11, January 2019

Andy Murray announces impending retirement from tennis ⁰

A tearful Andy Murray on Friday announced he would likely retire this year due to severe pain from a hip injury, saying next week’s Australian Open could be the last tournament of a glittering career. The former world number one and three-time Grand Slam winner broke down at a press conference in Melbourne as he said the pain had become almost unbearable.

“I can play with limitations. But having the limitations and the pain is not allowing me to enjoy competing or training,” the emotional Scot said. Thirty-one-year-old “Sir Andy” said he would like to finish at his home Grand Slam in Wimbledon, but ruefully admitted he might not make it that far.

He will be remembered as the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years and as a player who battled his way to the top in a golden era for the game alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

“Wimbledon is where I would like to stop playing, but I am not certain I am able to do that,” he said. “I’ve been struggling for a long time. I’m not sure I can play through the pain for another four or five months.

“Pretty much done everything that I could to try and get my hip feeling better and it hasn’t helped loads.” He pulled out of last year’s Australian Open to have hip surgery and only returned in June at Queen’s Club in London.

He ended the season at Shenzhen in September after only a handful of appearances to concentrate on working his way back to full fitness.

But he was knocked out in the second round on his return at Brisbane last week and called it quits on Thursday after less than an hour of a practice match in Melbourne against Djokovic, with his movement clearly hampered.

“I think there is a chance the Australian Open is my last tournament,” he said.

While he intends to begin his opening-round match against 22nd seed Roberto Bautista Agut next week, how his body withstands potentially gruelling five-set clashes in energy-sapping heat remains to be seen.

‘Legend of a bloke’

One of the so-called Big Four, along with Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, who have dominated the game for years, Murray’s ranking has slumped to 230.

He hasn’t reached a Grand Slam final since winning his second Wimbledon title in 2016, but has nevertheless enjoyed a glittering career since turning professional in 2005, with not only three Grand Slam titles, but two Olympic gold medals and 45 ATP crowns.

Notably, in 2013 Murray became the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years, ending the nation’s obsession with finding a champion to follow in the footsteps of Fred Perry.

World number five Juan Martin del Potro, who has also struggled with injuries and will miss the Australian Open, told Murray to “keep fighting”.

“We love you @andy_murray and we want to see you happy and doing well,” he added. Billie Jean King called him “a champion on and off court”, referring to Murray’s long-time support of women’s equality in tennis.

“So sorry you cannot retire on your own terms, but remember to look to the future. Your greatest impact on the world may be yet to come. Your voice for equality will inspire future generations,” she said.

Top Australian coach Darren Cahill, who until recently was mentoring world number one Simona Halep, said Murray was an example of the never-say-die attitude that separated the best from the average.

“When you search for examples of ’emptied the bucket to be as good as they could be’ there should be a picture of Andy Murray sitting under that quote,” he tweeted.

“Remarkable discipline for training, competition, sacrifice, perfection, a little crazy but a legend of a bloke.”

Former star Andy Roddick also paid tribute on Twitter.

“I tip my cap to @andy_murray! Absolute legend. Short list of best tacticians in history. Unreal results in a brutal era. Nothing but respect here. I hope he can finish strong and healthy,” he said.

Murray said he had an option of another operation on his troublesome hip, but it was more about his quality of life after hanging up his racquet. “That’s something I’m seriously considering right now,” he said.

(AFP)

11, January 2019

Congo-Kinshasa’s Catholic Church says its election tally shows different winner ⁰

DR Congo’s powerful Catholic Church says election results tallied by its observers do not match official results announced on Thursday by the country’s election commission, which named Felix Tshisekedi as the surprise winner.

In a pre-dawn announcement, the election commission named Tshisekedi, son of the country’s late veteran opposition leader, as provisional winner of the bitterly-contested December 30 vote – a surprise result his main opponent promptly denounced as an “electoral coup”.

Just hours later, the Church said election results tallied by its 40,000 observers scattered across the country showed a different winner, without specifying who.

“We see that the result of the presidential election as published by CENI (the electoral commission) does not correspond with the data collected by our observer mission from polling stations and counting centres,” said Father Donatien Nshole, spokesman for the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), which represents the country’s Catholic bishops.

At stake is political stewardship of the notoriously unstable central African nation which has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. Runner-up Martin Fayulu, the pre-election favourite, said the results announced on Thursday do “not reflect the truth of the ballots”, urging the Congolese to “rise as one man to protect victory”.

In an unusually blunt comment on a foreign election, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also waded into the controversy, describing the results as “not consistent” with observers’ reports. He added: “The Catholic Church of Congo did its tally and announced completely different results.”

Last week CENCO called on the election commission to publish results “in keeping with truth and justice”, adding that data in its possession pointed to a clear winner. The United States on Thursday demanded “clarification” over the result, stopping short of recognising Tshisekedi as the winner.

“The National Independent Electoral Commission has announced provisional results, but we await clarification of questions which have been raised regarding the electoral count… We urge all stakeholders to remain calm as the process continues,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

The last two elections in 2006 and 2011, both of which were won by incumbent Joseph Kabila, were marred by bloodshed, and many fear a repeat of the violence if there is any sense the result has been fixed.

The Catholic Church has long been pressing for the departure of Kabila, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2001 and who has stayed in power as caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended in December 2016.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)

11, January 2019

Cameroon Ranked Among The Worst Democratic Countries in Africa ⁰

A new Democracy Index published by the Economist, a renowned magazine, has placed Cameroon among the least democratic countries in Africa. In the Magazine report, Cameroon was equally ranked among the world’s top twenty most authoritarian states.

The Democracy Index based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: “full democracy”, “flawed democracy”, “hybrid regime” and “authoritarian regime”.

According to the report, Cameroon performed poorly in all four categories measured. It indicates that Biya’s country has one of the worst functioning governments in the region, and there is widespread abuse of civil liberties, while the electoral process is significantly flawed.

“In Cameroon…the president secured a seventh term in elections held in October. The poll was characterized by low voter turnout amid poor security and severe irregularities that have left Cameroonians disillusioned with the fairness of the process” part of the report notes.

This is not the first time Cameroon is being showed a red card in democratic practice as similar findings were published by the Mo Ibrahim governance Index report in 2018. The report noted the spike in authoritarian governance in Cameroon, widespread corruption, abuse of civil and political rights, and a dysfunctional state.

Source: Fomlsc.com

10, January 2019

Biya’s policies fanning the flames of terrorism in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Jails in French Cameroun have become incubators of extremist and radical behaviour in Southern Cameroons, Cameroon Concord News Group has learnt. The Biya Francophone regime has repeatedly ignored calls for inclusive dialogue and has continued with its policy of arbitrary arrest of Southern Cameroonians in a bid to stifle the Ambazonia revolution.

We can now reveal that hundreds of innocent Southern Cameroonian civilians arrested ever since the inception of the crisis in Anglophone Cameroon and convicted for terrorism-related activities were detained in overcrowded and squalid prison facilities in French Cameroun where thousands of anti President Biya inmates are held.

A Francophone baron of the ruling CPDM party noted that the politics behind the crisis in Southern Cameroons is playing into the hands of corrupt military leaders deep within the Biya Beti Ewondo regime.

He added that many Southern Cameroonians detained in Douala and Yaoundé become extremists because they mostly end up in circles of anti Biya regime officials in New Bell Prison and in the Kondengui High Security prison in Yaoundé.

Meanwhile the joint trial of 10 Ambazonian leaders continues today in Yaoundé. The Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his senior aides have been charged with secession and terror-related crimes. They made their first appearance before the military court on December 6, but the trial was adjourned until today because the state submitted their witness list unduly late.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that President Ayuk Julius Tabe appeared today in the Yaoundé Military Tribunal dressed in the official Ambazonia regalia- the grassland identity which has become a trademark in the international stage depicting the people of Southern Cameroons.

At the time of fling this report, information filtered that the Biya regime has ordered a change in the trial judges of the court after Cameroon Concord News Group denounced the tribunal as a Beti Bulu traditional council. We gathered that Colonel Mem Michel has now been appointed to replace Col. Abega Eko Eko for the Ambazonia affair to resume.

By Chi Prudence Asong

10, January 2019

Cameroon migrant dies at Greek refugee camp, cause unknown ⁰

Greek authorities are investigating the death of a 24-year-old man from Cameroon who was taken to a hospital from a sprawling refugee camp on the island of Lesvos.

Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas said the cause of the man’s death hasn’t been established yet. He died after being transported from the Moria camp before dawn Tuesday.

Vitsas said the man had been staying in a home build out of a shipping container at the camp where heaters were installed and blankets distributed.

Authorities on Lesvos are on alert after overnight temperatures hit freezing, prompting school closures in parts of the island. A cold snap also caused disruption across Greece.

Some 15,000 migrants and refugees remain on Greek islands, most living in overcrowded camps, and are banned from traveling to the mainland. [AP]

10, January 2019

Diplomats urge Biya to settle the Southern Cameroons crisis through “inclusive dialogue” ⁰

Members of the diplomatic corps in Cameroon on Wednesday urged President Paul Biya to settle the ongoing conflict in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest of the country through “inclusive dialogue.”

“The diplomatic corps counts on your wisdom to offer a peaceful and lasting solution to the current crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country,” Paul Patrick Biffot, Gabonese ambassador to Cameroon and head of the diplomatic corps in Cameroon said.

Biffot made the remarks when talking with Biya during a traditional ceremony at the presidency to wish the president happy new year.

“Open and inclusive dialogue and dedicated role of the civil society and the implementation of the recommendations of the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multi-culturalism will be in our view an important element of such a process.” Biffot added.

He praised the president for liberating some 289 Anglophone detainees and expressing willingness to accelerate the decentralization process but insisted that “more needs to be done”.

“We take this opportunity to plead for the improved access of humanitarian actors to Northwest and Southwest regions. We stand ready to accompany your country to achieve lasting stability and peace and to support the reforms you may wish to implement,” Biffot said.

During his end-of-year speech to the nation, President Biya said he was ready to continue dialogue with “people of goodwill” in the troubled regions but warned that armed separatists unwilling to drop their arms will be “neutralized.”

Anglophone armed separatists fighting to secede from Francophone-majority Cameroon and create a new nation called “Ambazonia” have been clashing with government forces since November 2017.

Source: Xinhuanet

10, January 2019

US: Trump storms out of meeting with Democrats on shutdown ⁰

President Donald Trump said “bye-bye” and stormed out of negotiations Wednesday on funding a US-Mexico border wall when Democratic opponents refused to agree to the project.

“A total waste of time,” Trump tweeted about his White House meeting with top Democratic congressional leaders. “I said bye-bye, nothing else works!”

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, told journalists Trump “sort of slammed the table,” then “got up and walked out.”

“Again, we saw a temper tantrum because he couldn’t get his way,” Schumer said. Although the two sides agreed that the meeting ended abruptly, they argued over who was to blame.

According to supporters of Trump at the meeting, the president asked Democratic leaders whether they would agree to fund his wall project in exchange for him ending a painful shutdown of swaths of government, which he has instigated in retaliation for the standoff.

The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, “raised her hand and said no, not at all,” said Kevin McCarthy, the senior Republican in the House, who was also present. “We heard once again that Democratic leaders are unwilling to even negotiate,” Vice President Mike Pence said.

The vice president insisted that Trump came in good faith.

“The president walked into the room and passed out candy,” Pence said. “I don’t recall him ever raising his voice or slamming his hand.”

Shutdown

Trump wants $5.7 billion to fund a wall he says is needed to keep out dangerous illegal immigrants, drug dealers and people smugglers from Mexico.

Democrats say the wall would have little impact on real border problems and that Trump’s tough approach has instead created a humanitarian crisis among vulnerable, unthreatening migrants.

Trump’s main lever to exert pressure on Congress has been to refuse signing spending bills that cover large areas of government. As a result, some 800,000 federal employees and many more contractors have now been without pay for almost three weeks.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer: “we saw a temper tantrum”

Democrats insist they will not lift their opposition to the wall project and believe Americans will tire of the shutdown chaos and blame Trump.

But Trump indicated Wednesday on a visit to Republican allies in Congress that he will continue to play hardball.

“Whatever it takes,” he told journalists, when asked how long the shutdown could continue.

Earlier at the White House, Trump told journalists that if he cannot get his way, he could declare a national emergency — a measure that allows him to bypass Congress and take the wall funds he needs from the military.

“I think we might work a deal, and if we don’t, we might go that route,” he said, insisting he has the “absolute right” to declare an emergency, despite warnings in Congress that this could be seen as serious presidential overreach.

‘American blood’ speech

Trump’s triumphant 2016 campaign relied heavily on his “build the wall” slogan and since then, he has pushed the idea that the United States is being overwhelmed by dangerous migrants who enter the country illegally.

But with Democrats winning control of the House in November midterm elections, Trump’s wall push has come up against a wall of its own.

This week, an increasingly frustrated president is trying to seize the initiative. On Thursday, he will fly down to the southern border that he described in a prime-time television speech Tuesday as an open door to murderers and other criminals.

“How much more American blood must we shed before Congress does its job?” Trump said.

“For those who refuse to compromise in the name of border security, I would ask to imagine if it was your child, your husband, or your wife whose life was so cruelly shattered and totally broken,” he said in the nine-minute speech.

Trump claimed Wednesday that his address had been a success.

But Schumer scoffed: “I don’t think he persuaded a soul with his talk last night. It was same old same old — mistruths, divisiveness. Didn’t have the effect he had hoped.”

Washington is now waiting for either side to make a move — and to see whether Trump will dare invoke emergency powers.

“Neither side feel they can cave and not pay a terrible political price,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio said on Fox News.

“Unfortunately, two things caught in the middle are securing our borders, and the men and women in federal government,” he added.

(AFP)

10, January 2019

Congo-Kinshasa: Felix Tshisekedi from opposition scion to provisional president-elect ⁰

The son of DR Congo’s veteran opposition leader, Felix Tshisekedi, has taken the prize that long eluded his father – the presidency of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country – in a surprise result his main opponent has denounced as an “electoral coup”.

On Thursday Tshisekedi was named by election officials as the provisional winner of the country’s long-delayed, chaotic and controversial presidential poll, in a surprise announcement that appeared to contradict both pre-election surveys and the findings of independent monitors.

Runner-up Martin Fayulu, the pre-election favourite, promptly denounced the results as an “electoral coup” that does “not reflect the truth of the ballots”.

In a rare comment on a foreign election, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also waded into the controversy, describing the results as “the opposite to what we expected”. He added: “The Catholic Church of Congo did its tally and announced completely different results.”

If Tshisekedi’s stunning victory is confirmed by the constitutional court, he will become the first Congolese leader to take power at the ballot box since Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, who was toppled and killed in a coup shortly after independence in 1960.

‘A historic vote and a historic win’

Tshisekedi is the head of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), a party founded by his father Etienne, who spent decades as the country’s main opposition leader but died in February last year.

Known to his friends as “Fatshi”, the portly 55-year-old is now poised to replace President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the volatile, poverty-stricken nation with an iron fist since 2001.

But for a while, it looked like he wouldn’t even be on the ballot.

Pentecostal rivals

On November 11, Tshisekedi joined six other opposition leaders in rallying behind Fayulu to take on Kabila’s handpicked successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

But the deal drew a furious response from his supporters, prompting him and fellow opposition leader Vital Kamerhe to abandon the deal and run on a joint ticket, weakening and splitting the opposition.

The pair had previously agreed that if they won, Kamerhe would become Tshisekedi’s prime minister.

Profile: Felix Tshisekedi

Since his father founded the UDPS in 1982, the party has served as an opposition mainstay in the former Belgian colony – first under dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, then under Kabila’s father Laurent-Desire Kabila, who ruled from 1997 until his death in 2001. A father of five, Tshisekedi goes to the same Pentecostal church as Fayulu in Kinshasa, the capital.

Although he does not enjoy the same degree of popularity as his father, he has risen steadily through the party ranks. “Etienne was stubborn and proud,” said one keen observer of the country’s opposition. “Felix is more diplomatic, more conciliatory, more ready to listen to others.”

‘Coup’

In 2008, Tshisekedi became national secretary for external relations and was elected to the national assembly in 2011 as representative for Mbuji-Mayi, the country’s third city.

However, he never took up his seat as he did not formally recognise his father’s defeat to Kabila in a presidential election the same year. A month after his father’s death, Tshisekedi was elected as party head.

Although he holds a Belgian diploma in marketing and communication, his opponents point out that he has never held high office or had managerial experience. And some detractors have even suggested his diploma is not valid.

The legacy of DR Congo’s Joseph Kabila

Tshisekedi has promised a return to the rule of law, to fight the “gangrene” of corruption and to bring peace to the volatile east of the country, where several militias remain active more than 15 years after the end of DR Congo’s bloody civil war.

However, the result of the presidential election, which observers said was marred by a spate of irregularities, is certain to fuel suspicions among Fayulu’s supporters that Tshisekedi struck a power-sharing pact with Kabila – suspicions heightened by his victory speech on Thursday, in which he described his former bitter opponent Kabila as a “partner of democratic change”.

Fayulu, who was running well ahead of Tshisekedi in opinion polls ahead of the election, on Thursday called on the Congolese people to “rise as one man to protect victory.” Analysts have warned that any widespread perception the election has been stolen could trigger a cycle of unrest, particularly in the eastern borderlands where Fayulu enjoys some of his strongest support.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

9, January 2019

The war in Cameroon ⁰

History defines us. Perhaps it is the only thing we truly own. Embrace it, own it. Mend it where it was once broken, enlighten it where it was once misguided, for what you are this minute isn’t what you were only a minute ago.

For peace to return to Cameroon, Anglophones and Francophones must first realise that at one point, they shared a common history, under German Cameroon. But like a river that splits into two courses at some point, they broke off only to be joint later downstream. This is not disputed.

What is disputed is the fact that during this separate journeys, each of them acquired new and separate experiences on their independent courses, perhaps new streams flowed into them, they flowed through new landscapes acquiring new flavours, visited different places with different sunsets and sunrises, making new friends and partnerships. Though they later became one again at the new confluence further downstream, they were essentially different by now; chemically, physically, in what they now know and have seen and experienced, where they have been, and enriched by new and different life principles and values.

The Francophone led leadership in Yaounde must realise and appreciate this difference, which they haven’t for over five decades. They can’t erode a people’s culture with guns, regardless of how that culture was acquired, for the effects of colonialism are an integral part of our history that we can never run away from. As sad as it is. The mass killings in Anglophone Cameroon must be brought to a stop via a political solution of inclusive dialogue without any precondition. In essence, the two Cameroons have to revisit the Fumban drawing board.

Peace can’t be achieved simply because the government that caused the problem in the first place is asking separatists fighters to put down their arms, because the government didn’t buy them the guns. You can’t ask a revolting people to stop revolting without proposing a tractable solution to their grievances, you can’t do so either by threat of the gun to which they have become accustomed. And you can’t eradicate someone’s family and expect them to love you, live with you, dine with you and laugh with you as if you are best friends. Worse, trust you.

What the Cameroonian government is doing to the Anglophones in Cameroon is criminal, calling them terrorists and all. Citizens can’t step out in the streets to protest for legitimate reasons and you turn your big guns on them, guns bought with their money, money from all the natural resources that are being wantonly exploited in their backyard.

It is this stupidity, lack of vision and diplomacy that sparked the wrath of the Anglophone Cameroonians, now operating under the name of the separate state called, Ambazonia, to retaliate and sought to protect themselves. The Francophone leadership in Yaounde without thinking, joyfully declared outright war against the 8 million Anglophones, add or take, by calling them terrorists, as the most parsimonious way of solving the differences.

The same regime once said when Yaounde is breathing Cameroon is alive when the Anglophone regions were in strife. The same regime at one time or another, called Anglophones enemies in the house. And at the onset of the present conflict, the Francophone led national assembly refused to discuss the problem because Anglophones are supposed to tow the line quietly. How much provocation should a people be subjected to before they break? Even a fool, under these circumstances, is bound to revolt at some point. This is the point where we are unfortunately at now.

No happily married man or woman would deliberately destroy a gratifying union, except they have lost their minds to the devil. Marriages only fall apart because of discontent and an accompanying inability to mend the problem.

Source: Not available

9, January 2019

Southern Cameroons War Crimes Tribunal to Convene ⁰

Two years after declaring unilateral independence, Africa’s newest country, Ambazonia, is in a deadly spiral of ever increasing violence . After decades of marginalization the two English speaking provinces of Southern Cameroons declared independence. Ambazonian self-defense units have fought a running battle with government forces over control of villages and strategic roads. The government of President Paul Biya, Africa’s longest serving ruler, has ordered mass arrests and a military campaign against what he terms terrorists. The result for civilians has been catastrophic, over ten thousand casualties, hostages taken, schools closed, and displacement of tens of thousands fleeing battles, brigands and marauding government forces. Indiscriminate violence has claimed thousands of innocent lives including an American missionary and Ghanaian priest. Villages have been burned, civilians butchered, limbs hacked off with summary arrests and executions carried out with impunity.

The international response to date has been nonexistent because of the Biya regime’s long-standing trade and diplomatic relations with France, Canada, the USA, and UK and as a partner in the war against Boko Haram. Respected NGOs like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and International Crisis Group however have been quick to identify the human rights abuses, many of which are recorded on cell phone video. Nonetheless, the UN, African Union, ECOWAS, the Commonwealth and other international organizations have failed to step in while the casualties and atrocities mount.

Fearing another Liberia or Sierra Leone type conflict, in which murder, torture, and war crimes became endemic; several Ambazonian groups have come together now to declare the formation of a War Crimes Tribunal – The Southern Cameroons Special Tribunal Coordination Committee (SCSTCC). The initial backers include the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), the Southern Cameroons Defense Force (SOCADEF), the African Peoples Liberation Movement (APLM), the Organization of Emerging African States (OEAS) and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. Other groups are expected to join soon.

Dr. Jonathan Levy, an international lawyer specializing in human rights was appointed Chief Coordinator of the tribunal. According to Dr. Levy, the special tribunal’s immediate mission is to use existing courts and procedures to investigate and prosecute war crimes: “Right now we have solid proofs of numerous crimes against civilians committed by government forces. There are also reports of brigands and bandits. However, the overwhelming evidence shows a policy and pattern of brutality against civilians by government forces engaged in the so called anti-terrorist campaign. The command structure is such that these atrocities could not be committed on such a large and ongoing scale without the knowledge and consent of president Paul Biya, the Minister of Defense and their field commanders.”

The next step according to Dr. Levy is to assemble a team of experts through the good offices of the International Criminal Bar and other organizations and to immediately begin both civil and criminal prosecution against Paul Biya and his military commanders in worldwide courts. “We hope someday to have our own UN backed war crimes tribunal and chambers, but we cannot wait years while people are dying, we will act now using all legal means available to us.” Said Levy, who added, “Right now we need lawyers who are willing to take these cases to court in London, Washington, Barcelona, Banjul, and any other venue in which a civil or criminal case can be lodged against Paul Biya and his commanders.”

Dr. Jonathan Levy