Ukraine Crisis Day 24: President Zelensky calls for talks with Putin

19, March 2022

Ukraine Crisis Day 24: President Zelensky calls for talks with Putin 0

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine enters its 24th day.

“This is the time to meet, to talk, time for renewing territorial integrity and fairness for Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a video posted to Facebook on Saturday.

“I want to be heard by everyone, especially in Moscow,” he said, adding, “Otherwise, Russia’s losses will be such, that several generations will not recover.”

Delegations from Kiev and Moscow have been negotiating since the onset of the Russian military campaign. The latest round of talks opened on Monday.

Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, who said the two sides have come closer to an agreement on a neutral status for Ukraine, noted on Friday that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky is possible after the teams finalize a draft treaty to end the hostilities that receives a preliminary approval from the countries’ governments.

Sources

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima asks Francophone soldiers going to rural Ambazonia to draft wills

19, March 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima asks Francophone soldiers going to rural Ambazonia to draft wills 0

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government in his latest assessment of the war in Southern Cameroons has advised all French Cameroun government army soldiers being deployed to rural areas in the Ambazonia homeland to draft their wills.

The Vice President Dabney Yerima statement issued late on Friday comes as soldiers loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé reportedly carried out operations in many Southern Cameroons towns and villages including Kumbo, Ndop, Wum, Bafut and Kom.

General Valere Nka, commander of the Francophone dominated military fighting Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards said several hundred Amba fighters have escaped to villages along Cameroon’s border with Nigeria.

“If you are a Francophone soldier currently in Bamenda or Buea preparing to be deployed to any rural area in Southern Cameroons, you should consider drafting a will and also discuss plans with your wife and children about funeral wishes” Dabney Yerima noted.

The security situation throughout Southern Cameroons is highly volatile, and conditions are deteriorating without warning.

The war in Southern Cameroons has killed more than 6,000 people and forced one million English speaking Cameroonians to flee their homes as they are caught between the Francophone Cameroon government army and Ambazonia fighters.

The war broke out in October 2017 when British Southern Cameroonians under the leadership of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe declared an independent state-the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The five-year conflict is slowly but surely spilling over into Nigeria, with the Nigerian press reporting that Cameroonian security forces and Ambazonia fighters care little for the territorial integrity of their neighbours.

By Isong Asu and Chi Prudence Asong

War in Ukraine: Latest developments

18, March 2022

War in Ukraine: Latest developments 0

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

‘Hundreds’ trapped in bombed theatre

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says that 130 people have been saved after the bombing of a theatre in the port city of Mariupol, besieged by Russian forces, but that “hundreds” are still trapped in rubble.

He promises to continue rescue operations in Mariupol “despite shelling” in the southern port city that has suffered vast destruction.

Xi speaks out against war

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks out against conflict during his first call with his US counterpart Joe Biden since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese state TV reports.

He says during the nearly two-hour-long call Beijing and Washington should shoulder “our due international responsibilities” for peace and that war is “in no one’s interest”.

Strikes near Lviv airport

Russian forces destroy an aircraft repair plant near Lviv airport but no one was hurt, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says on the messaging app Telegram.

The western city is just 70 kilometres (45 miles) from the border with NATO member Poland.

Kyiv tower blocks hit

Authorities in the capital Kyiv say one person was killed when a Russian rocket struck residential tower blocks in the northwestern suburbs. They said a school and playground were also hit.

Fighting in Mariupol, Lugansk

Russian troops and their separatist allies are fighting in the centre of Mariupol, the Russian defence ministry says.

Backed by Russian troops, separatists from the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic have also “liberated more than 90 percent of the republic’s territory”, the ministry adds.

One dead, one trapped in Kharkiv

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, Russian strikes demolish the six-storey building of a higher education institution, killing one person and leaving another trapped in the wreckage, officials say.

‘Dire’ situation in east

The UN warns that humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent across eastern Ukraine, with a potentially fatal lack of food, water and medicines in besieged cities such as Mariupol and Sumy.

Peace talks ‘stalled’

Russian President Vladimir Putin accuses Ukrainian authorities of stalling talks, but added that Moscow is ready to search for solutions as he speaks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns that Russia has not produced “any meaningful efforts” to end the war.

G7 leaders convened

Scholz, as current G7 president, invites the leaders of the world’s top industrialised countries to a meeting on Ukraine as part of EU and NATO summits next week.

UK blocks Russia’s RT channel

Britain’s broadcasting regulator revokes the licence of Russia’s state-funded television channel RT, in the latest international repercussion for Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

– ‘Extensive’ economic fallout –

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other top world lenders warn of “extensive” economic fallout from the Ukraine war and express “horror” at the “devastating human catastrophe”.

IEA urges cut in global oil consumption

The International Energy Agency urges governments to urgently implement measures to cut global oil consumption within months following supply fears stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian diplomats expelled

The three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announce the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

3.25 million refugees

More than 3.25 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the United Nations says, with more than two million crossing the Polish border.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons conflict spills across Nigerian frontier

18, March 2022

Southern Cameroons conflict spills across Nigerian frontier 0

The peaceful Nigerian fishing village of Manga sits not far from Cameroon’s border, but its residents know all about the separatist war raging inside their West African neighbour.

Cameroon’s five-year conflict is spilling over into Nigeria, where the armed forces are struggling to secure the border as they battle jihadists, bandit gangs and separatists of their own elsewhere.

Cameroonian security forces and separatist gunmen care little for the territorial integrity of their neighbours where they have carried out cross-border raids, attacks on villages and made illegal arrests.

Manga lived though the bloody experience at the end of last year.

On November 17 around 50 armed separatists crossed over from Cameroon, attacking the village and killing five people including Manga’s 70-year-old chief, residents say.

Dozens of bullet holes still mark the earthen walls of the chief’s house and its upper part is charred by fire.

“I had never heard gunshots like that,” said Abubakar Manga, the chief’s brother, who managed to escape on a canoe from where he watched the attack.

“We still don’t understand,” he told AFP.

Two days before, about 30 Cameroonians had found refuge in Manga, after the attack on their village in Cameroon.

“In my village, the separatists confronted the army, but did not attack us,” said one of these refugees.

“But suddenly they changed and started destroying our houses,” said the man who spoke on condition of anonymity for his security.

Terrible revenge

Cameroon’s war has killed more than 6,000 people and forced one million Cameroonians to flee their homes as they are caught between the army and the rebels.

The war broke out in October 2017 when militants declared an independent state in the Northwest region and Southwest region, home to most of the anglophone minority in a country that is 80 percent French-speaking.

Since then, more than 250 villages have been destroyed, in terrible revenge by either the separatists or soldiers against populations accused of supporting the opposing camp.

“We fled to Manga to take shelter,” the refugee said, explaining how they believed they would be safe in Nigeria and not suffer violence for a second time.

But the separatist fighters are not the only ones who have expanded their fight to the other side of the Nigerian border.

In October, around 60 Cameroonian soldiers invaded the villages of Mairogo and Tosso, harassing and intimidating their inhabitants, according to the UN and local authorities.

“They were looking for armed separatists who had fled to Nigeria,” local elected official Joseph Ammamzalla told AFP.

Cameroonian authorities suspect that separatists are hiding among the 70,000 Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria.

For Cameroon officials, eastern Nigeria is also one of the sources of arms supply for the separatists.

In January and February 2022, Cameroonian soldiers again invaded Mairogo, according to the local official.

“They severely beat several residents, and arrested and took with them four young people, and we have had no further news,” he said.

To keep the refugees away from the border, the Taraba State authorities and the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are in discussions to create a refugee camp.

In neighbouring states of Benue and Cross River, four camps have been established.

“Here I am no longer afraid,” said Zacharia Okana, 59, a Cameroonian refugee who lives in one of the Cross River camps.

An opponent of the regime of President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, Okana fled Cameroon in 2017 for fear of arrest. He said he was suspected of financially supporting the separatists, which he denies.

But in September 2020, he says he was illegally arrested in Ikom, a Nigerian town near the border, and taken back to Cameroon, where he spent three months in prison.

‘Abuja laissez-faire’

Since 2018, Nigerian media have reported the incursion of several villages in Cross River by Cameroonian soldiers.

Contacted by AFP, the Cameroonian defence ministry said it was “not aware of these incidents” while Nigeria’s armed forces had no comment.

One Nigerian military official, however, said, on condition of anonymity, that the army continued to work to “secure the border”.

But this is not “the priority” for Abuja, said Ikemesit Effiong, an analyst with the Nigerian risk consultancy SMB Intelligence.

The army is already engaged “on several other fronts”, he said, in the northeast, where it has been fighting a jihadist insurgency for twelve years and the northwest where criminal gangs are terrorising local populations.

Yaounde and Abuja “have no desire to publicise these incidents”, Effiong said.

There is a laissez-faire from Abuja, he said, as the government has no interest in seeing “a successful separatist rebellion in its neighbour” when it is also facing separatist agitation of its own.

The Nigerian army has been trying for years to crush the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) separatist group, which is fighting to create a republic for the Igbo people in the southeast of the country.

“Because of their geographical proximity, the authorities are afraid to see the creation of a common front,” Effiong said.

That concern was reinforced in 2021 when IPOB and one of the separatist groups in Cameroon sought to enter into an alliance. But the accord did not materialise.

In 2018, Abuja did arrest several Cameroon separatist leaders seeking asylum in Nigeria and transferred them to Yaounde, where they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The extradition was later deemed illegal by the Nigerian high court and denounced by the UN and civil society, but the men are still in prison in Cameroon.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya regime says frightened Amba fighters relocate to border with Nigeria

18, March 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Biya regime says frightened Amba fighters relocate to border with Nigeria 0

Cameroon’s government says calm is gradually returning to several towns in its English-speaking western regions after the military launched raids on separatist strongholds during the past month.

The military said troops carried out operations in many western towns and villages including Kumbo, Ndop, Wum, Bafut and Kom, with at least 20 separatist fighters were killed but no government troops were wounded.

General Valere Nka, the commander of Cameroonian troops fighting separatists in the English-speaking North-West region, said several hundred fighters escaped to villages along Cameroon’s western border with Nigeria. He said troops have been deployed to stop fighters from stealing goods and money from merchants and cattle from ranchers in border localities.

“The president of the republic, President Paul Biya, commander in chief of the armed forces has sent the defense and security forces to protect you, not to kill you,” Nka said during a visit to several border villages this week. “We need your total collaboration to better secure you.”

The military did not say how many troops have been deployed or how long the troops are expected to stay along the border with Nigeria.

Nelson Bwei, a spokesperson for the Abba Village Development Committee, said a military post is needed in the village, which is on the border with Nigeria, to protect civilians from separatist fighters. He said hundreds of the fighters are hiding in the bush along the border, especially in Fungong district.

“Our children are facing harassment,” he said. “Lower Fungong has no security post. The people there are exposed to insecurity. We plead to the general to create military units because we believe that if there is that military unit, it will beef up the security of the subdivision.”

Bwei said the separatists have seized at least 90 cows from ranchers within three weeks. He said fighters have abducted at least 13 civilians for ransom, especially merchants doing business between Cameroon and Nigeria.

On social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp, the separatists have denied the loss of 20 fighters. The separatists say their presence in border localities is a tactical withdrawal to prepare and face government troops. The fighters deny they are harassing civilians as the government claims and insist that they are out to protect English-speakers from Cameroon military brutality.

Cameroon’s military has always denied it abuses civilian’s rights.

Separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an independent English-speaking state in majority French-speaking Cameroon. The crisis started when English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of French in official government business and education. The government responded with a crackdown and separatists took up weapons.

The United Nations says at least 3,300 people have been killed with 750,000 internally displaced.

Source: VOA

Indomitable Lions: Song names final 27-man squad for World Cup qualifier

18, March 2022

Indomitable Lions: Song names final 27-man squad for World Cup qualifier 0

Cameroon national football team head coach Rigobert Song on Wednesday named his final 27-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff game against Algeria.

Vincent Aboubakar will captain the squad that also includes Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana, Napoli midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Bayern Munich forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.

The list consists of three goalkeepers, but there is no place for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations-winning keeper Fabrice Ondoa.

Forwards Clinton N’Jie, Christian Bassogog and Jerome Onguene are also amongst players dropped by Song, who has included 16-year-old Patient Wassou Goue of local side Coton Sport.

Cameroon will host Algeria in Japoma Stadium on March 25 before traveling to Mustapha Tchaker Stadium for the return fixture on March 29.

Song replaced Antonio Conceicao at the helm of the national team last month after the country finished third at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil.

Source: Xinhuanet

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Web of connected players could complicate biometric ID card tender

18, March 2022

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Web of connected players could complicate biometric ID card tender 0

Augentic seems like a natural contender for the biometric ID card tender launched by Cameroon’s government last year, given its role in issuing the country’s new passports. Any bid from the company could be complicated, however, by its relationship with two other companies that provide technology for ID documents, Africa Intelligence reports.

A bid by Germany-based Augentic for the biometric ID card contract was made in partnership with IN Groupe, which is under review by the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA). Industry publication Printing notes that the investigation began in January, citing a report from Le Figaro, but no specific information about what part of the company’s operations are under investigation is available.

IN Groupe also recently won the contract for France’s national digital ID, and for biometrics passports in the Seychelles.

Africa Intelligence suggests that a consultant who played a part in bringing Augentic and IN Groupe’s bid forward in Cameroon is a special consultant to an elite unit within Cameroonian army and involved with procurement. The report also notes that the consultant denies the specific role it alleges, but goes on to claim that he previously worked with Germany’s Veridos in the country. Veridos has also supplied biometric technology for Cameroon’s electoral system.

The General Delegation for National Security (DGSN) launched the tender last September, with a dozen biometrics providers involved in different bids, including Veridos, which many members of Augentic’s leadership team formerly served as executives.

Now, Africa Intelligence reports that Veridos has been complaining about Augentic’s practices in Cameroon to the German embassy.

Culled from biometric update

Race and identity shaping US politics- Ukrainians got it. Southern Cameroonians didn’t

16, March 2022

Race and identity shaping US politics- Ukrainians got it. Southern Cameroonians didn’t 0

Looking at how swiftly the U.S. moved to grant temporary protections for Ukrainians living in the United States.    Russia’s assault on Ukraine careens toward its third week.

Talks between the two nations continue, but how or when the Kremlin-led bombardment will end remains anyone’s guess.

The Russian invasion ignited a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, particularly in major population centers receiving the brunt of attacks, including the capital city of Kyiv and the port city of Mariupol.

The International Organization for Migration, an arm of the United Nations, estimated the war has created nearly 3 million refugees who have fled the country since the conflict erupted on Feb. 24.

Temporary Protected Status, as its name suggests, is a short-term action and in this case will shield an estimated 75,000 Ukrainian nationals in the U.S., as of March 1, from deportation.

TPS is designated by the Department of Homeland Security for three main reasons: ongoing armed conflict, an environmental disaster or extraordinary temporary conditions that would make it impossible for nationals to return to their home countries.

“We in the Department of Homeland Security are acting in support of them,” said Secretary Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a video posted to Twitter on March 3 announcing the move. “Not just the Ukrainian people living in Ukraine, but also those here present in the United States.”

While no one can fault the Biden administration for its prompt action for the Ukraninans, many immigration advocates are taken aback by how quickly TPS came: a mere eight days after war erupted there.

“This was that aha moment, like OK, so you guys can make this decision in a matter of days,” said Haddy Gassama, an attorney based in Washington, D.C. “It should not take yearslong campaigns to establish proof that a certain country is too dangerous to deport people to.”

Gassama, who also serves as national director of policy and advocacy at UndocuBlack Network, which advocates on behalf of current and formally undocumented Black migrants, says countries like the central African nation of Cameroon also need TPS protections.

And after years of pushing, their efforts have yielded little results, which they say is disappointing for an administration that ran on a platform of rooting out inequities in federal agencies and programs.

Gassama added:

Haddy Gassama said: “I think what is a little bit jarring is that we did not expect that it would be such an uphill battle for a country that really should be a shoo-in."

Cameroon is in the midst of a conflict that goes back to 2016. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees from December found there were 1.5 million refugees and internally displaced people in Cameroon.

Should TPS be granted by the Biden administration, it would do nothing for those people in Cameroon. But without it, as is the case now, hundreds of Cameroonian nationals were deported by the Trump administration back to French Cameroun and have never been heard again and hundreds in the United States are at risk of being sent back to the current unstable conditions.

Advocates are also pushing for TPS action for Central American nations, including Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

Culled from Politico.com

Football: Man Utd must hit reset button after miserable season

16, March 2022

Football: Man Utd must hit reset button after miserable season 0

Manchester United were established members of Europe’s elite a decade ago but they have been reduced to the status of also-rans in the Premier League and even in their own city.

Under Alex Ferguson, the club reached three Champions League finals in four years from 2008 to 2011. Since then they have won a meagre two knockout ties in the competition.

United’s limp 1-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday consigned them to a fifth consecutive trophyless season and suggested they are as far as ever from finding the key to success.

A return to the Champions League next year looks highly unlikely, with Arsenal in pole position to grab fourth spot in the Premier League after a strong run under Mikel Arteta.

United, who drew 1-1 against Atletico in the first leg in Spain, started brightly at Old Trafford but were let down by familiar defensive lapses and a palpable lack of a cutting edge.

Cristiano Ronaldo did not have a shot on goal while substitutes Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford failed to make an impact against Diego Simeone’s well-drilled side.

Former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who won a famous Treble under Ferguson in 1999, said United must do better but believes their current mess is an opportunity for root-and-branch reform.

“For a club that professes to be one of the biggest in the world, we have to do better than that,” he told the BBC.

“It’s been a long period of not being great and it’s very disappointing. But it’s also a time of opportunity and one we cannot miss.

“The club is under different leadership and wants to move in a different direction. It’s a chance to restructure the whole football department — how we recruit, how we scout, how we educate.”

Richard Arnold is the new man at the helm at Old Trafford after taking over from Ed Woodward as the club’s most senior executive.

Manager hunt

The chief executive has the unenviable task of finding a new manager — United’s fifth permanent boss since the departure of Ferguson as a Premier League champion in 2013.

Schmeichel said despite the malaise at Old Trafford, the best managers in the world would “relish” the chance of replacing interim boss Ralf Rangnick at the end of the season.

“They will see great potential here,” he said. “If they are the person to get it right, we’ve seen what that means. I think anyone who is not at Manchester City or Liverpool would take that opportunity if it was offered.”

Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax’s Erik ten Hag are both among the favourites to be the next manager even though their clubs also exited at the last 16 stage of the Champions League.

Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel has been linked with the job because of the current turmoil at the Stamford Bridge club following the sanctioning of Russian owner Roman Abramovich over the Ukraine war.

Former midfielder Paul Scholes, who was part of Ferguson’s all-conquering side, said United needed to find an elite manager who “strikes fear into players”.

“This isn’t a terrible group of players,” he said on BT Sport. “I think if you give this group of players a structure and way of playing, there’s some real talent in the squad.

“The next man might not be the right man, but the people behind the scenes have to make sure he is the right man,” he added.

“Maybe they need a manager that they are going to be afraid of and that will scare them into performances.”

The problem facing United’s hierarchy is that there have been a number of chances to reset and rebuild since Ferguson brought down the curtain on the most successful spell in the club’s history.

United have not mounted a serious title challenge for nearly a decade, watching enviously as Manchester City and Liverpool have set standards they have been unable to match despite a huge outlay on players.

Few would bet that this time they will get it right.

Source: AFP

China says it is ‘not a party’ to Ukraine Crisis

16, March 2022

China says it is ‘not a party’ to Ukraine Crisis 0

China says it does not want to get caught up in the diplomatic and economic blowback Russia is facing from Western nations over its invasion of Ukraine.

State media said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed his government’s wishes during a lengthy phone conversation Monday with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares.

According to a transcript of the phone call published Monday by the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang told Albares that Beijing is “not a party to the crisis” and does not want to be “affected” by the mounting economic sanctions imposed on Moscow over the nearly 3-week-old invasion.

The conversation took place as U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and officials from the National Security Council and State Department met in Rome with China’s top foreign policy adviser, Yang Jiechi. The Biden administration has warned that Beijing would face severe “consequences” if it helps Moscow avoid sanctions.

Media reports emerged Sunday that Moscow has requested military and economic assistance from China for its war in Ukraine.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Tuesday repeated an accusation leveled by Beijing that the United States is spreading “disinformation” over reports that China has responded positively to Moscow’s request.

Zhao calls the reports “not only unprofessional, but also immoral and irresponsible.”

He told reporters China’s position is “completely objective, impartial and constructive.”

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Monday that the United States is watching very closely the extent to which China, or any other country, provides any form of support to Russia.

“We have communicated very clearly to Beijing that we won’t stand by, we will not allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses,” he said.

CNN reported late Monday that the United States told European and Asian allies in a diplomatic cable that China had indicated a willingness to help Russia in the war against Ukraine. CNN said the cable did not state definitively that assistance had been provided and that it warned that China would likely deny any such offer.

Chinese arms sales to Russia would have “a devastating impact on the U.S.-China relationship, because it would clearly align the Chinese with the Russians, against the United States, Europe in a war,” Robert Ross, a political science professor at Boston College, told VOA.

China is in a unique position because of its partnership agreement with Russia, according to Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. He told VOA that China has “considerably greater” leverage over Russia than even Western countries that have implemented “unprecedented sanctions” on Russia.

 “China has something that the West does not have, and that is the partnership,” with Russia, he said.

Source: VOA

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