Headline News

28, September 2019

Biya using Southern Cameroons card as cover for failures in French Cameroun ⁰

Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima has said that the French Cameroun regime under President Paul Biya is using the war in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as a cover for its successful failures in La Republique du Cameroun.

Comrade Dabney Yerima also pointed out that the French Cameroun despot is running out of ideas and is now making accusations against the people of Southern Cameroons and the Ambazonia Interim Government as a cover for failures stemming from corruption and mediocrity deep within the Francophone system.

Vice President Yerima added that Yaounde’s destructive policies against Ambazonia should not be overlooked despite the French Cameroun regime’s tendency to blame Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces for the 37 years of failure in leadership.

The comments from the Ambazonia second-in-command came in response to the so-called national dialogue recently announced by the 86 year old French Cameroun leader and the decision by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government to appoint veteran US diplomat Herman J. Cohen as a spokesperson for the Ambazonians in the Yaoundé talks.

Dabney Yerima went on to list a number of French Cameroun regime’s vicious policies against the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, such as the onslaught in both the Northern and Zones of Southern Cameroons, Biya regime’s killing of peaceful Ambazonia political dissidents, lack of democracy in French Cameroun and respect for human rights while on a daily basis committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

28, September 2019

UK: More information emerges on Johnson’s support for American model ⁰

Embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been hit by fresh controversy, this time, focused on his tenure as London mayor.

The allegations, related to favouritism and the granting of privileges, which can potentially amount to the criminal offence of misconduct in public office, were first raised by the Sunday Times on September 22.

According to the Sunday Times, London-based American model and businesswoman, Jennifer Arcuri, received favourable treatment on account of her strong friendship with Johnson.

The favours and benefits were bestowed on Arcuri, who is widely described as a “model-turned-technology entrepreneur”, during the time Johnson served as London mayor.

Most damningly, the Sunday Times reveals that Arcuri was granted £126,000 in public funds and was in addition given privileged access to three official overseas trade missions led by Johnson.

Jonson reportedly regularly visited Arcuri’s flat in the Shoreditch district, located in the East End of London.

Whilst not denying his friendship with the American model, Johnson still maintains that “everything was done in the proper way”.

Despite Johnson’s claims of propriety, the allegations are serious enough for the Greater London Authority’s monitoring officer (whose job is to monitor the conduct of the mayor) to refer the PM to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Meanwhile, the story keeps on developing as other media organisations try to expand the investigation.

In an exclusive report, the Guardian reported yesterday that Arcuri won a highly sought after entrepreneur visa to stay in the UK after securing Johnson’s endorsement for her firm, ‘Innotech’.

For its part, the BBC has spoken to “several” people who went on the same overseas “trade missions” as Arcuri.

The BBC’s Home Affairs correspondent, Daniel Sandford, says that people who went on those trade missions report that Arcuri “seemed a bit out of place” as her companies were “much less substantial” than the companies which had gained entry more legitimately.

Source: Presstv

28, September 2019

Schools at stake in Southern Cameroons ⁰

A solitary teacher has just two pupils in his class in west Cameroon, where thousands of schools have closed down altogether because of kidnappings and threats by radical separatists.

Since a crisis erupted in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon late in 2016, schools have been a prime target for breakaway groups angered by the teaching of French, used in most of the central African country.

On November 9, 2016, “hordes of people staged an assault on the classrooms in Excel College, wielding machetes and telling everybody to leave the premises or risk a bloodbath,” a teacher in the private school recalled.

Known as “Mr Tseke”, the teacher said the raid on the premises in Buea, capital of the Southwest region, led senior staff to arrange to move the whole school to a site in Clerks quarter, an administrative district with high security.

“Not far from us, you’ll find a gendarmerie contingent (paramilitary police), behind us you’ve got the police and down to the left, you have the 21st BIM (Motorised Infantry Brigade, an army unit with formidable firepower),” Tseke noted.

Home to most civil servants and police and army top brass, the Clerks district is a haven of peace in Buea.

Separatist attacks are frequent elsewhere in the town, which sprawls over the eastern flank of Mount Cameroon.

In two years, the conflict by English-speaking separatists demanding independence in the Northwest and Southwest regions has claimed more than 2,500 lives. UN agencies say that more than 530,000 have been forced to flee their homes.

– ‘We’re really safe’ –

The Excel College had to move into a building that is only accessible via pebble-strewn paths winding between residential housing, while school routines are rung out by a bell wired to the roof.

The teacher alone with his two students occupied one of nine classrooms. “The place is cramped, but we’re really safe,” Tseke told AFP, though such statements are not enough to reassure parents and their children.

The inscription rate has dropped from 1,350 in 2016-2017 to less than 400 today and fewer than half of those remaining have turned up since the academic year began on September 2, according to school data.

The French-speaking section has been closed, since many parents decided to send their children to towns in francophone territory, which makes up eight of the 10 regions in Cameroon.

Jeannette Benga, a prominent figure in local civil society who has lived in Buea for 25 years, is among the parents who resist threats from the separatists and keep their children in town.

“My daughter was kidnapped coming out of school in 2017,” then released three days later, Benga said, giving no further details. In spite of the incident she’s still sending her four children to school in the town.

“It’s a permanent worry to see them leave for school,” she acknowledged. “We live in perpetual insecurity.”

“We’re in a hurry to see an end to this crisis,” she added, with a hopeful eye to the “Great National Dialogue” due to be held in the capital Yaounde for five days from September 30.

The forum was announced by President Paul Biya, who has ruled for 37 years and is intransigent about the secessionist demands, but some separatist forces and opposition parties plan to boycott the talks while they have leaders and members in jail.

– Education ‘that suits us’ –

In the past three years, more than 4,400 schools have closed in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, according to the UN Children’s Fund.

The closures directly affect the education of more than 700,000 youngsters. More than 300 students, pupils and teachers have been kidnapped since 2018.

State schools in Buea have tried to maintain a semblance of business as usual since the start of September, but private schools are feeling the pinch.

“The separatists force schools to close to draw the attention of the international community to the problems we face here,” said a parent named only as Mr Agbor, who was one of the rare people openly to express support for the breakaway movement.

“I want separation,” he said. “It will enable us, for instance, to have an educational system that suits us.”

It was a strike by anglophone teachers and lawyers three years ago that eventually led to the armed conflict in the two regions, which joined with French-speaking Cameroon in 1961, a year after independence.

The teachers notably protested that francophone colleagues were giving lessons in French inside schools regarded as anglophone. Once they and disgruntled lawyers went on strike, the movement turned into a popular uprising.

After months of repression by police and the army, armed separatist groups took shape. They have fought government troops for almost two years and demand outright independence, which is a major step up from proposals for a return to a federal Cameroon.

Source: AFP

28, September 2019

EU threatens to withdraw from JCPOA ⁰

European leaders have threatened to start withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal in November if Tehran does not return to full compliance.

President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018, and has since reinstated old sanctions and imposed new ones on Tehran in the hope of crippling its economy and forcing it into falling in line.

Since then, Europe says it has strived to preserve the deal, setting up a financial mechanism called INSTEX to help Iran circumvent US sanctions. But in reality not much has been achieved. Trade with Iran has not surged via INSTEX, and Europe has not stood up to the US over its illegal sanctions and unceremonious withdrawal from the historic deal. And yet Iran is the signatory being asked to cooperate.

Three separate steps have been taken so far by Iran and the fourth is scheduled for November. Tehran wants the US sanctions to be lifted, but as pressure on the Iranian people increases with inflation skyrocketing and vital goods and medicines becoming increasingly scarce, the government is losing patience.

This past week European leaders tried to orchestrate a meeting between Trump and Rouhani at the UN General Assembly. Macron told Rouhani it was an opportunity he shouldn’t miss, but Iran’s president was candid.

So no talks on any level until all US sanctions are lifted. During and after the UN general assembly Europe’s tone became increasingly aggressive towards Tehran. The JCPOA’s European trio blamed Iran for the attacks on Saudi oil refineries and threatened to withdraw from the nuclear deal in November if Iran did not return to full compliance.

Source: Presstv

28, September 2019

Premier League: Liverpool Manager says Matip signing was one of Anfield’s best pieces of business in the last few years ⁰

The Reds boss was full of praise for the Cameroon centre-back following his recent defensive displays in the team

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has described the signing of Joel Matip on a free transfer from Schalke 04 as “one of the best pieces of business” the club has done in recent years.

Following the expiry of his contract in the German Bundesliga side, Matip arrived at Anfield on a four-year deal in June 2016 and has established himself in the centre of the Reds’ defence.

According to reports, Liverpool have triggered the option to extend the Cameroon international’s contract with a fresh deal in the pipeline.

Ahead of the Reds’ visit to Sheffield United on Saturday, Klopp praised the progress of the defender and described his move to England as an ‘incredible’ bargain.

“Joel was always an incredible talent. He played as an 18-year-old boy for Schalke in the Bundesliga. It’s a strong league and he played there and was always a standout player, a fixed point in defence,” Klopp said in a press conference.

“Yes he lacked a little bit of consistency, that can happen especially with his physical stature. He doesn’t always look sensational when he moves, but he grew and developed.

“In a world of big transfer fees, to sign a player like Joel Matip on a free transfer is incredible. It was maybe one of the best pieces of business we did in the last few years.”

Matip has featured in five of Liverpool’s six Premier League matches this season and has notched in two goals to his name, including the equaliser in their FA Community Shield loss to Manchester City in August.

Klopp is satisfied with the 28-year-old’s form as Liverpool are not only unbeaten in the English top-flight but have also won every one of their league outings so far.

“When Joel played or Dejan played, they are really good players. We have no issue in that position,” he added.

“That doesn’t mean they are perfect and won’t make mistakes, but they won’t make them too often. Joel is in a really good moment, long, long may it continue.”

Source: Goal.com

28, September 2019

Can national dialogue bring peace to Southern Cameroons? ⁰

The recent sentencing of separatists is likely to fuel more anger and resentment among the Anglophone population and alienate them from the Francophone-dominated government, but the dialogue can reverse hard feelings.

It was a long court session.

A military tribunal in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon, had convened some hours after noon on August 19 to pass verdicts on a case involving a group of ‘Ambazonia’ separatist leaders. But the sitting did not end until around 5:30am local time the next day.

The charges against them were, like the proceedings, long: secession, complicity in acts of terrorism, insurrection, hostility against the state, financing acts of terrorism, and spreading fake news, among others.

In its final verdict, the tribunal sentenced the 10 separatist leaders to life in prison and asked them to pay a civil award of 250 billion CFA francs ($419 million USD) to the government and civil claimants. If they fail to pay the fine as and when due, they will have to pay an additional cost of 12 billion francs ($20 million USD).

Among the leaders convicted was Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the self-declared president of the breakaway ‘Federal Republic of Ambazonia’. The state was declared in October 2017 to spite the government’s heavy-handedness in response to peaceful demonstrations across the English-speaking South-West and North-West regions.

Cameroon, a central African country, is made up of 10, semi-autonomous regions. Eight are Francophone and two Anglophone.

The French-dominated government in Yaoundé is led by 86-year-old Paul Biya, the current head of state who has been in office since 1982.

Frustrations over lack of equal representation have roiled the Anglophones since the 1990s, sometimes culminating in demands for a referendum or a return to a federation.

Similar worries forced lawyers and teachers to organise strikes over the use of French in their courts and the dominance of French language in their schools in late 2016.

The government’s response, including transferring French-speaking teachers, establishing Common Law Sections at the Supreme Court and the National School of Administration and Magistracy, as well as creating a national Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism did little to address the grievances.

Gradually the anger spread across the South-West and North-West regions. Residents organised peaceful demonstrations over the perceived marginalisation of the Anglophone minority, which makes up 20 percent of Cameroon’s 24 million people.

But the government responded with extreme force, arresting demonstrators, firing live rounds at protestors and jailing a few people. In response, an alphabet soup of separatist groups sprang up to fight for the independence of Ambazonia.

“We feel like second-class citizens because Biya’s government has never for once accepted that there is a problem in the Anglophone regions,” a Cameroonian refugee in Nigeria told TRT World.

“Our complaints about a failed system have only brought us imprisonment, destruction, death, displacement and difficulties.”

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused government forces of indiscriminate killings, arrests, torture and destruction of villages during operations.

Armed groups, the watchdogs say, have also burnt down schools, attacked students and teachers and killed security officers.

The simmering conflict has displaced some 530,806 Cameroonians within the country and forced about 42,887 to cross the border to Nigeria, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. Some 1,850 have been killed so far.

In January 2018, some 47 Anglophone separatists, including Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, were arrested in Nigeria by security agents. They were detained and later deported to Cameroon that same month. Most of them had filed asylum claims. A Nigerian court sitting in the capital Abuja in March ruled that the extradition of 12 asylum claimants was “illegal” and awarded them compensation.

Upon his extradition, Ayuk Tabe was, alongside his fellow comrades, incarcerated in a well-secured facility in Yaoundé and later charged with “terrorism” in December last year at a military court.

It was this same court that would, after an all-night sitting on August 20, give him a life sentence.

In the immediate aftermath of the ruling, angry separatist fighters announced a three-week lockdown in the Anglophone regions, forcing thousands of residents to leave their homes to avoid the curfew and any follow-on confrontations.

Local media reported that shops, offices, markets, and bus stations closed following the order.

This is a usual tactic for the fighters who have periodically enforced curfews — or “ghost towns”. This often happens on a Monday.

Ayuk Tabe and some of his fellow leaders are seen to be more open to dialogue. The recent sentencing, analysts argue, would only exacerbate the ongoing conflict.

“Some of the approaches adopted by the Cameroonian government has more or less tended towards inflaming tensions,” Dr Emeka Okereke, an expert in African affairs, remarked.

In May, local newspaper Journal du Cameroun reported that 54-year-old Ayuk Tabe had written a five-page letter presenting conditions for dialogue, including releasing prisoners arrested during the crisis, removing government security forces from the Anglophone regions, holding peace talks outside the country and involving foreign observers in the process.

“The arrests and sentencing indicate an attempt on the part of the Biya government to take a harder line and apply the principle of striking the shepherd in order to disperse the sheep,” said Cheta Nwanze, Head of Research at SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based political and economic consultancy.

With this approach, Nwanze argued: “[The government is] probably making the fundamental mistake of removing those who have something to lose and are, as a result, more open to negotiations.

“They may thus be left with more hardliners who will make things more difficult for them.”

Amid tensions resulting from the lockdown imposed by separatists, the presidency announced that Biya would address the nation on September 10. This is a shift from the traditional times the head of state addresses the nation: on New Year and the National Youth Day on February 11.

In the rare national address broadcast on TV and radio at 8pm local time, Biya admitted that there was, indeed, a “crisis” with “far-reaching consequences” for the entire country.

He recalled that he had ordered the release of 289 persons arrested in connection with the crisis and outlined other measures taken to address grievances.

To address the conflict, the government would convene a national dialogue, he announced. Parties would include government officials, opinion leaders, leaders of government security forces, armed groups and victims, he added.

A delegation would be sent to the diaspora to allow Cameroonians there to make their input.

“How can there be dialogue when some of the key actors you are supposed to dialogue with have just been sentenced to life in prison?” asked Okereke, who argues that granting amnesty to all political prisoners should be part of the solution.

Nwanze, of SMB Intelligence, also thinks the proposed national dialogue is not a solution.

“Biya was offering more of a stick than carrot, and like many autocrats before him, seemed not to understand, nor care, about the complaints of those who have stood against him,” he explained.

As the impasse drags on, students continue to be kept out of their classrooms.

Around 80 percent of schools in the North-West and South-West region have been closed due to the crisis, UN Children’s Fund, Unicef, reported in June. This has affected more than 600,000 children and left at least 74 schools in ruins, Unicef said.

When schools tried to re-open on September 2 this year, suspected separatist fighters opened gunfire to scare students and teachers away, local media reported.

Businesses and livelihoods, too, have been jeopardised due to the ongoing crisis.

For instance, the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDD), the state-owned agro-industrial company in the South-West region, had to shut down most of its factories, estates and oil mills.

The country’s second largest employer after the government, the CDD, has a workforce of about 22,000 employees and has operations in banana, palm oil, semi-finished rubber, and palm kernel oil. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs, as the company’s financial struggles linger.

Nwaze calls for better representation.

“Give the Anglophones a sense of belonging by ensuring that their communities are run in English, and creating a path to top positions within the government for people from the area,” he said.

Okereke believes the government alone cannot singlehandedly address the problem.

“There needs to be a frank, all-inclusive dialogue that requires granting amnesty to political prisoners, active international participation, and the parties to the conflict putting aside their political interests to find a common ground.”

Source: TRT World

28, September 2019

Southern Cameroon War: Silicon Mountain tech startups struggle ⁰

Soldiers have been battling insurgents in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions since 2017 in a conflict that has killed 2,500 people

Hi-tech promoters had big dreams for Silicon Mountain in Cameroon, where a broad plateau was seen as perfect for startup ventures, but their hopes have been shattered by a separatist struggle.

Entrepreneurs in the tech village wanted to launch new technologies and make Cameroon a market player on the model of California, but the bloody insurgency in the country’s English-speaking west has driven many to leave.

“Silicon Mountain is just about alive,” says Valery Colong, one of the workers in the ActivSpaces area modelled on Silicon Valley at the foot of Mount Cameroon, but his voice lacks conviction.

The ambitious Silicon Mountain project bears the economic and social scars of a conflict that has claimed more than 2,500 lives since 2017, according to international NGOs. Many of the dead and wounded are civilians.

“The crisis has badly affected our activities,” says Colong, promoter of the project to make ActivSpaces a key link for business at Silicon Mountain. The walls at its headquarters are decorated in the colours of global internet giants.

The hi-tech incubator site is meant to extend from Buea, the capital of the Southwest Region on the slopes of the mountain, to the chic seaside resort of Limbe on the Gulf of Guinea, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) distant by road.

But several promoters have pulled out, while others have taken their business to Douala, a major port and economic capital of Cameroon, only 50 kilometres from Buea but set in the majority French-speaking part of the country.

Cameroon's tech start-ups are worried about the impact a separatist insurgency will have on investor interest — Cameroon’s tech start-ups are worried about the impact a separatist insurgency will have on investor interest

“Others simply dream of leaving the country,” says Colong.

Residents of Buea hope for peace to return, but few express any faith in a “Great National Dialogue” convened by President Paul Biya to begin on Monday.

Biya, ruler of the central African nation for 37 years, has invited representatives of the anglophone Southwest and Northwest to the capital Yaounde to settle the crisis.

But most of the separatists, along with a major part of the political opposition, have decided to boycott the national dialogue for lack of a ceasefire and until their jailed leaders are released.

‘Scared of getting shot’

“Before the crisis, there were 10 startups on average in the main hall,” Colong said on the first floor of the ActivSpaces premises in central Buea. “Today there’s just one.”

In a corner of the main hall, Nevile Akombo Akwo was working on Digital Renter, a site dealing in property announcements. “I’m here because I believe in the future. This isn’t the time to be discouraged,” he said.

Cameroon's English-speaking regions, which have been rocked by insurgency since 2017 — Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, which have been rocked by insurgency since 2017

“For the platform to work, we have to go out on the terrain to see the property owners, but it isn’t possible to go everywhere in town,” Colong says.

“It’s dangerous to go to difficult zones like the Muea district or Mile 16, the guys are scared of getting shot.”

In the Southwest and Northwest, the demands of English-speakers who feel that the eight French-speaking regions have taken the lion’s share of social progress and development at their expense, turned violent in the past three years.

Radical separatist groups have waged an armed struggle with the security forces sent by Yaounde, where authorities have remained largely deaf to the issues raised by the anglophone minority, who make up 16 percent of the population.

Troops are deployed almost daily to fight scattered radicals fighting for their self-proclaimed independent state of Ambazonia. Both sides have carried out atrocities against civilians and more than 530,000 people have fled their homes.

Cutting the internet

In 2017, the authorities cut internet services in the two regions for three months, a measure that drove firms from Silicon Mountain to move close to Douala.

Some bilingual schools in the Anglophone region have been closed by a shutdown protest by separatist insurgents

“Our main partner ceased to finance us,” Colong says. ActivSpaces has turned to giving tech training to young people, taking in 15 of them.

“I’ve been here for two months, my experience is positive,” says Stephen Mbong, during an exercise with a fellow student.

Colong does not rule out leaving if the situation gets worse, but the sector of new technologies is not the only victim of conflict in anglophone Cameroon.

Income from national cocoa exports, of which 40 percent come from the Southwest, and from Arabica coffee, of which 75 percent comes from the Northwest, have dropped by 20 percent because of the conflict, according to the employers’ association Gicam.

The crisis has also sent the unemployment rate in agriculture up to 70 percent, according to the non-profit organisation Human IS Right, based in Buea.

Building work and public sector projects have come to a standstill on many sites. Investors are not keen to put money into a conflict zone, while the expatriate community has difficulty in transferring funds when the government suspects the money may be going to armed groups.

Source: Techxplore

27, September 2019

Ten things to know about prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute ⁰

Paul Biya has entrusted prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute with the task of leading the crucial national dialogue from 30 September to 4 October. The talks are supposed to lead to a resolution to the crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. It is a mission of trust but also a dangerous one.

1. Rooted

He comes from an family of high-ranking officials in the English-speaking South-West, where he was born sixty-five years ago. A traditional chief attached to his Sawa roots, he maintains a very strong link with his region, while pursuing a career – administrative and political – in the capital.

2. Teacher

Educated in Yaoundé and London, with a PhD from the University of Warwick (Great Britain), this expert on business law was a professor at Université Yaoundé II in the 1980s.

3. Prestige

In 1991, he became director general of the École Nationale d’Administration et de Magistrature, a highly respected institution in Yaoundé.

4. Loyal

Between December 1997 and March 2018, he was minister delegate to the foreign affairs ministry with responsibility for the Commonwealth. He was then appointed minister in charge of the presidency. Loyal to Paul Biya, he is a member of the central committee of the ruling Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais party.

5. Diplomat

He represented Cameroon at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul, Gambia. He also led the Cameroonian delegation to the negotiations that led to the creation of the African Union and was his country’s main representative on the Gulf of Guinea Commission.

6. Bakassi

As a member of the Cameroon-Nigeria Joint Commission under the aegis of the United States, he participated in the negotiations that led to the implementation of the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague concerning the Bakassi border dispute.

7. Problem solver

Last May, he spent nearly a week travelling through North-West and South-West provinces, meeting with local authorities, politicians, religious leaders and representatives of civil society. Each time, he explained that he was carrying an offer of dialogue from President Biya.

8. Rolling up his sleeves

This very discreet insider will be the mastermind of the national dialogue at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé. On the agenda: bilingualism, decentralisation, the return of displaced people, demobilisation and the reintegration of former combatants.

9. Diaspora

To resolve the Anglophone crisis, he was mandated to conduct broad consultations to gather the opinions and complaints of all Cameroonians. In the coming days, delegations will be sent to meet the diaspora.

10. Taking a risk

Leading the national dialogue is both a privilege and a risk. If these talks fail, there is no doubt that President Biya, who has chosen to remain in the background, would hold him responsible.

Source: The Africa Report

27, September 2019

Ambazonia leaders Shun Biya’s ‘National Dialogue’ ⁰

Next week, Cameroon’s government will host what it calls a national dialogue on the separatist crisis in its Northwest and Southwest regions. However, U.S.- and Europe-based separatist leaders invited to the talks say they will not take part in any dialogue unless it is held outside Cameroon with non-Cameroonians as mediators. The government has stated it will not accept a foreign mediator.

The week-long dialogue on the separatist crisis is due to begin Monday in Yaounde. The government says it has invited more than 1,000 people, including lawmakers, clergy, teachers, and civil society activists.

However, none of the U.S.- and Europe-based separatist leaders contacted by VOA said they will attend the talks.

Among those turning down the invitation is Eric Tataw, who lives in the United States.

He says he will not attend because he and fellow separatists based in the diaspora are wanted in Cameroon on charges of secession and terrorism.

Those are the same charges for which separatist leaders Ayuk Tabe Julius and 10 collaborators were arrested and sentenced to life in prison by a Yaounde military tribunal.

Tataw says Cameroon should free Julius and the other leaders as a sign they are truly ready for dialogue.

“I have told them categorically clear that let them release all detainees, and then start discussing with them and then from there we will know if the president of Cameroon is serious to have dialogue or not,” said Tataw.

Map of Cameroon, showing English-speaking Northwest and Southwest areas

Fighting in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon has claimed more than 2,000 lives since hostilities broke out two years ago. English-speaking armed groups in those regions want to break away from the rest of Cameroon and its French-speaking majority.

Some separatists have said on social media they want the dialogue to take place either in Switzerland or Ivory Coast, under the supervision of world powers like the U.S., Germany and Britain, and in the presence of the United Nations.

FILE - President of Cameroon Paul Biya with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) attend a signing ceremony at The Great Hall Of The People in Beijing, China, March 22, 2018. — FILE – President of Cameroon Paul Biya with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) attend a signing ceremony at The Great Hall Of The People in Beijing, China, March 22, 2018.

George Ewane, spokesperson of the national dialogue, says Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has ruled out the possibility of inviting a foreign mediator. Some nations that have offered to mediate, he says, have not stopped Cameroonians in the diaspora from financially sponsoring violence back home.

“Some make the propositions in good faith but we also know that others do not do that exactly in good faith,” he said. “Now let me ask a question. Are Cameroonians, are Cameroonians unable to solve their own problems to the extent of seeking a foreign mediation? The answer is an emphatic no. International mediation is not necessary.”

Ewane did not name the countries he was referring to, but last July, the Swiss ambassador to Cameroon, Pietro Lazzeri, announced his country was helping the Cameroon’s government negotiate with the rebels.

Source: VOA

27, September 2019

US: Trump abused office, forced White House to cover it up ⁰

The whistleblower complaint at the heart of the burgeoning controversy over President Donald Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president claims not only that Trump misused his office for personal gain and endangered national security, but that unidentified White House officials tried to keep it a secret even within the government.

In seven stark, carefully worded pages, the unidentified whistleblower alleged the commander in chief pushed his foreign counterpart to investigate Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and that senior White House officials then tried to “lock down” records related to the matter.

The pressure, the whistleblower alleged, came in a phone call July 25 between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, an exchange that turned so politically problematic that White House lawyers directed other officials to remove the electronic transcript of the conversation from the computer system where it was stored.

The transcript, the whistleblower alleged, was then loaded onto a separate system meant for highly classified information. And according to White House officials who informed the whistleblower, that was “not the first time” a transcript was put there due to concerns about politics rather than national security, the complaint alleged.

Trump, the whistleblower wrote, was “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”

The whistleblower’s assertions — made public Thursday after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) released the person’s complaint — fueled an already intense political battle that this week led congressional Democrats to formally launch an inquiry into whether Trump should be impeached.

At a hearing to question Trump’s acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, Democrats pressed him on why he had not given them the complaint sooner, as they say the law required. Republicans attacked the reliability of the whistleblower’s information as unproven hearsay.

Maguire told lawmakers he believed the whistleblower had acted “in good faith,” but declined to offer any conclusion about the allegations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read portions of the complaint to reporters Thursday, declaring: “This is a coverup.”

Trump lashed out publicly and privately against the accusations. At a closed-door event in New York to thank U.S. personnel who had worked on Trump’s visit to the United Nations General Assembly, the president suggested darkly that the people who spoke about his conversation with Zelensky should be viewed as traitors.

“I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy,” he said in a recording of the remarks obtained by the Los Angeles Times. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

(Source: The Washington Post)