National and International News Roundup: Tuesday 11th February 2020
The town of Kumba in the South West Region of Cameroon maintained its calm after a timid celebration to mark the 54th edition of the National Youth Day. The Youth Day parade took less than ten minutes. No primary and secondary school learners marched because of insecurity. To SDO Chamberlain Ntou’ou Ndong, youths of Meme division should take advantage of the Decentralisation and Special Status that have been offered to the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon.
In Bamenda, Youths of the Cameroon People Democratic Movement – CPDM massively participated in the march past activity. The governor of the North West noted that the participation this year was more encouraging than that of last year.
Massive participation for the celebration of Youth day in Nkambe, Donga Mantung Division in the North West region of Cameroon. Pupils of nursery and primary schools; students of secondary and professional schools took part. Administrative officials in the division say a greater number of people in the division have overcome threats of separatist fighters.
The Divisional President of the Cameroon Youth Council for Lebialem has expressed doubts over the validity of figures of job creation last year as mentioned by President Paul Biya. To Nkengafac Ernest, President Biya failed to mention thousands of people that lost their jobs in the North West and South West regions due to the crisis. He mentioned the partial shutting down of the CDC as having increased the rate of unemployment.
The National Episcopal Conference in Cameroon regrets that four months after the major national dialogue, violence continues to be rife in the North West and South West Regions. The body deployed observers in 46 out of 58 divisions in Cameroon. To the National Episcopal Conference, there was timid participation generally in Cameroon. This came from a declaration made by the President of the National Episcopal Conference, His Lordship Abraham Kome.
The timid participation of Cameroonians in the municipal and legislative elections has been interpreted as a silent response to a call for boycott by the Cameroon Renaissance Movement party. To some militants of the CRM party, most Cameroonians overwhelmed by the arrogance of the government opted to stay in their homes on February 9, 2020.
The CPDM party has won Douala 3 council, which the party lost in 2013. The council will have councillors from three political parties. That is CPDM, SDF and PCRN political parties.
A firing squad has executed two men in north-eastern Somalia for raping and killing a 12-year-old girl. Aisha Ilyaas Aden was abducted, gang-raped and killed near her home in Galkayo, in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, in February 2019. The case caused uproar and sparked demonstrations across the country. Ten suspects were initially arrested but the regional High Court found three of them guilty in May. Prosecutors said they relied on DNA evidence for the first time to convict them. Two of those found guilty – Abdifatah Abdirahman Warsame and Abdishakur Mohamed Dige – were shot at a public square in Bossasso town on Tuesday morning, the Garowe Online news website reported. A third man, Abdisalam Abdirahman Warsame, the brother of Abdifatah, was spared despite also being sentenced to death. Aisha’s father, Ilyas Aden, has told Puntland State TV that he requested the court postpone Abdisalam’s execution for 10 days until his case is re-assessed.
Most women who applied to join Liberia’s army failed because they were physically unfit, army officials say. Eighty per cent of female candidates were not able to be enrolled by army recruiters. A candidate must “meet certain [a] number of push-ups, sit-ups and to be able to run like two miles”, said army chief of staff, Maj Gen Prince C Johnson. Women in rural places achieved high scores when it came to physical fitness, but when it comes to the aptitude tests they did not do as well as those in urban areas, he added.
About 30,000 people packed a stadium in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, for the state funeral of the country’s longest-serving President Daniel arap Moi, who died last week aged 95. Rather than mourning, many in the crowd celebrated Mr Moi’s life. He was a towering figure who dominated Kenyan politics during his 24-year presidency. Critics saw him as an authoritarian ruler, while allies credited him for maintaining stability.
The population of Egypt has reached 100 million, with a new baby being born roughly every 18 seconds. Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said last week that overpopulation was the single biggest challenge facing Egypt. President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has described it as being equal to terrorism as a threat. Recently, the authorities have brought in measures to try to encourage people to have smaller families. The population has skyrocketed in the past three decades – from 57 million in 1990. (Foreign News Source: BBC Africa).
