The news from France is not good at all. Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, is fighting for his life. The 91-year-old Biya, who was expected to attend Friday’s opening session of the 2024 Francophone Summit, was indeed a no-show. (See group picture of heads of state and government)

The ailing president was represented by the country’s External Relations Minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella, who was rushed into Paris when it became clear that Mr. Biya who has been away from Cameroon for 38 days now, would not be attending the summit as his prostate cancer is already spreading to some of the 91-year-old dictator’s internal and vital organs.

A source in France informed the Cameroon Concord News Group’s Paris correspondent that things were not looking well for the country, adding that the dictator was bedridden at the Percy Army Training Hospital known in French as the Hôpital National D’instruction Des Armées Percy located at 2 Rue Lieutenant Raoul, Batamy, 92140 Clamart, France.

It is reported that the Hôpital National D’instruction Des Armées Percy is where François Mitterrand, a former French President who died of prostate cancer at the age of 79, spent his last days.

Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent is keeping an eye on that health facility with a view to extracting information from medical practitioners working in that hospital.

Our correspondent has already reported that he has identified some members of the dying dictator’s entourage around the hospital premises and from their body language; there could be some bad news on the horizon.

Since leaving Cameroon in early September for China to attend the China-Africa Summit, Mr. Biya has been hiding in the French health facility where he is receiving world-class care.

Mr. Biya, who has presided over his country’s destiny for 42 years, has been unable to build a world-class hospital which can take care of his health needs.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

A 13-year-old girl in Cameroon’s economic capital, Douala, was sexually abused and impregnated by her father.

According to our sources, the incident has been going on since the girl was 8 years old but the young girl has be scared to report the matter.

Even the girl’s mother who has been aware of the abuse chose to keep things under wraps and this has been like an encouragement to her husband.

The news of the scandal was made public when the mother took the girl to a nearby clinic to terminate the pregnancy but the doctor refused to carry out the procedure.

Being aware that the residents of the neighbourhood had been informed of the abominable incident, the mother took the child and fled to an unknown place while the father, who is staring down the barrel of imprisonment, is on the run.

By Cecilia M Manjang

Cameroon’s External Affairs Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella, is currently in Paris, France, where he is expected to represent Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, at the Francophonie Summit scheduled for September 4-5, 2024.

The 91-year-old Paul Biya has not returned to Cameroon since he travelled to China where he attended the China-Africa Summit wherein the focus was on cooperation ties between Africa and China.

Sources close to the Cameroonian dictator say Mr. Biya has been hospitalized in a French hospital where he is fighting for his life against wildly spreading prostate cancer.

Though members of the dictator’s entourage insist that he will still attend the Francophonie summit which starts tomorrow Friday, September 4, 2024, in the French capital, observers argue that it will be a miracle if Mr. Biya attends the summit given his current state of health.

Our correspondent in Paris has been reliably informed that the Francophie secretariat has still confirmed that Mr. Biya will attend the event, adding that the dictator’s protocol services have not yet informed Francophonie officials that Mr. Biya’s scheduled has changed.

Many people are asking questions about Mr. Biya’s whereabouts, especially as the country he leads is falling apart, with Yaoundé, the country’s capital, spotting huge heaps of garbage and posting high rates of crime.

Since taking over the country in 1982 following the resignation of the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, Mr. Biya has spent most of his time out of the country, letting his ministers to run the country however they want; a situation which has led to widespread corruption and embezzlement.

Corruption, unemployment and crime have become the country’s hallmarks and this is causing many Cameroonians to leave the country. The country’s youths are leaving in droves heading to any country which can deliver some form of peace to them.

Also, the country’s death rate has escalated over the last thirty years, with many government hospitals being characterized by critics as consultation clinics. Millions of Cameroonians have lost their lives due to the lack of quality health care and there are no improvements in the offing.

Many Cameroonians are looking forward to the 2025 presidential election as they consider the election as an opportunity to vote out the incompetent and ailing president who is out of touch with reality.

Many observers are really waiting to see if Mr. Biya will be attending the Francophonie summit tomorrow. If he turns out to be a no-show, Cameroonians will be convinced that he is a dying man who is on his way out.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Financial support for armed separatist activities in the North West and South West regions has “declined over time,” largely due to government actions, according to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled).

The report which examines the separatist conflict, notes that the Cameroonian government intensified its monitoring of financial flows between the diaspora and armed groups starting in 2019, two years after the conflict began.

“As a representative for the Agence Nationale d’Invéstigation Financière (ANIF), the Cameroonian national financial crime agency explained, the government realized that separatist armed groups tended to collect their transfers in the early morning or late evening, and security forces began monitoring pickups at these times, which led to numerous arrests,” the report indicates.

According to the report, the government’s crackdown involved tracking financial movements. This tracking led to “serious consequences for some of the individuals involved.” For instance, one person was arrested after security forces examined his bank account, which revealed a transfer from the diaspora, resulting in his imprisonment at Douala New Bell prison.

However, tighter monitoring of financial flows isn’t the only factor behind the dwindling financial support. The report highlights a loss of trust among members of the Anglophone diaspora, driven by suspicions of embezzlement and the opaque use of funds by some well-known separatist leaders. Many donors, initially under the impression they were funding humanitarian efforts, were disillusioned upon discovering their contributions were being diverted to fund armed conflict. “Reportedly, many of the donors who had given money to activists fundraising for the separatist cause had been led to believe they were funding humanitarian, not militant efforts,” the report explains.

Another key factor in the decline of financial aid is the atrocities committed by separatists against civilians, which has repelled some financial backers. “A decline in the credibility of the diaspora leaders was an important factor in the decline of diaspora donations. However, this decline was also linked to a decline in the credibility of the armed groups themselves, particularly in regard to their treatment of civilians,” the report concludes.

In response to the reduced funding, armed separatists have turned to forced “taxation,” extortion, and kidnappings for ransom to sustain their activities.

Source: Business in Cameroon