News

13, December 2018

Southern Cameroons: Fire again destroys shops in Bamenda in a period of 2 weeks ⁰

Once again fire has destroyed shops on Tuesday (December 11) evening in Cameroon’s Bamenda. Last time, during the end of November, massive fire destroyed a big portion of a food market in the same location. This time only five shops destroyed in a period of just two weeks, whereas last time 200 stalls got devastated by the tremendous fire.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. This is the fourth time in less than two years that the market in Bamenda is affected by fire. The government blamed a fire at the market last year on separatists demanding independence for the English-speaking regions in Cameroon.

The separatists say English-speaking Cameroonians face discrimination and are fed up of being part of a country ruled for more than 35 years by French-speaking President Paul Biya.

Devdiscourse

12, December 2018

“Biya Beti Ewondo regime too weak to wage new war with the Bamilekes” ⁰

The President of a Bamileke group in Belgium says the Biya regime and its Beti Bulu Francophone soldiers are too weak to wage a new war with the Bamilekes of the West. The French Cameroonian who spoke to our Brussels correspondent and sued for anonymity because of his chain of businesses in Douala and Yaoundé made the remarks late yesterday during a meeting to rally support for Prof Maurice Kamto, the leader of the MRC party widely believed to have won the October 7 elections.

The business tycoon added that Ambazonians are no longer scared of a potential war with the Beti Bulu dominated Cameroon army. “No one in Yaoundé can threaten Anglophones with war and no one again can scare them by war… Ambazonians are not scared or worried about war and they are ready for it and the creation of the so-called disarmament commission signals fear of Anglophones being victorious.”

The French Cameroun citizen warned Biya and his tribal military junta against starting a new war in La Republique du Cameroun and vowed that the Bamilekes will use every available means to bring the Biya regime to its end.

The Southern Cameroons resistance today without possession of sophisticated weapons and equipment and capabilities and members and cadres and ability and expertise and experience has faith and determination and courage and will and is stronger ever since the formation of the Interim Government and proclamation of independence by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

By Chi Prudence Asong

12, December 2018

160+ world countries approve UN pact on migration ⁰

The first United Nations (UN)global pact on migration has been formally adopted during an intergovernmental conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, despite a series of withdrawals from the procedure leading to the pact driven by anti-immigrant populism.

More than 160 countries agreed on the non-binding Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration — the first global document on managing migration — on Monday at the start of the two-day conference.

The document outlines 23 objectives to open up legal migration and discourage illegal border crossings, as the number of people on the move globally has increased to over 250 million.

The United States and at least 16 other nations have either withdrawn from the negotiations that had been ongoing over the pact for some time or expressed concerns about it, with some claiming that the agreement violated national sovereignty.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday described it as a “road map to prevent suffering and chaos,” refuting claims that the pact would allow the UN to impose migration policies on member states.

The pact “is not legally binding,” Guterres emphasized, adding, “It is a framework for international cooperation.”

“We must not succumb to fear and false narratives,” he added. On Friday, the US criticized the pact as “an effort by the United Nations to advance global governance at the expense of the sovereign right of states.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were among the leaders who attended the Marrakech conference.

Merkel defends multilateralism

Merkel defended the accord and multilateralism, stressing that it sought to block, rather than encourage, illegal migration. “This is about safe, orderly and regular migration — it says (this) clearly in the title,” she said.

The US was the first country to quit the talks late last year, while Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia all withdrew from the process in recent months and weeks. And Chile pulled out overnight.

Right-wing and populist leaders in the US, some European countries, and beyond have taken increasingly draconian measures to stop the flow of migrants in recent years. The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, welcomed the pact, saying it could help provide better access to education and health for migrant children and offer “them stronger protection from exploitation and violence.”

Other organizations, including Amnesty International and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), see the agreement as just a first step, and have called for further steps toward protecting migrants.

“We have heard repeatedly that this compact is not legally binding and does not impact on state sovereignty,” IFRC President Francesco Rocca said at a news conference on the sidelines of the main dialog. “But if we are serious about fixing this problem, it should at the very least be ethically binding.”

The UN General Assembly is slated to adopt a resolution formally endorsing the pact on December 19.

Source: Presstv

12, December 2018

Yaounde: UN experts concerned by crackdown on protests after October election ⁰

UN human rights experts have expressed concerns over a crackdown against protesters in Cameroon following President Paul Biya’s re-election, and called for the protection of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

International human rights standards establish the right of everyone to participate in peaceful demonstrations, the experts said. Any restriction to the freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression must be provided by the law and be necessary and proportional.

“The restrictions imposed lately by the Cameroonian authorities on the rights to peaceful assembly and expression appear to ignore such criteria, provided for by the international instruments to which Cameroon is a party,” they said. In particular, the experts underline that the country’s 2014 anti-terrorism law should not be used to curtail peaceful assembly, marches or demonstrations organised by political parties during an electoral process. Under this law, police custody can be extended from 48 hours to 15 days, and jurisdiction transferred to military courts.

Independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council have previously expressed concerns to the authorities of Cameroon that a broad definition of terrorism, such as “disruption of the normal functioning of public services”, could be misused to ban peaceful assembly.

These worries had still not been addressed, the experts said. The authorities should respect the national legal framework for demonstrations, which requires organisers to notify local authorities seven days prior to a demonstration.

The experts acknowledged as a positive step the dropping of charges against 52 militants of the Mouvement de la Renaissance du Cameroun on 4 December, at the request of the Attorney General at the Littoral Court of Appeal, under the instructions of the Minister of Justice.

“The allegations received last month seem to indicate the establishment of a repressive climate towards civil society, political parties, and people critical of the outcome of the elections, whether it concerns their right to express their views or to manifest freely,” the experts said.

The experts repeated their calls for a review of the 2014 antiterrorism law to ensure it is not used to restrict fundamental freedoms, such as the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. They also urged the Government to ensure a wider democratic space is guaranteed before, during and after the forthcoming legislative and municipal elections scheduled in 2019.

Culled from Reliefweb

11, December 2018

Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria get relief materials ⁰

Cameroonian refugees living in the Adagom Resettlement site in Ogoja, in Cross Rivers State have been given relief materials donated by Africa Now Foundation, a charity organization.

The organisation is owned by Africa’s leading Oil and Gas lawyer, NJ Ayuk, CEO of Centurion Law Group.

“This is most impressive and undoubtedly the largest single donation we have received in years,” said Mr. Remi Oyasanya, the zonal coordinator South-South region, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internal Displaced Persons.

Oyasanya took the delivery of the materials alongside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Cross Rivers State Emergency Management Agency in the presence of thousands of the refugees.

The materials donated included children school chairs, mattresses, pillows, blankets, buckets, Indomie Noodles, bathroom slippers, water bottles; sachets of packaged tomato paste, salt, spices, cooking oil; children school tables and a desktop computer.

In the spirit of the Christmas, the foundation also donated soft drinks of different brands, biscuits, wafers and sweets that could reach over 2,000 people.

“We are committed to doing more as a foundation, because they deserve all the love and support, we can show to them to mitigate their daily ordeals.

“They don’t deserve to be in refugee camps during Christmas. It is wrong and immoral.” said NJ Ayuk, while urging governments in West/Central Africa to do everything to end hostilities in the sub-region.

“The reasons for so much suffering coming out of this Anglophone crisis are complex and varied. It is important that everyone really sees a need for an all-inclusive dialogue that cultivates a true respect for everyone in Cameroon and the diaspora.,” said the lawyer.

The Africa Now Foundation is a humanitarian organisation committed to “six corporal works of mercy, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, bury the dead and give alms to the poor.”

The foundation has further expressed the commitment to visit as many African communities where succor is needed and “we can avail to them little we have.”

Source: NAN

11, December 2018

You will regret invading Southern Cameroons: Restoration Forces warns Yaounde ⁰

The Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces under the direct supervision of the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council have issued a serious warning to troops loyal to the Biya regime in Yaoundé, saying that the regime will regret invading Southern Cameroons. In a statement which was released on Monday, the Ambazonia restoration fighters noted that various strategic locations in French Cameroun will be targeted soonest.

The document that was sent to our regional office in Buea further stated that there will be a response to every French Cameroun attack in Southern Cameroons. Earlier this week, the 85 year old President Biya appointed members to the so-called disarmament commission arguing them to facilitate an end to the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

The Ambazonia Self-Defense Council was formed following President Biya’s declaration of war and subsequent invasion of Southern Cameroons and the inter-state use of terror, abduction and rendition of His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and members of the Ambazonian Interim Government to French Cameroun.

Since then, the movement has helped the Southern Cameroons Interim Government retake control of some Southern Cameroons counties from the Yaoundé regime and it is thwarting numerous French Cameroun acts of aggression.

Ever since the war started in Southern Cameroons, Francophone soldiers have not been able to distinguish between Amba fighters and the Southern Cameroons civilian population. Cameroon government troops are hitting Southern Cameroons and destroying its infrastructure.

By Sessekou Asu Isong with files from Sama Ernest

11, December 2018

Exiled Yahya Jammeh, family banned from entering U.S. ⁰

The United States has slapped a ban on former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and his family from entering the country. The measure announced on Monday is largely related to charges of corruption and gross rights abuses during his 22 years in charge.

His wife, Zineb Yahya Jammeh, and his children, are also on the US blacklist relating to foreign leaders involved in large-scale corruption or serious human rights violations, according to a State Department statement.

The statement stressed the resolve of Washington in assisting the Adama Barrow -led government in the area of support for a transition to greater transparency, accountability and democratic governance.

Jammeh ruled The Gambia, a small English-speaking West African country, for 22 years until his defeat at the polls in 2016 by Adama Barrow.

He left power after the West African bloc ECOWAS threatened a military intervention. He is currently resident in Equatorial Guinea where regional leaders arranged for him to live in exile.

Source: Africa News

11, December 2018

The 5 highest paid presidents in Africa ⁰

People living in Africa have over the years lamented their continent’s over-dependence on other regions.

Even though the continent is blessed with natural resources such as minerals, vegetation, among others, the citizens of some countries live well below the poverty line.

According to reports, approximately 27.4% of the population in Africa was classified as severely food insecure in 2016, which is almost four times as high as any other region.

Meanwhile, politics has become a very lucrative career. Politicians are not only powerful, but their salaries are also very heavy.

In our present dispensation, African politicians earn a lot of money while citizens live poorly.

This is a reflection on the salaries some African leaders earn monthly.

1. Paul Biya

Paul Biya is the President of Cameroon. His monthly salary is $50,833.33. He is the highest paid African president.

2. Cyril Ramaphosa

Cyril Ramaphosa is the fifth president South Africa. He became president following the resignation of Jacob Zuma. Previously an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and businessman, Ramaphosa served as the Deputy President of South Africa from 2014 to 2018. He earns $21,174.67.00 every month.

3. Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the fifth president of Algeria and has been in office since 1999. He is the third-highest paid president in Africa. His monthly salary is $14,000.

4. Uruhu Kenyatta

Uhuru Kenyatta is the current president of Kenya. He came into office in April 2013. He is the fourth highest paid president in Africa even though he ordered that some percentage of his salary should be cut off in 2014. He earns $13,860 monthly.

5. Emmerson Mnangagwa

Emmerson Mnangagwa is the third and current president of Zimbabwe. He assumed office in November 2017 after Robert Mugabe was ousted. He is ranked the fifth highest paid African president. He earns $12, 272.08 monthly.

Source:Pulse.com

11, December 2018

Amnesty urges ICC to investigate Boko Haram conflict atrocities ⁰

Amnesty International urges the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch a full-blown probe into the atrocities committed by both the Boko Haram terrorists and the Nigerian military during the militancy campaign in the African country, criticizing Abuja for not doing enough to bring those responsible to justice.

The UK-based human rights group said the Abuja government was keeping ICC chief prosecutor Fatma Bensouda “in limbo” by giving the impression of domestic action on the crimes perpetrated by both the Boko Haram terrorists and the Nigerian troops, but it is in reality doing very little on the matter.

Bensouda had opened a preliminary examination in 2010 into cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Boko Haram’s campaign, which had begun a year earlier. Six cases relate to the militants and include the killing of civilians, mass kidnapping, attacks on schools and places of worship, sexual violence, plus the use of children in conflict.

The other two — involving attacks on civilians, mass arrests and detention of suspects, abuse, torture and summary executions — concern the Nigerian military. “Eight years since the opening of the preliminary examination and faced with the continuing commission of crimes under international law and the possibility of a never-ending preliminary analysis, it is time for the OTP (Office of the Prosecutor) to open a formal investigation in Nigeria,” Amnesty said in a statement.

The statement came days after Bensouda said in her annual report on December 5 that there appeared to be a “tangible prospect” of proceedings against Boko Haram members, but not against troops “since the Nigerian authorities tend to deny any allegation.”

Amnesty complained that Nigeria’s government has not conducted any relevant proceedings into the atrocities, war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by both Boko Haram militants and the Nigerian forces. This edition of the program talks about Boko Haram terror threats in Nigeria and the inability of the government to contain the Takfiri group.

It also suggested that most of the investigations and prosecutions conducted by the Nigerian justice system against alleged members of the Boko Haram group, as well as the military, were not in proportion to the scope and severity of the crimes and atrocities committed by both sides of the conflict in northeastern Nigeria.

Amnesty also said none of the more than 20 government inquiries launched into claims of abuse by troops and civilian militia members in the last nine years has led to formal investigations and prosecutions.

The proceedings seemed to have been designed to provide a “veneer of accountability” and exonerate senior officers and “shield persons concerned from criminal responsibility,” Amnesty added.

The report indicates that 5,161 Muslims have also sustained various degrees of injuries. It described mass trials of more than 1,000 suspects that began in October 2017 were as a “sham” meant to provide “legal cover” for those held in prolonged, arbitrary and unlawful detention.

Prosecutions were based on unreliable and untested confessions or guilty pleas, while defendants had a lack of access to lawyers and trials were rushed through.

Since 2009, the militants have killed at least 20,000 dead and made over 2.6 million others homeless. In 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh group.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former general, came to power in 2015 on a platform of stamping out the Boko Haram militancy. But despite retaking swathes of territory from the group, it continues to stage attacks targeting both civilians and military targets.

Source:Presstv

10, December 2018

Biya’s efforts to regain lost power in Ambazonia will never come true ⁰

A Southern Cameroons commander in Lebialem has said that the Biya dream of restoring French Cameroun lost power in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia in cooperation with Nigeria’s ailing Buhari will never come true. “The Biya Francophone regime, in cooperation with the corrupt Buhari administration in Nigeria, is trying to restore its power in Southern Cameroons,” the Red Dragons commander in Menji told Cameroon Intelligence Report.

The Red Dragons senior military figure whose name we are withholding further referred to the Nigerian President Buhari’s role in the crisis, saying Buhari is forcefully repatriating Southern Cameroonians to be slaughtered on the pretext that they serve Nigeria’s strategic interests and stability in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Red Dragons chief says the Biya and the French Cameroun army have failed in all the plots they hatched to advance their own agenda in Southern Cameroons. The war between Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun began last year with the French Cameroun army launching onslaught against Southern Cameroons towns and villages as well as the positions of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces. The war has resulted in the burning down of some one hundred villages and the deaths of over 4,000 Southern Cameroons civilians.

Some 1400 Cameroon government army soldiers have also been killed during the fighting. Yaounde has not realized that it cannot bully Southern Cameroons into submission and has rejected calls for inclusive and genuine dialogue with the Ambazonian Interim Government.

The recent French Cameroun military aggression against the Red Dragons of Lebialem saw several French Cameroun soldiers killed and several others injured. The UN, the EU and the AU have all undermined regional stability by taking a hard line in favour of the Biya Francophone regime and against Ambazonians.

By Chi Prudence Asong