Monthly Archives: January 2018

16, January 2018

Trump faces more protests over ‘s***hole’ remarks ⁰

Protesters across the United States have staged more anti-racism rallies in response to President Donald Trump’s offensive remarks about immigrants, whom he reportedly berated of coming from “sh*thole countries” like Haiti and South Africa.

In Palm Beach, Florida, Haitian activists showed up in large numbers at the Southern Boulevard bridge on Monday to confront Trump as his motorcade passed through the streets after leaving his luxurious Mar-a-Lago resort for the airport.

“What brings us out today is the statement he made,” said Charlemagne Metayer, a Haitian-born American citizen who moved to the US in 1985.

“Some of us work two or three jobs to make a living,” said Metayer, a father of four. “We are hard working people. We deserve an apology from the president.”

Hundreds of people, many of them Haitian, demonstrate against racism in Times Square on Martin Luther King (MLK) Day on January 15, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by AFP)

Trump’s supporters tried to counter the protest by gathering on the side of the street. There was heavy police presence at the scene to prevent violent clashes.

On Thursday, Senator Dick Durbin and several other Democratic lawmakers who had attended a White House meeting on immigration maintained that the president used disparaging remarks to refer to a number of nations during the bipartisan session.

The meeting was about reaching a deal over Trump’s border wall with Mexico in exchange for saving DACA, a program that protected some 800,000 child immigrants.

Before leaving Mar-A-Lago, Trump wrote in a tweet that his comments were “totally misrepresented” by the Democrats.

Haitian community members show up in large numbers to protest President Trump’s racist remarks as his motorcade passes the Southern Blvd. bridge in West Palm Beach, January 15, 2018. (Photo by The Palm Beach Post)

The explanations, however, were not enough to stop protests in his hometown of New York City, as angry protesters packed into Judson Memorial Church, near Washington Square Park, to protest his policies.

The protesters expressed solidarity with immigrants who have been torn away from their families by Trump administration’s anti-immigration agencies.

There were also similar events in several other cities, including Oakland, California.

Ironically, the protests came after Trump marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day by asking Americans to observe the holiday with acts of civic work and community service while he himself broke with the presidential tradition and spent the whole day at Mar-a-Lago.

Source: Presstv

16, January 2018

Trump believes he could beat Sanders; aides concerned about Oprah challenge ⁰

US President Donald Trump believes he could easily defeat Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) if he challenged him in 2020, according to a new report, but his allies say Trump should be more concerned about a bid from Oprah Winfrey or Joe Biden.

Politico reported Monday that Trump has been speculating with aides and other Republicans about his potential Democratic challengers for the presidency, but has dismissed Sanders as a viable candidate.

Sanders wasn’t a serious threat and would be easy to beat, Trump reportedly told a Republican with close ties to the White House.

Trump, 71, has said that Sanders, 76, will not have the energy required to run for the presidency in 2020.

Trump’s aides have told him that he should be more worried about a bid from media icon and philanthropist Winfrey or former Vice President Biden.

“What we can’t let voters do is think they can get the same policies with someone they like better, like Joe Biden — someone who would fight for them but who doesn’t have the crass edge,” one former White House staffer told Politico.

“I hope CNN has [New York Senator] Kirsten Gillibrand on every minute of every day. Love it. Bring it. She’s easy to destroy. If you’re the president, or the RNC [Republican National Committee], you’re more worried about someone who looks like Biden — someone who has more mainstream appeal, who blue-collar workers could identify with.”

According to a New York Times report, Trump has predicted that Sanders would run against him in 2020 even if the senator was “in a wheelchair.”

Sanders ran as a Democrat in 2016 but lost the Democratic Party’s nomination to Clinton.

Trump won the November 8, 2016 presidential election because Democrats rigged the system to have Clinton beat Sanders, according to WikiLeaks.

According to some polls, Sanders would have defeated Trump by a large margin if he had been the Democratic presidential nominee instead of Clinton.

Sanders could have won the election but the Democratic National Committee (DNC) stopped him from doing so by pushing him out from the primary race, the whistleblowing agency said.

WikiLeaks claimed that the Democratic Party establishment conspired to ensure Clinton win the party’s presidential nomination. In doing so it chose a weaker candidate who lost the election against Trump, the agency suggested.

Although Sanders has not decided whether or not to run for the 2020 presidential election, but his recent moves appear to represent a natural next step for running.

Meanwhile, there have been speculations of Oprah Winfrey planning to challenge Trump in 2020 following a passionate speech she gave at the Golden Globes on the subject of sexual misconduct.

“Oprah would be a problem: she’d be their best,” one GOP strategist said. “She’s ubiquitous, she’s black, she has crossover appeal and she probably clears a lot of the field out.”

A new poll from conservative-leaning pollster Rasmussen shows that Winfrey would beat Trump by 10 points in a hypothetical 2020 match-up.

Forty-eight percent of the respondents said they would vote for Winfrey, while about 38 percent said they would vote to reelect Trump, and only 14 percent were undecided, according to the poll released last week.

In November last year, Biden also indicated that he may challenge Trump in 2020. He made the remarks in an interview with NBC News while promoting his new book, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.

According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll, Biden also leads Trump by 11 points in a potential 2020 matchup.

Biden is a strong critic of Trump and his leadership style. He has accused his administration of misunderstanding and misrepresenting the American values.

Biden has called Trump a “charlatan,” and accused the Republican head of state of taking advantage of frustrated middle class voters.

It seems Biden is remorseful about his decision not to run in the 2016 presidential election, and has claimed that he could have easily defeated Trump.

Biden, a favorite for the 2016 Democratic nomination, announced his decision to not run for the White House in October 2015, cementing Clinton’s standing as the front-runner.

Culled from Presstv

16, January 2018

Ambazonia Crisis: The Situation Report ⁰

Ambazonian cocoa farmers have been forced to abandon their crops and flee the violence from the Francophone security forces.

Tens of thousands of people from the Southern Cameroons have been forced to flee across the border into Nigeria in the last three months, to escape increasingly brutal violence by Francophone security forces of the country’s despotic Francophone leader, 84-year-old Paul Biya, who has been in power 37 years.

The violence started in 2016, but at the start was almost entirely one-sided violence, with the Francophone security forces violently attacking peaceful Anglophone protesters.

The violence in the Anglophone regions of Cameroons has resulted in a significant split in Cameroon’s Catholic Church, with accusations being launched between Anglophone bishops and Francophone bishops.

Femi Falana, lead counsel for President Sisiku AyukTabe and his top aides abducted in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja has informed the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia that the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Adviser have assured Ambazonians that their leaders are still being held in Nigeria, and the Buhari administration would not deliberately violate International Law to extradite their leaders to any other country including La République du Cameroun.

The renowned Barrister Falana will be permitted to visit them any moment from now. Reports of multiple killings are circulating on social media and panic has gripped several schools, including in Buea, the capital of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and in Muyuka and Tiko.

The United Nations is seeking to expand plans for resettling Ambazonia refugees in Nigeria.

Compiled by Chi Prudence Asong

16, January 2018

Pope Francis says world one accident away from nuclear war ⁰

Pope Francis said Monday that the world stood on the “edge” of nuclear war and admitted the situation terrified him.

The Argentine was speaking aboard the papal plane on his way to Chile and Peru, the day after a false missile alert sparked panic in the US state of Hawaii, already on edge over fears of a North Korean attack.

Asked about the threat of nuclear war in the wake of a flurry of nuclear and missile tests since last year in North Korea, the pope said: “I think we are at the very edge.

“I am really afraid of this. One accident is enough to precipitate things,” he told journalists.

The 81-year old, who has often spoken of the dangers of nuclear weapons, presented the press pack aboard his plane with a harrowing photograph taken in 1945 that shows a young Japanese boy carrying his dead brother.

The child, carried on the boy’s back, was killed when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki.

Francis had written on the back of the image just four words: “The fruit of war”.

“I wanted to reprint and distribute it because an image like this can be more moving than a thousand words. That is why I wanted to share it with you,” he said.

(Source: AFP)

15, January 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cutting through the silence ⁰

There seem to be a lull in the fighting in the Manyu jungle following the arrest of Southern Cameroons leaders last week, despite skirmishes all over the entire Anglophone region, with gunmen attacking uniformed officers and chasing kids from schools. The most recent drama played out in Muea, Buea and other surrounding towns on Monday, 15 January 2018 and the gory images emerging from the running battles speak to the determination of the fighters to demystify the crack squad that the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, had declared would implement the president’s decision without batting an eyelid. His predictions have been proven wrong on many occasions and the military’s losses just like those of the fighters have been huge and unfortunately so.

However, what is on many minds remains the whereabouts and the future of the arrested leaders. The lawyer for the arrested leaders, Femi Falana, informed the interim government that the Nigerian foreign affairs ministry and the country’s national security adviser had said that the said leaders were still in Nigeria and that Nigeria would not deliberately violate international law by extraditing the leaders to Cameroon, a country noted for its repressive laws and brutal dictatorship. Mr. Folana added that he would be seeing the arrested leaders on Monday, 15 January 2018 and this has brought a lot of joy to many Southern Cameroonians who had been saddened by the arrests.

However, regardless of these latest developments, the damage of the arrests to the Nigerian and Cameroon governments will linger for a long time. The Buhari government is under enormous fire for sanctioning the illegal arrest of people considered to be freedom fighters. In defense for the Nigerian government, stories are emerging that several units of the Nigerian intelligence and security community were not aware of the operation or were not informed after it occurred. It is also alleged that several members of the federal government, including the President, were not aware of the drama that played out in Abuja last week. This is however surprising as intelligence sharing is a critical security operational imperative. However, the fact that neither the Attorney General of the federation nor the Inspector-General of Police made a statement on the abductions may also be seen as a credible indicator.

But these mitigating circumstances do not seem to be convincing the Nigeria media which has been tearing apart the image of the federal government and shooting at the Cameroon government for its legendary brutality. The silence of key figures in both countries seems to be the connecting tissue that speaks of connivance to commit a crime under international law. They seem to have agreed to be mute on this and this is not helping matters. Their indifference is drawing more flak and it is causing the rumor and anger to stick around for a long time.

Many prominent Nigerian figures are already chiding the federal government for its role in the arrests. The latest criticism comes from the Chairman of the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on IDP, Refugees and Initiatives on North East, Sani Zorro, who has clearly indicatedthat Nigeria will be clearly committing a major illegality if it deports the arrested leaders to Cameroon.

His statement came last week following the illegal arrest of Ambazonian President, Julius Ayuk Tabe and members of his government. He added that some of the refugees were less than two kilometers from the Cameroonian border and Cameroonian soldiers cross the border in pursuit of these refugees, which in his opinion, is illegal.He warned that hostilities could break out between Nigeria and Cameroon if Cameroon continued to act recklessly on Nigerian territory.

In Yaounde, the silence is ominous. The country’s ailing and aging leader, Paul Biya, has become reclusive and this is causing nightmares to many of his collaborators. Ministers such as the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, and Higher Education Minister, Fame Ndongo, who gave the impression that a hard line would be the best option for dealing with the crisis, are gradually losing sleep as things keep falling apart. It is alleged that Mr. Assomo is using the war to enrich himself and his friends and this is costing the government a pretty penny.

For Mr. Ndongo, the die seems to have been cast. He has been responsible for the escalation of the Anglophone crisis and he is currently caught up in a computer scandal that will surely cut him out of the government. The computer scandal has caused him to fall out of favor with the president and last week’s presentation of New Year wishes to the head of state served as the testament to the many cracks many people say have been appearing on the government’s wall. The humiliation Mr. Ndongo received from the president speak to the deteriorating relations between the two men.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has finally put the government on a downward spiral. It has not only left the government cash-strapped, it has also brought divisions within the group that thought power belonged to it. The crisis is also stalking the Yaoundé “strong man” like a stubborn shadow. Mr. Biya is gradually transforming the Unity Palace into a hermitage. All the options he has employed to keep the restive Anglophones in check have collapsed like a pack of cards. Corruption, intimidation, brinkmanship and violence are all failing to deliver the results the government was expecting. 1960 strategies and solutions are clearly not working. Southern Cameroonians have proven to be tough cookies and have displayed the type of strength and determination the government never thought they could.

The government had underestimated the determination and will of a few to bring about change in society. Their unity of purpose and determination to mess up Mr. Biya’s legacy have left the country’s president with many illnesses. His health is failing and based on inside reports, the Yaoundé strong man has become a colony of diseases. With a failing heart and a distended prostrate, Mr. Biya is having a tough time having a good day. Sources at the presidency indicate that his is a kingdom of medication, adding that if the diseases don’t kill him, then the sedatives will help to rid Cameroon of this brutal and inefficient dictator whose thirty-five years in power have brought death and destruction to a country many thought was an earthly paradise. Thirty-five years of misrule have really transformed Cameroon into a real “shithole”, with many Cameroonians running away to seek greener pastures elsewhere. Today, they are being considered as the “Roving Jews” of Africa and they are all heart-broken to see a country with such a huge human and natural resources potential spiral into inexplicable chaos.

Mr. Biya is seeing an end to his reign. Many Cameroonians secretly say that he has been leading a crime syndicate for more than three decades. Others hold that the country’s national unity has been predicated on intimation and corruption, adding that the drama playing out in Southern Cameroons is just a logical outcome of the misrule and mismanagement that have been the hallmark of his government. His efforts to get things under control have so far proven to be sterile. The adage that the day a monkey has to die, all trees and branches will become slippery is gradually applying to the Yaoundé regime that is already running out of steam.

While the government is trying to put on a poker face in public, it is gradually coming to terms with the fact that negotiating could be the best way out of the mess it has created for itself. The silence from both Yaoundé and Abuja clearly speaks to the negotiations that are currently underway in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. According to our sources which elected anonymity, the United Nations and Cameroon government negotiators are already on the ground to convince the arrested leaders to walk away from their hard stance. Our source adds that the UN, Nigeria and Cameroon have no appetite for secession and that they are pressurizing the Ambazonian leaders to accept the government’s offer – decentralization – which will still leave the Yaoundé government with extensive powers.

The Anglophone leaders, for their part, are insisting on having frank discussions on the future of the new Ambazonian nation. They have clearly indicated that the government of Cameroon cannot be trusted, as it has always spoken from both sides of its mouth. They point to the unimplemented 1996 constitution that had provided for extensive decentralization, arguing that the best they could settle for would be American or Canadian-style federalism that will grant the regions full autonomy. The government of Cameroon, noted for its love of power and control, is also not yielding any ground and this is causing the negotiations to stall. This is why there is a deafening silence, as all stakeholders want to keep everything under wraps in order not to ruin any efforts made.

But their silence is not helping matters. Cameroonians – both Francophones and Anglophones – are looking forward to a possible way out of the crisis and the fighters on the ground are still committed to fighting. If they get informed that there are negotiations underway, this could lead to a long truce and many more lives will be spared. The solution to the Southern Cameroons crisis will never be found in the battlefield. Both parties must understand that fighting has never really addressed any issues. On the contrary, it creates new problems even after the battles have been fought and abandoned. The proliferation of arms in Southern Cameroons will be the next issue that will haunt both parties after the fighting.

While many observers hail the secret negotiations, they however call on the Cameroon government to swallow its pride and play its role as a responsible government by making key concessions that will take the wind out of the fighters’ sails. Many Southern Cameroonians have been hurt and for more than five decades, they have never found an appropriate medium to express their frustration. The current crisis therefore offers them a platform to tell their story. Unfortunately, this story is being written with blood instead of the finest ink on the market. They have been pushed to the wall for too long and they hold that fighting back is the only option available to them; after all, their fate is worse than death.

The tension and disaster playing out in Cameroon remain major concerns to many peace-loving Cameroonians. Many experts hold that it is time for the government to change its rhetoric and strategy so as the win hearts and minds. They argue that it must understand that those who make peaceful change impossible only make violent change inevitable. They stress that military brutality will not deliver the right results, as it will only radicalize many and swell the ranks of the secessionists. It will also only help the fighters to be frozen in their positions. They hope the government will come to its senses.

By Betek Kingsley

West Africa Bureau Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

15, January 2018

West Region: Bus crash kills at least 21, injures 38 ⁰

The governor of the West region says at least 21 people have been killed and at least 38 injured when a bus veered off a road and crashed into a tree in a ravine.

West Region Gov. Awah Fonka said Sunday that the death toll from the accident late Saturday is likely to increase. He said the bus driver and at least four others were uninjured.

The Cameroon government said the 70-passenger unregistered vehicle was headed from Dschang to Douala in the West Region.

Fonka said it’s still too early to determine the cause of the accident. He says the people injured are being treated at a local hospital.

Source: Fox News

15, January 2018

Panic in Buea as ADF militants attack school in Muea ⁰

Cameroon Concord News has learned that a bloody clash has been averted in Buea following an attack on a school in Muea today. According to the report, unknown gunmen burnt down a school in Muea and were heading to Buea forcing parents to rush to get their kids from schools in the South West regional capital.

The scenario started with the killing of an officer in Mbonge and later moved to Muea. Our reporter in Buea revealed that even businessmen and women including passers bye had to scamper to safety. We gathered that Buea has not been respecting ghost town operations ever since the arrest of the Ambazonian leaders in Abuja, Nigeria.

Military trucks have been seen descending to Muea. Elsewhere a report reaching us from Kumba says gun shots were heard throughout the night. Shops in Bamenda have also been closed down following an alleged attack by ADF militants in Widikum.

By Ojong Ojong Joseph

15, January 2018

Cameroon army confirms 1 soldier killed in Ambazonia attack ⁰

Cameroon military sources say an officer deployed to Ekondo Titi was murdered by the members of the Ambazonian Defense Force on Sunday, January 14, 2018. The department of the South West Gendarmerie Legion identified the soldier as Chief Warrant Officer Endaman.

“We were alerted in the morning of January 14th of the kidnapping of our comrade. After this announcement, a research was launched and in the evening we found his lifeless body, “noted a spokesperson for the Cameroon army.

Since President Biya declared war on the people of Southern Cameroons, more than fifteen soldiers have been murdered in Ambazonia. In his address to Cameroonians on December 31, 2017, President Paul Biya once again made the matter more intractable:

“I have instructed that all those who have taken up arms, who practice violence or who incite violence, be fought relentlessly and answer for their crimes in court.”

By Sama Ernest

15, January 2018

UN seeks to expand plan for resettling Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria ⁰

The UNHCR Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Antonio Jose Canhandula recently conducted a fact-finding mission to the various refugee camps hosting Ambazonians in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Cameroon Concord News gathered that Mr. Antonio Jose made public a new UN plan to move all Southern Cameroons refugees further away from the Cameroonian border.

The decision that was taken on Thursday, 11 January 2018 by the Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nigeria and the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Antonio Jose Canhandula has been welcomed by the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

“We are committed to working with the Government of Nigeria to ensure a safe community environment for Cameroonian refugees and their host communities in the Benue and Cross River states,” said Antonio Canhandula. UNHCR. “As such, our recommendation is that refugees should be removed from the border according to international standards,” he added.

UNHCR plans to set up temporary camps, “with a long-term vision to explore avenues that should allow refugees to live in host communities, to access opportunities where they can become more self-reliant and contribute to local economy of the host communities.

The UN body notes that since October 2017, refugees continue to arrive in the state of Cross River. “With regard to the number of Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria, the UNHCR representative noted that 8,050 refugees have been registered, mainly in Cross River State. Many more have not been registered.

According to UNHCR, the situation could worsen if a solution to the Ambazonia crisis is not quickly found. “The political dialogue is necessary because it will help put an end to the current crisis,” UNHCR advises.

By Rita Akana

15, January 2018

‘Shithole’ projected on Trump Hotel in Washington DC ⁰

A projection onto the front entrance of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, declared Saturday night that the place was a “shithole” — the term which President Donald Trump reportedly used during an immigration reform meeting with lawmakers last week.

“Not a DC resident? Need a place to stay? Try our shithole,” the projections read, with grinning poop emojis scattering the bricks of the Trump International Hotel, formerly the Old Post Office building.

Washington-based Robin Bell took credit for the stunt. He told CNN the projection was up for around 40 minutes and claimed this is at least the 15th time he’s projected his work onto the hotel.

“By the time security came out we were already done,” Bell said, later adding that he looks at the projections as a First Amendment activity. “We’re not actually touching the building. We’re not on the property.”

The projection came in response to reports that, in referring to immigrants from African countries, Trump asked lawmakers during an Oval Office meeting on immigration reform: “Why do we want all these people from ‘shithole countries’ coming here?”

Source:CNN