Latest news with #Yaounde
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia sent African shampoo-makers to die on Ukraine front line
The advert for a job in a Russian shampoo factory looked like just what Jean Onana needed. Out of work in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde and struggling to support a wife and three young children, he leapt at the chance to earn a solid pay packet, he later told Ukrainian interrogators. The 36-year-old saved up for his ticket and flew to Moscow in March, joining many young Africans who end up in Russia to study or seek work. However, far from offering the answer to his financial predicament, his trip instead pitched him into the crucible of Ukraine's eastern front, an ordeal he only narrowly survived. Mr Onana had barely arrived when he was immediately detained along with 10 others from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Ghana. The men were told they would not be working and instead would sign a one-year contract to join the Russian military and serve on the front lines of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Mr Onana is only one in what are estimated to be hundreds, or possibly even thousands of Africans who have found themselves fighting on the front lines. Many more have been recruited into factories to keep the Kremlin's war machine running. Africans and others from developing countries elsewhere are being pressed into service as Russia looks for huge numbers of recruits to sustain horrific casualty rates in its grinding three-year offensive. Nearly one million Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the assault began, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a US-based think tank, said last week. While the great majority of recruits are still poor Russians, the relentless need for new manpower has seen the Kremlin try to recruit elsewhere, as well as import 10,000 soldiers from North Korea. Africans have been lured by the promise of money or have been duped or forced into signing contracts, according to accounts and intelligence reports seen by the Telegraph. Cameroon's government is so worried about the numbers of soldiers thought to be deserting and travelling to Russia that in March it tightened restrictions on military personnel being able to leave the West African nation. Many have not returned, becoming victims of suicidal infantry tactics which are currently seeing Russian forces take an average of more than 1,100 casualties each day for only small territorial gains. One tally of Cameroonian social media obituaries suggests the country has already seen more than 60 men killed in the war. Promised a hefty wage and pressured to sign, Mr Onana was then given five weeks training in Rostov and Luhansk. There were around 10 other foreigners in his training unit, from Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Brazil. During training he was able to call home, but on his way to the front his phone and documents were taken away. His military career ended almost as soon as it began when he and eight others were told to occupy a bunker at the front in early May. The bunker was shelled and everyone killed except Mr Onana, who lay wounded in the debris for six days. He eventually made his way out and was soon captured. Another recently captured African, 25-year-old Malik Diop from Senegal, this week told a Ukrainian military interview that he had been studying in Russia when he met recruiters in a shopping centre. They told him he could sign up to wash dishes in Luhansk, away from the front, for $5,700 (£4,215) a month. After only a week however, he was given a weapon, grenades and a helmet then driven to the front near Toretsk. Recalling the walk to the front line, he said: 'We started to see dead people in the forest. Lots of dead people in different buildings. It really affected me.' As soon as he could, he threw away his uniform and weapons and deserted. After two days of walking he was captured. Many are not so fortunate. Cameroonian social media channels have in recent months seen many posts purporting to be from people seeking information about relatives who had joined the Russian military and then stopped communicating. The messages are often accompanied by photographs of African men in Russian uniform. 'My friend went to Russia to join the Russian army, and for nearly four months we haven't heard from him,' explained one typical recent request. 'We'd like to know if he's still alive or dead.' Some posts are then updated to explain the missing relative has been found to have been killed. One prominent account collating tributes to soldiers this week estimated 67 Cameroonians had been killed. Messages also gave accounts of relatives being detained at the airport and forced to sign military contracts. The gap between Cameroon's meagre military wages and the promise of hefty Russian pay is thought to have worsened a long-standing problem with desertion in the Cameroonian military. A second-class Cameroonian private's basic monthly salary is around £67, while Russia is said to be offering Cameroonian recruits around £1,500 per month. In one recent social media post, a Cameroonian soldier held up his pay slip and said 'here's why we prefer to go die in Russia'. Raoul Sumo Tayo, who has researched the issue for the Institute of Security Studies, a Pretoria-based think tank, said: 'They say it's better for us to go to fight where we earn enough money to save something for our families. 'I don't think it's about supporting Russia, it's more about what they earn.' Africans are not only fighting for Russia. Last month, a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime said a Russian firm was recruiting hundreds of young foreign women, mostly from Africa, to manufacture Iranian Shahed drones. The women had been recruited to the company in the Alabuga special economic zone, an industrial park in Yelabuga, east of Moscow, with promises of good salaries and educational opportunities. They were not told the nature of the work, the report said, nor that the factory had been a military target. Several African workers at the factory are reported to have been wounded in an attack by Ukrainian drones in April 2024. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Russia hired African farmers to make shampoo, then sent them to war
The advert for a job in a Russian shampoo factory looked like just what Jean Onana needed. Out of work in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde and struggling to support a wife and three young children, he leapt at the chance to earn a solid pay packet, he later told Ukrainian interrogators. The 36-year-old saved up for his ticket and flew to Moscow in March, joining many young Africans who end up in Russia to study or seek work. However, far from offering the answer to his financial predicament, his trip instead pitched him into the crucible of Ukraine's eastern front, an ordeal he only narrowly survived. Mr Onana had barely arrived when he was detained along with 10 others from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Ghana. The men were told they would not be working and instead would sign a one-year contract to join the Russian military and serve on the front lines of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Mr Onana is only one of what are estimated to be hundreds, or even thousands, of Africans who have found themselves fighting on the front lines. Many more have been recruited into factories to keep the Kremlin's war machine running. Africans and others from developing countries elsewhere are being pressed into service as Russia looks for huge numbers of recruits to sustain horrific casualty rates in its grinding three-year offensive. Nearly one million Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the assault began, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a US-based think tank, said last week. While the great majority of recruits are still poor Russians, the relentless need for new manpower has led the Kremlin to recruit elsewhere, as well as import 10,000 soldiers from North Korea. Africans have been lured by the promise of money or have been duped or forced into signing contracts, according to accounts and intelligence reports seen by The Telegraph. Suicidal infantry tactics Cameroon's government is so worried about the numbers of soldiers thought to be deserting its army and travelling to Russia that in March it tightened restrictions on military personnel leaving the West African nation. Many African recruits have not returned, becoming victims of suicidal infantry tactics which are currently seeing Russian forces take an average of more than 1,100 casualties each day for only small territorial gains. One tally of Cameroonian social media obituaries suggests the country has already seen more than 60 men killed in the war. Promised a hefty wage and pressured to sign, Mr Onana was then given five weeks training in Rostov and Luhansk. There were around 10 other foreigners in his training unit, from Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Brazil. During training he was able to call home, but on his way to the front his phone and documents were taken away. His military career ended almost as soon as it began when he and eight others were told to occupy a bunker at the front in early May. The bunker was shelled and everyone killed except Mr Onana, who lay wounded in the debris for six days. He eventually made his way out and was soon captured. Another recently captured African, 25-year-old Malik Diop from Senegal, this week told a Ukrainian military interview that he had been studying in Russia when he met recruiters in a shopping centre. They told him he could sign up to wash dishes in Luhansk, away from the front, for $5,700 (£4,215) a month. After only a week however, he was given a weapon, grenades and a helmet then driven to the front near Toretsk. Recalling the walk to the front line, he said: 'We started to see dead people in the forest. Lots of dead people in different buildings. It really affected me.' As soon as he could, he threw away his uniform and weapons, and deserted. After two days of walking he was captured. Many are not so fortunate. Cameroonian social media channels have in recent months seen many posts purporting to be from people seeking information about relatives who had joined the Russian military and then stopped communicating. The messages are often accompanied by photographs of African men in Russian uniform. 'My friend went to Russia to join the Russian army, and for nearly four months we haven't heard from him,' explained one typical recent request. 'We'd like to know if he's still alive or dead.' Some posts are then updated to explain the missing relative has been killed. One prominent account collating tributes to soldiers this week estimated 67 Cameroonians had been killed. Messages also gave accounts of relatives being detained at the airport and forced to sign military contracts. The gap between Cameroon's meagre military wages and the promise of hefty Russian pay is thought to have worsened a long-standing problem with desertion in the Cameroonian military. A second-class Cameroonian private's basic monthly salary is around £67, while Russia is said to be offering Cameroonian recruits around £1,500 per month. In one recent social media post, a Cameroonian soldier held up his pay slip and said 'here's why we prefer to go die in Russia'. Raoul Sumo Tayo, who has researched the issue for the Institute of Security Studies, a Pretoria-based think tank, said: 'They say it's better for us to go to fight where we earn enough money to save something for our families. 'I don't think it's about supporting Russia, it's more about what they earn.' Africans recruited by Russia are not only fighting on the front. Last month, a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime said a Russian firm was recruiting hundreds of young foreign women, mostly from Africa, to manufacture Iranian Shahed drones. The women had been recruited to the company in the Alabuga special economic zone, an industrial park in Yelabuga, east of Moscow, with promises of good salaries and educational opportunities. They were not told the nature of the work, the report said, nor that the factory had been a military target. Several African workers at the factory are reported to have been wounded in an attack by Ukrainian drones in April 2024.
Times of Oman
04-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
We need India as a leader; it needs to open the way for developing countries": WTO Director-General
Paris: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation, said "we need India as a leader "in the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14), which will take place in Yaounde, Cameroon, from March 26 to 29, 2026. "For MC-14, you know, we need India as a leader. India is a leading country, and India is doing well. So India needs to open the way for other developing countries," the WTO DG told reporters in Paris. Highlighting India's leadership role, she said WTO reform must include support for issues important to India, such as agriculture. She also pushed for India's backing on the Investment Facilitation for Development agreement, which is supported by 90 of the 126 participating members. "India is a leading country, and India is doing well. So India needs to open the way for other developing countries. For example, on investment facilitation for development. We want India to support because so many developing countries, 90 out of the 126 who are members, would like to move with this. But for agriculture, we also need to listen to what India's issues are and try to be as supportive as we possibly can," she added. Ahead of the mini-ministerial meeting hosted by Australia in Paris, WTO DG noted that the mini-ministerial meeting is crucial for setting the tone ahead of WTO ministerial Confrence. "Most members believe the WTO is a valuable organisation, but it must be repositioned," she said. WTO DG expressed the need for the repositioning of the multinational trading body, adding that the current disruptions to the multilateral trading system present an opportunity to drive much-needed reforms. "Multilateral trading systems have been disrupted in a way they haven't been before. But guess what? Sometimes I see challenges as opportunities, and I think this is a very good opportunity for the WTO members to look at what those things are that work and should be kept, and there are many," the WTO DG said. "For example, 3/4 of world goods trade is still taking place on WTO terms, MFN terms, and members want to safeguard that, but there are things that also don't work. And when you have this kind of disruption, you ask yourself, what is it that needs to be reformed about the WTO? What is it that developing countries like India don't like? Let them put that on the table. What is it that the US doesn't like? Put that on the table. What do Africans not like about the way the organisation is? Put that on the table. Let's collect these and then let's try to reform it because most members think that it is a very valuable organisation, but it should be repositioned," WTO DG added. The discussions gain urgency ahead of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference scheduled for March 26-29, 2026, in Cameroon. The meeting will likely serve as a crucial test for the organisation's ability to bridge growing divisions between developed and developing nations while maintaining its multilateral foundation. The WTO chief's visit to Paris coincides with a mini-ministerial meeting on the margins of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, convened by Australia. Trade ministers from approximately 25 countries, including India, Australia, and Singapore, are participating in discussions about potential WTO reforms.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Cameroon greenlights $347 million in external borrowing to cover treasury gaps
YAOUNDE, May 21 (Reuters) - Cameroon's finance minister has been authorised to raise up to 200 billion CFA francs ($348 million) from international financial markets to shore up government cash flows for fiscal year 2025, according to a presidential decree. Kelly Mua Kingsly, Head of Finance Operations of the State at Cameroon's Ministry of Finance, told Reuters on Wednesday that the government would consider using several market instruments, but most likely syndicated loans. "This is most likely given the urgency and nature of liquidity needs. It is also attractive due to shorter structuring time and flexible drawdown options," Kingsly said. In addition, he said concessional or semi-concessional loans suitable for budget support components and assimilable treasury bonds or treasury bills on the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) market could also be considered. Eurobonds were less likely, he said, due to high global interest rates, low sovereign credit ratings and lower appetite from international capital markets for frontier markets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and during a period of geopolitical risk. The borrowing plan comes as Cameroon faces slow disbursement of external financing and delays in revenue mobilisation, notably non-oil tax collection deficits. Tight monetary policy by the regional central bank to curb inflation and stabilise the CFA franc currency has provoked a liquidity squeeze across Central Africa, while the BEAC's reserve requirement has impacted treasury liquidity. Officials also say the government is keen to diversify its sources to avoid excessive domestic borrowing that could crowd out private sector investment. Cameroon has recently relied on domestic and external borrowing to bridge budget deficits. ($1 = 575.5000 CFA francs)
