Politics

British MPs Reaffirm Right of Ambazonians to Assert Sovereignty, Call for Peacekeepers

20, December 2018

British MPs Reaffirm Right of Ambazonians to Assert Sovereignty, Call for Peacekeepers 0

British Members of Parliament (MPs) called Wednesday for the deployment of Peacekeepers to arrest the bloodletting in Ambazonia and reaffirm the right of Ambazonians to assert sovereignty over their Homeland.

During over an hour of debate in the British House of Lords, MPs cited Article 4(b) of the African Union Constitutive Act on the sanctity of borders inherited from colonization to debunk the claim of a “one, and indivisible Cameroon” evoked by the Biya regime to justify the annexation of Ambazonia.

MPs challenged the UK Government to go beyond expressing concern and mouthing platitudes. They urged them to call for the deployment of African Union or United Nations Peacekeepers to help arrest the armed violence that has, so far, killed thousands, internally displaced half a million people and left 3.3 million others in need of humanitarian assistance.

MPs blamed London for lack of sensitivity in prioritizing a 1.5 billion pound oil and gas deals in Ambazonia without regard for the impact such a deal could have on further human rights violations.

Members of the House of Lords also questioned the wisdom of the UN decision in 1961 to deny Ambazonia the right to independence as a stand-alone country. They challenged the legality of the 11th February 1961 plebiscite and the failure over the decades to heed many warnings from Ambazonians about the collapse of the two-state federation and their exclusion from political decision-making.

In response to questions, the UK Government assumed the role of lawyers for the Biya regime, denying accusations that the Biya regime is perpetrating ethnic cleansing; suggesting that violations have been on both sides; and arguing that London can continue to do business-as-usual despite the genocidal violence.

Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert (Yindo Toh)

UK: Labour Party to push for Brexit vote to come before Christmas

17, December 2018

UK: Labour Party to push for Brexit vote to come before Christmas 0

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party has said it will do its best to force Prime Minister Theresa May to bring her European Union withdrawal deal to Parliament for a final vote before Christmas.  

“We will be using whatever mechanisms we have at our disposal next week to try and force the government to bring forward that deal for a vote before Christmas,” Labour election coordinator Andrew Gwynne said on Sunday in an interview with the BBC television.

The comments come nearly a week after May decided to put off a planned vote in the House of Commons on her Brexit deal, saying she would try to gain more assurances from the EU about a controversial clause in the deal on the border with Ireland so that it could go through the chamber.

The move met with huge ire from the Labour and other parties in the Commons. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly criticized the postponement while calling May, who went to several trips around Europe, a “runaway prime minister” who wanted to ignore parliament in the Brexit process.

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Gwynne, who is Labour’s policy chief for communities and local government, did not elaborate how his party would force May to come to the chamber with her Brexit deal earlier than she is willing to.

May’s office said on Saturday, after the premier returned from a summit of EU leaders, that a vote on Brexit deal would certainly come before the January-21 deadline imposed by the parliament.

That announcement sparked fears that May was trying to delay the vote until the last moments so that the parliament would have no option other than approving the deal so that Britain could avoid a disorderly exit from the EU on March 29, 2019.

Source: Presstv

Ambazonia Crisis: Biya decrees are mostly theater

13, December 2018

Ambazonia Crisis: Biya decrees are mostly theater 0

The Cameroonian President-Dictator has signed another decree ordering the “discontinuation” of proceedings before the Yaoundé Military Tribunal against hundreds of Southern Cameroons activists. Biya has kept to his outdated pattern of governance and his acolytes, his critics, and the media alike have portrayed them as dramatic u-turn on the war in Southern Cameroons.

The Biya decision has reportedly affected some 289 Ambazonian detainees and we understand the decree will be implemented by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo. Biya’s high-profile orders have merely allowed him to announce his intentions to the international community but have not stopped the killings going on in Southern Cameroons. So far, they’ve been more like text messaging than governing, proclaiming his goodwill without really advancing it.

A close look at the language of today’s decree shows that nothing has changed in Yaoundé but basically new releases with presidential signatures, plus instructions to his cabinet ministers to look into the issues at hand. In hosting the Africa Cup of Nations, Biya simply directed his Secretary General at the presidency to devise a plan. His decree on the Anglophone crisis set up a Paul Ghogomu commission. His war decree on Southern Cameroons and Boko Haram instructed cabinet ministers and the military leadership to devise plans to achieve those goals.

Some pro CPDM comedians have however opined that today’s decree comes as a follow-up to the setting of the so-called disarmament, demobilization and reintegration committee for ex fighters of armed groups in Southern Cameroons. It is indeed an empty decree.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

2 protesters killed during Congo-Kinshasa opposition rally

13, December 2018

2 protesters killed during Congo-Kinshasa opposition rally 0

At least two people were killed Wednesday in clashes with police on the sidelines of an opposition rally in eastern DR Congo ahead of this month’s presidential elections, several sources said.

The violence erupted in Kalemie, a town on Lake Tanganyika as opposition candidate Martin Fayulu was campaigning there.

It came a day after two of his supporters were killed and 43 hurt in clashes at a rally in Lubumbashi, DR Congo’s second city.

A witness said “live rounds” were fired as Fayulu arrived in Kalemie.

Rogardien Myumba, head of a federation of local NGOs, said: “Two opposition activists were shot dead as they were heading to the airport to welcome Mr Fayulu.”

A local doctor told AFP there were three bodies at the hospital morgue, while an emergency responder said his team had picked up four bodies.

Fayulu, 62, a little-known lawmaker and former oil executive, has made a late surge after being named the joint candidate for several opposition parties.

DR Congo is in the throes of a major campaign ahead of the December 23 election to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the vast central African country since 2001.

President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila sits in a garden at his personal ranch on December 10, 2018 in Kinshasa. (Photo by AFP)

But the campaign has been overshadowed by fears of violence in this vast poverty-stricken nation which is one of Africa’s most volatile countries and has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

In the past 22 years, two massive wars have shaken the country, claiming millions of lives and sucking in armies from around southern and central Africa.

Lower-level conflicts are burning in the center and east of the country which could easily flare into fully-fledged wars, analysts warn.

Kabila has remained in office as caretaker leader even though his second and final term ended nearly two years ago.

Twenty-one candidates are running to replace him.

As well as Fayulu, the front-runners are Felix Tshisekedi of the mainstream opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Kabila’s handpicked successor.

(Source: AFP)

Nigeria: Opposition Candidate Absent From Election Accord Ceremony

12, December 2018

Nigeria: Opposition Candidate Absent From Election Accord Ceremony 0

Nigeria’s main opposition candidate did not attend an event on Tuesday to sign an election agreement stating a commitment to hold a peaceful election early next year, and his party attributed his absence to a “communication lapse.”

The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) confirmed in an emailed statement that its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had not participated in the signing ahead of February’s election. President Muhammadu Buhari attended the event in the capital, Abuja. 

The peace accord ceremony was held days after the PDP said authorities had frozen the bank accounts of its vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi. 

Elections to choose the leader of Africa’s most populous country — the continent’s top oil producer and by many measures its largest economy — have in the past been marred by violence, vote-rigging and voter intimidation. 

The ceremony was an attempt to mirror the signing of an acclaimed deal ahead of voting in 2015, when Buhari came to power. It was credited with helping prevent a repeat of violence in the wake of the 2011 election, which Human Rights Watch said killed 800 people and displaced 65,000. 

The accord aims to ensure that the 2019 elections are “free, fair and credible,” the document said. Signatories pledged that their campaigns would refrain from “religious incitement” and “ethnic or tribal profiling,” and that they would not incite violence, according to the document. 

The PDP said it was investigating the circumstances behind the “unfortunate communication lapse” between party officials and the National Peace Committee (NPC), the nongovernmental organization that arranged the event, which resulted in Abubakar’s absence. 

“Our presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and the party are fully committed to a peaceful electoral process and elections in 2019,” said PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan in an emailed statement. 

He said the PDP would visit the NPC office to “fulfill all necessary obligations towards the peace accord ahead of the 2019 general elections.” 

The NPC earlier said it had sent invitations for the event to all 91 registered parties and the 73 presidential candidates. 

Independent observers for the 2015 race, the first time the agreement was signed, have since praised the accord for helping Nigeria pull off its first-ever peaceful transition from the ruling party to the opposition. Buhari defeated the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

VOA

12, December 2018

Southern Cameroons war is extracting a heavy toll on ordinary people 0

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has let Cameroon’s President Paul Biya know that his country will now not host the 2019 African Nations Cup pageant. The choice is an embarrassment. Once a powerhouse of Africa’s soccer, Cameroon’s popularity had dropped considerably.

CAF’s choice serves as a reminder that the rustic is sinking, and one thing should be carried out. Until a couple of years in the past, Cameroon used to be a country at the transfer. Despite its many political, financial and social issues, the rustic used to be non violent, attracted other folks from in every single place for tourism, business, and schooling.

For instance the University of Dayton had, over twenty years, run immersion programmes within the nation, and so did many different American universities. Cameroon used to be additionally a world centre: the place primary meetings, symposia, and cultural actions came about.

The country used to be a significant banking centre, in addition to host to Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote’s many actions, and extra just lately the proposed website of automobile meeting vegetation to be built via Indian and Chinese companies. And the checklist is going on.

But the Anglophone warfare has taken its toll. A calm protest which started 3 years in the past against the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroon temporarily grew to become violent as some referred to as for the area’s entire secession from Cameroon to form the Ambazonia Republic. As a consequence Cameroon’s army drive and the Ambazonia Defence drive were locked in a dangerous include ad infinitum.

Already within the seventh term of administrative center as president, Biya’s obsession with an army resolution to the disaster has exacerbated tensions, in addition to the distress of strange other folks. Beneath CAF’s rationale that Cameroon used to be ill-ready, ill-equipped and ill-prepared to host the games used to be a way that the rustic is deeply insecure. The towns of Limbe and Buea within the heartland of Anglophone Cameroon had been going to host the games. But regimen kidnappings, assaults, street closings, and killings within the area would have undermined the essence of the games.

CAF’s announcement coincided with the failure of a last-ditch effort via His Eminence Cardinal Christian Tumi to dealer peace and convenes an All Anglophone Conference. But the tradition of threats, and Cameroon government’s failure to grant a allow for the convention to happen supposed that it used to be doomed.

Ordinary other folks have referred to as on Cardinal Tumi to not surrender. The convention, they be aware, should cross on. Many Cameroonians are determined for a non violent option to the warfare.

As the brickbats fell, stipulations for communities within the Anglophone area proceed to become worse. And whilst debates proceed to rage concerning the rights and wrongs of extensively publicised prompt answers such as federalism, decentralisation, and secession, strange other folks proceed to chafe of their day by day lives.

What’s being lost

As the warring factions stand eyeball to eyeball ready to peer who will blink first, few are asking how the result of the fight will trade the lives of strange other folks within the area. Yet the impact has been huge. There are immense financial and social penalties that have reworked communities and their way of living.

Cameroonians who would cross home for Christmas vacations and different festivities now not achieve this. Their spending stimulated the economic system. In electronic mail correspondences and responses to questionnaires with other folks in Kumba and Buea, local persons are noting that Cameroonians dwelling in different international locations are now not coming home for his or her vacations. As a consequence companies, such as resorts, are slightly protecting on.

There have been extra profound financial penalties. The area’s major agribusiness facility, the Cameroon Development Corporation, the guts of the area’s economic system, is in ruins. Plantations which produce palm oil are now not operational. Workers at banana plantations are brutalised and rubber processors were time and again attacked. Families that trusted cocoa for livelihood now face a lifetime of destitution.

Another aggravating facet of the warfare is the sluggish erosion of key portions of other folks’s tradition. Funeral celebrations are a significant facet of Cameroonian tradition. But in conversations with other folks, it seems that those festivities are disappearing. Irrespective of the place other folks are living, Cameroonians in most cases favor their burial websites to be of their village of starting place. But no longer anymore. Increasingly, persons are buried any where imaginable.

Visits to burial websites of pals and members of the family have been a dangerous revel in. For instance, going to Lewoh in Lebialem, is unthinkable as a result of the violence.

And there’s extra. In communities in Anglophone Cameroon, fundamental services and products such as trash assortment now not exist. Trash is piling up within the towns. And corpses may also be noticed on roadways. Businesses that historically operated within the evenings were bankrupted.

The checklist of hardship is going on. School structures remain empty. And each refugees and internally displaced persons are nowhere on the subject of returning to their properties.

Time to re-assess

The habitual accusation is La Republique has brought about those issues. But it is not all of the fault of La Republique. Given that probably the most assaults are undertaken via Anglophones, they have got turn into accomplices to the violence. No surprise strange persons are increasingly more asking extra direct questions on some great benefits of the rebel they had been promised.

Source: Nairaland.com

10, December 2018

Nigeria: PDP accuses government of blocking Governor Peter Obi’s account 0

Nigeria’s main opposition party said authorities had frozen the bank accounts of its vice presidential candidate in the run-up to elections next February.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said late on Saturday accounts belonging to Peter Obi, its vice presidential candidate, his wife, family members and their businesses had been blocked by government agencies. The PDP did not identify them.

The presidency could not be reached for comment.

“Why is the presidency on a wild goose chase in investigating Peter Obi, who left office as Governor of Anambra state five years ago with a nationally acclaimed clean record,” the PDP said in a statement.

President Muhammadu Buhari last month launched his campaign for re-election for a second term, running on his track record on corruption. Buhari’s handling of a struggling economy will also be a central campaign issue.

PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, a former ally to Buhari, chose as running mate Obi, 57, to generate support in the southeast region, which includes Anambra, where the president has polled badly in past elections.

Geographical affiliations in Nigeria are crucial in a sprawling nation of 190 million people from 250 ethnic groups. With a tight race in prospect, a strong showing in the southeast could give the PDP enough votes to deny Buhari, a former military ruler, a second four-year term.

Source: Reuters

President Buhari pushing Nigeria to the brink

9, December 2018

President Buhari pushing Nigeria to the brink 0

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday for the fourth time, rejected assent to the Electoral Bill which was passed to him to sign into law by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. President Buhari who has written to the lower and Upper chamber said that he could not sign the Electoral Bill into law at this time that the country was preparing for the 2019 Presidential and general elections, adding that he could only assent to it after next year’s elections.

He said that if it was done now, it would endup causing uncertainty and crisis in the land. Meanwhile, the PeoplesDemocratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization, PPCO, has charged membersof  the National Assembly to save thenation’s democracy by immediately overriding President Muhammadu Buhari’srefusal to sign the amendment of the Electoral Act.

Signing amended Electoral Act for 2019 elections will create uncertainty, crisis – Buhari

 In the letter dated 6th December, 2018 and addressed to both the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara which was received yesterday, President Buhari said that he would only sign the bill after the elections, just as he identified some aspects of the bill that should be corrected by the lawmakers.

President Buhari’s letter  read, “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ( 1999 as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate my decision on 6th December, 2018 to decline assent to the Electoral( Amendment) Bill, 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly. “I am declining assent to the bill principally because I am concerned that passing a new electoral bill this far into the electoral process for the 2019 general elections which commenced under the 2015 electoral act, could create some uncertainty about the applicable legislation to govern the process. Any real or apparent change to the rules this close to the election may provide an opportunity for disruption and confusion in respect of which law governs the electoral process.  “This leads me to believe that it is in the best interest of the country and our democracy for the national assembly to specifically state in the bill that the electoral act will come into effect and be applicable to elections commencing after the 2019 elections .

 President pushing Nigeria to the brink—PDP

 In its reaction, the PDP Presidential Campaign Council in a statement by the Director,  Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday  said the legislative action has become imperative as the President’s decision is “a calculated attempt to hold the nation to ransom, inject crisis into the electoral process and ultimately scuttle the conduct of the 2019 general elections.” The statement read in part: “President Buhari’s repeated refusal to sign amendments passed to check rigging of  election, raises issues of his sincerity of purpose and has the capacity to trigger political unrest and violence, which can, in turn, truncate our hard-earned democracy. “The PPCO invites Nigerians to note that this is the fourth time President Buhari is withholding assent on the amendment, without any cogent reason following his rejection by Nigerians. “Nigerians can recall how the Presidency plotted to plunge the 2019 elections into a needless controversy by delaying the submission of the election budget to the National Assembly, presenting it at the time the legislators were commencing their annual vacation and asking for virement of funds already approved for development projects, instead of sending a fresh supplementary budget for the election. “It is unfortunate that Mr. President, in his desperation to hold on to power, has resorted to taking steps that are capable of destabilizing our nation, just because the people are resolute in voting him out of office democratically. “It is also instructive to note that President Buhari is mortally afraid of the amendments because they essentially checked the All Progressives Congress, APC, rigging plans, including the use of underage and alien voters, vote-buying, alteration of results and manipulation of voter register”.

www.vanguardngr.com

What Biya’s reintegration of Boko Haram fighters means

6, December 2018

What Biya’s reintegration of Boko Haram fighters means 0

The National Committee for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration has been set up in Cameroon. A statement from the Cameroonian government said that the program aims to provide “a framework for the reception and social reintegration of ex Boko Haram militants and members of armed groups operating in the North and South West regions of the country.”

According to the statement, the Committee will be headed by former Governor Fai Yengo Francis under the supervision of the Prime Minister, while centres will be opened in Mora (in the Far North), Bamenda (in the North West) and Buea (in the South West). These centres will provide a framework for disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration.

This is undoubtedly one of the best places to start, as most young men join the likes of Boko Haram purely for financial benefit. Although there are issues with these types of reintegration programs it’s a good foundation to build on. Nonetheless, to curb the ever-growing ranks of Boko Haram and show that there is indeed a life for those who joined such groups after they leave is a positive campaign in the region.

You cannot win an ideological war based on pure military intervention, offering those people who have made mistakes in the past a new life may be able to deter the young men in the region from joining the likes of Boko Haram.

With all that said, reintegration programs can backfire if they are implemented too early. So if you are a young man who joins the likes of Boko Haram and you have an easy option of getting back out and back into civilian life, there is no real danger of joining such organisations. One of the issues that the Cameroonian government should be worried about is offering an easy way out and into the likes of Boko Haram. Those that join must face the music and pay for the crimes that they have committed before a reintegration programme can be offered to these individuals.

Some critics in Cameroon have suggested that the government has implemented this program too early. Let’s not forget that much of this year there has been an uprising in the southwest of the country, where the English-speaking individuals known as the separatists have been rebelling against the government. One of the concerns should be that you are allowing such separatist organisations to re-arm and regroup in a peaceful manner, so that in the future they may launch a fresh wave of attacks on government forces.

I am a fan of reintegration programs, particularly within these poor regions, purely because I know that many young men will wrongfully join these terrible organisations to feed their families. I am wise enough to know military intervention — and solely military intervention — does not work, as we have experienced in the past time and time again. I wish the Cameroonian government all the best in their endeavours, and will keep a close eye on this programme.

Source: The newsrep.com



Nigeria’s campaigns picking up: Atiku in north, Osinbajo in south

6, December 2018

Nigeria’s campaigns picking up: Atiku in north, Osinbajo in south 0

Presidential campaigns are heating up in Nigeria ahead of elections slated for February 2019. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, kicked off their activities in the north.

Flag bearer Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president was in Sokoto where the PDP campaign officially kicked off earlier this week. His last stop as at Thursday was in the north central Kwara State.

Along with PDP Chairman Uche Secondus and other top party officials, Atiku addressed thousands of party faithful stressing his message of getting Nigeria to work again.

Whiles in Kwara, home state of the Senate President, Atiku also threw jabs at the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, led by incumbent Muhammadu Buhari.

“Today we have listened to the failures of the APC government since 2015 till today. There is nothing they have not promised us, they promised us security, jobs and better economy, they failed. Whatever they promised, they failed.

“It is time to return Nigeria to PDP, because the best years of this country was when the PDP was governing our country from 1999-2015.

“In terms of corruption, Nigeria is worse of today than we were in 2014. In terms of economy, we are the poorest country in the world today. In terms of insecurity, we are most insecure than at any other time in our history.”

Whiles Buhari has officially yet to hit the campaign trail, his vice Yemi Osinbajo has been busy in the southern part of the country with house to house engagements in the federal capital territory.

Osinbajo who has been leading the federal government’s social intervention program, Trader Moni, has stressed that the government will continue to guard the public purse and ensure that the ultimate beneficiaries are the people.

“Improving the lives of every Nigerian matters to us. It is why President Muhammadu Buhari and I are committed to working day and night for the majority of Nigerians. We will not rest till majority of Nigerians benefit from the resources of their own nation,” Osinbajo said in a tweet.

Buhari returned to the country from Poland where he attended a climate change summit. He will lead a special session of cabinet on Friday to deal with the 2019 budget for onward transmission to the National Assembly, a special aide said on Thursday.

Source: Africa News



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