Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has for the first time spoken publicly about the root causes of the three-year Anglophone separatist rebellion. President Biya acknowledged at a peace summit in France there were key differences between French- and English-speaking people because of their contrasting experiences under colonial rule. The 86-year-old president appears to be saying that lumping them all together under the highly centralised state has not worked. Mr Biya has been using the military to crush pro-independence activists in the restive North West and South West regions.
The decision of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), to run for elections next year has been greeted with mixed reactions by Cameroonians across the board. According to some, boycotting the elections will have erased SDF from Cameroon’s political scene. According to others, however, it is a blunder for the SDF to run for elections when her political stronghold is at war. To this category of people, the party might not even win a seat.
The Popular Action Party (PAP) says it will not run for elections next year. The party has pointed insecurity and war in the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon as an unfavourable condition for any election to take place in a country striving for democracy.
Elections Cameroon, ELECAM says the two weeks period stipulated by the electoral code for the deposition of documents by potential candidates will be respected. This means the body will stop receiving files on November 25 at midnight. Documents are to be deposited in all ELECAM offices but in the North West and South West regions, documents will be received only at the Divisional levels. It is not known if divisional headquarters such as Lebialem and Boyo will be open.
Inhabitants of mayor Mouskuta in the Mayo Tsanaga Division Far North region of Cameroon have demonstrated against worsening insecurity in their area. They say the defence and security forces of Cameroon have abandoned them to be completely wiped out by Boko Haram. According to inhabitants, about 300 people have been killed in Mayo Mouskuta since the start of the year. The latest attack left at least 5 persons dead
There were tensions in Ndop today ahead of the installation ceremony of the DO for Ndop Central subdivision. Several persons were arrested and are yet to gain their freedom. Ngoketunja Division of the North West Region of Cameroon is one of the battlegrounds of the anglophone crisis. Local sources say at least 40 civilians were taken away since morning
One person has been killed with enormous material destroyed in flood incident at the Loum Chantier neighbourhood of Loum in the Moungo Division of the Littoral Region of Cameroon. The floods followed a heavy downpour on the area.
Members from the National communication Council have ended their two-day media sensitisation tour in the city of Douala. In an encounter with journalists in the city of Douala, the National communication Council officials challenged Journalists to guard against hate speech in the media, especially with the convening of the February 2020 twin election.
Four bills have been tabled at the National Assembly, with one of them focusing on hate speech which will henceforth be punishable by law if the bill is adopted. Many suggest that the increased use of hate speech is responsible for a lot of cases of violence in Cameroon.
Some graduating health students of the University of Buea in the South West Region of Cameroon have been challenged to go into bushes and treat persons displaced by the war in the North West and South West regions. The health sector is one of the most hit sectors in the ongoing war.
Experts say empowering victims of the anglophone crisis to be self-reliant is the only way to stabilise the fractured population of the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. In a workshop in Buea today, Grassroot resource persons were trained on how to manage Projects
An uneasy calm has returned to Mbve, a locality in Kumbo, in the North West Region after a tense afternoon that was marked by gunshots as military men confronted Ambazonian fighters. Traders at the Mbve Main Market fled the market when the confrontations started.
Scarcity of domestic gas has hit Maroua in the Far North Region of Cameroon. For over a week, inhabitants of the town have been moving around business centres and shops in search of cooking gas. Some unscrupulous businessmen are reported to have increased the price from 6,500FCFA as stated by the government to up to 8,000FCFA.
The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon have played a goalless draw against Cape Verde in a match that took place in Yaounde ahead of the 2021 African Cup of Nations, AFCON. Football fans in Cameroon have expressed disappointment following the performance of the Lions. The match counted for Day One of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers.
BBC Africa has reported that no-one has gotten married in a village in Kano State, Nigeria, in the past four months after its chief imposed a wedding tax. Ado Sa’id, the chief of Kera village in north-west Nigeria, wants grooms to pay 137,000 naira ($377, £294). This is instead of the current custom of the groom giving presents like furniture and kitchenware to the bride’s family when they get married.
Six people have been shot dead in a Tanzanian village bordering Mozambique, according to a police official. Robert Boaz, criminal investigations chief for the Tanzanian police said: “the attackers, presumably from Mozambique, gathered the villagers together before opening fire”.
More than 10,000 charities have been ordered to stop their operations in Uganda immediately until they comply with new regulations. The Ugandan government issued its directive after discovering fewer than 4,000 charities out of 14,000 had valid permits.
Zimbabwe is banning the installation of new electric water heaters in an attempt to save power, Reuters news agency reports energy regulators as saying. The country’s electricity supplier will no longer be allowed to connect power to premises without solar water heaters, an official gazette reportedly says.
The US and other countries have told Egypt to respect its citizens’ freedom of expression after the arrests of journalists, reports Reuters news agency. A group of countries expressed their concern at the UN Human Rights Council’s review of the country in Geneva, Switzerland, Reuters adds. They also urged Egypt to investigate alleged killings and torture by its security forces.
There have been further violent clashes in universities in Ethiopia, between students of different ethnic groups. Three students have died since Saturday and members of the military and the police have been deployed to at least three universities in the country.
At least 70 people have been killed at protests in Guinea in the last four years, according to a report by human rights organisation Amnesty International. Thousands have hit the streets in multiple protests over a suspected effort by President Alpha Condé to seek a third term.
Sierra Leone striker Kei Kamara has retired from international football with immediate effect because he is unhappy with issues relating to the national team. The 35-year-old, who plays for MLS side Colorado Rapids, took the decision on the eve of Sierra Leone’s opening 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Lesotho
(Foreign News Source: BBC Africa)
