It never rains but it pours. This is an apt description of what is happening in Mamfe following the violent fire that consumed seven of the nine wards which made up the Mamfe General Hospital.

While the population is still struggling to accept that the only hospital that they have in the Division has been razed by some criminal elements, food prices have kept moving up as fear that Amba Fighters will soon raze the town’s central market. 

Amba boys have issued many audio messages trying to distance themselves from the fire which has attracted condemnation from far and wide, but their threats have continued and this time, they are targeting the market. By threatening to burn down the market, the fighters have made themselves very unpopular in the town. The people who once professed to be the protectors of their people have morphed into a disaster to the same people.

Illiterates have become judges and lawyers in rural parts of the Division and the fines they impose on their people are mind-blowing. You pay CFAF 100,000 for having a round of sex with somebody’s wife. Sex has never been this expensive in Manyu! Many young men have simply escaped from their villages just because they have been suspected of having sex with women who are not their wives. An Islamic state is gradually playing out in many villages in Manyu. 

Residents of the Division hold that Amba fighters have made it hard for their children to go to school for more than five years and this act of irresponsibility is breeding a generation of frustrated and criminal elements who will grow up to become millstones around the necks of their parents. 

Their threat to burn down the market implies that they are willing to destroy everything in Mamfe in particular and Manyu in general. Many girls are already pregnant and there are many fatherless children running around, with no hope on the horizon. Threatening to burn down the market implies that they do not even want parents to put food on their tables. The population is bitter and confused, and does not know what to do to check these criminals who are making life unbearable for the population.

Speaking to some residents of Mamfe, the Cameroon Concord News Group’s special reporter to Mamfe, Fon Lawrence who has left the town via Nigeria, has said that there is a lot of tension in Mamfe. There are no lights and no water, and with the hospital gone, the population’s desperation has increased, and many people do not know where to turn to, as the government cannot even help them. Mamfe town is also not safe, as gun-toting Amba boys keep an eye on everybody, while soldiers make things worse by harassing ordinary citizens, especially those who may be new in town.   

“We are frustrated. We don’t feel safe in our own land. Our grandparents never witnessed what we are witnessing. How can our own children be burning our own infrastructure? They have burnt the motor park. The hospital has gone up in smoke and food prices are on the rise as traders close their shops in order not to incur the wrath of the trigger-happy Amba fighters who have clearly demonstrated their determination to ruin everything in their path. What are we supposed to be doing now? Soldiers kill our children. Amba boys kidnap our brothers, and they are now threatening to burn down the market. How do we survive?” the angry resident of Mamfe who elected anonymity said.  

“In less than four days, food prices have risen, and these escalating prices are hurting us. Not many people are heading to Nigeria to buy goods that might not be sold because of the fear that the Amba fighters will burn down the market. In less than twenty-four hours, the prices of garri, palm oil, rice, and other necessities have risen. How are we going to live? Mamfe is a small town with very few businesses and almost no financial institutions which can grant us credit. BICEC, the only bank that used to operate here, has shut down operations and its staff hurriedly left town, fearing that both Amba fighters and army soldiers could become a threat to them,” the frustrated resident lamented.

“We are already living in Hell. Escalating food prices simply imply many people will not be able to feed their families. It is like the Amba fighters have put us on a diet of hunger. Before long, many of us will be losing weight and we are not even big. Many elderly people will surely die if they cannot have their daily food rations. The war itself has already destabilized many, but this unannounced dry fasting will surely send many of them to an early grave. No food, no water, no electricity. We have simply been rolled back into the dark ages,” the resident said. 

The days ahead are bleak. Residents of Mamfe are looking for hope even in the wrong places. Churches are full of new Christians, but many do not have money for tithes, and this makes them unwelcome. Personal homes have been converted into churches just to give the depressed an opportunity to find hope and solace. 

The announcement that the Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic will be in town on Saturday, June 18, 2022, and information that the Diaspora is raising funds to rebuild the hospital is giving the people some hope. 

“We are calling on our brothers abroad not to abandon us. We are aware that there are efforts underway for the mobilization of money to help us. I was told that our brothers in Toronto, Canada, are already making giant strides to raise money, and this has gladdened my heart. I think many others will emulate the example of our people in Canada. We are counting on them, and we are looking forward to hearing more good news,” a teacher at Grammar School Mamfe said. 

“I hear the drive is championed by Dr. Joachim Arrey. He is very credible person. I hear he is leading an institution which has been providing books to displaced children here in Mamfe. We should pray that things work so that much money can be raised. Back home, I hear Minister Mengot is also leading his own efforts to bring some relief to the people. Let other Manyu sons and daughters support any initiative that will lead to the rebuilding of our hospital. Diseases do not know if you are a federalist or a separatist. We will all perish if something is not done. This is not the time for politics. We must work together to restore hope,” the teacher stressed.

According to Fon Lawrence, the Cameroon Concord News Group’s reporter who has fled to Nigeria, something needs to be done. Before leaving the town, he visited the town’s Preventive hospital which will now serve as a full-fledge hospital, and he reports that the Preventive Hospital itself is small and run-down. It needs to be upgraded if it must play its new role.  

“There are no beds for hospitalization and no medications for the critically ill. The structure is begging for an upgrade and the staff are not very hopeful. The facility has been neglected for years and it is now being converted into a hospital. It will be a real miracle if things really work out, but from the look of things, Mamfe is in the grip of a massive health storm,” Fon Lawrence who is currently in Nigeria said over the phone.  

Meanwhile some of the patients who had been ordered out by the criminals who burned down the General Hospital have died. Two patients who could not access proper care gave up the ghost on Monday. They were unable to go to any private clinic due to lack of resources. Their families are devastated. This is the challenge that will be facing many people in the town. Lack of money will certainly send many people to an early grave, except the government and other well-wishers act very fast. A disaster is hovering over the town. Natives of Manyu Division must now step in to save their people from the jaws of death.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The Cameroon Development Corporation seems to still be struggling to recover from the separatist war in Southern Cameroons. Between January and May 2022, the agribusiness company exported 8,443 tons of bananas, up only 651 tons, compared to 7,792 tons during the same period in 2021.

Although the volume is higher, it hides an almost stagnant production year-on-year, according to statistics published by the Banana Association of Cameroon (Assobacam). CDC was even absent from the export market for 2 years as of September 2018, meaning it did not export any bananas over the period. Before this happened, the company shipped 23,495 tons of bananas between January and May 2018, almost three times the volume exported during the same period in 2022 (8,443 tons).

The picture looks bleak, but the Bank of Cemac States (Beac) has a better outlook. In its latest business survey, the bank revealed that banana production should increase in Q2 2022, as most of the 2021 plantings will now mature, and CDC will resume activities.

Indeed, After almost two years of inactivity due to the Anglophone crisis, CDC initiated the rehabilitation of 520 hectares of banana plantations last year. These are the ones that should mature during the second quarter, according to the central bank. On this basis, the increase in production should lead to higher exports.

Source: Business in Cameroon

There’s been positive news on the sustainability front from operator MTN in Cameroon, which has announced a renewable energy initiative.

The operator has announced the signing, on 2 June in Yaounde, of a collaboration framework agreement with the country’s Rural Electrification Agency (AER) to supply its rural sites with solar energy.

The document was initialled by Moussa Ousmanou, General Manager of AER, and Stephen Blewett, CEO of MTN Cameroon, in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Water and Energy.

This agreement specifies the terms and conditions under which AER will provide MTN Cameroon with energy produced by its solar power plants. The energy is intended to power MTN Cameroon’s network infrastructure in rural areas, particularly the relay stations.

In fact the agreement is already underway. MYN reports that implementation of this agreement is ongoing at pilot sites in the West and Littoral regions.

This deployment will be extended to all 10 regions of the country in the coming months and will accelerate MTN Cameroon’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy, of which, it says, reducing carbon footprint is one of the main objectives.

In fact this deal aids the sustainability plans of both government and MTN. Ousmanou of AER pointed out that Cameroon as a whole plans to increase its renewable energy capacity to at least 25% of total production by 2030, while, as Blewett explained, under what it calls Project Zero, MTN seeks to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030.

Source: Developing Telecoms

Leading international container and project cargo line Marguisa,has launched its new Cameroon service, the MARGUISA CAMEROON SERVICE (MCS). It will provide a direct weekly connection between the port of Malabo and the port of Douala, making Malabo a hub port in the region.

Driven by the need to ensure regular stopovers by the MAS service, affected by the operational limitations and the port congestion in West Africa, this service fully operated by Marguisa is 5 days faster than the current one. It serves Douala from any part of the world thanks to the Marguisa connection.

Source: Africa Logistics

Cameroon’s rising inflation is starting to worry the National Institute of Statistics (INS). In a recent note, the public entity warned that if the trend continues, the rate could exceed the 3% threshold set in the Cemac sub-region.

At the end of March this year, inflation averaged 2.9% in the country, very close to the Cemac cap. Worse, some regions have already either reached or exceeded it. These include Ebolowa (+4.5%), Bamenda (+4.4%), Maroua (+4.3%), Bertoua (+3.9%), Bafoussam (+3.6%) and Garoua (+3.0%). INS said the price hike is mainly due to an increase in the prices of food products, especially meat, bread, cereals, flour, fish, oil, and vegetables.

“The rise in the prices of food and energy worldwide constitute a double threat of inflation,” warns the INS. As a result, the agency says, local businesses are likely to face more difficulties in sourcing inputs. This, in turn, could raise producer prices and thus accelerate inflation in local products, including manufactured goods and agricultural products.

To stabilize the general price level, if not to reverse the trend, the stats agency suggests that the government implement additional support measures (both comprehensive and targeted) for businesses and households. It also recommends that the policies for the structural transformation of the economy be accelerated to strengthen the capacity of the national economy to face shocks related to the supply of goods and services.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Negotiations between Cameroon and Sundance Resources (and its local subsidiary Cam Iron SA), which began in the second half of 2021, for an amicable settlement of the dispute over the Mbalam iron ore mining project, have failed.

The Australian mining company brought the case to the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris in June 2021 to force Cameroon to grant it an operating license on the project, after the mining convention of November 29, 2012, and the transition agreement of June 30, 2015. The company said Cameroon was about to grant the license to another partner.

Sundance wants Cameroon to at least repay the amount it invested in the research phase. The money is estimated at CFA94 billion (subject to audit), according to the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (Minmidt), whose services led the negotiations with the Australian mining company.

Disapproval

Gabriel Dodo Ndocké believes that paying this “debt” will put a definitive end to the battle between the Cameroonian government and Sundance Resources but President Paul Biya (pictured) seems to disapprove. In a letter dated April 18, the President said he prefers an arbitration approach and has already contacted Thierry Lauriol, a lawyer at the Paris bar and partner in the firm Jeantet, to defend Cameroon before the court. Thierry Lauriol was Congo’s lawyer before the court of arbitration of London when the country was battling against the same company for the Congolese part of the same project.

The lawyer should have already filed the response of the State of Cameroon to the request for arbitration before the deadline of April 30, 2022. Under this strategy, the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motazé, was instructed to urgently make $55,000 (about 34.57 million CFA francs) available to the collector at the Embassy of Cameroon in Paris. The money covered the urgent procedure that ended April 1, 2022, by a decision not favorable to Cameroon. The International Court of Arbitration in Paris issued a provisional decision prohibiting Cameroon “from issuing an exploitation permit for the Mbalam iron ore deposit or from issuing any instrument or document having a similar effect, to Sonamines or any other entity,” Sundance reported.

Delay

In August 2021, Sundance Resources announced it was relying on arbitration proceedings against Cameroon and Congo to pay debts owed to its shareholders estimated at $132 million (about CFA70.86 billion), as of the end of January 2021. In Congo, the Australian firm is claiming damages of $8.76 billion, or more than CFA4,700 billion at the current value of the US dollar.

Since 2015, after several extensions of its exploration license on the project, the Australian mining junior has not managed to secure a technical and financial partner for the implementation of infrastructure related to the Mbalam project (construction of a railway more than 500 km between Mbalam and Kribi, of the mine and a mineral terminal at the deepwater port of Kribi). Successive attempts with the Chinese companies China Gezhouba, in 2015, Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group Ltd, in 2018, and AustSino, after 2018, have all failed.

On June 25, 2021, in Yaoundé, Cameroon signed an MoU with AutSino Resources Group Ltd and Bestway Finance Ltd for the construction of the railway (more than 500 km) linking Mbalam to the deepwater port of Kribi. This prompted Sundance to take AutSino to court in Australia for breach of trust. Sundance believes that the Chinese company used the data it had provided to negotiate and obtain the Mbalam permit behind its back.

Culled from Business in Cameroon

Cameroon and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on Thursday signed an agreement on funding the railway line between Belabo and Ngaoundere in the eastern part of the Central African nation.

Vice President of the EIB Thomas Ostros began a working visit in Cameroon Thursday, hoping to explore further avenues of economic cooperation between the EU and the Central African nation. During his stay, Ostros met with the country’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute and other senior government officials in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, and discussed the prospects for increasing investment.

It is believed that the signing of the agreement during his visit will involve an investment of 80 billion XAF (about 129 million U.S. dollars).

“We see this as a ground-breaking project. It is about connecting people but also for business and job opportunities. It fits also with our ambition to invest in sustainable transport. Actually, the biggest investment that we have made in sustainable transport in Sub-Saharan Africa ever,” Ostros, who signed on behalf of the EIB, told reporters in Yaounde.

Alamine Ousmane Mey, the minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, who signed on behalf of the Cameroonian government, expressed confidence that European investors would increasingly look at the favorable opportunities available in the country in the context of the positive steps taken by the government to create an investor friendly climate.

“This cooperation has led to a portfolio of projects amounting to roughly 880 million euros. This has made it possible to cover priority areas such as infrastructure, energy, industrial development and agriculture. This certainly is going to help Cameroon accelerate its development process,” Mey said.

Source: Xinhuanet

Authorities in Cameroon say anglophone separatists have joined forces with Nigerian militants to shut down nearly all trade across the two countries’ border. Cameroon depends on Nigeria for 70% of basic commodities and most of them are transported across the land border. Authorities say about 90% of trade has been halted as militants from both sides attack and abduct merchants.

Njume Peter Ambang is a lawmaker from Cameroon’s restive southwest region on the border with Nigeria. He said fighters within the past two months have taken control of many businesses, including palm oil plantations in Ndian, a division in the Southwest region.

“Maritime business has collapsed. The oil business has all collapsed. Palm oil fields have been seized by the separatists. They harvest the crops, they mill and sell. These guys are working with area boys (armed groups) in Nigeria,” he said.

Ambang was speaking in the Ndian capital, Mundemba, Sunday during a meeting to plead with local fighters to drop their guns and stop harassing merchants.

Cameroon’s military says several hundred fighters chased from towns and villages during raids by government troops relocated to the border with Nigeria. The military says the fighters have killed at least two dozen merchants and abducted scores of others for ransom since January.

Nigeria and Cameroon have promised to crush all separatists who do not surrender.

The two countries’ governments announced in February 2021 that they would work together to combat separatists and armed groups.

Cameroon this week said it deployed more troops to the border to protect civilians, merchants and their goods.

Source: VOA

The autonomous Douala port (PAD) is gradually taking over activities that were previously managed by foreign groups. Cyrus Ngo’o, the port authority’s boss, is in charge of dredging, weighing, security and managing the container terminal.

The Bolloré-Maersk consortium’s eviction from the container terminal in December 2020 and the ongoing litigation, which has been widely publicised, may lead one to believe that this disqualification of foreign operators was a one-off event.

However, a nationalist groundswell has indeed been sweeping through the Cameroonian economic capital’s port complex ever since Cyrus Ngo’o was made the head of the autonomous Douala port (PAD) five years ago. In October 2020, this trained civil administrator announced the return of the “state of Cameroon’s sovereignty over the main access route for goods and merchandise in the country.”

New agencies and companies

Under his leadership, a number of activities that were carried out by foreign companies – in line with the 1998 port reform which, among other things, established private operations – are now managed by local companies. Several of them are supervised by the port authorities. “As was the case before, when some activities were even directly operated by the former Office National des Ports du Cameroun [ONPC], the PAD’s ancestor,” says Lin Onana Ndoh, deputy director of the company in charge of towing and salvaging ships, which was established at the beginning of 2021 to replace the French company Boluda.

For the past two years, the delegated company has also been responsible for managing the container terminal, which was previously the responsibility of Douala International Terminal (DIT, a subsidiary of the French company Bolloré Transport & Logistics and the Dutch company APM Terminals), through the Régie du Terminal à Conteneurs (RTC). It has also taken over the dredging activities previously operated by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), as well as safety and security, for which a new entity has been created: Douala Port Security (DPS). This takeover was possible thanks to financial support from Afriland First Bank, which made lines of credit available to the port authorities to start their activities.

Another mechanism used was concession. This is the case for stevedoring, for which an agreement was signed last year with Fako Ship, one of the entities of the family group founded by Charles Namme Menyoli and established in Buea, in the South West region. It led to the creation of Douala Mooring Company (DMC), the project company in charge of the activity. The only exception to this rule is the concession for the timber yard’s management, which was concluded before Ngo’o’s arrival and remains a part of Bolloré group.

Countering multinationals’ blackmail

Public-private partnerships, including with foreign operators, are not excluded. For example, the Turkish company Erdem, financed by Afriland First Bank, will invest 15bn CFA francs [€22.87m] in the coming months to build 13 warehouses. Erdem has already created the Société de Gestion des Magasins Portuaires (SGMP) to ensure that these warehouses will be operational when the time comes.

For a long time, certain jobs were left to foreign operators who had the necessary tools, such as security – now entrusted to DPS – and weighing goods entering and leaving the port. This task has now been devolved to Douala Port Weighing Services (DPWS), which signed a 20-year operating agreement two years ago. “Since then, we have set up a network of weighbridges that are open to the public in the port area and capable of handling all the traffic,” says DPWS’ president Lucien Ndzomo Mviena.

In addition to the PAD’s stated intention, some renationalisations are the result of disagreements between the port authorities and the concessionaire regarding the specifications at the time of negotiations, which were supposed to lead to a contract renewal. “In this case, when the previous service provider could not convince the PAD of the need to reduce operating costs and maintain investments,” says Ndoh. According to Ngo’o, Cameroonising activities also makes it possible to counter “certain multinational companies’ persistent blackmail to stop work.”

Significant savings

The first impact of this PAD policy is the savings made across the port activity’s various segments. One of the best examples is the disappearance of head office costs, which the parent company charges to its subsidiaries and have an impact on the result, as well as better control over salary costs, resulting from expatriates’ departure.

Cameroonisation has also brought down costs. “Dredging represented 30% to 40% of the PAD’s operating costs, which is considerable. To dredge 3.7 million m³ of tailings, we were spending nearly 10bn CFA francs per year. We have reduced this cost to less than 4bn CFA francs per year for the same quantity treated,” says Idriss Beye, the dredging authority’s deputy director. Similarly, in terms of security, installing DPS and its video surveillance system has considerably reduced the number of larcenies suffered by the various operators. “This has prevented us from stealing fuel, which our predecessor deplored, and we have therefore been able to make significant savings,” says Ndoh.

Royalties

The dynamics set in motion have thus helped increase the PAD’s income and the resources needed to make the investments required to renovate the infrastructure and acquire new equipment. With a turnover of 56.8bn CFA francs for 2021 – up 14% from the previous financial year – the Régie du Terminal à Conteneurs (RTC) is expected to make a profit of more than 15bn CFA francs.

The net result of its more modest sister company specialising in towing is estimated at around CFAF 1bn, which translates to CFAF 4.3bn (up 23%) in revenue. Add to these resources a collection of fixed and variable royalties, which are increasing overall across the various businesses. In addition, the contract signed with the Swiss company Pukaly to reevaluate dredging residues guarantees an income of 45bn CFA francs for the next 15 years.

These initial satisfactory and promising results are already being replicated in the region’s other ports. For example, one of the dredgers that the PAD has recently acquired will leave in April to stay in the Congolese port of Pointe-Noire so that it can evacuate 1.7m tonnes of sand in order to facilitate maritime access. “We are even studying requests from Venezuela and Colombia,” says Beye.

Source: The Africa Report

When the Chinese arrived in Cameroon in 2011 to begin building the first phase of Kribi Deep Seaport, the Central African nation was hopeful of having a new transport corridor that would link its vast southwestern coastal area and neighboring nations.

The main existing port in the commercial hub of Douala, some 150 km to the north of Kribi was virtually worn out by congestion. To increase transport capacity, the China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) set out to construct the Kribi port, and in three years works were completed.

The new port has stimulated the country’s economy and provided relief for the harbor at Douala port, the country’s most populous city, while also providing dock space for larger ships, said Alain Patrick Mpila Ayissi, Manager of Land development and Environment department of Port Authority of Kribi.

“Since the construction works ended in 2014 and the start of port operations in 2018, there has been notable increase in economic growth. The first indicator is the hikes in the custom revenues as a result of the port. We left from 750 million XAF (US$1.26 million) to practically 150 billion XAF per annum,” said Ayissi.

As a cheap logistics mode, the port is a fundamental foundation of Cameroon’s industrialization process, said Xu Huajiang, general manager of China Harbour Central Africa Division of CHEC who oversaw the construction of the first phase of the port.

“So far, after Kribi (port) was founded, it has attracted a lot of external investment. For example, there is already a cocoa factory invested by Cote d’Ivoire. There are two cement plants under construction. Many logistics enterprises have settled in to build their own yards and warehouses. There are also some Chinese enterprises coming to discuss investment with them in this area,” Xu said.

Kribi port is located on the Atlantic coast some 285 km from the capital Yaounde. It is strategically positioned in the center of the Gulf of Guinea and is surrounded by the 262 square km Kribi Industrial Area, destined to host new industrial and logistical developments.

With Cameroon being a growing market, Kribi is expected to become a regional hub for the African Atlantic coast. Ship-owners will no longer run the risk of offloading part of their cargo elsewhere before docking in Cameroon, said Ayissi.

“With the coming of the Kribi port, Cameroon has once again placed herself as the port entry to the sub-region. This (the port) has added more value to certain industrial projects in Chad, Central African Republic and Congo,” he added.

As part of the project, CHEC also constructed the Kribi-Lolabe highway that will cater to the requirements of the port transportation and logistics and make a contribution to local prosperity.

The highway which includes the construction of 20 bridges, the total length of which is 2 km will serve as an important traffic artery in the Kribi region.

Currently, CHEC is busy constructing the Kribi Deep Sea Port Phase II. After the completion of the project, it is expected to become a large container transit port and comprehensive hub port in Central and West Africa.

Xu revealed that during the process of port and highway construction, over 1,000 jobs had been provided. Cameroonian workers employed by CHEC, including Eric Defo Fotso, Larissa Ekale Koule and Fran Mbofris told Xinhua that building their country’s largest port is an opportunity to update their own skills and contribute to the country’s industrialization.

“We have project coordinators with a lot of experience be it in administrative affairs, project management and I got to live the Chinese culture. We get to see different things from what we heard since childhood. Just working with them is like you traveled to China to learn about this (skills),” said Fotso, 32, who coordinates projects at the site.

“Every nation, like Cameroon aspires to emerge. So it’s an honor for us to have China and her expertise and who willingly accepted to share it with us,” added 26-year-old Koule whose main assignment is to ensure that all onsite workers are in good health and that there are no job-related illnesses.

“They (CHEC) have given us a great opportunity. Our livelihoods have improved significantly,” said Mbofris who spent seven years in China teaching the English language and now works as an interpreter with CHEC.

Ayissi said the Kribi port project is a glaring example of Cameroon’s participation in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, adding that the country is committed to unlocking the potential of interlinked production networks and value chains.

Source: Xinhua