A civil society group, “Stand Up for Cameroon” (SUFC) staged a protest this day in Yaoundé denouncing elections while calling for a political transition. Led by Edith Kah Walla, SUFC says there cannot be any positive action in Cameroon without a political transition. Earlier this week, four people were arrested in Bangangte for calling for election boycott.
Paul Atanga Nji says “everything is under control” in the North West ahead of elections. The Cameroon Minister of Territorial Administration was speaking in Bamenda today after meeting with administrative authorities.
Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) is confident that elections will take place in the North West and South West Regions of the country without any problem. Erik Essousse said on state radio that military men deployed to the regions will guarantee free and fair elections.
Security Officers at the Gendarmerie Brigade in Nylon Douala are investigating a case of a stolen baby. The three-month-old baby, according to the mother, was taken away three days ago by a girl in her beauty salon. This is the second case of a stolen baby in Douala in a week.
Hundreds of youth are scrambling for places to serve as volunteers during the 2020 African Nations Championship, CHAN. Young people practically spent several hours at the delegation of sports and physical education in Bonanjo to secure a spot. Officials say more than eight thousand files have been deposited already. Competent persons shall be selected into sixteen commissions.
Military and security forces in Bamenda are in the process of building trust and understanding with the population of the North West Region of Cameroon. Today, military and civilians staged a sports walk in some streets in Bamenda to reassure the population of their safety.
Residents of Noni, in Bui Division of Cameroon’s North West region, say a raid by soldiers has left them in fear. “This morning … military men from Nkor stormed our village (Bamti) shooting randomly. Everyone is in the bush,” a local says. The incident comes days to the February 9 twin elections.
A uniformed officer is said to have been found dead in Fundong, Boyo Division of the North West Region. The corpse, an unconfirmed source said was found “at the bridge over the small river leading to Mentang in Isaibal, Fundong with one leg cut off”. Locals are said to be in fear of retaliation from the armed forces.
After several months at the Kondengui prison in Yaoundé, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has broken the silence on his Twitter account. In an online post, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe says “I will like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all Southern Cameroonians, Ambazonians and sympathizers who have endured the struggle for our liberation from brutal subjugation”. He and other leaders were given heavy jail terms and fines after being captured in Nigeria and tried in Yaoundé.
The Cameroon Embassy in China has finally reacted to the Coronavirus outbreak. It lauded the preventive measures of Cameroonians in the Asian country and urged them to remain vigilant. The embassy’s response comes after several complaints of their failure to immediately respond to the needs of Cameroonians in China especially those in Wuhan where the virus originated.
There have been varied reactions from inhabitants of Bamenda following calls by military and administrative officials for them to trust their security protection. In a march around the city of Bamenda this morning, military men carried messages of encouragement and engagement to protect the people.
About 9 boys were arrested today at Barombi Kang in Kumba in the South West region of Cameroon. “The guys they took were playing football at the Barombi Kang government school field,” says a source. The boys, the source adds, were taken by a mixed unit of soldiers, gendarmes and the police in a pickup.
The 33rd AU Summit starts on Sunday. Cameroon’s President Paul Biya is expected to attend the next Summit of Heads of State and government in Ethiopia alongside his other counterparts. Like in previous times, however, the president will likely be represented by the Minister of External Relations. Lejeune Mbella Mbella.
A 19-year-old student in Obala in the Center region has died following a road accident. Lebogo was returning from school in a pickup truck, reports say when it collided with another truck transporting logs. Four others were injured in the incident.
Nigeria’s electoral commission has deregistered 74 political parties in the country, leaving 18 officially recognised in Africa’s most populous nation. It said they had failed to meet several constitutional requirements. To be officially recognised, a party must win at least 25% of votes cast in any election at a federal, state or local level – or win at least one ward in a local government election.
Six people have been quarantined in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, awaiting the results of coronavirus tests. The five Ethiopians and a Chinese national had all travelled from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the new virus that has killed more than 600 people.
Eleven ruby miners have died in northern Mozambique in the last three days at an illegally dug mine. Obete Matine, the General Inspector at the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, said the walls of one tunnel had first collapsed on Tuesday in Cabo Delgado province’s Montepuez district, killing one man. But instead of abandoning their search for rubies the other miners went on digging, he said.
The Nigeria Red Cross has mobilised some one million volunteers to deal with the possible spread of coronavirus into the country, along with the existing outbreak of Lassa fever, its Secretary-General Abubakar Ahmed Kende told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam has resigned amid a power struggle which followed a spying scandal at the bank. The French Ivorian is stepping down after five years at the Swiss bank just months after it emerged that two former employees had been placed under surveillance. Mr Thiam said he did not know the spying was taking place.
Rwanda’s minister in charge of legal affairs Evode Uwizeyimana has resigned after pushing a female security guard to the ground. The incident, which took place on Monday, was revealed after an eyewitness tweeted about it. Mr Uwizeyimana apologised on Twitter, saying he deeply regretted what had happened.
Equatorial Guinea’s president has announced that the oil-rich country is to donate $2m (£1.5m) to aid its “sister nation” China as it battles the coronavirus outbreak that has so far killed 636 people. Yet China boasts the world’s second-biggest economy after the US, and its GDP of $13.6tr dwarfs Equatorial Guinea’s $13.4bn. The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and is intended as a show of “support and solidarity” to one of Equatorial Guinea’s key trading partners. (Source Foreign News: BBC Africa)
