Technology

6, November 2018

Facebook’s Cameroon problem: stop online hate stoking conflict ⁰

A video link posted on Facebook on June 20 showed a man cooking human body parts in a pot over a wood fire. In Cameroon, the footage went viral. Some Facebook users said the man was a cannibal and that the video was shot in the country’s English-speaking west, where separatist insurgents are fighting to create a breakaway state.

Local websites quickly debunked this notion. The man in the video was not a separatist fighter or cannibal, and the body parts were not real. The clip was taken on a Nigerian film set and uploaded to Instagram on June 17 by make-up artist Hakeem Onilogbo, who uses the platform to showcase his work.

But the video’s rapid spread raises questions about Facebook’s ability to police millions of posts each day and crack down on hate speech in a country where internet use is rising fast, social media are used for political ends and the company has no permanent physical presence.

The day the link was posted on Facebook, a member of the government brought the video to the attention of international diplomats in the capital, Yaounde, via the WhatsApp messaging service, according to messages seen by Reuters.

Five days later, Cameroon’s minister for territorial administration cited it as justification for an army clampdown against the secessionists that was already under way in the Anglophone regions.

The minister, Paul Atanga Nji, compared the rebellion – over decades of perceived marginalisation by the French-speaking majority – to an Islamist insurgency waged by the Nigeria-based militant group Boko Haram which has killed 30,000 people.

“Boko Haram committed atrocities, but they did not cut up humans and cook them in pots,” the minister said in comments broadcast on state television and widely reported in Cameroon.

Nji did not respond to requests for comment. Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said that in future the government would work to verify information before commenting.

Facebook said the video had not been reported by users and that it could not comment further on the clip. It was no longer available on the site by late October.

A senior Facebook official said tackling misinformation in Cameroon was a priority for the company, which acknowledges more needs to be done.

“We’re prioritising countries where we’ve already seen how quickly online rumours can fuel violence, such as Myanmar and Cameroon,” said Ebele Okobi, Director of Africa Public Policy at Facebook.

UNDER FIRE

Facebook is under fire for carrying misleading information, including in the United States and Britain, and over posts against the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar which have had deadly consequences.

Sri Lankan authorities briefly banned Facebook this year because the government said it was fuelling violence between Buddhists and Muslims. In India, messages on Facebook-owned WhatsApp have been linked to attacks on religious minorities.

In Cameroon, Facebook has been used both to incite violence and to make threatening posts.

Simon Munzu, a former United Nations representative, said he was the target of death threats on Facebook after it was announced in July that he would help organise negotiations in the separatist conflict. Afraid, Munzu went to stay with friends.

Facebook removed the posts in October, after it was made aware of them by Reuters, saying they violated company standards.

Esther Omam, who runs a non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Reach Out, hid at a church and then fled to the Francophone region after receiving death threats from separatists following a peace march which she led, she told Reuters.

“The crisis has destroyed my life and my family,” she said. “I cannot work anymore. My family is divided. My husband is elsewhere, my children are elsewhere.”

Facebook has no staff operating permanently in Cameroon and says it monitors the country from Britain and the United States. It has an Africa-focused team that frequently visits the region, and has partnered with NGOs and civil society in Cameroon in recent months to combat hate speech.

This included paying several thousand dollars to civil society to help organise training sessions for journalists to spot falsehoods online, representatives from two groups involved told Reuters. Some groups also flag offensive posts to Facebook.

Facebook has removed pages and accounts related to the separatist conflict, and is working to slow the spread of kidnapping videos, the company said.

It declined to say how many people it had helping it in Cameroon, how much money it had so far invested or how many posts it had taken down.

Reuters found dozens of pages posted in recent months showing graphic images in Cameroon, some of which were months old.

One Facebook user on July 18 posted a picture of the decapitated body of a Cameroonian policeman lying in a gutter, and said the image gave him joy.

The same day, separatist spokesman Ivo Tapang applauded the killing of two Cameroonian soldiers and linked to a website raising funds for guns, ammunition and grenade launchers. Tapang did not respond to requests for comment.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company was unaware of the posts before Reuters pointed them out but that they were both removed after review. It is against Facebook rules to celebrate suffering or crowdfund for arms, she said.

Facebook has artificial intelligence that it uses globally to detect problematic posts. But in Cameroon, it does not have a consortium of fact-checking companies to monitor posts – as it does in the United States.

Leading civil society figures in Cameroon say Facebook needs more resources and faces an increasingly difficult task as internet use grows.

“It is not possible to stop misinformation on Facebook,” said Maximilienne Ngo Mbe, executive director of REDHAC, a civil society group that has organised training sessions and flags indecent posts to Facebook.

NO EASY FIX

The number of people with internet access in Cameroon rose from 0.86 million in 2010 to 5.9 million in 2016, about a quarter of the population, according to the International Telecommunications Union, a U.N. agency.

The government shut down the internet in English-speaking regions for three months last year because of the unrest.

After service resumed in April 2017, Facebook was the main outlet for people speaking out against the army crackdown, in which soldiers razed villages and shot dead unarmed civilians.

But misleading and hateful posts have persisted, groups that monitor posts say, echoing issues Facebook sees worldwide.

Facebook is not the only service facing a battle to tackle misinformation and hate speech. Offensive videos and images are posted on Twitter or transmitted by WhatsApp.

WhatsApp cannot view private, encrypted conversations, a WhatsApp spokeswoman said, so detecting hate speech there is harder. A Twitter spokeswoman said it prohibits the promotion of violence and encourages users to flag those posts.

Reuters

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons. The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers. However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization. It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Email: soteragbawebai@gmail.com

5, September 2018

Now is the time for local investors to step up and electrify Africa ⁰

For years, the African renewable energy development market has been dominated by foreign investors and financial institutions. Now is the time for African investors to step up to the plate and join the continent’s solar energy transition.

Africa is now even preparing to feed Europe’s growing energy needs through various projects, such as the TuNur CSP project. The project is currently in the early phases of development and will comprise a 2.3 GW concentrated solar power plant situated in the Sahara desert and a 2-G high-voltage DC submarine cable from Tunisia all the way to central Italy. Additional plans of building other export routes to Malta and France are on the table. The project is being financed mostly by European investors and will be constructed using the most modern technology. Europe will soon enjoy of the benefits of green energy coming straight from African soil. But while Europe seeks to power more coffee shops, chain stores and crypto mining server-farms, 50% of Africans are not electrified at all, and the other 50% are often connected to unreliable energy sources.

There are vast opportunities for local African investors present in the solar sector. The continent has an abundance of land available for project development and is home to some of the sunniest places on earth, which makes it an ideal location for solar energy development. Lydia van Os, Africa Lead at Solarplaza, believes that this is the right time for local investors to take action and get involved in Africa’s rapidly growing solar industry. She is convinced that this can only succeed if the movement of people committed to providing clean, reliable and affordable energy is inclusive, from Wall Street investors to Congolese rural households.

To fulfill its mission of accelerating the global sustainable energy transition and create the platform for international and local solar stakeholders to meet and share knowledge, Solarplaza is hosting Unlocking Solar Capital (“USC”) Africa. The third edition of this leading conference will take place on 7 to 8 November 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda. The two-day event is being organized in partnership with the Global Off-grid and Lighting Association (GOGLA), and is wholly focused on unlocking capital for new solar project development in Africa.

For those who can’t wait for the conference to get an in-depth look into the African solar landscape: Solarplaza has published an exhaustive 128-page regional report on Africa’s solar energy situation. The report offers an overview of the key facts & figures related to the most relevant solar PV markets in Africa. The detailed country profiles provide overviews of a range of issues related to solar PV project development and include summaries of key demographic info; insights into legislation and policy; electricity generation capacity; and assessments of the current status of the solar industries in: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Solarplaza

11, August 2018

On top of the World: 5 Anambra State School girls win gold at World Technovation Challenge in US ⁰

Five Anambra girls from Regina Pacies Secondary School Onitsha, Amanbra state, Nigeria who represented Nigeria and Africa at the World Technovation Challenge in the Silicon Valley in San Francisco, US have won the Gold Medal in the contest.

The Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano had personally sent them off to the US in a brief ceremony at the last Executive Council Meeting, where he charged the girls to put Nigeria and Africa on the global technological map with their rare talent.

The team, led by Uchenna Onwuamaegbu Ugwu defeated representatives of other technological giants including the USA, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China to clinch the gold medal.

The girls, who have now become Africa’s Golden Girls is made up of five brilliant girls including Promise Nnalue, Jessica Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai, Adaeze Onuigbo and Vivian Okoye.

The world champions who are reported to be attracting a lot of attention in the world’s greatest technological hub won the Challenge with a mobile application called the FD-Detector which they developed to help tackle the Challenge of fake pharmaceutical products in Nigeria.

Under the tutelage of Uchenna Onwuamaegbu-Ugwu the CEO of Edufun Technik STEM, the Golden Girls spent five months researching and developing FD-Detector which swept through over 2000 competing applications to get to the finals in San Francisco.

Technovation is a programme that offers girls around the world the opportunity to learn the programming skills they need to emerge as tech-entrepreneurs and leaders.

Every year, girls are invited to identify a problem in their communities and then are challenged to solve them by developing Andriod applications that would address those problems. 115 countries participated in the qualifiers but only 12 teams from all over the world were selected as finalists for the pitch in Silicon Valley.

Source: Africa News

14, March 2018

Pilot-less, electric, vertical takeoff taxis debut in New Zealand ⁰

Pilot-less flying taxis are being tested in New Zealand as part of a project backed by Google co-founder Larry Page that supporters say will revolutionize personal transport.

New Zealand regulators late Tuesday approved plans for Zephyr Airworks, a subsidiary of Page’s company Kitty Hawk, to develop and test the futuristic air taxis.

A video grab shows a pilot-less taxi during takeoff.

Known as Cora, the electric aircraft has a dozen small lift rotors on its wings, making it capable of vertical take-off and landing like a helicopter.

But developers say it is much quieter, meaning it could transport passengers in urban areas using rooftops and car parks as landing pads.

“We are offering a pollution free, emission free vehicle that flies dependably, we think this is the logical next step in the evolution of transportation,” Zephyr chief executive Fred Reid said.

The Cora prototype being tested in New Zealand’s South Island uses three on-board computers to calculate its flight path and is capable of carrying two passengers.

The computers operate independently as a safety measure and the aircraft can deploy a parachute if anything goes wrong.

The aircraft, previously known as Zee.Aero, has a range of 100 kilometers, reaching speeds of 150 kmh and an altitude of up to 900 meters.

The Cora project envisages they will become so common that “air travel will be woven into our daily lives.”
Zephyr said using them would be a simple experience for passengers.

“You wouldn’t have to know anything about flying a plane. Cora could fly for you,” it said in a promotional video. “And it would be all-electric, helping to build a sustainable world.”

Page’s company is also developing a prototype personal aircraft called the Kitty Hawk Flyer and unveiled an early model in the United States last year.

However, it looked more like a recreational plaything than a flying car, suitable only for flying above water and seating the pilot in an open top cabin exposed to the elements.

Cora appears far more robust and is designed more like a traditional aircraft, featuring an 11-meter wingspan, tail and a closed canopy for passengers.

In this handout picture, received on March 13, 2018 from New Zealand-based aviation company Zephyr Airworks, a “Cora” electric-powered air taxi is seen in flight. (Via AFP)

The aircraft will not be offered for sale, instead the public must book trips like they would with an airline or taxi service.

Zephyr said it would operate in a similar fashion to a car ride-share — with Uber the best known example — and is reportedly working on an app so customers could hail the air taxis on their mobile phones.

‘They could have laughed us out of the room’

It said Cora took eight years to design but then developers needed a suitable environment to safely test the new technology.

They settled on New Zealand because of its uncongested airspace and rigorous regulatory environment, with Reid saying local officials had embraced the idea.

“We had no idea what to expect,” he said. “They could have laughed us out of the room. We were pitching something that sounded like science fiction.”

Cora has been given an experimental airworthiness certificate from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority.

Trialling the flying taxi service will reportedly take six years, with operations based around the city of Christchurch.

“This aircraft represents the evolution of the transport eco system to one that responds to a global challenge around traffic and congestion, and is kinder to the planet,” Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel said.

Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998, starting out in a Silicon Valley garage and transforming into one of the world’s largest companies.

He remains chief executive of Google’s parent Alphabet but the Kitty Hawk and Cora projects are a personal pursuit, not part of the tech giant’s operations.

(Source: AFP)

5, March 2018

Cameroonian launches drones for global market ⁰

Talking fast and dreaming big, William Elong shows off the first “made in Cameroon” drone at his sixth-floor workshop in downtown Douala, minutes from the economic capital’s Atlantic seafront.

The 25-year-old, known as a high-flyer after being named one of Forbes’ most promising young Africans under 30, is enthusing about his new unmanned aerial drones and keen to promote his company and Africa as a place where IT and new tech can flourish.

We must “get out of the Afro-centric vision of business” to “understand that when one has a global vision, worldwide, this includes Africa,” Elong says in a discussion of future technologies.

Elong has no degree in IT or robotics but studied strategy and competitive intelligence in France, becoming the youngest-ever graduate from Paris’ Economic Warfare School.

He founded his startup Will & Brothers in 2015 with a main project called Drone Africa, which aims to provide drones for civil purposes to businesses, the state in Cameroon and elsewhere.

With a top range of up to 20 kilometres (12 miles), the drones can be used for purposes as different as cartography, media coverage, support for agriculture and detecting gas in mines to reduce the risk of accidents.

“The know-how is here, in Cameroon,” says Elong, who is aware young African talent often seeks employment in Europe and elsewhere. He says at this stage his firm’s capital of $200,000 (162,400 euros) has come from Western backers.

Also supported by the government of President Paul Biya, Elong hopes eventually to raise $2 million to expand the business but he regrets that “not many Africans are involved” in the project, which features two airborne types of drone and one terrestrial model.

The commercial market in Africa is expanding with unmanned aircraft already whizzing across the skies delivering items like medicine and food, and even helping farmers sow seeds.

– ‘Flying wing’ –

In Rwanda, drones get medical supplies such as blood and vaccines to remote areas. Tanzania is launching a similar programme. And drones equipped with night-vision cameras help to detect and track poachers in Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Elong presents the two airborne prototype models on a table inside his assembly shop. The first “flying wing that we’ve baptised Algo” has the furthest range and could prove an economical solution to the costly task of making maps, he suggests.

Three drone makers at work in the plant run by William Elong, 25, who aims for a Cameroonian entry into the market for pilotless aircraft

The second type, known as Logarythm, has four arms forming a propeller, can reach an altitude of up to 500 metres (1,640 feet) and is fitted with high-definition cameras, which would be useful in high-risk zones and for precision work, Elong adds.

Crucially, he argues, manufacturing costs are lower than those of foreign manufacturers, so the drones produced will be priced competitively across the African marketplace.

He envisages “selling drones to Vietnam, to Venezuela, to Denmark for example, and becoming one of the biggest global enterprises in this sector.”

Elsewhere, two young engineers in white lab coats are carefully building a prototype. “When all the components are available, we are able to assemble a drone like this in 24 hours,” says engineer Louis Ekani.

Some of the parts are made in Cameroon, while others are supplied from abroad.

– ‘The pride of Cameroon’ –

“The start was extremely complicated,” says young technical director Yves Tamu, who is described on the company website as an entrepreneur, digital champion and inventor. “But we have a dynamic, autonomous and state-of-the-art team thanks to which we found the solution (to assembling drones).”

The average age of employees is barely 22 and the team comprises mainly engineers and developers who have spent two years building airworthy drones.

“Will & Brothers is the pride of Cameroon,” gushed Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Libom Li Likeng at a government ceremony to present the drones in early February.

Their design demonstrates “the innovative capacity of Cameroonian youth”, she added.

Elong’s firm is represented in Ivory Coast and plans to open offices in France and the United States, but he stresses the development of artificial intelligence is his primary goal.

Will & Brothers has worked on an AI known as Cyclops, which enables drones to detect people, objects and vehicles and to identify different types of animal at specific sites.

“Artificial intelligence is the future of humanity,” Elong says, confident that Africa can at least try to compete with the big tech giants in California. “It knocks me out that so many people here take no interest in technology.”

Source: The Citizen

26, January 2018

China unveils ‘Polar Silk Road’ project ⁰

China on Friday outlined its ambitions to extend President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming.

Releasing its first official Arctic policy white paper, China said it would encourage enterprises to build infrastructure and conduct commercial trial voyages, paving the way for Arctic shipping routes that would form a “Polar Silk Road”.

The official paper revealed that Beijing would pursue its strategic regional objectives “jointly with Arctic States, while respecting traditions and cultures of the Arctic residents including the indigenous peoples and conserving natural environment”.

“China hopes to work with all parties to build a ‘Polar Silk Road’ through developing the Arctic shipping routes,” the paper, issued by the State Council Information Office, said.

The paper revealed that China also eyes development of oil, gas, mineral resources and other non-fossil energies, fishing and tourism in the region.

Despite being a non-Arctic state, China has gained interest and increased its activity in the polar region.

China, which became an observer member of the Arctic Council in 2013, owns a major stake in Russia’s Yamal liquefied natural gas project.

Yamal has planned to supply China with four million tonnes of LNG a year, according to the state-run China Daily.

Another advantage is that shipping through the Northern Sea Route would save almost 20 days off the regular time using the traditional route through the Suez Canal, the newspaper reported last month. COSCO Shipping has also previously sailed vessels through the Arctic’s northeast passage.

The file photo shows an Arctic LNG tanker in Saint Petersburg. (By AFP )

China’s increased activities in the region has prompted concerns from Arctic states over Beijing’s long-term strategic
objectives, including possible military deployment.

“Some people may have misgivings over our participation in the development of the Arctic, worried we may have other
intentions, or that we may plunder resources or damage the environment,” Vice-Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said at a briefing.

“I believe these kinds of concerns are absolutely unnecessary.”

China’s Belt and Road initiative aims to connect China to Europe, the Middle East and beyond via massive infrastructure projects across dozens of countries, reflecting Xi’s desire for China to take on a more prominent global leadership role.

(Source: Reuters)

30, October 2017

Enerray to develop 30MW PV project in Cameroon ⁰

Enerray, though the company EB Solaire, is developing a 30MW PV project in Cameroon, with Enerray set to serve as EPC provider for the plant.

The first permitting steps for the solar plant have already been completed and carried out, with authorities already validating the 70-hectare site where the project will be developed. The installation will be developed in Northern Cameroon, close to the Garoua International Airport.

Once completed, the 30MW project will be connected to the electrical grid, with the installation responsible for providing energy to portions of the country without any access to electricity, along with regions that are prone to blackouts.

Source: PV-Tech

5, July 2017

Yaounde: CamTel and China Unicom sign agreement to construct a South Atlantic Inter Link ⁰

China United Network Communications (China Unicom) has signed an agreement with Cameroon Telecom (CamTel) to construct a South Atlantic Inter Link (SAIL) cable network, 6,000-km. in length. China Unicom and CamTel will work with Huawei Marine Networks Co. Ltd., a submarine cable networks solutions provider, to connect an undersea cable that runs from Kribi Deep Sea Port, Cameroon to Fortaleza Brazil.

Total construction costs are expected to hit US$136 million and take about 24 months to complete. SAIL will possess the largest data transmission capacity between Africa and South America. SAIL would provide reliable intercontinental telecom services for Brazilians and Cameroonians. It’s the first large-scale project in the region led by one of the Big 3 Chinese Telecom operators and China-based equipment manufacturers.

China Unicom and CamTel are responsible for the building and maintenance of SAIL, while Huawei Marine Networks delivers systematic solutions. US$85 million of SAIL was funded by Export-Import Bank of China, while the remainder was covered by CamTel, which includes China Unicom financing US$34 million to the Cameroon-based telecom.

In Cameroon’s capital city – Yaounde – on June 27, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Guo Ping, China Unicom CEO Lu Yimin and CamTel General Manager (GM) David Nkoto Emane, signed the formal agreement. “China has strategic partnerships with Africa and South America,” the Global Times quotes Lu as saying. “SAIL not only provides high-quality international communications services to countries in these two continents, but also serves Chinese companies to develop their business in the region.”

The project can advance Cameroon’s digital economy, so its nation’s citizens gain better access to phone service and the Internet. Huawei Marine Networks will utilize an advanced 100G technology system with 4 fiber optics pairs that holds a design capacity – 32T-bit/s. SAIL can bridge technology gaps in the South-South region, so Africans and South Americans can enjoy a brighter future.

Beijing has embarked on South-South Cooperation to boost trade, investments and infrastructure building in Africa and South America. Chinese companies are exploring new regions to open up manufacturing zones, tap into natural resources and to develop a growing consumers’ base in the emerging markets. Cameroon, located in Central Africa, offers major opportunities for Chinese firms.

“It is a great pleasure to partner with China Unicom and Huawei Marine Networks on building the SAIL cable system,” Emane told Global Times. He added, “When it is completed, it will provide new international connectivity to facilitate band-width demand between Africa and support the booming economies in the two continents.” In its current state, Cameroon’s cables cannot support all the telecom connections in the country. SAIL can build capacity to meet national coverage. China Unicom, the world’s 4th-largest mobile service provider by subscriber base, will extend its National Broadband Network (NBN) to Cameroon.

Constructing infrastructure that includes telecom networks along with roads and railways in Africa can help people on the continent rise above poverty. But Africans also need better education and job skills to succeed in our globalized economy.

Huawei Technologies has invited young Cameroonians to participate in a training project, known as “Seeds of the Future,” according to Business in Cameroon Website. After a careful selection process, 10 young Cameroonians will receive information and communications training (ICT) at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China.
Trainees will participate in a 1-week program, attending lectures and practical classes to strengthen their knowledge, according to Li Dafeng, senior vice president of Huawei Group. Students can also interact with Huawei’s engineers and learn more about the latest innovations developed by the hi-tech giant.

Constructing an undersea fiberoptics cable line is no easy task, especially when telecom cable operators must stretch it to 6,000-km. in length. But, Chinese companies have introduced major equipment upgrades in the field. The people of Brazil and Cameroon will benefit tremendously from such advances, while Chinese investors and companies can expand into key emerging markets in South America and Africa.

China’s South-South Cooperation will open doors for Cameroon when SAIL is fully-connected and performing to capacity. Those living in Central Africa can dial up their phones, click on the internet to enjoy a more convenient connection with people, or to conduct business in a more efficient manner. Accordingly, SAIL will serve as the vital connector for Cameroon’s future and path to prosperity.

Source: CCTV.com

23, April 2017

French Cameroun: CPDM-style scandal rocks the Ministry of Scientific Research ⁰

Another CPDM-style scandal has rocked the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation. In this new Francophone scandal, two lists were released and reportedly signed by the Minister. The first list was published on the 18^th of January 2017 and the second on the 10^th of April. Both lists have different names of successful candidates recruited to join the work force of the ministry.

On April 10, 2017 Madeleine Tchuente, the Minister of Scientific Research made public a list of 220 researchers recruited in her ministerial department for the fiscal year 2016. The Francophone Minister said her department no longer recognized the first list she herself had published on the 18^th of January 2017 by joint decree MINFOPRA (Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reform ed.) and the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation, MINRESI, for the same purpose.

Cameroon Concord News understands that Madeleine Tchuente’s new list contains twelve new names while thirteen others were removed from the first list. The names of Hassan Mahamat, Tchoudjin Gertrude Loveline and Wanko Kebebou Jean Olivier that appeared in the first of 39 recruits from the Agricultural Research Institute for Development (IRAD) have disappeared from the second. In addition, the names of Ngo Béa Cornelie Raphaëlle and Yebga Matip Guy Albert appeared on the waiting list when they were not listed in the first document published on the 18^th of January.

Some of the new names on the new list have contradictory information on their diplomas and other documents of identification. In many of the cases, the ages had exceeded the required limit by the Cameroon public service law. Our Yaounde city reporter, who contributed to this report, hinted that the first list was jointly signed by the Minister of Scientific Research and the Minister of Public Service while the second list carried only the signature of the Minister of Scientific Research.

The head of the communication cell at the Ministry of Research blatantly refused to comment on the matter. Paul Zébazé told newsmen to go directly to the minister. However, another official of the same ministerial department revealed that Minister Madeleine Tchuente was simply implementing the policy of regional balance.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon Concord News Group

11, April 2017

Man who described the internet as a terrorist organization has inaugurated a cyber space inside the National Assembly ⁰

The Speaker of the National Assembly of La Republique du Cameroun, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril who observed some months ago that the internet was a terrorist organization has inaugurated a cyber space centre inside a VIP room at the National Assembly building. The inauguration ceremony took place yesterday the 10th April 2017.

The cyber space centre is equipped with computers all connected to the internet, printers and scanners. The cost of rehabilitating the new center is estimated at about 150 million FCFA. During the occasion, the Secretary General of the National Assembly, Victor Yene Ossomba on behalf of the personnel, pledged to make good use of the new acquisitions.

The state radio and television reported that the centre is timely as it will serve in ameliorating documentation, research and inter-parliamentary exchanges.

By Ebong Kingsley N.