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25, March 2024

Senegal’s ruling coalition presidential hopeful recognises opposition Faye’s victory ⁰

Senegal’s governing coalition candidate Amadou Ba on Monday recognised a win by anti-establishment candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye in the first-round of presidential elections and offered his congratulations, a statement said

“Considering the trends of the presidential election results and awaiting the official declaration, I congratulate the president Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye on his victory in the first round,” Ba said in the statement.

The concession came a day after Senegal’s presidential election Sunday, which followed months of uncertainty and unrest that tested the West African nation’s reputation as a stable democracy in a region rife with coups.

This is Senegal’s fourth democratic transfer of power since gaining independence from France more than six decades ago. It took place one month later than initially scheduled after President Macky Sall tried to delay it until the end of the year. Sall is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term and is expected to step down on April 2 when his mandate ends.

After the polls closed Sunday, voters praised the peaceful outcome amid concerns after months of deadly protests ignited last summer by the jailing of the popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and concerns that the president wanted to stay in power. Rights groups said dozens were killed, while hundreds more were jailed.

In a move that defused tensions just ahead of the election, Sonko was released after months in prison along with Faye, to jubilant celebrations on the streets of Dakar. Sonko was barred from the race in January due to a prior conviction and Faye ran in his place.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

25, March 2024

Race For Etoudi: Cameroon Concord Editorial Chair endorses Professor Titus Edzoa ⁰

It is becoming clear that there is a massive power vacuum in Cameroon as the country’s ailing leaders are incapable of making sound economic and political decisions which can help steer the country out of the mess for which the country is now noted.

Though the country’s Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, has, out of fear, banned all activities aimed at building coalitions against the crumbling Biya government, there are still huge efforts underway both in Cameroon and abroad to engineer a solid coalition which will successfully oust Mr. Biya and his corrupt CPDM party from power once and for all.

It is gradually emerging that a massive coalition is being built around Professor Titus Edzoa, who is currently in Europe to discuss various political possibilities which would lead to the building of a coalition.

The Chairman and Editor-In-Chief of the Cameroon Concord Group has welcome the news of growing support for Professor Titus Edzoa to head a three-year transition program beginning 2025 in an inclusive government.

Speaking on Saturday in London during an event organized for Cameroon’s Diaspora and in which Biya’s succession was on the agenda, the Concord Chairman said:

“All progressive forces both in French- and English-speaking Cameroon should place their support behind Professor Titus Edzoa, as he gets himself ready to head a new Cameroon Government next year. This is an important step at a crucial moment for our divided nation.”

Chairman Soter Agbaw-Ebai added that Professor Titus Edzoa, if given the mandate, will act in the national interest of a federated Cameroon.

“Cameroon is badly in need of a smooth transition of power and many around the world believe Prof. Titus Edzoa will contribute to the quick formation of a unified and inclusive government which can address the serious security, humanitarian and political challenges facing Cameroon,” Agbaw-Ebai said.

“Professor Edzoa can be assured he has Cameroon Concord News full commitment to working with an inclusive Cameroon government formed with all blocs including the detained leaders of the Ambazonia Interim Government” Agbaw-Ebai concluded.

By Chi Prudence Asong

25, March 2024

North Korea says Japan’s PM Kishida has requested summit with Kim Jong Un ⁰

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister said Monday that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has requested a summit with her brother, adding a meeting was unlikely without a policy shift by Tokyo.

Relations between the two countries are historically strained, including by a long-running kidnapping dispute and North Korea’s banned weapons programmes, but Kishida has recently expressed a desire to improve ties, which Pyongyang has hinted it is not opposed to.

Last year, Kishida said he was willing to meet Kim “without any conditions”, saying Tokyo was willing to resolve all issues, including the abduction by North Korean agents of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, which remains an emotive issue in Japan.

“Kishida… conveyed his intention to personally meet the President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as soon as possible,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Kim Yo Jong — who is one of the regime’s key spokespeople — had hinted last month at a possible future invitation for the Japanese leader to visit North Korea.

But she said the “history of the DPRK-Japan relations gives a lesson that it is impossible to improve the bilateral relations full of distrust and misunderstanding,” without a substantive policy change on Tokyo’s part.

She warned that were Japan to remain “engrossed in the abduction issue that has no further settlement” then Kishida’s hopes of improving ties would not materialise.

Kishida said Monday that he was not aware of the KCNA report, and did not directly comment on its contents, while calling top-level talks with North Korea “important”.

“For Japan-North Korea relations, top-level talks are important to resolve issues such as the abduction issue,” Kishida said in parliament, referring to kidnappings that took place in the 1970s and ’80s.

“This is why we have been making various approaches to North Korea at the level directly under my control, as I have said in the past.”

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had sent agents to kidnap 13 Japanese people in the 1970s and ’80s who were used to train spies in Japanese language and customs.

The abductions remain a potent and emotional issue in Japan and suspicions persist that many more were abducted than have been officially recognised.

Analysts have long said that contention over the issue could hinder progress towards a summit between Kishida and Kim Jong Un.

But North Korea’s statement appeared to be an attempt by Pyongyang to negotiate terms for any future summit between the two countries’ leaders, Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, told AFP.

“It seems the North sees there’s no point in making contact with the Japanese side without checking what requirements each side has in mind that could lead to nothing after all if those requirements are too different to reconcile,” Hong said.

“It is Pyongyang’s way of testing how serious Japan is in holding the meeting and setting its own summit prerequisites in order to host the meeting.”

Japan’s former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a landmark visit to Pyongyang while in office in 2002, meeting Kim’s father Kim Jong Il and setting out a path to normalise relations in which Japan would offer economic assistance.

The trip led to the return of five Japanese nationals and a follow-up trip by Koizumi, but the diplomacy soon broke down, in part over Tokyo’s concern that North Korea was not coming clean about the abduction victims.

Kim Yo Jong said that Kishida “should not think that it is possible for him to meet our state leadership when he has wanted and decided.”

“If Japan truly wants to improve the bilateral relations and contribute to ensuring regional peace and stability as a close neighbor of the DPRK, it is necessary for it to make a political decision for strategic option conformed to its overall interests,” she added.

Source: AFP

24, March 2024

“2025 will be a critical year in Cameroon” ⁰

2025 will be a critical year in Cameroon as parliamentary and presidential elections will be held and the presidential elections in particular will either make or break the country which has been in the spotlight for decades for all the wrong reasons. As Cameroon’s political parties start strategizing on how to edge out the unpopular CPDM, the country’s ruling party, which has been responsible for the economic and political cataclysm which has befallen Cameroon, Cameroon Concord News turned to Dr. Joachim Arrey for expert analysis of the trends, fears and concerns of Cameroonians. “Fru Ndi clearly won the 1992 elections as reported by Albert Dzongang in a video given that he willfully participated in the fraud which robbed Cameroonians of their victory even when other major political opposition parties did not stand with Fru Ndi. Fru Ndi of blessed memory won not because Cameroonians loved him, but because they were simply sick and tired of a government which had spent most of its time sleeping at the switch. Corruption and indifference had become the hallmarks of the government and Cameroonians wanted to rid themselves of this government and the destructive malaises it had engineered for them,” says Dr. Joachim Arrey, a committed observer of Cameroon’s political landscape. Read the full interview!!

Cameroon Concord News: It is always a pleasure having you. From the last time you shared your thoughts with us, a lot has changed and Cameroonians are really desperate for political and personality change. However, this week, we saw more of the same following the election of Marcel Niat Njifenji and Cavaye Djibril. What is your perspective on this?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I am really surprised at the behaviour of those Cameroonians who really thought the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate would not be returned to their positions. The truth is that Cameroon’s political leaders do not care about the population. The future of the country is the least of their concerns. Today, the country is on the edge of a cliff and there is nobody to pull it back from the brink. Cameroonians are leaving the country in droves and this is not a concern to the authorities. Our youths are unemployed and wasting the best part of their lives and the government has simply gone to sleep. But again, if you grumble in your bedroom and after that you head to an off-license to drown your sorrows in alcohol, nobody will know that you have been hurt. Our country’s youths must be politically conscious and active. It is their future which is being ruined by their grandparents who should not be having anything to do with politics. However, nobody hurts or exploits you without your approval. Your attitude towards life determines how people see you. Cameroonians have cheapened themselves and they are only worth a bottle of beer or a can of sardine for a seven-year period.

Coming back to your question, why would anybody think that because someone is sick and old, he cannot do his job? There are no age limits in our constitution when it comes to standing for an election. Marcel Niat Njifenji and Cavaye Djibril have the right to stand for elections in Cameroon though they are desperately sick and old. If Cameroonians need real and meaningful change, they know what to do. Nobody hands you the change you need on a platter of gold. Cameroonians are the architects of their own problems. The country’s constitution provides for peaceful demonstrations if the population disagrees with the government and its actions, and I think if Cameroonians want to see genuine change, then they must use this provision to make their point. Indifference and silence are tantamount to acquiescence. If Cameroonians think that somebody will come from a different planet or country to change their destiny, then they will have to wait for too long. The state capture will continue for decades if Cameroonians continue to be sorry spectators of political events in their own country.

Cameroon Concord News: You just spoke about unemployment and a stalled economy in Cameroon. In your view, what could be responsible for Cameroon’s underdevelopment at a time when most countries are taking giant steps forward in terms of development?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Cameroon’s dismal economic performance is nothing new at the international level. The country is bereft of modern transformative and transformational infrastructure. The country’s cities and towns are shadows of their former selves. Douala and Yaoundé need an extreme makeover. Yaoundé is 90% slum. There are few structured neighborhoods in Yaoundé. There are many neighborhoods in the nation’s capital which have gone for decades without water and electricity and this is not a problem for the people and their leaders. Douala, once a vibrant city, has lost its shine and it is now mostly a massive slum.

In many parts of our major cities, you will see garbage heaps lining our streets and fecal matter is a constant presence in many of our streets, reminding the vulnerable that they could be easily swept away by cholera or other water or air-borne diseases. Our cities do not have proper fecal sludge disposal mechanisms and this is hurting the health of our people. Each year, thousands of children in Cameroon die of water- or sanitation-related diseases and since the government has decided not to establish any vital statistics department, many Cameroonians are simply in the dark about the disaster that has visited their country. If this unfortunate trend has to be bucked, then a change of mentality and personalities must be on the country’s political agenda. It will be preposterous to use the same people who have engineered the problems for them to find an appropriate solution to the same problems. They will definitely come to the solution laboratory with the same mindset and this will cause the problems to linger.

As you already know, Cameroon is among the most corrupt countries in the world and our country had in the early 2000s earned the infamous distinction of being the most corrupt country in the world and it won this disgraceful award two years in a row. That was what Transparency International told us and, to the best of my knowledge, the country has only made giant strides backwards in this regard. Corruption is a major economic killer, especially when the corruption is fostered by those who are supposed to check it. I would like to refer Cameroonians to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International. They will certainly gain a better understanding why their country’s economy is facing some of the challenges it is facing.

Mr. Editor, good governance is the fertiliser which brings about economic prosperity if well combined with other economic factors. Cameroon has been mired in controversies which have ruined its reputation abroad and this is striking fear in the minds of many potential investors. Nobody in his right mind will like to put his hard-earned money in a country whose future is uncertain. Many investors see Cameroon as a ‘tinderbox’ which might go off any time if care is not taken. If you take a look at the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), you will see Cameroon’s position and you will gain a better understanding of why our economy is making giant strides backwards. The country is being run like a personal plantation. Cameroon is the only country in the world where the price of alcohol is regulated with presidential decrees. It is the only country in the world where even night watchmen are appointed through an administrative instrument. Competence and effectiveness are not the determinants of who should occupy which position.

The beer sector is the only economic sector which is doing well as most Cameroonians sedate themselves regularly with these liquids just to forget about their multitude of sorrows which has been stalking them for decades like a stubborn shadow. Unbeknownst to them is the fact that alcohol is a suspect in the many cases of diabetes and kidney failures which are sending our young men to an early grave. Some of these drinks are now being produced at home in very filthy environments. There is no Drug and Food Administration in Cameroon which can regulate such activities and law enforcement is a joke as the law enforcement agencies are replete with the proteges of the politicians who are the architects of the mess playing out in Cameroon.

Cameroon Concord News: Recently, we have been hearing some concerned voices calling for a coalition of opposition parties in Cameroon as a possibility of beating Mr. Paul Biya who is being touted as the ruling party’s candidate in the 2025 Presidential election. What is your take on that?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: I look forward to the day that idea will be incarnated in Cameroon, but I don’t think it is a prerequisite. It will take more than an election for genuine positive change to be part of Cameroon’s political landscape and culture. I have been reading some articles that the country’s political parties must unite if they really want to win an election in Cameroon. Unity is good but, in our context, where disunity is strength, it will take a miracle to achieve total unity.

Honestly, those pushing for a coalition of the country’s political parties are either too young to remember that there was a “Union for Change” which stood behind Mr. John Fru Ndi in the 1992 Presidential Elections which Ndam Njoya, Bello Bouba and others sabotaged, or they are just too naïve to know that the country’s political mess is coded in its electoral law and constitution.

Mr. Fru Ndi clearly won the 1992 elections as reported by Mr. Albert Dzongang in a video given that he willfully participated in the fraud which robbed Cameroonians of their victory even when other major political opposition parties did not stand with Mr. Fru Ndi. Mr. Fru Ndi of blessed memory won not because Cameroonians loved him, but because they were simply sick and tired of a government which had spent most of its time sleeping at the switch. Corruption and indifference had become the hallmarks of the government and Cameroonians wanted to rid themselves of this government and the destructive malaises it had engineered for them.

The electoral code stipulates that only ELECAM has the prerogative of publishing election results and only ELECAM-published results will be acceptable. Strangely, it is the president who appoints members of ELECAM. I am still trying to figure out how the country’s president will appoint his political opponents in high positions at ELECAM. He will have to be high on something strange or there must be divine intervention for him to lose his mind to the point of not knowing what it takes to rig elections. Who on earth will be popular after 42 years in power, especially when he has not posted any convincing results?

It should also be pointed out that in the event of any election disputes, only the Constitutional Council has the right to address such issues. Once more, it is the President’s constitutional right to appoint the president and members of the Constitutional Council. Except Mr. Biya and his people completely lose their minds, there will never be any accident in this regard. Mr. Biya knows that most Cameroonians are cash-strapped and giving them appointments is one way of buying their consciences. Poverty hardly breeds virtue and this has been clearly demonstrated in Cameroon. We all can recall the day Mr. Atanganang Clement was appointed as the Constitutional Council president and how he celebrated like a child in a candy store. Pushing for a political coalition of opposition parties as a prerequisite for winning the 2025 President election is like looking for a very small needle in a massive haystack in Cameroon.

The country’s political opposition will never win an election if the current political dispensation is not reformed to reduce the ruling party’s grip on the country. Besides, calling for that coalition is like looking for love in a brothel when we all know what the residents of those brothels are selling – sex for money. The country’s political opposition is replete with people who know that they do not have any political clout but they just have to throw their hats into the ring, hoping that they can get something from the ruling party after the election. Poverty can disarm even the strongest army in the world and many Cameroonian politicians are desperately hungry, making it hard for them to be disciplined and principled. Sometimes, those empty shells known as political parties are the creations of the ruling party as a strategy to sell the rhetoric that the opposition can never be united, hence diminishing its chances of winning any presidential election.

Cameroon Concord News: What do you think can be done to get the country out of its tight spot?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Despite the tough challenges which lie ahead and though the ruling CPDM is the front-runner in an election which has not even been announced given that it is in total control of the election mechanisms, I would still urge our young men and women to get registered and vote for a candidate who can really turn the country’s fortunes around. Currently, the political landscape is crowded but a few opposition leaders are clearly standing out, though they are yet to convince Cameroonians or establish a national consensus on their ability to engineer a brand new and prosperous country. The MRC which is still facing challenges due to its inability to emerge from its tribal shell could lead the pack if it organizes itself and if it reaches out to other political parties. The Social Democratic Front, which in the past had bruised the ruling CPDM, could also work with the MRC to give the ruling party a run for its money. The country is a year away from the presidential election and a lot can happen between now and the elections. The opposition parties, which genuinely want to bring about change in Cameroon, can start dumping enormous pressure on the crumbling government for election reforms to be undertaken before the elections. There are many refined and sophisticated legal minds in Cameroon who can provide the right advice to this political parties regarding constitutional and election reform in Cameroon.

Cameroon Concord News: It is always a pleasure talking with you. Any last word for Cameroonians?

Dr. Joachim Arrey: Cameroonians are a brilliant people when it comes to academics but certificates alone will not enable them to live the life they want in their country. It takes a lot of courage and discipline to trigger change in any society. Cameroonians must drop their bad habit of thinking that they know everything just because they passed exams. They must learn how to listen to the experts and they must walk away from the straight jacket of tribalism and regionalism which the government has imposed on them. The government has worked hard to divide Cameroonians but it is time for us to read through the government.

Let us understand that every Cameroonian is in need of good roads, good hospitals, good schools and a civil and civilized environment which will help us to live a healthy life. We must embrace a structured existence which is underpinned by discipline. Cameroonians are generating slums which are killing them slowly. They must urge their municipalities to help them to live a structured life. Neighborhoods in Cameroon are not organized, making it easy for slums to emerge. The government might have failed us, but we cannot afford to fail ourselves. Through community effort, we can reduce some of the garbage which is serving as a good breeding ground for mosquitoes and diseases. A great health strategy must be predicated upon prevention. If we make prevention our mantra, we will stave off many of those diseases which are robbing us of our happiness.

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you, Dr. Joachim Arrey!

23, March 2024

Southern Cameroons Crisis: second deputy mayor of Babessi Council shot dead ⁰

Ambazonia fighters have reportedly killed a prominent mayor in the Northwest region on Saturday morning, according to local police.

Solomon Nkwato, the second deputy mayor of Babessi Council of Ngoketunjia Division in the region, was shot dead as he was about to leave his home, police said without elaborating.

Local media reported that the mayor was known for leading peace-building efforts among young people in the region.

An armed separatist conflict has been going on in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017. The separatists want to break away from the majority of French-speaking Cameroon and create an independent nation.

Source: Xinhuanet

23, March 2024

US: Cameroonian National sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud ⁰

U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Njuh Valentine Fombe, a/k/a “Valentine”, age 37, a Cameroonian citizen, formerly residing in Beltsville, Maryland, today to 12 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracies to commit wire fraud and money laundering, and for aggravated identity theft, in connection with a business email compromise fraud scheme with intended losses of more than $2 million. Based on court documents and evidence presented during Fombe’s sentencing, the Court also found that Fombe engaged in a pandemic-related unemployment fraud scheme while he was a fugitive residing in the United Kingdom.

In addition to prison time, Judge Chasanow ordered Fombe to pay restitution of $325,856.12 and to forfeit $547,310.23.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge James C. Harris of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Chief Robert McCullough of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Chief Russell E. Hamill III of the Laurel Police Department.

According to court documents and evidence presented at today’s sentencing hearing, from at least September 2016 to August 2018, Fombe conspired with others to commit wire fraud by conducting business email compromise (“BEC”) schemes in which Fombe‘s co-conspirators gained unauthorized access to email accounts, personal identifying information, and bank accounts by sending false wiring instructions to the victims’ email accounts. Fombe and his co-conspirators then used the illegally obtained personal information to obtain counterfeit checks in the name and information of the victims’ bank accounts. Victims of the BEC scheme were from California, Tennessee, Michigan, Hawaii and Illinois. Fombe and his co-conspirators also registered fraudulent shell entities to facilitate the scheme, opening and managing bank accounts in the names of the fraudulent shell entities’, as well as their own names and aliases, to direct and receive proceeds of the BEC and check schemes.

After Fombe’s indictment in 2019, Fombe fled the United States on a fraudulently obtained Honduran passport, ultimately residing in the United Kingdom until his arrest there on June 16, 2022 and subsequent extradition to the United States.

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended HSI, the Baltimore County Police Department and the Laurel Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly O. Hayes, Christopher M. Sarma, and Bijon Mostoufi, who prosecuted the case.

Source: Justice.gov/usa

22, March 2024

CPDM Crime Syndicate elects Cavaye Yeguie Djibril as National Assembly speaker ⁰

Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, a senior member of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, Cameroon’s ruling party, was reelected the country’s House Speaker of National Assembly Friday.

During an elective plenary sitting of the House in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, Cavaye was reelected with 143 votes out of 156 votes, and there were 13 void votes.

Born in 1940, Cavaye has been the president of Cameroon’s National Assembly since 1992, making him the longest-serving house speaker of the country since independence in 1960.

Source: Xinhuanet

22, March 2024

Nintcheu and Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Meeting: Biya regime bans opposition coalitions ⁰

A declaration by Cameroon’s territorial administration minister to make two opposition coalitions illegal is part of a government crackdown on opposition and dissent.

On March 12, 2024, the minister, Paul Atanga Nji, said in a statement that the Political Alliance for Change (Alliance politique pour le changement, APC), led by Jean-Michel Nintcheu, and the Political Alliance for Transition in Cameroon (Alliance politique pour la transition, APT), led by Olivier Bile, are “illegal,” calling them “clandestine movements.” The minister also referenced a recent meeting at a prison in Yaoundé between Nintcheu and Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, a leader of the Anglophone separatist group Ambazonia Interim Government, as a factor in the decision to ban the coalition.

“The government’s move against these coalitions shows how the Cameroonian authorities are moving to close down space for the opposition and for public debate ahead of the 2025 presidential elections,” said Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately lift the ban and allow opposition parties to continue working without harassment.”

In December 2023, a prominent opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, was reelected as the leader of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun, MRC), one of the most prominent opposition groups in the country. Kamto used his reelection to announce the creation of the APC.

The current president, Paul Biya, has been in power since 1982 and is serving out his seventh term. Biya, 91, was last reelected in 2018 after a contested vote-counting process. Kamto challenged the official results and declared himself winner of the election.

Biya’s 2018 election sparked a wave of political repression. After the 2018 vote, opposition-led protests occurred across the country, and the government responded with a heavy crackdown and the use of excessive force by the police, army, and gendarmes. In January 2019, Kamto and over 200 of his supporters were arrested and detained. Kamto was charged with insurrection, hostility against the homeland, criminal association, threats to public order, rebellion, and inciting insurrection, crimes that can carry the death penalty. He was freed on October 5, 2019, and the charges were dropped, though the crackdown on the opposition continued.

In early September 2020, Cameroon authorities banned demonstrations across the country after Kamto’s MRC encouraged people to take to the streets over the government’s decision to call regional elections in December 2020. Opposition parties had expressed concerns that the elections could not be conducted freely and fairly without reforming the electoral code and addressing the lack of security in the country’s minority Anglophone regions, where separatist groups and security forces have repeatedly clashed.

On September 22, 2020, Cameroonian security forces fired tear gas and water cannons and arrested over 550 people, mainly opposition party members and supporters, to disperse peaceful protests across the country. Many peaceful protesters were beaten and mistreated while being arrested and in detention.

While the majority of Kamto’s supporters who were arrested in 2019 were eventually released, 41, including Olivier Bibou Nissack and Alain Fogue Tedom, two of the group’s leaders, remain behind bars after being sentenced to seven years.

When initiating the APC in December 2023, Kamto said that the opposition should rally behind one candidate for the next presidential elections, slated for late 2025. Biya has not announced if he will run again for reelection.

Opposition groups simply coordinating activities and forming alliances cannot be considered “clandestine movements;” instead, this coordination should be considered a normal and important feature of the democratic process, Human Rights Watch said.

Activists have expressed doubts over the legality of the government’s ban. “This decision is not based on any legal texts,” Emmanuel Simh, a prominent rights activist and lawyer for the MRC, told Human Rights Watch. “No law in Cameroon prevents legally established parties getting together to establish a coalition. It’s just repression and another attempt to muzzle the opposition, to prevent it from organizing ahead of the next presidential elections.”

The government’s decision to ban the two political coalitions violates the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and the right to participate in political life . These rights are guaranteed under international human rights law including expressly in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, both of which Cameroon has ratified.

“Cameroonians have watched Biya weaken any meaningful political opposition over the course of the last four decades and this ban is yet another example of the government’s repression,” Nantulya said. “He should consider his legacy and encourage authorities to facilitate and deliver a credible election process with full respect for fundamental rights and freedoms.”

Culled from Human Rights Watch

22, March 2024

Football: Former Brazil international Robinho arrested to serve rape sentence ⁰

Former Brazil international football player Robinho has been arrested to serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape.

He was convicted two years ago in Italy for his part in the gang rape of an Albanian woman at a night club in Milan in 2013.

Robinho, 40, was arrested at his flat in his home city of Santos.

The Italian government had requested that he serve his sentence in Brazil after failing to get him extradited.

On Wednesday, a court in Brazil upheld the decision and also ruled that he should serve his time behind bars instead of under house arrest.

Earlier on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge rejected a request to halt his detention.

The decisive action taken by Brazil’s justice system has been praised by many on local media, who feared that Robinho would evade justice thanks to his fame and his wealth.

The former Brazil international, who has 100 caps for his country, was playing for AC Milan at the time of the crime. After being found guilty, he lost an appeal in 2020 before Italy’s highest court upheld his sentence in 2022.

Italian prosecutors then issued an international arrest warrant for him.

The footballer, who spent two years with Manchester City, told a Brazilian network on Sunday that the sex had been “consensual”.

Source: BBC

22, March 2024

Douala Sanitation Day: A mockery of sanitation! ⁰

When officials of Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, instituted a sanitation day which is supposed to take place every Thursday, many in the city were elated, hoping that such an action would roll back the garbage that lined the city’s streets.

But this hope has been short-lived as the sanitation day is being used by alcohol addicts in the city to recover after heavy drinking every Wednesday evening.

Like most laws in Cameroon, the Douala City’s bylaw on sanitation lacks teeth as there are no enforcement mechanisms. The city’s officials have good intentions, but they lack the means to enforce their own laws.

They made the law without thinking of how to enforce it and today, many residents of Douala are simply not participating in the effort and there are no consequences for non-compliance.

Douala City officials have to go back to the drawing board to see how they can ensure that residents see that the sanitation day is in their best interest.

The Douala Sanitation Day has delivered some results but there is more to be done. Douala as a city is still very dirty. Resident dump their garbage on the streets everyday instead of keeping it at home until the garbage trucks come for the garbage.

According to analysts and observers, the city’s garbage issue is a real millstone around the necks of the population. Each day, thousands of Douala residents get hit by malaria due to poor sanitation and this is taking a toll on the people’s meager salaries.

Children and women are the hardest hit by malaria and deaths from malaria are always in the thousands in a city whose sanitation situation will not be improving as planned by city officials because most of the population does not pull its fair share of the weight.

More needs to be done in terms of enforcement if the city’s sanitation law has to deliver real results.

Alain A. Ebot