News

17, June 2017

Cameroon customs intercept Boko Haram drugs hidden in cans, bags and cartons ⁰

Cameroon custom officers in the Far North region serving at the Fotokol checkpoint have seized 200 kg of drug destined for the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. A leading security source operating on-site on behalf of the Joint Multinational Force (FMM) who spoke to us but sued for anonymity, revealed that some 3,000 packages, consisting mainly of Tramadol was intercepted by the Customs officers stationed at Fotokol on the border with Nigeria.

In addition to the Tramadol, the officers also seized Indian hemp that was channeled to Boko Haram fighters in the Lake Chad basin. Boko Haram has allegedly pledged allegiance to the Organization of the Islamic State and has been staging armed incursions deep inside Cameroon territory. These narcotics, transported by the local networks of the sect, were concealed in cans, bags and cartons.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon Concord News

17, June 2017

Kofi Annan says future of DR Congo in grave danger ⁰

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and nine former African presidents have warned that the future of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is in “grave danger” due to the failure to organize an election to replace President Joseph Kabila.

Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate last December, adding to uncertainty in the vast, mineral-rich Central African nation, where regional wars from 1996-2003 killed millions of people.

An agreement between Kabila’s ruling coalition and opposition leaders calls for the presidential election to take place by the end of this year, but delays in registering voters and mobilizing financing make that increasingly unlikely.

This file photo, taken on February 03, 2015, shows President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Joseph Kabila attending a training session of his country’s football team in Bata Kabila. (Photo by AFP)

“The failure to organize elections in late 2016, in conformity with the constitution of the DRC, has created an acute political crisis,” Annan and the former presidents, including South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, said in a statement issued late on Thursday.

“We feel obliged to sound the alarm before it is too late,” it added.

Dozens died last year in violent anti-government protests in major cities, and an insurrection in the center of the country has killed hundreds and displaced 1.3 million since last August.

(Source: Reuters)

15, June 2017

Special Criminal Court closing down on the former GM of the Telecom Regulatory Agency ⁰

The Attorney General at the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé has signed an order preventing Jean Louis Beh Mengue, former general manager of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART) who was sacked from his position on the 8th of June from traveling out of the country.

Cameroon Concord News understands Jean Louis Beh Mengue is under a major judicial investigation. The former head of the telecommunication regulatory agency in Cameroon has been accused by the State Supreme Audit, the body responsible for the control, verification and audit of public finances of embezzlement and misappropriation during his time at the head of the company which he led since its creation in 1999.

By Rita Akana

Camcordnews

15, June 2017

Burundi: UN details horrible torture, More of President Nkurunziza Opponents are ending up dead ⁰

The United Nations says the government of the African country of Burundi is condoning the torture and killing of its opponents security forces and government-allied militia. Investigators said state security agencies and the ruling party’s youth wing the Imbonerakure are continuously engaged in torture, rape, disappearances and murder of opponents.

Those crimes are fueled by hate speech” from government officials, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi said in a briefing to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday. The investigators said they recorded a “feeling of deep and widespread fear” in the hundreds of testimonies gathered from people who had fled to neighboring countries. “Today we can say that our initial fears concerning the scope and gravity of human rights violations and abuses in Burundi since April 2015 have been confirmed,” they said.

The investigators said they were struck by the cruelty and brutality of the perpetrators. “We most specifically gathered a number of testimonies alleging the use, during torture sessions, of clubs, riffle butts, bayonets, iron bars, metal chains or electric cables, resulting in some cases in the breaking of bones of the victim or making them lose consciousness.

“Long needles stuck into victims’ bodies or unidentified products injected into them; nails ripped out with pliers; burns; and many abuses inflicted on male detainees’ genital organs,” they added. Fatsah Ouguergouz, chairman of the UN commission, said a woman in her fifties was raped by four members allegedly belonging to the Imbonerakure and wearing police uniforms, as a punishment for her children belonging to an opposition party.

The government, which has denied entry to Burundi to the UN officials investigating the allegations, rejected the charges. “We do not accept the content of this report,” said the country’s human rights minister Martin Nivyabandi, claiming the aim of the UN investigators was to discredit the country’s officials.

Burundi was thrown into a political crisis in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term that his opponents said was unconstitutional. Since then at least 500 people have been killed while over 400,000 have fled the country. The UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Burundi was established in September 2016 with the aim of investigating the alleged violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity. The commission’s final report is due to be presented to the Human Rights Council in September.

Source: Presstv

15, June 2017

Buea: Ghastly auto crash claims the life of a CPDM Section President ⁰

Three persons including the CPDM Section President for Meme 1 have died and a dozen injured following a ghastly motor accident which occurred along the Buea-Ekona highway. John Kingue Lysingue, a chartered member of the ruling CPDM party who moonlighted as Section President and Councilor for the Kumba 1 Council perished en route to Buea on Wednesday June 14, 2017.

Cameroon Info.Net reported that a bike rider whose bike went into flames after the incident died on the spot alongside a passenger he was transporting. The accident happened when a 14 seater bus had a head-on-collision with a red colored Carina E belonging to the CPDM Section president of Meme 1, John Kingue.

John Kingue died from the wounds he sustained. The injured victims were rushed to the Buea regional hospital while the deceased were taken to the mortuary. The accident came just 12 days after 5 other persons were killed on the same highway.

By Eyong Johnson

Cameroon Concord News

15, June 2017

Shabab kills 11, takes 20 hostages in Mogadishu ⁰

Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants have taken at least 20 people hostage in a restaurant in the Somali capital of Mogadishu after ramming an explosive-laden car into a hotel next door, claiming the lives of 11 people.

Security officials said the militants first rammed the car into the entrance of the Posh Hotel in the capital on Wednesday and then stormed the Pizza House restaurant, which is adjacent to the hotel and a popular venue for young citizens, according to Reuters.

The gunmen cut off electricity to complicate security forces’ efforts to end the siege, according to officials. Heavy gunfire was also heard. “The fighters are still inside Pizza House and they hold inside over 20 people. We do not know how many of those are dead or alive,” said Ibrahim Hussein, a police major.

Armed security forces and rescue personnel are seen at the scene of an attack outside a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on June 14, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Witnesses said security forces cordoned off the whole district surrounding the site of the incidents, and that the people inside the hotel had been safely evacuated. Other sources put the number of fatalities from car bomb attack on the hotel at 17. Somalia has been a scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab militants since 2006.

The al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-aligned militant group, was forced out of the capital by African Union troops in 2011 but still controls parts of the countryside and carries out attacks against government, military and civilian targets seemingly at will in Mogadishu and regional towns.

In this file photo, al-Shabab fighters are seen in the Lafofe area, some 18 kilometers south of Mogadishu, Somalia. (By AP)

A particularly deadly Shabab strike on a busy market left 39 people dead in February, while a twin car bomb attack by the group on a popular Mogadishu hotel left 28 dead in January.

The Takfiri militant group is just one of the challenges facing the new Somali government, which is still struggling to expand its authority beyond the capital and other selected areas.

Source: Presstv

15, June 2017

Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Balla of Bafia, was “brutally murdered,” the country’s bishops have confirmed ⁰

Cameroon’s episcopal conference calls for full investigation and for justice to prevail after a series of homicides against the country’s clergy and religious which they attribute to “obscure diabolical forces.”

Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Balla of Bafia, was “brutally murdered,” the country’s bishops have confirmed, making him the latest in a number of Cameroonian bishops, clergy and consecrated persons to have been killed over the past 30 years.

In a June 13 statement issued by Cameroon’s episcopal conference and published by the missionary news agency Fides, the bishops called for justice to be done in the face of what they called “obscure diabolical forces.”

They said they were “convinced” that Bishop Balla did not commit suicide as had been initially thought, but that “he was brutally murdered.” Bishop Balla was just 58 years-old and would have celebrated 30 years as a priest next year.

Fisherman discovered the prelate’s body in the River Sanaga, June 2, a few miles away from where his abandoned car was found on a bridge on May 31. Inside the vehicle was a “strange message” together with some personal belongings.

“The body is now at the disposal of the authorities investigating the case to discover the causes and the perpetrators of this hateful, unacceptable crime,” the bishops stated, adding that his tragic death “shocked and upset the People of God, all Cameroonians and international opinion.”

“This is one more murder, and one too many,” the bishops added. They pointed out “the sad list of bishops, members of the clergy and consecrated persons assassinated in circumstances still not clear today.” In particular, they remembered “Mons. Yves Plumey, archbishop emeritus of Garoua (assassinated in Ngaoundéré – 1991), Fr Joseph Mbassi (Yaoundé – 1988), Fr. Antony Fontegh (Kumbo-1990), Sisters in Djoum (1992), Fr. Engelbert Mveng (Yaoundé – 1995), to mention only a few”.

“We have the impression that the clergy of Cameroon in particular is pursued by obscure diabolical forces,” the Cameroonian bishops declared. They called in their statement for “complete light to be shed on the circumstances and the motivation of the murder of Bishop Balla,” and demanded that “those responsible be identified and handed over to justice to be judged by the law of the land.”

They also urged the government “to assume the noble task of protecting human life,” and asked the media and all who use social media “to renounce defamation, lies, and calumny and to respect the dignity of human persons.”

The bishops appealed to Bishop Balla’s assailants “to strive for urgent and radical conversion,” and encouraged the faithful to “stay courageous” as “Christ has conquered the world.” “Your pastors carry with you the pain of this sad disappearance. Let not your faith fail. Draw the necessary strength from celebration of the Eucharist,” they said, and reminded them that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Patroness of Cameroon, “accompanies us in this hard trial.”

Source: National Catholic Register

14, June 2017

Qatar pulls troops from Djibouti-Eritrea border ⁰

Qatar said Wednesday it has pulled all of its troops from the border of Djibouti and Eritrea, east African nations that have a long-running territorial dispute which Doha had helped mediate.

Qatar offered no explanation for the move, though it comes amid a diplomatic dispute with other Arab nations that have cut diplomatic ties and now are trying to isolate Qatar from the rest of the world.

While the dispute hasn’t escalated to a military confrontation, Qatar’s military is dwarfed by neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of its biggest opponents in the crisis.

The 450 Qatari troops controlled a mountainous border crossing between Eritrea and Djibouti, said Nasredin Ali, a spokesman for Eritrea’s biggest armed group, known as the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization. Eritrean forces moved in after the troops departed, Ali said.

Eritrea’s top diplomat to the African Union, Araya Desta, told The Associated Press the move came after Eritrea cut diplomatic ties to Qatar. However, Desta said his country wanted no confrontation with Djibouti.

“We don’t want to take any of Djibouti’s land,” Araya said. “The last time we had some skirmishes. It was unnecessary.” Doha mediated the conflict between the two countries in 2010. Persian Gulf nations have stationed troops in both African countries, using that as a jumping-off point for the ongoing Saudi-led war in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and severed ties with Doha last week. Qatar denies the allegations, but its ties to Iran and embrace of various extremist groups have put the country under intense scrutiny.

(Source: AP)

14, June 2017

Cameroon says 75 applications on child adoption under review ⁰

Some 75 applications on child adoption are presently under review at the Ministry of Social Affairs. State radio and television reported that the applications are those deposited in 2016. Officials at the Ministry of Social Affairs say the applicants are expected to abide by the following procedures before their requests are granted:

– Present their marriage certificate

– Certificate of non- conviction

– Being at least 35 years old

– Must have been married for over 10 years with no child with one of the spouses at least 35 years old.

– Maintain a 15 year gap between the adopter and the adopted.

– Show proves of financial eligibility

The list of documents has been published at the Ministry of Social Affairs for interested applicants. Documents that were deposited in 2016 are presently undergoing some scrutiny after which will be studied by the judicial bench before applicants will get a response.

Source: CRTV

14, June 2017

Massive fire engulfs tower block in west London, deaths reported ⁰

A massive fire, which has engulfed a high-rise apartment block in west London, has left “a number” of people dead and several others injured, fire officials say.

The fire broke out in the 27-story Lancaster West Estate tower in the early hours of Wednesday when most of the residents would have still been in bed.

The fire brigade said 45 fire engines and 200 firefighters as well as 20 ambulances were sent to the building which has 120 flats and was built in 1974, but recently underwent a major refurbishment. “Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus are working extremely hard in very difficult conditions to tackle this fire,” London Fire Brigade assistant commissioner Dan Daly said.

“This is a large and very serious incident and we have deployed numerous resources and specialist appliances,” he said. Several people are trapped inside the building with reports that it might collapse. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said a “major incident” had been declared. A witness told CNN that he saw people jumping from the building.

Police officials said that they had started an evacuation of the block and the neighboring buildings, adding some people were being treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. At least 50 people have been taken to hospital so far, according to officials.

“We have now taken over 50 patients to five hospitals across London,” London Ambulance Service Assistant Director of Operations, Stuart Crichton, said. London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said, “I am very sad to confirm that there have been a number of fatalities.”

“I cannot confirm the number at this time due to the size and complexity of this building and it would clearly be wrong for me to speculate further,” Cotton added. “Equally, the cause of this fire is not known at this stage.”

Emergency personnel near Grenfell Tower. (Photo via The New York Times)

The streets around the tower have been sealed off and there is a chaos there with “people in night clothes, no shoes, crying, looking for family.”

George Clarke, the presenter of Channel 4 TV program Amazing Spaces, told Radio 5 Live, “I’m 100 meters away and I’m absolutely covered in ash.” “It’s so heartbreaking, I’ve seen someone flashing their torches at the top level and they obviously can’t get out.”

“People can be seen at the windows, including one man waving a blanket from the window,” a witness told The Guardian. “Some shouting “put your head out the window” or calling the man with the blanket to shout his flat numbers so they can guide the fire services to him.”

Source: Presstv