Politics

17, December 2017

South Africa: ANC to elect ZUMA’s successor ⁰

The African National Congress expects to announce the successor to President Jacob Zuma as party leader on Sunday (December 17) when ANC delegates elect a new figurehead for the movement that has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid.

The vote is crucial because whoever emerges at the helm of the 105-year-old liberation movement that has electoral dominance in Africa’s most industrialized economy is likely to become South Africa’s next president after elections in 2019.

After lengthy delays on the first day of the ANC conference on Saturday, the leadership contest was still too close to call, with most grassroots ANC members backing Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa or Zuma’s preferred candidate, his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, 68.

Ramaphosa, 65, got the majority of nominations from party branches scattered across the country. But the complexity of the leadership race means it is far from certain he will win when the votes are finally counted.

Under ANC rules, a majority of nominations is not the same as the most votes at the conference and delegates are not bound to vote for a particular candidate.

How the roughly 6,000 delegates will vote may also be subject to vote-buying and intimidation – which are widely acknowledged to have swayed previous leadership contests.

South African newspaper headlines on Sunday were dominated with the ANC’s pivotal election, with the City Press calling it “The Day of Reckoning.”

(Source: Reuters)

17, December 2017

Brexit: Britons now back Remain over Leave by 10 points ⁰

More than half of the British people now want to stay in the European Union, according to a new poll that shows “Remainers” outnumbering “Leavers” by ten percentage points.

While 51 percent of Britons prefer to keep European Union membership, 41 percent want to leave the bloc, according to the BMG Research poll of 1,400 people conducted for The Independent.

According to The Independent, the lead for “Remain” over “Leave” was the biggest in any poll so far since the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

However, BMG Research head of polling cited a shift in opinion among those who chose not to vote last year as the reason for the change.

“The last time Leave polled ahead of Remain was in February 2017, and since then there has been a slow shift in top-line public opinion in favor of remaining in the EU,” said Michael Turner.

“However, readers should note that digging deeper into the data reveals that this shift has come predominantly from those who did not actually vote in the 2016 referendum, with around nine in ten Leave and Remain voters still unchanged in their view,” Turner added.

This comes as EU President Donald Tusk said EU leaders approved the opening of the next stage of Brexit talks Friday after reaching a deal on divorce terms with Britain.

At a meeting in Brussels, members of the bloc said there has been enough progress on key issues. The next phase will involve discussions over future relations and trade ties between the UK and the EU.

Negotiations on the transition period will resume in January.

But talks on trade will not begin until March as EU members need more clarity on the UK’s post-Brexit plans.

British Prime Minister Theresa May signed the divorce deal with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on December 8 after months of negotiations. The deal covers Britain’s exit bill, the future of the Irish border and the rights of EU expatriates in the UK.

Source: Presstv

17, December 2017

“Southern Cameroons war can’t be won” ⁰

On Saturday the 16th of December 2017 in Yaoundé, Cameroon army spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck did what all Francophone political elites do when faced with the crisis in Southern Cameroons: he said the army is winning the war against Ambazonian armed militants. He however offered no details of military casualties and timeline for withdrawal of all troops from Manyu Division.

“Conditions in the South West and North West, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on,” he told state radio and television, CRTV.

There are currently more than 3000 troops fighting in Mamfe Central, Akwaya and Eyumojock. We don’t know how many Biya secretly withdrew this week. We don’t know how long they’ll be there. And we don’t know what victory even means to the regime in Yaoundé and its UN acolyte Francoise Lounceny Fall.

To get a sense of where we are in Manyu Division, our senior political man, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai reached out to a retired Manyu citizen who served with the Cameroon armed forces during the Bakassi conflict and the Boko Haram war in the Far North region.

He asked him straightforwardly if there’s a path to victory in the Southern Cameroons war and, if not, why Cameroon government forces are still fighting and dying in Manyu. Soter Agbaw-Ebai also asked him how he thinks this conflict will end. The retired soldier whose name we do not want to mention was unsure about the latter question but his answer to the first one was crystal clear. “Military victory is not plausible in any foreseeable time frame and what President Biya is doing now isn’t sustainable. The situation will become even more intractable when the Ambazonia Interim Government comes into the armed section of this crisis.”

He pointed out that President Biya is hiding behind innocent French Cameroun political elites and he is not taking ownership of the war. “There are three basic options in terms of the military campaign in Manyu and other Anglophone regions. One is to demilitarize West Cameroon. This is what Fru Ndi, Munzu and Agbor Balla requested. Second, there’s the stay-the-course option, which could include sending thousands more troops to the border areas. Third, there’s the troop withdrawal option which I hinted you started two days ago.

“Whether President Biya is considering a complete withdrawal, I can’t say. I wouldn’t assume that’s off the table because of French government support. We’re now three weeks into this war in Manyu. I still cannot understand what’s the mission?

A Cameroon government counterterrorism mission that is conducted in partnership with the Manyu traditional rulers and with the support of the Ekpe sacred society would have been efficient. But we have a commander-in-chief who does not listen and thinks he is a small god.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

16, December 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: How La Republique lost Manyu Division ⁰

Before the attacks on Manyu Division, Cameroonian soldiers based in GRA, Mamfe and in the army camp in Besongabang were highly loved and respected by the Manyu population. The troops were not heavily protected and lived within the community. The Francophone soldiers who served in Manyu Division in the yesteryears have always spoken of Manyu people holding the military in high regard.

The French Cameroon service men and women who came to Mamfe were taught the softly-softly approach – thanks to experience of always inviting the army to protect Manyus during those difficult football years of the great Joseph Eyong of Cammark Mamfe and the late Fayez Olabi of Meme Works. Once in Manyu, the French Cameroun’ heavy-handed tactics was washed away from the soldiers.

It was a view that was spreading across the Cameroonian army. The army barracks in Besongabang was regarded as relatively friendly to every young man who visited. Manyus including other ethnic groups had largely welcomed the Cameroonian army and General James Tataw was seen as a true Manyu hero.

But the days of sharing drinks in bars in Mamfe and handing sardine to children in the army camp in Besongabang are now long gone. Casualties being suffered by Cameroonian soldiers in Manyu are now coming at a higher rate all because of one man, the 84 year-old President Paul Biya.

The Francophone dominated army is expected to massively pull out of Mamfe, the chief town in Manyu Division, where a battle group of unidentified Southern Cameroons militants have kept them under consistent fire. The numbers of Cameroon soldiers in Manyu Division will then fall and a large majority of them will be based at just one location in Akwaya and in Otu and Nsang in Eyumojock.

With such a small force in a vast constituency like the Manyu, soldiers will now be used essentially to protect themselves. Their objective appears to be largely to provide a symbolic show of support for pro-Biya Southern Cameroonians and the French government. This current setting and off-the-cuff withdrawal is also pretty expensive and not sustainable.

The Biya regime seems to be changing the Manyu tactics and now wants to hand over responsibility to Anglophone military leaders. The Southern Cameroonians in the army will protect the Enugu-Bamenda Highway and carry out targeted security operations on the Manyu Cross River. But while the Biya Francophone regime’s public statements give the impression of a job done, the reality of what is currently going on in Southern Cameroons is different.

Relentless attacks against Cameroonian soldiers have driven them off the streets of major cities in Southern Cameroons and into increasingly secluded compounds like in the case of Mamfe. The recent partial withdrawal ordered secretly by President Biya from Manyu has been viewed by the Ambazonian armed men as an ignominious defeat. Today, Manyu is basically controlled by the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia with a leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who is seemingly more powerful and unconstrained than before.

Ever since he was appointed to head the Manyu expedition, nothing has been heard about General Elokobi Daniel Njock. There are concerns about the whereabouts of General Ivo Yenwo. It is evidently clear that the Cameroon army have lost the ability to reverse the downward spiral in Mamfe, Akwaya and Eyumojock.

Cameroon Concord News understands that to speak of defeat is too simplistic. But after the 14 days war in Manyu, it is right to point out that the Cameroon army is living with the consequences of past decisions and actions – that’s a reality – and there is no point in saying that everything in the garden is rosy, because it isn’t.

One conclusion is almost nationally drawn: Cameroonian soldiers suffered from a hasty and ill-prepared deployment by a commander-in-chief who comprehensively failed in pre-war planning. Boko Haram militants in the Far North region were Nigerian citizens who did not even master the landscape! The Ambazonian resistance in Manyu is made up of young men who God in his infinite image created and planted in Manyu Division.

There is a complete lack of popular support for the Manyu military venture. Any successful strategy to resolve the crisis in Southern Cameroons needs three legs: a political-dialogue part, an economic component and the military-security element. The Cameroon army attack on Manyu has signaled Yaoundé that if progress is not being made on the dialogue and economic fronts, security starts to fall apart. It’s time for Mr. Paul Biya to meet with the Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

16, December 2017

Americans pessimistic about Trump presidency, US direction ⁰

A majority of Americans are widely pessimistic about US President Donald Trump’s leadership and the overall direction of the country, while less than a quarter say Trump has kept the promises he made while running for president, according to a new poll.

Only 30 percent of Americans said the country is heading in the right direction, and 52 percent said the United States has been worse off since Trump became president, according to the survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Just 23 percent think Trump has kept the promises he made to voters during last year’s election campaign, the poll shows.

And three in 10 Americans approved of the president’s handling of health care, foreign policy and taxes.

A previous AP-NORC poll conducted this month found that Trump’s job approval rating was only 32 percent, making him the least popular first-year US president on record.

“Still, Trump continues to talk about his presidency with lofty rhetorical flourishes, declaring that his first months in office outshine those of his predecessors,” the AP said in its report on the survey.

“Among Republicans, just half say Trump has kept his promises, which included vows to overhaul his predecessor’s health care law, withdraw the United States from a nuclear accord with Iran and invest millions in new projects to fix the nation’s aging infrastructure. None of those steps have been taken,” it added.

Just 25 percent of Americans think the country has been better off since Trump took office — and only 20 percent say they personally are doing better.

By contrast, an AP-NORC poll conducted a year ago found that 46 percent of Americans thought the country had become better off during the administration of former President Barack Obama.

Only 9 percent think the country has become more united as a result of Trump’s presidency, while 67 percent think the country is more divided because of Trump. Even Republicans are more likely to say Trump has divided America than those who say he has united it, 41 percent to 17 percent.

Source: Prestv

16, December 2017

Was the attack on Manyu worth the human, financial cost? Join the AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE ⁰

It has been described as the biggest cover-up in Cameroon’s history. Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians have been killed and thousands have fled to neighbouring Nigeria. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that the UN body has registered more than 5000 Southern Cameroonians as refugees in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE understands that approximately a hundred Cameroon soldiers have died ever since President Biya declared war on the people of Southern Cameroons. Yaounde now feels there can never be a military solution to the Federal Republic of Ambazonia project as propounded by the Interim Government headed by Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

In this edition of the AGBAW-EBAI DEBATE, we are asking our readers if the attack on Manyu Division worth the human and financial cost? Let your opinion he heard. Join the discusson

16, December 2017

US: Republicans unveils final version of tax bill, voting next week ⁰

US Republicans have unveiled the final draft of their dramatic tax bill which they are racing to send to President Donald Trump’s desk by Christmas.

The bill picked up crucial support Friday from two wavering senators, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), ahead of planned votes by lawmakers early next week.

The House is expected to vote on the bill on Tuesday and then the Senate will vote. If passed, the measure would deliver a major legislative victory to Trump and his Republican allies.

“I believe that this once-in-a-generation opportunity to make US businesses domestically more productive and internationally more competitive is one we should not miss,” Corker said in a statement.

The legislation by the House-Senate conference committee would massively change the tax system, cut rates for many individuals and businesses and place new limitations on tax breaks.

The bill also includes a targeted change to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, Republicans have long sought to dismantle.

“I’m very excited about this moment. It’s been 31 years in the making and took a lot of hard work by a lot of people to make this day happen. I’m proud of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

“I know everyone’s lives will be better off under tax reform,” added Brady, who played a lead role in crafting the bill.

Under the final bill, the top individual rate would be reduced from 39.6 percent to 37 percent, which is lower than the top rate in the original bills the House and Senate passed.

In addition, the corporate tax rate would be lowered from 35 percent to 21 percent, up from 20 percent in the original bills.

While GOP lawmakers and the White House assert the economic growth from the bill will offset the revenue losses, most analysts disagree.

Also, Democrats, who are expected to stay united in opposing the measure, argue the bill would benefit wealthy individuals and corporations more and would wind up raising taxes on some middle-class families.

Source: Presstv

14, December 2017

Veto on Brexit? British government loses key vote after Tory rebellion ⁰

The government of British Prime Minster Theresa May has suffered a fresh blow as lawmakers voted to force changes in London’s Brexit plans, giving Parliament a legal guarantee of a vote on the final Brexit deal struck with Brussels.

May was narrowly defeated in a key vote on its Brexit bill after a rebellion by 11 Tory MPs on Wednesday. Despite a last-minute attempt to offer minor concessions in the Commons, the amendment to the bill was backed by 309 to 305 as the Conservative rebels said it was too little too late.

Amendment 7 to Clause 9 was tabled by May’s own Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, who leads a faction of “rebels” within the party. The changes call for parliament to have a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal before it is finalized and written into law.

Several lawmakers from the prime minister’s governing Conservative Party sided with the opposition to insist that any withdrawal deal with the EU requires an Act of Parliament to take effect — essentially giving lawmakers a veto on Brexit.

The government argues that the changes could endanger the chances of delivering a smooth departure from the European Union, noting however that the “minor setback” would not prevent the UK leaving the EU in 2019.

Earlier on Wednesday, European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said there will be “no turning back” for Britain on commitments made during an initial divorce deal between the two.

Pro-EU anti-Brexit demonstrators wave Union and EU flag outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on December 13, 2017 as MPs debate proposed an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill.

10-Downing Street expressed disappointment with the vote, with opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calling it “a humiliating loss of authority” for the government.

Stephen Hammond, one of the Conservative MPs who voted against the government, was sacked as Conservative vice chairman in the aftermath of the vote. “Tonight I put country and constituency before party and voted with my principles to give Parliament a meaningful vote,” he tweeted.

Ex-cabinet minister Nicky Morgan, also among Conservatives who refused to budge, tweeted that Parliament had acted to take back “control of the EU Withdrawal process,” while Anna Soubry said the government had “got to stop playing silly games” and realize that times had changed since the Bill was drafted before the election, when May had a Commons majority.

The setback comes nearly five months after May’s conservative Party lost its majority in the 650-seat parliament following snap elections.

In this video grab taken from footage broadcast by the UK Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) via the Parliament TV website on December 13, 2017, a packed House of Commons meets to vote on an amendment to the government’s plans on Brexit.

Sir Desmond Swayne told the Commons that the amendments are simply aimed at delaying Brexit, dismissing them as “sanctimonious guff” and their Conservative backers as “idiots,” and Senior Tory Bernard Jenkin said, “To dress this attempt to reverse Brexit as an argument in favor of parliamentary sovereignty is nothing but cant.”

The European Parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt tweeted, “British Parliament takes back control. European and British Parliament together will decide on the final agreement. Interests of the citizens will prevail over narrow party politics. A good day for democracy.”

EU leaders will hold a two-day summit as of Thursday during which they are scheduled to agree that there has been “sufficient progress” for the talks to move to the second phase of future relations and trade, a subject London wants to open as soon as possible.

Following the vote, May was on her way to Brussels to push European leaders to begin discussing the EU’s future trade deal with Britain.

A leaked draft of a text to be considered by the EU 27 leaders on Friday suggests that trade talks may not start until after a subsequent summit in March.

Britain is due to leave the bloc in March 2019, but a Brexit deal will have to be agreed by the fall of 2018 to give national parliaments time to approve it.

Source: Presstv

13, December 2017

Burundi’s president to extend rule until 2034 ⁰

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has launched a campaign to promote a referendum to change the constitution that could extend his rule over the landlocked East African country until 2034.

Addressing a crowd of thousands of farmers in the central district of Gitega on Tuesday, Nkurunziza threatened those who sought to undermine the referendum slated for early 2018.

“We take this opportunity to warn those who want to sabotage this project, whether by speech or actions,” Nkurunziza said. “It will be a red line.”

“It’s the day you’ve been waiting for,” Nkurunziza said.

Nkurunziza’s administration adopted a plan in October to revise the constitution that, if passed by the referendum, would allow him to serve another two seven-year terms from 2020.

Opposition activists have already denounced the project they say will be the “funeral” of the country’s 2000 peace agreement. The deal ended a 13-year civil war in which more than 300,000 people were killed.

The start of the campaign comes a day after the government launched a fundraising drive for elections in 2020, presented as “voluntary.” The move, however, has been condemned by rights groups as “organized robbery.”

Burundi has faced deadly political turmoil since April 2015, when President Nkurunziza announced plans to seek a disputed third term that he ultimately won.

The violence claimed between 500 and 2,000 lives, according to differing tolls from the UN and civil society groups, while more than 400,000 Burundians have fled the country.

In September, a UN commission of inquiry report said crimes against humanity, including killings and sexual violence, were still being committed in Burundi and it asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation as soon as possible.

According to the report, alleged perpetrators include top officials in Burundi’s National Intelligence Services and police force, military officials and members of the youth league of the ruling party, known as Imbonerakure.

The ICC in November decided to launch an investigation into atrocities committed in Burundi, despite the country’s pullout from the international body last month.

Source: Presstv

13, December 2017

Anglophone MPs: “Leave French Cameroun Now” ⁰

The National Assembly Blockade coupled with the singing of anti regime songs including the use of vuvuzelas by the SDF Members of Parliament did not produce any positive outcome. Instead it revealed to Southern Cameroonians and the world that the Republic of Cameroon is indeed a Francophone state. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group have come to the conclusion that events in Yaoundé have now reached the final days of decision and Anglophone MPs should go back to Buea and rally behind the Interim President of the Federal Republic of Amabazonia, His Excellency President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

For 56 years, Anglophones have pursued patient and honorable efforts to be part of a United Republic of Cameroon without war. Yaoundé publicly pledged to build a nation to accommodate the Anglo-Saxon and French systems that were laid down by the founding fathers.

Since then, successive Anglophone leaders have engaged in 56 years of tolerance with our Francophone brothers and sisters. Southern Cameroonians have accepted all kinds of funny political arrangements from United Republic to the Republic of Cameroun, from provinces to regions just for the sake of fatherland. West Cameroonians have accepted all types of French Cameroun appointees to run the day-to-today affairs of Southern Cameroonians. Our good faith has now been returned-the killings of hundreds of Southern Cameroonians by the Francophone dominated army and more than 40,000 Southern Cameroonians as refugees in Nigeria.

The Biya Francophone regime has used our good faith and love for country as a ploy to gain time and advance the marginalization and assimilation policies teleguided from Paris against the people of Southern Cameroons. The Francophone political elites have uniformly defied decisions that were reached in Foumban in 1961.

Over the years, Anglophone political elites have been subjected to gross humiliation and have often been threatened by Francophone officials with a sack each time they attempted raising a finger against marginalization. Genuine efforts to resolve the Anglophone problem have failed time without number because we are not dealing with decent men in French Cameroun.

The attitude of President Biya and his gang of Francophone political elites with unflinching support from Champs Elysee leave no doubt that the Yaoundé regime intends to continue with its policy of marginalization and North West/South West Divide.

Successive Francophone regimes in Cameroon have a history of reckless aggression in Southern Cameroons. Francophone political elites have a deep hatred of Southern Cameroonians and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Yaoundé has always had a good understanding with Northern Cameroonians who voted to join Nigeria under Mallam Abba Habid in 1961 and it has only kept in power Anglophone political elites who have a hostile attitude towards Nigeria including Dr JN Foncha, ST Muna, ET Egbe, SN Tamfu, Chief VE Mukete and recently Peter Agbor Tabi, Chief Dr. Ndion Ngute and Elvis Ngolle Ngolle. This is also true with the border posts in both British Southern Cameroons and British Northern Cameroons. The border posts in Anglophone Cameroon with Nigeria historically have been headed by senior Francophone security bosses while border controls existed only on paper and sign posts in the Far North region bordering Nigeria until the emergence of Boko Haram.

Southern Cameroonians did nothing to deserve or invite this vicious and malicious treatment, but with the Interim Government headed by Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, they will do everything to defeat it. The business as usual attitude by Francophone MPs at the recent parliamentary session amid the SDF blockade is a warning to all Anglophones and a reminder to all West Cameroon political elites in East Cameroun that instead of drifting along toward tragedy, they should follow the course toward safety mapped out by the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

In the words of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is time for our Anglophone MPs to go back to Buea before the day of horror comes and before it is too late to act. The Interim Government has the sovereign authority to use force in assuring the security of the territory. That duty falls to Sisiku Ayuk Tabe as the Interim Head of State who has publicly recognizes the threat to our homeland.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is trying to work with the United Nations to address the damage and killings currently going on in Southern Cameroons because he believes the terms of separation could be resolve peacefully. We of Cameroon Concord News are of the opinion that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe needs your support as MPs still militating in East Cameroun.

The Governing Council was founded after the Biya Francophone regime criminalized dialogue by arresting the then Chairman of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, Dr. Felix Agbor Balla. It’s now time for Anglophone Cameroonians to unite and bring an end to this danger from French Cameroun political elites. Today, no Anglophone MP or cabinet minister can possibly claim that they are not aware of the genocide going in Southern Cameroons. The situation will not change so long as Mr. Biya is still in power.

Anger has however made many Southern Cameroonians to develop the resolve to act against this evil to peace in West Cameroon and the Interim Government has created a broad coalition which is gathering momentum to enforce the demands of Ambazonians. The French Cameroun political and military leaders have not lived up to their responsibilities, so Southern Cameroonians are rising to theirs.

A Cameroon Concord News Production