Politics

11, January 2018

Bundes: Merkel warns of big obstacles in way of forming coalition govt. ⁰

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that there are still “big obstacles” in the way of forming a “grand coalition” between her conservatives and the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Merkel said Thursday in final hours of negotiations between the SPD and her alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party — the Christian Social Union (CSU) — that the two top parties had yet to surmount major differences before they could declare there were common grounds to form another coalition government.

She said her alliance would “work constructively to find the necessary compromises but we are also aware that we need to execute the right policies for our country.”

SPD leader Martin Schulz also talked about “big obstacles” that remained in the way of a final deal between the two parties, although he was upbeat that such an agreement could finally come through.

Schulz said his party and the Merkel-led alliance had “broad agreement on the fundamentals of European policy,” adding that the SPD wanted to gain assurances from Merkel that a new coalition government would be committed to work for the progress of the European Union.

EU policies are among main bones of contention between Merkel and SPD leaders while the two sides also disagree on immigration, social welfare, tax and other issues.

There is also a possibility that SPD’s mid-rank members could manage to block the initiation of coalition talks with the conservatives, a scenario which would leave Merkel with her last option to form a minority government.

Merkel’s failure in reaching a coalition deal with the Greens and the Liberals following the September elections prompted the German president to call on the SPD to revise its previous decision to go into the opposition. However, opinion polls suggest Merkel’s chance of surviving a full fourth term in office is grim as the veteran leader’s approval rating is falling, mainly due to her controversial asylum policies, which many say have helped the rise of the far-right in Germany and fueled the current political limbo.

Source:Presstv

11, January 2018

Abuja’s silence of the Lamb and the Ambazonia situation report ⁰

Tens of thousands of Ambazonians throughout Western Europe, South Africa, Canada and the USA have planned to march and attend rallies to show their support for the Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides arrested in Abuja, Nigeria last week. The leaders of the newly created republic grouping Southern Cameroonians have been placed in solitary confinement in the Nigerian capital city.

Ambazonians will be demanding the release of their leaders by the Buhari administrations and an end to detention without trial and of solitary confinement. In French Cameroun, the Biya Francophone regime has announced through state sponsored media organizations that Nigeria handed the Ambazonian leaders to Yaoundé since Friday last week.

Pro Yaoundé political commentators have also opined that President Biya teleguided the commando operation from Etoudi without the knowledge of the Nigerian Head of State, Retired General Buhari. We of Cameroon Intelligence Report can now reveal that President Ayuk Tabe and his senior advisers including top aides are still in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

We want Ambazonians to understand that Nigeria even under the late General Sanni Abacha had better human rights record than La Republique du Cameroun. Lawyers representing the Ambazonian leadership have completed the necessary procedures and the legal battle is expected to begin tomorrow or latest Monday.

Information circulating in Francophone Cameroun that the DSS carried out the operation without the knowledge of President Buhari is simply not true. Unlike Biya who sleeps for Martin Belinga and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh to run the country for him, President Buhari is a former army general and a micro manager.

For those who do not know, when President Buhari took office, his top priority was to get his own man as head of the State Security Services (SSS) known today as the Department of State Services (DSS). Consequently, President Buhari made a recall appointment to active service involving Lawal Musa Daura his kinsman from the same village who had long retired to replace Ita Ekpenyong Ekong from Cross River State. It is evidently clear that President Buhari is by extrapolation the Head of the DSS.

Cameroon Concord News Group is keeping a watchful eye on the developments in Abuja and we will keep our readers posted as soon as we get any latest development.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

11, January 2018

The people of Ambazonia on the brink of destruction: Can anything save Southern Cameroons ⁰

Ambazonia, which in the beginning had avoided being sucked into the civil war that is slowly but surely developing in Cameroon, has now become the site of the biggest humanitarian disaster in the over one year crisis.

The Manyu County – home to about 2 million residents – has been subjected to a near ceaseless military campaign in recent weeks by Cameroon armed forces. Cameroon Concord News London bureau chief, Asu Isong traveled home in December to observe the determination of Ambazonians in building Africa’s newest democracy.

The people of the Ossing Kingdom knighted him as a Sessekou in a historic ceremony. Sessekou Ashu Isong covered the onslaught in Egbekaw village and the attacks on a Gendarmerie Post in Mamfe.

He says Cameroon government forces have killed hundreds of Ambazonian civilians in the last three weeks alone. As more talks for dialogue get underway in Abuja-Nigeria where the leadership of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is being held and Southern Cameroons teeters on the brink of being totally annihilated, we take a look at what’s on Sesseku Asu Isong’s dairy.

In December 2017, I made a three weeks trip to Ambaland for family and municipal purposes. If ever my commitment to help liberate and build The Federal Republic of Ambazonia was in doubt, this trip quenched that indecision. As I arrived at the ugly obscenity which is flippantly called Douala International Airport, my repulsion at the place turned to resentment. The structure is anything but an international airport.

In the twenty-first century, it is acceptable that there is no bureau de change, only men whistling at you and gesturing that they have local and foreign currency to peddle and purchase. The shops are prehistoric and half empty with vendors wearing facial expressions of people who have never been trained in dealing with the public and don’t really want to be there.

As we waited for our luggage to arrive, I dashed down to the little boy’s room and was in for the mother of all shocks. I went in and visited all the cubicles much to my bewilderment, there weren’t any toilet papers. As I left the indignity to take the long drive to Buea in pain, I noticed a young lady outside the door rationing the little toilet rolls the Biya regime could offer. It was shameful and disgusting and I said to myself never say you have seen it all.

The thought matured that the place wasn’t fit for purpose. Whilst waiting for my luggage, it dawned on me that many of the so-called leaders in La Republique du Cameroun where I had landed had studied and lived in the developed world. Many of them frequently visit other countries that have invested in people and infrastructure to enjoy good facilities. But with all the material wealth that the country possesses, only destitution and insufficiency are engraved on the faces of the people and their surroundings.

As we collected our bags and headed to Buea, I asked myself how we, as a people from Ambazonia, have accepted for fifty-seven years this marriage of inconvenience. I asked myself how and why people in this country under this insanity called a government have come to accept the intolerable. During that long drive, I kept pondering and deliberating with myself how a country so rich with natural resources and intellectuals can be so underdeveloped and unacceptably backward.

As I went to bed that night, I came to the decision that these people have been sold falsehoods for too long that they couldn’t do anything about their situation. They have been lied to for too long that things just have to be a certain way. The mindset of the people has been programmed to accept inaccuracies about their destinies.

As I crisscrossed Ambaland during my stay and saw the misery that has been perpetrated on my people by our political partners in French Cameroun, I agreed with many that the time for change has come.

Above all, what pleased me was the fact that the MINDSET of the people in Ambaland has changed. Our people back home now believe that if it’s to be, it’s up to them and that bequeathed me an enchanted satisfaction that no matter the obstacles we are going to face over the coming years, we will prevail, and our dream will one day be a reality in Buea.

Sessekou Asu Isong

Next on the Sessekou’s dairy is his encounter with two Gendarme officers in the Manyu County who instead of controlling his car documents at a checkpoint, begged for money to buy food.

10, January 2018

UK says Iran’s domestic affairs ‘none of our business’ ⁰

The United Kingdom’s ambassador to Iran says the Islamic Republic’s domestic affairs, including recent riots, are none of his country’s business and that the UK will stay out of Iranian internal affairs.

Ambassador Nicholas Hopton made the remarks in a gathering titled “Europe and the Geopolitical Affairs of West Asia,” which was being hosted by Iranian think tank the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday evening.

Some two weeks ago, some peaceful protests were held in Iranian cities against price hikes and the overall economic condition of the country. Limited numbers of violent individuals, some of them armed, later sought to turn the peaceful protests into street riots. However, the original protesters soon heeded calls by authorities to leave the streets so that their legitimate activities would not play into the hands of violent rioters.

While sporadic violence continued for several days — and claimed the lives of over a dozen people — the riots gradually ended.

In the course of those events, some British media outlets provided controversial coverage of the developments.

Hopton sought to distance the British government away from such coverage. He said the British media made their own editorial decisions and the UK government “exercised no control” over them.

He did express concern about some of the coverage of the events in Iran by the media in his country, however.

“The position held by the British government is that Iran’s domestic affairs are the concern of the country [itself]. The Iranian people should decide for themselves and freedom of expression and the freedom to express protest are the rights of the people,” he said.

“What the protesters seek is none of our and the British government’s business, and the UK government will not interfere,” he stressed.

Last Thursday, it was reported that Iran’s Embassy in London had submitted a letter of complaint to the British media regulator Ofcom, denouncing the propaganda campaign launched by UK-based Persian-language broadcasters covering the riots.

The letter, the source said, pointed out that the outlets had acted in clear contravention of the British and international media regulations by trying to incite the protesters in Iran to resort to riots and armed violence.

London ‘committed to JCPOA’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Hopton said London was “fully” committed to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six other countries on the Iranian nuclear program.

The agreement removed nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran, which, in turn, applied certain limits to its nuclear energy program.

The British ambassador pointed to the likelihood that the United States may unilaterally withdraw from the deal and said he hoped US President Donald Trump would make the right decision.

Trump faces a Friday deadline to announce whether he would certify Iranian compliance with the deal under domestic US law. He has once certified that compliance but decertified it another time. He sees the deal as a legacy of his predecessor — former president Barack Obama — that he should undo.

The United Nations and every other party to the deal have warned Washington against trying to harm the deal, calling it a triumph for diplomacy and a contributing factor to regional and international peace and security.

10, January 2018

US: Trump says he could beat Oprah in 2020 US election ⁰

US President Donald Trump says he could beat media proprietor, talk show host Oprah Winfrey in the 2020 presidential race, but does not think she will run.

“Yeah, I’ll beat Oprah. Oprah will be lots of fun,” he told reporters during a meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday. “I don’t think she’s going to run.”

I “did one of her last shows,” Trump said. “I like Oprah,” he added.

Winfrey’s rousing speech at the Golden Globes awards ignited speculation that she could run for president in 2020. She accepted the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award on Sunday; the first black woman to be awarded the prize.

“I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say “me too” again!” she said in the speech.

Gayle King, a close friend with Winfrey, said on “CBS This Morning” earlier Tuesday that Winfrey finds the idea “intriguing” but added that she doesn’t believe Winfrey is actually considering it right now.

“I don’t think at this point she is actually considering it” King said. “I also know, after years of watching the Oprah show, you always have the right to change your mind.”

Winfrey, an African-American woman who survived rape and grew up in poverty, is a self-made billionaire capable of emotionally connecting with ordinary Americans through the media.

Winfrey threw her weight behind US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, supporting Clinton in the battle against Trump.

Source: Presstv

9, January 2018

Sahel states to raise fund for anti-terrorism fight ⁰

Five Sahel countries that have pledged to pool military efforts to fight terrorism have set up a fiduciary fund to oversee donations for their campaign.

The decision was made by the defense and foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said late Monday.

Their countries form the so-called G5 Sahel, a French-supported group that last year launched a joint military force to combat extremism plaguing the region.

Pledges last month brought total funding over the 250 million euros ($298 million) needed to get the force up and running following a maiden mission in the volatile border zone between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in November.

A summit of donor nations is scheduled to take place in Brussels on February 23 to top up funds.

Coulibaly said the fund would include an oversight committee to ensure “good management of the funds earmarked by partners.”

Management of the fund would be “transparent… a guarantee of the success of the mission to fight insecurity in the Sahel,” Coulibaly said after the meeting in Bamako, the Malian capital.

Major contributions so far have come from Saudi Arabia (100 million euros / $119 million); the European Union (50 million euros); the G5 members (50 million euros, consisting of 10 million euros apiece); United States ($60 million) and the United Arab Emirates (30 million euros).

(Source: AFP)

9, January 2018

Biya’s desperate push to stifle the Ambazonia revolution ⁰

Truth is indeed a crime in an empire of liars. It is quite clear that the Biya regime is founded on lies and has been trading on that path ever since the April 6^th 1984 coup. As renowned Southern Cameroon journalists and media outlets are well known today with their excellence in investigative journalism and true reportage of news, in La Republique du Cameroun today, the case is different as almost all Anglophone media outlets are constantly being paid by the CPDM crime syndicate and given directions on what to broadcast and publish in their newsstands regarding the Southern Cameroons crisis. What a shame and disgrace to modern journalism.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that lately, Ashu Nyenty and a group of Anglophone media gurus have yet again, taken to the CPDM path of blackmail, propaganda and lies against Sisiku Ayuk Tabe-the man heading the most peaceful and most behaved large number of agitators in the Sub Saharan African region in order to drag their prestige into the mud.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group have received intelligence that the presidency of the republic has made available 275 million FCFA to a group of Anglophone journalists calling itself Cameroon Journalists Coalition for Peace Caravan. We were also informed that the two installment payments were made via Minister Mengot. Our chief intelligence officer in Yaoundé is yet to confirm the correctness of this information. But what we do know is that the Biya regime is sending the Anglophone media men and women on a journey of many dangers to Nigeria to persuade Cameroonian refugees to return home.

We understand that the Anglophone media gang has also been given directives to publicly seek for funding on lame and ridiculous reasons that they intend to take along some food and medical supplies to Ambazonians currently suffering in Nigeria.

Ever since President Biya ordered the murderous Francophone dominated armed forces to shoot and kill innocent Anglophone civilians, these Anglophone media men and women have reported such news using the word ‘CLASH’. However, in the words of Bishop Andrew Nkea of the Mamfe Diocese, “Kembong people are not running away from attackers, but from the military which is supposed to be protecting them,”

It is quite laughable that handlers of the Cameroon news agencies have over the last few days been struggling to indict Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 9 other members of the Interim Government abducted in Abuja as criminals with his kinsmen Samuel-Martin Enoh Besong and Abraham Johnson Batey Batey calling for the Sisiku to be executed. Wonders shall never cease so long as Cameroon, a theater of absurdities, is concerned.

The Indigenous People of Southern Cameroons will not sit and watch the Francophone dominated army and their brown envelope news agencies drag its hard-earned reputation to the mud. Ambazonians will fight Yaoundé headlong with the only weapon we have which is ‘truth’ and we are publishing the Ashu Nyenty-Biya regime scheme for the world to know those who have been misleading the public with various degrees of lies so as to hold them responsible for the ongoing genocide in Southern Cameroons taking place as a result of their constant lies to the entire public. Mr Ashu Nyenty posted this message on a forum grouping Southern Cameroons media gurus:

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues

Pursuant to the announcement of the beginning of the initiative called: Cameroon Journalists Coalition for Peace Caravan intended to go to Nigeria and persuade Cameroonian refugees to return home and also to take along some food and medical supplies to them, contributions have opened for all Cameroonian journalists and other well wishers who support this initiative.

In this regard, an MTN mobile money account has been created with the number: 654336313. Since mobile money does not take note of sender, for purposes of accountability and transparency any contributor should immediately call the same number. A young lady will take the call and note the identity of the donor. Every day from this Tuesday the daily list of donors will be published on all journalists’ platforms. This exercise is scheduled to end on the 26 of January, 2018 and our trip to Nigeria should take place within one week from then. Thanks for your generosity and cooperation.

ASHU NYENTY- CRTV( Spokesperson for the initiative)

From the evidence handed to our London desk, we understand that the money paid to Mr Ashu Nyenty is to fund a fake campaign to lure Ambazonians to return home and be arrested and killed and above all, to keep making a mockery of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the Interim Head of State of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

“On earlier occasions they had made futile attempts to get Jesus into their hands;c and they were naturally dubious as to the outcome of their later machinations. At this juncture they were encouraged and gladdened in their wicked plots by the appearance of an unexpected ally. Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, sought an audience with these rulers of the Jews, and infamously offered to betray his Lord into their hands.d Under the impulse of diabolic avarice, which, however, was probably but a secondary element in the real cause of his perfidious treachery, he bargained to sell his Master for money, and chaffered with the priestly purchasers over the price of the Savior’s blood. “What will ye give me?” he asked; “and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.”e”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, January 2018

US: Trump approval rating slips to 37 percent ⁰

US President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dipped to 37 percent following a week of controversial allegations detailed in a new book about the New York billionaire.

Days after he took office last January, Trump’s Gallup approval rating stood at 45 percent. It declined throughout 2017, save for a few instances when it rose, and closed the year at 39 percent.

The majority of recent polls have pegged Trump’s approval rating in the 30s and low 40s.

The recent release of Michael Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” has apparently hurt his approval ratings further.

The newly published best-seller provides a behind-the-scene look at Trump’s White House and contains numerous allegations about the administration depicting him as a child who feeds off instant gratification.

Trump has lashed out at the blockbuster book calling it a “fake book” that has been written by a “totally discredited author.”

The author is, meanwhile, defending his book vehemently despite the White House describing it as pure fantasy. Wolff has gone so far to say that his revelations will end the US president’s tenure.

Source: Presstv

8, January 2018

Ambazonia through the “camera’s eye” ⁰

It is hard to tell which Ambazonian insiders gave the Nigerian secret police the tip to capture the IG. What is vital now is whether this abduction and interrogation will develop into an advantage for the IG or if the IG will succeed to convince Nigerian factions that a support of Ambazonian self-defense would be favorable for Nigeria in the longer run.

There are many parties, interests and stakeholders involved and we can only pray that the thing will turn out well for Ambazonia. But whatever the outcome may be, we can draw the following conclusion already:

a) The guerilla in SCYL and AGC and DoD and unknown independent must be supported and listened to and should stay compartmentalized, so that if one part of the IG or guerilla is defeated by the enemy the others are still able to operate and fill the gap
b) Federalists inside the IG or power mongers who do still collaborate with LRC or hostile Nigerians must be detected and removed from Ambazonian leadership
c) All Ambazonians must rise up against all who do foul compromise with LRC or unsupportive part of Nigeria
d) All former Scacuf groups should come together with IG and work out a better common strategy

By Christoph Hans Messner

7, January 2018

UK: Prime Minister May to reshuffle cabinet on Monday ⁰

British Prime Minister Theresa May will conduct a Cabinet reshuffle on Monday amid reports that senior ministers are set to be axed.

The reshuffle aims to make May’s government more diverse and youthful in addition to bringing in more women.

She has been forced to make changes following two resignations and one sacking.

Sir Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, resigned in November 2017 amid allegations around his conduct.

One week later, international development secretary Priti Patel quit after a row over unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials.

And in December, first secretary of state Damian Green was sacked over his “misleading statements” about the discovery of pornographic images on his Commons computer during a police raid.

According to sources, except for the Cabinet big beasts, Education Secretary Justine Greening, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom are likely to be sacked or demoted.

Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis and Home Secretary Amber Rudd will stay in place, according to reports.

“Some people have gone as far as they can. It’s a case of the glass ceiling,” a source told The Sun.

A minister added, “Some ministers have been around for years and not going anywhere.

“This reshuffle will show how emboldened she is now. She is unlikely to touch the big beasts but the question is how far will she go below that.”

The changes will also enable May to promote Tory MPs who were elected in 2015.

Source: Presstv