Cameroon must urgently rethink a policy of “murderous repression” in its restive English-speaking regions or risk the crisis spiralling into an armed uprising, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned Thursday. In a report on the political crisis in the west African nation, the NGO said the government’s crackdown on the anglophone minority had failed and had only served to fuel a clamour for independence.

French-speaking Cameroon has a large anglophone minority which comprises around a fifth of its population of 22 million. Gathered mainly in two regions, many English-speakers say the suffer inequality and discrimination.

Simmering resentment has fuelled a breakaway movement that on October 1 issued a symbolic declaration of independence for the putative state of Ambazonia, prompting a crackdown by a government firmly opposed to secession.

In the face of mounting protests in the runup to the declaration, the security forces “responded with disproportionate force, leading to at least 40 deaths and over 100 injured protesters between September 28 and 2 October,” the ICG said.

It pointed to the use of live rounds and excessive use of teargas. “Due to such murderous repression, secessionist ranks are growing by the day, and some are more firmly evoking the idea of an armed struggle or ‘self defence’,” it said.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 84, must act swiftly to find a serious political solution to the crisis, and it was also crucial that the international community speak out firmly against such state violence, the ICG said.

“If he hopes to avoid an armed uprising in Anglophone regions, which would without doubt have an impact in the Francophone zone, the Cameroonian president must go beyond superficial measures and take responsibility in order to find political solutions to the crisis.”

The report was published three days after Prime Minister Philemon Yang began a visit to the Northwest Region, one of the two troubled anglophone areas, as part of what he termed a “dialogue” with the English-speaking minority.

Yang travelled to Bamenda, the main regional town, where he met the heads of trade unions in the transport, education and shopping sectors, as well as with bankers and other business figures, Cameroon Radio Television (CrTV) said.

He delivered “a message of peace and living in harmony” while those who met him put forward proposals “for a definitive way out of the crisis,” it said, without giving further details.

Source: The Guardian

US President Donald Trump has made insensitive remarks to the pregnant widow of a soldier killed in an ambush in North Africa on October 4.

Trump, in a phone call, told the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of the four US Special Operations soldiers killed in Niger, that her husband “knew what he signed up for… but when it happens it hurts anyway.”

On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson told multiple news outlets that she overheard Trump making such remarks while she was in the car with the “distraught” woman to meet the body in Miami when the president called her.

“They were astonished,” Wilson said of their reaction. “It was almost like saying, ‘You signed up to do this, and if you didn’t want to die, shouldn’t have signed up’.” She said that Myeshia’s only words during the five-minute conversation were “thank you” at the end of their talk.

Wilson said she tried to talk to Trump and “curse him out,” but the family refused to give her the phone. Myeshia, who has already two young children, is also six months pregnant with a third child.

A White House official later reacted by saying that Trump’s “conversations with the families of American heroes were private.”

Trump called the families of the fallen soldiers nearly two weeks after the incident. The US Department of Defense is still conducting a review into the ambush, the details of the mission, however, remain unclear and there is no final results yet.

Source: Presstv

US President Donald Trump has finally offered condolence to the families of four special operations soldiers recently ambushed to death in uranium-rich Niger, where the United States is not formally at war.

“President Trump spoke to all four of the families of those who were killed in action in Niger,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement on Tuesday.

The US president has been under fire over remaining silent after the incident for around 12 days.

“He offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their family’s extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten,” she said.

Two other Green Berets were also injured on the October 4 ambush near the Nigerien capital Niamey by militants said to be linked with the Daesh Takfiri group in Iraq and Syria.

The American troops were supposedly on an advisory and training mission in the African country, along with 40 Nigerien troops, when the attack was launched.

Trump finally spoke about them on Monday, while taking the chance to attack former President Barack Obama.

“So the traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them, didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it,” he said.

He further complained about how “tough” it is to call the families of the fallen soldiers.

“The toughest calls I have to make are the calls where this happens — soldiers are killed,” Trump said. “It’s a very difficult thing. Now it gets to a point where you make four or five of them in one day, it’s a very, very tough day. For me that’s by far the toughest.”

As the Monday presser continued, Trump was pressed on his claims, making him to back down a bit.

“I don’t know if he did. I was told that he didn’t often, and a lot of presidents don’t, they write letters. I do a combination of both,” said the US president. “President Obama, I think probably did [call] sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn’t, I don’t know, that’s what I was told… all I can do is ask my generals.”

Later on that day, the White House press secretary appeared to do some crisis management.

“The president wasn’t criticizing predecessors, but stating a fact… When Americans make the ultimate sacrifice, presidents pay their respects. Sometimes they call, sometimes they sent a letter, other times they have the opportunity to meet family members in person,” Sanders said. “This president, like his predecessors, has done each of these. Individuals claiming former presidents, such as their bosses, called each family of the fallen, are mistaken.”

Source: Presstv

Amid the killings by French Cameroun troops deployed to Southern Cameroons by the 85 year old dictator, President Paul Biya, Inner City Press on October 17 asked the UK ambassador to the UN when his country will call a UN Security Council meeting about the crisis. He replied that any Council member can.

Later on October 17, after Inner City Press put Cameroon question to Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman and interviewed Abu Fri of Southern Cameroons in front of the UN, it exclusively obtained and published a letter from 24 US Congressmembers including Republican Daniel Donovan (R-NY) to US Ambassador Nikki Haley, to convene a Security Council meeting.

Just after the interview, Abu Fri made a similar but shorter pitch to Haley’s deputy Michele Sison, on First Avenue; to get back into the UN and file this story, Inner City Press due to UN targeting and censorship had a long wait with tourists at the metal detector). Inner City Press had on October 11 interviewed the Biya regime’s ambassador to the UN, Tommo Monthe.

Culled from Inner City Press

Ireland was being hit by an “unprecedented storm” on Monday that left 100,000 homes and businesses without power and every school in the country shut as authorities warned that lives could be in danger.

Ophelia, the largest hurricane ever recorded so far east in the Atlantic Ocean and the furthest north since 1939, was downgraded to a storm before it hit the Irish coast but nonetheless posed enough of a threat for the Met Eireann national weather service to issue a red alert.

“Ex-hurricane Ophelia is forecast to track directly over Ireland,” the service said.

“Violent and destructive gusts are forecast with all areas at risk.”

It warned that “heavy rain and storm surges along some coasts will result in flooding. There is a danger to life and property”.

Wind speeds hit 176 kilometers (109 miles) per hour at Fastnet Rock, Ireland’s most southerly point, while the fastest speeds recorded onshore were 156 kph (97 mph) at the entrance to Cork Harbour in the southwest.

Dublin Airport scrapped around 130 flights; Cork Airport cancelled most flights in what it said was the worst storm seen in its 56-year history, while several services to and from Shannon, the third-biggest airport, were also grounded.

Speed restrictions were placed on trains, and some lines in the south were cancelled.

‘PM says stay indoors’

“Stay indoors wherever you are until the storm has passed. Check on your neighbors and elderly relatives,” Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters.

“It is coming your way and this is a national red alert.

“Even after the storm has passed there will still be dangers. There will be trees on the ground and power lines down.”

The education ministry said “all schools, colleges and other education institutions” were closed on Monday, after official advice on the “unprecedented storm”.

Government offices were also closed across the country.

The military has been deployed to areas forecast to be worst affected and are on standby.

The eye of the storm is forecast to track across Northern Ireland and then Scotland.

Though it will weaken as it goes, gusts are expected to reach 80 mph (129 kph) in the UK.

Britain’s Met Office issued amber warnings for Northern Ireland, Wales, and southern Scotland.

“There is a good chance that power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage,” the UK national weather service said, warning of transport disruption.

“Flying debris is likely, such as tiles blown from roofs, as well as large waves around coastal districts with beach material being thrown onto coastal roads, sea fronts and properties.

“This leads to the potential for injuries and danger to life.”

The storm came 30 years to the day of the Great Storm, which ravaged southern England in the early hours of October 16, 1987, leaving 18 people dead.

‘Hurricane season’

Ophelia is the 15th named storm of the 2017 Atlantic season, which is expected to last until the end of November.

Three major hurricanes — Harvey, Irma and Maria — caused catastrophic damage in the Caribbean and the US Gulf Coast.

Meteorologists say Ophelia was the most powerful hurricane recorded so far east in the Atlantic and the first since 1939 to travel so far north.

It was classed Category 3 on Saturday as it passed near Portugal’s Azores islands, which means it packed winds of at least 178 kilometers (110 miles) per hour.

Seven of the nine islands in the Azores were put on high alert for the storm’s passage, but it did not cause major damage, authorities told reporters.

In Spain, three people have died in wildfires whipped by strong wind gusts spawned by Hurricane Ophelia.

Six people have also died in wildfires in Portugal, which local authorities said had been exacerbated by drought.

(Source: AFP)

14-year-old Aline was shot in the right eye by French Cameroun troops deployed to Southern Cameroons by the 85 year old dictator, President Biya during peaceful independence day celebrations that were held on October 1 2017 through out Africa’s newest nation, the Republic of Southern Cameroons.

She was shot in the Kumbo County and she is currently at intensive care in the Bingo Hospital in Bamenda. She is one of the thousands of British Southern Cameroonians seriously wounded by bullets fired from helicopters.  Her relatives say they thought she was dead, but miraculously she is alive.

Transported to the Bingo hospital in the Bamenda State, Aline has received several surgeries that allowed her to stay alive. Her parents are now calling for help to foot her medical bills. Any Good Samaritan who wishes to help the innocent Southern Cameroonian can kindly contact her parents via telephone telephone: +237 675 15 79 39.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, CIR

The leader of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council has congratulated the people of Southern Cameroons for their commitment and sacrifices made so far in the liberation struggle saying the wide participation in the October 1 Independence Day celebration proves to the world “the greatness of the Ambazonia people.”

Sesekou Ayuk Tabe’s comment came during a televised broadcast on Sunday in which he praised the “freedom and sovereignty that the Southern Cameroons people are beginning to enjoy in a region where people are mostly ruled by dictatorial regimes.”

Sesekou Ayuk Tabe was apparently referring to La Repubique du Cameroun that list SCACUF as a terrorist organization.   “You spoke loud and clear to the rest of world that you require the restoration of your nation, the Republic of Ambazonia.’ The Chairman revealed that the Governing Council has been collecting data for over two weeks now and “it’s appalling what Mr Biya and his forces have done to our people.”

The Southern Cameroons leader made a mockery of the Prime Minister of French Cameroun, Philemon Yang “I hope Mr Philemon Yang who is PM will go and count the deaths of those that the regime has killed and will be able to join the liberation struggle. In 1954, Endeley led our people out of Enugu, Philemon Yang has been given a similar opportunity” said the chairman.

The leader further pointed out that “Our issues have been raised at the highest international level. The UN has made a call and calls like that comes when the UN has reason to believe that genocide is going on in Southern Cameroons. The Roman Catholic Bishops have spoken and the UN is now aware. None of our deaths will go unaccounted for! All those responsible will be brought to justice.”

His Excellency Sesekou Ayuk Tabe informed Southern Cameroonians that the governing council was working with lawyers in New York, London and Washington and have opened a case at the International Criminal Court to bring Biya and his acolytes to justice. He saluted the Southern Cameroons Diaspora forum to be held in Paris, France and recommended that its resolutions should be forwarded to the UN, the African Union and the EU.

The leader also hinted of a diabolic harsh ploy to stifle the revolution by a small group of lawyers.  Sesekou Ayuk Tabe sounded a note of caution that the Southern Cameroons movement is bigger than any individual.

In a soul-searching presentation, the leader focussed on Southern Cameroonians back home saying we owe you a huge debt for the sacrifices you have made, we ask you to keep an inventory of all those who have been affected by the brutality of the Biya  Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.

“I have instructed the Department of Health and Social Services to reach out to our people to help bury our fallen heroes.  Cover their remains with our flag and sing the Ambazonia anthem before burial.”

Addressing the all-powerful Southern Cameroons Diaspora, the leader was full of praise.  “This movement has lasted a year and more because of you in the Diaspora. This is the moment for you to take this struggle to its last destination.  I am asking those of you in the Diaspora to engage your local leaders, write letters to Members of Parliament, religious institutions, organise exhibitions on the atrocities of the Biya regime and organise demonstrations in front of the embassies.”

The leader called for responsible leadership in all the various departments during these dramatic moments of the struggle.  Said the Chairman, “Anyone can lead a movement but the true task of leadership is when things are not gong your way, you are call to display good leadership qualities. Keep your eyes on the prize-the prize is the restoration of independence. I am urging every one of us to desist from saying or posting things that do not foster the struggle.”

The Chairman of the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front revealed that in the coming days, the Governing Council shall be organising a large conclave to analyse the successes and failures of the struggle and to map out the way forward.  A defiant Ayuk Tabe made it clear to the French Cameroun political leadership that there was still a small room for negotiation to discuss the terms of our separation so that we will become two friendly nations.

source: Cameroon Intelligence Report

While there is still no date for any UN to visit Cameroon, Southern Cameroonians are being summoned in to see the police and the army in a campaign of intimidation. A second mass grave has reportedly been found, in Buea and has been made public by Inner City Press to the UN. We gathered the Biya regime is spending millions of US dollars to censure information coming out of Southern Cameroons to the UN.

Inner City Press’ has hinted that its journalism on Cameroon is being hindered in the UN by restrictions continued by the UN Department of Public Information under Alison Small.  Several but not all of the human rights violations by Cameroon authorities on which Inner City Press has asked and reported are confirmed by Amnesty International.

So Inner City Press on October 13 asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, “I wanted to ask you about Cameroon.  Some of the things that, I guess, I have asked you about, there’s now… now, I would assume that you’ve seen the Amnesty International study, which says that… that hundreds of people are detained without charge, packed like sardines, paying bails, people shot in the legs so they can’t protest, people fleeing the hospital to avoid the authorities.  So they obviously got in, were able to gather this evidence and they’ve called for other international organisations to send people.  Has the UN sent anyone, and if not, why not? Spokesman:  We have… as you know, we have a presence in Cameroon.  We’ve seen the Amnesty report, which raises a lot of issues of great concern to us, and I should have… hopefully have a bit more for you later.

Inner City Press:  Including on the [François Louncény] Fall visit? Spokesman:  Yes.  Well, when I have something on the Fall visit, I will share it with you.” Eight hours later, nothing. AI confirmed for example: At least 500 people remain detained in overcrowded detention facilities following mass arbitrary arrests in Southern Camerons, and many wounded protestors fled hospitals to avoid arrest… In Bamenda, the capital of the North-West Region, at least 200 people were arrested and the majority transferred to the prison in Bafoussam. In Buea, the capital of the South-West region, at least 300 people have been arrested since the 1st October protests, including a series of mass arbitrary arrests between 6 and 8 October.

On Sunday 8 October, for example, police arrested up to 100 people walking to church in the Mile 16 area of Buea, and entered the building to arrest church staff. In one incident on 3 October in Buea, a police officer threw a teargas canister into a vehicle containing a dozen protestors, who had to smash the window to let in air. In one facility run by a mobile police unit, the Groupement Mobile d’Intervention (GMI), in Buea, detainees were described as being ‘packed like sardines.’ A young man who was left with multiple fractures after being shot in both legs by member of the armed forces was taken home by his family before he could be stabilised. According to a doctor treating the patient “he had lost more than a litre of blood. I do not know whether he is still alive, he may likely die.’

Culled from Inner City Press

The Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front, SCACUF has written to the International Criminal Court (ICC) about acts of violence in Southern Cameroons. Their letter dated 12 October 2017, asked the ICC Prosecutor to open an investigation into the “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” in British Southern Cameroons.

Their complaint to the ICC concerns Paul Biya (President of the Republic), René Emmanuel Sadi (Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization), Laurent Esso (Minister of Justice), Jacques Fame Ndongo (Minister of Higher Education),  Joseph Beti Assomo, Minister of State at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Martin Belinga Eboutou (Director of the Civil Cabinet), Jean-Baptiste Bokam (Secretary of State for the Gendarmerie Nationale), Adolphe Lélé Lafrique, Goveror of the Bamenda State and Bernard Okalai Bilai (Governor of the Buea State). “These personalities or members of the Government are directly responsible for the killings, torture, rape and kidnappings since October 2016,” the Governing Council said.

The leadership of the Governing Council also pointed in the letter to the ICC that if urgent measures are not taken, genocide and crimes against humanity could intensify. They stressed that the personalities mentioned above had ordered demonstrators who were marching “with tree of peace in hand” to be killed. “More than 250 demonstrators including children have been confirmed dead, scores are still hospitalised and more than 1000 others are missing. Amnesty International recently revealed that more than 500 Southern Cameroonian detainees were suffocating in detentions centres throughout the territory.

By Rita Akana, CCN

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says the US president is not in a position to terminate Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Shortly after US President Donald Trump officially announced on Friday that he would not certify the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Mogherini stressed that the 2015 accord reached between Iran and Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China as well as the US “does not belong to any single country”.

“To my knowledge there is not one single country in the world that can terminate a UN Security Council resolution that has been adopted, and adopted unanimously, and implemented, and verified,” she said.

“It is clearly not in the hands of any president of any country in the world to terminate an agreement of this sort. The president of the United States has many powers (but) not this one,” the EU foreign policy chief pointed out.

Mogherini underlined the EU’s determination to abide by the JCPOA, noting that the bloc expects the other parties to the deal to adopt the same stance.

“We cannot afford as an international community, as Europe for sure, to dismantle an agreement that is working and delivering,” she said.

Apart from his refusal to certify the JCPOA, Trump also warned in his strategic review of US policy on Iran that he might ultimately terminate the deal, in defiance of other world powers and undermining a landmark victory of multilateral diplomacy.

While Trump did not pull Washington out of the nuclear deal, he gave the US Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose economic sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the pact. Reimposing sanctions would put the US at odds with other signatories to the accord and the European Union.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said earlier on Friday that Tehran had a “very broad” range of options for any breach of the JCPOA and would “end all its commitments in this regard if deemed necessary.”

Trump called on Congress and US allies to address “serious flaws” in the JCPOA, including the deal’s “sunset clauses” that will put an end to restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program after a few years as well as the agreement’s “total silence on Iran’s missile programs.”

The US president noted that key Congress leaders are drafting legislation to amend the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which has given Congress some oversight on the JCPOA, prevent Iran from developing intercontinental ballistic missiles and make all restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program permanent.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani slammed Trump’s speech against the Islamic Republic as nothing more than insults and delirious talk, urging the US president to brush up on his world history and geography to improve his comprehension of international obligations and global ethics, etiquette and conventions.

The Iranian president further rejected Trump’s demand that the 2015 nuclear deal be revised, saying the agreement would remain intact and no article or paragraph would be added or taken away from it.

Rouhani said Iran will only respect its nuclear deal commitments so long as its rights are safeguarded, emphasizing that Tehran has cooperated and would continue its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has certified Iran’s compliance eight times.

UK, Germany, France back JCPOA

Following Trump’s speech, the leaders of Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement, expressing concern over “the possible implications” of Washington’s decision.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they “stand committed to its full implementation by all sides.”

“The nuclear deal was the culmination of 13 years of diplomacy and was a major step towards ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program is not diverted for military purposes,” said the statement released by May’s Downing Street office.

“We encourage the US administration and Congress to consider the implications to the security of the US and its allies before taking any steps that might undermine the JCPOA, such as re-imposing sanctions on Iran lifted under the agreement.

“Our governments are committed to ensuring the JCPOA is maintained,” the statement pointed out.

While both the US and the IAEA confirm that Iran is meeting the technical requirements of the nuclear deal, Trump claims that Tehran is in breach of the “spirit” of the agreement because of its expanding influence in the Middle East and the country’s achievements in its conventional missile program.

The three European leaders also expressed concern over Iran’s ballistic missile program, noting that they “stand ready to take further appropriate measures to address these issues.”

The nuclear agreement is solely about Iran’s nuclear activities and it does not incorporate non-nuclear issues.

Russia slams Trump’s policy

In reaction to Trump’s speech, Russia’s Foreign Ministry denounced his Iran strategy as one using “aggressive and threatening rhetoric” but said it expected the JCPOA to stay intact.

The ministry’s statement said it expected Trump’s decision “would not have a direct impact on the implementation of the deal” but was “an element of (US) domestic debate.”

Trump’s threat to terminate the nuclear deal comes as the US has a history of quitting international pacts and organizations.

This is not the first time that the international community witnesses efforts by the Trump administration to renege on a multilateral agreement.

Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement in June and has ordered the US to withdraw from UNESCO next year.

The US decisions to abandon multilateral agreements is not limited to the Trump administration. In 2002, the administration of former US President George W. Bush withdrew from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), which it had signed with the Soviet Union in 1972.

Culled from Presstv