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26, September 2017

Freedom of Southern Cameroons Christians is increasingly under threat ⁰

One of the numerous Court of First Instance in the Buea County in Southern Cameroons has dropped a case against Christian leaders, the first case about the role of the Church since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons uprising.

The Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buea and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon were charged following an educational crisis that rocked academic establishments in West Cameroon. The charges against them all have been dropped.

Southern Cameroons Christian leaders are yet to issue any statement welcoming their acquittal as hundreds of Southern Cameroonian Christians have been arrested for distributing pamphlets about West Cameroons quest for an independent state.

It was Southern Cameroons’s first religious case since the Anglophone crisis started some 11 months ago. While the Biya Francophone regime recognises the right for government schools to be closed during Southern Cameroons protests, shutting down mission schools hosting a sea of Francophone students is prohibited.

In a recent editorial published in Cameroon Intelligence Report on strengthening the persecuted church, our editor-in-chief Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai opined that the freedom of Southern Cameroons Christians is increasingly under threat.

The Francophone government in Yaounde officially announced that the case against the Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastic Province including the PCC Moderator has been discontinued. We gathered the discontinuation came after the disgraced Minister for Justice, Laurent Esso told Justice Mengalle Vivian eps Achiri to rule in favour of an application for a Nolle Prosequio made by the State Prosecutor, Emile Esombe.

By Chi Prudence Asong, CCN

25, September 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Kupe Muanenguba Chiefs to sign decree banishing Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngole ⁰

Traditional rulers from the Great Kupe Muanenguba in Southern Cameroons are deliberating on whether to banish former Minister Elvis Ngolle Ngolle from his native constituency, Cameroon Concord News has learned from a well-placed source within the Bakossi Chiefs Conference. Our informant revealed that the university don has become an embarrassment to the people of Kupe Muanenguba.

One of the traditional rulers who spoke to our Meme correspondent but sued for anonymity said the chiefs were divided on the issue but have been under pressure from the Bakossi Diaspora community to take action against the Biya acolyte who has consistently demonstrated a frightful and unloving attitude towards the suffering peoples of Southern Cameroons.

The Bakossi monarchs in the state of Southern Cameroons have been agents of peace, progress, and prosperity in their respective domain and can no longer tolerate the uterrances of Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, former Minister of the Environment and Forest who is now being use by the Biya Francophone regime as a tool of disunity and destabilization.
The Chiefs are also expected to make public a warning to all prominent Kupe Muanenguba elites that anyone who fails to show genuine understanding of the current Southern Cameroons crisis stands the risk of having his title withdrawn.

One of the Bakossi rulers from the Tombel County was heard saying that, “Today, history is being made in Southern Cameroons and that light has come and darkness would not comprehend at all. The truth has surfaced and the right people have finally become leaders of Anglophone Cameroon not those who are TB Joshua’s tenants.”

By Sama Ernest, CCN

21, September 2017

President Biya and the Trump Dinner: What really happened? ⁰

The absence of President Biya during a restricted meeting that held yesterday Wednesday September 20, 2017 in New York between some African Heads of State and US President Donald Trump did not go unnoticed.
During the 72nd regular session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Donald Trump invited African heads of state to a dinner on Wednesday, 20 September 2017 and reportedly had a restricted encounter with his African counterparts.

The 85 year old French Cameroun dictator who arrived the US since Sunday September 17, 2017 in New York for the 72nd regular session of the general assembly of the United Nations, was conspicuously absent. Mr. Biya’s absence has provoked a wave of interpretations both at home and abroad.

For some French Cameroun opposition figures, it is a complete and total failure of Cameroonian diplomacy under the leadership of a man referred to as the dean of the Heads of State of the Central Africa sub region. For President Paul Biya acolytes, there is no need making a mountain out of an aunt hill as President Trump is free to choose his guests for a closed circle meeting.

CRTV journalists covering the Cameroonian delegation who had announced the presence of the Cameroonian head of state at the snack offered by Donald Trump have not yet published to explain Paul Biya’s mock absence yesterday at this high level meeting.

Cameroon Concord News understands US President Trump hosted namely Ivorian Alassane Ouatara, Guinean Alpha Condé, Senegalese Macky Sall, South African Jacob Zuma, Nigerian Mohammadou Buhari, Ghanaian Nana Ado Akufo. These leaders are all from countries where power has been changing hands.

By Chi Prudence Asong, CCN

21, September 2017

German MP says the colour of a man’s skin and his country of origin are of no significance ⁰

Arno Klare is a senior MP in the German parliament from the Social Democratic Party, SPD. He hails from the Mulheim/Essen-Borbeck constituency and was very instrumental in achieving the historic Paris Climate Agreement. He has been a long standing supporter of renewable source of energy and favours the complete integration of migrants into the German society.

Hon. Arno Klare’s constituency comprises the city of Mulheim an der Ruhr and the Essen city district IV with boroughs Borbeck, Dellwig, Frintrop, Schonebeck, Bedinggrade, Bochold, Gerschede and Bergeborbeck.

He has been on the campaign trail getting in contact with citizens, with associations and local interest groups and companies. Arno Klare has developed a reputation as a politician who can find out what voters are privately discussing during election periods. And he is well known for his sharp and skillful answers to journalists- a skill he showcased in his recent conversation with our editor-in-chief, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai.

CCN: Hon. Klare, Elections are on Sunday and voting has started. Members of many ethnic minority communities are interested in the Social Democratic Party, SPD and they want to know who Arno Klare is

Hon. Arno Klare: My name is Arno Klare and I am 65 years old. I was born in this region. My roots are here in this region. I studied German Language, Literature and Philosophy forty years ago. I am a Member of Parliament and currently serving in the following committees: Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Green Energy; moving from Coal and Oil to Wind and Solar and the European Union Affairs Committee.

CCN: Hon. Arno Klare, you are seeking another mandate. Many migrant communities in Mulheim and Essen Borbeck who are of course German citizens identify with your party, the SPD. What message are you carrying across to make them come out and vote?

Hon. Arno Klare: The Social Democratic Party is the oldest party in Europe and the philosophy of the party is freedom, solidarity and justice. Social Democrats are well implanted all over the world. Our genuine principles since a hundred and fifty-three years ago are currently being implemented today. Our greatest goal now is making sure everyone in this country has a good job and above all, a good pension when he or she retires. We are also working hard to stop pollution and encourage green mobility which is sustainable transportation that allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be met safely and in a manner consistent with human and eco-system health, and with equity within and between generations. We of the Social Democratic Party, SPD have placed all of this in accordance and fulfilment of the stipulations of the Paris Climate Agreement.

CCN: Hon. Klare, many potential voters largely within the minorities’ resident in your constituency are confused with the propaganda materials put out there by other political parties such as the Christian Democrats, CDU and the Green Party. What is SPD offering different from the other parties?

Hon. Arno Klare: We have one hundred different nationalities living here in Mulheim. Our opponents think that this is a problem. However, we of SPD feel that it offers a vast opportunity for the future. That is the main difference.

CCN: If SPD wins the general elections and Herr Martin Schulz becomes the new German Chancellor, do you intend to take up a cabinet position in government?

Hon. Arno Klare: (Laughs) No, No, I want to remain as a Member of Parliament not of the government.

CCN: When one goes around Mulheim and Essen-Borbeck, the members of the African-German community speak well of you. They say when they invite you for their events, you are always there to advise them and to direct them on how to integrate and be good and productive citizens! Why this so much interest in the African community?

Hon. Arno Klare: I think all men are equal irrespective of their colour. They are all citizens of this great country and they are welcome. That is why we meet face-to-face and discuss the way forwards for our constituency. People that want that the country should be an open country, a country of tolerance, a country where justice prevails and where the colour of a man’s skin and his country of origin are of no significance should go and vote for SPD.

CCN: Herr Arno Klare, Cameroon Concord News bedankt sich bei Ihnen.

1, June 2017

More than 40 refugees found dead in Niger Sahara desert ⁰

The bodies of dozens of refugees, including women and children, have been found in Niger’s Sahara Desert, where they were apparently abandoned by smugglers en route to Libya and eventually Europe.

Rhissa Feltou, the mayor of Agadez, a remote town on the edge of the Sahara, confirmed on Thursday that at least 44 refugees had lost their lives in the desert of northern Niger. “The number of migrants who died in the desert is 44 for now,” media outlets quoted the mayor as saying.

A security source told media outlets that “the sub-Saharan migrants, including babies and women, died of thirst because their vehicle broke down”. The Red Cross has dispatched a team to the site “to gather information” on the circumstances.

In early May, eight Nigerien refugees, five of them children, were found dead in the desert while on their way to Algeria. Also in May, soldiers on patrol in northern Niger rescued around 40 refugees from various West African countries. The group included citizens of the Gambia, Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal and Niger. The refugees were hoping to reach the Libyan coast so they could cross the Mediterranean to Europe. The refugees are frequently abandoned in the desert by people-smugglers while travelling to Libya.

This photo, taken on November 4, 2016, shows refugees sitting on a rubber boat during a rescue operation by the Topaz Responder, a rescue ship run by Maltese NGO “Moas” and the Italian Red Cross, off the Libyan coast. (By AFP)

Libya used to play host to the majority of the refugees in Sub-Saharan Africa on their way to Europe, but since the North African country plunged into political chaos in 2011, Algeria has become the new route.

In recent months, thousands of illegal migrants and refugees have arrived in Algeria on their way to Europe, mostly from neighboring Mali and Niger.

Europe has been facing an unprecedented influx of refugees, most of whom are fleeing conflict zones in North Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria. Many blame major European powers for the exodus, saying their policies have led to a surge in terrorism and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, displacing the locals.

Source: Presstv

5, April 2017

CRTV’s Mendo Ze in court: Ex-GM looting method revealed ¹

The case brought by the Ministry of Finance against the former minister and general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television, Gervais Mendo Ze and his co-accused had a hearing on Tuesday at the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé. Cameroon Concord News understands the charges against the accused relate to the period from the 1^st of January 2004 to 26^th of January 2005.

For the first hearing, three absences were noted and they were Elisabeth Mongory, Patricia Enam Melone and Abah Abah Polycarp, the former Minister of Economy and Finance. The Tuesday hearing was devoted to the preliminary formalities relating to the identification of the accused and the presentation of the allegations against them.

At the end of the legal ritual, all accused pleaded not guilty. Dieudonné Epo, the chief inspector of the treasury, accused of embezzling one million CFA francs in co-operation with the former CRTV boss was ordered to sit with handcuffs during the proceedings for having repaid the amount ever since the opening of the judicial investigation.

The prosecutor at the Special Criminal Court accused the ex-GM of CRTV for fraudulently obtaining at the detriment of CRTV, in his personal capacity the sum of 18 billion CFA francs distributed as follows: CFAF 600 000 in transport allowances; CFAF 53.867 million unforeseen expenses; CFAF 116,228 million imaginary expenses – without going for any missions, CFAF 300 million for undue collection of hospitality expenses; CFAF 360 million for the unjustified revaluation of the operating credit of the Directorate General, CFAF 20 million relating to the undue levying of audiovisual license fees and 125 million for unjustified payment of the audiovisual license fee.

In co-operation with Patricia Enam Meloné, former administrative and financial director, the ex-GM was during the Tuesday hearing also accused respectively of having facilitated the disappearance of two separate amounts of money: 420, 558 million and 361.747 million FCFA. In complicity with Samuel Andang Mgbwa, the Special Criminal Court said, Mendo Ze embezzled the sum of 339 million FCFA. With Elisabeth Mongory who has reportedly escaped, Medno Ze collected 15 and 28 million FCFA in different periods. With Alima Priso (deceased), Mendo siphoned 123 million FCFA.

In co-operation with Luc Evariste Etogo Mbezelé (deceased), 290 million FCFA. With Pascal Manga, deputy director of taxes, 3,600 million FCFA. With Jérôme Nchotebah Nembongwe, Chief Controller of Taxes: 15 million FCFA. With Nguelle Ndongo epse Mekoulou Atangana, journalist, they are prosecuted for the sum of 251.675 million FCFA; With Ramssina, a computer engineer, 13 million FCFA, Hyacinthe Abena Abena, executive officer, 5 million FCFA, Amang Bitégni Jean Paul, 98.178 million FCFA, with Polycarpe Abah Abah, ex-Minister of Finance, 205.873 million FCFA. Akono Ze Jean Marie, Financial Representative of CRTV at the Treasury, 15.265 billion FCFA. Menga Wabo Colette, accountant, 3 million FCFA and Ondoua Ondoua Daniel, administrative agent at Crtv, 3 million 60 thousand FCFA. The hearing was adjourned to December 17, 2015 for the presentation of the witnesses by the various parties.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from the Special Criminal Court

14, June 2016