North Korea has rejected “repeated” US proposals on denuclearization, considering them “gangster-like”, CNN has reported, citing senior diplomatic sources.

The US has made, and continues to make, “specific proposals for starting and proceeding to the end point of fully verified denuclearization,” including a timeline, the broadcaster reported.

It said the “vague promises” that emerged from the meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June have resulted in a diplomatic disconnect.

The brief document produced at the summit included no time frame, no specific promises or milestones to meet, allowing both sides to interpret it as they wished, CNN added.

Washington has linked the lifting of sanctions on Pyongyang to full and verifiable denuclearization by North Korea which insists sanctions be removed first before it takes any further steps.

CNN cited an official with close knowledge of North Korea’s position on the matter as saying that continued negotiations between the US and North Korea hinge on Washington’s willingness to make a bold move and agree to a peace treaty with Pyongyang.

The North says the US is back-pedaling on its promises. North Korea issued a statement at the United Nations on Thursday, insisting that elements of the US government are not adhering to the spirit of the dialogue established during Kim-Trump Singapore summit.

According to the statement, while Pyongyang had taken “such practical denuclearization steps as discontinuing nuclear test and ICBM test fire” and “broadminded measures” such as the repatriation of US Korean War remains, “the US responded to our expectation by inciting international sanctions and pressure against (North Korea).”

The statement did not blame the US president, but singled out some high-level officials within the US administration, who it alleged were going against Trump’s will.

North Korea on Thursday denounced US calls for enforcing international sanctions and said progress on denuclearization promises could not be expected if Washington followed an “outdated acting script”.

Pyongyang has urged Washington to take reciprocal measures for its goodwill gestures, saying the US had responded to its expectation by inciting international sanctions and pressure.

Source: Presstv

Using advanced digital analysis tools, Amnesty International experts were able to confirm that the video, shot at an unknown date but prior to May 2016, corroborates previous accounts of extrajudicial executions which the Cameroonian authorities have denied.

“This shocking video shows armed men lining people up face down or sitting against a wall and shooting them with automatic weapons. A second round of shooting ensures no survivors. Here is yet more credible evidence to support the allegations that Cameroon’s armed forces have committed grave crimes against civilians, and we are calling for an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation. Those suspected to be responsible for these abhorrent acts must be brought to justice,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, Amnesty International’s Lake Chad Researcher.

“Last month we analyzed footage from another location which showed two women and two young children being killed by soldiers who were clearly members of Cameroon’s armed forces. What further evidence do they need before they act on these atrocities?”

Amnesty International has documented multiple extrajudicial killings, as well as the widespread use of torture by Cameroonian security forces who are fighting against the armed group Boko Haram in the Far North region of the country.

Amnesty International researchers analyzed the weapons, dialogue and uniforms visible in the latest video, as well as testimony and satellite imagery, to conclude the approximate timing and exact location of the executions, and determined the suspected perpetrators to be members of the Cameroonian security forces.

The footage shows a group of soldiers in their distinctive “lizard stripe” camouflage uniforms, patrolling the village of Achigachiya. Some are armed with Zastava M21 rifles, and others are mounted on a pick-up truck with a ZPU-2 anti-aircraft gun.

The video, apparently recorded by a member of the security forces, shows soldiers burning structures which are likely to be homes, and then focuses on a group of 12 people lined against a wall, all sitting or lying down. At 01:40 minute into the video, numerous soldiers using automatic weapons fire into the group for an extended period, from several meters away. A soldier then walks forward and fires again at close range at several persons in the group, presumably to ensure there are no survivors.

Speaking in French, the soldiers describe themselves as carrying out a “kamikaze” operation.

The footage supports evidence of extrajudicial executions previously documented by Amnesty International in a July 2016 report. The report documented the unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions of over 30 people, including several elderly, in Achigachiya following an operation by the security forces seeking to recover the bodies of the soldiers killed by Boko Haram on 28 December 2014, which were abandoned in front of the military base destroyed by the insurgents. This operation by the army was also done as a collective punishment against the population perceived as supporting Boko Haram.

The Cameroonian government announced an investigation following the release of the video in July, but their rapid dismissal of the video as “fake news” casts serious doubt on whether this investigation would be genuinely impartial and effective.

In failing to hold suspected perpetrators to account for the horrific crimes documented by Amnesty International and others, the Cameroonian authorities have created a climate of impunity in which the armed forces have free reign to kill and torture

The crisis that started as demonstrations by teachers and lawyers, quickly spread like wildfire to other professional sectors, with the molestation of lawyers by the country’s police serving as the fuel that was poured into a burning house.

This was made all the more worse by the brutality meted to Buea University students in 2016 just because the students wanted to peacefully discuss fee hikes with university authorities.

The University was headed at the time by Prof. Nalova Lyonga who is today the country’s minister of basic education; a position many observers say is a reward for her implementation of the government’s brutality on innocent students, a tactic the government has always used to silence opposition.

Some 2,000 innocent civilians have so far been killed in the two English-speaking regions of the country and more than 100 villages have been wiped off the country’s map by the national army and the militia formed by the government to intimidate and implement its policy of ferocious brutality.

The government of Cameroon is used to burning its own villages and killing civilians as a move to intimidate anybody who might want to challenge its authority in the future, but its fight with Southern Cameroonians might turn out to be its Waterloo, as Southern Cameroonians are using social media to expose its atrocities and the region’s Diaspora is hell-bent on giving the government a run for its money.

The Yaounde government has used this violence-based tactic in Northern Cameroon on many occasions and the last video wherein children and women were being shot point blank caused a storm of indignation across the world.

This has resulted in the US government withdrawing its military aid and personnel from Cameroon. The American government is today accusing the Yaounde government of using its military assistance to abuse human rights across the country.

However, the videos have kept on coming out. It appears the floodgates have been opened. On Monday, another video emerged with Cameroon soldiers killing more than 20 young unarmed male adults in the country’s northern regions.

The young male were rounded up and soldiers could be seen shooting and laughing as the young men take their last breath. Many homes were torched as the soldiers advanced into the village.

The Cameroon army soldiers in the video could be heard celebrating their inhuman violence by making a mockery of those killed. They could also be heard boasting about their heinous crime.

If the world thinks the government of Cameroon will ever respect human rights then it is mistaken. Many Cameroonians have been sent to an early grave by their own government for just raising a hand against abuses by their government.

The world has to hold the Biya regime responsible for the deaths of more than five thousand Cameroonians killed in the north, southwest and northwest regions over the last two years.

Mr. Paul Biya, the country’s 86-year-old president, and his cohort of embezzlers, are prepared to kill anybody who seeks to expose their abuse. Many journalists are today at risk, as they seek to report the human catastrophe that is playing out in the north, southwest and northwest regions.

To hide its heinous crimes, the Yaounde government has invited a Facebook delegation to Yaounde to press the online giant on the possibility of hiding its crimes. It should be pointed out that thanks to social media, the crimes of the Yaounde government have been brought to the public square and this has been a huge embarrassment to the ailing government.

In a press release signed on August 1, 2018, by Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, a senior civil servant at the presidency, the government urged the ministry of communication to participate in the working session to be held with the Facebook delegation that will be in Cameroon from August 6-15, 2018.

The press release also urges government news agencies such as the CRTV, SOPECAM and CNC to participate in the working session. No private news organ has been invited to attend the event.

The release also stresses that the objective is to focus on fake news that will be published on the country on Facebook during the upcoming presidential election. But analysts across the globe are of the opinion that there is more than meets the eye in the new relationship between Facebook and Cameroon.

The numerous videos that have hurt the country’s reputation abroad and given some of the country’s allies reasons to reflect on their alliance with a country that is wont to killing its own citizens, is causing the government to lose lots of money.

For more than six months, the Yaounde government has been faced with tough financial challenges and this has caused some important projects to be put on hold. The construction of stadiums for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations has run into some huge speed bumps.

Money is the issue and the country’s economy has taken so many punches thrown by Southern Cameroonian fighters who have now engaged in a war of economic sabotage. This has significantly reduced the government’s ability to operate at full capacity.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has hit the Yaounde government like a ton of bricks. The country’s economy is suffering. Its Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) in the English-speaking regions seem to be out of service. State corporations located in Southern Cameroons are already feeling the heat.

Pamol, a palm oil production corporation located in Lobe, a small town in Ndian Division, has finally shut its doors as the fighting between Southern Cameroonian fighters and army soldiers takes a turn for the worse. This revenue stream has stopped flowing and Yaounde is really ill-at-ease.

Pamol’s closure is bad news for the government. More than three thousand Pamol workers are today unemployed and living in permanent fear, as the fighting between the warring factions rages on.

Schools and courts in the region have been closed for almost two years and it is increasingly obvious that the Yaoundé government has lost control of certain parts of the two English-speaking regions. But it is not only Pamol’s closure that is causing the government nightmares. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), one of the country’s major employers, is also going through a rough patch.

Some of its factories have closed shop, while the fighters have deliberately set some of its infrastructure ablaze as part of their economic sabotage campaign. Malende, a small town located some 6 km from Muyuka, has witnessed huge unemployment rates. The corporation’s rubber factory was set ablaze sometime last month by some unidentified men and this has hit CDC like a ton of bricks.

In other plantations, many workers have simply deserted. The fighting is disrupting economic activities in those plantations and many workers hold that it is better to quit than be caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea.

The fighting, coupled with the derisory salaries the corporation pays to its workers, has made CDC unattractive and this is gradually eroding the government’s tax base.

Similarly, government revenue has taken a nosedive, as the national oil refinery located in the Southwest region is also facing some major challenges. While falling global oil prices are spreading pain and suffering among oil exporters, the declining oil output and constant attempts by Southern Cameroonian fighters to bring down the country’s lone oil refinery are leaving the government in a huge messy economic quandary.

The crisis is a true nightmare to this once-upon-a-time oasis of peace. It is, indeed, a millstone around the government’s neck. Things might soon spiral out of control as the fighters threaten to attack SONARA at the slightest opportunity. They argue that they have never gained from the oil and that it will be better for everybody to suffer the consequences of the government’s recklessness.

These planned acts of sabotage do not augur well for a government that is already on its knees. It is already having a tough time paying civil servants and this is causing fear among the civil servants, especially the military, many of whom want to desert and seek a better life for their families abroad.

The Yaounde government has, over the last months, been left with a bloodshot eye. The humiliating videos are costing the country huge amounts of money. The government needs money, but its allies are not very happy with its human rights record. It is currently under enormous pressure from its allies who question the rationale behind the war it declared in Southern Cameroons and the inhuman killings unfolding in the northern part of the country.

To reduce the exposure of its atrocities, it is now seeking an alliance with Facebook and this might cause Facebook huge reputational damage. The California-based giant will surely not yield to pressure from the Yaounde government which is wont to human rights abuses.

However, regardless of what relationship the Yaounde government establishes with Facebook, Cameroonians are determined to expose its abuses. There are many social media platforms and Facebook is just one of them. The era of citizen journalism is here to stay. Rather than seek to hide its atrocities, the government of Cameroon will be a respected government if it seeks to address the issues instead of thinking that it can deceive everybody all the time.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde

As the Cameroon government of 36 year President Paul Biya slaughters civilians in the Anglophone regions as well as in the North, it has re-engaged Washington lobbying firm Patton Boggs, on a retainer of $100,000 per quarters plus expenses, documents show. This means that the July 11 meeting with Cameroonian ministers bragged about by this month’s UN Security Council president, Karen Pierce of the UK, was actually in connection with a lobbying trip stage managed by Patton Boggs.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that has given the country a bad name is gradually getting into a critical phase. The country’s minister of territorial administration is not displaying the maturity leadership imposes on people. He is still talking tough and this is hurting any chances for peace.

If talking tough could address many issues, the Southern Cameroons crisis that has given the country a very bad name, could have been addressed. As the situation deteriorates, it will be wise for both parties to keep it low. Tough language has never really resolved any issue, but people like Atanga Nji are yet to understand that. Words are like bullets. Once they are out of the mouth, they cannot be recalled and they have the potential to ruin any efforts at bringing back peace to a people.

Atanga Nji displayed this primitive tendency a few days ago while receiving some Fako chiefs who had been released by Southern Cameroonian fighters after protracted negotiations. For Atanga Nji, the country’s territorial administration minister, who received the chiefs in Yaounde, he used the occasion to provoke Southern Cameroonian fighters.

He promised tracking down all the fighters who are in the jungle, adding that they and their progeny would be made to pay for their crimes if they did not come out of the jungle that has been serving as a five-star hotel to them and a green jail to all those arrested.

Mr. Atanga Nji who is not a respected minister in Cameroon, failed to understand that if it was easy to arrest the fighters in the thick equatorial jungle of the Southwest region, that would have been done a long time ago. His constant use of unfriendly language has unfortunately led to the killing of many uniformed officers.

Over the last few days, not less than 8 uniformed officers have been killed in Southern Cameroons and this has resulted in renewed violence, with the ordinary civilian suffering for something he knows nothing about.

Mr. Atanga Nji and his Yaounde masters should figure out that there will never be a total military solution to this issue. Southern Cameroonians are determined to stay the course, and only genuine and sincere dialogue will stop tempers from flaring.

Camcordnews Desk with files from Inner Press