to what happens in Cameroon, where democracy is suffering from military involvement in politics,” he said. “Parliament in Cameroon is virtually at the beck and call of the executive. The judiciary in Cameroon is not independent. The president of the republic [Biya] is the head of the judiciary. He is the one who guarantees the independence of the judiciary, which means that democracy is in trouble.”

Cameroon’s government insists that its institutions are independent, while Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement Party say the president has fairly won all elections.

They say Biya enables young people to participate in decision-making through bodies such as Cameroon’s National Youth Council. However, the opposition says Biya appoints only youths loyal to him to head the council.

Cameroon’s presidential elections are set for next year. President Biya will set the date.

Source: VOA

1, April 2024

DR Congo appoints Judith Suminwa Tuluka as its first female prime minister ⁰

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s planning minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka was Monday appointed as the African nation’s first woman prime minister, state television announced.

An economist, she takes over as prime minister from Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, following President Felix Tshisekedi’s sweeping re-election on December 20.

Tshisekedi officially triumphed with 73.47 percent and the vote passed largely peacefully in a country long torn by violence and instability.

The opposition branded the ballot a sham.

Voting was officially extended by a day due to logistical snarls and polls were open for days after in remote areas.

Parties supporting Tshisekedi garnered more than 90 percent of the seats in parliament, allowing him to legislate with ease.

The new prime minister will be tasked with pushing the president’s declared priorities of employment, youth, women and national cohesion for the nation of about 100 million people.

He first became president in 2019 promising to improve living conditions in the DR Congo—which boasts mineral riches but has a largely impoverished population—and put an end to 25 years of bloodshed in the east.

Tshisekedi failed to keep those promises but campaigned for a second term on his achievements such as free primary medication, asking for another mandate to “consolidate” the progress.

According to the United Nations, some seven million people have been internally displaced by conflict in the DR Congo, one of the world’s poorest countries.

The security situation has worsened in North Kivu province where a Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 has seized swathes of territory over the last two years.

Source: AFP

1, April 2024

Two First Ladies at presidential palace in a Senegal first ⁰

In the closing moments of the electoral campaign, Senegal’s president-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye stepped onto the stage holding the hands of both his wives Marie and Absa.

It was an unprecedented sight in the national politics of the West African country and a clear choice by the first-round winner who promises radical change.

Polygamy is a traditional and religious practice firmly anchored in the culture of Senegal where the overwhelming majority is Muslim.

Marie Khone, who until now had never been in the spotlight, comes from the same village as 44-year-old Faye. They married 15 years ago and have four children.

He married his second wife Absa just over a year ago.

“It’s the ultimate recognition of the tradition of polygamy at the top of the state, with a situation that will reflect Senegalese reality,” sociologist Djiby Diakhate said.

Many men praise the practice while women tend to remain “mistrustful”, he added.

Polygamy has long stirred controversy and the public appearance by BDF, as he is known, with his two wives at his side cheered on by thousands of his supporters has made it a top talking point in the media, online and at home, sparking diverse reaction.

“Being a second wife suits me better than being a first,” well-known singer Mia Guisse said proudly in a video that recently went viral.

Reputed sociologist Fatou Sow Sarr said on X, formerly Twitter, that “polygamy, monogamy, polyandry are matrimonial models determined by the history of every nation”.

“These models are now in competition with homosexual marriage,” he added, in a country where homosexuality is punishable by between one and five years in jail.

“I really think that the West has no legitimacy to judge our cultures,” Sarr added in a follow-up message on X.

Nevertheless, many Senegalese women say they find polygamy hypocritical and unfair, while the UN Human Rights Committee said in a 2022 report that it amounted to discrimination against women and should be ended.

‘Totally new’ situation

In her 1979 novel “So Long a Letter”, Senegalese author Mariama Ba was fiercely critical of polygamy, depicting the pain and loneliness of a woman after her husband took a second, younger wife.

Many popular TV series in recent years, like “Mistress of a Married Man” or “Polygamy”, have explored the ups and downs of family life in polygamous households.

Former culture minister and history professor Penda Mbow said the matrimonial situation at the presidential palace now is “totally new”.

“Until now, there was only one First Lady. This means the entire protocol must be reviewed,” he added.

Polygamy is widespread in Senegal particularly in rural areas and is considered a way of widening one’s family.

Islam permits men to take up to four wives providing they have the financial means. In such a case, it calls for equal, alternating time spent with the wives, of between two and three days.

‘Strong signal’

Many marriages are not registered in Senegal, making it difficult to say exactly how many are polygamous.

But according to a 2013 report by the national statistics and demographics agency, 32.5 percent of married Senegalese people were in a polygamous union.

The average age of the women at the time of their marriage was 40.4 years old and 52.9 for men, the report said.

Diakhate, the sociologist, said Faye had sent a “strong signal so that other men also accept their polgygamy and so that they demonstrate transparency like him”.

He said there was “undoubtedly a will” to end hidden polygamy — known in the Wolof language as Takou Souf — which he added would be “a good thing for the economy of the country and for the matrimonial situation”.

In response to detractors, the incoming president, who won 54.28 percent in the March 24 vote, shows nothing but pride in his family situation.

“I have beautiful children because I have wonderful wives. They are very beautiful. I give thanks to God they are always fully behind me,” he said during the presidential race.

Source: AFP

31, March 2024

Yaoundé cuts tax on new tire imports to spur quality use and local production ⁰

The government of Cameroon has announced a 10% reduction in the taxable value of newly imported tires. This move, reported by the Minister of Finance -Louis Paul Motazé, aims to lower the cost of new tire imports into the territory. It is set to last for six months, with the possibility of an extension if required.

Minister Louis Paul Motazé stressed that the decision was taken following “the very high instructions of the Head of State… prescribing additional support measures after pump fuel prices were adjusted,” starting from February 3, 2024. These presidential directives were communicated to him in a letter from Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic, dated February 23, 2024.

Beyond the official reasons provided by the Finance Minister, the reduction in the cost of importing new tires in Cameroon also aims to encourage the use of quality tires in the land transport sector. This sector often experiences road accidents caused by the use of poor-quality tires. However, although the decision by Minister Motazé appears to be a temporary measure, it emerges amidst the implementation of an import-substitution policy, which is designed to reduce imports while introducing incentives to foster the development of local production.

In this context, several projects for tire production facilities are in the pipeline. An example is the Cameroon Tyre Factory (CTF), a subsidiary of Neptune Holding owned by Cameroonian business operator Antoine Ndzengué. Currently marketing “Double Star” tires from the German company Double Star Industry, CTF plans to establish a production unit in Bomono, a suburb of Douala, for an investment of CFA400 billion. With an annual production capacity of 4.6 million units, the factory is expected to create about 2,500 jobs.

Such a project could potentially reduce consumer prices for new tires and narrow the country’s trade deficit caused by the massive importation of both new and used tires. According to a report on Cameroon’s external trade by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the country spent CFA32.6 billion to import 23,164 tons of new tires in 2022. This expenditure represents a decline of approximately CFA1.2 billion from the previous year, as revealed by the INS report.

Furthermore, the INS document disclosed that Cameroon imported 6,596 tons of retreaded or used tires in 2022, costing just over CFA2 billion. The previous year saw imports of 6,913 tons of such tires, amounting to CFA1.8 billion. Contrary to popular belief, the INS data indicates that new tires, despite being more expensive, are more marketed and used in Cameroon than so-called second-hand tires.

Source: Business in Cameroon

31, March 2024

Easter Sunday: The Holy Father calls for end of conflicts ⁰

Thousands of people have gathered in Vatican City to celebrate Easter with the pope.

At Easter Sunday Mass, Pope Francis appealed for a ceasefire in Gaza, and for warring countries Russia and Ukraine to free the soldiers they’ve taken captive.

“In calling for respect for the principles of international law, I express my hope for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine: all for the sake of all!”

The pontiff has been battling respiratory and mobility problems in recent months, and has been unable to carry out some of his regular speeches and duties.

Easter Sunday is Christianity’s holiest day of the year – the day that many believe Jesus Christ was raised from the dead after his crucifixion.

Source: Africa News