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Cameroon Cocoa Prices Surge as Farmers Flee Anglophone Unrest

06/07/2018

Cocoa prices in Cameroon are surging as farmers in the biggest producing regions flee an escalating conflict between government forces and a movement that wants independence for English-speaking territories.

Producer pay in the world’s fifth-biggest cocoa grower jumped by more than two-fifths in the week through July 3, compared with the previous seven days, according to figures from the Cameroon National Association of Cocoa and Coffee Producers.

The disruption of farming activities in the Northwest and Southwest regions exacerbate a decline in output from the smaller mid-crop, Michael Ndoping, director general of the National Cocoa and Coffee Board, said by phone Wednesday from the economic capital, Douala.

Cocoa farmers “have escaped into the bushes for fear of the unrest,” said Ndoping. The total impact of the conflict won’t be quantifiable until the end of the season in September, he said. Protests against the dominance of the use of French in courts and schools in English-speaking regions, which account for about a fifth of the population, have turned violent since last year. Some secessionists have taken up arms that in turn prompted a crackdown by armed forces.

Cameroon produced an estimated 246,000 metric tons of cocoa in the season through September 2017, accounting for about 5.2 percent of global output, according to data from the International Cocoa Organization.

Source: Bloomberg

Nigeria: Southern Cameroons refugees refuse Biya regime humanitarian aid

06/07/2018

The leaders of Southern Cameroons refugees in Nigeria have reportedly refused the so-called humanitarian aid from the ruling CPDM regime in Yaoundé. The Ambazonian leaders representing the more than 40,000 Southern Cameroons refugees in the Cross River State and Taraba told the Biya emissaries that “We do not need any help and do not want any visit from the Cameroonian government.”

The Ambazonian decision was published by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Abuja. The signatories of the said document demanded the immediate release of President Julius Ayuk Tabe including all Southern Cameroonians arrested ever since the crisis started two years ago.

The Biya Francophone government recently launched what it painted as an emergency humanitarian assistance plan for the victims of the security situation in Southern Cameroons. The Prime Minister Philemon Yang Plan aims at reconstruction in the two Anglophone regions and is estimated at 12.7 billion FCFA.

Several hundred million FCFA have already been collected from corrupt Cameroon government officials as part of this emergency humanitarian assistance plan.

By Sama Ernest

Equatorial Guinea grants opponents amnesty ahead of national dialogue

06/07/2018

Equatorial Guinea has granted amnesty to activists and members of the opposition ahead of a “national dialogue” this month, a decree signed by the Central African nation’s president said on Wednesday.

The move is seen as a goodwill gesture before the talks involving government, opposition, religious and other groups planned for July 16 to 21.

The decree was welcomed with caution by rights group Amnesty International, which said in a statement that a similar promise in 2014 had never materialised.

The tiny oil and gas-rich nation has been ruled with an iron fist by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the longest-serving president in the continent, since he came to power in 1979 in a coup.

Despite its oil riches, most of the country’s 1.2 million people live in poverty. Rights groups have labelled Obiang Nguema’s government as one of the world’s most corrupt.

Freedom granted as demanded by opposition groups

According to the decree on the government’s website, a general amnesty has been granted to all those convicted of political crimes, and those currently being processed for similar crimes.

It said the move was a gesture to offer greater freedom and security ahead of the national dialogue with opposition parties, civil society groups, religious groups and the diaspora. Foreign observers could also attend.

Some opposition parties had demanded an amnesty as a condition of their participation in the dialogue.

“While by all means this new announcement is a welcome step, much more needs to be done to make a decisive break with the country’s history of repression,” Amnesty International said.

It added that a similar announcement was made in 2014 but not all political prisoners were released.

“For decades, activists, opposition members and those expressing dissent have faced arbitrary arrest and detention without charge or contact with their families or lawyers, while some have been tortured,” it said.

REUTERS

US newspaper mocks Trump as a ‘clown’ on country’s independence day

06/07/2018

A major American newspaper based in New York City has mocked US President Donald Trump on the country’s Independence Day by depicting him as a clown.

The New York Daily News July 4 cover features an edited image showing Trump in full clown makeup, wearing a shattered gold crown.

“The clown who plays king can’t overthrow the bedrock values this nation was founded on 242 years ago today,” the headline reads.

The United States was officially formed 242 years ago after it declared independence from the former British empire on July 4, 1776.

“President Trump’s cruelty in deflecting entry of desperate migrants … coincides with measures to choke legal channels for immigration, drying up needed fresh vigor for America before our eyes,” the paper’s editorial board wrote in their opinion piece.

The New York Daily News, which is based in Trump’s hometown and is printed in tabloid format, has been highly critical of the president and often uses their front page to mock him over scandals.

Trump finds himself in the midst of several scandals this July 4, including his administration’s recent policy of separating immigrant families at the US-Mexico border and intensifying tariff battles with key American allies.

Many migrant children remain separated from their parents or guardians despite Trump’s executive order in June to halt the practice under pressure.

More than 2,300 migrant children were separated from their parents as a result of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that began in early May and sought to prosecute all adults crossing the border without authorization, including those traveling with children.

Source: Presstv

Southern Cameroons War: Biya implementing an aggressive and destructive policy

06/07/2018

President Biya is implementing an aggressive and destructive policy in Southern Cameroons. The 85 year old dictator has precipitated an armed conflict against the English speaking community of the country which is getting worse. He is pushing the Francophone dominated army against Southern Cameroonians and he is opening and maintaining military bases in Southern Cameroons and claiming that he is fighting separatists.

Senior political commentators have recently opined that Biya has smashed the 1961 Foumban agreement with West Cameroon. And he is making matters worse because of his excessive use of force. The French government of President Macron is supporting Biya in his slaughter in Ambazonia. Correspondingly, the special relationship between Biya and Buhari has massively supported the expansion of French Secret Service operations inside Nigeria. On the top of this, Biya does not have any serious plans for solving the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

A prominent traditional ruler from the Manyu constituency who spoke to Cameroon Intelligence Report but sued for anonymity said Biya is a clown with guns in his hands. And that is why CPDM militants are now realizing that Biya is a political disaster that has been around for 35 years.

Soon and very soon there is going to be a massive anti Biya movement in French Cameroun. Our chief political editor noted that Biya is dangerous. He is dangerous to the One and Indivisible Cameroon. He is dangerous to the African Union. He is dangerous to his own country-French Cameroun and he is dangerous to the world.

By Chi Prudence Asong

1000s of Kenyans go hungry after floods, aid agencies say

05/07/2018

Tens of thousands of survivors of Kenya’s worst floods in recent years are living on the brink with barely enough food to eat two months after the disaster, aid workers warned on Wednesday, calling on authorities to provide increased funding and support.

Incessant heavy rainfall in March and April caused dams and rivers in parts of the East African nation to overflow, submerging crops and washing away homes. At least 186 people died and more than 300,000 others were forced to flee.

While water levels have receded and many people have returned home, aid workers in the worst affected coastal region of Tana River county said most of those displaced were still living in camps with little means of survival.

Men carry children in flooded area after the Tana River overflowed at Onkolde Village, in coastal region of Kenya, April 27, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

“The majority of the 150,000 people displaced in Tana River are still in the camps as they have not received any information from authorities on whether it is safe to return or not,” said Matthew Cousins, humanitarian director for Oxfam Kenya.

“They also have nothing to go back to. Their homes and crops have been destroyed and they have not been given any help to rebuild their lives.”

After a severe drought last year, East Africa was hit by two months of heavy rains, disrupting the lives of millions of people in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda.

Kenya experiences two rainy seasons – from March to May and then from October to November – but seasonal rainfall recorded this year has been the highest in 50 years, according to the country’s meteorological department.

In Tana River county, the floods not only damaged infrastructure such as roads, bridges and schools, it also submerged swathes of farmland and killed thousands of livestock.

A lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation in the camps has also resulted in a cholera outbreak with around 300 people contracting the potentially fatal disease, although aid workers said there had been no new cases for over 7 days.

“People need food. They do not have enough to eat. We are registering people in the camps and many children, women and elderly are looking weak and malnourished,” said Ahmed Ibrahim, head of the charity Arid Lands Development Focus.

The Tana River county government said in May it needed around $70 million to help flood survivors rebuild their homes and livelihoods, but aid workers said funds promised by the federal government had not come through.

County officials confirmed there had been a delay in funding from the central government, but said that funds would be provided, adding that people should return home soon.

“I do not know how much of the $70 million we have received, but we haven’t received all of it,” Salim Bagana, secretary of the Tana River country government, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

(Source: Reuters)

Death toll from Canada heat wave rises to 33

05/07/2018

A heat wave in Quebec has killed 33 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, officials said Thursday.

18 of the dead were reported in the provincial capital Montreal, according to regional public health director Mylene Drouin.

She added that the majority of the victims in the city were men aged between 53 and 85 living in vulnerable conditions and without access to air conditioning.

The rest of the deaths occurred in other parts of the French-speaking province.

Environment Canada forecast a maximum of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday with a heat index (what the temperature feels like to the human body) of up to 45 Celsius.

The heat wave is expected to end by Thursday evening with temperatures between 23 and 25 degrees Celsius over the next few days.

“My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who died in Quebec during this heatwave,” tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “The record is expected to continue in central & eastern Canada, so make sure you know how to protect yourself & your family.”

No deaths had been reported for the same period in the neighboring province of Ontario, which has also sizzled under extremely high temperatures.

In 2010, a heat wave killed around 100 people in the Montreal area.

(Source: AFP)

Biggest free trade zone launched in Horn of Africa

05/07/2018

Djibouti on Thursday launched the first phase of Africa’s biggest free trade zone, seeking to capitalize on its strategic position on one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

At ceremonies in the capital, President Ismael Omar Guelleh hailed the scheme as the culmination of infrastructure projects “boosting Djibouti’s place in international trade and commerce”.

The Horn of Africa nation, located at the mouth of the Red Sea and Suez Canal, unveiled three new ports and a railway linking it to landlocked Ethiopia in 2017, as part of its bid to become a global trade and logistics hub.

Somalia’s president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, hailed the free trade zone as a “victory for East Africa”, in comments echoed at the ceremony by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.

The zone, which is connected to Djibouti’s main ports, aims at diversifying the economy, creating new jobs and luring foreign investment through tax-free incentives and full logistical support.

The pilot phase launched Thursday comprises a 240-hectare (593-acre) site.

On its scheduled completion 10 years from now, the $3.5-billion (three-billion-euro) initiative will span 4,800 hectares — the largest free-trade zone on the continent.

The project hopes to see foreign companies setting up manufacturing plants within the zone, adding value to products instead of merely importing and exporting raw materials.

“The volume of goods traveling to East Africa keeps increasing. Every time a product arrives in the continent without being transformed it is a missed opportunity for Africa,” said Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of the Ports and Free Zones Authority.

A row of Djiboutian and Chinese flags fluttered side by side above the freshly painted bright yellow walls surrounding the expansive project — a symbol of the tiny country’s close ties to the Asian giant whose loans have funded its lightning-fast infrastructure growth.

Aboubaker Omar Hadi (C), chairman of Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority, Bai Jingtao (L), general manager of China Merchants and Xu Jian, executive vice president of China’s Dalian port, mix seawater from Djibouti and China during the inauguration of Djibouti International Free Trade Zone (DIFTZ) in Djibouti on July 5, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Djibouti — which is also the site of China’s only overseas military base — is a critical part of China’s “Belt and Road” global infrastructure initiative and in a prime position along what has been dubbed the “Maritime Silk Road”.

The free trade zone is being run by Djibouti, the majority shareholder, along with three Chinese companies: the China Merchants Group, Dalian Port Authority and Chinese big data company IZP.

(Source: AFP)

Biya regime struggling to get school-age miners back in class

05/07/2018

Cameroon is urging children in the eastern part of the country to stop leaving school to work in the gold industry. The campaign was launched after a report said 74 people have been killed in mine accidents this year, a majority of them of school age.

A group of five Cameroonian teenagers and a Central African refugee are digging through a river bed, searching for gold. One carries a newborn on her back as she turns over the dirt and mud, looking for the precious nuggets.

These kids, ranging in age from 11 to 15, are some of children who have dropped their studies to dig for gold.

The youth say Chinese companies pay them a dollar a day for their labor and a bonus if they find gold.

Government authorities have told locals to stop digging in the area. But the need for income is so high that many ignore the order, including refugees who leave their camps and parents whose kids should be in school.

Yves Bertrand Alienou is a senior divisional officer in the Lom and Djerem administrative unit. He is going village-to-village asking locals to leave gold mines alone and for parents to return their child miners to their studies.

“The first message is that of sympathy from the public authorities that we represent, but most especially we want to ask them to stop exploiting in this dangerous area. As they all know and have seen for themselves it is very dangerous,”

A report published in July by the government and private researchers said 50 people were killed mining for gold in eastern Cameroon last year. That number has jumped to over 70 in just the first half of 2018.

In one of the worst incidents, nine Cameroonians and Central African refugees were killed when a gold mine collapsed on them in the town of Ngoura last December.

Michel Pilo, chief of Mali village, says the Chinese mining companies are not only exploiting their natural resources but also their children.

He says the Chinese companies don’t build any schools for the children.And when the child miners dig the water beds, contaminating their only source of drinking water, the Chinese refuse to provide alternative sources such as constructing wells. He says many people have become sick from drinking contaminated water and others have died in landslides.

Vincent Atangana, a Cameroonian official at Chinese mining firm EXXIL, blames parents for allowing their kids to work in the firms. He argues Chinese mining has helped develop the area.

He says many houses are being constructed with modern materials.Several years ago, fuel was sold in cans but today, says Atangana, there are fuel stations.He says these developments are coming when gold mining is still at a working stage -they will do even more when it reaches the industrial level.

Alienou says the government has warned parents and instructed Chinese mining firms to stop hiring school-age laborers. Butwith high demands for gold from China and jobs in eastern Cameroon, there is little enforcement.

Source: VOA

Southern Cameroonians want to see President Biya tried as a war criminal

05/07/2018

President Biya should be arrested and tried as a war criminal over the killings in Southern Cameroons, according to a survey conducted by Cameroon Concord News Group. Hundreds of Ambazonians who took part in the survey in Bamenda, Buea, Mamfe, Mundemba, Kumba, Wum, Muyuka, Tiko, Ndop and Bali said Mr. Biya is knowingly misleading international public opinion on the genocide in Southern Cameroons and should be tried as a war criminal.

The number of Ambazonians who said President Biya should be arrested and tried as a war criminal was higher among those who had served as civil servants under the CPDM regime when compared with the several hundreds of unemployed. 5% noted that once independence is gotten, Southern Cameroonians should move on and take no action against a foreign head of state.

Nearly half of the 18 to 24-year-olds said they wanted to see Mr Biya tried as a war criminal in Den Hague in Holland. The Cameroon Concord News Group findings come as some members of the International Criminal Court noted recently that crimes against humanity were being committed in Southern Cameroons.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has been playing out for almost two years has finally entered a critical phase. While Southern Cameroonian fighters are making huge advances, which are making a mockery of the government’s military action, the Yaoundé government is now scrambling for a peaceful resolution as it has noticed that it is dealing with a very dicey situation. The government is under enormous pressure as the killing of army soldiers becomes a daily ritual.

It is becoming clear to the government that there will never be a convincing military victory in this battle that will surely last for decades. The government is gradually coming to terms with the fact that it was a huge mistake to declare war on Southern Cameroonians who were simply complaining about a system that has reduced them to second-class citizens.

Currently, the dynamics are changing. The government’s arrogance is gradually being eroded by the determined Southern Cameroonian fighters whose actions have struck fear in the minds of many army soldiers. The government is today staring down the barrel of defeat, as its treasury continues to lose money and its soldiers feeling really despondent as they face the prospect of dying in the Rocky Mountains and dense jungles of Southern Cameroons.

Many government officials know that defeat is staring the government in the face. Many want to sue for peace, but they don’t know how to proceed as their arrogance has muddied the waters and made reconciliation challenging. The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has accused Mr Biya of committing a crime of aggression by invading Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest and Kingsley Betek

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