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3, April 2019

African Development Bank fund vehicles are weakly deployed in Cameroon ⁰

The investment accomplished by African Development Bank in Cameroon has reached XAF177 billion.

While speaking at a meeting with the economic operators on March 28 in Douala, African Development Bank’s (AfDB) executives opined that only 11 percent of this portfolio was directed to the private sector.

“This is a paradox given that the African Development Bank has mechanisms for private investments. Sadly, these fund vehicles are weakly deployed in Cameroon,” regretted Solomane Kone, AfDB representative in the central African country.

Due to the requirement to addressing the situation, the bank set up a strategy seeking to promote private investment in Cameroon, in order to make the sector more competitive, both nationally and regionally, as reported by Business in Cameroon.

Source: Devdiscourse

2, April 2019

Ambazonians Deny Any Role in the Kidnapping of Barrister Akere Muna & several others ⁰

The Southern Cameroons Liberation Council (SCLC) condemns, in the strongest terms, the reported kidnapping of an unknown number of civilians in the Republic of Ambazonia, formerly the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.

The victims include a former Bar Association president and former presidential candidate, Barrister Akere Muna, and an unknown number of people who were traveling in his convoy in the Northern Zone of Ambazonia.

The SCLC calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all those kidnapped and points an accusing finger at the regime of President Paul Biya for orchestrating the crime.

Ambazonian Restoration Forces operating in the Northern Zone, including the commander in charge of Ambazonian self-defense forces in the area, have denied involvement. One General issued an audio press release Tuesday, denying responsibility for the crime. In the audio, the commander prays that no harm be done to the victims if they are in the keeping of any Ambazonian forces; that no ransom be accepted and that victims be released if their safety cannot be guaranteed.

The SCLC also accuses thousands of pro-regime militia operating in Ambazonia who have specialized in hostage taking for ransom. Regime armed and security forces have also carried out abductions, kidnappings, deportations to jails outside Ambazonia, and raids on UN-managed refugee camps.

Massacres, targeted killings, extrajudicial executions are among a long line of desperate crimes by regime forces aimed at convincing the international community that the pro-independence campaign is a terrorist organization.

In October, November and December 2018 and in March 2019, masked gunmen, who were later revealed to be soldiers of the regime, kidnapped students in Bafut and Bamenda, in the Northern Zone, and in Kumba and Buea, in the Southern Zone.

In the November 2018 kidnapping of 81 students and their teachers in Bamenda, the regime appeared to have been seeking to generate the global outrage which followed the kidnappings, in April 2014 by Boko Haram, of 276 Chibok Girls in Nigeria’s Borno State. The lead kidnapper in that case was later positively identified as Armel Rostand Mveng, an officer in the Cameroonian army.

The SCLC reiterates that the only terrorists in the Cameroons are Biya’s colonial forces. After declaring war on Ambazonia on 30 November 2017, the regime issued radio announcements, promising to commit war crime. It ordered civilians to vacate villages suspected of hosting Ambazonian fighters, known to the regime as “rats”, “dogs”, “terrorists” and “secessionists”.

More than 10,000 civilians have been killed so far. Over a million Ambazonians now live in the forests, fleeing the colonial forces which have looted and razed nearly 200 villages.

2, April 2019

Caf president Ahmad rubbishes Comoros case against Cameroon ⁰

Comoros have approached the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) seeking Cameroon’s expulsion from the 2019 Afcon tournament

Caf president Ahmad Ahmad says the case filed by Comoros at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) asking for Cameroon to be kicked out of the 2019 Afcon finals has no merit.

Cameroon was stripped of the 2019 Afcon hosting rights due to ill-preparedness and Egypt has replaced them.

Cameroon will host the 2021 edition.

However, Comoros are seeking the Indomitable Lions’ expulsion from the Afcon tournament citing Article 92 of Caf regulations.

According to Article 92: “If a country having been entrusted with the organisation of the final tournament of the Africa Cup of Nations is desisting or the tournament is being withdrawn from it, it shall be subject, in addition to further disciplinary sanctions, to a fine fixed according to the following scale:

“92.3. Withdrawal notified within one year before the date of the final tournament: a fine of five hundred thousand (500,000) U.S. dollars and a suspension of the next edition of Afcon of it’s A national team, without considering the concerned edition.”

But Ahmad has hit back saying Comoros’ case does not hold water.

“They are fourth in their group. Even if they believe that Cameroon does not deserve to be at the Afcon, Cameroon has just shown on the pitch that they deserve qualification. Everything must first be played on the pitch,” Ahmad was quoted as saying by Radio France International.

“As for the victory on paper, it really takes some irregularities for this to be taken into account. Our rules are clear. Clause 92 talks about withdrawal. And legally this is not the case. So section 92 does not apply. It was Caf who decided to postpone the Afcon of Cameroon, and make this shift (now in 2021, edition).

“It is postponement, not cancellation of the Afcon in Cameroon. Cameroon is not affected by this article that the Comoros want to use.”

It is not yet clear when Cas will make their ruling.

Cameroon qualified from Group B where Comoros finished at the basement with five points after they were beaten 3-0 by the Indomitable Lions in the last qualifying game.

Source: Goal.com

2, April 2019

Algeria: A lesson to Cameroonians ⁰

After weeks of huge demonstrations, calling for the departure of the wheelchair-strapped Algerian president, the ailing 82-year old Bouteflika has agreed to resign before his term in office comes to an end on 28 Aoril 2019.

After ruling the country from a wheelchair for most of his time in power, the sick Algerian president felt he could take another term. He did not know the Algerian population had a different plan.

Immediately he announced his candidacy in the upcoming presidential election, his opponents also went to work. The timing was perfect. The economy is suffering, the ailing president can no longer talk and the global political atmosphere is changing in favor of real democracy.

The population has also been angry. It immediately mobilized and took to the streets to once more prove that there is power in numbers. Once again, the world has witnessed another people power revolution that has taken down another seat tight leader.

The Algerian case should serve as a good example to Caneroonians, especially French-speaking Cameroonians who are too chicken-hearted.

Algerians like Burkinabe have proven that true power lies with the people and when they are determined to take down a dictator, nothing can stand in their way.

Cameroonians must learn from Algeria. They must take down Paul Biya and his corrupt criminal enterprise through a people power revolution.

Holding that elections can solve the matter is a waste of time and thinking that death might help them in the process is total stupidity as Biya is simply an element in a system that has been designed to hold the country and its people down for centuries.

There is power in numbers and Algerians have proven that. Cameroonians should take to the streets in Yaounde for weeks. If more than 200,000 Cameroonians come out, the military will throw in the towel and Biya and his people will either flee or will be held in the jails they have built for others.

Cameroonians must learn. They must understand that nobody will change their fate for them. They must figure out that the criminal enterprise that has ruled the country for decades will not be going away anytime soon unless taken down through a people power revolution.

This is possible. Yes, you can. Stop sleeping, start preparing. Take fear out of your mind. If the military does not kill you, preventable illnesses will, as there are no good health facilities in the country. Poverty has already killed many and know that pauperizing the population is a true Biya strategy to keep the people submissive.

Accidents and criminality will continue to kill you if you keep on fearing Biya and his incompetent bunch. For 36 years, they have not built a single road in Cameroon.

Their corruption is obvious and that is why most of Mr. Biya’s former ministers are in jail. He put them there. That’s a clear indictment of himself. Those people could not be stealing if he did not create a favorable environment for that.

Alibaba cannot be innocent while the 40 thieves are looting the system. Hold him accountable. Take to the streets. The system is collapsing from within. Internal fighting is tearing the criminal enterprise apart. Take advantage of this weakness. Change your fate and that of your children. Biya is old, sick and weak. He can be taken down.

The Francophone Diaspora should take a lead on this. Yes, you can. The time is now.

By Dr Joachim Arrey

2, April 2019

Southern Cameroons: Francophone troops arrests scores over ghost town in Mutengene ⁰

The Francophone dominated army deployed to Southern Cameroons have reportedly arrested scores of Ambazonian civilians in Mutengene in the Fako County. Cameroon Concord News understands that the arrests were made on Monday.

The Yaounde regime ordered the Rapid Intervention Battalion stationed at the police school in Mutengene to storm the locality in a bid to counter ghost town operations decreed by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

Our correspondent in Victoria who contributed to this report observed that a handful of those arrested were later on released while several others were ferried to Buea in military trucks. Troops loyal to the Francophone Beti Ewondo regime in Yaounde have carried out numerous raids in Mutengene ever since the beginning of the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

By Sama Ernest

2, April 2019

WHO says Congo Ebola Outbreak Spreading Faster Than Ever ⁰

Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak is spreading at its fastest rate yet, eight months after it was first detected, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Each of the past two weeks has registered a record number of new cases, marking a sharp setback for efforts to respond to the second biggest outbreak ever, as militia violence and community resistance have impeded access to affected areas.

Less than three weeks ago, the WHO said the outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever was largely contained and could be stopped by September, noting that weekly case numbers had halved from earlier in the year to about 25.

But the number of cases hit a record 57 the following week, and then jumped to 72 last week, said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier. Previous spikes of around 50 cases per week were documented in late January and mid-November.

Deaths occur outside treatment centers

More alarmingly, about three-quarters of Ebola deaths last week occurred outside of treatment centers, according to Congo health ministry data, meaning there is a much greater chance they transmitted the virus to those around them.

“People are becoming infected without access to response measures,” Lindmeier told Reuters.

The current outbreak is believed to have killed 676 people and infected 406 others. Another 331 patients have recovered.

In the past two months, five Ebola centers have been attacked, some by armed militiamen. That led French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to suspend its activities in two of the most affected areas.

Another challenge has been a mistrust of first responders. A survey conducted last September by medical journal The Lancet found that a quarter of people sampled in two Ebola hotspots did not believe the disease was real.

New outreach program

Lindmeier said new approaches to community outreach were showing signs of progress and that some previously hostile local residents had recently agreed to grant health workers access.

One treatment center that closed in February after being torched by unknown assailants reopened last week.

More than 11,000 people died in West Africa’s 2013-16 Ebola outbreak. Since then, health authorities have worked to speed up their responses and deployed an experimental vaccine and treatments, both of which have been considered effective.

Source: Reuters

2, April 2019

Ambazonia: Former Minister in Rare Safe Release after Abduction ⁰

Separatists in restive Northwest Cameroon have, in a rare move, freed a former government minister unharmed after two weeks in captivity. Emmanuel Ngafeson Bantar, a top Ministry of Justice official, was the first advisor to President Paul Biya to be abducted in the Northwest.

Bantar says his stay with the separatists convinced him that an end to the three-year-conflict with the separatists is possible if the government pursues sincere dialogue.

People visiting Emmanuel Ngafeson Bantar's residence in Bamenda, March 31, 2019. — People visiting Emmanuel Ngafeson Bantar’s residence in Bamenda, March 31, 2019.

Family and friends sang and danced at Bantar’s Bamenda residence after he was released on Saturday.

Bantar, a former secretary of state in the Ministry of Justice in charge of prison administration, was abducted by armed men in mid-March.

But, while most Cameroon officials kidnapped by suspected separatists end up dead, Bantar says that his captors treated him well.

“Would you imagine that they will come and tell me what is available and ask me what I would want to eat?,” he said. “Would you imagine that they supplied me with mineral water?”

Bantar’s treatment by separatists fighting for an independent English-speaking state in Cameroon is rare.

Cameroon’s government says at least 15 government officials and five traditional rulers have been abducted over the past two years. Nine were later found dead while the whereabouts of eight others are unknown. Others were freed only after large ransoms were paid.

Bantar would not say if he paid a ransom for his release.

Human rights activist Frankline Ndi says Bantar’s release may show that separatists are tiring of the fighting, which has killed at least a thousand people in Cameroon, displaced half a million and brought economic life in rebel areas to a halt.

“War cannot go without an end. We cannot continue fighting when we do not know how the fight will end,” said Ndi. “We have lost many already. We have lost properties. I do believe it is a time for any rightful thinking son of the Northwest and Southwest to put on that thinking cap and reflections on peace.”

Cameroon’s Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji says if the rebels are serious about peace, they should drop their guns and be pardoned as President Paul Biya asked.

“Some of the terrorists in certain localities have willfully handed over their weapons to the forces of law and order,” said Nji. “They were realistic because they know that you cannot fight a state. We have pockets of resistance but how long will they last?”

Cameroon’s separatists complain the country’s English-speakers are treated as second-class citizens in the Francophone central Africa country, and want to create an independent state. The international community has condemned violence from both the rebels and security forces and called for a negotiated end to the conflict.

VOA

1, April 2019

EU official warns ‘patience running out’ with UK over Brexit ⁰

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has warned that the European Union (EU) is “running out” of patience with the United Kingdom over Brexit, days after a withdrawal deal put forward by embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a third defeat in the country’s parliament.

“With our British friends we have a lot of patience, but even patience is running out,” Juncker said in an interview with Italian public broadcaster RAI on Sunday. “So far, we know what the British parliament says no to, but we don’t know what it might say yes to.”

Juncker added that he would like the British parliament to reach an agreement on a Brexit plan “in the coming hours and days.”

Asked whether a second referendum on the matter within the UK might be possible, the European Commission president said it was an issue “that concerns the British only.”

People in Britain voted in a referendum in 2016 to leave the EU. But the British government remains divided on the manner of a withdrawal. Some have even questioned whether sentiments for a pullout remain as strong, suggesting that a second referendum be held.

On Friday, British lawmakers voted 344-286 against May’s 585-page EU Withdrawal Agreement for a third time.

PressTV-UK lawmakers reject Brexit deal for third time

The British premier had told parliament that the vote would be the last opportunity to ensure Brexit would take place, also warning that if the deal failed, any further delay to Brexit would probably be a long one beyond April 12.

The British parliament also rejected as many as eight Brexit options, including a no-deal Brexit and the revocation of Article 50, which would mean not leaving the EU at all.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the deadlock, about a million people from both “Leave” and “Remain” campaigns took to the streets of London last weekend to push for a second Brexit referendum. European Council President Donald Tusk also called an emergency meeting for April 10.

The British parliament is scheduled to hold on Monday another round of “indicative votes” on potential Brexit options, one of which includes a customs union with the EU, an option May has always ruled out.

Britain is expected to ratify the Brexit deal until April 12 to secure a short extension from the EU to implement the withdrawal process. Otherwise, London will have to either leave the EU without a deal on that date or seek a long extension to come up with a new solution.

Source: Presstv

1, April 2019

UK: 4 hurt as serial attacker knifes people in London ⁰

Police in the British capital London are searching for a potential serial attacker who randomly approached people from behind and knifed them.

Media reports on Sunday said a total of four people had been injured in random attacks in the northern London borough of Edmonton.

The Metropolitan Police said the “cowardly and senseless” attacks were potentially linked as all the victims had been “selected at random” for being “alone and vulnerable”.

The Met said the suspect, believed to be a slim black man who acted alone, had only aimed to inflict hurt on people as none of the victims had been robbed. They added that the attacker could have suffered from “mental health issues”.

“We are doing everything we can to apprehend the suspect behind these cowardly and senseless attacks,” said a spokesman without elaborating whether the attacks could have been terrorism.

The BBC said the attacks began with the stabbing of a 45-year-old woman in Aberdeen Road at 19:02 GMT on Saturday.

A 52-year-old man was stabbed half a mile away in Park Avenue about four hours later while a third victim, a 23-year-old man, suffered injuries less than a mile away in Silver Street after he was knifed overnight at Seven Sisters Tube station.

UK police

A final stabbing targeting a 29-year-old man came in early morning hours in Brettenham Road.

All the victims except one are now in critical condition and their injuries have been described as life-threatening.

The gruesome stabbing attacks come as the British government and security forces are grappling with a historic surge in knife crime and other types of violence on the streets.

Britain’s interior ministry announced a series of drastic changes to the rules governing stop and search operations by the police. The new measures are meant to enable officers with lower seniority to detect knives and other sharp instruments from people on the streets.

Source: Presstv

1, April 2019

Arab League rejects US recognition of Israeli control over Golan Heights ⁰

Arab leaders slammed the US decision to recognise the Golan Heights as Israeli territory at a summit in Tunis on Sunday, but struggled for further unity as Qatar’s emir left the meeting early.

In a final declaration the Arab League summit said it “affirmed that the Golan is occupied Syrian territory according to international law, the decisions of the United Nations and the Security Council”.

A separate statement dedicated solely to the issue called Washington’s move “invalid and illegitimate”.

“It is true that America is the strongest military force in the world, but its decision is absolutely worthless,” League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a closing news conference.

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Monday in which the United States recognised Israel’s annexation of the strategic plateau that it seized in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Israel’s move has not been recognised internationally, and three UN Security Council resolutions have called for it to withdraw from the territory.

Trump’s shift on Golan had already drawn a string of angry reactions from Arab capitals, despite proving problematic for key regional US allies such as Saudi Arabia.

The decision has also drawn criticism from other Security Council members and been rejected by the European Union.

The united front shown at the Tunis summit on the issue failed to mask other deep divisions inside the Arab League, as it struggles with major headaches such as a diplomatic crisis in the Gulf and conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

In an apparent sign of the tensions, Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani quit the gathering “after attending the opening ceremony”, the Gulf state’s official QNA news agency reported, without giving any further details.

A Tunisian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Qatari leader had walked out during the speech of League chief Aboul Gheit, and “has left Tunisia”.

Qatar is at the centre of a bitter Gulf standoff since June 2017, when Saudi Arabia along with the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed ties with Doha.

The Saudi-led bloc accuses Doha of supporting extremist groups and being too close to Iran, charges Qatar denies.

The meeting in Tunis had brought together Saudi King Salman and the emir for a rare encounter.

But an appeal by Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi for the region to “overcome its differences” appeared to have little impact as the Qatari ruler left prematurely.

In his opening speech Aboul Gheit had blasted Turkey and Iran for their “interference” in Arab countries, insisting that Tehran and Ankara had worsened regional crises.

(AFP)