9, January 2019
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah retains African Footballer of the Year award 0
Egypt striker Mohamed Salah has been named African Footballer of the Year for the second successive year at the Confederation of African Football’s 2018 awards ceremony in Dakar on Tuesday. “I have dreamt of winning this award since I was a child and now I have done so twice in a row,” Salah said soon after receiving his trophy in Dakar.
“My thanks go to my family, my team-mates and my fans and I dedicate this trophy to my homeland, Egypt.”
Just as he did 12 months ago, Salah beat fellow nominees including Liverpool FC Senegalese teammate Sadio Mane and Gabon’s (and Arsenal) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to land the award.
Fans favourite
It was an identical outcome to last year when Salah became only the second Egyptian after 1983 winner Mahmoud al Khatib to be voted the best footballer in Africa.
Award caps ‘incredible 2018 for Mohamed Salah’
A poll of CAF’s national teams’ head coaches and technical directors, members of the governing body’s technical and development committee and a panel of media experts selected Salah as the continent’s outstanding footballer in 2018.
The Liverpool forward was also named in the Africa Best XI for 2018, along with Mane and Naby Keita. He scored 44 times during a 2017-18 campaign in which he helped his club reach the Champions League final, before then netting twice at last summer’s World Cup.
Salah scored four goals in three Africa Cup of Nations qualification outings for his country in 2018 and a further 16 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions for Liverpool in 2018.
Salah completed a memorable day for Egyptian football, as the country beat sole rivals South Africa earlier Tuesday to decide which country hosted the 2019 Cup of Nations.
Memorable day for Egypt
Salah was born in the northern Egyptian town of Nagrig and used to make eight-hour return trips to train with Cairo-based El Mokawloon.
Spotted by scouts from Swiss club Basel, he moved there in 2012 before joining Premier League giants Chelsea two years later.
The Egyptian had his share of setbacks. Early in his career Salah found scoring difficult, resulting in him quitting Chelsea for Italian outfits Fiorentina and then Roma. Salah blossomed in Rome, averaging close to a goal every two matches, and Liverpool paid almost €41 millionn (£37 million) to sign him two years ago.
South African Chrestinah Kgatlana was voted Women’s Player of the Year and South Africa coach Desiree Ellis and the Nigeria national team were the other female winners. The Goal of the Year award also went to Kgatlana.
France 24
9, January 2019
Southern Cameroons War Crimes Tribunal to Convene 0
Two years after declaring unilateral independence, Africa’s newest country, Ambazonia, is in a deadly spiral of ever increasing violence . After decades of marginalization the two English speaking provinces of Southern Cameroons declared independence. Ambazonian self-defense units have fought a running battle with government forces over control of villages and strategic roads. The government of President Paul Biya, Africa’s longest serving ruler, has ordered mass arrests and a military campaign against what he terms terrorists. The result for civilians has been catastrophic, over ten thousand casualties, hostages taken, schools closed, and displacement of tens of thousands fleeing battles, brigands and marauding government forces. Indiscriminate violence has claimed thousands of innocent lives including an American missionary and Ghanaian priest. Villages have been burned, civilians butchered, limbs hacked off with summary arrests and executions carried out with impunity.
The international response to date has been nonexistent because of the Biya regime’s long-standing trade and diplomatic relations with France, Canada, the USA, and UK and as a partner in the war against Boko Haram. Respected NGOs like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and International Crisis Group however have been quick to identify the human rights abuses, many of which are recorded on cell phone video. Nonetheless, the UN, African Union, ECOWAS, the Commonwealth and other international organizations have failed to step in while the casualties and atrocities mount.
Fearing another Liberia or Sierra Leone type conflict, in which murder, torture, and war crimes became endemic; several Ambazonian groups have come together now to declare the formation of a War Crimes Tribunal – The Southern Cameroons Special Tribunal Coordination Committee (SCSTCC). The initial backers include the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), the Southern Cameroons Defense Force (SOCADEF), the African Peoples Liberation Movement (APLM), the Organization of Emerging African States (OEAS) and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Other groups are expected to join soon.
Dr. Jonathan Levy, an international lawyer specializing in human rights was appointed Chief Coordinator of the tribunal. According to Dr. Levy, the special tribunal’s immediate mission is to use existing courts and procedures to investigate and prosecute war crimes: “Right now we have solid proofs of numerous crimes against civilians committed by government forces. There are also reports of brigands and bandits. However, the overwhelming evidence shows a policy and pattern of brutality against civilians by government forces engaged in the so called anti-terrorist campaign. The command structure is such that these atrocities could not be committed on such a large and ongoing scale without the knowledge and consent of president Paul Biya, the Minister of Defense and their field commanders.”
The next step according to Dr. Levy is to assemble a team of experts through the good offices of the International Criminal Bar and other organizations and to immediately begin both civil and criminal prosecution against Paul Biya and his military commanders in worldwide courts. “We hope someday to have our own UN backed war crimes tribunal and chambers, but we cannot wait years while people are dying, we will act now using all legal means available to us.” Said Levy, who added, “Right now we need lawyers who are willing to take these cases to court in London, Washington, Barcelona, Banjul, and any other venue in which a civil or criminal case can be lodged against Paul Biya and his commanders.”
Dr. Jonathan Levy