Politics

17, November 2017

German factions fail in initial efforts to form coalition ⁰

German political factions have failed in their initial efforts to form a three-way coalition because of disagreements over environment, business, and migration policies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had set Thursday as the deadline for exploratory talks about forming a coalition government following elections on September 24.

Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc won 246 seats; the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), 80 seats; and the left-leaning environment-friendly Green Party, 67 in those elections. There are currently 709 seats in the German legislative body, or the Bundestag.

The coalition government being negotiated is referred to as “Jamaica” because the parties’ colors match those of the Caribbean island country’s flag.

The exploratory talks of the three parties continued into the early hours of Friday. Later in the day, they announced that they had failed to find common ground to begin formal coalition negotiations.

The three parties said further talks would be postponed to Friday noon.

“We’ll continue at noon today,” said Winfried Kretschmann, a Greens negotiator and premier of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, early on Friday.

Prime Minister of the state of Baden-Wurtemberg and Green Party politician Winfried Kretschmann (L) leaves the Parliamentary Society as exploratory talks to form a new government fail, in Berlin, Germany, in the early hours of Friday, November 17, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The main sticking points between the groups are their different perspectives over climate, migration, and finances.

Conservative participants said some of those differences might not be resolved at all.

“I don’t know if we can resolve all the discrepancies, all the disagreements,” said Joachim Herrmann, a senior member of the CSU, the sister party of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

Failure to clinch a deal could lead to new elections.

Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), criticized the would-be coalition partners for failing to reach a deal, telling daily Die Welt, “If the (conservative) Union, FDP, and Greens don’t reach an agreement soon, there should be new elections.”

This is a scenario none of the negotiating parties would want, for fear that the far-right AfD could make further gains after already entering the parliament in the September 24 elections.

While Merkel is perceived as a skilled negotiator, the failure to form the coalition government has already been described as her loss.

“A failure of Jamaica would be her failure,” wrote the mass-circulation German daily Bild.

Culled from Presstv

17, November 2017

President Mugabe refuses to resign after meeting generals ⁰

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has refused to cede power to the military which has seized power in the southern African country and put him under house arrest.

Generals met with Mugabe on Thursday in the capital, Harare, and made efforts to push the 93-year-old veteran to resign, sources confirmed to the AFP news agency.

Mugabe’s motorcade reportedly took the president from his home to State House to hold a meeting with the generals.

The president also held meetings with envoys from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional bloc.

Images of the meeting showed Mugabe dressed in a navy blue blazer and grey trousers standing alongside army chief General Constantino Chiwenga who smiled and was dressed in camouflage military fatigues.

Military forces took control of Harare on Wednesday, with soldiers and armored vehicles blocking roads to the main government offices, the parliament, and the courts in central Harare.

Mugabe has been in power for almost four decades, since the former British colony gained independence from the UK in 1980.

To many Zimbabweans, he is a “war hero” and an “African icon” who played a definitive role in making the country independent.

However, his deteriorating health in recent years has triggered a succession war between his wife Grace and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The military generals are strongly opposed to Grace’s presidency, while Mnangagwa has maintained cordial ties with the military.

On Thursday, the African Union expressed concern, calling on Zimbabwe’s military to halt what “seems like a coup”.

AU chief, Guinea’s President Alpha Conde, warned that the continent “will never accept the military coup d’etat” in Zimbabwe and called for a return to the “constitutional order.”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also called for “calm and non-violence” and for the fundamental rights of Zimbabwean citizens to be preserved, a spokesman for the UN chief said.

In Harare, residents continued life as normal on Thursday, commuting, socializing and working as they ignored the few soldiers still on the streets.

The state-owned Herald newspaper in its editorial took a neutral stand by remaining loyal to Mugabe but also endorsing the military’s action.

Source: Presstv

16, November 2017

French Cameroun heading towards a major political crisis in parliament ⁰

La Republique du Cameroun is heading towards a major political crisis in parliament. The 18 MPs and 14 senators of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), have issued a statement in which they denounced in 8 points, the socio-political situation in Southern Cameroons.

The SDF parliamentary groups in the Senate and the National Assembly slammed among other things, excessive human rights abuses, mass killings, jailing of Southern Cameroonians in French Cameroun detention centres and the plight of Southern Cameroons refugess in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The predominantly Anglophone parliamentarians say Southern Cameroonians are considered by the Biya Francophone government to be “terrorists” and the regime is killing them in their numbers. The SDF elected representatives have also pointed out that instead of an inclusive, frank and sincere dialogue, the Yaounde government has been applying the use of force to a purely political problem.

Consequently, the SDF has suspended its participation in the current session, the 4th of its kind since the outbreak of the Southern Cameroons crisis in November 2016. A member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate who spoke to our Yaounde city reporter immediately after the SDF decision was made public condemned the SDF MPs for receiving their bonus before launching their strike action.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

16, November 2017

Zimbabwe opposition leader returns home after coup ⁰

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader and former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai has returned to the African country to following an effective coup against long-time President Robert Mugabe.

A spokesman for Tsvangirai, who is the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said he had flown back home from South Africa late on Wednesday, adding that two other former government ministers had also returned to their country from Russia.

The privately-owned NewsDay Zimbabwe paper reported that Tsvangirai was “ready to enter negotiations to form a transitional government with former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa.”

Political tensions emerged in Zimbabwe last week after Mugabe fired Mnangagwa and accused him of plotting to take power, including through witchcraft. Mnangagwa, who enjoyed the backing of the military, had previously been considered the most likely to succeed the president if Mugabe resigned or died while in power. His sudden dismissal, however, raised speculations that Mugabe was clearing the way for his wife, Grace, to take the position.

This file photo, taken on June 2, 2017, shows Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (L) with his wife, Grace (R), at the Rudhaka Stadium, in Marondera, Zimbabwe. (By AFP)

The Thursday announcement came a day after the army seized power in the country in what was described by the leader of the African Union as a “coup.”

Military forces blocked roads to the main government buildings in the center of the capital, Harare, and sought to portray it as a “bloodless transition” away from Mugabe.

Meanwhile, Reuters cites a “source” said that Mugabe and his wife and two key figures from her G40 political faction are under house arrest at Mugabe’s “Blue House” compound in Harare.

The army has also detained Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo, a leading member of the G40, which is a faction of the ruling ZANU-PF party, run by the president’s wife.

ZANU-PF said in series of tweets on Wednesday that “E Mnagngawa will be president of ZANU PF as per the constitution of our revolutionary organization.”

Young women walk past an armored personnel carrier stationed by an intersection as Zimbabwean soldiers regulate traffic in Harare on November 15, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Mugabe and his wife have been on the European Union (EU)’s sanctions list along with other key figures in Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, facing travel bans and asset freezes abroad.

The Zimbabwean president has called the sanctions, by the EU and separately by the United States over rights issues “wrong,” blaming them for his government’s failure to pay its workers on time, which led to a crippling strike last year.

Source: Presstv

14, November 2017

Muyengue Gendarmerie raids: Act of primitive criminal intimidation and provocation that must not go unchallenged ⁰

The announcement on French Cameroun media that troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime have confiscated weapons imported by Southern Cameroons militants from Nigeria is raising a lot of dust and for the wrong reasons. Coming at a time tension was already mounting following the killings of Francophone gendarmes and renewed activities of the pro Ambazonia agitators and the massive deployment of soldiers to Southern Cameroons, various interpretations were already being given to the latest move by the French Cameroun Gendarmerie.

From the images aired by the Cameroon Radio and Television, we of this publication think the seizure in Muyenge in the Buea Province of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is part of the alleged intimidation of the people of Southern Cameroons following the demand for an independent state. We fervently believe also that it is in line with the policy of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate to continue to keep Southern Cameroonians on edge.

As a prelude to the commencement of the Muyenge operation, the Francophone South West governor had already started positioning men and equipment at strategic locations in some of the counties in the zone. The presence of such equipment and soldiers was said to be the cause of the Muyenge clash between soldiers and Southern Cameroons youth, which some people were killed and many others sustained injuries.

Though the French Cameroun gendarmerie announced that the mission to Muyenge and Mutengene were aimed at fighting crime, it is evidently clear that the South West governor and his gang of French Cameroun surrogates wanted to score some political points. The French Cameroun military raided the Muyenge locality, carried out search, erected check points and road blocks in a general show of force.

But the fact that the Yaoundé regime could only show rudimentary weapons used by the farming and hunting communities in Muyenge as prove of equipment imported from the Federal Republic of Nigeria indicates that the Biya regime is indeed taking the last kicks of a dying horse. “It was a plot to kill members of a vibrant Muyenge Youth Association who had declared their unflinching support for the Southern Cameroons Governing Council,” noted our chief correspondent in Fako.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group think that this act of primitive criminal intimidation and provocation must not go unchallenged by men of good conscience in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. This latest attempt to use the French Cameroun army and gendarmerie in a show of force in Southern Cameroons to deal with legitimate peaceful agitation for self determination is shameful.

If their slogan “Cameroon is one and indivisible” is anything to go by, where on earth is it heard that combat ready troops are deployed within the borders of a country to deal with a non-violent civil matter? Such a thing can only happen in French Cameroun. Biya and his French Cameroun political elites such as Laurent Esso, Amadou Ali, Fame Ndongo have made a mockery of the role of the military and nonsense of the constitution that soldiers can be ordered by one governor, without the permission of the Commander-in-Chief, to kill civilian populations in an area devoid of any conflict.

The interim head of state of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has made it abundantly clear to the regime in Yaoundé and to the international community that Southern Cameroonians are agitating for self determination in a peaceful manner. They have no arms and will never resort to bearing arms. Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate should rather focus their attention on the Boko Haram-ravaged areas of Maroua, Kolofata, and Mora. Boko Haram is a well armed terrorist organization and it is the one Biya should be facing and not farmers and hunters including market women in Mamfe, Jakiri, Bamenda, Mundemba, Ndop and traders at Ekok and Muyenge. We are a peaceful people by nature, but will not tolerate any molestation or intimidation on our soil.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Rita Akana and Sama Ernest

14, November 2017

SDF MPs boycott opening session of parliament in French Cameroun ⁰

SDF Members of Parliament have boycotted the opening session of the national assembly in Yaounde. The predominantly Southern Cameroons bloc of elected representatives all gathered at the regional headquarters of the party in Olezoa district in Yaounde during the rituals at Ngoa Ekele.

Cameroon Concord News learned that the decision to boycott the opening ceremony of the 3rd parliamentary session, is the first action of a series whose goal is “to force the Biya Francophone government to find a lasting solution” to the crisis that has rocked Southern Cameroons for more than a year now.

An SDF statement said “We believe it is now time for parliamentarians in accordance with Article 4 of the constitution to take their responsibilities. It is a question of how far we can, in our own way, expose to the public, to the national and international public, the serious situation that prevails in our country.”

SDF Secretary General, Jean Tsomelou, was quoted as saying that the opening ceremony of the Senate at the Palais des Congres in Yaounde will also be boycotted. The opening session witnessed the participation of Martin Belinga Eboutou Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency, members of the French Cameroun Government and the President of the Senate

By Sama Ernest, CCN

14, November 2017

US: Joe Biden indicates he may challenge Trump in 2020 ⁰

Former US Vice President Joe Biden indicates that he may challenge President Donald Trump in 2020, saying he is “not closing the door” on this option.

Biden made the remarks in an interview with NBC News on Monday while promoting his new book, “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.”

“I honest-to-God haven’t made up my mind about that,” Biden, who is turning 75 later this month, told NBC journalists. “I’m not closing the door. I’ve been around too long, and I’m a great respecter of fate, but who knows what the situation is going to be a year-and-a-half from now.”

In a separate interview with Oprah Winfrey a day earlier, Biden said, “I’m —thank God right now — in awful good health,” he said. “But I don’t know what things are going to be two years from now.”

Biden is a strong critic of Trump and his leadership style. He has accused his administration of misunderstanding and misrepresenting the American values.

Earlier this month, Biden called Trump a “charlatan,” and accused the Republican head of state of taking advantage of frustrated middle class voters.

It seems Biden is remorseful about his decision not to run in last year’s presidential election, and has claimed that he could have easily defeated Trump.

Biden, a favorite for the 2016 Democratic nomination, announced his decision to not run for the White House in October 2015, cementing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s standing as the front-runner.

The popular vice president, who lost his son Beau to cancer in May 2015, said back then that he was not emotionally prepared to take on the battle and that it was too late for him to enter the race. Trump proceeded to pull off a historic victory against Clinton in November last year.

Source: Presstv

13, November 2017

“There is no Act of Union between La Republique and British Southern Cameroons” President Ayuk Tabe ⁰

The interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has told Cameroon Concord News Group that there is no document detailing the transfer of power from the British government to the indigenous government of the people of British Southern Cameroons. In a telephone conversation with our chief political correspondent, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai earlier today, the leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia opined that there is also no Act of Union between the British Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun. “This does not exist,” said the president.

“How would it feel for a student to go to university for 4 years then on graduation, his/her certificate is handed to the roommate? This is similar to the situation of the British Southern Cameroons. After colonisation from 1919 to 1961 (42 years) her certificate of transfer of power was handed to the neighbouring La République du Cameroun,” noted Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

President Ayuk Tabe further pointed out that La Republique du Cameroun has now recolonized the people of the former British Southern Cameroons for 56 years. “This nation is 2 years shy of a century of colonization. Did the world declare an end to colonization many years ago? Why are humans silent on the plight of the people of the former British Southern Cameroons?” President Ayuk Tabe wondered aloud.

“When two Nations decide to merge and form one Nation, usually with the two States equal in status, they must get together and negotiate the terms of their union. At the end of the negotiations, the two nations must sign an Act of Union. The people of the former British Southern Cameroons submit that there is no Act of Union between their Nation and La République du Cameroun. Therefore, La République du Cameroun has invaded the territorial integrity of the former British Southern Cameroons” added the Sisiku

On a serious note the interim head of state revealed that with a government now in place, Ambazonians are exploring all available options to redress this situation and send the occupier to her side of the UN defined and marked border.

By Chi Prudence Asong,

Europe Bureau Chief

12, November 2017

40 Conservative MPs ready to oust Prime Minister Theresa May ⁰

Nearly 40 Conservative MPs have agreed to sign a letter of no confidence in Prime Minister Theresa May, according to The Sunday Times.

A vote of no confidence means that May could be forced from office and replaced by another Conservative.

There is a need for eight more MPs to trigger a party leadership contest. That is not unlikely as the number of parliament members, who want to oust May, has increased in recent weeks.

One minister told the paper, “It’s a horrible thing to say… but we are getting closer and closer to the point whereby we need some time in opposition to regroup.”

Divided over how to pull Britain out of the European Union and hit by several sex scandals involving ministers, May’s government has been getting weaker in asserting control over the country’s chaotic political situation

On Friday, EU Brexit chief Michel Barnier handed Britain a two-week ultimatum to make concessions on a divorce agreement if it wants to unlock the next phase of talks in December.

Frenchman Barnier said it was “vital” for Britain to increase its offer on its exit bill — a figure senior EU officials put at up to 60 billion euros — to open up talks on a future trade deal.

Tory Brexiteers, however, warned May over the ultimatum, advising the premier against giving in to the EU demands.

One Conservative former cabinet minister called the demands “unacceptable,” while another prominent backbencher said any more concessions would be a “sign of weakness.”

May has also come under criticism after two lawmakers from the Labour Party and two from the Conservative Party were accused of harassing and propositioning young women inappropriately.

UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has also resigned from his position after accepting his misconduct toward a female journalist in the past.

Source: Presstv

10, November 2017

Ambazonia: Hon. Wirba placed under house arrest ⁰

A well-placed source deep within the Ambazonia Governing Council has hinted Cameroon Concord News that SDF MP for the Jakari constituency in Southern Cameroons is now practically under house arrest. Our source further pointed out that Hon. Joseph Wirba is currently being interrogated by elements of the French Cameroun Secret Service over statements he made during a BBC interview some days ago.

We understand that trucks loaded with French Cameroun troops were sent to the Anglophone MP’s home in Jakiri yesterday. The Francophone soldiers have taken complete control of the building.

This item is still developing

By Eyong Johnson