President Paul Biya of Cameroon celebrates his 85th birthday on Tuesday after 35 years at the helm of a country that today faces daunting problems, including a separatist revolt.

“The Cameroon of tomorrow, which is developing before our eyes, will have little connection with the Cameroon of yesterday… Let us seize the chance and take up the challenge,” Biya on Saturday said in a speech on the nation’s youth.

Three-quarters of Cameroon’s population, according to the most recent available statistics from 2014, are under 25. They were yet to be born when Biya in November 1982 settled into the presidential residence of Etoudi in the capital Yaounde, also called the Palace of Unity.

Source: The Citizen

An outspoken member of Kenya’s opposition accused of treason for taking part in a mock swearing-in of opposition leader Raila Odinga was deported to Canada late Tuesday.

The move came in defiance of a High Court order that he be presented before a judge on Wednesday.

Miguna Miguna, a provocative firebrand and member of the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, was forced onto an international flight on Tuesday night.

“Miguna denounced his Kenyan citizenship years back, acquired Canadian citizenship and never bothered to reclaim Kenyan citizenship in the legally prescribed manner neither did he disclose that he had another country’s citizenship despite being a lawyer who should have known better,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka in a tweet Wednesday.

Holding dual citizenship is legal in Kenya, and in August, Miguna ran for political office, with proof of Kenyan citizenship, a key criteria for all candidates.

Miguna was put on a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight to Toronto via Amsterdam, a security officer at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport said.

“He was driven in by heavily armed police officers who forced him into a flight to Canada. All deportation procedures have been followed,” the officer said.

Miguna’s lawyer, Nelson Havi, confirmed his client had been “forced into a KLM flight for ‘deportation’ to Canada. Now, how do you deport a Kenyan?” he asked.

On January 30, Miguna played a prominent role in Odinga’s mock inauguration and three days later was arrested in a dawn raid on his Nairobi home.

Since then, there has been much speculation about his whereabouts and his treatment by authorities.

Police and government officials defied two court orders to produce Miguna before a High Court judge earlier this week, instead taking him to a minor court in a small town 80 kilometers to the south on Tuesday.

There, Miguna refused to plea to charges of treason and unlawful assembly.

A subsequent High Court order demanded Miguna be presented for release on Wednesday morning, but his deportation means that order too has been ignored.

High Court judge Luka Kimaru has warned Kenya’s Inspector General of Police and Director of Criminal Investigations that they may be charged with contempt.

Miguna holds no elected office, but has styled himself “general” of the opposition’s “National Resistance Movement” (NRM) wing, in charge of implementing a threatened program of civil disobedience and boycotts.

Following Odinga’s pretend inauguration last week, Kenya’s government designated the NRM as an “organized criminal group.”

Miguna’s enforced exile is the latest twist in the long saga of Kenya’s disputed elections, which saw the Supreme Court annul the result of the initial August 2017 poll and Odinga boycott the October rerun, handing victory to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

However, Odinga continues to insist he was the real winner and therefore the legitimate president of Kenya.

(Source: AFP)

The Senator representing Cross River Central, John Owna Enoh, Thursday asked the Federal Government to quickly explore official channels of communication between the country and Cameroon to protest the violation of the territorial integrity of Nigeria by Cameroon soldiers.

Enoh said that exploring diplomatic means to deal with the issue became imperative following reports that about 100 Cameroon soldiers allegedly crossed the international border into Danare on Monday night in search of the country’s militants in a crackdown on Anglophone secessionists said to have sought refuge in Nigeria.

The Cross River Central lawmakers in a statement recalled that the latest attack came on the heels of a similar attack on the same communities which falls within his constituency in December 2017.

Enoh said that in swift response to the dastardly attack on law abiding citizens of Danare, he through a motion of urgent national importance on the floor of the Senate drew the attention of Nigerians and the government to the unwarranted attack.

The lawmaker noted that he had among other prayers, called on the federal authority to deploy troops to Danare as a deterrent to stem further incursion and aggression on his constituents by Cameroonian soldiers.

The deployment of a battalion of Nigerian soldiers in the area, he said, seems not to have deterred the incursion from Cameroonian soldiers.

He described the latest invasion of Danare as unfortunate, condemnable and “constitutes a gross violation of the inalienable rights of my people to peaceful co-existence.”

He insisted that “the peaceful and law abiding citizens of Danare deserve a peaceful environment in order to pursue their legitimate aspirations.” The incessant violation of the inalienable rights of the people, which he described as fundamental, by Cameroonian soldiers, he said, is unacceptable.

“I therefore use this medium to call on the Federal Government to explore all official channels of communication between Nigeria and Cameroon to protest this violation of the territorial integrity of our nation,” he said.

Enoh said that Nigerian troops who have already been deployed in Danare should live up to their professional calling in defence of the people of Danare.

According to him, the presence of Nigerian troops reassuring as it is to the people of Danare, should not be mere tokenism but should be informed by a full evaluation of the military challenges and the consequent deployment of adequate number of soldiers who will be in the position to respond adequately to deter further attacks.

Enoh appealed to the Nigerian soldiers on ground to continue to fully discharge their professional duties in defence of the people of Danare and the territorial integrity of the Nigerian State.

Source: The Nation

Tens of thousands in the Diaspora and millions back home in Ambazonia have been calling the Interim Government relentlessly since yesterday to know in what way they can support the struggle at this historic moment. Last night, government headquarters telephone lines were crammed. The initial mood yesterday at headquarters was that of dejection but as the minutes ticked, The Interim Government gathered and drew inspiration from numerous lessons in history.

This laudable and unrelenting show of support from citizens is not surprising as this struggle is the paramount challenge of our generation. As the barbarism and arrogance from La Republique lingers, many previously lethargic Ambazonians are joining the struggle with enthusiasm and resolve.  It’s rational to conclude that an irresponsible action from Yaoundé has been a great and painless recruitment effort. The citizens’ lists on the official government website recorded a 16.3 percent increase in citizenship registrations yesterday. The largest such increase in a day since the 3^rd of October 2017.

Our source said the mood in Yaoundé is one of nervous uneasiness. Along the dusty and rusty corridors of whatever power they have left, they are still finding it difficult to countenance the nerve of these little ‘Anglofools’. A corrupt system built on first division mediocrity has no solution to the first real political problem it’s faced. They are chaotic, anxious and undoubtedly lacking in solutions.

Ambazonians are getting more audacious in their support of this struggle for emancipation which is a civilized way of sticking two fingers to the oppressor. The message to Yaoundé is loud and clear; this struggle is bigger than the arrest of our leaders. Our time has come. Our time is now. We can smell the sweet fragrance of freedom and we are prepared to die for it so our descendants can inherit a land free of subjugation and abuse.

The financial donations: The Interim Government has received over the last 24 hours has been nothing short of miraculous. Whilst the monetary contributions being collected in the United States and Canada are impressive, it’s worth noting that donations from European chapters of the struggle clearly need massive improvement. The Interim Government is hereby urging the European leaders of the struggle to inspire their people in order to get the best financial backing they can offer at this time.

Money is one of the most imperative essentials in this struggle. We have to constantly remind ourselves, that whilst Biya and his serial embezzlers are bankrolled by the proceeds of raw materials from Ambaland, we have no external source of income. These donations made by citizens and sympathisers are the backbone designed for financing the battle ahead.

Our people back home are waiting to see what we in the Diaspora do at this time. If we continue to raise impressive sums of money as the comrades in the USA, Canada and South Africa are doing, our destination would be closer. Such actions will send and is already sending a strong message to Mvomeka that we are determined to get our freedom.

Our freedom is our right. Our fight is just. History is on our side. The world is watching. Our time is now.

Ambazonians back home are watching, waiting and expectant. Ambazonians in Europe stand up and be counted with your financial donations. The onus is on you to put your money where your mouth is.

Sessekou Asu Isong

The news of Mr. Ayuk Tabe and his collaborators being shipped to Cameroon has hit Southern Cameroonians like a ton of bricks. The announcement of Mr. Ayuk Tabe being in the custody of Cameroon security officials was made yesterday by Mr. Issa Tchiroma, the country’s communications minister, who is known for his manipulation, deception and deceit. While many still argue that Mr. Tchiroma is simply playing pranks on the minds of Southern Cameroonians, many legal analysts are already at work and are calling upon Mr. Biya and his government to live up to their international commitments vis-à-vis people alleged to have committed crimes against their country.

The doubts surrounding this case will only be removed when the right time comes, as lawyers are already at work. It is a requirement under international law that those arrested must have a right to legal services and Barristers Ben Muna, Assira and Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla are already on the file and will be asking Cameroon government officials to grant them access to those they claim are in their custody. The government of Cameroon has that obligation and until those lawyers identify the “presumed terrorists”, Southern Cameroonians will continue to question the veracity of Mr. Tchiroma’s public statement.

But the issue is not about how the legal battles will be fought. Mr. Ayuk Tabe will not be killed like a little stray dog. The world has evolved. The days when people could disappear without a trace have past. The international community is aware of the drama playing out in Cameroon and it will surely keep an eye on how things unfold. The international community may not have a huge appetite for secession, but it will surely not countenance the government of Cameroon in its efforts to transform the country into a slaughter house.

It is true the Francophone press has already judged and condemned Mr. Ayuk Tabe. Reading through a cross section of the government-sponsored media this morning, Mr. Ayuk Tabe has already been branded a terrorist and in their score board, he is already guilty and it is incumbent upon him to prove his innocence. This is one aspect of Francophone law that still baffles Anglophones who hold that anybody arrested is a suspect and it is incumbent upon those who have arrested him to prove his guilt.

The burden of proof should therefore be on the government and not on Mr. Ayuk Tabe who, in many minds, is just an incarnation of the aspirations of most Southern Cameroonians. The presumption of innocence does not seem to exist among Francophones, many of whom hold that killing your adversary is the best solution even when you have not yet establish guilt. And this is one of the many reasons why Southern Cameroonians have been seeking to walk away from this marriage that has brought more pain than gain to them.

But rather than focus on the noise that those media houses and their paid analysts will be making in the coming days, it is up to Southern Cameroonians to focus on the next steps. It is incumbent upon Southern Cameroonians to unleash the full spectrum of their financial, psychological and intellectual resources in order to keep the pressure on a government that is already on the back foot.

Mr. Ayuk Tabe might have been arrested, but the Southern Cameroonian struggle might not be stopped. From every indication, this struggle is bigger than an individual. Many Southern Cameroonian leaders have been arrested before, but instead of dousing the fire, the fire has been burning out of control. From reactions across the globe, it is obvious that many Southern Cameroonians are already lining up to take on the mantle of leadership.

The struggle for Southern Cameroons is an idea whose time has come. The government might be celebrating in public, but in private, it understands it has a huge crisis on its hands. It has been deluding itself that Anglophone restorationists are in the minority. The reality on the ground is unfortunately different. Its violence against an unarmed people has transformed an entire people into secessionists. Its misuse of the word “terrorist” has radicalized almost every Southern Cameroonian. Until it changes the way it speaks and addresses its people, the government of Cameroon will continue to breed revolutions within its own territory. Instead of standing in the way of change, it stands to gain if it leads that change in a transparent and honest manner.

The wind of change will continue to blow in Cameroon and the government will do itself a favor in watching the direction of the wind. The Southern Cameroons crisis has triggered something in Cameroon. The seed of a rebellion has been sown by the government itself through its own marginalization plan and injustice. If it does not take appropriate actions, the next phase of the struggle will come like a tornado that will rip everything in its path. The Francophone majority might be quiet and docile, but that does not imply it is not feeling the pain. The day it will wake up from its slumber, the world will be shocked by its reaction. The silence of many Francophones should not be misconstrued as an acquiescence of the government’s reckless irresponsibility and oppression.  When the right conditions will be in place, this majority will make its impact felt. It’s up to the government to defuse the bomb before it goes off.

The government of Cameroon has never treated Southern Cameroonians with respect. East Cameroon has always considered West Cameroon as a conquered territory and this has caused certain mentalities to stand the test of time. Though blessed with many natural resources, Southern Cameroons has been neglected for decades. Its people have been pushed into exile by the government’s marginalization policy that has been robbing the people of Southern Cameroons of their dignity and opportunities. Though Cameroon’s oil fields are located in Southern Cameroons, most of the proceeds from the oil do not trickle down to the people to whom God had given the oil. The country’s lone national oil corporation located in the southwest coastal city of Limbe is managed by Francophones while the locals watch from a distance as sorry spectators of how their wealth is being carted to East Cameroon.

But it is up to Southern Cameroonians to change their destiny. If a particular arrest can stop them in their tracks, then they are not yet ready to obtain the results they are all hankering after. If you look into the mirror of history, you will find out that many leaders of many political movements have, at many points in their lives, been prisoners. Mandela is an example that will never leave our minds. It will be preposterous to fear jail and continue to think that the oppressor will one day become clement and understanding. Those who oppress others never understand that the oppressed are also human beings. Freedom is never handed to the oppressed on a platter of gold. It is seized.

Mr. Ayuk Tabe knew this day would come. He has been psychologically and financially prepared for this day. His family is safe in a land where freedom of speech and human dignity are respected. Like Mandela, he is prepared to lay down his life for this struggle. It will be a disappointment for anyone to spend time thinking of what will befall him in Yaounde. He will be a lot happier to know that some six million Southern Cameroonians are keeping the flame alight. The pressure on the government must continue. This is a government that is hell bent on destroying its own country before it disappears. This is a government that is prepared to destroy the economy and render young Cameroonians unemployed. This is a government that has no regard for the rule of law.

The Southern Cameroons crisis is a unique moment for Cameroonians to change their fate and destiny. Mr. Ayuk Tabe might be in a physical jail, but Southern Cameroonians do not have to be in a psychological jail. They have to keep on posing challenges to a government that has run out of ideas. Your fate is worse than death. Why not change things for future generations? It’s up to you!

Cameroon Concord News Production

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has announced that he will stand for re-election in the presidential vote due to be held in March.

“I announce to you in the honesty and transparency which we are used to… my candidacy for the post of president of the republic,” Sisi said at a Cairo conference broadcast live on state television on Friday.

Sisi came to power as president in June 2014 after winning a landslide victory in the presidential election held a month earlier with securing nearly 97 percent of the vote. In July 2013, he led a military coup against Mohamed Morsi — Egypt’s first democratically-elected president after the fall of former dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011 — that led to Morsi’s ouster and imprisonment.

The presidential election is scheduled to be held on March 26-28, with candidates required to submit all necessary papers to Egypt’s National Elections Authority between 20 and 29 January.

Who else will stand?

Sisi is widely expected to win in the first round of the vote, particularly after two prominent potential candidates announced that they would not take part in the poll. His main challenger former premier Ahmed Shafiq, who had declared his candidacy last month, said he would not run in the election.

On Monday, Mohamed Anwar Sadat, a dissident and nephew of Egypt’s late president of the same name, also announced that he would not run in the election, citing a climate of fear surrounding the vote.

However, the former armed forces chief of staff, General Sami Anan, said in a video posted on his official Facebook page that he would run for president to “save” Egypt from “incorrect policies,” and called on state institutions to preserve neutrality toward all candidates.

“I call on civilian and military institutions to maintain neutrality towards everyone who had announced their intention to run and not take unconstitutional sides of a president who will leave his post in a few months,” Anan said.

Sisi, however, warned on Friday that he would not allow “corrupt” people to run for president.

Sisi’s administration has been tough on followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, the most prominent political party in Egypt which is now outlawed. Many members of the party, including Morsi, have been given harsh sentences while tens of thousands have been arrested awaiting trial.

The crackdown on the Brotherhood has sparked widespread outrage around the world as rights campaigners and governments keep criticizing the Sisi administration for the collective imprisonment of the party members.

Source: Presstv

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has fired the country’s head of the intelligence in an unexpected move as presidential elections draw nearer.

Sisi’s office announced the move in a terse statement on Thursday. The decree replaced Khaled Fawzi, the head of General Intelligence Directorate, with close Sisi aide and the head of the president’s office, Abbas Kamel as the agency’s interim head.

The president also ordered a cabinet reshuffle last week.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has fired the country’s head of the intelligence in an unexpected move as presidential elections draw near.

Sisi’s office announced the move in a terse statement on Thursday. The decree replaced Khaled Fawzi, the head of General Intelligence Directorate, with close Sisi aide and head of the president’s office, Abbas Kamel, as the agency’s interim head.

The president also ordered a cabinet reshuffle last week.

The presidential polls are to be held in March. The former prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, who had declared his candidacy last month and was once seen as a main challenger to Sisi, said earlier in January that he would not be running.

Sisi has been leading an unassailable rule since ousting Egypt’s first-ever democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi in a coup in 2014.

Ever since the coup, the country’s northern Sinai region has been awash with Takfiri terrorism. The terrorists, mainly based there, have been staging heinous attacks elsewhere in the country.

Sisi named a new Armed Forces chief of staff and announced changes in key security positions last October, after at least 16 police officers were killed in the Western Desert some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southwest of Cairo.

Source: Presstv

On Wednesday the 17th of January 2018, Ambazonians woke up much to their amazement to find internet access restored in their country. After more than four months of complete internet shutdown, our people are ‘temporarily’ enjoying a fundamental freedom thanks to the ‘goodwill’ of someone in Yaoundé.

There have been several conferences, initiatives and lectures around the world over the last few years on the role of governments on internet freedom and human rights. The role of the internet can’t be overemphasized in the twenty-first century and the United Nations has stated unequivocally that it’s a fundamental human right along with freedom of Opinion and Expression.

Mindful of the presence of a CAF delegation in the country to scrutinize infrastructures to assess La Republique’s readiness to host next year’s AFCON, CPDM has shamelessly re-instated internet access in our country. The evidence is overwhelming that even the darkest minds in La Republique understand the ignominy of cutting off internet access. The simple truth is that Yaoundé has no respect for the human rights of Ambazonians. This flagrant abuse of a fundamental human right is intolerable. Whilst the excitement amongst the population is understandable, the unlawful activity of restricting internet access is one of the most shameful in a long list of unpardonable law-breaking actions from Biya and his mob.

Small and medium size businesses are struggling in Ambaland. Many small businesses have ceased trading which has resulted to higher unemployment in a country where joblessness is unacceptably high. Do the authorities in Yaoundé care about the loss of business and subsequent suffering in Ambaland? The answer is simply NO.

With high unemployment and dreadful misemployment, the youths of Ambaland are getting more and more frustrated. The cumulative effect of this gloomy scenario is the growth and continuous growth of a disenchanted populace. These people have a sense of worthlessness, and are left with no option but to vent their anger in guerrilla style attacks on the forces of La Republique. These attacks are becoming more and more frequent in Ambaland with devastating consequences.

The striking intellectual inanimation from the so-called leaders in Yaoundé is profusely ostensible. Until they realize that actions like cutting off the internet are counterproductive, the road to peaceful coexistence is rough and unexciting. The casualties their military is currently suffering stand to escalate.

Calling Ambazonians dogs, terrorists, banning the Consortium, firing at peaceful protesters and cutting off the internet etc haven’t yielded any positive result for Yaoundé. The results of these poorly advised and unlawful actions are violence and more violence.

Sessekou Asu Isong in London

Zimbabwe will hold elections in four to five months, a newspaper on Thursday quoted President Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying, the first time since independence the southern African state will conduct a vote that does not involve Robert Mugabe.

The vote, a litmus test of Mnangagwa’s democratic credentials, will be crucial to unlocking badly needed financial assistance and repairing relations with Western powers and international financial institutions.

Mnangagwa, a protege of Mugabe, came to power in November after a de-facto military coup when the 93-year-old was forced to resign after the military confined him to his Harare mansion.

It was the culmination of a power struggle between Mnangagwa and former first lady Grace Mugabe, who was being groomed by her husband as his potential successor.

Now Mnangagwa, 75, is under pressure himself to deliver on the economy and show that he is breaking with the policies of Mugabe, whose 37-year rule since independence in 1980 turned a promising country into a basket case and international pariah.

He promised the elections for the presidency, parliament and local government would be peaceful and told business leaders their investments would be secure and their profits safe.

“Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time and we have to preach peace, peace and peace because we know it is good for us and we have no doubt that we will have peaceful elections,” Mnangagwa was quoted as saying by the official Herald newspaper during an official trip to Mozambique.

“We will ensure that Zimbabwe delivers free, credible, fair and indisputable elections to ensure Zimbabwe engages the world as a qualified democratic state.”

Under the constitution, Zimbabwe should hold elections between July 22 and Aug. 22, but parliament can choose to dissolve itself, triggering an earlier vote. The ruling ZANU-PF holds a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Since 2000, which coincided with Mugabe’s often violent seizure of land from white farmers, elections in Zimbabwe have been marred by political violence and disputes.

But the 2018 vote could catch the opposition flat-footed.

Mnangagwa’s main rival Morgan Tsvangirai is suffering from cancer, which has helped expose divisions in his Movement for Democratic Change party as officials scramble to take over leadership of the party.

The economy is suffering acute shortages of cash dollars, increases in prices of basic goods, high unemployment and low levels of foreign investment, making it the biggest challenge for Mnangagwa.

At a function ahead of next week’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Mnangagwa said the extent of economic problems required Zimbabweans to work together as he promised to safeguard all investments in the country.

“All investments will be safe and secure in Zimbabwe. Foreign investors will be able to repatriate profits,” he told a gathering of government officials and business leaders.

To reinforce that Mnangagwa plans to govern differently to Mugabe, the government said in a document published on Thursday that it was considering setting up a special tribunal to determine compensation for former white commercial farmers.

In the past 18 years, there has been little investment in agriculture, the backbone of the economy, due to disputes over compensation between former white farmers and the government.

Analysts say resolving the emotive land issue could unlock foreign investment in agriculture and help mend ties between Harare and the West, which imposed sanctions over the seizures and alleged vote rigging by Mugabe.

Mnangagwa said he was going to the Davos meetings, the first such trip by any Zimbabwean leader, to “dispel the perception” that Zimbabwe is “an isolated island”.

Source: Reuters

The House of Representatives on Tuesday at plenary rejected a motion urging the Federal Government to grant full protection to Cameroonian refugees and asylum seekers crossing into Nigeria. The motion by Hon. Sani Zorro also urged states and federal authorities to allow for the construction of refugee camps.

Zorro noted that there had been an influx of tens of thousands of asylum seekers and refugees fleeing Cameroon into Nigeria since the last quarter of 2017. He said that the refugees had continued to cross the Nigerian borders through Rivers, Benue and Taraba states, due to the crisis in Cameroon.

He urged the Federal Government and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to extend full protection and assistance to the asylum seekers and refugees through timely provision of shelter, food and non-food items as well as security in their various camps.

The lawmaker further called for the prevention of alleged cross-border raids by the Cameroonian armed forces, which, he said, was inconsistent with humanitarian principles and best practices. He said in line with Section 33 of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Refugees, security personnel should not arrest and deport the refugees and asylum seekers.

Contributing to the motion, Hon. Nnenna Ukeje urged the house to take a critical look at the implications of granting full protection to the asylum seekers, considering relations between both countries.

She noted that Nigeria already had several security challenges and had entered into treaties with neighbouring countries to address insecurity in the country. Ukeje said that if caution was not taken in granting full protection to the fleeing secessionist Cameroonians, Nigeria could be seen to be supporting the division of Cameroon.

According to the lawmaker, Cameroon could pull out of the fight against Boko Haram in the region, adding that any action in favour of the secessionists, could sour the long standing relations between both countries.

In his remarks, Speaker Yakubu Dogara said that the security agencies, in line with the Geneva Convention, would profile the asylum seekers for proper identification. However, the legislators in the lower chamber unanimously voted against the motion when the speaker put it to a voice vote.

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