Some senators are saying they didn’t know the US had troops in Niger as questions swirl about the raid that killed four US servicemen there earlier this month. The Pentagon, however, said Monday it has kept Congress informed of the operation. Military investigators are looking into the exact circumstances of the October 4 raid, including how Sgt. La David Johnson was separated from the 12-member team as it was ambushed by 50 ISIS fighters.

“I did not,” Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, responded to CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day” Monday whether he knew there were troops in Niger. “When you consider what happened here, the four sergeants lost their lives, I think there’s a lot of work that both parties and both branches of government need to do. Not only to stay more informed but to focus on why we’re there and what happened to get to the bottom of this.”

Several other leading senators also said they were in the dark about the operation in the western Africa nation. “I didn’t know there was 1,000 troops in Niger,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” Sunday. “They are going to brief us next week as to why they were there and what they were doing.”

He continued: “I got a little insight on why they were there and what they were doing. I can say this to the families: They were there to defend America. They were there to help allies. They were there to prevent another platform to attack America and our allies.”

Graham also said during the interview that his longtime friend and colleague in the Senate, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, is frustrated, “rightly so.”

“We don’t know exactly where we’re at in the world, militarily, and what we’re doing. So John McCain is going to try to create a new system to make sure that we can answer the question (about) why we were there,” he said. “We’ll know how many soldiers are there, and if somebody gets killed there, that we won’t find out about it in the paper.”

When Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was asked later on “Meet the Press” about knowing whether there were troops in Niger, he responded, “No, I did not.”

The Pentagon told CNN it keeps Congress regularly informed on the movements within the agency. And the White House said Monday it notified congressional leaders in June about 965 troops conducting counterterrorism duties in Niger and Cameroon.

Several Republican House members told CNN on Monday they were aware of the operation. “With respect to Niger, I serve on the appropriations committee. I oversee military construction projects,” Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, told Cuomo. “We have a presence there. Not just there, but within that whole Lake Chad region, supporting local troops to support fight Boko Haram, support operations in West Africa and the operation in Mali. So we have all sorts of people in that region fighting a very dangerous foe, and ISIS in West Africa, especially.”

And Oklahoma Republican Rep. Steve Russell, a member of the government oversight and reform committee, also told CNN he knew about the troops. “It’s not new, and lawmakers that seem to be aghast at these missions going on are simply not well-read,” Dent told CNN’s John Berman and Poppy Harlow.

Culled from CNN

The World Health Organization (WHO) has overturned it controversial decision, made quite recently, in appointing Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as its “goodwill ambassador” to Africa following international outrage.

The director-general of the United Nations organization, Tedros Adhanom, made the announcement on Sunday, four days after he appointed the 93-year-old Zimbabwean president at a high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Uruguay.

“Over the last few days, I have reflected on my appointment of H.E. President Robert Mugabe as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for NCDs in Africa. As a result I have decided to rescind the appointment,” Tedros said in a statement published on the WHO official website.

On Wednesday, Tedros, an Ethiopian politician, academic, and public-health authority, who assumed power as the eighth head of the WHO in July, had praised Zimbabwe as a country which had managed to place “universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies to provide health care to all.”

The unexpected decision, however, faced criticism from the beginning and sparked outrage among key WHO member states, the United States in particular, and other critics of Mugabe’s decades-long long rule. Tedros’ decision was described by critics as the result of “poor judgment” and “miscalculation.”

Critics say that Zimbabwe, under Mugabe, has seen a significant reduction in life expectancy, dropping from 61 in 1985 to 44 in 2003, largely due to the nation’s ailing economy and widespread poverty.

Mugabe is also under fire for the longevity of his role as the leader of the African country. He served as the prime minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987. In December 1987, the country’s parliament amended the constitution and declared Mugabe to be the executive president, a new position that lasted until now and gave him much more power.

However, Mugabe, who is suffering from several health scares, has pledged never to give up the presidency.

“I will be there until God says come, but as long as I am alive I will head the country, forward ever, backwards never,” he told the African Union last year.

As the goodwill ambassador, he was supposed to co-ordinate the WHO’s battle against heart disease, cancer and diabetes across Africa.

“I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised. I have also consulted with the Government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization,” further said Tedros, whose election as the first African leader of the UN organization was billed as a pivotal moment for the continent, where much of the organization’s work is based.

UN agencies often name high-profile personalities as goodwill ambassadors to draw attention and highlight their tasks in the eyes of the global community and to garner support for the cause. Tedros’ contentious decision, however, has raised doubts regarding his leadership just four months into his tenure.

Source: Presstv

North Korea has threatened to launch an “unimaginable” strike on the United States as massive joint US-South Korean naval drills are underway off the Korean Peninsula, involving colossal American aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan.

“The US is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones. The US should expect it would face [an] unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time,” said a government statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday.

What Pyongyang referred to as the “primary” target is the 100,000-ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier, which is patrolling some 160 kilometers to the east of the peninsula and launched almost 90 F-18 Super Hornet sorties from its deck.

The military exercises, regarded by Pyongyang as highly provocative, began on Monday and will run through October 26. They involve 40 warships deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea west of the peninsula into the Sea of Japan.

The North has already denounced Seoul and Washington’s war games, condemning the move as a “rehearsal for war.”

Washington’s military maneuvers with its close ally, the South, come ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Japan and South Korea scheduled to start on November 5.

Trump has taken a tough stance against Pyongyang, threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea if necessary and calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un names. Kim has responded with threats, vowing to take the “highest-level” measures against the US.

Meanwhile, the South Korean military threatened that it would be quick to totally destroy North Korea’s front-line artillery systems in the event of a war on the peninsula.

The US and the North have been at loggerheads over Pyongyang’s weapons and nuclear programs. However, tensions on the Korean Peninsula have recently risen sharply following a series of weapons tests by Pyongyang, including its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3 and two missiles launched over Japan. Back in July, the North also claimed that it had fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles.

North Korea is under mounting international pressure over its missile and military nuclear programs and has been subjected to an array of sanctions by the United Nations. However, Pyongyang says it needs to continue and develop the programs as a deterrent against hostility by the US and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

Source: Presstv

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