President Paul Biya has appointed Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute as the new Prime Minister replacing Philemon Yang. The appointment was made public some 24 hours after his residence was burnt down by Ambazonian Restoration Forces in his native Bobongo, Ekondo Titi in the Ndian County of Southern Cameroons

Joseph Dion Ngute was Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic. Born on March 12, 1954, Joseph Dion Ngute is a career diplomat with a Ph.D from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom attached to his name.

He was rector of the Advanced School of Administration and Magistracy ENAM in 1991 before joining the Biya ruling CPDM clan on the 7^th of December 1997 when he was appointed as Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in Charge of the Commonwealth. Joseph Dion Ngute also moonlights as the traditional ruler of the Barombi tribe, Ndian County in Southern Cameroons.

Dion Ngute’s appointment and the war in Southern Cameroons

Rotating the post of Prime Minister between the two Southern Cameroons zones with these men of yesteryears will not resolve the Anglophone crisis. Moderate Southern Cameroons political commentators have opined that “If Biya wants to save Cameroon from implosion, he should without further delay, return Cameroon to a federal system with a rotating presidency.” “Only such bold initiatives which give Anglophones a stake in the country called Cameroon can convince Ambazonians to reconsider their struggle for independence.”

All these musical chair appointments are token measures of appeasement a smack of desperation to fuel the NW/SW schism and divide the resistance. It might have worked before, but it will fail because people like Musonge, Philemon Yang, and Dion Ngute no longer speak on behalf of Anglophones. His house was burnt just yesterday, and this should signal to Biya that Dion, like other SW CPDM elite, are considered traitors of the Ambazonia struggle. His appointment as PM is just an invitation for him and his cronies to “come and chop”

British Members of Parliament (MPs) called Wednesday for the deployment of Peacekeepers to arrest the bloodletting in Ambazonia and reaffirm the right of Ambazonians to assert sovereignty over their Homeland.

During over an hour of debate in the British House of Lords, MPs cited Article 4(b) of the African Union Constitutive Act on the sanctity of borders inherited from colonization to debunk the claim of a “one, and indivisible Cameroon” evoked by the Biya regime to justify the annexation of Ambazonia.

MPs challenged the UK Government to go beyond expressing concern and mouthing platitudes. They urged them to call for the deployment of African Union or United Nations Peacekeepers to help arrest the armed violence that has, so far, killed thousands, internally displaced half a million people and left 3.3 million others in need of humanitarian assistance.

MPs blamed London for lack of sensitivity in prioritizing a 1.5 billion pound oil and gas deals in Ambazonia without regard for the impact such a deal could have on further human rights violations.

Members of the House of Lords also questioned the wisdom of the UN decision in 1961 to deny Ambazonia the right to independence as a stand-alone country. They challenged the legality of the 11th February 1961 plebiscite and the failure over the decades to heed many warnings from Ambazonians about the collapse of the two-state federation and their exclusion from political decision-making.

In response to questions, the UK Government assumed the role of lawyers for the Biya regime, denying accusations that the Biya regime is perpetrating ethnic cleansing; suggesting that violations have been on both sides; and arguing that London can continue to do business-as-usual despite the genocidal violence.

Ntumfoyn Boh Herbert (Yindo Toh)

Amid warming relations with Chad, Israel is reportedly working to normalize relations with Sudan and other African states as the regime steps up its push to strengthen its foothold in the continent.

A senior Israeli official told Channel 10 TV channel that a visit on Sunday by Chadian President Idriss Deby to the occupied territories was laying the groundwork for normal ties between Tel Aviv and the Muslim-majority African states of Sudan, Mali and Niger.

The unnamed official also noted that Israel was seeking to shorten flight times from the occupied territories to Latin America through normalizing relations with African countries.

Deby became the first Chadian leader to visit Israel on Sunday, 46 years after the two sides severed ties.

After meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Chadian president pledged a new era of cooperation with “the prospect of reestablishing diplomatic relations.”

Israeli media cited sources in N’Djamena as saying that Deby’s visit was focused on “security,” and that the regime in Tel Aviv had already been supplying weapons and other military equipment to Chad.

Netanyahu, however, declined to comment on potential Israeli weapons sales to Chad.

During his visit, Deby said the future resumption of ties with Israel “does not make us ignore the Palestinian issue.”

The Palestinians, however, protested Deby’s trip to Israel.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, voiced displeasure over the visit.

“All countries and institutions must boycott the extremist government of Israel and impose a siege on it because of its settlement activities, its occupation of Palestinian land,” Youssef was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Over the past two years, Netanyahu has traveled to several African states in a bid to end decades of hostility against the occupying entity and convince them to stop voting against the Israeli regime at the United Nations in favor of Palestinians.

Source: Presstv

President Donald Trump said the United States would not punish its Saudi ally for the gruesome murder of US-based columnist Jamal Khashoggi, despite conceding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have known of the killing.

Defying pressure from US lawmakers to impose tougher sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Trump said he would not cancel military contracts with the kingdom. Such a “foolish” move would only benefit Russia and China, said the US president, whom critics accuse of exaggerating the importance of those weapons sales to the American economy.

Trump said US intelligence agencies were still studying the evidence around Khashoggi’s murder and who planned it.

“It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump said in a statement.

“We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he said. “The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia.”

The gruesome murder of Khashoggi, who vanished after being lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, has hugely embarrassed Washington.

The killing torpedoed a powerful PR campaign led by the crown prince to show that the conservative Islamic state has embarked on a new reformist path.

It also threw into question the White House strategy to make MBS, as the royal prince Mohammed Bin Salman is widely known, its main partner in the tinderbox region.

After offering numerous contradictory explanations for Khashoggi’s disappearance, Riyadh said last week he had been killed and his body dismembered when “negotiations” to convince him to return to Saudi Arabia failed. It said allegations the prince had ordered the killing were false.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Washington on Tuesday that Turkey was not entirely satisfied with the level of cooperation it was receiving from Riyadh on Khashoggi’s murder and may seek a formal United Nations inquiry.

Republican and Democratic leaders of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said they had asked Trump for a second human rights probe over Khashoggi’s killing.

Similarly, Representative Francis Rooney, a Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Washington should apply the so-called Magnitsky Act to those responsible for Khashoggi’s death. The law freezes US assets of human rights violators and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

Saudi prince ‘involved’ in murder

Trump has for weeks resisted accepting mounting evidence of Saudi government involvement in the Khashoggi killing – and accusations that MBS ordered the hit.

However, with The New York Times reporting that the CIA has definitively concluded that Prince Mohammed was involved, the focus turned to whether Trump would punish his Saudi partner or find a way to let it slide.

In his statement, released by the White House press office, Trump took the latter option, saying that the US-Saudi relationship was more important than the possible involvement in the crime of Prince Mohammed.

He noted that Saudi King Salman and the crown prince “vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr Khashoggi”.

“The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region,” he said.

Trump acknowledged a strong push in Congress for the United States to sanction MBS and take other action against the Saudi leadership.

“I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me, but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America,” he said.

“Mr. Trump bizarrely devotes the FIRST paragraph of his shameful statement on Saudi atrocities to accuse IRAN of every sort of malfeasance he can think of. Perhaps we’re also responsible for the California fires, because we didn’t help rake the forests – just like the Finns do?” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

The United Nations human rights wing has expressed worry over the security situation in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone regions from where it says it continues to receive daily reports of violence on the part of state security forces and secessionist elements.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, said in a statement on Tuesday: “We are deeply concerned about the worsening violence in the Southwest and Northwest regions of Cameroon, as we continue to receive reports of abductions and killings by armed groups, as well as extrajudicial killings by State armed forces.

“We urge all sides to refrain from acts of violence that have, for more than a year now, left the population in these regions living in fear, unable to access their basic human rights.”

She detailed instances of abduction especially from the Bamenda secondary school plus the most recent incident in the south-west region where eight students and an official are reported to have been abducted.

“They were all subsequently released, after some parents paid ransoms and the Catholic Diocese of Kumba intervened,” the spokesperson added.

Cameroon army’s complicity, effects of crisis

Also in recent months, Cameroonian armed forces have allegedly carried out a number of extrajudicial executions in the Northwest and Southwest regions.

On 20 October, in the village of Rom, in the Northwest town of Nwa, security forces reportedly killed four villagers during a confrontation with armed secessionist groups, while on 24 September, two men suspected of being secessionist fighters were reportedly killed on the spot. There have been numerous such reports in the preceding months.

What began as protests in October 2016 in the Northwest and Southwest regions against structural discrimination escalated into violence in 2017, and the situation has worsened considerably since then.

The violence has led to massive internal displacement – at least 436,000 people are believed to be internally displaced, while more than 30,000 have fled to Nigeria since September last year.

UN condemnation, call for probe and dialogue

We strongly condemn the human rights violations and abuses that have plagued the people in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon. We call on armed secessionists groups to refrain from the use of violence.

We urge the Government to respect and protect the rights of all, to address the long-standing grievances of the communities in these regions, including through dialogue, to promptly investigate all cases of violations reportedly involving its security and defence forces, and to hold perpetrators responsible.

We also reiterate our readiness to work with the Government of Cameroon, including through an assessment mission to the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country that will enable us to be able to look into the human rights situation first-hand and engage with the Government accordingly on ways to address it.

Source: Africa News