16, February 2018
“Biya regime and the Ambazonia Interim Government have one surprising thing in common” 0
While the search continues to find the sub-prefect of Batibo, a locality in the Momo constituency in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia abducted last February 11 by unidentified gunmen, the Francophone governor has installed an acting Divisional Officer leading political commentators to opine that the Biya regime and the Ambazonia Interim Government have one surprising thing in common-the way they replace abducted leaders.
Adolphe Lele Lafrique, installed on Wednesday, Ernest Nkwandze as acting sub-prefect of Batibo and pleaded with the Batibo traditional authorities to help free the abducted DO. Namata Diteng, the DO of the Ambazonian Batibo district, has been missing since Sunday, when his burnt-out car was found in an isolated area. Cameroon’s army said on Monday that it was continuing to search for a local official after separatists in a restive English-speaking region claimed to have captured him.
He had been meant to preside over local festivities for Cameroon Youth Day, a controversial day in the country’s two anglophone regions — in the northwest and southwest — where dozens of people have been killed since October after a violent crackdown on protests against the mainly French-speaking government.
There were numerous appeals by separatists online to “kill the prisoner” of the “colonial army”. Army spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck told AFP that Cameroon forces were continuing their search for Diteng on Monday night.
Badjeck also dismissed as “fake news” a picture of a dead man circulating online that some separatists claimed was Diteng.
By Sama Ernest
18, February 2018
Paris: President Macron’s popularity drops to 44 percent 0
A new opinion poll shows that French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating has fallen to below 50 percent, its lowest level since October last year.
The results of the survey by Ifop, the French Institute of Public Opinion, published on Sunday revealed that only 44 percent of the respondents approved of Macron’s performance.
The results showed a 6-percentage-point decline compared to those of a previous poll in January and also marked the lowest approval rating for the French president since October last year, when it stood at 42 percent.
The Sunday poll was conducted from February 7 to 17.
The French government earlier this month announced plans to shake up the country’s costly civil service and modernize the public sector despite opposition. France already has one of the highest public spending ratios in the world.
French Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin said a voluntary redundancy plan for government employees could be a possible move.
Macron won the French presidency last year, and his party subsequently won a commanding majority in parliamentary elections. Macron’s pro-Europe, pro-business party controls 309 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. It recently lost two by-elections.
Source: Presstv