13, December 2018

2 protesters killed during Congo-Kinshasa opposition rally ⁰

At least two people were killed Wednesday in clashes with police on the sidelines of an opposition rally in eastern DR Congo ahead of this month’s presidential elections, several sources said.

The violence erupted in Kalemie, a town on Lake Tanganyika as opposition candidate Martin Fayulu was campaigning there.

It came a day after two of his supporters were killed and 43 hurt in clashes at a rally in Lubumbashi, DR Congo’s second city.

A witness said “live rounds” were fired as Fayulu arrived in Kalemie.

Rogardien Myumba, head of a federation of local NGOs, said: “Two opposition activists were shot dead as they were heading to the airport to welcome Mr Fayulu.”

A local doctor told AFP there were three bodies at the hospital morgue, while an emergency responder said his team had picked up four bodies.

Fayulu, 62, a little-known lawmaker and former oil executive, has made a late surge after being named the joint candidate for several opposition parties.

DR Congo is in the throes of a major campaign ahead of the December 23 election to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the vast central African country since 2001.

President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila sits in a garden at his personal ranch on December 10, 2018 in Kinshasa. (Photo by AFP)

But the campaign has been overshadowed by fears of violence in this vast poverty-stricken nation which is one of Africa’s most volatile countries and has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

In the past 22 years, two massive wars have shaken the country, claiming millions of lives and sucking in armies from around southern and central Africa.

Lower-level conflicts are burning in the center and east of the country which could easily flare into fully-fledged wars, analysts warn.

Kabila has remained in office as caretaker leader even though his second and final term ended nearly two years ago.

Twenty-one candidates are running to replace him.

As well as Fayulu, the front-runners are Felix Tshisekedi of the mainstream opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Kabila’s handpicked successor.

(Source: AFP)

13, December 2018

US senators say Saudi Arabia should remove MbS from power ⁰

Several senior US senators in Congress have warned Saudi Arabia that Riyadh must change its leadership if itwants to maintain its close ties with Washington, saying Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has become “so toxic.”

In some of their strongest comments to date, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Bob Menendez signaled Wednesday they would like to see Saudi Arabia remove from power bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler.

Sentiment voiced in both the Senate and House of Representatives this week signals a shift in congressional support for Saudi Arabia and bin Salman, also known as MbS.

“To our friends in Saudi Arabia, you are never going to have a relationship with the United States Senate unless things change. And it’s up to you to figure out what that change needs to be,” Graham told reporters at a press conference in Congress.

“From my point of view, the current construct is not working. There is a relationship between countries and individuals. The individual, the crown prince, is so toxic, so tainted, so flawed that I can’t ever see myself doing business in the future with Saudi Arabia unless there is a change there,” Graham said.

“The relationship with Saudi Arabia is not working for America,” he added. “It is more of a burden than an asset.”

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution on Wednesday proposed by Menendez and Republican Senator Todd Young that would suspend weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and impose sanctions on people blocking humanitarian access in Yemen.

Menendez, who was joined at the press conference on Capitol Hill by Graham, said the resolution will pass when it comes to a full vote in the Senate and that it is meant to hold Saudi leaders accountable for human rights abuses.

“This sends a global message that just because you’re an ally of the United States, you can’t kill with impunity,” Menendez said.

The US Senate voted on Wednesday to advance another resolution to end US military support for the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen, setting the stage for debate and a later vote in the upper chamber.

The United State Senate has voted to end President Donald Trump’s support for the Saudi war on Yemen. The nearly unprecedented break the 11 Republicans made from US President Donald Trump was largely symbolic because the House of Representatives is not expected to take the matter up this year.

Trump has threatened a veto the measure if it passes both chambers. The Saudi war against Yemen has killed over 15, 000 people in the impoverished nation and has been described by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

During an interview with Reuterson Tuesday, Trump said he hoped senators would not propose stopping arms salesto the Saudis. Trump also said he stood by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince despitea CIA assessment that he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, inIstanbul, Turkey, on October 2. Trump has come under fierce criticism fromfellow Republicans in the Senate over the issue.

Source: Presstv

13, December 2018

Southern Cameroons: Fire again destroys shops in Bamenda in a period of 2 weeks ⁰

Once again fire has destroyed shops on Tuesday (December 11) evening in Cameroon’s Bamenda. Last time, during the end of November, massive fire destroyed a big portion of a food market in the same location. This time only five shops destroyed in a period of just two weeks, whereas last time 200 stalls got devastated by the tremendous fire.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. This is the fourth time in less than two years that the market in Bamenda is affected by fire. The government blamed a fire at the market last year on separatists demanding independence for the English-speaking regions in Cameroon.

The separatists say English-speaking Cameroonians face discrimination and are fed up of being part of a country ruled for more than 35 years by French-speaking President Paul Biya.

Devdiscourse

13, December 2018

Ivorian International Serge Aurier says – Offering Cameroon The 2021 AFCON Hosting Rights ‘Stupid’ ⁰

Tottenham Hotspur and Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier has termed “stupid” a decision to offer the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosting rights to Cameroon.

After taking away the 2019 AFCON from Cameroon for unpreparedness, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) offered them the 2021 hosting rights which were initially awarded to Ivory Coast.

A leaked confidential letter from CAF boss Ahmad to Cameroon’s Head of State Paul Biya indicated that “the CAF Executive Committee will be honored to see Cameroon hosting the 2021 edition.”

“It will allow Cameroon to complete in comfort all its projects and security issues.”

In interview with French TV channel Canal +, Ivory Coast skipper Serge Aurier called the decision stupid and political.

“I’m shocked, I do not understand this decision.

For me, it’s a disaster, a matter of politicians. It’s a shame, it’s a stupid decision. As a player, we want this AFCON in 2021 in our country,” said Aurier.

A member of the CAF Executive Committee, Musa Bility, of Liberia reportedly contradicted the Ahmad’s position saying the 2021 and 2023 AFCON editions will stay in Ivory Coast and Guinea respectively.

“Our position today is very clear: the host country for 2021 is Ivory Coast and Guinea for 2013,” Musa was quoted by AllezLesLions.

Both countries are said to belagging behind is getting ready to stage a 24-team tournament down from 16 whenthey won the rights.

Source: Kahawatunga.com

12, December 2018

Ireland: Presbyterians urged to pray for end to violence in Southern Cameroons ⁰

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has encouraged its members to pray for people affected by escalating violence in the Republic of Cameroon in West Africa. Violent clashes, with increasing loss of life, is growing between Cameroon’s English-speaking Anglophone community and French-speaking Francophone community, according to reports.

Rev Uel Marrs, secretary to PCI’s Council for Global Mission, explained: “Through reports coming via family contacts of Cameroonians who attend Presbyterian churches in the Republic of Ireland, we understand that thousands of people have been displaced as the situation in parts of the country deteriorates, particularly in the northwest region and southwest region.

“The increasingly violent situation has its origins in the division of the region during various colonial administrations and post-independence settlements. The situation is amounting to a ‘silent civil war’, as some have described it, as that has the potential to be a second Rwanda. Today we wanted to highlight the situation in the country and ask people to pray,” he said. “Prayer is an essential and powerful part of the Christian life and we are asking people to pray specifically for peace and calm in all areas of Cameroon and for tensions to decrease. For just and fair treatment of all people by the authorities and prayer for help and support for those affected by the violence.”

Speaking about the situation, Rev Alan Boal, minister of Abbey Presbyterian Church in Dublin, said one member of his congregation recently described the escalating crisis as “a second Rwanda” – a reference to the genocide which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in 1994.

www.newsletter.co.uk

12, December 2018

“Biya Beti Ewondo regime too weak to wage new war with the Bamilekes” ⁰

The President of a Bamileke group in Belgium says the Biya regime and its Beti Bulu Francophone soldiers are too weak to wage a new war with the Bamilekes of the West. The French Cameroonian who spoke to our Brussels correspondent and sued for anonymity because of his chain of businesses in Douala and Yaoundé made the remarks late yesterday during a meeting to rally support for Prof Maurice Kamto, the leader of the MRC party widely believed to have won the October 7 elections.

The business tycoon added that Ambazonians are no longer scared of a potential war with the Beti Bulu dominated Cameroon army. “No one in Yaoundé can threaten Anglophones with war and no one again can scare them by war… Ambazonians are not scared or worried about war and they are ready for it and the creation of the so-called disarmament commission signals fear of Anglophones being victorious.”

The French Cameroun citizen warned Biya and his tribal military junta against starting a new war in La Republique du Cameroun and vowed that the Bamilekes will use every available means to bring the Biya regime to its end.

The Southern Cameroons resistance today without possession of sophisticated weapons and equipment and capabilities and members and cadres and ability and expertise and experience has faith and determination and courage and will and is stronger ever since the formation of the Interim Government and proclamation of independence by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

By Chi Prudence Asong

12, December 2018

160+ world countries approve UN pact on migration ⁰

The first United Nations (UN)global pact on migration has been formally adopted during an intergovernmental conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, despite a series of withdrawals from the procedure leading to the pact driven by anti-immigrant populism.

More than 160 countries agreed on the non-binding Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration — the first global document on managing migration — on Monday at the start of the two-day conference.

The document outlines 23 objectives to open up legal migration and discourage illegal border crossings, as the number of people on the move globally has increased to over 250 million.

The United States and at least 16 other nations have either withdrawn from the negotiations that had been ongoing over the pact for some time or expressed concerns about it, with some claiming that the agreement violated national sovereignty.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday described it as a “road map to prevent suffering and chaos,” refuting claims that the pact would allow the UN to impose migration policies on member states.

The pact “is not legally binding,” Guterres emphasized, adding, “It is a framework for international cooperation.”

“We must not succumb to fear and false narratives,” he added. On Friday, the US criticized the pact as “an effort by the United Nations to advance global governance at the expense of the sovereign right of states.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were among the leaders who attended the Marrakech conference.

Merkel defends multilateralism

Merkel defended the accord and multilateralism, stressing that it sought to block, rather than encourage, illegal migration. “This is about safe, orderly and regular migration — it says (this) clearly in the title,” she said.

The US was the first country to quit the talks late last year, while Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia all withdrew from the process in recent months and weeks. And Chile pulled out overnight.

Right-wing and populist leaders in the US, some European countries, and beyond have taken increasingly draconian measures to stop the flow of migrants in recent years. The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, welcomed the pact, saying it could help provide better access to education and health for migrant children and offer “them stronger protection from exploitation and violence.”

Other organizations, including Amnesty International and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), see the agreement as just a first step, and have called for further steps toward protecting migrants.

“We have heard repeatedly that this compact is not legally binding and does not impact on state sovereignty,” IFRC President Francesco Rocca said at a news conference on the sidelines of the main dialog. “But if we are serious about fixing this problem, it should at the very least be ethically binding.”

The UN General Assembly is slated to adopt a resolution formally endorsing the pact on December 19.

Source: Presstv

12, December 2018

Nigeria: Opposition Candidate Absent From Election Accord Ceremony ⁰

Nigeria’s main opposition candidate did not attend an event on Tuesday to sign an election agreement stating a commitment to hold a peaceful election early next year, and his party attributed his absence to a “communication lapse.”

The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) confirmed in an emailed statement that its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had not participated in the signing ahead of February’s election. President Muhammadu Buhari attended the event in the capital, Abuja.

The peace accord ceremony was held days after the PDP said authorities had frozen the bank accounts of its vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Elections to choose the leader of Africa’s most populous country — the continent’s top oil producer and by many measures its largest economy — have in the past been marred by violence, vote-rigging and voter intimidation.

The ceremony was an attempt to mirror the signing of an acclaimed deal ahead of voting in 2015, when Buhari came to power. It was credited with helping prevent a repeat of violence in the wake of the 2011 election, which Human Rights Watch said killed 800 people and displaced 65,000.

The accord aims to ensure that the 2019 elections are “free, fair and credible,” the document said. Signatories pledged that their campaigns would refrain from “religious incitement” and “ethnic or tribal profiling,” and that they would not incite violence, according to the document.

The PDP said it was investigating the circumstances behind the “unfortunate communication lapse” between party officials and the National Peace Committee (NPC), the nongovernmental organization that arranged the event, which resulted in Abubakar’s absence.

“Our presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and the party are fully committed to a peaceful electoral process and elections in 2019,” said PDP spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan in an emailed statement.

He said the PDP would visit the NPC office to “fulfill all necessary obligations towards the peace accord ahead of the 2019 general elections.”

The NPC earlier said it had sent invitations for the event to all 91 registered parties and the 73 presidential candidates.

Independent observers for the 2015 race, the first time the agreement was signed, have since praised the accord for helping Nigeria pull off its first-ever peaceful transition from the ruling party to the opposition. Buhari defeated the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

VOA

12, December 2018

Yaounde: UN experts concerned by crackdown on protests after October election ⁰

UN human rights experts have expressed concerns over a crackdown against protesters in Cameroon following President Paul Biya’s re-election, and called for the protection of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

International human rights standards establish the right of everyone to participate in peaceful demonstrations, the experts said. Any restriction to the freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression must be provided by the law and be necessary and proportional.

“The restrictions imposed lately by the Cameroonian authorities on the rights to peaceful assembly and expression appear to ignore such criteria, provided for by the international instruments to which Cameroon is a party,” they said. In particular, the experts underline that the country’s 2014 anti-terrorism law should not be used to curtail peaceful assembly, marches or demonstrations organised by political parties during an electoral process. Under this law, police custody can be extended from 48 hours to 15 days, and jurisdiction transferred to military courts.

Independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council have previously expressed concerns to the authorities of Cameroon that a broad definition of terrorism, such as “disruption of the normal functioning of public services”, could be misused to ban peaceful assembly.

These worries had still not been addressed, the experts said. The authorities should respect the national legal framework for demonstrations, which requires organisers to notify local authorities seven days prior to a demonstration.

The experts acknowledged as a positive step the dropping of charges against 52 militants of the Mouvement de la Renaissance du Cameroun on 4 December, at the request of the Attorney General at the Littoral Court of Appeal, under the instructions of the Minister of Justice.

“The allegations received last month seem to indicate the establishment of a repressive climate towards civil society, political parties, and people critical of the outcome of the elections, whether it concerns their right to express their views or to manifest freely,” the experts said.

The experts repeated their calls for a review of the 2014 antiterrorism law to ensure it is not used to restrict fundamental freedoms, such as the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. They also urged the Government to ensure a wider democratic space is guaranteed before, during and after the forthcoming legislative and municipal elections scheduled in 2019.

Culled from Reliefweb

12, December 2018

Southern Cameroons war is extracting a heavy toll on ordinary people ⁰

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has let Cameroon’s President Paul Biya know that his country will now not host the 2019 African Nations Cup pageant. The choice is an embarrassment. Once a powerhouse of Africa’s soccer, Cameroon’s popularity had dropped considerably.

CAF’s choice serves as a reminder that the rustic is sinking, and one thing should be carried out. Until a couple of years in the past, Cameroon used to be a country at the transfer. Despite its many political, financial and social issues, the rustic used to be non violent, attracted other folks from in every single place for tourism, business, and schooling.

For instance the University of Dayton had, over twenty years, run immersion programmes within the nation, and so did many different American universities. Cameroon used to be additionally a world centre: the place primary meetings, symposia, and cultural actions came about.

The country used to be a significant banking centre, in addition to host to Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote’s many actions, and extra just lately the proposed website of automobile meeting vegetation to be built via Indian and Chinese companies. And the checklist is going on.

But the Anglophone warfare has taken its toll. A calm protest which started 3 years in the past against the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroon temporarily grew to become violent as some referred to as for the area’s entire secession from Cameroon to form the Ambazonia Republic. As a consequence Cameroon’s army drive and the Ambazonia Defence drive were locked in a dangerous include ad infinitum.

Already within the seventh term of administrative center as president, Biya’s obsession with an army resolution to the disaster has exacerbated tensions, in addition to the distress of strange other folks. Beneath CAF’s rationale that Cameroon used to be ill-ready, ill-equipped and ill-prepared to host the games used to be a way that the rustic is deeply insecure. The towns of Limbe and Buea within the heartland of Anglophone Cameroon had been going to host the games. But regimen kidnappings, assaults, street closings, and killings within the area would have undermined the essence of the games.

CAF’s announcement coincided with the failure of a last-ditch effort via His Eminence Cardinal Christian Tumi to dealer peace and convenes an All Anglophone Conference. But the tradition of threats, and Cameroon government’s failure to grant a allow for the convention to happen supposed that it used to be doomed.

Ordinary other folks have referred to as on Cardinal Tumi to not surrender. The convention, they be aware, should cross on. Many Cameroonians are determined for a non violent option to the warfare.

As the brickbats fell, stipulations for communities within the Anglophone area proceed to become worse. And whilst debates proceed to rage concerning the rights and wrongs of extensively publicised prompt answers such as federalism, decentralisation, and secession, strange other folks proceed to chafe of their day by day lives.

What’s being lost

As the warring factions stand eyeball to eyeball ready to peer who will blink first, few are asking how the result of the fight will trade the lives of strange other folks within the area. Yet the impact has been huge. There are immense financial and social penalties that have reworked communities and their way of living.

Cameroonians who would cross home for Christmas vacations and different festivities now not achieve this. Their spending stimulated the economic system. In electronic mail correspondences and responses to questionnaires with other folks in Kumba and Buea, local persons are noting that Cameroonians dwelling in different international locations are now not coming home for his or her vacations. As a consequence companies, such as resorts, are slightly protecting on.

There have been extra profound financial penalties. The area’s major agribusiness facility, the Cameroon Development Corporation, the guts of the area’s economic system, is in ruins. Plantations which produce palm oil are now not operational. Workers at banana plantations are brutalised and rubber processors were time and again attacked. Families that trusted cocoa for livelihood now face a lifetime of destitution.

Another aggravating facet of the warfare is the sluggish erosion of key portions of other folks’s tradition. Funeral celebrations are a significant facet of Cameroonian tradition. But in conversations with other folks, it seems that those festivities are disappearing. Irrespective of the place other folks are living, Cameroonians in most cases favor their burial websites to be of their village of starting place. But no longer anymore. Increasingly, persons are buried any where imaginable.

Visits to burial websites of pals and members of the family have been a dangerous revel in. For instance, going to Lewoh in Lebialem, is unthinkable as a result of the violence.

And there’s extra. In communities in Anglophone Cameroon, fundamental services and products such as trash assortment now not exist. Trash is piling up within the towns. And corpses may also be noticed on roadways. Businesses that historically operated within the evenings were bankrupted.

The checklist of hardship is going on. School structures remain empty. And each refugees and internally displaced persons are nowhere on the subject of returning to their properties.

Time to re-assess

The habitual accusation is La Republique has brought about those issues. But it is not all of the fault of La Republique. Given that probably the most assaults are undertaken via Anglophones, they have got turn into accomplices to the violence. No surprise strange persons are increasingly more asking extra direct questions on some great benefits of the rebel they had been promised.

Source: Nairaland.com