17, October 2018
Incompetent Macron: French residents angry over failed warning system in flood-hit regions 0
Residents in the flood-hit region of Aude in southwestern France have expressed anger about what they see as a failure on the part of authorities to warn people as the flood waters were rising on Sunday night.
Residents said on Tuesday that the region was only placed on red alert at Vigiliance Rouge at 6:00 am on Monday when the heaviest rains had already passed and rivers had burst banks.
The high water moved with violent force, tearing bridges away from roadways and flooding homes, as seen in video and photos from the scene.
Television pictures showed churning, muddy rivers that had uprooted trees, knocked over concrete power pylons and tore up roads in Aude.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe flew to the disaster zone to meet with emergency service personnel. One resident of Trebes, whose house was flooded, showed his anger during a visit by Philippe on Monday evening, asking why people had not been warned in advance.
“There was a moment when you have to say ‘OK this could be dangerous’,” he said.
“Can not keep an eye on the River Aude and send the firefighters into the street to tell people ‘Get out of your homes, we are evacuating you’? Could not do that? ”
The mayor Trebes Eric Ménassi responded, “The tragedy that we have been through was impossible to predict and overwhelming.”
The storms were “unpredictable” and said all the local services were mobilized to deal with the tragedy.
National emergency services spokesman Michael Bernier said 13 people had been killed and one person was still missing, while thousands were being evacuated from the area. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said there is a chance of the death toll rising.
The worst hit regions of Aude, a region near the medieval hilltop city of Carcassonne, are villages of Conques-Sur-Orbiel and Villardonnel. Water has been reported as high as the first-floor windows of some homes.
Schools reportedly have still remained closed across the Aude region sits about 25 miles north of the border with Spain. Some 1,500 homes remained without power on Tuesday morning, with several parts of the region still considered dangerous due to the flood waters.
The Hospital Center of Carcassonne canceled all noncritical operations for Monday, citing road conditions and communications problems.
Authorities in the Aude warned motorists not to risk driving on submerged roads and told people to avoid drinking tap water.
Vigicrues, the government organization that monitors floods said it was still possible rivers could burst their banks.
The region will remain on red alert until Wednesday when it is hoped the flood waters will have sufficiently receded.
Red alert means the public are advised to avoid travel and take extreme precaution.
The Red Cross has launched an appeal for donations to help them deal with the “considerable damage.”
“From the very beginning, the teams of the Aude Red Cross and neighboring departments have mobilized to ensure their mission of support to the local population,” said a statement from the Red Cross.
As the death toll rose and the extent of the damage became clear, President Emmanuel Macron decided to hold off on an already-delayed reshuffle of his cabinet.
The French leader is expected to travel to the Aude region in coming days to see the damage and to meet with affected residents floods. A date for his trip hasn’t been set.
The developments have generated a national debate and raised multiple questions about the French authorities’ ineffective response to natural disasters.
Source: Presstv
17, October 2018
Cameroon’s Presidential Poll: Kamto’s team produces incontrovertible evidence 0
After throwing out Prof. Kamto’s application for members of the Constitutional Council to recuse themselves because of the numerous conflicts of interest outlined in the applicant’s application, the Kamto legal team put up an impressive show on the irregularities that actually marred the October 7, 2018 poll.
The team’s lead legal expert put the team’s collective effort and determination to expose the ruling party’s sloppy rigging strategy on display. The team outlined cases of massive fraud, with numbers for many polling stations not adding up and some results report signed without being properly verified if they had been signed by the right persons. The reported cases of fraud concerned, in particular, the Far North, the South, and the Northwest and Southwest regions.
In the two English-speaking regions, it was reported that since the population had been chased away by government forces that had resorted to shooting young men, army soldiers voted as many times as they could, oblivious of the fact that everybody was aware that the population had moved into East Cameroon and on voting day, there was no security for those who wanted to venture out to vote.
Some of the result reports did not even have the signatures of the returning officers and where there were signatures, the number of signatures on the first pages did not match the number of signatures on the following pages. Some results reports were produced based on the recommendations of the authorities who, in many cases, were ruling party supporters.
In the Far North region which has been given to Mr. Paul Biya, the number of votes cast was higher than the number of registered voters. The CPDM rigging machine in that region had actually worked overtime and it failed to take into consideration the number of registered voters.
But it was in the South region, which is the president’s region which the ruling party felt that it had a free hand to do whatever it wanted. Its sloppiness resulted in many mistakes, with even dead people voting. The Constitutional Council session was put off to Wednesday at 9:30am Cameroon time after Council members were totally overwhelmed by the evidence Prof. Kamto’s team provided.
Meanwhile the Constitutional Council had rejected early on Tuesday the application for recusal filed by the Kamto Campaign. It was however said he could challenge the incompatibility of the person who appointed Council members and the person in question is President Paul Biya who himself was also a candidate in the October 7 presidential poll.
Knowing well that the outcome of the application could not be otherwise, Maurice Kamto felt it was necessary for him to follow the legal procedure as the best way to expose the Biya regime to the international community as being the judge and jury in a case on the country’s future and stability depend.
The debates are continuing, but what happened today during the hearing was just a foretaste of what will be playing out in the days ahead. In opening statements by Prof. Kamto’s legal team, the various lawyers called on the chair of the constitutional council to exercise justice, reminding him that the future of the country depended on whatever decision the Constitutional Council would take.
First to fire was Barrister Yondo Black who pointed out that all the members of the constitutional council were also members of the ruling party whose role in the just-ended election had been called to question. He added that the person who appointed them was himself a candidate in the election and it would be challenging to accept that the Constitutional council would be impartial in a case in which members of the constitutional council stood to gain.
For his part, Barrister Akere Muna added that Cameroon had never known a smooth transition as the country switched from a single party state to a single party democracy wherein the ruling party was in control of everything. He urged the President of the Constitutional Council to exercise sound judgment in taking a decision that could make or mar the peace of the country.
Other lawyers also pointed out the inconsistencies and the conflict of interest that would make it hard for the Constitutional Council members to be impartial. It should be recalled that the wife of the president of the constitutional council is a ruling party parliamentarian and the president of the constitutional council is still working as a lawyer and defending state interest with the latest situation taking place on September 30, 2018.
They also pointed out that various members of the constitutional council were either members of the central committee of the ruling party or had been appointed to serve as chairmen of the boards of directors of various state-owned corporation; a situation that made it hard for them to be impartial in addressing the post-electoral conflict in Cameroon.
With the application for recusal rejected, the debates on the various electoral irregularities will therefore continue and Cameroonians are looking forward to justice although many argue the outcome of the hearing is already known. With a Constitutional Council set up by Mr. Biya and comprising mainly members of his party, it is clear that many of the complaint on electoral fraud will be thrown out to give the incumbent another 7-year term.
Meanwhile, as the political crisis in Yaoundé continues, the country has continued with its descent to chaos. In the English-speaking region of the country, the killings have continued and soldiers loyal to Mr. Biya are continuing with their rampage. They have shooting carelessly in major cities in the region and this has led to the death of many young men.
Cameroon’s downward spiral seems to be unstoppable. As the political situation continues to decline due to the presidential election, some people are secretly amassing weapons in preparation for a battle that might plunge the entire sub-region into chaos.
By Kingsley Betek, Sama Ernest and Asu Vera Eyere