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Rita Akana

06.Mar.2017

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Prime Minister Philemon Yang has appealed for parents in the North West region  to send their children to school.

In a desperate attempt to save the academic year,  the head of government who began a 4 day working session in Bamenda Monday March 6th, says government is taking appropriate measures to solve the demands of Anglophone teachers. And it's unreasonable for pupils and students not to be in class. 

Parents at the meeting raised the security of their kids lamenting that the presence of heavily armed men is scaring them from school . " children could be sacrificed in the midst of an uprising." A parent cried out.

Teachers also told the PM that they have been going to school but are welcomed with terrifying threats in their classes from unknown sources. The fear of abductions and outright deaths is looming around them. Some of them, they laments have gone underground for fear of been lynched by unidentified persons.

Representatives of denominational schools reacting to insinuations from government that they are supporting extremists groups made it clear to the Prime minister that they allowed students and pupils to go home because the atmosphere was unbearable for studies, insisting that they never at any point went political with their decision. Members of parliament and other opinion leaders also appealed to Philemon Yang to make the environment conducive for studies by restoring internet and demilitarizing the Anglophone regions.Philemon Yang is now in Bambili where he is having a crucial meeting with education stakeholders.

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Mbi James

06.Mar.2017

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Democratic Republic of Congo's largest opposition party said it expelled one of its leaders on Saturday amid infighting that weakens its effort to force President Joseph Kabila to stick to a deal to step down after an election this year.

The Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) said it dismissed deputy secretary-general Bruno Tshibala for contesting the designation of successors to veteran leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who died last month. 

The party is part of an opposition coalition struggling to hold its ground against Kabila, who has ruled Congo since 2001. Kabila stayed in power after his mandate expired in December, sparking unrest and fears of civil war.

Under a deal struck in December, Kabila is to leave power following elections this year. But implementation of the deal has stalled, in part due to the opposition leadership turmoil. The opposition blames Kabila and his allies for the delays.

On Thursday, the coalition named Tshisekedi's son, Felix, to succeed him as its president and Pierre Lumbi, a former Kabila loyalist, to head its political bureau.

Tshibala and other coalition leaders held a news conference on Friday to designate a different leader as president of the political bureau.

Personal rivalries have long undermined Congo's myriad opposition parties, strengthening the hand of Kabila, who weathered violent street protests last year to stay in power.

The government said on Saturday one police officer and three members of separatist Christian cult Bundu dia Kongo (BDK) were killed during a more than two-week standoff in the capital Kinshasa that ended in the BDK leader's arrest on Friday.

Reuters

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Rita Akana

06.Mar.2017

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According to the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Cameroon is the 6th largest importer of heavy weapons in Africa, for the period covering 2012 to 2016 (Egypt and South Africa were not taken into consideration in this ranking, Ed).

Even though the 2016 data has not been revealed, SIPRI, in a separate report, maintains that Cameroonian military expenditure in 2015 reached FCfa 209 billion, against FCfa 199 billion in 2014 and FCfa 194 billion in 2013.

This growth in arms expenditure over the past years can be explained by the war that the national army has been waging since 2014 against the Nigerian Islamic Sect Boko Haram, whose atrocities in the Far North of Cameroon have already claimed more than 1,500 victims, according to the official toll.

SIPRI statistics however underlines that Cameroonian military expenditure has been continuously increasing since the year 1988. From FCfa 45.5 billion in that year, it exceeded the bar of FCfa 100 billion in 2003 for the first time. Estimated at FCfa 155 billion in 2008, these arms expenditures finally for the first time topped FCfa 200 billion in 2015.

In spite of this sustained increase, Cameroon remains a minor player regarding heavy weapons imports behind Algeria, which leads the largest African importers over the period 2012-2016, according to SIPRI. The biggest North African country, which holds the 5th spot among the world's largest weapons importers, cornered 46% of the continent's total imports. Next comes Morocco (15%), Nigeria (4.6%), Sudan, Ethiopia, Cameroon and Tanzania.

BIC

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Rita Akana

03.Mar.2017

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Tens of thousands of Nigerians who fled to Cameroon to escape the Boko Haram insurgency could be voluntarily repatriated under an agreement signed by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Cameroon, Nigeria and the UN refugee agency UNHCR have signed an agreement for the return home of 85,000 Nigerians who fled to Cameroon to escape attacks from the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

"The agreement lays out the legal framework for the eventual voluntary return of Nigerian refugees who are living in the far north of Cameroon," Roselin Okoro, the UNHCR's deputy representative in Cameroon told DW.

Okoro said the signing of the agreement does not mean that refugees would start returning automatically.

Flight from Chibok

Boko Haram is still seen as  a threat to Nigeria, despite claims by the military that it has reclaimed territory it once occupied and cleared some of its bases. The International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday that an estimated 4,449 people had fled from the town of Chibok "seeking safety following attacks or the threat of attacks" since February 25.

Chibok become a global symbol of the insurgency after Boko Haram militants kidnapped more than 200 teenage girls from their school in the town in April 2014.

The Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009 and has claimed at least 20,000 lives. 2.6 million people have been displaced, both internally and to neighboring countries. Some of the displaced may wonder whether it might be premature to return home.      

Okoro emphasized that the return home for Nigerian refugees in Cameroon would be "voluntary and on the basis of an individual decision."

The UNHCR would also provide displaced persons with information about conditions in the area to which they were thinking of returning.

UN Security Council visit

The tripartite deal comes amid heightened international concern generally about developments in the Lake Chad region, which Swedish diplomat Carl Skau said had been hit by "a perfect storm" of challenges: "terrorism trafficking, serious underdevelopment, but also the effects of climate change."

Fifteen ambassadors from the UN Security Council began a visit to the region on Thursday, possibly paving the way for tougher action by the Council on a crisis affecting 21 million people which one envoy said had been "largely overlooked."

Last week fourteen countries pledged  $672 million (639 million euros) to a Lake Chad funding appeal at a donors' conference in Oslo.  The UN says it needs $1.5 billion.

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DW

03.Mar.2017

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Some members of the UN security Council shall be arriving Cameroon today 2nd of March 2017 where human right abuses, the Boko Haram insurgency, climate change and poor governance have collided to create one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.The 15 ambassadors from the UN's top decision-making body hope to draw global attention to the emergency affecting 21 million people across four countries: Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.The visit could also pave the way to stronger action by the Security Council to address alleged human rights violations by Cameroon security forces in the Anglophone areas of the country.

The visit begins in Cameroon a week after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres set off alarm bells over the threat of famine in northeast Nigeria, the epicenter of the Boko Haram conflict.

The United Nations is seeking $1.5 billion in funding for 2017 for the Lake Chad region -- almost half of which is needed for northeast Nigeria, where 5.1 million people face acute food shortages.The visit begins in Cameroon a week after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres set off alarm bells over the threat of famine in northeast Nigeria, the epicenter of the Boko Haram conflict.

The United Nations is seeking $1.5 billion in funding for 2017 for the Lake Chad region -- almost half of which is needed for northeast Nigeria, where 5.1 million people face acute food shortages.

Mark Bareta writes:

It should be recalled that Cameroun Foreign Minister while addressing the UN Human Rights Council made some declarations which are all lies.

1. He said all grievances of Lawyers and Teachers have been sorted out. This is a big lie.
2. He said we are extremists looking for problems and a host of others.
3. That through government actions, things are going back to normal

Tapang Ivo analyses the rule of the UN security council:

The Security Council responds to crises around the world on a case-by-case basis and it has a range of options at its disposal. It takes many different factors into account when considering the establishment of the new peacekeeping operation, including:

1. Whether there is a ceasefire in place and the parties have committed themselves to a peace process intended to reach a political settlement;

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Rita Akana

02.Mar.2017

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