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Southern Cameroons Crisis: All the times the Mayor of Mamfe has contradicted his own arguments

16, August 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: All the times the Mayor of Mamfe has contradicted his own arguments 0

John Ayuk Takunchong, the CPDM mayor of the Mamfe municipality has called on Manyus to stand behind the one and indivisible Cameroon idea blaming the Southern Cameroons Diaspora for the war currently going in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The Chief Tabetando acolyte warned that any attempt to frustrate the union with French Cameroun or leave the Republic of Cameroon would be a “betrayal” of the role played by the Cameroon army in defending the Bakassi Peninsular.

However, what is not well known is that until he decided to join the CPDM crime syndicate, Takunchong took the polar opposite position against the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé. Far from being a committed hard one and indivisible Cameroon campaigner, the mayor of Mamfe actually had a long record as a popular Southern Cameroons footballer of arguing for Southern Cameroons to sever ties with French Cameroun.

Here are some of the times that the mayor of Mamfe has fundamentally contradicted his own arguments vis-à-vis Southern Cameroons relationship with French Cameroun.

“I was never given a chance with the Indomitable Lions because I do not speak French”

Takunchong today is saying that our union with French Cameroun remains the best thing that ever happened. However, this was very far from his position before the Southern Cameroons revolution.

“I would vote to move away from these Francophones. I’m in favour of the creation of a state for Anglophones. I want us to be able to build our own national football team where players are selected because of their skills and not because they live in Douala and Yaoundé and can speak French.”

“The army camp in Besongabang has done more harm than good to my people”

Takunchong today delivered his support for the Cameroon government army stating that many Francophone soldiers died defending the Bakassi Peninsular.  However, this is a long way from Takunchong’s previous position on the Cameroon military.

“I am not by any means happy with these Francophone soldiers in Besongabang. They have killed many of our young people and there hasn’t been any strong condemnation from Minister Agbor Tabi or Hon. Rose Abunaw,” Takunchong told an audience in early 2000 when troops went on a rampage in his native Besongabang and killed many young men and women. Many Besongabang citizens fled to Nigeria and nothing has been heard of them till this day.

The most Anti French Cameroun mayor in Southern Cameroons

Takunchong today is claiming that Southern Cameroonians need to send their children to school and that the Biya Francophone regime has done all what it can to provide quality education for Southern Cameroons kids.

However, during the period when Takunchong could not study in the University of Yaoundé due to his lack of mastery of the French language, he toured the nooks and crannies of Bonamousadi and Cradat condemning the fathers of reunification.

By Eyong Johnson Agbor in Buea


Kenya: President Uhuru’s War on Corruption: Lasting Legacy or Political Theater?

16, August 2018

Kenya: President Uhuru’s War on Corruption: Lasting Legacy or Political Theater? 0

Two top-ranking officials in Kenya were charged with corruption this week in a $3 billion Chinese-built railway project, as part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s efforts to show no official is out of reach in the war on graft. However, some analysts question if the charges will lead to convictions or if they are simply political theater.

Kenya Railways’ managing director Atanas Maina and Lands Commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri are accused of overseeing $2 million in fraudulent compensation payments. More than a dozen other Kenyan officials and business people are also facing charges related to the illegal buying and selling of the state corporation’s land.

FILE - Kenya Railways attendants prepare to receive a train launched to operate on Standard Gauge Railway line constructed by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and financed by Chinese government as it arrives at the Nairobi Terminus.
FILE – Kenya Railways attendants prepare to receive a train launched to operate on Standard Gauge Railway line constructed by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and financed by Chinese government as it arrives at the Nairobi Terminus.

 

While the accused deny the charges, the arrests were hailed in Kenya as a rare crackdown on top-level corruption.

However, political analyst Linda Oloo says the prosecutions are less about systemic change and more about Kenyatta.

“Uhuru [Kenyatta] is more concerned about his legacy [and] how will history judge him after his presidency, so that is why he is trying to play the good-man syndrome right now, by doing things that will appeal to the general public. What he is doing is mostly for his image after office,” Oloo said.

In June, Kenyatta announced that all public servants would undergo a compulsory “lifestyle audit” to account for the sources of their income and assets.

Some argue it’s not all political theater.

Kenyatta and Swiss President Alain Berset signed an agreement aimed at helping Kenya recover corrupt assets stashed by Kenyan officials in Swiss banks.

FILE - Swiss President Alain Berset, right, speaks with his Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta during a joint press conference at the State House in Nairobi, July 9, 2018.
FILE – Swiss President Alain Berset, right, speaks with his Kenyan counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta during a joint press conference at the State House in Nairobi, July 9, 2018.

 

In addition, Kenyatta’s director of public prosecutions has arrested top officials at Kenya’s National Youth Service, electric power provider, and more than a dozen firms accused of benefiting from illegal tenders and misappropriated funds.

And Kenyatta on Sunday declared his determination to win the war on graft, even if he has to go after his close associates.

“Over the last few weeks, I have lost many friends,” Kenyatta said. “Many have called me asking, ‘How can you be watching when all the destruction is going on?’ I say a time has come to fight impunity.”

Opposition leader Raila Odinga last year accused the president of diverting the railway to benefit the Kenyatta family. Odinga ceased his criticism in April after making a deal with Kenyatta to work together.

In June, a Kenyan lawmaker linked Kenyatta’s younger brother, Muhoho, to the importation of contraband sugar. In response, President Kenyatta said that if there is evidence, then his brother should be investigated and prosecuted.

But going after a sitting president’s family is unlikely in Kenya, and the National Land Accord Movement’s David Kimanzi doubts top officials will be among those punished.

“There has not been a single conviction of a person who has looted the public coffers. Every person now is looking for how it is going to be their turn to eat,” Kimanzi said.

Despite this week’s high-level arrests, there are still officials who are untouchable, according to Kimanzi. If you touch them, he says, you touch the very core of the government.

Culled from the VOA


22 children die in boat sinking on Nile River in Sudan

15, August 2018

22 children die in boat sinking on Nile River in Sudan 0

A boat carrying more than 40 pupils has sunk while crossing the Nile River in Sudan, leaving at least 22 primary school children dead.

The state news agency SUNA reported that the small boat went down around 750 kilometers (470 miles) north of the capital Khartoum on Wednesday morning while it was crossing the river to a school in the village of Kabna.

A female hospital employee in the village also drowned.

“This morning, 22 schoolchildren and one woman died when their boat sank in Bouhayra in Nile State as they traveled to school from Kneissa,” the agency said.

SUNA added that the boat sank after one of its engines broke down “halfway across because of a strong current.”

A witness, who asked not to be named, said that the vessel had been crossing the river against the current, adding, “All the families (in the area) are in mourning.”

The small boat was reportedly overloaded, carrying sweet potatoes and grain in addition to the passengers.

According to the agency, the victims’ bodies have not yet been recovered.

Ibrahim Hassan, another witness, said at least nine children survived the ordeal.

Residents of the region rely on wooden boats to cross the Nile, which is an important transport route for people and goods in the country.

Monsoon rains in Sudan regularly last from June to November and cause the Nile, one of the world’s longest rivers, and its tributaries to overflow.

Source: Presstv


Nigerian soldiers protest as Boko Haram attacks surge

15, August 2018

Nigerian soldiers protest as Boko Haram attacks surge 0

Disillusioned and exhausted, Nigerian troops battling a surge in Boko Haram jihadist attacks have reached breaking point, protesting less than six months before presidential polls.

The Nigerian army dismissed it as a “misunderstanding”, but on Sunday hundreds of soldiers protested in the airport of Maiduguri, the capital of restive northeast Borno state, for several hours, shooting into the air and disrupting flights.

They were furious about a planned redeployment to a battlefront in the remote Lake Chad region after fighting Boko Haram jihadists for years without relief.

“We should not have been here for more than a year but this is our fourth year and still they are asking us to move to Marte,” one of the protesting soldiers told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“We need some rest, we are war-weary and need to see our families.”

The protest comes after a wave of bloody assaults on military bases in the northeast, forcing the army to retreat and marking a Boko Haram comeback.

The resurgence of violence has put pressure on Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who is seeking a second term in office and maintains that the country is now in a “post-conflict stabilisation phase.”

Experts say that Nigeria hasn’t faced such a serious threat from the jihadists since the peak of the insurgency between 2013 and 2015, when Boko Haram controlled swathes of territory in the country’s northeast.

“There has been a military evolution akin to what we’ve seen in Syria and Iraq,” said security analyst Yan St Pierre to AFP.

“Boko Haram’s quality of attack is higher, the level of preparedness is higher.”

The Nigerian military is overwhelmed by the “catastrophic security situation,” said St Pierre, “they are relying on old tactics no longer applicable in the northeast.”

Desperate to stop the onslaught, Nigeria’s military chief Yusuf Tukur Buratai said that “cowardly” soldiers would be punished by death in a July 27 memo seen by AFP.

Soldiers who “abandon their positions” have the potential to “rubbish all the laudable gains made in the operations in the past 3 years against BHT (Boko Haram terrorists).”

– Relentless attacks –

The attacks are relentless. In less than a month, dozens of soldiers have died, though in the absence of any official death toll from the military, the number is feared to be much higher.

Boko Haram has traditionally launched attacks during Nigeria’s rainy season between June and September when roads become water-logged, making it difficult for troops to do patrols.

The more mobile jihadists seize the opportunity to restock their arsenal of weapons from war-torn Libya and Mali through Nigeria’s porous borders.

Sanda Kime, who is part of the militia force fighting against Boko Haram in Lake Chad, said the latest attacks were because of “huge arms supplies” secured by the jihadists.

“They are now better armed which makes them more daring,” said Kime.

The garrison town of Monguno is on high alert after Boko Haram sent out a warning this week that it would attack on August 22 during the Muslim Eid festival, said residents and aid workers.

Similar threats were sent to troops in Askira and Uba towns, security sources said.

On Monday, the United Nations announced the suspension of humanitarian work by its agencies in Monguno from August 19 over security concerns, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.

– Easy hideouts –

Fighters loyal to IS-affiliated Boko Haram factional leader Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi are believed to have carried out most of the raids.

The faction is mostly based in the Lake Chad area and in areas south of Maiduguri including Benisheikh and Buni Yadi in nearby Yobe state.

In June, Nigerian fighter jets bombarded Al-Barnawi’s Tumbun Gini enclave in the Lake Chad area, forcing him to flee southwards to a forest near Benisheikh, 80 kilometres south of Maiduguri, according to sources with deep knowledge about the group.

“He moved his operational base to the Benisheikh area from where he planned the attacks on military bases,” said a source who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

Al-Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram’s deceased founder Mohammed Yusuf, has found sanctuary in the Lake Chad region, an area fertile in vegetation and fish that is difficult for security forces to penetrate.

“The camps are a reservoir of fighters for the group from where they plan and launch attacks”, said Usman Nalado, a fisherman from the town of Baga on the shore of the lake.

“To end their attacks troops need to smoke them out.”

Source: AFP


Biya’s War in Southern Cameroons has been a disaster

15, August 2018

Biya’s War in Southern Cameroons has been a disaster 0

It is more than a year since the start of the French Cameroun military campaign in Southern Cameroons, but that is unlikely to be an occasion for celebration in Yaoundé. Cameroon Intelligence Report sources have all opined that the war has created several military and CPDM billionaires and is estimated to have cost the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime billions of FCFA. Correspondingly, the Southern Cameroons war has eroded the international image of the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon and failed to achieve its objectives of containing the Ambazonian revolution and quest for an independent state.  At the same time, the people of Southern Cameroons have suffered immensely from the French-backed French Cameroun military campaign, which has claimed the lives of some 2000 Southern Cameroonians, destroyed Ambazonian towns and villages and has led to widespread disease and hunger. Biya’s recent trip to Europe offers an opportunity to bring this harmful campaign to an end.

For the French government, the newly created Federal Republic of Ambazonia is not only a historical target of influence, but also a critical arena for oil and gas security and stability. Southern Cameroons shares a long and porous border with the Federal Republic of Nigeria and also commands the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, in its onslaught against Southern Cameroons, the French Cameroun government enjoys intelligence and logistical aid from the French government and also from the President Buhari consortium of crime syndicates in Abuja. French Cameroun has one of the largest security budgets in the CEMAC region as well as advanced weaponry at its disposal donated by the French and US governments. Yet, Yaoundé is finding it difficult to defeat a determined enemy. In fact, in addition to holding on to many counties in the Northern and Southern zones, Ambazonia Restoration Forces have killed hundreds of French Cameroun soldiers and have made the entire Southern Cameroons territory ungovernable.

The gap between French Cameroun investment in the army and military performance ever since the Southern Cameroons war started led the 85 year dictator to replace the top level of the French Cameroun security establishment in Buea that was headed by General Melingui.  General Melingui’s replacement was presented as part of a strategic process, but it actually reflects growing frustration in the French Cameroun political elite with the Cameroon government army’s performance. The change has not brought any success or effect on the continued fighting.

Although it has an image of comparative success, the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) headed by Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako is also encountering difficulty in operating in Southern Cameroons. The cooperation between Abuja and Yaoundé imposed on Nigeria’s Buhari by France—with European Union aid—is restricting the IG’s ability to dictate events on the ground and demonstrating the limits of its power. Since the IG is unable to break the Yaoundé-Abuja axis of evil, it has no choice but to smuggle money, and small kinds of weapons to Ambazonia Restoration Forces on Ground Zero.

Europe should see President Macron’s close relationship with Mr. Paul Biya and the French Cameroun Monarch’s visit to Switzerland as an opportunity to end this disastrous war: The French Cameroun army cannot win this war but it can settle the conflict on favorable terms, and the European Union should help Biya do just that.

Knowing that European Union and U.S. support will be withdrawn should incentivize the Biya regime to reach a political solution as soon as possible. The war in Southern Cameroons has been a disaster for all involved parties, and so ending it is both the smart thing to do as well as the right thing to do.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai


Facebook support’s the next generation of creative talent at The Loeries Awards 2018

15, August 2018

Facebook support’s the next generation of creative talent at The Loeries Awards 2018 0

For the third year running, Facebook (www.Facebook.com) is sponsoring the annual Facebook Challenge as part of the Student Category at The Loerie Awards 2018 – Africa and the Middle East’s premier award that recognises, rewards, inspires and fosters creative excellence in the advertising and brand communication industry. During Loeries Creative Week, Facebook and Instagram will also host a series of workshops, hackathons and activations for the creative community – including advertising students – and a special event for women in marketing.

For this year’s student challenge, Facebook partnered with the International Federation of Red Cross to provide a creative brief on helping to tackle the cholera crisis on the continent. Students from across Middle East and Africa were challenged to create an impactful mobile-first campaign for Facebook and Instagram that educates at-risk communities around preventing the spread of the disease. Facebook’s Creative Shop team also provided ongoing support to students entering the category, tutoring and mentoring them in understanding how to create ‘thumb-stopping’ mobile content that grabbed the users eye.

As part of the competition, the winning team will be crowned ‘the Facebook Challenge Winners of 2018’ and will also be provided with an all-expenses paid trip to Loeries Creative Week to collect their coveted award, at an exclusive ceremony on 17 August. The final campaign will then be featured on Facebook and Instagram.

“Digital plays a huge part in all of our lives, and to make the most of it, creative agencies across Africa need to continue to tap into creative talents that understand building for the digital age, and the needs of the next billion users coming online,” said Nunu Ntshingila, Regional Director at Facebook Africa. “Our partnership with The Loeries for the third year running, reinforces our commitment in nurturing young, creative and diverse talent, who are passionate about creating powerful mobile-first campaigns that resonate with users.”

Last year’s Facebook Challenge winners – Peni Buckton, Lunje Jwambe and Claudia Bester from AAA Advertising School in Cape Town – worked on a campaign for The Nelson Mandela Foundation to tackle gender diversity. Their winning concept, Everyday Armour, saw them create a series of fashion ads encouraging women to buy items such as a ring that can spray pepper, or a pair of high heels that can also be turned into a self-defense weapon, highlighting the fact that women should not be “dressed’ to be ready for assault.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Facebook.


From Nigeria to Iran, nations begin ditching dollar

15, August 2018

From Nigeria to Iran, nations begin ditching dollar 0

The number of countries switching to national currencies to settle bilateral trade deals is growing in the face of the US weaponization of the dollar.

When US President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions on Iran last week, he warned that any company doing deals with the Iranians in dollars would also be subject to sanctions.

Several Russian companies are also under US sanctions, while Trump’s tweet last week doubling tariffs on imports of Turkish steel has caused Turkey’s currency to crash more than 20 percent against the US dollar.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu said they backed using national currencies, not the US dollar, in bilateral trade.

Lavrov told a joint news conference with Cavusoglu in Ankara that identical processes have been happening in trade with Iran.

“Not only with Turkey and Iran, we’re also arranging and already implementing payments in national currencies with the People’s Republic of China,” he said.

Iran and Turkey are already using national currencies following an agreement last October, with a similar arrangement also in place between Iran and India.

Lavrov echoed statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he was confident “the grave abuse of the role of the US dollar as a global reserve currency will result over time in the weakening and demise of its role.”

There have already been settlements in national currencies between Russia and the BRICS – the bloc that also includes Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

Elsewhere across the world, Nigeria has introduced China’s yuan as an alternative trading currency to the US dollar.

Last month, Nigeria’s central bank sold yuan at its first auction of the Chinese currency, two months after it agreed a $2.5 billion swap with Beijing.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest nation by population and its largest economy due to its oil exports. The OPEC member imports heavily from China which is Nigeria’s biggest trading partner after the US.

Trade volumes between China and Nigeria totaled $9.2 billion in 2017, with the African country running a big deficit through its $7.6 billion imports.

China has also signed a three-year swap worth $4.8 billion with South Africa and similar deals with other emerging markets, some of which have been selling renminbi in businesses.

Moreover, an unfolding trade war between the US and China is taking its toll on their bilateral trade while American sanctions on Iran are raising interest in oil trade in yuan.

China has threatened to retaliate by slapping duties on several American commodities, including oil which has been flowing in greater volumes to the world’s biggest consumer of crude in recent years.

According to energy experts, a cut in Chinese purchases of US oil may boost Iran’s sales, which Washington is trying to curb with new sanctions due to “snap back” on November 4.

China’s launch of yuan-denominated Shanghai futures in March has created a lot of enthusiasm among international companies seeking to tap the Asian nation’s bustling commodity markets.

Experts say the new futures contract traded on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange is now on course to become an alternative international oil benchmark not priced in dollars.

Source: Presstv


USA: President Trump calls former White House aide a ‘dog’

15, August 2018

USA: President Trump calls former White House aide a ‘dog’ 0

US President Donald Trump has escalated his public feud with a former White House aide, calling her a “dog” after she accused him of using racial slurs.

The spat intensified on Tuesday, when Omarosa Manigault Newman publicly released more recordings from her time as a contestant on Trump’s reality show – The Apprentice – and her tenure at the White House.

“When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General (John) Kelly for quickly firing that dog!,” Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to his chief of staff.

Newman, who was sacked last December, has accused Trump of making derogatory statements and using N-words about African-Americans, Filipinos and other minorities, saying the US president has a “pattern” of insulting people of color and questioning their intelligence.

Newman, who served as communications director for the White House Office of Public Liaison, has also released several audio recordings of conversations she had with Trump and campaign aides as well as a recording of her firing by Kelly.

Earlier in the day, Trump’s election campaign sued the former White House aide for allegedly breaching a confidentiality agreement.

“Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. has filed an arbitration against Omarosa Manigault Newman, with the American Arbitration Association in New York City, for breach of her 2016 confidentiality agreement with the Trump Campaign,” a Trump campaign official said in a statement.

Newman said she would not be “silenced” or “bullied” by the legal action from Trump’s campaign team.

Source: Presstv


Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba boys launch attacks in several cities in the NW and SW

14, August 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba boys launch attacks in several cities in the NW and SW 0

Southern Cameroonian fighters, popularly known as Amba boys, have sown panic across the entire English-speaking region today, Tuesday, August 14, 2018.

In Besongabang, civilians could be seen in a video running in different directions when gunshots supposedly fired by Amba boys rang out around a military camp in the town’s city center.

The pandemonium caused by the shoot-out caused the main highway leading to the border with Nigeria to be closed.

A few casualties have been reported, but the full picture of the unfortunate situation will only become clearer when our reporters on the ground will have to talk with military and police sources.

In Buea, Amba boys attacked army soldiers around Bomaka, a highly populated neighborhood in Buea, located some three kilometers from Mile 17.

Meanwhile, a case of serious violence was also reported in Babungu, in the Northwest region.

It was reported that Hon. Njingu Moussa who was traveling from Bamunka, Ndop, to Babessi with two trucks loaded with soldiers was attacked by Amba boys who, many say, were targeting the army soldiers.

Many people questioned by our sources on the ground say the trucks were attacked by pro-independence fighters.

It is alleged that the soldiers later retreated to the Babungo Three Corners where many civilians were waiting for the tension to subside.

According to Cameroon News Agency (CNA) correspondent reports, Hon Moussa and the convoy decided to blend with the civilian population so as to complicate things for the fighters who always claim their role is to protect the civilian population that is usually threatened by the military.

However, on their way back, the shooting continued around the Babungo Rice farm in Three Corners. Four soldiers have been reported dead as a result of the shoot-out at the border between Baba I and II.

Cameroon Concord News Group reporters are already on the ground and they will be providing more news about this developing story.

By Kingsley Betek


Asylum-seeker injures 4 in France stabbing attack

14, August 2018

Asylum-seeker injures 4 in France stabbing attack 0

An Afghan asylum-seeker was arrested after launching a drunken and frenzied knife attack in the sleepy southwestern French town of Perigueux, injuring four people including one seriously, police said Tuesday.

The incident began Monday evening with the 19-year-old man, who was known to have psychological problems according to local authorities, lashing out at cars outside his home.

The head of the ambulance service for the area, Jean-Jacques Girard, told the regional Sud-Ouest daily that he was seen “kicking and banging a first vehicle with his feet and fists, then a second” and also “rounding on female motorists.”

Two paramedics who witnessed the incident tried to calm the man down but after disappearing inside his home he returned with a knife and attacked them, leaving them with injuries to the head and neck.

He then turned on two brothers aged 64 and 68 living next door, leaving one with a perforated lung and the other with stab wounds to the back.

The man was eventually overpowered by one of the brothers and a man of Cameroonian origin, who stepped in to help wrestle his knife away.

Police arrested the man and placed him in custody on charges of aggravated violence.

They ruled out any terrorist motive.

(Source: AFP)


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