Cameroon's Sonara Refinery Gets $164 Million for Expansion

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Cameroon's Sonara oil refinery, the lone crude processor in the central African nation, will receive 75 billion CFA francs ($164 million) from eight banks to fund its expansion, said Charles Metouk, the general manager.

The refinery, based in Limbe, about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southwest of the capital, Yaounde, will increase capacity to 4 million metric tons by 2015 from the current 2.1 million tons, he told reporters in the port city of Douala yesterday.

The lenders include U.K.-based Standard Chartered Plc, Societe Generale SA's unit in Cameroon, Lome-based Banque Atlantique and Commercial Bank Cameroon, Metouk said.

The refinery, which is currently able to only process light crude, will be able to refine heavy crude after the refurbishment, the type pumped in Cameroon, he said

--Editors: Emily Bowers, Philip Sanders.

Inequality between rich and poor in US worse than Cameroon, Yemen

London, June 20: The gap between America's rich and poor is reportedly at an extreme high, much higher than many developing countries like Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and even Yemen.
According to the Central Investigative Agency's (CIA) World Fact Book, which ranks countries in terms of how 'equally' wealth is distributed, the U.S. is the 42nd most unequal country in the world, the Daily Mail reports.

It has been ranked way behind the European Union and the United Kingdom in terms of equality of pay. In fact, the situation is so extreme that it has even been placed behind countries such as Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.

It is reportedly just ahead of Uganda and Jamaica.
Although income disparity in the U.S. has been growing for decades, the latest figures show that it has now reached levels not seen since the Great Depression.

Ten percent of the total personal income in America was taken home by the top 0.1 percent of earners in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available.

Research suggests the reason for this extraordinary disparity is a huge rise in pay for company executives.
'Basically, executives represent a much bigger share of the top incomes than a lot of people had thought. Before, we just didn't know who these people were," economist Jon Bakija, a professor at Williams College who with his co-authors is continuing the research, said.

Source: Asian News International/DailyIndia.com

CAMEROON: THE ILLUSION OF AN ELECTION

By Larry Eyong

The selectiveness with which the United States decides on which dictator, must democratize, and which ones may perpetuate their power, is as breathtaking, as it is brazen. So, while the United States is launching one hundred tomahawk missiles, at a million dollars apiece at   Ghaddafi ‘s Libya, it is sacredly prodding the house of Saud in Saudi Arabia, to prop up the tottering edifice of the  Al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain –condoning the suppression of seventy percent of the population that is Shiite, because Bahrain is the base of the US fifth fleet, -the standby force that maintains the Pax American in the Middle East.   

This same skewed logic explains why the United States did assist France to oust the nationalist Gbagbo in Ivory Coast, while at the same time sending troops to prop up the venially dictatorial Biya and Compoare regimes in Cameroon and Burkina Faso respectively.

Thus, in spite of the “Arab Spring”, the United States seems to have decided, in its infinite discretion, that the people of Cameroon do not deserve the benefits of freedom, or the enjoyment of the fruits of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because the profits of ExxonMobil and the strategic interests of the Unites States pertaining to the Chad –Cameroon pipeline are more important.

Obviously, the foregoing assertion is rebuttable on grounds that the Cameroonian people are supposed to be masters of their own destiny, and that a people have the leaders that they deserve. Well, if horses were wishes, then beggars would ride: the peaceable people of Cameroon, while cherishing the benefits of freedom and the prerogative of democratically electing their leaders through the ballot box, don’t seem to be ready to risk life and limb in furtherance of that goal. At least, not right now. 
 One could argue that the domino effects of the other collapsing dictators could create a contagion that would sweep through dictatorships like the one that has held sway in Cameroon for twenty nine years. Not when the youth are so disenchanted with their  leaders, and so destitute that survival is more urgent than freedom.

When the United States funds a five thousand man strong tribal army for the Biya dictatorship under the auspices of Africom; when security forces attack and kill unarmed demonstrators with sheer wantonness, the fear that is instilled in the psyche of the nation is so paralyzing that even presidential candidates cannot dare travel and organize in most of the country. It is easy to blame Cameroonians for not standing up to the dictator. But standing up with olive branches against helicopter gun-ships spraying rockets does not seem to be a fair fight.

The wounds and scourging of the 1990 multiparty struggle, the betrayal, still evergreen in the memory of the university students who spearheaded the struggle is utterly paralyzing. The greedy opposition leaders are still around, bearing their teeth like hyenas. Eyeing the money that Biya is ready to disburse to them for participating in the election and thus legitimizing his dictatorship, no one is ready to cede place to the most electable opposition leader who could oust Biya and start the process of genuine reform.

Perhaps most distressing, is the crowd of Lilliputians; the lackluster, small time candidates without the resources, clout or name recognition to make a real difference. In their morbid self-love, they have refused to liaise with each other. Without a united front, they are sure to guarantee Biya the appearance of legitimacy. Cameroonians seem resigned to wait for the inexorable death of Biya, to hope to chart a new course in the future. But, the future seems bleak. With the Ivorian example still burnished in the popular imagination of Cameroonians, the specter of an increasing French presence and influence looms large. So too does the probability of violence.

Escapee of forced marriage turns lesbian

By Gbor Tani

Nelly Atia

As educated as Nelly Atia is, she would, no doubt, want to choose a man as her husband but that is not the case: she is imposed one, whom she rejects and that begins her ordeal.Her mother too is against forced marriage.

     But the mother’s village traditions and circumstances would deprive Nelly of the right and freedom to decide whom to marry.

    A graduate of the University of Yaounde, Nelly, daughter of an unmarried mother of six, is said to have refused getting married to Esirikum, husband of her late elder sister Esther. According to the village tradition Esirikum,a septuagenarian and polygamist could marry the younger sister of any of his wives, who died as a replacement for the loss. That is how the old man developed interest in Nelly, when his wife Esther died.

   Even as Nelly’s mother is totally against such a marriage, her uncles insist that tradition must prevail else her daughter would face undesired consequences if she turns down the proposal.She could be bewitched, according to villagers.

   Worried, Nelly’s mother reportedly helped her daughter leave the village in Manyu to bring to futility the planned marriage, to the disappointment of family notables.

   Nelly succeeded to escape to Thailand in 2009 but returned to Yaoundé three years later, only to be accused of lesbianism. She is said to have been caught fondling a female relation named Ebangha, whose father is a government official. She was   detained and later released; but it was unclear to this reporter whether Nelly was released on bail or unconditionally.

   Nelly is said to have been pushed into lesbianism because of threats to her life. The old man she refused to marry him had warned her to have no sexual relations with any other man in Cameroon.

Same-sex relationship for which Nelly is accused is a crime in Cameroon.

   According to Section 347 of Cameroon penal code, "Whoever has sexual relationship with a person of the same sex shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years and a fine from 20.000Fcfa to 200.000 Fcfa"

   Cameron is one of many countries that have refused to decriminalize same-sex relationship despite mounting press from some Developed countries.

 Yet, reports of cases of homosexuality and lesbianism are common in Cameroon just as the prosecution of their suspects is gaining grounds in the country.

Cameroon: Njoh Litumbe, 84, Publishes Book on Annexation of Southern Cameroons.

*Says annexation is crime against humanity.

*And challenges Southern Cameroons to claim their independence now.

By Christopher Ambe Shu



Mola  Njoh Litumbe (left) at  Book Press Conference



Senior citizen and Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Alliance (LDA),Mola Njoh Litumbe,84,who is now one of the frontline advocates for the independence of Southern Cameroons, has written a book –based on extensive research, on what he calls the colonization of the then UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons by La Republic du Cameroun.

Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest Regions are what used to be the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons, which Mola Litumbe strongly argues has never gained independence- going by UN regulations, but has only –for decades, been annexed by a neighboring sovereign state, a Republique du Cameroun.

Mola Litumbe presented his book titled, “Case of the Annexation of the UN British Administered Territory of Southern Cameroons” at a press conference in Buea on May 28.

The 48-page book, written in French and English, according to Author Litumbe, is also a “Critical review of the Formation and Dissolution of the State of the Federal Republic of Cameroon”.

The Book

Mola Litumbe who has been footing his own bills globe-trotting and  meeting those who matter at home and abroad including the UN and are concerned about the plight of Southern Cameroons, told journalists that, he was challenged by the Diaspora to reduce his various presentations in defense of the Anglophone cause, in to a book.

He disclosed that before publishing the book, he had served the Cameroon Government with a copy of the manuscript, in the hope that they would read and appreciate the facts of the problem and begin to consider corrective measures.

“Southern Cameroons has never got independence from Britain. We merely changed our slave master from  Britain to la Republique du Cameroon, “Mola Litumbe, stressed. “We have just been annexed. This is crime against humanity- because colonialism is abolished”.

The author hoped that after reading the book and sharing the facts contained therein, Southern Cameroons-the two English –speaking regions of Cameroon, would more than ever before “assert their inalienable rights and claim their independence”

Although Southern Cameroons were denied their legitimate fundamental right of sovereign independence, “they could only be deemed to have done so if they joined one of the two neighboring sovereign states viz: Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun. 


On the above basis, a UN-supervised plebiscite was conducted throughout the British Cameroons on 11/12 February 1961 and Northern Br.Cameroons voted to join Nigeria and Southern Br.Cameroons voted to join la République du Cameroun.

And it was agreed that on October 1, 1961 Southern Cameroons would gain its independence by joining La Republique du Cameroun, which had gained its independence on January 1, 1960

But Britain –as custodian of Southern Cameroons, failed to guide its mandated territory towards reaching proper agreements with La Republique du Cameroun and getting such registered at the UN as legally required for such to be cited before any of the UN organs.

According to the UN Charter, Article 102(1), “Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any member of the United Nations after the present Charter comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the secretariat  of the UN and published by it”

(2)No party to such treaty or international agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty or agreement before any organ of the United Nations”

Mola Litumbe, who is the doyen of chartered accountants in Cameroon, has therefore challenged La Republique du Cameroun that is claiming that Southern Cameroons is part of its territory “to produce the documentary proofs, based on the UN Charter provisions, as well as the constitutive Act of African Union”

And “in the absence of such verifiable proofs”, Mola Litumbe maintains, “La Republique du Cameroun is committing an act of annexation and imperialism over Southern Cameroons by denying the latter their legitimate right of self-determination”

The book, which sells at 5000Fcfa and has been described as a must-read  by first reviewers, also talks about The Concept of Independence by Joining, the Two UN Trust territories of British Cameroons and French Cameroon, The Situation of Southern Cameroons, The Exchange of Notes pertaining to the abdication of Southern Cameroons to la Republique du Cameroon, The heroic all-Anglophone Conferences, The Bakassi Affair and the Green Tree accord, The Banjul Recommendations and much more

The press conference was also attended by several Hunan Rights Activists, such as Senior Barrister Sam Ekontang Elad, who is pioneer Chairman of Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC),Lawyer Ajong Stanislaus- one of the attorneys defending the Southern Cameroons case against La Republique before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’Rights in the Gambia.