Politics

7, November 2017

Biya fires top French Cameroun diplomats ⁰

President Biya has signed a decree today, Tuesday the 7^th of November 2017, appointing new officials in almost all embassies of La Republique du Cameroun. New ambassadors and high commissioners have been appointed to Cameroon’s diplomatic missions in Belgium, Russia, Nigeria, the United States, Canada, Germany and many other countries, as well as on the African continent.

In the Biya decree, we also note the arrival of new Consulate Generals in Paris and Marseille. In the same text, the 84 year old dictator retired several diplomats. In a typical CPDM pattern, Biya appointed the wife of Prof. Maurice Kamto, the leader of the MRC opposition party as Inspector General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It should be noted that this Tuesday’s decree came in a context in which Canada and Great Britain had called for Cameroonian diplomats to be recalled to Yaounde. Cameroon diplomats were accused either of sedentarisation or of activities contrary to their status. In Britain, the authorities openly accused Cameroonian diplomats in London of drug trafficking and feeding a network of illegal immigration.

By Eyong Johnson, CCN

5, November 2017

Tit-for-tat measure: Moscow slaps sanctions on dozens of Canadians ⁰

Moscow has banned dozens of Canadian individuals from entering Russia in retaliation for sanctions recently imposed by Ottawa against 30 Russian officials.

The move was prompted after Canada’s government on Friday banned and froze the assets of 30 Russians over alleged accusations of corruption and human rights violations.

“We have to respond with mirror-image sanctions,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. “If our Canadian partners like playing sanctions games, we will be forced to respond, although we certainly prefer to develop constructive cooperation on the issues important for the peoples of both countries.”

“The list is long and contains dozens of names — the Russophobic Canadian citizens that have been systematically destroying bilateral relations,” Zakharova said, without offering names.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also warned that Canada must step back from a “destructive course, leading to further aggravation of bilateral relations.”

Meanwhile, the Russian diplomatic mission in Canada censured Ottawa’s measure as “a false pretext of a hypocritical protection of human rights,” which is “absolutely senseless and reprehensible.”

Ottawa “is isolating itself from one of the key global powers” and “pushes Canada’s foreign policy back to the narrow black-and-white world view, incompatible with modern geopolitics,” the mission added.

“At the moment, dozens of Canadians have been banned from entering Russia; this is not our choice, but in case of new sanctions, our response will be unchanged and reciprocal in terms of amount and quality,” it said.

Canada’s sanctions list came after the country earlier this year passed its own version of the United States’ Magnitsky Law, a measure that punishes Russian officials linked to the case of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in prison after exposing an alleged tax fraud scheme in 2009.

The Magnitsky Act in the US has led to sanctions on more than 40 senior Russian officials so far. The list includes names of those whose assets under US jurisdiction are frozen and are barred from doing business with Americans or receiving US visas.

Culled from Presstv

4, November 2017

US professor predicts Trump will be impeached within a year ⁰

US President Donald Trump will be impeached within a year, says an American professor, who correctly predicted Trump’s election victory, long before most Americans considered it a possibility.

Allan Lichtman, a distinguished professor of history at American University, wrote in an essay for the TIME magazine that Trump is closer to impeachment than ever.

Lichtman argued that the reason for the possible impeachment lies with the indictments recently handed down by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating an alleged collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

“Already, Mueller’s filing in federal court of just partial information from his plea deal with [former campaign staffer George] Papadopoulos, contains stunning new revelations,” Lichtman wrote.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty on Monday in a federal court to having lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russia while working on Trump’s campaign. He had met with Russian officials in 2016 and was offered damaging information about Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails,” court records revealed.

Lichtman said the most stunning of these revelations is the suggestion that Trump likely knew about Papadopoulos’s attempts to reach out to Russian officials.

Trump’s former presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his lobbying associate Richard Gates were also indicted late last month, on multiple counts as a part of the FBI’s special inquiry into the allegations.

They are facing charges of conspiracy, failure to register as foreign agents, failing to report foreign bank accounts to the federal government and money laundering.

Lichtman said the president should be concerned, because there are new revelations that suggest Trump likely knew about some of his staffer’s attempts to reach out to Russian officials.

“These revelations may not by themselves establish the case for impeachment, but Mueller’s investigation is still in its early stages,” he wrote.

Special counsel Robert Mueller (Photo by AFP)

Trump has repeatedly denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and has condemned the investigations. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also denied the allegations.

American intelligence agencies claim that Russia interfered last year in the US presidential election to try to help Trump, who was then the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Source: Presstv

4, November 2017

Balla and the Consortium: No longer an item ⁰

In one of his great writings, Martin Luther King, Jr wrote ‘power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve a purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change.’ That makes it crystal clear that one should only seek power with the intension of executing the preceding proclamation.

The next task is therefore to represent the aspiration of the people. If at any point a leader can’t represent the dreams, hopes and aspirations of the people under him or her, that leader must consider their position.

The chronicles of history are littered with tales of leaders who have failed to represent their people after they have gotten to their mountaintops. The conclusions of such storylines have always been familiar.

Armed with charm and promises, the Anglophone lawyers of British Southern Cameroon elected Agbor Balla as their leader. The future looked bright for him and the British Southern Cameroons. Hopes of the people went up. In him, many in Southern Cameroons saw a political and social liberator.

But after his administrative incarceration and subsequent release by La Republique du Cameroun, his constituents have found his silence on matters of importance, actions and inactions questionable and incredibly worrying. This has led to a profound and understandable mistrust.

This headed yesterday with the great indignity of him being publicly sacked whilst on a disturbing and suspicious visit to London.

The big question from many all over the world is how can a man who was hailed as the Nelson Mandela of Southern Cameroons by some of his followers as recently as six months ago fall so spectacular from grace? His colleagues and employers at the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society in their letter firing him alleged that he has been compromised.

Did Agbor Balla actually seek power to glorify his ego or has he just joined the queue of leaders without conviction who have gone to the top with no vision and guts and therefore fallen at the first huddle.

Whatever happens from now hence, he surely will only have himself to blame for his humiliation and thoughtlessness.

By Chi Prudence Asong

4, November 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Ambazonians Must Chose Freedom or Death ⁰

The government should be under no illusion that the struggle is over because the resistance just began.

As distraught Anglophones continue to query and reject the very basis of the Cameroonian State;with a majority favouring independence, the leadership of the Anglophone struggle remains embattled on all fronts over its tepid response to the violent crackdown by security forces in the wake of the October 1 restoration of independence, in which hundreds of Anglophones were killed, hundreds more detained or missing, with thousands forced to flee to neighbouring Nigeria.From all indications, the independence restoration was a political misadventure, given the growing chasm within the fractious leadership,unvested with the history of liberation struggles and the taxing and quite complex challenges of navigating global power relations. Amid the apparent despair in the face of genocide, the government seems poised to run down the clock through the backdoor without genuine dialogue to resolve the crisis.The mistaken assumption is that differences between federalists and restorationists will divide and kill the struggle.This is a fatal mistake because Anglophones remain resolutely committed to the struggle. In the face of genocide, the message Anglophones have sent to the government is clear and unequivocal: give us freedom or death. The government should therefore be under no illusion that the struggle is over because, if anything, the resistance just began.

This is no time for public grandstanding; nor is it a moment political self-aggrandisement. The struggle is at crossroads and whether you support federalism or independence, the question every Anglophone must ask is this:Besides the token measures of appeasement, what has changed in the past 13 months? Has government through its actions and utterances of its spokespersons shown any interest in dialogue, let alone a desire to consider federalism? Without demagoguery,the truth is that nothing has changed.The government has shown no interest in dialogue and regime apologists have repeatedly foreclosed any debate on federalism.It is now clear that Anglophones will never get federalism unless the regime is pressured to realize that the two options to resolving the crisis is either federalism or independence. The catch-22 here is that only pressure for independence by restorationists will force Biya’s hand towards federalism. It therefore stands to reason that all Anglophones should raise their voices for independence until the rising crescendo becomes too loud to be ignored.

While not unmindful of the great trials and tribulations confronting our people; after our youths have been killed, maimed and dehumanised, it is mind-boggling to even contemplate sending our children to school. This will be more than just a betrayal of the struggle, and the sacrifices of Anglophone activists, including the larger than life Mancho BBC, who are still standing trial on bogus charges that carry the death penalty.Besides, giving up school boycott; the main leverage of the struggle has no redeeming strategic value, even to the federalists, as it amounts to an act of unilateral surrender.Our work is not done as long as the Anglophone is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of brutality by Francophone security forces who see us as a conquered and captured people.This is a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the high price our people have already paid, we must brace and bear ourselves to our responsibilities as a people fighting for their freedom.The real battle is about to begin.Upon this battle depends the survival of the Anglophone nation. Upon it depends our own future and that of our children and grandchildren.

The government knows it has to break the momentum of our struggle or lose the war. If we continue to be defiant in the face of torture; if we recognise that this struggle is not about us individually and focus on the big picture; if we keep faith with the sacred covenant signed with the blood of those who have paid the ultimate price, so that we Anglophones should be free; then, make your reckoning and realise that it were better to die 10,000 deaths than to act out of coward servility because it is folly to give way to evil counsels; to refuse to do what has to be done; to listen to the naysayers and advocates of the enemy’s cause, and to fancy that because we have sacrificed so much in blood and treasure, we as Anglophones will henceforth cease to be treated as second-class citizens in Cameroon; that, whatever happens, Anglophones will no longer suffer marginalisation and discrimination, even as Francophones see them as dogs, rats and slaves to be scourged and butchered with impunity.

With schools shut down, leaving students to an uncertain fate,puerile arguments about mortgaging our children’s future have been accompanied by claims that Anglophones were deceived that UNESCO will declare 2017 a blank school year. Such baseless claims are a wilful misunderstanding of the functioning of the UNESCO Recognition and Validation of Certificates Commission; the UNESCO Education Quality Accreditation Commission and the UNESCO Policy on Accreditation and Global Education.No one needs telling that UNESCO has strict guidelines and education harmonisation standards which signatory members must adhere to, in order for an authenticated certificate from that country to be given the same recognition in another signatory country. One such guideline is duration of the academic year.If a signatory country does not meet the minimum requirements in a section or the whole country, certificates issued that year in the whole country are declared null and void. The jury is not yet out on the fate of the “political GCE” that was written in 2017, as the crisis continues, but it is anyone’s guess that UNESCO will have the last laugh on those 2017 GCE certificates.

Besides, of what use is an education that turn our institutions into degree mills that produce certificated graduates who are so half-baked educationally that they are neither useful to themselves nor to society? Those complicit school resumption advocates must be reminded that school boycott was not invented by Anglophone freedom fighters. It has been the weapon of choice for liberation movements dating back over 1000 years. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the British refused to send their children to school to protest the emasculating education the Romans were imparting on the children. Despite the threats, intimidation and heavy-handed tactics of then Roman Governor of Britain,Gnaeus Julius Agricola (AD77- 84), British children boycotted school for five (5) years. When Britain later colonized Ireland and instituted an educational system designed to keep the Irish stupid,the Irish held their children from going to school for two years. The famous Irish Revolutionary,Padraic Pearse eloquently captured the mood of the Irish resistance: “The educational system the English have instituted in Ireland is a murder machine; the schools are soulless and instead of teaching they destroy; they cannot make men but they can break them. We will keep the children home instead of sending them to the murder machine called schools.”

Apologists of school resumption deliberately refuse to look at the unacceptable face of a monumental national scandal wherein the government pays lip service to education; but treats students as liabilities and teachers like beggars.A situation where degree holders end up as bike riders and call box agents will not change by merely cajoling or threatening parents to send their children back to school.The school boycott, sad though it is, is a cruel reminder that freedom has a price and the price of freedom is very high because freedom is not given. It is pointless sending our children to school where dormitories are burnt under the watchful eyes of soldiers. The fury of the enemy has already been unleashed on our people and our brothers and sisters are already in their graves! Why should we give up now when nothing has changed in the past 13 months?Think about those who have paid the supreme price so that we may live in freedom. And then ask yourself: is my own life so precious, as to be purchased at the price of second-class citizenship?

Therefore, arise oh Ambazonians, for as Thomas Paine said, these are the times that try men’s souls.This struggle is our struggle; it is our struggle no less than it is that of the Anglophone leadership or the Anglophone Diaspora. We must have faith; we must not be stampeded by rumors or fear by detractors and naysayers. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in fighting for our freedom. Let us unite in banishing fear. Together we cannot fail.And if we must die as Claude McKay told Black Americans during their fight for freedom and equality; “let us nobly die, so that our precious blood may not be shed in vain; then even the monsters we defy shall be constrained to honor us though dead! If we must die, let us face our murderous cowards like men with their backs against the wall; dying, but fighting back.” Let the conscience of every Anglophone hold a conversation with his/her soul; then take this solemn vow: I am fighting for my freedom; I know not what course others may take; but as for me, the choice is simple – give me freedom or give me death!

By Valerian Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

*Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai is a Public Intellectual and graduate of Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. A former Research Analyst for Freedom House, he is a Consultant and lives in Boston, USA. Talk back at ekinneh@yahoo.com

3, November 2017

‘I’m the only one that matters’, Trump says on unfilled positions ⁰

US President Donald Trump has pushed back against concerns about a number of critical positions that still remain unfilled in his administration, saying he is “the only one that matters.”

“Let me tell you, the one that matters is me, I’m the only one that matters because when it comes to it that’s what the policy is going to be,” Trump said on Fox News when asked about vacancies at the State Department.

“We don’t need all the people that they want,” he continued. “Don’t forget, I’m a business person and I tell my people, well you don’t need to fill slots, don’t fill them.”

A number of top positions remain vacant at the State Department, among other agencies, including officials overseeing Southeast Asia and arms control.

In June, the administration proposed $37.6 billion budget for the State Department and the US Agency for International Development, a drop of about 30 percent.

Foreign policy experts decried the move, warning that it could drastically affect US foreign policy in volatile regions of the world.

“It’s called cost-saving,” Trump said. “I want my vision, but my vision is my vision anyway. It’s called cost-saving. There’s nothing wrong with cost-saving.”

Despite the unfilled positions and reports of tensions with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Trump suggested that the top diplomat was giving his best effort on matters of foreign policy.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (file photo)

“Rex is in there working hard,” the president said. “He’s doing his best.”

Trump is way behind his four predecessors in the number of appointments confirmed by the Senate at this stage of his presidency, according to The Washington Post.

The president blamed Senate Democrats for this, while acknowledging that he has nominated fewer people.

“We have almost about half the number of people coming through as Obama had,” Trump said.

Source: Presstv

2, November 2017

Ambazonian appointed CEMAC Commissioner ⁰

Shey Jones was appointed on Tuesday the 31st October 2017 during the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of States of the Economic Community of Central African States, CEMAC that held in the Chadian capital, Djamena.

His appointment like those of every other ruling CPDM baron adds to his position as Board Chair of the Douala Port Authority. State radio and television reported that Shey Jones has held several posts of responsibilities including Board Chair of the National Civil Engineering Laboratory; LABOGENIE, CEO of MAG LLC Construction Company, Secretary of State in four ministerial departments and Secretary of State at the Ministry of Town Planning and Housing.

With political support from Prime Minister Simon Achidi Achu he served as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. He was Director at the Grand Travaux Yaounde. The chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate was a student at the National Polytechnic School Yaounde. He migrated to the Federal Republic of Germany where he studied at the University of Essen. Shey Jones hails from the Donga Mantung State in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Source: CRTV

31, October 2017

Kenyan President Kenyatta wins 98 percent of vote in repeat election ⁰

Incumbent Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been declared the winner of the east African country’s election re-run, amid fears of further violence in flashpoint opposition strongholds.

Kenya’s electoral commission announced on Monday that Kenyatta had garnered 98.2 percent of the vote in the October 26 repeat presidential election, in which the voter turnout was almost 39 percent of the 19.6 million registered voters.

Wafula Chebukati, chairman of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), said the incumbent president had received 7,483,895 votes from a total of 7,616,217 cast ballots.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who had boycotted the Thursday protest-hit election, collected 73,228 votes, less than one percent of the ballots cast.

Odinga accused the IEBC of not implementing reforms to prevent widespread procedural irregularities and mismanagement that had culminated in the annulment of the initial vote in August. The opposition leader won 44.7 percent of the vote after Kenyatta in the previous round that saw a turnout of nearly 80 percent.

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga stands on a car as he addresses supporters in Nairobi slum of Kawangware on October 29, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

In his victory speech on Monday, Kenyatta once again that his triumph in the original August 8 election was legitimate and that dialogue over political peace and stability in the future would have to wait if the opposition was going to file lawsuits again.

“My victory today is just part of a process that is likely to once again be subjected to a constitutional test through our courts … I will submit to this constitutional path regardless of the outcome,” Kenyatta said.

“Those who are going to ask me: ‘Are you going to engage in dialogue?’ … Let them (the opposition) first and foremost exhaust all their constitutional options,” he noted.

The incumbent president also reiterated that his victory was a “revalidation” of the people’s will after a vote that had already been branded by Odinga’s supporters as a farce.

Prior to the announcement of the election results, Kenyan police stepped up security in flashpoint areas in the country’s west, including the capital Nairobi’s slum of Mathare and the coastal city of Mombasa.

Shortly after the announcement, demonstrators began burning tires in the western city of Kisumu as well as in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, according to reports.

Local residents set up a roadblock after the announcement of the result of the re-election in Mathare, Nairobi, on October 30, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

At least nine people have been killed by gunshot wounds and beatings by police in the post-election violence since Thursday, taking the death toll since the first presidential election in August to 49.

The turmoil over the election has been polarizing the nation and hampering growth in East Africa’s most vibrant economy. Kenya is also considered a major regional trade hub and a key security ally for Western countries.

The European Union has called on Kenyan security forces to provide protection to all citizens and avoid the excessive use of force. A decade ago, some 1,200 Kenyans were killed in violence after another disputed poll.

Source: Presstv

31, October 2017

Yaounde: Another government likely soon, Biya to replace Philemon Yang ⁰

It has been reported that members of Government have lost sleep, since the return of President Biya from Geneva. The cause of their insomnia is the imminence of a cabinet reshuffle which some sources say Mr. Paul Biya would have carefully studied during his recent stay abroad.

The much anticipated shakeup was expected some few days after the presidential couple arrived Yaoundé. But more than a week after his return to the headquarters of institutions, doubt is already crystallizing in people’s minds. The wait has been prolonged with a trip to Chad amid rising adrenaline.

Biya continues to be the only master of time and there are under-the-table talks that his 31^st government since he came to power in 1982 will surely take into account the current socio-political context in Southern Cameroons.

A well-placed source hinted that it will not be surprising to see adjustments made to meet some of the demands of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Many within the power circles believe that it is likely Philemon Yang will be removed as the Prime Minister.

By Sonne Peter, CCN

29, October 2017

Congo-Kinshasa: US tells Kabila to hold poll in 2018 ⁰

The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has told Democratic Republic of Congo it must hold its delayed elections in 2018. Ms Haley warned that US support for the country was at stake if this was not adhered to:

“Elections must be held in 2018, (otherwise) the DRC should not count on the support of the United States and the international community,” the AFP news agency reports her as saying.

She made the comments after meeting Corneille Nangaa, head of the National Electoral Commission. Elections were originally scheduled for November 2016 – but the NEC cancelled the polls citing logistical and financial difficulties.

It said that among other security concerns the continuing unrest in the central Kasai region was making it difficult to register voters. The commision said two weeks ago that the earliest date it could organise the poll was April 2019.

Opposition protests have been held across the country against the perceived extension of President Joseph Kabila’s rule. Mr Kabila was to set to step down in December 2016 but in a deal brokered by the Catholic church it was agreed he would leave office at the end of 2017.

Ms Haley – who arrived in the country on Wednesday – also met the religious leaders who mediated the 2016 deal. She urged them to “get involved” in ending the deadlock. The ambassador also visited a displaced people’s camp at Kitchanga in the eastern region of the country.

She is scheduled to leave the country later on Friday. It is the first trip to Africa for Ms Haley, who is the most senior Trump administration official to visit the continent. She has also visited South Sudan and Ethiopia.

Culled from the BBC