Civilians are caught in a deadly escalation of violence in Cameroon between security forces and separatists seeking an English-speaking state, Amnesty International said in a new report Tuesday.

The human rights group called for an end to “unnecessary and excessive force” on both sides and for authorities to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Cameroon’s unrest began in November 2016 when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the northwest and southwest began calling for reforms and greater autonomy, criticizing what they called the marginalization of the Anglophone population by French speakers. The English-speaking community accounts for about one-fifth of the country’s 25 million people.

A government crackdown, including arrests and an internet shutdown, followed. English-language separatists then picked up the momentum, calling for an independent state.

The fighters have burned down schools and killed at least 44 members of security forces in the past year, the report says. They have vowed to paralyze the country until their leader Ayuk Tabe, who declared himself the president of the English-speaking Republic of Ambazonia, is released. He was arrested in December with 48 others in neighboring Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon.

Security forces have responded with arbitrary arrests and unlawful killings, the new report says.

In interviews with more than 150 victims and witnesses, people told Amnesty International they were blindfolded, gagged and beaten with shovels, hammers, planks and cables.

“Security forces have indiscriminately killed, arrested and tortured people during military operations which have also displaced thousands of civilians,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s deputy director for West and Central Africa.

For their part, the separatists have “also carried out attacks designed to strike fear amongst the population, going as far as burning down schools and targeting teachers who did not enforce the boycott,” Daoud said.

Cameroon’s government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the government was reading the report and would address it Wednesday.

Source: The Seattle Times

Spain has offered to take in a ship stranded in the Mediterranean with 629 refugees aboard after Italy and Malta refused to let the vessel dock, as an NGO raised fears for their safety due to deteriorating weather conditions.

Aid workers warned that fresh food and drink supplied by the Maltese navy to the Aquarius on Monday would only last until Tuesday.

The refugees, including pregnant women and scores of children, were saved by French charity SOS Mediterranee on Saturday.

“This mobilization is a very positive signal although reaching Spain would require several days of sailing. With so many people on board under deteriorating weather conditions could become critical,” the NGO said on Twitter late Monday.

“Safety of all rescued people should remain the priority before all.”

Malta and the new populist government in Italy both refused to take the refugees in, accusing each other of failing to meet their obligations.

The refusal to accept the Aquarius in Italy was the first major anti-refugee move since far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini took office this month.

Salvini tweeted “VICTORY” after two days of confrontation with Malta over the refugees ended with Spain’s offer of help.

The new Spanish administration headed by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to allow the Aquarius to dock at its eastern port of Valencia, insisting that it was an “obligation” to do so.

But Spain’s new foreign minister, Josep Borrell, said the gesture was also intended to underline the need for solidarity from the entire bloc.

“Italy has received an enormous influx of migrants and so far other European countries haven’t shown much solidarity,” Borrell told a news briefing in Madrid.

There was, he said, a “need for Europeans… to face up, in a united and coordinated manner, to a problem that is a problem for all, and not just for Greece one year and for Italy the next”.

Fresh supplies

SOS Mediterranee director general Sophie Beau earlier warned that the ship would have to travel some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) to reach the Spanish coast — which AFP estimates could take at least four days — and that by Tuesday “there will be no more food (on board) apart from energy biscuits”.

“The Aquarius has just received a resupply of 950 bottles of water, 800 packs of noodles and snacks from a vessel of the Maltese navy,” the SOS Mediterranee tweeted Monday, adding that this would only allow for one more meal on Tuesday.

Malta and Italy thanked Spain for stepping up, but maintained their dispute over who was responsible.

Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted his thanks to Sanchez “for agreeing to accept the Aquarius after Italy violated international law and caused an impasse”.

He added, “It will be necessary to sit down and discuss how to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future. This is a European issue.”

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his country had “asked for a gesture of solidarity from Europe and this gesture has been made”.

Conte is set to head to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ahead of the European summit on June 28-29, with a particular focus on migration, Macron’s office said Monday.

But Beau said that under maritime law the ship should be allowed to dock in one of the nearest countries, Italy or Malta.

‘Close the doors’

The UN had called on Malta and Italy to immediately allow the boat to dock, describing the situation as “an urgent humanitarian imperative”.

The EU and its biggest member state Germany made similar pleas.

“The priority of both the Italian and Maltese authorities should be ensuring these people receive the care they need,” European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters, calling for a “swift resolution”.

But Salvini refused to back down.

“Saving lives is a duty, turning Italy into a huge refugee camp is not. Italy is done bending over backwards and obeying, this time THERE IS SOMEONE WHO SAYS NO,” he wrote on Twitter followed by the hashtag #closethedoors.

Despite his refusal to accept Aquarius, the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotto, carrying 937 refugees, was expected to dock in Sicily Tuesday or Wednesday.

‘Vulnerable patients at risk’

MSF Sea (Doctors Without Borders) said the medical situation of those on the Aquarius was “stable for now but unnecessary delay to disembarkation in safe port puts vulnerable patients at risk.”

“Particularly seven pregnant woman, 15 with serious chemical burns and several critical drowning hypothermia patients,” MSF Sea added.

Conte said Sunday that Rome had sent two patrol ships with doctors on board “ready to intervene and ensure the health of anyone on board the Aquarius who might have the need”.

The refugees were rescued in six separate night-time operations in the central Mediterranean on Saturday.

‘Land of refuge’

Under EU rules, refugees must apply for asylum in the European country where they first arrive.

That has put pressure on Italy and Greece, the entry points for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2015.

EU leaders in December had set an end-of-June deadline for an overhaul of rules to create a permanent mechanism to deal with refugees in the event of a new emergency.

(Source: AFP)

The lower house of Canada’s parliament has unanimously condemned the recent personal attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by US President Donald Trump and other American officials, which have offended Canadian elites and ordinary citizens amid a dispute over trade.

Lawmakers at the House of Commons on Monday unanimously adopted a motion backing Canadian steel and aluminum trade policies, as well as the supply management system that supports key agricultural sectors.

The motion, introduced by the opposition New Democrats, also rejected “disparaging and ad hominem statements by US officials, which do a disservice to bilateral relations and work against efforts to resolve this trade dispute.”

They also endorsed with a standing ovation the Trudeau government’s decision to impose tariffs on US goods in retaliation for the Trump administration’s levying of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

The vote of solidarity came as top White House advisers lashed out at Trudeau on Sunday a day after US President Donald Trump called him “very dishonest and weak” and withdrew support for a Group of Seven communiqué issued at the summit Trudeau hosted in Quebec on Saturday.

Trump attended that summit and only later withdrew support for the communiqué.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow accused Trudeau of betraying Trump with “polarizing” remarks.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro attacked the Canadian prime minister even more personally.

“There is a special place in hell for any leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door and that’s what bad-faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference, that’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did,” Navarro said on CNN.

Trudeau’s government has ignored the personal insults.

The US barbs come after Trudeau said at a news conference at the end of the G7 conference that Canada would not be pushed around on tariffs — a point he had made several times before.

Other Canadian politicians have also decried the attacks by the US officials. Canadian pundits, celebrities, and ordinary citizens have also taken offense, and have pledged to take part in consumer boycotts of American goods and brainstormed insults of Trump on social media.

“Something strange and wonderful has been sparked by @realDonaldTrump’s dishonorable comments about this country. I think it might be a Canadian identity,” newspaper columnist John Ivison said on his Twitter account.

Source: Presstv

Armed separatists in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have stabbed to death and shot military personnel, burned down schools and attacked teachers, while security forces have tortured people, fired on crowds and destroyed villages, in a spiral of violence that keeps getting more deadly, Amnesty International said today.

In a new report on Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis, ‘A turn for the worse: Violence and human rights violations in Anglophone Cameroon’, which is based on in-depth interviews with over 150 victims and eye-witnesses, and material evidence including satellite images, the organization documents how general population is paying the highest price as violence escalates in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.

“People in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions are in the grip of a deadly cycle of violence. Security forces have indiscriminately killed, arrested and tortured people during military operations which have also displaced thousands of civilians. Their heavy-handed response will do nothing to calm the violence – in fact it is likely to further alienate Anglophone communities and fuel further unrest,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International Deputy Director for West and Central Africa.

“For their part, armed separatists have killed dozens of members of the security forces. They also carried out attacks designed to strike fear amongst the population, going as far as burning down schools and targeting teachers who did not enforce the boycott.”

The Anglophone regions of the Cameroon – the South-West and North-West – make up approximately 20% of the country’s population. Many of their grievances date back to the early 1960s, when these regions were included in the newly established, mostly French-speaking, Republic of Cameroon.

Violence and unrest escalated in late 2016 after a series of strikes and protests against what teachers, lawyers and students viewed as further discrimination against Anglophones. Between 22 September and 1 October 2017, large-scale protests were organized across the Anglophone regions to symbolically proclaim the independence of a new state of “Ambazonia.”

Torture and killings by the military

Cameroon’s military has responded to these protests with arbitrary arrests, torture, unlawful killings and destruction of property. In one striking incident, satellite images and other photographic evidence obtained by Amnesty International show the complete destruction of the village of Kwakwa, which was burned to the ground by Cameroonian security forces following an operation conducted in December 2017 in connection with the killing of two gendarmes by suspected armed separatists.

In some cases, following these security operations, people were arbitrarily arrested and tortured while detained in illegal detention facilities and in secret. For instance, at least 23 people, including minors, were arrested by the security forces in the village of Dadi on 13 December 2017 and spent three days in incommunicado detention. They told Amnesty International that during this time security forces tortured them to extract “confessions”, to force them to admit having supported the separatists.

Victims described being blindfolded and severely beaten with various objects including sticks, ropes, wires and guns, as well as being electrocuted and burnt with hot water. Some were beaten until they lost consciousness, and Amnesty International documented that at least one person has died in custody.

One man who was arrested on 13 December 2017 in Dadi gave a harrowing account of the torture he suffered:

“… They tied our hands behind our backs, gagged us and tied our faces with our towels and shorts, which they tore. They, then made us lie in the water, face down for about 45 minutes… During three days, they beat us with shovels, hammers, planks, and cables, kicked us with their boots and poured hot water on us… when I tried to move and shouted, one of them used the cigarette he was smoking to burn me.”

Amnesty International also received information about numerous instances of deaths in custody. In one case, on 3 February 2018, the bodies of four men, who had been arrested in the town of Belo by the security forces the day before, were found at the Bamenda Regional Hospital mortuary, bloodied and with signs of torture.

Amnesty International has also documented unlawful killings, including during three security operations conducted by the army in the villages of Dadi, Kajifu and Bodam (South-West) in December 2017.

Attacks on schools and teachers by separatists

The report also documents how teachers and students have been targeted by separatists for not participating in a boycott of schools perceived by many as a symbol of how the English language and cultures in the Anglophone regions have been marginalized by the authorities. At least 42 schools were attacked by armed separatists between February 2017 and May 2018.

Amnesty International has documented various attacks on students and teachers. On 30 January 2018, a masked gunman, suspected to be a member of an armed separatist group, stormed the Government Primary School in Ntungfe (North-West region). Armed with a locally-made gun, he shot one teacher in the legs, and set fire to a motorbike before escaping.

The wounded teacher told Amnesty International:
“The assailant […] told me that I was still coming to school in defiance of calls for a schools boycott. […] He then asked me to raise my hands, but before I could do so, he shot me. I fell to the ground…”

Between September 2017 and May 2018, at least 44 members of the security forces were killed in attacks at checkpoints, in the streets, or on their duty stations in both the North-West and South-West regions.

In one attack, on 1 February 2018, in the locality of Mbingo, North-West region, two gendarmes manning a checkpoint were stabbed to death by a group of young separatists armed with knives and machetes.

Amnesty International has also documented five attacks on traditional chiefs, who separatists accuse of sympathizing with the government.

“The armed separatists repeated targeting of the general population demonstrates a total disregard for human life, and is another example of the threat faced by people in the Anglophone regions,” said Samira Daoud.

“Authorities must ensure accountability for crimes committed by the security forces as well as by the armed separatists. They must immediately end the use of unlawful, unnecessary and excessive force and ensure that people are protected.”
Source: Amnesty International

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the US President Donald Trump’s tweets concerning the G7 summit “sobering and a little depressing.”

“It’s hard, it’s depressing this time, but that’s not the end” of the Group of Seven, said Merkel during a televised broadcast on Sunday night.

Merkel added that Europe will implement counter-measures against US tariffs on steel and aluminum, similar to recent measures by Canada.

“So we won’t let ourselves be ripped off again and again. Instead, we act then too,” she said.

She added that the EU would also try to avoid retaliation by the US by imposing tariffs on cars.

“First of all, we’ll try and see if we can prevent this… And then hope that the EU will respond again in the same unity,” she said.

Earlier, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas slammed Trump for sending tweets about a recent meeting of G7 group of industrialized nations, saying those statements are further destroying trust between the United States and traditional allies in the West.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that the EU  would continue to support the communiqué, which included commitment to a “rules-based international trading system” and a pledge to “continue to fight protectionism.”

“We spent two days to obtain a text and commitments. We will stand by them and anyone who would depart from them, once their back was turned, shows their incoherence and inconsistency,” said a statement released by Macron’s office.

“International cooperation cannot depend on fits of anger or little words. Let us be serious and worthy of our people,” it added.

Trump departed early from Quebec, where the G7 leaders were gathering, on Saturday, saying a more urgent priority for him was an upcoming face-to-face meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in Singapore.

“Europe United is the answer to America First,” wrote Trump in a series of angry tweets about the summit.

Source: Presstv

Hundreds of refugees remain stranded in a humanitarian ship at sea after both Italy and Malta refused to open their ports to the vessel and engaged, instead, in a diplomatic spat over the issue.

Italy’s new Interior Minister and leader of the far-right League Party, Matteo Salvini closed Italian ports on Sunday and refused to let in the rescue boat, Aquarius, carrying over 600 refugees.

Instead, he sent a letter to the island-state of Malta, south of Italy, threatening to close all the Italian ports if the Maltese government refuses to take the ship.

The European charity group, SOS Méditerranée, which operates Aquarius, said Sunday that the humanitarian ship has on board 629 refugees, including unaccompanied children and pregnant women mainly from sub-Saharan Africans, who were picked up in six different rescue operations off the coast of Libya.

 

Salvini said in a statement on Sunday that Malta “cannot continue to look the other way when it comes to respecting precise international conventions on the protection of human life.”

“That’s why we ask the government in Valletta to take in the Aquarius in order to offer first aid to the migrants on board,” the statement added.

The Maltese government, however, brushed off the request, saying that the operations took place in international waters off Libya and that “Malta is neither the competent nor the coordinating authority in this case.”

The government’s statement also said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had spoken to Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, underlining “that Malta is acting in full conformity with its international obligations.”

“As such Malta will not take the said vessel in its ports,” the statement added.

Amid the spat, the ship remains stuck in waters of the central Mediterranean—between Malta and Italy.

The SOS Méditerranée’s spokesperson Mathilde Auvillain said the vessel has been instructed to head north after a series of sea rescues and is now awaiting “definitive instructions.”

Controversy inside Italy

Salvini’s far-right party had campaigned heavily on an election vow to stop new refugee arrivals; in addition to closing the country’s ports, Salvini has also pledged to speed up deportation of refugees.

The Italian interior minister has said he is mulling over action against organizations rescuing refugees at sea. He has accused the air groups of collaborating with human traffickers, calling on NATO to help Rome “defend” its southern shores.

Salvini’s anti-refugee stance has sparked criticism inside the country, with several figures, including mayors of Palermo, Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci, offering to take in the refugees.

The mayor of Palermo Leoluca Orlando said he would allow Aquarius to dock at the Sicilian port.

“Palermo in ancient Greek meant ‘complete port,’” said the mayor. “We have always welcomed rescue boats and vessels who saved lives at sea. We will not stop now.”

Orlando accused the new interior minister of violating international law, saying that Salvini has once again shown that “we are under an extreme far-right government.”

Naples mayor Luigi de Magistris also said the city would welcome in the humanitarian boat.

 

“Naples is ready, without funds, to save lives,” said the city mayor, adding that “if a minister without a heart leaves pregnant women, children, old people, human being to die, the port of Naples is ready to welcome them.”

Over the past five years, more than 600,000 refugees have reached Italy by risking their lives in the sea. Some 500,000 of them are still staying in the country.

According to the United Nations figures, at least 500 people have died this year as they were trying to cross the central Mediterranean. Some 2,853 also lost their lives last year.

Culled from Presstv

Cameroon Intelligence Report has been hinted of a Biya regime diabolic harsh plot to kill the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr Samuel Ikome Sako in the USA.  A well-placed source deep within the Francophone government told our Yaoundé city reporter late yesterday that Etoudi has given the green light for the Cameroon embassy in Washington to bankroll the action against Dr. Sako.

The plot is understood to centre in New York where Acting President Samuel Ikome Sako will be lured by some Chadian and Gabonese diplomats for a talk on the situation in Southern Cameroons. We understand that details of the Francophone government conspiracy against the exiled Southern Cameroons leadership were contained in a document bearing the signature of Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh the Minister Secretary General at the presidency of the republic.

According to our source in Yaoundé, senior security officials who recently met President Biya at his palace in Mvomeka’a discussed a killing spree to include targeting His Excellency Dr. Ikome Sako, the Secretary of Communications, Hon. Chris Anu and some members of the Interim Government. Information of the alleged plot filtered as the situation on Ground Zero continues to grow from bad to worse.  Our correspondent in Yaoundé has not been able to know how detailed the alleged plot is, how far advanced it is or how feasible is the plan.

source: www.cameroonintelligencereport.com

South Africa has been voted onto the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member. Its candidature to represent the East and Southern African group was endorsed by Southern Africa last year and the African Union in January.

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday voted to elect Germany, Belgium, South Africa, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia for a two-year term on the Security Council starting on Jan. 1, 2019.

Our tenure in the Security Council will be dedicated to the legacy of President Nelson Mandela and his commitment to peace. In marking his centenary this year, a Summit on Peace will be held on the eve of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in September.

Indonesia drew more votes than the Maldives in the only contested election; the other four candidates ran unopposed.

Uncontested candidates still need to win more than two-thirds of the overall General Assembly vote to be elected.

The council is the only U.N. body that can make legally binding decisions and has the power to impose sanctions and authorise the use of force.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said it is honoured and humbled by this gesture of confidence.

This will be South Africa’s third term on the UN Security Council, having previously served in 2007-2008 and 2011-2012.

“Our tenure in the Security Council will be dedicated to the legacy of President Nelson Mandela and his commitment to peace. In marking his centenary this year, a Summit on Peace will be held on the eve of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly in September,” the statement reads.

The Department says it will use its tenure in the Security Council to promote the maintenance of international peace and security through advocating for the peaceful settlement of disputes and inclusive dialogue.

“We will continue to enhance close cooperation between the UN Security Council and other regional and sub-regional organisations.”

During the two previous tenures, South Africa advocated for closer cooperation between the UN Security Council and the African Union Security Council (AUPC), which culminated in the adoption of the landmark Resolution in 2012 on strengthening cooperation between the two bodies.

Agencies

A US commando has been killed and four others wounded in Somalia when they came under fire during an operation against al-Shabab militants, according to the US military.

The American soldiers were on a mission Friday to clear al-Shabaab from contested areas as well as villages the militants controlled, “and establish a permanent combat outpost” to expand the reach of the Somali state, the US military’s Africa Command said in a statement.

“The US provided advice, assistance and aerial surveillance during the mission,” it said.

They were members of US special operations forces, who were fighting the militants along with 800 troops from the Somali National Security Forces and Kenyan Defense Forces.

One local soldier was also wounded when they were attacked by mortars and small arms fire, added the statement.

Al-Shabab, Africa’s most-feared militant group which has links to al-Qaeda, still controls large parts of land in southern Somalia. The group has a history of fighting Somalia’s government since the 1990s.

Despite being ousted from large parts of southern and central Somalia, al-Shabab continues deadly attacks across the country, which has been ravaged by decades of war and poverty.

The militant group aims to oust the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and drive out African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops. It has been carrying out militancy since 2006.

The US military has stepped up its airstrikes in the Horn of Africa nation after getting President Donald Trump’s approval for expanded military operations there.

In June 2011, American forces began using drones to carry out the strikes, in a mission which has so far failed to uproot the militancy in the country.

Source: Presstv

Source: World Bulletin