23, November 2023
Ambazonia-La Republique Crisis: UN calls for abducted Bamenyam villagers to be freed 0
The United Nations called Thursday for the swift release of at least 10 civilians abducted during a deadly attack this week on a village in Cameroon, which is being blamed on Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces.
Cameroon’s primarily English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions have been gripped by conflict since separatists declared independence in 2017.
That followed decades of grievances over perceived discrimination by the country’s French-speaking majority.
Armed anglophone separatists killed nine villagers early Tuesday in western Cameroon, the scene of seven years of unrest, local officials said.
“We deplore the November 21 attack on Bamenyam market in western Cameroon in which nine civilians were killed. Those responsible must be held to account,” UN rights office spokesman Seif Magango said in a statement.
“Suspected armed separatist fighters from the English-speaking Northwest region stormed the market in the French-speaking Bamboutos area, shooting randomly and setting businesses on fire. They also abducted at least 10 civilians and looted property.
“Attacks against civilians are unacceptable. We call for the prompt release of all those abducted, and for thorough, impartial, and independent investigations into all attacks on civilians with a view to ensuring justice and accountability.”
Cameroon’s state television said the dead included a woman, adding that two security guards were wounded in a gun battle.
Magango noted that it was the second major attack by armed groups this month, after at least 25 civilians were reportedly killed in Egbekaw village in western Cameroon on November 6.
“Thousands of civilians have been killed, injured, or displaced since the crisis began,” he added.
Both the separatists and government forces have been accused of atrocities in the years of fighting.
Armed groups are regularly accused of abducting, killing or injuring civilians whom they accuse of collaborating with Cameroonian authorities.
Security forces are also often accused by international NGOs and the UN of killings and torture against civilians suspected of sympathising with the rebels.
In July, Amnesty International reported that security forces, separatist rebels and ethnic militiamen had committed “atrocities” in the Northwest region, including executions, torture and rape.
President Paul Biya, 90, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist for 41 years, has resisted calls for wider autonomy and responded with a crackdown.
The conflict has claimed more than 6,000 lives and forced more than a million people to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group.
Source: AFP
24, November 2023
Dublin: Police arrest 34 as PM says rioters brought ‘shame’ on Ireland 0
A night of torched vehicles and shop looting sparked in Dublin after a knife attack outside a school was of an “extraordinary” level of violence unseen in decades, police said Friday.
The violence started when a group broke through a police cordon Thursday in the area where three young children and a women who was caring for them were injured in a knife attack.
Groups went on to torch busses and trams and loot shops in one of Dublin’s most famous throughfares, O’Connell Street.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told a press conference in the Irish capital on Friday that multiple Irish police officers were injured in a running battle with the group that stormed the crime scene in Dublin on Thursday night.
He said that one officer received a serious injury, with “numerous other members injured” as missiles were thrown at them.
“What we saw last night was an extraordinary outbreak of violence,” Harris said. “These are scenes that we have not seen in decades.”
Harris said “all lines of inquiry” are open to determine the motive for the knife attack.
Harris said 34 people were arrested after “huge destruction” by the “riotous mob” with 13 shops significantly damaged or subjected to looting.
A police cordon was set up around the Irish parliament building, Leinster House, late on Thursday night, amid concerns that the violence could spread.
‘Motivated by hate’
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said that protesters who battled police and looted shops were motivated by “hate” and brought “shame on Ireland”.
“Those involved brought shame on Dublin, brought shame on Ireland and brought shame on their families and themselves,” Varadkar told reporters.
For his part, Harris blamed a “complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology” for the disorder.
“We have a complete lunatic hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology, and also then this disruptive tendency engaged in serious violence.”
Harris said calm was restored in the city shortly after midnight.
Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the scenes of disorder were “intolerable” and that a “thuggish and manipulative element must not be allowed to use an appalling tragedy to wreak havoc”.
“We will not tolerate a small number using an appalling incident to spread division,” she said.
Some protesters carried signs reading “Irish Lives Matter” and waved Irish flags through a neighbourhood home to a large immigrant community.
One protester told AFP that “Irish people are being attacked by these scum.”
Ireland has been facing a chronic housing crisis, with the government estimating that there is a deficit of hundreds of thousands of homes for the general population.
Inflated rents, high interest rates and lack of supply create European housing crisis
Widespread dissatisfaction has fed into a backlash against asylum seekers and refugees, and far-right figures have promoted anti-immigration sentiment at rallies and on social media with claims that “Ireland is full”.
Source: AFP