Society

Cameroon’s first lady Chantal Biya, offered on Tuesday, gifts valued at more than 50 million FCFA to Central African Republic and Nigerian refugees including the displaced populations within Cameroon. The Chantal Biya donation was presented by Jean Stéphane Biatcha who moonlights as Executive Secretary of the Pan-African NGO, "Synergies Africaines" to the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Cameroon.

Receiving the gift, Ndeye Ndour, the UN representative, noted that for her 20 years of experience in humanitarian issues, it was the first time she was witnessing such generosity from a first lady. Sounding like a CPDM Sub Section president,  Ndeye Ndour observed that "it is only in Cameroon I see a first lady involved for the well-being of all”. The UN has estimated that some 200 000 refugees fleeing the crisis in Nigeria and the Central African Republic have taken up residence in Cameroon.

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Ngwa Bertrand

18.Mar.2015

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Mayor Françoise Foning, the late prominent Cameroon businesswoman and political figure who passed away on Jan. 23, 2015, will now begin her last journey tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18 from the Yaoundé General Hospital where her remains will be removed to her village at Baleng in the Western region for burial on Saturday, March 21, 2015.

The National Chairman of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement and Head of State has signed a decree for the organization of the final funeral rites of the late Madam Foning and once again like was the situation in Belgium during the requiem mass for our late ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, Isabelle Bassong, President Biya has chosen Philemon Yang, to represent him. The city of Douala, where the deceased spent most of her 66 years, will host a series of activities to mark the end of the female politician.

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Mar.2015

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A man who claimed to be an Italian journalist, Giovanni Francesco Porzio was arrested in  Maroua by Cameroon security forces and later on released due to pressure from the Italian embassy in Yaounde. Cameroon Concord has been informed that there are many high ranking Cameroon government officials who are still seeking to know Giovanni Francesco Porzio mission to the Far North region of the country. Giovanni arrived at one of the camps hosting hundreds of Nigerian refugees in Minawao last Thursday and introduced himself as a UNHCR staff and spent nearly three hours with the refugees. From Minawao, Giovanni Francesco Porzio and his companions as well as a driver he had recruited in Maroua travelled to Mabass in Mayo Tsanaga where the Cameroonian army has its most important military installations. The secret service of the Rapid Intervention Battalion started monitoring him at the city of Mokolo. He was subsequently arrested at Mokolo.

During interrogations with the Commissioner of Mokolo, Giovanni Francesco Porzio said he was an Italian journalist. However, Cameroon Ministry of External Relations revealed when contacted from Mokolo that Giovanni had no accreditation and should not be allowed to visit Cameroon’s military bases in the region. Cameroon Concord learnt that on his Italian passport Giovanni Francesco’s occupation mentioned is simply "Volunteer". A search of the Italian by Mokolo police led to the discovery of a map showing the strategic positions of the Cameroonian and Nigerian armies. The many inconsistencies in the statements from the Italian forced the Cameroon police department to ferry him to Maroua where an investigation was opened.  But pressure from the Italian embassy in Yaounde prompted the release of the so called journalist.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Mar.2015

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Three Chinese workers abducted by unidentified gunmen in Nigeria's central state of Kogi have been freed unharmed, police sources say. "I can confirm to you that the abducted Chinese workers have been released,” state police spokesman Sola Collins Adebayo told AFP on Saturday, adding, “They were freed today through a joint operation by the police and other security agents." Adebayo further noted that the hostages, who were seized at a quarry outside state capital Lokoja on Friday, were unhurt. The spokesman did not explain whether a ransom was paid to the assailants, who killed a policeman and injured another during their attack on the quarry.

Kidnapping foreign nationals frequently takes place in the violence-wracked Nigeria. Two weeks ago, unknown assailants abducted two other Chinese nationals in Kogi. An American woman, who worked as a missionary in Free Methodist Church in Kogi’s village of Emiworo, was also kidnapped last month and freed last week. Abduction for ransom is also a common phenomenon in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern Niger Delta, where many foreign workers are cooperating with large oil companies.

The Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group has also abducted several people in Nigeria’s strife-torn northeast. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” controls parts of northeastern Nigeria and says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government. It has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced.

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Ngwa Bertrand

15.Mar.2015

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At least 45 villagers have been killed during an early morning raid by suspected herdsmen in Nigeria’s eastern-central Benue state, an official says. “I confirm that 45 people, including women and children, were killed this morning in an attack on Egba village... of Benue state by suspected herdsmen,” state police spokesman, Austin Ezeani, said of the Sunday attack. “Several others were injured in the gun and machete attack,” he added.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the assault but experts oftentimes say the prime suspects of such attacks in the region are gangs from the Fulani herdsman (pictured below). “These insurgents, who disguise as herders, confiscate everything belonging to our people; and if nothing urgently is done, it therefore means that Benue State, and by implication, Nigeria, is sitting on a keg of gunpowder due to our strategic location,” said Paramount Ruler of Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State Chief Daniel Abomtse.

The Fulani’s semi-nomadic, cattle-herding way of life has led to decades of conflict with farming communities across central and northern Nigeria. The Fulani herdsmen usually encroach on and destroy the farmers' lands, especially during the dry season, resulting in clashes with the farmers trying to stop Fulani people from using their farmlands as feeding ground for their cattle.

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Ngwa Bertrand

15.Mar.2015

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Ngwa Bertrand

13.Mar.2015

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