National and international News Roundup. Tuesday 17th September 2019.

1 Some political analysts in Cameroon have criticised the non-inclusion of separatist fighters on the list of groups and individuals taking part in pre-consultations with the Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute. To this school of thought, the envisaged fruits of dialogue, which is peace, cannot be a reality in the absence of non-state armed fighters.

2 The Cameroon People Democratic Movement party has pledged to support the government’s efforts towards dialogue. A delegation of the CPDM party headed by the SG Jean Nkuete was received in audience today by the PM. The union of journalists in Cameroon and the national youth council equally submitted their proposals.

3 Hon. Jean Jacques Ekindi has applauded the dialogue process launched by President Paul Biya. In a press conference in Douala today, the national coordinator of the Progressive Movement says the crisis can only come to an end if people sit on the table and talk about their differences.

4 Efforts to fast track decentralisation were on the menu today, as a national decentralisation board meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute. Pundits think much efforts put in place by the government now to enforce decentralisation is an indirect way of saying nothing that concerns the form of state will be discussed during the national dialogue

5 Primary school pupils studying at Government School Ngwelle at Douala 4 have been promised a modern school building.  Laurent Serge Etoudi Ngwa, the Minister of Basic Education visited the school that is hosting hundreds of internally displaced pupils from the anglophone regions of Cameroon in poor blank buildings. The Minister also visited several other primary schools in Douala to ensure effectiveness.

6 After 15 years of managing the Douala seaport container terminal, Bolore Group; a French company has lost ownership in the management of the terminal. “Terminal Investment Limited” won the bid.

7 Kidney patients in Buea have threatened to start a strike tomorrow at the Buea Regional Hospital.  They are against the inadequate number of dialysis machines to sufficiently care for the patients. Six out of the ten machines are not functioning thereby forcing some patients not to have their blood purified by the machines regularly as before.

8 Months after escaping the crisis in Cameroon, a 20-year-old refugee mother identified simply as ‘Claudia’, sells her baby for ₦70000. Claudia blamed her action on hunger and hardship during interrogation by police officers who arrested her alongside Victor who proposed the ‘business’.  The untold hardship Claudia has reportedly faced since arriving the Adagom refugee camp in Nigeria in October 2018, has been said to have forced her to take such drastic action.

9 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “sincerest apologies over xenophobia in South Africa” has been conveyed to the people of Nigerian via their President Mohamadu Buhari. In a meeting that took place at the Aso Rock Villa, the envoy promised South African Police will leave no stone unturned at bringing defaulters to book. At least 12 people were killed in the violence that left hundreds of shops destroyed. Meanwhile, Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday said it was a “fallacy” for South Africa to believe that xenophobia would make more jobs available to its citizens.

10 The ECOWAS Parliament on Monday appealed to the Nigerian government to reopen its closed borders as it hampers on the implementation of free trade movement within the ECOWAS region. Hon. Moustapha Cisse Lo made the call in a statement at the opening of the 2nd Extra-Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Monrovia, Liberia. ‘The border closure poses a threat to the implementation of the Protocol on the free movement of persons at a time when Africa needs to intensify efforts for effective abolition of barriers within the Community’.