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More than 300 Africans have been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea after migrant boats capsized off the coast of Libya.

One small vessel packed with 27 Syrians flipped over and sank, according to humanitarian group Migrant Offshore Aid Station. 

The bodies of two women and one man were recovered. Among the dead were two girls, aged eight months and five years.

The survivors were taken to the Sicilian port of Trapani.

Migrants from North Africa are favouring the dangerous voyage toward Italy after last year’s prefered route from Turkey to the Greek islands has been largely shut down.

According to the International Organization for Migration, about three thousand migrants have died in the Med so far this year.

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Rita Akana

20.Aug.2016

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The Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, is contemplating on organising an extraordinary congress of the party as the mandate of its Chairman, Paul Biya, expires in September this year.

Sources at the Central Committee of the party told The Post that the outfit is settling for an extraordinary congress because it is cheaper.

The sources that asked not to be named, quoted the CPDM Secretary General, Jean Nkuete, as saying that an ordinary congress will be expensive and time-consuming for the party.

“An ordinary congress will take at least three days with huge spending, while an extraordinary is a one point agenda occasion that takes only one day,” he said.

It will be exactly five years in September since the last CPDM congress was held in Yaounde. It took place in 2011, during which, its incumbent Chairman, Paul Biya, was designated as the party’s candidate for the presidential election.

Thus, by virtue of article 27 of the internal regulations of the party, it is incumbent on the party’s authorities to organise a congress.

Party sources indicated that the party’s Chairman, Paul Biya, who is referred to as a legalist, will organise a congress in tandem with the standing orders of the house.

But Biya would have to contain the numerous challengers to his CPDM Chairmanship that have emerged in recent months. Though most of the challengers are still keeping their chairmanship ambitions very discrete, observers believe that the extraordinary congress of the party will be stormy.

Some of the new aspirants of the CPDM Chairmanship are emerging after a staunch militant in Yaounde earlier declared his intention to challenge Biya as Chairman of the party.

Saint Eloi Bidoung, who is one of the Deputy Mayors of the Yaounde VI Council, says Biya is too old to steer the ship of the party effectively.

He has been telling reporters in Yaounde that he is not only young and energetic, but has the intellectual and mental alertness to make the CPDM great again.

He told the press recently that although the CPDM passes for a democratic party, he is already paying a big price for mustering the courage to challenge the incumbent Chair. He said all his allowances have been blocked at the level of the Council.

Many of his comrades, he went, were treating him as if he were an outcast for the simple reason that he is challenging the incumbent.

But Bidoung has the heart of a lion. He says nothing will stop him from battling it out with the incumbent Biya. During the anticipated congress, Biya is expected to appoint some members of the Central Committee.

For one thing, some members of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the party have passed on to eternal glory after the 2011 congress.

For instance, the party will need to replace Hon. Senator Bochong Francis Isidore Nkwain Wainchom, a Central Committee member, who died in 2014.

It will also need to replace Fon Esua Fontem, a political Bureau member who also diedin 2014. The congress, party insiders mooted, will also decide the fate of some senior officials of the party in theGovernment who are perceived as obstacles to progress.

Such members of the Government are on the blacklist of the party for standing on the way of President Biya’s Emergency Plan.

During the congress, Biya is expected to react to calls on him to seek re-election in 2018. He will also answer appeals from militants of the party to organise early elections.

The first call for a CPDM congress was made in February during the party’s rally in Bafoussam, West Region. The Political Bureau member, Senator Mbombo Njoya, who made the call, said so much water has gone under the bridge, which need to be discussed only at the congress.

Cameroonpostnewsline

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Rita Akana

20.Aug.2016

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In Cameroon, a new trade deal with the European Union is stirring up controversy. Other Central African states have refused to ratify the agreement, saying it was neither fair nor balanced.

Civil society activist Emmanuel Mbami addressed a small crowd gathered near Cameroon's Ministry of Finance Thursday, protesting the new trade deal.

Mbami said Cameroonian President Paul Biya was motivated by his desire to stay in office. He said Biya was afraid if he didn't sign the deal, he would lose the support of European leaders. Biya, he added, has shown Cameroon to be shameless state that would betray the other countries in the region.

In late July, leaders in the Central African bloc CEMAC met in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, and decided not to sign the proposed trade agreement. But then, on August 4, Cameroon ratified the agreement on its own.

‘Trade balance will not be there’

Lawmaker Njong Evaristus says Cameroon was wrong because the agreement favors Europe.

"We are tilting towards the Asian countries, China and the rest, and if you have to clear the custom duties for European goods, it is going to affect us so much because, first, our budget depends on the custom duties," Evaristus said. "We are a third-world country. We don't have developed industries that are up to a level that they can compete with the industries from Europe. In that case, you cannot balance the economy since we are a country that is dealing with agricultural products and the rest, and they are dealing with goods which are already finalized goods. The trade balance will not be there."

The European Union is Cameroon’s top trade partner, accounting for 35 percent of imports. The Economic Partnership Agreement, or EPA, removes customs duties on imports from the EU.

The EU argues that the agreement is favorable to developing nations as it also allows countries to export goods to the EU without tariffs or maximum quotas under World Trade Organization rules.

EU claims ‘development agreement’

Francoise Collet, head of the EU delegation to Cameroon, says the country will benefit from the deal.

"It will be a safer environment for trade, and for expanding trade between our regions but also for expanding trade within the regions. That’s one of our hopes," Collet said. "It is not only a trade agreement, it is also a development agreement. That is the aim of the EPA everywhere in the world and including Cameroon."

African countries had until October 2014 to ratify the EPA, without which preferential treatment being given to their exports to European markets were to be suspended. Central African nations were able to get the deadline extended to August 1, 2016.

Cameroon’s former minister of economy and current minister of public works, Emmanuel Nganou Ndjoumessi, is part of the negotiating team. He told VOA they saw no reason to disrespect their commitment."We are ratifying [the deal] in order to continue selling our goods in this market without paying customs duties. Cameroon has to respect its international engagements," he said. "We have been selling to the European Union without paying custom fees, consequently, we could easily sell our banana, our chocolates, our beans and so on."

The five other CEMAC countries which refused to sign on to the deal are Gabon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea.

At its last meeting, CEMAC asked Gabonese President Ali Bongo to meet with President Biya to discuss the matter.

VOA

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Rita Akana

19.Aug.2016

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Africa joins the rest of the world in coming together today to commemorate the World Humanitarian Day, a day set aside to honour the humanitarian workers and volunteers who work on the frontline of crises across the world to help others.

Every day, humanitarian aid workers risk their lives on the frontlines of wars and disasters, braving tremendous dangers and difficulties to deliver assistance to those in need of help.

The World Humanitarian Say recognizes these people who champion for human action across the whole world.

As the world celebrates the day, the United Nations is calling for global solidarity with the more than 130 million people who need humanitarian assistance to survive.

This year’s theme is ‘One Humanity’, aimed at highlighting how the world came together in Istanbul for the World Humanitarian Crisis earlier this year and made commitments to support people affected by crises.

“World Humanitarian Day is an annual reminder of the need to act to alleviate the suffering. It is also an occasion to honour the humanitarian workers and volunteers toiling on the frontlines of crises. I pay tribute to these dedicated women and men who brave danger to help others at far greater risk.” — UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

CCTV

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Rita Akana

19.Aug.2016

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A Cameroonian citizen alongside two Germans have been thrown out of the flight bound for Douala from Brussels International airport  for allegedly  supporting a fellow Cameroonian citizen who was being forced into the plane for deportation to Cameroon.The travellers had participated shortly before the scheduled start of the machine in Brussels on a spontaneous uprising against the forced return of the  Cameroonian back to Douala with Brussels Airlines.

According to a police spokesperson, the riot began after the two plain-cloth immigration officials brought in the Cameroonian citizen into the plane.It resulted in him yelling and shouting to avoid being deported which triggered the other travellers to join in asking for the officers to take him off the plane.

The disembarked passengers from Germany, France and Cameroon now face criminal proceedings for participation in a rebellion and insulting immigration officials.

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Rita Akana

19.Aug.2016

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Cameroon's anti corruption unit Conac have odered the arrest of the President of the CPDM section of Ngie in Momo. Ubango Helly, owner of UB Relax Company Ltd,a prominent transportation agency within Bamenda, is since yesterday August 18th, 2016 loitering in a cell at the judicial police in Bamenda. Since his arrest,elites, traditional leaders and even senators have rushed to the Judicial Police in Bamenda, to visit and plead for his release according to sources within Bamenda. Exact details as to reasons behind his arrest are not yet public, however, indications are that an inquiry is ongoing that will bring down many other big calibres through the Ministry of Finance in Yaounde.

Sources close to the matter say, Mr  Ubango Helly, was involved in a vast network of corruption for almost 15 years. He is accused of running a network that allowed certain state officials, to collect up to 12 months salaries in advance, through which he and his network of con men at the Ministry of Finance often received part payments of the total sum, which at times  was up to 50% depending on the amount received by the needy," sources say.

He is further accused of extorting desperate individuals following up pensions after the death of their beloved ones, or retirement benefits and other payments through the Ministry of Finance. Mr Ubango Helly, made it possible for individuals to receive such payments in just three days, while he collected "up to 70% of the total amount," according to  another police source in Bamenda. Mr Ubango Helly, has made himself and his close collaborators rich through this corruption network for  almost 15 years until his arrest thanks to a close investigation by Cameroon's anti corruption unit CONAC.

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Ayuk Pascal Tabi

19.Aug.2016

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