Society

On April 22, U.S. Embassy Branch Office Douala Principal Officer Stuart Wilson donated over 15,000 metric tons of food for vulnerable communities in Cameroon through the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Food for Peace Program. The food - which includes rice, peas, cereals, and vegetable oil - was presented by Mr. Wilson at the Douala seaport to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), and it is destined for persons displaced in Cameroon’s Far North Region by violence from Boko Haram.

Receiving the food, WFP Representative in Cameroon, Mr. Feliz Gomez noted that the donation will serve 300,000 people over the next three months, including refugees fleeing violence from the Central African Republic, Nigeria, internally displaced Cameroonians, and other populations suffering from food insecurity.

In his remarks, Mr. Wilson underscored U.S. support for communities affected by violence in Cameroon, adding: “Approximately 795 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. Every year, it kills more people than malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS combined. Food assistance is one way we can help. This year, USAID is providing 21 million dollars of in-kind food assistance to the United Nations World Food Program. This assistance will help refugees from the Central African Republic and Nigeria, Internally Displaced Persons,
and vulnerable populations in Cameroon.”

Mr. Wilson also said that according to a 2015 UNICEF report, about 12 percent of children in the Far North region face moderate to acute malnutrition, an increase of nearly 5 percent from the previous year: “UNICEF warns that this situation could continue to worsen.
USAID will continue to provide life-saving emergency food assistance to refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, and host communities. Our food assistance is an expression of the compassion and goodwill of the people of the United States. I thank everyone for being a part of this program today. On est ensemble!”

Remarks by Mr. Stuart Wilson at the ceremony

Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests

Good morning.

It is my pleasure to be with you here today. American Ambassador Michael Hoza has asked me to also give you his greetings.

Approximately 795 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. 

Every year, it kills more people than malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS combined. Food assistance is one way we can help.

This year, the United States Agency for International Development, known simply as “USAID,” is providing 21 million dollars of in-kind food assistance to the United Nations World Food Program.

This assistance will help refugees from the Central African Republic and Nigeria, Internally Displaced Persons,
and vulnerable populations in Cameroon.

Last year, USAID provided over 18 million dollars to the World Food Program for this same purpose. Vulnerable families are receiving food baskets with pulses, rice, and vegetable oil.

USAID also provides nutrient-rich and fortified foods to pregnant women, nursing women, and children under five, to help fight malnutrition.

As civil unrest continues in Northeast Nigeria and the Central African Republic, refugees are increasingly fleeing into Cameroon.

In Eastern Cameroon, the UN Agency for Refugees, known as UNHCR, has registered more than 138,000 refugees since 2013.

According to UNHCR, about 72,000 Nigerian refugees are in Cameroon’s Far North region. 56,000 of them are registered at Minawao Camp.

The latest survey of the International Organization for Migration revealed that there are about 170,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the Far North.

According to a 2015 UNICEF report, about 12 percent of children in the Far North region face moderate to acute malnutrition. That’s an increase of nearly 5 percent from the year before.

UNICEF warns that this situation could continue to worsen. USAID will continue to provide life-saving emergency food assistance to refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, and host communities.

Our food assistance is an expression of the compassion and goodwill of the people of the United States. I thank everyone for being a part of this program today.

US Embassy

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Elangwe Pauline

27.Apr.2016

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Five  armed robbers on Saturday, April 23, 2016, attacked the Express Union money transfer office at Ombolbigana on the southern exit of Obala in Lékié Division of the Centre Region, on the Yaounde-Bafoussam Highway.

According to the Commissioner of the Obala Public Security Police Station, Superintendent of Police Emmanuel Nkfurkwi, the incident took place at about 1.30 am. One of the men entered the office, saying he wanted to transfer 150,000 FCFA to a relative. It was while he was “filling” the form that his four colleagues joined him one after the other, the Commissioner explained. 

They then held the day watchman, all four women employees and two customers, at gunpoint, collecting seven phones from them. They also beat up the cashier with the back of a machete, obliging her to hand over the keys to the safe. After emptying the safe of 876,000 FCFA, the five robbers drove off in a Toyota V6 with Chassis Number 0008X, probably a fake one, according to police.

Cameroon Tribune

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Elangwe Pauline

25.Apr.2016

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On April 21, 2016, the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde welcomed 15 students from the International Marketing and Regional Integration programs of the International Relations institute of Cameroon (IRIC) to the James Baldwin Information Resource Center (IRC). The students, most of whom were visiting the U.S. Embassy for the first time, wanted to acquaint themselves with the functioning of the IRC and have access to relevant resources for their academic research work.

Welcoming the students, Public Affairs Officer Roberto Quiroz II congratulated them on their admission into such a prestigious institution as IRIC and exhorted them to use their unique opportunity to further Cameroon’s efforts to promote good governance, transparency, and accountability. He explained how diplomacy is an instrument of advancing good governance goals adding that public perception of their performance as IRIC students and future diplomats and civil servants is very important as real. He said: “Congratulations in your achievements. Just like students at Ivy League universities in America, students at IRIC and ENAM also are perceived to be part of a select group of students whose degrees can lead them to achieve extraordinary goals. The public will evaluate you and all of us who have chosen a career in public service. They will demand, and rightfully so, that we adhere to the highest ethics and integrity, that we all shun and combat corruption, that we advance the interests of our nations first and foremost and not our own personal interests. The public will also judge how we serve them and how we can improve that service to ensure that we promote the development of every citizen. That is why for the United States public opinion is important. The reason why we built strong institutions to combat corruption, which when it happens – as it has in recent years – officials have been prosecuted under the law whether they were governors, congressmen, or corporate executives. That is why when we succeed we are proud to share those stories with the world, and when we have some setbacks, as you have seen over the years in the media in some questions of police treatment of citizens or human rights during wartime, these issues are raised to the forefront of public and global discussion to seek solutions and live to the ideals of our nation. In those times President Obama – and our media and citizens – remind us that we must strive to further perfect our Union. And so must you as well in the solemn responsibilities that you will embark upon as leaders in your fields.”  

Mr. Quiroz also lauded the presence of women among the students, adding: “the presence of women in this hall is testimony of the fact that Cameroon has welcomed the fact that to build a strong and prosperous society, women have to be afforded opportunities, an education, and be given the chance to lead.”

Speaking on the visit this week to Cameroon of the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations and member of President Obama’s Cabinet, Ambassador Samantha Power, Mr. Quiroz said that her trip included meetings with the President of the Republic, H.E. Paul Biya, ministers, members of civil society, and refugees affected by Boko Haram’s atrocities in the Far North Region. In all venues the Ambassador underscored the United States’ support for Cameroon, especially regarding the fight against Boko Haram, the protection of refugees fleeing violence, support for a vibrant civil society and a free media, and joint efforts to protect wildlife and combat the illegal ivory trade through an ivory burn event hosted by the Minister of Forest and Fauna, which has decimated Cameroon’s elephant population by 2/3 since 2004.

During the second part of the program, IRC Director Mathias Tientcheu, Reference Librarian Edna Enyeji, and Program Assistant Mabel Foncham, introduced the students to the resources and activities of the center. The students also received a briefing on eLibraryUSA, a virtual library created and maintained by the U.S. Department of State and that provides American Spaces users access to nearly forty authoritative databases. Each of the students received a Nouveaux Horizons book in appreciation for their visit.

US Embassy

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Elangwe Pauline

22.Apr.2016

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A man is being interrogated for committing sodomy on two kids of a private primary school in the New Priso neighbourhood of Douala II Subdivision on Saturday, April 9, 2016. The commercial motorbike rider compelled the two children to have anal and mouth intercourse with him after first luring the nine-year old Class Four pupil and seven-year old Class Three pupil with a free ride on his motorbike around the neighbourhood.

Before entering his bedroom, he sternly warned the children not to cry out aloud, lest they will be whipped. Both victims and the rider live in the area, Kuwait, in New Priso neighbourhood. When policemen nabbed him and began preliminary investigations, he said the mouth intercourse was preferred because the boys were too small for homosexual sex.

The victims narrated their ordeal to teachers of their school on Monday April 11, 2016, noting that the motorbike rider picked them up just to give them a ride, but took them to his home, a little distance from where they live. The news soon spread like wild fire in the area when police officers stormed the neighbourhood and arrested the close to 45-year-old man at home on Saturday, April 16, 2016.

As at press time yesterday, April 20, 2016, the families of the two children were continuing with a series of medical tests on the children, while men of the Public Security Police Station in the Douala II Subdivision were pursuing investigations into the matter. Meanwhile, members of the families have vowed to pursue the case to its logical conclusion.

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Elangwe Pauline

21.Apr.2016

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A pile of 2,000 elephant tusks and 1,753 ivory objects, evaluated at over FCFA 2 billion was the theatre of attraction at the Yaounde Conference Centre in Yaounde on 19, 2016 as the pile was burnt to ashes  in the presence of US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, who is currently visiting ‪‎Cameroon‬.

The bloody toll in elephant poaching continues to climb in Cameroon, where security forces reportedly killed a handful of Sudanese rebels suspected of slaughtering the animals for their valuable ivory tusks.

Colonel Didier Badjeck, spokesman for Cameroon’s military, told VOA that security forces recently have engaged in gun battles with poachers in Bouba Njida National Park in the country’s north.

Approximately 20 elephants also were killed in the immense park within 2015. Sudanese rebels on horseback, armed with automatic weapons, are believed to have killed hundreds of elephants there in 2012, National Geographic reported last month.  

Cameroon’s government deployed its military to protect national parks in the north after they lost nearly 2,000 elephants between 2012 and 2013.

The rebels are believed to be selling elephant tusks to fund their activity. A kilogram of raw ivory commanded $2,100 last year, up from $750 in 2010, according to Save the Elephants, a conservation group.

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Elangwe Pauline

20.Apr.2016

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Some graveyards in Douala have since become no-go areas even in daylight as a result of the activities of ruffians. These days, goose pimples rise in those who dare pass by the Njo-Njo Cemetery in Bonapriso in the Douala I Council area.

The thugs, most of them homeless according to neighbours to the cemetery, seek shelter in the house-like graves during the day, taking advantage to assault passersby. They smoke and sniff harmful drugs while waiting for victims. The presence of hooligans in graveyards has scared families wishing to drop bouquets of flowers on relatives’ graves.

According to a cameraman in a renowned television station in Douala, the men of the underworld assaulted his grown-up daughter who went to pay homage on her mother’s grave in Njo-Njo Cemetery. According to neighbours, the miscreants attack passersby with machetes, rape girls, waylay motorbike riders and rob them of money, jewellery and bikes. Some of them collude with commercial bike riders who know the calibre of victims to transport. 

One of the neighbours who preferred not to be named said the cemetery robbers knock on their doors at night and even sit on their verandas during the day when they are not around. “They pick shoes and clothes left outside. As a result, we now ensure that our washed clothes and other items dry before leaving for the living room,” a nearby resident to the demolished Cité de Douanes in Bonapriso chipped in.

The unkempt nature of some graveyards, the lack of streetlights and police patrols, facilitates the activities of hoodlums. Njo-Njo Cemetery neighbours suggested that regular police patrols could salvage the situation. However, not all the cemeteries in Douala harbour criminals. Companies and neighbours to the Bonadibong Cemetery in Akwa had long understood the need for environmental sanitation. The regular cleanliness of the graveyard has reduced the incidence of assault in the area, they said.

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Elangwe Pauline

20.Apr.2016

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