Paul Rusesabagina, depicted in a Hollywood movie as a hero who helped save Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide, told the New York Times he believed he was flying to Burundi at the invitation of a pastor, but was instead lured to Rwanda and arrested on terrorism charges,

Rusesabagina was speaking to the US daily in an interview the paper said had been authorised by the Rwandan government and had taken place in the presence of government officials. “How I got here – now that is a surprise,” he told the newspaper. “I was actually not coming here.”

The 66-year-old Hutu political dissident and former hotel manager was propelled to fame after the Oscar-nominated film “Hotel Rwanda” portrayed him using his connections with the Hutu elite to protect Tutsis fleeing slaughter during the 1994 genocide. The Hollywood film credits him with saving the lives of more than 1,200 people as they sheltered in the hotel he ran.

Some 800,000 mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutu were killed in the genocide.

He had been living in exile since 1996, where he was a prominent critic of Tutsi President Paul Kagame, accusing him of stifling political opposition, authoritarianism and anti-Hutu sentiment. He holds both Belgian citizenship and a US “green card”.

Rusesabagina ‘delivered himself’, Rwanda’s spy chief says

Rusesabagina suddenly appeared in custody in Rwanda earlier this month, prompting accusations from his family that he had been kidnapped. But he says he voluntarily boarded a private plane in Dubai that he believed was bound for Burundi’s capital Bujumbura, where he had planned to speak to churches at the invitation of a local pastor.

Instead, he landed in Kigali, where he now faces 13 charges, including terrorism, complicity in murder and forming or joining an irregular armed group with children involved. The NYT quoted Rwanda’s spy chief as saying “he delivered himself here”.

The plane was operated by GainJet, a charter company based in Greece that is often used by Kagame, the report said.

Bail denied

A spokesman for the prosecution on Wednesday told Reuters that Rusesabagina, who once called for armed resistance to the government in a YouTube video, faces a possible life sentence. He was denied bail on Thursday and will stay in jail for 30 days as the prosecution ends its investigations.

The NYT was not able to speak to the pastor, and says Rwandan officials believe he was actually heading there to coordinate with armed groups based in Burundi and Congo.

In 2018, Rusesabagina co-founded an opposition group, the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), which is said to have an armed wing called the National Liberation Front (FLN).

In multiple speeches, Rusesabagina has expressed support for the FLN – which has carried out armed attacks and is described as a terrorist organisation by Rwanda – but the extent of his involvement in its actions is unclear.

He has nevertheless denied forming the group.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

Ronald Bell — a co-founder of Kool and the Gang, the heavyweight funk group behind hits like “Celebration,” “Jungle Boogie” and “Ladies’ Night” — died Wednesday. He was 68 years old.

The performer died at his home in the US Virgin Islands, the group’s publicist Angelo Ellerbee told AFP, without specifying a cause of death.

Bell founded Kool and the Gang with his brother Robert and friends Dennis Thomas, Robert Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown and Ricky West in the early 1960s, fusing a foundation of jazz with smatterings of funk, disco, R&B and pop.

The group became a major smash in the 1970s, its brassy funk putting it in a class with Earth, Wind and Fire, the Isley Brothers and Sly and the Family Stone.

Kool and the Gang scored a Grammy in 1978 for their contributions to the soundtrack for “Saturday Night Fever” starring John Travolta.

The group was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.

Born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1951, Bell also went by his Muslim name Khalis Bayyan.

A self-taught musician, he wrote some of the ensemble’s major hits including “Celebration,” which is still a popular anthem at sporting events.

The group remains a DJ favorite and is heavily sampled especially in the rap world, its tracks appearing in songs by artists including Jay-Z, Nas, NWA, Tupac, The Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes.

Source: AFP

Renowned Cameroonian musician Marthe Zambo is suffering from chronic diabetes and does not have the means to afford medication including paying her rents. Marthe Zambo made her current plight public in an interview with state radio and television CRTV on Wednesday, August 19, 2020.

The Makossa icon has lost weight and after numerous signals she incessantly flashed out to her fans all over the world, it is now evidently clear the woman with the nightingale voice is simply waiting to die.

The singer’s setbacks don’t only stop with her illness and her inability to foot her medical bills. In the next few days, she could be evicted from her home for unpaid rents.

 “I have too many problems. We call it Nanga Boko in our local Cameroonian parlance!  I don’t know where to go from here! I’m left to myself. I can’t pay my rents anymore,” she confessed.

It is vital to include in this report that on Saturday, August 17, 2019, Marthe Zambo and the late Mama Nguea, who died of diabetes, had received financial support from the Ministry of Culture following an appeal for help that the two artists had launched at the time. But it would appear that the token from the Biya regime was not enough to enable Marthe Zambo to take care of her basic needs.

By Rita Akana

Music has been one of man’s most trusted companions throughout history. In times of adversity as in times of joy, in tranquility and in excitement, the human soul is always in search of a beat rhythm, or melody to connect with, synchronize and find orientation. It is not strange that in times of uncertainties as the world is facing now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, music becomes one of the most readily available agents used by humans to rationalize the grippling suffering.

Having contracted COVID-19 and gone into quarantine, Germany based Cameroonian artist, Asamor, refused to be beaten by the vermin. He fought against it with all his might and tools at his disposal. He was physically isolated from the rest of humanity. But he kept himself connected through the power of social media with daily updates on his Facebook page. Even while in quarantine, he had already envisioned the day he would emerge victoriously. Thus, he composed the song “Dr. Coro Coro” which was released soon after his recovery to critical acclaim and rave reviews.

The artist holds that the song is meant “to sensitize, sympathize, give courage, and bring joy and comfort to all loved ones during this challenging moment of total lockdown and after.” Indeed, one can only call it “An Ode to Human Resilience”.

Who is Asamor?

Born and raised in Fontem, Lebialem Division of the South West of Cameroon, Asamor’s romance with music began right from childhood. As a prince, he grew up already exposed to many of the traditional music and dance forms of his native Lebialem. In Lebialem, princes and princesses are known for their performance skills. It is then no doubt that Asamor is a consummate dancer and an adept player of various traditional instruments.

Though enrolled at the University of Bonn to study agricultural science, Asamor could not help responding to the musical rhythms hissing within his soul. He listened to his inner muse and began experimenting with a blend of his native Bangwa rhythms and the already established makossa music rhythms. This gave birth to a hybrid form of music that he called Abanda Kossa.

His first album was released in 2002. In 2004, Asamor released his second album which featured the prolific Cameroonian musician Petit Pays in the lead song. This collaboration was ground-breaking because it was the first act that Petit Pays had ever done with any musician other than the members of his Sans Visa band.  In 2008 Asamor released his third album and subsequently had a string of singles (five in number) between 2013 and 2018.

Asamor has received the KAMA Award (Germany), the African Diaspora Living Legend Award, and twice voted among the 100 most influential Africans in Germany. Yet, during all those years, Asamor was doing music mostly as a pastime, even as he had returned to school and studied Sound Engineering and opened a recording studio.

Even though Asamor has not released many albums, he still a very prolific music maker. He has a collection of unreleased songs from which he has committed to releasing between three and five songs per annum. 

“Dr. Coro Coro” has become an Afrobeat anthem not just for its rhythms but also for the message. He sings about the danger and deadliness of COVID-19, its precautions, and protective measures. 

The hundreds of social media impressions and dance sequences inspired by the song are testimony to the profound ways in which the audience has connected with the song. It is a sign that even as COVID-19 seems to have cornered humanity we shall surely emerge the winner.

Written by the manager 

Asamor Music

Instead of going back to Southern Cameroons, some Anglophones are crying foul following Friday’s appointments at the Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV.

Many are of the informed opinion that the decisions signed by CRTV’s Board Chair, Rene Emmanuel Sadi at the end of the June 26, 2020Ordinary Session of the Board of Directors kept Anglophones away from influential positions at the corporation.

“CRTV is a crazy house. Everyone is shocked by the appointments. Some people who never come to work, like those who hardly go on air, were catapulted to higher portfolios. Anglophones who have been burning the midnight oil were rather sidelined,” said a CRTV staff told Cameroon-Info.Net, but did not want to be named for fear of reprisals.

Although those contacted denied commenting on record for fear of the unknown, Cameroon-Info.Net understands that Anglophones were carefully sidelined from the positions that matter at the corporation.

Going by the appointments read over CRTV Friday night, Dr. George Ewane was named Central Director for Radio while Chia Theophilus is new Central Technical Director.

“These are more of ceremonial positions, just like the position of Deputy General Manager. It is true that Dr. Ewane is Central Director for Radio but his role is only to oversee work. It is ceremonial because the General Manager can decide to work directly with any operational director without consulting him,” said someone familiar with the goings-on at the national broadcaster.

Cameroon-Info.Net understands that operational directors at CRTV are those who head departments with staff answerable to them and with direct bearing on content. Such departments include news, programmes, technical affairs, finance, human resources and CRTV Marketing and Communication Agency (CMCA).

“None of these juicy portfolios are occupied by an Anglophone. If you are not an operational director, and you do not have personal relations with the General Manager, then you are a ceremonial director,” a disgruntled CRTV member of staff said.

Anglophones at CRTV bemoan the fact that two of theirs who occupied operational portfolios were removed and sent to peripheral positions – offices that do not even exist on the organizational chart of the corporation.

“We had two Anglophones who were operational directors.  Wain Paul Ngam as Director of Programmes Radio was removed and rather appointed Technical Adviser No. 3 to the General Manager – a post that does not even exist on the organigramme. Valery Dikos Oumarou is now Director of Programmes Radio,” our source at CRTV said. “Tehwui Lambiv was Director of Productions which covers Radio and TV. He was replaced with Josephine Ndagnou.”

According to the appointments, Tehwui Lambiv is new Mediator at CRTV. It is said that the Mediator at CRTV is a peripheral position – someone who serves as liaison between the corporation and the public. The Mediator also manages the social climate within the establishment.

Quizzed if the ceremonial positions reserved for Anglophones is because there is only one Anglophone in the CRTV Board of Directors, some journalists at the state-run broadcaster responded in the negative.

“They see us as a tribe. They will tell you that they appointed one Bassa, one Beti, One Bamileke and one Anglophone,” a staffer quipped.

With the uneasy social climate created by Friday’s appointments, Tehwui Lambiv also has a lot to handle when he assumes the office of Mediator.

It is an open secret that an Anglophone has never been General Manager of the CRTV, 57 years since 1963 when the first English language broadcasters were recruited into Radio Cameroon Yaoundé, following the Reunification in 1961.

Source: CIN with additional reporting from Camcordnews

The Queen of Makossa Love, Nguea Laroute is no more!!  Mama Nguéa died today Sunday, June 14, 2020 in the city of Douala after a long illness. She had been diabetic for several years and the author of several hit songs including “Soleil de décembre” had lost both legs amputated following complications due to her illness.

The renowned Cameroonian artist had a hip disarticulation operation, meaning they removed her left leg up to and including the hip joint on October 4, 2019. She again had another amputation on her right leg in an operation that took place at the Douala General Hospital on Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

 Nguea La Route had repeated long sessions in intensive care units in two Douala hospitals and things however took a dramatic u turn for the worse today.

 By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow

Cameroonian legendary artist, Asamor has made public a new song entitled “Dr Coro Coro” composed while in quarantine after he reportedly contracted the coronavirus.

Asamor paints the virus as dangerous and deadly and cautioned humanity to be more protective.

The album is to sensitize, sympathize, give courage, bring joy and comfort to all during this difficult moment of total lockdown.

The musician based in Bonn, Germany who is set to tour the Shengen Zone for a series of shows immediately after the lockdown explored the new hit showering praises to the Almighty God for all those healed from the pandemic.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

April 23rd is the wedding anniversary of the marriage between the French Cameroun monarch Paul Biya and First Lady Chantal Biya.

The 23rd of April 2020 is a special day for the failed leader and his wife. It marks the 26th anniversary of their marriage. To be sure, it was on April 23rd, 1994 that the butcher of Yaoundé surprised Cameroonians with news of Chantal Pulchérie Vigouroux as first lady.

The young Chantal Pulchérie Vigouroux, then 23 years old, said yes to Mr. Paul Biya who at that time was 38 years older than her.

The head of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate was thus experiencing his second marriage after the controversial disappearance of his first wife, Jeanne Irène, who died on the 29^th of July 1992.

Chantal Biya, the young bride became the third First Lady of Cameroon after Germaine Ahidjo and Jeanne Irène. The couples who actually reside in Geneva, Switzerland have come a long way since then, giving birth to Junior Biya and Anastasie Brenda Eyanga Biya.

The 26th anniversary of their union comes in a context of containment imposed by the coronavirus pandemic- a health crisis that has already impacted some wasteful celebrations at Mvomeka’a.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

Social media platform, Facebook is expanding its Coronavirus Information Centre to 17 more countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.

The others include Benin Republic; Burkina Faso; Cameroun; Cape Verde; Chad; Cote d’ Ivoire; Ethiopia and Gabon.The rest are Guinea; Kenya; Mali; Mauritania; Senegal; Seychelles; the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Togo.

The centres form part of the organisation’s efforts to help the global fight against COVID-19 by providing people with the latest news from trusted health authorities as well as resources and tips to stay healthy and support the society.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Centre is featured at the top of News Feed that provides a central place for people to keep informed about the epidemic.

It includes real-time updates from national health authorities and global organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as helpful articles, videos and posts about social distancing and containment of the virus.

Facebook explained yesterday that users could opt in to follow the centre to get notifications and see updates in their News Feed from official government health authorities.

According to the company’s Head of Public Policy, Africa, Kojo Boakye, “we have built the information centres, in collaboration with national health partners, to ensure that people can get access to information from trusted health sources.”

Source: The Guardian

Skin whitening is no longer a strictly female affair. With so many cosmetic products, men are getting into it too, reducing their melanin levels in order, they say, to “look better”. However, some fear that skin whitening might not only lead to medical problems, but also a loss of identity.

“I always wanted to have lighter skin. I find it cleaner and more presentable. I buy cosmetic products once in two months. It’s not to imitate women, it’s my personal choice”, Séverin, a travel agency manager from Douala, who started lightening his skin several years ago, said.

It is no longer surprising to see a man with black arms or legs and with a lightened face on the streets of the country’s large cities. Some are following fashion, while others want to look like their favourite celebrities. This is the case of Kévine. At 28, this aspiring singer admits to having started whitening his skin to look like his idols.

“I’m a fan of some Congolese celebrities who have lightened skin. The skin of many of those who I admire has become lighter over time. And since I identify with some, of them, I try to be like them by using skin depigmenting products”, he said.

The phenomenon is gaining ground. Beauty stores have noted their new clientele. Karest, a perfume shop manager from Douala, admits having been surprised by men contacting her via social networks to place orders.

“The first time a man contacted me [to buy these products], he told me that he was buying them for his wife. But I ended up realising that those products were for him. He said that next time he bought them, admitting the change and effectiveness. Every week, I get at least five orders from men”, she said.

Online stores have dozens of male customers. Non-lightening cosmetics seller Lucy Ngah confirms this. According to her, most men use products that she sells to smooth out the effects of skin whitening products.

“Some of my male clients who lighten their skin often buy natural soap to reduce the negative effects on their skin, such as greenish veins that appear, acne and redness”, she said.

In Cameroon, women who engage in skin lightening are often criticised, but men are criticised even more. Celebrities suspected of skin lightening are mocked and criticised on social networks. So far, very few male celebrities have dared to take the plunge. Sputnik talked to psychosociologist Maurice Somo to discuss the causes of this social phenomenon.

“From the psychological point of view, skin lightening is a rejection of one’s self-image and a desire to change oneself in accordance with the ideal created in one’s mind. The main motivation of both men and women stems from being admired or lack of admiration”, the specialist explained.

According to the psychosociologist, this behaviour results from the “prestige” of white-skinned people, as well as other people with a light skin tones, in Africa. In addition, some start lightening their skin to imitate others, or to demonstrate their socioeconomic success.

“In sub-Saharan Africa, fair skin is considered very close to the white ideal. By the way, mestizos are very popular. Fair skin is also proof of the economic status, which makes it possible to make the skin tone you want. Ultimately, the main motivation is the inferiority complex regarding to the natural skin colour”.

The negative impact of skin lightening is not only limited to psychological disorders, of which it is indicative. This social phenomenon also indicates serious health problems. In a country where they are struggling with fake medicines, which can still be found on the market, many cosmetic products enter the market without having previously obtained the necessary authorisations.

Cameroon regularly holds awareness campaigns to draw attention to the long-term effects of skin lightening, but apparently they are ineffective. Until minds change, people will continue lightening their skin…

Source: Sputniknews