News

French National Assembly approves Macron’s tax concessions to ‘Yellow Vest’ protesters

21, December 2018

French National Assembly approves Macron’s tax concessions to ‘Yellow Vest’ protesters 0

The French National Assembly on Friday approved a package of emergency concessions first announced by President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to end the violent “yellow vest” protests. The tax cuts for low-income workers were put forward by Macron in a televised address earlier this month to help cool weeks of protests that brought major disruption to the country.

The measures provide a “quick, strong and concrete response” to the crisis, said the labour minister Muriel Penicaud in a debate which lasted into the early hours of Friday morning. The measures include the removal of a planned tax increase for a majority of pensioners and tax-free overtime pay for all workers.

Economists estimate the cuts will cost up to 15 billion euros ($17 billion). The concessions will now move to the Senate for approval. Tens of thousands of people joined rallies across France on consecutive Saturdays in a movement which sprung up over fuel tax hikes but snowballed into broader opposition to Macron.

Police this week said they would start removing barricades at roundabouts and on motorways after the demonstrations began to run out of steam.

The protests, which at times spiralled into violence, took a toll on the economy, with businesses counting the cost of supply disruptions, smashed property and a dearth of shoppers and tourists who stayed away from city centres.

On Thursday the president told critics of the fuel tax hikes “you’re right” after 1.15 million people signed a petition suggesting several other ways to fight fossil fuel pollution.

Macron called the petition a “citizens’ act”.

“Your message, I heard it. I am responding to you directly, you are right,” Macron wrote on the website Change.org.

He reminded the petition signers that his government has cancelled the planned increase in fuel tax and that no hikes in gas and electricity prices would be made during the winter.

While restating that reducing fossil fuels which contribute to climate change was a necessary action, Macron added that it “must not put the problems of the end of the world in opposition to the problems at the end of the month” alluding to the anger of the “yellow vest” protest movement about the cost of living in France and the difficulty in making ends meet.

The number of people who have been killed during the “yellow vest” protests since they began in early November rose to nine on Thursday after a 60-year-old man was hit by a lorry at a demonstration next to a motorway near Agen in southwestern France.

(AFP)

IG’s Assertion on Biya’s Provocative Decree “Releasing” 289 Ambazonians

20, December 2018

IG’s Assertion on Biya’s Provocative Decree “Releasing” 289 Ambazonians 0

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia expresses total disappointment in regards to the deceitful and unjust decree issued on Thursday, 13th December 2018, by French Cameroun President, Paul Biya. The decree ordered the discontinuance of some pending cases at their military tribunal in relation to 289 Southern Cameroonians/Ambazonians unjustly abducted since the beginning of the ongoing conflict in Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia.

The Interim Government considers the decree as a sign of confusion within the Yaoundé regime, and a big provocation to the peaceful people of Ambazonia, considering that there are more than 3,000 citizens from Ambazonia in different detention centers and prisons across French Cameroun and within the occupied territory of Ambazonia. Some of these victims have already been convicted and imprisoned on trumped-up charges.

The Interim Government has observed that the obnoxious decree talked of releasing some people who committed misdemeanors (minor offences), whereas the Yaoundé regime is not holding any Ambazonian for charges less than treason and acts of terrorism with death penalties hanging over their heads. Moreover, after reviewing the lists of purported detainees released by French Cameroun, the following irregularities were observed:

  1. Names of deceased Ambazonians who died in prison as a result of the inhumane treatment meted on them by French Cameroun were on the list.

41 – Wolen Vitalis

43 – Wirsiy Frederic

  1. According to family sources, some detainees who were supposedly released precisely from the Bafoussam Central Prison were never abducted or jailed.
  2. Achankeng Fidelis
  3. Ninju Felix
  4. A sizeable number of the supposed detainees released are citizens from French Cameroun not Ambazonians and definitely had no connection with the ongoing conflict.
  5. At the Yaoundé Central Prison (Kondengui), of the 82 detainees enlisted for release, only 63 were actually released.

The Interim Government hereby concludes that the decree is a covert, conceived manipulative plan, aimed at deceiving the international community that the brutal dictator Mr. Paul Biya is taking measures to end the war he declared on the people of Ambazonia over a year ago. His soldiers still continue to kill unarmed Ambazonia civilians indiscriminately and burn down entire villages.

Hon. Chris Anu

Biya regime seeks to split Ambazonians, President Sisiki Ayuk Tabe senior adviser says

20, December 2018

Biya regime seeks to split Ambazonians, President Sisiki Ayuk Tabe senior adviser says 0

A senior aide to President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe says the French Cameroun regime is attempting to create division in the Ambazonian revolutionary structure both at home and abroad using ego/power-seeking profiteers, opportunists, activists and clueless self-seekers. In a telephone conversation with our London Bureau Chief, Chi Prudence Asong from an undisclosed location in Nigeria, the Sisiku Ayuk Tabe senior adviser whose name we are withholding also pointed out that the sovereign people of Ambazonia should be more vigilant during these difficult times.

“Disunity is slowly but surely bringing its ugly head deep within structures that are the very foundation of the Southern Cameroons resistance and this may push Ambazonians back to that nasty past known as North West/South West Divide” he opined and added that the Biya Francophone regime intends to split Southern Cameroonians along tribal fault lines and the activities of some so-called front line leaders are helping the Yaoundé government to put together a sectarian puzzle among Southern Cameroons institutions such as the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council, the Ambazonia Restoration Forces and the Interim Government.

He also reminded Southern Cameroonians of the immortal words of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe that “No individual is bigger than the revolution” and described the French Cameroun regime under the 85 year old Biya as a threat to Ambazonia’s sovereignty and blamed the French Cameroun army for continuously violating Southern Cameroons rights.

Elsewhere, Acting President Ikome Sako has urged the UN Security Council to recognize Southern Cameroons as an independent state and to ensure the safe return of Southern Cameroons refugees to their homeland from French Cameroun and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Ambazonian Acting President reiterated that the Ambazonia Self-Defence and Restoration Forces Council (ASC/RF), the command and control system prosecuting the war against La Republique du Cameroun, does not go out of its way to target civilians. Dr Sako also dismissed allegations that ASC/RF is at daggers-drawn positions with the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Southern Cameroons Crisis forces 430,000 people to flee

19, December 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis forces 430,000 people to flee 0

The number of people displaced as a result of the crisis in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has spiked to more than 430,000 during the last months. Many people are hiding in the bush with no support, warns the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“We are deeply worried by the ongoing conflict and the increasing displacement figures. Parties to the conflict must ensure that civilians in the area are protected and are able to safely access life-saving assistance,” said David Manan, Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Cameroon.

The number of people displaced from their homes in Cameroon’s Anglophone Southwest and Northwest regions and in neighbouring Littoral and West regions has reached 437.000, according to the latest UN estimates.

NRC is assisting people displaced by this crisis. However, many people are left without any support, as insecurity is hindering organisations from accessing many areas. People are without proper shelter and sanitation facilities, clean water, food and access to medical care.

“The needs we are witnessing in the Southwest and Northwest regions are alarming and there are too few agencies on the ground to provide the necessary aid due to limited funding. We call for more donors to prioritise this crisis to allow more agencies to respond so that we can stem the rising tide of suffering and displacement,” said Manan.

“Displaced families who receive our assistance have told us that they share it or give it to their relatives who did not yet receive any assistance and desperately need help. Many people are hiding in the bush with no support, fearing for their lives,” added Manan.

“This is the first time I am being helped since I fled,” said Annoh, who received essential household items,including materials to build a shelter. “I will share what I have received with my husband who is hiding in the bush. He has nothing but the clothes he was wearing when he fled,” she added.

NRC is distributing household items, shelter and hygiene kits in Northwest and Southwest regions with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA) and European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).

Reported by NRC:

The Norwegian Refugee Council(NRC) is a humanitarian organisation working in more than 30 countries globally. It has been present in Cameroon since 2017.

Cameroon military says it killed 7 suspected Ambazonian fighters

19, December 2018

Cameroon military says it killed 7 suspected Ambazonian fighters 0

Cameroon’s military says it has killed seven suspected English-speaking separatist rebels in Bamenda in the North West region.Four soldiers were rushed to the local hospital, said a health worker, but the military has not reported any dead.The region’s army commander, Gen. Agha Robinson, said the military is finding it difficult to battle the rebels because they hide among civilians.

The fighting started Monday evening and continued throughout the night, as civilians fled their neighborhoods amid sporadic gunfire. A local student, Stanley Fru, 23, said he saw a stray bullet shatter the leg of an elderly woman who was going to the market early Tuesday morning.”The military was chasing fighters,” he said. “All of them were shooting indiscriminately.”

The fighting in Cameroon’s restive region erupted just days after President Paul Biya freed 289 suspected separatists, many of whom later urged the government to release their leaders who remain in jail.”We are urging the fighters to drop their guns,” said Deben Tchoffo, the governor of the North West region. He said that the release of the suspected terrorists should be taken as an indication that Biya “wanted peace to return” and pledged to “take care of them and reintegrate them socially and economically.”

Cameroon’s English-speaking separatists have been protesting since 2016 against what they claim is discrimination by the French-speaking majority. Initially the protests by teachers in the country’s English-speaking region were peaceful, but in response to a government crackdown some separatists have begun waging a violent campaign.

The Cameroonian government said that at least 1,200 people have died in the violence since January, which started after Nigeria detained and extradited separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe and 46 other alleged separatists to Cameroon.

Several of the recently released suspected separatists said that there will not be peace until Tabe and the others are also freed.The separatists, largely members of the Anglophone population, which accounts for about one-fifth of the largely French-speaking country’s 25 million people, have vowed to destabilize the region.

Source: Waff.com

Reports detail how Russia used social media to sow US divisions

18, December 2018

Reports detail how Russia used social media to sow US divisions 0

Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election on social media was more widespread than previously thought and included attempts to divide Americans by race and extreme ideology,reports released Monday said. The reports by private experts were released by US senators from both parties.

The Russian government’s Internet Research Agency, based in St. Petersburg, Russia, tried to manipulate US politics, said the reports, one by social media analysts New Knowledge and the other by an Oxford University team working with analytical firm Graphika.

The twin reports largely verified earlier findings by US intelligence agencies, but offered much more detail about Russian activity going back years that continues even now, said the reports and senior lawmakers.

For instance, one Russian troll farm tried to encourage US “secessionist movements” in California and Texas, the New Knowledge report said.

“This newly released data demonstrates how aggressively Russia sought to divide Americans by race, religion and ideology,” said Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, in a statement.

The Russian agency worked to erode trust in US democratic institutions and its activities have not stopped, he said. The committee collected data from social media companies that was used by the private analysts in their analysis.

Senator Mark Warner, the committee’s top Democrat, said, “These reports demonstrate the extent to which the Russians exploited the fault lines of our society to divide Americans in an attempt to undermine and manipulate our democracy.

“These attacks… were much more comprehensive, calculating and widespread than previously revealed,” he said.

‘Conspiratorialist and… junk political news’

Oxford/Graphika said the Russians spread “sensationalist, conspiratorialist, and other forms of junk political news and misinformation to voters across the political spectrum.”

The group said Russian trolls urged African-Americans to boycott the election or to follow wrong voting procedures, while also encouraging right-wing voters to be more confrontational.

Since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, it said, Russian trolls have put out messages urging Mexican-American and other Hispanic voters to mistrust US institutions.

The report from New Knowledge said the Russians ran “comprehensive Anti-Hillary Clinton operations,” such as efforts to organize Muslims to stage a pro-Clinton demonstration.

The report said Russian hackers also targeted Republican senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and the late John McCain, as well as former FBI chief James Comey, special prosecutor Robert Mueller, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

A US intelligence report in January 2017 said Russian President Vladimir Putin directed a sophisticated influence campaign including cyber attacks to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and support Trump.

The Kremlin has denied the allegations of meddling. Trump has denied any collusion between Russia and his campaign.

The matter is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose long-running inquiry has clouded the Trump presidency and netted guilty pleas and indictments against former close Trump associates.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

AFCON 2019: Financial scandal rocks Biya regime!! Several cabinet members implicated

18, December 2018

AFCON 2019: Financial scandal rocks Biya regime!! Several cabinet members implicated 0

Yaounde has been placed on a perimeter lockdown ever since the swearing in of President Biya on November 6, 2018. Attention is now focused on the next government. Tension is also mounting as cabinet ministers have indulged in media wars settling scores over the 2019 African Cup of Nations fiasco.

The Monarch is reportedly angry after the withdrawal of hosting rights from his country. We gathered from intelligence sources in Yaoundé that Biya had formed a government and ordered the state owned media, CRTV to make it public on November the 30th.

Our source hinted that the 85 year old stopped the reading of the decree naming a new government some few minutes before the 7 pm news on November 30th. We understand Biya made that last minute decision following happenings in the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) meeting that was holding in Accra Ghana.

Several members of the Prime Minister Yang Philemon administration including the current Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic are suspected of embezzlement in the context of the Africa Cup of Nations 2019. A well-placed source at the presidency revealed to Cameroon Concord News that a vast financial scandal with serious implications at several levels has rocked the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.

Several senior government officials involved in the management of the Africa Cup of Nations 2019 budget are also under investigation. Some of the cabinet ministers even have matters pending at the Special Criminal Court.  A journalist with our sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report who contributed to this news item opined that some ministers have been banned from leaving the country. For now, the Monarch is quiet.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

Former Ghanaian Head of State Scolds West Over Crisis In Togo, Cameroon, Others

17, December 2018

Former Ghanaian Head of State Scolds West Over Crisis In Togo, Cameroon, Others 0

Some policies and democratic practices adopted from the west are to blame for the political instability in Togo, Cameroon and other countries.

This, according to former President JJ Rawlings, has been a contributing factor to Africa’s under-development.

He says the kind the democratic election that Africans have adopted from the foreign world is not providing the kind of freedom the continent should enjoy.

He, is therefore, advocating for a shift in order to reverse the trend.

In a post on Facebook, Mr. Rawlings expressed worry over the inhumane treatment and lack of development the people of Africa continue to endure from white leaders, saying that it is time for all to rally behind Africans who toil for the gains of the continent.

“The time has come for the West to stop avoiding African patriots. Let’s not be intimidated by or feel threatened by the conviction of African patriots. We are sick and tired of the perceived intellectuals who are doing the bidding of others and themselves but their own kind.”

He believes foreign nations are doing Africa more harm than good, and wondered if these leaders of the developed world care about the minorities in society other than their parochial interest.

“More insulting to the sensibilities of the African is the knowledge that some of them are protégés of failed heads who’ve become kingmakers and shamelessly parading Presidential abodes and offices pulling deals on behalf of corporate interests inimical to the continent, he noted.

Mr. Rawlings even talks about how the renowned Saudi Arabian Journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was cruelly murdered with other advanced countries and influential bodies looking unconcerned instead of ensuring that justice is served.

Find below, the full post of the Former President

“Is the world going to continue looking away while the Togo and Cameroon situation deteriorates in pain, blood and terror?

If the world can become so insensitive and immune to the fate of Palestinians; black lives in Africa cannot expect anything less inhuman.

If a close friend and ally of personalities in the US government like President Trump and his team can brazenly and thoughtlessly butcher such a known personality in their Saudi consulate in a country that stands up to the Israeli government’s intransigence and impunity, such atrocity creates an opening and provides the license for other dictators to do just a little less savagery to a lot more lesser people from other ethnic groups in our parts of the world.

It only takes one government to get away with it and others seeking the opportunity to disempower an already subjugated people will take advantage of it and terrorize theirs too.

Won’t countries like Germany, the Vatican, France and the USA with a lot of influence on these countries intervene even if they won’t publicly condemn? How else will civilized nations demonstrate to the world that they’re serious about the Khashoggi killing?

It’s also about time the UN Secretary General’s office stopped accepting insensitive cold-blooded hypocrites whose favorite occupation is rapping and stooping their way into their political ambitions while keeping away from the blood and pain of their own kith and kin.

The monetized Western democratic elections in our world don’t always give us the best. The best however in intellect and wisdom grounded in humility, integrity and compassion can always be found in abundance on our continent and simply have to be selected.

The time has come for the West to stop avoiding African patriots. Let’s not be intimidated by or feel threatened by the conviction of African patriots. We are sick and tired of the perceived intellectuals who are doing the bidding of others and themselves but their own kind.

More insulting to the sensibilities of the African is the knowledge that some of them are protégés of failed heads who’ve become kingmakers and shamelessly parading Presidential abodes and offices pulling deals on behalf of corporate interests inimical to the continent.”

Source: Modern Ghana

Biya regime steps up attacks in Southern Cameroons as support for IG rises

17, December 2018

Biya regime steps up attacks in Southern Cameroons as support for IG rises 0

Scores of Ambazonians have been arrested in a stepped-up Biya regime crackdown in the northern zone and Southern zone of Southern Cameroons amid fears that support for the exiled Ambazonian Interim Government is rising. Francophone civil administrators with the support of pro Yaoundé militia groups are in control of Bamenda, Bali, Wum, Batibo and Ndop but these localities have witnessed the worst clashes between Cameroon government forces and Ambazonia Restoration Fighters over the week.

Recently, Batibo experienced Cameroon government military raids of extraordinary proportions. Our chief intelligence officer in Widikum who contributed to this report revealed that the onslaught on Batibo was done with intelligence gathered from a Southern Cameroons armed group headed by Cho Ayaba. The Francophone army fired and beat demonstrators after innocent civilians raised an Ambazonian flag.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that the image of Cho Ayaba has been established in Batibo as the subcontractor of the French Cameroun occupation forces with his criminal gang working in the shadow of French Cameroun troops and disappearing whenever French Cameroun soldiers raid neighbourhoods in Batibo.

Cameroon government troops arrested 35 Southern Cameroonians today at the Hospital Round About in Bamenda, taking the total number of those detained in to more than 165, Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Bamenda Sama Ernest reported.

A dramatic video shows French Cameroun government troops blowing up houses in Belo, Kendem, Batibo and Weh recently. The Ambazonia Communications Secretary, Chris Anu has condemned the French Cameroun government atrocities and also sounded a note of caution to members of an obscure organization headed by Cho Ayaba committing crimes in Southern Cameroons.

By Rita Akana

Nigeria: Farmer-herder clashes left over 3,600 people dead in 2 years

17, December 2018

Nigeria: Farmer-herder clashes left over 3,600 people dead in 2 years 0

Amnesty International says clashes between farmers and semi-nomadic herders in Nigeria have left more than 3,600 people dead since 2016. The UK-based rights group, in a report on Monday,documented an upsurge in communal violence involving chiefly Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers fighting over land and water rights.

“The Nigerian authorities’ failure to investigate communal clashes and bring perpetrators to justice has fuelled a bloody escalation in the conflict between farmers and herders across the country, resulting in at least 3,641 deaths in the past three years and the displacement of thousands more,” Amnesty said.

The report said 310 attacks had been recorded between January 2016 and October 2018, most of them in 2018. “These attacks were well planned and coordinated, with the use of weapons like machine guns and AK-47 rifles,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty’s Nigeria director.

“Yet, little has been done by the authorities in terms of prevention, arrests and prosecutions, even when information about the suspected perpetrators was available,” she said.

An international rights group urges the International Criminal Court to launch a full-blown probe into the atrocities committed during the Boko Haram terror group’s campaign of violence in Nigeria.

Experts say climate change and expanding agriculture have aggravated the herder-farmer conflict over land and water. The International Crisis Group said in July that the farmer-herder conflict killed six times more people than the war with the Boko Haram terror group in the first half of 2018,

Ojigho further said, “In some places, because of the failures of the security forces, competition over resources is used as a pretext to kill and maim along ethnic or religious lines.”

“The conflict has also been dangerously politicized by some state government officials who have inflamed tensions by embarking on a blame game along political party lines,” she said.

The latest report could affect the results of the upcoming elections, in which President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a new term. Buhari has been under fire for adopting a soft position on the herders, who come – like the president — from the Fulani ethnic group.

The administration of Buhari, who came to power on a pledge to eradicate militancy and corruption, has also been under scrutiny for failing to end the Boko Haram terror group’s campaign of violence in Nigeria’s restive northeast.

Abuja announced in 2015 that Boko Haram – which is affiliated to the Takfiri Daesh terror group, had been “largely defeated” in the northeast, but a multitude of Boko Haram attacks indicate the group’s active presence in that region.

In the latest instance of violence, Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday stormed a village near the city of Maiduguri, Borno State, firing indiscriminately and setting fire to homes there overnight. It was not clear if there were any casualties in the attack, which forced hundreds of people to flee.

A military source said troops and fighter jets were deployed to the scene and pushed out the militants after a “fierce battle.” Boko Haram has in recent months launched numerous attacks in a bid to capture Maiduguri, the birthplace of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf.

Over the past few years, at least27,000 have been killed and more than two million people displaced from theirhomes by Boko Haram.

Source: Presstv

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