Myanmar: Thousands gather for a second day of protests against military coup

7, February 2021

Myanmar: Thousands gather for a second day of protests against military coup 0

Thousands of anti-coup protesters in Myanmar poured back onto the streets Sunday, as an internet blackout failed to stifle growing outrage at the military’s ouster of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The fresh rally followed the largest protests to date on Saturday, when tens of thousands came out in cities across the country to condemn the coup that brought a 10-year experiment with democracy to a crashing halt.

Thousands of chanting protesters marched in Yangon, backed by a din of car horns. They held up banners that said “Justice for Myanmar” and “We do not want military dictatorship”. Some waved the signature red flags of Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) party.

“I completely despise the military coup and I am not afraid of a crackdown,” said Kyi Phyu Kyaw, a 20-year-old university student.

“I will join every day until Amay Suu (Mother Suu) is freed.”

Many demonstrators flashed the three-finger salute inspired by the “Hunger Games” films, which was used as a symbol of resistance by pro-democracy protesters in Thailand last year.

The protesters planned to hold a rally at Yangon City Hall, but access to the area was blocked by police and barricades. Demonstrators were forced to split into different groups as they tried to find a way around the checkpoints.

“We have decided. We will fight until the end,” said Ye Kyaw, an 18-year-old economics student.

“The next generation can have democracy if we end this military dictatorship.”

The surge in popular dissent over the weekend overrode a nationwide blockade of the internet, similar in magnitude to an earlier shutdown that coincided with the arrest of Suu Kyi and other senior leaders on Monday.

Online calls to protest the army takeover have prompted bold displays of defiance, including the nightly deafening clamour of people around the country banging pots and pans — a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil spirits.

Yangon residents repeated the pot-banging at 8 am on Sunday.

“#Myanmar’s military and police must ensure the right to peaceful assembly is fully respected and demonstrators are not subjected to reprisals,” the United Nations Human Rights office tweeted after Saturday’s protests.

Civil disobedience

As protests gathered steam this week, the junta ordered telecom networks to freeze access to Facebook, an extremely popular service in the country and arguably its main mode of communication.

The platform had hosted a rapidly growing “Civil Disobedience Movement” forum that had inspired civil servants, healthcare professionals, and teachers to show their dissent by boycotting their jobs.

On Sunday, a live Facebook video feed showed the Yangon protesters as they marched through the streets, as well as police in riot personnel standing by in some locations.

It was not immediately clear how the broadcast was bypassing the government block.

The military had widened its efforts to quell organised dissent on Friday when it demanded new blocks on other social media services including Twitter.

“The generals are now attempting to paralyse the citizen movement of resistance — and keep the outside world in the dark — by cutting virtually all internet access,” said Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.

In addition to Suu Kyi and some of her top aides, dozens have been detained so far.

The precise number of arrests is not yet known, but monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said Saturday that more than 150 people are still in custody.

International condemnation

Rumours that Suu Kyi had been released triggered brief but raucous street celebrations among her supporters on Saturday, before they were denied by her lawyer who said she remained in detention.

An immensely popular figure despite a tarnished reputation in the West, Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since the coup, but a party spokesman said Friday she was “in good health”.

Two days after the coup, criminal charges were filed against her related to the illegal import of a set of walkie-talkies.

The military had hinted at its coup intentions days in advance, insisting that the NLD’s landslide victory in the November elections was the result of voter fraud.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party, a military proxy, was trounced in the election.

Following the takeover, the junta proclaimed a one-year state of emergency after which it promised to hold fresh elections, without offering any precise timeframe.

The coup has been widely condemned by the international community, with US President Joe Biden leading calls for the generals to relinquish power and release those arrested in the post-coup crackdown.

(AFP)

Buhari registered state terrorism on Nigeria’s record by abducting President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe

7, February 2021

Buhari registered state terrorism on Nigeria’s record by abducting President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe 0

The Southern Cameroons Secretary for Communications, Milton Taka has said that the Nigerian head of state President Muhammadu Buhari successfully registered state terrorism on the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s official record by his administration openly accepting responsibility for the abduction and force repatriation of the Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides from Abuja to Yaoundé.

“Buhari was head of state in Nigeria when the Fulanis of Cameroon attempted a coup against the French Cameroun leader Paul Biya in 1984!! As the godfather of political Islam, Buhari gave all the Cameroon Fulanis involved in that coup a safe haven in Kaduna in Nigeria. But the same Buhari was quick to arrest and handover Southern Cameroons leaders to French Cameroun” Milton Taka told a press cabinet meeting in South Africa on Friday.

With what Buhari did with the Ambazonia leader and his advisers, state terrorism was eventually inscribed on the forehead of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Since the abduction of the Southern Cameroons leaders, the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria denounced the act as “illegal and unconstitutional”. The Nigerian judge said that irrespective of whether the Southern Cameroons leaders posed a threat to the Nigerian state or not, the Federal Government did not follow due process and thus violated both the Nigerian constitution and articles 32 and 33 of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Observing that their human rights were violated, Justice Chikere ordered their return to Nigeria. He also decided that the government should pay compensation of ₦5 million each to the 12 and ₦200 000 each to the 39 other deportees.

Elsewhere in his comments, Secretary Milton Taka said the US Senate Resolution 684 published on 01 January 2021 and the historic visit of the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has provided the people of Southern Cameroons hope. Resolution 684 was unambiguous in illustrating the crimes of the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé and for the first time threatened sanctions against senior members of the ruling French Cameroun gang.

“The abduction of our leaders was intended to stifle the Ambazonian struggle but it has instead galvanized a great movement” Secretary Milton Taka concluded.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

Sixth term palaver: Chad police clash with protesters after President Deby’s nomination

6, February 2021

Sixth term palaver: Chad police clash with protesters after President Deby’s nomination 0

Police in Chad fired tear gas and made several arrests as hundreds protested  President Idriss Deby’s nomination on Saturday to run for a sixth term in April.

Deby, 68, who came to power in a 1990 rebellion, pushed through a new constitution in 2018 that reinstated term limits but would let him stay in power until 2033. His opponents accuse him of crippling the country’s institutions in a bid to hold on to power.

In the capital N’Djamena, hundreds of protesters set tyres on fire and chanted “No to a sixth term!” and “Leave, Deby!”, according to witnesses.

Police fired tear gas and arrested several people, including Mahamat Nour Ibedou, a prominent human rights activist. Protests were also held in the cities of Moundou, Doba, Sarh and Abeche, witnesses said.

The protests followed the announcement that the ruling Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party had backed Deby’s bid for a sixth term in office.

Accepting the nomination, Deby said, “The people’s confidence has a sacred value for me.”

Deby, who took the title of field marshal last August, said he responded “favourably to this call of the people” after “a mature and deep introspection”.

Poverty, corruption and landslide election victories

Chad is an ally of Western nations in the fight against Islamist militants in West and Central Africa and one of the largest contributors to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali.

Deby has faced strikes and protests in recent years over economic woes caused by low oil prices and armed rebellions in the desert north, where former colonial power France has intervened in support of the government.

Since ousting the autocratic leader Hissene Habre in 1990, Deby has been re-elected every five years in landslide election victories. But he has drawn on his effective control of state media and institutions to maintain political dominance.

During his rule, Deby has been accused of appointing relatives and cronies to key positions and failing to address the poverty that afflicts many of Chad’s 13 million people despite oil wealth.

The country ranks 187th out of 189 in the UN’s Human Development Index.

Banned opposition demonstrations, arbitrary arrests and severed access to social networks raise regular objections from human rights groups, which have also accused the ruling class of endemic corruption.

Opposition forms an alliance

Ahead of the April election, 12 opposition parties last week said they would field a joint single candidate. They also signed a deal creating an electoral coalition called Alliance Victoire (Victory Alliance).

Signatories include two prominent opposition figures – Saleh Kebzabo, the runner-up in the 2016 election with about 13 percent of the vote, and Mahamat Ahmat Alabo.

The opposition manifesto says other opposition parties can join, although it does not set a date for when the single candidate will be named.

The alliance’s coordinator, Alladoumngar Tedengarti, said “the lesson has been learned” from 30 years of elections in which Deby has been able to cruise past a fragmented opposition.

Other leaders who have yet to join include Laokein Kourayo Medar, who placed third in 2016, and Succes Masra, whose campaign group, The Transformers, has joined with NGOs to call for protests.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

Onana Doping Affair: Van der Sar backs banned Cameroonian keeper

6, February 2021

Onana Doping Affair: Van der Sar backs banned Cameroonian keeper 0

Ajax have been rocked by the news that their first-choice goalkeeper has been banned for 12 months by UEFA after failing a doping test

Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar has backed goalkeeper Andre Onana after his 12-month ban from football, saying he believes his doping violation was a genuine mistake.

Starting February 5, the Cameroon international goalkeeper cannot play or train after a banned substance was found in a urine test.

Van der Sar says that, while he cannot be 100 per cent sure, he trusts the 24-year-old’s explanation of what happened.

Why has Onana been banned?

Onana was banned by UEFA after an out-of-competition drugs test in October found the banned substance Furosemide in his urine sample.

He says he accidentally took a pill which had been prescribed to his wife, as he had been feeling unwell and believed it to be aspirin.

Can Onana appeal his ban?

Ajax have already confirmed they will appeal the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

A club statement said: “The disciplinary body of the football association has stated that Onana had no intention of cheating. However, the European Football Association believes, on the basis of the applicable anti-doping rules, that an athlete has a duty at all times to ensure that no banned substances enter the body.”

What has Van der Sar said?

Van der Sar explained how Onana came to take the substance and says he believes it was simply “stupid bad luck”.

“I am 100% convinced that the positive doping test was the result of a misunderstanding,” Van der Sar told De Telegraaf.

“During the international break in November we received a message from UEFA that Andre had been detected with a banned substance in his urine during an ‘out of competition’ check at De Toekomst (Ajax’s training base).

“That was a huge shock for us and the same was obviously true for him when we sought contact with him in Cameroon.

“A few days after the UEFA message, he came directly to De Toekomst from Schiphol [Airport] and we went to his bathroom with the doctor, where we took all the medication and anything that looked like it for examination.

“Andre was not feeling well on the day of the check-up and thought he had taken a headache tablet, but it turned out that he had taken a pill from a strip of his wife’s medicine, which she had been prescribed after the pregnancy of their first child. It looked quite similar in name and the packaging. And the strips were loose in his locker. It’s stupid bad luck.”

What effects does Furosemide have?

Furosemide does not have any performance-enhancing qualities. It is a diuretic medication used to treat fluid build-up due to heart failure, liver scarring, or kidney disease, and can also be used to treat high blood pressure.

Van der Sar believes this adds credence to Onana’s claim that he took it by accident.

“It doesn’t make you stronger or faster. Andre, who has been checked many times, is the undisputed number one with us and Cameroon and is highly regarded by all top clubs. You don’t get that from one pill.”

Van der Sar also addressed the claim that Furosemide can be used as a masking agent to prevent other substances showing in doping tests.

“That could be the case, yes. But in all the other checks, Furosemide was not found and no other substances either.”

Source: Goal.com

CAF president arrives in Yaoundé for CHAN final

6, February 2021

CAF president arrives in Yaoundé for CHAN final 0

The president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Ahmad Ahmad arrived in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde on Friday afternoon ahead of Sunday’s African Nations Championship (CHAN) final.

Interim Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) President Seidou Mbombo Njoya met Ahmad at the Nsimalem International Airport.

Ahmad arrived the Central African nation one week after the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) suspended a five-year ban FIFA placed on him over corruption allegations.

He is due to preside over the final between title holders Morocco and Mali at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde.

Source: Xinhuanet

No Southern Cameroons refugee in Nigeria positive since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic

6, February 2021

No Southern Cameroons refugee in Nigeria positive since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic 0

Over 63,000 Cameroonian refugees are registered in Akwa-Ibom, Benue, Cross River and Taraba States in Nigeria. 44 % live in settlements, 56 % among local communities.

A door-to-door campaign sensitized 13,500 refugees about COVID-19 prevention. No Cameroonian refugee was reported positive since the onset of the pandemic.

UNHCR and partners maintained border monitoring, prevention of sexual and gender-based violence and other protection services despite the pandemic.

Source: Reliefweb

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Nurse shot in attack on ambulance in Muyuka

6, February 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Nurse shot in attack on ambulance in Muyuka 0

On Thursday morning, February 4, armed men shot at a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ambulance that was responding to a call in Muyuka, in the South-West region of Cameroon. An MSF nurse was injured in the attack and is now receiving medical care. The vehicle was clearly identified as an MSF ambulance. MSF condemns this attack and reiterates that ambulances, health care facilities, health staff, and civilians are not targets.

A second ambulance was later dispatched to respond to the initial call for emergency medical aid in Muyuka. That patient is now in critical condition.

MSF medical teams have been responding to the severe and ongoing effects of the crisis in North-West and South-West Cameroon since 2018. Our teams provide neutral and impartial medical humanitarian assistance through our emergency ambulance referrals, secondary level care, and a decentralized model of community-based health care.

Reaching people displaced by violence

For four years, Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions have been convulsed by armed violence between government forces and non-state armed groups, which has displaced more than 700,000 people. The humanitarian needs are enormous and displaced communities face difficulties accessing basic services, including health care.

The crisis has severely affected the public health system and many health centers have closed or are unable to function. Both medical workers and facilities are directly targeted by violence, and insecurity is disrupting the supply of drugs and medical equipment.

Traveling from remote villages to health facilities is a major challenge for many people, due to insecurity, bad road conditions, and lack of transport. MSF offers a free, 24-hour ambulance service that operates seven days a week, collects eligible patients at designated pick-up points and takes them to MSF-supported health centers and hospitals. If MSF cannot reach an area, we provide money for public transport so that patients can reach health structures or make their way to pick-up-points.

Source: MSF

ICC rules it has jurisdiction over Palestinian Territories, clears way for probe of Israeli actions

5, February 2021

ICC rules it has jurisdiction over Palestinian Territories, clears way for probe of Israeli actions 0

The International Criminal Court ruled on Friday that it has jurisdiction over war crimes or atrocities committed in the Palestinian Territories, paving the way for a criminal investigation, despite Israeli objections.

Judges said their decision was based on jurisdictional rules in its founding documents and does not imply any attempt to determine statehood or legal borders.

Israel, which is not a member of the court, has rejected its jurisdiction.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in 2019 that there was a “reasonable basis” to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. But she asked the court to determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding with the case.

She named both the Israeli Defence Forces and armed Palestinian groups such as Hamas as possible perpetrators.

In a majority ruling published Friday night, the judges said yes.

“The Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine … extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” they said.

The Palestinians, who joined the court in 2015, have long pushed for the case and asked the court to look into Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem.

Palestinians welcome decision, Israel slams ‘political tribunal’

Responding to the ruling, the Palestinian foreign ministry said it was ready to cooperate with the ICC’s prosecutor in the event an investigation was launched.

Nabil Shaath, a senior aide to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the decision and said it proved the Palestinians were right to go to the ICC. “This is good news, and the next step is to launch an official investigation into Israel’s crimes against our people,” he said

Hussein al-Sheikh, civil affairs minister of the Palestinian Authority, said on Twitter: “The International Criminal Court’s decision to consider Palestine as a member state according to the Treaty of Rome, and that it has jurisdiction to consider issues related to the Palestinian territories and complaints raised by the (PA), is a victory for rights, justice, freedom and moral values in the world.”

Israel, however, dismissed the ruling as a “political tribunal”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision “proves once again the court is a political body and not a legal institution.”

He added that Israel would “protect all of our citizens and soldiers” from prosecution.

International human rights groups immediately welcomed the decision, with the New York-based Human Rights Watch calling it “pivotal”.

The ruling “finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half-century of impunity,” said Balkees Jarrah, senior counsel on international justice at Human Rights Watch

“It’s high time that Israeli and Palestinian perpetrators of the gravest abuses—whether war crimes committed during hostilities or the expansion of unlawful settlements—face justice,” she said.

The US, however, voiced “serious concerns” over the ruling.

“We have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise jurisdiction over Israeli personnel. We have always taken the position that the court’s jurisdiction should be reserved for countries that consent to it or are referred by the UN Security Council,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

The international community widely considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under international law but has done little to pressure Israel to freeze or reverse their growth.

The ICC is meant to serve as a court of last resort when countries’ own judicial systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute war crimes.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and REUTERS)

Can Vatican visit to Cameroon break the Ambazonia crisis stalemate?

5, February 2021

Can Vatican visit to Cameroon break the Ambazonia crisis stalemate? 0

Cameroon’s government displayed an “openness” towards dialogue for solving the country’s ongoing Anglophone crisis, during a visit by the Vatican’s number two earlier this week, according to a top church official from the Anglophone regions.

“There is a kind of openness for dialogue,” said Andrew Nkea, Archbishop of Bamenda. “But how this is going to come about, I think we must also be discreet in the way we handle those things.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, completed a visit to Cameroon on Wednesday, after a five-day trip during which he met President Paul Biya and held mass in Bamenda, the capital of the North West Region.

Fighting between armed separatists and Cameroon’s military continues in the North West and South West regions. The Catholic Church believes the only way to stop fighting and end the conflict is to hold talks between the warring sides.

“The cardinal was able to say to all the powers that be that dialogue was the most important tool for the solution of this problem,” Nkea told Africa Calling podcast, referring to discussions he sat in on between Parolin and the government.

Boycott and continued violence

Parolin’s visit to the Anglophone regions was marked by deserted streets, as armed separatists called for a boycott of his trip to Bamenda, but nevertheless, many church goers showed up at his mass.

Fighting and violence also continued during Parolin’s visit as three people were allegedly killed by Cameroonian soldiers on 31 January in the village of Semndzen, located in Bui Division in the North West Region.

Troops were searching for separatists, locally known as Amba Boys, and allegedly shot three villagers in the bush who were tapping palm wine, mistaking them for fighters, according to information RFI received.

Cardinal Parolin said during his trip to Cameroon that the Catholic Church, at both a local level and in Rome, is ready to facilitate dialogue between Yaoundé and the separatists.

“This facilitation depends on the actors involved, we cannot force the partners to dialogue,” said Nkea, in an interview.

Both the government and separatists have at times viewed the church’s efforts for mediation with some suspicion.

Local church leader Cardinal Christian Tumi had been trying to help bring fighting to an end, however, he was kidnapped by gunmen in the North West region on 5 November.

“It depends on the openness of the government, and it depends on the openness of the separatists,” said Nkea, discussing the possibility of future peace talks.

Building foundation for talks

Nkea would not be drawn on what the next steps for possible mediation might be, but mentioned steps and instruments that need to be put in place to lay the groundwork for any talks. “Now, it’s modalities,” he added.

“Things have moved at least a step forward,” said Nkea, describing candid talks with the authorities in Yaoundé.

“One of the big problems we’re talking about in this dialogue is there are at least 8 to 10 different leaders of the separatist groups,” said Bamenda’s archbishop, underlining the importance of including everyone.

“This needs time, and that’s the delicate aspect of it,” said Nkea.

Fighting started following protests in 2016 by Anglophones over perceived marginalisation by the Francophone ruling majority.

A crackdown on demonstrations led to a self-proclamation of independence for a state called Ambazonia and ultimately fighting between the army and separatist fighters.

Both separatist groups and Cameroon’s military have been accused of killing civilians and committing rights abuses during the Anglophone crisis.

Human Rights Watch said this week that soldiers killed at least nine civilians in the South West region on 10 January. The human rights watchdog said the soldiers looted homes and threatened residents.

Source: RFI

Cameroonian Ajax goalkeeper Onana suspended one year for doping

5, February 2021

Cameroonian Ajax goalkeeper Onana suspended one year for doping 0

Ajax’s Cameroonian international goalkeeper Andre Onana has been suspended for one year for doping, the Dutch club said on Friday.

The club said in a statement Onana had “mistakenly” taken his wife’s medicine which had led to the banned diuretic Furosemide appearing in his urine.

Ajax said they had hoped Onana would receive a shorter ban because the substance was “arguably” not a performance booster.

“On the morning of October 30, Onana was feeling unwell,” the club said in a statement.

“He wanted to take a pill to ease the discomfort. Unknowingly, however, he took Lasimac, a drug that his wife had previously been prescribed.

“Onana’s confusion resulted in him mistakenly taking his wife’s medicine, ultimately causing this measure to be taken by UEFA against the goalkeeper.”

Ajax added that UEFA had stated that Onana, who has played 18 times for Cameroon, had no intention of cheating and said they will appeal against the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“We had hoped for a conditional suspension or for a suspension much shorter than these 12 months, because it was arguably not intended to strengthen his body and thus improve his performance,” said Ajax’s managing director Edwin van der Sar, the former Manchester United goalkeeper.

It is the second major setback this week for Ajax who admitted Thursday that they had made a “huge” mistake in failing to register record signing Sebastien Haller for the remainder of their Europa League campaign.

The Franco-Ivorian striker joined the club from West Ham in early January for a club record 22.5 million euros ($26.9 million) and ought to have been included on their Europa League roster but somehow was overlooked.

Source: AFP

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