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The Government of Cameroon through it Spokesperson  Issa Tchiroma Backary, has promised hell and brimstone to any Cameroonian caught watching or relaying the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation (SCBC).

Going by Government Spokesperson anybody caught watching the television channel in Cameroon will dance to the music of the law.

The ban on the South Africa-based channel came to the fore on Monday, August 28, 2017, during the 7:30 newscast on the State broadcaster.

In a press release signed by Communication Minister, Issa Tchiroma Backary, SCBC is propagating xenophobic and secessionist tendencies, which are not good for the unity of the country.

It should be recalled here that before the outright ban on the said channel, in May this year, the Government drafted armed militias  to the Northwest and Southwest Regions to arrest cable distributors and persons caught watching the South Africa-based SCBCTV.

The decision to deploy troops to Ndop, a small town in the North West Region, came after some seven cable distributors in the area decided to include SCBC TV signals in their network.

Within just 24 hours, news of the availability of the channel blowout like wildfire, with the population switching to it immediately, preferring its contents over state-owned CRTV.

As news of the channel continued to make rounds, Ndop’s Legion Commander on the instructions of the Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) for Ngoketunjia, Valery Norbert Kuella, stormed the town and arrested the seven cable distributors.

The cable distributors have since not been seen or heard from and the population is in fear as more arrests were feared.

 

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Abeh Valery

29.Aug.2017

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The National electoral commission of Angola, has declared Joao Lourenco, who represented the party in power MPLA, the new president of Angola.

According to statistics given by the electoral body, the new leader led the legislative elections, with 64.57%, followed by the National Union for the Total independence of Angola (UNITA) 24.04%, Casa-Ce, 8.56%, PRS 1.37%, FNLA 0.95% and APN 0.52%.

UNITA, said the elections were not transparent, but there are slim chances of any reconsideration, given that Dos Santos has said Angola will not have two presidents but one.

Joao is said to have been the ex-president’s close friend for a very long time. He was defence Minister before being elected as president after 38 years in power of his predecessor.

72 year old Lourenco was born in 1954 in Lobita, West of the country. He excelled in the military enormously, fighting for Angola’s independence in 1974.

 

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26.Aug.2017

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Jeannette Marafa, wife Cameroon's most famous political prisoner Marafa Hamidou Yaya, died this Friday morning in Paris France. A source close to the family confirmed the information to KOACI.

According to this source, Jeannette Marafa had been suffering from cancer for many years, long before the imprisonment of her husband. "It is for this reason that Mrs. Marafa lived permanently in France. To better follow her treatment, "the source explains.

Marafa Hamidou Yaya, former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, and former Minister of State for Territorial Administration and Decentralization, equivalent to the Ministry of the Interior, was arrested in April 2012 and sentenced To 25 years' imprisonment in September of that same year, for "intellectual complicity" in the famous "Albatross" affair,, before seeing his sentence reduced to 20 years.

Marafa Hamidou Yaya, who has always proclaimed his innocence, and attributes his misfortunes to his presidential ambitions, is considered by the US State Department, and several human rights organizations, to be a political prisoner.

In 2016, the UN working group on human rights, deemed his arrest as being "arbitrary" and a "violation of international law". The organ of the UN, asked Yaounde, for the immediate release of Marafa followed by substantial compensation. Marafa is serving his sentence at the dreaded (SED),the national headquarters of the gendarmerie in Yaounde.

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Rita Akana

25.Aug.2017

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Following the August 14 unprecedented disaster, Tony Elumelu, Founder of Tony Elumelu Foundation and Chairman of UBA on, Wednesday 23 August, paid a state visit to the people and Government of Sierra Leone to commiserate over the great loss caused by devastating mudslides and floods that have claimed hundreds of innocent lives and left many more still missing.

Elumelu in the company of former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo and Sierra Leonean Presiden Ernest Koroma visited some of the survivors at the Connaught Hospital in Freetown upon arrival in the country. Later on at the Sierra Leonean Statehouse, he made a donation of USD$250,000 on behalf of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and another USD$250,000 on behalf of staff, management and Directors of United Bank for Africa (UBA) as emergency aid grants for victims of the mudslides.

Speaking in solidarity with Sierra Leone, Elumelu charged the world and the African private sector to rally around the ongoing rehabilitation and relief efforts. “For me, the little token we are giving is what it is, little, but symbolic. At a time like this, the world must come together to support the victims of this unfortunate disaster. It is not a situation that one prays to be in, but in the event that it does happen, we should all rally to support one another.”

Continuing, he urged the rest of the world not to turn a blind eye to Sierra Leone’s plight: “We have on our hands a humanitarian disaster of high proportions. It requires the attention of the entire world. We have buried over 600 lives and many hundreds more are still missing. We must turn the global spotlight on Africa. The world must stand with Africa just as in the past, Africa has stood with the world.”

The UBA Chairman reassured Sierra Leoneans of the Bank’s steadfast support. “United Bank for Africa (UBA) will continue to play its role in helping small and medium scale enterprises, and women, especially from the affected areas, to enable them rebuild their economic lives.
The Sierra Leonean President, moved by this act, commended Elumelu’s unwavering presence in the country’s times of need, stating: “In you we have a brother and someone we can rely on.” He praised the consistency of the Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF). “You have always provided us with support. United Bank for Africa (UBA) was here immediately after the war to provide us with banking services to support our rebuilding efforts. Again, during our fight against Ebola, you were here through the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and provided us with great support. And now again, you have come to support us.”

Elumelu’s donation will support the victims, some of whom are in hospital needing food, clothing and medicine. The much-needed assistance will also go towards the ongoing recovery efforts and the construction of permanent settlements for the affected persons.
The Sierra Leonean mudlslides is the third catastrophe to devastate the West African country in the past two decades.  

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Rita Akana

25.Aug.2017

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African Union Commission (AU) Deputy Chairperson, Kwesi Quartey, has raised an alarm that the future and existence of Africa as a continent is on the brink of annihilation, if remedial measures are not taken.

“We have an advancing globalised world and Africa is being left behind with children seeking to cross the Sahara Desert on foot, swimming across the Mediterranean Sea and drowning in an attempt to reach paradise Europe that doesn’t want them.”

The Ghanaian born Quartey sounded the alarm bell on Tuesday, August 22, 2017, in Yaounde, Cameroon, while opening the Pan African Parliament (PAP) Conference on behalf of the AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

According the AU Deputy Chair, Africa is regarded derogatorily by many Europeans and Americans.

“That is why the Belgian King, Leopold II, even considered the continent as a piece of cake that should be shared and eaten. Former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, said “Africa has not contributed much to the history and culture of world civilisation.

 “What we are saying today is that Africa needs to be educated economically, socially and politically. The continent has all the wealth and what we have to do is to educate the young people, for Africa to develop in science and technology, mechanised agriculture, trade, industrialisation…The key to our progress is complete and total education of all African children,” he declared.

To him, despite the progress made since independence and the adoption of continental vision 2063 agenda, he admitted that the AU is still some distance away from creating the Africa that every African wants to see.

He said the AU vision 2063 includes: a prosperous Africa based on an inclusive growth and sustainable development; an integrated continent, politically united and based on the ideas of Pan-Africanism and the vision of Africa’s renaissance; an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law among others.

Meanwhile, PAP President, Cameroonian- born Roger Nkodo Dang, said the presence of members of the continental parliament in Yaounde to brainstorm and debate on the “political and socio-economic integration of the African Continent…” is their own contribution towards the total unity of Africa.

According to him, the effective integration of Africa must pass through sustainable exploitation and rational use of its natural resources.

Cameroon’s President at the conference was represented by Senate President, Marcel Niat Njifenji.

 

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Abeh Valery

25.Aug.2017

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Information reaching us from Yaounde indicates that the colonial government of La Republique du Cameroun has been intimidating and mounting pressure on Consortium President Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla, SG Dr. Fontem Neba, Mancho Bibixy of the Coffin Revolution, Senator Penn and other detainees to organize a press conference at the Kondengui Maximum Prison and call on parents in Southern Cameroons to send their children to school or be handed down the death sentence.

A source at the Ministry of Justice revealed that some of the concerned were so frightened that they were ready to organize the said press conference in the prison yard this 24th of August 2017, but for some internal disagreements and logistical problems. The intimidation campaign, led by blood thirsty Laurent Esso even pretended that the detainees could be released when their matter comes up on the 29th of August, 2017 if they decided to cooperate with the government that badly needs to show the  world that all is well in Southern Cameroons. Our source also says government has no plans to ever dialogue with Southern Cameroons, or let alone even consider anything that touches on their almost completed annexation project. Federalism is seen in government circles as a kind of poison which if granted would be seen by France as a failure.

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Aiden Vadim

24.Aug.2017

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