Cameroon

David Cameron and President Muhammadu Buhari at an anti corruption conference in London

THE EU has announced a new raft of funding taking the amount it has sent to the African nations of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to £189 million this year alone.

According to new figures released by the commission a new £10m pot of additional emergency assistance money was sent to support people last week.

Of that £7 million was sent to Nigeria, £1.7 million to Cameroon and £1.3 million in Niger.

The money, which is intended for starving refugees in the Lake Chad basin, was transferred at the same time the UN put a halt on aid after Boko Haram ambushed a humanitarian convoy.

Western aid officials have criticised Nigerian government’s handling of its terror crisis saying President Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s Muslim president, is using some of the aid to persecute Christian political rivals.

Increased tensions between the government and southern Nigeria, which is predominantly Christian, intensified in May when the military killed 15 people during a peaceful protest.

The EU report states: “Nigeria is the worst hit country by the regional humanitarian crisis.”

According to recent reporter Britain’s Department for International Development has so far sent £870 million to Nigeria to support the government’s ability to fight Boko Haram.

A man wearing a Unicef charity t-shirt sells black market fuel to motorists

But despite the funds little has been done to actually curb their rise.

A source told the Telegraph: “One of the reasons we have this humanitarian crisis in northern Nigeria is that Mr Buhari is diverting vital resources away from the campaign to pursue his own political agenda.

“The Nigerian government, which is receiving significant amounts of foreign aid, needs to understand that its main priority is to deal with Boko Haram, and also to make sure Nigeria does not suffer the worst humanitarian disaster in its history.”

Last month Nigeria announced plans to begin exploratory drilling in search of oil in the northeastern Chad Basin in two months.

Food and petrol shortages have led to lucrative illegal trade

Africa’s biggest crude exporter claimed to be on the verge of a significant oil find in the Lake Chad area.

Now the country, which has long been mired in corruption, is to begin drilling in the basin in October.

Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation chief said: “Drilling activities will commence by the last quarter of 2016.”

Africa’s biggest economy was dented by the global drop in oil prices because it relies on crude exports for around 70 percent of government revenue.

♦ Culled from the Express

A mosque in Yaounde. — A mosque in Yaoundé.

YAOUNDE—Muslims around the world are marking Ramadan with prayer and fasting. In Cameroon, Christians and Animists are joining Muslims for the evening meal as a show of solidarity against the terrorist group Boko Haram, which has been carrying out attacks in the north since 2014.

Hundreds of people gather at Yaounde’s largest mosque to pray and break fast. But not all are Muslims. Christians have come to share supper. They wait outside in the courtyard while the Muslims pray. “The message is just one: let Cameroon remain [the] same. Christians and Muslims should live together. We should not discriminate and we pray for a better Cameroon,”said Charles Nzobo, an elder at the Catholic cathedral across town.

Fear of tensions

Cameroon does not have a history of religious conflict. But some fear that the Boko Haram insurgency in the north is creating tension and suspicion between Christians and Muslims as it did in Nigeria. About a quarter of Cameroon’s population is Muslim. Authorities have arrested dozens of Muslim clerics for their alleged support for Boko Haram. But those gathered at the mosque say people should not generalize.

FILE - A woman sings during a prayer session at the Saint Francis Xavier parish, part of the fraternity Ephphata charismatic awakening branch of the Catholic church, ahead of the arrival on Tuesday of Pope Benedict XVI in Yaounde March 17, 2009. — FILE – A woman sings during a prayer session at the Saint Francis Xavier parish, part of the fraternity Ephphata charismatic awakening branch of the Catholic church, ahead of the arrival on Tuesday of Pope Benedict XVI in Yaounde March 17, 2009.

Joseph Ndinga, a notable from the nearby traditional ruler’s palace at Tsinga-Yaounde, says gathering to break fast is a show of solidarity with the Muslim community that will help fight Boko Haram. “It is African tradition. If somebody is either enjoying or in pain, there is that aspect that you go to your brother or sister, be it he is having something bad or something good,” he said.

Christians breaking the fast wtih Muslims at a mosque in Yaounde. — Christians breaking the fast wtih Muslims at a mosque in Yaoundé.

Open doors

For Muslims, Ramadan is the holiest month of the year. Some imams say only Muslims who have fasted should partake of the evening meal. But Muhamadou Labarang, secretary of the mosque, says all are welcome. He begins with a prayer. He says they share collective meals in respect of the holy Koran’s prescription that the faithful should share so as to have favors and blessings from God. He says they thank God that Muslims and non-Muslims can live together in Cameroon and they pray for peace.

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