13, May 2019

China says ready for trade talks, but won’t brush aside principles ⁰

China’s state media says the country does not want to engage in a trade war with the United States as it will have no winner, but Beijing is not afraid to do so.

The remarks were made in a commentary which is due to be published on Monday by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, but whose text was carried by the official Xinhua news agency the night before.

It also said China’s door to talks with the US about their trade dispute is always open, but China will not yield on important issues of principle and will never brush aside its priorities.

In similar comments on Friday, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He had noted that cooperation is the only right choice for China and the United States, but China will not compromise on major issues of principle.

Cooperation is the only right choice for the two sides, but it has to be based on principles, said the vice premier in a group interview with Chinese media after the conclusion of the 11th round of high-level economic and trade consultations between the two sides in Washington.

The comments come after China and the US failed to reach a deal to end their months-long trade dispute.

People with knowledge of the talks between the two sides said on Friday that US President Donald Trump has reportedly given China a one-month ultimatum to seal a trade deal or face tariffs on all its exports to the United States.

PressTV-'US gives China one-month ultimatum for trade deal'

China-US negotiations broke down last week after Chinese representatives reportedly backtracked on promises to address issues like theft of intellectual property, after which the US announced an increase of Chinese tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Trump has urged China to either sign the deal now or it will be forced to sign a far worse agreement in future. However, China says it won’t make concessions on issues of principle.

China strongly opposes US tariff hikes, which are harmful not only to China and the United States, but to the world at large, and China will have to take necessary countermeasures, the Chinese vice premier said Friday.

‘US will suffer‘

One of Trump’s top economic advisers has acknowledged the president was wrong to suggest that China would pay tariffs on its exports to the US.

Larry Kudlow, who heads the National Economic Council, accepted it was US businesses that paid the import tax from Chinese goods.

He told Fox News that he believed “both sides will suffer” from the escalating trade dispute.

PressTV-‘S Korea real victim of US-N Korea deadlock’

Trump’s view, however, is at odds with his top economic advisor’s. On Sunday, Trump weighed in on the state of trade negotiations with China, saying the US was “right where we want to be” — namely, on the cusp of taking in massive tariffs from China.

On Twitter, he said of China, “they LOVE ripping off America!” He also refloated a plan from Friday to redirect money generated by tariffs to buy up American agricultural products and “distribute the food to starving people” around the world — a suggestion that has already drawn skepticism.

Source: Presstv

13, May 2019

Match fixing allegation: Nigeria demands sanction against Cameroon ⁰

The Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, has made a formal request to the world basketball ruling body, FIBA demanding it take action against the Cameroon Basketball Federation.

Reason for the request is based on Cameroon’s for allegation that Nigeria fixed her game against Cote d’ Ivoire in the last window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers.

Though, FIBA through its ethics committee in a letter dated April 16 and sent to the Nigeria and Cameroon federations had thrown the case out for lack of substance, the Nigeria Basketball Federation is praying FIBA to slam Cameroon for alleging match fixing in the first place. The Fédération Camerounaise de Basket-Ball (FECABASKET) had filed a protest after failing to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 with Cote d’ Ivoire emerging the best third placed team out of the two groups that produced Nigeria, Senegal, Angola and Tunisia. Nigeria had gone into the last window with an impressive 9-0 record and had made it clear after punching their ticket for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China that they wanted to end the qualifiers unbeaten.

Freethrow gathered that the FIBA ethics committee had looked into the mattered and resolved that Cameroon did not have any case against Nigeria.

Source: The Sun

13, May 2019

UN Security Council Meets Amid Rights Abuses in Southern Cameroons ⁰

The United Nations Security Council’s decision to hold an informal meeting on Cameroon on May 13, 2019 gives momentum to international efforts to address the human rights crisis in the country’s Anglophone regions.

“Security Council members should call on the government of Cameroon and leaders of armed separatist groups to end abuses against civilians in the Anglophone regions and hold those responsible for abuse accountable,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This meeting is an opportunity to remind abusers that the world is watching.”

Since late 2016, deadly violence has gripped the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, claiming the lives of 1,800 people and forcing half a million to flee their homes. Among the most at-risk groups are people with disabilities and older people who have faced violent attacks, abandonment, forced displacement, and problems getting humanitarian assistance.

Government forces have killed scores of civilians, torched hundreds of homes, and used torture and incommunicado detention with near total impunity. Armed separatists have assaulted and kidnapped dozens of people, including students and teachers, amid increasing attacks and growing calls for secession of the North-West and South-West regions.

Since late April, Human Rights Watch has documented more abuses, including killings and burning of homes.

On April 19, a stray bullet fired by soldiers killed a 72-year-old woman in her house in Mamfe, South-West region. Her son told Human Rights Watch that soldiers raided the neighborhood and started shooting indiscriminately: “Everyone fled, but my mother was too old to run. As she was near the window, a bullet went through and hit her on the right side of the chest. She died on the way to the hospital.”

On April 23, armed separatists killed Adam Assana, a gendarme, in Muyuka, South-West region. His body was found decapitated and dismembered the following day along the Muyuka-Kumba road. A local resident told Human Rights Watch: “He was not on duty. His car was stopped an ‘Amba’ [separatist] checkpoint. When he was identified as a gendarme, he was kidnapped and killed. The separatists had pierced his mouth with a wooden stick.”

On April 25, violence erupted in Bamenda, North-West region, after armed separatists dropped a human head, allegedly belonging to a soldier, at the Hospital Roundabout. Security forces responded by shooting along Commercial Avenue, forcing people to flee. A social worker from Bamenda told Human Rights Watch: “We heard gunshots by the soldiers from all angles. We had to lie on the floor for hours.” Accounts from a dozen residents and videos show that soldiers broke into deserted shops.

On April 27, soldiers from the Rapid Intervention Battalion stormed a health center in Wum, North-West region, looking for wounded separatists and beat some of the medical staff. A female nurse who was hit on her head and jaw said: “As they didn’t find any boys [separatists] they started beating us. I was hit so bad that I could not eat or swallow.” The health center remained closed until May 9.

On April 28, armed separatists kidnapped a 42-year-old man in Sabongari, North-West region. Witnesses and residents told Human Rights Watch that the man had gone to the separatists’ camp l4 kilometers from Sabongari to negotiate the release of a traditional chief who had been abducted. “He went there and was taken hostage instead, while the chief was released,” a resident said. The man managed to escape on May 8.

On April 30, soldiers killed a 16-year-old boy in Kikaikelaki village, North-West region. Three witnesses said that the security forces entered the village with military vehicles, including at least three armored cars, and started to shoot indiscriminately, causing people to run away.

Three witnesses and two family members told Human Rights Watch that soldiers shot him in the leg as he tried to flee, then executed him at a nearby roundabout. “They first shot him in the leg and then carried him to their vehicle,” one resident said. “They dropped him at the Tsenla roundabout and killed him with a bullet in the head. We buried him the same day at the Presbyterian church.”

Security forces also burned down and looted 11 homes in Kikaikelaki. A man whose home was torched told Human Rights Watch: “When the military came, I hid for safety. I watched them steal gallons of fuel from a store and set my entire compound on fire. All I had is gone.”

The recent violence is part of an increase in attacks on civilians since the beginning of 2019. Further human rights violations are likely if the government does not rein in its forces and armed separatist leaders do not give clear instructions to their fighters to stop abuse, Human Rights Watch said.

The informal Security Council meeting comes after months of international condemnation of the violence unfolding in the Anglophone regions, including by the UN high commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet.

In the follow-up to this meeting, the UN Security Council should make Cameroon a formal item on its agenda and press authorities to investigate members of the security forces alleged to have carried out killings and destruction of property and prosecute those responsible. It should also publicly announce to armed separatist groups that their leaders will be held responsible for serious crimes committed by their fighters.

The council should consider imposing targeted sanctions against high-level people from both sides who bear responsibility for serious abuses.

The Cameroon government denied a Human Rights Watch researcher entry to the country on April 12, two days after Human Rights Watch published a short report on a deadly attack by soldiers, gendarmes, and members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion on a village in the North-West region. Bachelet visited Cameroon last week and raised the lack of access for both international and national human rights activists and humanitarian agencies.

“Cameroon’s move to block a human rights researcher and observers shows its determination to conceal its brutality,” Mudge said. “The UN Security Council should encourage the country to allow access to international human rights organizations and cooperate with them.”

Source: Human Rights Watch

13, May 2019

Ambazonia: Manyu County gov’t revealed ⁰

After months of hard-work and commitment, the people of Manyu County in the Southern zone of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia now have a functional county government led by Sessekou Dr Peter Ako. The extraordinary set-up is made up of Executive and Legislative arms and has been in effect since the 5^th of May 2019. The Executive arm of the government is headed by the County Chair and a small cabinet. The Legislative arm of this structure has a lower house of Forty Representatives with ten from each Local Government Area (LGA). The Upper chamber is the Senate body of Sixteen Senators by way of four from each Local Government Area. Manyu County, which is one of the strategic and influential counties in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has four Local Government areas; Akwaya, Mamfe Central, Upper Banyang and Eyumojock.

The County Senate is significant and designed to check the powers of the county chair and cabinet. The county chair is elected by the Senate and all appointees to the cabinet are vetted by this body. The position of County Chair is held for a term of one year non-renewable and rotates around the LGAs. In creating this structure, the people of Manyu believe that the slogan of Independence Now and Politics Later is old, worn and inane. The belief in Manyu is that one can have good and accountable governance during a struggle. This structure is deliberate to avoid at county level the abuses of power and funds that occurred at national level.

Ever since the Interim Government of Ambazonia encouraged the establishment of a county by county system of government and self-defence, the challenge for all thirteen counties in the country has been to form a workable platform and structure. Previously, there were many Manyu platforms, Whatsapp groups, meetings that purported to represent the entire county. But, this new structure which unites all in the county is the best and most effective workable platform to govern a challenging but promising county.

The setup has a central County Treasury led by a Treasury Board. This is intended to centralise the collection of funds with the Senate having oversight powers on all its practices. Self-defence which is paramount at this time has one county commander who controls all the units in the county. This solves the issue of duplication and rivalry amongst self-defence groups. The overwhelming response from all the members of the committee that worked tirelessly to put the structure in place was that their goal was to attain good governance and accountability in the county. Accountability and Good Governance will deliver Self-defence which makes attaining the goal of independence quicker. Other notable positions in the cabinet are County Secretary and Communications/Press Secretary. As soon as these positions get populated following the senate vetting procedure, official announcements will be communicated to the general public.

Over the next few days, Sessekou Dr Peter Ako and his new cabinet intend to alert Manyu indigenes around the globe about this great structure to encourage them to register with their respective LGAs. Upon registration, official notifications will be communicated to all vis-à-vis county policies and donations for resources needed to fund the Ambazonia struggle. The County Treasury Board is currently working on an electronicpayment platform to synchronise collections intended to make financial reporting easier and respectable. In coming up with this structure, Manyu has concreted the way for other counties to follow.

By Sessekou Asu Isong

13, May 2019

Ambazonia War: What Dion Ngute and “some selected lawyers” discussed in Bamenda ⁰

The meeting began at about 7:30 pm with a word of welcome from the PM who appreciated the team for honoring his invitation. He went straight ahead to state the purpose of his visit and of his request to meet with lawyers of the NW region.

He explained that there was a great need for the boys in the bushes (“Amba Restoration Forces”) to drop their weapons for peace and tranquility to reign in a bid to foster an enabling environment for dialogue. He intimated that the Head of State is now willing to consider dialogue within the proposed inclusive set up, on a “round table”. In fact, he said that the message he is carrying is to the effect that dialogue is allowed on all issues other than secession and separation, (implying that a discussion on federation is allowed).

He then pleaded with the team to help the government in its endeavors by convincing the boys to drop their weapons; that he believes in the role lawyers play and is counting on this to facilitate the government’s mission. He added that school year will soon be over and in less than no time, another school year will begin, requiring that the boys give children a chance to go to school and for life to return to normal.
He then offered the floor for any reactions and encouraged free and honest talk. He further requested that we focus on the way forward and make progressive proposals rather than go back to discussing the roots of the matter.

In their turn and for a start, the delegation equally thanked the Prime Minister for the warm welcome and for inviting the lawyers to discuss the way forward. They congratulated him for his brilliant appointment and wished him the best in office. They remarked on the small number of representatives as being greatly significant of the prevailing circumstances in the region and the manner in which lawyers have been treated. They excused the absence of the Bar Council representative, explaining that he is out of the region on official Bar business.

The team then moved straight on to its reaction which was short and simple. They started off by stating that if Lawyers are concerned today, it is because they kick-started the crisis but that their concerns had long been overtaken by events. They stressed on the fact that the lawyers’ and teachers’ strikes were only symptoms of a bigger disease now known by all as the Anglophone Crisis; a disease which owes its origin to the change of the form of state from a federal state to a unitary state in 1972.

Speaking about the Common Law in particular, the team emphasized that it was as a result of decades of panel-beating the Common Law System and suffocating it that arose a need to caution the administration on the grievances of Common Law Advocates; that time and a again, they had tried to draw the government’s attention to the fact that there was a great need to safeguard the Common Law System within the Bijural Cultural heritage of Cameroon. The team then called the PM’s attention to the grievances of Common Law lawyers that were tabled before the relevant administrative authorities (before the crisis erupted) in the forms of Memos and resolutions which culminated in the demand for a federation as the best alternative to safeguard and guarantee the subsistence of the Common Law System and the Anglo-Saxon culture as well as the security and integrity of the Common Law advocate.

They went ahead to impress upon the administration to listen to the people rather than impose policies, half-baked and self-conceived solutions to address the demands of the people. They echoed the fact that if the situation is what it is today, it is because the government has refused listening to the population of the NW and SW regions which knows best what it wants; the government must learn to start listening honestly and practically to the people. Using courtroom metaphors, they emphasized that the peoples of the two regions are the ones to better express their concerns and it is no longer a lawyers’ issue as lawyers have always only acted in a representative capacity, to help the people in articulating their grievances better.

To crown their reaction, they addressed the issue regarding the form of state. They insisted that contrary to the fallacy that the form of the state is a political issue, the Common Law Lawyers are of the conviction that the form of the state is a Constitutional issue; that the Constitution is the Grand Norm (No. 1 Law of the nation) and by that token is fundamentally about the Rule of Law which is ultimately to the benefit of the people. They added that if the Law does not serve the people, then it is not a good law and that the respect of the Rule of Law is the Lawyer’s duty, reason why the Common Law lawyers in their various correspondences to the relevant authorities at the time suggested a federalism.

The delegation concluded by calling on the PM to feel free to come to the lawyers at all times, as lawyers expect nothing from him, so much so that any advice lawyers may give shall be honest unlike those constantly around him who only amplify his voice to win favours. On that note, the PM closed the meeting with a short word of appreciation to the delegation for its reactions.

12, May 2019

US: Trump talks of investigating Biden, who he considers main opponent ⁰

US President Donald Trump has brought up the idea of investigating whom he considers the main obstacle on the path to reelection, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump told Politico in an interview Friday that it would be “appropriate” for him to discuss an investigation into Biden and his family ties in Ukraine with Attorney General William Barr.

“Certainly it is a very big issue and we’ll see what happens. I have not spoken to him about it. Would I speak to him about it? I haven’t thought of that. I mean, you’re asking me a question I just haven’t thought of,” said the president.

The investigation would be about Biden and his family’s business dealings in Ukraine as the vice president.

“Because he’s a Democrat it’s about 1/100 the size of the fact that if he were a Republican, it would be a lot bigger,” Trump said, adding that it could be “a very big situation” for Biden.

The 2020 Democratic contender reportedly threatened to withhold $1 billion in US loan guarantees unless Ukraine removed a top prosecutor looking into an energy company Biden’s son Hunter was a board member of.

After the allegations were released in a New York Times report, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani called for an investigation into the matter.

During a Friday night appearance on Fox News, Giuliani said he had changed his mind about going to Ukraine and pushing for an investigation there.

“I’m not going to go,” Giuliani said. “I think I’m walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president, in some cases enemies of the United States, and in one case an already convicted person who has been found to be involved in assisting the Democrats with the 2016 election.”

Biden in commanding lead among Democrats: Polls

The leading Democratic Party presidential candidate has previously called for impeachment of the Republican president over obstruction of justice amid the so-called Russia probe.

Trump suggested that Biden is his strongest rival among Democrats, asserting that “It seems that many of them aren’t registering with, you know, the public.”

Source: Presstv

12, May 2019

South Africa: Ruling ANC marks weakest election win ⁰

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on Saturday marked its weakest victory in national elections in a quarter-century.

In an address to the country, returning President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to those who voted in South Africa’s first election after the end of apartheid 25 years ago.

With all votes counted the ANC received 57.5% of the vote, down from 62% in 2014, the electoral commission said.

It was the worst-ever showing at the polls for the party of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela which has ruled since that 1994 election.

Voter turnout was another low at 65%, reflecting the frustration of many South Africans after corruption scandals around the ANC that led former president Jacob Zuma to resign last year under party pressure.

(Source: AP)

12, May 2019

Quotable Quote: Record number of Southern Cameroonians displaced ⁰

“In the Southern and Western Anglophone parts of Cameroon, there is an armed conflict; nobody is talking about it, nobody is engaging to end (it) There is no mediation, there is no humanitarian programme commensurate to the scale of the suffering. But there are hundreds of torched villages and there is now between four and five hundred thousand people displaced within the Anglophone part of Cameroon”

Jan Egeland

Head of the Norwegian Refugee Council

12, May 2019

Southern Cameroons Restoration Council Dossier: A “hotchpotch of Lies” ⁰

The former Acting President of Ambazonia, Samuel Ikome Sako has reportedly displayed a well-developed criminal intent all in a bid to hang on to leadership. Earlier this week, on the 6^th of May 2019, Cameroon Concord News Group sounded a note of caution to Southern Cameroonians that Sako was planning to offer Elvis Kometa money in exchange for the Restoration Council’s approval of his dubious 75 member IG Cabinet. Two days after our publication, the Restoration Council issued a statement that it had completed the vetting process and Sako could proceed to announce his cabinet.

It has now been revealed in the USA that the document which accorded Sako Ikome the right to form a new government bearing Chairman Kometa’s signature was a Sako fabrication. Our correspondent in the US hinted that Chairman Kometa made calls yesterday disassociating himself from the Restoration Council’s decision and documents. We have not been able to establish the source of the document but fingers are all pointing at Otto Tiale, Sako, Irene Ngwa and Chris Anu.

“Kometa has to come out and publicly state on camera that he didn’t sign those documents. It’s not good enough for him to make calls to activists and media outlets stating his innocence” noted a senior Southern Cameroons citizen in Germany who spoke to us and sued for anonymity. “Until he does that the people of Ambazonia will continue to hold him jointly accountable in undermining the Interim President’s decision to dissolve the cabinet last week” he added.

While the situation in the exiled Southern Cameroons Interim Government remains confused, events on Ground Zero, the US and Europe demonstrate once again that the likeliest resolution to Ambazonia’s seemingly endless USA political crisis lies in the hands of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces.

The Sako Ikome failed dictatorship and the President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s decision dissolving the controversial Interim Government’s cabinet has been locked in a tense stand-off ever since a financial scandal rocked the Interim Government in the USA.

The United Nations now estimates that a quarter of Southern Cameroon’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance, with almost half a million suffering from undernourishment in the forest. It also calculates another 50,000 have already fled to Nigeria in desperation. But the continuing support of ill informed Ambazonians in the USA has so far given Sako Ikome the feeling that he has survived the fallout from his leadership failure.

By Sessekou Asu Isong in London

11, May 2019

Month after Bashir ouster, Sudan far from civilian rule ⁰

One month after ousting veteran president Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s military rulers show no sign of handing power to a civilian administration and talks with protest leaders remain deadlocked.

Thousands of protesters remain encamped outside army headquarters in central Khartoum, vowing to force the generals to cede power just as they forced Bashir from office.

“We want civilian rule or we will stay here forever,” said protester Iman Hussein, a regular at the sit-in which protesters have kept up since April 6.

Protesters initially gathered at the army complex to seek the generals’ help in ending Bashir’s three decades of iron-fisted rule.

On April 11, the army toppled Bashir in a palace coup replacing him with a military council formed entirely of generals that has shattered protesters’ dreams of a civilian-led transition to democracy.

The deepening economic crisis that fuelled the four months of nationwide protests which led to Bashir’s ouster shows no sign of abating.

Huge queues form daily at ATM machines as the freezing up of the banking system forces consumers to use cash to buy basic goods made ever more expensive by the sliding value of the Sudanese pound.

The generals insist they will not use force to disperse the sit-in which protesters have kept up through the daytime fasts observed by Muslim during the holy month of Ramadan.

The generals have offered several concessions to placate the protesters, including detaining Bashir in Khartoum’s Kober prison, arresting several of his lieutenants and promising to prosecute officers who killed protesters during the demonstrations against the old regime.

– Winner ‘will be us’ –

But when it comes to the protesters’ key demand for a civilian authority to oversee a four-year transition, the military has simply dragged its heels.

“They are pressuring us with time, but we are pressuring them with our presence here,” said protester Hussein.

“One of us has to win in the end, and it will be us.”

Last month, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, which brings together the protest movement and opposition and rebel groups, handed the generals its proposals for a civilian-led transition.

But the generals have expressed “many reservations” over the alliance’s roadmap,

They have singled out its silence on the constitutional position of Islamic sharia law which was the guiding principle of all legislation under Bashir’s rule but is anathema to secular groups like the Sudanese Communist Party and some rebel factions.

The protest movement says the military appears intent on hijacking the revolution and determining its outcome.

Protest leader Khalid Omar Yousef told reporters on Wednesday that the movement was now considering “escalatory measures” like launching a nationwide civil disobedience movement to achieve its demand.

– US pressure –

The generals are under pressure too, with the United States and the African Union calling on them to ensure a smooth transition of power.

In a telephone call with military council chairman General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, backed “the Sudanese people’s aspirations for a free, democratic and prosperous future”.

The State Department said Sullivan encouraged Burhan to reach agreement with the Alliance for Freedom and Change and “move expeditiously toward a civilian-led interim government”.

But the generals have strong support from oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have extended a $3 billion credit line to shore up the Sudanese pound and fund imports of basic goods.

Some members of the protest movement are optimistic however that the generals will ultimately cede power.

“They will hand over executive power to a civilian government if we present a credible, viable form of a civilian government,” opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, the prime minister Bashir overthrew in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, told AFP earlier this month.

“Because they know if ultimately they settle for a military dictatorship, they will be in the same position as Bashir.”

AFP