For almost two months now, Cameroon’s government has restricted access to social media and messaging apps in its Anglophone regions, adding to the already simmering tensions in the country.

The current two-month cutoff is the second prolonged restriction in 2017: there was a 93-day, complete internet shutdown that lasted from January to April. Altogether, the regions have had intermittent or no internet access for more than 150 days in 2017, so far.

In late September, the government disrupted the internet ahead of protests against political and economic discrimination in the Northwest and Southwest regions. The Oct.1 protests against the dominance of a French-speaking government in the bilingual country, have turned deadly, with explosions targeting local security officials. In a bid to stifle dissent—and even calls for a break-up of the country—the government cut access to these social media platforms as a way to frustrate online mobilization.

Internet and digital freedom advocates tell Quartz that the government blocked or throttled access to widely used communication platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, with many using virtual private networks to access these sites.

As one of Africa’s longest-serving rulers, president Paul Biya’s government has come to understand the deft nature of communication technologies and its increased role in organizing social and political movements. As such, the government has criticized social media users in the past, labeling it a “new form of terrorism” controlled by “amateurs, whose ranks, unfortunately, continue to swell and who do not have a sense of etiquette and decorum.”

The January to April blackout took a heavy toll on the country’s budding technology center, located in the Southwest region and popularly known as Silicon Mountain. Entrepreneurs and businessmen were left scrambling, losing clients and working hours, and were forced to move to cities and towns with internet services. The digital rights advocacy Access Now says the current shutdown cost the two regions almost $3 million.

The social media freeze is also disrupting lives, with many reporting that they can’t easily reach families caught in the anti-government demonstrations.

The situation in Cameroon is complicated by the government’s monopoly over the internet infrastructure. Camtel, the country’s national telecommunications company, operates the fiber optic backbone that provides internet to the country—making it easy for them to shut down the internet and pressure other telecom operators to do so. Internet advocates tell Quartz that while the social networking sites are blocked on MTN’s network, they are accessible “from time to time” on Orange. The unruliness, they say, could possibly be linked to a dispute between Orange and Camtel.

However, internet and social media shutdowns are not just a Cameroonian problem—it’s an African problem. In 2016 alone, 11 countries disrupted internet communications before crucial elections in Uganda, during national exams in Algeria, and anti-government protests in Ethiopia. The blackouts also cost African governments hundreds of millions of dollars, disrupting the delivery of critical services and undermining economic growth. Policy proposals to punish governments have often failed, leaving the continent’s thinkers and businesspeople worried about the future repercussions.

Last week, Sudanese-British billionaire and telecom pioneer Mo Ibrahim told Quartz the shutdowns undermine the continent’s digital development. “Closing down of the internet is really a crime. And that should not be tolerated,” he said.

Source: Quartz

Over 3,000 refugees have died crossing the Mediterranean in a desperate bid to reach Europe’s shores since the start of the year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.

William Lacy Swing, the IOM director general, said in a statement in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that the 3,033 deaths happened across three main sea routes in the Mediterranean.

“That mark (was) probably passed sometime over last weekend,” when more than 30 migrants died off the coast of Libya, the official added.

“We’ve been saying this for years and we’ll keep on saying it: It’s no longer enough to simply count these tragic statistics. We must also act.”

The latest figure so far represents a 40-percent drop compared to last year’s record of 5,000 drownings.

The number of refugees who have arrived in Europe this year is less than half of last year’s total of 348,000.

The flow has been stemmed by controversial deals between the European Union, Turkey and Libya. The 28-nation bloc has been desperate to slow the refugee influx via these two main routes,

The United Nations has, however, denounced as “inhuman” the EU’s cooperation with Libya.

The refugees are being held in “horrific” prisons and have even been auctioned off as slaves across the North African country.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has recently said that the reported auctions of African refugees in Libya as slaves amount to “crimes against humanity.”

In October, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned that thousands of Libyan refugees were living in dire conditions in a hub to the west of the capital Tripoli, saying they could be exposed to abuse on a shocking scale.

Libya, gripped by chaos and lawlessness since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, was the main embarkation point for mostly African refugees seeking to head to Europe until recently.

Europe is facing an influx of refugees, who are fleeing conflict-ridden zones in North Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria. More than 1.5 million people have reached Europe since 2015.

Many blame major European powers for the unprecedented exodus, saying their policies have led to a surge in terrorism and war in those regions, forcing more people to flee their homes.

Source: Presstv

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has been sworn in for a second five-year term amid continuing post-election tensions.

Kenyatta’s swearing-in ceremony was held in Kenya’s largest stadium, Kasarani, in Nairobi on Tuesday amid heavy security as opposition supporter were due to protest.

Kenyatta garnered 98.2 percent of the votes in a repeat presidential election on October 26, in which almost 39 percent the 19.6 million registered voters turned out to vote.

The leading opposition group, the National Super Alliance, called on its supporters to gather to commemorate the opposition supporters killed during recent clashes with security forces.

“A return to the political backwardness of our past is more than unacceptable. It is intolerable… This divide cannot be bridged by dialog and compromise,” the alliance said in a statement.

 

At least 70 people have been killed in four months of violence over Kenya’s presidential race between Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga. Rights groups say most of those killed by police were the supporters of Odinga, who challenged the results of the first round of the election in August.

That round was annulled by the Supreme Court over irregularities. Odinga then boycotted the re-run last month.

Meanwhile, police had to use tear gas to prevent Kenyatta’s supporters trying to force their way into the stadium, which was filled to its 60,000 capacity on Tuesday morning.

Many fear Kenyatta’s inauguration could trigger renewed unrest in Kenya, a major ally of the West in the Horn of Africa region.

Source: Presstv

We hereby announce the nominees for the 2017 Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year.

Our panel of experts have argued long and loud about the merits of those on the long list and have now whittled those names down to a shortlist of seven. From here on, democracy reigns. It is up to you. Cast your vote at the bottom of the post.

Tassang Wilfred (The Consortium)

He is principally remembered now for empowering the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium by shutting down all academic establishments in British Southern Cameroons. But this is only one element of what was a glorious contribution to the Southern Cameroons struggle.

For a start, he demonstrated a true West Cameroon’s humility in his description of the plight of Anglophones in La Republique du Cameroun. To the casual observer, it looked like the hard work had been done by Tassang himself when he slalomed through Paul Mingo Ghogomu in Bamenda, lifted the Southern Cameroons debate over Prime Minister Yang Philemon and swiped the baton of command into the hands of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

But according to Tassang, the hard work had in fact been done by the dismissal of the “Show Boy” Barrister Agbor Balla from the Consortium’, a verdict which saw him crowned as the patron saint of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Hon. Joseph Wirba

The Southern Cameroons National anthem is how many Ambazonians now refer to him. Politicians in power have a proud tradition of achievement in the Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year award. Wirba is not one of them.

As Southern Cameroonians were responding to calls for civil disobedience campaigns, blissfully unaware that they were about to witness a historic change in their history, the camera zoomed in one man who was belting out the sufferings of the people of Southern Cameroons with greater solemnity and ferocity than anyone else in his vicinity. Swept up in the moment, he gave the passing lens a hearty salute with these words: “No one can take the Name West Cameroon from the mouths of the Anglophones again”

The People of Southern Cameroons and their powerful Diaspora

Opinion in our editorial desk was initially divided as to whether a group could be classified for the Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year Award.  In our snap poll, the verdict came back loud and clear to us from one of our readers, Polycarp Kansamga.

The resilience demonstrated by the people of Southern Cameroons particularly in the afterglow of the famous victory on October 1, took on a new significance. It’s impossible to witness it now and not feel that Southern Cameroonians both at home and abroad deserve to be honored.

Philemon Yang (French Cameroun Prime Minister and Head of Government)

After a harrowing 2016 in which he suffered with depression and poor health with numerous quarrels with Ama Tutu Muna,  Philemon Yang emerged from the darkness to lead a Francophone dominated government that had only him as a minister with portfolio. An inspirational tale.

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His sister Ama – the 2015-16 Anglophone cabinet minister of the year – functioned as a virtual bodyguard during those bright days before the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium came into existence. With tears in his eyes today, Yang has been caught up in the pangs of a monster he helped in creating. Ever since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons uprising, Prime Minister Philemon is either committing the same errors or falling into spectacular new ones.  He has said stuff that really hit home. He said that if I do what Anglophones expect me to do, you’re not just going to kill yourself, you’re going to kill your parents, and you’re going to kill me. It is not nice to be listening to him and seeing the tears flowing down his eyes inside his bedroom.

Professor Messanga Nyamding (French Cameroun CPDM Central Committee Member)

The French Cameroun University lecturer, Professor Messanga Nyamding has been speaking from his heart since the Southern Cameroons crisis started. He blamed the crisis on the so-called collaborators of President Biya. According to him, the staff of the Head of State are divided into two clans namely, the administrative staff he calls bureaucrats and worthless and the collaborators whom he claims have imprisoned Cameroon in a war of networks forming a mystical resilience.

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Professor Messanga Nyamding told the world that it is the mystical resilience that is at the root of the Southern Cameroons crisis. He stood firmly for the release of all Anglophone detainees and argued that the same Biya regime had pardoned men like Niat Njifenji, Ahmidou Marafa Yaya, Dakole Daissala who participated in the 1984 April 6th coup.

Prof. Messanga Nyamding recently said that President Biya’s collaborators were staging a comedy show in government. “They tar the roads, repair the bridges, paint the buildings only when it is announced that Biya will be passing in that area. Yet the reality is quite different. It is this CPDM comedy that has angered Anglophones for decades.”

Bibixy Mancho

The Southern Cameroons radio host Bibixy Mancho was always destined to one day contend for the Cameroon Concord News Man of the Year Award. His performance at public demonstrations in the Bamenda County gave the Anglophone struggle the impetus that was needed.

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He proceeded to score major political victories during his trial at the Yaoundé Military Tribunal.  Unfortunately, the Biya Francophone regime is still keeping him at the Kondengui High Security prison in Yaoundé. This year, Bibixy Mancho painted a picture that the world will never forget on the plight of Southern Cameroonians when he appeared during one of his hearings at the Kangaroo court in Yaoundé.

He has remained defiant and is his face is now the symbol of the Southern Cameroons struggle. When Bibixy Mancho appeared in front of a French Cameroun judge recently, he pleaded that the Francophone regime should release all the teenagers arrested in Bamenda.  He did not stop there!! He told the judge to sentence him to death.  At the time, many thought it took quite an amount of cheek to turn around and claim the death penalty in these circumstances.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe (Interim Head of State Federal Republic of Ambazonia)

He has firmly established himself as the Southern Cameroons favorite leader ever since the history of the struggle.  Any man who can rename the Southern Cameroons territory as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and it is accepted by all is clearly the author of great deeds.

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Sisiku Ayuk Tabe emerged as the chosen one in the Southern Cameroons quest for independence. He has provided responsible leadership and continues to do so. It is his performance as the interim head of state that has elevated Southern Cameroons to the status of international treasure, but we were more enthralled by his efforts in the 4^th Conclave that held in Nigeria.

It was there that he elevated the unglamorous and oft-derided skill of ‘holding the leadership up and managing the Milan Affair diplomatically.  His composure, the nimble brainwork, the magnificent use of one’s arse – were all present and correct.

By Chi Prudence Asong

VOTING IS NOW UNDERWAY. HAVE YOUR SAY ON WHO SHOULD BE MAN OF THE YEAR BELOW

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has received over 200,000 background check requests from gun dealers across America on Black Friday, the highest demand for guns on a single day since 1998.

Overall there were 203,086 requests were submitted to the bureau, a sizable increase over single-day highs from past years such as 185,713 in 2016, and 185,345 in 2015.

The real number of the guns purchased on Friday is likely higher as multiple firearms can be purchased in just one transaction.

The checks, conducted by the FBI when a gun is purchased from a federally licensed dealer, reveal a person’s record of arrest on the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS).

However, pro-gun activists claim it fails to specify whether an arrest was dismissed or resulted in a conviction.

According to the NICS, five of the top 10 single-day highs have occurred on a Black Friday over the last five years.

The report comes amid heated debates over the need for a more effective background check system following several high-profile mass killings across the US over the past weeks.

In early October, a heavily armed gunman killed 59 and injured more than 500 people at a music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, which has some of the most lax gun laws in the country.

The shooter, Stephen Paddock, purchased 33 automatic weapons in the last year. Police found a total of 47 guns in the hotel room and house of 64-year-old, who rained down a barrage of bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel towards an open-air concert.

In early November, Devin Patrick Kelley, a former US airman, attacked a small church outside San Antonio, Texas, killing 26 people.

The US Air Force admitted later on that it had failed to enter Kelley’s criminal record into the NICS.

According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, more than 100,000 Americans were shot each year from 2006 to 2014, as a result of assaults, accidental shootings or suicide.

Trump’s 2016 election campaign was heavily funded by the NRA. In response, the billionaire had pledged to protect the American gun owners’ right to keep and bear arms, assuring them that they now have a “true friend” in the White House.

Source: Presstv

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in different European capitals for a second day to express anger at the practice of slavery in Libya.

People in the Swedish capital of, Stockholm, gathered in Sergels Torg Square on Saturday to demand an immediate end to slavery, holding signs reading “Stop the slavery, now, now, now” and “Human rights for all,” as they chanted slogans.

More than 50 people were arrested during similar protests in Brussels, the Belgian capital. Violence erupted in that protest when a group of protesters broke away and attacked police, also ransacking shops and hurling projectiles at police, who responded by using water cannon.

Meanwhile, hundreds of members of the African community in the German capital of Berlin rallied outside the Libyan Embassy to express their anger. The demonstrators demanded an end to the enslavement, torture, rape, and murder of black people in the North African country.

An Ethiopian demonstrator, Gizaw, said, “To stop this situation German [sic] has to intervene, EU has to intervene, England, Britain has to intervene and stop financing these criminals in Libya.”

The protests came a day after demonstrators in Paris and Rome held rallies in front of the Libyan embassies in those cities.

The French demonstrators denounced their country’s military role in the Libyan uprising in 2011, when the then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy pushed for military strikes in Libya.

The protests was prompted by a CNN video report, released last week, which showed sub-Saharan Africans being sold at slave auctions for as little as $400.

After widespread outrage, Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Metig vowed, in a statement posted on Facebook, that his UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) would investigate the “slave market” allegations in the North African country.

Libya has faced a power vacuum since a NATO military intervention resulted in the downfall of its longtime dictator, Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Since then, the country has been grappling with chaos and the emergence of numerous militant groups, including the Daesh terrorist group.

(Source: Agencies)

The Time news magazine has disputed US President Donald Trump’s claim that he turned down the American weekly’s “Person of the Year” honor after being told that he would only “probably” receive the designation.

The pushback came after Trump tweeted on Friday that he turned down the distinction, because the magazine did not guarantee him the spot.

“Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named “Man (Person) of the Year,” like last year but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!” the president tweeted.

The magazine issued a statement disputing Trump. “The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6,” a spokeswoman told CNN.

Time’s chief content officer, Alan Murray, also shot back at Trump from his own Twitter account.

Trump has previously criticized the magazine for not being selected in past years. “Thank you @oreillyfactor for your wonderful editorial as to why I should have been @TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year. You should run Time!” Trump tweeted in December 2015.

In December 2012, Trump tweeted, “I knew last year that @TIME Magazine lost all credibility when they didn’t include me in their Top 100… ”

Trump has long been obsessed with being on the cover of TIME and other news magazines, even making fake covers to hang in some of his properties.

In June, The Washington Post reported that at least four Trump Organization properties had on display a fake Time magazine with Trump on the cover and featuring flattering headlines about his reality TV show, “The Apprentice.”

Source: Presstv

By the authority vested in me, I hereby make the following appointments: –

             Vice President – XXX (Ground Zero)

             Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs – Prof Carlson Anyangwe

o             Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs – Dr Samuel Ikome Sako

             Secretary of State for Defence & Homeland Security – XXX (General)

o             Under-Secretary of State for Defence & Homeland Security – XXX

             Secretary of State for Finance & Economy – Brado Etchu Tabenyang

o             Under-Secretary of State for Finance & Economy – Dr Cornelius Kwanga

             Secretary of State for Communication & Information Technology – Christopher Anu

o             Under-Secretary of State for Communication & IT – Milton Taka

             Secretary of State for Education – Wilfred Tassang

o             Under-Secretary of State for Education – Dr Elizabeth Ambe

             Secretary of State for Home Affairs – Dr Ojong Okongor Eno

o             Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs – Shufai Blaise Berinyuy

             Secretary of State for Health & Social Services – Caleshe Bongo

o             Under-Secretary of State for Health & Social Services – Edith Ngang

• Ambassador to the African Union & Rest of Africa – Eyambe Elias
• Ambassador to the SADC countries – Jessy Engu Itambi
• Ambassador to the United Nations & America – MbuliRene
• Ambassador to the United Kingdom – Kingsley Ekolle
• Ambassador to the Scandinavia & the Nordic Region – Emma Larry Daniel
• Ambassador to mainland Europe – Dr Elad Kisito
• Ambassador to Asia & Middle East – Tangie Donatus Muma

             Chairperson, Ethics Commission – Chief Fonkem Achankeng

o             Deputy Chairperson, Ethics Commission – Nancy Assanga

             Chairperson, Judiciary Commission – Bobga Harmony Mbuton

o             Deputy Chairperson, Judiciary Commission – Denis Atemkeng

             Director Performance, Monitoring & Evaluation – Prof Cosmas Ambe

o             Deputy Director Performance, Monitoring & Evaluation – Prof Martin Ayim

             Director Intelligence – XXX

o             Deputy Director Intelligence – XXX

Done at Buea this 24th Day of November 2017

November 23rd 2017

Dear Members of Parliament,

Dear Fellow Ambazonians,

Video footage of the goings-on in Yaoundé which have reached us this morning evokes the message in the book of Daniel 5ff. That the illustrious SDF MPs took to the floor of the National Assembly to intone Amba protest songs is a historic moment, no less portentious than the fiery denunciation which Hon. Joseph Wirba delivered from that same podium almost a year ago.

We salute these MPs for their courage and patriotism. We urge the people of their respective constituencies to show them support in anyway possible.

Surely, our fifty-six-year misadventure with the Republic of Cameroun must be coming to a close, in a no less dramatic fashion. The peace plants the MPs brandished today are close figurative equivalents of “Benevolent Neutrality” which foreshadowed our peoples’ decisive exit from another entangling alliance more than six decades ago.That singular action was a catalyst to the of our own nation in 1954. In the same way the withdrawal of all our MPs  will crystallise the restoration of that Nation.

The events of 1st October , 2017 were a stark reminder that, as leaders, they have been deserted by their people in the inhospitable land called the Republic of Cameroun. If the lawmakers are still in the service of their constituents, they will muster the courage to follow their constituents’ demands.

It remains the official position of this administration that once our MPs formally tender their resignation, a sergeant-at-arms will receive the credentials of ALL of them who choose to leave Yaoundé and assume their rightful place in the peoples’ house in Buea. The longer they wait, the more risk they expose their people to; incivility, mayhem, extortion, terrorism, and savagery. No doubt so many CPDM MPs can’t face the facts from their SDF peers.

We, therefore, once again invite all Southern Cameroons MPs to make the only decision this historic moment demands of them: leave Yaoundé and return to Buea. We urge them to do so while they still have the choice. As the Book of Daniel tells us, the writing is on the wall; however, unlike Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, they may still have time to be exalted by their people. A history of the Cameroons is being rewritten, and we hope they will be on right side of it. All it takes is for them to do the RIGHT thing as representatives of their people.

Respectfully,

SISIKU Julius AyukTabe

President, Interim Government

At least 40 people have been detained during a swoop on human trafficking across West Africa, after a video surfaced showing refugees apparently being sold at auction in Libya.

In a statement on Thursday, Interpol said those arrested face prosecution for offences including human trafficking, forced labor and child exploitation.

“They are accused of forcing victims to engage in activities ranging from begging to prostitution, with little to no regard for working conditions or human life,” the statement read.

Interpol also noted that some 500 people, including 236 minors, had been rescued in simultaneous operations across Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.

“The results of this operation underline the challenge faced by law enforcement and all stakeholders in addressing human trafficking in the Sahel region,” the operation’s coordinator Innocentia Apovo said.

The Interpol-led action comes amid global outcry sparked by footage of Africans being sold as slaves in Libya. CNN last week aired footage of a live auction in Libya where black men were being sold for as little as $400 to North African buyers as farmhands.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has recently said that the reported auctions of African refugees in Libya as slaves amounts to “crimes against humanity.”

Libya, gripped by chaos and lawlessness since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, was the main embarkation point for mostly African refugees seeking to head to Europe until recently.

However, the flow across the central Mediterranean subsided when the European Union reached an agreement with local militia to provide them with funds and training on relocation of refugees.

In October, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned that thousands of Libyan refugees were living in dire conditions in a hub to the west of the capital Tripoli, saying they could be exposed to abuse on a shocking scale.

Source: Presstv