Headline News

Trump trying to avoid impeachment as 2018 midterms near

2, May 2018

Trump trying to avoid impeachment as 2018 midterms near 0

US President Donald Trump is dialing up efforts to avoid impeachment, GOP sources as the 2018 midterms approach, giving Democrats the chance to win the majority in the US House of Representatives.

If democrats take control of the chamber, they could initiate an impeachment debate and congressional investigation.

“It is super important to the White House, and really the whole White House is very focused on it,” a source told The Hill. “The president is expected to dial up efforts in this regard during and after the August recess.”

According to Maxine Waters, Democratic representative from California, 70 percent of Democrats want to impeach the president, an idea strongly supported within the party’s liberal base.

Such comments have made the president understand the significance of protecting his party’s majority, particularly in the House.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters speaks onstage during the Human Rights Campaign’s 2018 Los Angeles Gala Dinner at JW Marriott Los Angeles.(Photos by AFP) 

 

“We have to keep the House because if we listen to Maxine Waters, she’s going around saying ‘We will impeach him,’” Trump told a rally of supporters in Michigan on Saturday.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) announced recently that protecting the House rather than the Senate is its top priority.

“Our No. 1 priority is keeping the House. We have to win the House,” RNC political director Juston Johnson told The Associated Press.

The president has also ordered the RNC to prioritize the House.

“It’s clear the message has been, ‘We don’t want to want to have to fool with impeachment proceedings with the final two years of his first term, you better do something,’” a party strategist was quoted as saying.

 

Source: Presstv


9 die in attack on church in Central African Republic

1, May 2018

9 die in attack on church in Central African Republic 0

At least nine people, including a priest, have been killed in an attack on a church in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

Pastor Moses Aliou said on Tuesday that dozens had also been wounded in the attack, which was carried out during the morning service in the Notre Dame de Fatima church.

Witnesses said assailants attacked the church, shooting and using grenades. The church-goers were trapped inside the compound. Police later opened a hole in a wall of the church building to allow people to escape, witnesses said.

“Filled with panic, some Christians began to flee until bullets and grenades begin to fall in the parish grounds, trapping those who remained in the compound,” said Aliou.

The wounded were taken to Bangui’s Community Hospital but it was not clear how many people died in the hospital and how many in the church attack itself.

Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Bangui Walter Brad Mazangue said the priest killed in the attack died as a result of shooting in the church. The priest was identified as Albert Toungoumale Baba. Thousands of Christians gathered near the church to protest the attack when Baba’s body was being carried to the presidential palace.

The attack came near the site of clashes between United Nations peacekeepers and security forces of the Central African Republic on one side and criminal gangs on the other in the PK 5 neighborhood. A total of 21 people were killed during the fighting which came after UN and local forces tried to disarm the gangs.

The Central African Republic has experienced rounds of inter-faith violence in the past, especially in 2013 when “anti-balaka” Christian militants killed many from the Muslim Seleka after a Seleka uprising led to the ouster of President Francois Bozize.

Source: Presstv


Inner City Press tells UN “Blue Helmets Used by Biya soldiers in Southern Cameroons”

1, May 2018

Inner City Press tells UN “Blue Helmets Used by Biya soldiers in Southern Cameroons” 0

Amid the worsening crackdown by the army of 36-year Cameroon president Paul Biya in the country’s Anglophone areas, a video has circulated depicting soldiers burning down homes. The Cameroon government army had blue helmet of the type used by UN peacekeepers. On April 30 Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the video, the day after publishing a story about it, in Google News. Dujarric said he hadn’t seen the video but militaries should not use UN equipment or colors, presumably when burning civilians homes down.

Inner City Press: a video emerged over the weekend from Cameroon showing or depicting soldiers burning people’s homes in the Anglophone areas, and what… what a lot of people focused on is that one of them, at least, is wearing a blue helmet.  I don’t think it means the UN is doing it, but I do wonder, what are the rules?  I wanted to ask you, what are the rules if people have served in UN peacekeeping missions… have you seen the video?

Spokesman:  “I haven’t seen that particular video, so I can’t comment on the particular helmet, whether it was just blue or a UN helmet.  We have seen, in different parts of the world, various security forces and army… we’ve seen reports of them using equipment that they own, which had been painted white or blue and reused domestically.  It is a responsibility to ensure that no equipment that has UN markings is ever used in any domestic operation.  But, again, I’m not… that’s a matter… that’s an issue of principle.  I haven’t… I can’t comment on that specific report.” Hours later, still nothing.

The lack of confidence in the UN in these areas, and on this issue, was inflamed as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in October 2017 stopped by Yaounde on his way from the Central African Republic (where the UN pays Biya’s government for peacekeepers who have been charged with sexual abuse). Guterres did not meet with any opposition figures, and accepted a golden statue from Biya.

Guterres’ envoy Francois Lounceny Fall has publicly said that secessionist are extremists, the word used by Biya to justify the scorched earth strategy exemplified by the video. Inner City Press asked UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zaid why his Office hasn’t updated the death figures and he claimed it was because the UN has no access.

Guterres’ humanitarian Assistant Secretary General Ursula Mueller visited Cameroon, but not the Anglophone areas. Human Rights Watch didn’t even include Cameroon in its 2018 “World Report,” and told Inner City Press this is because it does not view it as among the 90 most serious problems in the world.

Guterres’ Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed was in Abuja in her native Nigeria when 47 Cameroonians were illegally sent back by the Buhari government. Buhari was in Washington on April 30 and a protest of Ambazonians planned. Earlier in April, Inner City Press asked the US State Department about the refoulement to Cameroon and received a day later a statement. But what will happen on this video, and on the underlying issues?

Culled from Inner City Press


Gabon: Constitutional Court orders PM to resign, dissolves parliament over delayed polls

1, May 2018

Gabon: Constitutional Court orders PM to resign, dissolves parliament over delayed polls 0

Gabon’s Constitutional Court on Monday ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly thus bringing the work of the Ali Bongo-led government to an end

A statement read out by its president Marie Magdeleine Mborantsuo said the mandate of all lawmakers in the lower chamber of parliament had been terminated because the government had failed to hold elections to replace them.

It was now incumbent on Bongo to appoint a new Prime Minister, leader of government, to steer affairs of the oil-rich central African nation. Till then, the upper chamber (Senate) has been tasked with doing the work of the dissolved chamber.

Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet who was ordered by the court to resign said he accepted the ruling which was sacrosanct.

“The decisions of the Constitutional Court are not to be commented on. They are to be applied,” Issoze-Ngondet said on national television after the ruling.

On his part, Richard August Onouviet, the president of the National Assembly, also said he accepted the court’s decision.

A multi-party committee appointed an electoral commission last Friday after repeated delays to organise the vote but no new election date has yet been set. The government had failed to organize parliamentary elections before the end of April.

Bongo appointed Issoze-Ngondet prime minister after a narrow victory in a 2016 election that international observers said was marred by irregularities and that sparked brief spasms of violence.

 

Source: Reuters


Buhari admin attacks Ambazonians again, Says several S. Cameroonians possess Nigerian voter cards

1, May 2018

Buhari admin attacks Ambazonians again, Says several S. Cameroonians possess Nigerian voter cards 0

Cross River State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, yesterday,  alerted the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of illegal registration by Cameroonian refugees in the state. The state Comptroller of NIS, Mr. Felix Uche, made this disclosure when he led his management team on a courtesy visit to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Frankland Briyai, at the state office of INEC in Calabar.

Uche disclosed that several Cameroonian refugees have been discovered to possess voter cards. He said no fewer than 30, 000 Cameroonian refugees have entered Cross River State in the last one year following the crisis in the southern part of Cameroon. According to the Comptroller, there is the need for security agencies to assist INEC in stopping the refugees from participating in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration exercise.

In his response, the REC said he had earlier met with relevant security agencies to ensure that the influx of Cameroonian refugees does not pose threat to the ongoing CVR. Briyai, however, noted that the ongoing voter’s registration was only meant for Nigerians, adding that more strategies would be put in place to check intruders.

Source: www.vanguardngr.com


Chad parliament approves new constitution

1, May 2018

Chad parliament approves new constitution 0

Chad’s parliament on Monday overwhelmingly approved a new constitution that expands President Idriss Deby’s powers and could allow him to stay in office until 2033, in a vote boycotted by most opposition lawmakers.

 The new constitution reimposes a two-term limit scrapped in a 2005 referendum. But it will not be applied retroactively, meaning Deby could serve two terms after the next election in 2021.

The constitution now heads to Deby for his signature. Deby’s opponents say that the constitution, which eliminates the post of prime minister and creates a fully presidential system, is aimed at installing a de facto monarchy in Chad, an ally of Western nations fighting jihadist groups in West Africa.

 The new constitution – approved by a vote of 132 to two – introduces six-year rather than five-year presidential terms. That would mean Deby could stay in power until 2033, when he will be at least 80.

Deby first came to power in a rebellion in 1990. He has recently faced strikes and protests due to budget shortfalls caused by low prices for Chad’s chief export, oil.

(REUTERS)


Trump praises Nigeria’s role in the fight against terrorism

1, May 2018

Trump praises Nigeria’s role in the fight against terrorism 0

US president Donald Trump praised Nigeria’s efforts in the fight against terrorism, pledging to help Buhari’s government solve the deadly violence between Christian farmers and Fulani herdsmen. Trump was addressing a press conference with Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari after the latter’s historic visit to the White House.

“Nigeria was one of the first African countries to join the coalition to defeat the Islamic state group and Nigerian forces are leading regional efforts against EI in West Africa,” he said, also mentioning the fight against Boko Haram “another ruthless jihadist group.

We will work on this problem because we cannot accept such a situation. Nigeria enters its 9th year of struggle against Boko Haram, who devastated the northeast of the country. The conflict has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Trump also praised Buhari’s determination to fight corruption and secure the people of his country. The US president then pledged to help Buhari address the issue of ‘Christians who are being killed, murdered in Nigeria’.

“We will work on this problem because we cannot accept such a situation,” he said. The Middle Belt of Nigeria, a meeting point between a predominantly Muslim North and a predominantly Christian South, is regularly the scene of intense inter-community tensions.

For months now, the region has been experiencing renewed tensions between Christian farmers and Muslim nomadic herders. Legislators have called for the sacking of security chiefs over failure to contain the communal violence while catholic bishops have asked Buhari to resign.

Muhammadu Buhari became, in 2015, the first Nigerian opposition leader to beat an incumbent president in an election considered free and fair. He has expressed his desire to seek reelection in next year’s elections.

Buhari used the occasion to trace the cause of communal violence in Nigeria to commend the United States for the physical and financial commitment to the fight against terror.

“The commitment of the United States to get rid of terrorism across the world, we have firsthand experience of that and we are very grateful for it,’‘ Buhari said.

“On security, I am very grateful to the United States for agreeing to sell to us the aircraft we asked for and the spare parts.’‘

Shithole or not?

The two leaders also took on the controversial storm that was raised when remarks attributed to Trump allegedly labeled several African countries as ‘shitholes’.

Asked about this episode which had provoked strong protests on the continent, Buhari preferred to stay out of the controversy. “I’m not sure how accurate this is, so the best thing for me is to keep quiet,” he simply replied.

Trump was less diplomatic.

‘‘There are countries that are in very poor condition and where living conditions are very difficult,” he said. Cooperation between the two countries has improved in substance over the past year.

Shortly after coming to power in 2015, Buhari accused President Barack Obama of refusing to sell arms to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. But the Trump administration has changed its position by allowing the sale to Nigeria of $500 million worth of Super Tucano surveillance and tactical support aircraft, to be delivered in 2020.

 

Source: Africa News


Muyengue: General Elokobi’s family member 9-month pregnant woman rescued by Ambazonia Restoration Forces

30, April 2018

Muyengue: General Elokobi’s family member 9-month pregnant woman rescued by Ambazonia Restoration Forces 0

Ambazonia Self-Defence Council’s Restoration Forces (ASC/RF)in Muyengue rescued a nine-month pregnant mother, Mrs. Belinda Njang, from being either roasted alive to ashes or shot dead at close range in her home by La Republique du Cameroun’s (LRC) regular army. Belinda is the wife of Mr. Mathias Njang, a family member of General Elokobi. Mathias and Belinda are parents three kids. They live in their home in Muyengue and they are expecting their fourth baby this week, according to Belinda’s clinical consultation reports.

At about 6.00 AM Ambazonia time on Monday, troops of LRC invaded lower Muyengue village and started their usual cowardly activities – kill, maim, arson, arrest, loot property, and extort money. As evidenced across the territory of Ambazonia, these actions by LRC regular army cause residents to flee their communities to unknown
destinations for safety. Today in upper Muyengue, everyone fled the community as LRC soldiers raided the locality. Unfortunately, Belinda Njang remained trapped in her home due to her 9-month pregnancy and fear she may lose her baby in the escape process on foot. She was left alone in the deserted community where only the regular
army of LRC including its elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) were conducting atrocities.

At about 2 PM Ambazonia time, Ambazonia Self-Defence Council’s Restoration Forces became aware of Belinda’s situation, her position, and risk of being killed if met by LRC soldiers. A small team of Ambazonia forces conducted a swift rescue operation and carefully recovered Belinda Njang from her home to a safe location where is now reunited with her husband and their three children. Belinda’s rescue operation by Ambazonia forces lasted about an hour and was concluded successfully just before the regular army of LRC arrived the upper Muyengue and burned homes.

Belinda is still gripped with fear that she would have been raped or killed by LRC soldiers if the Ambazonia Restoration Forces did not rescue. She said: “I knew I will be burnt alive at home or shot dead by LRC regular army if they found me at home because that is what they are trained, specialized, and ordered to do.” Belinda recounts her fears as she thinks of the recent burial of her sister in-law who was killed recently by LRC soldiers.

In late April, Mathias Njang’s younger sister Martina Njang, also family member to General Elokobi, was killed in Kombone by LRC regular army. LRC regular army raided the community, shot dozens on their legs, arrested scores, and burnt homes. LRC soldiers break into the home of Martina, shot and shattered her right leg, and she later bled to dead in hospital. She was buried last week, and the family is yet to come to terms with the memories of her gruesome dead.

ASC Restoration Forces successful rescue mission of our Ambazonia mother Belinda Njang in Muyengue Monday is testimony to the coordination and professionalism of our forces and their mission to protect Ambazonians and their property against a common enemy LRC.

The ASC calls on all Ambazonians, residents, businesses and institutions across the
territory of Ambazonia to cooperate fully with the policies of the Interim Government
and to fully support the actions of the ASC/RF to defend all Ambazonians and
residents, protect their property, and guard Ambazonia homeland.

Mr. Nkem O. Foncha
official.asc@africamail.com
April 30, 2018


Ireland: Fundraiser planned to help Southern Cameroons Refugee Families

30, April 2018

Ireland: Fundraiser planned to help Southern Cameroons Refugee Families 0

A Southern Cameroons Committee is spearheading a fundraising drive to bring help to Ambazonian refugee families and internally displaced persons in West Cameroon and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  Committee member Lylian Fotabong says the goal is “No matter how small every little cent helps”. In an effort to hit their fundraising target, the committee has organized a fundraising gala, to be held in the Glen Abbey Complex, Belgard Road, Cookstown, Dublin 24 on the 2nd of June 2018.

The program, which includes a speech by representatives of the Southern Cameroons resistance in Ireland, begins at 8 p.m and will be directed and animated by DJ Valdoval and DJ Pozo. Tickets are 10 Euro per person.

Speaking to our Cameroon politics expert, a representative of the Southern Cameroons Community in Ireland who sued for anonymity, said the money raised would be used to help the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia cover relocation expenses for families in Nigeria, those that have migrated to French Cameroun including the families that are in the forest.

“As Southern Cameroonians, we sense the call to be living instruments of our new born nation in saving even one Ambazonian family. “All the while these families languish in Nigeria which is not their ancestral own – or on occasion are forcefully sent back into the war zone by the Fulani leader in Abuja. Life shouldn’t be a horror movie,” he added.

Lylian Fotabong the host of the June 2nd event was quoted as saying that first, Southern Cameroonians in Ireland have to obtain the money. Then they’ll contact the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr. Samuel Sako to say they’re ready to help Southern Cameroonian families fleeing the conflict because they have sufficient funds to do so.

Recently in London, Ambazonia’s Communication Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu observed that the huge obstacle right now is raising sufficient funds to keep the self-defense groups operating in their respective counties. A Southern Cameroons leader in Belfast opined during an Ambazonian forum that “We’re finding that people are generous, but they’re probably holding on a little more than they used to in the past due to the activities of a criminal gang headed by one Cho Ayaba.”

By Sessekou Asu Isong

Cameroon Concord News Group

UK/Northern Ireland


Nigeria: Buhari in the U.S. ahead of meeting with Trump

30, April 2018

Nigeria: Buhari in the U.S. ahead of meeting with Trump 0

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has arrived in the United States ahead of a scheduled meeting with president Donald Trump at the White House. Buhari left Abuja on Saturday afternoon and arrived almost 24 hours later with an entourage that included a number of governors and top government officials.

He was ushered into the presidential guest house, Blair House, where he will reside during his stay in the U.S. The presidency shared photos of his arrival on social media. Among guests he has so far received are Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and Hon. Justice Sylvanus Nsofor, Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S.

What White House said about the meeting

“President Trump looks forward to discussing ways to enhance our strategic partnership and advance our shared priorities,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The priorities include “promoting economic growth and reforms, fighting terrorism and other threats to peace and security, and building on Nigeria’s role as a democratic leader in the region”, she said.

Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler who took office in 2015, last week announced that he will seek a second term in elections next year. He flew to Britain for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May shortly after the announcement.

Source: Africa News


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