8, December 2018

France braces for fresh protests amid fears of further violence ⁰

France has been braced for fresh“yellow vest” protests for a fourth weekend in a row in the capital Paris and other cities as further street violence is looming large. Authorities have deployed thousands of police and security forces to the capital and other cities on Saturday.

They urged shops and restaurant around the famous Champs-Elysees to shutter. Museums, metro stations and the Tour Eiffel will also remain closed over the weekend. The protests began in opposition to a rise in fuel tax, but the government it has been hijacked by ultra-violent protesters.

France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner said “large scale” security operation would be launched on Saturday as they expect radical elements” infiltrate planned “yellow vest” protests. He said that “only a few thousand people” are expected to descend on the capital after the 8,000 protesters counted last weekend, “but among them are ultraviolent individuals.”

“These past three weeks have seen the birth of a monster that has escaped its creators,” he said, vowing “zero tolerance” towards those aiming to wreak further destruction and mayhem.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe also announced on Friday evening that 89,000 police officers will be on duty across the country and armored vehicles will also be deployed in Paris, which was the scene of worst riots in decades last weekend. The French government says it will consider imposing a state of emergency amid the worst civil unrest in more than a decade, which has caught authorities off guard.

The “yellow vest” movement began three weeks ago, but has snowballed to take in other issues, including education reforms. But the demonstrations led to the worst violence in decades; dozens of vehicles were torched, shops looted and the Arc de Triomphe war memorial was wrecked. Only hundreds were arrested and scores injured in Paris.

President Emmanuel Macron, who is are expected to address nation early next week, is now experiencing the biggest crisis since being elected 18 months ago. He has s not spoken in public since he condemned last Saturday’s disturbances while at the G20 summit in Argentina. Opposition leaders accused him of turning the Elysee Palace into a bunker where had taken cover.

The 40-year old president, who is under mounting pressure, has left the issue largely to his prime minister to deal in public with the turmoil and offer concessions. Prime Minister Philippe met a delegation of self-described “moderate” yellow vests who have urged people not to join the protests.

After the meeting a movement spokesman, Christophe Chalencon, said the premier had “listened to us and promised to take our demands to the president”.

“Now we await Mr Macron. I hope he will speak to the people of France as a father, with love and respect and that he will take strong decisions,” he said. Following last weekend’s riots in central Paris and dozens of other cities and towns across France, the government decided to abandon its plan to raise the fuel tax next year.

But protesters want the president to go further to help hard-pressed households, including an increase to the minimum wage, lower taxes, higher salaries, cheaper energy, better retirement provisions.

Some of them have demanded Macro’s resignation. They say the president is part of an elitist coterie that neither understands, nor cares how they live. Police used tear gas against students protesting over educational reforms, in Lyon on Friday. According to local media, dozens of protesters were arrested.

Also on Thursday, police arrested dozens of high-school students protesting in Mantes-la-Jolie west of Paris. Images of detained students who were kneeling in mud with their hands behind their back or on the head, circulated on social media, and sparked outrage across the country. Footage shows children and teenagers, some reportedly as young as 12 years old.

The education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, said that the images had to be seen in the context of police responding to student violence. “There are shocking images because we are in a climate of exceptional violence.”

More than 700 students were arrested across France on Thursday alone.

Source: Presstv

8, December 2018

US DEMOCRATIC SENATORS RAISE ALARM OVER HUMAN RIGHTS IN CAMEROON ⁰

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) led a letter signed by a group of Democratic Senators to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raising deep concerns about violations of human rights, the breakdown in the rule of law, and elections fraud in Cameroon. In addition to Senator Van Hollen, the letter was signed by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

The Senators write, “Cameroon has become an increasingly important regional counterterrorism partner and the United States has increased its commitment of security assistance in recent years. However, rising tensions in the Anglophone North West and South West regions, coupled with credible reports of human rights abuses by the Cameroonian armed forces in those regions and the Far North, where Boko Haram is active, have changed the tone of discussions regarding U.S. security assistance.”

They continue, “Reports indicate that government forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings, the burning of villages, torture, and other human rights abuses, including a much-publicized video reportedly showing soldiers executing two women, a child, and a baby they accused of being members of Boko Haram. The violent death of American missionary Charles Wesco underscores the level of bloodshed engulfing the Anglophone areas of the country. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 Cameroonians have fled to neighboring countries and 160,000 are internally displaced.”

The Senators close the letter urging, “The U.S. government should make clear to the government of Cameroon that, while we remain dedicated to the fight against Boko Haram, our commitment to human rights and the rule of law is steadfast and we expect our regional partners to share that commitment. We must also emphasize the critical importance of a political solution to the crisis in the Anglophone regions, work with civil society groups to ensure that elections are free, open, and transparent, and offer our assistance as mediators. The United States should impose sanctions on individuals found to have committed gross violations of human rights, consistent with the law. In addition, we will work with our colleagues in the Senate to assess whether additional conditions should be imposed on security assistance to Cameroon.”

The full text of the letter can be found here and below:

Dear Secretary Pompeo:

We are writing in response to concerns that have been raised about the recent elections in Cameroon, the ongoing crisis in the Anglophone regions of the country, and human rights abuses related to the crisis and the campaign against Boko Haram.

Cameroon has become an increasingly important regional counterterrorism partner and the United States has increased its commitment of security assistance in recent years. However, rising tensions in the Anglophone North West and South West regions, coupled with credible reports of human rights abuses by the Cameroonian armed forces in those regions and the Far North, where Boko Haram is active, have changed the tone of discussions regarding U.S. security assistance.

Reports indicate that government forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings, the burning of villages, torture, and other human rights abuses, including a much-publicized video reportedly showing soldiers executing two women, a child, and a baby they accused of being members of Boko Haram. The violent death of American missionary Charles Wesco underscores the level of bloodshed engulfing the Anglophone areas of the country. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 Cameroonians have fled to neighboring countries and 160,000 are internally displaced.

In addition, recent elections were marred by irregularities and intimidation. Voter turnout in the Anglophone regions was reportedly “marked by apathy, and in some regions, outright fear,” and driven to unprecedented lows by the military’s campaign against Anglophone separatists, which has often veered into human rights abuses against civilians. The results of the election remain heavily disputed, and multiple presidential candidates have petitioned for the results to be voided, citing allegations of ballot stuffing and intimidation. The program director for Central Africa at the International Crisis Group told Foreign Policy that “[t]here is an emerging civil war. Anglophones feel completely disenfranchised, but they didn’t need the elections to tell them that.”

The U.S. government should make clear to the government of Cameroon that, while we remain dedicated to the fight against Boko Haram, our commitment to human rights and the rule of law is steadfast and we expect our regional partners to share that commitment. We must also emphasize the critical importance of a political solution to the crisis in the Anglophone regions, support civil society groups to ensure that elections are free, credible, and transparent, and offer our assistance as mediators. The United States should impose sanctions on individuals found to have committed gross violations of human rights, consistent with the law. In addition, we will work with our colleagues in the Senate to assess whether additional conditions should be imposed on security assistance to Cameroon.

We look forward to working with you on this critical issue.

Sincerely,

8, December 2018

Biya’s Creation Of A Disarmament Committee Amid Skepticism ⁰

Cameroon says it has created a committee to disarm and reintegrate hundreds of separatist fighters and Boko Haram terrorists who put down their weapons. But analysts say the committee has a long road ahead in English-speaking regions, where fighting between the government and separatists has intensified.

Ngoran Nora read the names of 30 people whose homes were set on fire before she escaped Thursday from the northwest town of Kumbo. She told her community members in Yaounde that the military killed at least 15 people in the villages of Meluf, Kikaikom, Mbveh and Tooy over two days after gunmen engaged them in battle.

She said soldiers might have targeted people they suspect collaborate with separatists, or did not inform them about the fighters’ presence in the villages.

Houses torched by the military in Kumbo lie vacant after their occupants fled. (M. Kindzeka for VOA) — Houses torched by the military in Kumbo lie vacant after their occupants fled.

The violence comes less than a week after President Paul Biya created a national committee for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former Boko Haram fighters in the far north and former separatist fighters in northwest and southwest regions.

The government said the committee was created to assist hundreds of former fighters who heeded Biya’s call to drop their guns and be pardoned, or killed by the military.

Joseph Motaze, political analyst with the Cameroon-based Center for the Rehabilitation of Former Fighters, said the committee is a good first step. But he suggested that Biya should reduce the military’s presence in the northwest and southwest regions to show he is ready to make peace.

He said it is imperative for the government to start negotiating with armed groups in the restive English-speaking regions and immediately drop the idea of using war as a solution to the crisis.

He added that the fighters are becoming violent to a point where they are kidnapping and killing people who do not share their views, and taking administrators hostage to make the area totally ungovernable.

The armed groups want to form an independent English-speaking state. The majority of Cameroon’s population speaks French.

Francis Fai Yengo, a retired civil administrator appointed to head the disarmament committee, said he will need the support of everyone to be able to succeed.

He said he has to set to work immediately because the task ahead of him is enormous.

He called on all Cameroonians to propose ideas and contribute to the peace initiative so that all of the youths who have taken up weapons can make wise decisions to emerge from the bushes and live like peaceful citizens in their own country — Cameroon.

The separatist war has killed more than 1,200 people, according to the government.

Source: VOA

7, December 2018

Amnesty censures South Sudan over rising number of executions ⁰

Amnesty International has denounced a rise in the use of the death sentence in South Sudan, urging the world’s youngest nation to “stop signing execution orders.” The London-based rights group said in a statement on Friday that seven people were executed this year, including one who was a child when convicted of murder. It said 342 other people were on death row.

“The world’s youngest nation has embraced this outdated, inhuman practice and is executing people, even children, at a time when the rest of the world is abandoning this abhorrent punishment,” Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty’s regional director, said in the statement.

“The president of South Sudan must stop signing execution orders and end this obvious violation of the right to life,” she added. Juba, however, denied the report, saying no one had been executed in the country since 2011 and a moratorium had been placed on the practice since 2013.

Presidency spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said the capital punishment remained on the statute books, adding, “If you kill a person, you will be executed.”

South Sudan, the youngest country in Africa, is suffering from a bloody civil war, whose history goes back to President Salva Kiir accusing his former deputy Riek Machar and current rebel leader of plotting a coup. In September, Kiir signed a peace agreement with rebel factions in the Ethiopia to end the civil war.

However, UN rights investigators said on Friday that all sides in the conflict continue to recruit fighters despite the September accord which stipulates that the warring parties stop recruitment, whether voluntary or forced, as a permanent truce takes hold.

“There is a worrying trend, that there is some recruitment going on,” Barney Afako, a member of the UN’s Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, said at the end of a four-day visit to the country.

Yasmin Sooka, the chairperson of the commission, said the new recruitment “is on all sides” of South Sudan’s conflict.

The exact motivation behind the recruitment is still unclear, but Afako said it might be “tactical” so that militant groups can argue for a greater share of government demobilization programs, or it might be “preparation to return to conflict.” According to the report, fighting has stopped since the deal was signed in September.

Source: Presstv

7, December 2018

Gunmen attack Senator Buh Sule ⁰

Unknown gunmen have reportedly attacked Senator Buh Sule Tegha en route to Wum, Menchum County today in Bambui. We gathered from a reliable source deep within the Ambazonia Defense Council that Senator Buh Sule was accompanied by his wife and driver when he came under attack.

The Senator’s wife sustained life threatening wounds and she is currently on intensive care at the Bamenda Regional Hospital. As at the time of filing this report, the police are also yet to confirm the incident. The senator is safe but the vehicle arrear screen was shattered.

The Senator’s driver was quoted as saying that they heard gunshots, sporadic shooting aimed at Senator Buh Sule’s car. The shooting lasted for about 15 minutes, his driver said.

Camcordnews desk

7, December 2018

The Ambazonian Trial in Yaounde ⁰

A separatist leader from the anglophone west of Cameroon went on trial Thursday on charges of”terrorism” and “secession” over unrest that has claimedhundreds of lives.

Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, president of the self-declared “Republic of Ambazonia”, was arrested in neighbouring Nigeria and extradited to Cameroon in January this year along with 46 others.

The military court in the capital Yaounde is trying Ayuk Tabe and nine co-defendants on charges of “condoning and financing terrorism” as well as insurrection and “hostility against the motherland”.

Cameroon’s 22 million people are mainly French-speakers, but around a fifth are English-speaking, concentrated in the Northwest and neighbouring Southwest regions of the West African country.

Resentment at perceived discrimination against anglophones in education, the judiciary and the economy fanned demands for autonomy in 2016.

Then last year, as longtime President Paul Biya refused any concessions, radicals declared the independent state of Ambazonia and took up arms.

Attacks by the secessionists and a crackdown by the authorities have led to the death of at least 500 civilians as well as more than 200 members of the security forces, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

More than 300,000 people have fled the violence, many of them living hand-to-mouth in the forests, and some across the border into Nigeria. Clashes persist on a near-daily basis. Ayuk Tabe and most of his co-defendants make up the political wing of the separatist movement, advocating negotiation with Yaounde.

The court rejected a demand for Ayuk Tabe’s release from detention in mid-November. The trial was adjourned Thursday to January 10 to allow the defence – comprising more than 80 lawyers – to study the charges. The prosecution plans to call 70 witnesses, according to a list seen by AFP.

Source AFP

7, December 2018

Churches turned into military barracks, people killed: Ambazonia Christians cry out ⁰

Cameroonian Christians are crying out against the ongoing violence in their country, where churches are being converted into military barracks and believers are forced to flee. “We need peace and the United Nations intervention,” a Methodist Christian, whose identity wasn’t revealed, told Protestant Digital.

“Many people die every day, homes and villages are burned, there are famished people and also those who take refuge in Nigeria. We do not have a voice in our country.”

The violence in question stems from protests in the English-speaking region of the country, where some militant groups have created the self-proclaimed Republic of Ambazonia in opposition to what they say is oppression from the French-speaking side of the country.

Hundreds of people have been killed this year, while tens of thousands have been forced to flee as refugees. Some 50 primary and secondary schools and Christian hospitals have been affected, while at least four churches have been converted into military barracks.

“The government of Ambazonia, which controls most of the Northwest and Southwest, has placed a group of soldiers in the school until the crisis is resolved,” the Methodist Christian said. “There are often shootings between different forces, and a stray bullet can kill a minor.”

Kidnappings have also been rife. Seventy-nine children were taken by gunmen from a Presbyterian Church school but were returned earlier in November.

“They look tired and psychologically tortured,” said Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of the country’s Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian school said that it will close due to concerns over safety.

“It is unfortunate we have to close the school and send home 700 children,” Forba said. “Their security is not assured by the state and armed groups constantly attack and kidnap them.”

American missionary Charles Wesco was killed late in October when he was caught in “crossfire” between the Cameroon army and English-speaking separatist forces, the U.S. government said.

Wesco had only moved to Cameroon with his family, which includes eight children, earlier in October after selling most of his possessions in the U.S., in order to serve as missionaries with the Believers Baptist Church in Warsaw, Indiana.

In October, on the occasion of a community bank holiday, Forba declared in a statement: “Given what the English-speaking community is going through at this time, we cannot have a celebration while many of God’s children are being killed, suffering or living as internal or external refugees.

“The emphasis should be placed on supplying the Working Fund for the Mission, to allow the church to continue assisting our pastors and brothers displaced by the armed conflict that has brought pain and suffering to many.”

Source: The Christian Post

7, December 2018

Yaounde Military Tribunal: Ambazonian Interim President, 9 others to remain in custody ⁰

A Cameroonian military court Thursday resolved to continue detaining some 10 activists accused of terrorism, secession, civil war and revolution.

The judge, Col Abega Mbezoa Eko Eko, ruled that the hearing will continue on January 10, 2019.

He said the court needed more time to update a list of witnesses and properly serve the defence in the death penalty trial.

The trial of the president of a separatist movement pushing for the secession of minority English speakers, Mr Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine others, who were arrested in Nigeria and extradited earlier this year, opened in Yaoundé, with the defence raising several objections, including against one of the state lawyers and a list of witnesses by the prosecution.

In defiance

According to the defence, the list of witnesses was served to them on the eve of the hearing, in defiance of the five days legal provision.

“We were a little bit disappointed with the ruling, but we were not disappointed with the adjournment,” lead defence lawyer Fru John Nsoh said.

“The judge ruled that the list of witnesses will be resubmitted when hearing resumes, but that is not the law. We will see that sometime during the process,” the senior advocates of the Cameroon Bar Association explained.

According Barrister Ndong Christopher of the defence team, the defendants had been informed that they would be charged on 10 counts, that are punishable with a death penalty under a controversial anti-terrorism law.

Deeply disturbing

Mr Tabe and his co-defendants were among 47 English-speaking activists extradited to Yaoundé, where they were held incommunicado for 10 months at the State Defence Secretariat (SED), before being granted access to lawyers, according to Mr Nsoh.

Prior to their extradition, Mr Tabe and the co-accused had been “held in secret” at a hotel in Abuja, according to Amnesty International.

The human rights advocacy group said the activists were at risk of “unfair trial before a military court and the deeply disturbing possibility of torture” in Cameroon.

Source: The East African

7, December 2018

Top US diplomat in Africa says Ambazonia crisis could get ‘much, much worse’ ⁰

The top U.S. diplomat in Africa says the separatist crisis in Cameroon could get much worse, saying “the last thing we need” is growing radicalization in response to the actions of security forces.

Tibor Nagy told reporters on Thursday that the situation in the Central African nation is worsening by the day and “worrying me greatly.”

He said the United States calls for dialogue between Cameroon’s government and the Anglophone separatists who sprang up from peaceful protests against the alleged marginalization of English-speakers in the largely Francophone country.

Nagy said he is reminded of neighboring Nigeria, where the government’s “brutal response” to extremism led to growing membership in Boko Haram.

The U.S. diplomat suggested “some form of decentralization” in Cameroon as mentioned in a proposed constitution for the country.

Fox News

6, December 2018

Yaoundé Military Tribunal Begins Trial of Ambazonian Leader ⁰

Journalists and the general public are barred from witnessing Ambazonian Acting President, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine others facing charges of terrorism and treasonable felony in the Yaoundé Military Tribunal.

The trial of the detained Southern Cameroons leader finally commenced today, with the Yaounde Military Tribunal providing shields obstructing journalists and the public from getting a glimpse of witnesses, counsel and even the trial judges.

The members of the military tribunal team are all from the Bulu tribe making it a Bulu traditional court. We understand that witnesses in the matter would be shielded from the public.

By Sama Ernest in Yaounde