European Union executive rejects Italian 2019 draft budget

24, October 2018

European Union executive rejects Italian 2019 draft budget 0

The European Commission rejected on Tuesday, October 23, Italy’s draft 2019 budget because the plan breaks EU rules in an “unprecedented” way and asked Rome to submit a new one within three weeks or it would face disciplinary action.

The decision by the European Union executive arm is the first time it exercises the power, obtained during the sovereign debt crisis in 2013, to send back a budget of a euro zone country that violates the rules.

Commission Vice President for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference that for the first time, the Commission is obliged to request a euro area country to revise its draft budget plan.

He said the European Commission sees no alternative than to request the Italian government to do so. It has adopted an opinion giving Italy a maximum of three weeks to provide a revised draft budgetary plan for 2019.

The Commission said that the revised budget it expected to receive from Italy should be in line with the recommendation of EU finance ministers from July 13.

Italy sent a letter to the Commission on Monday, October 22, acknowledging that its draft budget was in violation of EU rules, but insisting it would still go ahead with it.

Dombrovskis added that unless Rome changes its draft budget in the next three weeks, the Commission was ready to open a disciplinary process against the country, called the ‘excessive deficit procedure’, based on the lack of progress in cutting debt — an obligation under EU law.


French Cameroun army attacks have killed 4000 Ambazonians: Interim Government

24, October 2018

French Cameroun army attacks have killed 4000 Ambazonians: Interim Government 0

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia says more than 4000 Southern Cameroons civilians have lost their lives ever since President Biya launched a war purportedly fighting what the Francophone regime in Yaounde painted as “separatist terrorists”.

The Ambazonian Interim Government made the revelation during a meeting with the renowned Prof PLO Lumumba in the USA. Acting President Ikome Sako observed that there were 2450 Southern Cameroonians under the age of 18 among the fatalities in addition to female victims.

French Cameroun helicopter raids in the Lebialem County including Belo, Weh, Batibo and Oku also resulted in the injury of hundreds of civilians, some of whom suffered permanent disabilities. Cameroon government sources, requesting not to be named, told Cameroon Concord News Group reporters on Thursday that the death toll from separate Cameroon military assaults conducted by Beti-Ewondo troops to force Southern Cameroonians to participate in the presidential polls had reached 105.

Our sources said attacks that targeted villages in Manyu, Menchum, Boyo,  Kupe Muanenguba and Mezam on Election Day left at least 40 civilians, including women and children, dead and many more wounded.

12 civilians including a Roman Catholic Seminarian were also killed and tens of others injured when the Francophone dominated army pounded on Roman Catholic medical establishments in the Northern Zone of Ambazonia. Separately, at least 9 civilians were killed and many more wounded in Besongabang, Nchang and Eyumojock Sub constituency in Manyu.

Cameroon government forces have been conducting raids against Southern Cameroons civilians in Tombel and Bangem and also in Bafut. The United Nations and the International Crisis Group have repeatedly accused the Biya Francophone regime of targeting and killing civilians. Yaounde has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying the Southern Cameroons resistance and quest for independence.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Asu Vera Eyere and Sama Ernest


Trial of Ambazonia Interim President: Biya, Judge hold secret meeting inside Unity Palace

24, October 2018

Trial of Ambazonia Interim President: Biya, Judge hold secret meeting inside Unity Palace 0

A French Cameroun judge whose name we are withholding on Friday last week had a secret meeting with President Paul Biya at the Unity Palace in Yaounde. The meeting took place after that of the members of the so-called Constitutional Council who left the State House with huge envelopes.

The outcome of the meeting is still unknown as there was no communication between the judge and our Unity Palace source. The judge was in the Presidential Villa to take instructions on how to manage the trial of the Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe.

Biya had requested a delay to enable the staging of the presidential polls by ELECAM. This was not the first time the same judge would hold such a private meeting with President Biya in Etoudi. The duo met during the trial of Inoni Ephraim, Prof. Titus Edzoa and the release of Lord Justice Ayah Paul.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai


UK: First black female history prof, Olivette Otele, has Cameroon origins

24, October 2018

UK: First black female history prof, Olivette Otele, has Cameroon origins 0

The United Kingdom just had its first black female history professor thanks to the Bath Spa University whose main campus is located at the Newton Park on Duchy of Cornwall land.

The glass ceiling breaker in this regard is historian Olivette Otele who has Cameroonian origins according to the History Today news portal. The BBC describes her as a Cameroon-born academic who schooled in France but is currently teaching in the UK.

Her Twitter bio reads: “Historian: British-French Empires-Slavery, Memory Legacies-African Diaspora (incl. North Africa).”

In announcing the big news of her professorship she wrote: “BIG NEWS: my people, @BathSpaUni has awarded me a professorship and a chair in history.

“May this open the door 2many v (to many very) hard working women, especially WoC (women of colour), even + specifically Black women, in academia in general & in History in particular. In strength, peace and love my ppl (people),” she wrote.

The university’s page on Olivette shows that she is largely a student of the famed French institution, Universite La Sorbonne, Paris where she received her first degree in Literature and History two decades ago.

She went on to do her masters in history two years later, a Master of Advanced Studies or Master of Advanced Study, DEA in 2002 and her PhD in 2005.

She currently holds professional membership of amongst others: Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), Executive board member, The British Society for the Eighteenth-Century Studies and Board member, Historians Against Slavery.

She has co-authored a book and has a series of publications to her credit. Her personal statement on the university’s website reads in part: “Dr Otele holds a PhD in History from Universite La Sorbonne, France. Her doctoral area of specialisation was European colonial and post-colonial History.

“It included examining questions related to the transatlantic slave trade, slave societies, identities and post-colonial societies in the Atlantic world. Her BA and MA trainings were grounded in British and American Literature and History.

“Her current research centres around transnational history and in particular the link between history, collective memory and geopolitics in relation to British and French colonial pasts.

“She charts and analyses the ways in which Britain and France have been addressing questions of citizenship, race and identity through the politics of remembrance. She also enquires into the value of public gestures, the meaning of public history and the impact of cultural memory.”

Culled from Africa News


CNN: Quest celebrates Kenya ahead of inaugural direct flight to US

23, October 2018

CNN: Quest celebrates Kenya ahead of inaugural direct flight to US 0

Celebrated international journalist Richard Quest has shared a stunning review of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, describing it as ‘gorgeous, genteel and genteel’.

Quest, who hosts CNN’s signature business show, is in the country to screen the launch of the much anticipated direct flight between Kenya and the United States.

He will join passengers on the inaugural Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to New York on October 28.

View image on Twitter

Cutting the flight time between the two countries from 22 to 15 hours, this direct flight is being touted as a game-changer for Kenya’s tourism industry.

Kenya’s tourism minister Najib Balala adds that it will have a direct impact on the Kenyan economy through job creation and facilitation of cargo shipment of Kenya’s exports such as its flowers, tea, and coffee, directly to the US market.

The United States is Kenya’s leading tourism source market with a share of 11.8 per cent as of December 2017.

Quest in Nairobi

Visiting the country for th first time, Quest’s first activity was a run through Nairobi’s Karura Forest with Kenya’s top athlete, Eliud Kipchoge.

Kipchoge broke the world record in the Berlin Marathon in September this year clocking 2 hours, 01 minute and 39 seconds.

Quest was ‘more than impressed’ with the forest, describing it as a park that rivals New York’s Central Park, London’s Hyde Park, or Sydney’s botanic gardens.

‘‘We spent the afternoon in Karura Forest. If you wanted something to underscore this sense of pride you would be hard pushed to find a more pristine example,’‘ said Quest.
Karura forests, which sits on 1,000 hectares of land is one of the country’s few remaining indigenous forests.

Source: Africa News


Canadian Prime Minister says Ottawa ready to halt $13bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia

23, October 2018

Canadian Prime Minister says Ottawa ready to halt $13bn arms deal with Saudi Arabia 0

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ottawa is ready to halt a $13 billion arms deal with Riyadh if it concludes the weapons have been misused.

“We strongly demand and expect that Canadian exports are used in a way that fully respects human rights,” Trudeau said in the Parliament on Monday.

“We have frozen export permits before when we had concerns about their potential misuse and we will not hesitate to do so again,” he added.

Canada has been exporting arms to Saudi Arabia based on a 2014 contract, which is worth up to $13 billion. The contact, won by the Canadian unit of US weapons maker General Dynamics Corp, allows Canada to supply Saudis with light-armored vehicles.

Trudeau’s comments on halting the huge arms deal came amid increasing pressure to punish Riyadh for the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The Canadian PM condemned the journalist’s death and said Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland had been talking to allies to discuss the next steps.

Back on Saturday, Freeland had noted that the Saudi explanations on the death of Khashoggi at its consulate in Istanbul lacked credibility and consistency.

“There are very important questions about the entire relationship with Saudi Arabia that need to be asked,” she told reporters on Monday.

The Khashoggi case has fanned the flames of a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Canada, which escalated to new levels after Riyadh abruptly cut ties with Ottawa over its criticism of the Saudi crackdown on dissent.

The dispute broke out in August after the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh tweeted that it was “gravely concerned” over a spike in the arrests of human rights campaigners in the kingdom, including gender rights activist Samar Badawi, and called on “Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists.”

Following the move, Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian ambassador and recalled its envoy after severing business ties with Ottawa over claims of interference in its internal affairs.

Culled from Presstv


Shameful, Disgusting and Disgraceful: Vampire elite has captured and taken Cameroon hostage

23, October 2018

Shameful, Disgusting and Disgraceful: Vampire elite has captured and taken Cameroon hostage 0

In a genuine democracy or even any context, there is something really absurd in one man ruling a country for 36 years. Biya is 85 years old and has held office for 36 years. He did not even bother to campaign for his re-election and his surrogates showed little interest in the exercise, aware Biya will win come rain or shine.

Despite his advanced age, wrinkled face, husky voice, diminished swagger of his gait, diapers and uncontrollable anal blasts, ELECAM and the Constitutional Council shamelessly validated one of the most shambolic electoral exercises in world history.

This was the wicked act ever perpetrated against the Cameroonian people who must rise up in resistance. For a bilingual country, it was indeed striking that not a single word was uttered in English.

However, the Republic of Cameroon has a brand new Head of State. He is the 85 year old President Paul Biya who has ruled the country for 36 years.

There were scenes of celebration across French Cameroun and many Francophones are happy to have the ailing Chief Executive as their new Head of State.

It should be recalled that the President-Elect did not campaign but has won a landslide. May he continue to guide his country towards the disaster that the people admire.

From the CAMCORDNEWS DESK


Biya’s continued stay in power: The fallacy of the CPDM stranglehold on the Far North region

23, October 2018

Biya’s continued stay in power: The fallacy of the CPDM stranglehold on the Far North region 0

According to ELECAM, Biya obtained 89.21% of the votes in a region with some unedifying statistics. Even before the Boko Haram insurgency ravaged the region, the Far North, was and remains the poorest part of the country.

According to the World Bank, 74% of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to the national average of 37.5%. At least 170 primary schools remain closed because of insecurity and about 23,000 school-aged children are out of school.

Unemployment, among all age groups, is at least 75%. A 78.8 billion CFA emergency fund to finance 94 projects in road construction, railways, energy and agriculture has remained a luxurious desire. Teachers have all fled the region, and international human rights groups have documented the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Cameroon security forces against civilians, mostly women and children.

The political baron of the region, House Speaker, Cavaye Djibril, aged 78, was first elected MP in 1970 at the age of 30. The husband of four fives and 15 children has been Speaker since 1992. He was quick to defend the regime after videos showing Cameroon soldiers executing women and children in Kolofata went viral on social media.

While the international outcry forced the regime to admit the crimes were committed by Cameroon soldiers, there was no condemnation or outrage from the FN CPDM political elite. Everything about the region is about Cavaye, his family and his Mada tribesmen to the exclusion of all others. When Cavaye launched CPDM campaigns in Maroua, TV images showed less than 200 people in the scantily attended event. Cavaye was so angry that the people were calling for change that he staged a public arson of Kamto’s MRC campaign gadgets.

Biya himself was greeted in Maroua with banners displaying less than complimentary messages. But despite all this, ELECAM wants us to believe that these people cannot figure out why they are poor; Tchiroma even claims the Grand North has a blood pact with Biya and know one thing and one thing only – to vote for Biya and the CPDM.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai


Biya “wins” seventh term

22, October 2018

Biya “wins” seventh term 0

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has won a seventh term in office in polls marred by low turnout and voter intimidation. Mr Biya, at 85 sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest leader, took 71.3% of the vote, according to official results. Opposition calls for a re-run of the presidential election were rejected by the Constitutional Council last week.

Riot police were deployed on Sunday to the major cities of Yaoundé and Douala in case of opposition protests. Cameroon’s two English-speaking provinces have been hit by more than a year of violent protests and attacks by separatist rebels which have left hundreds dead. Two days before results were announced, Africa’s longest-serving President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea congratulated Mr Biya on his win.

Mr Biya’s nearest challenger, Maurice Kamto of the MRC/CRM, gained just 14.2%. Mr Biya took the majority of votes in all but one of Cameroon’s 10 regions, losing out to Mr Kamto by a small margin in the Littoral region which is home to the economic capital, Douala.

Across the country, only half of Cameroon’s voting-age population took part in the polls. Tens of thousands of people were unable to cast their votes because of insecurity.

Threats of violence made against would-be voters by rebels in the Anglophone regions reportedly deterred many from casting their ballot. On Election Day, three separatists who were accused of opening fire on passers-by were shot dead by security forces. Some rebels also tried to disrupt the transporting of ballot boxes by calling for a total ban on all travel. Voter turnout in the country’s two Anglophone regions was as low as 5%, according to the International Crisis Group. Official figures give an almost 16% turnout in the English-speaking South-West region .

Witnesses have told AFP news agency they heard gunfire on Monday morning in Buea, the capital of the English-speaking South-West region.

Cameroon’s electoral body Elecam also reduced the overall number of polling stations across the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions, and moved some others from turbulent zones to more secure areas.

Seats reserved for opposition representatives at the constitutional council were left empty as the results of the 7 October presidential election were read out, the BBC’s Randy Joe Sa’ah reports from Yaoundé.

In the days before the results were published 18 petitions calling for the election to be re-run were lodged by opposition members, some alleging fraud, at the Constitutional Court, the body responsible for announcing the results, before the results were announced.

Among those calling for a fresh vote were President Biya’s two main challengers – Mr Kamto and Joshua Osih of the main opposition SDF/FSD. Mr Kamto went as far as declaring himself the winner of the polls despite producing no evidence to prove this.

Election observers from the African Union reported that the polls were “generally peaceful” but added that “most parties were not represented” when it came to who was allowed to oversee voting and ballot counts at polling stations.

The only other group to send monitors was the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), whose head urged candidates and stakeholders to do their part in preserving peace and use legal channels in any challenges to the results (in French).

False claims were made on Cameroon’s state-owned television that Transparency International had deployed international observers, forcing the Germany-based campaign group to issue a statement denying them.

Cameroon’s parliamentary and legislative elections were due to take place at the same time as the 7 October presidential elections but have been postponed to 2019.

Source: BBC


Open Letter to Francophones

22, October 2018

Open Letter to Francophones 0

Dear Francophones,

I am indeed very pleased that you guys did not take to the streets today after the contested election results were released by a controversial Constitutional Council.

I was indeed scared that in the event of any violence, many of you who are all barks, and no bites, would simply pack up your stuff and head to the southwest as many of your Bassa, Bamileke, Ewondo and Batanga people did when Ahidjo and the French unleashed a reign of terror on you guys in the 1950s and 1960s when a few of your people thought they could fight for independence.

We, in Southern Cameroons, never had our independence through any bloodshed. We had a culture of parliamentary democracy wherein freedom of speech was key and elections were just an exercise in which the people sincerely chose who had to lead them.

We never used any brutality to address differences and we ensured that people were punished for the crimes they committed and not for the opinions they held. We were a safe sanctuary for many people who were unsafe in their country.

That is why there are many of your folks in the Southwest, a territory whose sub-soil is very rich, and some of them were foolish enough to betray Southern Cameroonians when we made up our minds to challenge the corrupt Yaounde government that had marginalized us for decades.

These folks whom I consider as Southern Cameroonians will continue to live with us, but I must be prompt to add that those who do not share our pain and aspiration should learn to be neutral. They must understand that the people’s pain is real and it could lead to violent reactions.

I would like to clearly point out that some of the most engaging of our supporters have been descendants of those refugees who fled to our land and I truly appreciate their contribution to our effort to make our problem known across the globe.

When we felt we had been pushed to the wall, we decided that it was time for the world to be aware of our pain and suffering. Our battle was also a fight against corruption, injustice and disrespect.

You simply did not understand us, and you were adamant despite our attempts to explain why we were reacting they way we reacted. Your all knowing attitude never allows you to humble yourselves. True wisdom, you should know, comes with humility.

Instead of joining us to help get things on the right path, many of you opted to side with the government. You called us names. You told the world we were arrogant and that we had little or no respect for your Republican institutions. While we were angry, we knew your time would come. It was just a matter of time.

Some of us understand that the noise you make is simply designed to hide your cowardice and ignorance. You are a people who can easily be intimidated and you are corruptible. It is therefore no surprise to us that your leaders always use bread and sardine to corrupt your minds during elections like the one that has just ended or when you are angry.

The past presidential election has simply proven that you lack the right mentality to challenge your tormentors. It has proven that we, Southern Cameroonians are not arrogant, but principled and determined to ensure errors of the past get corrected and this must happen sooner rather than later.

It now seems like there is a lull in the chaos in Southern Cameroons, but there cannot be any respite when there is no justice. Do not be mistaken. We still have unfinished business and we still have a stomach for a fight. As long as your government continues to run the show like a personal estate, we will continue to find creative ways to erode its authority.

While you continue to eat your bread and sardine, we will use all the means available to us to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves.

The blood of those who have been slaughtered by your troops will not go in vain. We believe in the philosophy of one for all and all for one, and we will continue to work as a team to get the government to the negotiating table where we will find the ultimate solutions to our issues.

Your cowardice did not start today. Your government knows your weaknesses. You are all noise and no action. We, the minority, gave you freedom of expression. Today, you speak as if you were born with it.

In the process, we lost many of our brothers and sisters. We also gave you multiparty politics. In the process thousands were slaughtered in our part of the world while you spent your time drowning yourselves in alcohol. The physical scars are still there in cities like Bamenda and Kumba.

All you know is to gossip and seek to break down courageous men and women who really want to engineer genuine change within the country. You use your fake intellectualism to distort debates and bamboozle your own people. Your unreliable ways make it hard to work with you.

The mere sight of a police officer sends you into fear even when you have not committed any crime. Your leaders understand this and they are using it to their advantage. That is why prior to the proclamation of today’s election results, all your major cities were on lockdown.

I would not like to make this letter long, but will promptly advise that you are the architects of your own hardship and disappointment. You do not know how to work together. Every single one of you is more intelligent than the other.

You have to throw away your coat of self-importance if you must jettison the invisible shackles of slavery that have been put on you by your own people. Learn from us and you will deliver happiness to future generations.

Do not be scared of death, after all the Bible you read clearly points out that for you to go to Heaven, you must die. We, Southern Cameroonians, are prepared to lay down our lives to ensure our children do not experience the marginalization we have gone through.

You must muster courage if you must defend your victory. Prof. Kamto is your president. He won the election. Running away from soldiers stationed by the government will not take Prof. Kamto to the Unity Palace. If you need change, you must do the right thing. It never comes on a platter of gold.

Sincerely,

Joachim Arrey
Toronto, Canada


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