In a press release issued on November 17, 2017, the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) stated that it continues to follow with “great attention” the development of the situation in Southern Cameroons.

The UN emphasized that it is “particularly concerned by the upsurge of violence, including that targeting civilians and State agents, including the defense and security forces whose members have lost their lives in attacks in different localities of Southern Cameroons.

While expressing his condolences to the families of the victims, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Central Africa and Head of UNOCA, François Louncény Fall, strongly condemns these acts of violence and demands that their perpetrators be “Clearly identified and prosecuted in accordance with the law”.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Central Africa and Head of UNOCA also reiterated the UN’s commitment to the territorial integrity and unity of Cameroon and called on the parties to resolve the Anglophone crisis by “peaceful means”. He called for calm and restraint while encouraging “the holding of an inclusive dialogue”.

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

Former US Vice President Joe Biden indicates that he may challenge President Donald Trump in 2020, saying he is “not closing the door” on this option.

Biden made the remarks in an interview with NBC News on Monday while promoting his new book, “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.”

“I honest-to-God haven’t made up my mind about that,” Biden, who is turning 75 later this month, told NBC journalists. “I’m not closing the door. I’ve been around too long, and I’m a great respecter of fate, but who knows what the situation is going to be a year-and-a-half from now.”

In a separate interview with Oprah Winfrey a day earlier, Biden said, “I’m —thank God right now — in awful good health,” he said. “But I don’t know what things are going to be two years from now.”

Biden is a strong critic of Trump and his leadership style. He has accused his administration of misunderstanding and misrepresenting the American values.

Earlier this month, Biden called Trump a “charlatan,” and accused the Republican head of state of taking advantage of frustrated middle class voters.

It seems Biden is remorseful about his decision not to run in last year’s presidential election, and has claimed that he could have easily defeated Trump.

Biden, a favorite for the 2016 Democratic nomination, announced his decision to not run for the White House in October 2015, cementing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s standing as the front-runner.

The popular vice president, who lost his son Beau to cancer in May 2015, said back then that he was not emotionally prepared to take on the battle and that it was too late for him to enter the race. Trump proceeded to pull off a historic victory against Clinton in November last year.

Source: Presstv

The interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has told Cameroon Concord News Group that there is no document detailing the transfer of power from the British government to the indigenous government of the people of British Southern Cameroons. In a telephone conversation with our chief political correspondent, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai earlier today, the leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia opined that there is also no Act of Union between the British Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun.  “This does not exist,” said the president.

“How would it feel for a student to go to university for 4 years then on graduation, his/her certificate is handed to the roommate? This is similar to the situation of the British Southern Cameroons. After colonisation from 1919 to 1961 (42 years) her certificate of transfer of power was handed to the neighbouring La République du Cameroun,” noted Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

President Ayuk Tabe further pointed out that La Republique du Cameroun has now recolonized the people of the former British Southern Cameroons for 56 years. “This nation is 2 years shy of a century of colonization. Did the world declare an end to colonization many years ago? Why are humans silent on the plight of the people of the former British Southern Cameroons?” President Ayuk Tabe wondered aloud.

“When two Nations decide to merge and form one Nation, usually with the two States equal in status, they must get together and negotiate the terms of their union. At the end of the negotiations, the two nations must sign an Act of Union. The people of the former British Southern Cameroons submit that there is no Act of Union between their Nation and La République du Cameroun. Therefore, La République du Cameroun has invaded the territorial integrity of the former British Southern Cameroons” added the Sisiku

On a serious note the interim head of state revealed that with a government now in place, Ambazonians are exploring all available options to redress this situation and send the occupier to her side of the UN defined and marked border.

By Chi Prudence Asong,

Europe Bureau Chief

American voters have less confidence in President Donald Trump a year after his surprise election victory and think he is doing a “poor job” in delivering on his campaign promises, according to a new poll.

The CNN/SSRS survey released Wednesday shows that 64 percent of American voters are less confident in Trump’s ability to serve as a president, up from 43 percent immediately after his election victory.

Additionally, 55 percent of the voters think he is doing a poor job keeping the important promises he made prior to the 2016 presidential election, compared to 40 percent who believe otherwise.

There was a 9-percent drop in the number of voters who say Trump can bring the kind of change the country needs, with only 40 percent thinking that he can still pull off the job.

The decline in confidence comes mostly among independents and Republicans. Compared to November 2016, confidence in Trump’s ability to bring the needed change was down by 10 points among Republicans and nine points among independents.

However, Republican confidence in Trump’s ability to deliver on his promises has remained unchanged, at 86 percent, since April, according to the poll.

Only 30 percent say Trump is able to unite the country as opposed to 43 percent last November. Among Republicans, the figure stood at 65 percent down from 81 percent a year ago.

Nearly 65 percent say Trump’s statements and actions since taking office have made them less confident in his ability to serve as president, up from 43 percent who said so a year ago.

Trump also scored low on trustworthiness as 34 percent call him honest and trustworthy compared to 64 percent who say he is not.

Another poll revealed earlier this week showed Trump’s overall approval rating stood at 36%, the worst of his presidency. Trump’s approval ratings have been noticeably lower than any of his predecessors.

The businessman-turned-politician has drawn fire at home and abroad for his radical measures, including a ban on Muslim travelers from entering the US, a plan to build a wall along the Mexico border and rolling back on enhanced relations with Cuba.

Source: Presstv

Another winner last night in the US elections was Wilfred Mbah, who won an alderman seat in Somerville, Massachusetts. Originally from Southern Cameroons now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, he is the recipient of a visa through the diversity-lottery program that Trump announced he wanted to dismantle in the wake of last week’s attack in New York City.

In an interview about his experience as an immigrant, Mbah said of Somerville, “I feel like the city has helped me a lot. Right from the beginning, I had friends that were helping me with job searches, helping me with my résumé.” But, he added,

We cannot leave it up to the generosity of private citizens to look after people who are struggling. I don’t know how many people are out there struggling to live in this city: artists, immigrants, working class people, middle class people. The city government must take a more active role in looking out for people who care about this city, and want to live and grow here.

Democrats won big last night, but there’s an even more important lesson to learn here: Progressive Democrats won big last night.

Source: The Nation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Culled from Presstv

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Presstv

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Presstv

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Culled from the BBC