News

3, May 2017

EU to stop Schengen controls by November ⁰

EU countries that imposed border controls in the passport-free Schengen area because of the migrant crisis should end them by November, Brussels said Tuesday.

Austria, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and non-EU Norway introduced the ID checks in 2015 and have been allowed to repeatedly prolong them at set intervals. Sweden said earlier Tuesday that it was scrapping the checks.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said it would now only recommend one final half-year extension from mid-May. “The time has come to take the last concrete steps to gradually return to a normal functioning of the Schengen area,” EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters.

“This will be the last prolongation.” The five countries first introduced the checks as a record wave of refugees and migrants from Syria and other Middle East countries and from Africa streamed across Europe. Brussels initially set the goal of getting rid of the checks by the end of 2016 but that proved impossible.

3, May 2017

Equatorial Guinea Minister says Biya only sheltering thieves ⁰

A Cameroonian senator, Francois-Xavier Ondo has reportedly extorted the sum of 465 million FCFA from a senior political figure and aide to the Head of State of Equatorial Guinea in one of the biggest 419 scams in the country’s history.

Edjo Avomo Melchor Esono, a former Minister and current senator in Equatorial Guinea was rolled by his Cameroonian notary named Francois-Xavier Ondo and collected the sum of 465 million CFA francs, destined for the acquisition of a piece of land in Yaoundé. To this day not only that the Guinean senator has not been able to take possession of the land he solicited, the worst is that Edjo Avomo Melchor Esono has also not recovered the funds made available to his Cameroonian colleague.

The Biya acolyte claimed that he was attacked by armed robbers and the money washed away in Yaounde. Several requests for the waiver of immunity from François-Xavier Menye Ondo by the Equatorial Guinea Chancellery in the Senate office have met with a stone wall with President Biya maintaining a kind of deliberate silence. The Equatorial Guinean politician was quoted saying that “Biya is sheltering thieves.”

By Rita Akana

Cameroon Concord News

2, May 2017

French speaking Cameroonians celebrate Labour Day in style ⁰

French speaking Cameroonians joined the International Community and commemorated the International Labour Day on the 1st May 2017. Commemorative activities held under the theme, “Securing Decent Work for Sustainable Social Economic Development.”

The major highlight of the day was their usual march past organized in the regions. Also on the program was the award of labour medals to so-called meritorious workers. Activities in Yaounde the nation’s capital were chaired by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Gregoire Owona, while those at the regional headquarters were supervised by the Biya appointed Governors.

Some regional Governors called on the workers to be committed to hard work. In the Mezam Division in Southern Cameroons, some 16 pro CPDM workers received medals. The economic metropolis of Douala recorded the participation of a 150 enterprises.

In Mbalmayo and Mfou in the Centre Region, workers were exhorted to be punctual, assiduous and duty conscious. Over in Ngaoundere, the workers’ trade union presented complaints including the review of their salary schemes. It was also an intriguing celebration in Ngaoundere as camels and donkeys took part in the march past. In all, the celebration of the 2017 International Labour Day was remarkable in French Cameroon whose political elites control the nation.

CRTV

2, May 2017

Nigeria navy arrests ten suspects on ship of stolen oil ⁰

The Nigerian navy has arrested 10 suspects after intercepting a vessel carrying stolen crude oil off the coast of the Niger Delta, a senior military official said on Wednesday. The suspects – a Nigerian, two Pakistanis, three Ghanaians, one Indonesian, one Beninois and two Ukrainians – had siphoned about two thousand metric tonnes of crude oil from a loading facility belonging to Shell Petroleum, the official said.

“The suspects were caught in the early hours of Tuesday while siphoning crude oil into the vessel from Afremo A platform, a loading jacket belonging to the Shell Petroleum and Development Company in Forcados River,” Navy Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, commander of the NNS Delta, said in a statement.

Nigeria is the world’s eighth biggest exporter of crude oil, but a sizeable proportion of its output is stolen by thieves who either drill into pipelines or hijack barges loaded with oil, theft that is known locally as “bunkering”.

Bunkering and attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta can cut Nigeria’s output, which also affects world oil prices. Militant attacks on production facilities last year slashed output by as much as a third. Output has started to recover, and the government aims to pump an average of 2.2 million barrels per day this year.

Reuters

1, May 2017

Storms in US South and Midwest kill at least 14 people ⁰

Deadly weekend storms have left at least 14 dead in the Midwestern and Southern United States, according to officials, as eastern regions faced potential damaging winds and isolated tornadoes into Monday. Severe weather devastated homes, overturned cars and felled trees, with the National Weather Service confirming at least four tornadoes in Texas.

The mayor of Canton, Texas — a city some 60 miles (95 kilometers) east of Dallas — said the death toll there stood at four. It is heartbreaking and upsetting to say the least,” Mayor Lou Ann Everett told journalists Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management told AFP severe weather had caused at least five fatalities in that state. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency had confirmed two deaths, one of them a child who was killed by electric shock in floodwater.

Heavy rains also lashed the Midwestern state of Missouri, with at least two reported casualties. According to CNN one of those killed was a 72-year-old woman who was stranded in her car as it was swept away by floodwaters.

In Tennessee, a two-year-old girl was pronounced dead at a hospital in Nashville after she was struck by a heavy metal soccer goal blown over by heavy winds, according to the city’s police department. As of late Sunday the NWS was projecting major flooding to continue in parts of eastern Oklahoma, northern Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

Authorities warned that severe storms potentially packing heavy winds, large hail and tornadoes could hit parts of the mid-Atlantic and northeastern US by Monday afternoon.

Source: AFP

30, April 2017

Douala: Soldier charged after 2 women stabbed to death ⁰

A soldier serving with the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR has stabbed two women to death in Douala. Military sources revealed that the serviceman carried out the evil act on the night of April 27^th to the 28^th at Ndogpassi, a popular district in Douala, the economic metropolis.

According to Cameroon Concord News sources, the soldier who recently returned from a mission to Limbe in Southern Cameroons killed his first victim inside a hotel room and then alarmed by the cries of her girlfriend, the second girl reportedly pregnant and working at the Inn, rushed into the room and was violently stabbed.

After the death of the pregnant lady, a chain of solidarity was set in motion by medics who had arrived the scene to obtain the separation of the fetus from her mother’s body. The operation was successful and was done in the presence of some judicial authorities in Douala including a State Counsel. The Francophone army has not yet reacted on this nasty and malicious act of one of its elements.

By Eyong Johnson

30, April 2017

War on terror: Fighting erupts in Kolofata District, casualties reported ⁰

A dozen of Boko Haram fighters were killed during a heavy gun battle in the Kolofata district in the Mayo-Sava Division, the Far-North region. The militants of the Nigerian Islamic sect armed with war rifle and on motorcycles attacked the village of Ndaba located at a border crossing in Nigeria forcing people to flee.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Cameroonian army under the banner of the Joint Multinational Force, whose first sector is stationed at Mora, reacted decisively. According to our source, some 12 assailants were killed and 6 elements of the Rapid Intervention Batallion, BIR were wounded by bullets- one seriously.

More than thirty civilians were also wounded during the Boko Haram onslaught on Ndaba. A day before the attack on the Kolofata district, 4 members of the vigilance committee based in Achigachia died in clashes with Boko Haram terrorists who alleged allegiance to the organization of the Islamic state and is now called, Province of Islamic State in West Africa.

Early in the morning of Friday, a Kamikaze was killed and 1 civilian seriously wounded, in a suicide bombing in Tchakarmari. Sporadic fighting has been reported recently when the Yaounde authorities long announced that the army had weakened the group.

By Rita Akana

29, April 2017

Tanzania fires 10,000 civil servants over fake documents ⁰

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday fired nearly 10,000 civil servants accused of having falsified academic qualifications to get their jobs. The civil servants have been given 15 days to leave their jobs or risk jail terms of up to seven years.

Speaking in the capital, Dodoma, Magufuli described the 9,932 officials as “robbers and shoplifters” and ordered them to “immediately disappear from their work stations.” “The 9,932 employees recruited on the basis of false diplomas will not receive their salary for this month of April and have to leave their positions immediately,” Magufuli said. He added that the posts would be filled by “qualified persons” as soon as possible and called on local media to publish the names of those fired.

The officials had been implicated by an independent evaluation that sought to determine the validity of the academic papers of public employees in Tanzania. The evaluation followed a countrywide crackdown on phantom workers on the public payroll. Since winning elections in 2015, Magufuli has strengthened his reputation for fighting corruption with decisions many see as aimed at improving service delivery.

Source: Presstv

28, April 2017

Syria in talks to buy Russian air defense systems ⁰

Syria says it is negotiating with Russia to buy state-of-the-art Russian missile defense systems to help defend the Arab country against Israeli and American aggression. President Bashar al-Assad made the remarks to Venezuelan channel Telesur. A transcript of the interview appeared on the official Syrian Arab News Agency on Thursday.

“It’s natural that we should have such systems,” said the Syrian leader. “Israel has been committing aggression on the Arab states surrounding it since its creation in 1948,”he said. He made the comments Israel struck an area near the International Airport in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Tel Aviv has conducted many such attacks in the past. The forays, however, have increased in number since the outbreak of the foreign-backed militancy in the Arab country in 2011. On March 18, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprisingly admitted to a series of the attacks by the regime, which had hit several targets near the ancient city of Palmyra in the central part of the Arab country the previous day.

He said the attacks had been aimed at targets belonging to the Lebanese resistance movement of Hezbollah, and said Israel would continue hitting the group. Hezbollah has been efficiently assisting Damascus in its anti-terror struggle.

Assad also said, “It is natural for us to negotiate with the Russians now with a view to strengthening (our) systems, whether to face any Israeli threats from the air or the threats of American missiles.” “That has become a real possibility after the recent American aggression on al-Shayrat airbase in Syria,” he added.

The US attack southeast of the western Syria city of Homs in early April saw a barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles launched against the Shayrat Airfield in the western Syrian province of Homs, causing some 15 fatalities, including civilians. Russia’s military said a day after the attack that Syria’s air defenses would be boosted.

“To protect Syria’s most sensitive infrastructure, a complex of measures will be implemented in the near future to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the Syrian armed forces’ air defense system,” said spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

Last Saturday too, Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the defense committee in the Federation Council, said Moscow would not hesitate to supply Damascus with the air defense missile systems it needs to protect war-ravaged Syria against any future foreign military aggression once a bilateral agreement is reached.

Culled from Presstv

27, April 2017

La Republique court adjourns trial of Southern Cameroons leaders ⁰

The hearing started today at 11:14am with the counsel for the civil parties presenting their memorandum of appearance after which they made an oral application for an adjournment to consult the case file- an application which the defense argued vigorously against by citing several provisions of the law to buttress their points.

The prosecution on the other hand declared their readiness to open their case by calling their witnesses. The prosecution had 17 witnesses to prove their case. Conspicuous among the counsel for the civil parties was the controversial Barrister Achu Julius Tabe Ngu. An application for bail to be granted to Barrister Balla and Neba by the defense was argued vigorously by Barrister Karim Khan, one of the human right lawyers from the UK attending trial. He argued the application for more than an hour citing provisions of the constitution and international conventions and treaties duly signed and ratified by Cameroon notably the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, the Bill of Rights and the African Charter on Humans and Peoples Right. He ended his submission by saying that “judges try cases but cases do try judges”.

Other former bar Presidents four in their numbers and other senior colleagues also argued the bail application. After the lengthy arguments from the defense for the bail application, the prosecution requested for adjournment to reply to the application which was granted. The matter was thus adjourned to the 24^th of May at the instance of the prosecution.