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Prospects Bright For Scottish Independence As Alex Salmond Proves His Innocence And Signals Return To Politics

24, March 2020

Prospects Bright For Scottish Independence As Alex Salmond Proves His Innocence And Signals Return To Politics 0

Scotland’s former First Minister, Alex Salmond, has been cleared of sexually assaulting nine women.

A jury at the High Court in Edinburgh acquitted Salmond of 13 sexual assault charges.

An additional charge of sexually assaulting a 10th woman had previously been dropped by prosecutors.

All the charges against Salmond were alleged to have taken place between June 2008 and November 2014.

Salmond, who is also the former leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), had strenuously pleaded his innocence during the two-week trial.

The former SNP leader is widely regarded as an icon of Scottish nationalism and a pioneer of the independence movement. Indeed, Salmond led the SNP and the Scottish people into the 2014 independence referendum.

Because of his pioneering status – and continuing influence on Scottish politics – independence advocates have long argued the accusations against Salmond were politically motivated.

Alex Salmond is a victim of the British establishment and its media

For his part, Salmond demonstrated humility and magnanimity as he emerged from court an innocent man. Instead of bemoaning the politically motivated witch-hunt against him, Salmond decided instead to focus on the coronavirus crisis in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

“Whatever nightmare I’ve been in over the last two years it is nothing compared to the nightmare that every single one of us is currently living through … People are dying, many more are going to do so”, Salmond said by referencing the deadly COVID-19 disease sweeping Scotland and the UK as a whole.

In an unmistakable gesture of statesmanship, Salmond told reporters to “go home – those who can – take care of your families and god help us all”.  

Many Scots have taken to social media to commend Salmond for his statesmanlike behavior and refusal to engage in petty politics over what has now proven to be an unjust prosecution.

With his innocence now proven, there is mounting speculation about Salmond’s next move.

Sky News is reporting that “sources close” to Salmond claim the former First Minister is contemplating a political comeback.

One of the more curious aspects of this case has been the current First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon’s deafening silence on the whole issue. Indeed, as of this moment Sturgeon has failed to congratulate Salmond on proving his innocence in court.

This has prompted a leading Scottish journalist to argue that Sturgeon faces “profound questions of integrity” over the whole affair.

More broadly, Salmond’s acquittal is a blow to the British establishment which has tried for many years to bring him down.

But the scale of Salmond’s legal victory has caused leading establishment figures to reflect on the loss and demand answers from the system that tried to destroy the former SNP leader.

In the final analysis, Salmond’s acquittal is a big boost to the Scottish independence movement which had begun to lose some of its momentum in the wake of last December’s British general election

Apart from issues connected to Sturgeon’s over-cautious leadership style, the coronavirus outbreak has forced the cancellation of plans to hold an independence referendum later this year.

Scottish government cancels Indyref plans due to Coronavirus pandemic

If Salmond decides to return to the centre stage of Scottish politics – albeit in an advisory role – the Scottish independence movement stands to regain vigor, clarity and momentum.  

Source: Presstv

Why Cameroonians must know the truth about the health of National Assembly Speaker

23, March 2020

Why Cameroonians must know the truth about the health of National Assembly Speaker 0

For not wanting to comply with government instructions, the behavior of the Right Honorable Cavaye Yeguie Djibril exposed the lives of 167 deputies and their relatives.

According to hospital sources, the President of the National Assembly of Cameroon has tested positive for Coronavirus. Indeed, the latter was part of an Air France flight declared to be high risk by the medical authorities of the Yaoundé Nsimalen international airport. The Minister of Health therefore immediately requested that all passengers on this flight observe 14 days of self-isolation.

Concerned about his perch, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril had confused parliamentary immunity with sanitary immunity by rushing to the national assembly. He had been re-elected for the umpteenth time, president of the august chamber; as expected.

Cavaye Yeguie Djibril attended at least 2 plenary sessions in the Cameroonian National Assembly. Are we moving towards the quarantine of the 167 deputies currently in the lower house of our parliament? The measure is more than necessary if the news of the status of the Right Honorable is confirmed.

And if the 167 deputies are quarantined. How will we proceed to catch up with all the people with whom they have been in contact between Tuesday and today to put them in quarantine too? Question at zero francs.

Grégoire Owona, Nourane Moluh Assana or Cabral Libii… who have taken selfies with the old king of the deputies for 28 years are called to run to the hospital to pass a test at Covid-19, before it is late!

(africanews.pro)

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: The President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe interview with Deutsche Welle

23, March 2020

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: The President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe interview with Deutsche Welle 0

Deutsche Welle: We understand your case at the Yaoundé Court of Appeals opens on Thursday 19th March, What are your expectations?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: While we would not want to comment on a case that is still under adjudication, we recognize that our case is political and so it’s likely there is no justice to be gotten from the courts. The judges we have encountered so far demonstrated that the constitution, the laws, the code of judicial practice are of little or no consideration when it comes to political cases. During our trial, the Tribunal Militaire and the Yaoundé Court of Appeals flagrantly violated our rights as accused persons, to a fair trial. Firstly, our case in which the military tribunal violated all our rights to fair hearing, the mere fact that refugees are smuggled to Cameroun from Nigeria without recourse to the laws governing the refoulement of refugees, the very long arbitrary detention without access to family, Counsel and sunlight is indicative of the prevailing injustice that reigns in the Cameroun system. Secondly, the trial of civilians in a military tribunal is expressly forbidden under international laws. Thirdly, the trial was conducted in French, a language we don’t understand, using civil law procedures, with a bench of all French speaking judges. All the witnesses spoke French and were military personnel wearing the same uniforms and ranks like the presiding judges! The witness testimonies were all of events that happened after January 2018 whereas we were abducted and held incommunicado from the 5th of January 2018. For accused persons who speak only English and who should be judged under Common Law procedures, this does not have any semblance of justice. Finally, even though we had only our personal belongings at the time of the abduction in Nigeria, the Cameroun government prosecutors presented truckloads of evidence against us at the Tribunal Militaire in Yaounde, which the judges never bothered to examine. The trial proceeded in the absence of defense counsel, yet in his judgment, the judge indicated that, at the end of each witness testimony, counsel for the defense were asked to cross-examine and they said that they had no questions. Still, the judges handed out life sentences and fines of over $400 million in a marathon trial that lasted more than 18 hours, concluding at 5:40 in the morning. It should be noted that5 months earlier, on March 1st, 2019, a federal high court in Abuja, Nigeria had judged as illegal, our abduction and deportation to Cameroun. The court ordered the Government of Nigeria to immediately take us back to Abuja, restore our liberty and pay us compensation for violation of our fundamental human rights. It’s been over a year since that judgment was passed, yet we are still awaiting its execution. We wonder why the international community has remained silent on this issue.

Deutsche Welle:  Do you trust in Cameroon’s Justice System?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: The Judiciary is the backbone of any society because it is the regulatory organ or power of state. Once the Judiciary is gagged, the society becomes compromised. We have no reason to trust the judicial system of la  Republique du Cameroun given the poor manner in which our case and those of thousands of Ambazonians is being handled. La Republique du Cameroun is supposed to operate a bijural system of justice in conformity with the bicultural heritage they claim. Under such a system, French Cameroun would operate under Civil Law procedures while Southern Cameroons continue under Common Law procedures that they inherited from the British and implemented jealously after getting quasi autonomy and statehood in 1954 with a bicameral parliamentary setup.

The conflict in the Cameroons escalated in 2016 after Common Law lawyers protested against the posting of Francophone judges and prosecutors trained under Civil Law procedures to courts in common law jurisdictions in Southern Cameroons. Some of these judges and prosecutors spoke little or no English and had no understanding of Common law procedures leading to frequent miscarriages of justice.  Common law lawyers also protested the fact that the code of laws governing the operation of businesses in the Cameroons also known as OHADA was only available in the French language. The Francophone minister of justice either neglected or refused to have the code of laws translated into English to confirm to their assimilationists agenda which was being implemented mutatis mutandis since 1961. The protesting common law lawyers were brutalized and their wigs and gowns confiscated. Casual observers of the Justice system will recognize that, for a very long time now, it’s been practically impossible for Southern Cameroonians to obtain justice in the courts in French Cameroun. Thousands of Ambazonians are arrested from their territory and transported to Bafoussam, Douala or Yaounde for torture and trial in French courts and in the French language and this notwithstanding provisions of various international treaties duly ratified by la Republique du Cameroun. This is exemplified by the hundreds and thousands of our people standing trial in various Tribunal Militaires in Yaounde, Douala, Bafoussam and even Buea and Bamenda for trumped up charges related to terrorism and secession. Both procedural and substantive legislation as well as the UN Charter, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the various conventions on Torture as well as socio economic and political rights, Conventions on Rights of the Child, Conventions on Rights of women …UN CEDAW and even the convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities are all violated abusively with impunity and wanton disallow. Another case in point is that of three (3) Southern Cameroonian/Ambazonian youths who were arrested for forwarding SMS jokes relating to Boko Haram and were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by Yaounde Tribunal Militaire having been arrested from Mbengwi, Douala and Victoria. All the francophones arrested with them for the same offence were set free or given symbolic sentences. But these three, because they’re Ambazonian students in High School, were slammed such a heavy prison sentence. With sad precedents like these that we and our people continue to suffer, it is impossible to have any trust in such a Judiciary. We find it impossible to trust a Judiciary wherein people can be dragged to court without any preliminary inquiry by a Magistrate or proper investigations by qualified investigators in the presence of defense Counsel for numerous alleged felonious offences and then the case is heard in the absence of defense Counsel and the judges sit there on the daze and write a judgment and deliver without ever examining the evidence, which in itself was admitted under questionable circumstances. And yet, the judges would proceed to sentencing all accused persons to life jail and to pay over $400m in fines and damages. Such a Judiciary definitely doesn’t deserve our or anyone’s trust.

Deutsche Welle: The Special Status has been conferred on the North West and South West regions, is this what the population wants?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: The Biya regime is in no position to confer special status or any status on any portion of Southern Cameroons. When Southern Cameroonians voted for independence (by joining) during the UN organized plebiscite in 1961, it was never to be conferred with a “special status” as an appendage of another newly independent trust territory called La Republique du Cameroun. The Special Status as conceived by the regime of Cameroun’s president, Mr. Paul Biya, is clearly a joke in very bad taste. The conflict in Southern Cameroons relates to issues of sovereignty brought about by a botched United Nations decolonization of the former trust territory of the Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom administration. Southern Cameroonians are united and determined to right the wrongs of the aborted independence process and restore their sovereignty. This was amply demonstrated by the overwhelming display of protesters/demonstrators on the occasion of the formal declaration of the restoration of Southern Cameroons independence on the 1st of October 2017. The subsequent support for self-defense and ghost towns, boycott of elections in the territory and non-observance of all festivities related to French Cameroun across the territory is further testament of our peoples’ wholesale rejection of the special status.

Deutsche Welle: President Paul Biya says Ambazonian fighters must drop their arms and go to demobilization and reintegration centre. What do you think about that?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: When the conflict escalated in late 2016, Ambazonians came out to demonstrate and protest. They matched the streets holding only peace plants. French Cameroun soldiers opened fire on them, killing many. The Cameroun government also engaged in indiscriminate arrests of protesters, many of whom underwent severe torture. Many more were incarcerated under horrendous conditions. Ambazonians took up arms in 2018 in self-defense, in the face of continuous relentless assault by French Cameroun military who engaged in rapes, looting and razing of entire villages in addition to mass killings of babies, adolescent and teenage boys & girls, pregnant women, the elderly and even disabled persons. The pace, intensity and gruesomeness of killings has accelerated in recent times. The presence of Ambazonian self-defense fighters is the only thing preventing the complete extermination of the civilian population in Southern Cameroons. For the very few self-defense fighters that were foolish enough to heed to Mr. Biya’s call and dropped their weapons, they have been subjected to torture, imprisonment and even summary execution. The bottom line is, Southern Cameroonians started off protesting with peace plants. In the face of brutal assault, self-defense groups sprung up later using only stones and catapults to defend themselves and their communities. They later upgraded to den guns. Now, we hear that they are in possession of more sophisticated weapons, some of them collected from Cameroun soldiers. The self-defense groups seem to have also acquired many additional capabilities and have only grown stronger over time. The government of Mr. Biya cannot, by fiat, compel them to drop their arms after having declared war on them, and without first declaring a ceasefire. There are few people more fearless than young men/women standing between their families and a killing machine. This is who our self-defense brothers/sisters have become.

Deutsche Welle:  Can you accept Federalism as a form of the state?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: In 2017, the People of the Southern Cameroons rose up to say no against annexation by a neighboring nation La Republique du Cameroun. On the 1st of October 2017 they restored their independence. The root causes of the conflict between the Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun, is not in Cameroun’s form of state but in UN botched decolonization process that violated its own Resolution 1514. The conflict in question is one of sovereignty, nationhood and identity. Federation does not in any way address this problem. It is already too evident that the French and English colonies/mandated territories can’t be yoked together, especially when French is the dominant side.  The case of the 1916 compendium between France and Britain over the German Cameroun which failed woefully is an insight. Any attempt to further keep these two entities together in which ever form of state even if it is a Confederation, is an attempt to keep the crisis much longer. Self-determination is a fundamental right enshrined in the principles of the United Nations. The People of the Southern Cameroons, now known as Ambazonians, should be accorded this right.

Deutsche Welle: Human Right Watch in its latest report accused Ambazonian fighters of kidnapping children and teachers in the restive Anglophone Regions, are you in support of this?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: In an early report this February, Human Right Watch (HRW) alerted the world that the French Cameroun Military is committing Genocide, like in Ngarbuh in the Southern Cameroons, in spite of the world’s promise of Never Again. We do not condone atrocities and human rights abuses of any form, no matter who commits them. We wish to make it clear here that most of the atrocities mentioned as and the ongoing Genocide in the Southern Cameroons are being committed by the French Cameroun Military, the Yaounde regime henchmen’s private militia and thugs. There is increasing suspicion that people like Mr Paul Atanga Nji, Mr Ngala Gerald and many other top officials of the regime have private Militias in the field. These militias pose as Ambazonian Self Defense Restoration Forces and commit various abuses with the objective of giving the true Ambazonian self-defense forces a bad name. The recent case in Ngarbuh where the Cameroun Military accompanied by some Fulani herdsmen and other boys raided the village should reveal the tactics the French Cameroun military is using. HRW, ICG, UN and the Civil Society should be reporting directly from the field but this is not the case because the French Cameroun government blocks access to them. This should be clear enough that the French Cameroun government is trying to hide the fact that its Military and Militias are committing Genocide and other grievous abuses. It is time for the international community to step in to stop the ongoing Genocide in the Southern Cameroons. It will be a shame for the international community to wait and come late as was the case in Rwanda. The International Community should consider the People of the Southern Cameroons as human beings that they are. Southern Cameroonian lives matter.

Deutsche Welle: In a few words, how will you describe your experience in detention?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: From the moment of our abduction on the 5th of January2018, our experience has been nothing short of nightmarish. In Nigeria, we were handcuffed, blindfolded and held in dungeons, three storey underground with no access to sunlight. We never knew what time of day it was and we were blindfolded and manhandled every time we were led out of our cells to interrogation rooms. Twenty days later, we were handcuffed, blindfolded and deported to La Republic du Cameroun in a military cargo jet with makeshift seats, with neither seatbelts nor air-conditioning. Upon arrival in Yaoundé, the handcuffs, blindfolds were fastened tighter with almost all of us bleeding; we were conveyed to the torture centre known as SED where we were held incommunicado for 6months in our cells, without access to sunlight. Apart from these physical tortures, we also witnessed firsthand, the torture of detainees who were chained hands and feet for months and battered with plank search night and early mornings. We have since been moved from SED to Kondegui Principal Prison in Yaounde where conditions of detention are a little better, except that the prison food-ration is inedible. We rely on family and friends for food, drinking water and our welfare. The only drawback is that some of the prison warders take advantage of our predicament to harass and extort our visitors. One specific example is GCMPs Ngue Blande who seems to be on a special mission to embarrass Ambazonian detainees at this prison and harass and extort our visitors.

Deutsche Welle: What according to you is the way out of the current crisis?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: Southern Cameroonians are fighting for total and unconditional independence as opposed to the Independence by joining to which they were lured by the United Nations and the Trusteeship System in1961. Under these circumstances, the only way out of the conflict, is for Mr. Biya of La Republique du Cameroun to end the war he declared on us; withdraw his military from the streets of Southern Cameroons; release all persons detained in connection with this conflict;and engage in UN mediated talks with Southern Cameroonians, in order to address the root causes of this crisis.

Deutsche Welle: What are your thoughts about the Swiss-led dialogue?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe:  We have always been opened to dialogue. We have called to no avail on Mr Biya and his regime, to shun violence for a mediated solution. However, the talks we are ready for must be by a mutually agreed credible international mediator, with the UN as a key stakeholder that can implement whatever agreements are arrived at. This is what was obtained in the cases of Namibia and South Africa, Eritrea and Ethiopia, and South Sudan and Sudan among others. The case of Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun shouldn’t be different. We hope the UN and the rest of the international community is working towards this. Anything short of this may not be a sustainable approach to addressing the root causes of the conflict. On this note we call on all Ambazonians in the homeland and in the diaspora to remain resolute. We also call upon all our people to ensure that they respect the basic medical/hygiene guidelines to keep the Coronavirus (Corvid-19) from spreading among our vulnerable population.

US surgeon general says coronavirus outbreak ‘to get bad’ this week

23, March 2020

US surgeon general says coronavirus outbreak ‘to get bad’ this week 0

The US surgeon general issued his starkest warning to date on Monday about the health risk posed by the coronavirus outbreak, warning Americans that the crisis was “going to get bad” this week.

The country’s top public health official, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, sounded the alarm as nearly one-third of Americans awoke to “stay at home orders.”

As of Sunday night, states with a population totaling more than 100 million people have imposed restrictions to curtail the virus, which has infected nearly 35,000 people and killed 428 in the United States, putting the country on a track similar to those of devastated European countries such as Italy and Spain.

“This week it’s going to get bad,”  Adams told NBC’s “Today” show, saying there were more people out to see Washington’s famed annual cherry blossoms than there were blossoms. “This is how the spread is occurring. Everyone needs to be taking the right steps right now: stay home.”

Trump imposed a 15-day national action plan a week ago urging Americans to follow the direction of the “stay at home” orders of state and local officials.

At the same time, he has also been far more optimistic than health experts have been about the prognosis for the outbreak while also voicing concern about the negative effect of shutting down wide swathes of the economy.     

“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” Trump tweeted in all capital letters overnight. “At the end of the 15-day period, we will make a decision as to which way we want to go.”

Also on Monday, the US Federal Reserve mounted an extraordinary new array of programs to offset the disruptions to the economy caused by the outbreak, backstopping an unprecedented range of credit for households, small businesses and major employers.

Congress meets

Congress was trying to address concerns over the economy, which is forecast to shrink as a result of emergency measures. US Senate Democrats and Republicans were working on an economic relief bill, aware that failure to strike a deal could trigger further heavy losses in US stock markets.

The Senate was due to reconvene at noon ET (1600 GMT) to consider the bill, which Democrats argue favors corporate interests at the expense of healthcare workers, hospitals and state and local governments. Republicans in turn accused them of obstructing a badly needed stimulus in the midst of a national emergency.

Independent experts have suggested far more than 15 days will be needed to halt the spread.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Monday called on the federal government to do more to provide personal protective equipment, noting that all states “are all out looking for the same thing” in competition with each other. ”We need a lot more,” Murphy told CNN. “Anything they could do is going to make a huge difference.” Murphy reiterated his call for the federal government to collectively provide $100 billion in direct cash assistance to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Trump on Sunday defended his decision to hold off using his powers under the Defense Protection Act to ramp up supplies, telling reporters at a news conference that nationalizing businesses “is not a good concept.”

Murphy noted that on one day last week 15,000 New Jersey residents applied for unemployment benefits, crashing the state’s computer systems. ”We need the feds to come in a big way to help us,” Murphy said. “Folks are hurting.”

The first of two US military hospital ships was dispatched on Monday to boost hospital bed capacity as the number of US coronavirus cases swells.    

The US Naval Ship Mercy departed San Diego with nearly 900 staff on board to take on non-coronavirus patients and allow local personnel to manage those on shore with the virus, the Pentagon said in statement. Trump on Sunday said the Mercy would be dispatched to Los Angeles while the USNS Comfort would go to New York.

(Source: Reuters)

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is willing to talk peace, but only with UN backing

23, March 2020

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is willing to talk peace, but only with UN backing 0

Sisiku AyukTabe is due to appeal his life sentence in court in April. The leader of the bloody quest for an independent Ambazonia in Anglophone Cameroon told DW about his terms for dialogue with the regime in Yaounde.

Placards showing Sisiku Ayuk Tabe | Sisiku (picture-alliance/Pacific Press/A. Ronchini)

“It will be a shame for the international community to wait and come late, as was the case in Rwanda,” Sisiku AyukTabe told DW. The Ambazonian leader sounded the often repeated warning in a written reply to DW from his cell at Yaounde Principal Prison. AyukTabe and nine members of his de facto cabinet had just heard from their lawyers that their appeal case was postponed to April 16. A military court condemned the 10 men to life in prison for terrorism and incitement in August 2019. They had been among scores of separatists who were detained in a brutal crackdown by the regime of President Paul Biya. The separatist movement, AyukTabe told DW, is open to dialogue but on condition that the regime in Yaounde is not at the forefront. A UN-backed mediation process is the only way forward.

The blue and white Ambazonia flag (Imago-Imago/C. Spicker)

In 2017, secessionists declared the Anglophone parts of Cameroon, known also as Southern Cameroons, as an independent nation called Ambazonia ‘An issue of sovereignty’ “Southern Cameroons is fighting for a total and unconditional independence from Cameroon as opposed to the independence by joining [French Cameroon] to which we were lured by the United Nations and the Trusteeship System in 1961,” said AyukTabe. Four years into the separatist struggle, Biya still sees the conflict as an internal matter. His national dialogue for peace was stillborn and his decision to grant ‘special status’ for the English-speaking North West and South West regions rejected. “The Special Status as conceived by the regime of Cameroon’s president, Mr. Paul Biya, is clearly a joke in very bad taste,” said AyukTabe. Biya, he argues, is in no position to confer any status on any portion of the Anglophone regions. “The conflict in Southern Cameroons relates to issues of sovereignty brought about by a botched UN decolonization of the former trust territory of the Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom administration.” The people of the region are united and determined to right the wrongs of an aborted independence process and to “restore their sovereignty,” he told DW.

Kamerun Nationaler Dialog in Yaounde (Getty Images/AFP/Str)

Anglophone separatists leaders were absent from President Biya’s dialogue for peace in September 2019 President Biya’s internal matter Political analyst John Ako agrees that Biya’s interventions to end the crisis to date are laughable at best. “Of what nature is the so called special status in Cameroon? A special status in reality including government officals is known as nothing. In fact there is no substance to the special status.” In the meantime, the bloodshed has continued unabated. An accurate picture of the atrocities and the cost to human life in the Anglophone regions is hard to gauge. The UN puts death toll at 3,000 and the number of internally displaced people at more than 679,000. In November 2016, lawyers and teachers in the region embarked on a series of street demonstrations to demand equal treatment. Their civic action later morphed into frequent running gun battles between the military and separatist fighters. AyukTabe and his followers have been engaged in a full-scale armed separatist struggle since. The bodies have been piling up and residents have been fleeing the most volatile parts of the Anglophone regions as Biya’s army tries to crush the movement. Some 60,000 of them have crossed the border into Nigeria. Over 855,000 children have been unable to attend school amid the fighting and tensions for several years. AyukTabe insists that Biya must withdraw the military from the streets of the regions, free those who have been detained over the conflict. That, and engaging in talks mediated by the UN, would address the root causes of the crisis.

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

Separatists are arming up Political analyst John Ako warns of the risk that fighting could escalate as separatist fighters, known locally as “Amba Boys” who started with Dane guns have now acquired sophisticated weaponry and experience. “The days are getting darker because these boys have not only gained experience and formal training in neighboring countries, but are bringing sophisticated weapons too,” Ako told DW. Human Rights Watch has reported that the armed separatists have committed untold atrocities in the Anglophone regions.  AyukTabe told DW that the perpetrators were militias who are sponsored by the Biya regime that wants to “demonize“ the separatist movement. “The pace, intensity and gruesomeness of killings has accelerated in recent times. The presence of Ambazonian self-defence fighters is the only thing preventing the complete extermination of the civilian population in Southern Cameroons,” he said. “For the very few self-defence fighters that were foolish enough to heed to Mr. Biya’s call and dropped their weapons, they have been subjected to torture, imprisonment and even summary execution.” Ako says the question of which side is to blame is not that clear cut. “The Ambazonian soldiers are committing a lot of errors. If they miss their target and continue attacking civilians and civilian targets such as churches, markets, or schools, these are war crimes.”

Civilians in Cameroon caught up in separatist battle

An appeal court victory? In the separatist strongholds of Buea and Bamenda, many believe that the release of AyukTabe and other separatist leaders could signal a return to peace. “Let them be released so people can get back to their normal lives because there has been a lot of suffering,” Sangtum Banabas, a 33-year-old commercial motorbike rider, told DW. Tem Hycenth is sad that thousands have died in the Anglophone regions. He wants the two sides to the conflict to make peace for the sake of the people. Taniform Jonas is of another opinion. “Cameroon has no judicial system. It is only Almighty God who will free the detained Ambazonia leaders. I pray that President Paul Biya pardons them so we can have peace again,” the 67-year-old said. As Cameroon reports a rising number of coronavirus cases, concern is growing in the conflict-torn regions and many would like to see an end to conflict sooner rather than later, in order to deal with the outbreak. Ayuk Tabe and the others were arrested in Nigeria in January 2018 and extradited under questionable circumstances. Around seven months later, at a nightlong trial in a military court in Yaounde, he and his co-accused were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The 10 had asylum status in Nigeria at the time of their arrest. AyukTabe and his de facto cabinet have appealed their conviction. The hearing is set for April 16, 2020 in the Yaounde Appeal Court. DW asked barristers what they thought of Ayuk Tabe’s pending appeal case.

A Cameroon soldier holding a weapon (picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Alamba)

President Paul Biya is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders Diplomacy, not guns Defence lawyer Amungwa Tanyi Nico is sure that the verdict of the military court will ultimately be overturned. It has been a case that is “more political than judicial” being heard in “kangaroo courts,” he said. “We’ve been putting our best as usual in order to get the public to understand that our people can never have justice here because at the court of first instance — the military tribunal  they were supposed to be freed. That court did not have the competence to try people with refugee status.” But Julius Achu, a lawyer for the regime in cases against the separatists, believes the appeals court could amend the military court’s verdict. “The judges take the decision according to their consciences and the law,” he told DW. It is his view that releasing the separatists would have little effect if the fighters who hiding out in the bushes of the Anglophone region fail to disarm. “There’s no government in this world that will ever accept that you take up arms and say we should separate and they accept to separate.”

 Culled from DeustcheWelle  

Cameroon: Coronavirus numbers are rising

23, March 2020

Cameroon: Coronavirus numbers are rising 0

The number of Cameroonians carrying the deadly Coronavirus is increasing at a speed that is causing the country’s authorities to lose sleep.

Despite efforts by the government to draw attention to the danger waiting to strike the country, many Cameroonians have continued to live a life of recklessness.

In Douala and Yaounde which are heavily populated, many people have been going about their business as if nothing is happening despite the gory pictures coming out of Italy, China and the United States.

In Yaounde, the nation’s capital, army soldiers on Saturday resorted to force to close down many watering holes where there many people eating and drinking as usual in defiance of the government’s rules against the virus that is killing people around the world.

In Douala, bar owners have come up with brand new tricks to keep their clients. Rears doors into the drinking spots are now being used to access these drinking places which are potential hotspots.

Thousands of Cameroonians are still visiting their local crowded markets to buy and sell as if there is no danger. And musical shows are unfortunately still a feature of the city’s social landscape.

The government knows it has a crisis on its hands and it is using its limited resources to raise awareness of the danger that is prowling the country’s streets.

But the message does not seem to be hitting its target. Cameroonians love their alcohol and with it, come many problems. The insidious virus loves crowds as that makes it easy for it to spread and Cameroonians are willingly granting it a platform for it to spread like wildfire.

While the government might be doing its best, it’s best is simply not good enough. So far, testing and diagnostic equipment is only available in Yaounde and Douala and 70%of the country’s population lives in other towns and cities.

Ever since the government came out with a slew of preventive measures, Cameroonians have continued to travel from one city to another in total defiance of government regulatory efforts aimed at containing the virus.

Like most European countries, the country’s government has also made some attractive noises about a possible lockdown, but these measures are more nominal than real.

Cameroon is not organized like Western countries and its citizens are noted for their indiscipline and disregard for the law.

Schools have been shut down, and some businesses have also been asked to close down for a period of time that might help to slow down the virus’ spread. A very great initiative that must be hailed. It is proof that the government wants to act.

However, its measures seem to be dead on arrival as the country’s citizens are simply ignoring them. Maybe if the government had followed up with supporting measures like Western countries have done, Cameroonians would have been very happy to comply with the government’s anti-coronavirus rules.

It will be hard for the country to be locked down as many Cameroonians do not have a steady source of income like people in the West. Many Cameroonians must go out every day to hustle in order to earn a meager income that will enable them to feed their families.

Store owners have to open for their clients to continue buying, and they themselves have to go to the big markets in downtown Yaounde and Douala to get supplies that will guarantee them a steady flow of income. This makes things really hard and the virus seems to be making hay while the sun shines in a country that also lacks proper healthcare facilities.

The hardest hits are commercial sex workers who can no longer display their assets in public, especially at night. The military is patrolling the streets of Yaounde and Douala at night and this is scaring clients of this old trade that has always been a huge vector in the spread of viral diseases such as HIV and Ebola.

The hardworking women of this sector are facing tough times and there are no government tax incentives to support the women who are being avoided by their former clients. If there are no tax incentives for registered businesses, it will be hard for the informal sector to have any financial support from the government.

The commercial sex sector is therefore under threat. This is a vulnerable sector. Since viruses are mostly transmitted through body fluids, it is clear that many of those who patronize this sector will prefer to keep a safe distance, as any close contact with these women could spell death.

This is not the first time that the sector is facing tough challenges. In the 1980s when HIV/AIDS became the new boogeyman, many commercial sex workers had to flee the streets and before anti-retroviral could be engineered, a generation of efficient commercial sex workers had been retired against their wish and without a retirement income. That is for those who were smart and lucky to leave early as HIV/AID had decimated the population of those involved in this business.

The government of Cameroon must continue to implement its measures to ensure that the virus is constrained. It must use the media to get its messages across. The Coronavirus is nobody’s friend and it has no regard for class.

Presidents, parliamentarians, lawyers, doctors and others are today its victims. If any Cameroonian still has doubts about what the virus can do, he or she should just watch TV to understand that this virus is extremely virulent.

It has hit Italy like a tonne of bricks, left Donald Trump with a sticky situation and made mincemeat of the global economy. The global tourism sector is the hardest hit and it will take many months for this once vibrant sector to recover. Many people have been laid off and as the virus continues to spread across the globe, many are scared that it will take a long time to find a cure for this virus that is still a challenge to scientists.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Coronavirus Lockdown: Sao Tome’s women’s U17 team stuck in Cameroon – after 10-0 defeat

23, March 2020

Coronavirus Lockdown: Sao Tome’s women’s U17 team stuck in Cameroon – after 10-0 defeat 0

People around the world have had a challenging week as cities and even whole countries go into lockdown with efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. But perhaps few have had a week quite as tough as Sao Tome and Principe’s under-17 side.

After losing 10-0 on aggregate to Cameroon in a qualifier for the Fifa U-17 women’s cup, the team have been stuck in Yaounde as successive countries closed their borders just as the flights they were meant to take home were scheduled to leave.

Their original return flight, the day after the heavy loss, was for Sunday, via the Equatorial Guinea capital Malabo.

But that morning, Equatorial Guinea closed its borders, so the flight never happened.

Instead, the team were booked for the following morning to go home via Gabon.

But come Monday morning, the same thing happened.

And Cameroon itself has now closed its own borders, meaning the team remain in the country with no exact idea when they might be able to leave.

However, the President of Cameroon’s Football Federation (Fecafoot), Seidou Mbombo Njoya, has told the BBC that his organisation will take responsibility for the team’s stay in the country for as long as they are there.

“We have decided to take charge of the Sao Tome team’s expenses because we feel it’s the safest thing to do at the moment,” Njoya told BBC Sport Africa.

“It’s a pretty difficult situation for that team but we believe it can happen to anyone and now that the coronavirus is spreading panic in the world, we have to support one another.”

Fecafoot’s commitment to its visitors includes covering expenses such as hotels, food, and healthcare.

Cameroon’s football governing body has now liaised with the country’s sports ministry as they push for special measures that could see the women depart the Central African nation soon.

“These are very young girls and we must understand that most of them haven’t thought or had to deal with this sort of situation. It must be a traumatizing situation for them being unable to return to their country,” Mbombo Njoya added.

“These are very difficult times and with the coronavirus wreaking havoc across the world, there’s no doubt these players will feel safer around their parents, friends and loved one.

“Most of them are students who’ve missed a week of studies and we feel very concerned about this because it could’ve been us in this situation.

“Thanks to the intervention from Caf and Fifa, we have been able to charter a flight for the Sao Tome delegation and we’re working closely with the ministry of transport to see if they could be granted special permission to fly out of the country.”

BBC Sport Africa reached out to the head of the Sao Tome and Principe delegation but he has declined to comment on the situation. However, BBC Sport Africa understands the team has remained in high spirits amid the uncertainty.

Source: BBC

The Southern Cameroons Crisis Demands A Real Dialogue

23, March 2020

The Southern Cameroons Crisis Demands A Real Dialogue 0

The Anglophone Crisis has ravaged an area of Cameroon that is home to more than 3.5 million people – approximately a seventh of the country’s population – and yet it remains one of the world’s forgotten conflicts. General strikes and protests beginning in 2016 gave way to a formal declaration of independence the following year, pitting English-speaking separatists against President Paul Biya’s Francophone government in Yaoundé. The situation has deteriorated since, with last month’s parliamentary elections leading to further unrest.

At the start of the year, Mr. Biya promised that the deployment of additional troops to the area would ensure that the vote proceeded as planned. Polls across the Northwest and Southwest regions were indefinitely postponed anyway, even as the military presence remained.

In the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, teenagers are kidnapped and mutilated by separatist militants who want to discourage them from attending schools. Villages like Ngarbuh are the site of brutal massacres, shows of force orchestrated by government soldiers seeking to dissuade civilians from harbouring dissidents. Candidates for political office risk kidnapping and assaults and more than 80% of schools, and 40% of health centres are closed. Over 3,000 people are dead and more than 700,000 displaced, including 50,000 refugees who have fled across the border to Nigeria. The Cameroonian army’s inability to curb separatist influence and its complicity in atrocities like the attack on Ngarbuh, suggests that higher numbers of boots on the ground will do little to stem the bloodshed.

Cameroon’s linguistic divide and the grievances that it has fostered is rooted in the country’s very foundation. A 1961 referendum led to what is currently Northwest and Southwest Cameroon joining a newly-independent French Cameroon, instead of English-speaking Nigeria to the north despite a history of English rule. The absence of leadership from the British and French governments, whose forerunners laid the groundwork for this powder keg, is a particularly striking failure.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been silent on the matter since a 2018 tweet, back when he was Foreign Minister, which noted an “urgent need to pursue dialogue, decentralisation and respect #humanrights in Anglophone Regions as [Paul Biya] has previously committed.”

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to exert “maximum pressure” on Mr. Biya to address the Ngarbuh massacre. He quickly adopted a more conciliatory tone. A phone call at the beginning of March succeeded in defusing the resulting tensions between France and Cameroon, but did little to advance prospects of a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Biya’s commitment to an investigation of the massacre following the call was a hollow victory for Macron. Cameroon’s government had already announced it was opening an inquiry and the problems the country faces extend far beyond one act of violence.

Efforts within Cameroon to find a resolution have been more concerted but just as ineffective. The Major National Dialogue, a summit called by Mr. Biya in September and October last year, made for good political theatre. It excluded several major separatist leaders, some of whom were still in government detention. These meetings produced vague commitments for greater Anglophone autonomy. A period of intensified violence immediately followed them in western Cameroon.

Though devolution is a step in the right direction, Mr. Biya’s subsequent efforts to placate the separatists were doomed to fail, due to their limited scope and the lack of consultation. Legislation passed by parliament in December promised “special status” for the Northwest and Southwest regions, granting them their own legislative assemblies and executive government. The bill was pursued by the Biya government unilaterally with little concern for the input of the people it was meant to appease. Moreover, the provisions granted under “special status” are insufficient. Critics describe it as “too little, too late,” noting that many of these autonomous institutions would still depend on Yaoundé to approve their decisions. Amid a crisis where lack of trust in the central government fuels Anglophone resistance, only genuine consultation and good-faith negotiations can remedy the situation.

For that kind of dialogue to happen, French and British absenteeism must end. Mr. Macron, whose country is Cameroon’s closest partner, should follow the lead of President Donald Trump, whose administration last year reduced military assistance and trade concessions to Cameroon in response to its human rights violations. Military and economic influence can be used to corral Mr. Biya into commencing negotiations and the involvement of foreign leaders in the peace process will help ease the doubts of separatist leaders. Several Anglophone groups boycotted the Major National Dialogue due to scepticism about the Cameroonian president’s intentions and lack of international oversight. Meaningful involvement from Messrs Trump, Macron and Johnson would go some way in kick-starting the peace process.

Mr. Biya will need to engage with the broad array of separatist groups claiming to represent English-speaking Cameroonians. There is no point for a peace agreement that excludes some groups, as they will simply continue fighting. Releasing political prisoners and mollifying the concerns of separatist leaders who boycotted last year’s summit is imperative. The separatists, for their part, cannot continue to violently enforce bans on education and political activities if they want to reduce military presence in the west. The government will not entertain reducing its troop deployment – a necessary precursor to fruitful negotiations – if militants continue to deprive the people in the region of education and healthcare access.

If Mr. Biya and the relevant opposition leaders are able to begin discussions, a successful outcome will depend on significant concessions from both sides. The extreme position of many separatists, an independent Anglophone state called Ambazonia, is untenable and would not be accepted by Mr. Biya or the international community. On the other hand, the response to December’s devolution bill proves that fundamental change is necessary to appease Cameroon’s English-speakers. Returning the country to a federal system (it was shortsightedly transformed into a unitary state in 1972) would preserve ultimate authority in Yaoundé, while still providing those in the Northwest and Southwest with genuine autonomy under a powerful regional government.

Separatists who have styled themselves as leaders of a newly independent state would be disappointed by the devolution of authority. By the same token, it remains questionable whether Mr. Biya would be willing to relinquish control after forty years of accumulating centralised power. The three years of violence and disorder have been bad for Cameroon and its Anglophone regions. Each escalation, troop deployment and human rights violation has merely exacerbated the conflict. This crisis will only end when the relevant parties are willing to make concessions through real dialogue instead of political performance.

Culled from The Organization For World Peace

Coronavirus confines one billion to homes, death toll passes 13,000 globally

23, March 2020

Coronavirus confines one billion to homes, death toll passes 13,000 globally 0

Cases of infection with the new coronavirus continue to surge throughout the world, and restrictions put in place by governments to contain the pandemic have confined one billion people to their homes in different countries.

The following are the latest on the coronavirus epidemic around the globe.

As many as 300,000 infections have been confirmed across the globe while the number of worldwide fatalities has exceeded 13,000.

Italy, the world’s hardest hit country, recorded a jump in its death tally from the viral infection on Saturday. Fatalities jumped by 793 to 4,825 in the largest one-day rise since the contagion emerged in Italy a month ago.

Confirmed cases of infection also rose to 53,578 from 47,021, the Civil Protection Agency said Sunday.

Cuban doctors, nurses rush to help fight virus in Italy

Italy requested Cuba to send a brigade of doctors and nurses to its worst-hit northern region of Lombardy, which, according to health officials, remains in a critical condition with 3,095 deaths and 25,515 cases.

Cuba sent a team of 36 doctors, 15 nurses, and a logistic expert to the country on Saturday night.

Cuba has already sent “armies of white robes” in recent days to combat the spread of the virus to several countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Suriname, and Grenada.

But this was the first time Cuba was sending an emergency contingent to a European country.

Cuban doctors were in the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and against the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in the 2010s.

The country has 8.2 doctors for every 1,000 people, one of the highest rates in world, according to the World Bank.

Russia sending military medics to Italy

The Russian army is also sending medical help to Italy on Sunday, after receiving an order from President Vladimir Putin, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The ministry said military transport planes would deliver eight mobile brigades of military medics, special disinfection vehicles, and other medical equipment to Italy.

Putin offered his support and help to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte during a phone call on Saturday, the Kremlin said.

Russia itself has reported one death and 306 infections, most of them in Moscow.

Spain: Worst yet to come

The coronavirus death toll in Spain, meanwhile, reached 1,326 on Saturday, from 1,002 the day before, and the number of infected people rose to 24,926, from 19,980.

The Spanish government, however, warned that “the worst is yet to come,” but promised to do whatever was needed to combat the epidemic.

A total of 5,000 people have so far died of the infection across Europe, with Italy, Spain, and Germany reporting steep rises in both infections and deaths.

UK predicts jump in numbers

In the United Kingdom, a total of 5,018 have been infected with the virus, while 233 patients have succumbed to the disease.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that Britain’s National Health Service could be “overwhelmed” by the virus like Italy’s health system in just two weeks.

“The numbers are very stark, and they are accelerating. We are only a matter of weeks – two or three – behind Italy,” he said.

Increase in US cases as widespread shutdowns enforced

In America, 26,900 people have tested positive and 348 people have died of the novel coronavirus.

Almost 1 in 4 Americans were obliged to close up shop and stay at home on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic leaders are still working on reaching a deal to pump over $1 trillion into the economy on top of the hundreds of billions of dollars in fiscal and monetary stimulus that have already been used to support the world’s largest economy.

China sees rise in imported cases

China, where the virus first emerged in December last year, said the imported cases of the disease continued to rise.

The National Health Commission reported 46 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday.

China has drastically reduced the number of locally transmitted cases. After four consecutive days of zero such cases, health officials reported the first local transmission on Saturday.

The latest figures bring mainland China’s total cases to 81,054, with 3,261 deaths, including six on Saturday.

The central province of Hubei, where the outbreak first emerged, reported its fourth straight day of no new cases.

North Korea says Trump offered help

North Korea said on Saturday that the US had offered cooperation in the country’s fight against the pandemic.

US President Trump “expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work, saying that he was impressed by the efforts made by the Chairman to defend his people from the serious threat of the epidemic,” the North’s official news agency, KCNA, said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

It did not say when the letter had been received.

A senior US administration official confirmed Trump had sent a letter to Kim and offered help. The official said Trump looked forward to continuing communications with the North Korean leader.

Pyongyang, which has not reported any cases of the infection, welcomed the offer, saying it was a sign of “the special and very firm personal relations” between Kim and Trump, according to KCNA.

Trump has attempted to build a relationship with Kim but has refused to lift any sanctions on North Korea. Negotiations between the two countries on demilitarization have snagged.

Two dead in Sri Lanka jail clash over coronavirus restrictions

Two prisoners in Sri Lanka’s Anuradhapura prison were killed and six others injured after fighting broke out over restrictions to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus to the facility on Saturday.

Clashes erupted between prison guards and prisoners when the inmates began to complain about a ban on visitors. Some inmates attempted to escape amid the clashes.

Police said on Sunday that the guards had opened fire to prevent the prisoners from fleeing.

Sri Lanka imposed a three-day countrywide curfew on Friday. The number of infections in the country stands at 77. Sri Lanka’s prisons are overcrowded, sometimes reportedly housing 5,000 inmates in a facility capable of holding only 800.

India launches 24-hour curfew

The fast-spreading coronavirus prompted India to launch a 14-hour curfew on Sunday, in a crucial test of its abilities to fight the pandemic.

India has reported 315 infections so far.

Malaysia traces worshipers, deploys army to enforce ban on movements

Malaysia says authorities are tracing thousands of worshipers who attended a four-day mass religious event at a mosque near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, at the end of last month.

The government said the religious event was connected to 60 percent of all the 1,183 cases in the country.

Officials said on Thursday that they had yet to trace 4,000 of the 14,500 Malaysian residents who attended the mosque.

The government has also enforced a two-week ban on travel and movements, starting on Wednesday. It said army force would be deployed to help police enforce the ban.

Malaysia has the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia, which has a total of more than 3,000 cases.

Indonesia reports more deaths

The Indonesian Health Ministry on Sunday updated the new number of coronavirus infections and deaths in the country to 64 and 10 respectively, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 514 and the fatality count to 48.

Death toll exceeds 1,680 in Iran

Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Sunday that 1,028 new coronavirus cases had been diagnosed within the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infected individuals to 21,638.

“With 129 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the death toll from the virus has reached 1,685,” he said.

Jahanpour further put the number of patients who have recovered from the viral disease at 7,913.

Jordan deploys troops, armored vehicles amid curfew

In the Middle East, Jordan started a nationwide curfew “until further notice” on Saturday, warning its 10 million citizens to stay indoors.

“Anyone going outside will be subjecting themselves to punishment,” Justice Minister Bassam Talhouni told Jordan’s al-Mamlaka news channel.

Thousands of soldiers and armored vehicles have been deployed inside cities and on main highways across the country, according to witnesses.

Jordan has closed land and sea border crossings with Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, and suspended all incoming and outgoing flights since Tuesday.

Coronavirus cases in Jordan have risen to 99, including 15 new cases identified on Saturday.

Kuwait orders partial curfew

Meanwhile, Kuwait has ordered a partial curfew starting Sunday evening till early Monday morning.

The decision was made due to “some manifestations of non-compliance with precautionary measures,” Deputy Prime Minister Anas al-Saleh said.

Those who violate the curfew could face up to three years in jail or fines of up to 32,157 dollars.

The Kuwait National Guard will aid police in imposing the curfew.

The Persian Gulf country has reported 176 cases of infection.

Kuwait has taken some of the most drastic steps in the region, including the closure of schools and universities until August.

Coronavirus spreading in Africa

The coronavirus continues to spread across Africa, with more than 1,000 confirmed cases across the continent so far, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Eritrea and Uganda reported their first cases on Sunday, while Mauritius confirmed its first death, with 14 cases of infection so far.

South Africa, which has the most cases in sub-Saharan Africa, reported a total of 240 infections on Saturday.

Health experts have been concerned that Africa will not be able to handle a surge in cases due to the lack of medical facilities.

Source: Presstv

Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz dies of coronavirus

23, March 2020

Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz dies of coronavirus 0

Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz has died at the age of 76 after contracting coronavirus.

Sanz had been admitted to a Madrid hospital on Tuesday after suffering the symptoms of the coronavirus.

His son said he had a respiratory disease. Sanz was in charge of the Spanish Giants from 1995 to 2000 overseeing two champions league titles, with the 1st coming after a 1-0 win over Juventus in 1998.

The 2nd was in 2000 when they crushed Valencia 3-0 in Paris. He was ousted as president of the club by Florentino Perez that same year.

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