National and International News Roundup – 15th January 2020

A traditional ruler hosting over 300 internally displaced Anglophones in his private residence in Misoke Douala, is asking for help from people of goodwill to assist the IDPs. He said numerous requests for aid from local administrative officials have yielded no fruit, adding he has run out of resources to feed and sustain his “guests”. Chief Dr. Mofor, himself an IDP, has been hosting the afflicted population from the restive Anglophone regions for over three years now. Who benefits from government’s humanitarian aid is the unanswered question.

Classes resumed today Wednesday, at Lycee Classique Nkolbissson in Yaounde, after the stabbing to death of a Mathematics teacher one day ago by a student. The school has reinforced security at the gate with discipline masters instructed to strictly and thoroughly search the bags of students before allowed access on campus.

The left thumb of a student identified as Anaud Alexandre Mbappe has been chopped off by his schoolmate at Government Bilingual High School Obala. The incident today Wednesday January 15, 2020 follows a fight that ensued after a football match. The student attacked his classmate with a cutlass they had earlier used to clean the school. The victim is receiving medical attention at the Obala District Hospital in the Lekie Division, Cameroon’s Centre Region.

Cameroon’s Minister of Communication and that of Decentralisation and Local Development have restated the importance of the Law on Decentralisation that equally contains the Special Status conferred on the country’s restive English speaking North West and South West Regions. Ministers Rene Emmanuel Sadi and Georges Elanga Obam respectively said the law will foster development and draw governance closer to the people.

There has been a widespread condemnation of plans by the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism to tour the country and raise awareness on the recently adopted draft legislation to Promote Bilingualism in Cameroon. The commission led by Peter Mafany Musonge took the decision Wednesday in Yaounde. Many have rated the Commission as one meant to waste tax payers’ money. Created in 2017 the commission is still to attain its prime goal; addressing the Anglophone crisis.

Human Rights Watch has presented its 2019 report, indicting government forces and separatist fighters in Cameroon of gross human rights violation in 2019. The report covers rights violations in the anglophone regions, Far North, relationship between government and politicians and judicial accountability.

Calm has returned to New Deido in Douala, Cameroon following tension mounted by a group of young armed men referred to as “microbes”. The group, reports say, came out to revenge an attack on one of its members by some youths in Deido. Insecurity is on a steady rise in the city of Douala despite government’s promises to secure the population and their properties.

Fire has destroyed a carpentry workshop and part of a private residence at Boulangerie de la Paix in the Bepanda neighborhood of Douala. Locals say the incident resulted from the explosion of a gas cylinder.

The SDO for Moungo Division in the Llittoral Region has promised hard times for recalcitrant contractors in his area of command. Speaking in a meeting of members of the Moungo Divisional Followup Committee for the Execution of the Public Investment Budget, Yves Betrand Njana says contractors who fail to respect deadlines will be jailed.

Africa Football Cup of Nations, Afcon, 2021 will take place in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6. This is the kernel of a decision taken Wednesday in Yaounde during a meeting chaired by the President of the Confederation of African Football, Ahmad Ahmad. CAF also said the African Football Champion 2020 will run from the 4th to the 25th of April 2020 in Cameroon.

Supporters of detained Tanzanian journalist Erick Kabendera have set up a crowdfunding campaign to help his family and cover his legal fees. “Erick’s work was the main source of income for his family and in-laws, who have now been without these means for nearly six months,” a statement on the GoFundMe site says.

It is one year since Ghanaian investigative Journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale was mured by unidentified men. His killers who came on board motorbikes shot him three times in his vehicle, shortly after he investigated on massive corruption in African football. Police has not made progress in finding hillers which is just mirrors what prevails in other African countries according tot he CPJ.

The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will start on 9 January after its dates were moved, hosts Cameroon have announced. The tournament was scheduled to take place in June and July but was changed because of the “unfavourable” weather in the country at that time of year. Before that, the Cup of Nations had been held in January and February.

The deaths of more than a million people in Nigeria as a result of the brutal civil war which ended exactly 50 years ago are a scar on the nation’s history. For most Nigerians, the war over the breakaway state of Biafra is generally regarded as an unfortunate episode best forgotten, but for the Igbo people who fought for secession, it remains a life-defining event.

Political groups in Ethiopia have raised concerns about an election timetable announced by the country’s electoral commission. The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) proposed 16 August as the voting date, but representatives of political groups, as well as civil society, have argued that since mid-August is the peak of the rainy season in much of Ethiopia, voter turnout could be impacted.

A high court in Malawi has ordered the government to allow Rastafarian students with dreadlocks to attend school. The temporary order was made while the court continues to hear the case filed by a schoolgirl who was denied admission to a primary school because of her dreadlocks, Malawian media reported. (Source Foreign News: BBC Africa)

Mimi Mefo Info