The UN human rights office has urged the Trump administration to find alternatives to its present immigration policies and stop detaining migrant children.

“While we acknowledge the US government’s decision not to continue separating children from their parents, we understand that the practice now will be to detain the children with their parents,” UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a Geneva briefing on Friday.

“We have said time and again the children should never be detained in relation to their or their parents’ migration status. It is never in the best interests of the child for them to be detained,” Shamdasani added.

On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order to halt family separations at the country’s southern border, but asserted that his policy against illegal border crossing was still in place.

This comes as the Trump administration has reportedly decided to place up to 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children on military bases starting as early as next month.

According to a new Pentagon memo, the request to the Department of Defense for assistance was made by the Department of Health and Human Services.

“HHS has requested DOD determine its capabilities to provide up to 20,000 temporary beds for unaccompanied children at DOD installations,” according to a notification, sent to lawmakers on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Defense Department said later that Pentagon will make space available on military bases for the children detained after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border.

Thousands of people have been protesting in several US cities in recent days and activists are planning nationwide protests on June 30 following reports on the inhumane treatment of immigrants.

In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a “zero tolerance” policy towards undocumented migrants and refugees, promising to prosecute those who crossed the southern border illegally. Part of that approach has been separating children from their parents who are detained.

Currently, there are over 10,000 children being detained in the United States.

In a new 37 page report, the rights watchdog Amnesty International has documented “unlawful killings, destruction of private property, arbitrary arrests and torture” in two restive regions in Cameroon tied to a power struggle pitting French against English-speaking Cameroonians.

In the Amnesty report titled, “A turn for the worse: Violence and human rights violations in Anglophone Cameroon”, victims gave harrowing accounts of beatings and allegations of simulated electrocution and torture carried out by the military as well as attacks on schools and teachers by armed Anglophone separatists.

“Far from resolving the crisis, the clampdown on any form of dissent and the heavy-handed response by the Cameroonian authorities and security forces appear to have empowered and created space for more radical and violent movements to emerge, with a focus on secession and armed struggle,” Amnesty said.

Unrest in Cameroon drew international attention in November 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the northwest and southwest began calling for reforms and greater autonomy. They marched on the streets, criticizing what they called the overbearing influence of French in the country, which has English and French as its official languages.

Last month, a military tribunal sentenced seven English-speaking detainees to 10 to 15 years in prison in connection with the unrest that has paralyzed business. Among them was radio host Mancho Bibixy, leader of the so-called “coffin revolution” who used an open casket in street demonstrations calling for better conditions for the poor.

While news accounts refer to “separatists” and “Anglophones”, few discuss the historic ties of the “separatists” to Ambazonia, the southern territory of Cameroon founded for freed slaves in the 19th century, ceded to Germany, regained by the armies of France, Britain and Belgium and finally becoming a UN trust territory in 1961.

Among the news sites that follow Ambazonia is the U.S.-based Waging Nonviolence. In a story this month on the deteriorating situation in southern Cameroon, they write:

“The patience of some Ambazonians has worn thin over the past several months, as government repression continues to escalate. While the majority have stuck with nonviolent resistance, a violent flank of separatists have armed themselves, using guerrilla tactics to abduct and kill agents of (President Paul) Biya’s government. This has enabled Biya to brand the military occupation of Ambazonia as a struggle against terrorism. And scorched-earth tactics have increased since late 2017 as a result.”

Culled from The Chronicle

Culled from Reuters

As the second year of conflict in Southern Cameroons spillover to the urban centers, hostilities are increasing and temperatures are falling due to the rains. The much needed humanitarian aid from international organizations is still not coming. There is a humanitarian crisis in the rural areas, according to local rights groups. The UN has calculated that nearly 1.5 million Southern Cameroonians are affected by the protracted conflict and are in need of humanitarian aid and protection. The world body also says, some 40,000 Ambazonians have fled the conflict into neighboring Nigeria.  But according to UN officials in Nigeria, the Southern Cameroons UN humanitarian response plan has been severely underfunded.

With heavy rains already underway, the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is anticipating an urgent need for services in rural areas.  According to the Ambazonian Department for Homeland Security, civilian protection remains the primary humanitarian need in both the Northern and the Southern Zones due to ongoing active fighting and the prevalence of conflict-induced displacement. Over 160,000 Southern Cameroonians have been displaced since President Biya ordered troops to crush separatists in the territory, making the Southern Cameroons population of internally displaced people (IDPs) the largest in Africa.

In addition, 2018 has seen deterioration in people’s access to humanitarian goods and services, as well as a doubling of food insecurity and skyrocketing unemployment rates in Southern Cameroons. The crisis in Southern Cameroons has reportedly caused a huge increase in the price of food and utilities in both Biya regime controlled French Cameroun and Southern Cameroons. The rural areas and occupied towns will lack adequate food to meet their basic needs at the height of the rainy season. Currently, up to a million Ambazonians are moderately or severely food insecure.

Amnesty International in a recent statement maintained that the civilian population in Southern Cameroons continues to pay the highest price for the conflict. Meanwhile, the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces have been stepping up attacks against Cameroon government soldiers in the cities. Heavy gun battles were reported in Muea, Ekona, Mbalangi and Muyuka in the Southern Zone. The International Crisis Group (ICG) has also expressed increased concern due to the escalation of hostilities in Southern Cameroons. The ICG says a return to normality, wherein civilians can once again resume their everyday lives without fear of shelling is the first step to a long-term sustainable peace.

Source:www.cameroonintelligencereport.com

Brasseries du Cameroun and its subsidiaries are donating huge sums of money to support the Biya Francophone government in its genocidal war currently going on in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia/Southern Cameroons, Cameroon Intelligence Report has learned.  The senior managers of Brasseries have also personally made financial donations to the French Cameroun army via the ministry of defense worth millions of FCFA.

The Brasseries du Cameroun donations comes at a time when Cameroon government forces were violently attacking Southern Cameroons towns and villages and have eventually forced more than 40,000 men, women and children to flee into neighboring Nigeria. The United Nations also reported recently that some 160,000 Southern Cameroonians have been displaced internally.

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia with the support of human rights group has documented numerous crimes against humanity amid the violence, which included killings, rapes, torture, village burning and forced starvation tactics.

Brasseries du Cameroun’s first donation was handed over to the Minister Delegate in-Charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo in the presence of the Cameroon army chief, General Rene Meka. We understand that these donations are funding the operations of military units involved in crimes against humanity in Southern Cameroons. To be sure, Brasseries du Cameroun and other brewery companies with headquarters in French Cameroun have endorsed the Biya war against the people of Southern Cameroons.

By donating to the military jointly and severally, Brasseries by extrapolation has worsening the human rights situation in Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Concord News Group is calling for a boycott of all Brasseries products in Southern Cameroons. We also call on Acting President Dr. Ikome Sako to ban the sale of Brasseries du Cameroun products in Ambazonia.

By Chi Prudence Asong, London

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has warned yet another refugee rescue mission off the Libyan coast that it would not be allowed to unload its “human cargo” at an Italian port.

Salvini’s warning came days after the new right-wing and anti-refugee Italian government denied a safe harbor to the Aquarius, a French NGO-operated charity ship, to unload its more than 600 rescued refugees and asylum seekers on board, causing uproar and a sharp spat with France.

“While the Aquarius is sailing toward Spain, two other Dutch NGO-operated vessels (Lifeline and Seefuchs) have arrived off the Libyan coast, to wait for their human cargos once the people smugglers abandon them,” the Italian minister said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“These gentlemen should know that Italy no longer wants to be complicit in the business of illegal immigration and they will have to look for other ports to go to,” further said Salvini, who heads the far-right League party, adding that he took the action “for the benefit of all.”

Following Italy’s controversial decision to bar the Aquarius from docking, however, Malta quickly followed suit, leaving the ship stranded at the Mediterranean until Spain offered to the vessel a safe harbor. The Aquarius, which is jointly run by SOS Méditerranée and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), is due to arrive in Valencia on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ferdinando Pagnoncelli, president of polling company Ipsos Italia, said that based on a survey conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, almost 60 percent of Italians were in favor of closing the country’s ports.

Libya is the main departure point for asylum seekers attempting to reach Europe by sea. Many refugees have crossed the central Mediterranean to Italy over the past four years as human traffickers took advantage of a security vacuum in Libya after the toppling of its long-time ruler.

Thousands of other asylum seekers have perished at sea.

To stop the flow of the refugees headed for Europe, the Libyan coastguard has stepped up its interception operations. To carry out those operations, the Libyan coastguard has been funded, equipped, and trained by European countries.

The Libyan coastguard has previously accused NGOs of creating panic and confusion by their presence during rescue operations as the refugees and asylum seekers all surge to reach the charter boats to avoid being returned to crisis-hit Libya.

Source: Presstv

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is challenging French Cameroun dictator President Paul Biya to ensure that no highly placed Cameroon government official visits Ambazonian refugee camps in Nigeria. Cameroon Concord News correspondent in the US reported that Acting President Dr. Ikome Sako has ordered self-defense forces in the Manyu County to be on the alert and to arrest or kill any Biya regime official visiting Southern Cameroons refugees in the Cross River State in Nigeria.

Confirming the President Sako decision, Ambazonian Communications Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu told Camcordnews that French Cameroun army soldiers deployed to Southern Cameroons created the horrific  war that forced some 40, 000 Ambazonians to escape into hiding in neighboring Nigeria. Chris Anu further pointed out that the situation has changed as the Ambazonian Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces reasserted control, enabling the Interim Government’s presence to spread throughout Southern Cameroons.

Mr. Anu also warned that any visit of Southern Cameroons refugees in Nigeria by French Cameroun government officials was unacceptable.  The Interim Government is expected to issue a strong statement on Monday to the international community condemning any move by La Republique du Cameroun towards the suffering Ambazonian population in Nigeria.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Ambazonian Interim Government has established a new calculus that has to take place and French Cameroun has to understand that the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will not tolerate any French Cameroun political or military entrenchment in Southern Cameroons. “The consequences of visiting the Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria will not merely be to the French Cameroun government officials and their entourage but to the Biya regime and its forces in Southern Cameroons as well. I think it’s something that Yaoundé should consider very seriously, added Chris Anu.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

An agency that monitors jihadist websites says al Qaeda’s Mali branch has released a video of two hostages, including French aid worker Sophie Pétronin, who was abducted in late 2016.

SITE Intelligence Group said the video released Wednesday on Telegram by the Mali-based Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen shows Pétronin and Colombian nun Gloria Cecilia Narvaez.

Pétronin, 75, was abducted in late 2016 by armed men in the northern Malian town of Gao, where she ran an organisation for malnourished children. Narvaez was seized near Mali’s border with Burkina Faso in February 2017. The footage shows the two women together, with Narvaez providing care to Pétronin.

SITE says Pétronin addresses her son and expresses a wish to reunite with her family. She then addresses French President Emmanuel Macron, stating that the footage was recorded on June 7.

Narvaez addresses Pope Francis, asking him to intervene on behalf of the sick Pétronin. In January, the insurgents released a video of Narvaez, with an extremist narrating an appeal for the payment of her release. Pétronin appeared in videos released in March of this year and in July 2017.

In 2012, Mali’s north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda who exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013.

Since then, jihadists have continued to mount numerous attacks on civilians and the army, as well as on French and UN forces stationed there.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

The Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, His Excellency Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako has called on all Southern Cameroons liberation groups to overcome their differences and take a unified front in supporting the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces.

President Sako through Ambazonia’s Communications Secretary Chris Anu warned on Tuesday against any Southern Cameroons organization pursuing a unilateral resistance policy regarding French Cameroun military illegal activities inside Ambazonia territory. Dr. Sako observed that his decision on My Trip to Buea will be made earlier than expected and added that Southern Cameroonians needed a unified approach that addressed the interests of all Ambazonians and the international community.

Delivering the message from President Dr. Ikome Sako to the people of Southern Cameroons, Hon. Chris Anu further stated that the Interim Government (IG) will not act unilaterally, but that everything under the direct supervision of President Sako will be with agreements with other leaders on Ground Zero, so that Southern Cameroonians will always have a unified Ambazonia approach.

The Acting President also opined that Southern Cameroonians in Europe, South Africa, Canada and the USA should and must stick together and continue to donate generously to My Trip to Buea.  Over the past two years ever since President Biya of Cameroon declared war against the people of Southern Cameroons, more than 40, 000 Ambazonians have fled the conflict into neighboring Nigeria. The United Nations reported recently that there were 160,000 internally displaced Southern Cameroonians in need of food, shelter and medicinE.

Chris Anu in his audio message acknowledged that the IG was lacking far behind the two million dollar target for My Trip to Buea.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The war in Southern Cameroons has reportedly separated some 90,000 Ambazonian families ever since it started on October 2016, amid a crackdown on innocent Southern Cameroonians by the government of the 85 year-old President Biya.

The Communications Secretary of the Ambazonian Interim Government, Hon. Chris Anu told Cameroon Intelligence Report that the number of family separations have risen very sharply in the past weeks, largely because of the French Cameroun army onslaught in the Northern and Southern zones particularly in places like Belo, Kwa Kwa, Otu, Muyenge, Menji, Azi, Menka-Pinyin, Mamfe, Ekondo Titi, Tombel, Kumba, Batibo, Kendem,  and Dadi. Speaking to CIR on condition of anonymity, a prominent Southern Cameroonian resident in Yaoundé noted that the situation is shameful, disgusting and disgraceful.

The numbers are the first comprehensive disclosure by the Acting President of the Interim Government, Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako of how many families have been affected by the war declared by the French Cameroun dictator against the people of Southern Cameroons. The United Nations revealed recently that some 160,000 Southern Cameroonians have been internally displaced while some 40,000 have fled the conflict into neighboring Nigeria.

President Biya has made his hard-line stance on the Anglophone uprising an integral part of his 35 years old presidency and has vowed never to negotiate with those he described as “separatists and terrorists”.  Biya and his minister for defense, Joseph Beti Assomo announced a “zero tolerance” policy which has led to crimes against humanity being committed in Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun army soldiers. Many Southern Cameroonians apprehended ever since the crisis started have been criminally charged and hundreds are being held in detention facilities in French Cameroun which generally leads to children being separated from their parents.

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia in a statement released last week further pointed out that some Southern Cameroons 867 teenagers currently in the Cross River State in Nigeria were separated from their parents in the Manyu County precisely from the Akwaya and Eyumojock Sub constituencies due to the intense gun battle going on in the area. The United Nations is yet to make an appeal for an immediately halt to hostilities.

source: www.cameroonintelligencereport.com