2019 Mt Cameroon Race of Hope: Peace-plant-carrying athlete steals show !

Mt Cameroon race athlete, Jules Nkomnkom, with peace plant calling for the return of peace to Cameroon,whose two English-speaking regions  have not known peace since 2016,with the eruption of the Anglophone  Crisis; Photo Credit: Chris Ambe

By Christopher Ambe 

The 24^th  edition of  Mount Cameroon Race of Hope, last Saturday February 23^th , took place  in Buea, amid very tight security intended to counter threats of life by separatists who did not want  the event  come to fruition, and had called for ghost towns in Fako Division, to disrupt it.

Even as 36-year old Mbatcha Eric and Tatah Carine emerged as the 2019 champions in the senior male and female categories respectively, another athlete, Jules Nkomnkom shot into prominence by introducing a new initiative of peace advocacy.  

Although not a race winner, Nkomnkom, who almost entirely covered his race t-shirt with the Cameroon flag and was carrying a peace plant, became a center of attraction as he returned from the mountain. As he arrived at the Molyko Omni sport Stadium, the plant-carrying athlete excitedly knelt on the finish line, raised his plant and prayed to God for a quick return of peace to Cameroon.

Nkomnkom’s initiative- at this critical moment with the ongoing Anglophone Crisis was greeted by cheers from the crowd, prompting the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Professor Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, to improvise a special prize of 200,000fcfa for the athlete, which award was baptised the “citizenship and patriotism prize.”

 Apparently because of the secessionists’ threats, only 241 of the initially registered 522 athletes courageously took part in the race in the senior, veteran, minor and relay categories. 

This year, thousands of frightened people  who -everything being equal ,would have jammed the Molyko Omnisport stadium to watch the athletes cross the winning line  rather stayed indoors, preferring to watch the race on TV in the comfort and safety of their homes.

Mbatcha Eric, 36, who emerged this year’s winner in senior male category covered the race’s 38 km in 4h40m and received a cash prize of 10 million Fcfa.

In the women’s category, last year’s winner Tatah Carine  still emerged in the first position, doing the race in 5h 29m and smiled home with a cash prize of 10mFcfa as well.

 Just a few foreign athletes ran this year and none emerged as a winner, unlike last year when a Kenyan, Chelimo Luka kipkemoi, emerged third in the male category and became the first foreigner to emerge among the winners in the Race of Hope’s 23 editions.

Originally, Mt Cameroon race started in 1973, and was only christened as Mt Cameroon Race of Hope in 1996, when the main sponsor Guinness SA withdrew.

Other 2019 winners

In the male category (Senior) Ali Mohammadou, from Bui Division of the  Northwest region, emerged second, doing the race in 4h44m and received a cash prize of seven million Fcfa, while Gabsibuim Godlove, who  was champion last year, came third, bagging home five million Fcfa.

In the female category (senior), Ngalim Lizette who secured the second place, smiled home with seven million Fcfa. The third winner was Ngwaya Yvonne, with a cash prize of Five million.

Other winners and runner-ups received additional prizes from co-sponsors of the race, which was organized by the Cameroon Athletic Federation with support from the Cameroon government.

 Professor Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, Minister of Sport and Physical Education and Motomby Mbome Emmanuel, President of Cameroon Athletic Federation, co-chaired both the launching ceremony of the race on Friday February 22 and the race, whose course distance of 38km starts from the Molyko stadium to the Summit of Mount Cameroon(towering about 4090m above sea level) and back.

Cameroon's Sports Minister,Narcisse  Mouelle Kombi (middle) with  2019 Mt Cameroon race champions (male senior category)

Launching the race, Prof.Kombi, who was doing it for the first time since becoming Sports Minister noted, “Sport competition always contributes to the spirit of working together.”

Southwest Governor, Bernard Okala Bilai who was chair of the race’s Local organizing Committee, received accolade from the sports minister and the Cameroon Athletic Federation, for his sustained efforts towards the   success of event.

The race was also marked by side events like musical concerts and cultural dances at the Molyko Omni sport Stadium.

When the race started in 1973, John Ekema emerged pioneer champion and did the course, which was at least 8km shorter then (the starting and finishing point was Buea Town and not Molyko)  in 5h47’

Roundup: 170 students kidnapped in restive Anglophone region of Cameroon released

YAOUNDE, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- One hundred and 70 students and their teacher in a restive English-speaking region of Cameroon were released Sunday, two days after their abduction by gunmen, according to school authorities.

"They took away 170 students, two college security guards, one teacher and three of his kids. The abductees were released sometime in the afternoon of Sunday 17 February 2019," Elvis Nsaikila, Kumbo diocesan director of communications, said in a statement.

The statement added that shortly after their release, the abductees assembled in a mission station where they were conveyed by authorities back to the college campus in the evening.

The abducted students and their teacher are from St. Augustine's College, a Catholic secondary school in Kumbo, a town in Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon. School authorities said they were abducted early Saturday "by unidentified gunmen."

"School authorities have requested parents and guardians to come and take their children back home as soon as possible. The school has closed down," said Nsaikila, adding that the two days of captivity were of "grave concern and anxiety."

A local official who requested anonymity said more than 50 other people that had been abducted alongside the students were released and that "they have all returned home."

Since November 2017, government forces have been clashing with militants who want the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest in Cameroon to secede from the largely French-speaking nation.

On early Sunday, a captain in Cameroon's army was killed by militants in Southwest, according to the Cameroon army.

On Feb. 11, crossfire between government forces and militants in Cameroon's Anglophone regions killed at least six civilians.

The United Nations estimates that at least 430,000 people have been displaced internally by the conflict.

The government and militants have also been engaged in a blame game of rampant kidnappings in the strife-torn regions.

The government regularly accuses militants of the abductions while the militants insist they are staged by the government to tarnish their image internationally

CAMEROON : WHO BURNT DOWN KUMBA HOSPITAL?

Part of Kumba Hospital that was burnt down on February 11,2019 by unknown arsonists

By Ayah Paul Abine*

In the last two days, the question as to who has burnt down the Kumba Hospital has resurfaced prominently. An eminent Francophone lawyer has argued powerfully that the Camerouoonianese Government doesn’t appear to have a clear conscience. The mainstay of her stance is that, in the normal course of things, the best position of the government would have been that ‘investigation would establish who the culprits were’. By rushing to blame the arson on the Amba fighters within the hour of the arson whereas the government was hundreds of kilometers from the scene does suggest a guilty conscience…

Countering that argument with the fact that the opposite camp did retort similarly does create a serious doubt as to the veracity. Faced with such possible in pari delicto, we of the learned profession often do find make recourse to the objective tests to establish the veracity. In the instant situation, similar facts evidence could be usefully decisive!

We would, in the circumstance, find extremely useful the findings as to who burnt down the Mbonge Hospital, similarly burning patients alive? The silence of the government in the face of the grave accusation that it was the act of government agents would be very cogent evidence.

Again, the consistent evidence that the burning of some two hundred villages is held to have been perpetrated by government agents is a strong corroborative pointer. Such burning has been accompanied by the burning alive of human beings, at times, in their sleep. What difference is there between the burning of human beings in dwelling houses and the burning of patients on their hospital beds?

And if the government nonchalantly removed Francophone MRC (political party) patients with bullet wounds from their hospital beds into prison custody, glaringly before the international community without qualms, how on earth would that same government care a damn treating Anglophone patients all the worse?

Only one thing is desirable. The truth about the burning down of the Kumba Hospital can only be established credibly by a neutral third party and NOT by the Camerouoonianese Government as some international bodies have proposed. The very government that has hastily accused the ‘secessionnistes’ NEVER can be expected to conclude otherwise.

How can any reasonable person forget that no one should be a judge in his own cause???

* Ayah Paul Abine is a retired Deputy Attorney-General of Cameroon's   Supreme Court ,now a Barrister-at-law .This piece was first published on his facebook page on February 17,21019

Cameroon's 53rd National Youth Day:Biya promises 500,000 jobs to youth in 2019

President Paul Biya addressing Youth on February 11,219//photo credit :PRC

President Paul Biya, 86,who has ruled Cameroon since 1982 today, on the eve of the 53rd National Youth Day, promised to create at least 500,000 jobs to address youth  unemployment worries. February 11 is celebrated yearly  as  National Youth Day. Following is his speech:

"My dear young compatriots,

Last year, on the same occasion, I drew your    attention to the changes that were taking place in the world, which pointed to declining solidarity between nations and a recrudescence of national egoism. Unfortunately, recent trends in relations between States confirm this assertion.

My intention was to make it quite clear to you that we had to prepare for such eventuality by first counting on ourselves and then being less dependent on the outside world. That is why I made the emergence of our country a “national cause”.

It is obvious that you already are and will, in the coming years, be the key actors of such emergence. In that regard, it is not futile to recall that for most nations, and ours in particular, each generation, at one moment or another, had to mobilize to uphold a cause that is considered just and necessary.

For our founding fathers, the cause was independence which is inextricably linked to national unity. For their successors, it was the establishment and consolidation of the institutions of the new State. For the next generation, it was the advent of democracy and social progress. For the present generation, it is modernization of the economy and social justice.

For you, the cause is first of all to protect all our achievements in order to better wage the struggle for emergence. Much has been done over the past years to improve our economic fabric. It will be up to you to continue on the same path. You will have to implement our major agricultural revolution, industrialization, infrastructure, as well as social, education, health and housing projects.

During my swearing-in ceremony last November, I asked you not to lose hope. I am repeating that request today. I am quite aware of your difficulties. I understand your aspiration for change and your desire to be more involved in taking decisions concerning your future. I wish to remind you that tomorrow’s Cameroon will be built with you.

My dear young compatriots,

The year 2018 was marked by the holding of the presidential election in which you participated with enthusiasm either as voters, candidates or actors in the electoral process. Such participation is encouraging as it shows the keen interest you have in the affairs of your country.

This interest should be reinforced and sustained. It stands out from a practice that is now common on social networks and the source of worrying excesses.

Although the principle of this form of direct democracy is not fundamentally wrong, it unfortunately often induces people to adopt positions that are offensive to the authorities, political actors or ordinary citizens. Such political activism often violates not only democratic principles, but also the law.

There is another, more responsible and more commendable, way of being a political activist. By definition, politics refers to the management of society. Voting, standing as a candidate in an election, being elected a municipal or regional councillor, a member of the National Assembly or a senator is engaging in politics in the noble sense of the word. If such is your ambition, do not hesitate to embark on that path for the good of your country.

If you achieve your ambition, you will be participating in building a just, democratic and fraternal society based on our socio-cultural realities and our historical heritage, a society to which our people aspire. You will thus contribute to the quest for solutions to the difficulties that many of our youths are facing in finding a job, starting a family, freeing themselves from outdated customs and resisting the temptation of illegal emigration which is claiming many lives.

You will also have to avoid yielding to idleness which can lead to bad habits such as delinquency and alcohol and drug abuse. The Government will have to take urgent measures to wage a merciless war against these ills that are destroying our youths and which, in the long run, will threaten our country’s future.

My dear young compatriots,

In recent years, I have not been insensitive to your difficulties and your aspirations. During my swearing-in ceremony, I once more made the commitment to facilitate the social integration of youths.

Besides recruitments into the defence and security forces and in some sectors such as education, many ministries have implemented programmes concerning you in particular.

In that connection, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education:

- launched the civic education and national integration campaign which involved more than one million youths and led to the training of   1300 conscripts by the National Civic Service Agency for Participation in Development;

- promoted volunteerism which has helped to train thousands of volunteers for education and health development support operations in priority areas;

- supported associations by providing guidance to youth organizations;

- achieved youth socio-economic integration by training thousands of youths, some of whom are entrepreneurs;

- lastly, and above all, implemented the Three-year “Special Youth” Plan involving more than 600 000 people.

Thus, nearly 4 000 projects have been developed in the agricultural, industrial, digital economy and innovation sectors, and adequate financing also provided.

Many other ministries have also implemented activities for the training and integration of youths into the world of work. I would like to mention in particular the efforts made by the ministries in charge of education to promote professionalization.

Despite these remarkable actions, our country continues to face the problem of youth unemployment. We all know why. Our economy is not buoyant enough to absorb the tens of thousands of youths joining the labour market each year. This also explains why many of them are obliged to accept unskilled jobs to avoid unemployment.

Socially, this situation has many adverse consequences. That is why I will continue to:

- encourage the Government to adopt measures to revive the economy;

- urge economic operators from all over the world to invest in Cameroon;

- advise our youths to seize every available employment opportunity.

You should therefore become committed actors of our new second-generation agricultural policy. Similarly, you should avail yourselves of the opportunities offered by the implementation of our Industrialization Plan and the development of digital technology. The goal is to achieve a level of growth commensurate with our aspiration of becoming an emerging country.

In this regard, there is reason to be fairly optimistic, given that our growth rate is once again on the increase. According to forecasts, it could rise from 3.8% in 2018 to 4.4% in 2019 and 4.7% in 2020, with positive spin-offs for youth employment.

Apart from these encouraging renewed growth prospects, mention should also be made of the role of the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training in promoting employment. More than 500 000 jobs were created in 2018 thanks to the ongoing major projects, agricultural, road and infrastructure projects, as well as the works carried out by regional and local authorities.

Concerning vocational training, the 11 July 2018 law paves the way for the modernization and standardization of training. Vocational training centres of excellence are now operational in Douala, Limbe and Sangmelima. Last year, approved public and private training entities admitted some 40 000 trainees.

There are plans to create no less than 500 000 jobs in 2019.  The Government will pursue the operationalization of a forward planning job management system. The strategic thrusts of the Priority Action Plan of the National Employment Policy will continue to be implemented.

Access to vocational training will be improved by diversifying sectors and increasing training in new centres. The level of training will be improved through the establishment in Yaounde of the National Institute for Trainer Training and Programme Development.

What I have just said underscores the laudable efforts made by the Government to provide our youths with quality training and to facilitate their integration into working life.

My dear young compatriots,

The past few years have not been easy for our country in both the economic and security spheres. Thanks to the virtues of our people, particularly their courage and spirit of selflessness, we have not only overcome our challenges, but have also continued to forge ahead. Our youths can learn from this example.

In conclusion, I would like to remind you that challenges help to strengthen one’s resolve. For my part, rest assured that I am determined to pursue with you our common vision of a democratic, just and prosperous society. Such a society is possible only in a Cameroon that is united in its diversity.

I count on you.

Happy Youth Day to you all!

Long live Cameroonian youth!

Long live Cameroon!

                                                         Yaounde, 10 February 2019

US Officials Tout Good Ties with Cameroon Despite Aid Cut

Members of the Cameroonian Gendarmerie patrols in the Omar Bongo Square of Cameroon's majority anglophone South West province capital Buea on October 3, 2018 during a rally in support of Cameroonian President Paul Biya.

Despite announcing plans to trim military support for Cameroon's government over its alleged human rights violations, key U.S. officials say the United States will continue partnering on security efforts. But a Cameroon official contends the cutback could jeopardize the fight against extremism in the region.

U.S. Ambassador Peter Henry Barlerin assured that the U.S. was "not going to stop security cooperation with Cameroon," the Associated Press reported him saying, after he met Thursday with Cameroon government spokesman Rene Emmanuel Sadi.

"Relations between Cameroon and the United States are excellent and longstanding," Barlerin said, "and we aim to continue that relationship."

His comments in Yaounde, the capital, came after it was reported Wednesday that the U.S. government was cutting about $17 million in military aid to the government of President Paul Biya.

Also Thursday, the head of U.S. Africa Command, Marine Corps General Thomas Waldhauser, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington that Cameroon has "been a good partner with us counterterrorism-wise, but you can't neglect the fact that … there are alleged atrocities," The Washington Post reported.

Waldhauser also told the committee that Africa Command would sustain its mission "to train the counterterrorism forces in Cameroon that deal with Boko Haram," the Islamist militant group.

The Pentagon has roughly 300 U.S. troops engaged in training and aiding Cameroonian security forces.

The State Department and Pentagon "recently assessed our security relationship with Cameroon," according to a State Department email sent to VOA Thursday (and shared a day earlier with The Washington Post.)

Despite "the great cooperation" in fighting Boko Haram and "in restoring maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea," the email said, the U.S. government has "terminated" funding for four defender-class boats, nine armored vehicles, a radar system and helicopter training, among other things.

"We do not take these measures lightly, but we will not shirk from reducing assistance further if evolving conditions require it," the State Department email said.

It added that the measure was intended to press Cameroon "to show greater transparency in investigating credible allegations of gross violations of human rights security forces, particularly in the northwest, southwest and far north regions.”

Cameroonian security forces – grappling with Boko Haram in the far north and the Ambazonian separatist movement in two English-speaking regions in the west – have been accused of committing serious violations against citizens.

“Cameroonian security forces have indiscriminately killed, arrested and tortured people, firing on crowds, displacing thousands of civilians, and destroying entire villages with impunity," Adotei Akwei, an official with Amnesty International USA, said Thursday in a statement responding to the U.S. decision.

Cameroon's government, in a statement Thursday, said it "strongly denies accusations that U.S. military assistance has been used to commit human rights violations. While we have acknowledged instances of human rights violations, they have been investigated and prosecuted through proper judicial channels."

Last year, Cameroon's government rejected a report by Amnesty International, saying its accounts of torture at the hands of security forces amounted to "a web of false allegations."

The current Amnesty International statement urged the Trump administration to "press other donors of security assistance to review their programs and insist on accountability and reform within the Cameroonian security forces.”

France announced Thursday that it would maintain its support.

"France is bound by a defense partnership agreement that it conducts according to the international standards,” French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told reporters at a daily briefing, Reuters news service reported.

A spokesman for the Ambazonian separatist movement also praised the U.S. move and encouraged other Western countries to pull back support, too.

"What the U.S. has done, it came a little bit late – but we appreciate it and we hope that every European nation [and] Canada will follow suit," Chris Anu, the movement's secretary of state, told VOA. "Because if that is not done, the regime in French Cameroon will decimate everything that is in southern Cameroon before the world comes to know about it."

VOA's National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine and English to Africa Reporter James Butty contributed to this report.

-VOA News

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