It never rains, but it pours. Cameroonians and Cameroon are in for tough times. The country’s future is gradually heading to the rocks. The monarch’s health is fast deteriorating and this does not augur well for a country that is already mired in political and military chaos that is tearing the people apart.

On Tuesday, the very first results from tests carried out on Mr. Biya clearly indicated that the “monarch” had a health crisis on his hands. A Cameroon Intelligence Report source in Switzerland has hinted that the situation is concerning and from every indication, the monarch has not got much time left. The source added that the trip to Switzerland was prompted by the fact that his health condition was already becoming an issue to his close collaborators.

Many of Mr. Biya’s collaborators fear that he might not be able to take the heat that comes with a strenuous exercise like an election campaign. The people around him are concerned and are working round the clock to ensure nothing filters out.

But bad news always travels very fast. Like lies, bad news loves flying and news of Mr. Biya’s poor and declining health is on many lips at the Unity Palace where many fear he might not make it this time around. His party members, especially those of the Central Committee, are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that if the inevitable happens, they will be able to have a candidate that will unite the party and win the upcoming presidential election.

Cameroon Intelligence Report has been reliably informed that the ruling party’s ailing secretary general, Jean Nkuete, has been worried over the last few days. While putting a brave face in public, the secretary-general who has been scarred by vitiligo, has been displaying some signs of frustration and anger. He has been Mr. Biya’s major pawn in their game to keep power for decades. But with the monarch’s health failing, Mr. Nkuete knows that the young hawks in the government might elbow him out of the corridors of power.

Ruling party stalwarts know that there is bad news in the offing. Their party has not endeared itself to the people of Cameroon. Its mismanagement of the economy has hurt many Cameroonians and this is no good news for a party that is looking forward to re-election. Although the ruling CPDM has never really won an election, it is scared that with millions of voters clearly displaying their frustration with the party, their rigging machinery may not deliver the results they expect.

The fear within the ruling party is huge. The Southern Cameroons crisis that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons has hurt the ruling party in a big way. The ruling party has clearly mismanaged a protest, giving it a chance to grow into a full blown civil war.

A member of the ruling CPDM has aptly captured the mood in the country and party. In a secret interview with the Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Yaounde, the party stalwart, who elected to be anonymous, said the country could spiral out of country if care was not taken. He took a swipe at the president whom, he said, behaved as if nothing was happening in the country. He chided his colleagues in parliament and senate who had done everything possible to ensure that the Southern Cameroons crisis did not get discussed in both houses.  

The member of the party’s central committee hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that the party was gradually falling apart just as Mr. Biya himself who is gradually yielding to a failing heart and a distended prostrate. The party needs to carry out some fundamental changes, he said, adding that the country itself needed an extreme makeover. A sea change in economic policies will enable the crumbling economy to once more find its feet, he said.

“Our party which many erroneously think it is a great party is coming apart. The internal succession battles are ripping the party apart. With Mr. Biya’s health going south, it is clear that his days are numbered. He has been the one holding the party together and now that many party members suspect his health is failing him, they think that someone else should replace him so that the party can have a fair chance at the upcoming presidential election. Mr. Biya seems to wield a lot of power both within the party and the country, but honestly, he is not the person running the show. The country is in very unsafe hands and those who have warmed their way into Mr. Biya’s heart are clearly mismanaging things,” the desperate CPDM Central Committee Member said.

He added that “what our country is going through today in the two English-speaking regions of the country clearly offer us a manual on how best to mismanage a problem. We have already lost more than 2,000 young men and women, including our uniformed officers who should have not been sent to the English-speaking regions in the first place. We of the ruling party must learn how to listen to our people if we have to endear ourselves to the population.”

He also added that “I will never say this in public, but I think the arrogance that has become the hallmark of my party is due to the fact that we have always rigged elections. If the people actually had to decide on who has to win elections, I think my fellow party members will learn how to be humble. Arrogance and greed are suffocating our country and the ruling party. Some people think the country belongs to them and anybody who holds a contrary view is immediately branded a terrorist. That is not how to run a country and a party. We have only succeeded to transform Cameroonians into our enemies and this gives the opposition parties a clear advantage.”

Cameroon, he underscored, was headed in the wrong direction. “We cannot continue to slaughter each other and the president is behaving as if nothing is happening. He has lost total control of how to address this huge fire that he ignited when he declared war on Southern Cameroonians. From every indication, it is clear that the government has not got a plan to put an end to this crisis. The soldiers are all trembling and the fighters on the ground have succeeded to intimidate everybody. Many of my colleagues who are either senators or parliamentarians are all scared of going to their constituencies. They know what awaits them out there. They have been working with the corrupt government to rob the people of their happiness and the time of reckoning has come. None of them can really stand up to the people’s scrutiny.”

“We all are scared. The country is gradually imploding and if we are not careful, we may go the way of many of our neighbors. I am not from Southern Cameroons or Ambazonia, but the pain and suffering the crisis in that region is spinning into the French-speaking part of the country is a great concern even to the president. With huge crowds moving into East Cameroon, it is clear that the Amba boys or whatever they are called, could use that opportunity to set up shop in many of our big cities. This is no good news for many of us who really want a peaceful resolution of this problem.”

“The fear is all the more unbearable when we see those videos of people being shot and killed at point blank in the country’s northern region. What will northerners be thinking of the country’s military which is predominantly Beti? The international community has clearly lost faith in us. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International are working hard to expose our government’s brutality and lack of respect for human life. I am indeed at a loss for words. The evil I see in our country leaves me awake all night. We cannot continue to pretend as if we are not human beings. If we cannot deal with the situation, then we should let the United Nations to come in and put an end to the needless killings that are giving our country a very bad name,” he regretted.

In his view, while Cameroon is falling apart, the country’s president is in Geneva, Switzerland, in search of proper medical attention for his failing heart and prostrate. He stressed that the 85-year-old monarch, who had presided over his country’s destiny for almost 36 years, had been dealing with a failing health for more than ten years and his country of choice when it comes to treatment is Switzerland.

“The president is suffering. His health is a serious issue to his collaborators and many fear that he might not make it to the end of the year. He is suffering from shortness of breath and he can barely stand and walk. His wife and children are all in fear, as the 85-year-old has been spotting a sorrowful and lonely figure. There is bad news on the horizon. The fear is that if the president disappears from the scene, there could be some chaos in the country. For now, there is a lot of confusion and many of his collaborators have already begun jockeying for recognition as the next-of-kin even when the constitution is clear about what will happen in the event of a vacancy,” our source said.

He chided the president for having not built a state-of-the-art medical facility in his country. He said the president was more interested in his own wellbeing instead of working for every Cameroonian to feel safe at home.

“What does he think other Cameroonians are saying about him? Each time he is sick, he heads abroad for treatment. What if other leaders had not developed their own medical facilities? He behaves as if he is a special being. We are all human and it is wrong for him to be misusing state funds for his health. Cameroon deserves better. We have the human resources and our financial resources can grant us even the best medical facility in the world. We have a leadership crisis and Mr. Biya has clearly demonstrated that the fate of his compatriots is not important to him. How many women still die in our country while giving birth? How many children die even before attaining five years? We need new leadership in this country. We need people who can reverse some of the destruction the current government has wreaked on our people. You may not believe me. The CPDM has people with great vision, but they are hardly ever given a chance to display what they are capable of doing. Once this group of people leave power, you will see a new CPDM,” he said.

But it is not only the political front that bears bad news for Cameroonians. The country’s economy is in a total mess. Major rating agencies of the world have just delivered bad news to Cameroonians. Their government is no longer credit-worthy and any loans delivered to the country, will come with a huge price tag.

Currently, Standard & Poor’s credit rating for Cameroon stands at B with a stable outlook. Moody’s for its part, rates the Central African country at B2 with a negative outlook. Fitch’s credit rating for Cameroon was last reported at B with stable outlook. Generally, a credit rating is used by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors to gauge the credit worthiness of a country like Cameroon. The lasting ratings thus have a huge impact on the country’s borrowing costs.

The ratings by these agencies is indeed a big punch to the country’s liver. Receiving a downgrade from Moody’s is the worst thing that can be happening at this time to a struggling country like Cameroon.  The change from stable to negative is a clear indication that the country’s economic indicators are trending very low.

A downgrade simply implies that credit rating agencies no longer have confidence in Cameroon’s financial future and its ability to continue servicing its debts. In other words, Cameroon’s default risk on its debts is getting higher by the day and even more worrying for Yaounde is Moody’s reason for such a negative rating.

According to Moody’s, persistent political instability (the Southern Cameroons Crisis) in the country is a major worrying factor. In the agency’s view, there is heightened uncertainty. Credit ratings are like red flags to potential lenders. They give an idea to lenders on a country’s ability to pay back its debt. This implies that the lower the country’s credit rating, the less likely that institutions will be willing to lend money to such a country.

It should be recalled that as Southern Cameroonians threaten to walk away from their ‘political marriage’ with East Cameroon, this is sowing uncertainty in the minds of many potential investors, especially those who have a huge interest in the country’s oil and gas sectors.

If Southern Cameroonians succeed to walk away, then Cameroon will be losing about 60% of its wealth. Southern Cameroons is blessed with enormous wealth and the Yaounde government holds that it is by terrorizing Southern Cameroonians that it will succeed to keep them under control and in ignorance of what is happening to their resources.

It should also be noted that for almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary in the South West region of Cameroon has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil. Since 2014, Cameroon has exported more than US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which more than US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, has been from crude oil alone. This is a significant amount of money and the Yaounde government cannot afford to lose such revenues.

The government is scared, especially as the possibility of a secession is there. All its efforts to lay the matter to rest have been futile. Its divide-and-rule strategy has simply fallen apart as North westerners and South westerners clearly understand that they are united for a purpose that will bring them happiness and prosperity. Not even the government’s military violence has succeeded to take the wind out of the fighters’ sail. The more the government kills, the more determined the fighters become.

And the chaos that is playing out in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon has given Moody’s more fodder for its cannon. Rating agencies have always called the Yaounde government to reason. The government’s legendary mismanagement has been a cause for concern for this rating agencies and international development finance institutions which have always urged Yaounde to be more transparent in the management of its oil revenue.

Cameroon is in for rough times both politically and economically. As the health of the country’s president continues to become a huge concern, many investors will be holding off on their plans to invest. The situation has been complicated by the bad news from Moody’s. Cameroon is not credit-worthy. That is the message from the rating agency and investors have to beware of a country that is incapable of improving its political and economic environment.

The government is not reliable and it lacks the means to put out an insurgency that started like a simple protest. The chaos in the country’s English-speaking regions and Boko Haram’s relentless bombing of ordinary citizens in the country’s northern part, are not giving Cameroon a good name. Investors love peace, but Cameroon is only capable of delivering chaos. Investors will therefore not be putting their money in a place rating agencies now consider as a black hole. Cameroonians have to take their government to task if things have to change. If things continue the way they are, then the country is heading for a possible political and economic implosion.

 By Kingsley Betek

“This gravel will be crushed, then sifted,” said the 45-year-old widow as she prepared to nurse her 8-month-old baby who had been strapped to her back. “If we’re lucky, we can find gold, but it’s difficult.”

In a good month, she earns around $2.80 for her efforts.

Maboue works in the Kaye quarry, a gold mine abandoned by Chinese miners in early 2017 after two years in operation. Around her, a hundred people noisily searched for the yellow metal in the pits in Ngoe Ngoe, a village in East Cameroon with about 2,600 inhabitants.

Women hauled the earth, crushed the gravel and tended to the mechanized pumps that keep the holes from filling with water. Women and children collected the gravel from the muddy waters.

Last year, Maboue nearly lost her life when a hole collapsed at another open-air mine near Kaye where she was planning to collect gold. She takes these risks to feed her children, she said.

“If I do not do that, how are we going to live?” she asked. “Since the death of my husband, I am the father and mother of the house.”

In that accident, nine prospectors were buried under almost 33 feet of earth in the mine excavated by Lu and Lang, a Chinese mining company banned from operating in Cameroon in April because it lacked a license.

The Ngoe Ngoe village leader, Yaya Moussa, remembered the tragedy.

“The Chinese arrived with [Cameroonian] law enforcement to drive the villagers out of the mine sites to better exploit our resources,” he explained. “So the villagers were forced to come in the night, in the absence of the Chinese, to extract gold and find food for their families. It was during one of these nocturnal outings that the earth fell on them.”

Sidonie Maboue, 45, a widow and mother, picks up small rocks from a mine site abandoned by Chinese miners. These pebbles are later crushed and sieved to collect gold.

Cameroonian law only permits local artisanal miners to search for gold using pans and other rudimentary equipment. But in recent years, Chinese operators who practice semi-mechanized artisanal exploration — including mechanical shovels and loaders, machines and chemicals that wash the gravel and other approaches — have altered the landscape significantly.

Local elites in Cameroon have partnered with the Chinese miners, according to the Center for Education, Training and Support for Development Initiatives in Cameroon, an NGO based in Yokadouma.

“They [the elites] are collecting photocopies of ID cards from villagers on the pretext of wanting to bring in companies that will provide water, electricity and jobs to the village,” said Victor Amougou, the center’s coordinator. “With 10 photocopies, this elite can obtain 40 artisanal mining authorizations equivalent to 40 hectares of land.”

Once the local Cameroonian obtains permission to mine, Amougou said, he or she signs a contract with a Chinese operator to run the mine. The Chinese, in turn, bribe mining authorities and other officials so they can begin work.

The law also states that mining operators must close their holes after completing their digs. Chinese companies usually abandon their giant pits, leaving behind dangerous areas where people and domestic animals might fall and drown. The Chinese companies also pollute rivers with their chemicals and mining runoff, said Moussa.

Last year, 50 people died in abandoned open mining holes in the Ngoura, Bétaré Oya and Ngoe Ngoe localities in eastern Cameroon, according to the calculations of the Forests and Rural Development, a Cameroon-based environmental nonprofit. About 250 mining sites opened between 2012 and 2014 have not been filled, the group added.

“It’s been a while since the Chinese entered my field and started mining gold without my advice,” said Philiphine Boh, a farmer and mother of five who said Chinese miners had destroyed her land. “The Chinese told me that it is the authority that sent them to exploit gold and that they will give me $130. I said that this money is insignificant for a field of one hectare that they spoiled. I have nothing left.

This mining site in Ngoe Ngoe Village, East Cameroon, was abandoned by Chinese mining operators. Nine villagers seeking gold at night died there last year.

Locals rarely gain much from the Chinese investment in their region, others added.

“When the Chinese saw that a Nagbata [an artisan miner in the local language] discovered gold, they chased everyone from the quarry ” said Mahamadou Abdoulaye, 42, who holds a card entitling him to artisan mining. “The government must intervene because these Chinese are threatening us.”

Cameroonian government mining officials said they are trying to address the situation by using drones to investigate claims of other illegal mines, according to two officials who asked to remain anonymous because they did not have permission to speak to the press. They also said Lu and Lang did not have permission to work in the country.

Lu and Lang did not respond to a request for comment.

Still, the precedent was set more than a decade ago: Semi-mechanized artisanal mining was conducted for the first time in Cameroon in 2007 when the government requested that a South Korean company, C&K Mining, rescue 13 tons of gold that was likely to be washed away as officials pumped water into the impoundment behind Lom Pangar Dam in eastern Cameroon.

The authorities conceded the move would violate mining laws but said the situation was an emergency. The move served as a precedent for Chinese companies to engage in semi-mechanized artisanal mining.

Amougou and others said Lu and Lang is now operating a mine in Colomine in eastern Cameroon.

“The mining sector is a mafia,” Amougou said. “This crime does not benefit Cameroon or Cameroonians, perhaps an elite who would have received 5 to 10 million CFA francs [$9,376 to $18,755]. It’s shocking.”

Source: Pri.org

South Africa’s MTN Group is reported to have put on hold a $750 million expansion plan in the Iranian broadband market in the face of US sanctions which are about to take effect on Monday.

Africa’s biggest wireless networks group, which has a 49 percent stake in national operator Irancell, had agreed last year to invest in fixed line broadband network, Iranian Net.

MTN had sought to buy a 49 percent stake in Iranian Net and invest in both equity and loans to help the Iranian company develop a fiber network in eight of the country’s main cities in order to provide high-speed broadband.

However, little progress has been made after a year and the South African wireless carrier has decided to shelve the plan because of looming US sanctions, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.

There was no word on MTN’s another agreement signed last year, under which the company undertook to invest in Iran Internet Group, which runs a car hailing app called Snapp.

MTN has capitalized on strong growth in the Iranian telecoms market – its second biggest after Nigeria with 43 million subscribers at the end of 2017 – to build an unassailable business jurisdiction.

Following the lifting of sanctions on Iran in early 2017, the Johannesburg-based company was allowed to repatriate $1 billion in accumulated dividends from its stake in Irancell.

For its entry into Iran in 2005, the company found favor with Iranian authorities who wrote off Turkcell to grant a $4.2 billion contract to MTN, angering the Turkish mobile phone company.

Turkcell has taken MTN to courts in the US and South Africa, accusing that the group “acted wrongfully” and interfered with its relationship with the Iranian government over the granting of the mobile license.

With the US sanctions about to kick in next week, Turkey has said it will not abide by the bans and continue trade with the Islamic Republic.

MTN’s new Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter has vowed to abandon or sell markets that the company sees as prone to trouble and risk not worth it.

However, “Iran’s size makes it likely the South African company will look to see out the current impasse,” Bloomberg wrote.

Source: Presstv

The United States has issued yet another warning to African nations over the risk of being laden with unsustainable debt through large-scale infrastructure projects that are not economically viable.

The criticism issued by the head of the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) on Monday, comes as Washington seeks to ramp up development finance in the face of China’s global ambitions.

Unveiled in 2013, President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road” initiative aims to build an infrastructure network connecting China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

At some point, someone’s got to pay. Pay or the Chinese take control.

Development support or debt trap?

China has pledged $126 billion for the plan, which has been praised by its supporters as a source of vital financing for infrastructure-starved partners in the developing world.

But in an interview with Reuters in Johannesburg, OPIC CEO Ray Washburne warned that the Chinese strategy created a debt trap for many poor nations.

“Just look at any project in these countries and they’re overbuilding the size,” he said. “We try to have countries realise that they’re indebting themselves to the Chinese.”

Washburne is not the first to warn of growing debt linked to Chinese infrastructure projects.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in April cautioned China’s Belt and Road partners against considering the financing as “a free lunch”.

Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities in its main southern port in the town of Hambantota to a Chinese company in December as part of a plan to convert $6 billion of loans that Sri Lanka owes China into equity.

Djibouti, Zambia cautioned

U.S. officials have warned that a strategic port in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti could be next, a prospect the government there has denied.

Washburne also voiced concern over a $360 million expansion of the airport in Zambia’s capital Lusaka currently being carried out with financing from the Exim Bank of China.

“The local economy isn’t benefiting from that. It’s a much too large airport. They’ll have too much debt on it. At some point, someone’s got to pay. Pay or the Chinese take control,” he said.

The U.S. alternative

Lawmakers in the United States are advancing a new law – the BUILD Act – through Congress that Washburne says should bolster private U.S. investment in developing nations by doubling OPIC’s access to U.S. Treasury credit to $60 billion.

OPIC this month launched an Africa-focused initiative that will earmark more than $1 billion over the next three years for projects supporting transportation, information and communications technology and value chains.

“Instead of giving them a fish, we want to teach them how to fish,” Washburne said. “They’ll have to stand on their own two feet. So we’re not in making loans or doing projects that don’t make economic sense.”

Washburne added that many investments would focus on the kinds of infrastructure projects Chinese firms are currently dominating, including ports, railroads and highways.

REUTERS

Cameroon’s economy is expected to grow 4 percent this year, up from 3.2 percent in 2017 due to the start of natural gas production and construction work for an upcoming soccer tournament, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

Growth was slower in 2017 because of a sharp decline in oil output but new infrastructure projects and increased private investment should bring it to at least 5 percent in the medium term, the IMF said in a statement late on Friday.

Cameroon, one of central Africa’s largest economies, produces about 180,000 barrels per day of oil and is Africa’s fourth-biggest cocoa producer.

The IMF statement followed a decision by its executive board to approve the disbursement of $77.8 million as part of a three-year, $680.7-million financial aid package.

Security risks

The IMF warned, however, that the economy faces considerable risks, including deteriorating security in its English-speaking regions — cocoa and oil-producing areas where separatists are waging a deadly insurgency, and high debts.

“With significant spending pressures associated with the 2018 elections, a worsening security situation and the 2019 African Soccer Cup, any additional oil revenue should be saved,” said Mitsuhiro Furusawa, the Fund’s deputy managing director, referring to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations due to be held next June.

President Paul Biya is due to stand for re-election in the vote later this year. The 85-year-old has governed since 1982 with little tolerance for dissent.

REUTERS

Djibouti on Thursday launched the first phase of Africa’s biggest free trade zone, seeking to capitalize on its strategic position on one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

At ceremonies in the capital, President Ismael Omar Guelleh hailed the scheme as the culmination of infrastructure projects “boosting Djibouti’s place in international trade and commerce”.

The Horn of Africa nation, located at the mouth of the Red Sea and Suez Canal, unveiled three new ports and a railway linking it to landlocked Ethiopia in 2017, as part of its bid to become a global trade and logistics hub.

Somalia’s president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, hailed the free trade zone as a “victory for East Africa”, in comments echoed at the ceremony by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.

The zone, which is connected to Djibouti’s main ports, aims at diversifying the economy, creating new jobs and luring foreign investment through tax-free incentives and full logistical support.

The pilot phase launched Thursday comprises a 240-hectare (593-acre) site.

On its scheduled completion 10 years from now, the $3.5-billion (three-billion-euro) initiative will span 4,800 hectares — the largest free-trade zone on the continent.

The project hopes to see foreign companies setting up manufacturing plants within the zone, adding value to products instead of merely importing and exporting raw materials.

“The volume of goods traveling to East Africa keeps increasing. Every time a product arrives in the continent without being transformed it is a missed opportunity for Africa,” said Aboubaker Omar Hadi, chairman of the Ports and Free Zones Authority.

A row of Djiboutian and Chinese flags fluttered side by side above the freshly painted bright yellow walls surrounding the expansive project — a symbol of the tiny country’s close ties to the Asian giant whose loans have funded its lightning-fast infrastructure growth.

Djibouti — which is also the site of China’s only overseas military base — is a critical part of China’s “Belt and Road” global infrastructure initiative and in a prime position along what has been dubbed the “Maritime Silk Road”.

The free trade zone is being run by Djibouti, the majority shareholder, along with three Chinese companies: the China Merchants Group, Dalian Port Authority and Chinese big data company IZP.

(Source: AFP)

Cameroon-focused producer Victoria Oil & Gas said subsidiary Gaz du Cameroun had entered into an exclusive agreement to partner with European compressed natural gas supplier Naturelgaz Sanayi ve Ticaret.

Naturelgaz is a subsidiary of Turkey-listed Global Investment Holdings.

The partnership would involve the construction of compressed natural gas infrastructure and solutions for customers needing mobile energy, initially in Cameroon, with the intention of rolling out to other African countries.

‘The agreement brings together GDC’s upstream gas capabilities and experience of the Douala energy market with Naturelgaz’ proven track record of delivering CNG solutions,’ chief executive Kevin Foo said.

‘We are excited to be adding CNG to our product mix.’

Source: sharesmagazine.co.uk

The largest employer after the Cameroon government has been handed over to foreign investors. A CDC protocol agreement signed on Wednesday 20th June, 2018 in Yaoundé finally brought to reality the much rumoured speculation of privatisation. Three companies: Tylium from Egypt, Fertilore and Timac Agro from France are the new owners of the multi agro industrial establishment in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Concord News sources revealed that Tylium is interested in the palm oil and rubber sectors, while the two French firms want to revamp production and fertilization of the CDC plantations. Present during the signing of the protocol agreement were the Minister of Agriculture and Rural development and the General Manager of Cameroon Development Corporation, Njie Franklin Ngoni.

Cat calls have greeted the deal with many Southern Cameroonians saying that the timing of the sale was deliberate and an act of economic war against Ambazonians by the Francophone dominated government of President Biya. An aide to Acting President Dr Ikome Sako was quoted as saying that French involvement in CDC is a calculated strategy to stifle the Southern Cameroons resistance.

The historic agro industrial plant in West Africa now has only the medical and technical services including the head office. Banana and tea had been long privatized.

By Tina Nene Nganda

French President Emmanuel Macron has said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that a special budget mechanism will become operational for the eurozone area as of 2021.

Macron said after talks with Markel in Meseberg Palace, northeastern Germany, on Tuesday that he and the German chancellor had agreed on the principle that the eurozone should have its own budget in the coming years.

He said ministers will conclude until the end of the year the details of the mechanism, including whether it would be financed by national sources or a bloc-wide tax.

The budget is part of Macron’s proposals for reforms in the European Union. The scheme has faced criticism in some European countries, especially in Germany, where politicians and economists believe reforms could increase the burden on taxpayers in rich countries as they should pay for the shortcomings of other countries hit by financial troubles.

The far-right opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) filed a parliamentary motion earlier this month, urging Merkel to adopt a tougher line in dealing with proposed reforms in the eurozone to prevent the group from becoming a union with shared liabilities. Members of Merkel’s conservative alliance have also voiced concern about increased risk-sharing among eurozone members.

Critics of Macron’s reforms had hoped that EU members would block the proposals in a June 28-29 EU summit.

However, Macron said on Tuesday that an independent eurozone budget as well as a finance minister would be the key to ensure the stability of the single currency union and to weather economic shocks.

“The fundamental issue at stake is not a mechanism which will magically solve all our problems,” said Macron in a speech on the future of Europe, adding, “What is at stake is to reduce unemployment which affects one in five European youths.”

The French president insisted that the idea for an integrated eurozone budget was not about “mutualizing past debts” or about trying to “resolve the public finance problems of one state or another”.

Source: Presstv

TRADE Secretary Liam Fox has announced the UK has secured a £1.5billion trade deal and signed off £75million in other trade agreements in a major boost for the UK economy after Brexit.

Dr Fox announced today a deal worth more than £1.5 billion had been secured by a UK company to deliver natural gas project in Cameroon. Additional deals have also been secured in Panama, Turkey, India and Qatar worth £75million for British businesses.

Capitalising on recent foreign visits by Cameroon’s Minister Secretary General, UK businesses have been exploring exporting opportunities with some of the fastest-growing economies.

London based oil and gas company New Age and the Cameroon government have agreed a deal that will see the development of a floating natural gas project in Cameroon. The deal comes after Trade Minister Baroness Fairhead’s meeting with Minister Secretary General Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

Source: Express.Co.UK