26, March 2019

US will not ‘stand idly’ as Russia dispatches troops in Venezuela ⁰

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Russia Monday the United States will not “stand idly by” as Moscow inserts military personnel into Venezuela to support the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.

In a phone call with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Pompeo denounced the growing Russian military reinforcements as prolonging the political crisis in the South American country.

Pompeo told Lavrov “the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela,” the State Department said in a statement.

“The continued insertion of Russian military personnel to support the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela risks prolonging the suffering of the Venezuelan people who overwhelmingly support interim President Juan Guaido,” he said.

Sergei Lavrov reacted later on Monday by releasing a statement accusing the United States of plotting a “coup” against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido is supported by the United States and most Latin American and European nations but he retains the support of Russia and China, US rivals who have offered political and economic support to him.

Pompeo urged Russia to “cease its unconstructive behavior” and support Guaido.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

26, March 2019

UK: House of Commons finally takes control of Brexit ⁰

British lawmakers have voted in favor of taking control of Brexit, undermining the government of Prime Minister Theresa May.

MPs voted 329 to 302 late on Monday to give the House of Commons more authority in handling the country’s possible exit from the EU.

They also rejected a personal plea by the British premier to stop the measure.

Brexit will not liberate UK from EU

Introduced by Conservative MP Oliver Letwin, the amendment would enable the MPs to bring forward their own Brexit motion and indicative votes for alternative Brexit paths Wednesday.

The move could bring about a soft Brexit customs union compromise, or even a second referendum on the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

According to a spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union, it “upends the balance between our democratic institutions and sets a dangerous, unpredictable precedent for the future.”

UK Chancellor backs second Brexit referendum

“While it is now up to parliament to set out next steps in respect of this amendment, the government will continue to call for realism,” the spokesperson said, calling for MPs to choose options that were “deliverable in negotiations with the EU.”

Source: Presstv

26, March 2019

Ambazoniagate: Academics hail court rulings on deported lecturers ⁰

Nigerian Academics have welcomed the judgement by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja ordering the repatriation of six academics from the former British Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) and four other refugees who were all in Nigeria and who were abducted and illegally deported from Nigeria on January 5th 2018, on frivolous allegations of plotting to destabilize the government of La Republique du Cameroon (LRC) President Mr. Paul Biya. Two separate judgments were handed down by presiding judge, Justice Anwuli Chikere, on 1st March 2019 in connection with the matter.

In the first case – brought by a group of human rights lawyers against the National Security Advisor and Attorney General – the judge ruled that the arrest of 5th January 2018 and subsequent detention of the academics at the National Defence Intelligence Agency(DIA) was illegal and unconstitutional. In the second case – brought by the deportees – the judge ruled that the deportation on 26th January 2018 was illegal and violated the deportees’ rights as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.

Power of the courts
The court ruling has been hailed by the university community and staff unions as a sign that the courts can still protect and defend the rights of foreign nationals and citizens who are either working, residing or are refugees in Nigeria. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has promised to ensure that the judgement is enforced. The academics are part of a larger group of 57 Cameroonian refugees and asylum-seekers who are Anglophone restorationists. Some of them have been living in Nigeria for decades and at least one has a Nigerian wife and children. The university lecturers are: Professor Augustine Awasum, Faculty of Veterinary Surgery & Diagnostic Imaging at the Ahmadu Bello University(ABU) Zaria; Dr. Henry T.Kimeng, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering also at the Ahmadu Bello University(ABU) Zaria; Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, Assistant Vice President and Pioneer Head, Information and Technology, American University of Nigeria in Yola; Dr. Fidelis Ndeh, Assistant Professor and Director, Academic Planning, American University of Nigeria in Yola; Dr. Cornelius N.Kwanga, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University in Katsina; and Dr. Egbe Ogork, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering, Bayero University, Kano. On the issue of their illegal arrest and detention, the judge ordered the state to pay damages of NGN5 million (US$13,800) to each detainee “as general and aggravated damages for illegal violation of their fundamental rights to life, dignity of person, fair hearing, health, freedom of movement and freedom of association”. On the issue of their deportation, the court ordered the state to pay damages of NGN200, 000. The judge also ruled in both cases that the Nigerian state was under perpetual injunction restraining it from further violation of fundamental rights without lawful justification. She also ordered that the deportees should be returned to Nigeria as soon as possible.

Solitary confinement
Since their deportation from Abuja to the Cameroon capital Yaoundé in January 2018 at the hands of Nigerian and Cameroonian security forces, the deportees were initially kept in solitary confinement at a maximum-security prison facility without access to sunlight, family, lawyers or specialized medical care for 11 months after which they were moved to another maximum – security prison facility with some limited access to family and lawyers. They are yet to be charged or arraigned for any crimes because lawyers in Cameroon have consistently challenged the jurisdiction of the Military Tribunal in LRC to try scholars who faced a death penalty if eventually the ‘kangaroo military tribunal’ brings them to trial. The lawyers argue the composition, jurisdiction, language and historical precedence which makes the court incompetent to hear the case or guarantee a free and fair trial of the academics. As refugees who were abducted, their lawyers have persistently insisted that the national and international laws should be respected and the scholars be returned to Nigeria from where they were kidnapped.

Soon after their deportation, a team of human rights lawyers led by Barristers Femi Falana(SAN) and Abdul Oroh filed a case in the Federal High Court in Abuja challenging their detention and deportation. In their submission they rejected the allegation that the groups were terrorists bent on overthrowing the LRC government. In July 2018, University World News reported that Oroh, who is representing the detainees, said the deportees were members of a political organisation demanding a complete restoration of their homeland, the British Southern Cameroons to complete independence and be free from the annexation by the La Republique du Cameroun.
In an exclusive interview with University World News following the 1st March 2019 judgments, Oroh said he had written to Nigeria’s Attorney General Abubakar Malami, informing him of the judgments.

“In my official letter to the attorney general, I attached a certified copy of the two court rulings on this subject matter. I received a call from the attorney general acknowledging the receipt of my letter. He assured me that my letter was receiving urgent attention and that his ministry would soon comply with the court ruling,” said Oroh. Nigeria’s academic community has welcomed the rulings and hopes are high that the repatriation will be expedited as quickly as possible.

‘The world is watching’
Professor Caleb Abraham from the Faculty of law at the University of Uyo said both Nigeria and Cameroon are signatories of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. “In the light of these rights, the arrest and deportation of our colleagues is illegal and unconstitutional. Therefore, both the Nigerian and Cameroonian governments should implement this court ruling by ensuring these teachers and others are repatriated to Nigeria and their rights in Nigeria are enforced. The entire world is watching,” he said. Professor Adekunle Akinlaja from the Faculty of Law at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, said both President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of Cameroon may find it difficult to explain and rationalise their actions on this matter within the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the UN’s Universal Declaration. “However there is still room to rectify these wrongs,” he declared. Highlighting the lack of irrationality in the government’s actions, Dr Muktar Ismail, based in the Sociology Department at the University of Jos, said Dr Egbe Ogork was married to a Nigerian. “By right they are Nigerians. How would the Nigerian government rationalise its actions against those who by marriage are now Nigerians? Dr Kolawole Akomolafe from the Economics Department of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, noted that the list of the “alleged plotters” included names of responsible scholars and teachers. “These are scholars and teachers who have dedicated their lives to the development of Nigeria. I have known them for over 20 years,” he declared.

Source: The Guardian

26, March 2019

Southern Cameroons War: Citizens are losing hope that their country can remain united ⁰

For the past three years, civil strife has been tearing Cameroon apart. New public opinion data from Afrobarometer suggest serious — and widening — rifts in fundamental perceptions and attitudes between the country’s Anglophone and Francophone regions.

A snapshot of Cameroon’s turmoil

For more than half a century after independence in 1960, Cameroon’s Francophone majority (formerly ruled by the French) and Anglophone minority (ex-British colonial subjects) lived in uneasy, but largely peaceful, union.

In 2016, occasional protests against what many English-speaking citizens see as discrimination and exclusion intensified and turned violent. Now, militant Anglophone separatists skirmish with government forces almost daily. Human Rights Watch and other observers have accused both sides of killings, kidnappings and other abuses.

According to the United Nations, the violence has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, including thousands who have fled to neighboring Nigeria. In October, English-speaking Cameroon boycotted the presidential election en masse; Paul Biya, who has held that position since 1982, won — but many observers declared the election marred by irregularities and violence.

How deep is the divide between English- and French-speaking Cameroon?

Pulling farther apart on fundamental questions

Public-opinion data show that the Anglophone and Francophone regions have moved quite far from each other since 2016 on fundamental questions of democracy, trust in the state and national identity.

Afrobarometer has interviewed nationally representative samples of 1,200 adult Cameroonians in 2013, 2015, and May-June 2018, producing results with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. We did our analysis based on region, rather than primary language.

Here’s what we found. Most Cameroonians living in Anglophone regions no longer view their country as a functioning democracy. That’s a drastic shift from four years ago — and contrasts sharply with the views of their compatriots in Francophone regions. The proportion of Anglophone residents who consider Cameroon “a full democracy” or “a democracy with minor problems” dropped from more than half (52 percent) in 2015 to just 1 in 8 (12 percent) in 2018. Among those living in Francophone regions, the proportion of those who agree has slowly increased from 36 percent in 2013 to 45 percent, as you can see in the figure below.

Cameroon is a democracy | Anglophone vs. Francophone | Cameroon | 2013-2018

Respondents were asked: In your opinion, how much of a democracy is Cameroon today? The graph shows the percentage who say “a full democracy” or “a democracy with minor problems.” (Mircea Lazar /Mircea Lazar)

Similarly, as you can see in the figure below, satisfaction with the way democracy is working in Cameroon has plummeted among Anglophone citizens, from 43 percent who said they were “fairly” or “very” satisfied in 2015 to just 7 percent in 2018. Among Francophones, meanwhile, satisfaction remains low but fairly steady, at 33 percent.

Satisfied with democracy | Anglophone vs. Francophone | Cameroon | 2013-2018

Respondents were asked: Overall, how satisfied are you with the way democracy works in Cameroon? The graph shows the percentage who say “fairly satisfied” or “very satisfied.” (Mircea Lazar/Mircea Lazar)

Fewer than half (45 percent) of Anglophone Cameroonians now say they prefer democracy to any other political system, a sharp drop from 64 percent in 2015. Among Francophones, support for democracy has remained steady at two-thirds, or 66 percent. Popular support for elections as the best way to choose leaders shows a similar pattern.

Political scientists often consider popular trust in the police and the army to be a core indicator of broader support for the state — and so here, too, our survey findings may trouble policymakers. As you can see in the figure below, almost 6 in 10 Anglophone citizens, or 58 percent, say they do not trust the police “at all,” up from 39 percent in 2015 and more than double the proportion of absolute distrust among Francophones, at 24 percent. The divide is even greater when it comes to the army: The proportion of Anglophones who say they don’t trust the military “at all” has nearly tripled since 2015, from 22 percent to 62 percent, compared to just 13 percent of Francophones who say the same thing.

Don’t trust police and army ‘at all’ | Anglophone vs. Francophone | Cameroon | 2013-2018

Respondents were asked: How much do you trust each of the following, or haven’t you heard enough about them to say: The police? The army? The graph shows the percentage who say “not at all.”

Another key indicator of a growing chasm is identity: Do citizens identify more with their nation or with their ethnic group? If it’s the former, a fundamental national unity may exist that can help prevent civil conflict. Until recently, in Cameroon only small minorities — between 6 percent and 12 percent — of both Anglophone and Francophone citizens identified more closely with their ethnic group than with their nation. But as you can see below, since 2015, the proportion of Anglophones who identify more strongly with their ethnic group than their nationality has quadrupled, to almost one-third (31 percent). Among Francophones, the increase was from 7 percent to 13 percent.

Ethnic over national identity | Anglophone vs. Francophone | Cameroon | 2013-2018

Respondents were asked: Let us suppose that you had to choose between being a Cameroonian and being a ________[respondent’s ethnic group]. Which of the following statements best expresses your feelings: I feel only [ethnic group]? I feel more [ethnic group] than Cameroonian? I feel equally Cameroonian and [ethnic group]? I feel more Cameroonian than [ethnic group]? I feel only Cameroonian? The graph shows the percentage who say they feel “only [ethnic group]” or “more [ethnic group] than Cameroonian.. (Mircea Lazar/Mircea Lazar)

The results reveal that Cameroon’s national unity is fragmenting

These growing divides between Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians suggest that beyond the headlines, some citizens may be starting to abandon a belief in the country’s unity. Despite Cameroon’s long history of individual English and French speakers living peacefully as friends and compatriots, these tears in the national fabric will take both time and skilled and inclusive political leadership to mend.

Culled from The Washington Post

25, March 2019

Côte d’Ivoire: A beacon of hope ⁰

While many people across the globe hold that French-speaking countries in Africa may never make giant economic development strides because of their affinity to France, Côte d’Ivoire is debunking that myth one project at a time. The country that many had written off in the mid-nineties due to its political conflict is gradually positioning itself as a leader in the West African sub-region.

Sound policies and commitment to reforms have helped the country secure good terms on its Eurobonds issued in 2017 and 2018. External public debt is projected to reach nearly 30 percent of GDP in 2018 and is currently assessed to be sustainable in the medium-term. However, higher reliance on international market financing may raise rollover risks and reduce policy space to buffer future shocks.

Over the last six years, this West African country has undertaken major development projects and infrastructure development seems to be the government’s focus. The government is currently working with the private sector to modernize the country’s infrastructure and this has caught the attention of foreign investors who want to be part of this success story that is being written with a golden pen and which is making the country a beacon of hope.

The government is working on improving market access for crops by upgrading transportation infrastructure, extending electricity provision, and developing strategies to enhance value-added from cocoa and cashews.

Today, the country’s capital, Abidjan, has become a vast construction site with storey buildings popping up like mushroom in all the city’s neighborhoods. Côte d’Ivoire has made significant progress in reducing processing time for building permits and has introduced a new system for electronic payment of taxes and a credit bureau. There is scope for catching up with sub-Saharan African frontier market countries by improving credit access through stronger legal rights for borrowers and creditors and deeper credit information on borrowers.

Foreign capital is heading to Cote d’Ivoire and the government’s determination to place the country on the map as the most modern in West Africa is paying off big time. Even international organizations are noticing the efforts by the country’s government and their reports on the country are boosting the country’s image.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, the country’s macro-economic performance has been encouraging. The continent’s leading development finance institution reported that despite many and major economic challenges in 2018, the country’s real GDP growth reached an estimated 7.4% in 2018, down from 7.7% in 2017, supported by external demand for agricultural and oil products and stronger domestic demand resulting from major investment projects and households consumption.

The AfDB report points out that the country’s economy faced several shocks in 2017, including a sharp decline in cocoa prices, higher oil prices, and social tensions. As a result, the budget deficit increased to 4.2% of GDP, but it improved to an estimated 3.8% in 2018. Public debt increased to 48.2% of GDP in 2018, driven by Eurobond issuances in 2017 and 2018. The risk of debt distress remains moderate. Inflation was low, at an estimated 0.5% in 2018, down from 1.0% in 2017. The current account deficit widened to an estimated 2.7% of GDP in 2018 from 1.8% in 2017.

The AfDB holds that the country’s economic outlook remains favorable, with real GDP growth projected at 7.0% in 2019 and 6.9% in 2020. A good performance in the agricultural sector will keep inflation below the 3% convergence threshold for the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). The current account deficit is projected to stabilize at 2.8% in 2019, in connection with sustained imports of capital goods related to infrastructure projects.

The economy remains vulnerable to external shocks that may stem from unfavorable evolution of commodity prices (mainly cocoa and oil) and adverse climate conditions. Another pressing challenge is to sustain economic growth and ensure a more balanced distribution across sectors, with a view to achieving a structural transformation of the economy. This would require improving the quality of agricultural products and upgrading the industrial sector toward higher value added and high–job creation activities.

Regarding reforms, Côte d’Ivoire has implemented many reforms as part of its 2016–2020 National Development Plan. In energy, reforms have focused on ensuring the sector’s financial sustainability, clearing arrears for independent producers, and investing in supply capacity. As a result, installed capacity increased by 56% between 2011 and 2018 to 2,200 MW. Rural electricity coverage has also expanded from 33% of the rural population to 54%. In agriculture, reforms have focused on accelerating the development of value chains and increasing local processing for major agricultural products, including cocoa, cashew nuts, palm oil, and rubber. Investment has also improved the quality of and access to basic education and health services. But poverty and inequality reduction remain a challenge.

Côte d’Ivoire is party to most of the relevant continental institutions dedicated to regional integration. The country has historically been an important destination for immigration and remains at the center of one of the continent’s most dynamic migration routes. Côte d’Ivoire is also an important transit corridor for its landlocked neighbors, thanks to its ports in Abidjan and San Pedro. It is a key partner in the regional electricity market and is part of an electricity interconnection network with Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, and soon Mali, as well as to the Mano River Union countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone). Côte d’Ivoire is the major player in WAEMU’s financial markets and hosts the regional securities exchange. Côte d’Ivoire has also increased investment in regional energy, road, and air infrastructure and telecommunication networks.

For the seventh consecutive year, the country’s economic growth was projected to exceed 7% and reach 7.4% in 2018, despite the country’s vulnerability to external shocks and political uncertainty in the run up to the presidential elections in 2020. This was the verdict of the Eighth Economic Update for Côte d’Ivoire published today by the World Bank. The country, therefore, continues to have one of the most dynamic economies in the world, boasting the highest growth rates in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), despite a slight drop of 0.3% in relation to its performance in 2017 (7.7%).

According to a World Bank report entitled “Que la route soit bonne, améliorer la mobilité urbaine à Abidjan,”the country has witnessed some decline because of the fact that the public and external sectors have been less supportive of growth and the contribution of the private sector has been more uneven.

The short- and medium-term outlook however remains favorable. The growth rate over the next few years is expected to be roughly 7%, provided that the global environment remains fairly stable and the Government continues its efforts to promote the private sector and foster more inclusive growth.

The report also devotes an entire section to the challenges of urban mobility in this country where the rate of urbanization soared from 17.7% in 1960 to over 50% in 2018. Today, 80% of economic activity in the country is concentrated in Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire and home to over 5 million people.

“Urbanization, once it is well planned and managed, can help the country’s businesses become more productive and improve households’ living conditions by offering them jobs, schools for their children, and better health care than in rural areas,” explains Jacques Morisset, World Bank Program Leader in Côte d’Ivoire and lead author of the report.

Given that by 2050, nearly two out of three Ivorians will be living in an urban center, over 10 million of whom will settle in Abidjan, urban mobility challenges will intensify if no action is taken, and solutions will become increasingly difficult to implement. The report analyzes the daily mobility constraints faced by commuters and proposes several avenues for improving urban transport and ensuring the success of the Greater Abidjan project adopted in 2016.

“There are approximately 10 million trips taken every day in Abidjan and each household spends close to CFAF 1075 (about US$1.80) and loses over three hours a day in commuting time,” explains Anne Cecile Souhaid, Senior Transport Specialist and co-author of the report. “That is equivalent to nearly 5% of the national GDP in 2017. However, a 20% improvement in urban mobility in Abidjan could generate gains of almost 1% of annual GDP growth.”

Since achieving independence in 1960, Côte d’Ivoire has managed to maintain broadly friendly relations with its neighbours, its French former colonial ruler, and within a continental and multilateral context. Côte d’Ivoire has long been a player in ECOWAS, which ties the country to 14 other nations in the region. Eight countries also share membership of the West African CFA franc zone, the central bank of which is headquartered in Abidjan.

Recently, after a decade-long political crisis ended in 2011, Côte d’Ivoire’s economy has bounced back to become one of the fastest-growing in Africa. Between 2012 and 2016 the country’s GDP grew by an annual average of 9%, with the IMF forecasting annual GDP expansion of at least 6.5% through to 2023. This recovery was supported by rising international commodity prices, as well as substantial public sector funding to rebuild and upgrade infrastructure that had suffered from years of under-investment. At the same time, the country has sought to diversify its agriculture-focused economy by developing the mining and oil and gas sectors.

The IMF recently completed its annual health check of the Ivoirian economy. Political normalization and good implementation of reforms have contributed to the country’s strong economic performance since 2012. Going forward, bold structural reforms are needed to sustain the pace of development, and ensure that the benefits are shared by all. The current government is committed to keeping the economy dynamic while ensuring that growth is shared and pro-poor.

By Bamba Gaoussou

Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Abidjan

25, March 2019

Disease fears mount for Southern Africa cyclone survivors ⁰

Disease is threatening to aggravate the already dire conditions facing millions of survivors following the powerful tropical cyclone that ravaged southern Africa 10 days ago, officials warned on Sunday.

Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique’s coast unleashing hurricane-force wind and rain that flooded swathes of the poor country before battering eastern Zimbabwe — killing 705 people across the two nations.

“It is inevitable that cases of cholera and malaria will arise. In many areas we are already fighting with malaria cases,” said Land Minister Celso Correia at a briefing in Beira, 1,000 kilometers northeast of the capital, Maputo.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, also at the briefing, warned that disease outbreaks in inaccessible areas could be “really problematic.”

The World Food Programme said Friday that the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Mozambique is on a par with the situation in Yemen and Syria.

Aid workers from across the world are continuing to arrive in the region to bring help to more than two million affected people across an area of roughly 3,000 square kilometers.

Survivors are struggling in desperate conditions with some still trapped on rooftops and those rescued in urgent need of food and medical supplies.

“The government is already setting up a cholera treatment center to mitigate cholera. We should not be frightened when cholera issues arise,” added Correia, describing efforts to control the emerging humanitarian crisis. “It is normal. It’s almost inevitable. Malaria, we know how it arises. We have lots of wetlands and we’re going to have malaria that is sure to come up (there).”

People stay in shelter at a local school in Buzi, Mozambique, on March 23, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Wilfried Deloviare, a 19-year-old resident of Beira, which was caught in the eye of the storm, said he felt “sorry for our town, our city, because we suffered a lot to build it.”

“Houses are completely destroyed, and some people don’t have money to rebuild their businesses — and many businesses are going to fail,” he told AFP.

‘People don’t know what to do’

More than two million people have been affected in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, where the storm started as a tropical depression causing flooding, which killed 60 and displaced nearly a million people. Hundreds are still missing in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had recorded two cases of cholera so far but the UN was unable to confirm the reports.

Stampa described efforts to re-open the main access road to Beira as a “big victory.”

“We will be able to bring more help to families living in this affected area,” he said.

Those living in affected areas of Mozambique began to trickle back to church over the weekend.

The Ponta Gea Catholic Cathedral in Beira was miraculously undamaged by the storm while the church next door was leveled.

“The people don’t know what to do because they lost their houses, they have no food, they don’t know where to sleep — this brings sadness and anxiety,” said Father Pedro, who conducted a mass in darkness late on Saturday.

Much of the area hit by the cyclone remains disconnected from electricity supplies, complicating rescue efforts at nightfall.

As many as 109,000 people are living in shelters across central Mozambique, many of them located in and around Beira.

One survivor was six-year-old Elena Joaquin, who clutched a coconut as she sat surrounded by pots and pans at a shelter in Buzi, southwest of Beria, where she had sought refuge along with her parents.

But life had slowly begun to return to normal in central Beira, where traffic was flowing more than in recent days and businesses were resuming trade.

(Source: AFP)

25, March 2019

The AGC, the Audit Report and the Dublin Declaration: What the timing reveal ⁰

Cameroon Concord News Group has persistently warned Southern Cameroonians in ground zero and in the diaspora that Cho Ayaba and his AGC recently rebranded AgovC constitute a serious threat to the Southern Cameroons liberation quest. His every action in the struggle justifies this. His most recent actions among many elevates this warning to an emergency.

The so-called Dublin Declaration calling for armed attacks in French Cameroun and the persistent call by Cho Ayaba and his surrogates for the release of the audit report conducted on the orders of the Interim Government are matters which Ambazonians in ground zero and in the diaspora must consider with great suspicion. These actions are intended to help the enemy. They are not intended to contribute to the self-defence efforts for the liberation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia from the terrorist genocide war of French Cameroun.

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urges the Restoration Council of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia for the purposes of mitigating the damage intended by Cho Ayaba, to withhold the public release of the audit report that was submitted recently by the Interim President Samuel Sako. The Interim Government should distance itself from the Dublin Declaration and the planned attacks against targets in French Cameroun.

Attacking targets in French Cameroun may be used to transpose French Cameroun teleguided attacks, the actions of Boko Haram, French Cameroun opposition and insider attacks as attacks by the liberation forces of Ambazonia. Atanga Nji and the criminal government of French Cameroun, will organize targeted attacks against French Cameroun civilian population, protected settlements such as schools, palaces, markets, museums and hospitals and blame on the restoration forces. All they needed was this public announcement by Cho Ayaba that the attacks will be carried out by Southern Cameroons liberation forces under his command. Whether he in fact carries out the attacks will not matter. They just need this announcement to do the rest in order to criminalise all our restoration forces and inviting the international community to characterise them as terrorists, which they are not, French Cameroun has an extraordinary propaganda capacity by themselves and their lobbies abroad to rely on the Dublin Declaration to mount this campaign. Cho Ayaba will not be targeted as indeed he has not been targeted at any time by French Cameroun and its agents, even though his actions have been acted upon by French Cameroun to target many who are in the diaspora legitimately exercising their protected rights to mount a defence of their ancestral fatherland, their civilian population and their freedom afforded by international law.

A key strategy by French Cameroun in the war of genocide against Southern Cameroons is the targeting of the civilian population and foreigners within the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. This strategy has backfired partly because the United States whose forces are in North French Cameroun supporting the multinational force against Boko Haram has through its independent intelligence gathering capability monitored the crimes committed by French Cameroun terrorist forces against Ambazonians and foreigners among whom are missionaries. Providing a public open cheque admitting in advance crimes committed within the enemy scheme to criminalize the legitimate war of self-defence by the restoration forces of Ambazonia is indeed reckless. Lest we forget, French Cameroun is a territory where the multinational forces are conducting legitimate internationally sanctioned military operations against Boko Haram and international terrorism. Interjecting into the Ambazonia liberation struggle within this sphere, will bring negative focus on the Ambazonia armed struggle. It ill subsumes the Ambazonia liberation struggle into a French Cameroun internal security problem rather than and Ambazonia problem which is an international problem for which there is overwhelming international support for all-inclusive negotiation without pre-conditions with international participation. The Dublin Declaration aims at changing the nature of the conflict. Who stands to gain with the new factor and dynamic introduced by Cho Ayaba? The answer is that the enemy stands to gain. As if the killing of the military commanders of Ambazonia defence units fighting against the enemy French Cameroun terrorist forces is not enough, Cho Ayaba wants to provide the enemy with a defence which it sought unsuccessfully to make through the Bangorain staged attacked.

While in warfare, taking out enemy operational, support, strategic and tactical command capability, even in its own territory may be legitimate. But then these are often done in covert operations. This is not what Ayaba intends to do with his Dublin Declaration. Making this public as Cho Ayaba has done is wholly intended to propagate the strategy which the enemy is relying on him to subvert the legitimate self-defence liberation efforts of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.The enemy strategy through Ayaba is unfolding in through the Dublin Declaration.

Also, Ayaba and his surrogates over the past several months embarked on a social media campaign of blackmail to force the IG to release a legitimate audit that was conducted furtherance to the Ambazonia quest for accountability. The clear intention by Cho Ayaba and his surrogates was to ride on the popular request for accountability made in good faith by Cameroon Concord News Group and a sizeable component of the Ambazonia people in furtherance of the accountability quest. Cameroon Concord News Group wants to place it on record, that the aims of Cho Ayaba and reneged forces in seeking the release of the audit now is not for the public good. He and his surrogates never recognized the IG and never contributed to the treasury whose audit they are requesting. His intentions on the release of the budget report, the so-called Dublin Declaration judged against his destabilizing actions in ground zero, as a matter of urgency, strongly call for the audit report not be released now. That will not be in the public good nor that of the liberation war of self- defence. He and renegade forces will use it to undermine the self-defence war efforts, the county by county and local government by local government defence strategy and discourage diaspora, ground zero and international support for our refugees, our internally displaced and our ground zero self-defence operations.

The timing of the Dublin Declaration and the seeking of the release of the audit report to discredit the IG no matter how sincere and forthright the audit report may be, at a time when international action is closing in on French Cameroun is highly suspicious. Coming at a time when every lie told by French Cameroun against the restoration forces of Ambazonia have been exposed, the public declaration through the so-called Dublin Declaration and attempts to blackmail and weaken the IG are a welcome relief to French Cameroun criminal government and its terrorist armed forces. This strategic change of policy that benefits the enemy must be opposed vigorously.

The question which must be asked is why now? Why now when the international community is putting the required pressure on French Cameroun sinking crime syndicate? Why validate the abduction and extermination of thousands of internally displaced Ambazonians seeking refuge within vulnerable French Cameroun civilian areas who will be falsely accused for the actions of Ayaba, Atanga Nji and members of the crime syndicate? Why now that French Cameroun has failed to paint the restoration forces as terrorists and has been forced to call Ambazonia liberators simply as separatists, a tacit recognition of the liberation rationale for the self-defence war of independence? Why now, when Ayaba has a legitimate option to attack and take out the occupation war loot of French Cameroun within the territory of Ambazonia and has failed to do instead resorting to kidnapping and taking ransoms or killing liberation forces and commanders in ground zero?

Over the past fifty-seven years, French Cameroun and its colonial administrators, military commanders and politicians through extortion, claimed Ambazonia prized lands, farms, natural resources and built mansions and businesses in every county of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Why not join the rest of the restoration forces to take out the stolen resources, investments and wealth and weaken the enemy rather than stretch limited war resources to attack targets in French Cameroun when the resources of colonial rule are within Ambazonia?

The problem with Ayaba and other renegade forces within Ambazonia is greed. Prior to this stage of the revolution the struggle stagnated because rather than mobilizing the diaspora resources to liberate Ambazonia, Cho Ayaba and many others who are opposed to new ideas and leaders in the liberation struggle exploited them for personal gain. This is one reason why the same diaspora who were exploited through the asylum process have rejected these same so-called front-line leaders exploiting the self-defence struggle for personal gain.

Most Ambazonians agree with Cameroon Concord News Group that a cancer that has afflicted the struggle for many years was the commercialisation of the struggle for pecuniary interest through the asylum process, even though most Ambazonians who fled the homeland had legitimate fears of persecution and harm to their precious lives. For his more than two decades in Europe, Cho Ayaba sustained himself on exploiting the asylum vulnerabilities of Ambazonia victims fleeing from the murderous colonial rule of French Cameroun. This cancer ran so deep in many of the so-called frontline leaders of the Ambazonia independence struggle to the extent that with the advent of a new dawn of the Ambazonia popular revolution, they have vigorously resisted the emergence of the new leadership outside the cancerous cartel as a threat to their pecuniary interests. The time to shred pecuniary interests to unite to confront a common enemy is now.

Cameroon Concord News Group called out to Acting Interim President Samuel Sako to step-down due to what Cameroon Concord News Group identified as his ineffective leadership in some areas. That call was not intended to be abused or misinterpreted to support a misdirected campaign to subvert the cause. It was done in good faith. Cameroon Concord News Group called for full accountability of the IG for the purpose of public interest. That action is expected by all democratic governments. Ambazonians have a culture of accountability which that call echoed. Cameroon Concord News Group is pleased that its call and that of many Ambazonians was heeded to and an audit was conducted as the IG promised. Cameroon Concord News Group hopes that this audit should be a first step to reforming the IG and the restoration council for the purpose of strengthening it to carry out urgent ground zero operations, protection and sustaining our refugee population and diplomatic initiatives.

Cameroon Concord News Group is strongly opposed to renegade forces and French Cameroun riding on these citizen requests for an audit to harm the cause. Classified information of an operational and diplomatic nature should not be provided to hostile forces through an unrestrained public disclosure of the audit report now. Cameroon Concord News Group also urges Ambazonians and friends of Ambazonians worldwide to reject and distance themselves from the announced Dublin Declaration which plays into the enemy strategy. The Dublin Declaration and pressure to release the audit report to the public now are aimed at feeding the enemy with the ammunitions to delegitimize the Ambazonia war of liberation and subvert international support and efforts to protect and free Ambazonia. It undermines worldwide campaigns to hold the crime syndicate in French Cameroun to account in an international criminal court and targeted sanctions. Cameroon Concord News Group calls on Ambazonians to choose their priorities and timing wisely and to build on the many diplomatic and ground zero successes to expedite the movement to Buea and a free homeland. For this to occur, Ambazonians should rise to the occasion and contribute massively to match their comment to the unfolding international and ground zero response to their just cause. Let all remember that timing in every revolution is crucial to positive outcomes. The time is now to make the final push.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief

25, March 2019

Donald Trump administration to sanction 27 members of the Biya regime ⁰

Following the recent visit of Tibor Nagy, the white house policy chief for African Affairs to Cameroon, the US government is now beefing up drastic measures against the Biya regime in Yaounde.

In a report drafted in Le monde newspaper, the Trump administration plans to take drastic financial sanctions against some 27 personalities of this regime who will be banned from staying on American soil or returning to it. This report opines that their assets will also be iced. The 27 Cameroonians to be penalized with these sanctions have their names already drafted by the US State Department.

Some European countries are flexing muscles to follow suit with similar measures under the diadem of the European Union. This will be a huge blow to the French government which has provided a safe haven for Biya and his cronnies in the last 57 years.

In pursuit of a lasting solution according to the report, western countries are drumming up for an inclusive dialogue to stop the ongoing Anglophone crisis that has left hundreds of thousands homeless’ more than 210 villages razed by French Cameroun soldiers and thousands massacred in the two English speaking regions of the country. Its concluding lines reads that a meeting could be organized to begin negotiations between the Yaoundé regime and the ‘secessionists’ on a neutral ground.

24, March 2019

Ambazonia Restoration Forces erect “Berlin Wall” in Bafut ⁰

Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces in Bafut in the Mezam County have erected a wall preventing soldiers serving with the mechanized division of the Cameroon army from invading Ambazonian villages in the Northern Zone.

Images of the wall surfaced on social media on Thursday after heavy gun battles in the area on Wednesday.

Locals say it has been difficult for cars get into and out Bafut due to frequent clashes in the area and the erection of the wall has made matters worse.

The Francophone dominated military often used secondary roads to counter the Ambazonian fighters ever since the Southern Cameroons war started.

Source: Journal du Cameroun

24, March 2019

Algeria: Hundreds of thousands battle rain to protest President Bouteflika ⁰

Hundreds of thousands of Algerians took the street of the capital Algiers on Friday, to demand the immediate resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Algerians take part in a demonstration against ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the capital Algiers on March 22, 2019. (AFP)

The protesters are taking a stand after the country’s president announced that he would withdraw his bid for a fifth term in office but stopped short of stepping down, delaying the country’s presidential elections slated for April 18.

Bouteflika’s announcement came following weeks of mass demonstrations against his re-election bid and alleged plans to extend his 20-year rule.

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