The UN refugee agency on Thursday criticised Nigeria for breaching international agreements after the leader of a Cameroonian anglophone separatist movement and his supporters were extradited at Yaounde’s request.  The UNHCR said it learned “with great concern” about the case of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, who was sent back to Cameroon this week with 46 others. They were arrested in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on January 5.

Cameroon has called the 47 “terrorists” and said they would “answer for their crimes”, as tensions mount in the Southwest and Northwest Regions, home to most of the country’s English-speakers. They have complained about decades of economic inequality and social injustice at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

Ayuk Tabe wants the two regions to separate from the French-speaking part of the country. On October 1 last year, his movement made a symbolic declaration of independence. The UNHCR said most of the 47 sent back to Cameroon had submitted asylum claims in Nigeria. “Their forcible return is in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which constitutes the cornerstone of international refugee law,” it said in a statement. Non-refoulement, a French term, is the practice of not forcing refugees or asylum-seekers to go back to a country where they could be persecuted.

“The returns were carried out despite UNHCR’s efforts and engagement with the authorities,” the agency said. “UNHCR reminds Nigeria of its obligations under international and Nigerian law, and urges the Nigerian Government to refrain from forcible returns of Cameroonian asylum-seekers back to their country of origin.” Human rights groups have called on Cameroon to ensure those detained get a fair trial and are well-treated. Cameroonian President Paul Biya strongly opposes secession and has flooded both regions with troops, imposed curfews, conducted raids and slapped restrictions on travel. An estimated 30,000 English-speakers have fled Cameroon to Nigeria.

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About 950 gold miners were stuck underground in South Africa on Thursday after a power cut, the mine’s owner said, though the workers were not reported to be in immediate danger.

The Sibanye-Stillwater mining company said a massive power outage had prevented lifts from bringing the night shift to the surface at the Beatrix gold mine, near the city of Welkom.

“We sent rescue teams down, accounted for all the people and we obviously are trying to get them out of there as soon as possible,” James Wellsted, spokesman for Sibanye-Stillwater, told ENCA television.

“All employees appear to be fine. We are supplying food and water,” Wellsted added in a telephone message to AFP.

He said the depth where the miners were trapped was uncertain, but the mine has 23 levels, going down to about 1,000 meters (3280 feet) below ground.

About 65 people were rescued during the day, with 950 remaining trapped by early evening, the company said.

Wellsted said that engineers were struggling to get emergency generators to operate and re-start the lifts.

“We are having some issues — probably related to the power surge linked to the storm — in getting the winders working, so we are busy working on that issue at the moment,” he added.

“Last night there was a severe storm in the Free State that affected two different power cables… and cut off all electricity supply to the mine, so we were unable to bring the night shift up.”

One cable was restored during the day.

‘Serious concern’

The Beatrix mine is in Free State province, 290 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.

AMCU, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, said that the workers stuck underground were facing major health and safety risks.

“AMCU views this incident as extreme due to the sheer number of workers involved,” it said in a statement.

“The incident raises serious concern regarding the lacking emergency contingency plans at the mine for alternative and back-up power generation.”

It said workers’ lives could be in danger from dehydration and lack of nutrition, especially if they were on medication.

Last August five mineworkers died after sections of a gold mine collapsed outside Johannesburg.

The country possesses rich mineral reserves and has some of the world’s deepest gold mines.

Gold was for many decades the backbone of South Africa’s economy, but production has declined sharply due to depletion of reserves.

(Story by AFP)

The fighting in Southern Cameroons has intensified since the extradition of the Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe, on Monday, January 26, 2018, to Yaounde. Many young Southern Cameroonians have stepped up attacks on soldiers and gendarmes in a bid to express their frustration and anger.

Early today, two gendarmes – a man and a woman – were attacked in the North Western town of Mbingo by masked men, who shot the uniformed officers point blank, killing the male officer on the spot. The female officer is struggling for her life in the town’s main hospital.

In Bangem, a town in the Southwest region of the country, Amba Tigers have been fighting running battles with Cameroon’s military in the city’s downtown core. Unconfirmed reports indicate that more than four people have been killed in Bangem since the Tigers showed up to carry revenge attacks against army soldiers following the extradition of Mr. Ayuk Tabe who has become the incontestable poster child of the Southern Cameroons struggle.

It has also been reported that civilians in the town of Bangem are heading out of the town in large numbers to surrounding villages in a bid to seek refuge from army soldiers who have been attacking and killing unarmed and innocent civilians.

There have also been reports of violent clashes in Pinyin and Batibo which are small towns in the Northwestern region ever since Mr. Ayuk Tabe was taken to Yaounde where he and 46 others will soon be taken to court for their role in the escalating conflict in Southern Cameroons.

The increasing attacks had been predicted by many analysts and politicians who had posited that the arrest and extradition of Mr. Ayuk Tabe would only exacerbate things as more people would be radicalized. Most analysts based their thesis on the fact that the arrest of Mr. Mancho Bibixy, Barrister Felix Nkongho Agbor-Balla and Dr. Neba Fontem in January 2017 only made matters worse.

Many international observers are calling on the government of Cameroon to use this moment to smoke the pipe of peace as military violence and intimidation have not produced the results the government had expected. They contend that the government must change its strategy as the current one is gradually pulling the country towards a bloody civil war that is unnecessary.

It should be recalled that the government of Cameroon which is stuck in the past is using old tactics that had been employed in the 60s against French Cameroon freedom fighters popularly known as Maquisards in the pious hope that the Southern Cameroons population will submit to its will.

Critics point out that it has unfortunately failed to understand that times have changed. People are more educated today and the existence of the Internet have made it hard for such tactics to produce the desired results. Besides, with a huge and prosperous Southern Cameroons Diaspora, it will be hard for the government of Cameroon to obtain an outright victory.

The Diaspora is propping up efforts of the young and determined fighters who sincerely hold that with a little luck they can successfully bring the government of Cameroon to the negotiating table or get Southern Cameroons out of the mess in which short-sighted politicians like Muna and Foncha had dumped the region.

The Southern Cameroons Diaspora will continue to destabilize Cameroon for a long time if the government does not make permanent dialogue a way of life in a country that was hastily stitched together by the United Nations. The Southern Cameroons Diaspora is rich and it has successfully transformed marginalization into a huge opportunity.

The government therefore stands to gain if it changes its policies to recognize the Diaspora as a strategic partner in the country’s efforts to attain sustainable levels of development.

Mr. Biya and his government must now embrace dialogue as the ideal way to pull the country from the brink. From reactions obtained following the arrest and extradition of Mr. Ayuk Tabe, it is obvious that more blood will continue to flow, as Southern Cameroonians are determined to follow through with their threat of splitting the country.

Despite the disappointment their struggle has suffered, many Southern Cameroonians argue that the battle must continue as the revolution is bigger than any single individual. Speaking to a dejected Southern Cameroonian in WashingtonD.C. over the phone, our West African Bureau chief was advised that the revolution was an idea that would not be crushed through intimidation and military violence. The Southern Cameroonian, who elected anonymity, added that things only escalated when Felix Nkongh Agbor Balla, Fontem Neba and Macho Bibixy were arrested and that the current situation would only escalate attacks on the military.

He argued that Nelson Mandela was in jail for over three decades, but South Africans did not relent in their effort to unseat the racist bastion that had reduced them to second-class citizens in their own country. He said Southern Cameroonians would, over the coming days, designate their new leaders and would be informing the boys on ground on what steps to follow.

Also speaking from London, Sesekou Asu Isong, said that Southern Cameroonians should not believe that they could attain their objective without loss of life and imprisonment. He stressed that “freedom has never been attained through courteousness and gentlemanliness, adding that loss of life is and has always been part of such a struggle.”

He called on Southern Cameroonians to pour money and energy into the struggle. “As it is apparent that we are now in an armed struggle, we have a duty to pour money and energy into this cause. We have a duty to arm and train young determined fighters on the ground. If we don’t, the lives of the departed and those in incarceration would have been a waste,” he stressed.

Mr. Isong’s point of view ties in well with what is currently happening in many Southern Cameroons community across the globe. It is worth stressing that huge fundraising efforts are currently underway in most Western capitals. Southern Cameroonians across the globe are making significant financial contributions to support the tough Southern Cameroonian fighters who have become a nightmare to government forces in Southern Cameroons. In California alone, more than half a million dollars was raised last week to secure more aid and arms for the boys who are determined to roll back government forces that have been deployed across Southern Cameroons.

Also writing from Boston in the United States, Mr. EkinnehAgbaw-ebai, a graduate of the prestigious Harvard University, pointed out that “Irrespective of whatever anyone thinks, let it be said again with emphasis that Ambazonia will never die. Ambazonia is a spirit which animates our yearning for freedom and even if Biya kills all eight million Anglophones and raze all our villages, our ghosts shall rise from our graves to seek freedom and demand justice. Mandela was jailed, but the ANC continued until Apartheid was defeated. Bin Laden is dead, but that has not stopped Al Qaeda; rather ISIS was born. If Biya sincerely believes, as he claims, that a majority of Anglophones want to remain in bondage and servitude in a united Cameroon, let him organize a referendum. Voting should take place only in Anglophone regions under international supervision as was the case in 1961,” he pointed out angrily.

It should be noted that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe had said that the struggle was his life and that he was prepared and willing to lay down his life for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons, though he has always advocated non-violence. Many Southern Cameroonians are of that opinion and there are many meetings currently taking place across the globe to step up the pressure on the government.

By Sama Ernest with files from Kingsley Betek and Rita Akana

A train carrying dozens of GOP lawmakers to a Republican retreat has struck a truck in West Virginia, leaving one person dead.

The accident happened at about 11:15 am local time on Wednesday in the city of Crozet, according to Amtrak, the passenger railroad service carrying the lawmakers from both chambers of Congress.

The lawmakers were en route to the state of West Virginia for a three-day retreat featuring appearances by US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

“There is one confirmed fatality and one serious injury. There are no serious injuries among members of Congress or their staff,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The front half of the truck was crushed in the accident.

“We’re fine, but our train hit a garbage truck. Members with medical training are assisting the drivers of the truck,” Greg Walden, a member of the US House of Representatives, wrote on Twitter.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a group of specialists to the scene of the accident.

Source: Presstv