News

There are reasons why Ambazonian leaders should not visit or transit through Turkey

19, February 2022

There are reasons why Ambazonian leaders should not visit or transit through Turkey 0

Turkey is about to ratify an 8-year-old security agreement with Cameroon allowing joint operations against dissidents.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a security agreement signed with the Biya regime in 2014 to parliament on February 13, 2022, starting the approval process. The agreement, which includes extensive cooperation against terrorism, joint police operations and intelligence sharing, brings the possibility of new abductions or illegal deportations of Turkish citizens to the agenda since the Erdoğan government continuously calls political opponents “terrorists.”

Turkish intelligence had previously abducted a significant number of Erdoğan opponents in violation of international law as part of a witch-hunt that was launched following an abortive coup in 2016.

Similar to previous security accords, the text of the agreement, obtained by Nordic Monitor, contains ambiguous phrases that could be used by the Turkish government to suppress opponents living in exile and critics outside the country.

Source: Nordic Monitor

Top Northern Ireland politician Sir Jeffrey Donaldson under fire over trade mission to Yaoundé

19, February 2022

Top Northern Ireland politician Sir Jeffrey Donaldson under fire over trade mission to Yaoundé 0

The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) the joint-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fifth-largest party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has been challenged to explain why he abandoned Northern Ireland amid a political crisis for a trade mission to Cameroon.

Sir Jeffrey made his first visit to Cameroon this week after being named as trade envoy last summer. The Northern Ireland politician visited a divided nation described by Transparency International as the most repressive and corrupt state in Africa.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was seen posing for the camera with the controversial Chief Ekoko Mukete whose chieftaincy title is still being contested deep within the Bafaw Royal Family in Kumba and he is considered by many English speaking Cameroonians as a traitor.  

Dolores Kelly of the Social-Democratic Irish Nationalist Political Party in Northern Ireland (SDLP) has been quoted as saying “it was unforgivable for DUP leader to make the trip during crisis” in his own country.

Founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for 37 years, the DUP currently led by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is badly in need of decent man to run its affairs.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Belfast Telegraph

Deadly fighting erupts between Biya regime forces and armed Amba fighters in Akwaya

19, February 2022

Deadly fighting erupts between Biya regime forces and armed Amba fighters in Akwaya 0

Deadly clashes have erupted between military forces loyal to the Biya French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé and armed Ambazonia fighters at Tinta some few kilometers from Akwaya town in Manyu Division.

Cameroon Concord News sources in Manyu said on Thursday that an unknown number of Cameroon government army soldiers and civilians were injured.

The office of the Divisional Officer for Akwaya Sub Division, said Amba fighters attacked government troops on patrol heading towards the borders with Nigeria.

Witnesses told Cameroon Concord News that they had heard heavy gunfire on Thursday around the outskirts of Akwaya.

Akwaya Sub Division has seen increased fighting and displacement since 2016. Experts link the surge of violence in Akwaya to the huge equatorial forest that provides good hideouts for Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

By Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

Mali asks France to withdraw troops ‘without delay’

18, February 2022

Mali asks France to withdraw troops ‘without delay’ 0

Mali’s army-led government asked France on Friday to withdraw its troops from the Sahel state “without delay”, calling into question Paris’ plans to pull out over several months.

A government spokesman added in a statement announced on public television that the results of France’s nine-year military engagement in conflict-torn Mali were “not satisfactory”.

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he was withdrawing troops from Mali after a breakdown in relations with the nation’s ruling military junta.

Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply after Mali’s army seized power in a coup in 2020, and later defied calls to restore civilian rule swiftly.

The French pullout after nearly a decade is also set to see the smaller European Takuba force of special forces, created in 2020, leave Mali.

France currently has some 5,000 troops deployed across the Sahel as part of its anti-jihadist Barkhane force — the majority  in Mali.

Macron said the withdrawal would take place over four to six months.

Spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga called the French withdrawal a “flagrant violation” of accords between the two countries.

“In view of these repeated breaches of defence agreements, the government invites the French authorities to withdraw, without delay,” he said.

Source: AFP

US judge rules Trump must testify in New York civil investigation

17, February 2022

US judge rules Trump must testify in New York civil investigation 0

A judge ruled Thursday that former US president Donald Trump must testify under oath in New York’s civil probe into alleged fraudulent practices at his family business.

The ruling is the latest legal blow to Trump as he fights numerous cases that threaten to complicate any bid for another run at the White House in 2024.

State Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Jr and Ivanka, to comply with subpoenas issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

He said the three must sit for depositions within 21 days. The Trumps are expected to appeal.

Earlier during oral arguments, the Trumps’ lawyers said that the subpoenas should be quashed because having them give evidence in the civil case would prejudice their rights in a parallel criminal investigation.

Engoron said their argument “completely misses the mark,” noting that neither the Manhattan District Attorney, which is running the criminal investigation, nor James’s office have ordered the Trumps to appear before a grand jury.

In his ruling, Engoron added that the Trumps could invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves during questioning in the civil case.

He noted that Trump’s other son, Eric, had pleaded the fifth “more than 500 times” during a deposition for James’s investigation in October 2020.

James, a Democrat, announced in January that her investigation into the Trump Organization had uncovered “significant evidence” of fraudulent or misleading practices.

She said that the civil inquiry had found that the Trump Organization fraudulently overvalued multiple assets to secure loans and then undervalued them to minimize taxes.

The Trumps have claimed the investigation is politically motivated and has urged the court to quash subpoenas against the three.

If James finds evidence of financial misconduct she can sue the Trump Organization for damages but cannot file criminal charges.

The probe, however, is running alongside a very similar criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney for possible financial crimes and insurance fraud.

In July last year, the Trump Organization and its long-serving finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty in a New York court to 15 felony fraud and tax evasion charges.

His trial is due to begin in the middle of this year.

Trump, 75, has so far kept the electorate and commentators guessing about whether he intends to seek the Republican nomination again.

Source: AFP

French Cameroun: Two civilians killed in Boko Haram attack in Far North region

17, February 2022

French Cameroun: Two civilians killed in Boko Haram attack in Far North region 0

At least two civilians were killed when Boko Haram militants raided a village in the Far North region overnight into Tuesday, security and local sources said.

The attack took place in Gaboua, a locality in Koza subdivision of the region when locals were asleep.

The militants burgled the home of a respected community figure, killing him and his son, a military official who asked not to be named said.

Locals said, another group of the terrorists proceeded to loot several houses in Biguide, another locality of the subdivision. There were no casualties in the attack in Biguide.

The Boko Haram group has multiplied attacks against civilians in the region in recent weeks, targeting vulnerable impoverished communities, according to reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

IG denounces Biya regime brutality in Southern Cameroons as war crime

16, February 2022

IG denounces Biya regime brutality in Southern Cameroons as war crime 0

The Ambazonia Interim Government has roundly condemned the brutal practices of French Cameroun army soldiers and pro Yaoundé Atanga Nji Boys against Southern Cameroonians in their homeland as war crimes, calling on the international community to put an end to the rising acts of the French Cameroun regime’s aggression.

“The Southern Cameroons Department of Foreign Affairs is following up on ferocious French Cameroun assaults being committed by Francophone troops against Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero. The atrocities have claimed several lives and caused damage to property,” the department of foreign affairs said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Professor Carlson Anyangwe denounced the constant attacks on Southern Cameroonians that is forcing them to flee from their ancestral homes as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and a flagrant violation of international law and humanitarian principles.

Elsewhere in the statement, the Ambazonia Department of Foreign Affairs called on world states as well as international humanitarian organizations to immediately stop La Republique du Cameroun practices and prevent the Biya regime from killing more Southern Cameroonians and trampling on their rights.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

French case closed over plane attack that sparked Rwanda genocide

16, February 2022

French case closed over plane attack that sparked Rwanda genocide 0

France’s top court on Tuesday confirmed that a probe should be closed into the shooting down of a presidential plane that triggered the 1994 Rwanda genocide, ending a two-decade legal saga.

The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal by families of people killed in the missile attack on president Juvenal Habyarimana’s aircraft on April 6, 1994.

They had asked judges to reverse a lower court’s decision to abandon the case against people close to current President Paul Kagame.

Relations between Paris and Kigali had long been strained by the probe and its associated arrest warrants.

“The investigation was complete and sufficient charges did not exist against anyone for committing the alleged crimes, nor any other infraction,” the Court of Cassation found.

The Falcon 50 plane was carrying Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira from a summit in Tanzania, where they had been discussing the crisis in the two countries and continuing negotiations with Kagame, then leader of the mostly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR).

Its downing is widely seen as the spark that ignited the genocide in which more than 800,000 people are believed to have died — most from the Tutsi minority at the hands of Hutus.

Rwanda’s representative at the UN said at the time that the plane was shot down by “enemies of the peace,” while the defence ministry said “unidentified elements” were responsible.

Relatives of the French flight crew turned to the courts in 1998.

French investigators long suspected that Kagame’s rebels fired on the flight as it landed in the Rwandan capital.

Later they chased up the theory that Hutu extremists unsatisfied with the moderate Habyarimana were behind the attack, with no more success.

But a French expert report found in 2012 that the plane was hit by missiles fired from a camp occupied by Habyarimana’s own presidential guard.

Defending their dropping the case in December 2018, the investigating magistrates said there was a “lack of indisputable material evidence,” and this left the charges resting on witness accounts that were “mostly contradictory or impossible to verify.”

They also underlined the “detrimental atmosphere” around the case, including killings, disappearances of witnesses and manipulation of testimony.

Source: AFP

US: Trump’s longtime accountant cuts ties, says his financial records are unreliable

16, February 2022

US: Trump’s longtime accountant cuts ties, says his financial records are unreliable 0

Donald Trump’s longtime accountants have ditched the former US president as a client, saying a decade’s worth of financial statements could not be relied upon, court documents showed Monday.

Mazars informed the Trump Organization in a letter last Wednesday that it would no longer work for the company, which is being probed by New York prosecutors for alleged fraud.

The letter was revealed in court by New York state attorney general Letitia James as she asked a judge to force Trump to comply with subpoenas seeking testimony in her investigation.

James announced last month that her civil inquiry into Trump’s family firm had uncovered “significant evidence” of misleading business practices, including the fraudulent valuation of assets.

Mazars wrote that James’s findings had contributed towards it deciding that accounts for Trump for the years ending June 30, 2011 to June 30, 2020 “should no longer be relied upon.”

The accounting firm added that an investigation of its own and “information received from internal and external sources” had also played a part in it reaching that conclusion.

“While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate,” it said.

The letter added that in part because of the decision regarding the statements, Mazars “are not able to provide any new work product to the Trump Organization.”

The financial records are at the heart of James’s investigation and a criminal probe by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

The twin inquiries are investigating whether the Trump Organization defrauded lenders into providing favourable loans.

James, a Democrat, said in January that her ongoing inquiry had found that the Trump Organization fraudulently overvalued multiple assets to secure loans and then undervalued them to minimise taxes.

She said the company had “misrepresented” the valuation of assets to financial institutions including the Internal Revenue Service, banks and insurers for “economic benefit.”

Parallel investigations

If James finds evidence of financial misconduct she can sue the Trump Organization for damages but cannot file criminal charges.

The probe, however, is running alongside a similar criminal investigation by the Manhattan DA for possible financial crimes and insurance fraud.

Last July the Trump Organization and its long-serving finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded not guilty to 15 felony fraud and tax evasion charges.

The DA’s office in January 2021 finally received roughly eight years of Trump tax returns from Mazars following a marathon legal battle that went to the Supreme Court.

Trump has slammed both probes as politically motivated.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement Monday evening that they were “disappointed” by Mazars’ decision to cut ties.

The firm’s “letter confirms that after conducting a subsequent review of all prior statements of financial condition, Mazars’ work was performed in accordance with all applicable accounting standards and principles and that such statements of financial condition do not contain any material discrepancies,” the spokesperson said, calling both investigations in New York therefore “moot.”

In her filing Monday, James repeated her request that the former president, Donald Trump Jr, and Ivanka Trump give evidence under oath. Her office has already questioned Eric Trump.

The legal woes could make a second White House run more difficult for the 75-year-old Trump, who has kept Americans guessing about his plans.

Source: AFP

Biya at 89: Unemployed youth paid $5 each to take part in the birthday event

15, February 2022

Biya at 89: Unemployed youth paid $5 each to take part in the birthday event 0

Cameroon held birthday celebrations across the country for President Paul Biya, who turned 89 on Sunday. Supporters wished Biya, who is Africa’s oldest and second longest-serving leader, a long life, while some opponents said it’s well past time for him to leave office.

The country’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic education said more than 2,500 young people turned out to celebrate at the sports complex.

Cameroon’s National Youth Council said it organized the birthday celebration in collaboration with the government of Cameroon.

Biya was not physically present at his Yaounde birthday celebration. His representative, Ferdinand Ngo Ngo, Secretary-General of Cameroon’s presidency said Biya is delighted that young Cameroonians love the president.

Ngo Ngo said other nations envy Cameroon because of Biya’s exceptional leadership qualities.

Similar activities were held in towns and villages throughout Cameroon.

The government said young people came out voluntarily to celebrate Biya’s birthday, but critics say they were paid $5 each to take part in the birthday event. During past election campaigns, critics also say Biya has used money to buy people’s votes.

Biya became president in 1982. He took over from Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahijo. Biya had served as prime minister since 1975.

He has won all multiparty elections since 1992, and the opposition has always complained of heavy election rigging by Biya.

In 2008, Biya abolished the constitution’s two-term limit.

Denis Nkemlemo, a spokesperson for the opposition Social Democratic Front, said Biya should leave power if he loves his people. Nkemlemo questioned Biya’s ability to lead as he is getting older.

“It beats everybody’s imagination. For 40 years somebody is president and nobody around him thinks that there can be a Cameroonian to take the relay baton,” Nkemlemo said. “This is somebody who is very old, who has not been able to physically attend many occasions that demand his presence because of his age and tiredness and all the other physical disabilities that go with age.”

The government says Biya is in excellent health. The last time Biya was seen in public was when he presided over an Africa Cup of Nations final game between Senegal and Egypt at Yaounde’s Olembe stadium. He spent close to 4 hours at the match and the closing ceremony of Africa’s top football event.

The 89-year-old Biya is Africa’s oldest president. He is the second-longest serving leader in Africa after his neighbor, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang has been in power since 1979.

Source: VOA

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