Headline News

Mali’s ex-junta chief seizes power after military nabs interim president

26, May 2021

Mali’s ex-junta chief seizes power after military nabs interim president 0

Mali’s military strongman Assimi Goita says the removal from power of the country’s interim president and vice president in recent days was the right move, alleging that the now detained leaders intended to sabotage the transition process with an uncalled for decision to reshuffle the cabinet.

Transitional President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane – tasked with steering Mali to civilian rule nearly 10 months after a Goita-led coup — were taken into custody at a military base outside the capital Bamako on Monday evening, sparking an immediate reaction by former colonial power France.

French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the move as a “coup within a coup” and threatened to impose sanctions.

Former junta leader Goita, who was lately serving as interim vice president, justified the arrest of the interim leaders and seizure of power by claiming that the two had failed to consult him about a government reshuffle in which two former coup leaders lost their cabinet positions.

In a statement read on public television, Goita said Ndaw and Ouane had been stripped of their duties for seeking to “sabotage” the transition, which would “proceed as normal.”

“This kind of step testifies to the clear desire of the transitional president and prime minister to seek to breach the transitional charter,” he added, describing the move as a “demonstrable intent to sabotage the transition.”

In his statement, Goita further pledged to hold elections next year to restore an elected government as previously planned.

The United Nations

France, which continues to hold major political and military influence over Mali, joined the US, the European Union as well as the United Nations, African Union (AU) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to condemn the detentions and demanded their immediate release.

The demand was further echoed on Tuesday by other Western governments such as Britain and Germany.

“We are prepared to take in the coming hours targeted sanctions against those” responsible, Macron declared during a press briefing at the end of an EU summit.

France has deployed more than 5,000 troops in Mali in a purported move to combat the growing presence of militants in the Sahel.

“Sanctions will be adopted against those who stand in the way of the transition,” EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell also warned in a Twitter post.

A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) arrived in Mali on Monday to help resolve the dispute. ECOWAS played a key role in the formation of the interim government after the August coup.

UN Security Council to meet on new Mali turmoil

The UN Security Council, meanwhile, is expected to hold an emergency meeting behind closed doors on Wednesday following the latest coup in Mali, diplomats stated on Tuesday.

The session was requested by France, Niger, Tunisia, Kenya and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, all of which are current UNSC members, except France, which is a permanent member with veto power.

The development came after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian declared earlier on Tuesday that a special UNSC meeting would be held following the “coup” in Mali, without stipulating when it would convene.

The situation could exacerbate instability in the West African country, where alleged al-Qaeda-linked militant groups control large areas of the north and center and stage frequent attacks on Mali’s military forces and civilians.

The problems in Mali are widely viewed as part of a recent democratic backslide in West and Central Africa, where strong military factions have taken control or presidents have extended their rule beyond allotted mandates.

Last month, a military council seized power in Chad after the battlefield death of president Idriss Deby. His son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, now runs the country and has promised a transition to civilian rule similar to Mali’s. The opposition and civil society insist that the military holds too much power and fear Deby will not relinquish control.

Mali’s young military officers ousted president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020 after weeks of demonstrations over perceived government corruption and his handling of the growing insurgency by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants.

ECOWAS, a 15-nation regional bloc, threatened sanctions, prompting the junta to hand power to a caretaker government that pledged to reform the constitution.

Source: Presstv

US: NY prosecutors convene grand jury to hear evidence in Trump criminal probe

26, May 2021

US: NY prosecutors convene grand jury to hear evidence in Trump criminal probe 0

New York prosecutors have convened a grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict former president Donald Trump, suggesting they may have found evidence of a crime, US media reported Tuesday.

The development is the latest step towards the 74-year-old Trump, who left the White House in January, possibly becoming the first ever ex-US leader to face criminal charges.

The grand jury was set up recently and will sit three days a week for six months, reported The Washington Post, citing two unnamed people familiar with the case.

The panel is also hearing several matters unrelated to Trump’s case, the paper added.

ABC also reported the move.

The Washington Post said it suggests that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance may have found evidence of a crime, if not by Trump then somebody close to him.

A spokesman for Vance refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

In the United States, prosecutors typically refer important cases to grand juries made up of citizens who examine the prosecution’s case in secret. They hear evidence and can request additional documents before deciding whether criminal charges should be brought.

Vance and New York state Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, are investigating Trump’s business dealings.

They are probing whether the Trump Organization committed tax evasion, insurance and bank fraud.

Trump denies wrongdoing and has called the investigations “a continuation of the greatest political witch hunt in the history of the United States.”

Vance’s probe initially focused on hush payments made to two women who allege they had affairs with Trump — but the investigation has since been expanded.

Investigators suspect the Trump Organization may have artificially inflated and reduced the value of assets, particularly several properties in New York state, to either get bank loans or reduce their taxes.

Last week, James said her office was investigating the Trump Organization in a “criminal capacity” and was working with Vance’s team.

Vance, who leaves his post at the end of December, acquired eight years of Trump’s tax returns in February after a years-long legal battle that went to the Supreme Court.

Source: AFP

Biden and Putin to hold their first summit in Geneva in June

26, May 2021

Biden and Putin to hold their first summit in Geneva in June 0

US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will hold their first summit next month in Geneva, both sides said Tuesday, setting the stage for a new chapter in their fraught relationship.

The meeting in the Swiss city will be on June 16, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

“The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the US-Russia relationship,” she said.

The Kremlin confirmed the summit details and said in a statement that Putin and Biden would be discussing “issues of strategic stability,” as well as “resolving regional conflicts” and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden, making his first international trip as president, will go to Geneva immediately after separate summits with his key Western allies in the G7, NATO and the European Union.

The face-to-face meeting with the Kremlin leader comes amid levels of tension not seen for years, with Washington now dialling back its ambitions to little more than establishing a relationship in which both sides understand each other and can work together in specific areas.

Since taking office, Biden has launched new sanctions against Moscow over what US authorities say was the Russian role in the massive Solar Winds cyber attack and repeated meddling in the 2020 presidential election.

Washington has also harshly criticized Moscow for the near-death poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of one of the last open opponents to Putin, Alexei Navalny.

And where Biden told an interviewer that he agreed with the description of Putin as a “killer,” the Russian government has formally declared the United States to be an “unfriendly” country.

Moves to ease tension

The open recriminations are a long way from the often puzzling relationship between Trump and Putin.

The Geneva summit will come almost three years after Trump famously sided with the Kremlin leader over the US intelligence agencies on the question of whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.

However, both sides are working to calm the waters ahead of the Geneva summit, with the White House emphasizing hopes for working alongside Russia on well-defined strategic issues like nuclear weapons control and the Iran nuclear negotiations.

To prepare the ground, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and veteran Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met last week in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after the Blinken-Lavrov meeting that repairing ties “will not be easy” but he saw “a positive signal.”

Moscow welcomed a US decision to waive sanctions that had been holding up completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline — a major energy supply route from Russia to Europe that US officials worry will make the EU overdependent on the Russians.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: North West Governor confirms Amba attack on Lassin gendarmerie post

26, May 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: North West Governor confirms Amba attack on Lassin gendarmerie post 0

Governor Adolphe Lele L’Afrique of the North West region has confirmed the combat casualties recorded by Cameroon government security agents in Lassin in Bui Division on Monday May 24.

In a statement read on state radio and television, the Francophone governor stated that

“At about 2:00 am (local time), one of the leaders of the armed separatist groups, General No Pity attacked the gendarmerie brigade at Lassin in Bui, North-West region, killing four gendarmes and taking away weapons.”

This new attack adds to the list of dead soldiers in Southern Cameroons in 2021.

In January, three gendarmes, one policeman and two civilians were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in Matazem, a small town in the Western region, located some few miles from Bamenda the chief city in the North West region.

In March, five members of the security forces and four civilians were killed in the locality of Galim.

The War in Ambazonia has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria.Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Fon Lawrence

Southern Cameroons Crisis: A priest gets kidnapped

26, May 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: A priest gets kidnapped 0

A priest of the diocese of Mamfe in the Southwest region of Cameroon has been kidnapped as the fighting in Southern Cameroons rages on and enters a critical phase.

Father Christopher Eboka was taken away by unknown gunmen on Friday, May 21, 2021 who have requested a huge ransom from the diocese. The kidnapping of members of the clergy is unfortunate and this underscores the need for all the factions involved in the conflict to seek ways of reaching a peaceful resolution.

The Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Mbonge has spoken with Father Christopher’s mother who is very devastated and is urging those responsible for the priest’s kidnapping to release him so that he can continue with the great job he has been doing.

Kidnapping a priest is not only despicable, it is the height of irresponsibility and the Cameroon Concord News Group is joining its voice to that of the mother of father Christopher Eboka to urge the kidnappers to release the man of God.

Those who kidnap men of God are crossing a dangerous red line and this must be condemned by all god-fearing Cameroonians.

The clergy in the two English-speaking regions of the country has been playing a significant role since the Southern Cameroons crisis started in 2016 with the objective of engineering a lasting peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country and to help alleviate the suffering of the population.

Over the last two weeks, the fighting in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of the country had escalated, with army soldiers taking huge casualties.

Southern Cameroonian fighters who started out with dane guns have morphed into manufacturers of effective Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which are sending many army soldiers to an early grave.

While the army soldiers have been brutal and successful in outgunning Southern Cameroonian fighters due to their superior weaponry, the use of IEDs by Southern Cameroonian fighters over the last year has left the government in an unfortunate quandary.

In the country’s northwest region where the fighting is escalating on a daily basis, the IEDs have been going off every day and many uniformed officers have not had the luck to return to their families.

The military has lost many of its fighting equipment and these new strategy developed by the Southern Cameroonian fighters has left many army soldiers with tones of butterflies in their stomachs.

The morale among the soldiers is down and many of them, especially those who have been to the battlefield, understand that this war will never be won on the battlefield, as Southern Cameroonian fighters have become deadlier and more determined to push the military out of Southern Cameroons.

Many of the young soldiers are from poor backgrounds and they need the salary from the military, but their belief in a conclusive military victory is diminishing on a daily basis as news of their wounded and dead colleagues spreads across the country like wildlife.

Many of those army soldiers would jump at any opportunity that would get them out of the military, but Cameroon is a country that is bereft of jobs and opportunities. The young soldiers are now caught between the rock and a hard place.

If they refuse to go to Southern Cameroons where Southern Cameroonian fighters are delivering death to many soldiers for free, they will end up in jail for a long time. If they head to Southern Cameroons, they are sure they will not be coming back to East Cameroon, or if they must return, it will either be in a body bag or with debilitating injuries that will make entirely dependent on their family members.

The situation in Southern Cameroons is dire. The world has to wake up from its sleep. The fighting in that part of the country has escalated and very many young Cameroonians are losing their lives because a government ruled by old and ailing leaders is still seeing negotiations as a weakness.

If the world does not stand up against the brutality playing out in Southern Cameroons now, it will one day regret its decision, as many young lives are being wasted due to the inflated ego of people who have prioritized war over peace.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon army is so broken; its soldiers are refusing to fight

25, May 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon army is so broken; its soldiers are refusing to fight 0

As Cameroon government army soldiers battled Ambazonia Restoration Forces over the past four years, dozens of soldiers are now refusing to fight and their cases have opened a rare window into the much respected Cameroon military, once one of the strongest in Sub Saharan Africa but now struggling to combat an ill-equip Southern Cameroons Self Defense Force of not even 2000 fighters.

Cameroon Concord News undercover reporter in the South West shared a conversation today with Cameroon government army soldiers who are petrified of their next assignment. Military commanders have told the soldiers that they will be deployed to Lebialem, Manyu, and Ndian constituencies in the South West over the next few days.

Five of the soldiers (names withheld) said they have lost weight from sleepless nights and disproportionate thoughts over the last few days. Three of the men were visibly troubled after being told that they would be assigned to patrol the dangerous landscapes of Akwaya in Manyu over the next four months. One of the soldiers said, “My son is six, and my daughter is two, and there is a good chance I’ll never see them again. I don’t want to go there as two of my colleagues were brutally murdered by ruthless Amba boys in 2019”.

The young soldiers would either go to the warfront or face the military courts for sedition and rebellion. One of them said that many of his colleagues were bribing superiors to evade being posted to the treacherous jungles of the Southern Cameroons. A corporal, who has been assigned to Lebialem Division told Cameroon Concord News that “Tomorrow, I will faint and pretend that I am unwell as I have no money to bribe my way out of this. If I am declared medically unfit, they will not send me to an early grave. Even within the military, we all know that we cannot win this war, but we must fight because our bosses are making money from it.”

The prevailing situation deep within the Cameroon government military as painted for us by a 25-year-old soldier is even more pathetic. He said he has been around Buea to learn how to say some few words in English and pidgin as being a Francophone in Akwaya Sub Division will be a death sentence on his head. He furthered that he now knows how to say good morning, which may help him stay alive.

Since 2016, Southern Cameroons pro-independence fighters have been engaged in a fierce war against the government of Cameroun. The conflict has claimed over 40,000 civilian lives and more than 2000 Cameroon government soldiers.

The regime in Yaoundé, led by 88-year-old octogenarian, Paul Biya has ignored all calls for inclusive dialogue despite wise counseling from the international community and experts to negotiate with the pro-independence movements and forces.

At the time of filing this report, 13 Cameroon government army soldiers were on drip at the Regional hospital in Buea pretending to be very ill but at night they will be in the bars drinking beer. A soldier from the South Region pretended that he had collapsed by putting his tongue outside faking illness when his name was called that he had been deployed to Eyumojock.

Some of the Francophone army soldiers have two national identities-one bearing Manyu names to hide their Francophoneness. Another soldier successfully got himself out of the Manyu and Lebialem deployment by producing a fake death certificate and funeral programme of his mother who our sources hinted passed away nine years ago.

By Asu Vere Eyere with Intelligence Files

Biafra-Ambazonia Alliance: IPOB leaders say Cho Ayaba, others are impostors

25, May 2021

Biafra-Ambazonia Alliance: IPOB leaders say Cho Ayaba, others are impostors 0

Barely a month after leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and one of Cameroon’s separatist groups led by Ayaba Cho formed a so-called alliance; internal crisis in both camps is threatening the union.

The Biafran and the Cho Ayaba group are both fractured, and not all factions support the alliance and rising violence.

Spokespeople from the self-proclaimed Interim Government of Ambazonia, the other major Anglophone separatist group, and the Customary Government of IPOB have denounced the alliance and proclaimed that the leaders involved are “impostors.”

The alliance which experts say could ignite more violence and instability in Nigeria, Cameroon and across the West and Central African regions, was formed last month, United States-based Foreign Policy reported.

The move is coming just as violent extremist organisations affiliated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda are establishing a strong foothold in the regions. Cameroon armed separatist groups are fighting to carve out Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions into a breakaway state called Ambazonia, while IPOB is fighting to create Biafra Republic from Nigeria. Grievances of Anglophone Cameroonians date back to 1961, when the region was granted independence from Britain.

Source: Sunnewsonline with additional editing from Camcordnews

Amba fighters have killed more Cameroon gov’t troops than previously known

25, May 2021

Amba fighters have killed more Cameroon gov’t troops than previously known 0

Cameroon Intelligence Report has been reliably informed that the Ministry of Defense is secretly upping the Biya regime estimate on the number of Cameroon government soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons who were killed by Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

Military officials in Yaoundé recently opined that Amba fighters in all the divisions in Southern Cameroons were linked to the deaths of hundreds of Cameroon government troops.

“That means all Cameroon military combat fatalities in the North West and South West has been attributable to the Ambazonia Interim Government” our source added.

“Ever since the separatists launched what they call Big Rubbergun, our command centers assessed that at least 247 army soldier deaths in the North West alone were from improvised explosive devices,” a senior military officer said in an email to the Minister for Defense.

CIR’s Yaoundé city reporter has gained access to the new report which has to be independently assessed. We understand the new assessment will be given to President Biya but will not be reported to the press.

Most of the deaths occurred during Cameroon government military operations in the rural areas in Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Rita Akana in Yaoundé

Former Formula One racing boss Max Mosley dies at 81

25, May 2021

Former Formula One racing boss Max Mosley dies at 81 0

Max Mosley, the former head of Formula One’s governing body, has died at the age of 81 after suffering from cancer, his family said on Monday.

“The family of Max Mosley can confirm that he died last night after a long battle with cancer. They ask to be allowed to grieve in private,” a family statement said.

His old friend and ally in the world of motor sport Bernie Ecclestone paid tribute.

“We were like brothers for 50 odd years,” Ecclestone, 90, told Reuters by telephone from Ibiza. “Better he’s gone than suffer the way he was suffering.”

The youngest son of Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British fascist movement in the 1930s, Mosley was a racing driver, team owner and lawyer before becoming president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) in 1993.

He won a high-profile privacy case against the News of the World newspaper in 2008 after it said he had taken part in a “sick Nazi orgy”.

He later gave financial backing to the court costs of claimants in newspaper phone hacking cases.

The Oxford-educated Mosley and Ecclestone, who was the son of a trawlerman, forged a close alliance.

Together they formed a double act in running the sport as it grew from amateurish beginnings into a $1 billion business, while also pushing through much-needed safety measures.

“We had differences of opinions but we could talk to each other about them and sort them out, whatever they were,” said Ecclestone.

“He was a very straightforward guy, Max. Did a lot for the sport, did a lot for the general industry to make sure people were complying with the right regulations when they built road cars,” he said.

“If he thought something needed to be done, and someone needed to be punished, Max was the guy to do it.”

Such punishment famously included a $100 million fine for McLaren, who also lost all their constructors’ championship points, in a 2007 spying controversy involving Ferrari data.

Source: REUTERS

Political turmoil in Mali: UN urges immediate release of detained president, premier

25, May 2021

Political turmoil in Mali: UN urges immediate release of detained president, premier 0

The West African country of Mali seems to be in the grip of a fresh political unrest, with the country’s military reported to have arrested the president and prime minister. The development has prompted calls from the United Nations for calm as well as the “immediate and unconditional” release of the detained leaders

The move has stirred fears of a new coup.

“We call for calm and demand the immediate and unconditional release of the President and Prime Minister. Those who are holding them will be held accountable,” the United Nations’ mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Interim President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were taken by soldiers to the Kati military camp on the outskirts of the capital Bamako, AFP cited two senior officials, who declined to be named.

Just before being taken away by the military officers and before his line was cut, Ouane managed to tell AFP in a phone call on Monday that soldiers had “come to get him.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed concern over the detentions and called for calm.

Reports suggest that Defense Minister Souleymane Doucoure is also under arrest.

The detentions have drawn condemnation from the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union, the UK and the US. They urged for the unconditional release of Mali’s top politicians in a joint statement which was also signed by the UN.

The detentions came just hours after a government reshuffle, which aimed to appease critics of the interim government amid anger at the military’s dominance in the transitional government and the slow pace of promised reforms. The reshuffle saw ex-defense minister Sadio Camara and ex-security minister Colonel Modibo Kone, who took part in last year’s coup, replaced.

The arrests raised fears of a second coup after a putsch in August ousted president Ibrahim Boubakar Keita following weeks of protests against his handling of the Takfiri insurgency and perceived government corruption.

The caretaker government was installed after the 15-nation West Africa bloc ECOWAS threatened sanctions on the country.

Source: Presstv

«< 512 513 514 515 516 >»