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CPDM-SDF National Dialogue: Prime Minister Ngute consults with Joshua Osih

13, September 2019

CPDM-SDF National Dialogue: Prime Minister Ngute consults with Joshua Osih 0

Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on Thursday held consultative talks with the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), on national dialogue to end conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest.

SDF First Deputy President Joshua Osih welcomed the initiative but regretted that it took “so many years” for the dialogue to be announced. “Now that the dialogue has been called, we are waiting to see what it looks like, see what is on the table, see what is to offer,” Osih said. “We are ready to give all our good assistance to make sure that this situation in the Northwest and Southwest is brought back to normal.”

Ngute said the talks are to lay the ground work for the national dialogue, which is expected by the end of September. On Tuesday, President Paul Biya, in a rare address to the nation, said the national dialogue will focus on “ways and means of meeting the high aspirations of the people of the Northwest and Southwest regions.”

Crisis has rocked the two Anglophone regions for over two years after armed separatists declared the “independence” of the regions that constitute a minority in the largely French-speaking Cameroon. Over 530,000 people have been displaced internally by the conflict, according to the United Nations.

Source: Xinhuanet

Starvation threatens hundreds of Ambazonians in crisis-hit Southern Cameroons

13, September 2019

Starvation threatens hundreds of Ambazonians in crisis-hit Southern Cameroons 0

The Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima has sounded a note of caution to the Southern Cameroons diaspora that several people in Ground Zero are already experiencing starvation if they fail to contribute to the Interim Government.

Following the next segment of the lockdown announced by Vice President Yerima after very serious consultation with the restoration forces in Ground Zero, the Vice President said the Southern Cameroons agrarian population for three years had been prevented from farming by the French Cameroun army.  

Citing the Ambazonia Interim Government intelligence sources in the territory, Comrade Dabney Yerima observed that the entire Federal Republic of Ambazonia will face food insecurity over the coming months and added that thousands living in the bushes are confronting severe food and medicines insecurity without sustained support from the Ambazonia diaspora.

The Southern Cameroons exiled leader also warned that the massive deployment of troops to Southern Cameroons by the Biya French Cameroun regime will continue to have deleterious effects on the humanitarian situation in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dabney Yerima added that the three years conflict and lack of financial support from the diaspora to the Interim Government has ruined much of the structure that was put in place by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe to resist the French Cameroun military and lowered the Interim Government’s ability to tackle the current humanitarian crises in Southern Cameroons.

Dabney Yerima further urged the Southern Cameroons diaspora to increase their financial donations in order to provide those in need in Ambazonia with life-saving assistance and to better equip the Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

“ I urge all Southern Cameroonians living abroad to step up their generous financial support to the Ambazonia Interim Government to enable the IG provide  long-term and durable solutions in our quest for total independence from French Cameroun.”

By Asu Isong and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in London

Russian Foreign Minister says war in Syria has come to end

13, September 2019

Russian Foreign Minister says war in Syria has come to end 0

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says he believes the foreign-sponsored terrorism in Syria has come to an end, and that the need to promote the long-lasting settlement of crisis both in the war-ravaged Arab country and the entire Middle East region is highly required.

“The war in Syria has really come to an end. The country is gradually returning to a normal, peaceful life. Some hotspots of tensions remain in the territories that are not controlled by the Syrian government, such as Idlib and the eastern bank of the Euphrates,” Russia’s Sputnik news agency cited Lavrov as saying in an exclusive interview with Russian newspaper the Trud on Thursday.

The top Russian then pointed to the provision of humanitarian aid for affected civilians and “promotion of political process on settling the crisis to achieve stable and long-lasting stabilization of the situation in the country and the whole Middle East region” as the most important issues regarding Syria.

Lavrov added, “We believe the formation and launch of a committee designed to develop the constitutional reform will be an important step in advancing the political process led and carried out by Syrians themselves with the UN assistance.”

“In fact, its convention will enable the Syrian sides – the government and the foreign-sponsored armed opposition – to begin for the first time a direct dialogue on their country’s future,” he commented.

Lavrov went on to say that Russia has taken some steps to “support the efforts of the Syrian government in its fight against terrorists, who still remain in the Idlib zone, and promote issues concerning humanitarian assistance and facilitation of the political process in the context of formation of the constitutional committee.”

PressTV-Syrian army retakes more towns in Idlib province

The Russian foreign minister later criticized sanctions that the United States and European countries have slapped on the Syrian government, describing the measures as fully counterproductive.

Russia has been helping Syrian forces in ongoing battles across the conflict-plagued Arab country. Syrians continue to recapture key areas from Daesh and other foreign-backed terrorist groups across the country.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that had been wreaking havoc in the country.

Militants open fire on civilians at Rukban camp  

Separately, US-sponsored militants have opened fire at displaced Syrians stranded in a camp near the Jordanian border after the latter demanded that delivered humanitarian food be distributed among them.

This file picture shows displaced Syrians at the Rukban camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border. (Photo via Twitter)

Head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in the Syrian Arab Republic, Major General Alexey Bakin, said members of the so-called Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo militant group have seized a significant amount of cargo delivered by the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to the Rukban camp, and moved the consignment to their base north of the camp.

“On September 11, militants opened fire with small arms at a market in Rukban to disperse civilians demanding food,” Bakin said.

The United Nations says about 45,000 people, mostly women and children, are trapped inside Rukban, where conditions are desperate. This is while Geneva-based international aid agency Doctors Without Borders has put the number at some 60,000.

On March 6, Lavrov said the United States needed the Rukban refugee camp in order to justify its illegitimate military presence in Syria.

“The fact that people are not allowed to leave [the camp] and are held hostage makes one suggest that the US needs this camp to continue justifying its illegitimate presence there,” Lavrov said.

“This is in line with the US policy aimed at creating something like a quasi-state on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. It does not want these territories to get back under the control of Syria’s legitimate authorities.”

Source: Presstv

Senior American Diplomat comments on Biya’s call for national dialogue

13, September 2019

Senior American Diplomat comments on Biya’s call for national dialogue 0

Erstwhile US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Herman Cohen believes only an international mediator can end the violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.

“By offering a national dialogue to end violence, Cameroon’s Biya has, for the first time, recognized the legitimacy of the anglophone rebels who are fighting for political separation,” Herman Cohen wrote on Twitter.

“Believe that an international mediator, preferably from the US, would expedite end of violence,” he said.

Cohen brokered an end to the long standing war between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Ambazonia leader says Biya’s dialogue call a ‘non-event’

13, September 2019

Ambazonia leader says Biya’s dialogue call a ‘non-event’ 0

The separatist leader of Cameroon’s English-speaking community on Thursday dismissed President Paul Biya’s call for national dialogue to end the country’s anglophone crisis as a “non-starter”.

Biya on Tuesday announced that he intends to open a major “national dialogue” later this month in a bid to solve the conflict between security forces and armed separatists from the anglophone minority in the west.

“The speech was a non-event and a non-starter,” separatist leader Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe said in a message relayed by his lawyers.

In August Ayuk Tabe was sentenced to life in prison along with nine of his supporters — a move that made the prospect of peace seem even more remote.

Ayuk Tabe is the first self-proclaimed president of “Ambazonia”, a breakaway state declared in October 2017 in two English-speaking regions of the central African country.

Since then the francophone-majority country has been mired in the unrest which has left more than 2,000 people dead as English-speaking separatists demand independence in the Northwest and Southwest regions.

More than 500,000 people have been forced from their homes as a result, according to the Human Rights Watch group.

Ayuk Tabe described Biya’s dialogue initiative as “an awkward and grudging attempt timed to avoid UN sanctions, considering that the UN will be deliberating on the anglophone crisis this September and Mr Biya and his regime has been amply put on notice.”

He added that “President Biya unilaterally declared the ongoing war in the Northwest and Southwest regions. He must unilaterally declare an end to the war that he declared.”

The UN has said that its Secretary General Antonio Guterres “welcomes the announcement” by Biya and “reiterates the readiness of the United Nations to support the dialogue process.”

But many commentators said that if Biya’s overture is genuine, it will have little chance of headway as long as separatist leaders remain behind bars or in exile.

AFP

Cardinal Tumi optimistic about Biya’s planned ‘national dialogue’

13, September 2019

Cardinal Tumi optimistic about Biya’s planned ‘national dialogue’ 0

An upcoming “major national dialogue” in Cameroon has been hailed as a positive step by the country’s only Catholic cardinal.

In a rare speech on Tuesday, President Paul Biya called for “a major national dialogue that will, in line with our Constitution, enable us to seek ways and means of meeting the high aspirations of the people of the North West and South West Regions, but also of all the other components of our Nation.”

The North West and South West Regions of Cameroon are the English-speaking areas of the French-speaking majority population.

The “Anglophone Crisis” began in 2016, when demonstrations broke out in the two regions after there were demands to use French in their common law courts and English-modeled schools. English speakers make up around 20 percent of the country’s population and have long complained about being marginalized by the French-speaking ruling class.

After Cameroon’s security forces’ heavy-handed response – including using live ammunition on demonstrators – rebel movements arose calling for the independence of Anglophone Cameroon, saying the new country would be called Ambazonia.

According to the UN, the ensuing fighting between the separatists and government forces has led to the deaths of at least 2,000 people, and the displacement of a further 500,000.

Biya said he was launching the dialogue at the end of September to rally Cameroonians “to reflect on values that are dear to us, namely: Peace, security, national unity and progress.”

The dialogue will be chaired by Prime Minister Dion Ngute and bring together a wide range of personalities: Politicians, civil society and business leaders, religious authorities, and members of the security forces.

“It will also focus on issues that can address the concerns of the population of the North West and South West Regions, as well as those of the other regions of our country such as bilingualism, cultural diversity and social cohesion, the reconstruction and development of conflict-affected areas, the return of refugees and displaced persons, the education and judicial system, decentralization and local development, the demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants, the role of the diaspora in the country’s development,” the president said.

The emeritus Archbishop of Douala, Christian Cardinal Tumi, told Crux he was “satisfied” with Biya’s remarks on Tuesday.

“Even before the speech, I was telling someone that if the president does not convene this national dialogue to resolve mainly the Anglophone problem, he would have said nothing. But I am very happy that he spoke at length about the problem,” Tumi said.

The cardinal had been on the forefront of efforts to bring people together to talk about the problem, but his efforts to organize peace talks have been thwarted by the government.

However, Biya’s latest appeal is not unconditional.

“Those who voluntarily lay down their arms and place themselves at the disposal of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Centers have nothing to fear,” the president said during his speech.

“Conversely, those who persist in committing criminal acts and violating the laws of the Republic will have to contend with our Defense and Security Forces and will face the full force of those same laws.”

“The same applies to promoters of hate and violence who, comfortably settled in foreign countries with impunity, continue to incite murder and destruction. Let them know that sooner or later they will have to face justice,” he said.

In efforts to resolve the crisis, the government has taken some actions, including the translation of regional corporate law documents into English; the creation of a Common Law Section at the Supreme Court to handle appeals filed against the decisions of lower courts in Common Law matters; the launching of a special recruitment of bilingual teachers in secondary schools; and the establishment of a national Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism.

But these measures have proved unsuccessful in stemming the revolt.

Tumi expressed optimism the upcoming dialogue will lead to a sustainable peace, but told Crux he believes that only a return to a federal system of governance can resolve the Anglophone crisis.

“We are a people called to live with all our differences. In federalism, these differences are respected,” he explained in August.

When the English-ruled part of Cameroon voted to join the new country in 1961, as opposed to a union with neighboring Nigeria, it was as part of a federal government. Federalism was dissolved after a 1972 referendum.

A return to federalism would mean changing the constitutional form of the state – an idea Biya has frequently spoken against. Perhaps, the upcoming national dialogue could be the venue in which he changes his mind.

Crux

Sudan, South Sudan say war no more an option

12, September 2019

Sudan, South Sudan say war no more an option 0

War is “no longer an option” for Sudan and South Sudan, their leaders agreed Thursday during talks which focused on border disputes and the oil trade, but also resolving protracted conflicts in both nations.

Sudan’s new prime minister Abdalla Hamdok met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on his first official visit since becoming premier, following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.

“I am very delighted to be here in my second home, Juba. We are looking for a very strategic, very distinguished relationship between our two nations, and the sky is the limit for this relationship,” Hamdok said upon his arrival.

After the two-hour meeting, South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Awut Deng said the two leaders had discussed issues that had never been resolved under the 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of war with Khartoum and paved the way to South Sudan’s independence in 2011.

This includes the demarcation of the border between the two nations, trade issues and the movement of citizens.

“I think the time has come for us in the two countries to silence the guns. War is no more an option for our people. We need to have peace, and sustainable peace in our two countries,” said Deng.

“We can only do this in an environment where all of us have agreed to come out with a road map and work for peace.”

‘Brothers and sisters’ 

South Sudan plunged into its own war two years after independence that has left almost 400,000 dead and displaced millions.

Tensions have also remained high between Khartoum and Juba over border disputes and the oil trade, however the two nations are increasingly moving to normalize ties.

“We are brothers and sisters. We have been one country and now we are two countries but we are still one nation and we hope to develop our relations,” said Sudan’s Foreign Minister Asma Mohamed Abdalla.

Analysts say the two nations have been pushed together by the grinding war in South Sudan — which has defied several peace attempts — and an economic crisis in Sudan, which was hard-hit by the collapse of the south’s oil industry.

The worsening economic crisis sparked nationwide protests that triggered the fall of Bashir.

One of Bashir’s last moves before his ouster was to broker a peace deal between Kiir and his rival, rebel leader Riek Machar, at a time when much of the world had wearied of trying to solve the crisis.

However, the 2018 peace deal has stalled as Sudan has been roiled by its own crises in recent months.

Observers are anxious to see if Khartoum’s new government will push Kiir and Machar to advance on the implementation of the deal.

The two men met this week in Juba for the first time in five months, with a power-sharing government meant to be set up by November.

Sudan’s conflicts 

In a further sign of rapprochement between the two countries, Kiir offered in 2018 to mediate peace talks between Khartoum and rebels in the Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur conflict zones.

The Blue Nile and South Kordofan fought alongside the south for independence, however were left north of the border in 2011 and have continued their own insurgency against Khartoum.

Rebels in Darfur also waged a long war over marginalization in the western region.

Hamdok has vowed to end these conflicts which have left thousands dead and millions displaced.

This week armed groups from those areas held talks in Juba which ended Wednesday in the signing of a deal on “pre-negotiation principles” with Khartoum.

“We assure them and the people of Sudan in general that all the suffering and the killing and marginalization will end,” said General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, deputy chairman of the Sudan Sovereign Council.

(Source: AFP)

Congo-Kinshasa: At least 50 killed in train derailment

12, September 2019

Congo-Kinshasa: At least 50 killed in train derailment 0

At least 50 stowaways were killed when a freight train derailed in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo early Thursday, the latest rail tragedy to strike the vast central African nation.

“Another disaster! Derailing at 3am (0100 GMT) in Tanganyika (province) near Mayibaridi. Provisional toll: 50 dead and several injured,” the minister for humanitarian action, Steve Mbikayi, said in a tweet.

Witnesses at the scene and local media feared more than a hundred people could have been killed.

Victor Umba, the union head of the national rail company SNCC, said the freight train was travelling from the town of Nyunzu to the town of Niemba when two carriages fell on their sides.

“Those who died in this derailment were stowaways. It is impossible for the SNCC to provide any kind of toll,” Umba told AFP.

He added that the SNCC’s chief was in the provincial capital of Kalemie trying to find a way to raise the carriages.

“It seems that many stowaways are trapped under the derailed carriages”.

Railways in the DRC have a poor record for safety, hampered by derelict tracks and decrepit locomotives, many of them dating from the 1960s.

In March, at least 24 people were killed and 31 were injured Sunday when a freight train carrying illegal passengers crashed in the central region of Kasai.

In November last year, 10 stowaways were killed and 24 injured near the eastern town of Samba when the brakes failed on a freight train.

In November 2017, 35 people were killed when a freight train carrying 13 oil tankers plunged into a ravine in southern Lualaba province.

Like many state companies in DR Congo, the SNCC is on the brink of bankruptcy. Its former head Sylvestre Ilunga is the country’s current prime minister.

Source: AFP

Biya’s ‘dialogue’ for Ambazonia crisis runs into questions, rejection

12, September 2019

Biya’s ‘dialogue’ for Ambazonia crisis runs into questions, rejection 0

President Paul Biya’s call for dialogue on the separatist crisis in Cameroon’s two anglophone regions was given a cautious welcome on Wednesday by some, although several separatist leaders swiftly and bluntly rejected it.

The 86-year-old president, apparently softening his stance, said he would convene a “major national dialogue” later this month.

It will “examine the ways and means to respond to the deeply-held aspirations of the populations in the Northwest and Southwest regions but also in all the other component parts of our great nation,” Biya said in a TV address late Tuesday.

His announcement came ahead of the second anniversary of the declaration of the “Republic of Ambazonia” — the self-proclaimed breakaway state for the two English-speaking regions where separatists have launched an armed campaign for independence from the majority French-speaking state.

More than 2,000 people have died, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) thinktank, while the UN says at least half a million have fled their homes. The cost to Cameroon’s economy, meanwhile, is mounting.

In a statement, the UN said Secretary General Antonio Guterres “welcomes the announcement” and “reiterates the readiness of the United Nations to support the dialogue process.”

“All Cameroonian stakeholders” should participate, it said.

  • Separatist leaders jailed –

But many commentators said that if Biya’s overture is genuine, it will have little chance of headway so long as breakaway leaders remain behind bars or in exile.

In May, Biya’s prime minister had already said the government was willing to host a dialogue with the separatists.

Yet three months later, separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe was sentenced to life in prison along with nine of his supporters — a move that made the prospect of peace seem even more remote.

A leading Cameroonian anglophone lawyer and human rights campaigner, Felix Agbor Nkongho, gave Biya high marks for the openness of the proposed forum.

It would include members of political groups, civil society and religious groups, as well as representatives of the armed forces and armed rebel groups, according to the announcement.

“The call for an all inclusive dialogue is very appreciated,” the lawyer said in an interview with AFP.

But, he said, “the government should now allow anglophones of various political thought to mobilise, organise themselves and take part without fear of arrest or other punishment for their ideas.”

In the Southwest Region’s capital Buea, prominent local campaigner Blaise Chamango said the hosting of a dialogue was “something that people have been asking for for a long time.”

But he also pointed to a radicalisation of the pro-independence movement over the last three years, after Biya rejected more moderate demands for autonomy or a federal state.

“The separatists have become more radical, and everything that Yaounde (the government) puts forward is seen as a poisoned chalice.”

Peace would be impossible if the separatists are not given a seat at the table, he suggested.

  • Separatist scepticism –

Biya’s offer was notably given an immediate thumbs-down by several separatist groups, gathered in an association called the South Cameroon Liberation Movement.

“We will not allow him to use a circus like this to lure the international community,” it said, calling on Biya to withdraw all troops and government officials from the two anglophone regions.

“We will not be party to any national dialogue. The period for dialogue died a long time ago,” Ebenezer Akwanga, a separatist leader, told AFP from the United States.

“We want a comprehensive negotiated settlement on the terms of separation. We will settle for nothing less!”

English speakers — who make up roughly one fifth of Cameroon’s 24 million inhabitants — mostly live in the two regions that were formerly a British colony until they were folded into post-independence Cameroon in 1961.

Anger at perceived discrimination by francophones against anglophones in justice, education and the economy has built for years.

Cameroonian newspapers that are sympathetic to the opposition also questioned the point of the exercise — “a dialogue with ghosts,” said one headline.

Biya, in his speech, made no reference to releasing jailed leaders, although he reiterated an offer to a “pardon” any separatists who voluntarily lay down their arms.

Those who refuse to do so will face “the full force of the law” and of the country’s security and defence forces, he warned.

Source: AFP

Benjamin Moukandjo joins RC Lens

12, September 2019

Benjamin Moukandjo joins RC Lens 0

After two seasons in China, the former Cameroon captain has teamed up with the Blood and Gold on a free transfer

RC Lens have confirmed the signing of Benjamin Moukandjo as the former Cameroon international completes his move to France from Beijing Renhe.

The 30-year-old joined the Ligue 2 outfit on a free transfer following the mutual termination of his contract with Jiangsu Suning.

Despite scoring seven times in 10 games in his debut season for the Chinese Super League outfit, he was shipped off on loan to Beijing Renhe where he featured on seven occasions.

And having stayed without a club since March, Lens opened negotiations with Moukandjo before sealing his move to Stade Bollaert-Delelis.

Lens is the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations winner’s seventh French club after featuring for Rennes, L’Entente, Monaco, Nancy, Reims, and Lorient.

Philippe Montanier’s men have made a mixed start to the season so far, winning and losing twice to place 12th in Ligue 2. They host strugglers Chateauroux on Monday with the Cameroonian expected to make his debut.

Source: Goal.com

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