By Wilson Musa

Some Six individuals, including the Divisional Officer (DO) of Bamenda II, Nkongho Manchang, were abducted while traveling to Nkambe. The incident occurred in Tuesday February 6, 2024, in Ntumbaw, Ndu subdivision in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, a region already grappling with security challenges due to separatist activities.

The convoy, which included the Divisional Officer of Bamenda II and five others, was en route to Nkambe, to take part in the installation ceremony of a new SDO, when they were intercepted by unidentified assailants.

The perpetrators, believed to be associated with separatist groups, forcefully abducted the individuals.

A security source told CNA that they only discovered the D.Os car abandoned on the road with no sign of him. The identities of the other victims besides the Divisional Officer have not been disclosed yet.

The motive behind the kidnapping remains unclear, though such incidents often involve demands for ransom or political leverage. He is the second
civil administrator to be kidnapped in the North West region since the crisis started in 2016.

The first was the former DO of Batibo subdivision, Namata Marcel, who was kidnapped by separatist fighters on February 11, 2018. He was later killed in captivity.

Local authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, working to identify and apprehend the perpetrators.

This kidnapping adds to the ongoing security challenges in the Northwest Region, where separatist groups have been active for years, leading to clashes with security forces and causing displacement among civilians.

What happened?

The Governor of North West region Adolphe Lele had just installed the SDO of Boyo where he was transported via an helicopter.

While the governor was installing the SDO of Boyo, the helicopter took the others to Donga against tomorrow. So the helicopter came back with the governor Tuesday evening to fly to Donga tomorrow morning. Having no space to fly with the Governor, the DO who had also served in Belo, d
ecided to take the road to Nkambe central subdivision without security.

The SDO who was to be installed tomorrow is Gorges Malgloire Bassilekin, formerly secretary general at the North West Governor’s office who was recently promoted.

It’s suspected that the DO of Bamenda II, Nicolas Nkongho Manchang who has previously served in Donga Mantung as Assistant 1 wanted to extend his relationship ties with the SDO whom they have been together in Bamenda for about 4 years.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Addis Ababa: The User-Centered Integrated Rangeland and Water Monitoring and Early Warning System in Pastoral Areas of Ethiopia project has launched a system that empowers pastoralists to make informed decisions, better manage risks, and strengthen their resilience against the impacts of climate change.

In his opening remark at the launching workshop of the project today, Agriculture State Minister Fikru Regassa said the project comes at a time when pastoralists are struggling to survive under recurrent droughts.

Ethiopia’s rangelands used by pastoralist and agro-pastoral communities cover approximately 63 percent of the country’s land mass.

The area has faced a total of eight major droughts in the past 15 years and experiencing the effect of climate change through increased water and forage scarcity and mass livestock death, thereby, causing food insecurity, a severe disruption to pastoralists livelihoods, and displacement of people searching for food.

Therefore, the state minister said there is an urgen
t need for proactive risk management solutions to ensure their survival; and in response, the ministry alongside both international and local partners, has developed a system that stands as both a technological breakthrough and a point of hope for the pastoralists.

According to him, the system is critical for fostering pastoralists livelihood resilience by providing near-real-time information on water and pasture resources.

Therefore, the products produced and provided by the system can play a pivotal role in preventing loss of livelihood by providing useful information that allows communities to make informed decision in remote areas.

‘The development of an integrated platform that offers timely and personalized information to pastoralists, thereby enhancing livestock risk management practices through a near real-time water and pasture monitoring and early warning system, addresses these needs directly. The products of the project exemplify our dedication to prioritizing the needs of the most vulnerable w
ithin our innovation processes.’

The system launched today symbolizes more than just technological advancement. It represents the commitment to protecting the environment, economy, and communities.

Alliance of Bioversity and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Research team leader, Sintayehu Alemayehu said the main objective of the project is to provide near real time water, pasture and climate information to livestock producers for risk management, decision making and drought planning.

He added that the absence of real time information on water availability has hindered the government to make a timely decision in response to recurrent drought.

‘The project that we are currently implementing is called early warning system that has a capability to predict pasture and water availability in the pastoral region of Ethiopia. We are now piloting this project in Borena, Oromia Regional State, one of the highly dominated livestock population, particularly cattle,’ the research team leader sai
d.

The pilot project which runs for the coming two years will be expanded to Somali and Afar regional states, it was learned.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency