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Boko Haram's elusive leader has made his first appearance in months, claiming responsibility for a spate of suicide bombings and rejecting claims scores of his fighters have been killed.

Abubakar Shekau spoke for nearly 20 minutes of a 27-minute video obtained by AFP on Friday, in a trademark pose in front of a sub-machine gun, flanked by two masked militant fighters.

Speaking in the local languages Hausa and Kanuri, as well as Arabic, Shekau said the recording was made on Thursday and that he was "in good health", contrary to claims he may be injured.

But he appeared subdued compared with previous appearances. 

Criticising regional leaders, he singled out Cameroon's President Paul Biya, whose government on Wednesday said troops had killed 60 Boko Haram fighters and arrested 21 others in recent weeks.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary also said more than 5,000 civilian "hostages" had been freed in operations along the border with Nigeria from February 27 to March 7.

But Shekau said: "We fought along the Cameroonian border. You lied that you killed 60 of our fighters, that you arrested 20 of our men, that you freed 5,000 of your people.

"Paul Biya, is it that you can't live off lies? Is it with this that you are going to convince the West, your leaders? It is unfortunate. Be careful, Paul Biya."

Shekau was last seen on camera in a video message in December last year after Nigeria's military claimed it had flushed out Boko Haram fighters from its Sambisa Forest stronghold.

Troops, with the help of regional forces from Cameroon, Chad and Niger, as well as Benin, have since early 2015 managed to claw back most of the territory lost to the radical Islamists in 2014.

But Shekau insisted "our caliphate is running smoothly". The militant leader declared an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria in August 2014.

Despite its loss of territory and claims from the military it is on the verge of defeat, suicide bomb attacks remain a threat to civilians, particularly in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

At least two people were killed on Wednesday when four female suicide bombers detonated their explosives in the city.

Shekau said the group was "responsible for all the suicide explosions in Maiduguri and we will continue with them".

Boko Haram released another video on Monday showing the execution of three men said to be government spies. But the message did not feature Shekau.

The latest video ends showing militant fighters in combat fatigues with assault rifles and apparently confiscated Cameroon police and army uniforms.

One fighter speaks in heavily-accented French, lending weight to theories that Boko Haram has recruited from parts of Nigeria's Francophone neighbours.

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Rita Akana

18.Mar.2017

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Cameroon’s President Paul Biya will pay a two-day state visit to Italy from Monday, March 20, the state house in Yaoundé announced. Though the statement by the secretary-general at the Presidency did not give details, observers envisage the signing of major investment deals during the visit.
President Biya’s planned trip comes about a year after his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella paid a similar visit to Yaoundé.

The president will be accompanied by the First Lady Chantal Biya to the world’s eighth largest economic power. 

The visit comes barely a month after the holding in Yaoundé of the maiden Cameroon—Italy business forum.

The forum that brought together over 70 Italian investors and their Cameroonian counterparts, served to strengthen the economic cooperation between both countries, organisers said.


Italian Deputy Foreign minister for International Cooperation, Mr Mario Giro who led his country’s delegation to the forum says, "The areas of interest are energy, housing, transportation and agribusiness, but we are also exploring other interesting sectors because there are a lot of possibilities here in Cameroon,”

Last week, the Italian government announced it had cancelled some of Cameroon’s debts under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative from the year 2006-2042. Italy is involved in various infrastructural and agro industrial projects in Cameroon.

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Rita Akana

17.Mar.2017

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The drama happened this Monday, 13th of March 2017 at around 7 am. Reports say, a pick-up SUV belonging to Tôles et Aciers du Cameroun (TAC Sarl)  lost control after a tire puncture and collided with a bus belonging to the travel ggency, General express around  Edea on the Yaounde Douala highway.At the time of filing this report, 5 people were confirmed dead and many others sustained serious injuries.

Corruption in Cameroon leads to accidents and death and erodes quality of life.Roads are not maintained due to the fact that money is being diverted into private accounts, the roads are narrow paths called highways which are full of potholes.These potholes are the consequences of the many tire punctures and subsequent accidents.

According to the latest WHO data, Road Traffic Accidents Deaths in Cameroon reached 3,988 or 1.84% of total deaths last year. The age adjusted Death Rate is 21.27 per 100,000 of population ranks Cameroon #60 in the world.Road traffic injury is a major cause of death in Cameroon. The government has to develop context-appropriate and effective prevention strategies to reduce this epidemic and protect the particular at-risk road user groups.

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Mbi James

13.Mar.2017

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Among the curiosities of this 2013-2018 parliamentary mandate, the oldest members of both the senate and the national assembly are anglophones. this monday's solemn opening of the legislative year will also be the first time both anglophone oldest members address both houses since the present anglophone upheavals began.

NFON V.E. MUKETE and GOVERNOR ENOW TANJONG are both from the south west region and are members of the ruling CPDM.

by the rules of both upper and lower houses, their oldest members chair deliberations at the start of the march sessions, which are the first in the legislative year, before their permanent executive bureaux are chosen.

the opening speech of the legislative year and conducting elections are about the most important functions oldest members perform during their chairmanship which often lasts no more than a week.

both opening ceremonies will be broadcast live by state broadcaster, crtv from 11am (assembly) and from 4pm (senate). they will provide golden opportunities for our two grandfathers, both past 80 (MUKETE IS 96) to speak the truth they know or can afford, on the burning anglophone problem.

both men have spoken uncomfortable truth before that rattled yaounde.

MUKETE, oldest member of the senate, who was an indepedence and reunification actor, might have been at the origin of this wave of the anglophone awakening as he whipped up sentiments while launching his book (his independence and reunification memoirs, MY ODYSSEY). thereafter, some events he convened with other angophone stakeholders including traditional rulers like himself to address the anglophone problem were banned by local administrative officials. MUKETE is also paramount ruler of the bafaw in and around kumba in the south west region.

ENOW TANJONG, oldest member of the national assembly, from the manyu constituency, is now less disposed to get confrontational with the government.

a former governor of both angloohone regions (called provinces at the time) right after the abolition of the nostalgic two-state federation, TANJONG is also well placed to understand where things began to go wrong for anglophones. but he is less of a maverick than MUKETE who freely speaks bitter truth to his own political family.

however, in a distant past during his long years in the political and state administrative wilderness, TANJONG was quoted to have questioned president BIYA's legitimacy and expressed the preference for an anglophone to accede to the post of president of the republic.

that 2004 story, which he disclaimed (he said he never spoke to the reporter for "the herald" newspaper that published the story; the reporter insisted he did), is believed in certain quarters to have cost TANJONG an imminent appointment as prime minister to replace eight-year incumbent, PETER MAFANY MUSONGE. it was another son of fako division EPHRAIM INONI like MUSONGE, who got the job.

even if TANJONG had not decried angloohone marginalization in the "herald" story, he was a strong voice for anglophone rights, the position of one of the factions within the south west elite association(SWELA) since the 1990s. the opposing faction comprised mainly members of government who generally shied from pro-anglophone issues.

speeches at official ceremonies like the solemn opening of parliament on this monday, march 13, are either written or vetted by "hierarchy", so it may appear improbable for scripts by either MUKETE or TANJONG to contain pro-anglophone lines whose tone may embarrass the government bench that will massively attend the ceremonies at both houses.

however, it may be possible for MUKETE, a remarkable orator, to speak his mind at some point during his speech, unscripted.

many anglophones may recall that on a visit by president biya to bamenda in the politically turbulent early 1990s, bamenda government delegate (super mayor), JOMIA PEFOK (RIP), set aside his entire vetted speech and presented his own, hand-written, out of which he spoke truth considered embarrassing to biya, urging him to engage in dialogue with the nascent opposition at the time.

with none of these certain to happen this monday, anglophones only nurse a hope that with honourable JOSEPH WIRBAforce, on the run, the oldest members may bear in mind the tribulations of their people when the take to the high stage this monday. THE PEOPLE ARE WATCHING.

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Rita Akana

13.Mar.2017

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President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the people of Nigeria from the State House, shortly after arriving from London, saying he was fully committed to serving the nation and protecting the right of all Nigerians.

‘‘I am deeply grateful to all Nigerians, Muslims and Christians alike who have prayed and have continued to pray for my good health. This is a testimony that in spite of the hardship being experienced, Nigerians support the government in its effort to tackle our country’s challenges,’’ the president said.

Buhari said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would continue to work while he continues his rest and asked those who planned to send a delegation to come and welcome him to stay back and continue to pray for the country, according to Today.

 “I deliberately came back towards the weekend so that the Vice President will continue and I will continue to rest,” Buhari added. “All I need is to do further followups within some weeks.”

A government official however tweeted that the President will be officially back to work on Monday.

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Rita Akana

10.Mar.2017

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Paul Biya last weekend dispatched his prime minister and titular ‘head of government,’ Philemon Yang to his (Yang’s) native North West region in a last, desperate attempt to try and persuade his fellow North-Westerners to call off their intransigent demands for self-determination.

Yang’s mission, which began on Monday, has not been going well. He quickly found out that, once again, Biya had put him in a tough spot, between a rock and a hard place.
In a meeting with representatives of the region’s most influential personalities, including Fons, political leaders, trade unionists, as well as clergy men and women, Yang alternated between threats and entreaties, or promises and intimidation. His audience remained unmoved and unimpressed.

At some point, he was booed. He was finally left in no doubt that the days of cheering crowds lining the streets to receive a native son prime minister or applauding his every utterance were long past.
Felix Namukong, the SDF parliamentarian from Bafut, told Yang to his face that schools would remain closed and the ghost towns will continue until all those West Cameroonians arrested and incarcerated in Yaounde were released and the Internet blackout was lifted. MP’s brief but punchy speech was met with thunderous applause, a clear indication that he was expressing what was on most people’s minds in the hall.
Subsequent meetings in the other six divisions of the region went just as badly for the head of government. Yang often resorted to what the government considers its most persuasive argument, that the future of the children is being jeopardized by depriving them of their right to education.

This line of argument has been met with anger by people in the region who wonder what kind of education the government is talking about.
One of the principal reasons for the action taken by West Cameroonian teachers and parents was the increasingly dubious quality of the education their children were receiving. Not only was their hitherto excellent education system being undermined by francophonization due to poor quality francophone teachers posted to government schools, West Cameroonian children were also being priced out of local confessional schools by francophone students whose parents could afford to pay school fees for several years in advance with money looted from the public treasury.

Yang should know that no other part of the country places as much of a premium on education as does the North West. This is a region with no industry to speak of, where parents depend on a good education to equip their children with the tools necessary to get ahead in a competitive world. That is why such institutions as Sacred Heart College, Mankon, CPC Bali (Yang’s alma mater), St. Augustine’s in Kumbo, and JMBC in Nkambe among many others, remained at the top of the education charts for years. That was why poor farmers struggled mightily, scrimping and saving, to send their children south to such high-end institutions like St. Joseph’s College Sasse and Saker Baptist College in Victoria.

West Cameroon is a Francophone Jobs Opportunity

Ever since Biya unilaterally declared his La Republique in 1984, West Cameroon became an opportunity to reduce unemployment among francophones. West Cameroon suddenly became too important to be run by West Cameroonians. The entire area was suddenly turned into a francophone jobs project, with governors, SDOs, DOs, gendarmes, police and soldiers flooding in to run it with no knowledge of, nor the slightest interest in the learning the English language of the people they were going to rule over. And our people, especially the so-called elite, threw themselves into the effort of learning the French language to accommodate their new masters. French became a compulsory subject in secondary schools.
More than three decades later, nothing much in this situation has changed, except for that there are a lot more francophones, right down into our villages. It is now an everyday occurrence to run into a squad of gendarmes in the remotest hamlet, barking at market women and motorcycle riders in French and demanding money for one supposed misdemeanor or another.

The current practice among the police and gendarmes, of arresting West Cameroonians for agitating for federalism or independence, and holding them until their families pay a ransom to get them released is not new. Their governors and SDOs have been doing it for years, using similar or slightly less crude tactics such as veiled threats and intimidation, and growing very rich in the process.

I doubt very much that Biya assigned a helicopter to ferry Yang around the rugged North West, since Biya does not want Yang to start entertaining any ambitions to higher office. So, if Yang and his usually extensive entourage are plying our shambolic, pot-holed tracks called roads in their luxurious SUVs, and if their minds are not completely closed to reality, they should have no difficulty understanding the outrage fueling the current unrest in West Cameroon. Maybe they do understand and it’s only the fear of losing the perks that Yaounde offers them that makes them close their eyes and ears and pretend to ignore the choking dust and the bumps from the potholes.

However the current situation shall end, either in an epic bloodbath that the regime has the capacity and the will to inflict on our people, or in some brokered agreement that sees our incarcerated leaders and activists released and brought back home, West Cameroon shall never return to the status quo ante, simply because:

•    West Cameroonians shall never again tolerate the overbearing, incompetent francophone teachers, magistrates and state prosecutors who have infested and poisoned our system for so many years

•    The beast of self-determination has been awoken in us and we shall not rest until stooges selected from our midst and called elite are no longer lording it over us. That beast shall not go back to sleep until we can have our own elected local governments, from the regional to the village level; governments that are directly accountable to us, and whom we can also fire at any time for poor performance.

•    We have finally realized that there is more that unites us as West Cameroonians than divides us and this rediscovery of our common ideals and purpose is a joy to behold. It a discovery that is terrifying to the Yaounde government and its Anglophone lackeys, who have tried mightily over the past half century to sell us the fiction of ‘national unity’ in an unending effort to rob us of our identity

.We shall not dishonor the blood that has been shed and allow the torture of our Consortium leaders to have been in vain. We shall not go back to the way things were.

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Rita Akana

10.Mar.2017

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