Politics

The Yaounde-based Special Criminal Court, SCC, on Wednesday, April 20, 2016, continued hearing Phase I of the two matters involving Yves Michel Fotso, the former General Manager of the defunct national carrier, Camair. As the trial, which began in November 2014, gradually draws to a close, Wednesday’s sitting was devoted to hearing the final submissions of the prosecution and counsel for Camair Liquidation Committee and the State.

However, all this took place in the absence of the accused and his counsel, who had earlier pulled out of the trial, alleging unfair court processes. Hearing the matter was the leader of the trial team, Mr. Justice Moukoury Francis, assisted by Mr. Justice Michel Onana and Mr. Justice Nyassa; with Mr. Justice Tagim as one of the Advocates General. In an hour and half submission, Mr. Justice Tagim revisited the trial, beginning from preliminary investigations, demonstrating that Yves Michel Fotso set out to embezzle Camair funds. He supported his arguments by recalling exhibits that were tendered by the prosecution, pointing out that by running Camair accounts in Commercial Bank of Cameroon, CBC, in which he has interests, Fotso deliberately entertained the conflict of interest to the detriment of the State and the defunct national carrier.

Taking the floor next, Counsel for Camair Liquidation, Barrister Ngongo Ottou Martin, and the liquidator, Bekolo Christian, supported the Advocate General’s position that Fotso deliberately engaged in activities to defraud the State. Barrister Mujem Fombad, Counsel for the State, concurred with the positions of previous speakers, pointing out that the State was never a party to the failed reimbursement deal reached earlier between the Camair Liquidation Committee and Yves Michel Fotso. The matter was later adjourned to April 29, 2016, for ruling.

Michel Fotso is accused of fraudulently obtaining 18.9 Billion FCFA between 2000 and 2002. The suit, filed by Camair's Liquidation Committee and the State of Cameroon, concerns 4,051,209,866 FCFA, 4,606,130,515 FCFA, and 8,934,203,742 FCFA, all compensation for the famous Boeing 747 'Combi' aircraft crash in Paris, France; as well as 1,400,000,000 FCFA, the worth of the wreck of the aircraft.

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Elangwe Pauline

21.Apr.2016

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The United States will give $40 million in humanitarian assistance to countries bordering Lake Chad fighting Islamist militant group Boko Haram, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said on Tuesday.

The money was to help about seven million people affected by the insurgent group that has killed around 15,000 people. It takes total U.S. aid to the sub-region since 2014 to $237 million, she said.

Power was in the capital of Cameroon and met President Paul Biya and attended a ceremony to burn 2,000 tusks in a bid to end elephant poaching. The trip includes visits to Chad and Nigeria.

"We discussed the monstrous threat posed by Boko Haram and we agreed, and he was very forceful on this point, that the military response alone could not succeed in defeating Boko Haram in the long-term," she said of her meeting with Biya. 

Respect for human rights, good governance, economic and forest development and a focus on civil society were essential components of the campaign, she said.

Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad are contributing forces to fight the group. Power has been scheduled to visit the region's Multinational Joint Task Force, which is staffed with troops from the three nations as well as Niger and Benin.

The United States has sent troops and drones and offered to send a special operations mission to the fight against Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

On Monday, a vehicle in her motorcade that was carrying United Nations and Cameroonian officials struck a young boy. Medics in the convoy treated him but he died of his injuries.

"I joined the (Cameroonian) governor of the area ... the leading U.N. official who manages the humanitarian and development response and Ambassador Hoza, and we visited with the boy's family to offer our profound condolences," Power said in a speech.

Power also described meeting refugees and called for financial support from the international community to aid the development of areas battered by Boko Haram.

Reuters

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Elangwe Pauline

20.Apr.2016

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The Nigerian army, backed by the country's air force, on Monday repelled an attack an attack by Boko Haram fighters near the border with Niger in the jihadists' northeast heartland, the military said.

The group allied to Islamic State had been fighting for at least seven years to carve out an Islamist caliphate in the region in a conflict which has displaced more than 2 million people and killed thousands. 

The militants struck as the troops were on their way to the border town of Damasak where they wanted to set up a permanent base, a military source said. The army took the area back from Boko Haram last year, but has struggled to hold it.

"The Nigerian troops have successfully repelled an attack by Boko Haram terrorists who attempted an incursion into (the) 113 Battalion," army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement carried by PR Nigeria, which releases government statements.

Kareto is the army's next base in the area.

"So far our troops had two officers and 22 soldiers wounded in action," he said without giving further details.

No further information was immediately available from the remote area which is largely disconnected from mobile phone networks.

Boko Haram controlled a swath of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium at the start of last year, but was pushed out by Nigerian troops, aided by soldiers from neighboring countries.

Reuters

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Elangwe Pauline

19.Apr.2016

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GAROUA, Cameroon - US Soldiers from 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, in partnership with the Cameroon Air Force, held a school supply donation ceremony at the Ecole Maternelle Base Aerienne 301 Garoua (government nursery school) Capital of the Northen region of Cameroon on April 8.2016.

Spirit of America, U.S. non-profit organization, arranged for the donation of the supplies in coordination with US Maj. Perry White, commander of 2nd IBCT troops in Cameroon, Cameroon Air Force Col. Barthelemy T'Silla, commander of Base Aerienne 301 De Garoua, and Capt. James Turk, civil affairs team leader from Company B, 82nd Civil Affairs Battalion.

Through Spirit of America's continued support of civil-military activities, the organization provided funding to purchase the school supplies. As a result, 2nd IBCT and Cameroon troops delivered these supplies to the students and teachers of the nursery school and shared in the special event.

Sgt. Eunice Tahsoh, a supply technician assigned to 2nd IBCT, spoke to the children from a unique perspective as a Cameroonian-born U.S. Army Soldier. "Education is fundamental to the development of the country," she explained in French. "We are here today to support the government's actions towards education."

The supplies donated will be used to continue the education and preparation of the young children for primary school.

The children of Ecole Maternelle, with the help of their teachers, put on a program of cultural song and dance for the U.S. and Cameroonian troops to show their appreciation and thanks.

T'Silla addressed the group and explained that education is a crucial effort in the fight against Boko Haram.

"Education is the most important thing and through education of our children we will be able to defeat Boko Haram," said T'Silla.

Soldiers from 2nd IBCT, provide non-lethal support to their Cameroonian hosts as part of U.S. Africa Command. At the request of the government of Cameroon, U.S. troops are providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assistance via unmanned aerial systems to assist Cameroon in defeating violent extremists.

usaraf.army/US Embassy-Yaounde

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Trevor Barnes for U.S. Army

18.Apr.2016

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At least CFA 2.5 billion has been made available to Cameroon’s military from donations by citizens and the government in the campaign against the militant Islamist sect Boko Haram in the  Far North region,
Rene Emmanuel Sadi the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD) revealed. He was speaking at the end of a meeting held in Yaounde on Saturday by the ad hoc inter-ministerial committee for the management of donations made to the people and defence forces.

According to Mr. Sadi, who also doubles as Chairman of the committee, out of the monies collected, which includes a special contribution by President Paul Biya amounting to CFA 160 million, CFA 1.5 billion will go to the defense and security forces.

The remainder will go to the victims of abuse by the jihadist movement.

In addition to the contributions in cash, other Cameroonians have made tons of in-kind donations to the army and civilians living in that part of the country.

However, according to MINATD, the delivery of these contributions has been marred by serious logistical problems.

The ad hoc management committee for donations to the people and defense forces was set up by President Paul Biya in April 2015 to monitor, collect and centralize assistances from within Cameroon, abroad and from various humanitarian organizations working elsewhere in the country.

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Elangwe Pauline

18.Apr.2016

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FAR NORTH REGION, Cameroon, April 14 (UNHCR) – Paul and his younger brother Adam resisted with all their strength when several armed men from the Boko Haram sect burst into their house in their village, located in Nigeria's Borno State, and dragged them outside.

"They ended up lifting us up and threw us in a car. They handcuffed us, and we remained like that for a day," remembers Paul from the Minawao camp, in Cameroon's Far North region, where he is now a refugee with his brother and mother. "Our abduction happened almost three years ago but it feels as if it happened yesterday," he added.

With the two boys handcuffed on the back seat, the car drove towards the Sambisa forest, one of Boko Haram's strongholds bordering Cameroon. The abductors quickly asked the family for a ransom of 20 million nairas (or US$100,000) for the release of Adam and Paul, then 12 and 14, or they would be killed.

In the forest, the brothers, who are Christians, were forced to convert to Islam. Paul remembers that his kidnappers kept screaming: "We will cut your throat if you don't convert."

On the second day of their captivity, the boys were forced to stand against a mud wall. Boko Haram militants trained their Kalashnikovs on their backs and threatened again to kill them. "Then they dragged us to a well and I thought they would throw us in, but they just wanted to scare us …They finally brought us back under the tree where we had been sleeping the past night," Paul recalls.

With no blankets to keep warm at night, little food to eat for several days and the constant threats of execution, the two boys kept thinking they would die. "We were often crying. We were cold. We were thinking how much we missed home and our mother," Paul said.

The two boys were told they would be trained to become fighters – a fate that they would in fact escape. Unknown to them, negotiations were underway between the boys' uncle and one of the leaders of Boko Haram in Borno State, and they were finally released after seven terrifying days.

Hundreds and possibly thousands of children have been abducted in Nigeria since 2013, when Boko Haram stepped up their insurgency. The spectacular kidnapping of 276 girls in Chibok, in Borno State, on April 14 two years ago made headlines all over the world and generated unprecedented social media engagement (see #BringBackOurGirls). Some 50 of the girls managed to escape in the following hours and days of the brutal kidnapping, although the fate of the others remains unknown.

Abductions of girls and boys had been happening long before that high-profile incident and still occur on a regular basis. Schools and dormitories have been raided regularly in north-eastern Nigeria by armed men. Boys are kidnapped for recruitment into the sect's ranks while abducted girls will be exposed to forced marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Some families have escaped to neighbouring countries for more safety and as a preventive measure, although kidnappings of children have also been reported in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. In the past year, girls have also been used more and more to carry out suicide bombing attacks.

"Being kidnapped or being a victim of violence are life-threatening events that trigger huge anxiety and distress. It will impact enormously on the emotional world of any child," says Caroline Schmidt, UNHCR Regional Education Officer for West Africa and the Nigeria situation, based in Dakar.

In refugee camps in West and Central Africa, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its partners have implemented activities that support boys and girls who have experienced violence or abuse, and have suffered during their flight or have been separated from their families.

They receive special assistance, including psycho-social support and access to child-friendly spaces. UNHCR also trains and supports teachers to ensure that schools are safe and protective spaces where they can regain a sense of normalcy.

It is hoped that a safe environment such as the ones provided through schools in refugee camps and host communities will enable children and youths to have a positive outlook on the future.

"We are refugees now in Cameroon, and we feel safer. I miss my home in Nigeria, my village and my friends," Paul said, noting the ongoing insecurity in his homeland. "But I am still afraid of going back there and possibly meet with the men who abducted me."

Helene Caux in the Far North Region of Cameroon

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Elangwe Pauline

17.Apr.2016

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