Cameroon-info.net has reported that the former general manager of the Cameroon Real Estate Company, SIC was rushed to the Yaounde General Hospital after he suffered a stroke. The disgraced Giles Roger Belinga has been in intensive care at the Yaounde General Hospital for almost a week.

Ever since he was imprisoned, family sources say his health has deteriorated. He was arrested by agents of Operation Sparrow hawk and was sentenced to 35 years in prison and ordered to pay the sum of 3 billion FCFA to the State of Cameroon, on the 27^th of September 2007.

After an appeal, his sentence and fine were reduced to 20 years in prison and 233 million FCFA respectively. He again lodged another appeal with the Supreme Court which was subsequently referred back to the Special Criminal Court.

Arrested on February the 26th, 2006, Giles Roger Belinga is being held in a cell at the Secretariat for Defence in the gendarmerie headquarters in Yaoundé. He was charged with embezzlement of public funds.

By Chi Prudence Asong

The Eseka train accident almost took a religious twist following protest from some Muslims families that according to Islam, a corpse should not be kept in a mortuary. Some of the families were heard raising their voices in the morgue at the Yaounde Central Hospital.

One of the Muslim family head violently attacked some of the staffs that were on duty referring to the prohibition of Islam. However, Imam Hamed Bashir of the Biyem-Assi mosque condemned the Muslim families who created the noisy scenes at the Yaounde Central Hospital. The Imam observed that “if the Muslim victims had drowned, died in a plane crash or a natural disaster where it is almost impossible to find traces of the victims, who will they be attacking?”

Imam Bachir Hamed advised that since Cameroon is a secular state, the citizens and the government must first find a compromise with the team that handles any disaster. Imam Bachir Hamed added that in times like this, Muslim families should remain close to the government in order to dialogue and to assist in the identification of victims with dignity and to organize the funerals.

It should be noted Islamic rules stipulates that a deceased person be buried as soon as possible. If the death occurred in the night, the individual is buried before sunrise. If it’s in the morning it is done before sunset.

By Sonne Peter

Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary has made public the CPDM death toll of the Eseka train crash incident. The Cameroon government spokesman reduced the tally to 76 and increased the number of wounded to 599 during a press conference on Tuesday the 25^th of October 2016 in Yaounde.

The minister of communication gave a breakdown of the distribution of those injured in different hospital units in the country. He observed that there were 473 persons at the Eséka District Hospital: 22 at the Mother Teresa; Mercy 25 and Urban health Centre: 79.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary also revealed that, 368 wounded continued their treatment in hospitals in Douala, Edea and Yaoundé. While 231 minor injuries returned to their families immediately after First Aid care in Eséka.

The Cameroon government spokesman added that a process has been developed on the identification and collection of bodies of victims. Said Tchiroma:  “The applicants and other rights holders must bring original and photocopies of their identification and any official document that can link the family with the remains (marriage certificate at birth or other documents …)”

However, the minister noted that several other bodies have not yet been identified. Issa Tchiroma indicated that these bodies are subject to “an identification procedure in the presence of at least three members of the applicant family. For each body, the doctor in charge of the mortuary services deliver a kind of death certificate to the family, “he further informed.

The Centre for Health Emergencies of the Ministry of Health has mobilized to respond to all queries relating thereto. It responds to hotline: 1510.

By Sama Ernest

President Biya has signed a decree setting up a commission of inquiry into the train derailment incident that happened in Eseka on Friday 21st October 2016. Alot of tongues are reportedly wagging already in Yaounde on the failure to include an independent personality in the commission-not even the Roman Catholic Arch Bishop of the Yaounde Diocese. Our Yaounde city reporter say there is also some under-the-table talk going on following the non-inclusion of the the all-powerful Minister of Transport, Edgar Alain Mebo Ngoo

The Commission as appointed by the 83 old leader will be headed by the Prime Minister Philemon Yang.

Its members include;

-The Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals 

-The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation 

-The Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of State Control

-The Secretary of State for Defense in charge of the Gendarmerie

-The Delegate General in charge of National Security 

-The Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council.

The commission is expected to;

1. Determine the cause of the accident and propose ways of avoiding a similar occurrence
2. Identify those responsible for the accident
3. Assess the management of the catastrophe

The decree was signed today Tuesday 25th October 2016

A 15km rural road in Matomb in the Nyong and Nkelle Division of the Centre Region will soon be rehabilitated to serve as deviation from the Manyai spot where the Yaounde – Douala highway split last Friday 21st October 2016.

Officials at the Ministry of Public Works made this announcement, indicating that negotiations are ongoing with a Chinese construction company to rehabilitate the road alongside five bridges to which traffic will be diverted.

Work continues on the broken spot some few days after it was officially opened for traffic. As part of the Ministry of Public Work’s policy to maintain national highways, over 300 metallic coverts will also be replaced along the Yaounde – Douala stretch.

CRTV

President Biya declared Monday a day of national mourning in honour of the close to 100 people who died in the Eseka train disaster. But did not take part in any of the ceremonies held in and around the country.  Some areas of the country observed a moment of silence in loving memory of the victims of the intercity train 152 and the more than 560 injured persons.

At the train station in Yaounde, the staffs of the Cameroon Railway Company simply dressed in black and also did observe a minute of silence at 1 pm local time; the only permitted activities were public religious services. Correspondingly, inter religious services held in churches and prayers in mosques mainly in Yaounde, Douala and Eséka.

In the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, a handful of people converged at symbolic places and wrongfully thought that there were going to be a special events with the 83 year dictator in attendance. But nothing happened. Cameroon-info.net reported that Cameroonians who wanted to go to the Independence Square to pray were prevented by the police. Police officers were stationed at all entrances to the historic site located at the Hippodrome district.

There only significant event in Yaounde was a Holy Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of Our Lady by Bishop Jean Mbarga, Archbishop of Yaoundé.  As usual, the Head of State was personally represented by René Emmanuel Sadi, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization.

By Sama Ernest

The search for victims trapped in the wagons of the Camrail Intercity train that derailed at Eseka has ended after the body of a baby was found in the last wagon lifted on Monday, 24th October 2014. After four days of intensive and productive rescue efforts, the search exercise has officially come to an end with the CPDM government reporting that more than 90 dead bodies were pulled out the wreckage and taken to mortuaries in Yaoundé and Douala.

Emergency communication units have been opened in the train stations in Yaoundé and Douala to help relatives of victims to easily identify the corpses.  The over 500 injured are now receiving treatment in hospitals in the Centre and Littoral Regions. Telephones numbers have been made public for relatives to call and get information about their love ones: Yaoundé – 699113333 and Douala- 699114444.

At the crash site, a security cordon has been placed around the rubble preventing the public from gaining access pending a mixed police and gendarmerie investigation. The stench from the crash site remains a sad reminded of the gravity of the crash which is so far the worst railway disaster in the country’s history.

CRTV

The Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Emmanuel René Sadi has confirmed through a statement the death of Governor Otto Joseph Wilson of the Centre region. According to René Sadi, the Governor

died early Monday morning at the American Hospital in Paris. The late Joseph Otto Wilson who hailed from Isangele district in the Bakassi peninsula was born March 19, 1964 in Douala. After high school in Douala, he studied at the University of Yaounde, where he obtained a Masters in Economics. He was admitted in 1987 into the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) in Yaounde and graduated two years later.

Otto Wilson Joseph had a brilliant career in the ministry of territorial administration where he held several positions as DO, SDO and finally Governor. Before his appointment as governor of the North region in April 2012, was the only civil administrator in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MINATD) who served as inspector general in charge of electoral matters.

He will be remembered in the North following his skilful management of the 2012 floods, the highway robbery phenomenon and cross-border insecurity.  On the 4^th of June 2014, President Biya gave him the honour to serve as governor of the Centre region with headquarters in Yaounde.

The death of his daughter in 2016 reportedly weakened the seasoned administrator who had been diagnosed with cancer. His health condition worsened and he was evacuated on October the 8th, 2016 to the American Hospital in Paris, France where he died this morning.

By Rita Akana

President Paul Biya is expected in Yaounde today Sunday, October 23, 2016, Cameroon Concord News has learned from sources at the presidency of the republic. The Right Royal President is reportedly jetting back home via a chartered flight and will then end the controversy over his long absence from the country.

The 83 year old leader left Yaounde on Friday, September 16, 2016 for New York City in the United States to attend the 71st session of the UN General Assembly. But well before the closing session of the UN general assembly, Biya left the US for a destination that was never communicated to the Cameroonian people.

For over 37 days now, he has been appointing and dismissing top government officials from a five star hotel apartment in Geneva, Switzerland. Governing with the support of a tribal constituted military and secret service, none of the major disasters that recently happened in the country could force his return home. Our chief political editor observed at the time of filing this report that “the nation is at the mercy of Biya and his appointees.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The governor of the West region, Awa Fonka Augustine has debunked rumour of a Camair-Co plane crash in Bafoussam. Information circulated that Camair-Co flight QC272 that left Douala for Bafoussam-Bamougoum had crashed.

Governor Fonka Augustine revealed that the said flight left from Douala at 9:10 am for Bafoussam and made a dramatic landing due to bad weather conditions caused by heavy rains accompanied by thick clouds and fog. Flight QC272 arrived Bafoussam with 33 passengers and departed for Yaounde Nsimalen.

News of the crash sent shock waves around the country as the population is yet to recover from the pain of the train derailment incident and the collapse of a bridge on the Yaounde-Douala highway.

By Rita Akana