National And International News Roundup – 7th September 2020

Maurice Kamto has declared a revolution to unseat president Paul Biya. The announcement comes hours after the head of state convened the regional elections, a process the MRC had warned against. The party has also suspended all participation on different Radio and TV platforms till further notice.

Regional elections in Cameroon are set to take place on December 6th, 2020. It was convened by President Paul Biya today despite earlier threats of boycott and protests by opposition parties. The election will hold in all the Divisional headquarters in the country.The mandate of the councillors will run for five years.

Militants of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) Party say the regime in place has once again provoked Cameroonians by convening regional elections for December 6th 2020. According to Bar. Tamfu Richard, the emergency in Cameroon now is to resolve the crisis and not an election. He adds that most traditional rulers of the North West and South West are not in their palaces and will not have the possibility to vote.

Elvis Ngole Ngole has applauded the decree convening regional election in Cameroon. To him, the step will reenforce the process of decentralisation. The front line militant of the ruling party however fails to mention how the regional election will participate in bringing about peace in Cameroon.

Territorial Administration Minister, Atanga Nji Paul insists that the regional elections must take place despite the disapproval of opposition parties. In a press conference in Yaounde today he also threatened to have the MRC leader arrested once more.

A man has died after sustaining bullet wounds last week. A shopkeeper, he was shot as soldiers went on rampage in Bamenda, Chief town of the North West region last week. He was shot in the back as he sought cover from the gunshots.

Doctors Without Borders had come to the rescue of 20-year old Sirri, shot by a stray bullet at the Bamenda food market last week. With hospital bills at over half a million, medics had asked that they be settled before further medical care was given. She has been transferred to a private health facility for better medical attention.

Security forces say they have killed General Spirito of Mbonge in the South West region, alongside six of his gang members. They add that several weapons, ammunitions, explosive devices and Indian hemp were retrieved from their camp in the Bapo forest.

The Bamenda City Mayor has denied claims that a decision restricting commercial and private motorcycles  from working in the main town will increase unemployment. Paul Achobong has stated that riders should reconvert to taxi drivers. To him, the administration will examine the implementation of the decision and if it’s counter productive, it will be cancelled or suspended.

A presumed bandit was lynched and later set free in Meta quarter in Bamenda in the North West region. The boy in his late twenties was caught assisting his supposed partner in crime to still sheets of zinc.

The University of Bamenda has denied claims of unnecessarily delaying the academic defense session of master students of the department of marketing in the Higher Institute of Management and Commerce. According to the Prof. Njimated Godfrey, director of the Institute, the students have not completed all their academic obligations. This is contrary to the version of the disgruntled students.

Five teachers’ trade unions have condemned the violence in the North West and South West regions. In a joint statement, they reveal that 465 schools have been partially or wholly looted, occupied by armed gangs “or partially or wholly burnt down within the past two years. They have also called on the military to exercise restraint in carrying out their duty.

The economy of Meme Division in the South West continues to suffer setbacks following the continuous respect of Monday ghost town. Today, all the markets remained closed with no trader taking the risk to obey orders of the administration to do business on Monday.

The Ayah Foundation has revealed its plans to take in more refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs. They will be housed and catered for at its Buea headquarters and in Loum in the Littoral region where the Foundation has been housing displaced girls, providing everything for them including allowances, education and feeding.

A foreign national is being held at the Judicial Police in Douala. Security officials say he was caught with 18Kgs of methamphetamine at the Douala airport. The suspect was on transit to Europe when he was made out.

Officials in southern Somalia say three members of the Somali special forces have been killed by a car bomb in the village of Jana Abdalla. A US soldier was seriously injured in the attack about 60km (37 miles) from the port city of Kismayo. The suicide car bomb exploded outside a military base. The Islamist group al-Shabab said it carried out the attack. It put the number of casualties as significantly higher, saying 20 people had been killed including US troops.

Ethiopian security officials have barred more than 10 people from boarding a flight to the northern region of Tigray, telling them that elections to take place there later this week are illegal. The passengers, who included four journalists, said the action appeared intended to prevent coverage of the election. Those barred said they had their phones and laptops confiscated.

A court in Uganda’s western town of Ntungamo has charged Deputy Minister for Labour Mwesigwa Rukutana with attempted murder, following an alleged shooting incident over the weekend. He has been in police custody since Saturday. Mr Rukutana is accused of shooting and injuring an opponent’s supporter, after he lost the election in the ruling National Resistance Movement party’s primaries. In a statement published by the state-owned New Vision newspaper, Mr Rukutana’s lawyers denied he had fired a shot.

International institutions are warning of a growing food crisis in southern Africa, with up to 50 million people at risk. The UN’s World Food Programme says Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the worst affected countries. These were hit by a devastating drought in 2019 and have been ravaged this year by a locust infestation that has spread south across the continent. The region is also facing economic hardship stemming from the restrictions imposed to contain coronavirus.

Four people have been arrested in Italy after a young man of Cape Verdian descent was beaten to death near the Italian city of Rome at the weekend. Willy Monteiro Duarte was found dying in a pool of blood after he and a group of friends were attacked after leaving a nightclub. Police say they do not believe the killing to have been racially motivated, but such attacks have been on the increase in Italy in recent months.

A viral cartoon which depicts Nigeria’s First Lady Aisha Buhari showing her daughter’s wedding pictures to Nigerians drowning in a river is “very unfair”, her spokesman Aliyu Abdullahi has told the BBC. Many Nigerians have been complaining bitterly in recent weeks about the high cost of food and fuel and a hike in electricity tariffs, and were not impressed by the images and videos they saw of wedding celebrations – including the bride and groom being showered with money.

Foreign news: BBC