Headline News

22, July 2016

Douala: British Oil and Gas operator to begin drilling in Cameroon ⁰

The British oil and gas operator, Victoria Oil & Gas has installed 2500 tons of equipment in Cameroon for the exploitation of the Logbaba gas field. The UK operator has taken up residence in the economic capital of Douala in view of drilling two gas production wells.

Cameroon Concord News understands work on the wells will begin in the third quarter 2016 (July-September) to be completed by the end of the year. The management of the British group VOG estimated that the two wells are needed to meet the growing demand for gas.

Sama Ernest (Cameroon Concord News)

22, July 2016

“Trump will win the November presidential election” ⁰

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will win the November presidential election, according to American documentary filmmaker and author Michael Moore. Moore made the prediction at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, during a special edition of HBO’s program “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

“I’m sorry to have to be the buzzkill here so early on, but I think Trump is going to win,” he declared to gasps and boos from the progressive live audience. “Boo if you want.” The 62-year-old liberal filmmaker said Trump would exploit angry white voters in his favor, and Americans are likely to support him like British citizens voted in June to leave the European Union — known as Brexit.

“I live in Michigan. Let me tell you, it’s going to be the Brexit strategy,” Moore said. “The middle of England is Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania,” he said. “And Mitt Romney lost by 64 electoral votes. The total number of electoral votes in those states in the Rust Belt: 64. All [Trump] has to do is win those four states.”

Earlier in the day, Moore told a press conference that Trump “knows how to manipulate a dumbed-down population.” “The population of schools has been wrecked, and the news media is just insipid and stupid and doesn’t give the people the facts about what’s going on,” he stated, adding that American voters are “easily manipulated.” He added that Trump is “not as stupid as he looks. You should take [him] very seriously.”

“He knows the manipulation that’s going on here, and the use of propaganda and the way he’s doing it is just brilliant in the way that he is succeeding and has succeeded,” he continued. A new poll shows that Trump is only trailing his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, with one percentage point in the run-up to the November vote.

According to the NBC News/Survey Monkey Weekly Election Tracking poll released on Tuesday, the former secretary of state has 46 percent of the votes as compared to Trump’s 45 percent, down from last week’s version of the poll that showed Clinton on the lead by 3 percentage points.

Presstv

22, July 2016

Cameroon: Minister of Women Empowerment and Family welcomes the Revised Penal Code ⁰

The Minister of Women Empowerment and the Family, Marie Therese Abena Ondoa has praised the Revised Penal Code, calling it a perfect representation on the integration of women. The Minister made the remark in a press release recently signed in Yaounde.

She noted that the portions of the code which punishes Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), sexual harassment, obstacles to educating the girl child, acts towards preventing the normal growth of body parts of a girl and the denial of visitation rights to separated parents, are worth lauding.

The Minister also expressed satisfaction with the section which demands the equal treatment of men and women in the case of adultery. In the press release, Minister Marie Therese Abena Ondoa implored all Cameroonians to respect the code, while encouraging the women to support it.

CRTV

22, July 2016

Buea: Forum to raise funds to support orphans and widows of fallen soldiers ends up with numerous pledges ⁰

The Fallen Patriotic Foundation, FPF, a non-denominational and apolitical organization has joined hands with government to support orphans and widows of soldiers who died in the course of defending the nation in the war against Boko Haram extremism. According to statistics from FPF, there are close to 450 orphans who need full parental support. The founder of the foundation, Laura Ndiwane epse Sako, said FPF was working to provide assistance in the area of education to children of fallen soldiers.

They also seek to provide counseling and psychosocial assistance to families of the deceased to enable them cope with the situation and accept the loss, as well as assist them in the compilation of documents to receive death benefits from the State, among others. During the ceremony, the Secretary General of Buea Council on behalf of the Mayor, made a contribution for schools in Buea, while Mrs. Menga pledged to sponsor all orphans of fallen patriots in the South West Region.

A company that supplies antennas pledged to sponsor all the orphans of two northern regions. There were other pledges as well as freewill donations. The widow of Major Agbor Djomo Johnson, Noubessi Ruth, said that her daughter was just six weeks old in her womb before the father died at the battle front. A video of the activities of the military in the battle front was also projected during the ceremony.

The Fallen Patriots Foundation was created on November 27, 2015 in Yaoundé with the objective to support and guarantee the education of orphans of fallen soldiers. The importance of the ceremony was to present the foundation and to raise funds. In the days ahead, specifically on the 10^th 12^th and 19^th of August, 2016, scholarships will be awarded to children from Maroua, Garoua and Yaoundé respectively.

Cameroon Tribune

21, July 2016

Nigeria: Army frees 42 children, 38 women from Boko Haram cells ²

Nigeria’s military has rescued at least 80 children and women in an operation against the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group in the country’s troubled northeast. Army spokesperson Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said on Thursday that the captives were released on Tuesday by troops who attacked a gathering of the Boko Haram militants at Gangere village in Borno state.

The official added that the freed hostages included 42 children and 38 women. Usman noted that 42 terrorists were also killed during the high-scale offensive. This comes as military has reportedly freed as many as 10,000 hostages form the grips of the Boko Haram terrorists this year. The Takfiri terrorist group has kidnapped a large number of civilians, including several women over the past years.

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 girls from their secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok in Borno. Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape afterwards, but the fate of the remaining others is still largely unknown.

That mass abduction of female students by the terrorist group has shocked people around the world and brought global attention to Boko Haram’s militancy. Boko Haram started its campaign of militancy in 2009 with the aim of toppling the central government in Nigeria. It has so far taken the lives of more than 20,000 people and forced over 2.7 million others from their homes.

Boko Haram has expanded its terror activities to Nigeria’s neighboring countries. Troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have been battling the terrorists in recent months. The group has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorists operating mainly in Syria and Iraq.

Presstv

21, July 2016

“Tony Blair shall sleep no more” ⁰

British MPs have been given a date in September to debate a motion in the House of Commons to find former prime minister Tony Blair in contempt of parliament for involving the UK in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The date was agreed on Wednesday by the speaker and MPs from across seven parties led by Scottish National Party’s Alex Salmond.

The motion will say that former Labour prime minister had given “seriously misleading” statements in the House of Commons in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and should be therefore held in contempt. The motion was launched after the Chilcot inquiry into the role of the UK in the Iraq war released a report on July 6.

Even if the motion was passed, it would be mainly symbolic as the House of Commons has not used its power to punish non-MPs for several years. The Chilcot report offered a scathing critique of the UK government’s involvement, under Blair, in and after the invasion of Iraq.

The report said Blair had overstated the threat posed by Saddam’s supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), deployed ill-prepared forces to the Arab country and had “wholly” inadequate plans for after Saddam’s ouster.

Members of the media inspect the volumes that comprise Iraq Inquiry report, during its presentation by John Chilcot in London on July 6, 2016. ©AFP

The report concluded that Blair’s decision to join the US-led war in Iraq was made “before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted.” A spokesperson for the group of MPs who launched the motion said families of British soldiers killed in Iraq were also planning legal action against Blair that would proceed separately.

The inquiry revealed that “Blair was promising US President George W Bush in private memos while he was telling Parliament and people something entirely different in public statements,” the spokesperson also said.

“If we are to prevent such a catastrophe happening again it is essential that parliamentarians learn to hold the executive to critical examination in a way that Parliament failed to do in 2003,” the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, families of dead soldiers have launched an appeal to raise£150,000 to pay for a legal assessment of the Chilcot report to determine whether they could pursue private prosecution of Blair. The appeal, known as the Crowd Justice, said in a statement on its website that the report has confirmed that there were“serious failings” before and after Iraq war.

“Our armed forces must never again be so callously sacrificed by political ambition and the irresponsibility and failings of Government and Whitehall,” the statement also said. “Those responsible should be held to account. Now it is down to us, the families, to ensure that justice is done,” it added.

Presstv

21, July 2016

Yaounde: Government Delegate fighting urban disorder ⁰

The Government Delegate to the Yaoundé City Council, Gilbert Tsimi Evouna inaugurated seven modern multipurpose kiosks on Wednesday the 20th of July 2016. The new cabins will serve as links between customers and enterprises and contribute in fighting urban disorder.

Prior to the building of the kiosks, the haphazard implantation of business kiosks along streets was the situation that prevailed in Yaoundé. The Government Delegate explained that the number of kiosks will increase to 150 by November 2016 and 500 in 2017. The project was co-sponsored by the city council and some undisclosed institutions.

CRTV

21, July 2016

Plagiarism incident: Donald Trump aide dishes out apology ⁰

A Donald Trump campaign staffer has apologized after the US Republican presidential nominee’s wife was accused of using remarks by First Lady Michelle Obama in a speech broadcast live to millions of people.

Melania Trump’s Monday address to the Republican National Convention contained similarities to a 2008 convention speech by US President Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle. In a written statement on Wednesday evening, Meredith McIver admitted she made a mistake by not checking Michelle Obama’s former speeches.

The statement said McIver offered to resign but the Republican presidential nominee had rejected the offer. McIver explained that she included the parts from Michelle Obama’s speech after listening to Melania read passages from the First Lady’s 2008 speech.

“Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech,” she said.

“I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches. This was my mistake, and I feel terrible for the chaos I have caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant,” she stated.

Michelle Obama speaks on August 25, 2008 at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. (Getty Images)

Donald Trump did not accept McIver’s resignation, calling her error “an innocent mistake.” “She made a mistake … we all make mistakes,” Trump told ABC News. In tweets, Trump said he was proud of the fact that his wife’s address “got more attention than any in the history of politics.” Melania Trump had claimed she wrote her speech “with as little help as possible.”

Presstv

20, July 2016

UK Labour Party: Jeremy Corbyn to face a weak Blairite ⁰

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will only need to challenge former shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith to preserve his position as the opposition leader, following Angela Eagle’s decision to drop out of the race. Registrations for the leadership vote closed on Wednesday, and Smith was the only challenger left in the race. He now faces an uphill battle as the latest YouGov poll has put him 20 points behind Corbyn.

Eagle ended her bid on Tuesday because of a failure to attract enough endorsements from Labour lawmakers to continue. This means Corbyn and Smith have until December 21 to appeal to voters and party members. The results will be announced in a Liverpool conference three days later.

As a Welsh MP and a former BBC producer, Smith is barely known outside Westminster and Wales, but his supporters hope he can dethrone Corbyn. Smith, who pitches himself as the candidate who can “save” the party, also faces criticism for his past as a lobbyist for the pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and his support for the Iraq war.

Corbyn’s opponents challenged his leadership for what they call inadequate efforts to keep the UK in the European Union (EU). Nearly 52 percent of British voters made it clear in a referendum on June 23 that they wanted their country out of the bloc. Corbyn was a fierce opponent of the decision and vouched for a stronger UK role in the EU instead. Smith himself is an admirer of Corbyn and has praised him for “helping Labour discover its radical roots.”

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband urged his supporters on Facebook to back Smith, saying, he “can build a Labour Party and a country of which we can be proud.” Eagle also announced that she will support Smith against Corbyn. Smith has offered her a senior job in his shadow cabinet if he wins.

By Tuesday, more than 55,000 people had paid £25 to vote in the race and the number was expected to rise before the Wednesday deadline. However, many people were left out as they could not pay the registration fee. A fund that had raised more than £14,000 in three days to help those voters was shut down after the party’s National Executive Committe said it was in violation of its rules.

“The figure of £25 is a discriminatory price that will clearly exclude a great many from being able to take part in this vote,” said Lauren Ashby, a party member who had set up the fundraiser.

Presstv

20, July 2016

French ambassador to Cameroon says her mission will end in September ⁰

Christine Robichon, first ever female French ambassador to Cameroon has announced that her mission to Cameroon will come to a close in September 2016. She made the announcement at her residence in Yaoundé on the 14^th of July during the celebration of the French National Day.

Said Madam Christine Robichon, “This is the third time I am celebrating July 14 with you. This is also the last because my mission has eventually come to an end. This mission was exciting. I had the chance to rely on a great team, to be supported by the French community in Cameroon and its associations”.

She was appointed to Cameroon in 2016 and experienced a stay described by many political commentators as both calm and turbulent. Christine Robichon was booed during a public demo in Yaoundé against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Ambassador Robichon further stated that ” I arrived when the crisis in neighboring Central African Republic and Boko Haram atrocities were along the Cameroon borders, when a false and negative campaign against France was developing in the country, I have had challenges. In the next two months, I will leave Cameroon with the satisfaction of a job well done, and I want to come back here as a traveler, friend, retired and free of any professional obligation.”

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News)