16, May 2018

Bundes: Merkel joins European allies in reaffirming support for Iran nuclear deal ⁰

Germany has joined its European allies in reaffirming support for the Iran nuclear deal in defiance of the US that pulled out of the landmark agreement last week.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday pushed back against Washington’s rejection of the Iran nuclear deal, and reasserted a defense of the agreement in remarks to lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament.

She also said that Iran was complying with its commitments under the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“This agreement is everything other than ideal, but Iran is, according to all the knowledge of the international nuclear authorities, sticking to the commitments of the agreement,” Merkel said.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the JCPOA, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Britain, France, Russia and China — plus Germany in 2015.

Trump also said he would reinstate US sanctions on Iran lifted by the accord and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

The deal lifted sanctions in 2016 in return for Tehran limiting its nuclear program.

Iran has reiterated it would remain in the JCPOA for now, pending negotiations with the other signatories in the coming weeks before making a final decision on its future role in the agreement.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Brussels on Tuesday.

Following the meeting, Mogherini told reporters that European top diplomats had agreed to follow through the Iran nuclear deal despite Trump’s decision to withdraw.

To this end, the EU will launch intensive discussion at all levels with Iran in next few weeks, she said, adding that the discussion would focus on, among others, how to maintain economic relations and effective banking transactions with Iran in the context of renewed US sanctions.

“We are determined to ensure that the JCPOA stays in place. We know it’s a difficult task but we are determined to do that,” Mogherini said, adding, “We’ve started to work to put in place measures that help ensuring that this happens.”

She noted that similar willingness has been expressed by the European and Iranian sides.

Before visiting Europe, Zarif first traveled to China and later Russia, the two other signatory nations that have supported the JCPOA, on the first leg of his diplomatic mission.

Meanwhile, in their first meeting since the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, EU leaders are expected to meet to explore options on Wednesday for keeping the Iran nuclear deal alive and protecting their reviving economic cooperation with Tehran.

“I would like our debate to reconfirm without any doubt that as long as Iran respects the provisions of the deal, the EU will also respect it,” the chairman of the gathering, Donald Tusk, said before the meeting in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will also host Merkel on Friday to discuss, among other issues, the Iran deal.

Source: Presstv

16, May 2018

Biya regime to probe brutality meted out to “separatist leader” ⁰

The Cameroon army has admitted that some of its officials had meted out inhumane treatment to a suspected separatist arrested in the NorthWest region of the country.

According to the Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo, speaking on state radio, gendarmes deployed to the restive region to fight separatists had “mistreated and tied up” an alleged separatist leader during his arrest Saturday.

A viral social media video showed officials having tied the suspects hands behind him. The suspect who was lying on his belly in muddy conditions is kicked and his head is stamped upon by some of the gendarmes and a police.

The gendarmes (paramilitary officials) are “clearly out of the norms and legal techniques in such circumstances,” the minister acknowledged, his condemnation followed a very strong online protest to the video.

It is the first time the army has acknowledged abuses committed by security forces deployed in the two English-speaking regions riled by separatist violence since October 2017.

“An investigation has been opened to identify (and) where appropriate sanction the perpetrators of these acts contrary to respect for human rights,” said the minister.

Nicknamed “general”, the abused person is an alleged separatist leader who was arrested on Saturday, said Beti Assomo. The said general according to authorities “was actively sought for several weeks for his involvement in acts of violence against the population and (in) the killing of the personnel of defense and security forces”.

Security forces have been repeatedly accused by NGOs and witnesses of abuses and burning houses. “We only burn houses where we discover weapons,” the army defended its actions in late April.

The central African regions English speaking regions have been mired in a security crisis that has been tagged the “Anglophone crisis”. In the two regions, northwest and south-west, fighting has become almost daily between the Cameroonian security forces and armed men.

The armed groups say they are fighting to establish an independent Ambazonia Republic. According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), “at least 120” civilians and “at least 43” members of the security forces have been killed since late 2016. The separatist record is unknown.

160,000 people have fled their homes as a result of the violence, according to the UN, and 34,000 have fled to Nigeria, according to the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (Sema).

Source: Africa News

16, May 2018

Nelson Mandela Legacy: Barcelona in South Africa for friendly with Sundowns ⁰

A star-studded Barcelona side have arrived in South Africa where they are expected to play a friendly match against the Rainbow nation’s league champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, on Wednesday night.

The Spanish and European giants arrived at the Oliver Tambo International Airport with a full squad that included the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and retiring Andres Iniesta.

Security was high at the airport as they were shepherded into their transport and headed for their hotel. They were received by top officials of Sundowns and scores of football fans who thronged the airport to catch a glimpse of their football idols.

The game which takes place at the FNB stadium (formerly the Soccer City Stadium) will form part of the commemoration of the centenary celebration of the life of the country’s first black president Nelson Mandela.

“FC Barcelona has always professed its admiration for Nelson Mandela, one of the greatest figures of the 20th century, who after 27 years in prison went on to become the first democratically elected president of post-apartheid South Africa from 1994 to 1999,” the Spanish side said in a statement last week ahead of today’s fixture.

“Mandela represented the struggle for freedom and equality in the country, and played a huge role in unifying the racially divided society. It is precisely this kind of spirit with which FC Barcelona has always been identified,” the statement added.

Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 and died in December 2013. Leaders from across the world were in South Africa for his funeral.

The friendly comes after Barca’s painful La Liga loss to Levante over the weekend, which result denied them a record unbeaten run in the season. Their final game is at home to Real Sociedad on May 20.

Ernesto Valverde’s side clinched a 25th Liga title on April 29 and the King’s Cup on April 21 but failed to make history as the first team since 1933 to complete a Spanish top-flight season without losing a game.

Culled from Africa News

16, May 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya is not the solution in Cameroon ⁰

The crisis in Southern Cameroons is now in its second year and the spark that led Cameroon down the fiery rabbit hole of the Anglophone revolution is still much alive and active. Frankly speaking, a lack of leadership in Yaoundé, Abuja and the African Union allowed the peaceful strike action led by Anglophone teachers and lawyers to metastasis into a horrific violent conflict, providing an opportunity for the powerful Anglophone Cameroon Diaspora to come in and initiate a struggle that is ending up with the creation of Africa’s newest nation-the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The one million dollar question is, does it represent a policy shift by the UN/Buhari administrations based on the notion of a shared common objective with Paris in Cameroon? Either way, it has blown a violent wind into the boats of those who argue that President Paul Biya should remain in power as a check against anti French forces in the CEMAC region.

There are indeed several controversies with that argument and most glaringly is the fact that it ignores the war crimes and other atrocities committed by the Biya regime. That long and horrific list includes helicopter gunboat attacks, mass killings, mass graves and the targeting of hospitals and schools, not to mention the arrest and torture of hundreds of Southern Cameroonians. Keeping Biya in power is undermining France’s credibility and core values including those of the United States.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group can now reveal that Mr. Paul Biya doesn’t have the military capability to hold Cameroon together. The case of the Far North region abandoned by the army following massive deployments to Southern Cameroons serves as an illustrative example. Ever since the crisis in Southern Cameroons started, the Far North region has seen several deadly attacks carried out by the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. Although Cameroon government’s forces have repeatedly claimed that the terrorist group has been defeated, they have been unable to secure the Far North while engaged in their assault against Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces. The situation is also true in the Central African Republic as attacks are now rampant in areas under the control of the Cameroon army and the gendarmerie.

To be accurate, what’s left of the French Cameroun army is an empty shell, precariously held together by France, the US and Chad in decreasing levels of importance. Any plan to keep Biya in power clearly runs counter to French and American interests. Upon closer examination, the very fabric that held French speaking and English speaking Cameroonians together is irreparably torn.

Biya took over from the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo in 1982 and to rule Cameroon, the so-called Roman Catholic Christian had to tailor his approach to the few ethnic groups in the Centre and South regions while appeasing the Muslims in the Grand North with numerous political positions and oppressing the Anglophones and at the same time setting the Bamilekes against one another.

In practice, it meant Biya controlling all levers of power and reinforcing his leadership through funny arrangements. He only thought of the Anglophones in 1990 and gave them a prominent position as Prime Minister with the emergence of the SDF party. Correspondingly, the individuals of the Anglophone community that had positions in government were those upon whose patronage he relied. In essence, Biya created a new tribe in Southern Cameroons-the CPDM tribe and demanded complete and total loyalty. Members of this CPDM tribe in Southern Cameroons are presently looking the other way while Biya and his army soldiers are killing hundreds of Ambazonians and destroying their towns and villages.

Many corrupt UN and African Union officials fail to recognize that Biya and his gang had forbade the development of any form of opposition or liberal centers of thought and cohesion — much less a free press — that could challenge his authority.

For 35 years, the key unifying driver of allegiance and cohesion was political appointments followed by loyalty to the Right Royal President. Now that the state of Cameroon has broken down, Biya and some Beti Ewondo political elites are trading the crisis in Southern Cameroons as the most attractive and unifying alternative ideology for all French Cameroonians.

The initial lawyers and teachers strike in Anglophone Cameroon may not have been designed to bring about separation but the way the crisis has been mismanaged has become central in influencing the trajectory of the uprising nonetheless. Having failed in every aspect of nation building, Biya stands today as a great magnet to which all diplomats from the EU, US, the AU or UN are attracted. The reason is simple: At 85, Biya is prepared to dish out millions of dollars to anyone who can guarantee his continued stay in power and protect his family.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

16, May 2018

Scottish parliament decisively rejects May’s EU withdrawal bill ⁰

The Scottish parliament has decisively voted against the United Kingdom’s legislation on departure from the European Union (EU), placing London on course for a major constitutional dispute with Edinburgh and the further postponement of Brexit.

The Scottish lawmakers rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU Withdrawal Bill by 93 votes to 30 on Tuesday.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Greens backed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s party members in rejecting the divorce bill, arguing that it would restrict Holyrood’s powers.

The vote is not legally binding but it will force London to make a high-risk decision and assert power over Edinburgh or make further concessions to the Scottish government to avoid a crisis.

May’s disregard for the vote could fuel Sturgeon’s demands for a second referendum on Scottish independence and provide her Scottish National Party (SNP) with a further justification for staging one.

Britain has been at loggerheads with the devolved nations – Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales – on how power would be shared after the Britain’s separation from the 28-member bloc.

Speaking after the Tuesday vote, Scotland’s Brexit secretary Mike Russell, called on the UK government to respect the will of the Scottish parliament and find an acceptable solution.

“The Scottish Parliament has now said overwhelmingly that this attempt to undermine devolution is unacceptable,” he said. “The UK government cannot ignore the reality of devolution or try to drown out what this parliament says. They cannot pretend that no motion has been passed.”

A day earlier, Sturgeon warned London against ignoring the Holyrood’s views and said May needed to secure a deal with Edinburgh fast.

“They [UK government] have a decision to make as to whether they are going to ignore the views of the Scottish Parliament or listen to those views and try very hard to get a deal and to close the gap that remains between us,” she said.

In the United Kingdom’s 2016 referendum, 52 percent, or 17.4 million people, voted to leave the EU while 48 percent, or 16 million, voted to stay.

The British government has faced fierce criticism both at home and by the EU for its lack of clarity on its Brexit strategy.

The uncertainty has raised fears that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a trade deal, incurring heavy costs on its domestic economy.

London and Brussels are due to move on to the next stage of Brexit negotiations this year, after reaching agreement in December on exit terms.

Source: Presstv

15, May 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The Battle for Buea and the lack of an enemy ⁰

The Biya Francophone army’s initial assault on Southern Cameroons was meant to be a show of superior military might and overwhelming force. But the reality on the ground is very different as Ambazonian Self-Defense Forces are now heading to Buea, the historic capital of British Southern Cameroons.

The Ambazonian fighters arrived at the gates of Muea early today the 15 of May, 2018, less than a month after the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia united all self defense grounds into the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council Restoration Forces. And with the decisive battle for Buea looming, the UK House of Common has reportedly held a debate on the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

But there was a problem with today’s attacks in Buea launched by the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces – the lack of an enemy. There was small arms fire from government forces and by close to evening this had petered out entirely. The city looked as if it had been deserted by government soldiers.

Immediately after the attacks, the French Cameroun army arrested several innocent civilians and it is still unclear if the Amba fighters trooped in from Muyenge or Kumba. Today’s scene in Buea was really like a movie and it sounded great to the majority following of the Interim Government. There was panic everywhere, men and women screaming and shouting, running across, lots of noise, lots of energy, but it wasn’t a long battle.

By Chi Prudence Asong

15, May 2018

Yaounde: US ambassador gives Biya go-ahead to kill Southern Cameroonians ⁰

Southern Cameroonians in Western Europe and North America have saluted the decision by the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia endorsing the policy of self-defense. Supporters of the Interim Government on Ground Zero have also welcomed the move declaring victory after the IG succeeded in unifying all defense groups under the Ambazonia Self-Defense Council. But the Interim Government hasn’t learnt the lessons of how far the Biya regime has gone in corrupting the UN and the Africa Union systems. Unless some sort of action is taken deep inside Yaoundé, the Biya Francophone government’s slaughter of Southern Cameroonians in the cruelest and most illegal of ways is sure to continue apace.

Tactically, self-defense does not seem successful enough in urban centers such as Buea, Limbe, Kumba and Bamenda. French Cameroun’s oft-exaggerated military capabilities have turned out to be impotent. Questions are now swirling over self-defense’s effectiveness and long-term impact on the revolution following silly and childish comments made by the new US ambassador to Yaoundé, Peter Barlerin last week describing the responsible leadership of the Southern Cameroons people “…a very tiny minority of Cameroonian-born individuals living in the United States”.

The Ambazonian Communications Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu said the self-defense objective is to degrade the Biya regime’s killing capability and deter Biya from exterminating the Southern Cameroons population. Our senior correspondent in the Southern Zone hinted recently that the IG objective has been fulfilled.

No Western diplomat in Yaoundé has articulated how the ongoing killings of innocent Southern Cameroonian citizens fit into a larger diplomatic or political strategy in resolving the Anglophone crisis. Likely, there is none. No UN, EU or AU official has said anything about President Biya’s mass atrocities, his war crimes or his crimes against humanity. The clear message to President Biya from Ambassador Peter Barlerin is that Biya is free to keep killing Southern Cameroonians.

Only a few meters from the US embassy in Yaoundé precisely at the Commissariat Central, Biya has been running a torture and killing factory that former US ambassador Frances D. Cook called the worst machinery of cruel death inside Africa. Some brave French Cameroun defector soldiers have provided to Acting President Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako documentary evidence of Biya’s torture and murder of thousands of Southern Cameroons civilians in custody. It is estimated that some 2500 including the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Julius Tabe still linger in Biya’s jails.

French Cameroun soldiers are using a siege to starve civilians in Lebialem, Belo, Akwaya and in Muyenge. Biya regime artillery shelling alone has killed hundreds of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians including traditional rulers. Cameroon government forces have raided hospitals and targeted civilians from the air. All these atrocities are violations of international norms and laws that the world shouldn’t tolerate. But they are continuing in Southern Cameroons under the watchful eyes of Ambassador Peter Barlerin.

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia should ignore Ambassador Peter Barlerin and his female acolyte at the US State Department and liaise with the US Congress to facilitate the application of several other tools at the US Congress disposal to stop Biya’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to impose justice and accountability for the perpetrators.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

15, May 2018

Missing MH370 flight crashed in murder-suicide bid ⁰

Western air safety experts say the disappearance in 2014 of Malaysia Airline MH370 flight was the result of a murder-suicide mission by the plane’s Captain Zaharie Amad Shah.

The conclusion was revealed by a panel of international air transportation specialists discussing the 2014 incident during an Australian TV news program, 60 Minutes, on Sunday, when they agreed that the pilot deliberately hijacked the plane and brought it down in the southern Indian Ocean, where they said the pilot knew the aircraft could not be located.

“This was planned, this was deliberate, and it was done over an extended period of time,” said Martin Dolan, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), who spent two years heading the search for the airliner.

Dolan dismissed the possibility that terrorism was involved, saying, “If this had been a terrorist event, it’s almost invariable that a terrorist organization will claim credit for the event. There was no such claim made.”

The Malaysia Airlines jet was on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board when it disappeared.

Analysis of satellite data indicated that it ran out of fuel and crashed in the Indian Ocean west of Australia, thousands of miles from its intended destination. The biggest underwater search in history, coordinated by ATSB, was called off in January 2017 after two years.

Six days after the MH370 disappeared, the houses of the 53-year-old Zaharie and first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid were searched in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, and the computer equipment seized contained evidence suggesting that Zaharie had used flight simulation software to prepare for diverting the aircraft.

Captain Simon Hardy, a British pilot and Boeing 777 specialist and instructor who has flown the plane widely in Asia, said Zaharie’s mission was “planned meticulously to make the aircraft disappear,” including by flying along the Thai-Malaysian frontier to avoid either side taking action.

“If you were commissioning me to make a 777 disappear, I would do exactly the same thing,” he said during the TV program.

Additionally, a former senior investigator with Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, Larry Vance, said he believed Zaharie put on an oxygen mask before depressurizing the aircraft to render the passengers and crew unconscious.

“There is no reason not to believe that the pilot did not depressurize the cabin to incapacitate the passengers,” he said.

The participating experts disagreed over whether Captain Zaharie was in control of the passenger plane at the time it plunged into the ocean. While Vance said he believed the pilot “ditched it deliberately to keep it as intact as possible,” Dolan said the evidence indicated “the aircraft spiraled into the ocean and crashed.”

Meanwhile, a second search of a wider area of the Indian Ocean seabed for the remains of MH370 was launched in January, conducted by a private firm called Ocean Infinity. The underwater exploration in an area north of the previous zone has so far found nothing related to the missing airliner and is likely to conclude in June.

Source: Presstv

15, May 2018

UN says 160,000 displaced in crisis-hit Southern Cameroons ⁰

Around 160,000 people have been displaced in the crisis-hit North-West and South-West Anglophone regions that have been gripped by clashes and insecurity since late 2016. The majority of the displaced have fled into the bush with little to survive on.

Others are hosted by local communities who are also grappling with adverse living conditions. The conflict has also forced around 20,000 civilians to seek refuge across the border in neighbouring Nigeria.

Aid organisations in Cameroon are planning to roll out emergency food, health, protection, shelter and education assistance as well as provide basic household items.

At least 12 attacks targeting Government troops have been reported in the past week, according to the Ministry of Defense.

15, May 2018

Mexican banks hacked, millions stolen ⁰

Hundreds of millions of pesos have been illegally withdrawn from several Mexican banks in possible cyber attacks in recent weeks, Mexican officials have announced.

Hackers sent hundreds of false orders to transfer funds from banks, including No. 2 Banorte, to fake accounts in other banks, and accomplices then emptied the accounts in cash withdrawals in scores of branch offices, two sources close to a Mexican government investigation of the matter said.

One source said the thieves transferred more than 300 million pesos ($15.4 million) while the El Financiero newspaper reported that around 400 million pesos had been stolen.

It was not clear how much of the money transferred was later withdrawn in cash.

Speaking to reporters late on Monday, Mexico’s Central Bank Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon described the attacks as unprecedented, expressing hope that unspecified measures being taken would stop similar future incidents.

“There’s no evidence that would allow us to say with certainty that this is over,” he said, adding “We’re taking corrective and mitigating action.”

Diaz de Leon declined to name the banks targeted or specify the amounts stolen. He said the central bank was still probing what had happened.

He later said in a radio interview that all the evidence — so far still partial — pointed to cyberattacks.

The central bank’s head of operations, Lorenza Martinez, said on Friday that five financial institutions were targeted with “unauthorized transfers.”

One source said cyber attackers might have received assistance from inside bank branches, since such big cash withdrawals were uncommon.

“In terms of the security of the bank’s offices, I think that is part of the analysis that each bank is doing,” Martinez said.

He stressed that clients’ accounts had not been affected so far and that only the accounts of financial institutions in the Central Bank had been hit.

Source: Presstv