Headline News

22, June 2019

Indomitable Lions late for Cup of Nations due to pay dispute ⁰

Cameroon’s squad arrived in Egypt for the Africa Cup of Nations late on Saturday after delaying their departure over a pay dispute, risking possible sanction.

They touched down in Cairo at around 11 p.m. local time, to be greeted by a small group of supporters, some 24 hours behind schedule.

The squad had refused to embark for Egypt on Thursday, calling for their fee to be doubled for appearing at the tournament, which they won two years ago.

But they later agreed to travel without any promise of more money.

The Cameroon football federation said each player was paid a qualification bonus of 20 million CFA francs (US$34,693) and would be given 5 million CFA francs after winning a first game at the tournament.

In a letter signed by all the players, they said most had paid their own air tickets to the team’s pre-tournament training camps in Madrid and Doha.

“A presidential decree dating back to 2014 states that all bonuses, participation fees for friendly matches and camping must be paid to the players before the start of a major tournament,” they wrote.

“We have even accepted a 25per cent cut in our regular bonuses ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations but unfortunately, they are not honouring this. We deplore the poor communication between the players and football officials of this country.

“We wish that the future generation of players would not suffer a similar disregard as us and those who preceded us.”

Cameroon start the defence of their title against Guinea Bissau in Ismailia in Group F on Tuesday.

According to tournament regulations, teams must be in the host country five days before the kickoff of their opening match, which means Cameroon face a possible fine.

In 2014, their squad refused to board a plane due to take them to Brazil for the World Cup because of disputes over bonuses, also delaying their departure until they were paid more.

Disputes over bonus payments also overshadowed their participation at both the 1994 and 2002 World Cups, where the team failed to get past the opening group stage.

(US$1 = 576.4800 CFA francs)

Source: Reuters

21, June 2019

US: Trump to be impeached when evidence obtained ⁰

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reiterated that if investigations of President Donald Trump find significant wrongdoing, the chamber would have to move to impeach him.

“If the goods are there, you must impeach,” Pelosi said to reporters on Wednesday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

Pelosi’s remarks were in response to a question on whether there was an alternative option of simply voting to censure the president.

The speaker said such an alternative was not under consideration.

She noted the importance of the Department of Justice’s agreement to provide Congress with a less-redacted report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election and 10 instances in which Trump tried to interfere with Mueller’s investigation.

Pelosi’s remarks came as former top Trump aide Hope Hicks appeared before the House Judiciary Committee in a closed session to answer questions about potential obstruction of justice by Trump and related matters.

Hicks was mentioned in Mueller’s report multiple times. In saying Trump “must” be impeached if that is warranted by House investigations, it was not clear whether Pelosi was moving in that direction after months of talking about the divisiveness of impeachment.

At one point earlier this year she even said that Trump was “not worth” impeaching.

“If we’re going to go down this path … we have to make sure the public has an understanding of why,” and senators understand their constitutional duty to hold Trump accountable for any wrongdoing, Pelosi said

Pelosi had said that she preferred to see Trump sent to prison rather than be impeached.

PressTV-US House Speaker Pelosi: 'I want to see Trump in prison’

“I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison,” Pelosi said at a meeting earlier this month.

US media outlet reported Pelosi as saying that she preferred to see Trump go to jail after losing the 2020 presidential election.

Democrats believe Trump is guilty of breaking the law by allegedly seeking to obstruct investigations into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.

Trump is also accused of violating constitutional prohibitions on presidents receiving financial benefits from foreign governments, and also paying pre-election hush money to two women who claim to have had affairs with Trump.

Source: Presstv

21, June 2019

Women’s Football World: Late goal catapults Cameroon ⁰

Nchout’s goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time lifted Cameroon into the knockout stage to cap an exhilarating finish. She caught New Zealand pushed too far upfield and made her way into the left side of the box before shaking Ria Percival with a couple of moves and bending a right-footed shot past Erin Nayler:

Nchout also scored in the 57th minute and was named Player of the Match for Cameroon, which finished as one of the four best third-place teams and advanced past the group stage for the second straight World Cup.

Source: Yahoonews

21, June 2019

Cameroon finalize 23-man squad for 2019 AFCON ⁰

Cameroon national football team coach Clarence Seedorf on Wednesday named his final 23-man squad for this month’s 2019 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.

Seedorf said he made his choices based on the players’ performance in professional leagues, the team’s tactical strength and attitude, and performance during training sessions.

“We chose players with the characteristics that suit us. You have to trust my choices and support the team.” Seedorf told a press conference in the capital, Yaounde.

Striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting will captain the team, though star forward Vincent Aboubakar misses out with injury.

“[Aboubakar] came in injured a week before we started training, unfortunately. From a medical point of view, he would have been ready only in the third week [of the competition],” Seedorf said.

Defending champions Cameroon are in Group F with Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Ghana.

The 2019 AFCON is set to run from June 21 to July 19.

21, June 2019

Cameroonian journalist detained on criminal defamation and false news charges ⁰

Cameroonian authorities should immediately release journalist Paul Chouta and drop criminal defamation and false news charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On May 28, in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde, five police officers arrested Chouta, who works as a reporter for the privately owned Cameroon Web news website, in response to a defamation complaint filed by French Cameroonian writer Calixthe Beyala, according to Cameroon Web editor-in-chief Emmanuel Vitus, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app, and a person with knowledge of the case who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

Chouta was detained at the local police headquarters following his arrest, and on May 31 was denied bail, according to his lawyer, Emmanuel Simh, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app. On June 10, he was charged with defamation, spreading false news, and hate speech; the hate speech charge was dropped the following day, and Chouta was sent to the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde to await trial, according to Vitus and the person with knowledge of the case.

His next court appearance is scheduled for July 9, Vitus said.

“Instead of holding Paul Chouta in a maximum security prison, authorities should release him and encourage Calixthe Beyala to seek redress through civil remedies, not criminal action,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal in New York. “Criminal defamation and false news laws have no place in a fair and just country, and Cameroon should change such laws.”

If found guilty, Chouta could face up to six months in prison and a fine of 2 million Central African francs ($3,447) for the defamation charge, and up to five years in jail and a fine of 1 million francs ($1,723) for the false news charge, according to the Cameroonian penal code.

In several posts on Beyala’s personal Facebook page, which CPJ reviewed but which have since been deleted or set to private, Beyala alleged that Chouta and other unspecified individuals made defamatory allegations about her personal life on social media and on the Facebook news page Le TGV de l’info, which Chouta manages.

CPJ called Beyala and messaged her on Facebook and WhatsApp, but did not receive any response.

Cameroonian Deputy Justice Minister Jean De Dieu Momo told CPJ via WhatsApp message that he was “not aware if web journalist is a profession organized by Cameroon law,” and declined to comment further on the case.

CPJ called and sent messages to Charles Manda, an adviser to the country’s communications minister, and Joyce Ndjem, the national communications chief for the Cameroonian police, but did not receive a response.

Chouta received repeated anonymous threats in recent months, and was attacked outside his home in February by suspected government agents, as CPJ reported at the time.

Vitus told CPJ that he suspected that the government’s harsh charges against Chouta, along with denying him bail, were in retaliation for his reporting on the government. The editor described Chouta as a vocal critic of Paul Biya, Cameroon’s president since 1982. Chouta’s recent reporting covered topics such as the arrest of a former Cameroonian government official and abuse allegations against police and a pro-government journalist.

Cameroon is the third worst jailer of journalists in Africa, after Egypt and Eritrea, with at least seven journalists behind bars for their work on December 1, 2018, according to CPJ’s annual prison census. It is the second-worst jailer of journalists on false news charges in the world, after Egypt, according to the census.

Source: Committee to Protect Journalist

20, June 2019

Ambazonia Revolution: Chris Anu no Longer Speaks for the Interim Government ⁰

Fellow Ambazonians,

The Interim Government hereby informs the people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia and the general public that with immediate effect, Comrade Chris Anu is no longer Secretary of State for Communications and Information Technology. He, therefore is no longer a member of Cabinet.

Following the announcement of 14th May 2019 reconstituting the pre-5th January 2018 Cabinet and a Call to Service issued by Vice President Dabney Yerima on 22 May 2019, Chris Anu retorted in his public broadcast on ABC TV on 25 May 2019 that he will not work under the leadership of President Sisiku AyukTabe.

In a follow-up letter issued on 26 May 2019, Vice President Dabney Yerima notified Chris Anu that by rejecting the call to duty, he had given up his position as Secretary of State for Communication and Information Technology (SoS DCIT)
Accordingly, Comrade Chis Anu no longer speaks for the Interim Government and the people of Ambazonia.

Henceforth, whatever he says in the name of the revolution whether on his ABC TV, Facebook page or any other media platform should be considered as his personal opinion, which he is legitimately entitled to.
Any attempt to publicly articulate any views as representing the position of the Interim Government would be treated as gross misrepresentation with all the consequences associated thereto.

While we appreciate his service and contribution to our struggle, we also cannot overlook his mounting excesses that have become a liability to the revolution. We trust that he will continue to play a useful role in the revolution in his capacity as a private citizen.

On behalf of the entire Cabinet and the people of Ambazonia, I want to thank Comrade Chris Anu for his contribution to our struggle. We wish him well in all his future endeavours.

The Under Secretary of State for this department, Comrade Milton Taka assumes the role temporarily as Secretary of State for the DCIT until an appointment is announced in due course.

Thank You,
God Bless The Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

20, June 2019

Iran’s IRGC force shoots down intruding US spy drone ⁰

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has shot down an intruding American spy drone in the country’s southern coastal province of Hormozgan.

In a statement issued early Thursday, the IRGC said the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region — which sits in the central district of Jask County — after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace.

The statement added that further details will be released about the operation later.

Reacting to the news, the US military claimed it did not fly over Iranian airspace on Wednesday.

“No US aircraft were operating in Iranian airspace today,” said Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the American military’s Central Command.

However, a US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to the Associated Press, confirmed on Thursday that an American military drone had been shot down in “international airspace” over the Strait of Hormuz by an Iranian surface-to-air missile.

He identified the drone as a US Navy MQ-4C Triton, which builds on elements of the RQ-4 Global Hawk with minor changes.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) can fly at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, gathering near-real-time, high-resolution imagery of large areas of land in all types of weather, maker Northrop Grumman says on its website.

The Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton is a maritime derivative of the RQ-4B Global Hawk and the airborne element of the US Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System (BAMS UAS).

Iran has said that the country’s aerial, maritime and land borders constitute a red line.

Speaking on the sidelines of a security forum in Russia on Tuesday, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani stressed that the country would exercise all its efforts to defend its territorial waters and airspace.

Tensions have been running between Iran and the US in recent weeks, with Washington stepping up its provocative military moves in the Middle East.

Last month, Washington dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber task force, and an amphibious assault ship to the Persian Gulf, citing an alleged Iranian threat.

On Monday, the Pentagon announced that the US will send 1,000 additional US forces and more military resources to the Middle East.

Tehran believes the US has a hand in a set of suspicious regional incidents in recent weeks, such as the June 13 attacks against oil tankers in the Sea of Oman, in a bid to pin the blame on Iran and put more pressure on the country.

Last week, UN sources revealed that the United States was planning to carry out a “tactical assault” on an Iranian nuclear facility in response to the alleged Iranian role in the tanker attacks.

Source: Presstv

20, June 2019

Ambazonia Leadership Crisis: We should kill Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, says Chris Anu ⁰

Chris Anu, the disgraced Ambazonia Communications Secretary, said in a meeting that was convened to impeach the Ambazonia leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

“We have the yam and the knife!! We should neutralize him,” Mr Chris Anu told a corrupt Ambazonian group of front liners in the USA.

His comments have exposed former Acting President Dr Ikome Sako and Barrister Fru John Nsoh as agents of the French Cameroun regime with unfinished business. “Pastor Chris Anu is pursuing a personal vendetta” noted an aide to Vice President Yerima

Many Southern Cameroonians are convinced that there is a large measure of personal motivation in Mr Anu’s pursuit of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the attempts to undermine his credibility and the thinly disguised wish to see him removed from office.

A senior Ambazonia figure, said: “I think this reflects what has always been said – that Sako and Chris Anu are only interested in Ambazonia money, and for a sitting Communications Secretary to announce openly their gangster intention is a reflection of what kind of government Ambazonians have been dealing with.”

As Communications Secretary, Mr Chris Anu raised the profile of the Southern Cameroons struggle immediately after the abduction of the Ambazonia leadership in Abuja, Nigeria. Following the appointment of a Vice President, he refused to switch loyalty and has ever since been leading a nasty campaign against the Ambazonian leader.

It is believed that Sako and some of his acolytes, including Chris Anu, want President Ayuk Tabe eliminated.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

19, June 2019

Turkey’s President Erdogan says Morsi ‘murdured,’ calls for action against Egypt government ⁰

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the prosecution of Egyptian government officials who “murdered” the country’s first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi.

Erdogan told an election rally on Wednesday that Morsi “did not die, he was murdered,” days after the former Egyptian president suffered a fatal heart attack in a Cairo court.

Erdogan said he will push to ensure the Egyptian government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is held into account by international courts for Morsi’s death.

He also called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take action. The Turkish head of state said he would raise the issue at the G-20 summit in Japan which is set to kick off later this month.

Shortly after his death on Monday, Morsi was buried at dawn in the presence of some of his family members in a burial that analysts believe fuels suspicions surrounding his death.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday called for an “independent and thorough” investigation into the issue.

The call angered Egypt, with the North African country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez condemning it “in the strongest terms” on Wednesday.

PressTV-Egypt angered by UN call for probe into Morsi’s death

Hafez described the call as a “deliberate attempt to politicize a case of natural death.”

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the OHCHR, had said “Any sudden death in custody must be followed by a prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body to clarify the cause of death.”

“Concerns have been raised regarding the conditions of Mr. Morsi’s detention, including access to adequate medical care, as well as sufficient access to his lawyers and family,” Colville added.

Erdogan: Morsi’s death not ‘normal’

Erdogan, a key supporter of Morsi, has dismissed Cairo’s account that he died of natural causes.

During a prayer service in Istanbul on Tuesday, he said that the former Egyptian president’s death was not “normal.”

“I don’t believe that this was a normal death,” Erdogan said.

He also lashed out at Egyptian officials for inviting only a small number of Morsi’s family members to his secret funeral.

“They are so cowardly that they could not even deliver his body to his family,” Erdogan said.

A man holds a picture of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi during a symbolic funeral cerenomy on June 18, 2019 at Fatih mosque in Istanbul. (Photo by AFP)

Morsi, a senior figure in Egypt’s now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organization, was elected as Egypt’s president after the 2011 revolution, which ousted former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

However, Morsi was deposed through a bloody military coup led by his then-army chief and now President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in July 2013.

Morsi, 67, had been serving prison terms on several charges, including passing intelligence to Qatar.

He suffered from medical neglect during his imprisonment as well as poor conditions in prison.

Source: Presstv

19, June 2019

Women’s Football World Cup: Estelle Johnson brings US experience to Cameroon ⁰

Born in Cameroon, raised in Colorado, forged in the North American women’s league, Estelle Johnson adds reassuring defensive experience as the Indomitable Lionesses as they try to grab their last World Cup chance against New Zealand on Thursday.

Johnson smiles all the time, happy to be playing in her first World Cup at the age of 30 for her country of birth.

“I’m a happy person, I just enjoy football and I enjoy everything that goes along with it,” she told AFP. “But I think I’m extra happy because it’s a great competition.”

Even though Cameroon have lost their first two games in Group E, Johnson says her first World Cup has “been even better that I could have imagined.”

A victory over New Zealand in Montpellier would give Cameroon three points and could be enough to earn a place in the last 16 as one of the four best third-place teams.

Johnson was born in Maroua, Cameroon, in 1988. Her American father was a crop scientist.

At seven she moved to Fort Collins in Colorado. She tried “all type of different sports, basketball, volleyball. I’ve played baseball as well with a team full of boys, only girl on the team!”

“But soccer has always been the sport for me.”

She has played for three US clubs, but was aware that she could appear on the international stage with Cameroon.

“I’ve always thought about it, but once I saw them playing in 2015, I think that’s what really made me want to join the team and I’ve been trying to get on the team for a little while now.”

Her dream was held up by red tape.

“I wanted to play in the African Cup a couples of years back, but nothing really was happening,” she said.

Once Alain Djeumfa took over as coach in January he moved to have her application approved.

“When the second coach Alain took over everything started working,” she said.

VERY MOTIVATED

Djeumfa said he wanted Johnson on his team.

“She is a girl of unparallelled maturity in the game, she is really experienced, has an excellent reading of situations, she anticipates a lot and has a very good footwork,” he said. “She was very motivated. Now she is in Cameroon and we are very proud of her.”

She had a week in Cameroon in May to meet her teammates “and eat African food,” said Djeumfa. “She laughs, and eats all the food!”

In a bilingual, French and English-speaking country, the US star, who plays for New Jersey’s Sky Blue in the National Women’s Soccer League, quickly adapted on the field as well.

“On the pitch, I try to communicate in French,” she said, laughing as she repeated the terms. “‘Droite’, ‘dans ton dos’, stuff like that, it’s not good French but get the message across.”

She’s even trying to adapt to the fact that in most of the world outside the United States the sport is not called ‘soccer’.

“Sometimes I say ‘football’ talking with my Cameroonian teammates.”

Johnson now has six international caps. The last two came in the 1-0 loss to Canada and a 3-1 defeat by the Dutch.

“We’ve played really good matches so far, but sometimes football doesn’t go the way that it’s supposed to go. Against Canada we could have come away with a point,” she said.

Even victory against the Kiwis might not be enough, depending on results in other groups.

“Some things need to happen in our favour, but we just need to make sure we win on Thursday and make sure we do everything possible and get to the next round,” she said.

“We all believe we can do it, we’ve no doubt in our mind we are going to put on a good performance.”

Source: Supersports