News

13, January 2020

President Macron meets with African leaders to boost fight against jihadists in Sahel ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron will on Monday host counterparts from five Sahel countries seeking more backing in the fight against a murderous jihadist uprising even as France’s military role is being questioned.

Recent tensions between France and Sahel governments could make for a tricky exchange at the six-way talks in the southwestern city of Pau, to be attended also by the heads of the UN, African Union, and EU Council.

Macron insists his counterparts from Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania and Chad must use the occasion to express public support for France’s military presence — by far the largest foreign contribution to the fight against African jihadists aligned to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Visiting the region last month, the French president complained of a lack of “clear political condemnation of anti-French feelings” on the ground.

“I see opposition movements, groups, who denounce the French presence as a neo-colonial, imperialist,” Macron said in Niamey, adding he was loath to send soldiers to countries where their presence was not “clearly wanted”.

Jihadist fighters have recently stepped up their campaign against military and civilian targets, and earlier this month, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned that “terrorist groups are gaining ground.”

France has 4,500 soldiers stationed in the Europe-sized region as part of Operation Barkhane, supporting poorly-equipped, impoverished local armies that in 2017 launched a joint anti-jihadist G5 Sahel force.

‘Down with France’

On Friday, hundreds of people gathered in the Malian capital Bamako to protest the presence of foreign troops, carrying posters reading: “Down with France, Barkhane must leave” and “France is a brake on our development.”

Despite the French presence and a 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping force dubbed MINUSMA in Mali, the conflict that erupted in the north of that country in 2012 has since spread to its neighbours, especially Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and more than a million displaced, with hundreds of troops dead, including dozens of French ones.

On Monday, Macron will gather Mali’s Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Burkina Faso’s Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou, Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and Chad’s Idriss Deby.

They will lay a wreath and observe a minute of silence for seven soldiers from Pau who died in action in Mali — among 13 French troops killed in a helicopter crash while hunting jihadists last November.

The presidents will then gather for the summit Macron has said must clarify the “political and strategic framework” of the Sahel military campaign.

After the talks, for which three hours have been set aside, the leaders will regroup for a working dinner where they will be joined by Guterres, European Council President Charles Michel and African Union Commission President Moussa Faki.

‘Remobilise’

Mali’s Keita has said the summit will be “decisive” and “will allow us to put on the table all the questions, all the grievances, all the solutions”.

But he insisted the G5 leaders would demand a “respectable and respectful relationship” with France. Kabore of Burkina Faso has described Macron’s recent insistences as “lacking in tact”.

Issifou said the summit would “launch an appeal for international solidarity so that the Sahel and France are not alone in this fight”.

The Pau meeting was postponed from December after a jihadist attack claimed the lives of 71 Niger soldiers. And last Thursday another attack by jihadists left 89 Niger soldiers dead.

On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the summit would serve “to remobilise and adapt ourselves to the new reality” of the jihadist onslaught, which analysts say appears to have become bolder, more complex, and better armed.

Paris will also use the occasion to repeat its call on other Western nations to help step up the fight.

Last year, only $300 million of $400 million pledged by the international community in cash and material support to the Sahel was delivered, according to the French presidency.

NGOs on Friday urged that civilians caught in the crossfire not be forgotten at Monday’s talks.

“The military response in the Sahel is part of the problem,” said Maureen Magee of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“Last year, military operations in Mali have pushed more than 80,000 people to flee. Engagement in the Sahel must put the protection of the populations at the heart of the response.”

(AFP)

12, January 2020

World leaders in Oman pay respects after sultan’s death ⁰

Britain’s Prince Charles and Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined regional leaders in Oman on Sunday to offer their condolences to the royal family after the death of long-reigning Sultan Qaboos.

A ceremony at Muscat’s Alam Palace drew figures from across political divides in the Middle East, including Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was among those who met the new sultan, along with Tunisian President Kais Saied, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, and Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy was also in attendance at the ceremony, which took place a day after the new royal ruler Haitham bin Tariq was selected and sworn in.

Haitham is a cousin of Qaboos, who never married and died Friday at the age of 79 without an heir apparent.

It was Sultan Qaboos’ policy of neutrality and non-interference that elevated Oman’s standing as a “Switzerland of the Middle East” and won it respect in the region and beyond.

It maintains healthy relations with the United States as well as with regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia, in what many diplomatic observers see as a model of balance.

Sultan Qaboos, who ruled for half a century, came to power in 1970 when he overthrew his father in a coup with British support.

As a young man, he attended Britain’s elite Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, after which he joined a British infantry battalion in Germany.

British premier Johnson is to meet with the new sultan and senior Omani officials during his visit, his office said in a statement.

“The UK and Oman have a broad and long-standing bilateral relationship that goes back over 200 years,” it said. “Our countries have deep economic ties and shared defence and security interests.”

As ruler, Qaboos modernised his country but also forged a broader role as a go-between in regional and international crises.

Under his reign, Oman refrained from taking sides in the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar as well as a military intervention in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The sultan’s death comes amid increased tensions between Tehran and Washington, following the US killing of a top Iranian commander in Iraq that raised fears the region was sliding into war.

The late sultan’s standing has been recognised with warm tributes from across the world, including from US President Donald Trump who said Qaboos was a “true partner and friend to the United States”.

Source: AFP

11, January 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Soldiers are into kidnapping ⁰

The Cameroon News Agency (CNA) has reported that some 5 elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR)have been apprehended at the Buea Sand Pit neighbourhood, for allegedly kidnapping a man in the same locality.

The man( name withheld) was kidnapped while at home. The kidnappers jumped over the fence to find their way into his residence around the Catholic Church.

Buea GMI intercepted by tracking the mobile money number they used to collect a ransom from the victim’s family.

More than half of the CFAF 2 million ransom was paid into their MTN Mobile Money account on Thursday.

On Friday, January 10, 2020, the irresponsible uniformed officers were arrested and the victim released.

One of the kidnappers, a BIR officer, lives in the same neighborhood as the victim.

Rogue elements of the army have been giving brave Southern Cameroonians fighters a bad name as they engage in kidnapping and recklessness, including the killing of innocent civilians.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

11, January 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yaounde Government Uses Child Soldiers ⁰

The Yaounde government has resorted to using child soldiers in its bid to restore peace and order in the two restive English-speaking regions of the country.

With many soldiers defecting or deserting the army, the government seems to be desperate and it has been organizing recruitment drives in East Cameroon, especially in the South region whence most of the country’s ministers hail.

Kids of less than 18 years are made to believe that political power is theirs and that Southern Cameroonians are challenging their authority.

Most of the young soldiers are even drugged and many do not even understand why they should be killing their fellow countrymen.

The fear of death has caused many of them to desert and those who have committed some of the worst atrocities are today suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and are not receiving any government assistance.

The Southern Cameroons crisis, which started in 2016, has resulted in the deaths of some 2,000 soldiers, most of whom are from the ethnic group of the country’s president, Paul Biya, who has ruled the country for almost 38 years and has nothing to show for such a long stay in power.

The crisis, which has destroyed the economic and social infrastructure of the two English-speaking regions of the country, has also had a huge impact on the country’s economy.

Many state-owned corporations in the two English-speaking regions of the country have been put out of business because of the conflict that has pitted the gerontocratic government in Yaounde against Southern Cameroonians who hold that they have been marginalized for more than five decades.

The country’s second employer, the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) has taken a blow to the liver and it will take a long time to put it back on the right path.

PAMOL, another major employer and a provider of a great revenue stream to the government, has simply been deleted from the face of the earth, as angry fighters have set fire to its facilities across the entire Southwest region of the country.

SONARA, the country’s lone oil refinery, has gone up in smoke and it will take huge amounts of money to bring it back to working order.

The country has been all over the world looking for much-needed resources to rebuild the refinery.

The government has been sending delegations to development finance institutions like the African Development Bank and the World Bank to source for funding, but their efforts have not produced and admirable results, as donors are reluctant to pour money into a country they consider as a dry hole because of government corruption and inefficiency.

With the elections approaching, more troops are being deployed to the two English-speaking regions of the country and not many will be returning to their families, as Southern Cameroonian fighters have acquired more sophisticated weapons and are willing to bring down anybody who stands in the way of their effort to restore their country’s independence.

Some 700 soldiers have already been sent to the two English-speaking regions of the country, but many have already escaped and others have lost their lives after exchanging fire with tough Southern Cameroonian fighters.

The situation is dire and the international community must intervene if the entire sub-region has to avoid the type of chaos that has plague other parts of the continent.

By Kingsley Betek and Joyce Ekinde in Cameroon.

11, January 2020

Francophone soldiers killing young Southern Cameroons men for no reason ⁰

Cameroon government soldiers are shooting and killing scores of young Southern Cameroonian boys residing in the rural areas and in the outskirts of the major towns and cities in the territory now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Dozens of Ambazonian youth reported to be in their early 20s were shot in both the Southern and Northern Zones of Southern Cameroons recently by troops deployed to protect candidates for next month municipal and parliamentary polls.

Eyewitness reports say every Southern Cameroons young man living in Ambaland is now a potential target for arrest or execution.

In Babessi, a locality in the Ngoketunjia County in the Northern Zone, a group of young men waving at the Francophone soldiers seemingly to indicate that they meant no harm were all gunned down in front of journalists from the state owned radio and television who were there to cover the counterfeit election campaign.

The Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima in a press briefing late yesterday observed that hundreds of Southern Cameroons youth killed by the Francophone army did not pose a threat to the French Cameroun military establishment illegally operating in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

It was clear, however, that at the time the Babessi youth were killed following news of the abduction of the mayor of the municipality, they were not participating in any violent activity.

By Kingsley Betek in Bamenda with additional reporting from Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap

11, January 2020

Planes brought down by missiles since 1973 ⁰

Iran on Saturday said its armed forces had “unintentionally” shot down the Ukrainian airliner which crashed outside Tehran.

The admission came a day after the country’s civil aviation chief had denied that the plane was brought down by a missile.

The Boeing 737 crashed on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew on board, shortly after Iran launched missiles at American forces in Iraq in response to the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad.

Here is a recap of other planes hit by missiles over the past four decades:

– 298 killed, Ukraine –

July 17, 2014: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 are killed, including 193 Dutch nationals.

The Kiev authorities and separatist pro-Russian rebels, who are battling for control of eastern Ukraine, accuse each other of firing the missile that downed the flight.

– 11 killed, Somalia –

March 23, 2007: An Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft belonging to a Belarusian airline is shot down by a rocket shortly after takeoff from the Somalian capital Mogadishu, killing 11 people. The plane was transporting Belarusian engineers and technicians who had travelled to the country to repair another plane hit by a missile two weeks earlier.

– 78 killed, Black Sea –

October 4, 2001: 78 people, mostly Israelis, were killed when their Siberia Airlines Tupolev Tu-154, flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, exploded mid-flight over the Black Sea. The crash happened less than 300 kilometres (190 miles) from the Crimean coast. A week later Kiev admitted that the disaster was due to the accidental firing of a Ukrainian missile.

– 290 killed, Gulf –

July 3, 1988: An Airbus A-300 belonging to Iran Air, flying from Bandar Abbas in Iran to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, was shot down in Iran’s territorial waters in the Gulf shortly after takeoff by two missiles fired from a US frigate patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, apparently mistaking it for a fighter aircraft.

The 290 passengers on board were killed. The United States paid Iran $101.8 million in compensation.

– 269 killed, Sakhalin –

September 1, 1983: A Boeing 747 belonging to Korean Air (then called Korean Air Lines) was shot down by Soviet fighter jets over the island of Sakhalin, after veering off course. All 269 people on board were killed. Soviet officials acknowledged five days later that they had shot down the South Korean plane.

– 108 killed, Sinai Desert –

February 21, 1973: A Libyan Arab Airline Boeing 727 flying from Tripoli to Cairo was shot down by Israeli fighter jets over the Sinai Desert. All but four of the 112 people on board were killed. The Israeli air force intervened after the Boeing flew over military facilities in the Sinai, then occupied by Israel. Israeli authorities said fighters opened fire when the plane refused to land.

Source: AFP

11, January 2020

Iran admits it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian passenger plane ⁰

Iran said on Saturday it unintentionally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane killing 176 people on board due to human error, after initially denying it brought down the plane in the tense aftermath of Iranian missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq.

Wednesday’s crash heightened international pressure on Iran after months of friction with the United States and tit-for-tat military strikes. Washington killed an Iranian general last week in Iraq, prompting Tehran to fire at U.S. targets.

The United States and Canada, which had 57 citizens on board, had blamed an Iranian action for bringing down the aircraft. Ottawa had told Iran that “the world is watching.”

On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the armed forces investigation showed the downing of the Boeing 737-800 was the result of “human error at time of crisis caused by U.S. adventurism (that) led to disaster.”

An Iranian military statement, announcing that a missile had struck the plane and expressing condolences to the victims, said the plane had flown close to a sensitive military site belonging to the elite Revolutionary Guards.

It said responsible parties would be referred to a judicial department within the military and held accountable.

Mobile phone footage posted and circulated by ordinary Iranians on Twitter after the crash has indicated that it came down in a ball of flames.

Iran had said on Thursday it would download the information from voice and flight data recorders, known as black boxes, to determine what had happened, although it had said that the process could take one to two months.

Tehran said it could ask Russia, Canada, France or Ukraine for help in an effort that it said could take one or two years.

Many of the victims were Iranian with dual nationality.

Iran initially dismissed the accusations that a missile was to blame for the crash, calling such suggestions “psychological warfare”.

Grief-stricken Iranians and others have posted images related to the crash. One showed a child’s red shoe in the dirt. Another was a selfie of a mother and daughter in their seats, sent to a loved one just before takeoff.

“Why were any civilian airlines flying out of Tehran airport in those conditions?” a user named Shiva Balaghi wrote on Twitter.

Ukraine had been looking at various possible causes of the crash, including an attack by a Russian-made missile, a collision, an engine explosion or terrorism.

(REUTERS)

10, January 2020

Queen Elizabeth demands swift response to ‘Megxit’ ⁰

Queen Elizabeth II has ordered royal courtiers to define a future role for Prince Harry and Meghan within days, following their unexpected decision to distance themselves from the royal family.

First Brexit, now Megxit.

Sources say Queen Elizabeth II has called on aides to rapidly define the new roles of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The reports come as Britain is still reeling from the couple’s announcement that they are stepping down from full-time royal duties.

Fans of the monarchy greeted the move with dismay.

“Very strange behaviour,” royals superfan John Loughery told Reuters. “And I think she is wearing the trousers, and I feel sorry for Harry. We want the golden boy back. And I think it will end up in tears.”

Many are sceptical at how the couple could stay on as part-time royals – and are upset by claims that the rest of the royal family was blindsided by the announcement.

“They’re a law unto themselves. They are just putting out statements, here, there and everywhere without consulting anybody,” said another fan.

On their new website, the Sussexes announced they will no longer take part in the Royal Rota system, which sends updates to British papers. Tabloids in particular have been heavily critical of the couple, leading Prince Harry and Meghan to speak publicly about the toll of the intense media pressure that comes with being senior royals.

From now on, they will be providing direct access only “to credible media outlets focused on objective news reporting”, and prioritising communication with “grassroots media organisations and young, up-and-coming journalists”.

You might call it their own way of taking back control.

Culled from France 24

10, January 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Mayor of Babessi in Ambazonia police drag-net ⁰

The municipal administrator of Babessi, a locality in the Ngoketunjia County in Southern Cameroons, Issa Chou and four of his councilors have been arrested by the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces, Cameroon Concord News has learnt from reliable sources.

An audio confirming the arrest of Mayor Issa Chou aired by a spokesperson for the Ambazonia Restoration Forces on Monday January 5, 2020 added that the action was ordered by the commander of the Babessi Restoration Forces known as General Man pass Man.

The Francophone civil administrator in the area declined to comment on the matter when contacted by our correspondent in Bamenda. The arrest is in line with the Ambazonia Interim Government’s decision banning French Cameroun elections in Ambazonia scheduled for February 9, 2020.

Ambazonia Communications Secretary, Comrade Milton Taka who made the Interim Government decision public via an audio in Pidgin English has also not commented on this developing story. What we do know is that the Biya regime has militarized Southern Cameroons amid reported clashes with Ambazonia fighters who have set ablaze a number of pro French Cameroun establishments centers-homes of some candidates to the twin polls and ELECAM monitor offices.

It should be recalled that during his end of year empty speech, President Paul Biya announced that security measures would be reinforced especially in Southern Cameroons to ensure the elections are held in all safety.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in the UK with files from Bamenda

9, January 2020

UN Security Council declares commitment to ‘international law’ as tensions flare ⁰

The UN Security Council on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to “an international order based on international law” amid fears of armed conflict between the United States and Iran.

The 15 members said the Security Council “reaffirms its commitment to the Charter of the United Nations, including the purposes and principles of the Charter, and an international order based on international law.”

The declaration was issued at the start of a debate on the UN Charter which had been tabled before the present crisis by Vietnam, a non-permanent member of the Security Council and which assumes the rotating presidency this month.

A record 111 countries, including several ministers, had signed up for the marathon debate on peace and security that will bring US and Iranian officials into the same room for the first time since the two countries came to brink of war in the past week following the US assassination of a top Iranian general.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said this week he had been informed by UN chief Antonio Guterres that Washington has denied him a visa for his trip to the UN headquarters in New York.

Asked about Zarif’s complaint, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the State Department does not comment on visa matters.

“The United States never say ‘no.’ They just don’t respond,” a UN official told AFP, noting that the tactic allowed Washington to deny any breach of its obligations as host country to the UN headquarters.

The same source, who asked not to be named, said that if the US formally refuses a request for a visa it is obliged to notify the UN leadership, which would cast its actions in an unfavorable light.

The declaration came as the UN prepares to celebrate 75 years since its founding in October 1945.

“The Security Council reaffirms its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,” it said.

In the week since tensions flared between the United States and Iran, no member nation of the Security Council has called for an emergency meeting of the body to address the crisis that has brought the Middle East to the verge of open war.

Source: AFP