News

30, December 2017

Cameroon acquits former mayor accused of working with Boko Haram ⁰

A former mayor in Cameroon arrested in September 2014 for alleged complicity with Boko Haram was acquitted Thursday, a week after a Radio France International correspondent was released on terrorism charges. Moussa Ramat, the ex-mayor of Fotokol in Cameroon’s far north, was accused of supplying weapons to the jihadist group and assisting in the sale of looted goods from Boko Haram fighters.

His lawyer Eugene Balemaken told AFP the accusations “did not correspond to reality”. “He was therefore properly acquitted following the debates.” Sources said the former mayor regularly intervened before his arrest in several negotiations that resulted in the release of Boko Haram hostages.

Ramat could be released very soon, said Balemaken, who called the trial of his client as “unfair” because of his help with negotiations.

After serving 29 months in jail, RFI correspondent Ahmed Abba was acquitted on December 22 after being suspected of collaborating with Boko Haram and not passing on information to the authorities. He was released the following day.

Since 2014, when Cameroon began its fight against Boko Haram, the group has killed at least 2,000 soldiers and civilians and kidnapped 1,000 people in the country’s far north region, according to the International Crisis Group.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million displaced in the eight-year conflict, which has destroyed livelihoods and triggered a humanitarian crisis. About 1.8 million people live in camps or with relatives in Nigeria’s worst-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Others have fled to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Source: AFP

29, December 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Army general says European mercenaries, deserters ‘Helping Ambazonians Strike Gov’t Targets,’ ⁰

The commander of the 21st Mechanized Infantry Division (21st BRIM) has revealed that several Cameroonian soldiers have deserted the army to join the Southern Cameroons Defense Force.

In an documentary aired by TV5 Monde on the Anglophone crisis, Brigadier General Donatien Melingui Nouma, who is also the commander of war operations in the war against the people of Southern Cameroons declared that Ambazonian militia are receiving training from European mercenaries and some deserters of the Cameroonian army.

“We know that they are trained by foreigners including some mercenaries and there are also some Cameroonians, some deserters from our army who joined them and who train these people” said General Melingui.

The Francophone Brigadier General Melingui Nouma also noted that this war against Southern Cameroonians “is likely to turn into a completely asymmetrical conflict, that is to say that we face, not a regular army, but hordes Who appear and disappear, a bit like the Boko Haram terrorists that this army has been unable to defeat in the far north since May 2014.”

The TV5 report produced in the South-West region showed deserted villages and supposed Ambazonian troops filmed by drones, practice session.

By Rita Akana with files from Cameroon Info.Net

29, December 2017

En Fin: Ex-football star Weah wins Liberia presidential vote ⁰

Ex-football superstar George Weah has been announced as the winner of Liberia’s presidential run-off, beating Vice President Joseph Boakai in the first democratic transfer of power in decades following two devastating civil wars.

Weah is set to replace incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who took over at the helm of Africa’s oldest republic in 2006.

The National Election Commission (NEC) said Weah had won an insurmountable 61.5 percent of Tuesday’s vote, which was delayed several weeks after a legal challenge from Boakai.

The NEC said that with 98.1 percent of all votes counted, Boakai had only secured 38.5 percent support.

NEC President Jerome Korkoya told reporters that definitive results would be released Friday.

But Weah wasted no time in acknowledging the win, posting on Twitter: “My fellow Liberians, I deeply feel the emotion of all the nation. I measure the importance and the responsibility of the immense task which I embrace today. Change is on.”

Ahead of Thursday’s results, armed and helmeted police deployed outside the poll body’s headquarters and some of Weah’s supporters were already rejoicing.

“The Liberian people clearly made their choice… and all together we are very confident in the result of the electoral process,” tweeted Weah before the official results were announced.

Weah topped the first round of voting in October with 38.4 percent of ballots but failed to win the 50 percent necessary to avoid a run-off. Boakai came second with 28.8 percent.

The election passed without a single major incident of violence despite weeks of delays caused by legal challenges and Liberians said they were looking forward to a peaceful handover after 12 years under Sirleaf.

“Since years of civil war this is the first time we see the transition of power from one person to another,” voter Oscar Sorbah told AFP.

The Sirleaf administration, elected in 2005, guided the nation out of the ruins of war and through the horrors of the 2014-16 Ebola crisis, but is accused of failing to combat poverty and corruption.

“We’ve waited 12 years, now power is going to the people,” CDC vice president of the CDC’s youth wing Josephine Davies said after Weah’s win.

(Source: AFP)

29, December 2017

Revealed: CONAC says custom officers are the most corrupt civil servants in Cameroon ⁰

The pro ruling CPDM party’s so-called National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC), – the body in charge of the fight against corruption in Cameroon has revealed that the nation suffered an estimated loss of 1246 billion FCFA in the last five years.

The CONAC report stated that a survey carried out at the general treasury in Buea, Southern Cameroons found fictitious payments of court fees amounting to 7,956 billion FCFA from January 2011 to June 2016.

In Bertoua, the chief city in the East region fraudulent payments were valued at CFAF 1.699 billion in the general treasury from January 2014 to July 2016.

Last year, CONAC said it registered 2,402 reports of corruption as against 3,268 in 2015 from all the 10 regions. The fake anti corruption body stated that areas were corruption is rife includes land disputes, public procurement and management of resources allocated to organizations.

CONAC also pointed out that Cameroonian custom officers are among the most corrupt civil servants in Cameroon. It cited in its findings the case of the customs official who owns 13 villas, a five-storey building, 10 registered land, five 30-ton trucks, and five Toyota cars, 28-seat coaster, two 18-seater coaches, a fleet of high-end personal vehicles …

Source: Cameroon Intelligence Report

28, December 2017

UNICEF says 2017 is devastating year for children in war zones ⁰

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has described 2017 as a devastating year for children trapped in conflict zones across the globe, saying the scale of attacks on children in war-ravaged regions reached “shocking” levels in the year.

In a new report published on Wednesday, the UN’s children agency said that throughout 2017, children in war-ravaged zones had come under attack in places where they naturally had to be safe, such as homes, schools, hospitals, and even playgrounds.

According to the UN body, children were employed as human shields, killed, maimed, kidnapped, raped, and even recruited against their will by armed outfits in conflict areas from Iraq, Syria, and Yemen to Nigeria, South Sudan, and Myanmar.

Furthermore, millions of children also bore the brunt of diseases spread as a result of medical shortages caused by fighting, the report said, adding that children also suffered from malnutrition and trauma when access to food, water, and sanitation, and health services was impeded by constant hostilities.

“As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal,” said UNICEF Director Manuel Fontaine.

The report also said that some 27 million children in conflict regions had been forced out of school.

“UNICEF calls on all parties to conflict to abide by their obligations under international law to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals,” the reports added, calling on countries with influence over involved parties to conflicts “to use that influence to protect children.”

Culled from Presstv

28, December 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: 2 mass graves with dozens of bodies found in Mamfe ⁰

Two mass graves containing dozens of bodies have been found in Mamfe, a local human rights activist hinted Cameroon Concord News today Thursday the 28^th of December 2017, adding they appeared to belong to people who had been killed by Cameroon government forces operating in Manyu Division ever since President declared war against the people of Southern Cameroons.

The mass graves were discovered behind the old council office in Mamfe, the chief town in the Manyu constituency. Our Manyu Bureau Chief reported that one of them contained 10 bodies belonging to young people from Eshobi, Egbekaw, Besongabang and Dadi including five other villages.

They had been forced out of the Mamfe prison immediately after the attack on the gendarmerie post in Egbekaw by Cameroon government troops, according to a local human rights activist. The number and identity of the bodies in the other mass grave was not yet known. A Mamfe Rural Council Official who spoke to us but sued for anonymity confirmed that two mass graves had been found, but declined to give more details.

Passersby found the mass graves after noticing a smell and insects there, the Council officer said. The victims belong to the Manyu ethnic group which the Yaounde regime accuses of supporting the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dozens of armed Southern Cameroons militants have remained active in Manyu confronting the Francophone dominated army.

By Judith Fon in Mamfe

28, December 2017

Libya deports 142 migrants back home to Guinea ⁰

Libya put 142 illegal migrants on a flight back to Guinea on Wednesday with the help of the UN migration agency, officials said, as the North African country steps up deportations to ease severe overcrowding in its detention centers.

The International Organization for Migration flew the Guinean migrants from two western cities – Zewara and Zawya – to the city of Misrata, from where they boarded a plane for Conakry.

(Source: Reuters)

28, December 2017

Cameroon army: 18 hostages rescued ⁰

18 Cameroonian hostages have been released by the elements of the 31st Mechanized Infantry Division of the Cameroon army.

They were detained between the localities of Gamba (North) and Mbé in the Adamaoua, two neighboring areas in the north of Cameroon where arm robbery and attacks on the motorway are rife.

During the operation that led to their release, four of the hostages were wounded and were evacuated to the Norwegian hospital in N’gaoundere. Among the hostages are traders, farmers and cattle dealers.

By Rita Akana

27, December 2017

Ugandan forces kill more than 100 rebels in Congo-Kinshasa ⁰

Uganda’s armed forces have killed more than 100 Uganda-based rebels during a high-scale offensive in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The Ugandan army said in a statement Wednesday that several other rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were wounded in aerial attacks and artillery raids.

The military says the operation has been carried out from Ugandan territory.

The rebels were accused of carrying out the attack that left several UN peacekeepers dead earlier this month.

On December 7, armed assailants attacked a base of the United Nations peacekeepers in eastern DRC, killing at least 15 peacekeeperswho were mostly from Tanzania.

The base, which is located about 45 kilometers from the town of Beni, has been repeatedly attacked by rebels from the ADF. It is home to the peacekeeping mission’s rapid intervention force, which has a rare mandate to go on the offensive.

The UN described the attack in Congo as the worst in the recent UN history as well as a war crime.

The ADF originated in Uganda as a rebel force against the government and carried out deadly bombings in the 1990s. A military campaign forced them to relocate to eastern Congo.

The DRC had one of the most brutal colonial rules before undergoing decades of corrupt dictatorship and back-to-back civil wars that left the mineral-rich country poor and politically unstable.

In 2006, the UN mission helped carry out Congo’s first free and fair elections in 46 years, paving the way for President Joseph Kabila to be elected for a five-year term.

His second term in office ended in 2016. Under the DR Congo’s constitution, Kabila is banned from seeking a third term. However, he is authorized to stay in office until his successor is elected but he decided to remain in power. This prompted the UN to urge the Congolese authorities “to respect the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Congolese Constitution.” The delay in holding an election has flared up violence in the country.

Source: Presstv

27, December 2017

More Southern Cameroonians flee Cameroon government crackdown ⁰

The worsening conflict between Cameroon’s Francophone dominated government and English-speaking Cameroonians now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia have displaced about 40 000 people. About 20 000 people are internally displaced while over 40 000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria. Up to 65 percent of children in the affected area are displaced and face difficulties to attend school.

Tensions between the Francophone dominated security forces and Anglophone communities in the Southern Cameroons have intensified since November resulting in casualties among the civilian population and security forces.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered 7 204 arrivals in remote areas of Nigeria’s Cross River State. The refugee agency indicated that thousands more are awaiting registration.

Some 70 per cent of the registered asylum seekers, mostly women and children, come from Akwaya. It is among areas worst affected by deadly protests against alleged marginalization by the government dominated by French-speaking Cameroonians.

“As the unrest in Cameroon continues and more asylum seekers arrive, UNHCR is concerned that the local population’s capacity will soon be stretched to its limits,” said a UNHCR spokesperson. UNHCR and partners have developed a contingency plan for an estimated 40 000 new arrivals from Cameroon.

The minority English-speaking community in Cameroon is disgruntled by the reunification process that brought the English and the French-speaking parts of the country together in 1961. They complain about marginalisation and under-representation in the country’s Francophone-dominated administration of President Paul Biya. The Central African country is seen as fragile with the 2018 elections and the Boko Haram insurgency infiltrating from neighbouring Nigeria posing other problems.

CCN with files from CAJNews