Switzerland’s Ambassador to Cameroon, Pietro Lazzeri, was granted an audience April 4 at the Palais de l’Unité by President Paul Biya; a meeting during which both authorities reviewed the sociopolitical situation in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest regions.

“The diplomat submitted an offer that aims to help Cameroon find responses to the crisis,” according to the Presidency of the Republic. Pietro Lazzeri says given his country’s reputation for linguistic and cultural diversity and its international partiality, it is willing to offer Cameroon its expertise. In this wake, the diplomat indicated that contacts previously initiated between the Swiss authorities and the officials of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism in Cameroon will be strengthened.

As a reminder, the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon sparked with simple claims for better conditions of employment by lawyers and teachers but gradually turned into deadly violent separatist claims motivated by reckless Cameroon government actions and armed Southern Cameroons groups. Violence caused 21,921 people to flee to neighboring Nigeria, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Source: Business in Cameroon

An official report by Ethiopia’s government says the pilots of a Boeing MAX airplane operated by the country’s flag carrier that crashed last month followed all safety guidelines provided by the US aircraft manufacturer.

Ethiopia’s Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges made the remark on Thursday as she delivered the first official report on the disaster, which occurred on March 10 and claimed 157 lives.

“The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft,” Dagmawit told a news conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Initial reports claimed that despite numerous efforts, the pilots had failed to override the automated anti-stall system that repeatedly tilted the plane’s nose downward before it crashed just minutes after take-off from the Addis Ababa airport.

The incident took place five months after another Boeing airplane plunged into the Java Sea off Indonesia, killing 189 people.

The Ethiopian minister also stressed on Thursday that aviation authorities needed to verify any review before the operational release of the American-made planes.

Authorities investigating the Ethiopian Airlines flight have said there were “clear similarities” between both crashes, which involved Boeing’s workhorse Max 8 jets.

The 737 MAX planes were grounded worldwide following the two fatal crashes.

Source: Presstv

A federal grand jury indicted five individuals on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment was returned on October 26, 2017, and unsealed upon the arrest of the defendants. The five individuals indicted are:

Aldrin Fon Fomukong, a/k/a “Albanky,” a/k/a “A.L.,” age 24, of Greenbelt, Maryland;

Nnkeng Amin, a/k/a “Rapone,” a/k/a “Arnold,” age 30, of Beltsville, Maryland;

Yanick Eyong age 26, of Bowie, Maryland;

Ishmail Ganda, a/k/a “Banker TD,” age 31, of College Park, Maryland; and

Izou Ere Digifa, a/k/a “Lzuo Digifa,” a/k/a “Mimi VA,” age 22, of Lynchburg, Virginia.

The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Andrew Watson of Homeland Security Investigations; and Special Agent in Charge Brian Ebert of the United States Secret Service, Washington Field Office.

According to the indictment, between February 2016 and in or about July 2017, the defendants gained access to email accounts associated with the victims and sent false wiring instructions, causing the victims to wire millions of dollars into drop accounts set up by the defendants. The defendants then allegedly disbursed the money received from the victims into the drop accounts by, among other transactions, using wires to transfer money to other accounts, by initiating account transfers to other accounts at the same bank, by withdrawing sums of money, by obtaining cashier’s checks, and by writing checks to other individuals or entities.

Over the course of the conspiracy, the defendants stole or attempted to steal over $8.7 million from at least 11 victims.

Fomukong, Amin, Eyong, and Digifa remain detained.  Ganda is released under the supervision of pretrial services.

Fomukong and Amin face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Each of the defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning praised HSI and Secret Service for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly O’Connell Hayes, who is prosecuting the case.