Politics

 A suspicious package containing "components used in the making of explosives" were seized on Teusday, 18. October 2016  at the "Lux Travel" travel agency in Maroua. Two suspects who came to retrieve the "package" sent from Ngaoundere were arrested by elements of the BIR.According to a statement by the head of Lux Travel agency in Maroua.The Far North region of Cameroon, has been under a state of emergency and lock-down for security reasons.

Security sources said that since 2012, Boko Haram has set up a web of contacts in Cameroon enabling the extremist group to nab Western hostages and set up a trafficking network dealing in arms, vehicles and merchandise. 

In 2014, Cameroon went into battle to crack the network but has not managed to dismantle it. And ever since the Cameroonian army joined a regional military alliance to fight Boko Haram, the north has become a favoured target for the Islamists.

The porous border enables attackers to travel easily into Cameroon, where they can target gathering places such as markets and mosques.

In general, the explosives kill in a radius of around 50 metres (yards), said an officer from the rapid intervention battalion (BIR) tasked with battling Boko Haram.

Details

Rita Akana

18.Oct.2016

Hits: 2261

The absence of the Head of State and wife has been a call for concern, as all Cameroonians keep wandering if their leader has surrendered powers to an unknown ruler.

Since he left the country on Sept. 16th on invitation to attend the UN General Assembly, there are no signs of his return, eventhough he is working in abstentia, appointing SDOs and firing others, sending his Ministers to represent him where he was supposed to be in person.

The rest of what we hear about him is the disgrace CODE is giving him wherever he goes, the numerous memorandums by different traditional rulers airing their own selfish grievances, the fights in the CPDM, where even top militants themselves are not sure of what is happening to the party etc.. 

"L'Epevier Newspaper" of today Oct. 17 got curious on the subject as well, but outlined that the First Lady had requested her husband to remove some of his Officials in place, and replace them with her own people, which became a bone of contention for the couple.

This unfounded story can however have some grounds, because the Head of State's long stay out of the country with eleven of his most trusted personnel, is an indication that they are working out something that will only be unfolded upon their arrival.

Whatever it is, one thing is certain. President Biya has had it up to the throat, and now that things are hot all round for him, he will rather prefer to do his best to kick whoever or whatever obstacle that has had a hand in his present crisis.

henrietteslounge.com

Details

Miss Tatchter

18.Oct.2016

Hits: 5128

The Islamic State-allied faction of Boko Haram which last week freed 21 of more than 200 Chibok girls kidnapped in April 2014 in northeast Nigeria is willing to negotiate the release of 83 more of the girls, the president's spokesman said on Sunday.

Around 220 girls were taken from their school in 2014 in Chibok in northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.

A faction of the militant group released 21 of the girls on Thursday after the Red Cross and the Swiss government brokered a deal. They were brought from the northeastern city of Maiduguri to the capital Abuja to meet state officials.

"These 21 released girls are supposed to be tale bearers to tell the Nigerian government that this faction of Boko Haram has 83 more Chibok girls," Garba Shehu, spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

"The faction said it is ready to negotiate if the government is willing to sit down with them," said Shehu, adding that the state is prepared to negotiate with the branch of Boko Haram.

The Islamic State-allied splinter group said the rest of the kidnapped Chibok girls were with the part of Boko Haram under the control of figurehead Abubakar Shekau, according to Shehu.

Boko Haram has apparently split with a big group moving away from Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from the Iraq- and Syria-based Islamic State, which in August named Musab al-Barnawi as its new leader for West Africa.

But that appointment was later dismissed in a 10-minute audio clip on social media by a man purporting to be Shekau, exposing divisions within the jihadist group that has plagued Nigeria and neighbors Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed on Thursday denied reports that the state had swapped captured Boko Haram fighters for their release and said he was not aware if any ransom had been paid. He said a Nigerian army operation against Boko Haram would continue.

In recent days, the Nigerian army has been carrying out an offensive in the Sambisa forest, a stronghold of Boko Haram.

The militants controlled a swathe of land around the size of Belgium at the start of 2015, but Nigeria's army has recaptured most of the territory. The group still stages suicide bombings in the northeast, as well as in neighboring Niger and Cameroon.

Reuters

Details

Rita Akana

17.Oct.2016

Hits: 2076

Its really sad for a well informed elite from the North West Province and the South West Province that has been forcely assimilated to La Republique du Cameroun in a dark scene with short sigted Policians who needed just Positions and not Responsibilities.
We are all Aware of the Clear differences between the British Southern Cameroons and the La Republique du Cameroon.

We are all Aware of the Different independence Date of the TWO States.

We are all Aware of the Referandum that was Pioneered by the United Nations with Complicity of President Ahmadou Ahidjo and who deceitfully used some Southern Cameroons to facilitate the Annexation.
We all Know the Federal Plan that gave La Republique du Cameroun VETO Powers over the Anglophones in the governing of the Federality Systems.

We are all Aware of the unsolicited Decree of President Biya to single handedly with a click of some unpatriotic, corrupt and short sighted Southern Cameroons Elites to ammend the Constitution from Federalism to United Republic to Republic as at this time.
What is strange for Cameroonians to understand that the the claim of the Southern Cameroons is just and has been proven by all legal instruments and institutions?

Where the Lawyers of the British Southern Cameroonians apprentices to their Law that its now that they are raising their voices with tears?

Its time to understand that British Cameroon TOP Ranking Lawyers and Politicians of the CPDM and SDF Party in Cameroon are accomplices of KEYED Padlock hindering the Peaceful Liberation of Southern Cameroons from La Republique du Cameroon.
La Republique du Cameroun and the British Southern Cameroons are two States of different cultures and histories. The Politicians, Lawyers, Civil Society, Teachers, Businessman, Students, Doctors, Military and Security Officers fron Southern Cameroons have been suffering from unpredicted menances, touture, frustration, inhuman degradation, abuse of human and property rights, subordination in Official responsibilities, Extinction and Exploitation of Resources in Southern Cameroons Resources without Accountability, Oppressed in their liberty of Expression; OH MY GOD!!!

Time is now, Nothing Leaves my Bedroom without my permission and conscent. Our Politicians have failed us; Its time to empower Emerging Leaders and Politicians. Support does not go with Words but Action.
We all Know what is happening in Cameroon NOW. President Paul Biya of La Republique was harrassed in Switzerland by Cameroonians in Diaspora who are far more living happily than US; Why not you Feeling the Pains in Cameroon.

Details

Francis Ebongue

17.Oct.2016

Hits: 3476

Zimbabwe is in flux. There are regular protests, especially in the capital, over currency and food shortages, unemployment, and alleged government corruption and mismanagement.

Observers say an effective political solution may not be soon in coming.

President Robert Mugabe, 92, and his ruling ZANU-PF party have been in power for 36 years. But the party is breaking into factions, and at least one former member, onetime Vice President Joyce Mujuru, has formed her own party, Zimbabwe People First. The longtime opposition Movement for Democratic Change has new competitors, including more than a dozen new parties and youth-driven protest movements inspired by social media. All are preparing for national elections in 2018.

Participants in a recent symposium at the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace looked at some of the challenges facing Zimbabwe, and they agreed that its citizens and the international community alike would favor a "soft landing" in a post-Mugabe future.

Military is 'really central'

Symposium participant Alex Vines, head of the Africa Program at the London-based policy institute Chatham House, said the West has become complacent and has lost contact with the military and with different factions within the ruling party.

"If we get into a really uncertain and unpredictable security situation in Zimbabwe," he said, "it will be the military that will have a role in managing that process. ... I believe the military will play a key role ... in whatever happens, as a kingmaker in whatever coalition or inclusive political entity that might come up [between] the opposition and parts that have split from ZANU-PF. The military is really central here."

Symposium delegates also urged the U.S. and its allies to revisit sanctions on Zimbabwe targeting more than 80 people and 50 groups linked to human rights violations, corruption and mismanagement. They said the sanctions list was outdated and included government critics like Mujuru.

Vines said many Zimbabweans blame the sanctions for their suffering, rather than the government.

"I do believe that ... ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe won the propaganda battle about sanctions, and I'm surprised at how many well-educated Zimbabweans from civil society and others blame sanctions partly for economic woes and not economic policies," he said. "It has been used as a fig leaf to hide financial mismanagement and other problems. That was one of the drivers for the European Union and Australia to significantly reduce their targeted measures on Zimbabwe to Mugabe, the first lady and Zimbabwe Defense Industries, and I do believe the U.S. and Canada ... need to [revise their outdated sanctions] lists very carefully."

Role of sanctions

Also taking part in the seminar was Johnnie Carson, former U.S. assistant for secretary of state for African affairs under the Obama administration. He said the U.S. government had considered lifting sanctions in order to encourage democratic reforms. But he suggested that the U.S. maintain them as a way to encourage democratization and good governance in Zimbabwe although those efforts have not succeeded so far.

"In 2010 and 2011," he said, "we worked very closely with the South Africans looking for solutions ... and said ... that we, and I, would have been willing to do everything possible to pull down the sanctions if the Zimbabweans were willing to do one or two significant things in the runup to [the 2013] elections, [such as] invite the Carter Center, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and the Commonwealth to be monitors for the elections. ... We must continue to probe and look for opportunities, but recognize there are times we don't have partners, and times when the environment does not permit."

Carson said U.S. ambassadors to Africa should continue to reach out to Zimbabwe's business community — an idea also backed by Whitney Schneidman, former deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs and current senior associate at the Washington-based law firm of Covington and Berling. He noted the efforts of former U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton to strengthen ties with the country's private sector last year.

The Corporate Council on Africa was invited to send a trade mission to Zimbabwe and a reverse trade mission from Zimbabwe came to the U.S.," Schneidman said. "This activity should be continued. A delegation from the President's Advisory Committee on Doing Business in Africa could conduct a fact-finding visit to the country."

Strive for more stability

Schneidman said the Mugabe government should take action to enhance stability in the runup to elections and a new administration. He said the government had proposed a land compensation fund for both black and white farmers who have been displaced as owners by administration supporters. It is also considering long-term leases that would allow farmers to invest in fallow land.

Schneidman also urged continued efforts by Harare to improve relations with the World Bank and other international financial institutions.

Participants in the Washington panel said Zimbabwe had lost the interest of some policymakers in the West. But they said the country remained an important player in southern Africa politics and trade, and that state collapse and a worsening refugee crisis could destabilize the whole region.

VOA

Details

Rita Akana

16.Oct.2016

Hits: 1648

Recently Cameroons Minister of State, Minister of Justice and keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso has represented President Paul Biya in two major international events. The first was on September 27, 2016 during the Installation ceremony of the re-elected President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba. In fact Laurent Esso was the only Minister to represent his President, because other presidents sent their Prime Ministers. The Second event is the ongoing Summit on Maritime Security and Development in Africa in Togo. Again Laurent Esso is heading a Cameroonian delegation in Togo including foreign Affairs Minister Le Jeune Mbella Mbella.

These two outings of Laurent Esso, popularly called ‘the heart of the Nation’ have left many speculating that Mr Biya could be playing his card once again. That Cameroon has a Prime Minister Philemon Yang who is head of government and who on these occasions has been bypassed for his subordinate is a warning signal that Etoudi could be preparing a bombshell. But can Mr Biya show his cards openly to Cameroonians?

The Head of State is known for his game plan, he doesn’t want people to speculate on what he will do next. Is Mr Biya trying to get public opinion about Laurent Esso being the next president of is he trying to tell Yang Philemon that his time as Prime Minister is over? Is he ready to relinquish power to Littoral at the expense of his brothers of the South and Muslims in the North who have both being fighting a cold war over who take over after Biya?

These answered questions only keep Cameroonians wondering what Mr Biya is up to. The head of state has spent over 28 days now out of the country. He left of September 16, 2016 to prepare for the 71st General Assembly of the United Nations. Since then the whereabouts of Mr Biya is not known.Some sources say he returned to his hotel suit at the Swiss based Continental hotel.

Details

Prince Nfor Hanson

16.Oct.2016

Hits: 4896