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Ambazonia Crisis: Biya decrees are mostly theater

13, December 2018

Ambazonia Crisis: Biya decrees are mostly theater 0

The Cameroonian President-Dictator has signed another decree ordering the “discontinuation” of proceedings before the Yaoundé Military Tribunal against hundreds of Southern Cameroons activists. Biya has kept to his outdated pattern of governance and his acolytes, his critics, and the media alike have portrayed them as dramatic u-turn on the war in Southern Cameroons.

The Biya decision has reportedly affected some 289 Ambazonian detainees and we understand the decree will be implemented by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo. Biya’s high-profile orders have merely allowed him to announce his intentions to the international community but have not stopped the killings going on in Southern Cameroons. So far, they’ve been more like text messaging than governing, proclaiming his goodwill without really advancing it.

A close look at the language of today’s decree shows that nothing has changed in Yaoundé but basically new releases with presidential signatures, plus instructions to his cabinet ministers to look into the issues at hand. In hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, Biya simply directed his Secretary General at the presidency to devise a plan. His decree on the Anglophone crisis set up a Paul Ghogomu commission. His war decree on Southern Cameroons and Boko Haram instructed cabinet ministers and the military leadership to devise plans to achieve those goals.

Some pro CPDM comedians have however opined that today’s decree comes as a follow-up to the setting of the so-called disarmament, demobilization and reintegration committee for ex fighters of armed groups in Southern Cameroons. It is indeed an empty decree.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

FECAFOOT elects new president

13, December 2018

FECAFOOT elects new president 0

Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) on Wednesday elected a new president to manage affairs of the football governing body for a period of four years, putting an end to the mandate of FIFA Normalization Committee.

Seidou Mbombo Njoya, a former director of FIFA’s Central African sub regional office was elected president of FECAFOOT by 46 votes ahead of his close rival, former Cameroon national football team goalkeeper, Joseph Antoine Bell with 17 votes according to results released by FECAFOOT.

“Mbombo Njoya will now have to work hard to clean the image of Cameroonian football which just lost the 2019 African Cup of the Nations (AFCON) hosting rights,” Jean Michel Wakam, a football analyst who witnessed the election said.

“He will also have to work in collaboration with the government and Federation of African Football (CAF) to ensure that Cameroon hosts the championship in 2021 as suggested by CAF. This is his main assignment,” Wakam said.

Other executive members will be elected by FECAFOOT General Assembly to work closely with Njoya. FECAFOOT, which has been in crisis for several years, was led by a Normalization Committee appointed in August 2017 by FIFA.

Source: Xinhuanet

Ambazonians have created their own cryptocurrency

13, December 2018

Ambazonians have created their own cryptocurrency 0

Increasingly determined and bold separatists seeking the international recognition of the self-proclaimed “Federal Republic of Ambazonia” (Southern Cameroons) have created a crypto-currency which they claim is the first to be fully nation-backed.

Known as AmbaCoin, 20,082 of the Ambazonian crypto bond had already been bought, out of 100,000,000 on pre-sale as of Nov. 10. One AmbaCoin sells for 25 cents (circa 140 CFA franc) and the main initial coin offering of the crypto-currency is scheduled for Dec. 24. It is said to be backed by the “rich natural resources” of the breakaway region.

The AmbaCoin was conceived and built by a group of anonymous Anglophone separatist scholars, technocrats and developers. But it has gained the support of frontline secessionists and separatist movements. When news of the crypto-currency was made public last month, Chris Anu, who has the title secretary of state for communications & IT for the “Federal Republic of Ambazonia”, posted a sample of the crypto-currency bond on his Facebook page and said: “We are getting there folks.”

In the last five decades in Africa, especially in areas where people want to create a country of their own out of another, people have been opting to put their faith in a form of exchange other than a currency which is globally accepted. During the Nigerian civil war (1966-1970), the then self-declared Republic of Biafra adopted the Biafran pound as legal tender, abandoning the Nigerian pound it had been using before ‘independence’.

There is also a plethora of unrecognized countries in the past which came up with currencies in their efforts to be independent. The Katangas in DR Congo came up with their own franc currency in the 1960s, while the Rhodesian pound was the currency of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1970.

A statement on the website of AmbaCoin indicates that plans are already underway for the creation of a traditional fiat currency for “Ambazonia” that will be used to peg the future price of AmbaCoin. The English-speaking separatists will be keen to dissociate themselves from the Central African franc (CFA) which Cameroon uses. Both the Central and West African CFA are linked to France’s national treasury.

There’s also the practical advantage that using a cryptocurrency for now will be out of reach of the Cameroon government.

According to the developers, the biggest challenge faced by the breakaway region is that most of the resources and wealth in the area are controlled by the Francophone-led government of Cameroon, which stifles access to its assets.

“Numerous Ambazonians in the diaspora and other stakeholders who want to see a prosperous Ambazonia, are unable to help provide foreign direct investment to the Governing Council,” Amba Coin developers said. As such, they thought the best way out will be to create a bond, which will be used to raise capital to kick-start the ‘Ambazonian’ economy.

AmbaCoin, with tailored-made features, is an ERC20 crypto-currency which relies on Ethereum as the parent chain. The developers boost of the crypto’s transparency, confidentially and low transaction cost.

The crypto-currency is the latest effort by Cameroon’s Anglophone secessionists to cement the Oct. 1, 2017 symbolic declaration of independence of the “Federal Republic of Ambazonia”. The separatists have in recent times carried arms against the state of Cameroon, enforced a school boycott since October 2016 and a civil disobedience action known as ‘ghost towns’ every Monday.

In addition to the new crypto-currency, ‘Ambazonia’ has an anthem, flag and an interim government, but is yet to be recognized as a nation by any country in the world, unlike the Republic of Biafra which had a short-lived existence but was at one point was formally recognized by Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Haiti, Tanzania and Zambia.

Culled from Quartz Africa

2 protesters killed during Congo-Kinshasa opposition rally

13, December 2018

2 protesters killed during Congo-Kinshasa opposition rally 0

At least two people were killed Wednesday in clashes with police on the sidelines of an opposition rally in eastern DR Congo ahead of this month’s presidential elections, several sources said.

The violence erupted in Kalemie, a town on Lake Tanganyika as opposition candidate Martin Fayulu was campaigning there.

It came a day after two of his supporters were killed and 43 hurt in clashes at a rally in Lubumbashi, DR Congo’s second city.

A witness said “live rounds” were fired as Fayulu arrived in Kalemie.

Rogardien Myumba, head of a federation of local NGOs, said: “Two opposition activists were shot dead as they were heading to the airport to welcome Mr Fayulu.”

A local doctor told AFP there were three bodies at the hospital morgue, while an emergency responder said his team had picked up four bodies.

Fayulu, 62, a little-known lawmaker and former oil executive, has made a late surge after being named the joint candidate for several opposition parties.

DR Congo is in the throes of a major campaign ahead of the December 23 election to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the vast central African country since 2001.

President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila sits in a garden at his personal ranch on December 10, 2018 in Kinshasa. (Photo by AFP)

But the campaign has been overshadowed by fears of violence in this vast poverty-stricken nation which is one of Africa’s most volatile countries and has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

In the past 22 years, two massive wars have shaken the country, claiming millions of lives and sucking in armies from around southern and central Africa.

Lower-level conflicts are burning in the center and east of the country which could easily flare into fully-fledged wars, analysts warn.

Kabila has remained in office as caretaker leader even though his second and final term ended nearly two years ago.

Twenty-one candidates are running to replace him.

As well as Fayulu, the front-runners are Felix Tshisekedi of the mainstream opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Kabila’s handpicked successor.

(Source: AFP)

US senators say Saudi Arabia should remove MbS from power

13, December 2018

US senators say Saudi Arabia should remove MbS from power 0

Several senior US senators in Congress have warned Saudi Arabia that Riyadh must change its leadership if itwants to maintain its close ties with Washington, saying Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has become “so toxic.”

In some of their strongest comments to date, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Bob Menendez signaled Wednesday they would like to see Saudi Arabia remove from power bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler.

Sentiment voiced in both the Senate and House of Representatives this week signals a shift in congressional support for Saudi Arabia and bin Salman, also known as MbS.

“To our friends in Saudi Arabia, you are never going to have a relationship with the United States Senate unless things change. And it’s up to you to figure out what that change needs to be,” Graham told reporters at a press conference in Congress.

“From my point of view, the current construct is not working. There is a relationship between countries and individuals. The individual, the crown prince, is so toxic, so tainted, so flawed that I can’t ever see myself doing business in the future with Saudi Arabia unless there is a change there,” Graham said.

“The relationship with Saudi Arabia is not working for America,” he added. “It is more of a burden than an asset.”

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution on Wednesday proposed by Menendez and Republican Senator Todd Young that would suspend weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and impose sanctions on people blocking humanitarian access in Yemen.

Menendez, who was joined at the press conference on Capitol Hill by Graham, said the resolution will pass when it comes to a full vote in the Senate and that it is meant to hold Saudi leaders accountable for human rights abuses.

“This sends a global message that just because you’re an ally of the United States, you can’t kill with impunity,” Menendez said.

The US Senate voted on Wednesday to advance another resolution to end US military support for the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen, setting the stage for debate and a later vote in the upper chamber.

The United State Senate has voted to end President Donald Trump’s support for the Saudi war on Yemen. The nearly unprecedented break the 11 Republicans made from US President Donald Trump was largely symbolic because the House of Representatives is not expected to take the matter up this year.

Trump has threatened a veto the measure if it passes both chambers. The Saudi war against Yemen has killed over 15, 000 people in the impoverished nation and has been described by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

During an interview with Reuterson Tuesday, Trump said he hoped senators would not propose stopping arms salesto the Saudis. Trump also said he stood by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince despitea CIA assessment that he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, inIstanbul, Turkey, on October 2. Trump has come under fierce criticism fromfellow Republicans in the Senate over the issue.

Source: Presstv

Southern Cameroons: Fire again destroys shops in Bamenda in a period of 2 weeks

13, December 2018

Southern Cameroons: Fire again destroys shops in Bamenda in a period of 2 weeks 0

Once again fire has destroyed shops on Tuesday (December 11) evening in Cameroon’s Bamenda. Last time, during the end of November, massive fire destroyed a big portion of a food market in the same location. This time only five shops destroyed in a period of just two weeks, whereas last time 200 stalls got devastated by the tremendous fire.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. This is the fourth time in less than two years that the market in Bamenda is affected by fire. The government blamed a fire at the market last year on separatists demanding independence for the English-speaking regions in Cameroon.

The separatists say English-speaking Cameroonians face discrimination and are fed up of being part of a country ruled for more than 35 years by French-speaking President Paul Biya.

Devdiscourse

13, December 2018

Ivorian International Serge Aurier says – Offering Cameroon The 2021 AFCON Hosting Rights ‘Stupid’ 0

Tottenham Hotspur and Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier has termed “stupid” a decision to offer the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosting rights to Cameroon.

After taking away the 2019 AFCON from Cameroon for unpreparedness, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) offered them the 2021 hosting rights which were initially awarded to Ivory Coast.

A leaked confidential letter from CAF boss Ahmad to Cameroon’s Head of State Paul Biya indicated that “the CAF Executive Committee will be honored to see Cameroon hosting the 2021 edition.”

“It will allow Cameroon to complete in comfort all its projects and security issues.”

In interview with French TV channel Canal +, Ivory Coast skipper Serge Aurier called the decision stupid and political.

“I’m shocked, I do not understand this decision.

For me, it’s a disaster, a matter of politicians. It’s a shame, it’s a stupid decision. As a player, we want this AFCON in 2021 in our country,” said Aurier.

A member of the CAF Executive Committee, Musa Bility, of Liberia reportedly contradicted the Ahmad’s position saying the 2021 and 2023 AFCON editions will stay in Ivory Coast and Guinea respectively.

“Our position today is very clear: the host country for 2021 is Ivory Coast and Guinea for 2013,” Musa was quoted by AllezLesLions.

Both countries are said to belagging behind is getting ready to stage a 24-team tournament down from 16 whenthey won the rights.

Source: Kahawatunga.com

12, December 2018

Ireland: Presbyterians urged to pray for end to violence in Southern Cameroons 0

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has encouraged its members to pray for people affected by escalating violence in the Republic of Cameroon in West Africa. Violent clashes, with increasing loss of life, is growing between Cameroon’s English-speaking Anglophone community and French-speaking Francophone community, according to reports.

 Rev Uel Marrs, secretary to PCI’s Council for Global Mission, explained: “Through reports coming via family contacts of Cameroonians who attend Presbyterian churches in the Republic of Ireland, we understand that thousands of people have been displaced as the situation in parts of the country deteriorates, particularly in the northwest region and southwest region.

 “The increasingly violent situation has its origins in the division of the region during various colonial administrations and post-independence settlements. The situation is amounting to a ‘silent civil war’, as some have described it, as that has the potential to be a second Rwanda. Today we wanted to highlight the situation in the country and ask people to pray,” he said. “Prayer is an essential and powerful part of the Christian life and we are asking people to pray specifically for peace and calm in all areas of Cameroon and for tensions to decrease. For just and fair treatment of all people by the authorities and prayer for help and support for those affected by the violence.”

Speaking about the situation, Rev Alan Boal, minister of Abbey Presbyterian Church in Dublin, said one member of his congregation recently described the escalating crisis as “a second Rwanda” – a reference to the genocide which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in 1994.

www.newsletter.co.uk

12, December 2018

“Biya Beti Ewondo regime too weak to wage new war with the Bamilekes” 0

The President of a Bamileke group in Belgium says the Biya regime and its Beti Bulu Francophone soldiers are too weak to wage a new war with the Bamilekes of the West. The French Cameroonian who spoke to our Brussels correspondent and sued for anonymity because of his chain of businesses in Douala and Yaoundé made the remarks late yesterday during a meeting to rally support for Prof Maurice Kamto, the leader of the MRC party widely believed to have won the October 7 elections.

The business tycoon added that Ambazonians are no longer scared of a potential war with the Beti Bulu dominated Cameroon army. “No one in Yaoundé can threaten Anglophones with war and no one again can scare them by war… Ambazonians are not scared or worried about war and they are ready for it and the creation of the so-called disarmament commission signals fear of Anglophones being victorious.”

The French Cameroun citizen warned Biya and his tribal military junta against starting a new war in La Republique du Cameroun and vowed that the Bamilekes will use every available means to bring the Biya regime to its end.

The Southern Cameroons resistance today without possession of sophisticated weapons and equipment and capabilities and members and cadres and ability and expertise and experience has faith and determination and courage and will and is stronger ever since the formation of the Interim Government and proclamation of independence by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

By Chi Prudence Asong

12, December 2018

160+ world countries approve UN pact on migration 0

The first United Nations (UN)global pact on migration has been formally adopted during an intergovernmental conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, despite a series of withdrawals from the procedure leading to the pact driven by anti-immigrant populism.

More than 160 countries agreed on the non-binding Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration — the first global document on managing migration — on Monday at the start of the two-day conference.

The document outlines 23 objectives to open up legal migration and discourage illegal border crossings, as the number of people on the move globally has increased to over 250 million.

The United States and at least 16 other nations have either withdrawn from the negotiations that had been ongoing over the pact for some time or expressed concerns about it, with some claiming that the agreement violated national sovereignty.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday described it as a “road map to prevent suffering and chaos,” refuting claims that the pact would allow the UN to impose migration policies on member states.

The pact “is not legally binding,” Guterres emphasized, adding, “It is a framework for international cooperation.”

“We must not succumb to fear and false narratives,” he added. On Friday, the US criticized the pact as “an effort by the United Nations to advance global governance at the expense of the sovereign right of states.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were among the leaders who attended the Marrakech conference.

Merkel defends multilateralism

Merkel defended the accord and multilateralism, stressing that it sought to block, rather than encourage, illegal migration. “This is about safe, orderly and regular migration — it says (this) clearly in the title,” she said.

The US was the first country to quit the talks late last year, while Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia all withdrew from the process in recent months and weeks. And Chile pulled out overnight.

Right-wing and populist leaders in the US, some European countries, and beyond have taken increasingly draconian measures to stop the flow of migrants in recent years. The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, welcomed the pact, saying it could help provide better access to education and health for migrant children and offer “them stronger protection from exploitation and violence.”

Other organizations, including Amnesty International and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), see the agreement as just a first step, and have called for further steps toward protecting migrants.

“We have heard repeatedly that this compact is not legally binding and does not impact on state sovereignty,” IFRC President Francesco Rocca said at a news conference on the sidelines of the main dialog. “But if we are serious about fixing this problem, it should at the very least be ethically binding.”

The UN General Assembly is slated to adopt a resolution formally endorsing the pact on December 19.

Source: Presstv

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