Politics

Cameroon said raids on Boko Haram strongholds along the country's northern border with Nigeria are taking a huge toll, with hospitals in the area overwhelmed by victims wounded during insurgency efforts, officials said.

Regional forces from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Benin have been launching raids on the militants since last December.
The troops' raids, as well as suicide bombings and landmines used by the insurgents have increased the number of victims.

The hospitals are suffering acute shortages of staff, medical equipment and infrastructure.

Hannah Lechantre, a French-born volunteer with the Cameroon medical council, said the Mora district hospital, with a capacity of 50 beds, now has 350 victims from Cameroon and Nigeria.

'Very worrying'

"Actually, their health status and their mental status is very worrying. All these people, families, women, children have been hiding so long in the bush, eating nothing and drinking dirty water, so they arrive in Cameroon in very very bad situation in terms of health," Lechantre said.

Cameroon Health Minister Andre Mama Fouda said five hospitals, with a capacity of about 350, on the border with Nigeria are overcrowded with more than 1,700 victims being taken care of by about 400 staff members.

Fouda said the hospitals lack equipment and infrastructure to cope with the growing numbers and the hospitals are running short of supplies despite international efforts to assist.

Cameroon said more than 1,500 victims of Boko Haram atrocities died in hospitals on its northern border with Nigeria between January 2015 and March of this year.

(VOA)

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Elangwe Pauline

15.Mar.2016

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A Nigerian government push to strangle the Boko Haram insurgency has shut down the cattle trade that sustained the city of Maiduguri, leaving many residents with no livelihood, including many of the two million people displaced by the war.

In recent months the army has taken back much of the territory lost to the jihadists during the five-year insurgency.

But the war, which killed thousands of people, is still taking its toll in the northeast, despite President Muhammadu Buhari's vow to crush Boko Haram by the end of last year.

The group, now officially allied to the Islamic State fighters who control much of Iraq and Syria, has responded with suicide bombings and hit and run attacks against civilians.

In the latest shock to civilians, meat has become scarce as the army has closed cattle markets to stop Boko Haram from raising funds by selling livestock, officials say.

The shutdown of the Maiduguri cattle market -- one of the biggest in west Africa -- has, overnight, made hundreds of cattle traders, herdsmen, butchers and laborers unemployed.

"We are suffering," said Usama Malla, a cattle herdsman who lost his job. While he spoke, an angry crowd quickly gathered to criticize the government. "We want compensation," others demanded.

The sprawling market had been one of the main employment opportunities for the more than one million displaced people who live in camps on the outskirts of the town after fleeing Boko Haram.

Officials say they were forced to shut the market because Boko Haram has resorted to stealing cattle from villagers to feed its fighters and raise funds after the army pushed it out of cities. Cattle looting has displaced its previous sources of income: robbing banks and kidnapping wealthy people.

The market closure has disrupted beef supplies in Maiduguri and the rest of Borno state, adding to the hardship of people who have long complained of poverty and neglect in the north -- struggles that prompted some to join Boko Haram's revolt.

"I cannot afford meat anymore," said Musa Abdullahi, a laborer sipping milk sold by a female street vendor. He said he has to feed two wives and nine children, and can't remember the last time he was able to buy meat for the family. "I used to get a piece of meat for 350 naira ($1.75), now it costs 900."

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima said he had reopened the Maiduguri market to trade existing stock but banned the arrival of any new cattle for two weeks so authorities could identify sellers.

"There were suspicious persons who sold cattle which they had bought from Boko Haram," he said. "This is financing the terrorists."

The closure has left some 400 animals dying in trucks stopped by the army on the way to Maiduguri, traders said.

Officials say authorities plan to distribute food and find jobs for the city's youth. But options are limited as a slump in vital oil revenues has undermined Buhari's plans to develop the north, which is poorer than the mostly Christian south, where Nigeria pumps its oil.  

MIDDLEMEN

Located some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from the Atlantic coast and the southern megacity of Lagos, Maiduguri used to be a busy cattle market serving neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger until Boko Haram attacks closed the nearby borders.

Supplies for the Maiduguri market had thinned even before the cattle embargo as Boko Haram fighters burned fields and forced farmers out of their villages in recent years.

The army, which moved its command to fight Boko Haram to Maiduguri to be close to the front, has repelled two recent attacks on the city of two million, allowing commercial flights to resume.

But soldiers manning sand-bagged checkpoints and imposing a curfew are a reminder that life is anything but normal. Suicide bombers strike often in its suburbs.

Security officials say Boko Haram's cattle raids suggest the group is desperate to find food after the army pushed it out of several towns. More than 70 supporters begging for food surrendered last week, the army said.

But cattle traders say the raids are simply a new tactic by the jihadists raise funds.

Daho Dida, a cattle trader sitting in the shade of a wall, said fighters had stolen a 350-strong herd from him and a 500-strong herd from his brother. He said the military had failed to stop the raids, with soldiers running into the bush the moment they came under fire.

"They buy foodstuff, petrol and other stuff with the money," he said of the fighters.

The jihadists sell stolen cattle to middlemen who take on the risk of dealing with them by paying just 20,000 naira ($100) a head, a quarter of the usual price, said Adam Bulama, a leader of a civilian vigilante force helping the army.

It's a worthwhile risk for middlemen to ship the cattle to Maiduguri, where prices have surged to 120,000 naira per head because of the temporary ban.

Bulama said dealers need personal connections with staff at abattoirs that are still slaughtering cows from the existing stocks. "Now meat is scarce in Maiduguri," he said. "Nobody can afford it."

Buhari says Boko Haram is no longer able to overrun security posts or seize government offices. But displaced people holding out in camps remain wary of going home. Boko Haram fighters often ambush "liberated" roads or villages in hit and run attacks, aid workers say.

"Houses in our village were burned," said Bulami Ari, a 47-year old farmer who lives with his two wives and six children in a tent since the jihadists raided last year their village, located just 45 km outside Maiduguri. "There is no security."

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Elangwe Pauline

15.Mar.2016

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President Paul Biya and wife,Chantal Biya returned to the nation’s capital, Yaoundé on Monday 14 March 2016 from a brief private visit to Europe amid the scandal that rocked the nation over the weekend at the Lanquintinie Hospital in Douala. There was an ironical  festive mood at the Nsimalen International airport marked by drum beats and dancing from CPDM militants and other well-wishers who turned out in large numbers to greet the presidential couple downplaying the grieve that plaqued the whole nation from the incident in Douala. 

After brief discussions with some of his closest acolytes, the presidential motorcade made its way to Unity Palace as more "jubilant" die-heart supporters  thronged the streets of Yaoundé right up to the entrance of the presidential palace.It's unclear whether or not Mr Biya will take action or address the nation concerning the incident at Lanquintinie Hospital . However, it is now evidently clear that when Yaounde breaths, the whole nation is alive and active.

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Elangwe Pauline

15.Mar.2016

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The Laquintinie Hospital incident has not only shocked the entire nation, it has indeed thrown up many questions about healthcare in a country where elections focus more on individuals rather than on issues and policies that can enable the country address those issues that have blighted the people’s lives. The pictures of a woman slaughtering her own sister within a certified medical facility just to save her sister’s twins is an indication that the country’s healthcare system is suffering from serious issues. This is a job that was supposed to have been done by health officials of that medical facility, but since money has replaced humanity in our own country, lots of people, including medical doctors, have simply walked away from the theory of being there for their fellow citizens for a philosophy wherein money is the be-all-and-end-all of life. There is nothing else that can really beat this gross display of inhumanity by Laquintinie hospital officials. And this case is simply the tip of the iceberg. 

Many Cameroonians have lost their lives just because of inhumanity and carelessness in our hospitals. When you visit some of our hospitals, you end up shedding tears when you see how fellow citizens are treated. Not only are these hospitals not equipped, they have, at best, been reduced to consultation clinics and, at worst, funeral homes. Our hospitals are now places where people pay their transport fare to spend their last days.  The type of things that happen in Cameroon’s hospitals could kill a patient even before they get to meet the medical doctors who themselves have become businesspeople. Nowhere else in the world, except in Cameroon, is someone charged for being on the premises of a medical facility. In most hospitals around the country, access– not to the medical officials – is paid. Laquintinie is very much notorious for that. This underscores the point that even emergencies are not considered as emergencies, if the patient or their loved ones accompanying them do not have money to pay for access. This even gets worse if you have to meet with the medical doctors themselves. If you do not have money to deposit, then yours is the kingdom of pain and death. Nobody will attend to you and many hardworking, but unfortunate Cameroonians, have lost their lives just because of this type of mentality that is very much countenanced by a government that is more elitist than populist.

Of course, the Laquintinie incident seems to be a wake-up call. Even members of the ruling party are calling for disciplinary measures against officials of the hospital. But it is not the hospital that is the problem. Laquintinie is just a symptom of a disease that has affected the entire nation. Moral decadence and inhumanity have become the cancers of our country. This is a country where crooks are hailed as strong men, thieves are revered and con-men have become models to our children. Punishing Laquintinie hospital officials will be a welcome measure, but such a measure will not address the issues facing the entire nation. You do not eradicate a disease by striking at the branches instead of the roots. Cameroon is gone down the drain. Morals have disappeared from the country. The community spirit and strong sense of citizenship that characterized the country in the 70s, 80s and, maybe, the 90s have simply migrated to other parts of the world.  Go to most schools in the country, and you will be shocked beyond expression at the attitude of the teachers. If levels of healthcare and education have taken a nosedive in Cameroon, it is surely not in error or by accident. It is the way the government has run the system.

The notion of Garbage in, Garbage out (GIGO) also applies to human systems and not only to the computer. Take a look at the way teachers are recruited and you understand why standards of education have suffered over the last two decades. Most Cameroonian teachers are simply a bunch of people who are fleeing unemployment. They are not driven by the passion we saw in our teachers in the 60s and 70s. Teachers were the makers of men and they exuded knowledge wherever they were. Compare them to what we have today, and your mind will bleed for a country that is already on life support. For the medical field, the story is grimmer. Many of our medical doctors have simply transformed the Oath of Hippocrates into an Oath of Hypocrisy. For sure, these doctors were pushed into our faculties of medicine by some invisible hand and even when they cannot perform properly in school, they cannot be dismissed. That should explain why we have lots of butchers in our hospitals wielding long, sharp knives. They are always prepared to operate or to exaggerate the extent of the patient’s illness just to make a quick buck. Cameroon needs a new vision, a vision that will place the citizens of that country at the heart of every action.

One would think that after the colourfulcelebrations of the International Women’s Day in Cameroon, Cameroonian women will be treated like queens every day. But the nasty and unpardonable incident that took place at the Laquintinie Hospital in Douala underscores that the nation and its leaders are simply paying lip-service to the whole notion of women and their rights. Worse of all, is the public’s indifference; indifference that has pushed me into questioning the whole notion of a collective conscience in our country. While the hospital officials have gone mute since the incident took place, government officials, for their part, have been struggling to provide explanations, some of which have been at best annoying. How could a country endowed with some of the finest human resources on the continent be going through this for so many decades. Why should we be losing our women at a time when technology has simplified delivery across the world? And where is our collective conscience. Our silence in the face of this disaster is tantamount to acquiescence. While we may have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in our country, let’s not forget that our silence is being considered as approval of what is happening to some of us. If this can happen to Mr. A, then it will one day happen to Mr. B. This has nothing to do with tribe or region. Our leaders should be held accountable and this is one moment that can enable our leaders  understand that we cannot always be taken for a ride. Silence cannot always be golden, not when human life is involved.

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Dr Joachim Arrey

14.Mar.2016

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Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979 and is one of Africa's longest-ruling leaders, said on Friday he intended to step down in 2018 but gave no reason for his decision and did not name a preferred successor.

Angola, a member of OPEC and Africa's second largest oil exporter after Nigeria, has been hit hard by the slump in global crude prices. Oil export revenues account for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange revenues.

"I took the decision to leave active political activity in 2018," Dos Santos, 73, said in a speech to members of his ruling MPLA party's key decision-making body. He did not elaborate.

Angola holds its next parliamentary election in 2017 and the leader of the winning party will then become president. MPLA leader Dos Santos was re-appointed to a new five-year term as Angolan president in 2012 after his party won a landslide win.

Some Luanda residents expressed surprise that Dos Santos had decided not to step down before the next election.

"The elections are in 2017, not in 2018. He should quit before the elections in 2017," said Afonso Kangulo, 42, who is jobless and blamed the government for the weak economy.

But Frank Francisco, 48, a public service worker, said: "If he were to quit before the election, maybe people would say he ran away because he would have lost."

Weak oil prices have hammered Africa's third largest economy and the government is in discussions with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund about possible financial assistance.

Dos Santos' mild, inscrutable public demeanor belies his tight control of Angola, a former Portuguese colony where he has overseen an oil-backed economic boom and the reconstruction of infrastructure devastated by a 27-year-long civil war that ended in 2002.

Critics accuse him of mismanaging Angola's oil wealth and making an elite, mainly his family and political allies, vastly rich in a country ranked amongst the world's most corrupt.

Dos Santos, a Soviet-educated former petroleum engineer, is Africa's second longest ruling leader after Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Vice-President Manuel Vicente - former head of state oil firm Sonangol - is seen as a likely successor to Dos Santos.

"(Dos Santos) has been grooming Vicente for quite a while now ... He has deputized for him on a number of important occasions, which sent a strong signal," said Gary van Staden, a Johannesburg-based political analyst with NKC African Economics.

But another analyst said the president was grooming his son, Jose Filomeno de Sousa dos Santos, to succeed him. The younger Dos Santos currently heads Angola's sovereign wealth fund.

"It may mean the succession is in progress and that it will be a dynastic one," said Nelson Bonavena, an economics lecturer at the Catholic University of Angola and political analyst.

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, an Angola expert at Britain's Oxford University, struck a more cautious note.

"Dos Santos' departure from power has been the talk of the town in Luanda for 15 years. He has always hinted that he wanted to leave but this is the most specific commitment he has ever made," he said.

"The fact that he put a date to it is a powerful marker and would come back to haunt him if he were to renege on it."

(Reuters)

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Rita Akana

13.Mar.2016

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President Ali Bongo of Gabon was confirmed on Saturday in Libreville by acclamation as the presidential candidate of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) in the 2016 presidential election at an extraordinary congress that paired with the 48th anniversary of the party.

Bongo, who had announced his candidacy at Port Gentil with the slogan "Let's change together", received the torch from the hands of the party’s Secretary General, Faustin Boukoubi.

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Chi Prudence Asong

13.Mar.2016

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