Headline News

Ex-Roma And Cameroonian Footballer, Bouasse Trafficked Into Italy At 16, Has Died Age of 21

26, May 2020

Ex-Roma And Cameroonian Footballer, Bouasse Trafficked Into Italy At 16, Has Died Age of 21 0

Joseph Bouasse Perfection has died at the age of 21 after the former Roma midfielder suffered a heart attack on Sunday night.

While Perfection never went on to make a first team appearance for the Italian side, he was recruited by them following an impressive trial less than two years ago. 

Once news emerged that he had tragically died, Roma paid tribute to their former youth player. on Twitter.

 Roma wrote: ‘The club is desperately saddened to learn of the untimely death of former Primavera player, Joseph Bouasse Perfection.

‘The thoughts of everyone at #ASRoma are with all those closest to him.’

LaLiga side Sevilla added: ‘Heartbreaking news. Our thoughts are with Joseph’s family, friends, and everyone at AS Roma. Rest in peace, Joseph.’

Source: Peacefmonline

Cameroon army uncovers explosive devices in Southern Cameroons

26, May 2020

Cameroon army uncovers explosive devices in Southern Cameroons 0

Cameroon army said Wednesday it has uncovered several improvised explosive devices in the country’s troubled English-speaking region of Northwest, but were deactivated with no injury.

The explosive devices were found at a ceremonial ground in Bamenda, Cameroon Anglophone regions’ largest city as the security forces were patrolling the area.

The army said they were planted by suspected armed separatists who had vowed to disrupt national day in the region.

Cameroon is observing national day on Wednesday without public festivities due to COVID-19 pandemic but separatists have imposed a three-day lockdown in the restive Anglophone regions to disrupt the event.

Fighting between government forces and armed separatist groups has been going on since November 2017 after the separatists declared the independence of a nation they call Ambazonia in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet

Burundi expected to announce Ndayishimiye next president

25, May 2020

Burundi expected to announce Ndayishimiye next president 0

Burundi’s election commission is expected Monday to declare Evariste Ndayishimiye the country’s next president, with all signs showing the ruling party’s candidate on track for victory following last week’s poll.

The National Independent Electoral Commission will unveil the outcome of the presidential and legislative races at 1200 GMT.

Local government results are also expected Monday.

Partial results already announced on state media indicate that Ndayishimiye, an army general from the governing CNDD-FDD who was hand-picked to succeed outgoing President Pierre Nkurunziza, has an insurmountable lead over his opponents.

Agathon Rwasa, the main opposition leader, has alleged foul play, saying early numbers showing his CNL party heading for a bruising defeat are a “fantasy”.

According to a tally by AFP covering 105 of 119 municipalities, Ndayishimiye won an outright majority in 101, and in at least one secured 99.9 percent of the vote.

In the four communes where he was defeated, Ndayishimiye attracted a support rate of no less than 43 percent.

Rwasa and his CNL, meanwhile, managed just 24.6 percent in Kabezi, a historic stronghold in western Bujumbura for the opposition party, which says some of its officials were harassed and detained on voting day.

The veteran politician attracted large crowds throughout his campaign, as did the ruling party, despite concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

– Results questions –

Analysts predicted the presidential race would come down to a contest between Rwasa and Ndayishimiye, the strongest of seven candidates.

A foreign diplomat in Burundi, speaking anonymously, expressed strong doubts about the official result but said it was not surprising.

“We were expecting it to happen like this. Nobody could imagine for a second that the CNDD-FDD and its generals would cede power in any way,” the diplomat said.

Burundi, which the World Bank ranks among the world’s three poorest countries, has been under sanctions from its major donors since 2015, when Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term as president triggered violent unrest and political chaos.

At least 1,200 people have died and 400,000 have fled the country in violence that continues to this day.

So far this year’s election has not seen a repeat of that violence.

Rwasa has already hinted he would not take to the streets in protest and would appeal to the Constitutional Court, though he considers the process imperfect.

Tensions were high during the campaign and on voting day, when both sides accused the other of fraud and several CNL officials were arrested.

Burundi is tightly controlled by the ruling party and its youth wing, the Imbonerakure, have been accused of a forceful crackdown against the government’s critics in the aftermath of 2015.

If the election commission announces Ndayishimiye the winner as expected, he will be sworn in for a seven-year term in late August, when Nkurunziza’s term ends.

It is unclear whether Ndayishimiye would be able to rule free from interference by Nkurunziza, who in February was elevated by parliament to the rank of “supreme guide for patriotism” and will remain chairman of the party’s highly influential council of elders.

The final election results will be declared by the Constitutional Court on June 4.

Source: AFP

Cameroon and the Virus: Family Blames CRTV for Falsely Announcing Chemuta Banda Died Of COVID-19

25, May 2020

Cameroon and the Virus: Family Blames CRTV for Falsely Announcing Chemuta Banda Died Of COVID-19 0

The family of late Dr. Chemuta Divine Banda has initiated court action against the Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV, for falsely announcing that the human rights activist died of COVID-19.

A family member of the late chairman of the National Human Rights Commission was quoted as saying that both CRTV and the 8:30 p.m. TV news presenter, Adele Mbala Atangana, have been sued jointly and severally.

When Dr. Chemuta Banda died of an undisclosed illness at a medical facility in Yaoundé Monday, May 18, 2020, the 8:30 p.m. news presenter was categorical in attributing the death to the novel coronavirus.

“Even after it emerged from a death certificate which the family is brandishing, that the man did not die of COVID-19, the state-owned broadcaster still went ahead to post the story on YouTube and CRTV website,” the Guardian Post reported in its issue N° 1890 of Friday May 22, 2020 and added that the remains of Dr. Chemuta Banda were preserved at the mortuary of the Yaoundé General Hospital long before the CRTV 8:30 p.m. news bulletin of that day linking his death to the virus.

Barrister Ndong Christopher told The Guardian Post that the deceased’s family could claim damages of up to even half a billion francs FCFA given that by linking the late Dr. Chemuta Banda’s death to COVID-19, “CRTV has caused untold damage not only on the deceased but especially on his family members…even a dead man has and maintains his dignity.”

It is vital to include in this report that on May 15, 2017 CRTV’s top anchor lady Adele Mbala, while presenting the 8:30 p.m. prime time news on state television, read names of ministers and other officials presumed to have been named into the government of French President Emmanuel Macron. She reportedly got the unfounded information from social media.

The diplomatic row erupted between Paris and Yaoundé and prompted an extraordinary session of the Board of Directors of CRTV that ordered the removal of Adele Mbala from her position as Director of TV information.

Culled from Cameroon Info.Net with additional editing from Rita Akana

46 bags of marijuana seized in Southern Cameroons

25, May 2020

46 bags of marijuana seized in Southern Cameroons 0

A senior official of Cameroon National Gendarmerie said on Saturday 46 bags of marijuana estimated at 1,000 kg have been seized in the country’s restive Northwest region.

After receiving a tip-off, the gendarmes in the region’s chief town of Bamenda, seized the marijuana that were disguised as foodstuffs loaded on a vehicle destined for commercial capital, Douala, Northwest Legion commander, colonel Raymond Boum Bissoue told reporters.

“After months of investigations, these men did not know we were monitoring them till when we put our hands on them. This is a major step to fighting insecurity in the region,” Bissoue said.

The driver of the vehicle and two other suspects were arrested by security forces.

The suspects confessed they bought the products from neighbouring Nigeria.

Illicit trade of marijuana has been on the upsurge in the region since a separatist conflict began in 2017, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Targeting Archbishop Nkea and the Clergy will be a fatal error

25, May 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Targeting Archbishop Nkea and the Clergy will be a fatal error 0

The fighting in Southern Cameroons has earned the attention of the international community due to atrocities by the military.

The indiscriminate killing of innocent people, the burning of the elderly and sick in their homes and the brutal massacre of some 30 women and children in Ngarbuh had made the world to see the Yaoundé regime as a monster that is consuming its own citizens. 

The world seems to be working for a peaceful resolution and the pressure on the government is mounting.

A recent report on the massacres in Ngarbuh put the blame squarely on the country’s military and this has increased the pressure on the Yaoundé government that has not been able to find an acceptable solution to a conflict that started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016.

The country’s economy has taken a hit and government coffers are almost empty. The possibilities of donors extending more loans to Cameroon are slim, especially as the fight against the Coronavirus has taken center stage in global affairs.

While the international community is doing its best, the Diaspora and the Clergy are using all the means available to them to reduce the suffering of the masses, especially those who have been driven away from their homes due to the violence.

A key player in efforts at seeking a peaceful resolution is Archbishop Andrew Nkea who has just been transferred to the Bamenda archdiocese.

While in Mamfe, Archbishop Andrew Nkea did all he could to save so many lives. He worked tirelessly to bring supplies to those who were internally displaced, going sometimes to areas that even government forces could not go.

He knew how to negotiate with Amba fighters and in the process, he would appeal to their consciences for them to spare the lives of even their worst enemies.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea has really been at the forefront of humanitarian efforts during this crisis that has resulted in the deaths of some 5,000 young Cameroonians.

His desire to save lives has taken him to distant lands such as the United States where he engaged with various Southern Cameroonian communities to raise funds for internally displaced persons and those who are living in Nigeria as refugees.

He was in Baltimore, USA, in July 2019 in a fundraiser for refugees organized by the Manyu Community in the DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area where thousands of dollars were raised to help those who had left their homes to seek refuge somewhere else.

Archbishop Nkea called out the government of La Republique when the military killed a Kenyan Mill Hill Missionary priest working in Kembong in Manyu Division. Like a good shepherd, he flew to Kenya and buried the priest and did all he could to console the family members of the deceased priest.

Today, unlike in French Cameroun where secret service officers kill Bishops and dump their bodies in rivers, as we saw in Bafia Diocese, the people of Southern Cameroons do not kill the clergy. The clergy is still playing a key role in efforts at finding a lasting solution to the conflict that is still consuming many innocent lives and Archishop Andrew Nkea is working day and night to ensure that peace returns to the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Ambazonians, their jailed leaders and comrades all love God and respect the Clergy. Let it remain that way. We do not kill Clergymen like La Republique du Cameroun.

Archbishop Nkea’s efforts seem to be misconstrued by Amba fighters on the ground. Some armed groups hold that he is supporting the regime and there are calls for his life and dignity to be attacked.

If Amba fighters were to attack the man of God, then that will be their greatest undoing. The international community is aware of the role Archbishop Nkea is playing and anybody who attempts to hurt such a man of God will only bring long-lasting discredit to a cause that has earned international recognition.

Amba fighters must understand that as a man of God, Archbishop Nkea must demonstrate the highest level of neutrality. He cannot be against the government which might one day see reason to use him in any future negotiations.

Targeting Archbishop Andrew Nkea might turn the tides against the fighters on the ground. If the fighters think they deserve any international sympathy, they must let Archbishop Nkea to continue his humanitarian operations so that those who have been caught in the crossfire can have access to humanitarian assistance.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea has no interest in supporting the regime. His cardinal objective is to ensure that both parties meet in a neutral place to discuss their differences so that peace can return to a country that was once touted for its peace.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea is a man of peace. He has no interest in taking sides in a conflict that should not have started. He understands the risks and the need to bring both parties to the negotiating table.

Amba fighters must always understand there must always be room for a possible negotiation and only people like Archbishop Nkea can bring about that window of opportunity and communication.

No war has ever been wrapped up in the battlefield. Even when the belligents are too powerful, they must understand that real and sustainable peace can only be gotten at the negotiating table and that can be brought about by God’s servants such as Archbishop Andrew Nkea.

Amba fighters will be crossing the reddest of the red lines if they kidnap or kill Archbishop Nkea. They will only bring the world against them and this will herald the end of a struggle that has so far enjoyed the sympathy of countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Vatican and Switzerland.

This is not the time for such mistakes. There are rules of engagement which clearly spell out that the clergy must never be a victim of violence as their role is clearly humanitarian and peace-seeking.

The Cameroon Concord News Group is therefore calling on those who control fighters in Southern Cameroons to ensure that their fighters respect the Clergy.

The fighters must understand that they cannot attack people who are working for peace just as they are not supposed to hurt United Nations workers who want to bring supplies to the suffering masses.

The world is watching and this is not the time for any expensive errors.

On behalf of the over daily twenty thousand readers of Cameroon Concord News and the Cameroon Intelligence Report, we declare that the killing of a Roman Catholic Clergy is counterproductive to the Ambazonia struggle, and should never be tolerated or allowed to happen.

We of the Concord Group call on all parties to allow Archbishop Nkea to do his work as a man of God, preaching peace and bringing relief to the suffering people of his archdiocese. We therefore unequivocally condemn the recently released audios calling for violence against Southern Cameroons Metropolitan Archbishop.

By Dr Joachim Arrey in Canada and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in London

Ambazonia: Exiled leader says every Southern Cameroonian should participate in struggle to liberate homeland

24, May 2020

Ambazonia: Exiled leader says every Southern Cameroonian should participate in struggle to liberate homeland 0

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima said that the resistance currently going on against French Cameroun occupying forces to free the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, is an obligation and every Southern Cameroonian both at home and abroad should support Restoration Forces in this struggle.

The Ambazonia Vice President’s comments came after that of the jailed leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, wishing Southern Cameroons Muslims a Happy Holy Month of Ramadan.

Comrade Yerima observed that the French Cameroun regime is taking the last kicks of a dying horse as Southern Cameroons self defense forces are uprooting and destroying its military apparatus in Ambazonia.

“We know enablers of La Republique Cameroun both at home and in the diaspora within our revolution. When we get to Buea, shame will fall on the Southern Cameroonians who are supporting the French Cameroun government in its genocidal campaign in Southern Cameroons” the Vice President noted.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

Israel’s PM Netanyahu goes on trial for corruption

24, May 2020

Israel’s PM Netanyahu goes on trial for corruption 0

A new page in Israeli history opens Sunday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu becomes the first sitting premier to face criminal charges, accused of a string of corruption allegations he denies.

After more than 500 days of electoral deadlock in which he fought for his political survival Netanyahu is to take his seat in the Jerusalem District Court for a new battle — to stay out of prison and avoid a stain on his legacy.

The 70-year-old is used to setting precedents: he is the first Israeli prime minister born after the foundation of the state in 1948 and the longest-serving in its history.

But the impending trial is a deeply-unwanted first.

In 2009, prime minister Ehud Olmert stepped down after police recommended he be indicted for graft.

He was later tried and convicted of taking bribes and sentenced to 27 months in prison, but was paroled after less than a year and a half.

Like Netanyahu, Olmert came from the right-wing Likud party, although he subsequently defected to the centrist Kadima.

Netanyahu is fighting tooth and nail to avoid Olmert’s fate.

Among the charges he faces is that he sought to illegally trade favours in exchange for positive coverage for himself in Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s top-selling newspaper.

He is also accused of accepting cigars, champagne and jewellery worth 700,000 shekels (180,000 euros) from wealthy personalities in exchange for favours.

Perhaps most serious of all is the claim that Netanyahu offered media mogul Shaul Elovitch regulatory changes worth millions of dollars to his telecom giant Bezeq in exchange for favourable reporting on the Walla! news website.

That charge is also the most complex, said Amir Fuchs, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, who says it differs from “classic” bribery cases where money changes hands.

‘It is unprecedented’

In this case, Fuchs argued, the allegation is that Netanyahu “is getting only media coverage,” rather than cash.

“It is unprecedented,” he told reporters.

But in the Bezeq case, Fuchs adds, Netanyahu is accused of doing far more than seek flattering write-ups.

“It was actually complete editorial control of this site even on the specifics of which posts to make, or which pictures to make.”

Netanyahu denies all the accusations and claims he is the victim of a witch hunt by the media and legal officials.

After months of suspense and repeated police questioning of Netanyahu, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in January filed charges against the premier.

Many commentators considered this the premier’s political death warrant.

But Netanyahu retained the Likud leadership and after three inconclusive general elections managed to hammer out a power-sharing deal with his chief rival Benny Gantz.

Under the agreement, Netanyahu will continue to lead the government for 18 months before handing over the premiership to Gantz.

‘Conflict of interest’

Netanyahu’s trial had been due to open in mid-March, but the COVID-19 pandemic lead to a postponement to May 24, and the proceedings will be marked by social-distancing and other hygiene measures.

Netanyahu’s lawyers requested that he be excused from appearing in person on Sunday afternoon (1200 GMT) at the opening of a trial that will stretch over months or even years with possible appeals.

They argued that his attendance, to hear the formal reading of the charges against him and confirm that he has read and understands them, was merely technical.

But the court rejected the request, citing a clause in Israeli criminal law stating that “a person may not be tried on criminal charges except in his presence.”

Under Israeli law, a sitting prime minister does not have automatic immunity from prosecution but also is not obliged to resign when charged, only when convicted and after all avenues of appeal have been exhausted.

Yuval Shany, professor of law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, argues that there is “a basic incompatibility” between Netanyahu’s role as head of the government and his status as a criminal defendant.

In the latter role, Shany says, the premier will be “fighting very aggressively and maybe effectively to weaken the government authorities that are prosecuting him”.

“There is a very serious conflict of interest situation,” he said.

Once the trial is under way the three judges selected by the Supreme Court will be able to demand Netanyahu’s presence in court when they consider it necessary.

At any time before the verdict Israeli law allows Netanyahu to change his plea in exchange for lesser or fewer charges.

Such plea bargains are common in Israeli courts.

(AFP)

Biya’s secret plan to weaponize COVID-19 as both a death sentence and an execution squad for Ambazonians revealed

24, May 2020

Biya’s secret plan to weaponize COVID-19 as both a death sentence and an execution squad for Ambazonians revealed 0

Amid the UN’s failure on the conflict in Cameroon, now a specific plea about political prisoners in Paul Biya’s jails has been sent to members of the UN Security Council, beyond Secretary General Antonio Guterres who after taking Biya’s golden statue and UN Budget Committee favors colluded in the jailing and killing.

Among the political prisons are those sent back to Yaounde from Nigeria while Guterres’ Deputy Amina J. Mohammed was there. Inner City Press has been submitted written questions about Cameroon and its prisons amid COVID-19 to Guterres, Mohammed and their spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming, with no answer at all. The Security Council members must act on this:

“Ambazonian prisoners of conscience face the gravest risks from COVID-19 due to the unprecedented levels of overcrowding, inability to implement social distancing, lack of hygiene, and poor healthcare. Not suprisingly, many of these prisoners have been sickened by a wild outbreak of the pandemic at the two main prisons in Kondengui, Yaounde, capital of La Republique du Cameroun.

“Recent WHO figures place Cameroun’s COVID-19 ratio per million as one of the highest in Africa with 3,500 confirmed cases. Nigeria, seven times more populated, has 6,400 confirmed cases. The now not-so-secret plan of the regime of Mr. Paul Biya in Cameroun is to weaponize COVID-19 as both a death sentence and an execution squad for these Ambazonians. ACT warns: should any harm befall these Ambazonian political prisoners, the following are to blame:

1. French President Emmanuel Macron, who instructs and Mr. Biya obeys. This is how Macron and the European Union secured the release of Prof. Maurice Kamto and his aides. The silence of France and the EU suggests they endorse Biya’s plan to kill Ambazonian prisoners of conscience.

2. The Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guteress, who has not called for their release into the protection of the U.N. refugee agency although many of them were registered as refugees in Nigeria before their abduction and rendition to Cameroun.

3. The leaders of Cameroun, Paul Biya, and of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, for their role in the rendition. In addition (in the case of Buhari), his failure to comply with the ruling of an Abuja High Court calling for the prisoners’ immediate release and transfer back to Nigeria. And (in the case of Biya), the abduction in Ambazonia and deportation to Cameroun of thousands of Ambazonians. These prisoners have been systematically denied medical attention. One of them who was admitted in a military hospital in Yaounde, suffered an attack by soldiers in mufti in the dead of night even as he is locked in a fight for his life agaomst COVID-19. The prison superintendant has prison gangs and other officials targeting and brutalizing Ambazonian prisoners.

Access to these prisons by the International Commission of the Red Cross (ICRC) remains restricted. ACT calls on the U.N. Security Council, President Macron, the United States government, the European Union and the African Union to request the immediate release of all Ambazonian political prisoners and vulnerable people within the prison population in Cameroun and Ambazonia, particularly Barrister Shufai Blaise Berinyuy currently hospitalized. This will not only be an act of goodwill, but it will help curb the spread of the pandemic Time is, indeed, of essence! 

Culled from Inner City Press

Degrading Treatment of Ambazonia’s Barrister Shufai in Yaounde Military Hospital

23, May 2020

Degrading Treatment of Ambazonia’s Barrister Shufai in Yaounde Military Hospital 0

Separatist leader Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy, also known as Shufai, was discharged from the hospital and sent back to a high security prison in Yaoundé on May 21, despite his critical health condition and apparently following pressure by the head of the detention facility on medical staff. Transferring Shufai, who is immunocompromised, to a crowded prison setting where transmission of Covid-19 is more likely seriously enhances the threats to his health and life.

On May 16, Shufai, one of the leaders of the separatist group “Ambazonia Interim Government,” was transferred from the prison to the hospital for non-Covid-19-related illness. His family and lawyers said he was unconscious, and his health had deteriorated significantly over the previous 10 days. They reported that on May 19, Shufai was handcuffed to his hospital bed for the night, despite being barely able to move.

Shufai’s family members and lawyers said that the head of the prison visited Shufai twice at the military hospital and pressed medical staff to discharge him, although his condition continues to be alarming. This is despite concerns over the spread of Covid-19 across Cameroon’s overcrowded prisons.

Shufai and nine other leaders of the “Ambazonia Interim Government” were arrested in January 2018 in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and forcibly returned to Cameroon. Their extrajudicial transfer was denounced by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, as violating the fundamental principle of non-refoulement. The forced return of the 10 leaders was also declared illegal by a Nigerian court in March 2019. The 10 leaders were later held incommunicado at Cameroon’s State Defense Secretariat prison for six months before being taken to the Yaoundé high security prison. They were charged with terrorism, rebellion, and secession, and sentenced to life before a military court on August 20, 2019, following a deeply flawed trial.

Cameroon has a fundamental obligation to treat all prisoners with humanity and respect, and as the authorities grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, they should ensure that all prisoners can take measures such as regular handwashing and have proper access to medical care. They should also ensure sick prisoners receive the medical treatment they need and that their health or lives are not further jeopardized by increasing their risk of Covid-19 infection.

Source: Human Rights Watch

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