Politics

31, August 2017

Trump urges Salman to find solution to standoff with Qatar ⁰

US President Donald Trump has called on Saudi King Salman and “all the parties in the Qatar dispute” to find a diplomatic solution to the regional standoff, according to the White House.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates cut their diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing Doha of sponsoring terrorism and destabilizing the region.

The Saudi-led bloc has also imposed sanctions against the tiny Persian Gulf country, including restrictions on Qatari aircraft using their airspace. Qatar’s only land border with Saudi Arabia has only been blocked as a result.

In a phone conversation on Wednesday, Trump told the Saudi monarch that a diplomatic resolution was necessary in order to fulfill a commitment Washington and its regional allies had made to stay united while fighting terror, the White House said in statement.

Meanwhile, experts have touted the Qatar crisis as the fallout of Trump’s visit to Riyadh in early June. Even Trump himself pointed this out in a tweet during the conflict’s early days.

“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” Trump wrote on June 6. “Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said before the visit that it was aimed at getting Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations in the region to stand in “unity” with Israel and confront Iran.

This might explain the sudden push to isolate Doha, under the pretext that it has close ties with Iran as well as the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

Trump’s siding with Saudis became more apparent on June 8, when the White House said he had talked to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, asking him to help “prevent the financing of terrorist organizations and stop the promotion of extremist ideology.”

Now, however, it seems that the White House is running out of patience with Saudi Arabia over its refusal to resolve the crisis.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Wednesday that Riyadh and its regional allies had ignored “on at least 12 different occasions” calls by Qatar for talks on resolving the impasse.

The immense pressure seems to have failed to bring Qatar to its knees, as the country has strengthened ties with Iran and other regional players like Turkey.

Culled from Presstv

30, August 2017

Confused Biya government on the run as court postpones Consortium leaders trial ⁰

The regime in Yaounde has once again postponed the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium leaders hearing. Defense lawyers for Barrister Agbor Balla Felix Nkongho and Dr Fontem Neba were awaiting the start of the trial scheduled for August 29, 2017 at the Yaounde High Court but it was postponed to the 5th of September 2017.

This postponement greatly angered the defense team that arrived early at the Mfoundi High Court in Yaounde anticipating that the Francophone tribunal will rule on the habeas corpus motion for the immediate release of Dr. Barrister NKongho Felix Agbor and Dr. Fontem Neba.

The lawyers were informed by the president of the court that the detainees were not released from the Kondengui detention facility. A sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report noted earlier today that the Kondengui prison administrator told the Mfoundi High Court that the prison did not have guards to escort the leaders to the court premise.

The leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium are expected to respond to lame and ridiculous charges of coercion, acts of terrorism, hostility against the fatherland, secession, revolution and insurrection in the social movements that is currently going on in Southern Cameroons. They have been imprisoned in Yaounde central prison for eight months.

The so-called Military Tribunal had rejected the request for provisional release. Next Thursday, Dr. Nkongho Felix Agbor, Dr. Fontem Neba and other Southern Cameroons detainees incarcerated in the context of the anglophone crisis are expected to attend the hearing at the Military Tribunal.

By Sama Ernest
Cameroon Concord News

30, August 2017

UN chief calls for lifting Gaza blockade ⁰

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an end to the decade-long Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip, describing the situation in the coastal Palestinian enclave as one of the most “dramatic humanitarian crises.”

Guterres made the remarks during a visit on Wednesday to a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA, in northern Gaza.

The besieged Palestinian territory is undergoing an electricity and water crisis. “I am deeply moved to be in Gaza today, unfortunately to witness one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises that I’ve seen in many years working as a humanitarian in the United Nations,” Guterres stated.

He added that it was “important to open the closures,” in a reference to the Israeli siege of Gaza and Egypt’s closure of Rafah border crossing, the only passageway to the outside world for the impoverished coastal Palestinian sliver.

The UN secretary general wrapped up his three-day visit to the Palestinian territories on Wednesday. The trip was the first of its kind since Guterres took office. During the trip, Guterres met Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem al-Quds and Ramallah. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas welcomed Guterres’ visit, urging him to work for the lifting of the Israeli blockade.

29, August 2017

EU delivers strong defense of multilateral nuclear deal with Iran ⁰

The European Union (EU) has once again thrown its weight firmly behind a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran, as the United States tries its hand at undermining the agreement.

Addressing the opening session of the 2017 EU Ambassadors Conference in Brussels on Monday, Federica Mogherini said the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), represents “the European way to foreign policy.”

“This was not an agreement between two countries, I have repeated it time and again and I have the impression that we will need to repeat it time and again in the months to come,” she added, apparently referring to the stepped-up American rhetoric and action against the deal.

US President Donald Trump has called the JCPOA — which was negotiated under his predecessor, Barack Obama — “the worst deal ever” and repeatedly threatened to tear it up.

The deal was reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries — namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany — in July 2015 and took effect in January 2016.

Recent reports indicate that the Trump administration is actively seeking a pretext to potentially withdraw from the JCPOA. Among other things, the White House has reportedly been pressuring US intelligence officials to produce intelligence that could be used to declare Iran in violation of the nuclear agreement.

This is while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is tasked with monitoring Iranian compliance with the deal, has consistently verified the Islamic Republic’s adherence to its obligations.

Last week, the Trump administration sent US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to Vienna to lobby with the IAEA to request access to Iranian military sites as part of the deal, a move generally considered an attempt at undermining the JCPOA.

Mogherini said in her Monday’s comments that the JCPOA was “a commitment undertaken by the entire international community on one side and Iran on the other, supported by a resolution of the UN Security Council, and certified regularly by the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

She said “compliance with the deal is certified by the IAEA and by the Joint Commission I chair…, not by one single individual country,” in a thinly-veiled rejection of US attempts to claim an Iranian breach.

The EU’s top diplomat further hailed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s “personal commitment to continue to implement their part of the deal. This is what is counting the most for us in this moment.” Iran has denounced Washington’s attempts to undermine the JCPOA.

Culled from Presstv

29, August 2017

Consortium: Agbor Balla and Fontem Neba asked to appear in Mfoundi court today ⁰

The application for habeas corpus made by the defense team for the detained leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium will be examined today, the 29th of August at the Mfoundi High Court in Yaounde.

The two leaders, Felix Nkongho Agbor and Fontem Neba are currently being tried in French Cameroun for hostility against the homeland, outrages on constituted bodies and officials, rebellion, degradation of public property, looting, coercion of acts of terrorism, secession, revolution, insurrection, excitement And propagation of false news.

Dr. Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba described recently by CPDM Senator Mbella Moki as men of honour were arrested on January 18 and ever since then, the Southern Cameroons revolution has continued to shake the very foundation of the ruling CPDM party.

At the last hearing, on the 27th of July, defense lawyers pointed out that the detention of their clients was illegal. Because it violates legal proceedings. “They were arrested at the end of January and the pre-trial detention can not exceed six months without being renewed. But it was not in June.”

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News Group

27, August 2017

Most French voters dissatisfied with Macron ⁰

Most French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron’s performance, a poll shows, a dramatic decline for a president who basked in a landslide election victory less than four months ago. The poll, conducted by Ifop for newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), showed Macron’s “dissatisfaction rating” rising to 57 percent, from 43 percent in July.

Forty percent expressed satisfaction with the centrist leader – down 14 points from July. French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the ruling party was going through a tricky time, but added that displeasing some people was a price worth paying if the government wanted to push through reforms.

“Yes, we are encountering difficulties, but you cannot just spend your time only looking at polls when you’re in government. We are there to transform the country. Our country needs us to take risks, and we are taking risks,” Castaner told BFM TV.

Macron, who is midway through a schedule of official visits to various European capitals, has suffered a number of setbacks since being elected, including tough debates in parliament over labor reform, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance. Social media commentators and political opponents criticized the president after it emerged he spent 26,000 euros ($31,000) on makeup during his first 100 days in office and his office also backed down on plans to give his wife a formal, paid role after a public backlash.

Bernard Sananes, head of French polling company Elabe, said the latest survey could encourage Macron’s political opponents, after his party won a commanding majority in parliament. “It could mean, for the government, that the opposition mobilizes itself again,” Sananes told BFM TV. The Ifop poll showed the cumulative drop in Macron’s popularity ratings since May was bigger than that of previous Socialist president Francois Hollande over the same period. The poll also showed a drop in popularity for Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, with 47 percent expressing satisfaction with him – down 9 points from last month.

Macron, France’s youngest leader since Napoleon, faces a big test next month when the far-left CGT trade union leads a rally to protest against plans to deregulate the jobs market. “Now is the key time, with the labor executive orders to be presented,” said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based investment firm Prime Partners, who has an “underweight” position on French equities.

(Source: Reuters)

27, August 2017

Remains of Minister Marafa’s wife buried in Paris amid tears, praise ⁰

Jeannette Marafa, the wife of Marafa Hamidou Yaya, jailed former Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic who died on Friday 25 August in Paris has been buried in France, Cameroon Concord News has learnt from Francophone media sources.

A relative of the late Jeannette Marafa quoted by some media houses pointed out that she consented to the idea of being laid to rest in a cemetery in Paris, France according to Muslim tradition.

The source also indicated that in her will, Jeannette Marafa reportedly said that “When my husband gets out of prison he will exhume my body and bury me in Garoua in northern Cameroon.” Jeannette Marafa has always claimed during her lifetime that her husband, Marafa Hamidou Yaya, is a political prisoner in Cameroon.

The former Minister of State in charge of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, who is being held in one of the cells of a secondary prison at the General Secretariat for Defense, was sentenced to 20 years in prison over the Albatross affair.

By Eyong Johnson with files from CIN

26, August 2017

Angola: Ruling party claims election victory ⁰

The ruling party in Angola has claimed a widely expected election victory, setting the stage for a change of leadership after decades of authoritarian rule by the cold war veteran José Eduardo dos Santos. Though final results from Wednesday’s voting were still being counted, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) said it was on track to win a two-thirds parliamentary majority, based on its calculations.

In Angola, political parties are allowed to observe the elections by posting party members at every polling station and by assimilating results, the parties attempt to predict the election outcome. Though the MPLA has yet to lose an electoral contest since a return to multiparty democracy 25 years ago, the real significance of the poll was that 74-year-old Dos Santos, who has ruled Angola for 38 years, did not stand as a presidential candidate.

His successor as president – should the MPLA projections be confirmed – will be João Lourenço, the 63-year-old defence minister and party veteran. “We can affirm that the future president will be comrade João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço,” João Martins, MPLA secretary for political and electoral affairs, said.

The main opposition, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita), disputed the MPLA’s projected result. “Looking at the trend, the MPLA won’t have a majority at all,” Unita’s parliamentary head Adalberto Costa Júnior told Reuters news agency.

Culled from the Guardian

26, August 2017

Trump’s deputy assistant Sebastian Gorka resigns from White House ⁰

In yet another blow to the administration of US President Donald Trump, his deputy assistant, Sebastian Gorka, has resigned, media outlets report.

According to the Federalist newspaper, which cited multiple sources familiar with the situation, the national security and counterterrorism expert wrote a letter in which he announced his resignation over his dissatisfaction with the current state of the Trump administration.

“[G]iven recent events, it is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are – for now – ascendant within the White House,” Gorka wrote, according to the Federalist. “As a result, the best and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside the People’s House,” he added.

Gorka is another official who has resigned after Trump’s inflammatory remarks about a violent incident in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month. On August 12, a man linked to white supremacist groups ran over a group of counter-protesters during a gathering of white nationalists in Charlottesville, killing one woman and injuring some 20 others.

Trump stirred a firestorm by refusing to blame the violence on white supremacists and saying that both sides were at fault. His flip-flopping on Charlottesville prompted a wave of resignations on two high-profile White House advisory boards, leading Trump to officially disband both.

Every member of the White House arts committee also resigned over the issue. In the wake of Charlottesville, four in ten Americans support Trump’s impeachment and removal from office, according to a new poll. According to the new poll recently released by the Public Religion Research Institute, 40 percent of Americans back impeaching Trump, compared to 30 percent who said the same in February.

Source: Presstv

24, August 2017

Polls open in Angola in election marking end of president’s 38-year rule ⁰

Angolans have headed to the polls in a historic election marking the end of the 38-year rule of ailing President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, with his MPLA party expected to retain power but with a reduced majority.

Polling stations opened on Wednesday across the country – a former Portuguese colony – amid reports of a slow start in the nation’s capital of Luanda, where Dos Santos and his hand-picked successor and front-runner, Defense Minister Joao Lourenco, are due to cast their ballots later in the day.

Dos Santos’ retirement, which was reportedly prompted by ill health, has triggered the biggest political transition in decades for Angola, a leading oil exporter in Africa. He will, however, keep his position as the MPLA head. Nearly 9.3 million Angolans are registered to cast their ballots to decide the fate of the country’s 220-member National Assembly. The winning party will then appoint the president.

The main opposition challenger in the election is the UNITA party, a former rebel group that battled the MPLA in Angola’s civil war. The party has ruled the nation since its 1975 independence from Portugal. The MPLA, which stands for People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, won the 2012 polls with 72 percent of the votes amid widespread allegations of voting irregularities.

Meanwhile, at a weekend rally in front of thousands of MPLA party supporters, Dos Santos, a frail-looking 74-year-old, made a brief appearance to endorse the likely new president. “We have no doubt about the victory of the MPLA, and our candidate will be the future president, which is why I ask you: August 23, vote MPLA … and Joao Lourenco,” he said in a weak voice.

Dos Santos has been dogged by reports of illness, and his regular visits to Spain for “private” reasons fuelled criticism that his health status was being hidden from ordinary Angolans. Despite its oil wealth, however, Angola is plagued by poverty, corruption and human rights issues, though some observers argue that the new leadership may open the way to more accountability.

Source: Presstv