Breaking News

9, June 2016

Cameroon: Prime Minister Philemon Yang meets Sao Tome envoy ⁰

The Prime Minister Philemon Yang has met with Sao Tome and Principe’s former Prime Minister, Gabriel Arcanjo Ferreira da Costa. Cameroon Radio and Television reported that the 8^th of June 2016 meeting was intensive and productive.

Gabriel Arcanjo Ferreira was bearer of a private message from President Manuel Pinto da Costa of Sao Tome and Principe to Cameroon’s Head of State, Paul Biya.

The Republic of Sao Tome and Principe is a Portuguese-speaking island nation located in the Gulf of Guinea. It has a population of about 190.00 people and its capital city is Sao Tome.

CRTV/CIR

8, June 2016

Congo Kinshasa: Rebels kidnap 100 civilians ⁰

Suspected Ugandan rebels have kidnapped about 100 people during an attack in the troubled northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN says. Lieutenant-Colonel Martin Amouzou Codjo, spokesman for the UN Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO), told a press briefing on Wednesday that members of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) abducted the civilians during an assault on two villages during the attack in Bas-Uele province on June 4.

He said rebels also went on a looting spree across the volatile region. “These attackers also kidnapped nearly a hundred people to carry the loot,” Codjo told a press conference in the capital, Kinshasa. The spokesman also strongly denounced the regular atrocities committed by the ruthless LRA against civilians in the northeast of the African country.

Formed in 1986, the LRA is engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government in what is now one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts that has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and displaced another two million.

Presstv

8, June 2016

Darak: 40 fishermen kidnapped by Boko Haram ⁰

Forty people mostly fishermen from Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon were kidnapped late on Tuesday in the town of Darak bordering Nigeria. Cameroon military sources say heavily armed men described by some locals as Boko Haram militants attacked the village of Darak and took along with them the forty men.

Cameroon Intelligence Report was reliably informed that 10 other fishermen were killed during the Boko Haram raids. Our informant also revealed that Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Organization of Islamic State and is now called Islamic State in West Africa.

Militarily weakened by the strikes of the coalition, the Nigerian Islamic sect has changed tactics. It now proceeds through suicide bombings or raids to sow death among the population.

CIR

8, June 2016

Cameroon: Man who could not honor Captain Abega Theophile sends Ali condolence to Obama ⁰

President Biya who was conspicuously absent during the burial ceremony of the late Dr Abega Theophile, the legendary captain of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon has addressed an official telegram to US President Obama from his five star hotel resort in Swiss over the death of Mohammed Ali. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the Biya document was sent to Washington on Wednesday, June 8, 2016. In the said telegram, Mr Biya wrote:

“Mr. President, I have learned with emotion, the death of Mr Mohammed Ali, former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. I salute the memory of this legend. In these painful circumstances, I extend to you and to the family of Mr. Mohammed Ali my sincere condolences. Please accept Mr. President, the renewed assurances of my highest consideration.” The funeral of the American triple heavyweight world champion will be held in the US on Friday, June 10, 2016.

CIR

8, June 2016

Cameroon: National Oil and Gas Company pays 82,44 billion FCFA to the treasury ⁰

The National Oil and Gas Company of Cameroon SNH has announced that oil production in Cameroon estimated at 12.3 million barrels on April 30th 2016 is experiencing a noticeable increase of 19.42% compared to the same period a year ago. Despite lower crude oil prices on the world market with a barrel selling below $ 30, oil production in Cameroon is expected to increase in the coming months with the commissioning of new oil fields. SNH revealed recently that gas production amounted to 4,286,600,000 cubic feet, down 5.77% compared to the same period last year.

In a dramatic change of government policy, the SNH released a statement observing that the sales of crude oil and natural gas on behalf of the State of Cameroon enabled the company to transfer to the government treasury 82, 44 billion FCFA cumulatively between January and April.

CIR

8, June 2016

Defense Chiefs of Iran, Russia and Syria to meet in Tehran ⁰

Defense ministers from Iran, Russia and Syria are scheduled to meet in Tehran on Thurday to discuss the campaign against terrorism as well the recent developments in the Middle East. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and his Syrian counterpart Fahd Jassem al-Freij will participate in the meeting on the official invitation of their Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehqan.

The defense ministers are to exchange viewpoints on the latest regional developments and ways to strengthen and extend the fight against terrorism during the trilateral meeting, the IRNA news agency reported. In a speech to the newly-elected parliament in Syria on Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed gratitude for Russia, China, and Iran for the support they have provided to the Damascus government.

Presstv

8, June 2016

Nigeria to stop military campaign in Niger Delta ⁰

Nigeria will scale down a military campaign in the oil-producing Niger Delta and talk to the Niger Delta Avengers militant group which has claimed a string of attacks there that sharply cut crude output, officials said. But the militant group said in a statement, without mentioning the government initiative, its mandate was “to liberate the Niger Delta people.” The government has also decided that the military presence in the region, which had been increased in the last few weeks, should be scaled down, a statement issued by the vice president’s office said on Tuesday.

The southern Delta swamps, where many complain of poverty and oil spills, have been hit by militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines which have brought Nigeria’s oil output to a 20-year low, and helped push oil prices to 2016 highs on Tuesday. President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed a team led by the national security adviser “to begin the process of a very intensive dialogue with those caught in the middle of this,” Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said late on Monday.

“I want to call on the militants to sheath their weapons and embrace dialogue with government,” he said. “We are making contacts with everybody who is involved, the ones that we can identify, through them, the ones that we can’t identify so that there is a lot more inclusiveness in this dialogue.” “Probably we will suspend the operations of the military in the region for a week or two for individuals in the creeks to converge for the dialogue,” he said. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who had been expected to travel to London to meet investors on Tuesday, instead met Niger Delta state governors and military chiefs to discuss ways to end the militancy.

A statement from Osinbajo’s office said it had been decided at the meeting that the military presence in the region should be “de-escalated,” although forces would be kept to provide security for the talks. Adding to the problems of authorities trying to stem the violence, a group in the southeast calling for secession declared support for the Avengers. “We support the Niger Delta Avengers,” said Uche Madu, a spokesman for the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) which wants secession for the region which fought a civil war from 1967-70.

A former militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which laid down arms in 2009 under a government amnesty, accused the army of a “disproportionate use of force.” MEND, which was one of the largest militant groups, also said the Delta Avengers had attracted some of its former fighters. So far it has been unclear who is behind the Avengers. There was no immediate direct response from the Avengers on the dialogue initiative. On its Twitter account it only issued a statement framing MEND leaders as criminals. “Our struggle is focussed on the liberation of the People of Niger Delta from decades of divisive rule and exclusion,” it said. Kachikwu also said Nigeria’s oil output was between 1.5 million and 1.6 million barrels a day, down from 2.2 million barrels at the start of the year. “Over the last two months, we have probably lost about 600,000 barrels from various attacks of militants in the area,” he said.

DefenceWeb

8, June 2016

Egyptian passenger plane makes emergency landing due to a bomb threat ⁰

An Egyptian passenger plane, en route from Cairo to Beijing, makes an emergency landing in Uzbekistan due to a bomb threat, a report says.State carrier Uzbekistan Airways said on Wednesday that there were 118 passengers and 17 crew members on board, all of whom were safely evacuated. Egyptian aviation sources said a false bomb threat forced the EgyptAir flight to make the emergency landing. The plane, an Airbus A-330-220, landed in Uzbekistan three hours after it took off from Cairo at around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

It landed at the airport in the town of Urgench, about 840 kilometers (600 miles) west of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Officials said an anonymous caller telephoned security agents at the Cairo airport to say that a bomb was on board the flight. The plane was searched after landing, but no explosives were found, they said. EgyptAir has received a number of bomb threats since one of its aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean on May 19, killing all 66 people aboard the Airbus A320 jetliner. All those threats have turned out to be hoaxes.

Egypt’s aviation industry has been under international scrutiny since Oct. 31, when a Russian Airbus A321 crashed in the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard. The plane was traveling to St. Petersburg from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Russia said the crash was caused by a bomb planted on the plane, and the local branch of Daesh claimed responsibility. The incidents have further damaged Egypt’s tourism industry which is already reeling from years of political turmoil.

Presstv

8, June 2016

Stephen Keshi is no more!!! ⁰

One of African football’s best-known figures, Stephen Keshi, has died at the age of 54, the Nigeria Football Federation has said. A former captain of the Nigeria national team, Keshi was one of only two men to win the Africa Cup of Nations both as a player and a coach. He also managed Togo and Mali, and his playing career included a spell for Belgian club side Anderlecht.

He is thought to have suffered a heart attack, local media reported. As a player, Keshi was part of the Super Eagles team that won the Nations Cup in 1994 and narrowly missed out on a World Cup quarter-final place the same year. He coached the national side over three spells, leading Nigeria to the 2013 Nations Cup title in South Africa and the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

His contract was not renewed after the World Cup but he later returned on a match-by-match deal following the team’s failure to reach the 2015 Nations Cup finals. He was then sacked as caretaker coach but reinstated after intervention from then Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan. He was sacked for a final time last July.

BBC

8, June 2016

Cameroon tightens security at the National Assembly ⁰

As the second ordinary session of the National Assembly for the 2016 legislative year rolls on, the Ngoa-Ekelle Glass House is as busy as a bee hive. Conscious of the security context prevailing in the country faces at the moment from the Boko Haram terrorist sect, a series of preventive security measures have been put in place to pre-empt any nasty scenario.

As a sensible state institution, the National Assembly has within its premises a permanent detachment of the National Gendarmerie tasked with ensuring security of both the personnel and property. In the case of an event like parliamentary sessions, security measures are further beefed up given that it attract people across the board, including Members of Parliament, cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corps and the general public.

Within the context of the ongoing parliamentary session, the Secretary General of the National Assembly, Victor YeneOssomba, signed an internal communiqué (posted on the notice board of the National Assembly) with specific security measures to be observed by everyone.

The systematic check of persons and vehicles is a condition sin quo-non forentryto the premises of the National Assembly. Not only has the entrance from the Lycée Bilingued’Application (LBA) end been temporarily closed, but there is a considerable limitation of the number of visitors to Glass House. The measures also include the prohibition of dressing that does not allow immediate identification as well as gatherings within the precincts of the institution.

Cameroon Tribune