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18, February 2017

Obama rated America’s 12th best president ⁰

Barack Obama has been rated as the 12th best American president a month after leaving the office, according to a new survey. C-SPAN’s 2017 presidential historians survey published on Friday put the first African American president between former heads of state Woodrow Wilson (No. 11) and James Monroe (No. 13) and outranking Bill Clinton (No. 15)

The 91 historians who were consulted for the survey gave Obama and 42 other commanders in chief a score of one to 10 on 10 different “qualities of presidential leadership,” including “economic management,” “vision/setting an agenda,” “relations with Congress,” “crisis leadership” and “public persuasion.”

He ranked 10th on public persuasion, 15th on crisis leadership, 8th on economic management, 7th on moral authority, and 24th on international relations. Obama was the 19th president in terms of administrative skills and 39th in terms of relations with Congress. The former president, who left the office with a notable 57 percent job approval rating, ranked third when it came to pursuing equal justice for all.

“Although 12th is a respectable overall ranking, one would have thought that former President Obama’s favorable rating when he left office would have translated into a higher ranking in this presidential survey,” said Edna Greene Medford, a Howard University history professor and one of the survey’s advisers.

“But, of course, historians prefer to view the past from a distance, and only time will reveal his legacy,” she added. Topping the overall list was Abraham Lincoln, the 16th American 16th president known for abolishing slavery and leading the Union through the Civil War.

George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower ranked below Lincoln. The country’s 15th president James Buchanan, whose presidency preceded the Civil War, took the bottom spot.

Presstv

18, February 2017

US: Dems openly saying Trump may not be mentally fit to serve ⁰

A growing number of Democrats are openly saying that Donald Trump may not be mentally fit to serve as the president of the United States. Mental health professionals have already warned that President Trump is showing “classic signs” of mental illness, including “malignant narcissism.” A Washington, DC-based newspaper, The Hill, reported on Friday that several Democratic lawmakers are also now questioning President Trump’s mental health.

In a floor speech this week, Earl Blumenauer, a Representative from Oregon, demanded a review of the Constitution’s procedures for removing a president if he is mentally unstable. The Congressman said the 25th Amendment of the Constitution falls short when it comes to mental or emotional fitness for the office of the president.

Senator Al Franken from Minnesota told CNN during a weekend interview that Trump’s mental health is a source of great concern for some of his Republican colleagues as well. Asked by the host if it is “true that Republican colleagues of yours express concerns about President Trump’s mental health,” Franken replied, “A few… There’s not a majority of them.”

Meanwhile, a Representative from California, Ted Lieu, is set to introduce a bill that would require the presence of a psychiatrist or psychologist in the White House to check on the president. The Democrats argue that Trump’s habit of making demonstrably false claims show that something is wrong with him. President Trump at a press conference on Thursday claimed that he had the biggest Electoral College victory since former Republican President Ronald Reagan, for example, while his margin was lower than either of President Barack Obama’s wins.

Blumenauer told The Hill he started talking about the review of the 25th Amendment because Trump has repeatedly made ludicrous claims, such as insisting that it wasn’t raining during his speech on Inauguration Day on January 20 at Capitol Hill when it was. “It’s not normal behavior. I don’t know anybody in a position of responsibility that doesn’t know if they’re being rained on. And nobody I work with serially offers up verifiably false statements on an ongoing basis,” he said.

For decades, psychologists and psychiatrists have kept silent about their diagnostic opinions of public figures in accordance with ethical rules set out by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). However, thousands of mental health professionals have signed a Change.org petition declaring the US president “is mentally ill and must be removed.”

Thirty-five psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers have sent a letter to The New York Times saying that “the grave emotional instability indicated by Mr. Trump’s speech and actions makes him incapable of serving safely as president.” Psychologists have also begun questioning Trump’s state of mind because of the type of temperament and behavior he has displayed during his public appearances. Most recently, John D. Gartner, a practicing psychotherapist who taught psychiatric residents at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, said Trump “is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president,” according to The Independent.

Gartner believes Trump shows signs of “malignant narcissism,” which is defined as a combination of narcissism, antisocial personality disorder, aggression and sadism. But some other mental health professionals are concerned that political actors suggesting that their opponent has psychological problems risks stigmatizing people with actual mental illnesses. “I think the politicization is troubling,” said Joshua Miller, a psychologist at the University of Georgia whose research focuses on pathological personality traits and personality disorders. “We certainly wouldn’t want individuals to use mental illness as a weapon to harm others.”

Congressman Lieu however argued that the mental health of a person who is in control of the nation’s nuclear codes must be scrutinized. “I think it is a legitimate issue to raise. I am not a mental health professional, so I don’t know in terms of any sort of medical expertise on this. But I do see and hear the same things that other people see and hear, and a lot of people have concluded that what’s going on is not normal. So what do I do with that as a member of Congress?” he told The Hill. “Anyone who can launch 4,000 nuclear weapons in minutes absolutely should be questioned on any matter related to their physical and mental health,” he stated.

Presstv

18, February 2017

Southern Cameroons Uprising: Resistance rather than collaboration is the only way ¹

Ever since the Southern Cameroons revolution started in 2016, the term “resistance” has been everywhere-thanks to the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. The people of the Buea and Bamenda provinces of West Cameroon are now reading from the same script-thanks to the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. We now know that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is not as powerful as we earlier thought and that it has cabinet ministers who do not think properly. The interim leaders have made it very clear that the policies of La Republique du Cameroun must be disrupted and a new, stronger Southern Cameroons must coalesce.

When an oppressive military such as that of La Republique takes over a peaceful nation, the opposition gravitates towards two ends of a continuum. On one side are those for resistance and on the other, collaboration. Attempts by Barrister Bobga Harmony and some Southern Cameroons activists in the US aimed at creating a Consortium in the Diaspora correctly points out that some individuals want to collaborate with Biya, despite the existential threat to the struggle.

But it’s not just Barrister Bobga Harmony and his friends in the US who are willing to sway towards Biya and his Francophone regime. The Anglophone Diaspora is also guilty. Francophone troops invaded your home land, raped and killed your children, arrested hundreds including the leaders of the trade unions representing the interest of the future generations, humiliated prominent elites from your constituency, disconnected internet services, militarized your country and their leader turns around and signs a decree that Francophone should start speaking English to appease you and many of you are now saying that it is business as usual!!!! This is not resistance, not even close.

When the Germans invaded France in 1940, every French citizen had a choice to make. Many rejected the Nazi occupation. They banded together to undermine enemy control, through intelligence gathering, noncooperation, and sabotage. The French Resistance was integral to Allied victory and the end of the Nazi state. This is what the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium is asking from Southern Cameroonians.

Like some of the French who decided to seek peace and coexist with the occupation, Musonge, Atanga Nji and the many CPDM political elites who are willing to work with a Head of State that history knows is irredeemable can establish a puppet regime of Anglophones at Bonaberi in Douala just like some of the French did by creating the Vichy government.

Given how much progressive work and resources has gone into this struggle, it is disturbing to see that we do not have a radio station operating from areas such as Calabar and Ikom in Nigeria. To have a “wait and see” approach is a privilege many Francophone including Biya do not have. Women, children, the old and the unemployed are under attack now in West Cameroon. Accepting any form of dialogue with the regime as legitimate is to sanction their oppression.

Total resistance is the only way forward. But the frontlines need dedicated people. Barrister Bobga was told not to meet with Baba Danpullo, he did!! By escaping to the US, he is no longer a front liner so he too should simply follow the instructions of the interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. This struggle is not about UNESCO and the resumption of schools in West Cameroon, it is about the dignity of the English speaking Cameroonian.

Schools should remain closed, ghost towns should be intensified and Anglophone businesses should not trade with La Republique. If you want peace, you should be prepared for war. The economic and political structures that hold the 84 year old Biya and his ideology up should be under threat. If the SCNC, SCAPO and the numerous Southern Cameroons Diaspora groups are unwilling to resist Biya and his Francophone Beti Ewondo regime, then it is on the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium to organize us and proceed with action.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

17, February 2017

Militants in Central African Republic executed 32 civilians in December ¹

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed details of the execution of at least 32 civilians by an armed group in the lawless heart of the Central African Republic late last year. The HRW said in a report on Thursday that militants from the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), a splinter group from a rebel force in neighboring Chad, had killed 32 civilians and captured fighters in the town of Bakala in December 2016.

The New York-based rights group said 25 people had been killed after they were called to a school for an alleged meeting, while seven other men were executed as they were returning from a nearby gold mine. “Accounts of the incidents were provided by a survivor and eight witnesses, including five men who were forced to help dispose of the bodies,” said the HRW in a statement.

A representative of the rights group in the Africa region also denounced the killing as “brazen war crimes by UPC fighters who feel free to kill at will.” In January, the UPC denied that its militants had been involved in any form of killing in Bakala region. “Soldiers in the UPC cannot execute civilians or prisoners … What you have heard about the UPC are lies,” said Ali Darassa, UPC’s commander since the formation of the group in September 2014.

Experts from the United Nations had earlier warned that armed groups were using the lawlessness in tracts of the CAR to maintain their interests, ranging from control of gold and other mines, cattle rustling and highway robbery. “They have taken the place of the judicial apparatus and [they] terrify the population,” Marie-Therese Keita-Bocoum, an independent UN expert on human rights in the CAR said, adding that “armed groups reign as masters over more than 60 percent of the territory, benefiting from total impunity.”

France and the UN’s mission in the CAR, known as MINUSCA, have intervened militarily in the African country to end large-scale massacres and restore relative order to the capital, Bangui. However, insecurity continues to grip swaths of the territory.

Presstv

17, February 2017

Indomitable Lions: Hugo Broos applies for the Bafana Bafana job ¹

Rumor has been circulating that the man who guided the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon to victory in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations has applied for the South Africa job. A source at the South African Football Federation recently confirmed to a sister publication Cameroun-info.Net that Hugo Broos through his agent has made himself available to train the Bafana Bafana.

The position of coach has been vacant in South Africa following the dismissal of Shakes Mashaba. Thus, less than two weeks after winning the AFCON with the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, the Belgian technician intends to seek fortune elsewhere. Ever since his recruitment in February 2016 to replace the German Volker Finke, Hugo Broos is not regularly paid by the Cameroonian Football Federation.

By Chi Prudence Asong

17, February 2017

Cameroon gov’t spokesman presents fake assessment of the Anglophone crisis ⁶

Cameroon government spokesman and Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary has once again presented a fake report on the atrocities committed by troops loyal to the regime in Yaoundé. Of the more than 800 Anglophones arrested so far from the Bamenda and Buea provinces of Southern Cameroons, the controversial Nordist politician disclosed that only 82 people were in police drag net in the wake of the ongoing crisis in the North West and South West regions.

Issa Tchiroma observed that out of the 82, 21 were subsequently released. “Of the 61 persons still under detention, 31 are awaiting trial before the competent court, namely, the Yaoundé Military Court,” Issa Tchiroma Bakary said during a press conference in Yaounde on Wednesday February 15. Those awaiting trial include Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla and Fontem Aforteka’a Neba, leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), whose existence had previously been declared null and void.

Issa Tchiroma avoided questions on Anglophones that have been killed so far in places like Jakiri, Buea, Kumbo Bamenda and Kumba. He said Southern Cameroonians arrested are prosecuted for acts of terrorism, hostility against the fatherland, secession, revolution, insurgency, and contempt of the President of the Republic, contempt of the constituted bodies and civil servants, group rebellion, civil war, dissemination of false news, apology for crimes and are tried under the 2014 anti-terrorism law.

Though the aforementioned activists pleaded not guilty at their first court appearance last February 13, they could be sentenced to death should the court eventually find them guilty. “To these main charges, we should envisage to add those that could eventually stem from their foreseeable consequences,” the government spokesman told the press.

In an apparent response to popular opinion and some media reports, Issa Tchiroma said none of the defendants is prosecuted for the mere fact of having participated in a strike, having masterminded or participated in a peaceful demonstration.

“It should be indicated that each of the accused persons benefits from the presumption of innocence, which means that they remain innocent until the court establishes whether or not they are guilty at the end of the trial,” the communication Minister stated.

Justifying why those arrested are standing trial in Yaoundé whereas they were arrested in the North West and South West regions with military tribunals, he said the Yaoundé Military Court is a court of national jurisdiction, “empowered to exercise its powers over the entire National territory in the event of serious threats to public order, State security and in case of acts of terrorism.”

Cameroun Info. net

16, February 2017

EU’s Mogherini says Never seen US so polarized and divided ⁰

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has warned that the current polarization and division in the US may result in destabilizing the rest of the world.

“I have never seen the US so polarized, divided and burdened by conflicts as now. However, the one who would like to play a global leadership role needs to be internally strong, self-confident and cohesive,” said Mogherini during an interview with German-language newspaper Die Welt published on Wednesday.

She stressed that the current tensions in the new US administration may become a “destabilizing factor” for the rest of the world.

Mogherini made the remarks shortly after a trip to Washington, where she met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, US President Donald Trump’s aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner and several other officials.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R) meets with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at the State Department in Washington, DC, on February 9, 2017.

‘Widening US-EU rift’

She added that while several key elements of the new US administration’s foreign policy remain obscure, future EU policies should be aimed at finding out “where our positions coincide.” “In the future there may be more topics, on which the European Union and the United States will have different positions,” she added.

The 2016 presidential election in the US exposed more than ever the deep division within the society in which minor groups, including Muslims, African Americans and Hispanics, are marginalized.

Despite tapping into the division, Trump managed to gain electoral victory and became president but lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly three million ballots.

Presstv

16, February 2017

Yaounde: 56 soldiers seriously injured in an accident at Olembe ⁴

At least 56 soldiers were seriously injured in an accident on Wednesday in Yaoundé. Among the 56 wounded soldiers, nine reportedly sustained life threatening injuries and have been rushed to the military hospital of Yaoundé.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that these were essentially new military recruits who traveled to the Btap training center at Koutaba in the West region to continue their training. The accident happened at the Olembé school entrance, where one of the trucks in the military convoy lost its brakes and drove into another military vehicle parked full with gendarmes and military students. Traumatized, the convoy from Yaounde, turned back towards the headquarters of the gendarmerie.

Culled from CIR

16, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: North West Senators, MPs call for release of detained Consortium leaders ¹

Some 10 members of Parliament and Senators of the ruling CPDM party from the North West region have appealed on Head of State Paul Biya to release the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

The message was part of a 10 point resolutions reached by the representatives in a forum that held at Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda, North West region at the invitation of Senate Vice President Senator Achidi Achu.

The Wednesday February 15, 2017 Bamenda CPDM meeting made public an acknowledgement of the prevailing situation in the two English speaking regions and praised the 84 year-old President Paul Biya for putting in place the Ad Hoc Committee which according to them have solved some of the problems raised by Trade Union leaders.

Simon Achidi Achu and his group also thanked the Head of State for creating the National Commission on Bilingualism and Multiculturalism which they consider a giant step in the right direction in resolving the crisis and appeal for an expedient appointment of its members for effective work to begin.

Cameroun Info.Net

15, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Consortium warns Diaspora, Says Southern Cameroons is at tipping point ¹

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has warned the Anglophone Diaspora that Southern Cameroons is on the verge of a human rights catastrophe amid a Francophone government pattern of increased violence against Anglophones, rapes, executions, and detentions.

The Consortium gave the warning on Tuesday as ghost town operations were held throughout West Cameroon amid massive arrest of innocent citizens including some religious leaders. The interim leaders announced a major diplomatic break through but did not provide further details. The first two months of 2017 alone has witnessed an alarming upsurge in rapes, killings and arbitrary and abusive use of force by troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium with legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons added that West Cameroonians should stay indoors and observe the civil disobedience campaign as the Yaoundé regime does not respect Anglophone rights, and has refused to halt its military operations in Southern Cameroons. Inside sources say, the number of Anglophone citizens arrested and detained in Francophone prisons is far more than the number of Boko Haram militants captured ever since the Nigerian Islamic sect began its incursion into Cameroon territory. La Republique du Cameroun will soon be dealing with a full blown human rights crisis.

Since 2016, the Francophone government and its political elites have been claiming that they have taken meaningful steps towards reform. The Biya Francophone government has failed to comment on its human rights obligations. The past few weeks have seen a very concerning renewed pattern of violations in Mamfe, Jakiri, Kembong, Batibo, Bamenda, Buea and Limbe including arbitrary detention and torture, facilitated by a continuing climate of impunity.

Anti- Biya regime protests have been held on an almost daily basis ever since the popular Anglophone uprising roared into life in 2016. The Francophone army has gone to great lengths to silence dissent and French speaking soldiers have been deployed to assist the 84 year-old leader in his crackdown. Hundreds of Anglophone Cameroonians have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or been arrested since then.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with cables from West and East Cameroons