3, August 2017
US issues ban on traveling to North Korea 0
The United States has issued a ban prohibiting its citizens traveling to North Korea, following the death of an American national who was imprisoned in the Asian country over espionage charges.
The measure was introduced on Wednesday after American officials said the risk of arrest by North Korean officials presented an “imminent danger to the physical safety” of US citizens. The ban will come into effect on September 1.
“All United States passports are declared invalid for travel to, in, or through the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] unless specially validated for such travel,” read the restriction in the US government’s Federal Register.
Strict warnings against traveling to North Korea were already in place before the ban was first revealed last month following the death of university student Otto Frederick Warmbier who died after falling into a coma in a North Korean prison.
Warmbier, 22, spent 17 months in a North Korean jail over spying charges and was released to his family back in the US after falling into a coma due to a “severe neurological injury.” He died on June 19.
North Korea has detained at least 17 American citizens over the past decade and three of them remain imprisoned there, according to official reports.
The US says it is concerned by the North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. Pyongyang, in response, accuses Washington of plotting with regional allies to topple its government.
North Korea has so far conducted a total of five nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009, 2013 and twice in 2016, and numerous missile test-launches.
Pyongyang has defied sanctions and international pressure, saying it will continue to strengthen its military capability to protect itself from the threat posed by the presence of US forces in the region.
North Korea says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.
Source: Presstv
4, August 2017
Anglophone Crisis: The failure of the Centralist project pursued by the Biya Francophone regime 0
The Anglophone problem, which has intensified since last October with the paralysis of the North-West and South West Regions on the backdrop of federalist claims, even secessionist, is the consequence of a colonial legacy and a failure of the “centralist project” pursued by the power of Yaoundé, according to the terms of a report published Wednesday by the NGO, International Crisis Group.
The current crisis, with its political, economic and social dimensions, has amplified exponentially the demand by the majority of the population seeking federalism and dissolution, a configuration that illustrates how profound the Anglophone problem is.
The Anglophone problem, as analyzed by this NGO, plunges its roots into a poorly conducted reunification, based on a centralist and Assimilationist project as well as an economic and administrative marginalization in addition to the ambitions and the personal and ethnic rivalries of elites that have not always been able to make a common front to defend an increasingly heterogeneous cause.
Taking advantage of the situation, secessionist groups have multiplied since January to radicalize the population with the support of a part of the Anglophone Diaspora.
“If the risk of partitioning the country is very low, that of a medium-term resurgence of the problem in the form of armed violence is high, because some of these groups now call for violence.”
Contrary to a widespread idea, International Crisis Group believes that the English-speaking Diaspora has not driven this crisis, contrary to previous challenges, since its role became paramount only after the arrest of the Civil society Consortium officials on 17 January 2017.
Unfortunately the government measures, taken since March, are late and have had little effect, the international community’s response was rather limited, although they had enabled them to adopt the said measures: “Without a firm, persistent and coordinated pressure from the international partners in Cameroon, it is unlikely that the government will move towards substantive solutions.”
For International Crisis Group, which also reports at least three deaths and dozens of arrests recorded, the resolution of the Anglophone problem goes through a firmer international response and the restoration of confidence, through coherent appeasement measures that respond to the demands of the lawyers ‘ and teachers ‘ guilds, causing the malaise.
Source: CIN