News

9, April 2018

Ambazonia: Interim Government slams Biya’s Southern Cameroons crackdown ⁰

French Cameroun is becoming more and more evil in its crackdown on Southern Cameroonians seeking independence for the South West and North West regions. A well-placed source within the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia indicated that the Acting President Dr. Samuel Sako is also wary of what evil the Biya regime and its acolytes in French diplomatic missions in Yaoundé and Abuja are capable of in their relentless crusade to crush the Ambazonians desire for independence.

Some forty thousand Southern Cameroonians have fled to neighboring Nigeria after the Francophone dominated army launched a crackdown to stop a declaration of independence for the Anglophone regions by the Ambazonia government of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe Julius. The Ambazonian leader, who is currently being held at the National Gendarmerie headquarters in Yaoundé, is expected to be charged by the Francophone regime.

The international communities including the main Nigerian opposition party, the PDP have condemned the Buhari administration for accepting French Cameroun’s extradition request against Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 46 members of his government.

Approximately one thousand Southern Cameroonians including hundreds of French Cameroun soldiers have been killed ever since the 85 year-old dictator, President Biya declared war against the English speaking population. The Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has appealed to all Southern Cameroonians to face the struggle with a mixture of determination and confidence.

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia has also accused the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime of committing grave rights abuses and genocide in its way of treating Southern Cameroonians.

The Communication Secretary of the Ambazonia government, Hon. Chris Anu was quoted recently as saying “I am hopeful that justice will prevail but the abuses of human rights by French Cameroun authorities are unprecedented — they get worse and worse day by day,” said the Ambazonian minister.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, April 2018

London struggling to fight unprecedented crime spike ⁰

Officials in the UK capital London are struggling to control an unprecedented surge in crimes as murder rate is predicted to surpass the highest numbers in the early 2000s.

Concerns peaked in February and March, when London surpassed New York City in terms of homicides for the first time in history.

London has never recorded more murders in a year than America’s most populous city, which recorded 290 homicides in 2017, the lowest number in decades, compared to London’s 130.

This year, however, it has been a different story as 37 people were killed in London in February and March this year compared to the 35 murders that happened in the Big Apple.

Both cities are similar in terms of population and size but one noticeable difference between them is that London banned in 1997.

Police and community workers have attributed the spike to battles over control of the illegal drug trade and a “postcode war” between street gangs, among other things.

Part of the blame has also been put on Mayor Sadiq Khan, who oversees London’s Metropolitan Police. The Labour mayor, however, says it is the Tory government’s budget policies that have weakened the police and affected the city’s overall safety.

“Since I first became mayor, I have been saying to the government that it’s not sustainable to make the level of cuts they have been making to London,” Khan said recently.

The huge cuts, that according to Labour leader Jeremy COrbyn have seen over 20,000 officers removed from the streets, is not the only gripe critics have with Conservative government’s policy.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s administration has also cut funding to local councils, forcing them to shutter youth clubs, libraries and programs for young people in order to save money.

May herself has been held responsible by some critics for the policies that she undertook when serving as Home Secretary. During her tenure, May put curbs to police stop-and-search powers and made it more difficult for security forces to detect potential crime.

Source: Presstv

8, April 2018

Ambazonia “Battalion Commander” Killed In Battle of Belo ⁰

How Gilbert Ngwani, 26, saved a captured classmate but died in battle hours after

A “battalion commander” of the Ambazonia fighters who acquitted a captured suspect, perished in gun battle with government defence and security forces less than 24 hours later. Gilbert Ngwani, 26, was found dead with bullet wounds, Thursday, April 7 on the streets of Belo, Boyo Division in the North West Region. He was laid to rest in his family compound on Friday, April 8.

The man Ngwani acquitted narrated the following testimony to me, which I recorded after thorough scrutiny to authenticate his story. From his outlook, he could be easily mistaken for someone of another ethnic origin with peculiar features, which was the claim of the Ambazonia fighters who abducted him. His identity is withheld to safeguard his security.

“I travelled to my village Belo last Thursday (March 29) for the funeral of a cousin who died in the village. On Wednesday, April 4, as the gun battles between government forces and the Amba Boys raged on and off, I was making a phone call at the Square when two young men on a motorbike pulled up near me. They were both either below 20 or just above 20. They were very young. I’m myself in my 20s, but they looked younger than me. They asked who I was speaking to on the phone and said I look like some of their enemies.

“It is true people often tell me I look like people from a certain part of Cameroon, not from any of the Anglophone regions. I told them I was a Bikom from Belo here and said I was speaking to relatives about the funeral of our cousin but they said I was lying. They said they believe I was making a call to security people to locate where they were. They asked me to come with them. They made me mount the bike, one riding; the other sitting behind me. I realized I was truly in trouble when I saw knives protruding from both pockets of the rider and the man behind with a short gun.

They took me without a blindfold to their “camp” which was just an open space. When we alighted off the bike and approached the other men I recognized one of them. Too frightened, I tried not to show familiarity, as well as he too did not acknowledge me. From the body language I could tell he was their commander. He gave instructions; the boys obeyed, gave him military-style salutes and called him military titles that showed respect.

“They questioned me further about my origins. I repeatedly told them I was from Belo. To my great relief, my childhood friend, Gilbert Ngwani, told his boys that he knows me and confirmed that I was a child of Belo. Gilbert was my classmate in GBHS Belo. After obtaining the A Level, he has been in the village doing odd jobs and riding motorbikes.

“The Boys also conducted a mystical test to prove my innocence. They waved a cutlass in front of me. I did not understand why but when I returned home and narrated my story, I was told it was meant to verify whether I was a danger to their cause. They told me, ‘We are out to clean the house and silence betrayers of our cause before engaging other phases of the struggle’. Thereafter, they took me on the bike again and dropped off at the Square and warned me that if I revealed their location to anyone, they would come for me again.

“The sad side of the story is that Gilbert was killed in battle on Wednesday, April 4. His body was found with bullet wounds. Knowing he was secured with the Odey Chi cult, many in Belo are guessing he might have defaulted on one of their rules. Some say he touched blood which is prohibited. Others say he might have mistakenly kept coins in his pocket. Life is nothing. That is someone I saw only hours before and especially, I feel sorry that my old friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time should die like that only hours after he saved my own life. Sometimes, I feel I might have been killed were he not there to testify that I was a child of Belo.

Gilbert Ngwani was buried in his father’s compound early on Friday, April 6. Village boys collected his corpse at night. His father wanted him to be buried without a coffin, fearful that soldiers could come and arrest those at the burial if they wasted time. But his friends took the courage and hastily made a coffin to bury Gilbert. ”

By Franklin Sone Bayen

8, April 2018

French and English Cameroon’s bloody internal war ⁰

On Tuesday, April 3, 2018, the Francophone dominated Cameroonian military attacked and burned several homes in Mungo Ndor, a small village located about 40km away from Nguti in Koupé-Manengouba. Ms. Egbe Maria Ndonge, well known as Mami Maria was burned to death in her house, while she was asleep.

Residents of the village confirmed that local churches have been burned. 6 civilians were shot and there are reports of several killings of civilians in the village. Intentionally killing civilians and destroying civilian property constitute war crimes and this should be thoroughly investigated.

The village has been besieged by the army, villagers are not allowed to move in or out, with hundreds hiding in the forest for safety.

The African Union and the UN are both maintaining a kind of deliberate silence on the Southern Cameroons crisis. Human rights groups have called on the Biya regime to allow journalists have access to these regions.

Culled from Today News Africa

8, April 2018

Millions of French commuters face wave of railway strikes ⁰

Millions of French commuters and holidaymakers faced another wave of crippling transport stoppages on Sunday, as rail workers protested at President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reform plans and some unions warned they could step up strike action.

Train staff last week kicked off three months of nationwide rolling strikes in a dispute over the government’s planned overhaul of state-run rail firm SNCF, in the biggest challenge yet to Macron’s attempts to modernize the French economy.

Just over a third of workers needed to make the train network run smoothly were expected to walk out on Sunday, a dip in participation compared to the last 48 hours of walkouts on Tuesday and Wednesday, the SNCF said.

But some labor unions have already signaled a hardening stance as negotiations with ministers over the reforms hit a wall. Officials at the Communist-rooted CGT said on Friday that strikes could drag on well beyond June if nothing shifted.

Laurent Brun, head of the CGT’s railway section, added that workers were ready for a “marathon” if needed.

Unions have so far called strikes for two days out of every five until the end of June, to fight a shake-up of monopoly SNCF before it is opened to competition in line with European Union rules.

That includes ending job-for-life guarantees and early retirement for rail workers, which the government argues will help transform the heavily-indebted company into a profitable public service.

Workers have hit back with complaints that the SNCF was being dismantled to pave the way for a privatization.

The showdown between Macron and the rail unions is one of the toughest tests yet of the former investment banker’s presidency.

French President Emmanuel Macron (C) arrives to visit an apprentice training center in Tours, France, March 14, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

The 40-year-old came to power last May on a promise to shake up Europe’s second-biggest economy, in a bid to modernize some of France’s creaking institutions, and spur jobs growth. Macron has so far liberalized labor regulations for instance.

But locking horns with the rail sector has backfired on previous French governments — paralyzing train strikes in 1995 forced prime minister Alain Juppe to pull planned reforms — and unions are seeking to show they still have clout.

Some insisted they did not want a drawn-out conflict but called on Macron’s government to compromise.

“The ball is in the government’s court,” Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT union, told Europe 1 radio on Saturday. The CFDT is also joining stoppages called for Sunday and Monday.

The government has so far said it will stand firm on the main points of the reform.

“The status quo is not viable,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in an interview published in Le Parisien newspaper on Sunday. “It’s urgent, we need to advance, and everyone should know we are determined to see this through to the end.”

Though nowhere near as potent, the various protests come as France prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of the student-led riots of May 1968, which gridlocked the country and led to the adoption of more progressive social policies.

Disruptions on Sunday were set to hit local trains as well as regional high-speed trains and some international journeys.

(Source: Reuters)

7, April 2018

French Cameroun army denies allegations of human rights abuse in Southern Cameroons ⁰

A prominent human rights activist in Cameroon has accused the army of causing civilian deaths through fires of houses and places of worship in the English-speaking region of the South-West, an accusation rejected by the army.

Agbor Bala Nkongho, director of the NGO Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, posted on his Facebook page, a chilling account that describes a miliary raid on a remote village in the region.

“On Tuesday, April 3, the Cameroonian army attacked and burned several houses in Mungo Vendeur, a small village located about 40 km from Nguti to Koupé-Manengouba (South-West). Ms Egbe Maria Ndonge was burned to death in her house while she slept,” said Nkongho.

Cameroon has been independent since 1960 and has no lessons to learn in the way its defence forces legally pursue their missions of securing populations.

“We have received reports of 6 civilians killed and reports of civilian killings in the village. Intentionally killing civilians and destroying civilian property are war crimes, which should be thoroughly investigated,” he continued.

Nkongho was one of the leaders of the first uprising of the English-speaking protest at the end of 2016. Arrested in mid-2017, he was released in September by presidential decree.

It is in this area that 12 Italian and Swiss tourists were briefly arrested by armed men on Monday, according to their travel agency.

The army responds

“Cameroon has been independent since 1960 and has no lessons to learn in the way its defence forces legally pursue their missions of securing populations. We also do not intend to respond to maneuvers of intoxication and diversion,” Colonel Didier Badjeck, spokesman for the Cameroonian army, contacted by telephone from Libreville, told AFP.

“It is extraordinary how some of these so-called actors of the region have resorted to faking the truth, or transforming it. We ask that evidence of these alleged abuses by our forces is presented to us,” he added.

Since the end of 2017, the security situation has deteriorated considerably in the English-speaking regions of the North-West and South-West, with armed separatist groups multiplying violent actions against state forces and kidnapping civil servants.

Yaoundé responded by force, deploying a strong security apparatus. The army has been accused several times of abuses through testimonies in the press and on social networks.

Observers fear that the Anglophone crisis could disrupt presidential elections scheduled to be held at the end of 2018.

AFP

7, April 2018

Moscow vows ‘tough response’ to US bans on Russian oligarchs ⁰

Moscow has pledged a “tough response” to new US sanctions against seven of Russia’s most influential oligarchs amid the growing tensions between Russia and the West over the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain.

“We will not let the current attack, or any new anti-Russian attack, go without a tough response,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on Friday.

Earlier in the day, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced the fresh sanctions on the Russian Oligarchs and 12 companies they own, 17 senior Russian officials and a state-owned arms export firm, over a range of activities, including Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Companies like Gazprom, Burenie and Renova group have also been added to the sanctions list while the US assets of “oligarchs” such as aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, whose family controls Russia’s largest gold producer, Polyus, have been frozen.

Washington said the punitive measures are in response to Russia’s policies regarding Ukraine and Syria, as well as its cyber activities and attempts to subvert Western democracies. The US sanctions are the most significant since Crimea’s re-integration with Russia in 2014.

Britain claims the Soviet-designed Novichok nerve agent was used to poison Skripal, 67, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, in the British city of Salisbury on March 4 and points the finger at Russia. The Skripals remained hospitalized in critical condition, but they gradually recovered.

Numerous allies of Britain, including the United States, have ordered the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats as part of seemingly coordinated attempts against the Kremlin.

Russia, which denies any involvement in the incident, took reciprocal measures against states that make “unfriendly” decisions ejecting foreign diplomats from Moscow. Also, the Kremlin urged these states to review the UK’s evidence pertaining to the case before taking any steps against Russia.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused “powerful forces” in the US and Britain of being behind the nerve agent attack.

On Wednesday, Russia called on the United Nations Security Council to hold a meeting to discuss Britain’s accusation that Russia was involved in the Salisbury incident.

The news comes as ties between Moscow and Washington have plummeted to levels not seen since the Cold War due to the two countries’ disputes over the crises in Ukraine and Syria and after US officials accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

Russia says the US is planning to deploy some 400 anti-ballistic missiles on Russia’s doorstep as part of its military buildup in Eastern Europe.

Western countries have levied broad economic sanctions against Moscow over its support for pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine and Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

In late 2016, Washington alleged that Russia had influenced the US presidential election in November that year to help Donald Trump get elected, an allegation that Russia strongly denied.

Russia and the US are also at odds over the Syrian crisis, as they are backing opposite sides in the conflict.

Russia has been assisting the Syrian government in its battle against extremist militants, while the US and its allies back Takfiri militants fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Source: Presstv

6, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bomb explodes in Lebialem County ⁰

It has been confirmed that a bomb exploded this morning at Belua causing untold damage to the military and vehicles of French Cameroun government forces. Belua is located in the Lebialem County in the Southern Zone of the Federal Republic of Ambzonia.

Cameroon Concord News sources say the French Cameroun army vehicle is beyond repairs. The number of human casualties is yet to be ascertained. There is pandemonium at Menji and MHA Nveh where the injured are receiving emergency treatment.

This item is still developing

6, April 2018

South Korea ex-president Park jailed for 24 years ⁰

South Korea’s disgraced former president Park Geun-hye was jailed for 24 years Friday for corruption, closing out a dramatic fall from grace for the country’s first woman leader, who became a figure of public fury and ridicule.

The sentence followed a trial lasting more than 10 months which ended with Park being found guilty on multiple criminal charges, including bribery and abuse of power.

“The amount of bribery the accused received or demanded in collaboration with Choi amounts to more than 23 billion won ($21.7 million),” Judge Kim Se-Yoon said, referring to Park’s secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-sil.

“I sentence the accused to 24 years in prison and 18 billion won in fines.”

Park, 66, had boycotted most of the trial in protest at being held in custody. She was not present in court for Friday’s judgment which, in a rare move, was broadcast live on television.

The daughter of assassinated dictator Park Chung-hee, Park took office in 2013 as a conservative icon who cast herself in the role of daughter of the nation — incorruptible and beholden to none.

Less than four years later, she was impeached, stripped of all her powers and ousted from office on the back of months-long mass protests that brought millions onto the streets of Seoul and other cities.

The trigger was a snowballing graft scandal involving Park and Choi and accusations of graft, influence-peddling, and taking bribes from corporate bigwigs in exchange for policy favors.

Much of the public anger was focused on Park’s relationship with Choi and accusations that she let her childhood friend — who held no formal position or security clearance — meddle in state affairs, including high-level appointments and editing official speeches.

Choi is the daughter of a shadowy religious figure who had served as a mentor to Park for decades until his death in 1994. She was tried separately and sentenced in February to 20 years in prison.

Choi Soon-sil (masked), the jailed confidante of former South Korean president Park Geun-Hye, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on February 13, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The scandal reignited public criticism in South Korea of the cozy and often corrupt ties between top officials and the powerful, family-run conglomerates — called “chaebol” — that dominate the world’s 11th-largest economy.

Park becomes the third former South Korean leader to be convicted on criminal charges after leaving office, joining Chun Doo-whan and Roh Tae-woo, who were both found guilty of treason and corruption in the 1990s.

Park’s presidential predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, is currently in custody as prosecutors investigate multiple corruption charges involving him and his relatives.

Chun and Roh received presidential pardons after each spent around two years in jail — a privilege that may elude Park for many years, said Jeong Han-wool, an analyst at the Seoul Hankook Research think-tank.

There is some residual sympathy for Park among her core supporters, who have always seen her as a heroically tragic figure who lost both her parents to assassins and devoted her life to the service of her country.

The fact that she never married or had children was part of her appeal, given the nepotistic tendencies of many senior officials.

“I’m married to the Republic of Korea. I have no children. South Koreans are my family,” she once declared.

(Source: AFP)

6, April 2018

Southern Cameroons Genocide Cover Up: Yaounde arrest Rwanda genocide suspect wanted in France ⁰

A former Rwandan policeman has been arrested in Cameroon on suspicion of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a judicial source in France, where he is wanted over the killings, said.

Philippe Hategekimana was arrested in Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital, on March 30 under an international warrant issued by French magistrates specialising in crimes against humanity.

France is expected to request his extradition to face charges of organising and participating in multiple atrocities in southern Rwanda in April 1994, including the assassination of a mayor.

France, which had initially dragged its heels on prosecuting suspected perpetrators of the genocide of about 800,000 people, mostly minority Tutsis, has picked up the pace in recent years.

The first French trial over the genocide was in 2014 when former Rwandan spy chief Pascal Simbikangwa was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity.

Two years later, a Paris court sentenced two former Rwandan mayors to life in prison for their participation in a massacre at a church, where some 2,000 people seeking refuge were bludgeoned and hacked to death.

All three men were arrested in France.

Hategekimana also fled to France after the genocide, settling in the western city of Rennes where he changed his name to Philippe Manier and obtained French citizenship.

But he recently left for Cameroon.

The investigation against him was opened in Paris in September 2015 after a complaint from the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR), a group set up by a Rwandan-born relative of genocide victims and her husband.

The genocide has caused two decades of tension between France and Rwanda, with the latter accusing Paris of complicity in the killings through its support and military training for the ethnic Hutu forces who carried out most of the slaughter.

Source: The Nation