News

22, May 2023

Cameroon, Nigeria beef up security in Bakassi ⁰

Nigeria and Cameroon have beefed up security in the Gulf of Guinea and maritime borders as the 14 days ultimatum by the Biafra Nations League (BnL) to release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi kanu, expired on May 20.

Recall that BnL had, on May 6, through its National Leader, Princewill Richards, given the two countries 14 days to release Kanu and withdraw troops from South East, as well as the Bakassi Peninsula.

Sources said there is heavy military presence as Nigeria and Cameroon have deployed heavy gunboats to the maritime borders in Bakassi Peninsula.

They noted that military presence on the major road to Calabar from Ikang has increased, while soldiers engage in stop and search operations.

The Guardian, however, observed that people were going about their normal businesses, as everywhere was calm and peaceful except for security men who were on red alert for any uprising.

An army personnel, who does not want to be mentioned, at one of the check points, said they were on a normal military exercise to forestall any violence, but declined to comment on the BnL ultimatum.

Operational Commander of BnL, Henry Edet, reacting to the reinforcement of troops, said: “They will end up intimidating indigenes, but they can’t stop anything that wants to happen.”

He noted that the BnL Chief of Staff in Ikang was alarmed that he received a call from Department of State Services (DSS) about the ultimatum, warning him against any violent action.

As part of efforts to check any violent situation, it was gathered that Richards was arrested and allegedly brutalised by police operatives in Ikot Ekpene, in Akwa Ibom State, as he was returning home after addressing the press in Calabar.

It was learnt they accused him of sending his boys to kill police operatives in Orlu, Imo State, and Essien Udim, in Akwa Ibom, as well as sending militants to vandalise pipelines in riverine areas, which he, reportedly, denied.

He has since been released on bail.

Source: The Guardian Nigeria

22, May 2023

May 20 Bonaberi- Bonanjo bomb attacks: Who or what caused the explosions? ⁰

A lot of tongues have been wagging on what caused Saturday’s dramatic explosions in Bonaberi and Bonanjo in Douala the economic capital.

Cameroon Intelligence Report chief correspondent in Douala noted that there are plenty of theories, not all of them very credible.

Yaoundé was quick to report that the bomb attacks were carried out by Ambazonia fighters from the South West region.

The Governor of the Littoral Region accused Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces of attacking Bonaberi and Bonanjo in an “act of terrorism”.

The Bonanjo attack was staged in Bessèkè, a district in Douala 1 hosting military and civilian parade organized as part of the 51st National Day of Unity celebration.

This is not the first time reports have circulated suggesting that Ambazonia fighters have access to explosive devices and bombs.

The bomb attack on Bonaberi in the fourth district targeted “Grand Hangar” and injured many people.

According to a source at the national gendarmerie, it was homemade bombs, specifically improvised explosive devices hidden in bags.

By Haggai Fung Achuo in Douala

21, May 2023

Southern Cameroons and La Republique celebrate National Unity Day ⁰

Cameroon has been celebrating 51 years as unified nation with a military and civilian parade on National Unity Day in its capital Yaoundé.

For all but 10 of those years it has been ruled by just one man, President Paul Biya.

And at 91 years old he is now the oldest head of state in the world.

The country is now less united than ever: Thousands of people have been killed since 2016 and over a million people displaced after a group of Anglophone Cameroonians began to fight Biya’s Francophone government.

Some of those who watched the parade sounded optimistic about their country’s future and welcomed the day.

“It is to remind that we are one people, it’s to remind that it’s together that we can build and develop, it’s to remind that it’s together that we can be happy, it’s together that we can live in peace,” said Therese Temgoua, a Francophone Cameroonian who is a bank executive.

“I think it’s a happy day, and what I’ve seen today shows that Cameroon’s democracy is actually in the right direction,” Enobi Akepe, an anglophone Cameroonian who is a university lecturer, said.

But one francophone journalist described the unity of the country as a “facade.”

“Today, Cameroonians agree that we are living in a certain facade of unity. First, because in the North-West and South-West, you know that there are secessionists who do not let us breathe. On the other hand, we see the rise of hatred in the country,” said Pierre Youte, a journalist and the director of Soleil d’Afrique newspaper.

This rainy season Cameroon is also facing a cholera epidemic which has spread to all of its regions and is known to have infected around 20,000 people.

The figure is likely to be higher as only those infected people who manage to reach hospital are counted.

On Friday, on the eve of National Unity Day, the authorities closed down some of Yaoundé’s food markets to prevent the spread of the deadly bacterial disease.

Source: Africa News

19, May 2023

UN says more than a million people displaced by Sudan crisis ⁰

More than a million people have been displaced by fighting in Sudan so far, including a quarter of a million refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson says.

The latest figure includes some 843,000 people displaced internally and around 250,000 people who have fled across Sudan’s borders, Matthew Saltmarsh told a Geneva briefing on Friday.

With hundreds of casualties and the streets of the capital Khartoum being turned into battle zones, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been engaged in weeks-long conflict.

Refugees have flocked to the neighboring countries of Sudan, including Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, all of which are experiencing severe humanitarian crises.

Since the start of the conflict, Egypt has received the largest amount of Sudanese refugees than any other country, around 110,000, according to Saltmarsh.

“Many of those who have approached us are in a distressed state having been exposed to violence or traumatic conditions in Sudan, and having suffered arduous journeys,” Saltmarsh said. The pace has increased in recent weeks, he added, with some 5,000 arriving each day in Egypt.

Thousands of people have been injured and hundreds of people have died as a result of the fighting in the northeast African country so far.

Source: Presstv

18, May 2023

Yaoundé: Calls for peace, reconciliation ahead of May 20 ⁰

Thousands of people are demonstrating this week, calling for peace and reconciliation ahead of National Day on May 20. Peace caravans led by activists, clerics and traditional rulers are calling for an end to hate speech and the separatist conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people in Cameroon since 2017.

A band of youths leads several hundred Cameroonians in protests against hate speech in the capital, Yaounde, on Thursday. The protesters are also calling for peace and reconciliation in the central African state.

Organizers say the protests began in towns and villages across Cameroon on Monday ahead of the country’s National Day on May 20.

Thousands of Christians from Cameroon’s Catholic, Presbyterian and Baptist churches joined the protest in Yaounde Thursday.

Reverend Father Humphrey Tatah Mbui is the director of communications at the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon. He said Christians cannot be indifferent at a time when increasing hate speech and xenophobic statements are creating conflicts and damaging Cameroon’s image.

“It is wickedness and the type of hate speech that destroys the country. If we want peace in this country we must learn to start controlling the kind of words we use, the way we talk to other people and dialogue,” he said.

Mbui said clashes between communities increased in Cameroon after the disputed 2018 presidential election in which President Paul Biya was declared the winner. Opposition leader Maurice Kamto also claimed victory.

In addition, some French-speaking host communities accuse English speakers displaced by the separatist conflict in the west of being separatist fighters or sympathizers.

The tension goes the other way, too. Earlier this month, a human rights group said scores of French speaking civilians in English-speaking regions were victims of hate speech.

Meanwhile, Cameroon’s National Communication Council issued over two dozen warnings last year to radio and TV stations the NCC says hosted guests who promoted hate speech.

Cameroon’s communication minister, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, said civilians are also increasingly using social media to vilify and humiliate people, or to incite hatred and call for violence against people of different religions, languages, ethnic groups and gender.

Sadi said all social strata in Cameroon suffer the consequences of hate speech fanned by some civil society groups, intellectuals, politicians, activists and social influencers. He said the most common manifestations of hate speech in Cameroon include ethnic and social discrimination, stigmatization, tribalism, irredentist claims, calls for insurgency and sometimes genocide, gender violence and violence against minorities.

Sadi said the Cameroon government is fighting hate speech as a priorty to safeguard democracy and the rule of law and to preserve the values of peace, unity and living together.

The government says President Biya wants Cameroonians to show love for their country as they celebrate National Day on Saturday. Biya will preside over celebrations in Yaounde.

In 2021, the International Crisis Group warned in a report that social media platforms, especially Facebook, were increasingly being used by Cameroonian youths to heighten political and ethnic tensions.

Source: VOA

18, May 2023

Russia launches ‘unprecedented’ air attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv ⁰

Ukraine said “unprecedented” air attacks had rocked its capital and other areas early Thursday, a day after it reached an agreement with Russia to extend a deal allowing grain exports across the Black Sea.

“A series of air attacks on Kyiv, unprecedented in their power, intensity and variety, continues,” said Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s civil and military administration, adding that no casualties had been reported in the capital.

At least one person was killed by a Russian missile strike on an industrial facility in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa in the early hours of Thursday. Two more people were wounded in the attack, military administration spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk wrote on Telegram.

Source: France 24

17, May 2023

Cameroon’s former ambassador to Germany Jean Marc Mpay dies aged 78 ⁰

Jean Marc Mpay, Cameroon’s former ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, has died aged 78.

Jean Marc Mpay’s death was confirmed by the Cameroon embassy in Berlin following media reports which claimed he had suffered a stroke while in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital.

Paying tribute, Chief Ashu Peter Ashman former CPDM Sub Section president for Wuppertal said: “He was a great diplomat and a great character.”

“All our thoughts are with his family,” Chief Ashu Peter added.

Ambassador Jean-Marc Mpay was born on 21 July 1945. He completed studies in Law and Economics at the University of Yaoundé and post-graduate studies in Political Science in Ottawa, where he also served from 1977 to 1981 at the Embassy of Cameroon.

From 1991 to 1998, he was Cameroon’s First Embassy Counsellor and later Envoy-Embassy Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cameroon to the United Nations in New York.

Ambassador Jean-Marc Mpay was nominated ambassador of the Republic of Cameroon in Berlin on February 2008 as successor of Jean Melaga, who served for 24 years as Cameroon’s chief diplomat in both Bonn and Berlin.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Essen, Germany

17, May 2023

Nigeria: Ethnic clashes kill at least 30 ⁰

More than 30 people have been killed in ethnic clashes between herdsmen and farmers in central Nigeria’s Plateau state, local officials stated.

Plateau State Information and Communications Commissioner Dan Manjang declared on Tuesday that the deadly violence on Monday erupted between herdsmen, who are mostly Muslims, and farmers, who are mostly Christians, suggesting ethnic clashes.

The region, which is located on the dividing line between the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria and the predominantly Christian south of the country, has been struggling to deal with ethnic and religious clashes for years.

Police said that violence broke out in various villages in Bwoi and in Mangu district.

Police spokesman Alfred Alabo said “a distress call was received” around noon time with a report of gunmen “shooting sporadically”.

He said in a statement that security officials were deployed to the area, where they clashed with “hoodlums” – a term used in Nigeria to describe criminals.

Violence in north-west and central Nigeria has escalated from small-scale killings to wider crimes, with armed gangs reportedly attacking villages and committing mass kidnappings and looting.

“As we speak, the culprits are on the run while our officers are still on their trail with the aim to ensure that they are neutralized and if possible, arrested,” Alabo added.

He further noted that the chairman of the Mangu district has imposed a 24-hour curfew “to ensure that the crisis does not escalate to other areas.”

Nearly 50 people were killed last month when gunmen attacked a village in neighboring Benue state, violence that local officials blamed on herdsmen.

Benue has suffered the most amid inter-communal conflicts between farmers and herdsmen who are accused of destroying agricultural land by grazing their cattle.

President-elect Bola Tinubu, who will take over the helm of Africa’s most populous country later this month, faces multiple security challenges.

The military is fighting a 14-year-old insurgency by terrorist groups in the northeast, separatist tensions in the southeast, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, and kidnappings by armed criminals across the country.

Violence has increased in the past few weeks after a brief lull in presidential and gubernatorial elections in February and March.

Source: Presstv

16, May 2023

Several dead in Senegal clashes as opposition leader Sonko’s rape trial adjourned ⁰

Three people died during clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, the authorities said on Tuesday, amid flaring tensions triggered by a legal showdown.

Two young people were found dead overnight in the capital Dakar and southern city of Ziguinchor, where a policeman died on Monday after being accidentally crushed by an armoured anti-riot vehicle, the interior ministry said.

Crowds in Ziguinchor, where Sonko is mayor, on Monday hurled stones at police who responded with tear gas, according to an AFP correspondent there.

In Dakar, around 20 vehicles at a depot belonging to the national bus company were torched, and the local press said two stores belonging to the French supermarket chain Auchan, which has been frequently targeted in disturbances, were also attacked.

The violence erupted on the eve of a scheduled court appearance by Sonko, who is facing trial for the alleged rape of an employee at a beauty salon where he went for a massage.

Young demonstrators in Ziguinchor on Tuesday blocked off the streets leading to his home, some of them holding rocks or wielding steel bars, to prevent the authorities from taking him.

Sonko’s trial opened meanwhile in Dakar, more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the north, and was immediately adjourned until May 23 after he failed to show.

His accuser Adji Sarr, a woman in her twenties, and Sonko’s co-accused, Ndeye Khady Ndiaye, who owns the massage parlour where the alleged rape took place, were both present.

“I feel fine. I have confidence. We are going to win. It’s a pity that after waiting two years for a trial, he (Sonko) has fled,” Sarr said, speaking before proceedings opened.

Sonko, 48, who was also recently sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence for defamation and insults against the tourism minister, has denied the charge.

Sonko, president of the PASTEF-Patriots party, came in third in the 2019 presidential elections.

He says the legal cases against him are a plot aimed at barring him from contesting the 2024 vote.

Senegal is traditionally a beacon of stability in troubled West Africa, but in recent years has been buffeted by turbulence that has at times turned deadly.

When Sonko was arrested in 2021, several days of protests left at least 12 people dead.

The interior ministry on Tuesday did not directly attribute the latest death of the two young people to the protests, but said it “strongly urges parents to prevent their children from taking part in violent demonstrations.”

These events are liable to “attacks, theft, looting and other acts of vandalism,” it said.

Source: AFP

16, May 2023

What’s wrong with President Biya’s knee? ⁰

President Biya has been visibly limping. Recently, he canceled some of his meetings.

The 90-year-old Biya who has been ruling Cameroon for 41 years is currently suffering from a bad knee with speculation rife over his participation in this year’s national day celebration.

The Francophone dictator was expected in Geneva, Switzerland for surgery on his ailing knee but did not show up due to happenings in Yaoundé.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that Biya had to deal with the Martinez Zogo affair that involved his spy chief Eko Eko and Justice Minister Laurent Esso. He was also concerned about the sudden diplomatic crisis with the Republic of Chad over the oil company Savannah Energy.

All these issues forced Biya to give up surgery on his knee, which has been causing him pain for several months. The operation would have meant a trip to Geneva for several days, and above all a forced rest on a wheelchair for several months-a situation that is unthinkable for the Biya entourage who are only interested in showing the world that he is still in charge of affairs in Yaoundé.

Cameroonians have seen time and again that their president struggles to climb or go down stairs during his rare public appearances. Paul Biya is expected on Saturday, May 20, 2023 at the “Boulevard du 20 Mai” to preside over the civilian and military parade of the National Unity Day, which will be in its 51st edition.

By Rita Akana