11, May 2019

US passes phone number to Swiss in case Iran wants to call ⁰

The White House has contacted Swiss authorities to share a telephone number with Iran in hopes that Tehran will contact US President Donald Trump, CNN reports.

The White House contacted the Swiss on Thursday, the same day Trump publicly appealed to Iran to call him amid heightened tensions, the broadcaster cited a source as saying.

The source, however, said Iran was “highly unlikely” to demand the number from Swiss authorities.

The Swiss embassy represents US interests in Tehran, where Washington has had no mission since 1980.

While Trump called for talks on Thursday, he did not rule out military action against Iran.

PressTV-Trump says he wants Iranians to call him

Earliest this week, hawkish national security adviser John Bolton announced that the US was deploying an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East in a bid to send a “message” to Iran.

Asked about the deployment decision on Thursday, Trump said Iran had been “very threatening.”

“We have information that you don’t want to know about. They were very threatening, and we just want to have — we have to have great security for this country,” Trump said.

On Friday, a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) stressed that Tehran would not engage in talks with the Americans.

IRGC’s deputy head for political affairs, Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, said the US thinks it can intimidate Iran into negotiations with a combination of military threats and sanctions, but to no avail.

The senior military commander also said the US will not dare to wage a war on Iran despite its deployment of bombers and an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf.

In a further provocative move Friday, the Pentagon announced that it would deploy an amphibious assault ship and a Patriot missile battery to the Middle East to counter the “Iranian threat”.

Many observers have questioned the US administration’s sudden and vague assertions about Iran in the region, citing contradictory remarks made by US intelligence officials and politicians.

Iranian officials have also dismissed the allegations as part of the US administration’s “psychological warfare” against the country.

Speaking on Thursday, Iran’s envoy to the United Nations Takht Ravanchi slammed the Trump administration’s allegations of rising Iranian threats, saying they were based on “fake intelligence”.

Tensions rose after the US said last month that it would not renew waivers allowing Tehran’s eight largest customers to purchase oil from Iran in order to bring Iranian oil exports to zero.

Washington withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) last year and reimposed unilateral sanctions that had been lifted under the landmark 2015 agreement.

Iran on Wednesday informed the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany — the remaining five signatories to the deal — that it was suspending some of its commitments under the deal.

Tehran also gave the three European signatories 60 days to meet their commitments, especially in the banking and oil sectors, and guarantee Iran’s interests in the face of US sanctions.

US unilateralism

Countries affected by US sanctions have expressed discontent, citing tight market conditions and high fuel prices that harm oil-dependent industries.

PressTV-EU, Britain slam US sanctions on Iran's nuclear, oil sectors

Last month, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the US decision to end sanctions waivers had even angered Washington’s allies.

“People are not happy. China is not happy, Turkey is not happy, Russia is not happy. France is not happy. US allies are not happy that this is happening and they say that they will find ways of resisting it,” said Zarif.

On Friday, Germany’s leading news weekly Der Spiegel published an article highlighting how Washington’s bid to pressure Iran had endangered Washington’s European allies, specifically Germany.

“Trump’s confrontational Middle Eastern policy has exacerbated the tensions between the US and its European allies, because, unlike the situation in Venezuela, Europe would be directly affected. The continent’s very security is at stake,” read the article.

PressTV-Iran says Europe security hinges on US return to JCPOA

“Washington is exacerbating regional tensions with its policy of applying maximum pressure on Iran,” Niels Annen, a high-ranking official at the German Foreign Ministry, told the publication.

Member of the German parliament with the Green Party and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee Jürgen Tritten said, “The US appears to be looking for a pretext to escalate the conflict with Iran.”

The paper also said the Europeans are in disarray in the face of Washington’s bid to pressurize Iran, with German foreign policy agreeing more with Tehran than its ally in Washington.

Deputy parliamentary group leader for the German SPD party, Rolf Mützenich, urged the German government to push for a UN Security Council resolution “requiring strict compliance with international law in the Middle East”.

The move, Mützenich said, will seek to counter US policies in the Middle East which disregard international law, notably in the case of Trump’s recent dealings over Palestine and Iran’s nuclear deal.

Source: Presstv

11, May 2019

Africa Cup of Nations: Cameroon names preliminary squad ⁰

Defending African champions Cameroon have released their preliminary squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations Cup, with Joel Matip and Nicolas Nkoulou not included in the 34-man squad named by coach Clarence Seedorf.

Matip last played for the Indomitable Lions in September 2016, while Nkoulou has refused to honour invitations since the final against the Pharaohs two years ago, a game in which he came off the bench to score.

Two months ago, Seedorf revealed that the stay-away duo wouldn’t be begged to return, but that he wouldn’t shut the door on them featuring at the upcoming tournament.

For the first three months after assistant coach Patrick Kluivert and I signed with Cameroon, we have dedicated a lot of time to meeting and speaking with Matip and Nkoulou.

“For the first three months after assistant coach Patrick Kluivert and I signed with Cameroon, we have dedicated a lot of time to meeting and speaking with Matip and Nkoulou,” he told Goal.

“There’s been no response,” he continued, “but we have to have a deadline because we need to build a team, we cannot chase players.

“If players want to join us, they know where to find us.”

Key names Karl Toko Ekambi, Vincent Aboubakar, Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting and Andre Onana have been included in Seedorf’s shortlist, as has Christian Bassogog, the Afcon MVPwhen Cameroon won the tournament in 2017.

The five-time African champions qualified for this year’s competition with a 3-0 defeat of Comoros in March and will aim to defend their title at the biennial tournament.

Seedorf’s charges begin their title defence in Group F against Guinea-Bissau at Ismailia Stadium on June 25, before facing off with four-time champions Ghana on June 29, with their final group encounter coming against Benin on July 2.

Source: Agencies

11, May 2019

Battle for Ambazonia: Fru Ndi calls for cease fire to end war ⁰

Cameroon’s main opposition party on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all political prisoners, during talks with Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on resolving the country’s regional conflict with anglophone separatists.

At the meeting in Bamenda, capital of the restive anglophone Northwest Region, Social Democratic Front (SDF) leader Ni John Fru Ndi also called for the appointment of a mediator for resolving the conflict

“Everyone must be listened to. The SDF is for inclusive political debate on the crisis…,” said SDF official Jean Robert Wafo.

“We can listen to the secessionists without, however, agreeing to the principle,” he said explaining that a “clear and unambiguous” against secession had to be taken.

During Friday’s discussion the federalist SDF recommended four measures to resolve the crisis, according to a party statement received by AFP.

The federalist party called for “an immediate ceasefire” and the demobilisation of all separatist forces as well as “the immediate release of all political prisoners held as part of this crisis” as well as the naming of a mediator to prepare negotiations.

On Thursday, Dion Ngute arrived in Bamenda with the message that the government was ready for dialogue to resolve the regional conflict with separatists, while stressing that independence was not on the table.

He said President Paul Biya was “ready to organise a formal dialogue to resolve the socio-political crisis” while stressing that independence was not on the table.

Since 2017, fighting between government troops and anglophone separatists demanding independence in the Southwest and Northwest regions has killed hundreds and forced nearly 500,000 people from their homes.

English-speaking communities chafe at what they see as discrimination from the French-speaking majority. But the government rejects demands for autonomy and has dispatched thousands of troops in a crackdown.

At the moment there are no channels for dialogue between the government and the rebels.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday that Cameroon authorities have regularly tortured and held incommunicado detainees arrested in the government’s crackdown on the armed separatist movement.

In October 2017, radicals declared the creation of the “Republic of Ambazonia,” covering the two English-speaking regions incorporated into francophone Cameroon in 1961.

The declaration went largely unnoticed outside Cameroon, and “Ambazonia” — named after a bay at the mouth of the Douala River — has been recognised by no-one.

Dion Ngute was also due to visit the other anglophone region — the Southwest Region.

The separatist conflict has forced more than 530,000 people to flee their homes while 32,000 others have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria.

The UN Security Council will hold its first meeting this month to discuss the country’s separatist conflict.

Source: AFP

11, May 2019

The Age of the Internet Calls for Younger Leaders ⁰

Days before Algeria’s 82-year-old strongman president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted from power, the country made one last ditch attempt to keep control: it shut down the internet. A few weeks later, 75-year-old Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s rule ended with a picture of mainly female protestors going viral on social media platforms.

If there has been any common threads in the unseating of authoritarian African leaders in the past few months, then it has been age and the internet.

Indeed, the main contenders in Nigeria’s recent general elections were the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari, 76, and Abubacar Atiku, 72. Together with the likes of Cameroon President Paul Biya, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and a host of other African leaders, they share one thing in common: they are all over 70.

Yet, they are still keen on their presidential ambitions with some even amending constitutional provisions to extend their tenures – sometimes from hospital beds in other countries.

Only five percent of Africans are aged 65 and above, but the political expectation is that this five percent should set the agenda for the 70 percent or so Africans who are under 35 years of age. Already, the average life expectancy across Africa is between 61 and 65 years, which means that all these leaders are, statistically speaking, already living on borrowed time.

If there has been any common threads in the unseating of authoritarian African leaders in the past few months, then it has been age and the internet.

As more technology has become available to an average person in Africa, the continent’s technology challenge has moved beyond access to harnessing tech innovations to how it can improve performance in areas like education, or health. We need leaders who value and are fluent in these new technologies and their promise.

Countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Mali have some of the lowest human development indices in the world according to the UNDP’s Human Development Indices for 2018. These countries are also ones with some of the highest costs per 1 gigabyte of internet data — at around $10.

Despite these costs, across the continent are real examples of how the internet is changing lives. The mobile economy in 2017 alone added US$150 billion to African economies

But the internet revolution in Africa is encountering a bottleneck: elderly African leaders. And the reality is that these laggards are mostly born generations before the rise of the internet. It has become obvious that the struggle of Africa’s older leaders to understand technology has had dire consequences for their citizens.

In July 2018, Uganda put a tax on social media and mobile money payments to raise revenue and “control gossip”. Within a day, certain accounts indicated a 60 percent drop in transactions. By December 2018, Uganda had lost 5 million internet users as a direct result of these taxes. The sharp drop in remittances meant that businesses were impacted in areas like agriculture, remittances from urban areas to family and relatives in rural areas as well as basic e-commerce.

The Global Network Initiative reports that between 0.4 percent and 1 percent of a country’s daily GDP is lost because of internet shutdowns, or about $6.6 million per 10 million users daily.

On January 15, 2019, Zimbabwe shut down internet connectivity for three days in a bid to quell public protests. According to Netblocks, this shutdown affected an estimated 17 million people and cost the nation’s economy some $17 million dollars.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s greatest asset is its youth. There are 420 million people between 15-35, of which just more than 30 percent are unemployed, according to the African Development Bank. Because the median age of an African today is 19.4 years, leaders should focus on transforming African economies to become centers of entrepreneurial success.

Dr Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, currently Africa’s youngest leader at 42, believes that strengthening e-commerce and virtual government is more important than running state monopolies. By selling off half of the state-owned Ethio Telecom, he has demonstrated the willingness to open up the telcom sector to innovation.

Of course, it can also be said that younger African leaders are not always best equipped to modernize their nations. Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, 61, has improved e-governance and innovation to the point where his country ranks just behind Mauritius in a World Bank assessment of African business environments. His younger neighbor, the 54-year old Pierre Nkurunziza in Burundi, however still ranks among the lower performers in Africa 14 years in power after gaining power at the age of 40. Youth itself is not necessary, but a youthful, outward-looking mindset is.

Many African leaders are also aware that the internet can provide the very tools that can threaten their political control. They will be watching warily the situation in Algeria, where activists have used the internet as part of a campaign to challenge 82-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power for two decades.

One easy way African countries could revitalize their political leadership would be to limit political leaders to the civil service retirement age.

In Nigeria, the presidential contest was declared for Buhari, who at age 76 is 16 years older than the mandatory retirement age for Nigerian civil servants. Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed, on the other hand, would have to work another 13 years to even qualify for early retirement in his country. African voters should ask themselves which type of leader is better equipped to guide their countries into the future.

Source: Inter Press Service

10, May 2019

Yaounde says ready to dialogue with Ambazonians ⁰

Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said Thursday that his government is willing to dialogue with armed separatist on all demands excluding separation.

“Apart from the indivisibility of Cameroon, the president of the republic is ready to organize a formal dialogue to resolve the socio-political crisis in Northwest and Southwest. The president is ready to dialogue with the separatists,” Ngute told a press conference in Bamenda, the largest city in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.

Government forces will be withdrawn from the two English-speaking regions of the country and dialogue will commence as soon as separatist fighters drop their weapons and get reintegrated into society, he said.

“I have come here to listen to you and ask you to intervene and get our children (armed separatists) out of the bushes so that we can return to normal life. Children have suffered enough,” Ngute said during his maiden peace mission to the troubled Northwest region.

On Tuesday, Cameroon’s National Committee on Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration said that in five months, 56 separatist fighters have “voluntarily” laid down their arms to “embrace normal life.”

Cameroon is facing serious security challenges in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest where separatists want to create an independent nation they called “Ambazonia.”

According to the United Nations, more than 430,000 Cameroonians have been displaced internally and at least 30,000 others have fled to neighboring Nigeria since the conflict started in 2017.

Source: Xinhuanet

10, May 2019

Human Rights Watch details torture and incommunicado detention in Cameroon ⁰

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday described the abuse of detainees at a detention center in Cameroon’s capital city of Yaoundé, identifying violations of domestic and international human rights law.

Torture and detention have been “endemic in Cameroon’s law enforcement and military system,” carried out by gendarmes and other security forces of the State Defense Secretariat. These tactics are employed against suspected members or supporters of separatist groups such as Boko Haram.

Interviewed detainees explained that they were subjected to interrogations that featured humiliation and punishment, which were followed by forced signings of statements “they were not allowed to read or could not read because [the statements] were in French.” Most of the detainees were charged with crimes related to terrorism despite the fact that the majority of those interviewed by HRW were civilians.

Within a one year period, 26 cases of incommunicado detention were documented, and at least 14 cases of torture were noted. HRW indicated that the “total numbers are likely much higher, because abuses are committed in secret and many former detainees are reluctant to speak because they fear reprisals.” There are indications that these human rights violations are still ongoing.

Thus far, there has been an absence of repercussions. HRW called on the UN Security Council to address the situation in Cameroon by condemning the abuses and “call[ing] for the government to end these practices.”

Source: Jurist

10, May 2019

UK negotiates a post-Brexit Economic Partnership Agreement with Cameroon ⁰

Jean Tchoffo, Secretary General of the Cameroonian economy ministry, presided on May 8 in Yaoundé over the presentation of a report on the trade impact of the bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Cameroon and the United Kingdom.

According to the official, the validation of this study is the first step before the actual start of negotiations, which may have to be concluded by 2021. These will include a review of the legal text of the Cameroon-European Union (EU) Partnership, with a view to its possible transposition into a bilateral Cameroon-United Kingdom post-Brexit EPA.

The British government informed Cameroon of its ambition since February 12, 2018. And after two informal meetings, President Biya finally authorized the opening of formal negotiations on 29 August 2018. However, Paul Biya conditioned the start of these negotiations on the completion of a study that will provide an overview and outlook of trade, economic and financial relations between Cameroon and the United Kingdom. It is also a question of assessing the possible impacts of this agreement on Cameroon’s economy and finances.

The Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a party to the EU-Cameroon EPA. However, the British people decided on 27 March 2017, in a referendum, to leave the Union. As a result, the United Kingdom should in principle lose the benefit of trade agreements between the EU and its partners around the world. In order not to disrupt trade with its partners after leaving the Union, the United Kingdom is engaged in negotiations of new trade agreements and treaties with all its major trading partners.

Source: Business in Cameroon

10, May 2019

Testing the waters: Dion Ngute in first visit to Southern Cameroons ⁰

Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on Thursday began a one week visit to the conflict-hit English speaking Northwest and Southwest regions hoping to find a political solution to the escalating violence and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.

During the visit from May 9 -16 the first by the premier since his appointment last January, Dion Ngute will discuss with community leaders and other groups key to finding a lasting solution to the incessant violence.

The prime minister was received in Bamenda by a traditional ruler as he arrived holding a peace plant.

The visit is in line with the governments efforts to resolve the conflict in the face of international pressure from among others the United Nations and the European Union. In contrast the Africa Union has stood by the non-interference clause contained in its charter despite calls from civil society groups for it to act.

The visit comes less than a week after the UN Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria warned that the crisis was getting out of hand and the window for reconciliation closing.

Killings, torching of villages and kidnapping for ransoms and other human rights abuses perpetrated by both government troops and armed groups fighting for the secession of the two English speaking regions to establish a new state called Ambazonia continue to be reported almost on a daily basis.

Last week the International Crisis Group (ICG) reported that 1850 people have been killed and 530,000 displaced in clashes in the past 20 months as the government and the separatists refuse to cede ground for talks.

The May 2 report said lack of concessions could generate more violence and prolong the conflict.

“Both sides must explore compromise solutions aimed at a level of regional autonomy somewhere between the secession desired by the separatists and the fake decentralisation proposed by Yaoundé,” ICG advised.

It called on Cameroonian and international actors to encourage the two sides to make concessions including by rewarding the less intransigent and sanctioning those who stand in the way of dialogue.

Violence erupted in the Cameroon’s two English speaking regions when an industrial strike by aggrieved lawyers and teachers in 2016 over perceived marginalization turned into a clamour by armed separatists for outright independence of the region.

Ambazonia, as the separatists identify the region, was administered as part of Nigeria as a UN trust territory under British control prior to reunification.

“The separatists continue to dream that independence is just around the corner. In Yaoundé, the government still wrongly believes it can win a quick military victory,” the ICG report said.

In a separate report four days later, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Cameroon authorities have regularly tortured and held incommunicado detainees arrested in the government’s crackdown on the English-speaking armed separatist movement.

HRW said it had documented 26 cases of incommunicado detention and enforced disappearance between January 2018 and January 2019 at the State Defence Secretariat (SED) detention centre in the capital Yaounde.

Besides the armed separatist movement in the Anglophone regions, Cameroon faces multiple other challenges including persistent threat by Boko Haram jihadist group in the Far North, political tensions and a growing number of refugees fleeing violence in neighbouring Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

The divisions in the country have seen two major opposition political parties announce a boycott of the 47th National Day celebrations on May 20.

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) of Ni John Fru Ndi and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) of Prof Maurice Kamto have separately announced they will not be part of the celebration whose rallying call is “Unity in diversity.”

The SDF said the boycott was in “strong protest of the decaying state of the nation” and in sympathy to the suffering of Cameroonians caught up in the civil war and other crisis across the country.

“As long as the civil war and this severe insecurity prevails, the SDF cannot participate in the National Day Celebrations on May 20. One side of the face cannot be smiling while the other side is crying,” the party’s 2018 presidential candidate Joshua Osih said. It said the government had turned a deaf ear to dialogue. The boycott was also in protest to the continued incarceration of its leader Maurice Kamto and other supporters.

Prof Kamto was arrested in January for organizing post-election protests and is standing trial before a military court in Yaounde on charges of rebellion, insurrection and “hostility to the homeland.”

The opposition leader was arrested alongside 116 of his supporters while taking part in the demonstrations dubbed “white marches” which were suppressed by security forces.

Prof Kamto maintains that he was the winner of the October 2018 presidential poll, but official results showed he emerged a distant second with 14.23 percent behind Paul Biya with 71.28 per cent.

Boycotts of state functions, however, are of little significance in Cameroon.

Two years ago SDF boycotted the ceremony to push for labour rights and an inclusive electoral code.” The party went on to participate in the 2018 presidential election under the same electoral code and political dispensation.

The opposition Cameroon People’s Party (CPP) has not taken part in any National Day parade since 2016 citing violation of freedoms.

Its leader and 2011 presidential candidate Kah Walla said the day has lost meaning as the government continues to ignore divisions and opportunities to unify the country.

Source: The East African

10, May 2019

Biya Regime Gives Muslim Community 1 billion CFA for Hajj 2019 ⁰

President Paul Biya has approved a total of 1 billion CFA to Cameroon’s Muslim community to help in the organisation of Hajj 2019. The announcement was made public on May the 8th by the territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji who also heads the National Hajj Commission.

The corrupt Yaounde regime says the subsidy is to cope with the XAF287,000 CFA increase per pilgrim, decided by the National Hajj Commission, which has caused discontent within the Muslim community. Thanks to this support, instead of XAF2,529,000, each pilgrim will now only pay XAF2,242,000.

Source: Business in Cameroon

9, May 2019

Britain regrets policy on Libya has failed since 2011 invasion ⁰

Britain’s Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt has expressed regrets that his country’s policy on Libya has failed since London and allies in the NATO military alliance launched an invasion in 2011 to oust long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

“We have not covered ourselves in glory with our policy on Libya. Let us face it,” Hunt said in a Tuesday interview with the Guardian newspaper.

The top British diplomat said if London knew that Libya would become a hotbed of militancy in North Africa, it would have second thoughts on the 2011 invasion.

“… if we knew in 2011 we would be in the situation we are now we would be asking ourselves some searching questions,” he said.

The comments came as Britain and other international powers are in disagreement over how to help Libya regain peace after some eight years of civil war.

The main row is over Khalifa Haftar, a Gaddafi-era military general who has defied the international community by launching an all-out offensive against a United Nations-backed government in the capital Tripoli.

PressTV-Libya's Haftar orders troops to fight during Ramadan

Haftar and his large army of militant groups have enjoyed funds and support from oil-rich countries in the Persian Gulf region. However, countries to the west of Libya and certain countries outside the region are against his rise to power, saying it would destabilize the region.

Hunt said Britain should take a lesson from its failure in the 2011 invasion of Libya and allow Haftar to have a role in the future Libyan government.

“We do not agree with what Haftar is doing. We do not think it is possible for Haftar to achieve a military victory, and as a government he will not be seen as legitimate by whole swathes of the country. So we want a political process,” he said without elaborating how Haftar could help Libya’s future.

That comes as Libya’s prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj has repeatedly accused Haftar of trying to sabotage international efforts to establish peace in Libya, saying he has no interest in contributing to a democratic process.

Source: Presstv