News

24, December 2017

African migrants lacerated by razor wire as they get trapped on top of Spanish border fence for hours ⁰

African migrants attempted to scale a 6-meter fence that separates Morocco from Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, early on Saturday morning.

According to local reports, the refugees tried to scale the two barriers located at a halfway point along the 8.2 km (5 mile) perimeter fence at 06:00.

Moroccan border police managed to stop the majority of the refugees, apart from a small group of 33 who could be stuck on the barbed wire barrier between the countries.

Once the Spanish Civil Guards were aware of their presence, the group were forced to retreat to the Moroccan side.

This was the third attempt at forced entry in the past 24 hours, after 700 and 300 migrants made separate attempts at the northernmost part of the border.

24, December 2017

3 killed in Boko Haram incursion in the Far North ⁰

At least three people were killed in two attacks by suspected members of terror group Boko Haram on Friday night and Saturday morning in Cameroon’s Far North region.

According to a member of the local vigilance committee, the first incursion occurred late Friday night in the Mayo-Moskota sub-division bordering Nigeria, when suspected Boko Haram members broke into the locality of Zeneme and killed two persons.

A second incursion into the same sub-division resulted in the death of a resident of the locality of Kerawa-Mafa. The Far North of Cameroon has seen a resurgence of terrorist violence in recent days towards the end of the year.

Early last week, three civilians were killed in two Boko Haram attacks in this troubled region. The Biya Francophone regime withdrew soldiers from the Boko Haram invested region and deployed them to Southern Cameroons. Cameroon government forces have reportedly killed hundreds of Southern Cameroons ever since the Anglophone uprising started last year.

23, December 2017

What is going on in Southern Cameroons is a massive, state-sponsored genocide ⁰

The genocide being committed against Southern Cameroonians has been described by religious leaders as a systematic policy but the international community has remained silent on the plight of the persecuted Anglophone minority. It is a deliberately created crisis to force Southern Cameroonians to flee from their homeland and its implementation involves all structures of the so-called democratic government of President Paul Biya, the Cameroon armed forces and the extremist French Cameroun political elites.

The ongoing crackdown against Anglophones in Manyu Division is another ethnic cleansing campaign, targeting a whole group of people, who are even being denied of their right to participate in any political process in Cameroon. The President Biya scorch-the-earth policy is succeeding as thousands and thousands of Southern Cameroonians are being driven out of their homes due to the butchering of innocent people.

The sufferings of the Manyu population who have managed to flee to neighboring Nigeria is nothing in comparison to those who have been left behind, who are unable to move [since] they’re too old or don’t have the finances to foot the transportation bills.

The United Nations, African Union and the European Union including Ecowas and the Commonwealth are all dragging their feet while people are dying in large numbers in Mamfe, Akwaya and Eyumojock Sub Divisions. Yet another Rwanda in the making

A Roman Catholic Bishop has been quoted as saying that what is going on in Southern Cameroons is a massive, state-sponsored genocide. The President Buhari administration in the Federal Republic of Nigeria has denied protecting Southern Cameroonians at the borders in Ikom and Obudu and the Nigerian government has also denied Southern Cameroonians the right of defending themselves…

It is evidently clear that the Commonwealth have received standing instructions from Paris that everyone should wait for the Biya regime to finish up the job and completely, ethnically cleanse and commit the genocide and finish it in Southern Cameroons.

The Cameroonian army recently launched yet another heavy-handed crackdown against Southern Cameroonians in Kembong village, using an armed attack on a military posts as the pretext.

Over that past one year, Cameroon government troops, apart from raping, have been committing killings, making arbitrary arrests, and carrying out mass arson attacks to destroy houses in predominantly-Anglophone villages in West Cameroon

More than 30,000 Southern Cameroonians have so far fled to neighboring Nigeria.

Source: Cameroon Intelligence Report

23, December 2017

Yaounde: Ahmed Abba is freeed ⁰

A Cameroonian reporter with Radio France International, Ahmed Abba, was Friday released from jail after 29 months in detention, his lawyer said. “Ahmed Abba left Yaounde prison around 9:15 pm (Friday). He has been with me since his release, he is doing well,” Charles Tchoungang told AFP.

RFI editorial staff confirmed his release. A military tribunal in April sentenced Abba to 10 years in prison and fined him the equivalent of about 85,000 euros ($100,000) for “laundering the proceeds of terrorist acts” and “failure to denounce acts of terrorism”.

On appeal, the military court in Yaounde on Thursday aquitted him on the first charge and upheld the second, handing him a 24-month sentence. He was released Friday having already been held for 29 months.

Abba leaving jail

Abba, who had been reporting out of the troubled north of Cameroon, a region repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram, was arrested in July 2015 in the far northern town of Maroua.

The Hausa language RFI correspondent was suspected of collaborating with the jihadist group and not passing on information to the authorities.

His trial had been postponed 18 times and his appeal was also postponed several times in recent months. On Thursday evening, the management of RFI said it was “relieved at the prospect of this imminent release allowed by the Cameroonian court”.

Stressing the “emptiness of the charges” against him, RFI said “Ahmed Abba has only done his job as a journalist”.

Source: AFP

23, December 2017

Trump says US ‘foolishly’ spent $7 trillion in Mideast, time to rebuild home ⁰

President Donald Trump says the United States has “foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East,” stressing it was time to work “in a bipartisan fashion” instead to “rebuild our country.”

“At some point, and for the good of the country, I predict we will start working with the Democrats in a Bipartisan fashion,” Trump tweeted Friday. “Infrastructure would be a perfect place to start.”

The tweet came a day after Trump suffered a defeat at the United Nations General Assembly, which overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution calling on the US to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israeli “capital.”

Trump had threatened before the vote that Washington would cut foreign aid to countries that voted against his decision at the General Assembly.

Countries “take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us,” the president said Wednesday, adding “we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us, we’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had echoed the same sentiment ahead of the vote, saying the US would “remember” the nations that voted “yes” at the General Assembly.

Haley noted that the US was the “single largest contributor” to the world body but the latest anti-Israeli measure could alter that.

Defying the threats, the UN voted 128-9 to make Trump’s decision “null and void.” Thirty five countries abstained and 21 were no-shows.

Trump appears to be turning the snub into an opportunity at home by stressing the need to spend more on America’s aging infrastructure.

He is expected to unveil his much-awaited 70-page infrastructure proposal next month, relying on a mix of federal, local and private spending.

Trump has also used Monday’s deadly train derailment in Washington state to call for more spending on infrastructure.

“The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly,” he tweeted after the accident.

“Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!”

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump had promised to deliver a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to improve rebuild roads, bridges, airports and other public works in the country.

Source: Presstv

22, December 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya regime denies Nigerian border incursions ⁰

Cameroon has denied allegations that its soldiers crossed into Nigeria without permission and attacked villages said to be hosting and training armed separatist groups.

The media has reported that at least one incursion has been confirmed by the Nigerian government and military officials. However, Cameroon says that since President Paul Biya declared war on armed separatists about a month ago, it has attacked only border villages in Cameroon where the groups were hiding.

“The terrorists had taken advantage of the dense forests at the border with Nigeria to set up secret training camps from which they organized raids against our defense forces,” said Cameroon’s communication minister and government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma. “Following the dismantling operation thus carried out, the hideout of these murderers were literally destroyed and the villages previously taken hostage were liberated.”

Two weeks ago, Cameroon said the armed separatists advocating independence for the English-speaking northwest and southwest portions of the country were being trained in Nigeria. Lawan Abba Gashagar, Nigeria’s high commissioner to Cameroon and special envoy of president Muhammadu Buhari, visited Cameroon’s president and said they would collaborate in fighting the terrorists.

This week, Reuters and Nigerian local newspapers reported that Cameroon troops had crossed into Nigeria in pursuit of the armed separatists without seeking authorization from Nigeria, causing a fallout between the two governments.

Cameroon says it attacked separatist training camps in three of its border villages around Mamfe and Eyumojock.

Ojong Anslem, a resident of Eyumojock, says the separatists are still gaining a lot of support from the borders.

“What is now on the streets in the northwest and southwest is secession,” Anslem said.

The UNHCR says the violence has pushed thousands of Cameroonians across the border to Nigeria since October 1, the day the separatists said they had declared their independence and their humanitarian needs were growing.

Source: VOA

22, December 2017

“Commonwealth Secretary General has no idea on the happenings in Manyu” ⁰

A group of Southern Cameroons political elites including human rights activists who met with the visiting Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland today in Buea, failed to deplore the atrocities committed by the Francophone dominated army in Manyu Division. Fru Ndi, Akere Muna and Co did not also urge for punishment of the perpetrators.

Our senior intelligence officer in Yaoundé revealed that President Biya and his gang of Francophone political elites approved the audience granted to the SDF Chairman Ni John Fru, the former Chairman of the outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, Barrister Agbor Balla and the renowned Barrister Akere Muna by Mrs Scotland. None of the Southern Cameroonians reported the harrowing tales of torture, killings, abduction of women and children and sexual violence currently going in Manyu Division to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth.

A well-placed source in the Roman Catholic Church hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that, the Bishop of the Mamfe Diocese His Lordship Bishop Andrew Nkea is very deeply disturbed by what he witnessed and heard throughout his visit to Kembong village in Eyumojock Sub Division. The deprivation and range of sexual violence are hard to describe, people are targeted and suffering just for being Anglophone.

The Buea meeting is the last lapse of the Secretary General’s five day official visit to the divided nation. No deal, according to the interim government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has come out of the Patricia Scotland trip which was interpreted by some political commentators as a “last chance” to stop the genocide going on in Southern Cameroons.

Fru Ndi and Akere failed to provide any accountability for serious crimes which is fueling impunity throughout West Cameroon. The leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has said that those responsible for this war against Southern Cameroonian civilians must be stopped with the perpetrators of these horrific acts brought to justice.

In Dadi in the Akwaya Sub Division, a mother told CIR that her husband and her two sons were shot in front of her by Cameroon government forces and she was gang-raped by several soldiers. Young men in Otu village were forced to rape relatives in front of family members.

The interim government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will be releasing a detail report soonest. Southern Cameroons has been gripped by conflict ever since the 84-old President Biya declared war against Anglophone Cameroonians. Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians have been killed and thousands have fled to neighboring Nigeria.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

22, December 2017

Catalan separatists win absolute parliamentary majority ⁰

Catalan separatists won a crucial snap poll Thursday, plunging their region into further uncertainty after a failed independence bid rattled Europe and triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

With turnout at a record high and 99.6 percent of the ballots counted, the election handed a mandate back to the region’s ousted separatist leaders, even after they campaigned from exile and behind bars.

In a clear indicator of the huge gulf over independence afflicting Catalan society, anti-secessionist centrist party Ciudadanos was meanwhile on course to win the biggest individual result with 37 of the 135 seats in the regional parliament.

“It’s a strange feeling. We won the majority of seats, but we lost in votes. As such both sides will be able to claim victory,” 26-year-old doctor and separatist supporter Fran Robles told AFP after the results were announced.

“It’s a good reflection of the reality that Catalonia is politically divided,” he added. But unless the three pro-independence lists fail to clinch a deal to work together in the coming months, they will rule Catalonia with 70 of the 135 seats in parliament — two less than their previous tally of 72.

For Catalans on both sides of the divide the day had been a moment of truth, following weeks of upheaval and protests unseen since democracy was reinstated following the death in 1975 of dictator Francisco Franco.

“This is a result which no one can dispute,” deposed leader Carles Puigdemont said from self-imposed exile in Belgium, as he celebrated the separatists’ win.

“The Spanish state was defeated. (Spanish Prime Minister Mariano) Rajoy and his allies lost,” he told reporters.

Upset for Rajoy

The Spanish government called the election after it took the unprecedented step of stripping Catalonia of its treasured autonomy in the aftermath of an independence declaration on October 27 that rattled a Europe already shaken by Brexit.

At stake was the economy of a region that has seen its tourism sector suffer and more than 3,100 companies — including the largest banks, utilities and insurers — move their legal headquarters out of Catalonia since the referendum.

The declaration came weeks after a banned independence referendum on October 1, which saw a police crackdown that sent shockwaves around the world.

Rajoy and his conservative cabinet tried to nip the independence movement in the bud, sacking the regional government and dissolving its parliament.

In a further obstacle for the separatist cause, the judiciary pressed charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds against the secessionist leaders.

Puigdemont, who had fled to Belgium where he tried to rally international support for the separatist cause, has not since returned to Spain, where he faces arrest. His Together for Catalonia list nonetheless secured the best result of the three separatist groupings — in a major upset for Rajoy’s government.

“Puigdemont president!” chanted Puigdemont’s campaign manager Elsa Artadi at a rally celebrating the result.

“The result we have obtained is heroic, we have won, Mr Rajoy,” Together for Catalonia candidate Eduard Pujol said.

What still remains unclear, however, is whether Puigdemont will be renamed president, and if so, whether he will return from Belgium and how he might govern.

(Source: AFP)

21, December 2017

Thousands flee violence in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Thousands of people are fleeing unrest in English-speaking areas of southern Cameroon into southern Nigeria.

The government has banned public gatherings, suspended transportation and shut businesses as activists seek a state independent from the majority French-speaking areas.

The more than 30,000 refugees now in southern Nigeria are being looked after by the Nigeria refugee agency and a few non-governmental organizations.

But many say they don’t have much to eat or anywhere suitable to live.

Source: Aljazeera

21, December 2017

Ferry with 251 aboard capsizes off Philippines, 3 killed ⁰

A Philippine ferry carrying 251 people capsized on Thursday off an island south of Manila, the capital, a coast guard spokesman said, amid a storm bringing heavy downpours.

Three people were killed in the accident, domestic radio said. Rescue operations were hampered by bad weather and huge waves caused by a typhoon in the south.

Coast guard boats and army helicopters rushed to the vicinity of Polilio Island in the province of Quezon to rescue passengers, taking advantage of daylight, spokesman Armand Balilo said on television.

“We heard about casualties, but we are still trying to get a complete picture,” Balilo said, adding that the ferry, which had the capacity to carry 280 people, had not been overloaded.

Boat accidents are common in the Philippines, which is frequently lashed by storms and typhoons.

(Source: Reuters)