Politics
"Boko Haram butchered nine people in front of me. That day I decided to leave my village," says Rachel Daviguidam, still devastated by the carnage she witnessed in September 2015.
One year on and this 30-year-old Cameroonian is still unable to get the images out of her mind.
And this mother of seven cannot see herself returning to her village of Golvadi in Cameroon's Far North, an area that has suffered multiple attacks by Boko Haram jihadists based just across the border in Nigeria.
Over the past year, Daviguidam and her husband and children have been living in Koza, a small town surrounded by mountains about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Maroua, capital of the Far North region.
Around 200,000 Cameroonians from the region have fled their villages in fear of the violence carried out by militants from Boko Haram, who last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Jihadists in this region kill, they torch entire villages, they loot and they steal livestock.
Sitting on the ground in Koza's stadium, this young mother cradles her youngest, who is just three months old, occasionally breastfeeding him.
Around her sit other displaced families.
- 'Life became intolerable' -
Nearby, hundreds of people are waiting in line to receive food handouts from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Over the past 15 months, the ICRC has organised food deliveries in Koza in a bid to combat malnutrition, says Ibrahim Dit Falke, a local who works for the organisation.
"Each household receives a package of 50 kilos (110 pounds) of rice, 25 kilos of maize flour, 25 kilos of black-eyed peas, 10 litres (20 pints) of oil, a kilo of salt and 12 kilos of enriched flour," he says.
In this area where many of the displaced have gathered, there have been numerous cases of malnutrition, some of them severe.
"We are in an area dominated by farming and agriculture, where most households make their living through agriculture," Dit Falke says.
"When you cut a household off from its fields, you cut it off from its livelihood."
As the food is handed out, Daviguidam, who comes from a Christian family, recounts her story.
"Life there became intolerable," she says.
"For three months, they would come to my house and flog me and my children," she explains.
"They said we were pagans.
"They demanded that we convert to Islam but we didn't want to."
If at the start, the Nigerian jihadists were only targeting Christians, they soon stopped making any distinction between Christians and Muslims, she says, as she gets up to go and collect her food package from a Red Cross volunteer.
- 'I can't cope' -
"I am happy to receive this gift," smiles another woman, Veved Nadama carrying a sack of rice on her head, as two other women help her carry the rest of the supplies.
For the past two years, this 25-year-old has lived in Koza since she fled the border town of Kerawa, which is home to 50,000 people and has been regularly targeted by Boko Haram.
"When they killed two pupils in the village, my husband and I decided to leave," says the mother of two.
"There was shooting all the time. We weren't able to sleep in our home, we preferred to hide in the bush."
Another of the displaced, Yauba Sumbi, says he's grateful for the sense of security in Koza, but like many others, he is haunted by what he witnessed.
"I am traumatised. I saw dead people, people with their throats cut," he says.
"I can't cope anymore."
He fled the border town of Amchide in 2014 with his wife but only two of his children.
"On the day we left, our neighbourhood was stormed by Boko Haram and there was shooting. We walked for three days and three nights through the bush" to reach Koza.
While part of the family managed to escape, he has had no news about his five other children who were unable to get out.
"I don't know if they are alive or dead, if they are in Nigeria or Cameroon," he says.
"God only knows."
France24
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President Paul Biya's press kit related to Cameroon's participation at the 71st Ordinary Session of the UN General Assembly.
The UN General Assembly will host a high-level summit to address large movements of refugees and migrants, with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach.
This is the first time the General Assembly has called for a summit at the Heads of State and Government level on large movements of refugees and migrants and it is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response. It is a watershed moment to strengthen governance of international migration and a unique opportunity for creating a more responsible, predictable system for responding to large movements of refugees and migrants.
According to UNHCR statistics for 2009, 99,957 refugees and individuals in refugee-like situations were resident in Cameroon.Fifty-thousand people from the Central African Republic live at the Garoua Boulaye refugee camp in eastern Cameroon. Some have been there since conflict in the C.A.R. erupted in 2013.
Over the past year, the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon have pushed back Boko Haram insurgents in north-east Nigeria and northern Cameroon, bringing greater security in some areas. But the insurgency remains a major threat to peace in the region.
The conflict has forced more than 200,000 people to flee to Cameroon, Chad and Niger following attacks on their villages in Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. The conflict has since 2014 spilled over into Cameroon, where some 170,000 Cameroonians are internally displaced in the north.
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Islamist militant group Boko Haram this week suffered after thirty eight of its fighters were killed during military search operations carried out by Niger and Chad troops in the Diffa region of southeast Niger, an official said on Friday.
Two soldiers were lightly wounded in the action and “on the enemy side; 38 terrorists killed,” Niger defence ministry spokesperson Moustapha Ledru said on state television.
Substantial quantities of weapons and munitions were also seized, Colonel Ledru added.
The joint army operations took place between Monday and Wednesday around the villages of Gueskerou and Toumour in southeastern Niger, he added.
According to villagers and NGO workers in Gueskerou, 30km from Diffa, Boko Haram elements attacked the town on Wednesday night, without killing anyone.
“The attack nonetheless caused a psychosis in the population” and “the assailants torched houses and stole food and medicines after pillaging shops and a pharmacy,” an NGO official told AFP.
The militant group’s insurgency has left at least 20000 people dead in Nigeria and border areas of neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon and made more than 2.6 million homeless.
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At the invitation of His Excellency BAN KI-MOON, Secretary General of the United Nations, His Excellency Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon, left Yaounde on Friday 16 September 2016, by mid-day, accompanied by his wife, Madam Chantal BIYA, to participate at the 71st Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly to hold in New York, in the United States of America.
The Head of State is accompanied on this occasion by the Official Delegation as stated below:
-Mr. Lejeune MBELLA MBELLA, Minister of External Relations;
-Mr. Martin BELINGA EBOUTOU, Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic;
-Mr. René Emmanuel SADI, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation;
-Mr. Louis Paul MOTAZE, Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development;
-Mr. Paul ATANGA NJI, Minister in Charge of Missions at the Presidency of the Republic;
-Mr. ALIM HAYATOU, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Public Health, in charge of the fight against Epidemics and Pandemics;
-Mr. Luc SINDJOUN, Special Adviser at the Presidency of the Republic;
-Rear Admiral Joseph FOUDA, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic;
-Mr. Henri ETOUNDI ESSOMBA, Ambassador of Cameroon to the United States of America;
-Mr. TOMMO MONTHE, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Cameroon at the United Nations;
-Mr. Simon Pierre BIKELE, Chief of State Protocol.
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1) Absence of representatives at Haut Ogooue
Usually the incumbent uses all his power to make sure he wins by hook or crook and is able with his resources including state resources like case with Cameroon to send party observers in all polling stations. In the case of Gabon, opposition leader Jean PING was well represented in all polling stations but for the Haut Ogoue province, stronghold of ALI Bongo, with over 200 polling stations out of over 2500 in the country. By not having observers in these areas, Jean PING had given room for just anything to happen. The votes there were delayed and later brought to Franceville by plane.
2) Partial Coalition and Deadlock at CENAP
The coalition between Jean PING, Guy Nzuba and Casimir Oye Mba was a killer for Ali BONGO but they failed to take into consideration the other minor opposition leaders who could have decided for Ping when the time came. Gabon’s CENAP remain a blue print with small amelioration for Cameroons elections, if ELECAM can borrow from them. When the deadlock occurred during vote with Pings party contesting the results; the laws say members of CENAP who were eight will vote .Ping had a representative , other opposition members were represented by three members and presidential majority four. If the opposition had voted 4 against 4, it would have been tight. But since PING had neglected other opposition parties throughout the campaign, 2 voted in favor of the results including 4 from presidential majority, making it 6, 1 empty ballot and 1 absent, that representative of PING who left the hall in anger. That is how CENAP validated the results of Haut Ogooue.
3) Poor Campaign Strategy
The PING camp spent their time verifying the origin of ALI Bongo while at that moment, Mr ALI was campaigning trying to avoid using the name Bongo which many Gabonese say has taken them hostage for 50 years. PING camp also brandished foreign flags openly showing its affiliation with some foreign bodies and countries. PING was seen by many as candidate of France. Gabon 24 broadcast a report where PING describes the people of Haut-Ogooue as cockroaches and rats. This also played a great role in tarnishing his image. This piece is not seeking to justify that ALI Bongo won in a free and fair elections but to let readers understand how the opposition let power go from their hands because of some minor issues. ALI Bongo and France A renown Cameroon lawyer and presidential candidate of last 2011 elections, Jean De Dieu MOMO questioned why PING who knew that the process was not going to be fair, still went ahead as candidate.
Perhaps with support of France and the international community he has been calling to intervene. France has always supported late Omar Bongo and renewed the deal when they supported ALI Bongo in 2009 and made it clear to the opposition that he, ALI won the disputed polls. This same France which supported him comes in 2016 to declare that ALI did not win. The reasons are simple. When ALI took over power in 2009 he decided to change Gabon for better by reviewing the agreement of Total, a French Company which has about 44%of the SOGARA lone oil refinery, he also stopped the exportation of woods from Gabon.ALI urged French companies to process their Timber in Gabon before selling the finished products. This led to job creation about 3000.These two factors have vexed Paris to the extent that they decided to axe ALI.
The apparently lost remote control of the robot they created. Mr ALI has done what his father failed to do in his 42 years reign, in just seven years, taking Gabon to a different level. He reduced salaries of the president of Gabon's national Assembly who previously earned over 180 million Francs CFA, ministers who earned 30-40 million francs a month. It is obvious these changes will lead to massive resignation in his country. But ALI failed to preach by example, by cutting down cost; he failed to do same in his lifestyle and household. He continued to live a lavish life with private jets and other luxuries. In all, the current situation in Gabon is being fueled by former colonial master France which since independence has refused to leave Gabon’s socio-political, economic and cultural life. The world should hold France responsible is Gabon becomes another Cote D’Ivoire.
NFOR Hanson Nchanji Journalist, Social critic and Activist
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During a ceremony to hand over attestations to successful candidates at the Command for Gendarmerie School in Yaoundé, the representative of the grandaunts said they are physically and psychologically armed to efficiently contribute in the fight against insecurity particularly within the current context when the country is faced by multiple security challenges.
The Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam said the training comes at a time when the new penal code; the operational guide for gendarmes has been promulgated.
He added that the projection of two formed Police Units to the Central African Republic for a peace keeping assignment as part of the United Nations Integrated Stabilisation Mission, MINUSCA should serve as an eye opener for the future sub officers who will be evaluated on the field.
The grandaunts he noted will be evaluated in their respective stations based on their ability to draw up accident reports, carry out judicial investigations with a mastery of the legal proceedings and their capacity to command combat and law enforcement units.
They were also reminded to keep professional secrets and be of good morals in a bid to better preserve national unity and integrity and protect Cameroonians and their property.
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Biya Article Count: 73
# 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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