News

UK diplomat says UN Security Council taking interest in the Southern Cameroons Crisis

1, August 2018

UK diplomat says UN Security Council taking interest in the Southern Cameroons Crisis 0

The United Nations Security Council is keeping an eye and taking strong interest in the ongoing crisis in Southern Cameroons, according to the United Kingdom Ambassador and permanent representative, Karen Pierce.

According to the United Nations, the crisis has led to over 160 thousand persons internally displaced and over thirty thousand who have crossed to Nigeria as a result of the conflict have been officially registered as refugees.

The African Union like the United Nations has been criticised for not stepping in to solve the crisis but the British Ambassador to the UN says that could soon change.

“I spoke to a delegation of Cameroon Ministers at the UN on July 11. I made clear we were watching the situation closely,” Karen Pierce tweeted.

“We wanted to see more dialogue, less violence and no disproportionate military action. Although the issue has not yet come to the UNSC, there is lots of interest in New York,” she said.

The Government of Cameroon has since moved to announce a dubious so-called Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Plan to assist persons affected by the crisis especially the internally displaced. However, the fate of the refugees in Nigeria is still not clear.

Reported by Journal du Cameroun


Nigeria: Buhari elected new chairman of ECOWAS

1, August 2018

Nigeria: Buhari elected new chairman of ECOWAS 0

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been elected the new chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Togo’s capital Lome.

He takes over the yearly rotational role from Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe who faced a tough task in his 12-month tenure. Togolese opposition parties protested his continued stay in power over the entire period.

Buhari’s election was announced at the end of the 53rd Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State which ended on Monday evening.

View image on Twitter
Preceding the Heads of State summit was a joint summit between ECOWAS and the Central African bloc, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

A communique issued at the close of the summit said its aim “was to create conditions for sustainable peace and a secured environment in the common area of the two regions.”

At the heart of deliberations were: security, peace and stability and the fight against terrorism and violent extremism. The African Union chief, Moussa Faki Mahamat was also in attendance.

Heads of State or representatives from ECOWAS

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Heads of State or representatives from ECCAS

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe and Chad.

Source: Africa News


Thousands flee their homes as fire spreads in California

31, July 2018

Thousands flee their homes as fire spreads in California 0

More than ten thousand people fled their homes in Mendocino County, California, as wildfires quickly spread on Sunday, July 29, local media reported.

An antique car, part of a collection, lays in rubble in a devastated neighborhood July 29, 2018 near Redding, California, where firefighters say only 5 percent of a nearly 90,000 acre fire has been contained. (AFP)

 

The so-called Mendocino Complex fire spread to more than 30,500 acres (12,300-hectares) on Sunday, they said.

Meanwhile, firefighters struggled to contain a brush fire in Nevada overnight. The so-called Perry fire started on Friday (July 27)and burned through more than 25,000 acres (10,100-hectares) over the weekend.

A deer stands on a road painted with fire retardant during the Carr fire near the town of Igo, California on July 28, 2018. (AFP)

 

Wildfires have scorched almost 4.3 million acres (1.7 million hectares) across the country so far this year, less than last year but more than the 3.7 million-acre (1.5 million-hectares) average for the same period over the last decade.


MH370 disappearance remains mystery after release of detailed report

31, July 2018

MH370 disappearance remains mystery after release of detailed report 0

The real cause for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cannot be determined, said a detailed report on the incident released by a safety investigation team on Monday.

Investigator of the Malaysian ICAO ANNEX 13 Safety Investigation team for MH370 Kok Soo Chon speaks during a media briefing in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, on July 30, 2018. (AFP)

 

During a press conference held by the Malaysian government, the investigator-in-charge said that the report was a result of joint cooperation by eight countries, but said it is not the final report into the mysterious case which has gripped the world.

The 1,100-page report will be submitted to the Malaysian House of Representatives on Tuesday for consideration.

The doomed MH370, carrying 239 on board, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Sarah Nor, the mother of Norliakmar Hamid, a passenger on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, cries as she arrives for the final investigation report on missing flight MH370 in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur on July 30, 2018. (AFP)

 

The report said the team had reached the conclusion that the plane did deviate from its flight path and that its change in direction over the Indian Ocean was made under manual control, but said there was not enough evidence to confirm if there was any unlawful interference by a third party.

Source: Presstv


Battle for Southern Cameroons: Ndop prison overrun by armed men, 163 inmates escape

30, July 2018

Battle for Southern Cameroons: Ndop prison overrun by armed men, 163 inmates escape 0

Over 160 prisoners have escaped from jail in Cameroon’s north-west region following an attack on the facility by armed men suspected to be separatists.

According to state media CRTV, the overnight attack on the Ndop prisons was two-pronged. The attackers are said to have lit a fire amid the use of gun fire.

“More than 160 prisoners from Ndop prison (North West) fled” after the attack on the penitentiary where they were burnt by an armed group, a source close to the regional authorities said.

View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterWilliam Benedict Emvoutu Mbita, head of the department of Ngoketunjia where Ndop is located confirmed that some escapees had voluntarily returned and were due to be transferred to the regional capital, Bamenda.

The attackers who “fired from everywhere”, were able to “break the gates of the prison” before “setting fire to all the buildings,“he added, stressing that they had brought fuel to cause the fire.

He further disclosed that operations were underway to find the other escapees. This is the first time since the outbreak of the Anglophone crisis in late 2016 that such a large number of prisoners manage to escape following the attack on a prison.

Source: Africa News


A message to the world on the crisis in Southern Cameroons from Ambassador Mahmoud Adam Jama

30, July 2018

A message to the world on the crisis in Southern Cameroons from Ambassador Mahmoud Adam Jama 0

It is painfully obvious African leaders and humanitarian organizations have failed to respond to the unraveling crisis in Southern Cameroon.

What makes this even more alarming is the fact [that] unspeakable crimes continue to be committed against the civilian population there.

The repression and brutality are targeted at a specific region. Nobody is immune. Nobody is off limits.

The recent footage of the extrajudicial executions of civilian—including women and children—is sickening. The images are horrific and heart wrenching. We can see exactly where this is going!

Yet world leaders ignore this impending catastrophe.

Leaders who vowed to never again stand by and allow such crimes to happen, are ironically African leaders who fought oppression in their lifetime; but who [now] seem eerily silent at this particular moment in history.

The situation is dire and [quickly] deteriorating.

An estimated 160,000 people have been displaced, and are in urgent need of relief and humanitarian assistance. International peacekeeping troops are needed there to stop the killing and safeguard civilians, and there must be a United Nations investigation into the human rights abuses.

A sad and tragic chapter in Africa’s history is unfolding. We must remember the mistakes of the past!

We must remember Somaliland! We must remember Rwanda!

WE MUST STOP THE KILLING

AMB Mahmoud Adam Jama

SOMALILAND’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO ETHIOPIA


Relief workers in Nigeria are struggling to cope with a new wave of fleeing Southern Cameroons refugees

29, July 2018

Relief workers in Nigeria are struggling to cope with a new wave of fleeing Southern Cameroons refugees 0

Ever since Acting President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe declared an independent ‘Ambazonia’ state in southern Cameroon, tens of thousands have fled violence into Nigeria and relief workers are struggling to keep up.

Relief workers in southern Nigeria are struggling to cope with a new wave of refugees fleeing Cameroon.

Fighting began in October when Southern Cameroonians declared an independent state they call “Ambazonia” which was formerly known as British Southern Cameroons.

Since the fighting started, an estimated 30,000 have been crossing the border into Nigeria and more arriving as the violence continues.

Culled from Aljazeera


Ambazoniagate: Wife of Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe writes to the UN Secretary General

29, July 2018

Ambazoniagate: Wife of Interim President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe writes to the UN Secretary General 0

His Excellency Mr António Guterres

Secretary-General

United Nations

One United Nations Plaza

New York, NY  10017

 

Open Letter

 

ABDUCTION, ILLEGAL DETENTION AND DEPORTATION OF MY HUSBAND (JULIUS AYUK TABE) AND 46 OTHER CAMEROONIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES BY THE AUTHORITIES OF CAMEROON AND NIGERIA.

 

Dear Mr Secretary-General,

 

From the opening moments of your tenure, you were determined to make the promotion of human dignity the core of your work, and pledged to help alleviate the sufferings of the most vulnerable people on earth, especially those forcefully displaced from their homes and communities. At your direction, the UN has adopted a “new approach” that recognizes the institution’s past failures and calls for a “victim-centered strategy rooted in transparency, accountability and justice.”You have spoken movingly of the plight of victims and described how their accounts will haunt you forever. On 26 June 2018, marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, you stated that “torture in any form is absolutely unacceptable and can never be justified,”in all circumstances including periods of emergencies, political unrest and even war. This is inspiring and comforting, and gives me and families of victims worldwide some hope.

 

However,my husband Mr Julius Ayuk Tabe(leader of the people of the Southern Cameroons)and scores of other prominent Southern Cameroonian exiles living in Nigeria, who were abducted in Abuja on 5 January 2018, unlawfully deported to Cameroon and detained incommunicado for six months, are still languishing in illegal detention in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Prior to their abductions, many of them were working in Nigeria as university professors, engineers, businessmen and legal practitioners. Others were refugees who recently fled Cameroon Government-sponsored violence and incipient genocide in the Southern Cameroons.These abductions and extraditions were in flagrant violation of the United Nations Declarations of Human Rights, and the apparent continued silence of the United Nations on this issue calls into question the seriousness with which the United Nations takes its commitment to protect the fundamental rights of peoples everywhere.

Mr Secretary General, I plead with you to use your good offices to compel the government of Cameroon to release my husband and all other Southern Cameroonians being held illegally in detention centers in Cameroon, and for that government to end the genocide it is carrying out in the Southern Cameroons. My husband and fellow detained Southern Cameroonian leaders have suffered untold hardship, torture, cruelty, inhumane and degrading treatment in detention. Mr Secretary General, at the time of writing this Appeal, the Government of Cameroon announced that it had commenced the process of final interrogation of these detainees, after which they will be arraigned before the Military Tribunal in Yaoundé. If your office continues to be silent, the outcome of the trial by the Military Tribunal in Cameroon is predicted to parallel the unlawful hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa and his 9 Ogoni compatriots in Nigeria in 1995 after a similar trial by that nation’s Military Tribunal.

The inaction of the United Nations to compel the Government of Cameroon to respect its commitments under relevant international agreements and conventions it has ratified will send the wrong message to nations of the world that fundamental international regulatory instruments can be violated and eroded with impunity and without penalty. The weeks of street protests around the globe (including in front of the UN Headquarters in New York) led by the peace-loving people of the Southern Cameroons, which greeting the sad news of my husband’s illegal abduction and detention in Nigeria, bear testament to the weight of the responsibility Mr Ayuk Tabe bears as leader of the people of the Southern Cameroons. My husband and his lieutenants in the Southern Cameroons revolution are freedom fighters and men of peace, who are seeking to free our people from the determined clutches of the villainous vampiric political mess that is Cameroon. My husband and his colleagues are striving to restore dignity to the people of the Southern Cameroons by restoring their fundamental rights and freedoms as human beings.

I thank you for your time and hopefully look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Lilian Ayuk Tabe

 

 


Cameroon’s Escalating Conflict Triggers Alarm at UN

27, July 2018

Cameroon’s Escalating Conflict Triggers Alarm at UN 0

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, is seeking access to Cameroon to verify what he says are alarming reports of horrific abuse by separatist and government forces in the country’s English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.

The U.N. human rights office said the situation in Cameroon’s English-speaking communities has worsened considerably since protests against what the English-speakers see as structural discrimination started two years ago.

The Anglophones are demanding an end to what they allege is their economic and political marginalization by the country’s Francophone majority.

The High Commissioner’s spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, told VOA what began as protests for greater access to jobs and linguistic equality has gotten out of hand. She said violence by both armed separatists and the government has spiraled out of control.

“The violent separatists, these armed groups are killing people, torching schools, carrying out kidnappings and extortion and all sorts of horrible human rights abuses to try to disrupt the situation,” she said. “The government’s role should be to protect people in such a horrible environment. Instead, the government is employing a heavy-handed response, which is not helping the situation. It is further causing human rights violations.”

United Nations figures show more than 21,000 refugees have fled to neighboring countries, while some 160,000 people are internally displaced by the violence, with many reportedly hiding in forests.

An army spokesman has rejected charges of abuses by the security forces as “rumors.”

Shamdasani said there is a lot of misinformation and propaganda on both sides. She added that the High Commissioner has asked that monitors be allowed to verify allegations of abuse against both security forces and armed separatists.

The government has rejected this request, she said. Consequently, she added that the U.N. human rights office will have to consider other options to keep tabs on the situation, including remote monitoring.

Source: VOA


South Africa: Putin, Ramaphosa hold talks at BRICS summit

27, July 2018

South Africa: Putin, Ramaphosa hold talks at BRICS summit 0

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa met on the sidelines of the 10th BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

The leaders signed a joint declaration of strategic cooperation between Russia and South Africa on Thursday. They also signed an agreement relating to the agricultural sector and a memorandum of understanding on water resources.

The BRICS summit is taking place in Johannesburg between July 25 and 27. Heads of state or government from the five member states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will discuss areas of possible cooperation.

(Source: Ruptly)


«< 501 502 503 504 505 >»
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.