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31, August 2019

Sudanese demand info about those missing after military crackdown in June ⁰

Hundreds of Sudanese take to the streets in the capital to demand authorities provide information about almost a dozen demonstrators who went missing during the military crackdown on a sit-in protest in Khartoum in June.

Protesters gathered in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman on Friday, carrying pictures of those missing.

“We also want an independent investigation into their cases,” said a protester.

Thousands of Sudanese protesters, demanding civilian rule, were violently dispersed by armed men in military fatigues outside the Defense Ministry compound, in the capital on June 3. According to doctors linked to the protest movement, more than 100 people were killed that day.

The crackdown triggered global condemnation, with international organizations and several countries calling for an independent probe into the killings.

At least 11 people were reported missing after the crackdown, according to lawyers linked to the protest movement.

Other protesters may also have gone missing, but their cases would need further documentation, they said.

The sit-in outside the military headquarters began on April 6, after a brief pause in the more than three months of protests triggered by a deepening economic crisis blamed on long-time President Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan’s military toppled and then arrested Bashir, putting an end to his nearly 30-year rule. It also formed a transitional military council to run the country.

Protesters, however, remained in the streets, calling on the country’s military rulers running the country to hand over power to a civilian government.

Protest organizers say at least 250 people were killed in the unrest.

The military, which stands accused of ordering the massacre of peaceful protesters, formed an eleven-member sovereign council with the opposition earlier this month to rule the country over a three-year transition period.

The council, made up of five generals and six civilians, will initially be led by General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan, who took over as Sudan’s leader following the ouster of Bashir in April.

A civilian leader appointed by the protest movement is to succeed him and rule for the remaining 18 months, after which elections will be held.

Source: Presstv

31, August 2019

Supporters and opponents of Irish unity square off in Scotland ⁰

The quest for Irish unity has now spread to Scotland, as demonstrated by Friday evening’s march in Glasgow’s Govan area.

The lawful march, organised by the James Connolly Flute Band, was set to begin peacefully at Govan’s Elder Park at 18:30, on August 30, before it was forcefully countered by disruptive elements.

The authorities deployed in force with riot police, mounted officers, a police helicopter and dog units as part of a “proportionate” response to the agitation initiated by rival demonstrators.

The peaceful march by supporters of Irish unity was disrupted by “several hundred” counter-demonstrators made up of disparate Scotland-based loyalist groups.

According to the police, agitation by loyalist counter-demonstrators led to “significant disorder”, with the police blocking off Govan Road.

By all credible accounts, the pro-unity march – organised by locals sympathetic to the cause of Irish unity – was peaceful and the situation only became violent and chaotic when local loyalists tried to disrupt the march.

This version of events is corroborated by Police Scotland, whose divisional commander, Chief Superintendent Mark Hargreaves, described the chaotic scenes in the following manner: “Police Scotland has a duty to facilitate processions and any peaceful protest, but this kind of behaviour by persons demonstrating against the parade is utterly unacceptable”.

But in a sign of political manoeuvring, Glasgow City Council tried to pin the blame on both sides, including the originally peaceful pro-Irish unity marchers.

The council tweeted a statement calling the chaotic scenes in Govan “unacceptable”, before adding that the “overwhelming majority” of Glaswegians “want nothing” to do with “these marches or counter-protests”.

Glasgow City Council has historically been dominated by the Scottish Labour Party, who controlled it from 1980 to 2017. Currently no political party has overall control of the council, even though the council leader, Susan Aitken, is a leading member of the Scottish National Party.

The disturbances in Govan come at a critical time in Northern Ireland, where Irish nationalists are bitterly opposed to British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s quest for a hard Brexit.

In late July, the leader of the mainstream Irish Republican group, Sinn Fein, called for a poll on Irish unity following a no-deal Brexit.

Mary Lou McDonald told reporters that she informed the PM that: “In the longer term, we have advised him [Johnson] that constitutional change is in the air. He can’t say that he hasn’t been told”.

Source: Presstv

31, August 2019

Mass exodus in Ambazonia: Francophone governors say people leaving are holiday makers ⁰

Government officials in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest on Wednesday denied reports that there is a mass exodus in the regions amid fears of a lockdown called by armed separatists.

“The people leaving are holiday makers who are returning to their regions of origin. It is a normal activity during this time of the year when schools are about to start,” Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the Southwest region, told reporters after visiting the main motor park in the region’s chief town of Buea.

He said the figure of those leaving had been exaggerated.

“Most of those leaving the Northwest region are students who were on holiday and are returning to start school in September. Nobody is running away from the region because of the so-called lockdown. It is false,” Adolph Lele Lafrique, governor of Northwest, said during a visit in the region to reassure security.

A United Nations (UN) spokesman said Wednesday that more than 500,000 people have fled the two Anglophone regions in fear of increasing violence.

Separatists have been clashing with government forces since 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation they call “Ambazonia.”

They called for a lockdown against the jailing of leaders of the separatist movement and for suspending school reopenings expected on Sept. 2.

According to local reports, the lockdown named “ghost city” began on Monday. On Tuesday, at least three civilians who defied rules of the lockdown were shot dead by separatists in the regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

31, August 2019

Cameroon striker Choupo-Moting scores again as PSG triumph over Metz ⁰

The Cameroon international continued to flourish in the absence of Cavani and Mbappe by helping the Parisians outclass the Maroons

Eric Choupo-Moting maintained his impressive form in front of goal, scoring once in Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-0 victory over Metz.

After netting a brace in his side’s 4-0 thrashing of Toulouse last weekend, the Cameroon international was again on target at Stade Saint Symphorien.

In the absence of injured Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe, the 30-year-old was handed his first start of the season by manager Thomas Tuchel.

PSG started the game on the front foot with Angel Di Maria opening the scoring with only 11 minutes into the encounter from the penalty spot.

The former Stoke City striker then doubled the lead in the 43rd minute of the game after receiving a pass from Marco Verratti.

Summer signing Idrissa Gueye made his second start for the Parisians since switching from Premier League side Everton, featuring from start to finish while Choupo-Moting was replaced in the 90th minute.

Algeria goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja was in goal for Metz but failed to keep a clean sheet in the match, while his compatriot Farid Boulaya made way for Senegal’s Ibrahima Niane in the 82nd minute.

Mali international Mamadou Fofana was withdrawn in the 59th minute while Senegal’s duo of Habib Diallo and Opa Nguette as well as Ghana international John Boye featured for the enture duration of the game but could not prevent the defeat.

The win propelled the Parisians back to the top of the league with nine points after four games. PSG are scheduled to host Strasbourg at the Parc des Princes for their next league match on September 14.

Source: Goal.com

30, August 2019

President Buhari says few diasporans giving Nigeria bad name with criminality ⁰

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari says the country will do all it takes to combat the negative image that some citizens have saddled the country with.

He stressed that all will be done to combat the activities of such elements, be it at home or abroad.

Speaking at a side event at the ongoing Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD, in Yokohama, Japan; Buhari said: ”There are few Nigerians in the Diaspora that are giving us a bad name by engaging in criminal activities.

“These Nigerians are a minority, they do not represent the values of our country, and I plead with them to change their ways.”

“We will not condone any crime whether at home or abroad, and we will also not allow these Nigerians define us as a people with reputation for criminality,” he added.

Nigeria has long been associated with financial crimes especially online fraud. The country endured bad press weeks back when FBI arrested a famed entrepreneur and scores of online fraudsters – in under a week.

Nigerians on Twitter bemoaned the impact of the reports on the country’s image with some calling for a government response to the arrests.

Source: Africa News

30, August 2019

UK: Labour MP says Queen did not save us – monarchy could be abolished! ⁰

Following the Queen’s approval of Boris Johnson’s request to prorogue Parliament, a flurry of attacks came in from all walks of life, including from Labour MP, Kate Osamor, who suggested on Twitter that the Monarchy should be abolished.

Ms Osamor, the MP for Edmonton, tweeted that the “Queen did not save us” after her approval of the Prime Minister’s prorogue to temporarily close down the House of Commons from the second week of September until October 14.

“The Queen should look at what happened to her cousin Tino, ex King of Greece, when you enable a right wing coup! Monarchy abolished!” she added in her tweet.

The Queen approved the order on Wednesday afternoon to prorogue Parliament, no earlier than September 9 and no later than September 12, until October 14, when she will give her Speech to open a new session of Parliament.

Other opposition leaders and the public have also written in protest to the impending prorogation.

Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said he “protested in the strongest possible terms on behalf of my party” to the Queen and called for a meeting alongside other opposition members of the Privy Council.

Senior Labour MP, Yvette Cooper, also weighted in by saying Boris Johnson was “trying to use the Queen to concentrate power in his own hands”; while fellow ex-cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw said the move would “drag the monarch into an unprecedented constitutional crisis”.

A recent online petition has gained over 1.4 million signatures in favor of stopping Mr. Johnson from proroguing or dissolving Parliament.

The prorogue of parliament by Johnson and the approval by the Queen is being condemned as a “constitutional outrage” by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow.

Experts say that if MPs launch a successful no-confidence vote against Boris Johnson, to challenge his proroguing of parliament, the monarch could be in a difficult position if the Tory leader refuses to resign.

The unelected duo of the Queen and Boris Johnson could potentially have more treacherous surprises down the road for the elected voices of the Commons, who are demanding that Government follow the direction of the people.

Culled from Presstv

30, August 2019

Impoverished Cameroon women forced into human trafficking rings ⁰

With an estimated 30 percent of the country’s population of 24.68 million living below the poverty line, many young Cameroonians are looking to other countries to secure a better life for themselves. And young women are joining this trend with reports of some trapped in human trafficking rings operating in the Middle East.

“Migration appears to be the most popular resolution to individuals growing up in impoverished regions of Cameroon. In response to the increasing poverty, many people move out of the country to seek better living conditions,” said the Borgen Project, an organisation that fights global poverty.

The CIA World Report for 2019 reported that the West African country’s economy suffers from factors that often impact underdeveloped countries, such as stagnant per capita income, a relatively inequitable distribution of income, a top-heavy civil service, endemic corruption, continuing inefficiencies of a large parastatal system in key sectors, and a generally unfavourable climate for business enterprise.

And despite support from the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Cameroonians continue to battle other poverty-related issues including malnutrition, food insecurity and inadequate health care.

While the government tries to fill in gaps by providing subsidies for electricity, food, and fuel, these have dented the federal budget which, in turn, has affected potential funding for education, healthcare and infrastructure, the Borgen Project reported.

In a bid to escape the grinding poverty, Enact Africa recently reported that lured by the promise of employment, some Cameroonian women are being trafficked to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

“In September 2018, the kidnapping of 14 young Cameroonian women in Kuwait City brought to light the trafficking of migrant workers in the Middle East,” wrote coordinator Agnes Ebo’o and researcher René Oyono, from ENACT’s Regional Organised Crime Observatory for Central Africa, which is part of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

Following diplomatic negotiations between Kuwait and Cameroon, the young women were eventually able to return home. However, Enact confirmed that the 2016 incident was neither unique nor unprecedented.

“In 2016 Cameroon’s government was already referring to a five-year old practice, implying that the phenomenon has existed since at least 2011.”

As the trend continues, Cameroon’s unemployed women, often with limited educational qualifications, are still being smuggled to the Mideast by intermediaries whereupon arrival they end up trafficked or enslaved.

Their destinations predominantly include Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, according to Oumia Paba Salé, Near and Middle East Foreign Affairs Secretary at Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations (MINREX).

Walk Free Foundation’s Global Slavery Index in 2017 ranked Saudi Arabia and Kuwait among the countries with the highest prevalence of slavery in the Arab world.

In most cases, the women are recruited through networks in Cameroon that advertise jobs for candidates through posters at universities and churches in the capital Yaoundé and another major city Douala.

The victims are then entrapped in a vicious cycle which begins when they are forced to pay between $2 000 and $3 000 to various players in the human trafficking chain, leaving them in debt upon arrival at their destinations where they are held in servitude – often with their passports taken away from them – until they are able to repay their debts, sometimes through sex work and at other times through low-paying menial labour – and they are not always freed once their debts are paid off.

“This practice has serious implications at individual, family, community and state levels. It causes financial losses that are devastating for poor families; and their inhumane treatment leaves victims highly traumatised,” said the Enact report.

African News Agency (ANA)

30, August 2019

Keep schools open, Cameroonian bishops tell Ambazonia Interim Gov’t ⁰

Some bishops in Cameroon have urged Anglophone separatists to allow schools to reopen, after militants abducted a bishop and two priests for condemning the school shutdown campaign.

“All children deserve the right to education and a good future wherever they decide to spend their lives,” said members of the Bamenda provincial bishops’ conference.

“Many parents have been consistently deceived about their children’s education, while arguments about a lack of security are used to frighten and prevent them sending [children] to school.”

The three-page open letter was published on August 24 after independence fighters in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest regions called for a new school shutdown.

The bishops said separatists had burned schools and killed teachers who had defied past boycott demands and should now “approach the issue of schools with reason more than emotion.”

However, the letter also called on the government to “exercise more vigilance” over military units and ensure they remained “as far from schools as possible.”

“Schools are not barracks, and [soldiers] should not enter them unless invited by competent authorities,” the bishops said.

“Every state has a right to employ its military to protect citizens and defend its territorial integrity. However, it is also known that some military have used exaggerated force against innocent civilians and sometimes committed horrendous crimes against children,” they said.

The letter was published as Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo was freed by abductors on August 24, five days after two of his priests were released by separatists.

Journal du Cameroun said all three had been detained in apparent retaliation for an August 15 homily by Bishop Nkuo, who condemned the school closures as a “crime against humanity and a great exploitation.” He called on Catholics to resist “the evil dragon of violence, torture and kidnappings.”

Separatist leader Mark Bareta denied the bishop had been kidnapped and told the same newspaper Aug. 26 his fighters were “civilians and Christians,” and had sought “a conversation with their bishop.”

At least 2,000 people have been killed and 400,000 displaced during three years of army deployment in the Anglophone regions, where separatists declared an independent state, Ambazonia, in October 2017 after protesting the encroachment of French-language controls.

Church leaders and human rights groups have condemned atrocities by both sides in the territories.

Other senior Catholic clergy have also been abducted, including Archbishop Cornelius Esua of Bamenda, who was detained briefly in June after attempting to pass a separatist roadblock.

In an Aug. 27 statement, Unicef estimated 4,400 schools had been closed and 74 burned, leaving more than 600,000 children without education in northwest and southwest Cameroon. Journal du Cameroun said a “mass exodus” was now underway to avoid the separatist shutdown.

Source: Catholic Herald

29, August 2019

IG’s Call to Social Citizenship Towards the Appeal Against the Nocturnal Trial and Life Sentences to President Sisiku AyukTabe and top Aides ⁰

Fellow Southern Cameroonians – Ambazonians,

The IG’s Call to Social Citizenship Towards the Appeal Against the Nocturnal Trial and Life Sentences to our President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his Close Aides

Accept Revolutionary Greetings from our Leadership in Detention (LIDs) who on black Tuesday the 20^th of August went through a 19 hours Nocturnal Trial ending at 05h38 with illegal life sentences. This, despite the Nigeria Abuja High Court Judgement of the 1^st of March 2019 that declared their abduction and transfer to Yaoundé illegal and by implication the trial and sentences. La Republique du Cameroun and its alias thought by given life sentences to our leaders, they will stifle our revolution. Unfortunately, it has rather re-engineered our struggle for total independence or resistance forever. We therefore owe a collective responsibility to

Comrades; President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe; Deacon Wilfred Tassang; Professor Augustine Awasum; Dr. Cornelius Kwanga; Dr. Henry Kimeng; Dr. Fidelis Ndeh-Che; Dr. Egbe Ogork; Barrister Shufai Berinyuy; Barrister Elias Eyambe, and Pa. Nfor Ngalla Nfor all of whom were handed life sentences by the Military Tribunal in Yaoundé to explore all available local remedies despite the lack of rule of law in La Republique du Cameroun.To this regard, today, the 29th of August 2019, our LIDs have just been notified with a Certificate of Appeal and other documents confirming their appeal against the verdict of their case at the Military Tribunal in Yaoundé, La Republique du Cameroun. This will require $10 000 in the next 10 days on or before the 7^th of September 2019.

We know that there is no rule of law in La Republique du Cameroun and that we should not subject our leaders to their Kangaroo Nocturnal Courts. However, we need to evaluate the competing needs of our limited resources against the competitive advantages of (i) Keeping the LIDs in high morals that we have not abandoned them; (ii) explore all local remedies in an effort towards continental and international actions (iii) improved media exposure of our struggle; (iv) improved advocacy of our struggle; (v) international diplomacy value and (vi) uniting factor of the struggle. The above are just the top six competitive advantages amongst many other reasons why we as a people must rise up as One Ambazonia to raise the $10 000 just as we did in June 2019 for the legal case within the next seven days on or before the 6^th of September to enable timely transmission. Payment options are available in annexure A of this release not as ransom from LRC but exhaustion of local legal remedies.

Justice for the Nera10 Leaders

Short Live the Revolution

God Bless the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Yours in Servant Leadership

Dabney Yerima

Vice President – Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Annexure A to:

The IG’s Call to Social Citizenship Towards Appeal Against the Nocturnal Trial and Life Sentences to our President Sisiku AyukTabe and his Close Aides

To ensure total accountability and stewardship to our people, you are encouraged to use the following payment platforms into the IG-Care Treasury.

PAYMENT METHODS

(1) Paypal/Zelle: payment@ambagov.org.

(2) Cashapp #: 6462759595.

(3) Bank Transfer: Name of Account: Ambazonia Humanitarian Relief, Inc

Ref: Name – LID or Farmer

Checking

Act # 446043575486

Routing# 052001633

Savings

Act# 446043575473

Routing# 052001633

(4) South Africa:

AMBA SA BANKING DETAILS

Account name: SCACUF-SA

FNBAcc No – 62702089956

Branch code: 250655

Use your name and cellphone number as reference as well as “LIDs”.

(5) Germany & Euro payments

Paypal: pacgermany@sccgbayern.org

Justice for the Nera10 Leaders

Short Live the Revolution

God Bless the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Yours in Servant Leadership

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

29, August 2019

Death toll from capsized Cameroon ferry rises to 17 ⁰

The death toll from a Cameroon ferry that capsized this week has risen to 17 after more bodies were found, state radio said on Wednesday, though the total number of victims was still unknown.

Fourteen more bodies were recovered from the Bakassi Peninsula on Tuesday, two days after the ferry sunk off southwestern Cameroon, Cameroon Radio Television reported.

A source with local authorities confirmed the details to AFP.

State media had initially reported that three victims – of Cameroonian, Nigerian and French nationality – were found and more than 100 people were rescued when the ship went down overnight Sunday to Monday.

The Austrheim, a trading vessel converted into a passenger ship was supposed to carry 75 people, but it was “overloaded,” according to a statement from the defence ministry.

So far, 111 survivors have been rescued, according to state radio and a local leader. Searches continued on Wednesday for survivors or bodies.

The ship left Sunday from Calabar, Nigeria, and was due to dock at Tiko in southwest Cameroon but hit a sandbar before capsizing, according to the ministry.

Source: AFP