News

31, October 2016

Is Minister Grégoire Owona dead or alive? ⁰

Grégoire Owona, Minister of Labour and Social Insurance have been missing in action for some time now. The Biya acolyte who is also the Assistant Secretary General of the Central Committee of the ruling CPDM party has not appeared in any public event for the last three months. His last appearance was exactly after the last Olympic games.

Some members of his entourage have hinted that the dancing minister is receiving medical treatment abroad. Grégoire Owona, has also not been seen in any political activity in the country. Protocol officers in his office are quick to answer when asked about his where about that “the Minister is not here.” Nobody seems to know what is happening with Minister Grégoire Owona.

Cameroon Concord News Group had reported on his health including that of the late general manager of the Douala Port and also that of the late Assistant Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic. A highly placed government official who spoke to our undercover reporter revealed that Grégoire Owona’s days in government are numbered.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

31, October 2016

Morocco: Protest rallies after a fisherman was crushed to death ⁰

Moroccans have staged protest rallies across the North African country after a fisherman was crushed to death in a garbage truck while trying to take back fish seized by police. On Sunday, thousands of outraged people marched on the streets of several cities, including the northern town of Hoceima in the country’s Rif region where the fishmonger lost his life on Friday.

According to local media and authorities, the street vendor, Mouhcine Fikri, jumped inside the trash truck that police used to destroy the confiscated fish in a desperate attempt to recover it when he was caught inside the crusher. Fikri, 31, was selling sword fish, which is not allowed to be fished during this time of the season.

Protesters blamed the police for the gruesome death and demanded an end to what they termed official abuse and injustice. Sunday’s rallies were called by activists from the February 20 movement, which organized demonstrations during the Arab Spring-style protests in 2011. Arab Spring refers to a series of uprisings and revolutions that started across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 against unemployment, inflation as well as corruption, among other issues.

Fikri’s body was laid to rest in the area of Imzouren some 20 kilometers southeast of Hoceima in a huge funeral procession late Sunday afternoon.

Mourners carry the coffin of fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri who was crushed to death inside a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve fish confiscated by police in the northern town of Hoceima October 30, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

“I have never seen such a crowd in the last few years, since 2011 at least,” said Houssin Lmrabet, an activist from the town of Imzouren, where thousands took part in the funeral of the victim and protests that followed. “Everyone feels crushed by that garbage truck.”

In an effort to calm tensions, Moroccan King Mohamed VI, currently on a tour of Africa, ordered Interior Minister Mohammed Hassad to visit the victim’s family and to ensure a “meticulous” investigation. Hassad denounced the incident and vowed that an investigation would be held to “determine the exact circumstances of the tragedy and punish those responsible.”

“No one had the right to treat him like this…. We cannot accept officials acting in haste, anger or in conditions that do not respect people’s rights,” Hassad said. The Moroccan Human Rights Association also censured the “heinous” incident and recalled another incident in Hoceima, in which five youths died during 2011 protests of the February 20th Movement. That movement emerged amid the Arab Spring uprisings that began in Tunisia when vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire after police confiscated his wares.

Presstv

30, October 2016

More controversy on the Eseka train death toll ⁰

Ten days after the derailment of Camrail train 152 at Eseka, controversy still surrounds the official figures of the death toll announced by the government. Cameroon Concord News understands the debate on the death toll linked to the tragedy has continued to fuel a hostile public opinion against the Francophone Beti-Ewondo regime.

The figures provided by the government spokesman, Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary as 79 dead and 600 wounded has been rejected by the Eseka community leaders who were the first to bring relief to victims of the crash. The traditional rulers of the town have jointly stated that their people collected more than 200 dead bodies.

Amadou Sali, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Camrail said earlier today that there were 1462 passengers on board the train. Hours later, a company executive indicated that more than 1,600 passengers were in that Intercity 152 service.

Local media reports say between 1600 and 2000 passengers were on the derailed train with several hundred of these passengers not registered. A journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report was quoted as saying that many bodies were buried in the night by security forces. The nation is now waiting for the findings of the Prime Minister Philemon Yang Commission.

By Sonne Peter

30, October 2016

Another accident disrupts the flow of traffic on the Yaounde-Douala Highway ⁰

Another major accident on the Douala-Yaoundé highway has once again prevented the flow of traffic between the two main cities in the country. Cameroon Concord News gathered that the accident occurred late yesterday Saturday the 29^th of October 2016 some 15 km after Boumnyebel.

This new disruption of traffic on the Yaoundé-Douala comes only a week after the collapse of the pavement in Mányai that completely cut off movement on the Yaoundé-Douala axis and caused the train accident in Eseka.

A tractor-trailer carrying a container from Douala and heading to Yaoundé spilled across the width of the road. The accident involved a long plug of several kilometers and traffic was interrupted for four hours. At the time of filing this report only small vehicles were allowed to circulate.

By Sama Ernest

29, October 2016

Nigeria: Things fall apart for former first lady Patience Jonathan ¹

Cameroon Concord News has learned that things are not looking good for Patience Jonathan, former first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

After the freezing of her bank accounts, there are reports that financial crime experts have begun listing and confiscating material assets belonging to Patience Jonathan. Nigeria’s anti-corruption body, the EFCC has ordered detectives to identify the houses and property belonging to Patience in cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Yenagoa.

Pending the outcome of this action, a federal court in Lagos has fixed the 7^th of December 2016 as the date to hear the complaint filed by Mrs. Jonathan for her bank accounts to be unfrozen. She is also asking the government of Nigeria to pay her the sum of 200 million dollars in damages for violating her rights.

By Chi Prudence Asong

29, October 2016

Nigeria: Two bomb explosions kills nine ⁰

Two bomb explosions, blamed on the Boko Haram terrorist group, have killed at least nine people and injured 24 others in Nigeria’s northeastern restive province of Borno, officials say. The almost simultaneous blasts rocked the provincial capital, Maiduguri, at around 0600 GMT on Saturday, said military spokesman Colonel Mustapha Anka in a statement released in the wake of the deadly incidents.

In the first attack, he added, a female bomber, detonated her explosive vest in front of the Bakasi camp, set up for internally displaced persons (IDP), on the outskirts of the city, killing five men and injuring 11 women. The second explosion, which claimed the lives of four people, occurred about one kilometer away from the first one, when a tricycle taxi was exploded outside a fuel depot of state oil firm NNPC, when the driver failed to enter the facility, Anka further said.

He added that the bomber was following a fuel tanker “with the sole aim of gaining entry to cause maximum damage and casualty.” The spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, Sani Datta, said nine bodies, including those of the bombers, were recovered from the blast sites. The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals, she added. The Bakasi camp is home to some 16,000 refugees, who fled Boko Haram’s reign of terror.

Boko Haram started its campaign in 2009 with the aim of toppling the Nigerian government. The terror group later expanded its activities to the neighboring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. These countries have, in return, stepped up counter-offensives in the form of unilateral operations or contributing to a multinational force against the militant group.

The group has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly operating in Iraq and Syria. Many blame corrupt officials in the Nigerian government and army for the continued militancy, as recent reports say Boko Haram is receiving some of its arms and ammunition from corrupt Nigerian officials. Boko Haram terrorists have so far killed more than 20,000 people and forced over 2.7 million others from their homes.

Presstv

29, October 2016

Chadian Leader in Yaounde to comfort the Cameroonian people ⁰

President Biya has thanked his Chadian counterpart and Chairman of the African Union for coming to comfort the Cameroonian people after the railway accident that shocked the entire nation. The Chadian leader Idriss Deby Itno paid a 48 hour visit to Cameroon on Friday, October 28, 2016.

The two heads of State met head-to-head at the Unity Palace during a dinner offered by the presidential couple. Paul Biya thanked Deby for his presence after the tragic train accident on the 21^st of October at Eséka. Said Biya, “As soon as you were informed of the rail disaster in my country, you sent us the condolences of the Chadian people and those of the people of the African continent in your capacity as Chairman of the African Union. This tragedy, this disaster, this event, shocked the entire Cameroonian people. Many of our compatriots have died … So many others were wounded.”

Biya added that “in addition to your message of condolence, you wanted to come in person today to bring us the comfort of your friendship. Thank you, Mr. President and dear brother. It is in trouble, they say, that one recognizes his true friends.”

President Biya did not miss the opportunity to magnify the relations linking the two countries in Central Africa. “These links are based on woven relations in history, between two neighboring peoples who have much in common. In the latest period, these relationships have shown that when the safety or even the existence of our country was threatened, we were able together to face and reverse the common enemy.” President Deby will leave Cameroon today, October 29, 2016.

By Sama Ernest

29, October 2016

Eseka train disaster: Biya comes under attack for not appointing a broader commission ⁰

Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh has called on the CPDM government dominated commission to publish its findings on the October 21, 2016 Eséka tragedy immediately. The man widely believed to be the only credible challenger to the 83 year old Cameroonian dictator, made the appeal at the Yaoundé Central Hospital on October 28, 2016 as he donated blood to those badly wounded in the train crash.

The winner of The Guardian Post Awards 2015 told news reporters that he considered his gesture a patriotic act: “I came to donate blood, which is an act of citizenship in the sense of our solidarity towards our compatriots who are now survivors,” said Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh.

Dr Fomunyoh added that the Cameroonian people were waiting for the truth about the accident. He criticized President Biya for not appointing a broader commission with independent personalities and religious authorities.

By Ebong Kingsley

28, October 2016

UNICEF has negotiated the release of 876 children held in detention by Nigerian government forces ⁰

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has negotiated the release of scores of children held in detention by Nigerian government forces for their possible association with the Boko Haram Takfiri militants. UNICEF’s Manuel Fontaine said after visiting the capital city of the northeastern state of Borno on Friday that “876 children had been held in the barracks in Maiduguri.”

It was not immediately clear how long they had been detained, but the army routinely keeps close tabs on civilians who have been living in areas that had been under the control of the militants on suspicion that they too might be linked to terrorist activities. Rights groups say there is no proper legal process for such civilians, including the children, since they do not get formally charged and some end up in so-called rehabilitation centers, which the groups say have lots of resemblance to prisons.

The United Nations insists that children should not be kept in detention. “We fear that there are still kids who are being at least temporarily detained because they are being released from Boko Haram areas by the army but then kept for a while,” Fontaine, UNICEF’S regional director for Western and Central Africa, told reporters by telephone. He gave no details of the ages of the children or how long they had been held at the barracks.

Meanwhile, despite the government’s fight against the militants, the security situation remains volatile in Borno and its capital Maiduguri because Boko Haram still stages terrorist attacks and bombings, often using women or teenagers for the attacks. Fontaine also said the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced more than two million, had separated about 20,000 children from their parents, of which 5,000 had since been reunited with their families.

“Once we get children out, there is a major issue of stigmatization in the communities,” Fontaine said. “There is a sense that children who have been associated with Boko Haram for a while, could be, and in some cases we have some evidence, are rejected by community and people around them.”

This was also a problem for the girls freed from the town of Chibok, he said. Nigeria this month negotiated the release of 21 of more than 200 girls Boko Haram kidnapped in April 2014. Boko Haram started its campaign of militancy in 2009 with the aim of toppling the central government in Nigeria. The group has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

Presstv

28, October 2016

President Idriss Deby of Chad expected in Yaounde ⁰

The President of the Republic of Chad and current Chairman of the African Union, Idriss Deby Itno will begin a two day state visit to Cameroon today Friday the 28^th of October 2016.The Chadian dictator is expected in Yaounde at about 3:00pm local time.

President Idriss Deby will be received at the Nsimalen International airport by his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya. The two men will have a brief discussion at the Hilton Hotel in Yaounde.

Idriss Deby Itno and Biya will have a tete a tete at the Unity Palace at 5:00pm.Chad and Cameroon are neighbouring countries that share strong bilateral ties. Both countries are currently combating the terrorist group Boko Haram. The Chad – Cameroon pipeline project remains concrete example of the brotherly ties that both countries share. The Idriss Deby visit ends on Saturday.

CRTV