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Cameroon: Soldiers free senator held hostage by Anglophone separatists
Soldiers freed several hostages in western Cameroon, including a presidential party senator, kidnapped a month ago, and killed a dozen of their suspected kidnappers, English-speaking armed separatists, the army said on Tuesday.
Elizabeth Regina Mundi, 79, and her driver were kidnapped on April 30 by rebels demanding independence for the northwest and southwest regions, which are mainly populated by the English-speaking minority in a predominantly French-speaking country.
In an army operation against “a terrorist hideout” on Monday evening in Ashong, in the North West, “several hostages were freed, including the senator”, the army said in a statement, adding: “a military detachment was attempting an approach to the hideout when “heavily armed terrorists opened heavy fire (…) while their comrades tried to escape with the hostages”.
“A dozen terrorists were neutralised”, according to the authorities’ terminology for the pro-independence militants who were killed. No word on the number or identity of the other “freed” hostages has been released.
The separatist conflict erupted in 2017 in both regions after the government cracked down on demonstrations demanding equal treatment and more autonomy for anglophones, some of whom feel ostracised by the 89-year-old President Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for nearly 40 years.
The war has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced about a million in five years, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Last January, the body of an opposition senator, lawyer Henry Kemende, was found riddled with bullets in Bamenda after his car was attacked and disappeared. The authorities blamed separatists, but the murder was never claimed.
Immediately after her abduction, Ms. Mundi appeared on a video posted on social networks reading, obviously under duress, a text in English calling for independence, in front of the flags of the Ambazonian Defence Forces (ADF) and the “Republic of Ambazonia” self-proclaimed on October 1, 2017, by separatists in the South-West and North-West regions.
Her kidnapping was claimed by two rebel groups, including the ADF, one demanding a ransom, the other the release of prisoners, a senior security official assured AFP on condition of anonymity.
Senator Mundi, a native of the North West, is a member of the political bureau of Mr Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM).
African Development Bank invests billions in climate change adaptation
By Afolake Oyinloye
The Pokuase motorway interchange in the Ghanaian capital Accra is the first of its kind in West Africa. The flagship road project has dramatically improved regional transport and trade links while also reducing traffic congestion significantly.
The new road network was one of a number of projects showcased in the city during the African Development Bank’s Annual Meetings to highlight the AFDB’s efforts to help African economies adapt to climate change.
The Accra International Conference Center is hosting the Africa Development Bank Annual Meetings where delegates are discussing ways in which the continent can grow despite the effects of the pandemic and global inflation.
Funded by both the African Development Bank and the Ghanaian government, the Pokuase road project cost $83.9m, or approximately €78m.
Kwabena Bempong, an engineer on the project, said the new road network has not only helped solve congestion and reduced CO2 emissions, it has also dramatically improved safety on one of Ghana’s busiest roads.
“So this interchange, especially on the N6, takes 50,000 vehicles a day and it has reduced accidents to a very minimum level. It has also improved mobility,,, I’m talking about the entire interchange and the local roads.”
In addition to building the new interchange, the project also repaired 10km of road in the area. There was also support for the local community, including IT training for more than 12,000 schoolchildren. Women’s groups also received training and had their workplaces renovated.
The African Development Bank and African Union once again used this year’s event as an opportunity to strengthen international partnerships.
Norway has worked with many African countries for decades. The AFDB and AU are currently working on ways to leverage the Nordic nation’s renewable energy and blue economy expertise, while Norway’s State Secretary Bjorg Snadkjaer said her country was keen to support Africa’s efforts to become food secure.
“This is a big priority for us to work directly with countries and work through the African Development Bank to support local food production, to support small scale farmers to produce the food to feed themselves, to have food in the belly, but also to sell,” insisted Snadkjaer.
Another major focus for this year’s meeting in Accra was the rollout of a $25 billion (€23 billion) initiative called the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme. Over the next five years, it aims to accelerate and improve climate adaptation action across Africa by supporting 30 million smallholder farmers.
Along with the Pokuase interchange, the African Development Bank has also successfully implemented the Savannah Investment Programme.
The scheme has already helped increase the productivity of farmers in Northern Ghana by more than 350,000 metric tonnes. The project has also thrown its weight behind poultry production, increasing maize and soya production – used in the production of bird feed – from under two metric tonnes to more than six tonnes per hectare.
The construction of both the new motorway in Accra and the Savannah Programme should significantly improve Ghana’s economic productivity. The goal now is to implement similar projects across Africa.
DRC and the French development agency sign a national digital infrastructure development agreement
By Bryan Carter and Camille Pauvarel
In Brussels, the minister of finance of the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed an agreement with a consulting firm and the French development agency (AFD). Under it, €600,000 will be allocated to developing a national digital infrastructure development plan in the country.
The ambition of the government is to turn things around, to make sure that agriculture and the agro-industry regain their place and to do so we need farmers, large and small, who use modern methods to reinforce their productivity
The Congolese government says a digital transition will benefit several sectors of society, like agriculture, which is vital to the country’s economy. This sector employs over 60 percent of Congolese, according to the International Trade Administration. “What we need to do first is to put agriculture back in its place. It is decreasing, because we are a mining county, says Nicolas Kazadi, DRC’s Minister of Finance, The ambition of the government is to turn things around, to make sure that agriculture and the agro-industry regain their place and to do so we need farmers, large and small, who use modern methods to reinforce their productivity”.
How to build sustainable agri-food systems is also on the agenda of European and African leaders in Brussels. Hunger and malniutrition remain rampant in many parts of the world. And developing new methods of agriculture will require significant changes.
“There is a range of innovative practices that could really be made much more visible and accessible, explains Paul Walton, the executive director of the Africa-Europe Foundation,We know that in pockets across Africa and Europe there are fantastic areas around sustainable agri-food systems, the way regenerative agriculture is taking place, but they are less visible and less accessible to the kind of finance and sustainable support that’s needed as well”.
And time is ticking. The worsening effects of climate change are being felt across the African continent, further endangering food sovereignty, and putting millions at risk.
