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Headlines : Human RightsAt least three killed as riots sweep Cameroon
Details about what is happening in Cameroon are unclear, but some basic facts are clear enough. First, many people have died in rioting and police repression. Second, the anger and popular energy that has burst onto the streets of the African nation is directed at the western-backed dictator Paul Biya, who is seeking to reaffirm his “mandate” in upcoming “elections.”
The AP reports that these protests began when the government shut down Equinoxe TV, a channel that had been critical of Biya’s attempts to refashion Cameroon’s constittion to allow him to run again.
But there is also an economic element. Riots and protests have erupted at the same time that hauliers have announced a strike, demanding cheaper fuel and other necessities.
Global economic shifts and neo-liberal policies are feeding into discontent against local repression. It’s a volatile situation.
[Posted By Szamko]Republished from AFP
Three people were killed when riots broke out Monday in Cameroon’s economic capital Douala, the country’s communications minister said, but witnesses put the body-count as high as six.
Police battled protesters from early morning and small demonstrations began at road junctions, while youths armed with clubs looted shops during a road haulage strike, witnesses and an AFP correspondent saw.
The city is a stronghold of opposition to President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 but last month made clear that he wanted to stand for office again in 2011.
This triggered protests in Douala and a ban on rallies, which Biya’s government said was for fear of turmoil similar to the rioting and killing seen in Kenya since a disputed election there in December.
Posted by Szamko
Just tries to tell the truth.
AFP Two more killed as Cameroon violence toll rises to 8
A city of three million people, Douala took on the appearance of a ghost town Tuesday with traffic virtually non-existent in the city centre and most businesses staying closed.
Riot police were out in force, although workers and school children mostly stayed home leaving just a few residents stocking up on essentials at the small number of stores that remained open.
On Monday, police battled protesters from early morning as youths armed with clubs looted shops, according to an AFP correspondent and other witnesses.
The strike was called in the wake of the fuel price rises and President Paul Biya’s announcement last month that he planned to amend the constitution to run for office again in 2011. He has been in power since 1982.
Africa Partnership Station brings martial arts training to Cameroon
From das wikie
Since the late 1980s, Cameroon has been following programmes advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce poverty, privatise industries, and increase economic growth.
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OPEN QUOTE
THE MINERAL INDUSTRIES OF CAMEROON AND CHAD
(2003)
Most formal international trade with landlocked Chad was funneled through seaports in Cameroon and Nigeria.
Previous geologic studies have identified a variety of mineralized areas in the central equatorial African region that include bauxite, diamond, granite, iron ore, nepheline syenite, rutile, tin, and uranium in Cameroon and bauxite, columbium (niobium)-tantalum, diatomite, graphite, kaolin, limestone, marble, silica sand, soapstone, tin, and tungsten in Chad. There also were indications of chromite, copper, iron, lead, nickel, titanium, uranium, and zinc occurrences in Chad.
Mega Commences Drilling of its Kitongo Project in Cameroon
TORONTO, ONTARIO—(Marketwire – Feb. 26, 2008) – Mega Uranium Ltd. (TSX:MGA) (“Mega”) announces that its 92%-owned subsidiary, Nu Energy Corporation Cameroon SA (“Nu Energy”), has commenced a first phase diamond drilling programme in its 2700 km2 Kitongo Project in Cameroon. The proposed initial 2850 metre programme comprises a total of ten holes from five sites along a 300 metre length of the Kitongo Fault Scarp, which marks the contact between the Kitongo Granite and metasediments of Middle Proterozoic age. At each of the five sites, the planned programme consists of one horizontal hole of 300/350 metres length, and one inclined hole at an angle of -45O to a depth of 250/300 metres.
The drill holes are located in, and in the vicinity of, uranium mineralisation intersected in the Kitongo Granite in two adits and 14 drill holes by the Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (“BGR”), the German Federal Institute for Geoscience and Natural Resources, in 1983/84. The uranium mineralisation occurs as uraninite in the form of disseminations in wide zones of albitised granite and in high grade veins.
The shop looting sounds like Belgrade and the fuel price hikes sound like Myanmar. What a small world we live in!
Shazam’s “Western-backed Dictator” link has an ABsoLUTEly marvy doodle last sentence which I will quote, if I may :
What is the difference between Paul Biya and Saddam Hussein?
LOL. That is the question.
Always good to have a map handy . . .
Austria bolsters EU mission in Chad
I know, you’re thinking (as I did), “oh come on, they’re trying to help the refugees”. But you and I both know these guys don’t give a sh*t about refugees. Whereas securing their backyard freebie bonanza and finding an excuse, any excuse, to just move on in for the grab, using whatever pretext, otoh, is very much their style.
Don’t you think?
More developments. The government has cut fuel prices (or is trying to) but it doesn’t seem to be making a difference.
From AllAfrica
Hold on sweetie pies! We’re going for the gold.
Don’t forget. Iron Ore is going through the roof.
Don’t let some fool give it away for nada just because he wants to be in with the Penthouse Set.
We have mouths to feed and minds to nourish.
Better offers are lining up around the block.
The French want that uranium not because France has so many nuclear power plants (that everyone hates — the pollution is reputedly inCREDible) but because Sarko’s gone and “loaned” people the money they “need” to buy nuke plants from French Posse.
And.
If history is our witness, the business models on which they are based are designed to break the back of each and every economy that buys one.
It’s not really fair to call the party of which we speak “The French”, since they’re clearly getting screwed along with every other working stiff in Europe.
Don’t forget, okay? It’s not the people. It’s the lizards.
92% privatized is REALLY really BAD.
Why do you post like that? Can’t you just make one post with everything you have to say in it rather than a bunch of posts talking to yourself?
And you can bet it’s a trend.
I think you’ve nearly convinced yourself, keep it up!
RE.: Why do you post like that? Can’t you just make one post with everything you have to say in it rather than a bunch of posts . . . ?
Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. I’m flexible.
If it doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry about it. It’s not going to.
Dont fuck with Microdot… he is GNN on speed….
Actually, I understand that there are a number of reasons to do it, I was just trying to figure out yours.
You want to spam and keep what matters to you on top – damn everyone else. You have nothing else to do, so you might as well space your posts out every minute or two rather than just shooting your load immediately.
“Dont fuck with Microdot… he is GNN on speed”
Or special k.
Whatever he is on.. he is the best person on GNN.
Wow Mem, muchas GRAcias.
If it makes you feel better, science, I learned just about everything I know about “The Craft” courtesy of the G. I said dumb things, I embarrassed myself. I ate my foot aLOT. I stuck with it. Because this is where the fast ball is.
And I like fast ball.
Muchas gracias to you!!
So, like, science? Telling you that you’re not going to be able to understand was a really stupid thing to say.
It was just such a good answer, I couldn’t resist. I’m SOOOOOOOO sorry. Really.
Have you guys noticed how long it’s been since I’ve had to apologize?
I think I’m doing really well.
what’s “special k”?
Its a cereal, and a drug.
yeh, i knew about the cereal. what’s the dwug?
think about it. if the predators came and took your leg, leaving you squirming and squirting on the ground where you fell, would you know then that something was wrong with the picture?
that’s what they’re doing in Colombia. that’s what they’re doing in the Cameroons. that’s what 92% privatization amounts to. they’ve been holding Africa in reserve. they’re just hitting the ground running. maybe you think things couldn’t possibly get worse?
what’s the dwug? – Ketamine it’s a tranquilizer used a s a pre-op and for animals with hallucinogenic effects when taken without supervision (and sometimes even then)
AYK? LOL. Someone thinks I seem tranquilized?
I actually like micro’s style, with the short bursts of text. Beats three pages of blab that I’m just gonna scroll past.
Just think, a childhood prescription of Ritalin would have deprived us all of Microdots output. More proof that it is the devil in a gelcap…
you just scroll past my three pages of blah posts? @#%!