Boko Haram militants have struck Cameroon again. The suicide attack took place today Sunday, August 21, 2016, in the town of Mora, capital of Mayo-Sava Division, located just over 80 km from Maroua, the chief city in the Far North region.

Our chief correspondent in the Far North say at least 5 people including the bomber have been pronounced dead. We also gathered that 25 people have life threatening injuries from the blast and a dozen more were seriously affected.

The death toll is expected to rise in the coming hours as first aid did not arrive on time. The kamikaze attack took place not far from the entrance of the main market of the city, where traders had gathered to buy cargoes of onions. The suicide bomber detonated his device near a group of traders.

The attack comes at a time when the Cameroon army recently announced the weakening of Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the organization of the Islamic state and is now called Islamic state in Africa.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest

The national flag was handed over to the deputy commander of the troops projected on a peacekeeping mission to the Central African Republic. The Cameroonian contingent is part of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission to the Central African Republic, MINUSCA.

The ceremony at the Military Headquarters was the first of its kind for Cameroonian soldiers going on an international assignment. The Minister Delegate at the Presidency, Joseph Beti Assomo said the tradition has been instituted by the Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces; a farewell and a welcome ceremony will, henceforth, be organised for soldiers before departure and upon return from international missions.

Joseph Beti Assomo indicated that the innovation was among other measures taken by the Head of State to render the soldiers more efficient and effective in preserving and promoting Cameroon’s diplomacy of peace. Prior to the send-off ceremony, the soldiers of the peacekeeping force and gendarmes of the Formed Police Units took part in pre-deployment refresher courses in Douala and Yaoundé on the notion of peacekeeping. They also signed individual contracts and their mission bonuses had an increment of two hundred thousand CFA Francs per month per person.

The Minister insisted on the respect of military discipline within the ranks expressing outrage at the strike action staged by some previous MINUSCA contingent. He added that their mission should reflect Cameroon’s foreign policy of peace and her efforts to provide sustainable peace and security in neighboring Central African Republic.  In a bid to reinforce discipline, a senior officer in charge of discipline will be deployed and the military security unit will be beefed up, security and health units will also be reinforced.

The soldiers are expected to remain professional and respect UN procedures in the execution of their mission in the Central African Republic during their one year stay in the CAR. A military parade with stamina, courage and enthusiasm reminiscent of Cameroon’s military prowess marked the end of the first part of the ceremony. The soldiers and their close relatives later wined and dined with the Minister Delegate at the presidency in charge of Defence before their take off.

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The 19th Session of the Bakassi Projects Follow-Up Committee held in the Prime Minister’s Office on August 18, 2016 reported Cameroon Tribune.

Three years after the establishment of Cameroon’s total sovereignty over the Bakassi Peninsula following the June 12, 2006 Green Tree Accord, barons of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate are reportedly expressing a kind of satisfaction in government circles for what they claim is the effective implementation of social, economic, security and administrative projects in the zone handed over by the Federal Republic of Nigeria after the October 10, 2002 International Court of Justice ruling.

The Biya regime and its propaganda machinery revealed in 2015 that over FCFA 30 billion had been invested in the area since 2008. They added that more investments worth over FCFA 722 million have since been added in 2016. However, this photo attached to this report as recorded for us by Cameroon Tribune does not showcase a constituency that has received huge amount of government funding.

While chairing the 19^th Session of the Coordination and Follow-up Committee for the Implementation of Priority Projects in the Bakassi Zone, on August 18, 2016, the committee’s Chairperson and Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, Bertha Ndoh Bakata, said that much indeed had been accomplished through the yearly Public Investment Budget and the FCFA 5.6 billion Special Mini Development Programme.

Bertha Ndoh Bakata who has the luxury of living in the capital city of Yaounde gave a run-down of the projects executed citing the construction of rest houses, classrooms, youth centres, fishermen’s houses, health structures, customs posts, roads and community halls, among others, in localities such as Isangele, Akwa, Idabato, Mbengmong, New Beach and Kombo-Abedimo.

She hinted that Prime Minister Philemon Yang authorised a trip of a team of five to the area in April 2016 to identify emergency projects which a Douala-based company and some Canadian investors were interested in executing.  But the images emerging from Bakassi indicates Bertha Ndoh Bakata and her mentor, Minister and Chief Dion Ngute are simply playing the CPDM game.

CPDM Beltha Ndoh Bakata betrayed herself at the tail end of her submission during the August 18 meeting by urging participants to address persistent problems such as insufficient potable water, electricity, telecommunication and roads. If 30 billion already invested in this area cannot tackle Beltha Ndoh Bakata “persistent problems” who now is fooling who here?

CPDM Beltha Ndoh Bakata called for more commitment by ministries in the implementation of the projects and the early disbursement of earmarked funds, especially as the long rainy season acts as a major impediment.

By Sama Ernest with files from Cameroon Tribune

9 Boko Haram fighters (7 Cameroonians and 2 Nigerians) were arrested late today Wednesday the 17^th of August 2016 at Kouyapé by Cameroon Special Forces. Cameroon Concord News learned that the militants have been taken to Nguetchewé and remanded in custody. The seven Cameroonian Boko Haram members were recruited from Zenemé, Sanda-Wadjiri, Souledé and Roua-Wara villages in the Far North region.

 The Governor of the Far North Region, Midjiyawa Bakari,has been working hand-in-gloves with the  vigilance committee groups  whose role alongside the army is more than ever crucial for intelligence. Their bravery is rewarded every day by President Paul Biya who recently decorated four non-state policing actors with the medal of knight of the Cameroon order of merit.

By Rita Akana

Land management experts are meeting in Yaounde to seek solutions to land related problems and design ways of educating people on the procedures to acquire land.

The Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Jacqueline Koung à Besike opened the two-day conclave today the 17th of August 2016 in Yaounde.

The Minister amongst other things, called on the experts to make tangible contributions to the on-going land reform in Cameroon.

To the experts, the misinterpretation of laws on land in the country by actors account for the multiplicity of land disputes in Cameroon.

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Ubango Helly, CPDM Section President for Ngie, near Bamenda has been arrested and charged for corruption.  The so-called chartered member of the ruling party was picked up on August 10, 2016 and he is currently being held at the premises of the Criminal Investigation Directorate (DPJ) Bamenda.

Ubnago Helly, Chairman and CEO of Relax UB Company, a transportation agency and who also owns a chain of small enterprises is involved in a vast network of corruption over the past fifteen years, which was recently dismantled by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

An acolyte of Minister Atanga Njie, Cameroon Concord News learned that elites, traditional leaders and Senators have been holding meetings with him at the DPJ Bamenda.  Our senior political correspondent in the North West region opined that the arrest will bring down many other CPDM heavyweights.

 Ubango Helly is accused of operating a network that allows certain state officials to receive up to 12 months of their salaries in advance, an act that is forbidden in Cameroon. The Ubango Helly crime syndicate takes only three days and civil servants are paid up to 50% of their salaries depending on the amount requested by the needy person. He has also been indicted for fraud in pensions, death, retirement and others public service schemes.

Correspondingly, Ubango Helly is not only the CPDM boss of Ngie in Momo Division but he is also the Secretary General of the Circle of Friends of President Biya. A teacher by profession, his salary was suspended by former North West Governor, Abakar Ahamat because he was never in the classroom to teach courses. Curiously, he received an early retirement on that same year.

He pretended to his followers that he was fighting corruption by posting messages such as this one on his face book page “CPDM Militants of the Momo West Section,Ngie construct a temporary bridge at Ngwokwong on the Acha-Andek road following the collapse of the permanent bridge. The contractor who won to construct the permanent bridge long abandoned the job, placing Ngie people at the risk of flooding waters”.

By Rita Akana

A truck that left Yaounde early today the 16^th of August 2016 en route to Meiganga crushed a small Toyota car killing all six persons on-board. Eye witnesses say the truck driver was apparently at high speed and did not see the small approaching Toyota heading to Garoua-Boulaï.

The two vehicles collided at the Bibinda Bridge.  The truck reportedly mounted on the small car and killed all its occupants. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that some elements of the Garoua-Boulaï gendarmerie brigade intervened and the truck driver was arrested and detained. The bodies were identified and handed over to families.

Road accidents in Cameroon remain an everyday occurrence. According to statistics published by the CPDM government in August 2015, 790 people died on our roads in 2014. The figure was 1,139 people in 2011, down 31%. However, much still has to be done.

By Ebong Kingsley with files from CIN

General Pierre Semengue, the former Joint Chief of Army Staff, 82, has said that he does not consider himself as a retiree. In an exclusive televised interview aired on Sunday, August 7, 2016, Semengue who is now all over the place noted that “I am a reserve army general. I do not have a position in the armed forces. But I enjoy almost all the benefits from the Cameroon army except hardship allowances”.

Pierre Semengue added that he is often consulted on matters of defence and provides advice when needed by the President of the Republic. Semengue also said he was “finalizing” his memoirs in which he has revealed a certain closeness and friendship with some leaders of the Union des Populations du Cameroun, UPC, which he fought as a senior officer of the Cameroon army at independence.

Pierre Semengue also stated that he had UPC comrades such as his kinsman and classmate Woungly Massaga including the late Augustin Frederick Kodock. He spoke negatively of the former secretary at the presidency, the late Samuel Eboua and Dr. Victorin Hameni Bieleu.

By Rita Akana

Former general manager of the National Social Insurance Fund,CNPS  has again been summoned by prosecutors of the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde. Pierre Desire Engo is wanted by the court over an alleged embezzlement of 25 billion FCFA.

The Special Criminal Court, Cameroon Concord News has gathered is operating under the mandate of an international commission into the alleged misappropriation.

The international commission wants Mr Engo Desire to explain the source of the 25 billion FCFA in his bank account at Credit Lyonnais Paris.

By Rita Akana

The population of Foumbot in the West Region of Cameroon is still to recover from the shock surrounding the death of three members of the same Family. They were discovered dead on the 8^th of August 2016 in the morning at their residence.

The three included a 27 year old nursing mother Kamatcha Nicole Armand, her six months old baby boy, and her 10 year old niece. Her husband 29 year old Yannick Wanji was found unconscious and rushed to the Bafoussam Regional Hospital where he is currently receiving intensive treatment.

Security forces are yet to establish what actually caused the sad incident but some eye witnesses have opined that they must have inhaled toxic gas coming out of a stand by generator in their home. The generator was switched on due to power failure. However, others have related the death to food poisoning. The remains of the three have been moved to the Bafoussam Regional Hospital for an autopsy.

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