News

18, April 2019

Yaounde, Abuja discuss return of 4,000 Nigerian refugees ⁰

Cameroon officials said Wednesday they are concluding arrangements with neighboring Nigeria for the return of 4,000 Nigerian refugees to their country by April 29.

The refugees from Minawao camp, the only official refugee camp in Cameroon’s Far North region, voluntarily opted to return home, according to the region’s governor Midjiyawa Bakari.

“We have agreed with the Nigeria government that 4,000 refugees from Adamawa state in Nigeria will be returned. They are the first ones to return but the process will continue after that. They will return by air. Cameroon will provide the security from the refugee camp to the airport,” Bakari told reporters.

“We (Nigeria and Cameroon) are discussing how we will do with their children that have been going to school here and the property they have obtained here,” he added.

The majority of the refugees at the camp are from Borno state in Nigeria but only those from Adamawa asked to be taken home because “there is calm and security” there, officials said.

In early April, Cameroon assisted 40,000 out of about 60,000 Nigerians who fled into Cameroon before Nigeria’s February elections to return home.

According to the UN, Minawao camp hosts over 57,000 Nigerian refugees who fled from the atrocities of terror group Boko Haram.

Source: Xinhuanet

17, April 2019

Human Rights Watch calls for arrests in South Africa after attacks on foreigners ⁰

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged South African authorities to prosecute the perpetrators of deadly xenophobic violence that displaced some 300 Malawi migrants three weeks ago but has yielded no arrests.

From March 25 to 27, mobs armed with metal rods and machetes broke into the homes of foreigners in Durban on South Africa’s east coast, chasing them out and looting their belongings, HRW said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said at least six foreign nationals were killed and several injured, raising fears of a resurgence of xenophobic bloodshed in a country where poor, jobless people accuse migrants of taking their work and benefits.

About 88 survivors of the Durban attacks asked to be sent back to Malawi as they felt unsafe, according to representatives of the Malawi High Commission.

Others had no choice but to return to the same informal settlement they had been violently chased out of.

“Re-integration of foreign nationals into communities without justice and accountability for past xenophobic attacks is a recipe for disaster,” said HRW’s southern Africa director Dewa Mavhinga.

“To deter those who attack foreign nationals, there is an urgent need for effective policing, arrests, and prosecutions.”

The lack of arrests showed “impunity for xenophobic crimes,” said the rights watchdog.

Widespread condemnation of the violence prompted emergency talks between South Africa’s foreign and police ministers, Lindiwe Sisulu and Bheki Cele, and diplomats of African countries.

This file photo shows Malawians marching through the capital Lilongwe to protest against xenophobic attacks in South Africa. (Photo by AFP)

HRW also urged politicians to refrain from statements that “scapegoat migrants and feed anti-foreigner violence,” ahead of May 8 general elections.

It cited remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa at a party rally in March, when he “blamed undocumented migrants for problems and promised a crackdown.”

The country hosts millions of foreigners, most from African countries and many undocumented.

Immigrants bear much of the anger about chronic unemployment and limited economic gains made by poor black people since white-minority rule ended in 1994.

Violence erupts sporadically, targeting foreign-owned shops and migrants themselves.

Sixty-two people were killed in a wave of xenophobic violence in 2008, and at least seven in a fresh outburst in 2015.

(Source: AFP)

17, April 2019

Algerian protests force head of Constitutional Council to resign ⁰

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across the country to call for the removal of interim President Abdel-Kader Bensalah, after their success in forcing the head of the Constitutional Council to resign.

The controversial head of the country’s Constitutional Council quit on Tuesday bowing to weeks of anger from protesters. Pro-democracy protesters had called for the removal of Tayib Belaiz, saying he is part of a ruling elite they want to abolish.

The resignation was yet more upheaval for Algeria since the ousting of long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Bouteflika stepped down on April 2 after weeks of mass protests for his 20-year rule to end. But his departure has failed to placate many Algerians who want to topple the old guard and its associates.

In the capital Algiers, protesters poured into streets, held signs and chanted anti-government slogans. Similar protests were also held in other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Algeria’s Army Chief Gaed Sala said the military was looking at all options to find a solution to end the country’s political crisis as soon as possible.

In a speech read out on state TV, he urged protesters to avoid violence and gave formal orders to protect the demonstrators.

Salah said time was running out and Algeria could not afford further delays, adding that more steps would be taken to meet the protesters’ demands.

Belaiz’s departure could herald that of other senior political figures who protesters want to see removed as mass protests entered the eighth week.

Protesters want the removal of an elite that has governed Algeria since independence from France in 1962 and the prosecution of people they see as corrupt.

Source: Presstv

17, April 2019

Nobel Peace Prize winner calls for end of hostilities in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Leymah Roberta Gbowee, 2011 Noble Peace Prize winner, Liberian female peace activist, on Tuesday called for ending of disputes in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions that have been ravaged by war in the last two years.

“As someone who has survived war and has lived through it, I will tell Cameroonians, war has never been the answer to solving any kind of problem. My message to Cameroon is that it should never be Anglophone or Francophone, it should be one Cameroon, one people.” Gbowee told reporters in the capital Yaounde after meeting with government officials.

She said that she had spent three days in the restive regions urging for an end to the war and intensifying efforts to defend the rights of women and girls in the conflict zone.

“It is the women and girls who pay the brunt of it. There is always increase in sexually transmitted diseases, rape and abuse and teen pregnancies.” Gbowee said, citing the example of her country, Liberia which she said should serve as an example for Cameroon that nobody wins war.

“We (Liberia) went through a very devastating civil war where we killed almost 10 percent of our population and the impact is still been felt by the population. There are no winners in any kind of crisis. It takes generations for the pains to go away,” she said.

Cameroon is largely populated by French-speakers, but since November 2017, Anglophone minority have formed armed groups to fight for the independence of the English-speaking regions after complaining of decades of marginalization.

Source: Xinhuanet

16, April 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Women Fleeing Violence Use Moss As Tampons ⁰

Women who have fled into the bushes from the conflict in English-speaking regions of Cameroon are using moss squashed into balls as tampons, risking infection. One 16-year-old explained to BBC Focus on Africa the challenges she is facing since she left her home:

Quote Message: There is no way we can get sanitary towels in the bushes. The nearest town is too far away and it’s not safe to go there. We use rags during our periods and it’s not easy finding pieces of cloth to use. I know it’s dangerous and one can easily get infected.”There is no way we can get sanitary towels in the bushes. The nearest town is too far away and it’s not safe to go there. We use rags during our periods and it’s not easy finding pieces of cloth to use. I know it’s dangerous and one can easily get infected.”

Another woman explained to me what she had been using for the last six months:

Quote Message: Moss plant – it grows on cocoa trees. Our mothers used it in those days when sanitary towels did not exist. You crush it and shape it into a small ball or tampon. Then you insert it deep into your body. This is what I’ve been using for the six months I’ve been in the bush. Moss plant – it grows on cocoa trees. Our mothers used it in those days when sanitary towels did not exist. You crush it and shape it into a small ball or tampon. Then you insert it deep into your body. This is what I’ve been using for the six months I’ve been in the bush.

Health workers strongly warn against this because of the risk of infection. More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, according to the International Crisis Group.

Militias began to emerge in 2017 after a security force crackdown on mass protests, led by lawyers in wigs and teachers in suits, over the government’s alleged failure to give enough recognition to the English legal and education systems in the North-West and South-West.

The government was accused of relying heavily on people trained in the French legal and educational tradition to work in key posts and generally marginalising Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, who make up about 20% of the population.

Source: BBC

16, April 2019

Southern Cameroons War: 3 Restoration Forces, 4 French Cameroun soldiers killed in clashes ⁰

At least three armed separatists and four members of the government forces died Sunday night in violent clashes in Bali, a locality in the Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon, local sources said.

“Civilians have fled the area and fighting is intensifying. I saw three corpses when I was escaping. Many people are injured,” a local resident who asked not to be named said.

Government forces interviewed confirmed the confrontation and stressed that a mission to restore peace and security in the locality was in progress.

Ambazonian Communication Secretary Chris Anu warned of “dangerous times” for the locality.

“Mayhem has been unleashed on the people of Bali. We are urging everyone in Bali to look for a safer location to move to,” Anu said last Sunday in a widely circulated WhatsApp voice.

Clashes are escalating between government forces and armed separatists in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest, where separatists have created an independent nation they call “The Federal Republic Ambazonia”.

Source: Xinhuanet with editing from CCN

15, April 2019

Yaounde intercepts about 30 passengers for alleged links to Boko Haram ⁰

Cameroon army arrested about 30 passengers in Far North region on Saturday night over suspected links to terror group Boko Haram during an impromptu road safety inspection, the region’s governor Midjiyawa Bakary said on Sunday.

According to Bakary, the passengers, mostly women and children, and their bus had no identification papers and were coming from a locality called Blangoua known for harboring Boko Haram insurgents.

“Blangoua shares boundary with Nigeria and Boko Haram militants regularly come to spend time there. There have been a number of suicide bomb incidents in the locality and many of those who committed these atrocities were women. So, soldiers were curious to see a group of women traveling without their husbands and from a place with bad reputation and decided to arrest them,” Local journalist Dairou Mohammed told Xinhua.

Boko Haram used to train women to suicide bombers, partially because it is easier to hide the bomb under women’s Burqa.

Bakary said that the road safety inspection was part of measures to curb insecurity that is common in the region during the period leading to major events.

“We have important events like the Labour Day, National Day (May 20) and the fasting period of Muslims all coming in May. Usually at this period, the attacks of Boko Haram increase,” he told reporters.

They will be released after “thorough investigation”, local authorities said.

On Friday, at least four Cameroonian soldiers died and seven others wounded in Mayo Moskota Sub-Division of the Far North region after landing on a mine planted by Boko Haram.

Source: Xinhuanet

15, April 2019

World’s largest aircraft completes historic first flight ⁰

The Stratolaunch, the world’s largest aircraft by wingspan, completed its successful first flight over the Mojave Desert, California, on Saturday.

The Stratolaunch has six engines and has a wingspan of 117m (384ft), bigger than the length of an American football field.

According to official information from Stratolaunch, the aircraft reached a maximum speed of more than 300 kilometres per hour (189 mph), during its 2.5 hour long flight at altitudes up to 17,000 feet (5,181m) over the desert.

According to reports, the Stratolaunch will enable convenient and affordable access to space, as its centre wing is designed to carry as many as three satellite-laden rockets and can support multiple launch vehicles, weighing up to a total of 500,000 pounds (over 226 tons).

15, April 2019

UK police invading migrant couples’ privacy over sham marriage suspicion ⁰

A new report shows genuine couples in the UK have been subjected to numerous cases of insult and harassment by police and other authorities, who suspect such marriages provide a cover for immigration fraud.

The Guardian newspaper said on Sunday that more and more registered couples across the UK had been subject to “insulting” searches by Home Office officials investigating whether their relationship was real and not one that allows the parties to remain in the country as a migrant.

The newspaper cited shocking cases of ministry officials raiding houses of couples or gatecrashing their wedding ceremonies only because they suspected they were involved in a sham marriage.

The couples are often forced to detail their sexual relationship, something many of them find deeply troublesome and insulting.

In one case, ministry officials had told a couple inside their house that their marriage could be declared sham because they were wearing pajamas in bed.

In another case, four ministry officials raided the home of a Pakistani man, identified only as Qasim, and his Portuguese wife three years ago. They interrogated the couple about their sexual behavior and then arrested the man for four months until authorities were convinced that the relationship was genuine.

“I was in a state of shock and trauma all the time I was in detention. It was very insulting that the Home Office came inside our home to check that everything was joined,” said Qasim.

Lawyers and rights activists have protested against the Home Office practice, saying it is part of the UK government’s hostile policy toward the refugees.

“You may be detained after your marriage ceremony is gatecrashed by Home Office officials. It’s very degrading,” said Poppy Firmin, an employee of a UK law agency.

“Home Office officials may come to your home early in the morning and check up on the number of toothbrushes,” said Elizabeth Ruddick, a solicitor working for major law agency.

The UK government has repeatedly been accused of violating the rights of refugees as authorities eye a drastic reduction in the number of arrivals in the country. That comes as many migrants from the European Union countries have already left the UK fearing that the country’s withdrawal from the EU could make their lives more difficult.

Presstv

14, April 2019

‘I did not run for Congress to be silent,’ Ilhan Omar tells Trump ⁰

In the face of violent attacks from US President Donald Trump and other Republicans, Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has said nobody could silence her.

“I did not run for Congress to be silent,” Omar wrote on Twitter on Saturday, hours after Trump shared a video suggesting that Omar, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota, was dismissive of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Ilhan Omar✔@IlhanMN · 14h Replying to @IlhanMN

An administration that would rather give billionaires tax breaks than provide a little cushion for working people. An administration that would rather attack fellow Americans who are transgender and wear our country’s uniform than fight for equality and opportunity for all.

Ilhan Omar✔@IlhanMN

I did not run for Congress to be silent. I did not run for Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because I believed it was time to restore moral clarity and courage to Congress. To fight and to defend our democracy.39K 7:22 PM – Apr 13, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 11K people are talking about this

The video spliced news footage of 9/11 with a clip from a speech Omar gave last month in which she described the terror attack as “some people did something.”

Omar, who came to the US from Somalia as a refugee and became one of the first Muslim women in Congress, thanked supporters for standing “against an administration that ran on banning Muslims from this country.”

“No one person – no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious – can threaten my unwavering love for America,” she wrote on Twitter. “I stand undeterred to continue fighting for equal opportunity in our pursuit of happiness for all Americans.”

Ilhan Omar✔@IlhanMN · 14h Replying to @IlhanMN

Ilhan Omar✔@IlhanMN

No one person – no matter how corrupt, inept, or vicious – can threaten my unwavering love for America. I stand undeterred to continue fighting for equal opportunity in our pursuit of happiness for all Americans.54.9K 7:25 PM – Apr 13, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 12.3K people are talking about this

In an other tweet, Omar slammed Trump’s immigration policy.

Ilhan Omar✔@IlhanMN

This country was founded on the ideas of justice, of liberty, of the pursuit of happiness. But these core beliefs are under threat. Each and every day. We are under threat by an administration that would rather cage children than pass comprehensive immigration reform.108K 7:18 PM – Apr 13, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 30.7K people are talking about this

In the hours after Trump attacked Omar, top Democrats in the US Congress strongly condemned Trump and other Republicans for attacking Omar over comments she made that seemingly minimized the 9/11 attacks, which were a series of strikes in the US that killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage.

US officials assert that the attacks were carried out by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists but many experts have raised questions about the official account.

They believe that rogue elements within the US government, such as former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, orchestrated or at least encouraged the 9/11 attacks in order to accelerate the US war machine and advance the Zionist agenda.

In Omar’s speech, given to a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, she said Muslims had “lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen and, frankly, I’m tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it.”

“CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties,” Omar said.

Lawmakers from Trump’s Republican Party have accused Omar of minimizing the 9/11 attacks, while critics of the president say he took Omar’s words out of context in order to stoke anti-Muslim sentiment.

US Senator Bernie Sanders, who is running for president again in the 2020 elections after he lost in 2016, described Omar as a leader with “strength and courage.”

“She won’t back down to Trump’s racism and hate, and neither will we. The disgusting and dangerous attacks against her must end,” Sanders tweeted Friday.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the attacks against Omar as not only dangerous for the congresswoman, but Muslims in the US in general.

“President Trump’s inflammatory and dangerous rhetoric towards Ilhan Omar is jeopardizing her safety. He is deliberately putting her and all Muslim Americans in harm’s way,” Inslee tweeted Friday.

Jay Inslee✔@JayInslee

President Trump’s inflammatory and dangerous rhetoric towards Ilhan Omar is jeopardizing her safety. He is deliberately putting her and all Muslim Americans in harm’s way.49.6K 1:41 AM – Apr 13, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 16.2K people are talking about this

Warren also tweeted a similar message on Friday: “The President is inciting violence against a sitting Congresswoman—and an entire group of Americans based on their religion. It’s disgusting. It’s shameful. And any elected leader who refuses to condemn it shares responsibility for it.”

Rashida Tlaib, the other Muslim American woman in Congress, was the first on Friday who urged Democrats to “speak up” for Omar.

“Enough is enough,” she wrote. “No more silence, with NY Post and now Trump taking Ilhan’s words out of context to incite violence toward her, it’s time for more Dems to speak up. Clearly the GOP is fine with this shameful stunt, but we cannot stand by.”

Source: Presstv