Headline News

11, April 2021

Chad goes to polls with veteran ruler Deby poised for sixth term ⁰

Chad headed into presidential elections Sunday with Idriss Deby Itno, ruler for the last three decades, set to win a sixth term.

A key ally in the West’s anti-jihadist campaign in the Sahel, Deby, 68, is the frontrunner in a six-candidate race without major rivals after a campaign in which demonstrations were banned or dispersed.

Queueing to vote in the capital N’Djamena, a 25-year-old saleswoman named Bernadette told AFP she was voting for Deby because “thanks to him I am free to walk wherever I want, day or night, in total security”.

Polling booths and ballot boxes were arriving progressively in the city, with numerous polling stations visited by AFP failing to open on time.

Police and soldiers were out in force across N’Djamena, with elite troops from the Republican Guard deployed to the central polling station where Deby himself was due to vote, an AFP journalist said.

Chad has struggled with poverty and instability since gaining independence from France in 1960.

A former rebel and career soldier who seized power in a coup in 1990, Deby has twice, with French help, thwarted attempts to oust him.

Other candidates include Albert Pahimi Padacke, a former prime minister under Deby, and Felix Nialbe Romadoumngar — officially “leader of the opposition” as his URD party has eight seats in the National Assembly.

Lydie Beassemda, a former agriculture minister, is the first woman to run for president in Chad’s history.

She is pitching her campaign on federalism, in a country where ethnic rivalry is common, and on women’s rights, in a culture where patriarchal domination is entrenched.

But seven other candidates were rejected by the Supreme Court and three withdrew, including longtime opposition politician Saleh Kebzabo, who quit in protest over violence by the security forces.

Soldiers killed in Lake Chad ambush

Deby has campaigned on a promise of peace and security in a region that has been rocked by jihadist insurgencies.

Two Chadian soldiers were killed Thursday in an ambush in the Lake Chad region, where Islamist extremists have been increasingly attacking civilians and security forces, Communications Minister Cherif Mahamat Zene told AFP on Sunday.

Provisional results from the elections are scheduled for April 25, with the final results due on May 15.

With Deby set for victory, the major question mark is over turnout.

Deby urged voters at his final rally on Friday to “turn out massively”, but many residents have voiced disinterest in an election whose outcome already appears certain.

Some 7.3 million people are eligible to vote out of a population of 15 million, but the most critical opposition parties have urged voters to boycott the election.

Weekly protest marches urging a peaceful transfer of power have been banned or forcefully dispersed.

On February 28, police and soldiers carried out a commando-style raid on the home of a prominent would-be candidate, Yaya Dillo Djerou. His mother was among at least three people killed, and he is now on the run.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are among those who have voiced criticism.

US watching

The United States on Thursday urged Chad’s election supervisors and courts “to ensure these elections are conducted freely, fairly, and transparently”.

“We’ll be watching in the days ahead,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned.

Deby has also benefited, as previously, from divisions and weaknesses within opposition ranks.

Francois Djekombe, president of the opposition Sacred Union for the Republic, said efforts to mobilise the public had been weakened by internal squabbles, poor leadership and inadequate communications.

“Let us humbly acknowledge that we have failed,” he said ahead of polling day. “It’s clear that people don’t want the popular revolt that we tried to impose.”

Kelma Manatouma, a Chad expert at the University of Paris-Nanterre, said that “with the considerable means Deby has mobilised, it is certain he will win.”

Chad has been an oil producer since 2003, but it remains deeply poor.

In 2018, 42 percent of the population lived below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. In 2020, Chad ranked 187th out of 189 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index.

(AFP)

11, April 2021

Cameroon: who is next? ⁰

Fear has gripped members of the Yaounde-based crime syndicate as some of their members start exiting the scene.

Mendo ze, the once popular general manager of the country’s network, CRTV, passed on Friday following a long illness due to a long jail term by a government he served selflessly.

But shortly after his departure, the syndicate’s 103-year-old Senate vice president, Nfon Victor Mukete, also bowed to the inevitable, creating panic in the nation’s capital.

The ruling party is seeing its base being eroded by something it cannot control. It should be recalled that most senior members of the syndicate are over 80 years old and the passing of about six of its members last week, has sent shivers down the spine of this bunch of people who have held their country captive for decades.

By the standards of the crime syndicate, anybody less than 80 years is considered a youth and the death last week of four of their members who are less than 80 years spoke to the danger the party could be facing in the days ahead.

The flood gates seem to be open and many ruling party members, many of whom are colonies of diseases, are trembling in their pants.

The question on many lips is: who is next? Below are some of those who have kicked the bucket, triggering a wave of fear among ruling party members.

Edmond Félix Etoundi was the Chief Executive Officer of Finexs S.A., one of the largest intercity transport companies in Cameroon. He leaves behind a rich CPDM heritage that reveals a fantastic Biya regime success story of a self-made man.

Garga Alim Hayatou, Secretary of State to the Minister of Public Health responsible for the fight against Epidemics and Pandemics and Lamido of Garoua was brought down by the coronavirus.

Monkam Pascal, an industrialist, a businessman. He had a special attachment to the Biya regime and the Cameroon’s corrupt institutions.

Martin Aristide Okouda, the former Minister of Public Works, died on Friday 9 April 2021 following an illness in Paris, France. Aged 70

Chief Mukete, former traditional ruler of the Bafaws reportedly died from an unknown illness

Gervais Mendo Ze, Former cabinet minister and general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) died after he was released from the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

Princess Rabiatou Mamboune Njoya, sister of the Sultan of Bamoun, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, died on 9 April 2021,

Gargoum Adoum Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Alim Boukaro Business tycoon

Essomba Pierre, Secretary General at the Ministry of Territorial Administration

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai and Isong Asu

10, April 2021

2021 is a CPDM year of loss. Here are some of the well-known figures who are gone ⁰

2021 is a year defined by the devastating coronavirus pandemic; La Republique du Cameroun is losing iconic defenders of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate who helped guaranteed President Biya’s continued stay in power.

Many of their names hold a prominent place in the collective consciousness — Edmond Félix Etoundi, Garga Alim Hayatou, Monkam Pascal, Essomba Pierre, Martin Aristide Okouda— but Covid-19 restrictions is not limiting the CPDM public’s ability to mourn their loss in a year that is witnessing close to a thousand deaths from the coronavirus.

Cardinal Tumi a strong advocate for social justice who always dedicated great passion and commitment to the people of his diocese passed away on April 3. As we write, there has not been any reaction from the presidency of the republic.

But God is saying something as the Biya regime continues to say goodbye to many of its disciples. A cream of CPDM political and economic figures have died this 2021.

Some of the 2021 deaths struck down relatively barons of the corrupt regime in Yaoundé, leaving Cameroonians with some kind of schadenfreude feeling.

Here is a roll call of some influential CPDM figures that died recently (cause of death not cited as Covid-19 like HIV is a stigma in La Republique du Cameroun:

Garga Alim Hayatou, Secretary of State to the Minister of Public Health responsible for the fight against Epidemics and Pandemics and Lamido of Garoua was brought down by the coronavirus.

Monkam Pascal, an industrialist, a businessman. He had a special attachment to the Biya regime and the Cameroon’s corrupt institutions.

Martin Aristide Okouda, the former Minister of Public Works, died on Friday 9 April 2021 following an illness in Paris, France. Aged 70

Chief Mukete, former traditional ruler of the Bafaws reportedly died from an unknown illness

Gervais Mendo Ze, Former cabinet minister and general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) died after he was released from the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison.

Princess Rabiatou Mamboune Njoya, sister of the Sultan of Bamoun, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, died on 9 April 2021,

Gargoum Adoum Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Alim Boukaro Business tycoon

Essomba Pierre, Secretary General at the Ministry of Territorial Administration

By Isong Asu in London

10, April 2021

Chief V.E.Mukete of Kumba is dead ⁰

The great former traditional ruler of the Bafaws has been reported dead – Nfon V.E. Mukete is said to have been battling an unknown illness since last year. The Bafaw Traditional Council‎ is expected to formally announce the translation of Chief Mukete to his ancestors on Saturday, April 10 in the presence of other traditional Chiefs at the entrance of the palace.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that all the sub chiefs broke down in tears and wailed for the translated former Monarch who died aged 103. We also understand that the Paramount leader of the Bafaws Chief Ekoko Mukete was formally informed of the translation of his father, before it was made known to the sub chiefs and title holders.

Deep within the Bafaws of Meme Division in the South West Region, it is customary that when a current or former supreme leader becomes an ancestor, he translates to a greater glory. T‎he King of the Bafaws does not die because he is an institution; he mainly translates to a high glory as an ancestor.

Amid all kinds of rumors following the Bafaw paramount leader’s uncharacteristic absence from the opening of the House of Senate in Yaoundé last year, Nfon V.E.Mukete was last seen paying probably his last respect to the Senate President Marcel Niat.

The Bafaw Monarch abdicated the throne and following a palace crisis that involved his children Abel, Mbe, Diko, Ekale, Ebako, Ekoko, Chief V.E. Mukete handed over leadership to Ekoko Mukete.

In an interview in the French capital, Paris, Chief Mukete, the oldest member of the so-called Upper House of assembly and a long standing father of the reunification of French and British Southern Cameroons opined that the Biya regime failed woefully in its management of the Anglophone crisis and acknowledged that Southern Cameroonians were being marginalized. Mukete furthered that the creation of the commission for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism was too little too late.

He dismissed the politics of a one and indivisible Cameroon stating that only a ten state federal structure would solve the current Anglophone crisis that has shaken the country for more than four years. However, upon his arrival from the European trip, the Bafaw supreme leader distanced himself from the Paris interview.

Chief Mukete’s influence went beyond the Southern Cameroons minority as he was a member of the Senate, the Economic and Social Council, the Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Camtel.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, April 2021

CRTV’s Gervais Mendo Ze dies: If a man appoints you, he can disappoint you ⁰

Former general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV) died at his residence in Yaoundé on Friday, his family announced.

He is credited with setting the stage for state radio and television to be an important tool of blackmail, misinformation and President Paul Biya’s image laundering used by pro Biya comedians like Paul Atanga Nji.

As a French Cameroun political elite and blood relation to the head of state, Mendo Ze brought to his endeavors an enduring commitment to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a deep wellspring of warmth and good humor and successfully transformed CRTV into a conduit through which fraud is celebrated and the flames of the North West/ South West divide are fanned and Francophones in Mfoundi Division are incited to take up arms against their neighbours.

He made CRTV the voice of hate, sycophancy and intimidation and CRTV under him was used to perpetrate crimes against the people of Southern Cameroons in which alleged “enemies dans la maisons” “biafrais” “anglobami” “Opposants” and now are blackmailed and targeted on account of their ethnicity or valid claims for self determination.

The former General Manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television, CRTV, extremely weakened by stress and illness was told to go home from the notorious Yaoundé Central Prison in Kondengui.

A video of the former pot-belly supporter of the Yaoundé-based crime syndicate was trending on social media, portraying him as a bag of bones that was a victim of a vile system he served and propped whole-heartedly for many years.

Mendo Ze was brought down by the system in which he had unwavering faith and trust

The Biya regime was never bad to Mendo Ze when he enjoyed all the fame and perks that came with the high offices he occupied. This regime was like his oxygen and anybody who held contrary views automatically became Mendo Ze’s enemy.

Finally, the man who headed Cameroon Radio and Television for seventeen years was made to have a taste of the medication he helped the ruling crime syndicate to manufacture for Cameroonians.

The fat and bulky Mendo Ze was reduced to a bag of bones and was let off the hook just for him to go and die at home-confirming the Cameroon Concord News assertion that if a man appoints you, he can disappoint you!

The Francophone God of Evil passing for a head of state did not want him to soil the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison if he dies there. Mendo Ze to President Biya did not even worth the prison’s jumpsuit in which he would have been wrapped if he had died in jail.

Mendo Ze was spared because of his illness, and as we rightly reported he had very limited time to live. He was sent home to die surrounded by his loved ones who saw him melt like snow under very high temperatures.

Mendo Ze was a huge and fat person but he left the Kondengui prison simply a shadow of his former self.

Gervais Mendo Ze: CRTV General Manager

Gervais Mendo Ze former general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (Crtv) from 1988 to 2005), was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to 20 years in prison.

Arrested in November 2014 after he was sacked from the cabinet as Minister Delegate to the Minister of Communication), Gervais Mendo Ze was prosecuted for several issues which inter alia included fraudulent transport allowances amounting to CFAF 39 million and television tax money.

The Beti Ewondo French Cameroun political elite was also accused of having received a monthly representation bonus of more than CFAF 15 million, CFAF 116 million as home maintenance allowance, FCAF 205 million as car allowance and 20 million from Cameroon’s audiovisual fee.

Justice also reproached him for misappropriation of 360 million FCFA, constituting part of the GM’s running cost of the state owned radio and television.

Gervais Mendo Ze was prosecuted with fourteen other people (some fleeing and others dead in custody), among them Crtv’s financial service staff and Cameroon’s treasury administration represented by the renowned former Minister of Finance Polycarpe Abah Abah, former mayor Akono Ze Jean Marie and Jean Paul Amang Bitegni all implicated in the 15 billion FCFA television tax scandal

The Mendo Ze acolytes were all sentenced to 18 years in prison and must also pay CFAF15 billion representing the damage caused to the state and pay a fine of CFAF 962 million.

The Special Criminal Court: President Biya’s Court

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer. Cameroon Concord News Group calls it President Biya’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit.

An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused. A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence. A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility. It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world. This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon. There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court. Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption. True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained late Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat. Prof Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.

The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration. Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in order to maintain him in prison.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, April 2021

Chinese Football: Stephane M’bia re-joins Wuhan FC ⁰

Former Cameroon captain Stephane M’Bia has moved back to Chinese Super League club Wuhan FC after a one-year spell with Shanghai Shenhua.

“Welcome Mr. M’Bia back to the Wuhan Zall family, and we look forward to his finding back the feeling of playing with the familiar faces in the team,” Wuhan FC said in a statement on Wednesday.

The 34-year-old defender joined the Wuhan outfit from Toulouse FC in February of 2019.

He then joined Shanghai Shenhua the following year.

The 2021 campaign of the Chinese Super League will start on April 20.

Source: Xinhuanet

9, April 2021

US arrests two Cameroon women traveling on fake passports ⁰

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers identified two Cameroon women as impostors at Washington Dulles International Airport on Monday with the help of biometric facial comparison technology.

The two women arrived at a CBP primary inspection booth separately after their flight arrived from Brussels, Belgium on Monday afternoon and each presented a U.S. passport to a CBP officer. CBP’s biometric facial comparison technology reported a mismatch between each woman and the true bearers of the U.S. passports.

The CBP primary inspection officer referred both women to a secondary examination. During separate interviews, both women immediately admitted that they purchased the U.S. passports. CBP determined the women to be impostors for deliberately attempting to use genuine travel documents that were lawfully issued to other people.

CBP is not releasing the women’s names because neither woman was criminally charged. Instead, CBP seized the passports and ordered the women to be expeditiously removed from the United States.

CBP uses biometric facial comparison technology to further secure and enhance the international arrivals process while protecting the privacy of all travelers. When travelers arrive from overseas, they pause for a photo at the primary inspection point. That photograph is then compared to the traveler’s passport or visa photo retrieved from government holdings.

Since September 2018, CBP has leveraged facial biometrics to prevent more than 500 imposters from illegally entering the United States.

“This is a great example of how Customs and Border Protection officers use their law enforcement experience coupled with biometric facial comparison technology to intercept impostors deliberately masquerading as lawful travelers,” said Keith Fleming, Acting Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office. “Impostors violate U.S. immigration law and may pose a serious threat to our national security.”

Source: Cbp.gov

9, April 2021

Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Prince Philip dead age 99 ⁰

Britain’s Prince Philip, a constant presence at Queen Elizabeth II’s side for decades, died Friday at age 99, Buckingham Palace announced.

The death of the Duke of Edinburgh is a profound loss for the 94-year-old monarch, who once described him as her “strength and stay all these years”.

The outspoken former navy commander devoted much of his life as the queen’s consort to charity work — but was notorious for numerous gaffes, many deemed downright offensive.

He was admitted to hospital on February 16, 2021, and went home after a month during which he was treated for a pre-existing heart condition and an infection.

Announcing his passing, BBC television played the national anthem over a picture of Philip in his prime, dressed in military dress uniform

Philip, who was by the queen’s side for nearly eight decades, retired from public duties in 2017 at the age of 96.

His death came just months before his 100th birthday in June — an event typically marked in Britain with a congratulatory message from the queen, who is now Britain’s longest-serving monarch.

The couple, who celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in November, had been living largely in isolation at Windsor Castle, west of London, because their advanced age put them at heightened risk from Covid-19.

Philip and the queen received their first vaccinations against the virus in January.

– Few public appearances –

Philip was no stranger to health issues.

He was previously fitted with a stent in 2011 after suffering from a blocked artery.

He also had a hip operation in 2018 and in January 2019, he emerged unscathed after his vehicle was involved in a traffic accident that injured two people near the monarch’s Sandringham estate in eastern England.

The prince then spent four nights in hospital in December that year, receiving treatment for what was described as a “pre-existing condition”.

He was discharged on Christmas Eve, in time to rejoin the rest of the royal family for the festive period.

Since the pandemic, Philip has made few public appearances.

He was last seen at a staged appearance at a military ceremony at Windsor Castle in July, days after attending the wedding ceremony of his granddaughter Princess Beatrice.

In November, he and the queen marked the latest anniversary of their 1947 nuptials by releasing a photograph of them together, again at Windsor.

Philip and the queen have four children — Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward — eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

– Shelved personal ambitions –

Philip, the longest-serving consort in British history, was born on the island of Corfu with Danish and Greek royal titles.

He fled the country when he was just 18 months old with his parents and four sisters, after his uncle, king Constantine of Greece, was forced to abdicate.

The family initially settled in France.

Philip was formally introduced to princess Elizabeth, the future queen, in July 1939 and they kept in touch during the war, meeting on a number of occasions.

The pair married in Westminster Abbey in London in 1947.

A rising star in the British navy, Philip had reached the rank of commander by the time Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1952. He eventually shelved his personal ambitions to support his wife in the role.

Over the ensuing decades he was involved in numerous charities, including the World Wildlife Fund For Nature and the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme for young people.

Source: AFP

9, April 2021

Seven priests ordained for Mamfe’s Catholic Diocese ⁰

Archbishop Andrew Nkea ordained seven new priests for the diocese of Mamfe this morning. This is the first ordination by a metropolitan Archbishop in the entire South West Region.

Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu reported that the areas of ministry entrusted to the new priests fall under three general headings, Altar, Word and Charity.

The new clerics will work in parish teams in the diocese of Mamfe. They will join deacons and lay parish pastoral workers in parishes.

“Today is a great day for the Diocese of Mamfe,” said Dr Andrew Nkea.

“It is a great day for this lively diocese, which sees seven of its sons called to the priesthood. This is a great day for the Presbyterium of Mamfe.”

The seven priests ordained are: Paul Ajong, John Etta, Carole Thcinda, Patrick Tabot, Niver Lengue, Peter Atem and Alfred Vetam.

In his homily, Archbishop Andrew Nkea said the priesthood is a gift from God through the bishop.

The hands of the priests will be laid on the candidates but the gesture will be meaningful if and only if those hands are united with the hands of the bishop who is the principal celebrant at every ordination ceremony.

This collaboration with the bishop is depicted at every ordination ceremony when the candidates on making the promise of obedience to the bishop. In the rite, it is only at the moment of the promise of obedience that the candidate kneels before the bishop surrenders his hands between those of the bishop who questions his obedience to him and his legitimate successor.

Such is a spiritual connection based on respect and obedience. Respect and obedience are priestly virtues which enables the bishop to do his duty in overseeing the afford of the diocese whereas obedience enables the priest to collaborate with the bishop in the same ministry.

Between the bishop and his priests, there exists a communio sacramentalis as quoted from Pastres Gregis.

Bishops ordain priests out of love and nothing else. It would therefore be a contradiction in terms for a priest to say his bishop does not love him. Every priest must be ready to see the love of God in his bishop. At no point should a priest think he is better than his bishop irrespective of the talents they display. Illustrating from the Gospel text, the Prelate identifies the strict obedience of the disciples who put out their nets without questioning.

Many young priests get into the priesthood with their own ambitions and if they don’t get them they threaten to leave the priesthood. A bishop can never satisfy all his priests.

Each diocesan Priest has as one of his duties the spiritual care of the presbyterate.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rev Father Eboka

9, April 2021

Northern Ireland: Riots flare again despite calls for calm ⁰

Northern Ireland police faced a barrage of petrol bombs and rocks on Thursday, an AFP journalist said, as violence once again flared in Belfast despite pleas for calm.

Riot police on the republican side of the divided city were pelted with projectiles as they tried to prevent a crowd moving towards pro-UK unionists.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Irish counterpart Micheal Martin had earlier called for “calm” following days of violence that included a petrol-bomb attack on a moving bus.

Martin and Johnson held telephone talks in which they stressed that “violence is unacceptable” and “called for calm”, the Irish leader’s office said.

But their calls went unheeded as night fell in Belfast, with unrest breaking out on the republican side of the capital.

Rioting over the last few days—the city’s worst unrest in recent years—had mainly stemmed from its unionist community, leading to joint condemnation from political leaders in the British province.

Unionists are angry over apparent economic dislocation due to Brexit and existing tensions with pro-Irish nationalist communities.

“Destruction, violence and the threat of violence are completely unacceptable and unjustifiable, no matter what concerns may exist in communities,” said the Northern Ireland executive—made up of unionist, nationalist and centrist parties.

“While our political positions are very different on many issues, we are all united in our support for law and order.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis visited Belfast to meet leaders from the main parties, including unionist First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein, as well as faith and community advocates.

He called the joint condemnation “a very clear statement”, adding “there is no excuse for violence, we’ve got to make sure we take things forward in a proper democratic and political way.”

In Washington, the White House also expressed concern over the violence and urged calm.

‘Sectarian violence’

In the disorder on Wednesday, gates were set alight on a “peace line”—walls separating pro-Irish nationalist and unionist communities—and police said crowds from either side broke through to attack each other with petrol bombs, missiles and fireworks.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) temporary assistant chief constable Jonathan Roberts said the scale and nature of the violence was unprecedented in recent years.

“The fact that it was sectarian violence and there was large groups on both sides… again is not something we have seen for a number of years,” he told reporters.

Before Thursday, six nights of unrest left 55 police injured, Roberts noted, as well as a press photographer and the driver of the bus fire-bombed Wednesday.

He said children as young as 13 were suspected of involvement following encouragement from adults, and the large volume of petrol bombs used suggested “a level of pre-planning”.

The PSNI is probing if Northern Ireland’s notorious paramilitary groups were involved in the unrest.

‘Deep rooted’

Northern Ireland endured 30 years of sectarian conflict that killed 3,500 people.

Unionist paramilitaries, British security forces and armed nationalists seeking to unite the territory with the Republic of Ireland waged battle until a landmark peace deal in 1998.

The accord let unionists and nationalists coexist by blurring the status of the region, dissolving border checks with fellow European Union member Ireland.

But Britain’s 2016 vote to quit the EU revived the need for border checks. A special “protocol” was agreed that shifted the controls away from the land border to ports trading with the UK mainland, prompting many unionists to accuse London of betrayal.

There was also recent outrage among unionists after Northern Irish authorities decided not to prosecute Sinn Fein leaders for attending a large funeral last year of a former paramilitary leader, in apparent breach of Covid restrictions.

Few people in central Belfast on Thursday wanted to discuss the sensitive situation.

“It’s deep-rooted, it’s not just about Brexit,” said Fiona McMahon, 56, before adding Britain’s EU withdrawal had had a “massive impact”.

“The British do whatever the hell they want to do and we get landed with everything afterwards,” she told AFP.

PM Johnson tweeted overnight that he was “deeply concerned”, saying “the way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality”.

Johnson and Martin agreed during their call that “the way forward is through dialogue and working the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement,” according to Dublin.

Source: AFP