Ambazonia Interim Government Secretary for Communications,Hon. Chris Anu, is set on launching Ambazonia’s first digital radio with worldwide receptibility.

A few days ago, Sec. Chris put up a poster advertising the near launching of the radio on his social media platform to the jubilation of most of his fans. However, he never explained to the audience whether the radio is an Interim Government initiative or his own personal venture. Our senior political man, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai shared this soul-searching conversation with the Ambazonian Communication Secretary  

Cameroon Intelligence Report: Many people seem to be very excited at the radio idea you published on Face book. But you didn’t say whether it is your own child or that of the IG. Can you clarify that please?

Chris Anu: No! It’s entirely my personal initiative. If things had gone well financially, the radio would have in fact been launched since October 30th last year. That was the plan. It was already in the pipeline before I was consulted to be part of the Interim Government. Unfortunately, funds just didn’t show up on time for me to meet the dateline.

Cameroon Intelligence Report: What is the mission of the radio and how will people in Ambaland receive its signals?

Chris Anu: Well, this is a new kind of radio that very many people in Ambaland are probably not very familiar with. This is not traditional FM, AM or SW radio. We call it digital radio. It is produced exclusively online. But we thought how many people want to sit on the computer to listen to radio, unless you are on your PC, you don’t have the time. So we thought of a way to make it accessible to everyone interested in Southern Cameroons news and events around the world to have easy access to the broadcast. So we thought about delivering the signal through an App. The App is called SCAN Radio. It is an App just like every other App. People will download it for free, do a free one time sign up and start receiving or listening to the radio 24/7.

Now, with the App, you can imagine that so long as anyone has an android phone, tablet or I Phone and I Pad, no matter where you may be in the world, all you need to do is push the App in your gadget and start listening to the broadcast. It will be in your phone, it will go anywhere with you, and tell me, who doesn’t carry an Android or Apple phone?

You asked about the mission! The mission is news, news 24/7. I’m banking on the services of reporters on the ground and those of the very many talented Ambazonian journalists to get this done. I want it to be Ambazonia’s own BBC or VOA. News every top of the hour and headlines news every bottom of the hour. In between that we will have a mixed of interviews, features and commentaries on developing stories.

Cameroon Intelligence Report: How do you compromise your position as IG communication Secretary and that of a Journalist running the radio?

Chris Anu: You surely understand that at the IG we are all volunteers’ right? That leaves us to still work for ourselves. There is no doubt that the radio will be a big asset at the disposal of the IG, but it is purely a commercial venture. It is an independent radio station and would function like any other radio does. I will have time to do lots of the programs, even reading of the news. But, it will be fully staffed so that my absence for my other ventures and business of the IG wouldn’t have to be a problem.

Cameroon Intelligence Report: Will you accept programming from other groups that share different opinion from the IG for broadcast?

Chris Anu: As far as the material doesn’t compromise our mission and goal to Buea, Yes, I will. Again, this is a commercial venture and the doors are opened to all. And I really mean all. Even people who have been mean to me are welcome. I have a philosophy that in a struggle or revolution like this, you never want to have permanent enemies, you allow everything to transit and pave way for collaboration or unity.

Cameroon Intelligence Report: So when should people expect to start listening to the radio?

Chris Anu: Right now, the App is ready, but not yet published in Play store and Apple store because we are still doing testing. It takes a little longer to get on Apple store. I believe that within ten days it should be in Play store for download. Maybe same with Apple store. Once they are launched in both stores, we will keep on with another week or two of test running to give people the opportunity to download the app before we start with proper programming. In a nutshell, it should be fully functional on or before the 15th of April.

Cameroon Intelligence Report: How do you hope to sustain the radio financially?

Chris Anu: Well, I just told you that this is a commercial venture. We hope that it generates revenue on its own, and of course, we equally looking forward to community support.

US President Donald Trump has reportedly told Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Washington and Moscow reignite the arms race, the United States would win it.

Putin’s revelation of new nuclear-capable Russian weapons that can reach the United States “really got under the president’s skin,” one official told NBC News on Thursday.

“If you want to have an arms race we can do that, but I’ll win,” Trump reportedly told his Russian counterpart during a phone call last week.

Delivering his annual state of the nation speech in Moscow earlier this month, Putin expressed concerns about the new US nuclear posture which he said has lowered the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.

The new American policy allows the use of nuclear weapons “in response to a conventional attack or even a cyberthreat,” the Russian president said, adding, “Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons only in response to a nuclear attack or an attack with other weapons of mass destruction against her or her allies, or a conventional attack against us that threatens the very existence of the state.”

Putin also said that Russia had tested a number of new advanced strategic weapons, which could not be intercepted, saying they would render US-made defense missile systems “useless.”  He also said that the West has ignored Russia but should “listen to us now.”

In last week’s phone call, Trump also congratulated Putin for his recent victory in Russia’s presidential election.

Following the phone call, Trump said that the two men had “a very good call” and that he was planning to meet with the Russian leader in the near future.

Tensions between Russia and the US have heightened in recent weeks, following the alleged nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain.

Western officials have blamed that attack on Moscow, though the Russian government has denied any role in it. Some analysts have said that the poisoning Sergei Skripal is a false flag operation orchestrated by MI5 with the complicity of the British press in order to demonize Russia.

The US has ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning. Up to 17 EU countries and Australia have also announced that they will expel dozens of Russian diplomats.

It was the biggest such expulsion since the height of the Cold War era, a term that describes the tense relationship between the US and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1989.

There are now fears of a serious diplomatic crisis and a freezing in relations between Moscow and the West, which has raised the specter of the Cold War once again.

American officials said the expulsions meant to send a message to Putin about the “unacceptably high” number of Russian intelligence operatives in America.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “powerful forces” in the US and Britain were behind the nerve agent attack against Skripal that the British government has blamed on Moscow.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned of a return to the Cold War-like tensions between the United States and Russia in the wake of recent developments.

“I think we are coming to a situation that is similar, to a large extent, to what we lived during the Cold War,” Guterres told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.

He then called on Washington and Moscow to re-establish lines of communication in a bid to avoid any escalation of tensions.

Source: Presstv