Headline News

11, June 2018

Over 600 refugees remain stranded at sea as Italy, Malta close ports ⁰

Hundreds of refugees remain stranded in a humanitarian ship at sea after both Italy and Malta refused to open their ports to the vessel and engaged, instead, in a diplomatic spat over the issue.

Italy’s new Interior Minister and leader of the far-right League Party, Matteo Salvini closed Italian ports on Sunday and refused to let in the rescue boat, Aquarius, carrying over 600 refugees.

Instead, he sent a letter to the island-state of Malta, south of Italy, threatening to close all the Italian ports if the Maltese government refuses to take the ship.

The European charity group, SOS Méditerranée, which operates Aquarius, said Sunday that the humanitarian ship has on board 629 refugees, including unaccompanied children and pregnant women mainly from sub-Saharan Africans, who were picked up in six different rescue operations off the coast of Libya.

Refugees wait to disembark from Aquarius in the Sicilian harbor of Catania, Italy, May 27, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Salvini said in a statement on Sunday that Malta “cannot continue to look the other way when it comes to respecting precise international conventions on the protection of human life.”

“That’s why we ask the government in Valletta to take in the Aquarius in order to offer first aid to the migrants on board,” the statement added.

The Maltese government, however, brushed off the request, saying that the operations took place in international waters off Libya and that “Malta is neither the competent nor the coordinating authority in this case.”

The government’s statement also said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had spoken to Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, underlining “that Malta is acting in full conformity with its international obligations.”

“As such Malta will not take the said vessel in its ports,” the statement added.

Amid the spat, the ship remains stuck in waters of the central Mediterranean—between Malta and Italy.

The SOS Méditerranée’s spokesperson Mathilde Auvillain said the vessel has been instructed to head north after a series of sea rescues and is now awaiting “definitive instructions.”

Controversy inside Italy

Salvini’s far-right party had campaigned heavily on an election vow to stop new refugee arrivals; in addition to closing the country’s ports, Salvini has also pledged to speed up deportation of refugees.

The Italian interior minister has said he is mulling over action against organizations rescuing refugees at sea. He has accused the air groups of collaborating with human traffickers, calling on NATO to help Rome “defend” its southern shores.

Salvini’s anti-refugee stance has sparked criticism inside the country, with several figures, including mayors of Palermo, Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci, offering to take in the refugees.

The mayor of Palermo Leoluca Orlando said he would allow Aquarius to dock at the Sicilian port.

“Palermo in ancient Greek meant ‘complete port,’” said the mayor. “We have always welcomed rescue boats and vessels who saved lives at sea. We will not stop now.”

Orlando accused the new interior minister of violating international law, saying that Salvini has once again shown that “we are under an extreme far-right government.”

Naples mayor Luigi de Magistris also said the city would welcome in the humanitarian boat.

Refugees on a boat after being rescued by the Aquariu in the Mediterranean sea in front of the Libyan coast on May 24, 2016. (AFP)

“Naples is ready, without funds, to save lives,” said the city mayor, adding that “if a minister without a heart leaves pregnant women, children, old people, human being to die, the port of Naples is ready to welcome them.”

Over the past five years, more than 600,000 refugees have reached Italy by risking their lives in the sea. Some 500,000 of them are still staying in the country.

According to the United Nations figures, at least 500 people have died this year as they were trying to cross the central Mediterranean. Some 2,853 also lost their lives last year.

Culled from Presstv

10, June 2018

New Age African Global Energy Contract with French Cameroun is a money laundering scam to sustain a collapsing crime syndicate ⁰

Cameroon Concord News Group calls on Interpol, The Serious Crimes Unit of the British Police, The FBI, The Criminal Investigations Department of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and all Police and Intelligence Agencies worldwide to urgently step in and investigate the oil and gas contract between New Age Global Energy Company and French Cameroun that was signed recently in Britain. There are many reasons for an urgent criminal investigation of this international crime masked as a business contract.

The contract is a front for money laundering conceived for criminal purposes. The oil and gas fields which are subject of the contract are in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia over which a war and genocide declared by Paul Biya the head of the crime syndicate in French Cameroun are ongoing. The contract is directly linked to the subject of this in who the perpetration of international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by one of the contracting parties, French Cameroun is ongoing. These crimes have led to a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions. The contract will directly contribute to the war efforts of French Cameroun in which international crimes are being perpetrated by French Cameroun. Control over the mineral resources of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is among the reasons for the declaration of war by French Cameroun against Ambazonia. This contract therefore will substantially contribute to the crimes and the humanitarian calamity.

The contract is a front for the laundering of money and resources for criminal purposes. These criminal purposes include the bankrolling of the elections of Paul Biya and members of his criminal gang in power. These elections have all elements of fraud and criminality.

The contract is illegal, null and void in every respect. This will be the first contract where French Cameroun will be signing with a company which has no incorporation within the territory in which the oil and gas fields are located. Pursuant to the foreign imposed laws of the colonial annexationist criminal government of French Cameroun in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, the foreign firm needed to comply with several OHADA treaty requirements. It has neither complied with Southern Cameroons laws nor that of the occupier.

The choice of a British firm in a French occupied economic annexed territory is intended to buy through this corrupt slave economic deal, the continuing support of Britain of the colonial occupation and criminal war and genocide. The fact that the Secretary-General in the Presidency of French Cameroun’s crime syndicate went to England to sign the contract far away from the battlefields of Ambazonia where the intended loot is located, and far away from its own centre of French Cameroun’s criminal operations, Yaoundé, evinces an intention to shield the fine elements of criminality contained in the criminal deal from the scrutiny of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia victims. French Cameroun has a record of signing bilateral agreements in Yaoundé and at the official locations of its partners. This criminal contract is not a bilateral agreement but a business contract.

Cameroun Concord News Groups is not aware of any time in recent memory when French Cameroun dispatched a Secretary-General in its Presidency to move to the head quarter of a foreign firm to sign a contract of this nature or any at all. The signatory on behalf of French Cameroun is neither its Prime Minister, Minister in Charge of Mineral Resources, Investments, or its plenipotentiary in Britain. The Secretary-General in the Crime Syndicate of French Cameroun is a gate-keeper of corrupt deals; proceeds of national and international criminality and the vampire Paul Biya’s executioner of record. The poster boys of criminality such as Paul Atanga Nji, George Tabetando, Laurent Esso, Fame Ndongo, Okalia Bilai, Lele L’Afrique, Joseph Beti Assomo, Louis Paul Motaze, General Elokobi Daniel Njock, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and all CPDM apologists and conspirators are supervised by him on behalf of the crime master Paul Biya.

This contract is in a class of its own considering French Cameroun’s rather unorthodox approach to it. French Cameroun is a well-known haven for criminal deals, corruption and international criminality. The colonization and criminal vandalization of the Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun acting as a proxy for France for the past fifty-seven years is a result of a criminal slave deal between France and Great Britain on the watch of the United Nations. That slave deal encouraged the impunity with which French Cameroun entered criminal contractual deals to loot, vandalize and pillage the resources of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. This contract follows this criminal pattern with the aggravating factor being that its immediate effect will be the funding of a war in which international crimes shocking the conscience of humanity are being committed.

This contract if not investigated and halted, will stain the conscience of the civilized world; Great Britain in particular, with more blood of innocent Ambazonians. Cameroon Concord News Group strongly calls for an urgent investigation of this criminal deal to avert the escalation of the genocide and international criminality going on in the Gulf of Guinea and its contagious territories.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

10, June 2018

Ambazonia: Cameroon soldier killed in the Northern Zone ⁰

A soldier was killed in an attack in Cameroon’s restive English-speaking Northwest Region on Saturday, local sources said.

The soldier was “ambushed” while on patrol with another service member, who was not harmed, near the town of Furu-Awa in the Menchum department, a regional source told AFP.

Violence occurs almost daily in the Northwest and Southwest Regions between government forces and English-speaking separatists, who are fighting for greater autonomy.

For years, resentment built among anglophones, who make up about a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 22 million, fostered by perceived marginalisation at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

The crisis escalated last October after the declaration of the self-described “Republic of Ambazonia” in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, causing scores of deaths and prompting tens of thousands to flee their homes.

According to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, at least 120 civilians and 43 security forces have been killed since the end of 2016.

The UN says 160,000 people have been internally displaced and 20,000 sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria.

Source: AFP

10, June 2018

Suspected jihadists kill six in Cameroon ⁰

Six villagers were killed overnight in northern Cameroon in an attack attributed to Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist group, a local leader said today.

The attack occurred in the village of Mangave Foya, said Abdoulaye Yerima Bakari, the head of the Dogba administrative region. “They attacked the home of a district chief, whom they shot, as well as two other people” who were in the building, he said.

When the neighbours came out to investigate the gunfire, the assailants opened fire, killing three of them, he said. A local self-defence group and the security forces, joined by some villagers, gave chase, killing five attackers and arresting three others, he added.

Boko Haram, a militant movement opposed to Western influence and seeking an Islamic state based on Sharia law, has caused the deaths of at least 20,000 people since it took up arms in Nigeria in 2009.

Their insurgency has spilled into neighbouring countries, including Cameroon. Since 2014, the group has killed 2,000 civilians and soldiers and kidnapped about 1,000 people in northern Cameroon, according to an analysis by the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

Source: AFP

10, June 2018

Violence in Central African Republic Spills into Cameroon ⁰

Robberies and kidnappings are on the rise in eastern Cameroon, as violence from the neighboring Central African Republic spills across the border. Armed groups from the C.A.R. have been stealing supplies and taking dozens of people hostage for ransom.

Iya Gabdo, a cattle rancher, says armed men took him hostage three weeks ago after he could not pay the $5,000 they demanded. Gabdo says many of his peers were also kidnapped that day.

He says the only available water for the hostages was from doubtful sources, and they were hardly served a meal a day. He says most of the hostages are now sick, either because they did not bathe or because they drank dirty water.

Freed hostages are transported to Ngaoui, Cameroon, June 6, 2018. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)

The military freed Gabdo this past week, returning him and 13 others to the town of Ngaoui. The military said one hostage was killed in the rescue and several were wounded. Several armed men also were killed.

Ngaoui hosts one of the largest cattle markets on Cameroon’s border with the C.A.R. The market was reduced to a shadow of itself four years ago when armed groups started crossing the border to attack and kidnap Cameroonian cattle ranchers and business people for ransom, or to steal their property.

Ammunition and weapons were seized from armed men who held Cameroonians hostage, June 6, 2018.

On several occasions, Cameroon sealed the border.

In 2016, business resumed in border areas when new C.A.R. President Faustin-Archange Touadera promised to bring peace to the troubled nation. But last year, the United Nations reported that fresh fighting involving armed groups in the C.A.R. was leading to new waves of bloodshed and displacement.

Kildadi Taguieke Boukar, governor of the Adamawa region of Cameroon, says that since the fighting erupted again, there have been increasing attacks in Cameroon’s territory.

Kildadi Taguieke Boukar, governor of the Adamawa region of Cameroon, visits the freed hostages in Ngaoui, Cameroon, June 6, 2018.

“They kidnapped the chief of Akundere and they asked him a ransom of a hundred million CFA [$180,000],” Boukar said. “So, I want to invite the population to continue cooperating, giving the information to the forces of law and order, to the administration. And I think, I do hope we are going to put an end to this type of banditry.”

The C.A.R. descended into chaos after longtime leader Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013 by a predominantly Muslim rebel alliance called the Seleka. Christian militias called the anti-Balaka emerged in response, accelerating a cycle of sectarian violence.

Last month, the C.A.R.’s minister of humanitarian activities visited Cameroon and said violence continues in her country because it is hard to control the circulation of arms, or to bring the various armed factions together for true dialogue.

Culled from VOA

10, June 2018

Biya regime plotting to kill Acting President Samuel Ikome Sako ⁰

Cameroon Intelligence Report has been hinted of a Biya regime diabolic harsh plot to kill the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr Samuel Ikome Sako in the USA. A well-placed source deep within the Francophone government told our Yaoundé city reporter late yesterday that Etoudi has given the green light for the Cameroon embassy in Washington to bankroll the action against Dr. Sako.

The plot is understood to centre in New York where Acting President Samuel Ikome Sako will be lured by some Chadian and Gabonese diplomats for a talk on the situation in Southern Cameroons. We understand that details of the Francophone government conspiracy against the exiled Southern Cameroons leadership were contained in a document bearing the signature of Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh the Minister Secretary General at the presidency of the republic.

According to our source in Yaoundé, senior security officials who recently met President Biya at his palace in Mvomeka’a discussed a killing spree to include targeting His Excellency Dr. Ikome Sako, the Secretary of Communications, Hon. Chris Anu and some members of the Interim Government. Information of the alleged plot filtered as the situation on Ground Zero continues to grow from bad to worse. Our correspondent in Yaoundé has not been able to know how detailed the alleged plot is, how far advanced it is or how feasible is the plan.

source: www.cameroonintelligencereport.com

10, June 2018

Secession Palaver: Sturgeon urges Scots to focus on expanding support for independence from UK ⁰

Scotland’s National Party (SNP) leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has urged supporters to focus on expanding support for independence from the United Kingdom instead of the timing of the secession.

Addressing delegates at the SNP’s summer conference in Aberdeen on Saturday, Sturgeon – who also heads Scotland’s decentralized government – further acted to diminish expectations among her backers of an immediate push for a new independence vote while the outcome of Brexit remains unclear.

“The case for independence is strong. And it is getting stronger by the day,” Sturgeon said.

“As we wait for the fog of Brexit to clear, our opportunity – indeed, our responsibility – is this: Not just to focus on the ‘when’ of independence. But to use our energy and passion to persuade those who still ask ‘why?'”

“Right now, that is the more important task.”

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon addresses the Scottish National Party (SNP) conference in Aberdeen, Scotland, Britain, June 9, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

The development came as polls indicate that a majority of Scots are against holding a fresh ballot. This is while a push for an early referendum in 2017 backfired when support for her party declined in a snap election.

In March 2017, Scotland’s parliament authorized Edinburgh to request a transfer of powers from the UK parliament to hold a referendum, though London has not yet agreed to the request.

The last time Scots voted on independence was in 2014. More than 55 percent voted to stay in the UK while nearly 45 percent voted to leave.

This is while a SNP spokesman was cited in a Reuters support as saying that Sturgeon remains committed to updating the public on the timing of a possible new referendum on Scottish independence in the autumn.

Her speech on Saturday further highlighted a new SNP economic report that tackles the weaknesses of the economic arguments from the 2014 vote.

“It doesn’t pretend there are always easy answers – no one believes that. But it does lay strong foundations for independence. Even with no extra growth from independence, the deficit can be turned around in five to 10 years,” Sturgeon underlined.

She also emphasized on the need for more immigration to the sparsely populated northern tip of Britain and greater powers for Scotland to control it as a central feature of economic growth.

“It’s time for powers over migration to come to Scotland,” said the SNP leader.

Scotland’s population, much of which is rural and dispersed unlike the rest of Britain, is aging faster than other parts of the country.

Immigration, meanwhile, remains one of the trickiest political issues in the Brexit negotiations, and limiting the number of foreigners entering the UK was reportedly a key element on which Britain’s overall 2016 vote to leave the EU rested.

Source: Presstv

10, June 2018

Russia 2018: Broadcasting centre for World Cup opens in Moscow ⁰

As soccer fans count down the last few days before the 2018 FIFA World Cup opening match at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium on Thursday (June 14), the Russian capital witnessed the opening of another important tournament venue – the International Broadcasting Center (IBC).

As FIFA president Gianni Infantino explained, the IBC is key to the tournament because it will allow audiences across the world to see matches.

The IBC is located on the outskirts of Moscow and is where the VIdeo Assistant Referee (VAR) system operates from.

We will have the entire world being able to benefit from this beautiful and fantastic World Cup thanks to what is happening here in this IBC.

World Cup matches will be refereed with the help of video for the first time in history and according to FIFA director of refereeing Massimo Busacca will only be used in cases of clear mistakes.

Video replays operated by four referees inside the IBC will help referees on the pitch make key decisions. An incident involving ‘clear and obvious’ mistake during a match can be reviewed and changed.

Source: Africa News

10, June 2018

Biya regime begins operations to clear boat wrecks off Douala port ⁰

The port of Douala, the largest in Central Africa, this week launched an operation to remove wrecks of old boats which hamper its functionality and competitiveness.

“At the operational level, the impacts are even heavier because we are losing docks that should bring us money. It is on the dock that the boat comes to dock to allow exchanges,” said Georges Menye the project manager.

This operation is the first “in 33 years”, according to Cyrus Ngo’o, general manager of the autonomous port of Douala. “The port, the Wouri River is full of a hundred wrecks and we have decided to start with the most dangerous. The first twenty-five wrecks that impede the operation of the port are those that constitute this phase of the project,“ said Mr. Ngo’o.

Fear of pollution

Most of the boats whose frames have been abandoned in the port of Douala are over half a century old and are feared to contain asbestos.

“The majority of these boats are over 50 years old. However, nearly 20 years ago, the construction of boats with asbestos was stopped. Asbestos that has become toxic to humans,” worried Mr. Georges Menye, the project manager.

This contract for the withdrawal of abandoned boats was awarded to an Italian company, Bonifacio, for a sum of 4.7 billion CFA francs (just over 7 million euros).

Work to remove the first 25 wrecks will take eight months.

The main outlet for landlocked Central African countries such as Chad and the Central African Republic, the port of Douala is characterised by its dilapidated infrastructure, congestion, corruption and administrative hassles.

More than 95% of Cameroon’s port traffic passes through Douala.

In February, the French tropical timber trader Rougier designated the “chronic congestion” of the port of Douala as one of the causes of its bankruptcy.

“The bankruptcy of the Rougier group could not be the responsibility of the port of Douala, where the logistics operations of foreign trade are carried out normally”, then reacted Cyrus Ngo’o.

Source: Africa News

9, June 2018

South Africa elected to UN Security Council ⁰

South Africa has been voted onto the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member. Its candidature to represent the East and Southern African group was endorsed by Southern Africa last year and the African Union in January.

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday voted to elect Germany, Belgium, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia for a two-year term on the Security Council starting on Jan. 1, 2019.

Our tenure in the Security Council will be dedicated to the legacy of President Nelson Mandela and his commitment to peace. In marking his centenary this year, a Summit on Peace will be held on the eve of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in September.

Indonesia drew more votes than the Maldives in the only contested election; the other four candidates ran unopposed.

Uncontested candidates still need to win more than two-thirds of the overall General Assembly vote to be elected.

The council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions and has the power to impose sanctions and authorise the use of force.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said it is honoured and humbled by this gesture of confidence.

This will be South Africa’s third term on the UN Security Council, having previously served in 2007-2008 and 2011-2012.

“Our tenure in the Security Council will be dedicated to the legacy of President Nelson Mandela and his commitment to peace. In marking his centenary this year, a Summit on Peace will be held on the eve of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in September,” the statement reads.

The Department says it will use its tenure in the Security Council to promote the maintenance of international peace and security through advocating for the peaceful settlement of disputes and inclusive dialogue.

“We will continue to enhance close cooperation between the UN Security Council and other regional and sub-regional organisations.”

During the two previous tenures, South Africa advocated for closer cooperation between the UN Security Council and the African Union Security Council (AUPC), which culminated in the adoption of the landmark Resolution in 2012 on strengthening cooperation between the two bodies.

Agencies