Prime Minister Philemon Yang has met with the Lagdo hostages recently freed from captivity in the Central African Republic. During the brief ceremony, the head of government saluted the courage and shared in the pains suffered by the mayor  of Lagdo, Abakaï Mama and 10 others who spent 15 months in the hands of rebel groups operating in the Central African Republic.

Philemon Yang also conveyed the encouragement of President Paul Biya to the hostages and their families during the Friday meeting.  The former hostages will now leave Yaounde for Ladgo in the coming days.  Released on the night of 8 to 9 July 2016, only 11 out of the 14 survived following the brutal murder of three members of the group.

By Sama Ernest

An Air Algerie flight traveling to the French city of Marseille has been forced to return to Algiers due to a technical failure. The airline said the plane landed safely in the Algerian capital on Saturday around 30 minutes after takeoff, AP reported.

The carrier said that no one was injured, adding that passengers were expected to board another plane for Marseille in southern France later in the day. There is no information about what caused the plane to return to the Algeria’s capital. Earlier, reports, citing online flight tracking sources, said that the flight AH1020 put out a mid-air emergency call shortly before disappearing from radar.

Initially the flight radar showed the passenger plane turning around and heading back towards the point where it took off but before landing, it disappeared from radar, the reports added. The flight had taken off at around 1.30 p.m. local time and was due to arrive in Marseille just after 4 p.m.

Presstv

At least a dozen Malian soldiers were killed Tuesday in an attack by militants on an army base in the city of Nampala in central Mali.

Ousmane Diallo, the deputy mayor of the nearby town of Diabaly, and a security source both confirmed that assailants also wounded at least 27 people as they took control of the military base, which is located close to Mauritania’s border.

“The army is regrouping in town (Diabaly) and is preparing a counter-attack to retake the base, which fell into the hands of the assailants,” Diallo said. 

Presstv

Morocco has officially announced plans to rejoin the African Union more than three decades after it left the bloc in protest at the independence of Western Sahara. King Mohammed VI sent a message to the leaders of the union as they began a two-day summit in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Sunday, saying it’s time for his country to retake its position in the organization.

“For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them, so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family. The moment has now come,” said the monarch. He said although Morocco left the club, “it never quit Africa.” In 1984, King Mohammed’s father, King Hassan II, pulled the North African country out of the union over the decision to accept the independence of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as a formal member.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 and considers it the kingdom’s “southern province.” For decades, the United Nations has been seeking to hold a referendum on independence for the territory. While the government in Morocco continues to carry out multi-million-dollar development projects in the territory, several African countries recognize the area as the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Morocco has offered wide-ranging autonomy for the region, but the Polisario Front, the independence movement in the Western Sahara insists that a referendum be held so that the local population can decide their fate. Leaders of the movement warned in April that that if the UN Security Council fails to set a timetable for a vote on self-determination, war will be possible over the disputed territory.

Presstv

Antoinette Sassou, wife of the Congolese head of state Sassou Nguesso, has been summoned by US attorneys in Washington. Cameroon Concord News is aware Madam Sassou Nguesso is wanted by a US court following a complaint from a pool of lawyers in a debt case that involves the Congolese government and the Commisimpex society.

The hydra-headed issue started as far back as 1992 when a Lebanese businessman, Mohsen Hojeij, claimed the Nguesso family and the Congolese government owed him a debt of nearly 100 million dollars. In 1993, the amount totaled € 675 million in 2013. In 2016, the debt is estimated at 1 billion (one billion). The complainant has handed over the case to a US law firm to track down the asset of the Sassou Nguesso family in the United States.

A source at the presidential palace in Brazzaville was quoted earlier today as saying the first lady will not respond to the summons of the American lawyers. However, the case opens the way to US investigators, to delve into the rich heritage of the Nguesso family. Thus, the properties of the Sassou Nguesso clan, including Willy Etoka, Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, Bruno Jean Richard Itoua, Denis Ngokana, Antoinette Sassou Nguesso via  Cameroonian businessman Yaya Moussa, Claudia Sassou Nguesso are all now at the mercy of the American justice system.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)