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

The Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma has told the Cameroon people that, President Biya has ordered the opening of an investigation into the terrible train accident that occurred on Friday, October 21, 2016 near Eseka.

In a statement presented in both English and French on state radio and television, Issa Tchiroma Bakary informed the nation of actions taken by the head of state from his holiday resort abroad. The statement reportedly crafted by a Biya acolyte in Yaounde stated that, the President of the Republic was following the situation closely and has given standing and appropriate instructions to Prime Minister Philemon Yang to hold a crisis meeting.

The government spokesman added that President Biya instructed the government to make available financial resources to the bereaved families and the wounded to enable them to deal with the situation. The Biya statement reassured the public that all necessary steps were being taken by the government to deal with the situation and urged the Cameroon people to show their usual solidarity in such circumstances.

By Sama Ernest in Yaounde

Cardinal Christian Tumi, cardinal emeritus of the Douala Arch Diocese has reacted to the issue of tribalism in governance in Cameroon. The retired Roman Catholic prelate was asked to comment on the recent wave of memoranda written by elites from some communities to the head of state, President Paul Biya that have become common practice in Cameroon.

The response of the former Archbishop of Garoua was straightforward. “I do not accept this way of doing things. This is purely tribalism. We must have an acceptable development pattern void of tribalism. We have over 200 ethnic groups in Cameroon. If each tribe or ethnic group began to demand jobs or infrastructure only for their community, what will become of Cameroon?

The Cardinal added that, “We must not think in terms of tribe, but in terms of nation. If a Cameroonian works well, regardless of tribal origin and irrespective of the place where he works, he works for Cameroon. I do not believe in the regional balance. That is why I favour merit and competence. We must promote values such as good work and effort in society. I have never worked as Bishop in Anglophone Cameroon where I am from. As a priest, I never worked in my tribal area. I have worked with the people I met in all the places the Holy Father has sent me to. I’m on my third diocese,” noted Cardinal Tumi.

Cameroon has been rocked by a series of petitions from political elites of the Far North, North, Centre and South regions all claiming that their respective peoples and constituencies have not received the attention they deserve from the ruling CPDM consortium of crime syndicates.

By Sonne Peter with cables from CIN

An Intercity train from Yaoundé to Douala derailed this morning at Eseka. The derailment was confirmed by Camrail-a subsidiary of Bolloré Logistics & Transport, responsible for the structures of the railway sector in Cameroon.

The CPDM government has reportedly deployed military intervention and security teams and have so far not made any official statement concerning the happenings in the country. Unconfirmed reports say many bodies were seen littered around the train immediately after the accident.

The country was hit by the collapse of a bridge on the Yaounde-Douala highway, some 65 km from Yaoundé. Consequently, the two main cities of the country were cut off by road.. Many passengers were directed to use the train services from Yaoundé to Douala, called “Intercity”. 8 coaches were added to enhance the movement of users which prompted the incident.

By Rita Akana

Nestor Nga Etoga, a journalist and editor of a weekly newspaper The Investigation, was arrested on Tuesday the 18^th of October 2016 at about 10 am, at the Nlongkak Roundabout in Yaounde by plain cloth police officers and is now being held in a cell at the Centre Regional Delegation for National Security.

Cameroon Concord News gathered from local media sources that he had earlier been summoned by a state prosecutor, Georges Gérard Meka, of the Mfoundi High Court in Yaounde for blackmail-a complaint initiated by Fipcam, a logging company based in Mfou (25 km from Yaoundé).

The journalist had reported a story on the working conditions at the Cameroon Flooring Manufactures (Fipcam) where the workers of the said company complained about their wages, working conditions and lack of any form of social care for the last 13th months.

The company leaders are now using their connections in government to send the journalist to jail. Many Cameroonian journalists are subject to death threats, as part of their profession, in a country where press offenses are still not decriminalized.

By Fru James