9, January 2017
All academic institutions and businesses closed in Lebialem Division 0
BREAKING!!! Lebialem Division: No school opened in Fontem!! All businesses including Main Markets closed!!! No movement in Menji town.
9, January 2017
BREAKING!!! Lebialem Division: No school opened in Fontem!! All businesses including Main Markets closed!!! No movement in Menji town.
9, January 2017
In one of the largest civil disobedience campaign launched by the Consortium, hundreds of thousands of parents, students and Southern Cameroons business community are taken part in an Anglophone boycott of all public and private school system reopening activity to demonstrate their support for the full integration of the Anglo-Saxon educational and political values inherited from our British colonial master.
The idea for a boycott began in the early 1990s, when leaders in the Union for Change attempted to oust the 83 year old Cameroonian dictator. Today ghost town operations have return, this time around only in Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers Trade Unions have brought parents, teachers, local civil rights activists including the business community together in a coalition called the Consortium.
The organization’s sole objective is to restore the Anglophone political and educational structure as was stated in the 1961 federal structure and to render the English speaking imbalance of Anglophone Cameroonians in schools and universities in Cameroun. After years of unsuccessful lobbying and deliberate silence, the new generation Anglophone leaders decided to take direct action against the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.
Southern Cameroonians have been called to organize a one-day protest and boycott of schools all over the Anglophone territory, but it is now evident, the strikes will continue indefinitely. With the boycott already achieving great success contrary to what Francophone surrogates like the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu Division announced earlier this morning over state radio and television, the response from parents and students in Mamfe communities has been overwhelming as thousands of students have refused to attend their respective schools today. (Picture of GHS Mamfe taken some 15 minutes ago)
By Sonne Peter with files from Tabe Carvalho Ako
8, January 2017
Chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has passed away at the age of 82 due to heart condition. Ayatollah Rafsanjani was admitted to a hospital in northern Tehran on Sunday after having an acute heart attack.
Born on August 25, 1934, the influential Iranian politician and writer was the fourth president of the Islamic Republic, serving from 1989 to 1997.
Rafsanjani was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 to 2011. The influential cleric was elected chairman of the Iranian parliament in 1980 and served until 1989. He assumed office as the Chairman of the Expediency Council in 1989.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended the hospital where Ayatollah Rafsanjani was hospitalized, undergoing treatment. Head of Tehran’s Shohada Hospital has declared heart arrest as the cause of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s passing away. Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani was among the main aides to late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.
He played an influential role both during anti-Shah struggles before the victory of the Islamic Revolution and afterwards through various stages of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Rafsanjani was also a key figure during the eight years of Iraq’s imposed war on Iran (1980-88), serving as substitute to commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
According to IRNA news agency, the funeral for Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani will be held in Tehran on Tuesday. In a statement, the Iranian administration announced a three-day mourning period across the country and declared Tuesday as a national holiday.
Condolence messages pour in from Iran state officials, bodies
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani issued a condolence message on his Twitter account soon after Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s demise in which he said, “The soul of the great man of the revolution and politics has soared to the sky.” Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi also released a message, expressing his grief over passing away of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani.
In his message, Shahroudi described Rafsanjani as a true follower of late Imam Khomeini, who spared nothing on the path of the Islamic Revolution and was among confidantes of Imam Khomeini who shouldered heavy responsibilities following the Islamic Revolution. Many Iranian officials and state organs have offered their condolences over the demise of Ayatollah Rafsanjani.
Chairman of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said the influential figure diligently shouldered important responsibilities after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Ayatollah Jannati also condoled with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the demise of Ayatollah Rafsanjani.
Meanwhile, the Guardian Council expressed grief over Ayatollah Rafsanjani’s demise and said he provided great services to the Islamic Republic in different areas. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, for his part, expressed his condolences to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Iranian nation, particularly Ayatollah Rafsanjani’s family.
He said the late cleric always made great efforts in carrying out his sensitive and crucial responsibilities and played a prominent and influential role in managing the country’s economic and social affairs as well as the complicated and difficult foreign policy of the Islamic Republic.
Foreign officials, dignitaries express condolences over Rafsanjani’s demise
Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah, the foreign minister of Bahrain, posted a message on his Twitter account expressing his condolences on passing away of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani. Meanwhile, the Emir of Kuwait Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and Palestine’s Islamic Jihad Organization expressed their sorrow over the passing away of Iran’s former president. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has also issued a message of condolence on the occasion of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s demise.
Presstv
8, January 2017
Biya has secretly requested the release of all Southern Cameroon detainees in order to facilitate the work of the so-called Ad Hoc Committee. The dictator has reportedly given standing orders to the judges at the military tribunal to free the protesters latest tomorrow Monday. CIR has learnt from reliable sources that the process will begin late today in Yaounde . Anglophone teachers and lawyers whose strike is at the origin of the troubles that rocked the Anglophone part of Cameroon had laid down conditions for dialogue with the Francophone regime in Yaounde.
Among these conditions is the release of all protesters arrested during the riots of 9 December 2016 in Bamenda and 15 December 2016 in Kumba. Of the 54 people (including 3 minors) arrested, Cameroon government spokesman and minister of communication, Issa Tchiroma observed that 13 had been released.
After a Francophone led investigations, the Yaounde military tribunal decided to keep 41 suspects in Yaoundé in preventive detention. In order to save the school year in the South West and North-West Regions, and to allow a resumption of negotiations with the Anglophone leaders, the Francophone Government has decided to release the protesters arrested and transferred to Yaoundé.
Our senior political analyst opined that the Anglophone leaders have reached a point of no return and will not make any concession to the Biya administration as the figures put forward by Minister Issa Tchiroma were not complete because there were other children like some students from the University of Buea who are missing. However, since the minister’s statement, there have been meetings that have resulted in disagreements.
At the time of filing this report, the Consortium confirmed that the ghost town operation including the closure of all schools in Southern Cameroons will go on as announced tomorrow the 9th of January.
Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report
8, January 2017
The ghost town operation and the industrial action by the Consortium of Southern Cameroons teachers and lawyers will go ahead after last ditch talks with the Professor Ghogomu Paul Minglo so-called Ad hoc Committee end without agreement.
Consortium leaders have called on Southern Cameroonians to massively observe a ghost town for tomorrow Monday the 9th of January 2017. The leaders have also promised to extend the strike action indefinitely if their demands are not met by the Francophone government. Schools around the Southern Cameroons nation will be closed tomorrow.
Cameroon Concord News gathered that both sides have agreed that talks will continue and further contacts will take place with a view to arranging more talks next week. Speaking after yesterday’s discussions, the Anglophone leaders said that large differences remain and progress has been slow, “almost static I would say” hinted Barrister Agbor Balla.
He added that the shutting of schools is the Consortium’s decision. The Gogomu Paul Committee earlier issued a circular to school principals dealing with the implications of the ghost town operation scheduled by the Consortium calling on schools to reopen on Monday the 9th.
The Anglophone leaders described the move as very provocative and reiterated that the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime no longer has legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons. Roman Catholic Education Secretaries including those of the Baptist and Presbyterian churches have all described it as a normal approach if teachers withdraw from core duties until the Anglophone issues are resolve. Wilfred Tassang noted that the action is going ahead because there is no offer on the table from the Yaounde regime.
By Rita Akana in Bamenda
8, January 2017
A website, which correctly predicted 12 celebrity deaths in 2016, says Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and former US Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter as well as American billionaire David Rockefeller are among those who are expected to die this year.
The owners of DeathList.net provided a list of 50 celebrities based on the likelihood of their death during 2017, The Daily Express reported on Saturday. Last year, the website correctly predicted the death of American Boxing champion Muhammad Ali and Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. This year, the expert committee believes that the Queen, 90, and her husband Prince Philip, 95, will likely die.
The queen was suffering from “heavy colds” late last month, according to Buckingham Palace. The monarch fell ill before Christmas and missed Christmas and New Year church services. Her husband, who has heart disease and other health problems, was also suffering cold during Christmas. He is included high on the website’s list.
The list also included two former US Presidents Bush and Carter along with 93-year old Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. He has ruled the African country for more than 36 years. Former Pope Benedict XVI is also on the list.
Last year, twelve of the people on the website’s shortlist passed away, including former US First Lady Nancy Reagan. Some other death candidates on the list, including Stephen Hawking and Prince Philip, however, missed the prediction.
Presstv
7, January 2017
Tassang Wilfred is one of the leaders of the largest teachers’ trade union in Cameroon. In a short post released to the public, he has asked West Cameroonians to believe in God, remain steadfast for victory is at the corner. “..Now it is written in the Book of (Exodus) that when the Lord wanted to show His power, glory and destroy Pharaoh, He told Moses “but I will harden his heart so that he will not let my people go.”
Our people in their time-tested wisdom also say, “He the gods want to destroy, they, first of all, make mad”. The Word of God quoted above, and the wisdom of our people referred to above explain succinctly what is happening to Yaoundé. Yaoundé’s resorting to forgery, lies and unprofessional blackmail, the Head of State sending an old and frail Garga Haman to come and bring us to reason is indicative of Yaoundé’s desperation.
The blood of the Lamb is already written on every West Cameroon door post. This is the reason why everyone has received the spirit to discern fake and fraud, forgery and lies. These are signs that don’t lie. A little more determination and Yaoundé’s back will be on the floor. And we shall, like we did in Njindom village during my primary school days, pin Yaoundé to the ground and feed him fists full of dust, apply the same all over him so that when Yaoundé gets up, there will be no lying what happened. The Captain of the hosts of heaven Himself is on the battle field. Just “be still” and know that He is God…”
Praise God.
Deacon Tassang Wilfred
NESG CATTU
7, January 2017
Members of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, have revealed that they are much ready to dialogue with the government to break the deadlock that has existed since the strike action in the North West and South West regions began.
In a Press briefing on the developments of events and their stance, they said, “We are willing to dialogue and solve problems which have beset the NW and SW regions, but Government seems to have other priorities. We still believe that a return to two-states Federation remains the best guarantee or institutional safeguard for the protection of our legal, educational, social economic and political in Cameroon.” They also said only a press conference will be convened to announce any strike suspension and not a Press release.
The announcement comes a day after a fake Press release presumably from a government agent said the strike had been suspended and called on students and pupils to go back to school on Monday, it was later found out that the release was not from the Consortium. The Consortium equally observed with regrets governments plan to undermine the dialogue process by making several moves to non members of the ad hoc committee by trying to coerce Chiefs, Fons, Principals and Elites. Members of the Consortium have given the Parliamentarians One week to secure the release of youth ‘abducted’ in Bamenda without which they will face difficulties in upcoming elections. They maintained the ghost town on Monday the 9th.
Culled from CIN
7, January 2017
The remains of a four day old baby boy weighing approximately 3.5kg has been discovered at the Bamenda Up-Station.
Saidou a 12 year herdsmen made the discovery. Saidou revealed that in the course of walking his cattle, he saw a brown carton at the hill side. Curious to open, he uncovered a black plastic paper and in it was a dead baby.
He immediately alerted security forces of the army camp who, in the company of municipal authorities got to the scene.
The remains were buried immediately and investigations opened to identify the mother of the dead baby.
CRTV
9, January 2017
Anglophone Crisis: French experts helping Biya 0
An anonymous source inside the presidency of the republic has hinted CIR that France has secretly sent some top advisers on African Affairs to help the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime handle the Anglophone crisis.
Our informant revealed that the decision to release the Southern Cameroons detainees came after a meeting the French think tank held with the 83 year old Cameroonian dictator. The French have also given the Yaoundé regime assurances that the French government will quickly develop a strategies to down grade the current Anglophone uprising.
This news item is still developing
Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report