Monday marked 35 years since Cameroon’s President Paul Biya took office. His supporters are marking the anniversary with celebrations. His opponents are calling for him to stand aside when the country holds a presidential election next year.

A song, praising Biya for bringing peace and development to Cameroon, blasted through loud speakers in Nanga Eboko, a town in central Cameroon, where thousands of people have been brought in to celebrate the anniversary of Paul Biya’s rise to power.

In power for 35 years

Among the speakers was Benjamin Zibi, an official of Biya’s CPDM party. He said Biya’s supporters are proud because a majority of Cameroonians have adhered to the party’s policies for 35 straight years.

He said he can spend the whole night enumerating what Biya has achieved as president, but that the important thing is that he has constantly made sure all Cameroonians live in peace and feel happy in their country.

Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle of the University of Yaounde, an ally of Biya’s and a former government minister, said the president has stayed in power because he has positively impacted the lives of all Cameroonians.

“We are celebrating not only the progress, the accomplishments of the new deal, but we are also re-awakening caring for one another, making sure that we are assets to one another, making sure that each Cameroonian feels like they belong to the same Cameroon, making sure that we continue to preserve, consolidate, reinforce our national unity, national integrity and peace,” he said.

Biya became president on November 6, 1982, after the resignation of the Central African state’s first leader, Ahmadou Ahidjo. He has won five elections since then, and in 2008 he revised the 1996 constitution to remove term limits.

Unchallenged

A CPDM supporter, 27-year-old Lucas Ndiforba, sees no one inside or outside the party willing to challenge the president.

“No, he wants to remain in power, so we are there,” he said. “The day he will say that he wants to step down, we will instead go to the streets for him to remain. We have accepted him as our life president.”

Not all Cameroonians feel that way, and parties like the main opposition SDF have been calling on Biya not to be a candidate in next year’s election.

The SDF says Biya’s policies have reduced economic growth, raised unemployment and allowed corruption to flourish. They say he also has a poor human rights record and throws his opponents in jail.

An official of the opposition NUDP, 34-year-old Ndansi Elvis, said he regrets that since he was born, he has known only one leader. He said instead of celebration, Cameroonians should be mourning this day.

“I have heard my comrades all over Africa celebrate a new president coming to power,” he said. “Some have celebrated three, some have celebrated two, but in Cameroon we have seen just one person… How can it be that we can be celebrating 35 years of a monster, that at the 21st century we still have women who can not deliver safely in safe facilities because of lack of hospitals or hospital personnel. How can we be celebrating 35 years of misery, pain?”

But the CPDM, in this song, says at 84 Biya is still strong enough to lead and are urging him to be their candidate again in next year’s presidential election.

Source: Africa News

The deadly mass shooting in a Texas church that killed over two dozen people on Sunday has once again sparked gun control debates in the US, with former President Barack Obama and other figures weighing in on the issue.

“May God also grant all of us the wisdom to ask what concrete steps we can take to reduce the violence and weaponry in our midst,” Obama wrote in a tweet on Sunday night, after a former US Air Force serviceman killed 27 people at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Former vice president Joe Biden also reacted by urging Americans not to give in to “hopelessness” and “persist in our efforts to prevent gun violence.”

The shooting came a little more than a month after the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history in Las Vegas, which killed over 50 people and injured hundreds more at a concert.

Following in footsteps of the former Democrat president, Democratic Senators Bob Casey Jr., Dick Durbin and Kamala Harris also voiced concern and urged the Republican-dominated Congress to act in response to the latest deadly shooting.

“The shooter turned his gun on people — kids — in a place of worship. America is in the grips of a gun violence crisis. Congress must act,” Durbin wrote in a tweet.

Harris, a possible 2020 presidential contender, condemned “senseless gun violence” after the incident.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, another Democrat, went one step further and accused Congress of “complicity.”

“Enough is enough. Now is the time for commonsense gun violence prevention steps. Congressional complicity must end,” he wrote on Twitter.

Other Democratic heavyweights like Senators Dianne Feinstein and Elizabeth Warren also commented on the issue. While Feinstein called for immediate action, Warren pointed the finger at Republicans.

“Thoughts & prayers are not enough, GOP. We must end this violence. We must stop these tragedies. People are dying while you wait,” she wrote in a tweet.

Republican reaction

The issue of gun violence has provoked a lot heated debates under Republican President Donald Trump, one of the most pro-gun US heads of state.

Once a strict supporter of banning assault weapons, Trump’s views on gun control have shifted so much he now takes pride in defending the constitutional right to own arms and refuses to tighten up gun regulations.

Facing questions in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, Trump reluctantly said the US will “be talking about gun laws as time goes by.”

There was no hints towards a possible change of views in his response to the recent church shooting either.

“May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan,” wrote the president, who is on a 12-day trip to Asia.

The lackluster Republican response to the issue continued after Representative Steve Scalise, a victim of a shooting himself, called the shooting “devastating” in a tweet. House Speaker Paul Ryan also said the shooting was “devastating.”

Source: Presstv

RESOLUTIONS OF THE FOURTH SCACUF CONCLAVE HELD FROM 27TH – 31^ST   OCTOBER, 2017

Mindful of UN General Assembly Resolution 1608 (XV) of 21^st April 1961 endorsing the independence of the Trust Territory of the British Southern Cameroons with effect from October 1 1961;

Mindful of the inalienable right of the people of Southern Cameroons under international law to self-determination and independence;

Mindful of the 56 long years of peaceful and non-violent struggle of our people for decolonization from the brutal colonial occupation and oppression of the adjacent French speaking state of La Republique du Cameroun (LRC);

Recalling that colonialism is outdated and contrary to international law, including the law of the United Nations;

Deeply saddened and traumatized by the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by LRC against the people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia;

Mindful of the restoration of the Independence of the Southern Cameroons on October 1^st, 2017 as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia;

Now therefore, we, members of the Governing Council and Delegates of Southern Cameroons Ambazonia United Front (SCACUF) meeting in conclave from the 28^th– 31^st of October 2017, make the following resolutions:

1. Applaud the superlative courage and determination demonstrated by the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia in asserting their right to self-determination and independence;
2. Encourage each and every Ambazonian to remain resolute in defending their independence and freedom;
3. Remind the international community once again of the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by La Republique du Cameroun on the 22^nd of September 2017, the 1^st of October 2017 and thereafter, against our peaceful people;
4. Reiterate our appeal to the International Criminal court to investigate and put on trial Mr. Biya and other members of his regime most criminally responsible for perpetrating genocide and crimes against humanity in the former United Nations Trust Territory of British Southern Cameroons (now known as Ambazonia);
5. Express our deeply-felt condolences to the families of our fallen heroes, assure them that the blood of our fallen heroes shall not go in vain;
6. Assure the victims of the massive and widespread atrocities committed by La Republique du Cameroun in our territory, of the continued and unflinching support of the government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia;
7. Demand from the government of La Republique du Cameroun the immediate release of Mancho Bibixy and all Ambazonians abducted and illegally detained and the disclosure of the graves of those disappeared and arbitrarily executed or tortured to death in detention;
8. Call on La Republique du Cameroun to withdraw with immediate effect its army of occupation and dismantle forthwith its colonial administration in the Ambazonia;
9. Call on Mr. Biya and his colonial government to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the good people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia;
10. Reiterate our call to all traditional rulers to revert to their traditional leadership role; (maintaining social cohesion across Ambazonia);
11. Call on traditional rulers to perform traditional rites to purify the land following its profanation by La Republique du Cameroun through its massive and widespread killing of our people, shedding their innocent blood;
12. State categorically that the allegations against some members of the Governing Council were investigated and analyzed in depth, and determined to be unfounded; and hereby advises those individuals and groups continuing to propagate the false and slanderous allegations to desist from doing so. As such no resignation was accepted by Conclave;
13. Announce the formation of an Interim Government, today 31^st October 2017, led by Sisiku Julius AyukTabe as Interim President;
14. Call on the President to constitute a cabinet comprising of the Vice President and seven (7) Government Department, namely, Defence and Homeland Security; Finance and Economy; Education; Health and Social Services; Foreign Affairs; Home Affairs; and Communication & I Technology;
15. Establish a Restoration Council comprising of the eleven (11) members of the current Governing Council plus 4 individuals, one per region: Africa, America, Asia/Middle East, and Europe;
16. Establish an Ethics Commission consisting of seven (7) members;
17. Urge the Interim Government of Ambazonia to intensify the mobilization of Ambazonians in the Homeland to continue with the Resistance until final victory;
18. Call on Ambazonians to continue to volunteer their skills and expertise for the protection and reconstruction of our new nation;
19. Extend warm and fraternal appreciations to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the good people of the Federated States of Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Benue, Taraba, and Adamawa and for hosting tens of thousands of refugees from Ambazonia fleeing persecution and repression by the Republique du Cameroun colonial oppressor;
20. Urge the Interim Government to intensify its diplomatic intercourse with friendly nations in the world as well as with International and Regional Organizations;
21. Express the will of the people of Ambazonian that the Interim Government is the sole legitimate voice and representative of the people of Ambazonia;
22. Call on Ambazonians, individually and collectively, to continue to fully support their Government;
23. Invite Diaspora country leaders, in future to come under their respective zonal Diplomatic Envoys, to hold themselves ready to perform such duties as may from time to time be assigned to them by the Interim Government;
24. Improve significantly on the information and communication flow between internal and external organs, and the masses;
25. Give SCBC the autonomy to be self-sustaining and to be run by an independent board;
26. End the function of SCAPAC as the central treasury of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and henceforth to create one national treasury in Ambazonia and regional and country treasuries in the Diaspora;
27. Invite citizens of Ambazonian to review the Draft Interim Constitution of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia to be circulated for public study and comments.
28. Direct all Ambazonians to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and defend themselves, their very survival as a people facing an existential threat on their property, and the territorial integrity of their nation;
29. Condemn the continuing extortion from our citizens by La Republique du Cameroun, such as the inordinate 100% increase in the rental of market stalls, imposed on marketers by the agent of the Yaounde colonial government to Bamenda Urban Council, and forcing them to sign unconscionable tenancy agreements;
30. Reiterate that it is unsafe for our children to resume schooling at this point in time and advise parents to keep their children safe at home given the militarization of our towns and especially the schools, cases of the illegal abduction and detention of students and teachers, reported incidents of rape of students, cases of burning down of schools and property of Ambazonians, perpetrated by the military and police forces of La Republique du Cameroun;
31. Institute across the entire territory of Ambazonia the observance of ghost towns on Mondays and other days as may be designated by the Interim Government, as well as civil disobedience, and non-payment of taxes;
32. Strongly condemn terrorist acts in our territory perpetuated by LRC, such as bomb explosions, arson, abductions for ransom, terrorization of our citizens and other acts of terrorism across the Ambazonian territory;
33. Dissolve both the Governing Council and SCACUF consequent upon the setting up of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Done this Tuesday 31 October 20

Sisiku Julius AyukTabe

   Interim President

US President Donald Trump, during a White House Cabinet meeting Wednesday, said he wants to terminate the Diversity Visa Lottery, a program that distributes around 50,000 visas to countries where there is a low rate of immigration to the US.

“I am, today, starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program,” Trump said. “I am going to ask Congress to immediately initiate work to get rid of this program, diversity lottery, diversity lottery. Sounds nice, it is not nice, it is not good. It hasn’t been good and we have been against it,” he added.

The Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council has announced a series of reforms and changes in the ruling body following the successful holding of the 4^th conclave in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The 27th to the 31st October 2017 forum unanimously agreed that the territory will henceforth be known as  “The Federal Republic of Ambazonia.”

The delegates confirmed His Excellency Sesekou Julius Tabe Ayuk as interim Head of State and also decided to set up a government with a Vice President and seven cabinet ministers.  In a powerful  press release issued on 1 November 2017, the leadership of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia  revealed that 34 resolutions were reached ( See http://www.cameroonconcordnews.com/resolution-of-the-4th-scacuf-conclave-held-from-the-27th-31st-of-october-2017/)

Among others, the executive council of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia called on the French Cameroun dictator, Paul Biya and his gang of Francophone political elites to stop interfering in the internal affairs of the good people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  The Ambazonia administration also appealed to the government of La Republique du Cameroun to release Bibixy Mancho and all those who were arrested in connection with the Anglophone crisis. They reiterated the urgent need for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute President Paul Biya and some members of his regime for crimes against humanity and genocide.

The Acting President, Seseku Julius Ayuk Tabe was mandated to form his first cabinet composed of a vice-president and seven government departments, namely; defense ; Homeland and Security; Finance and Economy; Education; Health and Social Services, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Communication and Technology “.

The Ambazonia governing council denounced the rapes of students, fires in schools and the destruction of property “perpetrated by the French Cameroun military and law enforcement officers deployed to Ambazonia from La Republique du Cameroun. The “Governing Council” was dissolved following the creation of an interim government which will now be responsible for managing the affairs of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Chi Prudence Asong, CCN

At least eight people have been killed and several others injured after a vehicle plowed into a pedestrian and cycle path in New York City, US police and local residents say, with reports of gunfire heard in the area.

The incident took place in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday, when a pick-up truck drove the wrong way down the bike path alongside the West Side Highway at full speed and struck several cyclists near the World Trade Center memorial.

Witnesses said bodies were lying motionless on the cycle path outside Stuyvesant High School, one of the city’s public schools, and that they had heard about nine or 10 shots.

Denouncing the deadly incident as a “cowardly act of terror,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the attack was “aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives, who had no idea what was about to hit them.”

Shortly after the incident, US President Donald Trump wrote on his twitter page that, “In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person,” adding that, “Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE USA!”Trump also stressed that America must not let Daesh (ISIL) terrorists return to or enter the US after they are beaten overseas.

“We must not allow ISIL to return, or enter, our country after defeating them in the Middle East and elsewhere. Enough!” he noted.

Later, the president posted another tweet, saying he had ordered the Department of Homeland Security to “step up” vetting measures for immigrants. At a news conference, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the suspect appeared to have acted alone, noting that, “There’s no evidence to suggest a wider plot or a wider scheme. These are the actions of one individual meant to cause pain and harm and probably death.”

Initial investigations by the police indicated that the suspect of the Tuesday attack was a 29-year-old Uzbek citizen, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, who came to the US in 2010 and lived in Florida.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) said the suspect was shot in the leg when officers arrived on the scene and was later arrested.

“The vehicle struck multiple people on the path. There are several fatalities and numerous people injured,” the NYPD said in a statement. “The vehicle continued south striking another vehicle. The suspect exited the vehicle displaying imitation firearms and was shot by officers. The suspect is in custody.”

Two US government sources said the Tuesday incident was being treated as a “terrorist attack,” and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had joined the NYPD in investigating the deadly incident.

Reacting to the deadly incident on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was appalled by the attack and that London stood with New York. “Together we will defeat the evil of terrorism,” she said.

French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed solidarity with victims of the attack, saying, “Our fight for freedom unites us more than ever.”

Police called on the public to avoid the area as a major emergency services operation got under way.

The latest incident came five months after a speeding vehicle hit pedestrians on a sidewalk in New York City’s Times Square on May 18, killing at least one person and injuring 22 others.

Culled from Presstv

Thousands of people have fled Cameroon’s violence-hit anglophone regions into neighbouring Nigeria in recent weeks, the UN said Tuesday, adding it was preparing to help 40,000 refugees from the unrest.

The UN refugee agency and Nigerian authorities have so far registered some 2,000 Cameroonians who have fled into southeastern Nigeria since October 1, while another 3,000 were awaiting registration.

The head of the UN environment program said Tuesday the United States is likely to live up to the Paris climate deal despite President Donald Trump’s planned pullout, because “all the big American companies” are working toward greener operations.

UN officials are increasingly citing the role of companies in the fight against climate change.

“There is one question that I get more often than any other question wherever I go on the planet and it is a very simple one. It is: ‘What about Donald Trump?'” Solheim told a panel in Geneva by videoconference from Nairobi.

“In all likelihood, the United States of America will live up to its Paris commitment, not because of the White House, but because of the private sector,” he said. “All the big American companies are dedicated to go in the green direction.”

But UNEP said countries and industries still need to do more to meet targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions that experts say contribute to global warming. The report criticizes coal-fired electricity plants being built in emerging economies, and insists that investment in renewable energies will pay for itself — and even make money — over the long term.

The Paris accord aims to cap global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 Fahrenheit) by the year 2100 compared to average world temperatures at the start of the industrial era — and even hopes to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees C.

UNEP says trends suggest that even if current national commitments are met, a temperature increase of 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century is “very likely — meaning that governments need to deliver much stronger pledges when they are revised in 2020.”

“Should the United States follow through with its stated intention to leave the Paris agreement in 2020, the picture could become even bleaker,” UNEP said.

Lead author John Christensen of UN Environment noted some US states like California were “acting independently of what the White House decides.” He said Trump’s bid to peel back constraints on the coal industry won’t mark a major shift because “it simply doesn’t pay off.”

He also said the US targets in the Paris accord, as agreed by the Obama administration, were “not that ambitious in the first place.”

But Christensen told the Geneva panel that the Trump administration’s impact on efforts could affect “negotiation dynamics” with other countries and embolden “what I call ‘noise-makers:’ they are the ones that are opposed to the basic idea” of fighting climate change.

Bob Ward, an expert on climate change policy at the London School of Economics, agreed that the coal industry is “unlikely to be revived in the United States because it is being displaced by cleaner and cheaper sources of energy.”

“Many countries now recognize that the transition to a low-carbon economy will generate sustainable growth and development, with lower poverty and higher living standards,” he said. “High-carbon economies look increasingly uncompetitive.”

A new round of UN climate talks known as COP 23 starts in Bonn, Germany, on Monday, when countries will take stock of their achievements and prepare more ambitious national goals.

On the positive, UNEP highlighted “rapidly expanding mitigation action” and says carbon-dioxide emissions have remained stable since 2014, thanks partly to renewable energy use in China and India. It cautioned that other greenhouse gases like methane continue to rise, however.

UNEP has trumpeted solar and wind energy, efficient appliances and cars, and efforts to preserve forests. Solheim cited tests this week on the world’s first solar-powered railroad in Australia and the launch of a hydrogen-run subway system in northern China.

“We are at the watershed moment: We have stopped the rise in CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions — there is every reason to believe we can bring them down,” Solheim said. “The train is on the right track, but our duty is to speed it up.”

(Source: AP)

Just 38 percent of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s performance as president, making the former businessman the least popular modern president at this stage of his tenure, according to a new poll.

More than half of respondents, 58 percent, disapprove of Trump’s job performance in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll released on Sunday.

The poll showed that Trump’s approval rating fell five percentage points since September to reach the lowest point of his presidency.

Similar polls found former President George W. Bush had 88 percent approval at this stage in his term, former President Barack Obama had 51 percent and former President Bill Clinton had 47 percent.

Trump has largely lost support among independent adults and white adults without a college degree.

The respondents cited the president’s handling of the NFL players’ protests, his failure to introduce health care reforms and his response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as the reasons why they put Trump in a negative light.

“This is his worst showing of his young presidency so far,” Democratic pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research Associates, who co-conducted the survey, told NBC News.

Trump is doing fairly better on the economy, with 42 percent of respondents approving and 37 percent disapproving of him in that regard.

Another poll has found that a majority of Americans believed that politics in the US have hit a “dangerous low point” under Trump.

Seventy-one percent of voters said the current political divisions were comparable to the Vietnam War era. A little more than half of the respondents thought Trump deserved “a lot” of blame for the current status.

The poll also found that dysfunction was rampant in Washington, with 70 percent deeming the Trump administration as dysfunctional and 80 percent holding a similar opinion about Congress.

Source: Presstv