7, June 2018

US Republicans challenge Trump on tariffs ⁰

Several Republican senators defied the White House Wednesday and pressed ahead with legislation that would require Congress to sign off on certain tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration, citing national security concerns, last week unveiled punishing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada, Japan and Mexico, among others, antagonising free-trade supporters in the US Congress.

The bill, sponsored by six Republicans and four Democrats, would require the president to submit to Congress any proposal to place tariffs on imports in the interest of national security, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.

“Unfortunately, the administration is abusing the Section 232 authority delegated to the president by Congress,” said Senator Bob Corker, the bill’s chief proponent.

“If the president truly believes invoking Section 232 is necessary to protect the United States from a genuine threat, he should make the case to Congress and to the American people and do the hard work necessary to secure congressional approval,” Corker added.

Corker, who is retiring at the end of the year, said he received a “lengthy” phone call from the Republican president who told him “he’s not pleased with the effort” to rein in his trade authority.

The lawmakers aim to introduce the measure as an amendment to a national defence authorisation bill coming up for debate in the Senate.

The defence bill is must-pass legislation, but the fate of the tariff measure is uncertain.

Even if it passes the Senate, it might end up being scrapped from the final version of the defence bill negotiated with the House.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signalled he was unwilling to spend much time on the “contentious” measure, saying he wanted to focus in the coming months on “getting bills passed that we have to do for the country.”

Several Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have expressed frustration with Trump’s willingness to defy party orthodoxy and resort to punitive tariffs against allies, moves they warn could spark trade wars that would end up hurting American producers, workers and consumers.

But Ryan hinted Wednesday at the difficulty of Congress reining in Trump’s trade authority.

“You’d have to pass a law that he would want to sign into law,” Ryan told reporters. “You can do the math on that.”

Corker said the “vast majority” of Senate Republicans agreed with the policy to limit Trump’s imposition of tariffs.

But Republican leadership and rank-and-file conservatives have shown little appetite to defy Trump legislatively, especially in a mid-term election year.

(AFP)

7, June 2018

Nigerian Senate leader questioned over deadly gang robberies ⁰

The use of political gangs has returned to the spotlight in Nigeria after suspects in a violent armed robbery claimed they had been recruited by the leader of the country’s Senate.

Twenty-two young men were arrested after heists on six banks killed 33 in the town of Offa, in the central state of Kwara, on April 5.

On Sunday, the police summoned Bukola Saraki, a former Kwara state governor and now head of the upper chamber of parliament, for questioning.

Five of those held “admitted and confessed” they were “political thugs… sponsored with firearms, money and operational vehicles” by Saraki and his successor as governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, according to a police statement.

The gang allegedly operated for Saraki as political enforcers under the name Youth Liberation Movement or “Good Boys” but used the weapons and vehicles to carry out the heists, it said.

Saraki has rejected the allegation as “baseless” and claimed he was being set up.

Political enforcers – free-wheeling gangs providing security for their boss at public meetings or to intimidate opponents or more – have a long and sinister history in Nigeria.

But the latest incident has fuelled warnings the phenomenon could increase in the run-up to elections in February next year.

“Even in the 1960s during the First Republic, we had ‘Operation Wetie’ in western Nigeria, where politicians used thugs to burn houses and kill their opponents,” said Don Okereke, a security expert.

Since then, ethnic militia emerged such as the Oodua People’s Congress in the southwest, the Bakassi Boys in the southeast and the Niger Delta Vigilante Service in the south.

Northern equivalents sponsored to do the bidding of political godfathers include Sara-Suka, Yan Daba and Kauraye operating in Gombe, Kano and Katsina states.

Power struggle

Okereke blamed the practice on a loss of values in society and widespread economic hardship as well as desperation on the part of politicians to acquire and cling to power.

“Our youths have lost their moral values for good behaviour. It’s also a question of poverty and unemployment,” he told AFP.

“The youths have become willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians who capitalise on their poor condition to achieve their political ambition.”

Public affairs commentator Chris Ngwodo agreed: “Political thuggery is deeply entrenched in our politics because of the high stakes involved in the struggle for power.

“These thugs foment trouble, create tension and unleash violence on behalf of their patrons who are usually the big men, the senior government officials and politicians in society.”

Over time they can move from threats, intimidation and ballot stuffing into organised crime – or worse.

“That explains why there is a direct link between political thuggery, violence and organised crimes like armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism (gang membership) and assassinations,” said Ngwodo.

Former members of the ECOMOG gang recruited by the ex-Borno state governor Ali Modu Sheriff then dumped when he left office have allegedly gone on to join Boko Haram.

The hardline Islamists, who funded their activities in their early days through bank robberies and extortion, have killed at least 20,000 people in northeast Nigeria since 2009.

Boko Haram has been repeatedly accused of having political sponsors, although no link has ever been established.

‘Unwholesome practice’

Lagos police recently warned parents about their children being recruited as political touts, given the risks of them falling into other criminal activities, including kidnapping.

Buhari is hoping to secure a second, four-year term of office at elections in February next year against a backdrop of worsening security from ethnic and religious tensions.

Eradicating the practice may not be easy given Nigeria’s system of patronage politics and the lure of ready cash and status to legions of disaffected and jobless young men.

“The trend will continue as long as there are willing boys to do the bidding of politicians who have the resources to adequately reward them,” said Ngwodo.

“As we move towards the 2019 election, we are going to see more manifestation of this unwholesome practice.”

One way out is to make public office less attractive to reduce access to slush funds that could be deployed to hire thugs to serve selfish political interests, he argued.

(AFP)

6, June 2018

Ambazonian fighters abduct policeman, release picture with chained legs ⁰

Suspected Anglophone secessionists have abducted a policeman in Cameroon and released his picture on the social media with his legs chained.

Police inspector Diguengue Patrice from Mayo-Danay was abducted by gunmen between Njikom and Belo localities in the Northwest region where activists have been waging a war against security forces.

They are agitating for the independence of English-speaking parts of Cameroon in the Northwest and Southwest regions, citing marginalization from the administration of President Paul Biya.

Cameroonian newspaper, L’Oeil du Sahel, said Patrice had been deployed to Fundong police station where he was abducted by gunmen on Tuesday.

The armed secessionists have gunned down many security forces, burned down schools and government institutions and kidnapped several prominent people.

They have accused security forces of killing many activists in their bid to quell pro-independence protests and of arresting and torturing many activist leaders who have remained in detention without trial.

President Paul Biya had said there would not be dialogue in an atmosphere of war, especially when “crimals” take up arms against the state.

Source: Today News Africa

6, June 2018

The military deployment and killings in Southern Cameroons will end up achieving nothing ⁰

From the nation’s capital in Yaoundé, the political situation appear to be going well for the Biya Francophone regime that has deployed approximately 35,000 army soldiers in Southern Cameroons and has destroyed more than 72 Southern Cameroons towns and villages.

But the view deep inside the Federal Republic of Ambazonia tells a different story as some officials and Southern Cameroons opinion leaders recently told Senator Peter Mafany Musonge who is moonlighting as Chairman of the so-called Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Committee. The complete absence of a genuine political process to accompany the military onslaught going on in Southern Cameroons is instead driving all Ambazonian communities including Anglophone CPDM militants to consider allying with the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Hon. Jua Pualinus has repeatedly sounded a note of caution that the arrogance being demonstrated by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo political elites who dominate Cameroon’s power base remains a grave mistake that could mean the end of the one and indivisible Cameroon.

To be sure, the military deployment and killings will end up achieving nothing. Consequently, the whole strategy put in place to counter the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia uprising needs to be revisited and readdressed and the European Union and the United States should be part of the process.

The Biya French Cameroun military campaign currently going on makes it extremely difficult for both Cameroons to engage in any form of reconciliation after the war. Most of the key Southern Cameroons towns and cities such as Kumba, Bamenda, Mamfe, Mundemba, Tiko, Muyuka, Ndop, Nguti and Limbe are now increasingly unstable and vulnerable even to french speaking Cameroonians living in Southern Cameroons.

The killings in Dadi, Menka-Pinyin, Bekora in Ekondo Titi, Nguti, Belo, Mbalangi, Menji and Lewoh demonstrates the lack of strategy and reconciliation on the part of the 85 year old President Biya and his acolytes. There are widespread killings in every Southern Cameroon County; militias are emerging day-by-day roaming the Southern Cameroons territory. More than 200,000 Southern Cameroonians have been expelled from their ancestral home and they can’t go back because of the atrocities of the Cameroon government forces.

Minister Paul Atanga Nji has made the security situation in Southern Cameroons even worse by creating armed militia groups in the Northern Zone that are presently encouraging a lot of sectarian violence and every Ambazonia tribe have started to reflect on the idea of rallying behind the Interim Government. Cameroon government security forces relative control in places such as Mamfe, Kumba, Ekok, Wum, Batibo, Widikum, Muyuka, Bali is fast melting away as restoration forces are now targeting traitors within the struggle. Traditional leaders themselves are echoing these fears.

Southern Cameroonians and their Interim Government don’t have faith in the crime syndicate in Yaoundé. The reason is simple: The Biya regime didn’t make a mistake once or twice. They keep repeating the same mistake over and over and the government after 57 years is yet to deliver any of its promises to Southern Cameroonians till now.

The political situation too in French Cameroun is fragile. A majority of Francophones are simply waiting for a liberator to get rid of Biya and his gangsters. The demands of the Francophone army are no longer sustainable. Biya and his Francophone regime have used all its French tactics and have started adapting the Anglo-Saxon strategy to reduce the damage. Frankly speaking, French Cameroun is losing.

All attempts at trying to prevent Southern Cameroons from a further slide away from Cameroon government control have failed. The revolution has indeed restore Ambazonian control over Southern Cameroons mindful of the fact that the toll in blood and treasure has been high.

People in the know and some insiders say the Ambazonian Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces have retained strategic control over Manyu, Lebialem, Ndian, Meme, Mezam, Menchum, Kupe Muanenguba and Boyo. Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in these areas say many of the weapons seized from Cameroon government forces ever since the war started are stored in the forest.

Across the border in Nigeria’s Cross River State, the Buhari administration is already feeling the pain of its poor reading of the crisis in Southern Cameroons. Ekok, however, remains contested between the Manyu Warriors and Cameroon government army soldiers.

The horror which will come up after Biya finally falls from power in the October presidential elections will justify Washington Post claim that Africa’s next civil war may be Cameroon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

6, June 2018

Cameroonian teacher makes re-usable pads to help girls stay in school ⁰

After realizing that girls often skipped school every month because they couldn’t afford sanitary pads, Feka Parchibell is on a mission to make cheaper options available to students from disadvantaged communities in Cameroon.

Feka, a teacher, is the founder of Hope for Vulnerable and Orphans (HOVO) an organization that helps teach youth life skills and seeks to empower them through entrepreneurship, leadership and agriculture.

Feka learnt to make washable pads using fabric through her organization’s partners, Rose Academies that’s based in the United States.

We do not have the money to buy the fabrics so it is not easy. The need is really huge and then getting into some of these communities is not easy. It’s really-really risky and challenging because we have to use the motto bikes, use public transports. So it’s really not easy.

The pads made from cotton, flannel, fleece fabrics and towels also have a fastener.

Washable pads provide an affordable alternative for girls from low-income families compared to a pack of disposable sanitary pads which cost about 1 US dollar.

“Mothers don’t talk these things with children so in my days nobody told me about it. When it happened they just told me – okay, you are a woman and I was given a packet of pads and that was it. So when it got finished I had to use other things. I had to go to use toilet tissue and so it wasn’t really easy. So because I know, I have been through that experience I was really really motivated to help some of these young girls out,” said Feka.

One in 10 African girls miss school during their periods, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEFestimates, which means they fall behind in their studies and often drop out of school.

Talking about menstruation is still considered taboo in many parts of the world where it is seen as shameful or embarrassing.

Feka and her team want to encourage people to talk openly about menstruation to girls on the continent.
Once a month Feka and her colleagues go out to local communities to teach girls and women how to make and use the sanitary pads.

The talks also cover menstrual hygiene.

So far Feka has worked in 30 communities in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and with refugee communities in Uganda.

The washable pads can be reused for six months, but this too can be a challenge if access to water and soap is limited.

Feka gets funding from the United State embassy in Cameroon and Rose Academies but she says the number of people relying on her for pads is far greater than what the resources can cover.

“The challenges are huge because we get to see some many people in need but the means is not there. We do not have the money to buy the fabrics so it is not easy. The need is really huge and then getting into some of these communities is not easy. It’s really-really risky and challenging because we have to use the motto bikes, use public transports. So it’s really not easy,” she said.

Sharon Eta, 15 is a beneficiary of the pads project and says when she started her period her mother could not afford to buy her sanitary towels. She says after attending one of Feka’s talks things improved and she’s also learnt how to make her own pads.

“When I got the pad from aunty Parch (Parchibell) the pad was helping me into some ways. That is from morning to evening I will not change no leakage. I can play, I can go out,” she said.

Campaigners say it is important to make pads more widely available as girls are often forced to stay at home during their periods, affecting their development and self-esteem.

Reuters

6, June 2018

Russia 2018: Egypt have high hopes for Salah’s early return ⁰

Egypt’s top striker Mo Salah is on track in his recovery to join the rest of his team for the start of the World Cup, said coach Hector Cuper on Tuesday.

The Argentinian coach, who took charge of the Egyptian team in March 2015 and led them to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations last year, was speaking in Brussels where the team is preparing for their final World Cup warm-up game against Belgium on Wednesday.

Salah scored 71 per cent of the Pharaohs’ goals in the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying matches, scoring in every one of their third-round victories. A shoulder injury sustained in the Champions League final after a challenge by Sergio Ramos has raised concerns that the team might have to face their first-round opponents, in particular Uruguay on June 15, without him.

But Cuper said he was almost certain Salah would be fit for the match against Uruguay.

On the 19th they will play the hosts Russia, and will then finish their group stage against Saudi Arabia on the 25th.

Reuters

6, June 2018

London: Southern Cameroons Secretary of the Economy says Biya regime forces targeting the educated in genocide ⁰

Southern Cameroons Secretary of the Economy, Hon. Tabenyang Brado has said that French Cameroun government forces are specifically targeting Ambazonian university graduates in their genocide campaign currently going on in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The Ambazonian cabinet minister who made a brief stop in London from a fund raising trip in Italy revealed that more than two thousand university graduates including Southern Cameroons new generation of elites have been killed by French Cameroun army soldiers.

Tabenyang pointed out that the Interim Government gathered from the more 40,000 Southern Cameroonians who fled to neighbouring Nigeria that Ambazonian university students and degree holders were singled out and disproportionately targeted by Cameroon government security forces.

During a town hall briefing hosted by Cameroon Concord News Sessekou Asu Isong in London, Tabenyang also noted that the Francophone soldiers were slaughtering the educated and independent opinion leaders in Southern Cameroons so that there would be no Ambazonian leaders left willing to speak up against French Cameroun pervasive abuse.

The people of Kendem village in Upper Banyang in the Manyu County watched as the elder brother of the Cameroon Concord News Group chairman and editor begged for his life, his arms bound behind his back as soldiers marched the 55-year-old retired gendarmerie officer away. It was the last time they saw him alive.

“My elder brother pleaded with the military not to kill him; he showed them his ID card and said, ‘I’m a gendarme, I’m a gendarme.’ But the Biya Francophone regime had planned to kill our enlighten people, including my elder brother,” said Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai.

“After the attacks in Kwa Kwa, Muyenge, Belo, Menka-Pinyin, Bekora, Menji, Kendem, Dadi, Batibo Where are the unemployed degree holders? Where are the Ambazonian teachers that were paid only by the Parents Teachers Association? They have all been killed” Tabenyang wondered aloud.

The Secretary of the Economy added that there are several educated Ambazonians left in the rural areas, but they will never raise their voices. They are too afraid and they do not have the Jua Paulinus courage.

The US ambassador to Cameroon, Peter Barlerin observed recently that this targeting is well-organized, coordinated, and systematic. The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has documented a system of institutionalized discrimination and segregation of Southern Cameroonians that is meant to erase the Anglophone identity. Researchers from the International Crisis Group see comparisons between what is happening in Southern Cameroons and the Rwandan genocide.

“Burning down our towns and villages and killing our university graduates is one way to destroy our culture and remove our history. Its part of the genocide tactic put in place by the Biya Francophone regime. More than 40,000 Southern Cameroonians have fled the state-sponsored terrorism to Nigeria and some 160,000 have been displaced deep within the territory. The UN is still maintaining a kind of deliberate silence, saying it supports dialogue.

By Chi Prudence Asong

6, June 2018

US: Record number of black women running for office in Alabama ⁰

A record number of black women are reportedly running for congressional seats across the US state of Alabama.

CNN said on Tuesday that more than 70 African-American women had launched Democratic campaigns to unseat Republicans in primary elections in the deep-red state.

All but two of the black women running for office are Democrats.

“The tide is shifting, and these southern states are showing the rest of the country, again as they always have, that we can lead, and we can change the world,” Rhonda Briggins, an Alabama native and co-founder of VoteRunLead, told the American news channel.

“If you look at history, especially Alabama history, civil rights history, women have always led those charges, and have been the ones working very diligently, behind the scenes, organizing,” she said.

VoteRunLead is a national nonpartisan organization that trains women who want to run for office.

Briggins told CNN that judicial positions provide African-American women with a unique opportunity to change their communities.

“If we’re going to do something about Black Lives Matter then it starts with our local judicial system, it starts with our local policing powers,” she said, referring to a protest movement since 2012 against the high-profile deaths of a number of African Americans at the hands of white police officers in the US.

“People are now connecting the dots to their lives and connecting that to the political power and influence and then pulling all of these pieces together to create real change,” Briggins added.

People take part in a protest against police shootings and in support of Black Lives Matter during a march in New York July 9, 2016. (Reuters photo)

Voters have headed to polls in eight states to choose candidates in primary elections that will eventually determine whether Democrats or Republicans take control of the United States Congress during the era of President Donald Trump.

Democrats are planning to win close to two-dozen congressional seats nationwide in November elections to wrest control of the US House of Representatives from Republicans.

Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, California and New Jersey are the eight US states where voters will choose candidates in primaries.

6, June 2018

US judge says Trump could be deposed over unwanted groping of woman ⁰

A US judge has ruled that President Donald Trump could be deposed in a defamation case. involving unwanted kissing and groping of a woman.

US Judge Jennifer Schechter ordered both parties of the Summer Zervos lawsuit to submit to depositions with a deadline of January 31, 2019.

Zervos is a former contestant on Trump’s “The Apprentice,” who has accused him of sexual misconduct.

Hoping to avoid a deposition for Trump, his lawyers have appealed to New York’s highest court.

Former ‘Apprentice’ contestant battles Trump in court

They had earlier argued that a sitting president cannot be sued in a state court, to which the judge responded in a March 20 ruling that “no one is above the law.”

Trump’s attorneys are trying to stall for time, said Zervos’ attorney Mariann Wang, adding that her legal team had already asked the Trump campaign to hand over information about other women accusing Trump.

“It became clear that the campaign’s position is that any and all documents about other women who have alleged that the defendant subjected them to unwanted sexual touching or inappropriate conduct, that any discovery about them, they would draw a line there,” Wang said, as cited in a Politico report.

According to Trump’s attorney Marc Kasowitz, such information is “irrelevant.”

Zervos is among a dozen other women who have accused Trump of sexual contact without their permission.

The new announcement was made in the backdrop of growing allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful figures.

Campaigners and rights activists stress that many victims of sexual abuse and exploitation decline to report the incident due to fear, shame, and worry about damage to their career.

5, June 2018

California primaries take top billing as voters in 8 states head to polls ⁰

Voters have gone to polls in eight states to choose candidates in primary elections that will eventually determine whether Democrats or Republicans take control of the United States Congress during the era of President Donald Trump.

Democrats are planning to win close to two-dozen congressional seats nationwide in November elections to wrest control of the US House of Representatives from Republicans.

Gaining California district’s seats is seen by Democrats as a vital step in their plan to take back the House. For this reason, Democrats have made huge effort to win 10 of the 14 seats held by Republicans in the Golden State.

Trump in a series of tweets backed Republican candidates.

“In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

After California, the state that is most crucial to the Democrats plan of taking back the House is New Jersey where all but one of its five Republican-held House seats are considered up for competition.

“I don’t think the Democrats can take the House without New Jersey,” said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University.

Voters cast their ballots at a Los Angeles County lifeguard headquarters at Venice Beach on June 5, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by AFP)

Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota are the other six US states where voters on Tuesday will choose candidates in primaries.

The Democratic Party’s needs to flip in total 23 GOP-held seats to regain control of the House of Representatives in fall.

Culled from Presstv