Inside Cameroon

 The concerned, Paul Boule, has been stripped of his functions even though without suspension of his pension. This decision was taken on 24 November by the president.

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Emergency Admin

29.Nov.2017

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MPs from Cameroon's main opposition party (SDF) have blocked Cameroon's Prime Minister from addressing the National Assembly unless he brings forth the Anglophone crisis on the table.There is a heavy military presence surrounding the building.This comes barely a few days after the same group of opposition parliamentarians obstructed the speaker of the house with revolutionary songs, demanding that the crisis should be included in the agenda of the session.

Most of the SDF lawmakers hail from the two anglophone regions. They have faced threats and physical assaults for continuing to serve in the National Assembly amid the crisis.

The SDF lawmakers announced a boycott a week ago demanding the government do more to peacefully end the strike. On Thursday, they began singing to interrupt parliament proceedings.They plan to further disrupt session at this time of the year when the 2018 national budget has to be adopted before the end of December 2017.

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Rita Akana

29.Nov.2017

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European and African leaders gathering in Ivory Coast have an opportunity to confront one of the biggest sore points between the two continents: migration.

The two-day African Union-European Union summit begins Wednesday as Europe is grappling to stem the biggest wave of asylum seekers since World War II, with more people arriving by sea from African countries this year than from war-torn Syria. Anxiety over migration has stoked populism in Europe and driven electoral gains by far-right parties from France to Hungary.

“For the Europeans, it’s a priority because it’s also a domestic political issue and their electorate is very sensitive to this question,” said Gilles Yabi, head of policy group Wathi in Senegal’s capital, Dakar.

Yet few African leaders want to be seen as curbing migration in a region where going overseas is often considered a rite of passage and remittances are vital for economic survival. That’s why African Union member states favor talks that touch on broader issues such as economic development, security and trade relations, according to Yabi. 

‘Concrete Projects’

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to attend the summit in Abidjan. Among African leaders to join the talks are Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari and South African President Jacob Zuma.

Africa will only persuade its young people to stay if there are prospects for economic development on the continent, Moussa Faki Mahamat, president of the African Union Commission, told Radio France Internationale last week.

“We have to start at the root of the problem, with development, with concrete projects,” Mahamat said.

The views of African and European leaders on migration are fundamentally at odds, the International Crisis Group said in a report last month. “The European Union is doggedly focused on trying to prevent irregular migration, whereas the African Union is looking for ways to increase legal flows,” the Brussels-based research group said. 

The plight of African migrants was highlighted this month by videos of what the International Organization for Migration described as slave markets in Libya, scenes that have drawn global condemnation and may dominate the opening talks of the summit. The African Union has pledged to “spare no effort” to end the practice, while Macron has called the auctions a crime against humanity.

Job Creation

The EU plans to make 8 billion euros ($9.5 billion) available to improve migration control from the Middle East and Africa. The five-year program should make it easier to return illegal migrants to their countries of origin through ‘partnerships’ with specific nations and help create jobs and provide vocational training in the Middle East and Africa. Additional financing will go toward limiting migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea.

In September, the European Parliament adopted a separate 4.1 billion euro plan for Africa that’s meant to boost private investment and address root causes of migration. The facility will help foster up to 44 billion euros of investments in renewable energy, financing of small and medium-sized businesses and agriculture, according to the EU.

The EU and the AU need to come up with a clear plan to solve the crisis of migrants who are stuck in Libya, according to Liesl Louw-Vaudran, senior researcher at the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies. “The AU and African leaders have consistently been ignored when it comes to talks about Libya and its future,” she said. “This new focus on Libya, due to the media revelations about human trafficking, could be a catalyst for something new.”

The surge in terrorist attacks in West Africa will also be on the agenda. Among the military operations in Africa the EU helps fund are troops fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria and a regional force with soldiers from five West African nations to combat militants in the Sahel that’s meant to deploy this year. The EU has pledged 50 million euros to the joint force known as G5 Sahel, but it’s not clear where the remainder of the funds will come from.

“The EU wants Africa to take more responsibility,” Louw-Vaudran said. “From the African side, they feel they are putting up the soldiers.”

Reuters/Bloomberg

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Rita Akana

29.Nov.2017

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Cameroon Concord just obtained intelligence reports  that 4 elements of Cameroun's security forces have been killed in a midnight ambush in the locality of Agborkem-German in Manyu county. The gunmen seized weapons from the deceased soldiers according to sources. The bodies have been transported to the Mamfe morgue.This is the latest in a series of slayings of Camerouns military in Southern Cameroons.There have reportedly been calls for self-defense in Southern Cameroons lately, especially as the international community seems silent in the face of the extrajudicial killings in Ambaland.But some sources claim that the Biya regime is killing its own men in order to have enough reason to oppress the people of Southern Cameroons all the more.

Below are the names of the soldiers killed:

1- Chief Sergeant: TIH JULIUS;

2- Master Corporal: MVOULA MVOULA VICTOR;

3- Corporal: YIMDA DOBEKREO

4- Corporal: NOUTCHOMWO MANI RAPHAEL

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Rita Akana

29.Nov.2017

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Emergency Admin

29.Nov.2017

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President Paul Biya has remained silent in the face of all the crises  shaking the country as a result of the Anglophone struggle.

The 84-year-old, who has been in power for 35 years already, is yet to make any outing to the crisis-torn zones.

The only major media outing he has made was a tweet in October 2017 when he condemned "all the violence whatever their origin" which accompanied the October 1 'independence' manifestations in Southern Cameroons.

About 100 persons reportedly lost their lives and several injuries were recorded in clashes between civilians and forces of La Republique.

The last time he openly uttered a word about the crisis in the country was during his end-of-year speech in December 2016. "Cameroon is one and indivisible[...]," he had dictated to the people.

At a time when most people see federation as the only way-out of the crisis, Mr Biya insists that we have to follow what the "founding fathers of nation " had started.

And now the crisis has moved to parliament, with MPs of the leading opposition party SDF protesting for a thorough examination of the unrest in parliament.

After championing a boycott of the opening ceremony of the final ordinary session of the year, the MPs embarked on a move to block the finance bill from being passed.

MPs from the other opposition parties have reportedly backed their colleagues from SDF.

But MPs from the ruling party, who constitute the majority, are forcing the bill through.

The budget for 2018 stands at FCFA 4513.5 billion against FCFA 437.8 billion last year. This implies an increase of 3.2%.

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Rita Akana

28.Nov.2017

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