News

6, May 2023

UK: Charles and Camilla crowned in historic Coronation celebrations ⁰

The Coronation was nothing if not international.

About half of all the world’s leaders were there – 90 heads of state in all, as well as 14 prime ministers from countries where the King is still their monarch.

Servicemen and women from 33 Commonwealth countries took part in the procession. Kings and queens from Europe and beyond were in the congregation. Many in the crowds were visiting from overseas.

And it all made headlines abroad, especially in the US.

But interest was not universal. In some of the King’s realms, such as Belize and Jamaica, the coronation has prompted fresh debate about them becoming republics.

Australia’s Prime Minister Antony Albanese may have attended the Coronation but he is a lifelong republican and some people in Sydney today appeared underwhelmed by the day’s events.

On the Pacific island of Tanna, in Vanuatu, however, thousands gathered to dance and feast in celebration of the King’s big day. But then they still believe his late father was a god.

The Palestinian connection to the Coronation comes through the Chrism oil used to anoint King Charles. It was created with Palestinian olive oil and consecrated at Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre Church.

At Bethlehem University, a Catholic institution, staff watched events unfold on TV together.

“My interest is just that it’s unusual, it doesn’t happen every day,” explains Brother Jean Manuel from Jerusalem. “I like the ceremony and the pomp,” adds Brother Alejandro Cerna, a Mexican. “I’ve always liked history and anything related to royalty, kings and castles.”

Paola Handal, who has Canadian nationality, confesses to “an utter fascination with anything royal,” even planning her own coronation cocktail using orange blossom – a local flavour used to perfume the Chrism oil.

By contrast, Australian, Brother Mark McKeon, felt detached. “The monarchy in the UK has no impact on my life,” he says. “I think in Australia, we should have our own head of state.”

Source: BBC

6, May 2023

French Cameroun: Two killed in Boko Haram raids ⁰

Two people have been killed in Boko Haram raids in Cameroon’s Far North region, local media and security sources said Friday.

Heavily armed militants of the terrorist group Boko Haram raided Zize village in the Kolofata subdivision of the region Thursday night but were repulsed by the Cameroon army, according to a military official in the region.

A civilian, who was part of a group that was tracking down the terrorists to recover their stolen property, died in the attack.

“Our valiant soldiers killed one of the militants and seized his weapon. Others escaped with bullet wounds,” the official who asked not to be named said.

In another attack early Friday, militants raided Yegoua and Gance localities of the region, killing a middle-aged man and stealing property including foodstuff, livestock, clothes, and household utensils, according to local media.

Close to 1,000 civilians have been displaced from their homes in the last three weeks in the region due to frequent attacks by the terrorist group, according to local authorities.

Source: Xinhaunet

6, May 2023

Biya regime to boost agricultural financing over the next 5 years ⁰

The Cameroonian government, through its National Strategy for Inclusive Finance (SNFI), announced the disbursement of CFA10.5 billion to boost agricultural financing in the country over the next five years.

“Since farmers’ needs are specific and particular, they require tailored financial services instead of conventional banking services,” the SNFI explained. Part of the money will come from the Public Investment Budget (BIP) and the remainder will be raised from development partners, we learned. The government plans to rely on its existing partnerships with the Agency for the SME Promotion Agency (APME) to reach the target. The plan also includes training and support sessions for stakeholders on agriculture financing and the establishment of permanent consultation frameworks between financial institutions and producer organizations.

CFA6 billion worth of credit lines will also be opened with selected banking institutions and intended for actors in the agricultural and agri-food sector. This incentive approach will help build the capacities of financial institutions on financing approaches for agricultural value chains. The implementation timeline and modalities of this strategy have not yet been defined, but the main goal is to increase local production and processing to significantly reduce the country’s dependence on imports.

In March of this year, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute signed a decree to establish and operate a fund financed jointly by the State and the AfDB to facilitate the supply of credit for the development of agricultural value chains, livestock, and fish farming.

As a reminder, Cameroon previously attempted to create the National Agriculture Financial Rural Corporation (CAFRUC), which was supposed to be a financial institution dedicated to financing the agro pastoral sector, but the project was eventually halted.

Source: Business in Cameroon

5, May 2023

King Charles greets royal fans as coronation buzz builds ⁰

King Charles III greeted the crowds outside Buckingham Palace on Friday on the eve of his coronation, with royal revellers cranking up the party atmosphere with fancy dress and inflatable crowns.

Hundreds of tents have been pitched along The Mall, the tree-lined avenue leading to the palace, with hardcore royalists camping out to secure a prime viewing spot for the glittering processions to and from London’s Westminster Abbey on Saturday.

The scene looks like a costume party, with many extravagantly dressed up in all manner of costumes and accoutrements and wearing blow-up crowns on their heads.

The buzz cranked up even further when Charles, his son Prince William and William’s wife Kate went out to shake hands and chat with the multitudes behind the bunting-lined barricades.

People cheered, took selfies next to the royals and some sang “God Save the King” as the sun broke through rain clouds that had drenched the gathered masses.

One woman told the sovereign: “Love you, Charlie!”, while others passed on their congratulations.

Kate, 41, was heard saying that the coronation was “a great moment for celebration”.

One man, wearing a golden crown and the red, white and blue flag around his shoulders, stood next to a life-size poster of the sovereign.

Five women from the English Midlands, all in their sixties and wearing Union Jack suits, were preparing for a third and final night sleeping in a tent.

Carry on camping

But they know the drill, having done it before for the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in June 2022, celebrating her 70 years on the throne, and then again for her funeral in September.

“We’ll really have good views,” one of them said.

“Being here, together, for the coronation, it’s what makes us British.”

Karen Chamberlain, 57, from Birmingham, arrived at The Mall with a big backpack and a tent. She was preparing to camp out for the night with her sister, husband and their eight-year-old son.

“It’s so exciting,” she told AFP. “Being here is a way to say we are proud of the monarchy.”

“Our mother came to London in 1953,” said the charity worker, referring to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

News crews from around the world, some broadcasting live, zig-zagged between the tents. Smiling police officers guided the growing crowd, while groups of passing tourists gazed at the bustling spectacle.

Bill Powell, 52, from Toronto, came to The Mall as soon as his plane landed on Wednesday. He is camping out with a fellow Canadian who now lives in England.

They have installed a Canadian flag on the barricades.

“Making eye contact with royal family is something amazing, something you don’t understand when you just watch on TV,” he insisted.

Unifying force

Charles is Canada’s head of state and Powell does not believe that his country will ditch its constitutional monarchy.

He said some people wanted to replace the king of Canada with a president “because they don’t know Charles” yet.

“The priority for the king is his country, the tradition. It’s country first. Whereas politicians, it’s ‘my interests first’.”

His friend Mary Foster added: “I can’t imagine how it is to start the biggest job of your life at 74.”

Ilana Trevisan, a 41-year-old Frenchwoman, came from the southern city of Marseille with her mother and daughter especially for the coronation.

“Being here is brilliant,” she said. “We are fans of the monarchy,” she proclaimed, without regretting France’s republic status.

“My mother wanted me to marry William when I was little!” she said.

“The atmosphere here is absolutely fantastic. There are so many people from different countries,” she said.

“I hope it stays like this. I mean the monarchy. It brings people together.”

Source: AFP

4, May 2023

Ukraine War: White House says Kremlin ‘lying’ about US role in drone attack ⁰

The White House on Wednesday denied any involvement in an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin, after Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Washington of guiding Ukraine to launch the assault.

“We had nothing to do with this,” said John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, on MSNBC. “Peskov is just lying there, pure and simple,” he added.

Russia alleges that Ukraine carried out a “terrorist attack” overnight Tuesday into Wednesday with two drones, aiming to kill President Vladimir Putin, a charge which Kyiv has denied.

Kirby reiterated in his interview to MSNBC on Wednesday that Washington does not support or condone attacks by Ukraine outside its borders.

“We’ve been clear with them publicly and we’ve been clear with them privately that we do not encourage nor do we enable them to strike outside Ukraine,” he said.

Source: France 24

4, May 2023

CPDM and Oil Money: Minister Ngoh Ngoh battles it out with SNH boss Adolphe Moudiki ⁰

The Biya regime has been caught up in an internal crisis since the SNH bought a 10% stake in the company running the oil pipeline between Doba and Kribi.

In a series of letters seen by African Intelligence, presidency secretary general Ngoh Ngoh and SNH boss Adolphe Moudiki have been locked in a violent dispute over the operation.

Recently, Yaoundé and N’Djamena agreed to resolve their dispute over assets belonging to a multinational oil giant, Exxon Mobil.

Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh made the news public after a meeting with Chad’s transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Deby, in the capital N’Djamena.

The Biya acolyte, who visited Chad as a special envoy, days after N’Djamena recalled its ambassador to Yaoundé over the dispute, handed President Deby “a message of friendship, a message of fraternity” from Biya.

By Rita Akana with files from Africa Intelligence

4, May 2023

Power Company Eneo claims over 210,000 new connections in one year ⁰

Cameroon power company Eneo reported a customer base up 12.278% between January 2022 (1,715,093) and January 2023 (1,925,667). This means the company has performed 210,574 new electrical connections over one year.

“This increase in access to electricity has been helped by the acceleration of the digitalization process, which has boosted management of online connection requests and better organization,” Eneo explained, stressing that interest in its digital agencies has been more noticeable in Yaoundé and Douala. In the political capital, for example, the number of price quotes produced by the online agency for the benefit of customers has increased by 958%.

Moreover, Eneo reported a significant decline in the execution deadlines for connection requests, which are now carried out on the same day of the payment of the estimate or at most 24 hours later.

Source: Business in Cameroon

2, May 2023

Sudan conflict pushes 100,000 to flee across borders to neighbouring countries ⁰

The fighting in Sudan has caused more than 330,000 people to flee their homes within the country, with over 100,000 others escaping over the borders, the United Nations said Tuesday, as gunfire and explosions echoed across the capital despite another ceasefire deal.

The conflict risks morphing into a broader disaster as Sudan’s impoverished neighbours deal with a refugee crunch and fighting hampers aid deliveries in a nation where two-thirds of people already rely on some outside assistance.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo would provide support for dialogue in Sudan between the rival military factions, but was also “being careful about not interfering in their domestic matters”.

“The entire region could be affected,” he warned in an interview with a Japanese newspaper on Tuesday as an envoy from Sudan’s army chief, who leads one of the warring sides, met Egyptian officials in Cairo.

United Nations officials had said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths aimed to visit Sudan on Tuesday, but the timing was still to be confirmed.

Regional powers have been urging the two Sudanese warning generals, Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and RSF head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, to end hostilities and begin negotiations.

The two factions on Tuesday agreed in principle to a seven-day ceasefire from Thursday, South Sudan announced as more air strikes and shooting in the Khartoum region disrupted the latest short-term truce.

A statement released by the foreign ministry of South Sudan, which has offered to mediate in the conflict, said its President Salva Kiir stressed the importance of a longer truce and of naming envoys to peace talks, to which both sides had agreed.

The credibility of the reported May 4-11 deal ceasefire deal between the two warring factions was unclear, given the rampant violations that undermined previous agreements running from 24 to 72 hours.

Risk of a regional crisis

The UN’s World Food Programme said on Monday it was resuming work in the safer parts of the country after a pause earlier in the conflict, in which some WFP staff were killed.

“The risk is that this is not just going to be a Sudan crisis, it’s going to be a regional crisis,” said Michael Dunford, the WFP’s East Africa director.

The commanders of the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) who previously shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections and civilian government show no sign of backing down, yet neither seem able to secure a quick victory. That has raised the spectre of a prolonged conflict that could draw in outside powers.

Early on Tuesday, black smoke could be seen hanging over the capital Khartoum, which lies at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. Air strikes hit Bahri, on the east bank, while clashes flared in Omdurman to the west, witnesses said.

Hundreds of people have died in the fighting between Burhan and Hemedti, who have blamed each other for the ceasefire violations.

The army has used airpower against RSF units dug into residential areas of Khartoum, damaging swathes of the capital area and reigniting conflict in Sudan’s far west Darfur region.

Port Sudan, where thousands of people have fled Khartoum seeking evacuation abroad, is the main entry point for aid for many countries in the region, the WFP’s Dunford told Reuters.

“Unless we stop the fighting, unless we stop now, the impact on a humanitarian scale is going to be massive,” he said.

Kenya has offered the use of its airports and airstrips near the border with South Sudan as part of an international humanitarian effort, Kenyan Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua said.

Aid supplies

Aid supplies that have arrived in Port Sudan for other aid agencies were still awaiting safe passage to Khartoum, a road journey of about 800 km (500 miles), although Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had delivered some aid to Khartoum.

Some 330,000 Sudanese have also been displaced inside Sudan’s borders by the war, the UN migration agency said.

Thousands of Sudanese are trying to exit the country, many across the borders with Egypt, Chad and South Sudan. The U.N. warned on Monday that 800,000 people could eventually leave including refugees living in Sudan temporarily.

At the border with Egypt, where more than 40,000 people have crossed over the past two weeks, delays are causing refugees to wait for days before being let through after paying hundreds of dollars to make the journey north from Khartoum.

Foreign countries have carried out their own evacuation effort, with an airlift from outside the capital and long road convoys to Port Sudan where ships have ferried them abroad.

Most European countries have ended their evacuation efforts. Russia said on Tuesday it had pulled out 200 of its citizens.

The army and RSF had shared power since a 2021 coup but had fallen out over the timeline for a transition to civilian rule and moves to merge the RSF into the regular military.

The two had fought side by side to battle an uprising in Darfur from 2003 onwards in which more than 300,000 people died, raising accusations of genocide.

Source: Reuters

2, May 2023

Biya regime does not publish all budget documents as required by law ⁰

A report by Cameroon’s General Budget Directorate (DGB) found that the government has not published all budgetary, accounting and financial information for FY2022 as required by law.

Of the 57 documents expected, DGB counted 42 (73.48%) published on its website and only 6 on the website of the Ministry of Finance. “The main shortcomings identified regarding the publication timetable of public finance statistics during FY2022 remain essentially: the non-updating of the websites of some administrations; the lack of publication of documents on dedicated sites despite multiple reminders; the slow flow of information,” explains the DGB.

However, “the publication of comprehensive information on public finances is a legal obligation that also constitutes an educational action of the State towards the citizens,” the Budget Directorate pointed out. This obligation is contained in the law of July 11, 2018, on the code of transparency and good governance in public finance management in Cameroon. Article 47 states that “the administration shall take all necessary measures to publish information that covers all budgetary and extra-budgetary activities, within the time limits set by regulation.”

In line with this provision, the Ministry of Finance sets the timetable for the release of public finance information at the beginning of each fiscal year. For FY 2023, the DGB announces that quarterly reports on the monitoring of this calendar will be produced and awareness among the departments concerned will be increased.

Source: Business in Cameroon

2, May 2023

Cameroon’s Clementine Nkweta-Salami is new UN Deputy Special Representative for Sudan ⁰

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Clementine Nkweta-Salami of Cameroon as his Deputy Special Representative for Sudan with the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS). She will also serve as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. Ms. Nkweta-Salami succeeds Khardiata Lo N’Diaye of Senegal, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedication.

Ms. Nkweta-Salami brings to the position, 30 years of experience in humanitarian affairs and protection, mainly in field settings. For the past three years, she has served as Director of the Regional Bureau for the East, Horn and Great Lakes Regions of Africa of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where she is responsible for providing strategic direction, support and oversight of 11 UNHCR country offices. Prior to this, she was UNHCR Representative to Ethiopia, Regional Representative to Southern Africa, Representative to Burundi and Head of Inspection in the Inspector General’s Office at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva. She has also served in field positions with UNHCR in the United Republic of Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Ms. Nkweta-Salami holds a masters degree in corporate and commercial law from University College, University of London, a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Social Science degree in sociology and political science from the University of Ottawa. Ms. Nkweta-Salami is a qualified barrister and member of the English and Cameroon Bar.

Source: UN Press