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US: Trump picks Brett Kavanaugh for US Supreme Court, angry protests erupt

10, July 2018

US: Trump picks Brett Kavanaugh for US Supreme Court, angry protests erupt 0

US President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the US Supreme Court, provoking angry protests in Washington and elsewhere.

“It is my honor and privilege to announce that I will nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,” Trump said at the White House on Monday.

Kavanaugh’s nomination set the stage for a bruising confirmation battle in the Senate, where Trump’s fellow Republicans hold a slim majority.

If confirmed, the 53-year-old judge will replace long-serving Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement on June 27th.

This is the second time Trump nominates a judge for the US Supreme Court. Last April, Trump’s pick for the post, Neil Gorsuch, garnered the Senate’s support after heated debates.

US Judge Brett Kavanaugh (R) speaks after being nominated by US President Donald Trump to the Supreme Court in the East Room of the White House on July 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP) 

 

Trump described Kavanaugh as “one of the finest and sharpest legal minds of our time,” saying he is “considered a judge’s judge and a true thought leader among his peers.”

Kavanaugh, who is a Conservative federal appeals court judge, underlined the need for a judge to be independent.

Shortly after the announcement, protesters decrying Trump’s nomination blocked traffic outside of Trump Tower in New York City, leading to the arrest of seven people, according to law enforcement sources.

In Washington DC, people took to the streets to show their opposition to Trump’s pick, chanting, “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Kavanaugh has got to go.”

Among protesters were US Sens. M Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) who led a demonstration against Kavanaugh’s nomination on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington.

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks with protesters in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on July 9, 2018. (Photo via AP)

 

“Are you ready for a fight? Are you ready to defend Roe vs. Wade?” Sanders said. “This is a tough fight but it is a fight that we can win . . . We have the American people on our side, now we have to go state by state by state to make sure senators do what their constituents want.”

“It’s a huge moment for our country,” said protester Kevin Camps, who was concerned that a more conservative court would undermine environmental protections. “What’s impossible to exaggerate is that this is the final word on most issues in this country.”

Source: Presstv


Kinshasa: President Kabila delays UN chief’s visit, refuses to see U.S. envoy Haley

10, July 2018

Kinshasa: President Kabila delays UN chief’s visit, refuses to see U.S. envoy Haley 0

Congolese President Joseph Kabila has put off a planned visit this week by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and refused to see U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who diplomats said had also separately planned to visit Kinshasa.

Kabila, who succeeded his assassinated father Laurent in 2001, was busy organizing Dec. 23 elections and had to postpone a visit by Guterres and African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, said Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende.

“As for Nikki Haley I don’t see why and how the president’s refusal to see her has created so much controversy. Nikki Haley … was already in DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and she met President Kabila,” Mende said.

Haley met privately with Kabila for 90 minutes in Kinshasa in October, warning him that “a relationship with the United States is dependent on how he acts going forward.” Diplomats said she had planned to visit again this week.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment on Haley’s trip.

“Is it the case that in all African countries in the middle of the electoral process these same visitors come to verify if the preparations are going in the right direction? If yes, they are also welcome in our country,” Mende said.

Kabila’s ‘cat and mouse’ game with elections

Kabila was required by the constitution to step down in December 2016 but the election to replace him has been repeatedly delayed.

Since then, security forces have killed dozens of anti-Kabila protesters while surging militia violence has raised the specter of a repeat of civil wars around the turn of the century that cost millions of lives.

Term limits prevent Kabila from running for office again, but he has refused to publicly commit to leaving office and some of his supporters have recently floated a legal rationale that would allow him to stand again.

Candidates are due to register for the presidential election between July 25 and Aug. 8.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said there had been not been any “firm plans” for Guterres to visit Kinshasa. “If and when he’s ready to go there, we’ll let you know,” Haq told reporters on Monday.

Guterres is currently in Ethiopia at the African Union and diplomats said he had planned to visit Democratic Republic of Congo this week. The United Nation’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, is in the country, where some 18,000 U.N. troops and police are deployed.

The Congolese foreign ministry said in a statement that Guterres and Faki “remain welcome in Kinshasa at a date to be agreed on jointly.

REUTERS


Biya sets presidential elections for October 7, amid worsening Southern Cameroons crisis

10, July 2018

Biya sets presidential elections for October 7, amid worsening Southern Cameroons crisis 0

Cameroon’s president Paul Biya issued a decree on Monday saying a presidential election will be held on October 7, amidst a worsening security situation in the Southwest and Northwest Anglophone regions.

As Biya’s decree was being read on public television, the inhabitants of Buea, the capital of the Southwest region were still confined to their homes for fear of going out after witnessing gunfire in the morning between soldiers and Anglophone separatists.

This is the first time that gunfire has been exchanged in neighbourhoods of this city of more than 100,000 inhabitants, that has had a large number of military personnel deployed since the beginning of the English-speaking crisis at the end of 2016.

President Paul Biya, 85, who has been in power for close to 36 years has not announced whether he will run for a seventh re-election, but in May his party sais he is their “natural” candidate.

“Paul Biya is our candidate in the next presidential election, given his eloquent record, his national and international credibility, diplomatic, economic, social and cultural”, wrote leaders of the ruling party and traditional leaders from the South, where Biya comes from.

The same month, the US ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Henry Barlerin, said after a meeting with the president that Paul Biya “should reflect on his legacy and how he wants to be remembered in history books”, provoking strong criticism in the presidential camp.

Biya’s likely opponents

The opposition has described Biya’s state record as “chaotic”.

Among them, Joshua Osih, who was elected in February as candidate of the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF, English-speaking).

This 49-year-old businessman contest for the Cameroonian presidency, after Ni John Fru Ndi, leader of the SDF and historical opponent to Biya decided to give way to the “young cadets” of the party.

Other prominent opposition candidates, according to analysts, include Transparency International lawyer and former vice president Akere Muna, as well as the president of the Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun (MRC) party, Maurice Kamto.

On October 7, these candidates will seek the 7 year mandate to run the affairs of the troubled West African nation.

Security crisis

The voting will take place in a delicate context.

The jihadist group Boko Haram is still active in the far north of the country and the English-speaking regions of the North-West and South-West have been facing a serious socio-political crisis since late 2016.

The latter started as a modest industrial strike action by English-speaking lawyers and teachers in 2016, but has since developed into a full blown armed conflict.

Today, fighting between Cameroonian security forces and armed men claiming to be “restoration forces” of an English-speaking state that had briefly emerged between the two world wars, under British mandate, has disrupted business and livelihoods in the Anglophone regions.

According to the government, more than 80 members of the security forces were killed in the fighting.

The UN says up to 160,000 people have fled their homes as a result of the violence, while the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency says 34,000 have fled to Nigeria.

Source: Agencies


Congo-Kinshasa faces upsurge of violence unless a deal is done with President Kabila

9, July 2018

Congo-Kinshasa faces upsurge of violence unless a deal is done with President Kabila 0

Amid a fresh wave of civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the international community must question its confidence in President Joseph Kabila to achieve stability in a turbulent region. He has been at the helm since he took over as president in 2001 after his father, Laurent, was assassinated. The young Kabila ruled for a transitional period until 2006, before winning two elections.

He is now in his seventh year of what should have been just five years of his second term and is constitutionally barred from standing again. But he has remained in office after his mandate ended in late 2016. This, as the country awaits a long-delayed election. The delay has sparked deadly protests.

While Kabila cannot legally stand for a third term, the opposition is concerned that he might. Fears among opposition and church leaders have been further fuelled by Kabila’s appointment of three new judges to the constitutional court. Two are well-known allies.

But Kabila has no legitimacy and his authority is disintegrating. If the elections are delayed again there’s a real possibility that central Africa will slide into violent conflict once again. The armed violence is likely to be bloodier than in the past due to the number of fragmented localised groups aiming to grab their slice in one of the world’s most resource-rich countries.

If the international community wants to avoid another major armed conflict on the African content – in addition to the outstanding conflicts in Libya, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan – urgent action is needed to negotiate with Kabila for his own peaceful exit before the country slides back into full-scale armed conflict.

Deteriorating situation

In the wake of Kabila’s refusal to cede power, the security situation has deteriorated. At least 10 of Congo’s 26 provinces are in the grip of armed conflict. This has forced over two million people to flee their homes, 800,000 of them children. The total number of internally displaced people is estimated to be 4.5 million while refugees are flocking into Uganda, Tanzania, Angola and Zambia.

The security situation in the DRC is dire. As the violence in Kasai and eastern parts of the country intensifies, escalating conflict in south eastern Congo looks set to continue.

File 20180703 116152 zmz6ac.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1
President Kabila’s time in government has shown an inability to bring together the various ethnic groups. EPA/Michael Kappeler

More than 70 rebel groups are estimated to be operating in the country. They are all variously involved in skirmishes with the army or, more commonly, prey on civilians. This in turn creates a tangle of ethnic and tribal grievances for warlords to exploit.

In 2012, the M23 rebel movement briefly took the city of Goma. They were eventually thrown out by the Congolese army, supported by the UN. But the current violence in Kasai is threatening to overshadow even that disaster. In August 2017, for example, the “dead city” movements ensured that significant parts of the country’s urban population went on strike.

Some reports have suggested that more than 3,000 people have been killed since the start of 2017. More than 33,000 Kasai residents have fled into Angola. It has been suggested that the Bana Mura- a government sponsored militia – was behind the violence.

Last year major fighting occurred between Twa and Bantu populations in Tanganyika province. And as the year entered its last quarter, Uvira, on the outskirts of Lake Tanganyika, was the site for fighting between the rebel Yakutumba militia and government forces. Government forces fled and the rebels would have taken the city had they not been repulsed by Pakistani peacekeepers.

Despite a failure by the Yakutumba militia to take Uvira, it was a reminder of the level of dissatisfaction rising in the east, since the end of the Second Congo War in 2003. The rise of rebels operating in the east means violence could potentially spread to Kivu and beyond.

Uncertain times ahead

In 2017, presidential and legislative elections were delayed despite the Catholic Church reaching a deal with Kabila. The political crisis was further complicated by the death of long-standing opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi later in the year.

The election planned for December this year is unlikely to bring together the various groups or solve the outbreak of violence in the country. The most likely candidate with the perceived ability to bring together the different groups is Moïse Katumbi. He has succeeded in rallying together opposition parties into a coalition backing his candidacy – an impressive feat in a country as fragmented as the Congo.

He also has by far the best broad plan to reconcile the country, which is what the country needs if the fragile peace is going to hold. But the country’s attorney general announced recently that Katumbi may not be eligible to stand in presidential elections because he held Italian citizenship from October 2000 until January 2017.

Under Congo’s constitution, its nationals cannot hold dual citizenship and have to petition the government to regain their citizenship if they take up a foreign nationality. But the provision, however, is loosely enforced and many prominent politicians are believed to have second citizenships.

Kabila’s time in government has shown an inability to bring together the various ethnic groups and to control the growth of dissatisfied rebel groups. This is despite the fact that the DRC has the world’s largest UN peacekeeping force, numbering 18,000 blue helmets, who try to enforce a measure of calm in the east of the country.

The ConversationBotswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has said that he hopes to see a commitment from Kabila to leave office at year’s end. More African leaders need to acknowledge the gravity of the crisis and apply pressure on Kabila through existing African Union mechanisms.

Source: News 24


Biya regime deploys more soldiers to check Ambazonian militants attacking the Fako County

9, July 2018

Biya regime deploys more soldiers to check Ambazonian militants attacking the Fako County 0

Yaoundé has deployed more personnel to the Fako County attacked by Ambazonian Restoration Forces today in Muea and Mile 17. The additional troops deployed by the Francophone regime were drawn from the nation’s capital and Douala. The Southern Cameroons freedom fighters staged the raids in Muea and inside Buea.

The French Cameroun commander who received the elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion on behalf of the Governor of the South West told our correspondent that Yaounde had deployed them, accordingly, to fortify the security arrangement put in place within and around Buea the chief city in the Southern Zone.

The Ambazonian forces carried out coordinated attacks on two fronts beginning from Liongo in Muea and from Bomaka via Mile 17 exchanging gun fire with Cameroon government army soldiers. The Amba fighters reportedly pushed towards Bwitingi and Malingo killing two gendarmerie officers. Troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé retreated to Bonduma.

The Southern Cameroons Liberation Army advanced as far as Small Soppo, Long and Razel Streets. Teachers handling this year’s GCE Examination of Shame in Baptist Buea and Lycee Molyko were forced to stop marking and told to hide under benches. A police officer Tiku Richard who attempted to fight back was killed by the restoration forces.

Many of the senior officers who had been scheduled to visit and supervise the newly deployed men were conspicuously absent. The mayor of Buea, Patrick Ekema has appealed to fleeing residents of the affected areas to return as normalcy had been restored and all the affected areas effectively secured with the presence of policemen and other security operatives.

By Sama Ernest in Buea


Southern Cameroons Crisis: Beginning of the End for Biya?

9, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Beginning of the End for Biya? 0

Actions by French President Macron and Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo this week have given a seal of approval to Ambazonian Restoration forces and could mark the beginning of the end of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo dictatorship that has ruled Cameroon for more than 35 years. Despite the fact that French president Emmanuel Macron all but confirmed the presence of French soldiers in Cameroon, the Biya regime denied that French soldiers were fighting in Southern Cameroons.

In the words of our senior contributing editor, Valerian Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai, Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo told MPs that the Anglophone crisis is a Cameroonian problem that will be solved by Cameroonians. He denied the presence of any French soldier either in the SW or NW region an indication that  Beti Assomo did not listen to President Macron during his live town hall in Nigeria, where he said, the goal of the French soldiers in Cameroon was to help re-establish “stability” in the Anglophone regions.

Top aides to the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako and members of other Southern Cameroons restoration groups expect the process to gain independence for Southern Cameroons to be long, complicated and bloody. But they say that events in French Cameroun and President Biya’s succession palaver – once the symbol of Anti Southern Cameroons nationalism – will embolden Ambazonian forces and encourage key foreign countries such as Nigeria to turn decisively against the regime of President Biya.

The United States Senate has had a hearing on the happenings in Southern Cameroons and slowly but surely the Trump administration will agree to allow the Interim Government to open an office in Washington. German MPs have also been pressing for sanctions against the Biya crime syndicate and the SPD party is expected to call for deploying of monitors in Southern Cameroons.

A source in the Bundestag hinted this reporter that the intent of such a deployment would be to deter the Francophone dominated armed forces from killing more Southern Cameroonians and provide independent accounts of clashes with Ambazonian Restoration Forces when they occur. With French government support, it is highly unlikely, however, that the consortium of CPDM crime syndicate headed by the 85 year old Biya would allow monitors into the country after killing more than 1000 Southern Cameroonians since 2016.

The Southern Cameroons opposition to the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has yet to unify as most South Sudanese did during their struggle for independence. The externally-based Morisc and an obscure organization known as ADF are at odds with the Interim Government.

French Cameroun opposition to Biya including the much respected NOW Movement of Barrister Akere Muna have said the only thing they want to negotiate with Biya is the manner and timing of his departure. Several members of the Cameroon government military have already defected, with many escaping to the Ivory Coast.

The Biya regime’s genocidal campaign in Southern Cameroons is being carried out largely by soldiers from the North and Far North regions and the Presidential Guard – both largely comprised of members of the Beti Ewondo minority. The commanders are predominantly Beti- Ewondo.

Fear of Cameroon devolving into a multi-sided civil war among its numerous ethnic components was a major factor during the President Buhari-Macron meeting in Abuja. But Yaoundé is yet to stop the shooting of innocent Southern Cameroonians.

Over the past few weeks, Biya who lacks the strategic finesse of his legendary political god father, the late Ahmadou Ahidjo – has managed to alienate most of his once ardent CEMAC backers, including President Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea who has reportedly chosen the path to dialogue for his country than excessive use of force.

Recently, a senior French Cameroun political elite told our Yaoundé correspondent, that Biya should see the tragic ends of the ones who declared war against their own people. The MP who hails from the Obala constituency also added that if he were in President Biya’s shoes, he would step down. The American Ambassador Peter Barlerin has also called for Biya to leave and an immediate end to the violence in Southern Cameroons.

Pressure from Paris forced the regime in Yaoundé to allow family members and a group of legal practitioners to meet with the detained Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and nine others who were arrested in Nera hotel in Abuja but there were no indications that France, which virtually owns La Republique du Cameroun, was ready to break with the Biya regime.

The main Nigerian opposition party, the PDP has said it will keep the military option open to convince Biya to step down.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai


Tunisia: 9 police killed in attack

9, July 2018

Tunisia: 9 police killed in attack 0

Nine members of Tunisia’s security forces were killed on Sunday in an attack in the west of the country close to the border with Algeria, state news agency TAP reported.

Militants present in rural parts of Tunisia occasionally target security forces, but Sunday’s toll was the highest since 2015, a year in which extremist militants carried out three major attacks.

The police unit from Gar Dimaou in the region of Jendouba was ambushed during a regular patrol, TAP reported.

“The terrorist attackers threw a grenade at the first security car and there were confrontations with firearms,” the report cited a security source as saying.

One of the Arab world’s most secular nations, Tunisia became a target for militants after being hailed as a beacon of democratic change with an uprising against autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

Some militants operate in remote areas near the border with Algeria, which has been fighting the remnants of a major extremist insurgency in the 1990s.

Two of the attacks in 2015 were against tourists, the first at a museum in Tunis and the second on a beach in Sousse. The third targeted presidential guards in the capital, killing 12.

All three attacks were claimed by Daesh.

Tourism, after collapsing, has since gradually recovered.

The government has maintained a state of emergency, allowing it greater powers in its attempts to dismantle militant networks.

(Source: Reuters)


Bundes: SPD leader warns US envoy over talks with carmakers

9, July 2018

Bundes: SPD leader warns US envoy over talks with carmakers 0

Leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) has slammed the new US envoy to Berlin for quietly engaging in talks with major German carmakers over a trade dispute between Washington and the European Union.

US Ambassador to Berlin Richard Grenell has reportedly been in talks with the heads of German carmakers such as BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen. He argues he is empowered by the US administration to work out a solution to the trade dispute.

Grenell, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, suggested a “zero tariff” solution, which requires both Berlin and Washington to lift all tariffs on automobile imports from their respective countries.

His closed-door talks, however, prompted a response from SPD leader Andrea Nahles, who said Germany is not “a banana republic.”

“That is news to me that ambassadors hold talks on such issues. What kind of an approach is it?” she said.

“If the US government wants to talk about tariffs with us, then this issue must be discussed between the US Secretary of Commerce and German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier. We are not some kind of banana republic!” Nahles added.

Trump hit the EU, Canada and Mexico with tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum at the start of June, ending exemptions that had been in place since March.

US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell

 

Washington currently imposes a 2.5 percent tariff on imported passenger cars from the EU and a 25 percent tariff on imported pickup trucks.

“If these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the US Build them here!” Trump said last month.

The EU also imposes a 10-percent tariff on imported US cars.

Not long after his arrival in Berlin in May, the US envoy prompted anger in Germany by calling on German companies via Twitter to “wind down operations in Iran immediately.”

The move was part of a broader policy taken by the Trump administration to convince European companies to voluntarily disengage with Iran after Washington pulled out from a 2015 landmark nuclear agreement.

 

Source: Presstv


Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government steps up attacks

9, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government steps up attacks 0

The Southern Cameroons crisis which seemed to have slowed down a few weeks ago has entered a new phase following the government’s decision to step up its attacks. The Yaoundé government is under enormous pressure from the international community that is urging it to find a swift and peaceful resolution.

But the hawks in the Yaoundé regime still hold that an all-out military assault will bring them the results they have been hankering after for close to two years. All measures and tricks by the Yaoundé regime have fallen flat on their faces, as Southern Cameroonians pool together to prove that they can make a ridicule of a government that only understands one language – an iron fist.

The government iron-fist approach has resulted in the attack of many villages and towns in the North-West and South-West regions of the country. These attacks have resulted in the killing and maiming of many innocent Southern Cameroonians who have nothing to do with the unfortunate political and military crisis that has been playing out in Cameroon, a country once considered as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos.

Over the last weeks, government army soldiers have been raiding many villages in Manyu Division with a view to reducing the number of violent criminal gangs that have become a nightmare to army soldiers and even to some civilians who members of the armed groups consider as traitors.

There have been reports of young men having been killed by Southern Cameroonian fighters because they are suspected of being traitors. In Ndekwai, a small town located some ten kilometers from Mamfe, Marshal Ayuk was gunned down in front of his home. He was accused of working with government troops and betraying the revolution that has put the Yaoundé government in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Last week in Ossing, Mr. Lucas Ayukobi lost his son following a visit by some violent Southern Cameroonian fighters. He was gunned down point blank and this has drawn a lot of flak from many people who accuse the fighters for misusing their weapons. This is bringing a lot of pressure on the struggling Interim Government that appears to be losing control of many things.

Southern Cameroonian fighters are clearly engaging in summary executions and this is giving the revolution a very bad name. They are also offering the beleaguered government a reason to raid many towns and villages in Southern Cameroons. The government is quick to point to such atrocities and inhuman acts as a reason for it to mop up the country that is now awash with weapons and criminals who are using the revolution to extort money from unsuspecting civilians.

For more than two months, Manyu Division has witnessed some relative peace. Most of the fighting in the South-west region has been playing out in other Divisions of the region. Muyuka, Buea, Kumba and other small towns in the Southwest region have stolen the show from Manyu Division that has been termed as the graveyard of the Cameroon military.

It should be recalled that the very first killing of army soldiers during this conflict took place in Agborkem German, a small town on the banks of the Cross River that serves as the border between Cameroon and Nigeria. The killing of four army soldiers in Agborkem German was responsible for the country’s president, Paul Biya, to declare war on Southern Cameroonian fighters in Manyu Division.

The government felt that by declaring war on its own people, it will restore state authority that has been challenged by the killing of four army soldiers. But the declaration of war has turned out to be the government’s greatest undoing.

More than one thousand Southern Cameroonians have been sent to an early grave, while some 400 army soldiers have been killed in retaliation for their criminal acts in Southern Cameroons. And the number of atrocities and deaths has continued to rise as the government keeps on dilly dallying about the creation of the right conditions for the holding of the inclusive dialogue that the international community has called for.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that started as a simple strike by teachers and lawyers in October 2016 has gradually metamorphosed into a full blown civil war, making the independence of the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon a certainty, especially as there are targeted killings and huge refugees movements in and out of the country.

Ever since the crisis started, the country’s president, Paul Biya, also known as the owner of the country, has refused to listen to many respectable people across the world.

The Pope has had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Biya. Leaders of Western countries have advised him to pursue dialogue as a sure means out of the impasse. The African Union has once offered to mediate. But all their pleas seem to be falling on deaf ears.

The Francophonie, for its part, is still prepared to play a great role in efforts at restoring peace to the country, but the country’s authorities are reluctant to accept all these offers of assistance and this is causing the situation to spiral out of control.

Mr. Biya and his collaborators have clearly opted to pursue a path that is causing the country to lose its youthful population. They seem to be frozen in time and their strong faith in old ways is putting the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Across the country, some religious authorities have also called on the government to embrace dialogue in order to spare the country the agony it is going through. But all the wise counsel does not seem to be music to the government’s ears.

Mr. Biya is intent on destroying the country before he leaves this world. His total refusal of outside help to restore peace to the country is costing Cameroon a lot. Increased military action has disrupted the people’s life and the burning and destruction of many homes, has left many Southern Cameroonians homeless and desperate.

But it is the economy that is suffering the most. State corporations located in Southern Cameroons are already feeling the heat. Pamol, a palm oil production corporation located in Lobe, a small town in Ndian Division, has finally shut its doors as the fighting between Southern Cameroonian fighters and army soldiers takes a turn for the worse.

More than three thousand Pamol workers are today unemployed and living in permanent fear, as the fighting between the warring factions rages on. Schools and courts in the region have been closed for more than two years and it is increasingly obvious that the Yaoundé government has lost control of certain parts of the two English-speaking regions.

The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), one of the major employers in the region, is also going through a rough patch. Malende, a small town located some 6 km from Muyuka, has witnessed huge unemployment rates. The corporation’s rubber factory was set ablaze last week by some unidentified men and this has hit CDC like a ton of bricks.

In other plantations, many workers have simply deserted. The fighting is disrupting economic activities in those plantations and many workers hold that it is better to quit than to be caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fighting, coupled with the derisory salaries the corporation pays to its workers, has made CDC unattractive and this is gradually eroding the government’s tax base.

Similarly, government revenue has taken a nosedive, as the national oil refinery located in the Southwest region is also facing some major challenges. The crisis is a true nightmare to this once-upon-a-time oasis of peace. It is indeed a millstone around the neck of the government which is gradually collapsing under its weight.

While the government is putting on a brave face in public, it is indeed worried that Southern Cameroonians might walk away from the union that was stitched together in 1972 between West and East Cameroon. Southern Cameroonians hold that the union has been predicated upon lies right from the beginning and that a review of the system is long overdue.

Southern Cameroonians stress that much blood has already flowed and this makes it hard for the warring factions to sit around a negotiating table to narrow their differences. The killing of many Southern Cameroonians and the burning of their homes have left Southern Cameroonians with just the option of quitting their French-speaking counterparts.

Walking away from that ‘political marriage’ implies taking with them about 60% of the country’s wealth. Southern Cameroons is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits to the country. For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil.

In 2014, Cameroon exported US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, was from crude oil. This is a significant amount of money and no government can afford to stay on the sidelines and watch manna vanish into thin air.

But the government’s indifference to calls for an inclusive dialogue is giving secessionists more confidence and time to spread their gospel. The government’s military action has transformed it into a monster and this has pushed the civilian population into the arms of secessionists who are making hay while the sun shines.

The secessionists have worked hard to win hearts and minds among Southern Cameroonian moderates who, right from the beginning, stood for a federal system that would give the regions greater autonomy and authority over their lives. But the delay to talk to Southern Cameroons leaders, many of whom are in jail or exile, is compounding instead of helping matters.

The radicals have taken their gospel of secession to the international community and there is a significant crowd that is listening to their gospel with rapt attention. If secession were to happen today, it would be a very costly mistake on the part of the government that is being accused around the world of being indifferent to the country’s declining political and economic situation.

Every nation’s economic progress and development depend on its political stability. Instability spells doom for a country’s prosperity and prolong periods of instability could be a death sentence on many investments and investors do not like uncertainty. Allowing the Southern Cameroons crisis to fester is tantamount to committing economic and political suicide.

The government’s military action has put the economy on a tailspin. The South-West region which has been the country’s bread basket is today a no-go area. Many small businesses have been dealt a big blow by the crisis. Businesspeople both in French-speaking and English-speaking Cameroon are feeling the pinch. The crisis has robbed them of their source of livelihood and this has created enormous fear in the country.

If Cameroon has to heal, the Yaoundé government has to change its approach. Burning houses and stepping up military action will surely not address the issues. The government is supposed to understand that at this stage dialogue is the answer. Southern Cameroonians are determined. Though they may be having some internal conflicts, they understand that they have a common enemy and this has been the glue that has held them together for close to two years.

The government of Cameroon has to look into the mirror of history to understand how other countries came out of their conflicts with their minorities. Canada and Spain hold solutions that might inspire the Cameroon government. There are many ways of addressing political conflicts. Sticking to a strategy that has only made things worse will surely not help the Yaoundé government to lay to rest this crisis that has given it a very bad name.

Today, many Southern Cameroonians are living in the jungles. The bitterness stemming from living a dangerous life might push many of those innocent civilians to join the fighters and this will only cause the conflict to drag on for many years.

Cameroon is really facing a bleak future. Its economy is going south. It has been caught in a downward political spiral and it is finally going the way of other countries in the region. The government has failed to understand that it is also possible to catch flies with honey. Its military action has really threatened national unity and it will take a lot of effort to get all the warring factions to the negotiating table.

However, where there is a will, there will always be a way. Instead of taking unpopular measures, it will be necessary to make some meaningful concessions so as to appease Southern Cameroonians who are determined to walk away. The pain will linger for a very long time, but great political and social measures may help to heal the wounds. It is time to change strategies and tactics. Cameroon is bleeding. Further military action may simply break the country into two. The ball is in the government’s court. And the world is watching.

By Kingsley Betek on assignment in North America with contributions from Irene Nanyongo


Bamenda: Archbishop Esua tenders resignation letter to Pope

8, July 2018

Bamenda: Archbishop Esua tenders resignation letter to Pope 0

The Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Bamenda, His Grace Cornelius Fontem Esua, has tendered his resignation letter to the Pontiff, His Holiness Pope Francis.

The Prelate handed over his resignation letter to Pope Francis in prelude to his 75th anniversary. Speaking to reporters on Monday, July 2, 2018, at the St Joseph Metropolitan Cathedral, Big Mankon, Bamenda, during the commemoration of the 75th anniversary on earth and his 35th anniversary of his episcopacy, Mgr. Fontem Esua said his decision is in tandem with the Canon Law.

“Take note that, according to the Cannon Law, when a Bishop reaches the age of 75, he tenders his resignation to the Pope so that the Pope should find some other person to take over from him, and I have done so already and I am waiting for the time when the Pope will appoint some other Bishop to take over from me,” he said.

He said even though he is due retirement, he is still the Chief Shepherd of Bamenda Archdiocese.

“I am still due retirement; that is, getting to the age of retirement.  I am retired but not tired. From the inspiration I have, I will continue to serve the church as I have been doing.  As long as the Pope has not appointed anybody else yet, I remain the Archbishop of Bamenda,” he averred.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop used the dual celebrations to apologise to those he has hurt in the course of shepherding God’s flock.

Source: Journal du Cameroun


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