Politics

20, June 2017

Brexit: UK accepts EU’s timetable for negotiations ⁰

The UK has started the marathon negotiations for its exit from the European Union (EU) by giving in to the bloc’s demands on how the talks should be held. Hours after arriving in Brussels to kick off the first day of the talks on Monday, UK Brexit Secretary David Davis agreed to settle the divorce terms before getting to the details about future relations with the EU.

This is a stark retreat from Davis’ core demands before the talks, where he had called for parallel talks on both aspects of the process. The British minister raised the issue once again yesterday only to be shut down by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who said the European Council would only proceed to future ties when “sufficient progress has been made” in other areas.

The EU has demanded an early agreement on three issues: the rights of EU nationals living in the UK; the UK’s “exit” payment to the EU; and the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Davis, who had warned the EU’s timetable would risk an early collapse of the talks, said after meeting Barnier that backtracking on London’s preferences was not a sign of “weakness.” “It’s not when it starts, it’s how it finishes that matters,” he argued, noting that the timetable was “completely consistent” with what the government of Prime Minister Theresa May had aimed for.

Asked if he had made any concessions to the UK in exchange, Barnier said the talks were not about “punishment” or “revenge” and the two sides had to simply accept the “responsibility and the consequences” that came with their decisions.

“I am not in a frame of mind to make concessions, or ask for concessions,” he said. “Basically, we are implementing the decision taken by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, and unravel 43 years of patiently-built relations,” he added, referring to the last June EU referendum in the England, where 52 percent voted in favor of Brexit.

The two sides agreed to initially hold a week of negotiations every month until a new structure is defined. They also agreed to set up working groups of “senior experts” to work on the three key issues. Davis said there was already “much common ground” on citizens’ rights. Some 3.5 million EU nationals live in the UK compared to 1.2 million Britons spread around the continent.

The UK has also dismissed an ultimatum by the EU to pay a “divorce bill” of around £60 billion before sitting at the negotiating table. May expects the process to be completed by March 2019 but the EU has warned that the two sides should reach a deal before October 2018.

Source: Presstv

19, June 2017

Anglophone Uprising: The 10 most important points to remember for every Ambazonian ⁰

1. Only united among our own rows we can defeat our common enemy, which is our annexor, occupant and neo-colonialist exploiter, the puppet regime of illegitimate dictator Paul Biya backed up by puppet-holder France and its XAF = CFA currency system captured inside BEAC and the French National Bank in Paris.

2. With an enemy, which exploited, marginalized and mal-treated us for decades, there is no begging, petitioning, negotiating or federalizing. Only a clear cut with these puppets and crooks in power in Yaounde, Paris & Geneva can solve problems. Only full independence from our rapist La “Republique” du Cameroun can save our health. We say the final good-bye to LRC and Françafrique! There is no way back! Foreward ever backward never!

3. To claim a) the unconditional release of all political prisoners, b) the restoration of our statehood, and c) the withdrawal of all occupants from our Ambazonian territory is non-negotiable. Every Ambazonian must claim full independence now and all collaborators with LRC must face serious consequences. CPDM is a terrorist organization and all governmental offices, facilities or money sources of our occupant on our territory will e made inaccessible for him. And we don’t only claim, we take back.

4. Independence means independence. All Ambazonians are independent from all other powers in the world, especially neo-colonial powers. We are not dependent on any mercy of any country or organization to “give” us independence. We are not dependent on any UN document proving us anything. We are an independent people of Ambazonians and act independently and take everything we need for exercising our already God-given independence. We name ourselves and our state independently as we want, by referendum of our people or by decree. Our people are not Cameroonians. We are Ambazonians. Our own leaders and peoples decide what is good for us, not foreign ones.

5. The world media still does not know or does not want to know the truth about Ambazonia (former “Southern Cameroons”). We stopped calling us “Cameroonians” because the world does not understand the difference between southern Cameroonians and Cameroonians. We are not southern or western or whatever Cameroonians or just “Anglophones in their territory” as they say. All Ambazonians will tell the truth about Ambazonian = SC’s history and identity to any journalist, politician and organization in the world methodically, periodically, persistently, until the present narrative that the “Anglophones in the west of Cameroon” would be a “problem” has disappeared. We are not a problem, we are the solution!

6. The core of the problem with Cameroon is that its dictatorial government has sold itself to foreign neo-colonizers who steal the profits from the resources of Ambazonia into foreign accounts and do not reinvest these profits into Ambazonia. The whole thing is not a Francophone/Anglophone problem. It is a problem of robbing and stealing done by the French etc. and their puppet regimes in Africa. And all Ambazonians will tell this truth to the world consistently now until the world gets it. Additionally there will be massive demonstrations in Paris and Brussels in the middle of July 2017 which will ignite the “Second French Revolution” which means the end of France”s neocolonialism in Africa. On top of that there will be a Million Men&Women March on the government building in Buea on October 1st 2017, where we will hoist the Ambazonian flag. Our unarmed, peaceful marchers will be safeguarded by our hidden Ambazonian guerilla and all soldiers of the enemy will know that if they fire one single shot on innocent, marching people, full international media coverage will prove to the world that Biya is the terrorist not us.

7. Self-defense from violent occupation and human rights violations is fully legal according to international law. But the defeat and chase out of occupants can only be started, after SCACUF has achieved to successfully teach the international media that the Ambazonian freedom fighters are not what Yaounde’s CRTV says but the Biya regime and its occupying troops are violators of international law and terrorists. Ambazonia will not tell the occupant when its defense and guerilla forces will chase him out. They are ready. The occupant better leaves now or it will become a very bloody experience for him.

8. Sufficient finance, equipment and training of the own army, which will hold all own territory against all potential enemies forever, comes from supportive powers which oppose Camerounese-French mismanagement and which know very well that Ambazonia needs to give only a small percentage of its resources to finance sufficient self-defense. Parallel, the new, democratically elected government of Ambazonia will swear an oath to the new Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ambazonia (=SC), which has strictest anti-corruption-laws of the world and sets much higher standards of law than any French type constitution.

9. Ambazonian citizens started to register as citizen of Ambazonia online and will contribute each at least 10% of their wealth to the further liberation and modernization of Ambazonia. Better 90% left than 100% dead under the rule of the illegal French occupant. Those who refuse to give taxes to Ambazonia will feel disadvantages or dispossessions later. Big donors on the other hand will be have reduced taxes.

10. After Ambazonia has fully liberated itself and regained full control over all its territory and resources, it will also start to help the Camerounese as well to get rid of the incompetent, senile Biya regime and Françafrique’s system of corruption, exploitation and neocolonialism. After both sovereign countries Ambazonia and Cameroun have got a completely new constitution and a totally different, democratic government, both may form a Confederation, if both peoples would agree in two separate referenda.
LONG LIVE AMBAZONIA!
By Christoph Messner

19, June 2017

France: Macron’s party wins strong parliamentary majority ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron’s newly established party has won a majority in parliamentary elections despite a record-low turnout. Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) and its Modem allies won 351 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, media reported on Monday.
The Republicans and their allies would form the opposition, while the Socialist Party, in power for the past five years, won its lowest number of seats in the postwar Fifth Republic. Due to the low turnout, 90 seats remained undecided, still giving LREM a majority.
“This is an opportunity for France. One year ago, no one would have imagined such a political renewal,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said in a statement following the second-round vote on Sunday. Nina Halimi, a student activist, said, “This is a very good result, when Macron was not long ago predicted that he would be unable to win a majority in the Assembly.”
Macron plans to pursue his social and economic policies, including a change in labor laws, downsizing the public sector, and investing in job training and renewable energy.
Source: Presstv

17, June 2017

Hundreds of top jobs sit unfilled nearly 150 days into Trump’s term ⁰

The administration of US President Donald Trump is way behind on filling key positions as hundreds of top jobs sit unfilled nearly 150 days into his term, ABC News reported. Trump has complained that the process of confirming his nominees in Congress is “record-setting long” and has blamed Democratic lawmakers for stalling the process.

However, while the Senate has taken longer to confirm Trump’s nominees than it took with nominees of the previous several presidents, the real problem may be the president’s disorganized and chaotic transition. The groundwork of lining up potential nominees for a new administration usually begins well before Election Day with candidates beginning early to identify people they would want in the executive branch.

But with the Trump election campaign and later the Trump presidential transition almost none of that preparation took place. Previous incoming presidents identified a large group of potential nominees either during the campaign or the transition. But the Trump transition was well behind schedule compared to other recent presidents in lining up candidates for key roles.

The delayed start continues to plague the administration with only 151 nominations having been announced for the more than 500 critical jobs across the executive branch that require Senate confirmation. The Obama administration had announced 284 nominations by this point, and Bush had named 245, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

Trump has signed off on more than 350 nominees, which would mean that more than 200 of these people are currently undergoing a background review. The White House points to the long, behind-the-scenes process of shepherding each nominee from selection to confirmation as a key cause of the current backlog.

“Each nominee must pass a thorough background investigation before they can be officially nominated – everything from standard background checks to careful research and individual outreach to peers and colleagues,” White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters told ABC News.

Once a potential nominee is identified, it can take upwards of 45 days for that person to go through an FBI background check and a review by the Office of Government Ethics, all of which is typically done before the nominee’s name is sent to the Senate for confirmation. Trump’s nominees are taking 43 days on average to be confirmed, about 11 days longer for each person.

Culled from Presstv

16, June 2017

Trump to reverse Obama’s policy on Cuba ⁰

US President Donald Trump will announce a significant rollback of former President Barack Obama’s accord with Cuba by imposing travel and trade restrictions on the island nation, according to a new report. Trump will announce the changes to the Obama-era policies that improved US relations with Cuba in a speech in Miami, Florida, on Friday, POLITICO reported on Thursday.

The Trump administration had put the Cuba policy under review upon taking office earlier this year, the report said. The administration aims to reinforce certain aspects of about six-decade-old trade embargo in an attempt of preventing business dealings with companies controlled by the Cuban military, according to a draft version of the directive obtained by POLITICO.

“My administration’s policy will be guided by key US national security interests and solidarity with the Cuban people,” reads the draft. “I will seek to promote a stable, prosperous, and free country for the Cuban people. To that end, we must ensure that US funds are not channeled to a regime that has failed to meet the most basic requirements of a free and just society.”

During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump threatened to “terminate” deals that the Obama administration made with Cuba. “The policy the Trump administration is announcing regarding Cuba based on President Trump’s core conviction that what the Cuban exile community is asking for is right and just,” the White House said in a written statement to POLITICO.

Obama worked to enact several changes to Cuban policy during his tenure in the White House. He re-established diplomatic relations with Havana in 2015 and loosened some restrictions on doing business in the country. Obama also gave illegal immigrants from Cuba a path to legal status and opened travel to the island nation.

Despite Obama’s effort to improve ties, the Republican-dominated Congress has refused to lift Washington’s 57-year-old embargo against Havana, which makes it illegal for US corporations to do business with Cuba. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and placed an official embargo against the country in 1962. The two countries became ideological foes soon after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power and their ties remained hostile even after the end of the Cold War.

Culled from Presstv

16, June 2017

Yaounde: Senators grill 5 Francophone members of government ⁰

Five Francophone government ministers have appeared before members of the Upper House of Parliament to respond to questions on issues concerning their ministerial departments during a question and answer session on Wednesday the 14th of June 2017.

Questions concerning the poor treatment of girls in search of jobs in countries in the Middle East, Water management problem caused by climate change, the problem of land ownership in the Grand North, and Vodafone mobile telephone company in Cameroon were among concerns raised by the so-called Senators.

External Relations minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella was the first Francophone member of government to mount the rostrum. Senator Eno Emma Lafon addressed the issue of trafficking and poor treatment of youths mostly young girls in the middle East, Asia and Europe who are searching for jobs.

The Minister said that the Biya Francophone government through its embassies, has established contact with authorities in Quatar and Saudi Arabia to control those leaving the country. He also pointed out that most of those who spearheaded trafficking networks have been arrested.

The Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation Magdalene Tchuente presented a submission on water shortage for Agricultural activities caused by climate change; a question that came from Senator V.E. Victor Mukete. She said her Ministry through IRAD has been handling the problem of water shortage and that research on new seeds used for Agriculture has been carried out.

The Vodafone Telecom network issue which some media reports have suggested was operating without a license was addressed to the Minister of Telecommunications, Minette Libom Lilikeng who simply revealed plans to put in place a stronger regulatory system.

The Grand North Region was also on the spot light where it has been reported that people acquire land without land titles. To this, the Minister of State Property and Land Tenure said efforts are being made to tackle the problem. The misappropriation of Public funds by Public accountants and efforts made by government to ensure that money is securely placed in State Treasury was handled by the Minister of Finance Alamine Ousmane Mey.

Culled from CRTV

12, June 2017

Senator John McCain says America was better under Obama ⁰

Republican Senator John McCain has said American leadership was stronger under President Barack Obama, according to a report. McCain made the remarks in an interview with The Guardian published on Sunday while responding to a question.

Asked if America’s stance on the global stage was better during the Obama administration, McCain responded, “As far as American leadership is concerned, yes.”

McCain, the chairman on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has often harshly criticized the policies of Republican President Donald Trump.

Nearly a month after Trump was sworn in as president on January 20, McCain said “in many respects this administration is in disarray and they’ve got a lot of work to do.”

In March, McCain denounced Trump’s claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, saying either he has to retract it or provide evidence of the allegation.

But McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, had also been very critical of the Obama administration’s foreign policy agenda.

The Guardian described the Arizona senator as “visibly irked” when he was asked about Trump’s recent Twitter assault on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, which came shortly after a deadly attack that left eight dead and dozens injured in the heart of the British capital.

“What do you think the message is? The message is that America doesn’t want to lead,” McCain said. “They are not sure of American leadership, whether it be in Siberia or whether it be in Antarctica.”

US President Donald Trump (R) and London Mayor Sadiq Khan

Trump accused Khan, the first Muslim mayor of the city, of offering a “pathetic excuse” for remarks that the US president misinterpreted about policing in response to the attack that left several people dead.

Trump tweeted that Khan had to “think fast” to excuse comments that Londoners need not be alarmed after the deadly attack.

The US president’s provocative comments caused outrage among top British officials. Even British Prime Minister Theresa May, a Conservative, expressed her support for the mayor, a member of the Labour Party.

Source: Presstv

10, June 2017

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Senate President calls for dialogue ⁰

The June 2017 ordinary session for the legislative year opened on Thursday 8th June 2017 in Yaoundé with a call for the consolidation of national unity. During the official opening at the Upper House of Parliament, the Senate President Marcel Niat Njifentji read from the similar script prepared by the Biya regime that Cameroon remains one and indivisible and any move against national Unity must be denounced.

He praised Senators for going back to their respective constituencies during the recess period. In like manner, he praised all defense groups that have been combating the terrorist group Boko Haram in the Far North Region.

He also called for the spirit of dialogue tolerance, and conviviality throughout this session of parliament. Discussing the crisis in the two Anglophone Regions all were agreed that only dialogue and newly created Commission for the promotion of Bilingualism and multi- culturalism can be the solution.

Present during the opening session of parliament at the Upper House, were cabinet members led by PM Philemon Yang, President of the National Assembly Honourable Cavaye Yeguie Djibril and the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court Mekobe Sone.

Source: Presstv

10, June 2017

Election results to throw UK into political chaos ⁰

Final results of the UK general election indicate that the Conservative Party of British Prime Minister Theresa May has been delivered a heavy blow by the people as she failed to secure majority seats in the parliament. Press TV interviewed Robert Evans, a former member of the European Parliament from London, and Ian Williams, an expert of the Foreign Policy in Focus from New York, on Britain’s political outlook following the shock vote.

Evans predicts that Britain would experience “complete and utter political chaos” in the next few months as the general elections ended in a hung parliament, where the Conservatives won 318 seats, short of the 326 they needed for an outright majority and well down from the 330 seats they had before.

The Conservatives would criticize the prime minister for such a “poor campaign” that ended up in losing 13 seats in the Parliament, he added.

The commentator also warned that Britain is facing turmoil because the Tories have failed to secure a stable transition period ahead of Brexit talks.

“We are in not quite a political stalemate, but we are in a situation of turmoil just when the Conservative said they wanted stability because of the Brexit debates and Brexit arguments,” he added.

He further pointed to Theresa May’s unsuccessful campaign that paved the way for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party to clinch 261 seats in the parliament.

“This result is a big surprise for many people because we have been told repeatedly by the opinion polls that something different was going to happen,” Evans noted.

British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May makes a statement outside 10 Downing Street in central London on June 9, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

May “thought when she called the election very arrogantly that she was going to get a big vote of confidence but in fact the British people have spoken and they said they don’t like what is going on, they didn’t like the manifest that the Conservatives put forward,” he argued.

The former member of the European Parliament blamed the premier for her party’s defeat in the snap election.

“Theresa May refused to debate, she refused to talk with the ordinary people in the election” and “she has paid the price for that,” the analyst added.

Another panelist, Williams, said that Theresa May made a mistake when she called for a snap election because the prime minister had a wrong expectation about winning the election.

May could not get a majority in the parliament, because she had US President Donald “Trump’s politics” and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “demeanor,” which is a fatal combination, the analyst elaborated.

He also forecast “a very precarious future” for the United Kingdom and for Theresa May, who needs to form a coalition government, while “almost all of other parties in the parliament are opposed to the Tory policy of austerity and cuts in spending and welfare.”

This is a clear mandate from the British public against conservative and neo-liberal austerity policies, Williams concluded.

Culled from Presstv

9, June 2017

There are reasons why Musonge loves Biya ⁰

The Chairman of the so-called National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, Senator Mafany Musonge was recently seen at the Palais des Congrès participating in the Senate’s plenary session. Prior to the beginning of the session, Mafany Musonge had numerous exchanges with many of his senator colleagues including Marcel Niat Njifenji, the president of the Upper House.

The former prime minister and head of government took part in the opening of the second parliamentary session of the legislative year 2017 after his appointment as president of the CPDM commission on bilingualism and multiculturalism on Wednesday the 15^th of March 2017. Any right thinking Anglophone trained in the US or UK should have stepped down from his duties as a senator.

To be sure, on March 21, 2017, he was replaced at the head of the CPDM parliamentary group in the Senate by Chief Barrister Tabe Tando who was elected with him from the South West constituency. Musonge’s deputy, Gabriel Dima, was then presented to the House as the man who has taken over from Musonge in the Upper House of Parliament.

Article 22 (1) of the Rules of the Senate stipulates that the exercise of the Senator’s mandate is incompatible with the functions of a member of the Government, member of the Constitutional Council, member of the Economic and Social Council, Mayor, Government Delegate to an urban Council and to any non-elective public office. This provision is supplemented by Article 162 of the Electoral Code.

Former Prime Minister Peter Mafany Musonge (to use his three names) loves the Francophone political system that encourages malpractices such as “Depute-Maire” in order words MP and Mayor at the same time. Musonge is the current Grand Chancellor of National Orders, President of the South West CPDM Group, South West CPDM Senator, Board member of numerous state-owned corporations, member of the ruling CPDM Central Committee- just to name a few

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Cameroon Concord News Group