Politics
The leader of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, appeared in a video posted on social media on Sunday in which he rejected statements by the country’s military that he had been seriously wounded.
Last month Nigeria’s air force said it had killed senior members of the group which has killed around 15,000 people and displaced more than two million in a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating a state adhering to strict Islamic laws. It said Shekau had been wounded.
“You broadcast the news and published it in your media outlets that you injured me and killed me and here I am,” said a man purporting to be Shekau in a video addressed to “tyrants of Nigeria in particular and the west of Africa in general”.
“I will not get killed until my time comes,” he added, in the 40-minute video posted on YouTube delivered in Arabic and Hausa which is spoken widely in northern Nigeria.
The military has reported Shekau’s death in the past, only to have a man claiming to be him appear later, apparently unharmed, making video statements.
Last month’s announcement by the air force came days after Islamic State, to whom Boko Haram pledged allegiance last year, announced the appointment of a new leader of the West African group in an apparent rejection of Shekau.
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.
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Delphine MEDJO Senator of the Mvila Division in South Region has died. Her death was announced early Thursday at the Yaoundé University teaching hospital. Born in 1941, Delphine MEDJO was part of the 22 members of the politburo of the ruling party. She is one of the oldest militant of the CPDM party, having witnessed the burial of the Cameroon National Union, CNU which gave birth to CPDM. She is the fourth senator to have died in office after Sen. BOCHONG Francis NKWAIN, Sen. Njifua and Sen. JIKONG Stephen YERIWA.
Delphine MEDJO was elected in 2013 as one of pioneer Senators in Cameroon following the putting in place of the Bi-Camera system of parliament
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September 16 2014, the Cameroon government gave producers of whisky in sachets two years to evacuate within which they had to stop the production and commercialization of whisky in sachet and begin a new transformation process into packaging. The ministry of Public Health threw its weight on the decision from Mines ministry saying that because it contains high concentration of ethanol, the health risk is disastrous.
September 16, 2016 two years later, the production and commercialization of Whisky in Sachets have instead become high. Cameroon's consumer league has accused the government of being double standard. Instead of using the rod on these defaulters, the government has resorted to dialogue, dialogue which has been spearheaded by Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, Ernest Ngwaboubou and recommendations forwarded to the prime minster for final decision.
Observers hold that the government has demonstrated partiality in this case with Whisky in Sachets, what they didn’t do when the outbreak of birds’ flu was announced. This same government descended on Poultry farms, destroying eggs, fowls and products. The Cameroon government was very rigorous in its fight against circulation of non biodegradable plastic bags. She sent agents all over the national territory; the agents seized and destroyed plastic bags from recalcitrant vendors.
Even though insufficient, the government of Cameroon compelled tobacco producers to inscribe on each packets that Tobacco is dangerous to health of consumers and those around them. So what is so particular about whisky in sachets that the ever ready government is back paddling? Instead of dictating to producers, it is the reverse. Officials of Consumers League say money could be the root of this drawback by the government which seem to have shamelessly conceding to the romantic words of producers who are pleading o grounds that the ban will lead to huge unemployment.
We of Cameroon Concord think that Whisky in sachets are dangerous to the human body and is a silent killer than the birds’ flu virus. We understand that both domains give high revenue to the government but when the health of an individual is at risk, it is imperative on the state to provide them solution. And the solution will start with the total elimination of the circulation of sachets whisky.
The drawback syndrome of the government has contaminated the Littoral administration, few days after the Senior Divisional officer for Wouri, Paul NASERI BEA launched a crackdown on illegal commercial bike riders operating without CEMAC number plates where over 100 bikes were impounded and 15 persons arrested, the governor of Littoral Samuel Dieudonne IHAVA DUBOIS has suspended the operation. Another blow on the administration that seemed powerless in front of protesting bikers. The riders stormed streets of Douala as if to say they are operating in a lawless sector and wish to continue that way.
The crackdown was beginning to be interested especially to commuters who go through hell in the hands of the lawless boys until the governor called an emergency meeting having seen how mobilized the bikers were. The littoral administration has in the past months been unable to sustain or make a comprehensive follow up of its orders.
Travel agencies are still fighting for space houses and buses with pedestrians in town whereas they were given an injunction to leave their respective areas and join others at the Bonaberie motor park. Littoral administration has not been able to solve the chronic urban disorder, Car Vendors around Hotel Du NDE in Akwa have never left their site despite several deadline given for them to do so.
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Three civilians were killed in Cameroon's Far North when a vigilante tried to stop a suicide bomber whose explosive device detonated, regional and security sources said on Thursday.
The incident took place on Wednesday evening in Djakana, a village near the border with northeastern Nigeria, stronghold of the Islamist group which last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
A source close to the regional authorities told AFP that, including the bomber, there were "four dead and a number of wounded, one of whom was in critical condition."
The toll was confirmed by a security official.
The source said the bomber had been planning to detonate his explosives in the nearby town of Mora on Thursday, which is market day, but his plans were thwarted in Djakana where he was planning to spend the night.
"He was spotted by a member of Djakana's vigilance committee who tried to neutralise him" which caused the explosion, she said, indicating that the man who tried to stop him was among the dead.
Djakana, which lies just a few kilometres (miles) from the Nigerian border, has been hit by a number of attacks, including one on June 30 in which 11 people were killed.
Another three civilians were killed and 20 others wounded in another suicide bombing in Mora on August 21.
Mora is home to the headquarters of a multi-national force fighting Boko Haram, which groups troops from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger.
Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has killed at least 20,000 people in Nigeria and border areas of neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
It has also left more than 2.8 million homeless, fleeing attacks by militants who have ransacked villages across the poverty-stricken region.
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Anglophone lawyers and some of their Francophone counterparts will meet in Douala on Saturday, October 1 to raise their voices against the non-existence of an English version of four revised parts of the OHADA Law (Uniform Business Law).
Added to this, the lawyers want the Government to stop treating Anglophone lawyers with spite and create a level playing ground where Anglophone lawyers can practise their profession equitably alongside their Francophone counterparts.
The lawyers based in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, Yaounde and Douala, will deliberate on the disregard of an English version of the OHADA Law and the plight of Anglophone legal practitioners in general.
The chief coordinator of the event, Barrister Roland Abeng of Abeng Law Firm, made this disclosure at a press briefing in Douala on September 16.
The Moderator of the Cameroon Advocates Forum, Barrister Abeng said participation at the October 1 manifestation will be optional, hence no lawyer is obliged to be involved.
“It will be a manifestation by the willing. It will be a manifestation by those lawyers who can dare to stand up to fight against injustice.
It will be a manifestation by those Anglophone legal practitioners who have refused to remain docile in the face of persistent injustice; those who have refused to adopt the policy of speech and no action.
It will be a manifestation by our fair-minded Francophone colleagues who believe that injustice is a bad thing, even if they are not the victims,” Abeng told the press.
The barrister said they chose October 1 because it is a symbolic date in Cameroon: Reunification Day.
The OHADA Treaty
The Organisation for the Harmonization of Business Law commonly known by the French acronym, OHADA, was established by the OHADA Treaty which was signed on October 17, 1993 at Port-Louis, Mauritius Island, and revised in Quebec, Canada, on October 17, 2008.
OHADA was created with the aim of harmonizing business law in Africa, in order to guarantee legal and judicial security for investors and companies in its member states. As of today, 17 African countries are members of OHADA.
Initially, Article 42 of the OHADA Treaty made French the only official language of the institution. But following protests by some member countries, the Article was amended in 2008 and English, Portuguese and Spanish were added to French as official languages of OHADA.
But when OHADA authorities failed to respect the text and produced the 2010 revised version of the OHADA Law in French only, Cameroon’s Ministry of Justice did not complain.
Abeng said Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau had since decided against waiting for OHADA, and translated the revised law into the official languages of their countries.
In Cameroon, the Minister of State for Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso, and the President of the National Commission of the OHADA Treaty, Justice George Gwanmesia, who is also the Secretary General in the Ministry of Justice, have both remained silent on two separate correspondences the President of the Cameroon Bar Council, Barrister Jackson Ngnie Kamga, addressed to them since May 13, 2016.
The correspondences, which were received at the ministry on May 17, address the issue of the non-existence of the English version of the revised OHADA Law.
The President of the Bar Council stated in the correspondences that he had received several complaints from many Anglophone lawyers, who said they are facing a lot of difficulties having to work with the French version of the revised OHADA Law.
Ngnie Kamga reminded the authorities that Cameroon is a bilingual country, and that as President of the Bar Council his mission is to facilitate the exercise of the legal profession by all lawyers in the country.
He also called on the authorities to ask the Permanent Secretariat of OHADA why the English version of the revised OHADA Law is not yet available, more than five years after its revision.
Meanwhile, Barrister Abeng said no matter the obligations of the OHADA authorities, culpability for the non-existence in the country of the English version of the revised OHADA Law falls squarely on Cameroonian authorities.
“I am from Cameroon which has English and French as the official languages, and a constitutional obligation for legal enactments to be published in both languages simultaneously before its applicability. It is the duty of the Ministry of Justice, which has an entire Directorate for Legislation and Documentation, to make sure that Roland Abeng, who is an Anglophone, and Jackson Ngnie Kamga, a Francophone, have texts in the languages they understand best, and at the same time. It should be the same scenario for the ‘Faculte de Droit’ of UNIYAO and the Faculty of Law for the University of Buea,” Abeng said.
Irony
Many Anglophone lawyers have observed that it is ironical that Justice George Gwanmesia, the President of the National Commission on the OHADA Treaty, is an Anglophone.
The same irony touches two senior Anglophone lawyers, Eta Besong Jr. and Francis Asanga Sama, predecessors of Ngnie Kamga as Bar Council Presidents, who were silent on the issue of the linguistically biased texts of the OHADA Law.
Anglophone Lawyers Marginalised
“The marginalisation of Anglophones should be rightly considered by all Cameroonians of goodwill as a national problem, and not just a problem for the Anglophones. The issue of the non-existence of the English version of the revised OHADA Law is a national problem.
There are many of my Francophone colleagues who have clients in Britain and other English-speaking countries, who also need this text in English,” said Abeng.
He added, “The Government talks of working hard to woo foreign investors, yet there is no English version of the revised Uniformed Business Law applicable in Cameroon, to give to investors from countries like the US, Nigeria, Britain, South Africa and so on.”
Abeng stressed that the fight he has taken up has nothing to do with politics. He said the fight by some Anglophone and Francophone lawyers for justice for all, is not only about those living today but for posterity as well.
“This is not politics. The question I keep asking myself, is why the authorities (OHADA and Ministry of Justice), would treat Anglophone legal practitioners, scholars, and all involved with the study and practice of law with spite?
Why can we not be allowed to practise our profession on a level playing ground with our Francophone colleagues?
Anglophone lawyers are forced to spend much of their time struggling to translate texts from French to English, before preparing our submissions.”
Anglophone Law students are also seriously affected.
“Our English-speaking law students at the University of Buea and other universities in the country are often obliged to work with French texts and at the end write the same exams as their French speaking colleagues,” Abeng said.
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At least eight people were killed in an attack on a church by suspected members of Islamist militant group Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria on Sunday, local residents said on Monday.
The attack was carried out shortly after the morning service in Kwamjilari village, just about 30 kilometers east of Chibok town in Borno state.
The armed attackers were riding on bicycles.
“Some of the worshippers remained around the church and the gunmen opened fire and eight men died,” AFP reports Luka Damina to say from nearby Kautikeri village, where locals fled.
“Unknown to the residents, the gunmen had stationed some of their comrades on the road leading out of the village and they shot anyone who tried to flee.
“Many people ran into the bush with gunshot wounds. But so far we can only confirm eight deaths.”
The attackers also set homes on fire as well as maize farms that were almost ready for harvest.
A similar attack in the area last month left 10 people dead and saw 13 others kidnapped, while homes were looted and set on fire.
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# Paul Biya and his regime
Explore the political landscape of Cameroon under the rule of Paul Biya, the longest-serving president in Africa who has been in power since 1982. Our Paul Biya and his regime section examines the policies, actions, and controversies of his government, as well as the opposition movements, civil society groups, and international actors that challenge or support his leadership. You'll also find profiles, interviews, and opinions on the key figures and events that shape the political dynamics of Cameroon.
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Learn more about the history, culture, and politics of Ambazonia, the Anglophone regions of Cameroon that have been seeking self-determination and independence from the Francophone-dominated central government. Our Southern Cameroons section covers the ongoing conflict, the humanitarian crisis, the human rights violations, and the peace efforts in the region. You'll also find stories that highlight the rich and diverse heritage, traditions, and aspirations of the Southern Cameroonian people.
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