Headline News

2, January 2020

World leaders call for courage, efforts to make 2020 a better year ⁰

In their New Year messages, leaders of various countries have called for courage and efforts to make 2020 a better year, and overcome challenges as we enter a new decade.

In a New Year speech delivered on Tuesday evening, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to achieve the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects for China in the “milestone” year.

Xi stressed the year as “crucial in winning the anti-poverty battle” in China, and voiced the hope for a prosperous and stable Hong Kong. “We are not afraid of winds and rains, or any kind of difficulties,” said the Chinese president.

Xi reiterated China’s commitment to peaceful development, world peace and common development, saying “we stand ready to join hands with people around the world to actively build the Belt and Road, push for the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and work tirelessly to create a better future for humanity.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his New Year message for the Russian people: “We are living in turbulent, dynamic and contradictory times, but we can and must do everything for Russia to develop successfully, so that everything in our lives changes only for the better.”

He called for unity and concerted efforts by the Russian people, noting “our personal plans and dreams are inseparable from Russia.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her New Year’s Eve address, appealed for courage and confidence of the German people to meet the challenges of the new decade.

She emphasized the need to halt climate change, a “real” threat. The younger generation will have to live with the consequences of climate change if politicians do not act, Merkel said, adding that she will do her utmost to ensure that Germany “makes its contribution ecologically, economically, socially” to get the issue under control.

In the New Year’s Eve address broadcast live on Tuesday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to push through the government’s pension reform plan, which was met with union-led national strikes in December.

“The pension reform will be fully carried out,” said Macron, adding he hopes to quickly find a compromise with unions.

The promise to take Britain out of the European Union by the end of January was reaffirmed, and national efforts to usher in a remarkable decade of prosperity and opportunity were urged by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his first New Year message at 10 Downing Street.

“The first item on my agenda is to fulfil the will of the electorate and take us out of the European Union,” said Johnson. “We can start a new chapter in the history of our country, in which we come together and move forward united, unleashing the enormous potential of the British people.”

For 2020, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in his New Year’s statement on Wednesday made reforms a priority for his government, including creating a social security system that can help people live in a more carefree manner.

Abe also expressed his hope for a successful execution of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to be held this summer, saying he hopes the games will be a wonderful event that will excite children and let them have dreams for the future.

When sending New Year greetings via social networks on Tuesday, Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera described 2019 as a difficult year for the South American country, which has since mid-October suffered widespread anti-government protests fueled by anger over social troubles.

“But it left us valuable lessons and opportunities so that together we can build a better Chile for all,” he said, adding that the new year is a good time to make balances and projections and work to heal the wounds of the country.

In his end-of-year address to the nation Tuesday evening, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya vowed to continue fighting armed separatists in the central African country, saying the separatists pose “one of the most urgent problems.”

Meanwhile, he said new legislations on greater autonomy to local communities and bilingual and multicultural practices are paving the way for a new Cameroon that is “adapted to present times and looks to the future.”

Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu in his New Year address broadcast on state television on Tuesday described 2019 as “a very challenging year” with extreme weather greatly affecting agricultural production and electricity generation.

He said his government has made plans to get the landlocked central African country out of a harsh economic situation, and pledged the continued empowerment of women in national development.

Source: Xinhuanet

2, January 2020

Yaounde: Mixed Reaction to Biya’s Renewed Threats to Ambazonians ⁰

There have been mixed reactions in Cameroon to President Paul Biya’s renewed threat to crush separatist fighters in the country’s two English-speaking regions. Many Cameroonians were expecting Biya to announce new peace measures in an end-of-year message.

President Biya said the security problems in the Northwest and Southwest regions remain the most urgent issue to be tackled in the new year.

He said he had taken several measures allowing armed groups and fighters to lay down their weapons, but said the fighters, who are mostly youths, have been brainwashed by Cameroonians in the diaspora.

Biya said his military will henceforth show no mercy for those who continue to refuse to surrender and be forgiven.

“We will have no other choice than to combat them in order to protect all our fellow citizens,” he said. “Our Defense and Security Forces will, once again, perform their duty with restraint, but without weakness. I wish to reassure them of my full support and high esteem.”

Biya accused Cameroonians in the diaspora of funding violence back at home by continuing to buy weapons and said they should, out of patriotism, refrain from destroying their country.

FILE – Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi, left, talks with Cameroonian veteran opposition leader John Fru Ndi at the Congress Palace during the opening session of the National Dialogue, in Yaounde, Cameroon, Sept. 30, 2019.

The comments drew immediate criticism from opposition leaders. John Fru Ndi, leader of Cameroon’s opposition Social Democratic Front party, says he was scandalized that Biya did not announce measures to stop the separatist crisis that is in its fourth year.

He says after the national dialogue Biya held in October, Cameroonians expected him to free separatist leader Ayuk Tabe Julius and his collaborators to allow peace to return.

“I expected that in a speech like this he would say Anglophone activists, I pardon you. Now with this olive branch that I have extended, can all those in the bushes {fighters} come out let us talk,” he said. “But Mr. Biya said if you want peace be prepared for war. I saw in him then that that was somebody who wanted to fight under all costs before his term comes to an end.”

Maurice Kamto, leader of the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement, said Biya is deceiving himself and the world that he is resolving the separatist crisis. He said the president should convene what he called a sincere dialogue.

Cameroonian opposition leader Maurice Kamto (L) sits in the back of a car as he is driven away on October 5, 2019, the day of… — FILE – Cameroonian opposition leader Maurice Kamto sits in the back of a car as he is driven away on Oct. 5, 2019, the day of his release from prison in Yaounde.

“The broad inclusive national dialogue must deal with among other issues, including particularly the reform of the electoral system, the guarantee of fundamental human rights and public freedoms and the guarantee of the independence of justice,” he said.

Cameroon is scheduled to hold local and parliamentary elections next month. Fru Ndi said with the current tensions in the English speaking regions, it will be difficult to conduct any elections successfully.

Violence erupted in the two regions in 2017 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of Cameroon’s French-speaking majority. The crisis has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced over 500,000, according to the United Nations.

Separatist leaders on social media described Biya’s message as a non-event and said they will continue to fight until they have their independence.

Source: VOA

1, January 2020

North Korea’s Kim says world will soon witness ‘new strategic weapon’ ⁰

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday said his country will continue developing nuclear programmes and introduce a “new strategic weapon” in the near future, state media KCNA said, after the United States missed a year-end deadline for a restart of denuclearisation talks.ADVERTISING

Kim convened a rare four-day meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s policy-making committee since Saturday as the United States had not responded to his repeated calls for concessions to reopen negotiations, dismissing the deadline as artificial.

Kim had warned he might have to seek a “new path” if Washington fails to meet his expectations. U.S. military commanders said Pyongyang’s actions could include the testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which it has halted since 2017, alongside nuclear warhead tests.

There were no grounds for North Korea to be bound any longer by the self-declared nuclear and ICBM test moratorium as the United States continued joint military drills with South Korea, adopted cutting-edge weapons and imposed sanctions while making “gangster-like demands”, Kim said, according to KCNA.

He pledged to further develop North Korea’s nuclear deterrent but left the door open for dialogue, saying the “scope and depth” of that deterrent will be “properly coordinated depending on” the attitude of the United States.

“The world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future,” Kim said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“We will reliably put on constant alert the powerful nuclear deterrent capable of containing the nuclear threats from the U.S. and guaranteeing our long-term security.”

(REUTERS)

1, January 2020

2019 in Africa: pro-democracy uprisings, regime change and terrorism in the Sahel ⁰

From Felix Tshisekedi’s rise to power in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the fall of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algeria and the acquittal of former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo, Africa was rocked by seminal change throughout 2019. FRANCE 24 takes a look.

For pro-democracy protesters, 2019 got off to an auspicious start. Political change would sweep the continent throughout the year, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where an electoral battle for the country’s leadership proved a harbinger of the winds of change.

Felix Tshisekedi succeeds Joseph Kabila in DR Congo

On January 19, after a controversial election, Felix Tshisekedi, son of longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, was proclaimed the DR Congo’s new president with 38.57% of the vote.

Runner-up Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary came third in the poll, while incumbent Joseph Kabila was forced to give up his seat after 18 years in power. But the results were met with widespread scepticism by the international community and were contested by the Catholic Church, which announced that the real winner was in fact opponent Martin Fayulu, who polled second.

International Criminal Court acquits Laurent Gbagbo

After being held for nearly seven years at the International Criminal Court detention centre for crimes against humanity committed during the 2010-2011 post-election crisis, former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo and his youth minister Charles Blé Goudé were acquitted in January of all charges against them.

Few saw the explosive verdict coming in a three-year-long trial.

The International Criminal Court initially ordered their immediate release. But prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appealed against the judgement on procedural grounds. The former Ivorian president is currently on parole in Belgium, awaiting news of a possible appeal. Blé Goudé remains in the Netherlands under similar conditions.

A year of revolution in Algeria

In Algeria, the popular protest movement, known as the Hirak, shows little sign of waning despite the election of a new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on December 12.

The Hirak continues to draw thousands of people onto the streets of Algiers, and several other major cities in the country, every Friday. It began spontaneously on February 16, sparked by an announcement that then president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had been in power for 20 years, was planning to run for a fifth term despite his poor health.

Under pressure from the street, Bouteflika, whose public appearances were becoming increasingly rare, finally resigned on April 2. But this did nothing to assuage protesters who continued to call for the removal of an entire governing elite that they considered nepotistic and corrupt. The protest movement eventually forced the arrest of several of the regime’s leaders, including Said Bouteflika, brother of the deposed president.

Overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan

Sudan’s aggrieved citizens looked to Algeria for inspiration for their own pro-democracy movement. Last December, a first rally was held to protest against the rising cost of bread and petrol. Soon after, thousands more took to the streets of Khartoum, and several other Sudanese cities, to demonstrate against inflation and demand better living conditions.

They railed against their leader and longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country for 30 years. The vast protest movement continued unabated even though the Sudanese president was deposed by the army in April. More than 250 people were killed in clashes between protesters and the military.

After bitter negotiations between the political opposition, civil society and the military, a Sovereign Transitional Council was formed. On August 15, Abdalla Hamdok, a former senior UN official, was appointed prime minister to head up the country’s transitional government for the next three years, until elections can be held.

Terrorism in the Sahel

The Sahel witnessed the continuing scourge of terrorism throughout 2019. In northern Mali, jihadist groups affiliated to the Islamic State group attacked several military bases in Niger and Burkina Faso, despite the presence of French troops from France’s anti-terrorist Barkhane force, and the joint forces of the G5 Sahel.

The December attack against the Inates military base in Niger killed 71 soldiers, following an earlier attack on the Indelimane camp in mid-November, which left more than 50 dead. Nearly 1,500 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks since January, according to the UN.

Several countries on the frontlines of the fight against terrorism in the Sahel pleaded for more support from the international community. French President Emmanuel Macron responded by organising a summit on January 13 in Pau in southwestern France to meet with regional leaders to reassess France’s military engagement in the region.

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

When Ethiopia’s newly elected prime minister, 43-year-old Abiy Ahmed, came to power in April, he wasted no time in asserting his progressive agenda in a country marked by social injustice and lack of freedoms.

In October, his parliament elected a woman, Sahle-Work Zewde, as head of state for the first time. A few days earlier, he demonstrated his commitment to gender parity by appointing ten men and ten women to his cabinet.

But it was his rapprochement with Eritrea that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. In July, Ahmed signed a joint declaration of peace and cooperation with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, ending 20 years of war in which 80,000 people were killed.

Death of Tunisian President Béji Caïd Essebsi

Tunisia’s first freely elected president, Béji Caïd Essebsi died at the age of 92, just a few months before presidential elections originally scheduled for November. A symbol of Tunisia’s post-Arab spring, he was first appointed prime minister of a provisional government in February 2011 after the fall of former president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and was tasked with preparing a new constitution in the wake of the nation’s pro-democracy uprisings.

Nine months later, he left office to found his Nidaa Tounes party, with which he won the presidential election in 2014 at the age of 88.

The end of the CFA franc

On a visit to Ivory Coast’s economic capital of Abidjan on December 21, President Emmanuel Macron and Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara announced the launch of the “Eco”, a revamped common currency that replaces the CFA in West Africa. The new single currency will be introduced across ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) in 2020.

The CFA franc was created by France in 1945, then a colonial power, and was seen by its detractors as a lingering symbol of colonialism almost 60 years after independence had been declared in the former French colonies.

The currency, shared by 14 West and Central African countries, had crystallised tensions and divided public opinion among Africans. Anti-CFA economists believed that the currency kept Africa underdeveloped through its fixed parity mechanism with the euro, guaranteed by France. In return, France required African countries to pay about 50 per cent of their foreign exchange reserves to the French Treasury.

But for others, the CFA franc was seen as a guarantee of economic stability. Ouattara sought to reassure ECOWAS, saying that the new currency will remain pegged to the euro, thereby guaranteeing its stability.

Source: France 24

1, January 2020

Biya’s end-of-year speech: Can he win hearts and minds? ⁰

For some three decades, Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, has gone down in the estimation of many of his compatriots due to corruption and incompetence that have become the hallmark of a country that was known by many across the globe as a country of the future.

In the seventies and the early eighties, Cameroon was admirably zooming towards a bright future, especially as the country’s pioneer president, Amadou Ahidjo, had laid a solid economic foundation for the country with his five-year development plans that were delivering better living conditions to the people.

Ahidjo’s education was limited, but he quickly learned the ropes and surrounded himself with honest and hardworking Cameroonian technocrats whose love for the fatherland was never in doubt.

Though ruthless when it came to dealing with the political opposition, the country’s pioneer president ensured that corruption was kept very low and any government official caught toying with state funds had to face the music.

He was merciless with government officials who dared to think that occupying a high position was a sign of superiority.

His insistence on using the youths to manage the affairs of the country was his way of ensuring continuity in the country even after him.

This explained why many of those in government today were granted top positions when they were either in their late twenties or thirties, including Mr. Biya who became the Secretary General at the Presidency at less than 35 years.

Under Mr. Ahidjo’s political program, every administrative division in the country was represented in his government.

Though he dishonestly lured the country’s English-speaking minority into a lopsided political union, he always ensured that the post of vice-president went to someone from Southern Cameroons, including the post of speaker of the National Assembly.

Mr. Ahidjo kept unemployment very low and he established a solid private sector that could help hire many young Cameroonian graduates, especially as the civil service could not hire everybody.

Under his economic program, every administrative division had an administrative headquarters endowed with all the services that could make life easy and beautiful to Cameroonians.

But this has not been the trend since 1982 when Mr. Ahidjo handed over power to the country’s current president, Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for 37 years through presidential decrees that have only delivered death and destruction to the citizens of Cameroon.

A country that was once considered as an oasis of peace in a desert of military and political chaos has now become home to many armed groups.

For three years now, Cameroon has been caught in an armed conflict that has pitted the country’s English-speaking minority against a government that has no emotional attachment to its citizens.

As the conflict progresses, light weapons are spreading like ragweed and criminal gangs that are feeding from the government’s failure to restore peace and security in those regions are sprouting and blighting the lives of ordinary citizens, especially in rural areas where the government is conspicuously absent.

The conflict has affected the country’s economy and, over the last couple of years, it has been in a free fall, with unemployment reaching unprecedented levels.

Graduates have become criminals and odd jobs, once done by the uneducated Cameroonians, have become very popular among highly educated Cameroonians.

Recruitment into the civil service has become very unreliable. Regional balance that was a reality under the country’s first president, has been swept under the carpet.

Today, most government ministers are from Mr. Biya’s region of the country, although that region constitutes less than 10% of the country’s population.

Senior administrative officers are also mostly from Mr. Biya’s region and the objective is for them to implement a vicious policy of intimidation and fear-mongering given that most Cameroonians are against a regime that has divided them and robbed them of their dignity.

Today, tribalism and nepotism have replaced competence and regional balance. Mr. Biya’s ministers have become very arrogant. They have no respect for their compatriots and this has eroded whatever respect and emotional attachment the ordinary citizen had for the government.

Cameroonians have been intentionally pauperized by their government. Many are dying of preventable and curable diseases and this has only stepped up opposition against a government run by ailing Octogenarians.

Given this appalling and unsettling economic and political picture, many observers are asking if today’s end-of-year speech by Mr. Biya will deliver any hope to a people who are already indifferent to all government actions.

The government seems to be tone deaf. The people are sick and tired of complaining. Even the international community is losing hope.

The international community has been calling on the government to organize an inclusive dialogue that will deliver peace to the country, but these calls have all fallen on deaf ears.

Instead of organizing a genuine inclusive dialogue, Mr. Biya and his cohort hastily organized a major national dialogue that has not produced any real results.

The war is still going on and without an honest effort and dialogue, the English-speaking minority may walk away from a union that was hastily stitched together by the country’s first president; a union that has spread pain and frustration among the country’s English-speaking minority.

Today, the government has hastily brought home some refugees to demonstrate that the rebellion is dying and that Mr. Biya’s strategy is working.

But observers have already qualified this as a charade that will not address any real issues. This is more of a publicity stunt by the government and this will be a key focus of Mr. Biya’s speech today.

The world is watching and it believes this is an opportunity for the 86-year-old Biya to reach out to the English-speaking minority so that a real and genuine dialogue can start.

If he changes his tone and approach, he might win lots of hearts and minds, but will that be possible, especially as Mr. Biya has a mindset that belongs to a different epoch? To him, only military violence and manipulation can achieve anything meaningful.

He is frozen in time. He has to walk away from his old mentality if he wants peace to return to Cameroon. The ball is in his court.

1, January 2020

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: 2019 End of Year Speech By Vice President Yerima Dabney ⁰

President Sisiku AyukTabe,

Our leaders and people behind bars,

Elders of the Ambazonian Revolution without exception,

Leaders of all Ambazonian Restoration Forces,

Leaders of all Ambazonian Movements,

Leaders of all Ambazonia Advocacy Groups,

Leaders of all Refugee & IDP Communities,

People of Ambazonia on GZ, G1, G2 & in the diaspora,

Dear friends and allies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am here with the Ambazonian Community in South Africa from where I want to welcome all of you tuning in from around the world, especially those who managed to connect from back home in Ambazonia.

And I want to thank the Ambazonian Community in South Africa for being an outstanding host.

To watch France resort to the politics of “Empty Chair” at the UN Security Council this December in order to avoid the humiliation of not being able to stop a consequential discussion on the crimes of the French neo colonial regime in Cameroon against our people, it could be tempting to look back at our history and assume that our progress was inevitable. That Ambazonia was always destined to be a topic of the UN Security Council, while France dodges the said Council proceedings in disgrace.

But when the Isubu in Bimbia resisted British colonists led by Alfred Saker in 1858, and King Kuva Likenye of Buea fought against German colonists 29 years later, the future looked somber. When Fon Gorgi Dinka coined the name Ambazonia to fight along the students, teachers, farmers, of that era, and 8 peaceful protesters were shot dead at protests organized by Lawyers and teachers of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium(CACSC) trade unions, the view of our future was anything but certain. And most definitely when the Cameroon military opened fire with helicopter gunships at the match initiated by President Sisiku AyukTabe on October 1, 2017, killing hundreds of peaceful protesters and injuring hundreds more, the notion of a future of our struggle as it is today seemed far-fetched.

Those times tested the courage of our convictions and our commitments to our basic human rights. And despite all the divisions and disagreements, arguments and fears of these times, we prevailed. We prevailed because we chose to forge ahead as one people.

Today, we are facing a test unlike any we have seen before as a people. And once more, we must answer the call of history.

Seven months ago, I agreed to take on the role of Vice President amidst rampant accusations of violations of internal rules and procedures, embezzlement and lack of transparency in the management of the affairs of the struggle, and above all, the abandonment of the victims of our struggle. Even our brothers and sisters who were throwing their bodies between our communities and the cowardly French Cameroon military that were burning our elderly alive in their beds, in their own homes, in our villages, and shooting our babies in their sleep. The rate of deaths amongst these heroes jumped, and the movement was hemorrhaging support amongst our people at home and abroad.

There were calls from all quarters in the movement for immediate action to get critically needed support to our suffering people and save the movement from eminent destruction. Calls came from the embryonic Restoration Council under Kometa, the House of Country and Regional Reps led by Dr. Daniel and an extensive coalition of Civil Society players led by political prisoners which convened the Ambazonia People’s National Congress (APNC) and others.

We immediately engaged in emergency fundraising led by an ad hoc coalition of some 250 Ambazonians scattered across the globe who named their forum the Patriotic Amba Citizens (PAC). Within weeks we had resumed sending humanitarian assistance to the sisters and brothers who have taken on protecting our elderly, young, and the sick, as well as everything our people had worked their whole lives—our homes, villages and farms—. We also resumed sending support to our prisoners, refugees and IDPs albeit unable to meet the ever exploding need—as the Cameroon military maliciously continued to target our most vulnerable communities, further aggravating the misery for millions in rural communities which were already living on the edge of starvation under the exploitation, abuse, and neglect of the past 58 years of our most recent colonial occupation at the hands of the French neocolonial despot in nextdoor Cameroon. By the end of our first 100 days in office we had paid out Twelve thousands US dollars for the appeals of our leaders and political prisoners behind bars, those falsely accused yet again by the Cameroon justice for burning down their overcrowded penitentiary. We in that same time raised and distributed seven thousand two hundred dollars to our needy populations back home in Ambazonian and across the border in nextdoor Nigeria as refugees. We were also able to secure 45 beds for comrade prisoners in the Douala Central Prison who had passed close to a year either sleeping on the bare floor or standing throughout the night. All the while forging respectful working relations and collaboration with some of the organizations that had picked up the tab in supporting our people on the ground and in Nigeria as the previous administration retreated then establishing support structures for assistance to brothers and sisters who had taken upon themselves to protect our communities.

Except, the Cameroon government death squads that used to pass for an army have escalated their attacks against our communities to genocidal proportions with devastating consequences on our people. The following International Organisations finally raised the red flag as far as the extermination war on our people was concerned;

-In March 2019, the UN reported that 4 million out of our over 8 million population had been affected by the war.

-In June 2019 the Norwegian Refugee Council listed the war of extermination they are waging against our communities as the Most Neglected Crisis in the World.

-In October 2019, a report by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide classified this Cameroon war against our people the 9th emergent mass atrocity conflicts in the world for 2020 and

Still our people in full defiance and in display of their nerves of steel showed-up in huge numbers across Ambazonia to celebrate our Independence day on October 1, 2019. The second anniversary Independence Day Celebration by our people on GZ sent shock waves to the occupier, Colonial French Cameroon and the world at large given the mammoth crowds that showed up in pump and flare across our national territory, Ambazonia.

In these mammoth crowds, were lone survivors of their families who miraculously escaped because they were away when the Cameroon military showed up and killed their wives, children, less abled family members and grandparents. Hundreds more were young men and women who 3 years ago were students, teachers, farmers and petite traders with their limbs intact, but who have since become amputees from losing arms or legs protecting our communities from the ravages of the Cameroon military or who have simply been brutally maimed by Colonial Cameroon terrorists government forces, not only for being Ambazonians, but also as a war strategy derived to instil fear, create shock, horror, awe and to deter sympathisers.

For these Ambazonians, the end of the war hasn’t come soon enough. Many are very frustrated and some are bitter. They can’t understand that in the middle of all this horror some of us, especially those in the diaspora, spend endless hours on social media insulting one another.

In the wake of the horror being vested on our people by the Cameroon military, I can see how anything that seems like a strategic mistake can stir strong feelings and controversy.

But the infighting I am talking about is not ideological or based on rooted facts. Here, everything goes, from total fabrications to malicious twisting of facts, to exposing unsuspecting kids protecting our communities in Ambazonia to harm’s way advantageous to the regime’s military by posting their images online. Worst yet these grudges are being pushed to the ground, causing division and strife amongst our people on the ground, and sowing mistrust amongst our heroes. No wonder there is so much disappointment and thousands of our people have taken a back seat in the struggle waiting for sanity to reign so they can return to continue playing their own role towards our liberation. Most would only start contributing their hard earned resources and time again to support the struggle when this madness is conquered by good forces.

Each of the groups in these fights is packed full with honorable dedicated individuals, whose sole motivation is to help advance the struggle of our people for their basic rights. Those of us leading these groups can hold our grounds on the assumption that we have an edge in the fights, and thus ignore the consequences these fights are having on our struggle, or, we can find the courage, like our ancestors did, to do what is needed even when there is no guarantee it will bring us any gain, start putting Ambazonia First again.

Our people deserve leaders that reflect their decency.

Despite the trials, our movement is strong. And at this point, I like to talk on how to give the Ambazonian people that decent leadership that it needs.

It begins with the protection of Ambazonian people and communities back home.

Our most urgent task upon taking office was to provide the young men and women protecting our communities with all the basic resources they need as they put their lives on the line to protect our people and villages. And there is a general consensus across spectrum that this is our premier responsibility in the face of what has been described by several respected voices as a genocidal war against our people. We must show these sisters and brothers that indeed they have our gratitude and our full support.

Next, we need to factor support for the victims of this assault on our fundamental human rights, not as an afterthought but as a vital piece of our resistance to the attempts by the Cameroon regime and their allies to destroy the fabrics of our society. I am talking about support for our political prisoners, our brothers and sisters seeking refuge in neighboring countries and far flung countries like Panama and Mexico, and our internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Not forgetting the endless sleazy schemes by the regime and it’s enablers to cover up their crimes. Today it has gangs in civilian outfits roaming our territory and causing mayhem in hope of sulling the reputation of our fighters.

As we speak, I just got word hours ago that they are busing hundreds of our refugees to airports in Nigeria to fly them back to Cameroon next door in violation of international law. This time to showcase the refugees as proof that the regime is taking care of our refugees.

The answer to these schemes lies in how much harder the diaspora campaigns for accountability. I am particularly talking of our brothers and sisters in the United States. Just as you got your government to call their Bilingualism Commission a scam, their National Dialogue a joke. You definitely will be able to get your host government to come up with the appropriate adjectives for this crime and reckless endangerment of the lives of our refugees. Again it will have to be the results of a campaign even more harder than the ones you have done before.

For, in the end the success of a re-emergent independent Ambazonia that will have to show a path to a 21st century Africa breaking off the chains of French neo-colonialism will be tied to its values.

Now here is our 2020 road map:

First, we need to restructure our movement from bottom-up.

While groups in our struggle feed off some of the divisions that are deeply entrenched, most of the fighting has been around groups competing to be viewed as the leader of the movement. A situation compounded by the 2017 decision to name the coordination structure of our struggle for independence, the Interim Government. We are listening to our people and weighing the options of a Revolutionary Council, the Interim Government and other proposed arrangements. I commit that with all key revolutionary stakeholders in early 2020, we will have a meeting of the people where the most useful solution will be presented, debated, endorsed and implemented by us all. I call for all hostilities to stop. Let us find sustainable solutions and give peace a chance for the sake of all 8 million of our people.

Positions in this struggle across all movements, organizations and the IG must be for service to our people and nothing else. In the weeks ahead, all our 8 secretaries will give a report of what their departments have achieved so far and what lies ahead in 2020.

The role of the Secretary of State for Health & Social Services (HSS) is not to write policy papers on how hospitals will be run in the Future free Ambazonia, but rather collect information about the kind of organisations our people in various countries can reach out to for assistance with our refugees and other humanitarian needs, While also coordinating prototype projects to facilitate access to such humanitarian aid.

The role of our Secretary of Education is not to spend months writing a policy paper on which books will be approved for classes in a future free Ambazonia. But rather compiling list of institutions and groups in foreign countries that can host our refugees or cover their education cost and also looking and supporting alternative ways of learning for our children back at homes in the conflict zone.

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs can help our communities in different countries write letters to elected officials and interface with their public infrastructure for concrete outcomes. But the Secretary of Foreign Affairs addressing a letter to the officials of a country in which he neither resides nor is a citizen is a waste of everyone’s time. The cold war days of prob-up governments in exile are long over. And we should not make a mockery of ourselves in a world that is only too eager to make a mockery of Africans.

The job — responsibility of the Secretary for Communication is not to develop policies on communication media in 21^st century technology, it is rather to go out there and preach the Ambazonian liberation plight which is not known to the world.

The same with the Secretary of Finance and Economics; its about raising money, using it judiciously, accountably and responsibly. The same applies to all other departments. Their job is not to define policies for a future free Ambazonia, but rather to figure out what needs to be done in their domain until we get to independence. That we task ourselves as a team to deliver while collaborating with all other structures of our revolution.

After independence, there will be a constitutional assembly in which all the people of Ambazonia without the threat of oppression looming over our heads, will participate in contributing to writing the rules on how our country will be run. There will be enough time for all of that. Now the task is from here to independence. Not one millimeter more.

And with that the only real functional structures of the Ambazonian revolution that can function like their fellow organisations of different communities is our community in different places around the world. Our people in different countries, states, counties, and localities, as the local conditions permits, need to re-organise themselves with clear rules of operation and accountability, elections of those to coordinate their affairs and so on. Where a current leadership in any diasporan structure has ran out of steam, the Department of Foreign Affairs will facilitate either the election of a new leadership or coordinating team. The House of Country & Regional Representatives (HCRR) and all its associate structures must go back to its glory days in 2017. I need your full cooperation on this. And the role of the IG is to help these country/regional entities with critical information to help them actively participate in supporting the struggle.

I am visiting the Ambazonian community in South Africa which just elected a new leadership not long ago. They have from time to time sent money to one project or another in ground zero. The community here are better placed to hold their leadership accountable and mobilize resources as their reality dictates. The IG can and will provide the Ambazonia Community here with critical information on which our vulnerable communities is in the most need, or help them get information on South Africa humanitarian organizations they can work with to get aid for our people.

On the other hand for people in places where the community is not yet organised, we encourage a new broom of leadership to arise, contact the IG for support; also make regular donations directly to IG’s online infrastructures or invest in #AmbaFreedomBonds. What I am talking about here is shifting powers to the grassroots of the Ambazonian movement by keeping fundraising, international outreach, etc as effective as we have seen in other struggles.

Our Ambazonian Community in South Africa is working on building relationships with the South Africa Communists Party (SACP) which is one of the 3 organizations that makes up the governing Alliance with the African National Congress ( ANC ) that together led the fight to end Apartheid and has ruled South Africa since then. Nelson Mandela was a member of the Central Committee of the SACP and other famous South African freedom fighters like the legendary late Comrade Chris Hani and many other struggle icons.

The SACP is also a grassroots based movement. I met with their General Secretary Dr. Blade Nzimande (Minister) and first Deputy General Secretary Comrade Solly Afrika Mapaila (MP) and these engagements will continue in the days ahead.

As General Secretary and first Deputy General Secretary, their offices assembles policy proposals from the different local and regional branches and shares them with the other branches so they come to the national congress prepared to vote and push the best policies from all the proposals to become the national policy of the SACP. I participated in their 4th Special National Congress and observed the debates and active conversations that led to the adoption of policy which gets published as the declaration of the Congress. And amongst the struggles adopted for International solidarity was the Ambazonian struggle — which is a big deal when one recognises the moral capital of post Apartheid South Africa and the global network of solidarity partners of the SACP.

Next, I want to comment on the issue of negotiations which is currently being vigorously debated in our community. I think it is a good and healthy thing for us to debate issues of such critical importance to our destiny. Unfortunately the ongoing infighting amongst the different groups in our struggle has left some to turn the discussion around negotiations into an opportunity for the catchy phrase to triumphs over the methodical argument required of such a topic with serious ramifications on the future of the struggle.

On the question of negotiations in general, the IG has a position born out of strategic consideration. We learned from the experience of Western Sahara, a member of the Africa Union, yet still occupied by Morocco, where skilled negotiators to the exclusion of the jailed leadership, got Morocco to sign a peace agreement with promises of freedom for the political prisoners and a referendum for the people to decide if they want total independence or to stay with Morocco. Morocco broke their promise on agreement later and essentially disappeared the prisoners.

On the other hand, the Burmese pro-democracy movement by insisting that Aung San Suu Kyi who was in detention not other negotiators like the renowned former democratically elected PM U Ni to make decisions on the negotiations, the military dictatorship was forced to engage in negotiations with and they automatically recognising her as the leader of the people protecting their political prisoners.

The same could be said of the negotiations between the Apatheid government of South Africa and the jailed Nelson Mandela. Though far more sophisticated strategists like Joe Slovo, Oliver Thambo and Mbeki lived and led the struggle in exile. The ANC made the strategic decision that only Nelson Mandela will lead negotiations with the Apatheid government. Forcing the Apathied government to recognise Mandela as the representative of the people, who later brought in Joe Slovo and others into their team of negotiators once the negotiation stated.

With the above knowledge the IG’s position is that all negotiations should be initiated by our leaders behind bars led by President Sisiku AyukTabe. Not making them part of the request in a negotiations effort by others is strategically flawed and unacceptable to us and not beneficial to the struggle.

And specifically on the Swiss initiative, after we were contacted by the Swiss based non-profit Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), the first thing we did was a deep dive into the history of the organization. Eastern Asian activists particularly from the Philippines and Indonesia provided a detailed report of HD’s roles in efforts to resolve the conflict in their countries, as well as referred us to other publicly available sources. Based on our research we wrote a couple of questions to HD for which we are yet to receive a satisfactory response.

Some in our community have asked me what harm could it cost to engage with HD. Others have encouraged us to try it and if it does not work we can abandon it later.

One of the complaints we heard from the Philippines in particular but also in Indonesia was that the HD helped distract from the efficient engagement of UN mechanisms with the argument that the conflicting parties were already in negotiations and there was no need to get the UN involved. This gave the oppressor time to sap the energy of the oppressed minorities in both cases.

But more especially by repeatedly accepting to take Human rights standards off the table in the negotiations without an end process HD deprived the victims of the one thing they had to call on the conscience of the international community to protect them from the total war being waged by both the Philippines and Indonesia.

Others have screamed that the “Swiss” initiative is being supported by the US and every major country under the sun hence we are losing an opportunity to force the French backed neo-colonial Biya regime as an equal on the table of negotiations.

We do make a difference between HD and Switzerland. We do appreciate the involvement of the Swiss government and HD in particular. But we are aware of the delegitimization of our cause for any so-called negotiation/facilitation/partnership in the way its being conducted and skeptical of the intentions of initiators of such.

Again we call on the international community to call for an immediate UN-led international Fact Finding mission, put pressure on the Biya regime to immediately call for a ceasefire, release all detained, enter into negotiations that address the root causes of the conflict and bring this senseless war to an end with sustainable solutions that guarantee peace and security for our two peoples co-existing as neighbours peacefully.

We reiterate that La Republique du Cameroun will no longer hold any fraudulent and illegal elections in Ambazonia going forward. We call on our people to prepare and stay indoors between the 8th to the 11th of February 2020 and advice all humanitarian organisations to ensure that they only operate on request of our brothers and sisters defending our communities or suspend all activities between these dates.

We acknowledge the Church’s humanitarian efforts in our community and the continuous bringing of messages of hope to our people and we call on the Church to signal to their international partners and networks that there is great need to support the increasing calls for an international Fact Finding mission and release of all political prisoners, which will be the first steps towards a lasting solution to the war. Although parents in our communities continue to insist it’s not safe to send children to school because of the insecurity we suggest the Church and partners start looking into and supporting alternative learning techniques to keep the education process going while we fight to regain our peoples rights to self determination.

As I contemplated on my speech this morning , I got a distress call about Buea Prison particularly that our brothers and sisters sleep on cement floors and can barely eat well and I promise our people in Buea Prison that we shall respond within the next 48hrs and hopefully restore hope. But I make an even bigger commitment to all our brothers and sisters illegally detained across our territory and even those in la republic dungeons including our leaders. It is all for one and one for all. This 2020 we shall do our best that no one sleeps on the floor or hungry by pulling all aid efforts together, but our main goal is your freedom and nothing less. It’s so much pain that la republique du Cameroun treats political prisoners like animals but it’s our moral responsibility to take care of our own and we will. Please at all times reach out and ensure we know your situation.

To our brothers and sisters who have fled their burned villages and homes and are now statistics for some of these in humane organizations as refugees and internally displaced people, We have heard and we know your sufferings, especially those in the bushes. I want to assure you that your loss and pain is ours too and going forward, we will be encouraging our communities around the world to mobilize support for every aspect of our revolution and ensure that your basic needs are taken care of.

In conclusion,

A very special thank you to our Restoration Forces, Ambazonians especially on Ground Zero and in the Diaspora for your endless sacrifices towards the liberation of homeland. It has been three years of lots of pain and sweat, but we have scored a lot of victories too. The world now knows our case, many now stand by us. We need a united front to finish the project of liberating our people. Let’s put all differences aside and deliver love, peace and oneness to our people in 2020. The price for freedom is expensive but worthy. Apathy is no longer an option. We face an enemy that knows neither remorse nor compassion. We have made advances that we can’t afford to relinquish. Our forces need us. The boys and girls have always said ‘we are ready to free homeland, just give us the right tools’. The pain on the ground must stop. Dear people, invest in your freedom and make Ambazonia a reality.

As we prosecute our war of independence, let’s remain law abiding, resolute and focused. To be independent means to be even more responsible. The regaining of our stolen statehood is non-negotiable.

It Shall Be Total Independence or Resistance Forever.

Happy New year my dear people.

Short Live the Struggle

Long Live Ambazonia

God Bless You.

31, December 2019

Boston: Rev. Sister Agnes Njume celebrates Forty Years as a Religious ⁰

Christians of the Cameroon Catholic Community of Boston, gathered in their numbers to celebrate with Sister Agnes Njume on the occasion of her fortieth anniversary as a professed religious with the Sisters of Saint Therese of Buea on Sunday December 28, 2019, Feast of the Holy Family at St. Anne’s Parish Salem of the Archdiocese of Boston.Equally in attendance, were several religious, former students of Sister Agnes, the Alumni of her High School, her family, friends and the Bakossi Community of New England.

The Anniversary Mass which started at 1pm ET was presided by Bishop Arthur Kennedy PhD, Auxiliary Bishop of Boston. The Entrance Procession was beautifully led the CWA of Boston, nicely clad in their CWA Uniform. Sister Agnes Njume is an alumnus of Queen of the Rosary College Okoyong and is an active member of their alumni association known by the acronym OPSA. OPSA New England led the Lectionary Procession. In his homily, which lasted 12 minutes, Bishop Kennedy commended Sister Agnes Njume for the role she played in nurturing young girls in Cameroon and preparing them to lead families which are God fearing following the example of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Bishop Kennedy forcefully denounced the German philosopher, Karl Marx’s book, The Holy Family, published in 1884, which was a scathing attack on Christianity and on the person of Jesus, and mocked everything which the Holy Family of Nazareth stood for. Of course, under Marxist philosophy, everything is guided by economics and politics and the state controlled absolutely everything. Basically, the book promoted distrust within the family, with parents not trusting children and vice versa. Consequently, the family itself could not be trusted. Sister Agnes Njume, throughout her forty years of dedicated, committed and passionate service, fought against the ills promoted by a Marxist cultural attack on the family which completely undermines Christian doctrine. Sister Agnes has been a champion for the family, a champion for the poor and a champion for the girl child. Consequently, it was providential that herFortieth Anniversary celebration as a Religious took place when the Holy Mother Church was celebrating the Feast of Holy Family.

After the Profession of Faith, Sister Agnes Njume once more as she did forty years ago and as she has done several times within the past forty years, while kneeling at the foot of sanctuary, solemnly, passionately and joyfully renewed her religious vows of celibate chastity, poverty and obedience in front of Bishop Kennedy. At the end, the assembly applauded her with joy and the famous Bakossionsoonsoonso was chanted.

During the offertory, after the first collection, Sister Agnes Njume and the other women religious present, led the offertory procession with beautiful liturgical dances accompanied by popular songs in the Bakossi language (Akosse). The entire assembly stood up and danced with their monetary gifts to thank God for the gift of Sister Agnes Njume to the church. After the Prayer After Communion, Fr. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai, Pastor of the St. Anne Parish thanked all for coming and presented to the assembly, the many religious who had turned out for the beautiful liturgy to pray and celebrate with Sister Agnes Njume. He was also very appreciative of Bishop Kennedy who willingly accepted to preside over the Mass and persevered with a long Cameroonian Liturgy. In response, Bishop Kennedy expressed his joy to celebrate for the first time with the Cameroonian Catholic community in Massachusetts and in particular with Sister Agnes Njume who had done a lot to promote Christian values and teach not only by words but by the example of her life following the example of St Therese of the Child Jesus. Bishop Kennedy gave the final blessing and the Mass ended at 2:50pm ET. After Mass, groups and individuals took various photographs to immortalize the event.

By 3:30pm, all had gathered in the Parish Hall for the Reception. Sister Agnes Njume thanked God for having chosen her, though unworthy to consecrate her entire life to the service of God and God’s people. She was immensely grateful to her parents especially her dad who initially introduced her to the idea of being a woman religious. She rendered her sincere thanks to all who have supported her in her formation and throughout her life as a religious and now as a Graduate Theology Student at Boston College especially the wonderful Cameroonian community in Massachusetts. She thanked all dearly for coming especially those who had travelled from various states within the United States of America to celebrate with her and more importantly, to pray with and for her. She was particularly grateful to Rev. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai, who she described as a son, for having made this celebration possible. She was very appreciative of the organizing committee for their sacrifices. From the remarks made by her friends, colleagues, former students and those who had had a personal encounter with Sister Agnes Njume, the following characteristics of her life stood out, which not only young religious can emulate, but all those who come in contact with Sister Agnes Njume: her self-less service, her commitment, her unparalleled dedication, her straightforwardness, her prayer life and most importantly her sincere love for God and God’s people.

A cake was prepared in her honor which she cut. There was much merry making by all. By 6pm ET the celebration came to an end.

By Anselm Ndumbe)

31, December 2019

Angola freezes Isabel dos Santos’ assets ⁰

Authorities in Angola have ordered the freezing of assets held by former president Eduardo dos Santos’ daughter, Isabel, her husband and a business associate as part of a corruption probe, a copy of the order seen by Reuters shows.

The asset freeze follows an injunction application by the government, which is seeking to recover around $1 billion of funds that it says it is owed by Isabel dos Santos and her associates.

It is one of the highest-profile moves in an anti-corruption drive launched by President Joao Lourenço, who ended dos Santos’ nearly 40-year grip on power when he became head of state in 2017.

The road is long, the truth will prevail.

Isabel reassures employees

Isabel dos Santos, who owns stakes in companies including telecoms firm Unitel and financial firms, has denied wrongdoing during her father’s time in office.

“I would like to leave a message of tranquillity and confidence to my teams,” she tweeted on Monday.

“We will continue, every day, in every business, doing our best and fighting for what I believe in for Angola. The road is long, the truth will prevail. United we stand stronger.”

Ranked as Africa’s wealthiest woman by Forbes, Isabel dos Santos chaired the state oil company Sonangol – a crucial pillar of Angola’s oil-dependent economy – before being sacked by Lourenço in late 2017.

The court order, dated Dec. 23, said the asset freezes applied to Isabel dos Santos, her husband, Sindika Dokolo, and Mário Filipe Moreira Leite da Silva, chairman of Banco Fomento Angola (BFA).

It freezes their personal bank accounts in Angola, as well as their stakes in Angolan firms including Unitel, BFA and ZAP MIDIA.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach dos Santos, Dokolo or da Silva for comment on Tuesday.

The order said the central bank would be responsible for ensuring that no funds leave the personal bank accounts of the three accused.

The boards of directors of the companies subject to the asset freezes are responsible for ensuring no profits are transferred to the accused directly or through intermediaries, until a court makes a further ruling.

REUTERS

31, December 2019

4,000 trapped on Australian beach as wildfires approach ⁰

Four thousand people have been trapped on a beach in southeast Australia after being forced to flee their homes as huge fires encircled swathes of territory and left no escape route by land.

The figure included tourists and locals who had sought refuge on the foreshore of the Australian town of Mallacoota, in the state of Victoria, on Tuesday as wildfires raged across the region.

Smoke in Mallacoota was reported to have turned day to night, with local authorities saying nearby fires were causing extreme thunderstorms and “ember attacks.”

Early in the morning, town officials had ordered the activation of emergency sirens to warn of the imminent fire threat, which prompted residents to rush to the seaside following an evacuation plan previously outlined in community meetings.

But the plan was to merely shelter people at the beach.

People are seen evacuating on boat in Mallacoota, Victoria State, Australia, in this still image from a December 31, 2019 social media video. (Via Reuters)

“We’ve got three strike teams in Mallacoota that will be looking after 4,000 people down on the beach there,” said Andrew Crisp, Victoria’s Emergency Management commissioner. “We’re naturally very concerned about communities that have become isolated.”

Large numbers of residents and visitors, enjoying summer holidays, were also forced to seek refuge in towns up and down a 200-kilometer strip of coast in southeast Australia, with some taking to the sea with boats in the hope of surviving from the country’s months-long bushfire crisis.

This handout photo, taken on December 29, 2019, and received on December 30 from Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), shows a helicopter dumping water on a fire in Victoria’s East Gippsland region. (Via AFP)

Australian media reports said dozens of properties had been destroyed since late Monday and at least seven people were missing in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria states.

“In some places the flames were so intense, the smoke so thick, and the fire-provoked dry lightning storms so severe that aerial reconnaissance and waterbombing had to be halted,” the Rural Fire Service in NSW was quoted as saying by AFP.

Burning embers cover the ground as firefighters (back-R) battle against bushfires around the town of Nowra, in the Australian state of New South Wales, Australia, on December 31, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

More than 900 homes have been destroyed in NSW alone, and the number will likely increase as firefighters struggle to contain the massive fires.

Australia’s bushfires have been burning for months, destroying more than 10 million acres and killing nine people since October, including three volunteer firefighters.

The crisis has also impacted the major cities of Sydney and Melbourne, home to several million people.

Australian firefighters worry about wildfires approaching Sydney

Bushfires are common in Australia’s hot, dry summers, but the ferocity and early arrival of the fires in the southern hemisphere this year is unprecedented, with experts saying climate change has left bushland tinder-dry.

31, December 2019

Former Ivory Coast political leader Blé Goudé says sentenced in absentia to 20 years jail ⁰

Former Ivory Coast political leader Charles Blé Goudé said Monday he had been sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison by an Ivorian court over murder, rape and torture charges.

Blé Goudé was cleared of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Hague this year, along with his former boss, Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo.

But following his acquittal, an Ivorian court brought a fresh trial against him over the 2010-2011 bloodshed which followed a disputed vote in the West African nation.

The former aide to Gbagbo, who has remained in the Netherlands following his ICC trial pending a possible appeal by the prosecution, told AFP the Ivorian court had convicted him on Monday.

He said he was “surprised by the verdict”, adding that he had been sentenced to 20 years in prison, 10 years deprivation of his civil rights, and a fine of 200 million CFA francs ($340,000) to be paid to the victims.

The court has issued an arrest warrant for him, he added.

About 3,000 people died in the turmoil that swept Abidjan — once one of Africa’s most cosmopolitan cities — in the aftermath of the November 2010 presidential polls when Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to bitter rival Alassane Ouattara, who remains in power.

Leonard Lebry, the prosecutor general at the Court of Appeal in Abidjan has previously said the case against Blé Goudé — once dubbed the “general of the streets” for his ability to mobilise Gbagbo supporters during the conflict — was “wider” than the ICC prosecution and covered different events.

“The court will try him (Blé Goudé)” for allegations of “torture, murder, rape”, Lebry said last month.

Gbagbo, the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC, and Blé Goudé were tried over responsibility for murder, attempted murder, rape, persecution and “other inhumane acts” during five months of violence, both pleading not guilty.

They were released by the ICC to live in Belgium in February under conditions including that he would return to court for any prosecution appeal against his acquittal.

Blé Goudé is living in the Netherlands under similar conditions.

Last month the Ivorian court rejected an appeal over the January 2018 sentencing of Gbagbo and three aides for the “robbery” of the Central Bank of West African States (Bceao) during the post-election crisis.

The opposition has claimed Ouattara is attempting to prevent Gbagbo returning to the country ahead of 2020 elections expected to be a crucial test for Ivory Coast, which has long been west Africa’s top economic performer and is the world’s leading cocoa producer.

The court conviction comes in the same month that an arrest warrant was issued for former rebel leader and would-be Ivory Coast presidential candidate Guillaume Soro, who aborted his planned return to the country at the last minute.

(AFP)