5, February 2022

Push to free Anglophone journalists jailed in Cameroon intensifies ⁰

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday, February 3, joined 26 other civil society organizations in calling on President Paul Biya to release all those arbitrarily detained in Cameroon for acts of free expression, including at least four journalists.

The open letter, published during the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, notes that the continent’s premier football tournament masks the reality that over 100 people have been detained, most for more than a year, and some for over five years, for simply “peacefully exercising their human rights.”

Journalists Thomas Awah Junior, Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad, and Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka are detained on anti-state charges in Yaounde’s overcrowded Kondengui Central Prison, as documented in CPJ’s annual census of jailed journalists around the world.

The organizations also urged Biya to reform the laws currently used to criminalize protest and public assembly, including the country’s controversial anti-terror law that is used to silence critics and suppress dissent, as documented in a 2017 special report by CPJ.

4, February 2022

France-Afrique: EU sanctions five members of Mali’s government, including the prime minister ⁰

The European Union on Friday imposed targeted sanctions on five members of Mali’s ruling junta, including Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga.

In a statement from EU member states the targets are accused of “actions that obstruct and undermine the successful completion of Mali’s political transition.”

In August 2020, Mali’s military ousted an elected government. The military regime has vowed a return to civilian rule but has been accused of dragging its feet.

In recent weeks tensions between Mali and former colonial power France have increased, and on Monday the junta ordered the French ambassador to leave.

France has some 4,000 troops deployed across West Africa’s Sahel region, half in Mali, and the crisis has called into question the future of its campaign against Islamist extremist militants.

“The five designated people are subject to a travel ban, which prevents them from entering or transiting through EU territories, and an asset freeze,” the statement said.

Aside from 63-year-old Maiga, the prime minister in the so-called transitional regime, four more top officials were targeted.

Also on the list is 42-year-old Malick Doaw, president of the National Transition Council and “one of the instigators and leaders of the August 18, 2020 coup”.

Colonel major Ismail Wague, 46-year-old minister for reconciliation, had announced the coup and is thus deemed to “threaten the peace, security and stability of Mali.”

Adama Ben Diarra, known as “Ben le Cerveau” or Ben the Brain, is a member of the transitional government accused of obstructing the holding of free elections.

And Ibrahim Ikassa Maiga, 50, is accused of playing a key role in the m5-REP movement that was involved in the overthrow of elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

All five figures are already subject to sanctions imposed by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.

Source: AFP

4, February 2022

Enfin: Senegal take on Egypt in hotly anticipated final ⁰

After coming into their own in the knockouts, Senegal are tipped to win their first ever Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday, as they take on Egypt, starring Liverpool’s Mo Salah, the greatest African player of the contemporary game.

It will be a clash of two Liverpool titans as Senegal’s talisman Sadio Mané takes on Egypt’s talisman Salah. Senegal are hungry to fulfil their longstanding promise and finally win the Africa Cup of Nations – while Salah is hungry to take a trophy with his national team after Premier League and Champions League triumphs with his club.

It is easy to see why the Teranga Lions went into the tournament as favourites. Mané provides lacerating pace, dazzling creativity and clinical finishing skills. They have arguably the best shot-stopper playing today in the shape of Chelsea goalkeeper Édouard Mendy. Napoli’s rock-solid defensive linchpin Kalidou Koulibaly and PSG box-to-box midfielder Idrissa Gueye – Senegal’s two world-class stars – have the field between the goalposts and upfront covered.

An Africa Cup of Nations victory for Senegal has seemed like a matter of time, ever since they enraptured football fans the world over in the 2002 World Cup, humiliating champions France – the magnificent Bleus of Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira – with a stunning victory.

The air of inevitability faded at this year’s tournament as Senegal won their group stage in desultory fashion. Their opening match was a drab affair against minnows Zimbabwe, which saw them prevail thanks to a penalty of doubtful merit in the seventh minute of extra time. Perhaps the low point was a flaccid 0-0 draw against Malawi, where the likes of Mané played like much less talented players, fluffing passes and moving sluggishly.

But rather like the victorious Bleus in the 2018 World Cup, Senegal burst into life in the knockouts. The Teranga Lions started to roar with a decisive quarterfinal victory, slaying the tournament’s giant-killers Equatorial Guinea.

They stepped up a gear in the semifinals against a tenacious, well-disciplined Burkina Faso. The floodgates opened some 20 minutes into the second half. Abdou Diallo scored from close range after Koulibaly reached a corner with an amazing bicycle-kick pass. Six minutes later a majestic Mané run handed a goal to Bamba Dieng.

Burkina Faso rattled Senegal when Blati Touré knocked a cross into the back of the net. But they showed the pertinacity that makes champions, soon reimposing themselves when Mané surged to meet a penetrating pass, went one-on-one with the keeper and coolly lobbed it into the back of the net.

This sparkling form will make the Teranga Lions tough opponents for the Pharaohs. But Egypt, too, have shown the resoluteness required of champions – albeit in more prosaic form. They have prevailed in three consecutive matches that went into extra time, first defeating the formidable Ivory Coast team that had just humiliated title-holders Algeria.

Egypt were the underdogs in the semifinals against hosts Cameroon, whom many tipped to win the competition amid the rampant goalscoring form of strikers Vincent Aboubakar and Karl Toko-Ekambi. But they fought back after Cameroon dominated the first half – forcing the game into extra time and then penalties. Egypt were cool, calm and collected at the spot kick, and so was Gabaski between the goalposts. They kept their nerve when Cameroon faltered to send the hosts packing.

While their victory over Cameroon exemplified Egypt’s cool determination, the Pharaohs’ victory over Morocco exhibited another prime reason why they could take the trophy: Mo Salah. Despite the presence of some highly competent players – the likes of striker David Trezeguet and right-back Omar Kamal – Egypt frankly lack the star talent Senegal have scattered around their lineup. But so far they have more than made up for it with Salah’s presence.

In the Morocco match everything rested on Salah. First he bashed in a ruthlessly opportunistic goal from close range as the ball bounced towards the six-yard line. Then the Liverpool icon created the winner with a glittering dash down the right – the stuff of defenders’ nightmares – to tee up Trezeguet for an easy finish.

For his part, Salah is determined to go back to his club with an Africa Cup of Nations winners’ medal. Ahead of the tournament he told journalists: “I can assure you that it is the trophy that I want to win most. I work to win it and that is the story with all the Egyptian players present here.”

But Salah will have to battle it out with his Liverpool strike partner Mané. As their club manager Jurgen Klopp pointed out in a press conference: “Now it’s obviously not so easy because one will definitely be really happy after and the other one much less so, but both have a good chance to achieve something really big.”

Culled from France 24

4, February 2022

Beijing Winter Olympics kick off ⁰

A Winter Olympics overshadowed by human rights concerns and taking place inside a strict Covid-secure bubble kicked off in Beijing on Friday with a glittering opening ceremony at the “Bird’s Nest” stadium.

The distinctive lattice-shaped arena took centre stage, just as it did at the 2008 Games – seen as China’s coming-out party to the world – as Beijing becomes the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics.

Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the Games open, triggering a burst of fireworks and wrapping up a ceremony filled with imagery of ice and snow. Xi’s declaration was followed by red-suited “skaters” sliding across virtual ice.

Held on the first day of Spring by the Chinese calendar,the ceremony began with a performance by dancers waving glowing green stalks to convey the vitality of the season, followed by an explosion of white and green fireworks that spelled the word “Spring”.

On a three-dimensional cube resembling a block of ice, lasers carved figures from each of the previous 23 Winter Games. The block was then “broken” by ice hockey players, enabling the Olympic rings to emerge, all in white.

That was followed by the traditional “parade of nations”, with each of the 91 delegations preceded by a women carrying a placard in the shape of a snowflake resembling a Chinese knot.

In keeping with Olympic tradition, the parade was led into the stadium by Greece with the rest ordered by stroke number in the first character of their Chinese name, which meant Turkey was second, followed by Malta, with host China going last and drawing roars from the stadium crowd.

The entrances for “Hong Kong, China”, as well as for Russia, also generated applause.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, the highest profile foreign leader present for the Games, could be seen in the stadium without a mask. However, the athletes from his country were unable to carry its flag due to doping violations, marching instead under the standard of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Source: Reuters

4, February 2022

President Putin unveils new gas deal with China’s Xi as Moscow locks horns with the West ⁰

President Vladimir Putin unveiled a new Russian gas deal with China at a meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday, promising to increase Moscow’s far east exports at a time when Putin is at odds with European customers over Ukraine.

Russia, already Beijing’s No. 3 gas supplier, has been strengthening ties with China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, reducing its dependence on its traditional European energy customers.

“Our oilmen have prepared very good new solutions on hydrocarbon supplies to the People’s Republic of China,” Putin said in a meeting with Xi to discuss closer cooperation. “And a step forward was made in the gas industry, I mean a new contract on supplying 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year to China from Russia’s Far East,” said Putin, who was in Beijing to attend the Winter Olympics.

Putin has accused the United States of stoking tensions over Russia’s neighbour Ukraine, which seeks NATO membership. More than 100,000 Russian troops have amassed near the border with Ukraine. Western countries accuse Moscow of planning an invasion, which it denies.

Russia is Europe’s biggest provider of natural gas, and Western countries are worried that already strained supplies could be interrupted in the event of a conflict. However, the new deal with Beijing would not let Moscow divert gas otherwise bound for Europe, as it involved gas from the Pacific island of Sakhalin, unconnected to Russia’s European pipeline network.

Russian gas giant Gazprom said in a statement that it plans to increase gas exports to China to 48 billion cubic metres a year, including via the newly agreed pipeline which will deliver 10 bcm annually from Russia’s Far East.

Under previous plans, Russia aimed to supply China with 38 bcm by 2025. The announcement did not specify when it would reach the new 48 bcm target.

An industry source told Reuters earlier on Friday that Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline, had agreed a 30-year contract with China’s CNPC, with the first gas to flow through the new pipeline in two or three years.

Power of Siberia

Russia now sends gas to China via its Power of Siberia pipeline, which began pumping supplies in 2019, and by shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG). It exported 16.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to China in 2021, including 10.5 bcm via the Power of Siberia pipeline, a network that is also separate from the pipelines that send gas to Europe.

Putin is accompanied by several Russian officials and business executives, including Igor Sechin, head of oil giant Rosneft. Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom is not in the delegation. Rosneft and CNPC signed a deal on supplying 100 million tonnes of oil to China through Kazakhstan for 10 years, the Russian company said, effectively prolonging the existing deal.

Source: REUTERS

4, February 2022

Sako, Anu and Ayaba acting together to destroy the Ambazonia struggle ⁰

The disgraced Dr. Ikome Sako, the former Communications Secretary of the Ambazonia Interim Government, Chris Anu and the leader of one of the numerous armed militias in Southern Cameroons Dr. Cho Ayaba are working hand in hand to destroy the Southern Cameroons Interim Government-the only West Cameroon institution that is refusing to succumb to the Biya French Cameroun pressure.

The three have slowly but surely transformed into a pro French Cameroun political wing deep within the Southern Cameroons struggle and Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered intelligence that the three men have ties to Yaoundé. However, we understand the exiled leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government, Vice President Dabney Yerima is reportedly developing a Southern Cameroons resistance front in Europe and the US capable of foiling the French Cameroun teleguided Sako, Anu and Cho Ayaba plots.

Dr. Ikome Sako, Cho Ayaba and Chris Anu are using fake face book accounts including WhatsApp contacts to deceive Southern Cameroonians in Ground One and Ground Zero that they are the genuine Ambazonian leaders in order to keep collecting money from Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora. They are currently running malicious acts of sabotage in Southern Cameroons seeking to destroy all what the Interim Government under the jailed President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe had achieved.

The happenings in Maryland is a clear indication that the more the money pours in from the Southern Cameroons diaspora in Europe and the US, the more those who claim to have taken over from Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe become wayward, irresponsible, and undisciplined.

Most of them think they can continue to use the Bible to blindfold Southern Cameroonians while others also believe that they are in charge of political affairs of a state that only exist on social media.

This is happening to a people who are fighting without any international support to protect their sovereignty with the blood of their children. The action of these Southern Cameroons gangsters is simply making a mockery of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia’s dignity and independence. Several Southern Cameroons elites can no longer watch the comedy that is unfolding and have started declaring allegiance to the Green, Red, Yellow flag.

Recently in Holland, Vice President Dabney Yerima opined that Southern Cameroonians particularly those in the diaspora can stand firm against these so-called front line leaders who are no longer interested in fighting the intimidated French Cameroun regime, but only to line their pockets. Yerima said the Ambazonia diaspora should starve them and make them to surrender.

Dabney Yerima stated that the Ambazonian nation is now a member of the freedom seeking front in the world and thus Southern Cameroonians must apply the policy of resistance against any corrupt figure deep within the struggle.

Sako, Chris and Ayaba are trading accusations and are using their surrogates to sling mud at each other. A lot of money is missing and none of them is capable of accounting for the money, though they have been happily running the accounts of their various groups be it Sako IG or AgovC. The mere mention of the word “audit” irritates them. These are the people who want to rule a new country.

The actions of these consortiums of Southern Cameroons crime syndicate are putting the lives of thousands of young men and woman who have opted to fight for an independent Southern Cameroons at risk.

A simple and peaceful protest by teachers and lawyers was mismanaged and was allowed to spiral out of control by a French backed French Cameroun regime that was not wont to hearing contrary views.

The protest by teachers and lawyers was a way Southern Cameroonians wanted La Republique du Cameroun to listen to their grievances and seek solutions which could douse the fire that was burning out of control in many their minds.

Years of political and economic marginalization had sown a violent storm in many minds in Southern Cameroons. However, the Southern Cameroons revolution may still be playing out, but it seems to be on its last leg.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

4, February 2022

France’s Macron to meet Putin and Zelensky in separate talks next week ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Feb. 7 and the leader of Ukraine on Feb. 8 to discuss the Ukraine situation, as Western world leaders try and avoid a major conflict with Russia over Ukraine.

Macron’s office added he would meet Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev a day after his meeting with Putin.

Macron has said that finding a negotiated path towards de-escalating tensions over Ukraine was a priority, even as the United States has said it was sending 3,000 extra troops to Poland and Romania as Russia amassed troops near Ukraine.

Macron held separate phone calls with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders on Thursday to try to make progress on the status of the Donbass region as part of efforts to defuse tensions, said Macron’s office in a statement on Thursday.

That statement had also said Macron had underscored to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky the importance of discussing the conditions to reach strategic balance in Europe which would enable a reduction in tension on the ground and guarantee security on the continent.

The United States had also said on Thursday that Russia has formulated several options as an excuse to invade Ukraine, including the potential use of a propaganda video showing a staged attack, as the Kremlin condemned American troop deployments in the region.

Source: REUTERS

4, February 2022

India’s coronavirus death toll crosses 500,000 ⁰

India’s official death toll from Covid-19 passed 500,000 on Friday, although many experts believe the real figure is likely much higher.

The daily update from the country’s federal health ministry showed the number of fatalities reaching 500,055, up 1,072 in the previous 24 hours.

Total infections stood at 41.9 million, according to the statistics, second only to the United States.

Case numbers have jumped in recent weeks due to the highly infectious Omicron strain but rates have slowed in recent days and the health ministry last week said there were indications of a plateau in virus cases in several parts of the country.

Experts said the Omicron wave would not cause many deaths or hospitalisations, but several states imposed restrictions on movement and have only now started easing them.

Authorities in the Delhi area that includes the capital on Friday announced high schools, colleges, restaurants and gyms would be allowed to open from next week.

After being shut for almost two years, first because of coronavirus and then again for pollution following a brief reopening, in-person classes for four- to 14-year-olds will restart on February 14, Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia tweeted.

India was hit by a devastating spike in cases last year due to the Delta variant that brought its health care system close to collapse.

Many analysts believe the country actually may have reached the 500,000-death mark last year itself.

The wave saw at least 200,000 deaths as hospitals ran out of oxygen and patients scrambled desperately to source medicines.

A study by a US research group last year suggested that anywhere between 3.4 million and 4.7 million people had died.

For months now, several states have been reconciling their death toll and adding “backlog” deaths as India’s Supreme Court ordered state authorities to provide compensation to families.

Kerala, Bihar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat are among those to have added thousands of old deaths to their existing tolls.

Last month, the Modi government asked states to stop mandatory testing of contacts of those who test positive, unless they had underlying health conditions.

But soon after the order the government told states to ramp up testing as numbers dropped. Booming sales of home coronavirus self-test kits have also fuelled fears of underreporting of cases across the country.

Source: AFP

3, February 2022

Africa Cup of Nations: Egypt beat Cameroon on penalties to reach final ⁰

Egypt won their third consecutive match in extra time to reach Sunday’s final against Senegal. A nervy 0-0 draw saw Cameroon dominate the first half but lack the creative edge of their earlier matches – then ended when Egypt prevailed by keeping their cool in the shootout.

3, February 2022

Francis Ngannou: In France, I’m French When I Win & Cameroonian When I Lose ⁰

UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou has suggested the media in France are very fickle when it comes to his representation of the European country.

At the opening pay-per-view of 2022, two former teammates at Paris’ MMA Factory gym collided. On one side of the Octagon was a Cameroon native who built his life and career in France. Opposite him was a La Roche-sur-Yon native, born and bred in the west side of the nation.

In the main event, it was Ngannou who emerged victoriously and left the cage as the undisputed heavyweight king. He did so despite carrying a torn MCL into the contest and following a difficult opening two rounds.

After struggling on the feet against “Bon Gamin” for the first 10 minutes, “The Predator” adjusted his strategy and won the remaining three frames thanks to top control and an impressive display of wrestling.

With the victory, Ngannou closed the book on his feud with former coach Fernand Lopez, defied the odds, and established a strong position for future negotiations with the UFC. A defeat may well have seen him depart the promotion.

Given the two names involved in the headline clash, it’s unsurprising that French interest was at an all-time high ahead of UFC 270. But with Ngannou’s history and frequent praise of the opportunities he was given in France, it was perhaps surprising to see the attitude of some of the country’s media towards him.

At the UFC 270 press conference during fight week, Ngannou had a heated exchange with a French reporter who asked him if he’d “brainwashed” his time at Paris’ MMA Factory gym out of his memory. The champ later took issue with another journalist who seemed to suggest Ngannou had described Gane as an easy opponent.

During an episode of Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour in the week following the PPV event, Ngannou was asked why members of the French media pushed a negative narrative about him leading up to the contest.

“It’s (attitude of the French media) because I was fighting a French guy,” Ngannou said. “That’s how it happens in France. In France, when you lost, you are Cameroonian; when you win, you’re French-Cameroonian or French. And this time I was fighting a real French guy, so they built up the story of the villain and the good guy. I mean, it’s just media. After the fight, a lot of them, they just changed their mind. Some people just wrote back the article, like, ‘A French-Cameroonian retained his title,’ all that kind of stuff. It’s the media, you can’t control that stuff.

“But regardless of that, I know that I have a huge fanbase in France,” added Ngannou. “I have people in France who love me and that’s all that matters. That’s the people who I represent. In France, my fans, my friends, those who even became my family, you know, that’s why I’m happy about France.”

Despite moving permanently to the United States to train at the Xtreme Couture gym, Ngannou has previously returned to France and certainly appears to appreciate the support he still receives from his fanbase across the Atlantic.

It’ll be interesting to see how the French media approaches Ngannou’s next fight, and whether, like Ngannou says, they’ll follow a different narrative if he’s not up against a French national.

Source: ufcbettingsite.com