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8, October 2016

Nigeria: State of Kaduna bans Shia group led by Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky ⁰

The Nigerian state of Kaduna has declared a mainstream Shia group led by Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky as illegal as a state crackdown against the Muslim community continues. The Kaduna state government warned on Friday that those convicted of being a member of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) could be imprisoned for seven years, fined or both.

It further claimed that the Shia group had “overtly continued with unlawful processions” and “obstruction of public highways” since last December when the Army forces clashed with the IMN members. “These acts, if allowed to go unchecked will constitute danger to the peace, tranquility, harmonious coexistence and good governance of Kaduna state,” the Nigerian state added.

On December 12, 2015, Nigerian soldiers attacked Shia Muslims attending a ceremony at a religious center in the city of Zaria in Kaduna, accusing them of blocking the convoy of the army’s chief of staff and attempting to assassinate him.

The following day, Nigerian forces also raided the home of the IMN leader, Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, and arrested the prominent cleric after reportedly killing those attempting to protect him. A judicial inquiry concluded in August that the Nigerian army killed 348 members of the religious community during the two-day raids.

Presstv

7, October 2016

Three Turkish diplomats have applied for asylum in Germany ⁰

Media reports say three Turkish diplomats have applied for asylum in Germany in the wake of Ankara’s crackdown on individuals suspected of involvement in the failed coup of July 15. Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper and public broadcasters NDR and WDR quoted government sources as saying that a military attaché was among the diplomats.

Following the coup attempt, Ankara recalled an unspecified number of diplomatic passports. Representatives of the German Interior Ministry told lawmakers at the lower house of parliament that three Turkish diplomats in Germany had submitted asylum applications, the media outlets said.

However, the daily quoted government sources as saying that the number of Turkish diplomats seeking asylum may have increased, adding that the asylum applications were still undecided.

The diplomats are suspected of having links to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the abortive coup. Gulen has condemned the coup attempt and denied any involvement.

This hand out picture released on September 24, 2013, by Zaman Daily newspaper shows Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, the US. (Photo by AFP)

Since the coup was declared over on July 16, Turkey began its harsh crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the failed coup. Reports say about 100,000 people have been discharged or suspended from their jobs. Nearly 32,000 people were also jailed pending trial during the crackdown.

Relations between Ankara and Berlin have strained since the German parliament passed a resolution in June, recognizing the Armenian “genocide” at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I.

The bilateral relations between the two countries further strained after the post-coup crackdown as Berlin expressed its concern over the measures taken by Ankara in response to the situation. Germany, however, is dependent on Ankara in curbing the influx of refugees into Europe.

The European Union and Turkey signed a deal in March, under which Turkey committed to taking back all the asylum seekers and refugees that used the Aegean Sea to illegally reach Greece.

Presstv

7, October 2016

President Biya has been absent from the country for 22 days now!! ⁰

African Heads of State will from Monday the 10th to Saturday, the 15^th of October, 2016 hold a summit on maritime safety and governance for security and development in Africa. Thirty leaders and heads of government are expected in the Togolese capital, Lome on the 15^th of October for the closure of the summit.

Faure Gnassingbe, the Togolese President had personally invited his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya during a private meeting on the side-lines of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, which held from Monday the 19th to Monday the 26^th of September, 2016 in New York.

The Togolese President was in Yaounde in 2013 during the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of States of West Africa (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (CGG) on the Maritime Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea.

Local media reports from the nation’s capital Yaounde say a lot of tongues have been wagging if President Biya will make the trip to Togo. Biya has been absent from the country for 22 days now in an unknown destination. When he left Yaoundé on September the 16th, 2016, a statement from the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic announced that he was going to the United States to attend the 71st session of the UN general assembly. Biya reportedly left New York a day before the closing of the UN General Assembly for a secret destination.

By Chi Prudence Asong

7, October 2016

New Secretary General to the Yaounde Urban Council installed ⁰

The Government Delegate to the Yaounde City Council, Gilbert Tsimi Evouna has installed the new Secretary General to the Council, Gabriel Essoa Eloi. The installation ceremony took place on the 6^th of October 2016 in Yaounde.

Speaking during the installation ceremony, the new Secretary General indicated that he will continue in the footsteps of his predecessor and also improve on the sanitary state of the city.

Before his appointment on 20th September, 2016, Gabriel Essoa Eloi was Senior Divisional Officer of the Upper Nkam in the West Region.

He takes over from Alphonse Roger Ondoa Akoa who was appointed Director General of the Cameroon Water Utility Company, CAMWATER.

CRTV

7, October 2016

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon have left France en route to Algeria ⁰

The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon have left France en route to Algeria after spending almost a week in the town of Mallemort preparing for a crucial encounter for this Sunday the 9^th of October, 2016. Head coach, Hugo Broos will have to pick his dream team after he watched them played a 1-1 all draw on October the 5th at the Commanderie training ground against Olympique of Marseille.

The Indomitable Lions made a very emotional farewell ceremony yesterday Thursday in Mallemort with praises showered on the population of the small town via their mayor, Helen Gente. Mayor Gente observed in a very soul-searching speech that France won the 1998 FIFA World Cup due to the preparations they had in the small town of Mallemort. The mayor noted that Cameroon should do the same by winning next Sunday’s match against Algeria.

The town has reportedly signed an agreement with the Cameroon Football Federation and Tombi a Roko Sidiki, the president of FECAFOOT was quoted as saying that it was the beginning of a collaboration that will grow in the years to come. For his part, the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Bidoung Mpkatt, gave an open invitation to the mayor to visit Cameroon and live with the peculiarities of the Cameroonian hospitality.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from CIN

7, October 2016

New control system installed at Yaounde Nsimalen International airport ⁰

A new filter control system has been installed by the national police chief on Thursday at the Yaoundé Nsimalen International airport. The new filtration system, aims to stop the illegal trafficking observed in Cameroon airports. 43 days to the start of the Women’s Football Africa Cup of Nations which begins on the 19^th of November, the new filtering system will gradually be expanded to the Douala, Garoua and Maroua international airports.

The new device will connect Cameroonian airports to most of the renowned international airports in the world, so that anti-trafficking cells operating targeted checks can get uniformity. Mixed review teams will be composed of customs, police, immigration officers, the airport authority, intelligence agents and the drug trafficking agency. These cells will carry out more targeted controls, through the instruments that will be provided to them on persons, baggage, cargo, parcels and couriers.

By Sama Ernest in Yaounde

7, October 2016

Two of Nigeria’s 10 presidential jets have been put up for sale ⁰

Two of Nigeria’s 10 presidential jets have been put up for sale as part of a drive to cut costs, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday.

Buhari, a 73-year-old former military ruler who took office last year, has vowed to crack down on corruption and mismanagement of public funds that has seen a rich elite benefit from the OPEC member’s oil wealth while most Nigerians live on less than $2 per day.

Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu issued a statement to say newspaper advertisements for the sale of two presidential planes had been authorised by the presidency. “This is in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that aircraft in the presidential air fleet be reduced to cut down on waste,” said Shehu.

Nigeria has 10 planes in its presidential fleet. Nigeria is in a recession for the first time in more than 20 years, largely due to low oil prices. Sales of crude oil, the country’s main export, make up 70 percent of government revenue.

Reuters

7, October 2016

22 Nigerien soldiers killed by gunmen ⁰

More than 20 soldiers in Niger have been killed in an attack by gunmen on a camp for Malian refugees in the West African country. Prime Minister Brigi Rafini said the attack occurred in the western Tahoua region on Thursday. “We received information of an attack on the camp in Tassalit,” Rafini said. “For the moment we are told there are 22 dead, but that is not a total death toll.”

A local official said the attackers targeted a military post near the refugee camp, adding three soldiers were also wounded. The camp sheltered a group of Malians who fled to neighboring Niger after militants, some of them linked to al-Qaeda, seized a desert in northern Mali four years ago.

France, a former colonizer of the region, deployed military forces to Mali in 2013 to push the militants back, but violence continues in the Sahel region. Last year, a total number of 54,000 Malian refugees registered in Niger, while 3000 others were still waiting for registration, according to the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR.

There was no information on whether any of the civilians at the camp had also been harmed in the Thursday attack. Niger’s small army is busy fighting Takfiri Boko Haram militants, who launch attacks across the country’s southern border from Nigeria. The army is also trying to prevent an overflow of attacks from Mali.

Presstv

6, October 2016

The InternationaL Court of Justice, Bakassi, The Nationality Question and the open of wound of International Justice ⁰

When the nationality question was raised at the ICJ during the hearing of the Cameroon v Nigeria case Cameroun and Nigeria as well as the Court dodged the question. Cameroon in particular pleaded with the court not to defer a decision on the matter to allow the matter to be settled through bilateral negotiations. The Court made a note of this plea in its judgment and left a potentially explosive matter unresolved.

The failure to resolve this issue left the so-called Bakassi judgment inconclusive deferring the most important matter that emerged during the case unresolved. There exists therefore a reasonable ground to believe that the supposed peace and closure that the ICJ judgment purported to bring was but the peace of the loaded gun as the news report forwarded with this comment and many others attest.

The question arises, therefore, why did Nigeria which proposed a referendum to resolve this matter and Cameroun which opposed the referendum shy from allowing the ICJ to resolve this component of the case even when they would reasonably have anticipated that the nationality issue is one of the most explosive in international relations and international law? The answer may be hidden in the little talked about interpleader which Fon Gorgi Dinka filed on behalf of Ambazonia which was duly acknowledged but no further action taken on it during the trial.

The legal and/or technical grounds on the basis of which the interpleader would have been entertained or rejected were never seriously considered during trial by the parties. The interpleader therefore remained part of the court records in the case. If anything, the interpleader was reasonable notice to the parties in the case that Ambazonia was laying claims not just to the resources in Bakassi but also to the population residing in Bakassi.

Considering the state of agitation of the people of Bakassi during the case and thereafter, and their threats at one moment to declare independence; their commitment to Ambazonia nationality, Cameroon and Nigeria found the matter so explosive to allow the court to take a decision on. That is why the court deferred to a negotiated settlement which has not and will never take place as long as the wider issue, the Ambazonia question is not comprehensively resolved. This matter therefore is another sore of international justice left unaddressed.

By Chief Charles A.Taku

6, October 2016

Donald Trump insults women for the purpose of entertainment ⁰

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says many of his past remarks against women were made “for the purpose of entertainment.” The billionaire businessman from New York has been under attack over his disparaging comments on immigrants, Muslims, and women. On Wednesday, he was asked in an interview if he could understand why parents of young girls are not comfortable about his history of making crude remarks.

“A lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment, there’s nobody that has more respect for women than I do,” Trump said in response. “Are you trying to tone it down now?” the host asked the billionaire politician. “It’s not a question of trying, it’s very easy,” Trump said.

In recent weeks, Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, has increased her attacks on the real estate tycoon because of his behavior toward women. During the first presidential debate last week, Clinton slammed Trump for his remarks about a former Miss Universe, whom he had ridiculed for gaining weight in 1996.

Trump’s campaign has been marred by his insulting remarks against minorities in the US. His comments include a call to ban all Muslims from coming to America as well as forced deportation of Mexican migrants by building a long wall along the US-Mexico border.

He has also sought for a database to track Muslims across the United States and said that the US would have “absolutely no choice” but to close down mosques.

Clinton leads; Trump facing must-win debate

Hillary Clinton speaks during a fundraiser at the Capitol Hill Hyatt hotel on October 5, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

Meanwhile, Clinton has emerged from the first presidential debate with a good lead over Trump in the race for the White House. According to the results of the Fairleigh Dickinson University survey released Wednesday, the former secretary of state has 50 points and the New York billionaire 40 percent among likely voters.

The poll comes days after the first presidential debate between the two candidates on September 26, which became the most-watched presidential face-off in the history of US elections.

During the fiery face-off, Clinton accused Trump of racism, sexism and tax avoidance, putting him on the defensive for much of the 90-minute debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.

Many observers now say Trump must win at the second presidential debate on Sunday if he is to regain the momentum in the race.

Presstv