Headline News

11, March 2017

Video showing Chantal Biya celebrating amid killings and rapes in Anglophone Cameroon ²

A video showing Cameroon’s first lady, Chantal Biya sharing a private time with her close friends probably in one of the apartments of the Unity Palace in Yaoundé have since yesterday Friday, March 10, 2017 rocked the entire nation.

The wife of the President of the Republic Paul Biya appeared in a relaxed mood in the video where she and her interlocutors jiggled and evoked in a funny way the successful hit Miss Lolo by the Ivorian artist Meiway. What appeared as a staging was interrupted after 16 seconds on instruction from Chantal Biya.

11, March 2017

Chantal Biya cousin renders several homeless in Yaounde ¹

A peaceful march has been staged in Yaounde against Antoine Félix Samba, General Director of the Budget at the Ministry of Finance and cousin to First Lady Chantal Biya accused of using his family’s proximity with the wife of President Paul Biya to demolish homes and throw hundreds of families in Yaoundé to the streets.

The protest was organized by a representative of the group of homeless families in the Nkozoa district, Fonke Issa. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that the cousin of Chantal Biya was acting with the complicity of Jacqueline Koung a Bessike, Minister in charge of Lands and a few individuals at the Ministry of Justice.

The Antoine Felix Samba demolition started on September 4, 2016, at the beginning of the school year when he reportedly send heavily armed men and drug addicts to demolish a school and some houses in the locality. “They beat up all those who resisted. They broke or grabbed phones from people trying to take pictures. They told us that they acted on instructions from the cousin of Chantal Biya, the president’s brother-in-law and that nothing could happen to them, “Fonka Issa revealed. Antoine Félix Samba has further undertaken the construction of a wall on the disputed plot.

In a country where, according to experts, 50% of the disputes brought before the courts are land-based, the demonstrators now on the street, say they expect much from the President of the Republic. Dozens of families, from the area are now sleeping under the stars. All their dwellings have been demolished. They began a series of public demonstrations to stir up the slippage of a member of the regime who would use his proximity with Chantal Biya to undermine social cohesion, peace and national unity.

Antoine Samba was quoted as saying that the inhabitants of the Nkozoa district were predominantly Bamilekes who do not have a place in Yaoundé and should go back to the West region.

By Chi Prudence Asong

11, March 2017

CPDM President arrested for car theft in Yaounde ¹

François Domique Bekolo, the CPDM Sub Section President for Nyong et So’o Division and three members of his executive were presented to the public last Thursday at the Regional Division of the Judicial Police in the Center region for car theft. The prominent militants of the ruling party were arrested by elements of the Central Judicial Police Division (DRPJC). The CPDM thugs had in a total 16 cars of various brands Toyota Corolla and Carina E., a bag of 200 kilograms of jewelry, a capacitor Sony Ericsson and a Compressor.

The four criminals, specialized in vehicle theft in Yaoundé and its surrounding environment have strong links with the presidency of the the republic including the National Gendarmerie. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the CPDM gang regularly forced the owners of the vehicles at gun point to drive to Tsinga, near Dzeng in Nyong and So’o. As a method of operation, they then contact their accomplices at the Regional Transport Delegation and establish new gray cards for the stolen vehicles and then sell them.

Apart from car theft which was their main activity, Françis Dominique Bekolo and his associates were also master of the art of unloading container trucks. Indeed, after having followed for a few moments a truck in the night, the thugs would wisely stop the truck driver and spray a chemical at him that would make him sleep then finally unload the goods being transported by the truck.

This item is still developing

Reported By Cameroon Intelligence Report

11, March 2017

Indomitable Lions: Anglophone striker dropped for disrespecting Roger Milla ⁴

Cameroon’s Belgian technician made public on Friday the list of players selected for the upcoming friendly matches. Six players who contributed to the victory of the Lions in the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon are not included.

Hugo Broos’s new list of 23 players will play two friendly matches in the next FIFA period, against Tunisia on 24 March in Monastir (Tunisia) and against Guinea Conakry on 28 March in Brussels, Belgium. The absence of Clinton Njié, Sébastien Siani, Robert Ndip Tambe, Edgar Salli and Jonathan Ngwem has not gone unnoticed.

The fact that the coach did not take time to clarify the non-convocation of these players who were part of the glorious expedition in Gabon, piles up many ambiguities. Cameroon Concord News learnt that the absence of Clinton Njié would amount to a sanction imposed by FECAFOOT for seriously disrespecting Roger Milla in Gabon.

For the moment, Hugo Broos has still not explained his choices. The thesis of the exclusion of some players is already fueling the debates since the two friendly matches are part of the preparations for the next FIFA World Cup, which will be played from 17 June to 2 July 2017 in Russia.

By Sonne Peter

10, March 2017

UN and Burkinabe officials at Unity Palace ¹

The Resident Coordinator of the United Nations Development Program System, Najat Rochdi has come to the end of her mission to Cameroon. She held a farewell audience on the 8^th of March 2017 at the Presidency of the Republic with Minister Secretary General, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh on behalf of the Head of State.

The outgoing UN coordinator after the audience expressed satisfaction with achievements of the UN System which she partly attributed to the hospitality of the Cameroonian people. She leaves Cameroon after a four year diplomatic mission. Najat Rochdi has been appointed to the Central African Republic as Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Multi- Dimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission MINUSCA and also as UN Resident Coordinator, Humanitarian Coordinator, and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program UNDP.

The Secretary General also received in audience a Special Envoy of the President of Burkina Faso. Thierry Hot was bearer of a special message from President Rorc Marc Christian Kabore. Thierry Hot had served as a correspondent with the BBC and Africa 24.

CRTV

10, March 2017

Fru Ndi says Prime Minister Philemon Yang is making a mockery of himself ²

The Chairman of the Social Democratic Front has made public an assessment of Prime Minister Philemon Yang’s tour of the North West Region plagued by the Anglophone uprising. Fru Ndi told reporters that it is not with force that the Biya Francophone government would convince parents to send their children to school.

On the instruction of the President of the Republic, Prime Minister Philemon Yang traveled to the North West for a soothing tour. Since last Monday, the Head of the Government visited all the seven administrative constituencies that make up the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons. Ni John Fru Ndi, said that the PM’s mission so far was not a success.

“I learned that the Prime Minister was in the city of Bamenda. He did not invite me and the observation that emerges is that the schools have not resumed! And it is not with force that teachers and students will return to the classrooms. The Prime Minister only ridiculed himself. He knows the problem and he just has to be truthful with the parents. They expected the head of the government to come and talk to them and ask for what they wanted. He did not do it. He came to say what Biya wanted Anglophones to do, to invite the parents and pupils to resume classes. This is not the way to go. The Government must engage in frank dialogue. I must say that Mr. Biya knows the problem of teachers and lawyers, “said Ni John Fru Ndi the leader of the SDF.

Cameroon Intelligence Report

10, March 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Philemon Yang treated like a “common politician” ⁰

Prime Minister Philemon Yang has completed his tour of the Bamenda province of Southern Cameroons some two months after his last visit to his home constituency. The Premier traveled to the region and made an ultimate plea for the resumption of schools in West Cameroon.

The Yang Philemon trip that took him to the seven divisional headquarters that make up the Bamenda province failed to yield the anticipated results. Southern Cameroonian groups who received the Head of Government challenged him to openly condemn the rapes, extra judicial killings and the numerous arrests and abductions currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

From Ngo-Kentungia to Boyo via Donga-Mantung and Menchum including Mezam, Momo, and Bui, Philemon Yang was treated like a common politician. Cameroon Concord News understands the Prime Minister’s visit has helped to energize the people’s revolution as schools have still not started.

It is hard to say who is really in charge in Yaoundé as the decision to travel to the North West came only after the Ministries in charge of Education, made public a statement that students and pupils, the strike notwithstanding, still have an opportunity to attend catch-up classes to cover-up for lost time.

The frustrated members of the Cameroon GCE Board, also met last week, and announced an extension for registration of the GCE. The Prime Minister’s trip to the North West Region therefore was another vain opportunity for schools to re-open. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has applauded the people of Southern Cameroons for their resistance.

By Rita Akana

10, March 2017

China says Power-for-money deals directed 2016 US presidential vote ⁰

China has strongly rejected US criticism of its human rights record, accusing American politicians of corruption and hypocrisy. China’s State Council Information Office, in a report entitled “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2016” and released on Thursday, scoffed at Washington’s repeated pose as “the judge of human rights.”

The report stated that the United States continues to wield “the baton of human rights” and criticize many countries for the human rights situation while it takes no heed of its own “terrible human rights problems.” It added that “the self-proclaimed human rights advocate has exposed its human rights myth” with “the gunshots lingering in people’s ears behind the Statue of Liberty, worsening racial discrimination and the election farce dominated by money politics and power-for-money deals.”

“Waves of boycotts and protests fully exposed the hypocritical nature of US democracy,” the report pointed out. The United States had the second highest prisoner rate last year, with 693 prisoners per 100,000 of the national population. Gun-related crimes also reached a high level, according to the report. There were a total of 58,125 gun violence incidents, including 385 mass shootings, in the United States in 2016, leaving 15,039 killed and 30,589 injured, the report cited figures from a report by the Gun Violence Archive.

Moreover, US social polarization worsened in 2016 and the proportion of adults who had full-time jobs hit a new low since 1983, income gaps continued to grow, the size of middle class began to shrink, and living conditions of the lower class deteriorated, the report added.

The percentage of Americans who said they were in the middle or upper-middle class dropped by 10 percentage points, from an average of 61 percent between 2000 and 2008 to 51 percent in 2016. That descent meant 25 million people in the United States fared much worse in economic terms, the report highlighted.

It added that race relations continued to deteriorate in the US last year, and the wage gap between blacks and whites was the worst in nearly four decades. The report came in response to “The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016” issued by the US State Department on March 3. Washington’s report accused China of “repression and coercion” of civil society groups, and claimed that Beijing is impinging on people’s liberties in Hong Kong and Macau.

Presstv

9, March 2017

1000s of AK 47 rifles intercepted in Douala ⁰

Some 6,000 AK 47 rifles were intercepted on Wednesday in Douala by the national gendarmerie. The information reported by a private radio station in the economic capital was confirmed to Cameroon Concord News by a leading security source of the gendarmerie brigade in Douala.

Our source revealed that a retired police officer was also arrested during the operation that took place around 3am in a travel agency. The man is the head of a gang suspected of belonging to a network of arms traffickers.

Cameroon security officials noted that the guns were destined for Central African Republic militia groups operating in the North and the East of Cameroon.

By Rita Akana

9, March 2017

International Women’s Day: All is well in French Cameroun ²

The First Lady, Mrs. Chantal BIYA has presided over an orderly and colourful march-past at the 20^th May Boulevard – Yaounde, to commemorate the 32^nd International Women’s Day in Cameroon.

A mammoth crowd of women from several walks of life participated in the event, organised by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, MINPROFF. The event was characterised by the passage of a large Cameroonian flag and the effigies of President Paul BIYA and wife, Mrs. Chantal BIYA.

Special messages on banners were also used to clamour for gender equality, women empowerment, and an end to child marriages in Cameroon. Majority of the slogans were directly connected to this year’s theme: “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”.

The women who were particularly happy with the presence of the First Lady at the grandstand, equally seized the opportunity to denounce acts of terrorism and other forms of extremism that are aimed at destabilising Cameroon.