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A court in Bertoua, East Region of Cameroon has slammed a circa FCFA 253 million fine on two convicts found guilty of trafficking 159 elephant tusks.

The ruling passed recently is seen as one of the most severe related to wildlife crime ever passed by a law court in Cameroon.

The two convicts, Zakary Daouda and Aboubakar Hibrahim, were also given a three and four-month jail terms respectively.

A third suspect was acquitted. Should the convicts fail to pay the FCFA 253 million fine to Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, they will serve five years imprisonment.

 The ivory traffickers were arrested by customs officers in March 2017 in Bertoua, the chief town of the East Region of Cameroon, while transporting 159 elephant tusks.

 The tusks were stocked in a metallic seal and concealed under the back booth of a car. Said to be coming from the town of Djoum in the South Region of Cameroon, the suspects revealed that the tusks were headed for the North of the country, from where they would probably be smuggled to Nigeria.

According to the Coordinator of the Wildlife Crime Programme for WWF in Central Africa, Alain Bernard Ononino, “this ruling demonstrates the will of the justice department to severely punish wildlife criminals.

This sends a signal to ivory traffickers and other potential wildlife criminals on the risk they face for committing wildlife crime,” he said.

WWF provided legal support to Cameroon’s wildlife Ministry all through the proceedings.

Cameroon, like other countries in central Africa, is hard hit by elephant poaching. In the last 10 years (2006 to 2015) the country lost about 75 percent of its elephants in some protected areas in the East Region, according to a WWF wildlife census published in 2016. 

The country is used both as a source and transit for smuggling of elephant tusks coming from Central African Republic, Gabon and Congo Republic. Some 300 elephant tusks were seized from poachers in different parts of Cameroon in 2016.

According to Cameroon wildlife law, any person found, at any time or any place, in possession of part of a protected animal including elephant tusks shall be considered to have killed the animal.

The maximum penalty for the killing a protected animal like an elephant is three years’ imprisonment and/or FCFA 10 million fine. 

Last year, more than 100 people were prosecuted for poaching related offences.

 Despite the numerous convictions of ivory traffickers, elephant poaching remains alarmingly high due to high demand and rising price of ivory in black markets in China and Thailand.

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Abeh Valery

12.Jun.2017

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Some 19 coastal African nations have come together to fight piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, from Senegal to Angola.
This is the outcome of a meeting which was held in Yaoundé on Thursday.
The initiative spans four years. The first two years will focus on a pilot zone that will move from Togo to Gabon.
The programme has a budget of about 9.2 million euros.
Backed by the European Union, the programme entails developing human and technical resources necessary for information sharing between nations at sea.
Piracy is one of the major security challenges facing Africa in recent times  alongside terror attacks from radical religious groups in the likes of Boko Haram and al-Shabab.

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Tasha Seidou

10.Jun.2017

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Sixteen youth groups from northern Nigeria have given Igbo people residing in their states up to October 1, to vacate the region. A section of Igbos from the south has been calling for the independence of Biafra.

Concerned by what they see as the persistent Igbo threat to national integration, Northern Nigerian youth groups said they met with several others, reviewed the current situation of the region and jointly came up with the vacation order. The youth also directed northerners residing in the Eastern part of the country to relocate back to Northern Nigeria within three months.

Mallam Abdulazeez Suleiman, who read the statement issued on behalf of others at the Arewa House in Kaduna, said the North was tired of the political marriage existing in the country, hence the need for restructuring as being canvassed by many notable Nigerian leaders.

The northern groups mandated all northern civil society and pressure groups to mobilize for sustained and coordinated campaigns at their respective State Government Houses, Houses of Assembly, Local Government Council Secretariats and traditional palaces for steps to be taken to ensure the enforcement of the directives.

Tit for tat game

This move comes only days after the shutting down of major towns in the South East parts of Nigeria as part of the campaign by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the actualization of Biafra Republic. 

John Okafor, an Igbo trader living in the north for past 23 years, told DW, he believes the order to leave is politically motivated. "I don't think if it is that serious, I know it is a political talk," Okafor said.

"We are not happy with what is going on, I don't expect any of the Igbos to start preparing to leave. I know definitely it is a threat to us. We want to stay and we want to stay in peace there is no problem on that," Okafor said.   

Elders in the region have distanced themselves from youth. Adamu Mato Yakubu is one of the northern elders: "This is their own view and they are not speaking the minds of every northerner as far as I'm concerned, Mato Yakubu told DW.

Youth 'on their own'

"We and the Igbos that are here are living harmoniously; we have never seen any trace of supporting any breakage of the country. Therefore, they [youth] are on their own," the elder said adding that his views were shared by every elder in Northern Nigeria.

"Nigerians are Nigerians wherever they are and we believe in one Nigeria."

Analysts said the  nation's leaders need to immediately intervene to stop these agitations from resulting in violence that may consume the entire nation. Umar Adamu, a political analyst from Gombe State University, told DW, if the government doesn't address the issue soon, it could be a recipe for disaster.

"The northern youth have been pushed to the wall that is why they are trying to show to the world and the Biafra leaders that they [too] are also equal to the task,"  Adamu said.

"If this thing is not tackled, especially by the government, it is going to create a very serious problem for the unity of the nation." 

Former president, Goodluck Jonathan weighs in and issues this statement on his Facebook page:

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Rita Akana

08.Jun.2017

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This is what is filtering from a Yaounde based journalist who witnessed how the detained Magistrate's son was whisked off by elements of the Ngousso Gendamerie brigade today June 7 2017. it is not clear whether he was ferried to the dreaded SED to Ngousso or which detention facility. It is also not clear if at the time of writing he has been released.

Other witnesses said he was apparently arrested for 'manipulating his phone' when the treason trial of Balla,Fontem and Mancho was ongoing. "They might have thought he wanted to take pictures of the hearing," a witness said.

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Solomon Amabo

07.Jun.2017

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ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to fly home from London and arrive back in the country on Saturday, two presidency sources said, ending his second long break for medical leave in Britain this year.

Buhari left Abuja on May 7 and handed over power to his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, seeking to allay concerns of a void at the helm of Africa's biggest economy.

The president, 74, travelled to Britain last month for what his office described as medical tests. Officials have refused to disclose details of his medical condition. His first absence began in January and lasted nearly two months.

His wife Aisha Buhari, in a statement issued by State House, expressed appreciation for the support of Nigerians and said "he will soon be with them as he is recuperating fast".

 

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Rita Akana

07.Jun.2017

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The former Mayor of Njombe-Penja  has announced he will be running for the 2018 Presidential election. Paul Eric Kingue declared his candidature for the pools over the weekend in Douala. It will be under a new platform he heads , the New Cameroon Patriotic Movement, MPCN  that he will challenge imcumbent Paul Biya.

Paul Eric Kingue believes that Cameroon is "sick" and it is time to change everything. He has denounced the misery and favoritism that has chocked the country. He has vowed to bring equality in a country corruption has deprived many Cameroonians their rightful place in the country. The former militant of Biya's CPDM says power belongs to the base and the base must have a say in all major decisions  affecting the country.

Speaking to his militants who thronged the ceremonial ground , the political actor says he would unveil his manifesto to the public in the days ahead. Amongst the reforms  to be made by his party is a review of the electoral code, two round election, and a single ballot paper. At a time when most officials put in prison for corruption and other misdeeds are graduates from the School of Administration and Magistracy ENAM, the MPCN hopes to review the institution.

Following his resignation from the CPDM, Eric Kingue has denied any similarities with French President Emmanuel Macron. To him,  he is a Cameroonian and does not want to be assimilated by imperialist cultures. He wants to create his own political model with 20 years political experience. He has revealed he was approached by some political parties . But refused join them because he wants to bring in a new impetus  into the political spectrum.

Paul Eric Kingue was arrested in 2008 in connection with the February upheavals and imprisoned for 7 years. He was later released  in 2015 after the Supreme Court favored an appeal launched by his counsel .  Upon his release, he has been grappling with the loss of his wife and son and living a secluded life away from the public. But he had earlier promised he would be back in politics and the 2018 Presidential election will be his first test.

 

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05.Jun.2017

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