Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has said his administration will respect the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning the border dispute between his country and Cameroon.

“We will respect the conclusions of the committees to demarcate the border. We promise to implement the recommendations of the Cameroon-Nigeria Border Commission to provide security at our common borders.”

The Nigerian leader made the declaration on Monday in Abuja during an audience he had with a UN delegation, headed by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Mohammed Ibn.

On the 10^th of October 2002, the ICJ delivered its verdict that the Bakassi Peninsula belonged to Cameroon putting an end to a crisis started by the Nigerian thug, Sanni Abacha.

By Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)

The UN Security Council (UNSC) has voted to deploy a UN police force to restive Burundi, in its toughest measure aimed at helping end over a year of violence in the West African country.

The council adopted a France-drafted resolution Friday authorizing the dispatch of up to 228 officers to the capital, Bujumbura, and throughout Burundi for a preliminary period of one year.

“This is a strong act of preventative diplomacy,” said French Ambassador Francois Delattre, adding that the UN force gives the council “eyes and ears” on the ground to provide early warning of possible mass atrocities.

This is while Burundi has said it would not accept more than 50 UN police forces. The UNSC resolution also called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ensure a “progressive deployment” of the new force to monitor human rights violations and abuses in Burundi.

Presstv

Experts from 15 African countries are taking part in a Pan African Zone Conference on Social Insurance in Yaounde. Prime Minister Philemon Yang participated in the opening ceremony of the conference.

During the three-day conclave, the forum will be discussing ways of reforming pension schemes. The Permanent Secretary of the organization, Noel Alain Mekulu Mvondo, said the meeting will seek ways of changing the conception of retirement as a dreaded period.

Noel Alain Mekulu hinted that the exchanges will also include ways of providing retirees with psychological and physical forms of support.

 CRTV

Cooperation ties between Cameroon and Egypt will in the coming days witness a bolster as both nations prepare the seventh session of the Cameroon-Egypt Joint Committee which will hold in Cairo,  Egypt. Sherif Salah Eldin Elleithy, the Ambassador of Egypt to Cameroon made the declaration during celebrations marking the 64^th anniversary of the July 23, 1992 Revolution in Egypt which also serves as the country’s National Day. Senior Cameroonian government, the business community, some representatives of the diplomatic corps and Egyptians resident in Cameroon all converged on the Ambassadors, Bastos-Yaounde residence on July 27, 2016 to celebrate the National Day.

Ambassador Sherif Salah Eldin Elleithy used the occasion to declare the readiness of his country to further consolidate and enhance cooperation ties in all domains. He cited the already prospering domains of cooperation to include offering  scholarships to Cameroonians on religious and scientific studies. The Ambassador also mentioned the intensification of economic and technical cooperation, lauding the trust given the Egyptian company Arab Constructors that has been carrying out some infrastructure projects in Cameroon.

Egypt, he said has been helping Cameroon handle the ever-increasing influx of refugees. He condemned all forms of terrorism, encouraged and supported Cameroon in the fight against the terrorist sect Boko Haram. He also congratulated Cameroon for its role in peacekeeping and security operations in the Central African Sub-region.

Cameroon Tribune

Three people have been killed in an attack by militants in the south of the Central African Republic, security forces say. “At least three people were killed and several more injured,” a police officer said on Sunday following an attack a day earlier by armed herdsmen and fighters in the town of Ngakobo.

The officer said the armed men were members of former rebel Seleka movement, adding that hundreds of local people had fled their homes for neighboring villages. Residents said the situation was mostly calm Sunday, but added that militants were still in the vicinity of the town.

Ngakobo was a hotbed of violence in the Central African Republic between 2013 and 2015. About half a million people were displaced during a crisis which came after a Seleka-led alliance, a mainly Muslim movement, ousted President Francois Bozize, who was a Christian.

Incumbent President Faustin-Archange Touadera had warned earlier this month that his country is still “in danger” with “entire regions” occupied by armed groups. CAR has seen a surge in the violence since mid-June. Clashes between livestock herders and local arable farmers in the northwest earlier this month prompted the United Nations to issue warnings about the deteriorating situation in the poor country. The UN said thousands of people had fled renewed violence to neighboring Chad and Cameroon.

Touadera, who came to power in February backed by 12,000-strong UN force, faces tough challenges including helping 415,000 people internally displaced inside the Central African Republic while rebuilding the army and disarming armed groups in the impoverished country of 4.5 million people.

Presstv

Gilles Thibault will present his credentials in the coming days as Ambassador of France to Cameroon, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learnt from sources close to the Cameroon Minister of External Relations.  He will of course replace Madam Christine Robichon at the head of the French diplomatic mission in Cameroon.  Our chief intelligence officer hinted that the Cameroonian dictator had cooperated with Gilles Thibault, the current Ambassador of France in Burkina Faso.

Gilles Thibault had served as First Counselor at the French embassy in Zagreb, Croatia (2005-2005); Consul General in Düsseldorf, Germany (2005-2009); Deputy Director at the French Foreign Ministry (2009-2013) and Ambassador of France in Burkina Faso since 2013.

Rita Akana (Cameroon Intelligence Report)

The Minister for Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo has announced the deployment of 750 Cameroonian soldiers in the Central African Republic as part of operations Minusca. The youthful minister made the declaration in Douala on Thursday during a working visit to the 21^st Mechanized Division.

Minister Joseph Beti Assomo also made public the revaluation of their premiums raising it up to 80%. Our servicemen and women deployed in Bangui will now earn 450 000 FCFA per month, instead of the 250 000 FCFA under the former regime of Edgard Alain Mebo Ngo’o.

The minister revealed that the increment will also apply to the Cameroonian soldiers currently engaged in peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic.

Sama Ernest (Cameroon Intelligence Report)

The Ugandan army has evacuated 38,000 civilians trapped by battles in South Sudan’s capital of Juba since July 15, a military spokesman says. “The total number of civilians evacuated from South Sudan by road under protection of the UPDF (Uganda People’s Defense Force) since the start of the operation has reached 38,000,” Ugandan army spokesman, Paddy Ankunda, said Wednesday.

He added that most of the evacuees were Ugandans but “they were joined by hundreds of Kenyans, Rwandans among other nationalities who wanted to leave South Sudan for their safety.” The evacuation operation, which started on July 15, was carried out by a heavily protected convoy of 30 vehicles, which have been transferring people to the Ugandan border, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) away from Juba.

About 10,300 South Sudanese sought refuge in Uganda from July 15 to July 19, according to estimates by the UN refugee agency. The civilians have fled the violence that erupted in the youngest country on July 8 between supporters of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebels backing his deputy, Riek Machar.

The warring parties reached a shaky ceasefire on July 11 after four days of clashes that killed more than 300 people and forced thousands of others to flee. The violence raised concerns about the revival of a civil war that gripped the nation in December 2013.

Presstv

The African Union (AU) has approved a proposal to send a regional protection force to South Sudan with a “robust” mandate to contain the violence there amid criticisms of the failure of a similar UN mission. “The UN doesn’t have the mandate to impose peace,” African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui said at an AU summit in the Rwandan capital of Kigali on Monday.

“They are there where there is peace to keep. African troops are ready to engage in very difficult situations. It is our responsibility,” he added. The news comes as supporters of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebels backing his deputy, Riek Machar, reached a shaky ceasefire on July 11 after four days of violence. The clashes killed more than 300 people and forced thousands of others to flee.

The violence raised concerns of the revival of a civil war that gripped the nation in December 2013. The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, has been strongly slammed for failing to stop the recent wave of violence and fully protect people. The new force will be similar to the 3,000-strong Force Intervention Brigade deployed within the UN’s mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Chergui.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) east African regional block on Sunday urged the UN Security Council to give it a robust mandate that would allow it to separate the warring sides and “pacify Juba.” Chergui said the international community would have to convince Kiir to agree to the deployment of the new force.

A bloody civil war in South Sudan, the youngest country in Africa, began in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of plotting a coup against him. The two sides then got involved in a cycle of retaliatory killings that have split the impoverished country along ethnic lines. Thousands of people have been killed and more than three million forced to flee their homes in the war. Nearly five million people are in need of food to survive a famine in South Sudan.

The two sides eventually signed an agreement in August last year to bring the conflict to an end. As part of the deal, Machar returned to Juba in April to take up the post of vice president in a national unity government. Despite the August 2015 peace deal, battles persist across the country. There are numerous militia forces that do not abide by peace agreements and are driven by local agendas.

Presstv

The CPDM government has officially announced the release of hostages kidnapped in Cameroon in the East region and detained for 16 months in the Central African Republic. In a statement issued by the Head of State dated July 17, 2016, the chief executive stated that Mama Abakaï, Mayor of Lagdo, and ten other Cameroonian citizens abducted on the night of 19th to 20^th of March 2015 in the localities of Gbabio and Yokossiré in the Eastern region by an armed group operating in the Central African Republic have all been freed.

The Biya statement added that the hostages were being given a health assessment and support from the state. President Biya also congratulated the Cameroon army and other security groups that worked in any way to the happy outcome. However, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learnt from a senior military source in the East region that Etoudi has manipulated public opinion in the hostage affair. Our source revealed that the hostages were released on the night of the 8^th  and  9^th of July 2016, by elements of the Abdoulaye Miskine, a pro Central African government militia after heavy fighting with the ex-Seleka group who held them.

The Cameroonians were freed and transported to Zikambo. The Cameroon army was never involved in any battle to free the hostages. Our informant added that contrary to what was reported over state radio and television,Mr and Mrs Nene Youssoufa including two other hostages died on January 2016 and on the 11^th of July 2016. A lot of tongues have been wagging on why President Biya had to wait for a week to announce the release of the hostages. A well informed political opinion in the nation’s capital noted that the delay and manipulation were aimed to award the laurels of the liberation of the Cameroonian hostages to the head of state for political reasons.

Rita Akana (Cameroon Intelligence Report in Bertoua)