Politics

EU leaders reject France, Germany’s proposal for Putin summit

25, June 2021

EU leaders reject France, Germany’s proposal for Putin summit 0

European Union leaders failed to agree on a proposal by France and Germany to hold a summit soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Poland and Baltic countries said it would send the wrong message as East-West ties deteriorate.

After U.S. President Joe Biden met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva on June 16, French President Emmanuel Macron said the first EU summit with Putin since January 2014 would be “a dialogue to defend our interests”. He insisted the EU could not only be reactive in its diplomacy with Russia.

But after late night talks at their meeting in Brussels, the 27 EU leaders failed to reach an agreement, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said early on Friday.

“It was a very comprehensive discussion, and not an easy one,” she told reporters. “There was no agreement today on an immediate leaders’ meeting,” she said.

EU summits with Russia ended after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014 and the West imposed sanctions.

While Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he supported the Franco-German proposal, many other leaders were opposed.

“It was a common position of many leaders” not to change the stance on Russia, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said after the meeting broke up. He earlier said the idea was like “trying to engage the bear to keep a pot of honey safe”.

Latvia’s Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said the EU risked rewarding Russia with a summit even though diplomacy has failed to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine with Russian-backed separatists.

Instead, EU leaders fell back to a familiar position of warning of more sanctions on Moscow if it continued what the EU says is a Russian policy of disinformation, cyber and covert attacks and interference to try to divide the bloc.

Russia denies any wrongdoing

In a summit statement, leaders called on the European Commission and the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell “to present options for additional restrictive measures, including economic sanctions” against Russia.

The EU has sanctions on the Russian energy, financial and arms sectors and individual sanctions on Russians accused of human rights abuses and for using banned chemical weapons.

Diplomats say further sanctions could target Russian money laundering or powerful oligarchs suspected of serious corruption abroad, as non-EU member Britain did for the first time in April.

Search for dialogue

Macron had tried in September 2019 to seek less frosty ties with Putin, without success, and Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel met Putin in Moscow in January 2020. Putin held a phone call with European Council President Charles Michel, who chairs EU summits, on June 7 this year.

France and Germany want to be able to work with Russia on combating climate change and to find ways to stabilise relations. Merkel said even without a summit: “Formats will be explored … under which dialogues can be started.”

Many EU countries are concerned that the Kremlin does not take the bloc seriously, after Borrell was publicly humiliated in February by the Kremlin. Russia expelled EU diplomats during Borrell’s visit to Moscow without warning.

Lithuania’s Nauseda said: “We should be extremely cautious, this is not like the relationship of Russia with the United States”.

While France is a nuclear power, the EU relies on NATO for its territorial defence and takes decisions among 27 states, making it easier for the Kremlin to exploit divisions.

The Kremlin earlier welcomed the idea of a summit, saying both Brussels and Moscow needed dialogue, although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he wanted more details.

On opposing sides in standoffs in Ukraine and Belarus, and at odds over human rights, the EU and Russia accuse each other of threatening security and stability from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

The EU on Thursday imposed economic sanctions on Belarus, an ally of Russia that the Kremlin sees as a buffer state between Russia and NATO.

Reporting from Brussels shortly before the start of the summit, FRANCE 24’s Dave Keating said there was a “very mixed reaction” within the bloc to the proposal. “A lot of EU leaders are very angry about this proposal,” he explained. “Several feel that it’s pretentious for the leaders of France and Germany to think that they could meet with Putin and speak for all of the EU … a lot of countries think that this meeting shouldn’t be happening at all, particularly the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania – and Poland.”

In their remarks to reporters ahead of the summit, a number of European leaders expressed misgivings over the initiative, said Keating. “Estonia’s prime minister [Kaja Kallas] coming into the summit building said she wants to hear from France and Germany what exactly has changed in terms of Russia’s behaviour to warrant this suggested opening of dialogue. We also had Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying that if Merkel and Macron want to meet with Putin, he won’t object, but he himself would never meet with Putin. Asked why, he said, ‘one word: MH17’ – that’s the airliner carrying Dutch passengers that was downed over eastern Ukraine by Russian separatists in 2014,” Keating explained.

Standing firm and engaging

The Merkel-Macron plan insists the EU has to stand firm and united on Moscow, but should look to engage with the Kremlin on issues of mutual interest such as climate change, health, the Iran nuclear deal and conflicts in Syria and Libya.

Source: France 24

Battle For Bangui: France, UK and US accuse Russia of human rights violations

24, June 2021

Battle For Bangui: France, UK and US accuse Russia of human rights violations 0

The United States, Britain and France accused Russia on Wednesday of operating alongside Central African Republic forces and committing human rights violations against civilians and obstructing U.N. peacekeeping – charges immediately denied by Russia which denounced the Western nations for engaging in an “anti-Russia political hit job.”

The exchanges took place at a U.N. Security Council meeting after the U.N. special representative for the conflict-wracked Central African Republic, Mankeur Ndiaye, expressed serious concern at the military counter-offensive by the country’s security forces and “bilateral forces and other security forces” against a coalition of rebel groups which supports CAR’s former president Francois Bozize.

Ndiaye called the situation in CAR “among the most dangerous in the world,” saying violations of human rights and international law allegedly committed by CAR forces “and bilateral and other personnel …have never equaled those recently committed and detailed by MINUSCA,” the 15,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in the country.

As one example, he said, the number of sexual violence-related incidents in the first quarter of 2021 was five times higher than the number reported in the last quarter of 2020.

While Ndiaye didn’t identify “the bilateral forces and other security forces,” Russia has troops in CAR training its military at the invitation of the government.

A recent report to the council by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly criticized CAR’s security forces and bilateral forces for an “unprecedented increase in hostile threats and incidents” targeting U.N. peacekeepers and alleged human rights abuses. He said people in the country continue to face an “unacceptably high level of violence.”

The mineral-rich Central African Republic has faced deadly inter-religious and inter-communal fighting since 2013. A peace deal between the government and 14 rebel groups was signed in February 2019, but violence blamed on former president Bozize and his allies threatens to nullify the agreement.

It erupted after the constitutional court rejected Bozize’s candidacy to run for president in December. Faustin Archange Touadera won a second term with 53% of the vote, but he continues to face opposition from rebel forces linked to Bozize.

France, US cite targeting of CAR Muslims

U.S. deputy ambassador Richard Mills noted Secretary-General Guterres’ report of a 28% increase in incidents of human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law over the past four months. He said the United States is deeply concerned at the increased targeting of Muslims, and the alarmingly sharp increase in abuses committed by national and bilateral personnel.

“I think we need to be clear about these bilateral personnel — the individuals committing what many are now referring to as ‘atrocities’ are not independent actors — they are operating as extension of Russia’s Ministry of Defense,” he said.

Mills said the Biden administration is “deeply disturbed” that Russia has failed “to prevent its mercenaries from impeding MINUSCA’s freedom of movement on a daily basis.” He condemned an “appalling incident in which these bilateral Russian actors threatened” MINUSCA’s deputy special representative and a U.N. delegation on a humanitarian mission to Bang, which is close to CAR’s border with Chad and Cameroon, on May 28.

France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere called the situation in CAR “dramatic,” pointing to extrajudicial executions, gang rapes, torture, occupation of schools and violence particularly targeting Muslim communities, “as shown by the murder of a traditional chief a few days ago.”

“Let us be clear: Central African armed groups are no longer the only threat to the Central African population,” De Riviere said.

He said reports by the secretary-general and U.N. experts monitoring sanctions against CAR “point to the responsibility of a new actor, who is operating alongside the Central African armed forces and whose status is a mystery.”

“Some will try to deny the presence of the Wagner company,” De Riviere said, calling on MINUSCA to provide details of who these men involved in the fighting in CAR are and who they are accountable to for their actions. The Wagner Group is a Kremlin-backed security company that was implicated in the conflict in Libya.

Britain’s deputy ambassador James Roscoe said the armed groups are “fomenting instability, frankly, in order to line their own pockets.”

“And now, a new factor of instability: Russian private military companies acting in concert with the national armed forces to obstruct MINUSCA and to violate the rights of the civilians and citizens of the Central African Republic,” he said.

Roscoe said human rights violations, including acts of sexual violence, are not only being committed by armed groups “but also by members of the national armed forces and the Russian private military personnel accompanying them.”

He said the Russians will deny this, “but the evidence is increasing and overwhelming, and I hope they will reflect on the role they want to play in the Central African Republic and their responsibilities as a permanent member of this council.”

Russia: Allegations are ‘unfounded’

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Anna Evstigneeva countered that Russian instructors “are successfully enhancing the professional expertise of the Central African security forces without taking part in military actions against illegal armed groups.”

She said there are constant “dubious” attempts to discredit them without any evidence, especially in the U.S. and French media which use anonymous sources.

“This looks more like an anti-Russian political hit job,” Evstigneeva said.

“As for the unfounded allegations coming from the US, they’re not done by chance,” she said. “Our colleagues seem to see Russian instructors or mercenaries everywhere.”

(AP)

There are reasons why the Francophone dominated army is losing the battle against Amba fighters

23, June 2021

There are reasons why the Francophone dominated army is losing the battle against Amba fighters 0

The bloodshed unleashed by Cameroon government army soldiers in Southern Cameroons where thousands of people, if not more have been killed is yet to raise any worrying question about Biya regime’s continued deployments and the Francophone dominated army’s  inability to crush the Ambazonian fighters controlling nearly all rural settlements and border posts in Southern Cameroons.

Recent attacks in Otu, Bamali, Ekondo Titi and Nguti proceeded like many others carried out by Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces in it’s over four-year-long resistance against the Cameroon government military.

The Amba fighters raided check points; military convoys burned down armored vehicles and killed several elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion before striking the National Gendarmerie Force. On Saturday, a large number of Amba fighters overwhelmed a gendarmerie checkpoint at Ngoketunjia and three gendarmes who were at the checkpoint were killed.

Since 2017, Cameroon government army soldiers have used explosives, AK47 guns and rape to further their goal of maintaining the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon.

The United Nations and Amnesty International say as many as 5,000 people may have been killed. The Southern Cameroons Interim Government has reported death tolls in the thousands. Journalists and international human rights organizations haven’t been able to access the Southern Cameroons territory.

While the death toll remains uncertain, we of the Cameroon Concord Group can now reveal that the once formidable Rapid Intervention Battalion known as BIR has been demystified and many of its members are biting the dust in the jungles of Southern Cameroons. 

The so-called BIR that was thought to be among Africa’s best militaries have been unable to stop a hastily assembled ragtag group of fighters now being referred to as Ambazonia Restoration Force.

There are so many issues involved in this prominent and successful failure on the part of the Cameroon government military and they include the francophonising of the army recruitment process, lack of a unified command structure, poor equipment, low morale and corruption among army generals and colonels.

Scores within the Cameroon government military have faced secret courts-martials in Buea, Douala and Yaoundé in recent months for disobeying orders and, in many instances, refusing deployment to Southern Cameroons.

A prominent army general stationed in Buea at the beginning of the conflict, openly complained that his men were underequipped and that high-ranking military officials were bilking the country of money meant to fight the Southern Cameroons war was replaced by President Biya. Complaints of a lack of equipment are a taboo within the Cameroon government army.

The 88-year-old Head of State and Commander-In-Chief has done everything including sending in additional troops and giving them expanded powers to fight the Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces. President Biya’s troop surge is still not enough, nor is his tactics suitable for countering a group of determined young men and women whose hunting rifles have now been replaced with more sophisticated killing machines.

We understand that the Cameroon government army does not have sufficient armies deployed in the Far North to protect the civilian population against Boko Haram and the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé is also not able to put enough soldiers on the ground in Southern Cameroons.

Meanwhile, the Cameroon military is now a constituency within the Cameroon political structure and its strength has developed in the past four years as the balance of state power in Yaoundé has shifted from civilian members of government to military generals.

Ever since the emergence of Boko Haram, the conflict in the Central African Republic and the war in Southern Cameroons, Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate have found it necessary to feed the military leadership as a way to protect their power.

Correspondingly, army generals and colonels have everything while the Cameroonian security is being underfunded and is currently under-manpowered.

By Isong Asu

Nine Catalan separatists freed after Spain pardon

23, June 2021

Nine Catalan separatists freed after Spain pardon 0

Nine Catalan separatists who were serving long prison sentences for their role in a failed 2017 independence bid were released from jail on Wednesday a day after being pardoned by Spain.

Rain was falling as the seven male prisoners walked out of Lledoners jail some 70 kilometres (45 miles) northwest of Barcelona, where they were met by umbrella-carrying supporters shouting “Independence, independence!”

As they walked through the gates, they were embraced by newly-appointed Catalan leader Pere Aragones, and posed for a photograph alongside a Catalan independence flag and a banner reading “Freedom for Catalonia”, an AFP correspondent said.

At the same time, the two remaining prisoners, both women, were released from two other facilities.

The clemency decision was approved by the Spanish government on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying he hoped it would draw a line under past confrontations with Catalonia’s separatist-led regional leaders and open the way for talks.

The pardons were published earlier on Wednesday in the government’s official gazette.

The separatists were serving between nine and 13 years in jail for their role in holding a banned referendum in October 2017 that was marred by police violence then followed by a short-lived declaration of independence, sparking Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Although the jail sentences have been dropped, all nine are banned from holding public office and the pardons are conditional on them not committing “a serious crime” over the next three to six years.

They have all served more than three years behind bars.

“I am here because the sacrifice they have made for Catalonia and for all of us has been huge,” said Ignasi Sole, a 65-year-old retired mechanic who was waiting outside Lledoners prison for their release.

“It’s a way of thanking them.”

– ‘Independence through dialogue’ –

The pardons have been roundly denounced by Spain’s right-wing opposition as well as by many in the pro-independence camp who want a full amnesty that would allow those who fled abroad to return home.

Analysts have also warned it is a risky political gamble that may help calm tensions but won’t solve the years-long turmoil over the separatist crisis, which has left Catalonia sharply divided.

Madrid is hoping the move will give impetus to the upcoming talks with the Catalan government of Aragones who is more open to dialogue than his hardline predecessor.

Aragones and Oriol Junqueras, the prisoner serving the longest sentence of 13 years, who also heads the moderate ERC party, have recently taken steps towards Sanchez by distancing themselves from the path of unilateralism.

“We will devote all our efforts in this new stage to ensuring that negotiation be the basis for resolving the conflict,” Aragones said Tuesday.

“The best way to achieve (independence) is through dialogue, negotiation and agreement.”

When the separatists were sentenced in October 2019 by Spain’s Supreme Court, the ruling triggered an outcry across Catalonia, with thousands hitting the streets in protests that sometimes turned violent.

The move to pardon the separatists was approved by more than two-thirds of Catalans, an Ipsos poll found.

But the same poll found that 53 percent of Spaniards were against the move, which has also been opposed by Spain’s Supreme Court and the right-wing opposition.

In the coming weeks, Sanchez will meet for the first time with Aragones, who has pledged to push for an amnesty and a new referendum on self-determination — this time with Madrid’s approval.

Both are out of the question for the Spanish government.

Source: AFP

Putin and Biden in Geneva: High interest but low expectations

16, June 2021

Putin and Biden in Geneva: High interest but low expectations 0

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin square up on Wednesday for their first meeting since Biden took office with deep disagreements likely and expectations low for any breakthroughs.

Both have said they hope their talks in a lakeside Geneva villa can lead to more stable and predictable relations, even though they remain at odds over everything from arms control and cyber-hacking to election interference and Ukraine.

“We’re not expecting a big set of deliverables out of this meeting,” a senior US official told reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden flew to Geneva, saying the two are expected to talk for four or five hours starting at around 1.30pm CET (1130 GMT).

“I’m not sure that any agreements will be reached,” said Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov.

Relations have deteriorated for years, notably with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and US charges – denied by Moscow – of its meddling in the 2016 election that brought Donald Trump to the White House.

They sank further in March when Biden said he thought Putin was a “killer”, prompting Russia to recall its ambassador to Washington for consultations. The United States recalled its ambassador in April.

The senior US official said the United States aimed for a set of “taskings” – Washington jargon for assigning aides to work on specific issues – “about areas where working together can advance our national interests and make the world safer”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said whether or not to send back ambassadors would be decided by the two presidents. “Today the presidents will need to determine how to proceed with the heads of the diplomatic missions,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

While the issues may be vexing, the surroundings will be serene when the presidents meet in Villa La Grange, an elegant mansion set in a 30-hectare (nearly 75-acre) park overlooking Lake Geneva.

‘Very little hope of progress’

FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg confirmed the mood in Geneva, saying there is “very little hope on progress on any of the really big dossiers that could be on the table. But I think what they’re hoping for is to put the ‘table back together’”.

Cragg said the tit-for-tat expulsions have really soured the relations between Washington and Moscow, resulting in very little diplomatic contact between the two, but that “both sides seem to be willing to put those back together”.

He added that although such an rapprochement is usually referred to as a “reset” in the diplomacy world, “Biden absolutely doesn’t want it to be called a ‘reset’, he doesn’t want to use that term – that was the strategy that he, as vice president and Barack Obama as president, employed towards Vladimir Putin a little more than a decade ago and it is seen as not having been a success”.

Cragg said that although interest in the Geneva summit is extremely high, it “surpasses by a very long way the likelihood of anything really being achieved”.

Lockdown

On Wednesday, the summit perimeter was under a tight lockdown with heavy police presence. Following a their bilateral meeting, Biden and Putin will continue on to their discussions with broader US and Russian delegations including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, along with interpreters.

Arms control is one domain where progress has historically been possible despite wider disagreements.

In February, Russia and the United States extended for five years the New START treaty, which caps their deployed strategic nuclear warheads and limits the land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them.

The senior US official said Biden would also define areas of vital national interest where Russian misconduct would bring a response. Biden signed an executive order in April giving Washington wide latitude to impose sanctions on Moscow.

In a sign of the strained ties, the talks will not include any meals and Putin and Biden are expected to hold separate news conferences rather than a joint one.

“No breaking of bread,” said the senior US official.

Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat, told Reuters that Putin wanted respectful ties and to be treated like members of the Soviet Politburo were in the 1960s-1980s, with “a symbolic recognition of Russia’s geopolitical parity with the US”.

“In exchange, they (Moscow) would be willing to cut back on some of the loony stuff,” Frolov said, saying he meant “no poisonings, no physical violence, no arrests/kidnappings of US and Russian nationals. No interference in domestic politics”.

Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank, set the bar for Wednesday’s talks low.

“The principal takeaway, in the positive sense, from the Geneva meeting would be making sure that the United States and Russia did not come to blows physically, so that a military collision is averted,” he said.

In contrast to Trump, whose 2018 summit with Putin in Helsinki included a meeting accompanied only by interpreters, Biden and Putin are not expected to have any solo dealings.

Standing beside Putin in Helsinki, Trump refused to blame the Russian leader for meddling in the 2016 US election, casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and sparking a storm of domestic criticism.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

Biden seeks to ease trade tensions, rally support at EU talks ahead of Putin meeting

15, June 2021

Biden seeks to ease trade tensions, rally support at EU talks ahead of Putin meeting 0

The United States and the EU reached a deal Tuesday to end a dispute over subsidies and tariffs for rival plane makers Boeing and Airbus as President Joe Biden seeks to smooth trade tensions with European allies ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After a pair of summits with Group of Seven world leaders in the U.K. and then NATO allies in Brussels, Biden meets Tuesday with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The president has sought to marshal widespread European support for his efforts to counter Russia prior to his Wednesday meeting in Geneva with Putin. But the U.S.-EU relationship is not without some tensions.

Biden will meet with the top EU officials at a moment when the continent’s leaders are becoming impatient that the American president has not yet addressed his predecessor Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to impose import taxes on foreign steel and aluminum. There’s also a longstanding dispute over how much of a government subsidy each side unfairly provides for its aircraft manufacturing giant — Boeing in the United States and Airbus in the EU.

‘Real tensions over trade’

Biden isn’t expected to take action on the tariffs before heading to Geneva later Tuesday. He bristled that he needed more time to address the matter when asked by a reporter about the tariffs at his news conference at the end of the G-7 on Sunday. “A hundred and twenty days,” Biden said, underestimating his time in office by weeks. “Give me a break. Need time.”

Still, White House officials think they can build more good will with Europe ahead of the Putin face-to-face meeting.

To that end, Biden, Michel and von der Leyen are expected to announce the creation of a joint trade and technology council, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

The official said that trans-Atlantic council would work on coordinating standards for artificial intelligence, quantum computing, bio-technologies, as well as coordinating efforts on bolstering supply chain resilience. Biden is appointing Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to co-chair the U.S. side of the effort.

The U.S.-EU summit is also expected to include a communique at its conclusion that will address concerns about China’s provocative behavior, according to the official.

Tuesday’s statement would follow a NATO summit communique on Monday that declared China a constant security challenge and said the Chinese are working to undermine global order. On Sunday, the G-7 called out what it said were forced labor practices and other human rights violations impacting Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province

Since taking office in January, Biden has repeatedly pressed Putin to take action to stop Russian-originated cyberattacks on companies and governments in the U.S. and around the globe, decried the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and publicly aired intelligence that suggests — albeit with low to moderate confidence — that Moscow offered bounties to the Taliban to target U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Both Biden and Putin have described the U.S.-Russia relationship as being at an all-time low.

The Europeans are keen to set up a “high-level dialogue” on Russia with the United States to counter what they say is Moscow’s drift into authoritarianism and anti-Western sentiment.

At the same time, the 27-nation bloc is deeply divided in its approach to Moscow. Russia is the EU’s biggest natural gas supplier, and plays a key role in a series of international conflicts and key issues, including the Iran nuclear deal, and conflicts in Syria and Libya.

The hope is that Biden’s meeting with Putin on Wednesday might pay dividends, and no one in Brussels wants to undermine the show of international unity that has been on display at the G-7 and NATO summits, according to EU officials.

In addition to scolding China, NATO leaders in their communique on Monday took a big swipe at Russia, deploring its aggressive military activities and snap wargames near the borders of NATO countries as well as the repeated violation of the 30-nations’ airspace by Russian planes.

They said that Russia has ramped up “hybrid” actions against member countries by attempting to interfere in elections, political and economic intimidation, disinformation campaigns and “malicious cyber activities.”

“Until Russia demonstrates compliance with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities, there can be no return to ‘business as usual,’” the NATO leaders wrote. “We will continue to respond to the deteriorating security environment by enhancing our deterrence and defense posture.”

Source: AP

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Why tensions between Prime Minister Dion Ngute and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh are escalating

15, June 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Why tensions between Prime Minister Dion Ngute and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh are escalating 0

Cameroon’s scandal linked to the mismanagement of Covid-19 funds has considerably damaged relations between Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the presidency’s secretary-general, and Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute. But it’s not the first time that the two have butted heads.

In early June, Balungeli Confiance Ebune, director of Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute’s cabinet, was interviewed by investigators of the Special Criminal Court, who were charged with shedding light on suspicions of embezzlement, overcharging and misappropriation of funds regarding the purchase of anti-Covid protection and screening equipment. The damage suffered by the state amounts to several tens of billions of CFA francs.

The head of government may well have experienced the humiliation of being interviewed himself. He was cited in a report by the Chamber of Accounts, which states that businessman Mohamadou Dabo, owner of Mediline Medical Cameroon and Moda Holding, was in possession of public contracts that accounted for 94.93% of the funds used.

When questioned on this subject during his hearing on 19 May, health minister Malachie Manaouda told investigators that he had acted on the prime minister’s orders. This was all it took for Ngute’s detractors to demand an explanation from him.

Opposed on everything

According to those close to him, Ngute only encouraged the health minister to choose the most qualified partner, especially to deliver screening tests, which were out of stock at the time. His chief of staff explained to the investigators that he was only responsible for formalising this encouragement in writing.

Of course, there is no question of tracing this back to the prime minister while he is still in office. But Ngute did not back down from the affront. His entourage believes that it is just yet another manoeuvre by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, who has been the presidency’s secretary-general (SGPR) for 10 years.

This diplomat from the Central region, who speaks fluent French and English, enjoys the confidence of Chantal Biya, the first lady. The president has also delegated power of signature to him, which gives Ngoh a wide range of powers.

Ngoh got along fine with the placid former prime minister Philemon Yang, who had no problem with surrendering his prerogatives to the Palace. But Ngute is quite different. This rising Anglophone star, who was appointed prime minister on 4 January 2019, has quickly made his mark. Made of a different calibre than his predecessor, the 67-year-old lawyer does not hesitate to cross swords with the all-powerful SGPR.

The first disagreement between the two men took place on 13 August 2019, after Ngute asked ministers to propose names of directors general of companies and public institutions to replace those who had reached the end of their term.

Ngoh replied to this demand by writing a scathing memo to the secretary-general of the prime minister’s office. “I have the honour of informing you that the head of state has asked the prime minister, the head of government, to remind the heads of ministerial departments responsible for the technical supervision of public enterprises and establishments, that the power to appoint the social organs of said structures falls within the exclusive competence of the President of the Republic,” he wrote.

He continued: “In this regard, he would like to inform them that, pending several important decisions that the head of state must make, the officials in office should continue to exercise their functions as normal.”

The second dispute was over the organisation of the Major National Dialogue, aimed at resolving the Anglophone crisis. The two men disagreed with each other on almost everything. While Ngoh wanted to calibrate and control everything, Ngute wanted these discussions to be open and inclusive.

On the ground, while the SGPR was coordinating a Swiss mediation initiative, Ngute supervised direct discussions with the secessionist leaders, which were undertaken by Léopold Maxime Eko Eko, head of the special services. In the end, it was the prime minister who defused the anger of the religious leaders within the Anglophone zone, who were disillusioned by Etoudi’s disdainful treatment of Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi’s peace initiatives.

Close to Paul Biya

The prime minister’s attempts at mediation annoy the SGPR to the core, as it feels that Ngute is trying to create a diarchy within Cameroon. However, Ngoh cannot openly criticise Ngute, as he regularly meets face to face with President Paul Biya. Meanwhile, the presidency’s secretary-general only ever receives a small audience.

Finally, the rivalry between the two men has intensified as Ngute – who visited the Groupement Inter-Patronal du Cameroun (Gicam) in mid-May – has made sure to maintain ties with his contacts from within the private sector, where Ngoh has few friends.

This friction will no doubt produce sparks, unless a government reshuffle puts an end to this rivalry within the upper echelons of power.

Source: Africa Report

George Ewane is a shooting star and star

14, June 2021

George Ewane is a shooting star and star 0

George Ewane Ngide, associate professor, recently appointed Technical Adviser at the Presidency of the Republic, is a shooting star, and appointment decrees or decisions shoot at him like meteoroids gone crazy in the galaxy.

In three years, since 2018, he has been appointed six times, up, up and further up the ladder. Appointments are obviously in search of worthy individuals and it is Ewane – him and nearly only him – the “best” ones find. Even if mannerism were the only criterion for all these, Ewane would deserve his fair share. He is, anyone can admit, a jolly good fellow, easy going, down to earth and, oh, that charming smile you may only miss in the dark or when you have an vision problem.

He was appointed, June 9, 2021, a couple of days after his sensational ENEMY IN THE HOUSE commentary over CRTV’s Cameroon Calling, in which some guess he might have been protesting against another very recent appointment and/or what he might have considered the gesticulations of regime hypocrites. Well, who the cap fits, let them wear it.

Before this June 9 appointment by presidential decree, Ewane was the beneficiary of a prime ministerial appointment and four CRTV board of directors’ decisions. On June 22, 2018, he was appointed technical adviser No. 4 at CRTV, which brought to an end his over 16 years record run as presidential correspondent, which he closed at the apex as Head of Division (Director) of the unit in charge of coverage of sovereignty affairs. Just over a year later, on June 26, 2020, he was appointed CRTV Radio Central Director. In between all that, he had been promoted to the CRTV professional apex of Editorialist.

His meteoric career progress notwithstanding, Ewane, who apparently found his way into journalism only by accident has been quoted by close friends as saying he has really never practiced journalism proper, as in news reporting because in his job assignments, he has been given more to commentaries.

Armed with a Maitrise in English at the time from the University of Yaounde under the wings of the late Professor John Lambo and the late Professor Gervais Mendo Ze, he found a place in the now scrapped Division 3 of the Advanced School of Mass Communication and, out of there, got recruited into CRTV. Many might have noticed him for the first on-camera when he anchor the live relay of World Cup 1998 matches from the studio in Mballa II alongside Francophone colleagues including Alex Mimbang, Valerie Dikos Oumarou and Emmanuel Mbede.

Ewane’s CRTV whirlwind rise was punctuated by his appointed by Prime Minister Dion Ngute as Spokesperson of the Major National Dialogue of September 30 to October 4, 2019. His appointment as Technical Adviser at the Presidency takes him “back home” where, as presidential correspondent for so long, he created and produced the TV programme “Insight/Inside the Presidency”, which The Guardian Post captures so aptly with the pun in its Sunday, June 13, 2021 edition front cover headline thus: George Ewane now “Inside the Presidency”.

On the academic sphere, the ex-student of GSS Nyassosso obtained a PhD in 2013 and got promoted to the academic rank of Associate Professor in 2020, but those were academic exploits, not appointments. Impressive all the same.

I believe and wish Ewane is or were more a star than a shooting star. They are not the same thing. CoolCosmos.Ipac.Caltech.Edu says, “Shooting stars look like stars that quickly shoot across the sky, but they are not stars. A shooting star is really a small piece of rock or dust [known as a Meteoroid] that hits Earth’s atmosphere from space. It moves so fast that it heats up and glows as it moves through the atmosphere leaving a short-lived trail of light called meteor.”

I should perhaps apologize for using the wrong analogy of a falling star to talk about a rising star; one that only glows briefly for someone who has been in the limelight and promises to remain there for long. In the language of Astrology, surviving meteoroids (falling stars) are paradoxically, those that hit Earth’s surface or simply put, those that fall to the ground, called Meteorites. The rest burn out in “flight” and disappear to nowhere. There is no scientific evidence to the contrary of the obvious, that the “surviving” ones fall to rise no more. At least, they are not known to germinate. But George Ewane is a star and stars shine up above in perpetuity, don’t they?

By Franklin Sone Bayen

*The author of this article, Franklin Sone Bayen, an Alfred Friendly (US) Press Partners Fellow, is a freelance investigative journalist, editorial writer and columnist. He can be reached (direct calls and WhatsApp) at: 656969090 and via email at: frankbayen@gmail.com

Naftali Bennett: From tech millionaire to Israel’s ultranationalist PM

14, June 2021

Naftali Bennett: From tech millionaire to Israel’s ultranationalist PM 0

Naftali Bennett, who was sworn in Sunday as Israel’s new prime minister, embodies many of the contradictions that define the 73-year-old nation.

He’s a religious Jew who made millions in the mostly secular hi-tech sector; a champion of the settlement movement who lives in a Tel Aviv suburb, and a former ally of Benjamin Netanyahu who has partnered with centrist and left-wing parties to end his 12-year rule.

His ultranationalist Yamina party won just seven seats in the 120-member Knesset in March elections — the fourth such vote in two years. But by refusing to commit to Netanyahu or his opponents, Bennett positioned himself as kingmaker. Even after one member of his religious nationalist party abandoned him to protest the new coalition deal, he ended up with the crown.

Here’s a look at Israel’s new leader:

An ultranationalist with a moderate coalition

Bennett has long positioned himself to the right of Netanyahu. But he will be severely constrained by his unwieldy coalition, which has only a narrow majority in parliament and includes parties from the right, left and center.

He is opposed to Palestinian independence and strongly supports Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians and much of the international community see as a major obstacle to peace.

Bennett fiercely criticised Netanyahu after the prime minister agreed to slow settlement construction under pressure from President Barack Obama, who tried and failed to revive the peace process early in his first term.

He briefly served as head of the West Bank settler’s council, Yesha, before entering the Knesset in 2013. Bennett later served as Cabinet minister of diaspora affairs, education and defence in various Netanyahu-led governments.

“He’s a right-wing leader, a security hard-liner, but at the same time very pragmatic,” said Yohanan Plesner, head of the Israel Democracy Institute, who has known Bennett for decades and served with him in the military.

He expects Bennett to engage with other factions to find a “common denominator” as he seeks support and legitimacy as a national leader.

Netanyahu in ‘politically dangerous place’

Rivalry with Netanyahu

The 49-year-old father of four shares Netanyahu’s hawkish approach to the Middle East conflict, but the two have had tense relations over the years.

Bennett served as Netanyahu’s chief of staff for two years, but they parted ways after a mysterious falling out that Israeli media linked to Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, who wields great influence over her husband’s inner circle.

Bennett campaigned as a right-wing stalwart ahead of the March elections and signed a pledge on national TV saying he would never allow Yair Lapid, a centrist and Netanyahu’s main rival, to become prime minister.

But when it became clear Netanyahu was unable to form a ruling coalition, that’s exactly what Bennett did, agreeing to serve as prime minister for two years before handing power to Lapid, the architect of the new coalition.

Netanyahu’s supporters have branded Bennett a traitor, saying he defrauded voters. Bennett has defended his decision as a pragmatic move aimed at unifying the country and avoiding a fifth round of elections.

FRANCE 24 spoke to Jordana Miller, ABC News’s foreign correspondent in Jerusalem, who said Netanyahu, now sitting in the opposition, has found himself in a “politically dangerous place”.

“This new government may pass a number of laws that will essentially bar him from leading Israel again until his corruption trial wraps up, which could be a number of years,” she said. “That’s why we saw him fight tooth and nail until the very last minute making all kinds of desperate overtures to his allies to try to stop this new so-called ‘change’ government, but he failed.”

Miller suggested that Netanyahu will now do his best to try to “pull off one or two defectors – which is all he’ll need in the coming months because this government has a wafer-thin majority and there are so many ideological differences.”

A generational shift

Bennett, a modern Orthodox Jew, will be Israel’s first prime minister who regularly wears a kippa, the skullcap worn by observant Jews. He lives in the upscale Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana, rather than the settlements he champions.

Bennett began life with his American-born parents in Haifa, then bounced with his family between North America and Israel, military service, law school and the private sector. Throughout, he’s curated a persona that’s at once modern, religious and nationalist.

After serving in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit, Bennett went to law school at Hebrew University. In 1999, he co-founded Cyota, an anti-fraud software company that was sold in 2005 to U.S.-based RSA Security for $145 million.

Bennett has said the bitter experience of Israel’s 2006 war against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah drove him to politics. The month-long war ended inconclusively, and Israel’s military and political leadership at the time was widely criticised as bungling the campaign.

Bennett represents a third generation of Israeli leaders, after the founders of the state and Netanyahu’s generation, which came of age during the country’s tense early years marked by repeated wars with Arab states.

“He’s Israel 3.0,” Anshel Pfeffer, a columnist for Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, wrote in a recent profile of Bennett.

“A Jewish nationalist but not really dogmatic. A bit religious, but certainly not devout. A military man who prefers the comforts of civilian urban life and a high-tech entrepreneur who isn’t looking to make any more millions. A supporter of the Greater Land of Israel but not a settler. And he may well not be a lifelong politician either.”

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Israel parliament votes in Naftali Bennett as PM, ending Netanyahu’s long rule

13, June 2021

Israel parliament votes in Naftali Bennett as PM, ending Netanyahu’s long rule 0

A motley alliance of Israeli parties on Sunday ousted Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, and formed a new government in a seismic shift in the country’s turbulent politics.

Naftali Bennett, a right-wing Jewish nationalist and former tech millionaire, was to take over at the helm of the eight-party bloc, united only by their shared disdain for the hawkish right-wing leader known as Bibi.

Netanyahu, 71, in typically combative style, vowed shortly before his defeat that “if it’s our destiny to be in the opposition, we’ll do so with our heads high until we take down this bad government and return to lead the country our way”.

Beloved as “King Bibi” by his right-wing supporters and condemned as the “crime minister” by his critics, Netanyahu has long been the dominant, and increasingly divisive, figure in Israeli politics.

But on Sunday, a vote in the Knesset legislature following weeks of intense political drama ended his government with a razor-thin majority of 60 to 59 in the 120-seat chamber.

In Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, Netanyahu’s opponents broke out in cheers and launched into an evening of joyous celebrations, having rallied in recent days with “Bye bye Bibi” placards.

One of the demonstrators, Tal Surkis, 19, confessed to “mixed feelings” about the incoming change coalition, but said “it’s something Israel needs”.

Bennett, 49, in a Knesset speech before the vote, promised the new government, a coalition of ideologically divergent parties, “represents all of Israel”.

He said the country, after four inconclusive elections in under two years, had been thrown “into a maelstrom of hatred and in-fighting”.

“The time has come for different leaders, from all parts of the population, to stop, to stop this madness”, he said, to angry shouts of “liar” and “criminal” from right-wing opponents.

Fragile coalition

Netanyahu, who is battling corruption charges in an ongoing trial he dismisses as a conspiracy, has been the dominant Israeli politician of his generation, having also served a previous three-year term in the 1990s.

His supporters have hailed him as a strong defender of Israel who has been tough on arch foe Iran, but also struck a series of historic normalisation deals with several Arab nations last year.

Being ousted from the top job will leave Netanyahu more exposed to his legal woes, because it denies him the chance to push through parliament changes to basic laws that could give him immunity.

Bennett, a former defence minister under Netanyahu, vowed to keep Israel safe from Iran, promising that “Israel won’t let Iran have nuclear weapons” — a goal the Islamic republic denies pursuing.

Netanyahu, true to his reputation as Israel’s “Mr Security”, charged that “Iran is celebrating” the launch of what he charged would be a “dangerous” and weak left-wing government.

The diverse anti-Netanyahu bloc was cobbled together by the secular centrist Yair Lapid, a former TV presenter.

It spans the political spectrum, including three right-wing, two centrist and two left-wing parties, along with an Arab Islamic conservative party.

Lapid, 57, is to serve as foreign minister for the next two years before taking over from Bennett.

‘Scorched earth’

The improbable alliance emerged weeks after an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, and following inter-communal violence in Israeli cities with significant Arab populations.

Netanyahu, who long ago earned a reputation as Israel’s ultimate political survivor, in his final days in office tried to peel off defectors, hoping to deprive the nascent coalition of its wafer-thin legislative majority, to no avail.

He accused Bennett of “fraud” for siding with rivals, and angry rallies by the premier’s Likud party supporters resulted in security being bolstered for some lawmakers.

Netanyahu’s opponents accused him and his allies of stoking tensions in a “scorched-earth” campaign.

Netanyahu’s bombastic remarks as he saw his grip on power slip drew parallels at home and abroad to former US president Donald Trump, who described his election loss last year as the result of a rigged vote.

Sunday’s vote came at a time of heightened tensions in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which has grown more bitter in the Netanyahu years, in part due to the expansion of settlements considered illegal under international law in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, right-wing anger has grown in Israel over last week’s postponement of a controversial Jewish nationalist march through flashpoint areas of east Jerusalem.

The “March of the Flags” is now slated for Tuesday, and the agitation surrounding it could represent a key initial test for a new coalition government.

Gaza’s rulers Hamas said that the political developments in Jerusalem wouldn’t change its relationship with Israel.

“The form the Israeli government takes doesn’t change the nature of our relationship,” said the group’s spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

“It’s still a colonising and occupying power that we must resist.”

(AFP)

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