News

11, June 2017

Eight refugees drown as boat sinks off Libya’s coast ⁰

At least eight refugees have drowned when their Europe-bound boat sank off Libya’s coast, a coastguard official says. The eight bodies were on an inflatable craft that can carry up to 120 passengers, said Colonel Fathi al-Rayani, head of the coastguard in Garabulli, 60 kilometers east of Tripoli.

He estimated that “at least 100” refugees were missing. The boat was spotted deflated off Garabulli, and the coastguard found the bodies inside, AFP reported. Conflict-ravaged Libya has long been a stepping stone for refugees seeking a better life in Europe.

The UN says around 61,250 refugees have reached Italy since the start of the year after crossing the Mediterranean, while 1,778 more are dead or missing. The Italian coastguard has said that more than 900 refugees were rescued off Libya on Thursday and Friday.

Libyan navy spokesman, General Ayoub Qassem, meanwhile told AFP that coastguards patrolling off Zawiya west of Tripoli on Friday intercepted five inflatables and two wooden boats with more than 570 refugees on board.

He said the boats were being escorted by five Libyans on a jet ski and two outboards, and that three of the men were apprehended. “The migrants are Africans, Bangladeshis, Egyptians, Moroccans … and were delivered to the detention center in Zawia,” Qassem said.

Intercepted or rescued refugees are often held in detention centers before being repatriated. People traffickers have exploited the chaos in Libya since the 2011 uprising deposed and killed former dictator Muammar Ghaddafi to boost their lucrative but deadly trade.

(Source: AFP)

9, June 2017

Southern Cameroon nationalism spreading as Spain’s Catalonia declares date for independence vote ⁰

Catalonia will hold a referendum on splitting from Spain on Oct. 1-a similar date earlier chosen by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. The head of the region confirmed the news on Friday, setting the stage for months of confrontation with the central government which says such a vote is illegal and must not take place.

Previous secessionist challenges in Catalonia – a populous wealthy region whose capital is Barcelona and which has its own language – were blocked by Spain’s conservative government and the Constitutional Court. “The question will be: ‘Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic’,” Carles Puigdemont, president of the government of Catalonia, said.

He said attempts to agree a date and the wording of the question with the Madrid government – which is vehemently opposed to allowing Catalonia to split from Spain – failed and left him with no other choice than moving unilaterally. “We have always made very diverse offers and all of them have been rejected without any exception,” Puigdemont said.

Pro-independence campaigners staged a symbolic ballot, organized by volunteers rather than government officials to get around court restrictions, in 2014, months after Scots voted to stay in the United Kingdom.

Some 2 million people voted in favor of secession in that non-binding ballot, though turnaround was relatively low. It is not clear how far the legal wrangling may go this time as the Catalan regional government has said it would throw all its weight behind the vote.

Under Article 155 of Spain’s constitution, Madrid has the power to intervene directly in the running of Catalonia’s regional government, forcing it to drop the vote.

This could involve sending in the police or suspending the regional government’s authority to rule. This is widely seen as a last resort move, however, and many analysts believe the clash will instead culminate in regional elections in Catalonia.

(Source: Reuters)

9, June 2017

Philemon Yang meets Chadian Minister of Infrastructure ⁰

Philemon Yang, the so-called Prime Minister and Head of Government has met with the Chadian Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Civil Aviation. Yang held talks with the visiting Mr. Adoum Younousmi on the 8^th of June 2017 in the Star Building in Yaoundé.

Cameroon Concord News gathered the Chadian Minister was a special envoy of President Idriss Debby Itno. As usual, the Chadian member of government handed over a sealed message for onward transmission to President Paul Biya from Idriss Debby.

Speaking on state radio and television after the audience, Minister Adoum Younousmi said his discussions with Philemon Yang focused on the creation of a railway line between Cameroon and Chad. The railway investment project will add up to the existing road network to strengthen integration between both countries.

Source: CRTV

8, June 2017

Iran releases information on, photos of terrorists in Tehran attack ⁰

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry has released the names of and other information about the five Takfiri Daesh terrorists who carried out twin attacks in the Iranian capital city of Tehran on Wednesday. The Intelligence Ministry on Thursday released a statement detailing information on the five terrorists and “affiliated nuclei,” whose full identities it said had been determined after intelligence work by the Ministry.

The statement only released the first names of the terrorists and said that their last names were being withheld due to “certain social and security considerations.”

On Wednesday, gunmen stormed Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) and the Mausoleum of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, in two coordinated attacks. At least 17 people lost their lives and nearly 50 others were wounded in the assaults, which involved shootings and blasts. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks. According to the Intelligence Ministry’s Thursday statement, the individuals involved in carrying out the attacks were five elements with a history of past terrorist activities and linked to Wahhabi and Takfiri groups.

They were identified as Seriyas, Fereydoun, Qayyoum, Abu Jahad, and Ramin. The statement said that the five had left Iran after being recruited by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group and had participated in the group’s atrocities in the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqah.

It said they had entered Iran in July-August 2016 under the command of “Abu Ayesheh” — a high-ranking commander with the Daesh terrorist group — and planned to carry out terror attacks in religious cities in Iran, but “had fled the country following the full obliteration of the network and blows [dealt] to the case’s main elements, including the killing of Abu Ayesheh.”

Iranian security forces are seen outside the Iranian Parliament in the capital, Tehran, on June 7, 2017, during an attack on the complex. (Photo by AFP)

Wahhabi terrorist groups are closely associated with Saudi Arabia, where government-sanctioned clerics preach the strongly intolerant pseudo-ideology of Wahhabism.

Earlier on Thursday, Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said that it was still soon to judge whether Saudi Arabia had had a role in the attacks in Tehran.

He did say however that in the current month and in recent days, “we witnessed heavy pressure from terrorists, to the extent that we have been identifying and arresting two-member and three-member teams or single individuals every week.”

Earlier in May, the Saudi defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman, had threatened in opaque remarks to move “the battle” to Iran. While Iranian people have been mourning the victims of the terrorist attacks, there has also been a strengthened sense of unity among them.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the terror attacks in Tehran could not undermine the Iranian nation’s resolve in the face of threats. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also condemned the attacks as “cowardly,” stressing that the country would crush enemy plots through unity and solidarity.

The attacks also drew strong international condemnation, with many heads of states extending condolences to the Iranian nation and government. Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) blamed the sponsors of the Takfiri Daesh for the attacks and pledged to retaliate.

The IRGC said the fact that the terrorist attacks had been carried out by Daesh just days after US President Donald Trump met with “the rulers of a regional reactionary regime,” which has been supporting Takfiri terrorists — a thinly-veiled reference to Saudi Arabia — indicated that “they have a hand in the bestial attacks.”

Source: Presstv

8, June 2017

Vaterschaft: Germany sees rise in fake father scams with immigrants ⁰

German officials say growing numbers of pregnant immigrant women are paying German men to pose as fathers so that they can qualify for residency. German broadcaster RBB found up to 700 cases in Berlin alone. “There are many unreported cases,” said Ole Schröder, a top interior ministry official.

There has been a rise in asylum requests from pregnant women from Vietnam, Africa and Eastern Europe. A new law is being drafted to tackle the fake paternity racket, RBB reports. Some pregnant immigrant women are reported to have paid fake fathers and solicitors as much as €5,000 (£4,356; $5,628) to get paternity registered. Once that is done, the baby automatically becomes a German citizen and the mother has the right to stay.

However, in 2013 a German Constitutional Court ruling said that even in suspicious cases it might not be worth contesting paternity, because the child could end up stateless and left in legal limbo. It is generally easier for refugees fleeing conflict to get residency in Germany than for economic migrants who have escaped poverty in Africa, Asia or Eastern Europe.

Germany has moved to tighten asylum rules since the 2015 influx of more than 800,000 migrants, most of them refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Immigration is a major issue ahead of parliamentary elections in September. The influx hit some local authorities especially hard, as they struggled to house and integrate the newcomers.

However, there was a sharp drop in the numbers claiming asylum in 2016, after barriers were erected on the Balkan migration route. Polls suggest that the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD), opposed to mass immigration, has gained support and is on course to enter the federal parliament (Bundestag) for the first time.

Mr Schröder, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), said “we have a lot of evidence from the immigration authorities – fake fathers are making money out of this… in other words, this involves a considerable amount of criminality”. In one case reported by RBB, a far-right sympathiser, convicted for sporting neo-Nazi symbols, claimed to be the father of a Vietnamese child.

Martin Steltner, a state prosecutor in Berlin, told ARD television there were signs of widespread abuse involving paternity, for example one man claiming to be the father of 10 children. The fake fathers rarely pay any child support, as many are living off social welfare, ARD reports.

Source: BBC

8, June 2017

Eto’o angers Southern Cameroonians ⁰

French Cameroon football legend and 2017 UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Samuel Eto’o has reportedly angered Southern Cameroonians following comments he made recently on state radio and television. The 36 year football controversial footballer and former captain of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun visited the top managers of the Cameroon Radio Television at Mballa II on Tuesday the 6th June 2017.

The footballer who failed to raise a finger against the rapes, arrests and extra judicial killings going on in West Cameroon appreciated the new management at CRTV, describing it as dynamic and professional and echoed President Biya’s provocative message for a one and indivisible Cameroon. Cat calls reportedly greeted Eto’o’s speech and some of the operation managers of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have cautioned the footballer to stay clear of Southern Cameroon issues.

After helping to oust his fellow French speaking compatriot from the presidency of the African Football Confederation, Eto’o revealed his willingness to work with Issa Hayatou and the other new executives of the Cameroon National Football Academy, ANAFOOT if his services were solicited. He was received by the general manager and his vice, Charles Ndongo and Emanuel Wongibe respectively.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon Concord News

7, June 2017

Southern Cameroon Crisis: Military Tribunal rejects bail for detainees ⁰

The Yaoundé Military Tribunal has rejected the appeal by defense counsel of the Southern Cameroonians incarcerated at the Kondengui prison. The Francophone presiding judge Mbezoa Abega citing article 246 of the Penal Code said the crimes allegedly committed by the 27 detainees were so heavy that a provisional release cannot be accepted. The case was adjourned to June 29, 2017.

A mammoth Anglophone crowd that stormed the court premise were disappointed with the court’s decision, Barrister Claude Assira said, “We were very hopeful because formerly the legal department agreed with us that what we asked for will be obtained but we were very surprised that the court rejected it. We are very disappointed. We asked for a simple bail but they read it otherwise and gave the decision.”

After the court’s decision, one detainee Julius Ndasi collapsed and was ferried to the hospital. Mancho Bibixy who is on hunger strike appeared in court in a ramshackle way, dressed in short trouser, bare feet and unbuttoned sky-blue shirt.

Source: Cameroon info.net

7, June 2017

Southern Cameroon in shock as Roman Catholic priest found dead in home ⁰

A Southern Cameroon Roman Catholic priest serving with the Mamfe Diocese at Nguti was found dead today Wednesday in his room. Father Augustine Ndi was onetime Parish priest at the Saint Joseph Parish in Mamfe in the late 80s and early 1990s. He also had a spell in Akwaya and reportedly fell out of favour with Bishop Emeritus Francis Lysinge. Cameroon Concord News was reliably informed that police were treating his death as suspicious.

We also gathered that the late Augustine Ndi had openly backed the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and in many of his homilies advocated for the restoration of Southern Cameroon independence. Medics say his body showed no sign of fatigue or illness. The cataclysm continues within the Catholic Church.

We still do not know how and who killed Father Abbé DJAMA who was also found dead in his room like Augustine NDI and Bishop Jean Marie BALLA whose body was discovered in the waters of river Sanaga. The Holy Roman Catholic Church including CPDM government officials are maintaining a kind of deliberate silence. According to leaks of the results of the autopsy, the genital organs of Bishop BALLA were mutilated. His left arm was broken. No drop of water was found in his lungs. Signs of torture were visible on his body. His sandals were worn upside down leading to the conclusion that it was not a natural death, nor was it a suicide by drowning.

At the height of ambivalent skepticism, a Rear Admiral of the Cameroonian Navy said that his team had recovered the body of the Bishop, while a Malian fisherman announced that it was he who discovered the body floating above the water and tied it to the foot of a tree before alerting the rescue teams. The Vatican has removed hits ambassador Monsignor Pioro PIOPPO from Yaoundé to a new post in Indonesia.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon Concord News

6, June 2017

Bamenda: Fire destroys Top Star hotel ⁰

A hotel in Bamenda, North West region has been ravaged by fire. There was consternation and panic at the Top Star hotel premises as workers ran from one end to another struggling to put off the fire. Police preliminary findings say the incident occurred as a result of a gas leakage from the bakery department.

Chunks of smoke accompanied by wild fire were seen all over the building. The forces of law and order who arrived the scene managed to prevent the local population from looting.

Some reports have suggested that the incident was the handiwork of the Southern Cameroons Defense Force. The hotel management reportedly subbed the ghost town operations going on in Southern Cameroon.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

6, June 2017

Cameroon has arrested nearly 30 soldiers fighting the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram ⁰

Cameroon has arrested nearly 30 soldiers fighting the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram in the wake of their protest against their conditions that also demanded the payment of bonuses. The soldiers on Sunday “set about stopping traffic with barricades on national route number one,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement broadcast on state radio on Monday.

The men were demanding that they be immediately relieved from duty, as well as “the payment of bonuses for ‘international soldiers’ in line with those granted to their comrades from UN peace keeping missions,” the statement said. The soldiers were transferred from the Zigue area in the far north to capital Yaounde where they were placed under arrest and a judicial investigation was opened, the ministry said.

Traffic along the northern route was restored. Cameroonian soldiers engaged in the fight against Boko Haram often complain about their conditions, but this is the first time a group have demonstrated for leave or greater pay.

Though Boko Haram was born in Nigeria, the Daesh-affiliated group has carried out frequent attacks in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting the formation of a 10,000-strong regional force to fight back. Some 200,000 Cameroonians from the far north region near Nigeria have left their villages in fear of the violence.

(Source: AFP)