Briefs

News in Brief
By Essan-Ekoninyam in Yaounde
CEMAC heads of state summit postponed
The 12th ordinary session of the summit of heads of state of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) initially scheduled for Monday, 2 March 2015 was postponed indefinitely. A post on the ECCAS website gave neither the reason(s) for the postponement nor the new date of the holding of the summit which was announced by the current ECCAS chairman, Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba. However, pundits are quick to blame it on the absence in Libreville of some heads of state of the sub-region, such as President Paul Biya of Cameroon who left Yaounde on 1 March 2015 for a brief private sojourn in Europe. The same pundits say the carrying forward of the event to an unannounced date does not augur well for a sub-region which is threatened by Boko Haram insurgency.  

Labour workers’ strike called off
A strike announced on 18 February 2015 by workers of the ministry of Labour and Social Security and which was supposed to take effect as from 2 March 2015, was called off on the latter date thanks to the timely intervention of the head of this ministry, Grégoire Owona. The announcement of the strike followed the cancellation on 17 February 2015 of allowances to the workers in question for special work done. To avert what would have been a very unfortunate situation, the minster held two meetings with some top officials of the ministry on Friday, 27 February 2015. The first, which took place in the morning, was with Luc Thierry Ebolo, the acting director of archives who is equally the national executive president of the National Trade Union for Contract Workers in Cameroon. The minister held the second meeting in the evening with all the directors of the ministry. At the end of this second meeting, the special allowances were reinstituted, reason for the calling off of the announced strike.   


NUDP party offers gifts to defence forces 
The National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP), the party of Bello Bouba Maïgari, donated food items to Cameroon’s defence forces that are engaged in a war against the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, as well as to the population of the Far North region, recently. The gifts which filled a 15-ton lorry were deposited at the conference hall of the Far North governor’s office. They consisted of 500 bags of rice, 500 palettes of water, 200 cartons of Diamaor oil, 100 cartons of sardine, etc. Speaking on the occasion, Hadji Amadou, president of the Diamaré divisional federation of NUDP who represented the national president, is quoted as saying: “I would like, on behalf of the national president of our party NUDP, of members of my delegation and of all members of our party to salute and pay homage to our men in uniform and transmit on behalf of everyone our condolences to the families of our brave soldiers who have died on the battlefield…This symbolic gift is simply a citizen-oriented and patriotic act of support and solidarity to our defence forces and the victimized population…”

Handicapped persons march against Boko Haram
Members of the Inclusive Society for Persons with Disabilities (ISPD), an association bringing together leaders of groups of persons with disabilities, met recently on the occasion of the seventh general assembly of their association, to strengthen their cohesion and seek ways of making giant strides in the improvement of their situation. But even before they settled on the issue of the day, they found themselves manifesting – some on wheelchairs and others on foot – against Boko Haram within the precincts of the Paul Emile Leger National Centre for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in Etougebe, Yaounde, the venue of the meeting. Talking to the press on the occasion, the president of the Cameroon Organisation for the Deaf, who is a member of the association and whose only name we got as Atangana, said their intent was to “affirm their attachment to the entire Cameroonian government in its spirited fight to maintain a climate of…security in the face of persistent attempts of trouble.” The members of the ISPD adopted as theme of their manifestation “Peace and solidarity, dear values for persons with disabilities.”

Human Rights commission condemns Boko Haram
The National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF) has, in a report released recently, condemned with all firmness the barbaric acts of the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram. This followed a number of missions carried out in the Far North region in August and September of 2014 by of some members of the Commission plus the subsequent nefarious actions of the Nigerian group. What NCHRF points out in the report are gross human rights violations on the Cameroonian population. It states clearly that what its members witnessed on the ground shows that fundamental rights as enshrined in the constitution of Cameroon and international instruments are grossly and systematically violated by this terrorist group. These are the right to life, to physical integrity, to freedom of religion, to property, to education, to health, just to name these. NCHRF does not hesitate to draw the attention of Cameroon’s civil authorities and defence forces to strictly respect human rights and freedoms in their fight against terrorism.