25, September 2018
Revealed: Biya to head to Maroua and to Buea 0
Cameroon’s monarch, Paul Biya, will be in Maroua on Saturday, September 29, 2018, to help give his sluggish presidential election campaign a shot in the arm. Mr. Biya, who has ruled the country for 36 years, is running for reelection against a backdrop of a declining economy and total dissatisfaction with his performance across the country.
The Far North region remains one of the poorest regions of the country, with huge numbers of illiterates and highest disease load. The entire northern region lacks good hospitals and maternal and child deaths are among the highest in the country. The region is bereft of infrastructure and many people in the region are simply scraping a living.
Mr. Biya dismal economic performance is working against him and the abuses of his soldiers in that part of country when it comes to counter-terrorism are things that might likely put off the people of Maroua. It should be recalled that numerous videos have emerged of Cameroon soldiers killing women and children or even killing all able-bodied young men in certain villages in the Far north region.
From Maroua, the Monarch will be heading to Buea where he will be facing some of the toughest challenges. The Southern Cameroons crisis that is into its second year has radicalized almost all Southern Cameroonians and Mr. Biya’s snobbish attitude has put off all the people in the two English speaking regions.
The Southern Cameroons crisis which is into its second year has intensified with government troops stationed all over the two English-speaking regions. Buea, the Southwest regional capital, is awash with soldiers and gendarmes who have been deployed to scare any Southern Cameroonian fighters who may want to disrupt preparations for the arrival of the country’s president, Paul Biya, who is also known as the monarch presiding over a criminal syndicate that has ruled the country for more than three decades.
Yesterday, two young men returning from work in Buea were gunned down by army soldiers who have unfortunately become trigger-happy. The two young were responding to calls by the region’s governor for people to go about their businesses without fear.
Similarly, a popular taxi driver in Buea was also gunned down by a soldier. It has become systematic for soldiers to kill able-bodied young men in order to intimidate the local population. Other killings have also been reported in Kumba, Bali and Bafut and this is becoming a daily affair. Most of these killings are committed by army soldiers following instructions by the Defense Minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji.
Mr. Biya, who has not visited the region in years, will be heading to Buea before Election Day on October 7, 2018. The visit will be within the framework of presidential campaigns that are underway in the country. While other candidates are busy canvassing for support, Mr. Biya has been hiding at the country’s presidential palace in Yaoundé, encouraging his surrogates to act on his behalf as his performance over the last three decades is dismal.
Since 1992, Mr. Biya and his party have never won any election and it is rumored that results of the upcoming election are already known. The country’s election body and the Constitutional Council that releases the results are dominated by Mr. Biya’s loyalists.
By Kingsley Betek and Asu Vera Eyere
25, September 2018
UN chief warns of ‘increasingly chaotic’ world order 0
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has issued a stark warning of growing chaos and confusion as the rules-based global order comes under a threat of breaking down.
Guterres told the 193-member UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday that trust in the global order and among states was “at a breaking point” and international cooperation was becoming more difficult.
“Today, world order is increasingly chaotic. Power relations are less clear,” said the UN chief.
“Today, with shifts in the balance of power, the risk of confrontation may increase,” warned Guterres while addressing the opening session of the UNGA.
“But it runs deeper … As guardians of the common good, we also have a duty to promote and support a reformed, reinvigorated and strengthened multilateral system,” Guterres said as he opened the world’s largest diplomatic gathering.
Guterres did not single out a country for criticism. But the remarks came ahead of US President Donald Trump’s speech at the assembly.
The US president later opened his speech by touting his domestic policies, including tax cuts and his push to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, before addressing his foreign policy priorities.
Trump boasted that his administration had accomplished “more than almost any” other in US history. The remark drew laughter from the audience of world leaders.
There are fears among UN diplomats that the world is being carved up into spheres of influence and a return to great power rivalry.
Since Trump took office last year, Washington has violated numerous international treaties and conventions. Trump has scrapped the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Paris climate agreement and cut funding to the UN.
“Those who see their neighbors as dangerous may cause a threat where there was none. Those who close their borders to regular migration only fuel the work of traffickers,” Guterres said. “And those who ignore human rights in combating terrorism tend to breed the very extremism they are trying to end.”
“And those who ignore human rights in combating terrorism tend to breed the very extremism they are trying to end.”
Guterres acknowledged that peace efforts were failing and that respect for international humanitarian norms was unraveling. “The Rohingya people remain exiled, traumatized and in misery, still yearning for safety and justice.”
The so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become “more and more distant” while the nuclear threat “has not eased”, the UN chief said.
Trump’s recognition of occupied Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital” has already led Palestinian leaders to cut off contact with the White House.
“There is outrage at our inability to end the wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere,” he said.
Guterres also urged leaders to tackle climate change with a greater sense of ambition and urgency. “If we do not change course in the next two years, we risk runaway climate change.”
The Trump administration withdrew from a global accord to reduce emissions last year.
Source: Presstv