President Paul Biya has ordered the restoration of internet services to the crisis-hit North West and South West regions in a move widely seen as a step towards unlocking the Anglophone crisis deadlock.

The presidential instructions given on Thursday April 20, 2017 come 93 days after the regions were deprived of what the U.N. calls an important tool for development, communication and collective development. The government ordered the disconnection of internet services to the region in January protests by the minority English speakers over alleged marginalisation by majority French speaking Yaounde regime.

Besides the internet freeze, the government arrested leaders of the now outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) which has been coordinating the teachers and lawyers’ strike that spiraled into violence. CACSC president, Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla and secretary-general, Dr Fontem Neba as well as Mancho Bibixy are now facing a death sentence at the Yaounde military court on charges of terrorism.

About 100 other detainees including opposition political leaders and journalists arrested in relation to the crisis are yet to be charged. The government has been under heavy pressure from the national and international community to restore the internet and release all detainees of the crisis for dialogue to take its course. During a four-day official visit to the country recently, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Central Africa, François Louncény Fall urged government to restore the internet and release all detainees of the crisis.

The U.N envoy told a press conference in Yaounde last week that he had “fruitful and hopeful” exchanges with all the stakeholders in the crisis. He said he met with Government officials, members of civil society, opposition leaders, members of the diplomatic corps and the UN system as well as people arrested and detained in connection with the situation in the North West and South West, including Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla and radio broadcaster Mancho Bibixy. Like the restoration of the internet, observers say President Biya could also order the release of all detainees of the crisis in the coming days.

Source: Cameroun Info.Net

The images of the home of Antoine Félix Samba have been buzzing on the web for several days now. Internet users think the luxury of his castle is outrageous for a Cameroonian civil servant with 27 years experience.  A lot of tongues have been wagging about illicit enrichment, because until March 2017, Antoine Félix Samba was the Director General of the Budget at the Ministry of Finance.

Currently, he holds the position of Inspector General in the same ministry. According to his biography published by the Ministry of Finance, in 1999, he was appointed Director of General Affairs at the Ministry of Transport. Four years later, he was promoted to Technical Adviser n ° 2 in 2005 within the same ministry. He later became Director of Corporate Affairs at the Ministry of Mines and Mayor of Minta before assuming his current duties. Antoine Félix Samba is Knight of the National Order of Valor.

Antoine Félix Samba was born in 1961 and is a graduate of the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC). He has had quite an ordinary public service career, which does not permit him to own such an expensive castle. Prior to joining the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), at the age of 24, he was head of the accounting office of the Cameroon Press and Publishing Company (SOPECAM) Then Chief Financial Officer and Accountant.

He held his first post as an official in the Ministry of Public Service upon graduating from ENAM in 1989 devoted to the processing of integration files in the personnel sub-directorate. In 1990, he was assigned to the Secretariat of State for Internal Security, currently General Delegation for National Security (DGSN). His kinsmen now say he has also been an entrepreneur with the agricultural fiber, which help him to develop large farms in Minta, his home town in the department of the Upper Sanaga, Central region.

By Sama Ernest

Cameroon Concord News

The 84 year Cameroonian dictator, Paul Biya has instructed the Francophone Minister of Post and Telecommunications to restore internet services to predominantly English-speaking parts of the country which were cut off in an appalling violation of Anglophone right to freedom of expression.

Biya made the decision following pressure from the United Nations and other international bodies. Cameroonians in the northwest and southwest regions, which are predominantly English speaking, have been unable to connect to the internet since 17 January amid widespread protests against the Francophone government policies which have reportedly marginalized the country’s English-speaking population.

Southern Cameroonians have long reported that they face discrimination and marginalization and are excluded from top civil service positions and public services. They also complain their access to justice is limited because the majority of legislation and judicial proceedings are in French. A network shutdown of the Southern Cameroons scale violated international law.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Some ten shops have been destroyed by wild fire at the Etoudi market in Yaoundé. The flames that erupted in the early hours of Tuesday the 18^th of April 2017 were believed to have come from a poor electrical connection in the market.

Soldiers of the National Fire Brigade at Etoudi intervened and later received support from the Mimboman Fire Brigade to effectively contain the fire that engulfed a portion of the busy market.

No human lives were lost in the incident but millions of CFA francs of investments were reduced to nothing. The fire reportedly consumed mobile phone shops and some restaurants. Travel agencies situated behind the electronic section of the market also suffered some damages.

Traders were wailing in consternation as they helplessly watched their livelihood crushed away in huge fumes of dark smoke. The Etoudi market is located barely a few kilometer from the State House. It is currently under construction though parts of the uncompleted structures have already been occupied by traders.

Source: CRTV

Detained Southern Cameroon Lawyers have distanced themselves from declarations made by the President of the Cameroon Bar Council on April 9,2017 in which he confirmed that after due consultations, Anglophone Lawyers have agreed to resume work on May 2.

In a Press Conference held in Yaoundé Tuesday April 18, 2017 the lead defense Counsel for the detainees, Barrister Bernard MUNA said his clients were not party to declarations coming from Barrister Jackson Ngnie Kamga and that the Batonnier did not consult those detained or their defense counsel and did not say what will happen to those imprisoned after courts reopen.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Biya Francophone regime has been wooing some young Anglophone lawyers in the South West who are suffering financially due to the strike action to resume work. Some of the legal minds in Limbe, Tiko and Buea are already flirting with the idea of getting back to court. However, one of the lawyers interviewed by our undercover reporter in Buea said Anglophone lawyers will only go back to court when certain conditions are met.

By Rita Akana

The images of a castle reportedly belonging to Antoine Félix Samba, former Director General of Budget at the Ministry of Finance has ignited the web. It was an amateur photographer who captured the images of the house owned by Antoine Félix Samba currently serving as Inspector General in the same Ministry.

It is a residence made up of successive duplexes surmounted by dome roof and connected by suspended footbridges. Work has not even finished as there seem to be an extension as indicated in one of the videos posted. The whole house is bathed in an ostentatious luxury, with a recurrence of marble, gilding, precious wood, staff, glazing and wrought iron. The owner of the house has a taste for decoration, with a canvas depicting the Last Supper, where Jesus and his apostles took the last meal before the passion of Christ.

The owner also loves of art.  A Bamileke mask is recognizable among many others, lions and goddesses are frozen in the marble of eternity in this environment that transpires the splendor. On one of the photos posted there is a swimming pool, the ultimate embellishment of a house that has nothing to envy the castles of Qatar emirs presented in documentaries dedicated to billionaires.

The estate built by Italian entrepreneurs, it is said to be located in the Nkolondom district in Yaoundé, on the flank of one of the seven hills of Yaoundé. The public now say Mr. Samba got the money as a result  of bad governance, unfair distribution of wealth, laxity of our leaders and an irresponsible Cameroonian population.