The United Nations on Tuesday called on DR Congo’s government to allow peaceful demonstrations on the eve of expected protests against President Joseph Kabila.

In a statement, the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO urged the authorities “to respect the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Congolese Constitution, including freedom of assembly and of demonstration.”

The authorities, it said, should “instruct defense and security forces to respect the principles of necessity, proportionality and legality, consistent with international standards.”

Mineral-rich but chronically poor, politically unstable and saddled with a reputation for entrenched corruption, the Democratic Republic of Congo faces a feared flare-up of violence over Kabila’s decision to stay in office.

He was scheduled to have stepped down in December 2016 after a constitutional maximum of two terms in office.

But as protests and a bloody crackdown swelled, a deal was brokered by the Catholic church enabling him to stay in office pending elections to be held by the end of this year. Those elections have now been delayed.

The country’s election body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), blames the delay on compiling an electoral roll in parts of the sprawling country that have been troubled by unrest.

Pressured by the international community, led by the United States, the ballot will be held on December 23, 2018, according to a CENI announcement on November 5.

A large part of the country’s political opposition, along with grassroots groups such as Lucha and Filimba, have scheduled rallies on Wednesday to protest against the 2018 date.

Demonstrations against Kabila have met with a heavy police response since September 2016.

Clashes in the eastern city of Goma last month left four civilians and a policeman dead and scores of activists were arrested.

The MONUSCO statement also reminded citizens “that the right to demonstrate implies abstaining from resorting to any form of violence.”

Kabila took over as president in January 2001 in wartime after the death of his father, Laurent Kabila, who was assassinated. He was first elected for a five-year term in 2006.

Under DRC’s constitution, he is banned from seeking a third mandate, but is authorized to stay in office until his successor is elected.

(Source: AFP)

French Cameroun soldiers on Saturday, November 11, 2017 launched a military operation against Southern Cameroonians in the Muyenge locality located 150 km from Mutenguene in the Buea Province.  Cameroon Concord News sources revealed that young Ambazonians were staging a peaceful demonstration and prevented trucks transporting cocoa and coffee from accessing their village.

Informed of the situation, the Francophone governor of the so-called South West region ordered troops to the area and the situation degenerated into violence. An Ambazonian was killed and another, Anziah Louis Ebowadi, was shot in the neck. The Francophone troops opened fire forcing many of the youths to escape in to the forest.

The Yaoundé authorities have considerably strengthened the military presence in Southern Cameroons and for that reason; Ambazonians have vowed not to stop expressing their discontent.
By Fru James, CCN

Four people were killed and over 20 wounded when grenades were thrown into a concert in the capital of the chronically unstable Central African Republic, while revenge attacks later left another three people dead, the UN peacekeeping force and a local official said Sunday.

In the first serious incident of violence in Bangui this year, the assault late Saturday saw two unidentified attackers hurl grenades at a cafe called “On the Crossroads of Peace” during a performance, said Herve Verhoosel, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA.

CAR’s minister for public security, Henri Wanzet, told state radio that four people had died in the attack and around 20 were injured. An official probe has been opened, Wanzet said.

The cafe is located near the PK5 majority Muslim district of Bangui, once a Muslim rebel bastion, and now home to several armed groups.

Even though relative peace has been restored in Central Africa following the civil war that erupted in 2013, inter-communal tensions remain.

Among those injured in Saturday’s attack were several musicians from the group that was performing, Verhoosel said.

A doctor at the hospital where the injured were rushed for treatment said 21 people had been admitted.

Seven others were taken to another health center, a local official with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical charity said.

A local public figure said three people were killed later in the night in revenge attacks — two of whom had their throats cut and one who was beaten to death.

‘Innocents’

“They were two motorcycle-taxi drivers and a young man who was walking in the neighborhood,” the man, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. “They are innocents”.

He appealed for calm in the neighborhood where sporadic gunfire could be heard and armed members of “self-defense” groups patrolled. An armored car carrying MINUSCA troops was stationed at the entrance to PK5.

An AFP correspondent saw three bodies taken to the morgue from a local mosque. A witness who did not give his name said the attackers at the cafe had launched four grenades.

In a video posted on his Facebook page, the concert’s singer Ozaguin — dubbed the king of Central African rumba — confirmed six of his fellow musicians had been injured.

He said he was surprised that he was not himself injured by grenade fragments. “Ozaguin came to perform here to ensure that all Central Africans — Muslims and Christians — can find some social cohesion,” the cafe’s owner, Issiakou Guymba, told AFP.

“An unidentified group came on a motorcycle-taxi, they threw one or some grenades in the middle of the crowd,” he said. “It makes us lose hope, when people come to cause panic like that among the population.”

Mired in poverty but rich in diamonds and other minerals, CAR has been battered by a conflict between rival militias that began after then-president Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013.

Under a UN mandate, the former colonial power France intervened to push out the Muslim Seleka rebels who had taken over, and the UN launched a peacekeeping mission in 2014.

But the country remains chronically prone to violence, with armed groups controlling most of the country. Fighting between armed groups around the town of Batangafo in northern CAR left at least two dead and 10 wounded at the end of last month.

(Source: AFP)

The Biya Francophone regime has announced that Anglophone secessionists in Cameroon killed at least two gendarmes, signalling an escalation in a protracted dispute with central government. The attacks in the Southern Cameroons city of Bamenda marked the worst fighting in recent years between Ambazonia militants and French Cameroun government forces in the central African state after a year of mostly peaceful protest.

Anglophone lawyers and teachers launched demonstrations a year ago against what they see as marginalisation of English-speakers by President Paul Biya’s government in the Northwest and Southwest regions who were forced to work in French.  A harsh crackdown by state forces, including helicopter gunships firing on civilians, killed dozens and bolstered support for the once-fringe separatist movement ahead of presidential elections in 2018.

Cho Ayaba, a leading member of the Ambazonian Governing Council, a separatist body established to create an independent state called Ambazonia, said secessionist militants killed three gendarmes in two co-ordinated attacks in Bamenda, the capital of the predominantly English-speaking Northwest region.

Cameroonian security sources reported the deaths of two gendarmes in an overnight attack near Bamenda, with one senior military official blaming secessionists. Another source said the gendarmes were ambushed by armed men on motorbikes.  Cameroon’s government spokesman and chief of police could not be reached immediately for comment.

Ayaba said members of the Ambazonian Defence Force, an armed wing of the separatist movement, killed two gendarmes in a first attack at a checkpoint near Bamenda airport and a third was killed in an ambush on a gendarme patrol unit in a Bamenda suburb an hour later.

“We carried out the actions,” said Ayaba. “Their security forces are a target and we will continue attacking them until they are gone.” Another separatist leader confirmed his account. Cameroon’s linguistic divide harks back a century to the League of Nations’ decision to split the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors at the end of World War One.

The secessionist movement existed underground for decades and recently started to gain widespread support in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest in response to government repression of protests.  Hundreds of Anglophone Cameroonians were swept up in mass arrests following violent demonstrations on October 1 and at least 5,000 fled to neighbouring Nigeria.

Source: Reuters

Togo’s opposition on Wednesday accused the security forces of “savage repression” after nearly 20 of its supporters were injured as they tried to protest against the ruling party.

The opposition held the first of three planned demonstrations this week on Tuesday, calling for constitutional reform and the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe.

But it said its supporters were prevented from taking to the streets in the northern cities of Sokode and Bafilo, despite government permission.

Heavily armed soldiers with their heads and faces covered positioned themselves at the starting points of the protests, breaking up crowds with sticks and tear gas.

In Sokode — the stronghold of opposition leader Tikpi Atchadam — the opposition said 16 people were injured by gunshots and beatings and three in Bafilo, where one disabled person was beaten up.

Amnesty International said it counted “at least 10 injured” in hospital in Sokode on Tuesday afternoon, including one with gunshot wounds in intensive care.

“There are others in houses,” making an exact number difficult to ascertain, the organization’s country director Aime Adi told AFP by telephone.

“The coalition condemns in the strongest terms this savage repression and the doublespeak of the regime,” the opposition said in a statement.

On Monday, the government had indicated it was open to talks with the opposition and announced the release of 42 people arrested during previous demonstrations.

Since the first protests began in late August, at least 16 people have died and more than 200 others have been injured as hundreds of thousands took to the streets across the country.

Demonstrators were again out in force on Wednesday and are expected again on Thursday.

In a joint statement, the European Union, United Nations and the French, US and German embassies said they welcomed the government’s measures to calm the situation.

It appealed for protests to take place peacefully.

The opposition wants Gnassingbe to step down and the introduction of a two-term limit for presidents, applied retroactively to prevent Gnassingbe standing for re-election.

Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005 and won three elections. His father General Gnassingbe Eyadema was president before him and ruled for 38 years.

(Source: AFP)

The Gabonese Minister of Presidential Affairs and National Defence, Etienne Massard Kabinda Makaga has paid a one-day working visit to Cameroon. It was about 10 am when Etienne Massard Kabinda Makaga arrived the premises of the Ministry of Defence.

After the usual military ritual was staged, he discussed ways of reinforcing ties between his country and Cameroon especially in the domains of defence and free circulation of goods within the CEMAC sub region. The audience gave way to a guided tour supervised by the Secretary of State in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam.

The first stop was at the Military Engineering Corps in the Ngoa-Nkelle neighbourhood where the achievements of this department were highlighted.

From Ngoa-Nkelle, the Gabonese Minister was led to the Combined Armed Services Military Academy, EMIA, created in 1962. It was then time to stop over at the over-a decade-old, International War College, Simbock which has trained senior military officers from both CEMAC and non-CEMAC countries.

The August guest later visited the International School for Security Forces created in 2008; a visit which did not leave the Gabonese Defence Minister, indifferent. It is the hope of many that this visit paves the way to better relations between Cameroon and Gabon.

Source: CRTV

As thousands of Camerounians flee their country into Nigeria and particularly Cross River State, as a result of the crisis in Southern Cameroun, the state Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has charged the United Nations to always nip each crisis in the bud before it morphs into a humanitarian crisis.

Ayade stated this at the weekend when he received the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and the Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS High Commission for Refugees, Antonio Canhandula, during a courtesy call on him in Calabar, the state capital.

The governor who clarified that he was speaking as a human being and not as a governor, maintained: “In the video clips going round the world today, I think humanity is being debased and I think UN must sit up because what you are doing is medicine after death and a lip service.”

Flaying what he described as reactionary on the part of the federal government and the UN, Ayade’ said: “You cannot watch the dislocation of family structures, kids being separated from their parents, husbands separated from their wives and all you do is to rush with food to their corridors and create squatters and camp for them and you think that is UN? You have failed. What is united about that? There is nothing united, if we are indeed a UN, the issue on Cameroon should be at the forefront of UN today.”

Insisting that he was yet to see any serious issue being made out of the crisis on either CNN or BBC, the governor said: “Any form of relocation of a people, no matter how temporary, is a failure of the world to address the issues that border on humanity, and I think UN must take this message very clearly that it has gotten too involved in the politics of redistribution of wealth and has forgotten its essence which was peace, unity and love.”

Frowning at the alleged closure of the Cameroon international borders against the Anglophones Camerounians, Ayade, who described the act as criminal, said: “Today, the Cameroon international borders are all sealed against the Anglophone Cameroonians, and UN is watching and coming with food, that is not food. That is poison because indeed you know their real trouble and ypur silence has done nothing today; just note that it will hunt you one day.”

The governor who explained the supportive roles played by Cameroon at the height of Biafra, IPOB and Boko Haram, enjoined President Muhammadu Buhari as the leader of Africa not to get involved in the politics of the Cameroon issues but should  interfere in the lives of every single Black man on earth.

Recounting the associated challenges of the crisis prone area, Ayade said: “The young people’s lives have been cut short, young kids don’t go to school, the entire southern part of Cameroon, the English speaking part is  completely shut down, hospitals are not working and people’s lives are in danger.”

The governor who disclosed that with about 2,430 refugees already  in Cross River State,   which he said was an indication of a near cataclysm, stated that the state government would partner the federal government to bring succour in order to return the victims to their homes within the shortest possible time.

He also assured the people that “we will join hands with UN to find a political solution and a lasting peaceful option for the people of Cameroon to live in peace as well as have prosperity and realise their full potential as human beings.”

Earlier, Farouq told the governor that the team was in the state to applaud him for hosting the refugees who sneaked into the state through Ikom and Amaga in Obudu, as well as meet with the victims who were at the moment being attended to through the distribution of relief materials.

The Country Representative Canhandula, intimated that “the solutions to the crisis could not be offered by one person, hence we are here  to offer our partnership towards resolving these problems,” adding: “We also have other UN agencies that have been accredited in your state, we will synergise with them to boost humanity care.”

Source: Thisday

The Central African Economic and Monetary Community reached a key milestone this week. Heads of state meeting in Chad lifted visa requirements for their citizens traveling within the six-member regional bloc. But challenges remain to ensuring free movement and deepening economic integration.

The announcement marked the culmination of 23 years of negotiation. Citizens of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon and Chad no longer need visas to travel within the six-member economic bloc.

Chadian President Idris Deby made the announcement at the CEMAC heads of state summit in Ndjamena. Deby said the people have rightfully been waiting for strong actions that concretely demonstrate that the integration of central Africa is a reality, which is the main reason the Central African Economic and Monetary Community was created. He said everyone who visited Chad this week can testify that they were exempted from visa charges.

CEMAC was founded in 1994, but has trailed behind other regional blocs on the continent in lifting visa restrictions. Economist Youssouf Saleh, Chad’s former prime minister, said for CEMAC, it is better late than never. But he added that the effectiveness of the free movement of goods and people will depend on whether there is also an integrated and competitive economy and whether political divides that have hampered economic activity are broken.

Last year, the economies of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea took a hit amid the global drop in oil prices. The two countries sealed their borders to stop job-seeking youths flooding into their countries and even began expelling some migrants from other CEMAC countries.

Only Chad, Cameroon and Gabon have started issuing the CEMAC biometric passports, despite a January 2014 deadline. Security concerns are also hindering free movement. At Garoua-Boulai on Cameroon’s eastern border with the C.A.R., border controls remain with travelers prevented from crossing on both sides. Cameroonian Colonel Etienne Detou said they have arrested rebel combatants from the Central African Republic trying to cross disguised as business persons and refugees.

He said although there is relative peace on the Cameroon side. But he added it should be noted there are regular incursions by armed groups and highway robbers from Central African Republic. He said the military and the police should be very vigilant and self-defense groups should participate in safeguarding their territory.

Cameroon and Chad are also limiting free movement of people at their common border. Both countries have suffered Boko Haram atrocities as well and want to make it harder for the terrorists to penetrate. CEMAC Commission President Pierre Moussa said the states are taking measures to address security concerns.

He said for the new visa-free policy to be fully effective, the heads of state have authorized the Development Bank of Central African States to pay $2 million as part of the debt they owe the International Police Organization so that they can help secure the borders of CEMAC. Other ambitious plans for CEMAC regional integration are yet to be executed, including plans to create a regional airline and to build roads linking the regional capitals.

Source: VOA

Five children were killed and two others wounded by a suicide bomber in northern Cameroon on Tuesday night, two security sources have told the AFP news agency. “A suicide bomber blew herself up at around 19:45 [18:45 GMT]” in the village of Zamga, about 2km (1.2 miles) from the Nigerian border, a security officer in the area is quoted as saying.

The bomber, who is believed to be a young girl, was also killed in the explosion. A group of children were playing when “a young girl slipped in” among them and triggered her explosives, the officer told AFP. For several years, fighters from the Nigerian-based Islamist group Boko Haram have been crossing the border to carry out attacks in Cameroon. Cameroon’s army has been battling Boko Haram militants for several years.

Source: BBC

Protests in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, have left at least 28 killed as people have reportedly become discontented with a government decision to take over control of an Islamic school.

Reports on Wednesday said some 100 people had also been injured in the protest, which began earlier Monday and escalated on Tuesday.

Nasredin Ali, a spokesman for the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization, a group based in neighboring Ethiopia, said clashes began after people resisted to hand over to government forces control of a Muslim community school in Asmara.

“Following the refusal to hand over the school, some 40 people were arrested and this led to the massive protests,” he said, adding that a tense atmosphere continued to dominate Asmara on Wednesday as people gathered to hold a funeral ceremony for those slain in the clashes. Ali even said that the Eritrean army was deploying troops to the city.

Authorities denied there were fatalities with Information Minister Yemane Meskel saying police had managed to disperse without any casualty the “small demonstration by one school in Asmara.”

Officials representing Eritrea in the African Union mission in Ethiopia were not available for comment on the reports of unrest.

Sunni Muslims comprise half of Eritrea’s population while there are other practices of Islam that the government bans. The government also allows religious education in private schools but it strictly monitors if there is any political activity.

Eritrea has also faced criticism from the West over its harsh military conscription laws. Many say those laws and lack of freedom for the youth have been mainly responsible for the influx of refugees from Eritrea into Europe.

Source: Presstv