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A requiem mass took place at the Our Lady of Victory Cathedral in Yaounde led by the Archbishop of Yaounde His Lordship Jean Mbarga, after the removal of the remains of the late Bafia Bishop from the Yaounde General hospital mortuary yesterday 02 July 2017.

The Head of State, Paul Biya who has Catholic Christians “squeezing his neck” over this issue, was represented by the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso.

This comes after over two months of uncertainty about the cause of the death of His Lordship Benoit Balla. The Catholic clergy in Cameroon is still not in accordance with the fact that the late Bishop committed suicide. They say he was rather “brutally assassinated”.

After the Requiem mass, the corpse was taken to Bafia. Before reaching the Cathedral of the man of God’s Diocese, a stop was made by the Ebebda river, where the Christians of that Diocese received the corpse.

At 6pm, a series of masses began after every three hours at the Bafia Cathedral (6pm, 9pm, 12am, 3am, and 6am). At 10am today, Thursday 03 July, a final Requiem mass will take place followed by burial.

Before the removal of the corpse on Wednesday, over a hundred military men were reported to have been sent to Bafia to ensure security, given that there were rumours of Christians of that locality, planning to organise a protest, demanding why State authorities are wasting time to fish out the Late Bishop’s murderer.

 

 

 

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03.Aug.2017

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Germany's Defense Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, ended her West Africa trip with discussions in Mali. Germany has agreed to provide long-term peacekeeping assistance in the Sahel region.

In order to prevent the advance of Islamic extremists, Germany and France want to deploy a West African task force of 5,000 troops in the Sahel region. Germany's Minister of Defense, Ursula von der Leyen (CDU), reaffirmed this goal during her trip to West Africa. The trip was partly undertaken in conjunction with her French counterpart, Florence Parly.

The region needs to "build up its own security" over the long term, she said during her last stop, Mali's capital, Bamako. The day before, in Niger's capital, Niamey, the defense ministers visited a future headquarters for police and military personnel from the so-called G5 Sahel countries: Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad. In 2014, the five countries agreed on a common goal of fighting Islamic terror groups, supported by Germany and France. For Europe it is important, von der Leyen said, that security in Africa prevails and that people have a reason to want to stay in their home countries.

Regional security conference in Berlin

Islamist militias, quasi-affiliated with al Qaeda, are the region's most daunting security problem. They are active in northern Mali and in border regions, from where they can plan and launch attacks in Europe, experts say. Currently, they regularly attack members of the region's UN peacekeeping force, Minusma, which has been deployed to stabilize Mali.

France and Germany want to host a meeting in Berlin in September to bring more countries on board to help train and equip local forces. Spain and Italy have expressed interest in such a mission. Representatives of the UN will be attending, as well as the European Union, which has put forward 50 million euros ($59 million) to support the mission.

Self defense

The most sustainable security situation, von der Leyen said on Monday in Niamey, would be one "where countries were able to provide for their own security and stability, and combat terrorism and organized crime." Her French counterpart echoed this sentiment in support of a West African expeditionary force. France has 4,000 soldiers in the region.

After a 2012 coup northern Mali fell into the hands of Islamists and other rebel groups. French intervention was required to wrest back control. The UN mission, Minusma, to which Germany contributes about 900 soldiers, now monitors the implementation of the peace treaty between the government and rebels. EUTM, an EU training mission, is responsible for bringing Mali's forces up to speed.

Vehicles and phones for Niger

Niger has become central to the smuggling of West African migrants to Europe. As part of Germany's bilateral assistance to stop migrant trafficking, von der Leyen's trip brought with it 100 flatbed trucks, 115 motorcycles and 55 satellite phones for use by the country's army and police. As many as 200,000 migrants pass through the Niger every year on their way to North Africa, the defense minister said in a meeting with Niger's president, Mahamadou Issoufou, and most are trafficked. "Many lose their lives along the way," she said.

The German military maintains a base in Niamey, which it uses to support operations in Mali.

Memorial service for pilots

Von der Leyen began her West Africa trip in Gao, in northern Mali. There, two German pilots were killed on Wednesday when their Tiger helicopter crashed. "It is a heavy loss," she said during a memorial service at the German military's Camp Castor, where she also met with the pilots' fellow soldiers.

The cause of the crash remains unclear, and there is no evidence it came under hostile fire. The pilots were trained and experienced. Aviation experts are investigating the crash site and found the helicopter's flight recorders, though they are considerably damaged. Some are questioning the use of the Tiger in Mali, which may not be suitable for such hot conditions.

DW

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Rita Akana

02.Aug.2017

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Government spendings is said to be very extravagant. For over 30 years, mr Biya and his Beti relations have been ruling the country as their private business or family heritage. Cameroon is the only country in Africa where civil servants change service cars after every 3 years which of course the price of each of those vehicles can construct 5 class rooms for students. These luxurious cars are fuelled and maintained by the state with tax payers money leaving them to wallow in abject poverty. These purported service cars are most often used to run errands, drop children to school and serve many other family purposes than running only state affairs.Some are packed in the administrative garage and packing lots of some top barrons of the regime at the expense of the local population.

Another Machiavelli strategy that help them swell their bank accounts is the organization of multiple seminars in the country, series of trips and endless missions abroad and all these fictitious missions are accompanied with fabulous sums of money as allowances. The president of the republic, mr Biya single handedly manages the petroleum budget in the country. This permits him and his usual obsessed delegation to travel out of the country every now and then, lodge in sumptuous hotels, eat good food and carry out their private affairs meanwhile Cameroonians continue lavishing in misery. The inflation of prices of office equipment where a pen sold for 50frs CFA is bought for 2000frs CFA amongst many other items.  

The inter ministerial committee meeting in Yaouande for ten days has as task which is very daunting to seek meaningful solutions to curb these shortcomings and lapses in the preparation of the 2018 state budget while making reference to the presidential circular which has defined the various sectors of interest for next year's state budget where priority is given to investment budget than functional which has not always been the case.

The media, civil society activists and the local population have  denounced the high living standard of government times without number but the practice still remained normal until the IMF, world bank and other international financial institutions began threatening the Yaoundé of a possible return to the structural adjustment programme that mr Biya had to come out and ask his tribalistic government to seek measures on cutting government spendings.

The inter ministerial committee meeting at the Yaoundé Hilton hotel in its 6th edition will surely propose good measures but are they going to be implement since all the members are at the same time those to execute the budget. This situation has eaten deep into the fibres of the new deal regime. It will be an uphill task for government spendings and extravagant lifestyle to witness a major reduction. This wayward and exaggerated spendings have left the country's economy into total ruin.  

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Rita Akana

02.Aug.2017

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Francophone students resident in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon who failed the 2017 session of the Baccalaureate (BAC), Examinations, have attributed their failure to the Anglophone Crisis.

Their performances this year dwindled drastically as compared to the past years.  

But their criticisms have termed by many Anglophones as ridiculous because according to many Anglophones who spoke to Cameroon Concord, Francophone students were not prevented from going to school in the wake of the Anglophone Crisis.

“Francophone Students who are based in the North West and South West Regions were going to school unperturbed. This is was an Anglophone Problem and we did not want to drag our Francophone brothers into it. Even though it was provocative at times, seeing their children going to school while ours were at home, we could not do anything. So they should stop blaming the Anglophone Crisis because they effectively went to school,” one of our respondents, who refused to be named, stated.

According to statistics of 2017 BAC results, the Northwest Region recorded 44.14 percent pass in 2017 as compared to 52 percent in 2016, while the Southwest Region recorded 41 percent pass in 2017 as opposed to 60 percent pass in 2016.

Other Regions with very poor results are the three Northern Regions.  

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Rita Akana

01.Aug.2017

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The Yaounde Military Tribunal, July 27, was like pressure cooker as the trial of Anglophone leaders took a decisive kink.

Two military officers who came in as prosecution witnesses were left dumfounded by a battery of defence Counsels.  

The first prosecution witness, a Gendarmerie Colonel, who was brought in to describe the violence he witnessed at the Bamenda Commercial Avenue on December 8, 2016, said the perpetrators were a crowd of demonstrators.

The court asked him to critically look inside the courtroom and the detainees and see if he could recognise anybody he saw among the irate Bamenda crowd.

After a thorough scanning of those inside the courtroom, the Colonel said he could not identify anyone in the crowd.

The second witness was the Commissioner of the burnt Police Station at Metta Quarters, Bamenda. After scrupulous judicial interrogation, the Commissioner too said he could not identify anybody among the detainees who was part of the crowd.

The matter was adjourned to August 31 for the court to continue hearing the rest of the witnesses.

The two military witnesses, who may have come to have an easy ride in court certainly would have gone  back home with a different perspective and will now caution the other five witnesses to watch their backs when they stepped into the dock to bear witnesses in the case against the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. 

The case, which has suffered several adjournments in the past seven months, took a different twist on July 27 when the session lasted for several hours.

The seven witnesses, all uniform officers, were presented by the prosecution to testify against the accused. But none of them was able to identify any of the 27 detainees in the crowd that disrupted the CPDM rally of December, 8, 2016, at the Bamenda Commercial Avenue.

As the trial has effectively begun many Anglophones are anxious to see what August 31 will bring forth.    

 

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Rita Akana

31.Jul.2017

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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Saturday said he was not stepping down nor dying and that there was no one with his political stature who could immediately take over from him.

The 93-year-old leader has been in charge in the former British colony since independence in 1980. His health is closely watched by Zimbabweans, who fear the country could face chaos if he dies without anointing a successor.

Mugabe told tens of thousands of supporters at a rally in the town of Chinhoyi, in his home province, that doctors were recently surprised by his "strong bone system."

He has travelled to Singapore three times this year for what officials say is routine medical treatment. 

"There is the issue that the president is going. I am not going," Mugabe told supporters on the grounds of a local university, 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital Harare.

"The president is dying. I am not dying. I will have an ailment here and there but bodywise, all my internal organs ... very firm, very strong," Mugabe said as he leant on the lectern. Mugabe, who looks frail, had walked onto the stage slowly but without assistance.

The issue of who will succeed Mugabe has deeply divided the ruling party, with two factions supporting Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Mugabe's wife Grace.

On Thursday, Grace challenged Mugabe to name his preferred successor, to end divisions over the future leadership of ZANU-PF.

She repeated the call on Saturday, adding that Mugabe would lead the process to choose his eventual successor.

Mugabe said although some party officials wanted to succeed him, he saw no one among his subordinates with his political clout to keep the party united and fend off a challenge from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

"A new man will not have the same stature and the same acceptance as I have managed to secure for the party over the years," said Mugabe. 

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Reuters

29.Jul.2017

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