9, August 2019

More than two million Muslims begin Hajj pilgrimage ⁰

Muslims gathered from around the globe in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia have begun this year’s Hajj pilgrimage.

According to local media, about 2.5 million believers are participating in the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which started on Friday.

Each and every able-bodied Muslim, male or female, is required to complete the religious trip at least once in their lifetime if they also have the sufficient financial capacity to do so.

The nearly month-long pilgrimage features various rites, including stoning a column representing the devil, sacrificing sheep in remembrance of Prophet Abraham’s offered sacrifice, and Tawaf, which consists of walking and praying around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

‘An indescribable feeling’

“It’s an indescribable feeling. You have to live it to understand it,” said an Algerian pilgrim describing his first time taking part in the spiritual trip.

“It’s a golden opportunity and moment,” said his female companion.

The gathering is also seen as a symbol of Muslim unity, with all participants required to wear a simple and identical outfit during the processions.

The clothing consists of a two-piece white seamless garment for men, and a loose cover-all dress for women.

Muslim pilgrims wait for prayers at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca on August 8, 2019, prior to the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city. (Photo by AFP)

Muslim scholars have pointed that the simple attire, along with other aspects of the pilgrimage, are meant to express unity and the humility of the Muslim Ummah — the Muslim people as a whole — towards God.

The pilgrimage ends with the start of Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Festival of Sacrifice”.

Saudis fear political opposition

This year’s Hajj takes place as the country is marred in a number of conflicts with its neighbors and faces the prospect of popular expressions of discontent.

The kingdom’s push to normalize relations with Israel and further isolate the Palestinian cause in taking part in the US-backed so-called “deal of the century” has been specifically met with anger in many Muslim countries.

Saudi officials have consequently warned pilgrims to avoid any political topics during the pilgrimage, despite the belief held by many Islamic scholars that the Hajj is in fact intended to be an opportunity for Muslims to discuss social and political issues affecting the Ummah.

“Leave all other matters in your countries to discuss,” said Mecca Governor Prince Khalid al-Faisal earlier this week.

Riyadh has also faced strong criticism for its mismanagement of the Hajj specifically after thousands of pilgrims died in a tragic human crush incident in 2015.

Saudi authorities gave an initial tally of 770 deaths and then stopped updating that figure, even as official counts from individual countries whose nationals had died in the incident rose to more than a total of 2,400 individuals, reaching nearly 5,000 deaths according to some reports.

At least 464 Iranians lost their lives in the incident.

Source: Presstv

9, August 2019

PLO Lumumba meets Vice President Yerima, Promises Support For Ambazonia ⁰

The Director of Kenya School of Law and the former Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba has promised to help the people of Southern Cameroons. The renowned academic while making a keynote address during a conference in Thuringen in the Federal Republic of Germany, said he will use his contacts to help the people of Ambazonia join Pan African Organizations.

Prof PLO Lumumba praised the leadership of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government for the resistance against the Biya Francophone government in Yaounde pointing out that Africa remained poor despite having the potential for generating enough revenue for sustainable development.

Lumumba reportedly told Vice President Dabney Yerima that Africa’s problems was being worsened by the persistent brain drain of professional trained people travelling to work in the developed world and a total lack of visionary leadership.

The Ambazonian Vice President and Prof Lumumba agreed that many intelligent migrants in the West want to return home but the leaders do not project home for their people. Lumumba said the phenomenon was largely due to the continent’s poor labour policies, low pay and high unemployment levels.

Prof Lumumba advised the Ambazonian leadership to desist from relying on divine intervention to solve the problems in Southern Cameroons.

By Asu Isong

9, August 2019

‘Nobody speaks for the United States,’ Trump tells French President Macron ⁰

US President Donald Trump has chastised French President Emmanuel Macron for sending Iran “mixed signals”.

Trump scolded Macron on Thursday telling him that no one was authorized to act in the role of mediator between the US and Iran.

“I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself,” Trump said in a tweet.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump · 11h

Iran is in serious financial trouble. They want desperately to talk to the U.S., but are given mixed signals from all of those purporting to represent us, including President Macron of France….

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

….I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself. No one is authorized in any way, shape, or form, to represent us!

It was not immediately clear what Trump was referring to, but a report earlier this week said Macron had invited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to this month’s G7 summit to meet Trump.

European leaders are seeking to ease the escalating crisis between Tehran and Washington after Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear last year prompting Tehran to scale back its commitments under the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

PressTV-Iran to slash JCPOA commitments in 3rd phase 'in a month'

A main topic of the G7 summit later this month is expected to be the repercussions of European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal continuing to renege on their obligations.

Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the US cannot change the fact that affairs were shifting in favor of Iran.

PressTV-Zarif: US should stop isolating itself, adapt to new realities

Zarif rebuked the hawkish group of politicians and regional leaders, often referred to as the B-team, who were trying to pressure and isolate Iran by undermining the Iran nuclear deal and instigating regional tensions.

Trump and his administration officials have previously claimed that the US leadership is open to talks with Iran and that the United States does not want a war with Iran.

Source: Presstv

9, August 2019

Murder of WHO Cameroonian doctor: Congo medics arrested ⁰

Three Congolese medics have been detained over the murder of a World Health Organization (WHO) doctor who was fighting an Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, a military prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Cameroonian doctor Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung was shot dead on April 19 in an attack on a hospital in the eastern city of Butembo.

The arrested doctors will be prosecuted for “terrorism” and “criminal conspiracy,” Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Baptiste Kumbu Ngoma, military prosecutor for Butembo in North Kivu province, told AFP.

The three are accused of holding meetings on April 14 to plot the assassination of Mouzoko, he added.

The WHO said Mouzoko had been deployed as part of a medical team to help rein in the Ebola outbreak which started last August in North Kivu.

The prosecutor said the doctors were “among the moral authors” of the attack on Mouzoko. He said one more doctor was being sought in the case.

In a letter to the mayor of Butembo, the local doctors’ association expressed indignation at the arrests and said they would go on strike if their colleagues were not released within 48 hours.

But the military prosecutor dismissed their demands as “out of the question”.

“It’s a delicate situation. As a man has died, we absolutely have know the truth about what happened,” the coordinator of the fight against Ebola in the DR Congo, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, told AFP.

More than 1,800 people have died from the virus in the past year.

The outbreak is the second deadliest on record, after the epidemic that struck West Africa in 2014-2016, which killed more than 11,300 people.

Efforts to roll back the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever have been hampered not only by fighting but also by resistance within communities to preventative measures, care facilities and safe burials.

Attacks on health workers have had a devastating effect, with seven murdered and more than 50 seriously hurt, according to an unofficial tally.

After the killing of Mouzoko in April, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “We will not be intimidated… we will finish our work.”

Source: AFP

8, August 2019

US immigration agents arrest 680 workers at food plants ⁰

US immigration authorities have arrested nearly 700 mostly Latino workers at seven food processing plants across the southern state of Mississippi, the largest workplace raid in at least a decade.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement on Wednesday that the agency detained about 680 people who were working illegally at the plants.

Those arrested were taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations. About 70 family, friends and residents waved goodbye and shouted, “Let them go! Let them go!” Later, two more buses arrived.

About 600 ICE agents spread across the plants operated by five companies, surrounding the perimeters to prevent workers from fleeing.

Many of those detained will be transported to an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Mississippi, which partnered with ICE, said in a statement.

Some of those detained will be released for “humanitarian reasons” and required to appear in U.S. immigration court, the US Attorney’s Office said.

ICE did not specify the nationalities of the workers arrested, but most are believed to be migrants from Mexico and Central America.

Matthew Albence, ICE’s acting director, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that the raids could be the largest-ever workplace operation in any single state. He claimed that the raids are “racially neutral” and based on evidence of illegal residency.

The companies involved could be charged with knowingly hiring workers who are in the county illegally and will be scrutinized for tax, document and wage fraud, Albence said.

PressTV-Protests held across US over Trump treatment of migrants

The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Donald Trump visited El Paso, Texas, a majority-Hispanic city near the US-Mexico border where a man linked to a white supremacist group was charged with fatally shooting 22 people.

Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, called the “terrible” raids “another effort to drive Latinos out of Mississippi,” and he blamed Trump for fanning racism with his past incendiary comments about immigrants.

“This is the same thing that Trump is doing at the border with the Border Patrol,” he said, referring to the increased crackdown on migrants coming into the US.

Major immigration raids were common under former President George W. Bush, including one at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in 2008 that resulted in about 400 arrests. Former President Barack Obama avoided them, limiting workplace immigration efforts to low-profile audits.

Trump resumed workplace raids, but the months of preparation and hefty resources they require make them rare.

Trump has made his hard-line stance on immigration an integral part of his presidency and has promised to build a wall along the US-Mexican border to curb the flow of migrants from Mexico and Central America.

Source: Presstv

8, August 2019

Cameroonian star joins Norwich on loan ⁰

Cameroonian descent Ibrahim Amadou has officially joined from Sevilla for 2019-20 on a season-long loan in a deal which includes an option to buy clause.The defensive midfielder, 26, who joined the Spanish La Liga club in the summer of 2018 on a four-year contract, made 32 league appearances for the side last season.

Amadou joins fellow loanees, winger Patrick Roberts and goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann speak to canaries official website: “I’m happy to play for Norwich because I know they just got promoted to the Premier League with a lot of points in the Championship.”It’s a new challenge for me and I would like to discover more about the Premier League.”When I was young, it was a dream to play in the Premier League but the more I grew up, the more it became an objective.”I had this opportunity right now and I’ve decided to take it. I will try to do my best in the Premier League.”I had interest from clubs in other countries, but my priority was to play in the Premier League.”I’ve spoken to the [Head] Coach. He seems like a good coach who will give me the opportunity to play.”I will have to show what I can do and make a good impression.”

Amadou who will wear the No 24 shirt could make his debut for Norwich when they open their 2019-20 Premier League campaign against Liverpool on Friday.

Source: Fcnaija.com

8, August 2019

Yaounde: Dion Ngute denounces “debt trap” allegation against Chinese loans ⁰

Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute denounced Wednesday the “debt trap” allegation against Chinese loans by some western media outlets.

“Cameroon is a sovereign country … It is no other person’s business. We do exactly what we have to do to develop our country,” Ngute said while visiting the construction site of a China-funded water plant.

“We are not going to listen to all kinds of snide remarks by people who think they know better. We have a country we have to develop and that is our responsibility. We take it seriously,” he added.

The project, located on the outskirts of Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, was launched in late 2016 and is expected to be completed in late 2019.

Once put into service, the plant, with a capacity of 300,000 cubic meters of water per day, will generate enough clean drinking water from the 600-km-long Sanaga River and meet the demand of 2.5 million people in the capital and others in surrounding areas.

“This is one of the most important projects Cameroon is carrying out right now,” Ngute noted.

“This will significantly reduce, if not stop, the problem of insufficient water in the capital city Yaounde. Our citizens will be able to drink clean water that will be constantly supplied,” said Cameroon’s Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba, who accompanied Ngute during the visit.

Source: Xinhuanet

8, August 2019

US president fanning ‘flames of white supremacy’ ⁰

US Democratic presidential front runner Joe Biden says President Donald Trump has “fanned the flames of white supremacy” in the country as Americans are yet recover from two deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

Speaking at a campaign event in Burlington, Iowa, Wednesday, the former US vice president directly attacked Trump for promoting hate and fear within America in the wake of the two shootings that left more than 30 people dead and many others injured.

“In both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation,” said the 76-year-old 2020 presidential candidate. “His low energy, vacant-eyed mouthing the words written for him condemning white supremacists this week, I don’t believe, fooled anyone at home or abroad.”

President with no ‘moral authority’

Biden further slammed Trump’s double policy in slamming what he refers to as “Islamic terrorism,” yet failing to condemn white supremacy.

“Trump readily, eagerly attacks Islamic terrorism but can barely bring himself to use the words white supremacy,” he said. “Our president has aligned himself with the darkest forces in this nation. It makes winning this battle for the soul of our nation that much tougher, harder.”

Biden made the comments as Trump was visiting Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, to meet with police and some of the surviving victims but anti-Trump protesters were also there to shout that he is not welcome.

“Indeed we have a president with a toxic tongue who has publicly and unapologetically embraced the political strategy of hate, racism and division. So it’s up to us as it was in the 20s,” Biden said. “It’s up to us. We’re living through a rare moment in this nation’s history where our president isn’t up to the moment, where our president lacks the moral authority to lead, where our president has more in common with George Wallace than he does with George Washington.”

His comments are probably the harshest so far directed at the US president.

In his visit to El Paso, Trump asserted that he had an “amazing day,” further bragging about witnessing the “love for the office of presidency.”

Source: Presstv

7, August 2019

Why Biya is desperate for school resumption in September ⁰

For about a month now, there has been more than ever before an intense campaign for school resumption in September. The local Ambazonian media have been given millions to join the campaign. CDC workers have been paid a month’s salary out of some one year of arrears owed them to ‘prepare for school resumption’.

Prominent Southern Cameroonians and social groups have also been paid huge amounts of money to plead to parents to send their children to school. Some French Cameroun government ministers who hail from Southern Cameroons like the Kupe Manueguba thug, Elong Paul Che and fraudster, Paul Tasong of Lebialem have also mobilized CPDM elite of their constituencies and accompanied by tight security, braved it to Southern Cameroons to hold meetings with parents.

The principal reason for the frenzied campaign is to prove to the world before the United Nations Security Council meets in September that school resumption is evidence that the situation in Southern Cameroons has ‘normalized’. The Biya Francophone regime is planning to use a successful back to school to oppose any possible United Nations intervention.

Ironically, it is the government itself making it impossible for effective resumption of schools. Several schools in Southern Cameroons have been transformed into French Cameroun military barracks. Many others have been burnt by Francophone Beti-Ewondo army soldiers while most teachers in Ambazonia have vamoosed into safety areas in La Republique du Cameroun.

A visit to the Kumba market by our Cameroon Concord News Group Meme County correspondent last week indicated that parents are not preparing for the traditional “back to school”. Unlike in the past when markets at this time of the year were clustered with school bags, uniforms, books and other didactic materials and parents hustling to buy, there is no such scenario. Kumba market is not an exception as reported by our correspondents across the entire Southern Cameroons.

Field reports by our reporters also indicated that both the Southern and Northern Zones of the now Federal Republic of Ambazonia are for the most part controlled by the Ambazonia Self Defense Forces with military jeeps plying occasionally. In the Southern Zone, only Kumba central, Limbe, Mutengene, Tiko and part of Buea are in the control of the French Cameroun government in Yaoundé.

It is because of the insecurity in Buea that the renowned Sasse college on the periphery of the Ambazonia historic headquarters has been moved to Tiko which is relatively save and children there who braved it to school last academic year did so without wearing their uniforms.

In the Northern Zone, the Ambazonia Restoration Forces are in command with the exclusion of Nkambe Central and Bamenda. Educational officials in the territory say over 80 percent of colleges have been closed down and teachers afraid to be kidnapped are nowhere to be found.

Schools that have not been burnt or destroyed are covered in grass one month to resumption and no teachers are there doing the enrolment. The military are still camping in many others. The war is flaring up and who is that parent who will send their kids to learn under such perilous conditions? Cameroon Concord News Group has challenged those doing the campaign for school resumption including Barrister Agbor Balla, Minister Elong Paul and Minister Paul Tasong to set an example by openly enrolling their kids in institutions in Southern Cameroons. No one has done that.

In that light, back to school in Southern Cameroons shall just be another fiasco of the Biya regime, like the botch hosting of the 2019 African Cup of Nations. For effective school resumption in their so-called one and indivisible Cameroon, President Biya who declared the war against his own people should call a ceasefire and convene an inclusive dialogue with all issues on the table as nations; international organizations and people of goodwill have been telling him. Or the UN should send in peace keeping force as it meets in September to prevent the barbaric violations of human rights driving refugees and asylum seekers into neighboring countries including Europe and America.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

7, August 2019

Twin bombings kill three in Nigeria ⁰

Three civilians have been killed and eight others wounded when two female bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of people in northeastern Nigeria.

The twin bombings took place in the town of Mafa, some 50 kilometers from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, late Tuesday.

“The female bombers killed three people and wounded eight others,” Bello Danbatta, head of security for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in Borno state, told AFP on Wednesday.

Danbatta added that the attackers entered the town among a group of local women who had gone to bring firewood for cooking.

Local district spokesman Adamu Mohammed confirmed the toll, noting that the bombers waited until almost 8:30 pm (1930 GMT) before conducting their attack.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The group uses female bombers, many of them young women and girls, to attack soft targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations.

Also on Tuesday, militants set fire to 11 houses and stole food in an assault on the village of Kotori, 12 kilometers outside Maiduguri, Danbatta said, noting that no one was hurt in that attack.

Boko Haram and its Daesh-supported ISWAP splinter have intensified attacks on civilian and military targets in recent months, despite the Nigerian government’s insistence that the terrorists have been defeated.

Some observers allege that certain Nigerian officials are profiting from the unrest via corruption and have little interest in ending the bloodshed.

Rights groups have accused some Nigerian security forces of abuses in the fight against Boko Haram, including extra-judicial killings and mass arrests.

Around 27,000 people have been killed in the decade-long Takfiri terrorism which has spilled over into neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon and forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

On Monday, three civilians were killed when a gun fight erupted between Nigerian forces and ISWAP fighters who made an incursion into the garrison town of Monguno in Borno state.

Presstv