Politics

A baby has drowned in a bucket in the Chantal Biya Foundation, a state-run hospital in the capital city of Yaounde, Cameroon, according to Mowah Sixtus Mbom, editor-in-chief of the Guardian Post Newspaper.

Mbom, a Cameroonian journalist, reports that the baby is one of the conjoined twins who were recently separated in Tunis, Tunisia.

"The baby drowned in a hospital room. This is unimaginable," writes the senior reporter.

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Tapang Ivo Tanku

19.May.2016

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Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former secretary general at the presidency, was sentenced Wednesday, May 18th 2016  to 20 years imprisonment by the Supreme Court in Yaounde. He had previously been sentenced to 25 years in prison in the first instance of the case  in 2012 for alleged corruption.

The former minister was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for intellectual complicity and embezzlement. The latter is accused of embezzling 25 million euros in the albatross affair  in 2001.

Marafa Hamidou Yaya was an outspoken opponent of Biya’s constitutional changes, and many suspect he faced the government’s wrath as a result.

The state counters that the investigations are meant to discourage other leaders from stealing money, but corruption largely remains unchallenged, and policymakers do not intend to root out the pervasive corruption that is systemic within Cameroonian politics.

Due to tainted rule, $152 million had been looted from the treasury, which is money that could have been used to enhance the Central African country’s lagging economy. Cameroon has suffered under lower oil and commodity prices, including a war against terrorist group Boko Haram, an organization that destabilized borders and disrupted commerce in local communities.

Cameroon was once a rising emerging market in Africa, but the world economy and fight against Boko Haram has nearly crippled the economy, and leaders made the situation worse through ineffective management and corrupt practices. Criminal transactions and deals occur brazenly in public, and Cameroon is one of the most corrupt nations in the world.

The country has vast potential and could follow strategies that would ensure success, such as diversifying the economy away from commodities and into other sectors that yield additional revenue. Biya, however, does not seem serious about meaningful changes that could have a positive impact on society.

Furthermore, the president is part of the problem, and his extended rule shows that little change will follow in a country that needs a vast overhaul in terms of governance. While he cannot take the full blame for Cameroon’s plight, he has overseen a system that does not work for the average Cameroonian, while elites are free to raid the treasury with impunity.

Biya has ruled since 1982, amassing a personal fortune in the process. He is also considered one of the world’s worst dictators, notes International Business Times. The government made examples of the recent 14 detained men, but only as scapegoats, with little reform taking place under the surface.

Cameroon stands a slight chance of an economic recovery because of its favorable agricultural landscape and precious natural resources, but this will not likely happen anytime soon under a regime intent on maintaining the status quo.

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Rita Akana

19.May.2016

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Several African leaders are attending the summit along with French President Hollande and top US and UK officials. The talks aim to hammer out a regional response to the group's bloody insurgency.

Leaders of Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, along with French President Francois Hollande, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, gathered in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Saturday to discuss ways of combating a nearly seven-year insurgency by the extremist group Boko Haram.

Also invited were delegations from West African and Central African blocs, and the European Union.

Hollande's presence at the summit reflects Paris' traditional interest in its former colonies surrounding Nigeria. France and Nigeria recently signed an agreement on closer military cooperation.

Some 20,000 people have died and 2.1 million have been made homeless in the insurgency by the radical group, which is trying to set up an Islamic state in the region.

The summit is the second such high-level gathering following a first meeting in Paris two years ago to discuss strategies against the group.

Tackling humanitarian crisis

Among the topics expected to be discussed at the meeting, hosted by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, is the formal deployment of an 8,500-strong regional force, including soldiers from Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The African Union-backed force was supposed to have begun combating Boko Haram by July last year.

The meeting is also likely to focus on ways to alleviate the humanitarian fallout from the conflict, with the state of Borno being the worst affected region. The government there has spoken of a "food crisis" among those who have been displaced, and calculated that $5.9 billion (5.1 billion euros) was necessary to restore infrastructure shattered by the violence.

Buhari had vowed to defeat Boko Haram before the end of his first year in office, but with only this month to go, that pledge is beginning to seem too optimistic. However, the Nigerian military says that the group has now been contained largely within strongholds in the Sambisa Forest, with dozens of fighters surrendering owing to shortages of food and ammunition.

US Deputy Secretary of State Blinken told reporters in Abuja on Friday that Washington did not yet consider Boko Haram to have been defeated, but conceded that the group had been "degraded."

Military operations against the group have so far been hampered by a lack of coordination between armies operating in the border areas on and around Lake Chad, where Boko Haram is known to be active. The huge lake forms the border between Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Links to 'IS'

Ahead of the summit, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement approved by all 15 members that condemned violence against civilians perpetrated by the group, which operates mainly in Nigeria.

The statement deplored the "killings and other violence against civilians, notably women and children, abductions, pillaging, rape, sexual slavery and other sexual violence, recruitment and use of children, and destruction of civilian property."

The Security Council also demanded the unconditional and immediate release of people abducted by the group, including the 219 schoolgirls kidnapped from the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok in 2014.

The council members expressed alarm at links between Boko Haram and the "Islamic State" ('IS') group, with the Nigerian extremists pledging allegiance to "IS" last year. Western governments fear that "IS," which currently operates mostly in Syria, Iraq and Libya, could be considering extending its activities to the vast and lawless Sahel region with the aid of its African allies.

This comes amid reports that Boko Haram rebels have been fighting alongside "IS" militants in Libya.

DW

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Elangwe Pauline

14.May.2016

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Since the death of Professor Peter Agbor Tabi, we have been made to understand through online commentaries that he loved Manyu people dearly, he was an intellectual and due to African tradition, we shouldn't speak evil of him.

I want to state that we are dealing here with the same problem, same backward thinking, same psychological damage of the minds of Cameroonians by Mr Biya’s system.

Predominantly, natives of Manyu have claimed he loved them because he used his influence as a minister of higher education to ensure undeserving Manyu youths are admitted into Cameroons premier teacher training college –ENS. This was at the expense of other deserving and qualified Cameroonians. According to them, he was a bold man who played with the system for the benefit of his people.

I just want to state that I personally find these comments insulting, even though I have members of my own immediate maternal family who benefitted from this scam. There is nothing wrong in wanting to help your own people and to love them. But you do not express love to your own people by denying others of their own right as Cameroonians to pursue their own careers.

ENS was never Agbor Tabi’s personal property. It was a state institution designed to accommodate every deserving Cameroonian. Denying others the opportunity to pursue their careers there purely because they came from the wrong tribe was completely wrong. And to want to justify it purely because everyone else in his rank as minister was doing something similar is naïve.

A wicked system is a wicked system and there are always people who even in that kind of a system will always want to act right. As an example, Chiune a Japanese diplomat during World War II used his influence to help 6,000 Jews who were at risked of being killed by Hitler to leave Europe by issuing transit visas so that they could travel to Japanese territory, risking his career and his family's lives. During the Rwandan genocide, there were people who lost their lives because they refused to act like a majority of people by killing others from other tribes. That’s how love can be expressed even in dangerous circumstances.

Agbor Tabi’s case was a choice which expressed hate on Cameroonians/Cameroon. He didn’t love Cameroon and he didn’t love even those he helped as in his pursuit for power, he was using them and he didn’t mind setting them up against other Cameroonians. Everyone wants to become something in this life and the desire to realize innate possibilities is inherent in human nature. Once rights are denied or people are forced due to circumstances to pursue the wrong career choice, then society can’t function properly.

On the issue of African tradition not to speak evil of the death, I will like to state that we are not interested in any lectures that are not based on sound moral principles and critical judgment. Just like what the Germans and Europeans did when Hitler was defeated, we are never going to be bullied but we are going to study the life of every Cameroonian who has worked closely with Biya. The reason for this is very simple - we don’t want some of the wicked things they did to happen again and we also have to try to recover some of the money they stole from the system. Once Biya is out, we are going to enact new laws to ensure what the likes of Agbor Tabi did should never happen again.

Every Cameroonian deserves respect. Those who always invoke this issue of African tradition only when they want to silence the voices of other Cameroonians should be careful. The same African tradition suggests that the youths have the right to kill through stoning anyone who is “suspected” of bewitching them. Does Mbella Moki Charles who brought up this issue consistently want us to ask the unemployed Cameroon youths to start picking up “suspects” randomly and stoning them? The CPDM should stop their foolishness and let us live.

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Mark Bareta

14.May.2016

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The Cameroonian Head of State left Yaounde Saturday, May 14, 2016 to Abuja, the political capital of Nigeria. The President of the Republic responded to an invitation from his Nigerian counterpart who is organizing a regional summit on security issues in the central/west African area.

For over five years, members of the Commission of the Lake Chad Basin (LCBC), namely Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, have been victims of the atrocities of Boko Haram. These countries affected had decided to pool their forces together to eradicate the  Islamic sect from Nigeria and to combat terrorism in all its forms.

In the search for ways and joint strategies towipe out the terrorist threat from Boko Haram, the LCBC countries have been gaining support from "friendly countries" and partner organizations. After a first summit hosted on May 17, 2014 in Paris, France, the Heads of State of Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Niger, Benin and French are meeting once again  this Saturday, May 14, 2016 in Abuja .

The main topics to be discussed at this summit will be the assessment of  progress  after the first summit in Paris and the present situation  on the field in the fight against Boko Haram.

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Elangwe Pauline

14.May.2016

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Cameroon’s government says the multinational joint forces fighting Boko Haram have arrested five leaders of the extremist group and freed dozens of women and children held captive.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma said Saturday that the raids targeted Boko Haram’s bases in the Madawaya forest earlier this month.

He said the operation freed 28 children along with at least 18 women.

The spokesman said Boko Haram had set up camp in the forest after fleeing another military operation in neighbouring Nigeria. He said the fighters had been training young girls and women as suicide bombers.

Boko Haram’s nearly 7-year insurgency, which has launched attacks beyond Nigeria’s borders into Cameroon, Chad and Niger, has killed at least 20,000 people, according to Amnesty International.

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Elangwe Pauline

14.May.2016

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