Politics

Cameroon—Boko Haram fighters have kidnapped and conscripted thousands of young men and women since 2013. Soldiers from a regional force  composed of fighters from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon  continue to liberate captives by the hundreds during an operation to flush the terrorists from their remaining hideouts, but those formerly held say their struggles are far from over.

Hamidou Mohamat, 21, says he was seized from the Nigerian town of Kumshe three years ago.

Boko Haram forced him and his three brothers to join them, and those who tried to escape were killed, he says. The fighters attacked schools and markets, and ordered him and others to transport stolen food and goods to Boko Haram camps in the bush. He says the militants attacked farmers, cattle ranchers and businesses.

Mohamat arrived at the Minawao refugee camp in northern Cameroon unarmed, and is cooperating with the military.

The military says anyone caught with weapons is arrested and charged before a military tribunal. But others who turn themselves in, as Mohamat did, are held in special camps for investigation. VOA was not allowed to visit those camps.

Former captives say they are being met with stigma and suspicion.

Eighteen-year-old Yazan Imra came to Minawao after regional troops raided the Boko Haram camp where she had been held for two years.

Boko Haram fighters forced them and their children to the camp, she says, where the boys were used as domestic workers and taught how to operate guns and explosives. The women and girls were used as sex slaves and forced to cook for the fighters.

She wiped tears from her face as she spoke, and held her crying 16-month-old baby in her arms. She says she doesn't know who the father is.

Alain Myogo, Cameroon's senior military official in the area, says traumatized refugees are getting counseling and other special attention.

He says the military is working with humanitarian groups to take care of their health needs and provide them with food. The global objective, he says, is to free all those who have been held in bondage by Boko Haram and bring peace to their communities.

VOA

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Elangwe Pauline

08.Apr.2016

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A new report reveals former US House speaker Dennis Hastert had sexually abused teenage boys at school in the 1970s. The Chicago Tribune report says at least four people have made what law enforcement sources described as credible allegations of sexual abuse against Hastert. The accusers are men and their allegations pertain to the period when they were teenagers and Hastert was their high school coach in Chicago.

The newspaper said it has identified three of the four men. One of them, who was a wrestling team equipment manager, died two decades ago. Two others were popular student-athletes. The Illinois Republican has reportedly said in a court file that he "apologizes for his misconduct that occurred decades ago" and is "overwhelmed by the guilt."

The politician is accused of paying hush money to some victims to whitewash the scandal. Hastert, who had already stood trial, is scheduled to be sentenced at the end of this month. The 74-year-old became the longest-serving Republican speaker who retired from Congress in 2007 after running the chamber for eight years.

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Presstv

08.Apr.2016

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Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir says he will step down by 2020 and has no plans to run for another term in office. “In 2020, there will be a new president and I will be an ex-president,” Bashir said in an interview with the BBC Arabic Service on Wednesday, adding that his job is “exhausting” and that his current term would be his last.

Bashir has been in power since a 1989 coup, and has been elected president three times since then. He faces International Criminal Court (ICC) charges of genocide and war crimes in the 2003 conflict in the western region of Darfur. 

The Sudanese president, who was last re-elected in April 2015, dismissed the ICC tribunal for him as “politicized” and claimed that the accusations leveled against him by the court have increased his popularity among the Sudanese people and paved the way for his victory in the elections last year.

Bashir also denied New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) allegations of abuses perpetrated by the Sudanese government forces in recent clashes in the country’s Darfur.

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Presstv

07.Apr.2016

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Four years after their last meeting in Yaoundé (May 2012), President Paul Biya and Vincent Bolloré, Chairman and CEO of the Bolloré group have met again on Wednesday in the Cameroonian capital. At the end of the audience granted him by the Cameroonian dictator on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, the French investor made public a series of announcements which signaled that our nation has completely been taken over by the French.The CEO of the Bolloré Group revealed that he took stock of investments by his group in Cameroon. 

He also hinted his group intends to pursue new projects in the fields of transport and logistics, especially regarding the Kribi port industrial complex, railways, energy and culture. For the new port, Vincent Bolloré told the press that his group will be signing shortly a concession contract with the Cameroon government which will lead to the management of the container terminal at the port of Kribi.

Regarding the railway, the company "Cameroon Railways (CAMRAIL)", a subsidiary of Bolloré Africa Logistics, the French businessman promised to bring the journey time between Yaoundé and Douala -the two main cities of the country to less than three hours. Culturally, the French investor also promised to open in June, a movie theater in Yaounde, under the Vivendi-Canal + activities. In the renewable energy sector, Vincent Bolloré, revealed he plans an extension of the solar panel system inside the country, experienced with real success at the University of Yaounde I.

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Chi Prudence Asong

07.Apr.2016

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The Senate has adopted two separate bills aimed at facilitating and regulating trade activities. The bills were approved yesterday April 4, 2016 in Yaounde during a plenary sitting of the Senate chaired by its president Marcel Niat Njifenji. The first bill to authorize the President of the Republic to ratify the Agreement on Trade facilitation concluded on December 7, 2013 in Bali, Indonesia during the 9th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It was adopted by the House after the reading of the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee that studied the bill.

A Senate statement revealed the bill will ease border procedures of member States so as to facilitate trade operations at exportation and importation. The ratification of the bill will enhance the smooth movement of goods between Cameroon and foreign countries and thus boost the economy. Members of the Senate also adopted the bill regulating external trade in Cameroon during yesterday’s plenary attended by the Ministers of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atagana, Louis Paul Motaze of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development and Grégoire Owona sitting in for the Vice Prime Minister, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Parliament. The second bill adopted seek to spur economic growth by adopting the principle of freedom to import or export subject to some restrictions.

The explanatory statement also indicated that the bill will protect domestic production by combating unfair trade practices such as dumping. Trade Minister, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana provided further details to concerns of Senators regarding the two bills. Responding to the difficulties posed by illicit goods, the Minister said measures have been put in place to check contraband goods while the importation of medical and environmental goods will be liable to authorization and controls. He also revealed that a bill is in the making to check the importation of used cars.

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Cameroon Tribune

06.Apr.2016

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World military spending totalled almost $1.7 trillion in 2015, an increase of one percent in real terms from the previous year, according to new figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The data has been released to coincide with the start of the Stockholm forum on Security and Development. The 2015 increase is the first in military spending since 2011 and reflects continuing growth in Asia and Oceania, central and eastern Europe and some Middle Eastern states. The decline in spending in the West is also levelling off. At the same time, spending decreased in Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Thus, the global military expenditure picture is mixed, according to SIPRI.

The United States remained by far the world’s biggest spender in 2015, despite its expenditure falling by 2.4% to $596 billion. Among the other top spenders, China’s expenditure rose by 7.4% to $215 billion, Saudi Arabia’s grew by 5.7 % to $87.2 billion - making it the world’s third-largest spender - and Russia’s increased by 7.5% to $66.4 billion. A combination of high oil prices and new oil discoveries and exploitation has contributed to a surge in military spending in many countries around the world in the past decade, SIPRI said. However, the crash in oil prices that started in 2014 has begun to reverse this trend in many oil revenue-dependent countries and further cuts in spending are expected this year. 

The most dramatic oil revenue-related reductions in spending in 2015 were in Venezuela (-64%) and Angola (-42%). Decreases were also recorded in, among others, Bahrain, Brunei, Chad, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Oman and South Sudan. Despite declining oil revenues, several other oil-exporting countries continued to increase military spending in 2015. Many of these countries - notably Algeria, Azerbaijan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam - were involved in conflict or faced with heightening regional tensions. However, Russia’s expenditure was lower than projected in its budget, and Saudi Arabia’s spending would have fallen but for the additional $5.3 billion cost of its military intervention in Yemen. Russia and Saudi Arabia are planning cuts in 2016.

Military spending in North America and Western and Central Europe has been decreasing since 2009, largely as a result of the global economic crisis, as well as the withdrawal of most US and allied troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. There were signs in 2015, however, that this decline was coming to an end. US military spending was down by 2.4% in 2015, a much slower rate of decline than in recent years. This was the result of measures passed by Congress to partially protect military spending from previously agreed budget deficit-reduction measures. US military spending is projected to remain roughly level in real terms in 2016. Taken together, spending in Western and Central Europe was down by just 0.2% in 2015.

However, in Central Europe alone spending was up 13%. There were particularly large increases in countries bordering Russia and Ukraine - namely Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia - which are those most concerned about Russia’s intentions following the crisis in Ukraine. In contrast, Western European expenditure was down 1.3% but this was the lowest rate of annual decline since the start of the recent fall in spending, which began in 2010. The United Kingdom, France and Germany have all announced plans for modest spending increases in the coming years sparked by concerns about Russia and the threat posed by the Islamic State.

“Military spending in 2015 presents contrasting trends,” said Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, head of SIPRI’s military expenditure project. “On one hand, spending trends reflect the escalating conflict and tension in many parts of the world; on the other hand, they show a clear break from the oil-fuelled surge in military spending of the past decade. This volatile economic and political situation creates an uncertain picture for the years to come.” In Africa military spending fell by 5.3% following 11 years of continuously rising spending, SIPRI research found. This was mainly due to the large cut by Angola, the largest spender in sub-Saharan Africa in the wake of the sharp fall in oil prices.

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Defenceweb

06.Apr.2016

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