Headline News

8, January 2017

Ghost town and school closures to go ahead on Monday as talks end without agreement ⁰

The ghost town operation and the industrial action by the Consortium of Southern Cameroons teachers and lawyers will go ahead after last ditch talks with the Professor Ghogomu Paul Minglo so-called Ad hoc Committee end without agreement.

Consortium leaders have called on Southern Cameroonians to massively observe a ghost town for tomorrow Monday the 9^th of January 2017. The leaders have also promised to extend the strike action indefinitely if their demands are not met by the Francophone government. Schools around the Southern Cameroons nation will be closed tomorrow.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that both sides have agreed that talks will continue and further contacts will take place with a view to arranging more talks next week. Speaking after yesterday’s discussions, the Anglophone leaders said that large differences remain and progress has been slow, “almost static I would say” hinted Barrister Agbor Balla.

He added that the shutting of schools is the Consortium’s decision. The Gogomu Paul Committee earlier issued a circular to school principals dealing with the implications of the ghost town operation scheduled by the Consortium calling on schools to reopen on Monday the 9^th.

The Anglophone leaders described the move as very provocative and reiterated that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime no longer has legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons. Roman Catholic Education Secretaries including those of the Baptist and Presbyterian churches have all described it as a normal approach if teachers withdraw from core duties until the Anglophone issues are resolve. Wilfred Tassang noted that the action is going ahead because there is no offer on the table from the Yaounde regime.

By Rita Akana in Bamenda

8, January 2017

Former US President Bush, British Queen Elizabeth II, Carter, Rockefeller predicted to die in 2017 ⁰

A website, which correctly predicted 12 celebrity deaths in 2016, says Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and former US Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter as well as American billionaire David Rockefeller are among those who are expected to die this year.

The owners of DeathList.net provided a list of 50 celebrities based on the likelihood of their death during 2017, The Daily Express reported on Saturday. Last year, the website correctly predicted the death of American Boxing champion Muhammad Ali and Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. This year, the expert committee believes that the Queen, 90, and her husband Prince Philip, 95, will likely die.

The queen was suffering from “heavy colds” late last month, according to Buckingham Palace. The monarch fell ill before Christmas and missed Christmas and New Year church services. Her husband, who has heart disease and other health problems, was also suffering cold during Christmas. He is included high on the website’s list.

The list also included two former US Presidents Bush and Carter along with 93-year old Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. He has ruled the African country for more than 36 years. Former Pope Benedict XVI is also on the list.

Last year, twelve of the people on the website’s shortlist passed away, including former US First Lady Nancy Reagan. Some other death candidates on the list, including Stephen Hawking and Prince Philip, however, missed the prediction.

Presstv

8, January 2017

Open letter to H.E. Okala Bilaï, colonial governor of the South West region ³

Your Excellency, it is with regrets that I write to your office at this crucial moment of your colonial occupational rule. Sir, after listening to you this evening (Friday 6th January 2017) over CRTV, I heard you saying “Teachers who will not return to school will have their salaries suspended.” Most of these teachers you are talking about don’t even have a service number yet. And those who got the service number are not different from the thousands of job seekers parading our streets on a daily basis.

These teachers work for close to four years or more before the said salary is made available. moreover, the machinery put in place by your hierarchy in “La République” has made it difficult for teachers to earn what you call salary. How on earth do you create a system that warrants a teacher to give away 20% or more of his or her pay package to an agent before he or she can seemingly boast of having his or her name on the list of those programmed to collect their salaries? Should you take it back, it makes no difference. I wonder whether that salary is the raison d’être of your behavior towards us.

If you are paying us so as to deal with us the way you have been doing in the past and even up-to-date, then you had better done what you have promised. By the way, which salary are you talking about? Is it commensurate to the job teachers do every day? How much is the salary and what is the work load of the teachers you are threatening? Our Fons and Chiefs rejected 50 million from your hierarchy. Our university students waved at the meager 50 thousand francs you people wanted to buy their consciences with. Gone are those days! Money is not our interest! FEDERALISM OR INDEPENDENCE is what we stand for. No amount of money can purchase our freedom!

We have suffered a lot under your colonial administration. No degree of threats can repel us from our target. It is time we stand for what we believe in and hope for. “He who refuses to fight today, will live to fight for ever.” ALUTA CONTINUA.

7, January 2017

Cameroon arrest 700 agents from the Ministry of Finance ¹

700 agents from the Ministry of Finance have been arrested and charged for diverting from the state coffers the sum of 1 billion 300 million FCFA. CIR gathered that the 700 agents are members of a vast network operating within the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.

Several members of the gang have been detained at the Central prison in Kondengui. We gathered that those involved were employed in the salary and human resource department including the IT services. These officials were paid several times and on several occasions. They even received salaries and wages for deceased persons and even the death benefits of some families instead of the rightful beneficiaries. The network also provided fictitious payslips to non civil servants.

The fraudsters benefited from a wide network within the Ministry of Finance. Those in the IT department were in charge of erasing all data from the computers that could trace any money received. This is not the first time that such a network has been dismantled by the Ministry of Finance. Each time it is uncovered with a media announcement, the mafia always succeeds in reappearing again in the ministry of finance where agents are ranked among the richest men and women in Cameroon.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

7, January 2017

Wilfred Tassang says victory is at the corner, Garga Haman cannot stop Ghost Town Operation ¹

Tassang Wilfred is one of the leaders of the largest teachers’ trade union in Cameroon. In a short post released to the public, he has asked West Cameroonians to believe in God, remain steadfast for victory is at the corner. “..Now it is written in the Book of (Exodus) that when the Lord wanted to show His power, glory and destroy Pharaoh, He told Moses “but I will harden his heart so that he will not let my people go.”

Our people in their time-tested wisdom also say, “He the gods want to destroy, they, first of all, make mad”. The Word of God quoted above, and the wisdom of our people referred to above explain succinctly what is happening to Yaoundé. Yaoundé’s resorting to forgery, lies and unprofessional blackmail, the Head of State sending an old and frail Garga Haman to come and bring us to reason is indicative of Yaoundé’s desperation.

The blood of the Lamb is already written on every West Cameroon door post. This is the reason why everyone has received the spirit to discern fake and fraud, forgery and lies. These are signs that don’t lie. A little more determination and Yaoundé’s back will be on the floor. And we shall, like we did in Njindom village during my primary school days, pin Yaoundé to the ground and feed him fists full of dust, apply the same all over him so that when Yaoundé gets up, there will be no lying what happened. The Captain of the hosts of heaven Himself is on the battle field. Just “be still” and know that He is God…”

Praise God.

Deacon Tassang Wilfred

NESG CATTU

7, January 2017

Anglophone Problem: Consortium ready for productive dialogue ⁰

Members of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, have revealed that they are much ready to dialogue with the government to break the deadlock that has existed since the strike action in the North West and South West regions began.

In a Press briefing on the developments of events and their stance, they said, “We are willing to dialogue and solve problems which have beset the NW and SW regions, but Government seems to have other priorities. We still believe that a return to two-states Federation remains the best guarantee or institutional safeguard for the protection of our legal, educational, social economic and political in Cameroon.” They also said only a press conference will be convened to announce any strike suspension and not a Press release.

The announcement comes a day after a fake Press release presumably from a government agent said the strike had been suspended and called on students and pupils to go back to school on Monday, it was later found out that the release was not from the Consortium. The Consortium equally observed with regrets governments plan to undermine the dialogue process by making several moves to non members of the ad hoc committee by trying to coerce Chiefs, Fons, Principals and Elites. Members of the Consortium have given the Parliamentarians One week to secure the release of youth ‘abducted’ in Bamenda without which they will face difficulties in upcoming elections. They maintained the ghost town on Monday the 9th.

Culled from CIN

7, January 2017

Southern Cameroons: New born baby found dead inside a cartoon in Bamenda ⁰

The remains of a four day old baby boy weighing approximately 3.5kg has been discovered at the Bamenda Up-Station.

Saidou a 12 year herdsmen made the discovery. Saidou revealed that in the course of walking his cattle, he saw a brown carton at the hill side. Curious to open, he uncovered a black plastic paper and in it was a dead baby.

He immediately alerted security forces of the army camp who, in the company of municipal authorities got to the scene.

The remains were buried immediately and investigations opened to identify the mother of the dead baby.

CRTV

7, January 2017

Anglophone crisis: Ad Hoc Inter-ministerial Committee Chairman admits South Westerners ⁰

The controversial Chairperson of the so-called Ad Hoc Inter-ministerial Committee tasked with examining and proposing solutions to the concerns raised by the Anglophone Teachers’ Trade Unions, Professor Ghogomu Paul Mingho has issued a release admitting more members into the committee.

Ghogomu who attempted invoking the North West/South West divide to please his Francophone master has finally settled with the recommendation of the North West members of the committee.

The eight new members admitted into the working group include;

1- Mr. Njie Samuel Kale, PCC Education Secretary

2- Mr. Ntoko Ntuba Wilfred, Cameroon Education Forum

3- Mr. George Ngwane, parent

4- Ms. Louise Ebenye Ikome, Principal G.B.H.S Tiko

5- Mr. Mbete William, Principal G.T.H.S Muyuka

6- Mr. S.T Mbu, Education Secretary Lay Private

7- Fr. Ebiaga Peter Paul, Mamfe Diocess

8- Mr. Motanga Hilary Hamza, Islamic Education Secretary Buea

It is widely believed that the admission of these members by Ghogomu Paul Mingo, Chairman of the committee will bring more serenity to future discussions. The decision was made following pressure from members of the committee during their first meeting that more representatives from the South West Region be incorporated into the committee.

CRTV

7, January 2017

Ivory Coast: Heavy gunfire heard near military base in second largest city ⁰

Heavy gunfire has been heard near the main military base in Ivory Coast’s second largest city of Bouake as disgruntled soldiers remain in control of the city after waging a mutiny over wages. “The shooting is very heavy right now at the 3rd Battalion. I’m nearby and I hear it like it was right next to us,” said a Bouake resident Konan Benoit in a phone contact on Saturday as quoted in a report by Reuters, which added that gunfire could be heard on the line.

Heavy fighting and gunfire exchanges broke out early on Saturday near the key military camp in the city of nearly half a million inhabitants, where angry soldiers and military officers started a revolt against the central government over pay and bonuses a day earlier. Most of those involved in the armed revolt are reportedly former rebels who were later integrated into the nation’s army.

A picture taken in Bouake on January 6, 2017 shows UN Blue Helmet peacekeepers vehicles arriving at the entrance of the city where soldiers demanding more pay and housing revolted earlier in the day. (Photo by AFP)

Reports indicate that the uprising has spread to a number of other cities with the nation’s Defense Minister Alain-Richard Donwahi declaring on national television that a group of soldiers had used their weapons to force their way into Bouake’s military headquarters shortly after midnight to make known their demands.

“Mainly they revolved around the issue of payment, timely bonuses, around grades, the time it takes to get to the superior grade. There were also demands relating to the living conditions for soldiers,” Donwahi stated. He further described the move by the rebelling soldiers as “deplorable,” reasoning that the nation was recovering from a deep crisis. However, he also noted that their grievances were “understandable” and that he would travel to Bouake on Saturday to speak to the revolting soldiers.

“We shall talk with our men, collect their concerns and then find solutions to this situation which is deplorable, it’s understandable but still deplorable because of the image of our country, because of the work done by the president of the republic since coming out of the crisis, to demonstrate in this way can be prejudicial to our country but we understand what happened,” Donwahi added.

Passengers rest next to a bus, some 15 km from Bouake, as they wait to enter the large city on January 6, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The defense minister, who confirmed that five cities has so far been affected by the uprising, made the remarks following an emergency meeting with other members of the African country’s National Security Council, including President Alassane Ouattara and senior military officers.

According to press reports, exchange of gunfire also erupted at a military base in Daloa city, the main trading hub in the western cocoa belt, where civilians said soldiers, some wearing masks, were patrolling the streets in sport utility vehicles. The city of Bouake was the seat of another uprising that began in Ivory Coast in 2002 and controlled the northern half of the country until it was reunited following a civil war in 2011.

Presstv

7, January 2017

Revealed: President Putin helped Donald Trump win the presidential election ⁰

US intelligence agencies claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered his government to help Republican Donald Trump win the presidential election. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) released a report on Friday which shows Russia “sought to help” Trump by running a smear campaign against Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival.

“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments,” the report read.

“When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the election, the Russian influence campaign began to focus more on undermining her future presidency,” it added. Heavily favored to win the election, Clinton led Trump in most polls throughout the campaign but lost the ultimate face-off to him on November 8. The run-up to the November vote saw the two candidates attacking each other over a series of confidential emails that belonged to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton’s top aide John Podesta.

Trump said that the emails showed Clinton’s corruption, proving that she was unfit to lead the country. Clinton, however, blamed the leaks on Moscow and accused Trump of getting help from the Kremlin. President Barack Obama’s administration has been blaming the hacks on Russia, but the Kremlin has categorically denied the claim.

The Friday report by the American intelligence agencies claimed that Russia’s behavior since early November had increased the credibility of their assessment. Trump and Moscow have been on seemingly good terms since the vote. Putin has even written a letter to the incoming US president, calling for better ties with the US.

The report said Russia chose WikiLeaks as an outlet for the hacked documents because of the anti-secrecy website’s “self-proclaimed reputation for authenticity.” “Russia collected on some Republican-affiliated targets but did not conduct a comparable disclosure campaign,” the report continued. The three agencies concluded that Russia would use the learnings of the “Putin-ordered” campaign to carry out future operations worldwide.

Presstv