15, September 2018
Rwanda to free jailed opposition leader Ingabire 0
Rwanda has decided to immediately free Victoire Ingabire, an opposition leader jailed for 15 years, after President Paul Kagame exercised his power to grant mercy, the justice minister said on Saturday.
Ingabire, who leads the unregistered FDU-Inkingi opposition party, will be freed along with other prisoners, including singer Kizito Mihigo, jailed in 2015 for plotting to kill President Paul Kagame, the justice ministry said in a statement.
“There is nothing political about her release, there is nothing political about her imprisonment,” Justice Minister Johnston Businge told Reuters by telephone, downplaying the significance of Ingabire’s release.
“The president has granted mercy, and under the constitution, he is allowed to do that,” he said, when asked for comment, adding that she had asked for mercy two times in the past, including last June.
The precise time of Ingabire’s release was not immediately clear but officials and lawyers said it would be on Saturday. Kagame is lauded for Rwanda’s economic recovery after the 1994 genocide but critics say he has muzzled free media and dissenting voices.
His office was not immediately available for comment. Ingabire was jailed for 15 years in 2012 for conspiring to form an armed group to undermine the government and for seeking to minimize the 1994 genocide.
She returned from exile in the Netherlands to contest a presidential election in January 2010, but was barred from standing after being accused of genocide denial.
Her lawyer welcomed the decision to free her. “Since the beginning of the trial we have been requesting her release and now that she is going to be free, we are all happy,” Gatera Gashabana told Reuters.
More than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda when an ethnic Hutu-led government and ethnic militias went on a 100-day massacre.
Afterwards, Kagame, who won a third term in August last year, was lauded for bringing about economic improvements, but he has faced increasing accusations of human rights abuses, suppression of the opposition and reining in the media.
(REUTERS)
15, September 2018
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Governor begs “dogs” not to leave the region 0
The South West governor, Okala Bilai, who once called the people of his region “dogs”, has been pleading with them not to leave the region. Over the last week, residents of the two English-speaking regions have been leaving the place following threats by Southern Cameroonian fighters to implement a strict movement of goods and persons within the region from September 16, 2018 to October 7, 2018.
Campaigns for presidential elections scheduled for October 7, are currently underway and Southern Cameroonians fighters have vowed to disrupt an election they consider as foreign. While other candidates are on the ground canvassing for votes, the incumbent, Paul Biya, is in a Swiss hospital seeking better healthcare. It is generally held that Mr. Biya, considered by the ruling crime syndicate as its natural candidate, will not campaign but will emerge as the winner in an election that has already been rigged.
Mr. Biya’s heart and prostate have been an issue to the 86-year-old who still wants to rule the country for the next seven years. Known as the “monarch”, Mr. Biya was in China recently for the China-Africa Summit where he thought he could cajole Chinese to lend him some money.
But things are not working out well for the ailing monarch. The Chinese are skeptical about lending money to a dying man and the hold that after presiding of his country’s destiny for 36 years, Mr. Biya has nothing to show for his long ruler ship.
There are no world-class hospitals in his country, no good roads, and the country’s railway system has simply collapsed. For more than three decades, the narcissistic monarch has been using his country’s treasury as his personal ATM.
When traveling abroad, Mr. Biya always has more than 50 persons in his entourage and all of these people are lodged in five-star hotels. Besides, members of his entourage, the monarch also uses expensive escort services when he is abroad. His love for young girls is costing the country an arm and a leg.
He has a Ghanaian doctor in Geneva who screens all the young ladies he uses to satisfy his carnal desires. It is alleged that he dislikes preservatives, which is why the ladies are thoroughly screened for HIV and other communicable diseases.
Worst of all, the monarch, noted for his incompetence and manipulation, has plunged his country into a deep economic crisis and a long civil war that has already resulted in the killing of some 4,000 Cameroonians, including young army soldiers.
The Southern Cameroons crisis that started as a demonstration by teachers and lawyers has taken a turn for the worse. The adverse impact of the conflict is now spilling over into East Cameroon and this is a nightmare to government officials who are scared of a general revolt in East Cameroon.
Food and housing prices have gone up and many cities that are receiving these displaced persons do not have the proper infrastructure to deal with such a situation. According to a Douala City Hall official, the migration of Southern Cameroonians to the city of Douala is not only costly; it is also a major risk.
He pointed out that among the displaced could the fierce fighters who may use the situation to wreak havoc on innocent citizens in the city. He regretted that the government was letting this situation to spiral out of control, adding that if immediate action was not taken, the entire country could become a war zone.
By Kingsley Betek in Buea