Latest update: 07/12/2011 

- heritage - history - Maghreb - real estate - Tunisia - UNESCO - Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali


Saving Carthage's ruins

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"Carthage must be destroyed!" These famous words from the Roman statesman Cato the Elder ring with irony in modern day Tunisia. Former President Ben Ali delisted the UNESCO heritage site so that his relatives could build plush properties on the site of the Roman ruins. Tunisia's new government has promised action to preserve them, but reconciling developers and archeologists is proving difficult.

FOCUS
By David THOMSON
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Comments (2)

Saving Carthage's ruins

by Anonyme - 10/12/2011 - 12:32

This report is very misleading, yes I agree with large parts of it but the majority of Tunisians don't give a dam about there ruins, all they care about is money, I have been traveling to this country for over 20 years now, I don't think there is a stretch of road that I have not been on, it is the same the whole country over, the Tunisian mind is set to 'tell them what you think they want to hear' and get as much money out of them as you can, sorry but you don't see the real tunisia, or any country by staying in 5star hotels and only going to set places, you need to go off the beaten track, stay in unlisted hotels, eat with the locals, and you will still be classed as 'tourist' but you will get a better insight in to a country.

Car Accident in Cameroon

by Anonyme - 07/12/2011 - 16:06

Sixteen persons have died and about a score others are receiving treatment in hospitals from severe injuries incurred after a 70-seater bus caught fire in the early hours of Monday December 5.

The grisly accident occurred at Tonga, a few kilometres from Bangante in the Nde division of the West region when the bus, belonging to the Amour Mezam transport company, ran into a trailer parked in the middle of the road.

Based on the passenger manifest, there were 53 passengers on the bus when the incident occurred.

Fiery explosion

According to Ousmanou, driver of a passing transport vehicle who witnessed the episode, the 70-seater was going at acceptable speed when the parked trailer suddenly appeared in view. “There were no warning signs to indicate that there was a parked trailer,” Ousmanou complained. With another bus coming in the opposite direction, the sole option for the Amour Mezam driver was to swerve towards the bush. Unfortunately, the 70-seater rammed a high tension pole setting off an explosive fire.

With the fire progressing from the front toward the back of the bus, most of the passengers around the front roasted to ashes. Amazingly, the driver of the 70-seater was agile enough to leap to safety in good time. Passengers, most of whom were asleep remained entrapped in the heat of the burning bus.

“When I saw the fire, I begged my passengers to join me in breaking the glass windows so as to save people,” Ousmanou told reporters. Through this timely intervention several passengers were saved.

The ensuing fire completely gutted the 70-seater, the trailer and the caterpillar it carried.

Miraculous escape
Mirabel Kumfa and her two friends Joyce Talabe and Miranda were among the lucky ones who jumped to safety. “I woke up due to the choking smoke and the noisy confusion in the bus,” Mirabel told Cameroon Postline Tuesday morning at her Mimboman residence in Yaounde. “It was such a shocking sight but all I can tell you is that God has done a miracle in my life,” she averred. When we met her, Mirabel was about to go for a proper medical check-up at the Yaounde Central Hospital. She sustained wounds on her feet.

Night journeys
As at Tuesday evening, no official version has been published on the cause of the accident. But press reports in the aftermath of the ghastly incident have apportioned blame on the negligence of the trailer driver who left no warning sign to oncoming vehicles. However, the appropriateness of night journeys has been an issue of debate in Cameroon during the past months.

A decision suspending night journeys across the country by transport minister Bello Bouba Maigari in July 2011 was walked back a few days afterwards on instructions from an unnamed superior of the minister. Although the annulment of the decision was hastily encouraged by regime insiders who were worried about protest threats from transport operators, many observers thought the issue of road insecurity has never been given proper attention in Cameroon.

The Yaounde-Douala, Douala-Bafoussam and Bafoussam-Yaounde axes have earned the unsavoury title of ‘Death Triangle’. According to studies, these very narrow lanes are fast becoming a big public safety threat in Cameroon. Incessant calls for widening of the lanes have fallen on deaf ears.

Some 1200 people die in road accidents yearly, according to transport ministry statistics. Independent sources say the figure could be much higher. Officially, road accidents are to blame for loss of property to the tune of 1 billion FCFA annually.

Full and Partial Names of Passengers who boarded bus from Bamenda

1. Mofor
2. Joel Ajuh
3. Hamidou Mohammed
4. Tumi
5. Achu Bubah
6. Mathias Ndonwi
7. Leo Sucre
8. Polycarp
9. Julius Abety
10. Emmanuel Nfor Musa
11. Mirabel Kumfa
12. Joyce Talabe
13. Kumfa
14. Claudine Ali (replaced by Laum Mounjo)
15. Ade Tateh
16. Magha Takon
17. Alfred Fahloh
18. Nonorine Washi
19. Teles Njikam
20. Denis Motikah
21. Kenneth Chia
22. Eunice
23. Eunice
24. Handson Tamfu
25. Amos Nwatum
26. Florence Nkwenti
27. Hippolite Tcholom
28. Jerome Guemuh
29. Nuza Mukongcho
30. Alexander Ndikum
31. Ade
32. Metu Muabe
33. Belinda Shuka
34. Richard Neba
35. Brigitte Ketchogue
36. Nicholas Achou
37. Eric Lamfu
38. Ernest Ngala
39. Jenka Mungwa
40. Eleanor Nche
41. Yves Sohodouah
42. Ayuk
43. Nsakani Mboh
44. Agnes Zuhwi
45. John Ngangi
46. Helen Dobgima
47. Njoya Adamu
48. Mabel Neh
49. Alain Mbogning
50. Gladys Ndongmanji
51. Yvette Sagnouo
52. Pontanus Tumi
53. Mouofo Fogang

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