Monthly Archives: March 2018

26, March 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: UN urges Yaounde to respect human rights ⁰

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed to the Government of Cameroon to respect human rights of all citizens for the sake of peace. The commission’s representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Antonio Canhandula, made the appeal while speaking with newsmen on Monday in Makurdi. Canhandula said the instability in Anglophone Cameroon had forced thousands of citizens to seek asylum in Nigeria. He said Cameroonian Government should explore alternative ways of engaging with those who feel aggrieved for the sake of peace and that both parties should respect human rights.

“UNHCR urges the Government of Cameroon to explore ways of engaging with those who feel aggrieved, for the sake of peace. “We also reiterate the need for respect of human rights by all parties involved,’’ Canhandula said. He said the refugees complained of exclusion from the national life by the Cameroonian Government, political processes and important positions in the government. “Longstanding grievances against the central government in Cameroon took a new turn in 2016 when a group of Anglophone Cameroonians triggered civil society-led demonstrations. “This was based on allegations of marginalisation by the authorities, particularly in the education and justice system. “Initially, the protesters called for the return to a federal system of government and greater autonomy. “However, on Oct. 1, 2017, the separatist movement, Ambazonia Governing Council, declared unilaterally the independence of Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest Regions.

“Tensions ensued with government security forces clashing with movement, resulting in injuries and deaths and leading to an influx of English-speaking Cameroonians into Nigeria. “Critics accused government forces of killing dozens of civilians while the administration is also alleging that suspected separatists have killed more than 10 security personnel since the crisis intensified in October.’’

Canhandula further said that the UNHCR had registered 20,485 Cameroonian refugees seeking asylum in Benue, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states. He explained that the commission also opened a permanent office for the coordination of their activities in Calabar, Cross River, field offices in Adikpo, Benue and Ikom in Cross River. The UNHCR representative said that the Benue Government had allocated 191 hectares of land for the settlement of refugees in Kwande Local Government Area. He added that the site was being developed. According to him, each site has the capacity to host 4,000 persons. He, however, said that the influx is expected to continue and there is the need for more land in Benue. “We are still working with the state authorities in Cross River to identify a suitable location to move the refugees away from the border in line with international standards. “Issues of accessibility, security, topography, water resources, absorption capacity and good terrain for sanitation facilities are taken into consideration while selecting potential refugee sites.’’

Canhandula said the commission was yet to gain access to Akwaya, where some Nigerian refugees in Cameroon were located. “The Akwaya sub-division, in particular, hosts small refugee population of around 1,800 Nigerians and around 600 Cameroonian returnees, who had been refugees in Nigeria before being repatriated in 2015 and 2016. “This area is very difficult to access, particularly during the rainy season. “Nevertheless, our office in Cameroon is working to organise an assessment mission there. “But we cannot provide first-hand information at this moment,’’ he said.

Source: www.vanguardngr.com

26, March 2018

British defense secretary says Russia trying to divide Britain from allies ⁰

Britain’s defense secretary says that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to divide the UK from its allies, yet the world stands united behind the British in a “powerful message to the Kremlin.”

“The world’s patience is rather wearing thin with President Putin and his actions, and the fact that right across the NATO alliance, right across the European Union, nations have stood up in support of the United Kingdom… I actually think that is the very best response that we could have,” Gavin Williamson, who is in Tallinn, Estonia, said on Monday.

Willamson’s remarks come amid escalating tensions between Europe and Russia over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, in a British town.

London claims the Soviet-designed Novichok nerve agent has been used to poison the pair and points the finger at Russia.

Moscow has rejected the claims as “absurd,” saying the substance used in the attack could have originated from the countries studying it, including Britain itself. It has offered cooperation with London in probing the case.

Williamson arrived in the Estonian capital on Sunday for a two-day visit to see British troops who are based there as part of a NATO mission in the Baltic states to deter “Russian aggression.”

Last week, EU leaders issued a statement in Brussels, saying it was “highly likely Russia is responsible” for poisoning the Soviet-era spy.

Earlier this month Williamson said, “Russia should go away and shut up” when asked how the Kremlin should respond to 23 of its diplomats, thought to be spies, being expelled from the UK over the poisoning.

In retaliation for London’s “provocative” measures over the alleged poisoning, Russia also said that it would expel 23 British diplomats.

Skripal was found guilty by a Russian tribunal of selling classified information to Britain’s spy agency MI6 and was imprisoned in Russia in 2006. He was exchanged in a spy swap in 2010.

Source: Presstv

26, March 2018

Israeli PM questioned for second time in telecom corruption case ⁰

Police have questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in a corruption case involving Israel’s largest telecommunication company, Bezeq, as he is embroiled in two other cases.

Police assert that Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch had instructed the Walla news website, which is fully owned by the telecom company, to provide favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his wife in return for favors from communications regulators.

According to Israeli media, Netanyahu’s spouse and son would be interrogated separately in the telecoms investigation over their relationship with Bezeq’s owner and his spouse.

Police, who have yet to make a recommendation about charges in the case, reportedly questioned the prime minister in his official residence in Jerusalem al-Quds.

Shlomo Filber, the former director general of the Communications Ministry, and Nir Hefetz, a former spokesman of Netanyahu, have agreed to serve as the regime’s witnesses in the case.

Israeli police investigators have also been grilling Netanyahu for corruption over his involvement in cases 1000 and 2000. The final decision about whether to prosecute him rests with the Israeli attorney general, which could take months.

Case 1000 revolves around alleged illicit gifts given to Netanyahu and his family by different businessmen, most notably the Israeli-born Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.

The Israeli prime minister and his wife, Sara, claim that the value of the items was significantly lower than reported, and that they were only “trifles” exchanged between close friends.

Case 2000 focuses on an alleged clandestine deal made between Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher and owner Arnon “Noni” Mozes, in which the 68-year-old chairman of the Likud party promised Mozes he would support a bill to reduce the circulation of Yedioth’s main commercial rival, the Hebrew-language freebie Israel Hayom, in exchange for favorable coverage of himself in Yedioth.

The political survival of Netanyahu’s four-term prime minister is greatly at risk over the corruption and bribery probes.

Source: Presstv

26, March 2018

Yaounde Arrests Boko Haram Fighters and Accomplices ⁰

Cameroon’s military has arrested several Boko Haram fighters and their 25 female accomplices who were attempting to supply food and weapons through Cameroon to the fighters in Nigeria. Most of the women say their husbands are fighters in Nigeria.

Alban Toupo, commander of the Rapid Intervention Battalion, the Cameroon military unit fighting the Boko Haram insurgency in the border town of Kolofata, said 31 people, including 25 women, were arrested while transporting ammunition, food, material to fabricate explosive devices, torches, drugs and medications to Nigeria in small quantities.

The commander said the suspects at times involved their children in the smuggling, claiming that they were either going to visit relatives across the border in Nigeria or were simply going to sell food and buy basic commodities.

He said after Cameroon military had killed fighters who were using force to transport food and military equipment through Cameroon villages to Nigeria, they could not believe women and children, at times accompanied by men, were carrying supplies to the terror group until they received a tip from the population.

He said his troops had protected the women and children without knowing they were either fighters or accomplices.

Alban said they were told the women recruited suicide bombers, planted landmines on border zones with Nigeria and served as informants for hostage takings between Cameroon border town of Kolofata and Nigeria.

Kolofata has suffered from Boko Haram violence with frequent cross-border raids since fighting started four years ago. The town hosts several hundred Nigerian refugees as well as internally displaced persons who have been forced to flee their homes due to persistent fighting.

Tchombai Ibrahi, the most senior Cameroon government official in Kolofata says the suspects have been helping the military in their investigations.

He said they have embarked on a tour to educate the population not to collaborate and not to do business with the criminals who pretend to be farmers and business persons but end up terrorizing villagers.

Soldiers from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger, as part of the multi-national joint task force of the lake Chad Basin Commission, rolled back Boko Haram gains and announced the terrorist group was living its last moments last year, but the insurgency switched to terror attacks and remains a threat.

The conflict that began in northeast Nigeria began eight years ago and has left at least 25,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million others to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Source: VOA

26, March 2018

Southern Cameroons Conflict Halts Cameroon-Nigeria Business ⁰

Separatist violence in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon along the border with Nigeria have completely stalled trade between the two countries. Buses no longer ply the Bamenda-Enugu road corridor as attacks and kidnappings continue.

About 70 men and women have assembled at Kandem, a village in southwestern Cameroon on the border with Nigeria to discuss what to do with their farm produce and how to get supplies from neighboring Nigeria. Five months ago, Kandem was a bustling market town along the $423-million African Development Bank-funded road linking Bamenda, Cameroon, with Enugu, Nigeria.

Pierre Atemengue, who came from central Cameroon, opened a plantation in Kandem. He says constant conflict between Cameroon government troops and armed separatists fighting for the independence of the English speaking from the French speaking regions of Cameroon have paralyzed business. He says 90 percent of the local farm produce has not been sold for the past five months.

He says he has asked all men to store cocoa in their community warehouse, while the women make sure that perishable farm produce like plantains, fresh maize and vegetables are harvested only when buyers come to their villages. He says women have been asked to work in groups to be able to meet supply deadlines whenever demand will be high.

Atemengue says goods imported from Nigeria are now difficult to come by, and when found are very expensive.

VOA mounted a commercial motorcycle to visit abandoned businesses in the village.

Rider Lionnel Mbung says the fighting has scared off the busloads of Nigerians that used to flood the village to buy farm produce and supply basic commodities, and that 80 percent of the youths in the village have fled the conflict.

Lionnel says he braved the crisis and stayed, but is now out of business after the government of Cameroon banned motorcycles because armed separatists were using the bikes to attack the military and kidnap government workers.

“Since the situation in Cameroon started, the bike business has dropped down, there is no way for us, things are not moving. They have passed orders that they do not want to see bikes, so we hide our bikes here, then we go to look for passengers because when we go there with our bikes, the police will catch [arrest] us.”

Access to most villages along the border with Nigeria is by motorcycle. The ban on their use has also helped to paralyze business.

Paul Atanga Nji, Cameroon minister of territorial administration who ordered the ban says the government will only reconsider its decision when peace returns and when an identification of the riders he has asked for is complete.

“The population has complained time and again because most of them kidnap, kill, destroy. So we are asking them to put order in this profession,” said Atanga Niji.

Cameroon, with a population of about 23 million, depends on Nigeria for most basic commodities, and Nigeria’s 160 million people count on Cameroon for rice, maize, tubers, plantain, cocoa and other farm produce.

The unrest in Cameroon began in November, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers in the Northwest and Southwest regions, frustrated with having to work in French, took to the streets calling for reforms and greater autonomy.

Over the past year, armed separatist groups have emerged demanding all-out independence for the two English-speaking regions. The government says at least 30 soldiers and police have been killed in recent clashes.

Culled from the VOA

26, March 2018

Cameroun votes new Senate as tensions plague Southern Cameroons ⁰

Senate elections took place in Cameroon Sunday, as tensions continued to soar in the French-majority country’s anglophone regions where separatist rebels have been fighting government forces for several months.

Senate elections do not take place by universal suffrage in the West African nation. Some 10,000 municipal councillors across Cameroon are voting for 70 members of the upper house for a duration of five years.

Appointees to the 30 remaining seats will be named later by President Paul Biya.

His party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC), already holds a large majority in the Senate and is the clear frontrunner in the ballot. The main opposition, the Social Democratic Front (SDF) only has candidates in five of the 10 provinces.

The president of the Senate may act as an interim head of state but the chamber only plays a marginal role primarily focused on examining the second reading of draft laws.

Authorities closely monitored the ballot in the Northwest and the Southwest provinces, two English-speaking territories that became part of the French-majority country after independence in 1960.

Tensions have been flaring in these parts — accounting for about a fifth of the 23-million-strong population — since separatists proclaimed the autonomous republic of “Ambazonia” in October last year.

The country has had a tortuous colonial history that saw it pass from German rule to French and British hands, and the anglophone minority complain of having long been marginalised by the French-speaking elite.

The conflict between rebels and the army has become increasingly serious, as separatists urge the armed forces and government officials to leave the territory.

New separatist groups are emerging, while the Yaounde authorities have reduced their communications about the conflict to a minimum.

The unrest in the anglophone regions has prompted around 33,000 people to flee to neighbouring Nigeria.

AFP

26, March 2018

Paul Biya: Cameroon’s ‘absentee president’ ⁰

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has been in power for 35 years. But while his longevity in office is a talking point at home, the time he spends out of the country has stirred international comment – as Paul Melly, an associate fellow of Chatham House, explains.

Criticised by some for a supposedly “hands-off” style of rule, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya recently held a cabinet meeting for the first time in more than two years.

Presidential elections are scheduled for October and Cameroonians are waiting to hear if the 85-year-old will seek a further term. But no such announcement was made at the meeting.

Mr Biya has been in power since 1982, making him one of Africa’s longest serving leaders. Under his rule, Cameroon has survived an economic crisis and moved from being a one-party state to multi-party politics.

But it has also been marked by endemic corruption and reversal of democratic gains, leading to the abolition of term limits in 2008, which allowed the octogenarian to run for re-election in 2011.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) accompanies President of Cameroon Paul Biya (R) to view an honour guard during a welcoming ceremony inside the Great Hall of the People on March 22, 2018 in Beijing, China. — Image captionPresident Biya has been in China this week

Today’s Africa is changing. The era of decades-old presidencies is slipping away. Satellite TV and the internet tell a growing urban audience about democratic changes of power in other sub-Saharan countries.

Some 60% of Cameroonians are under 25 and so were not even born when President Biya first came to power. There is massive demand for jobs and viable livelihoods.

The opposition Social Democratic Front has now recognised these generational realities. Earlier this year, the party’s leader, John Fru Ndi, 76, stepped aside to make way for a new presidential candidate, 49-year-old businessman and former pilot Joshua Osih.

Swiss hotel

This is the challenge that confronts Mr Biya as he decides whether to stand for a further term that could take him into a fourth decade in power in a country hungry for change.

His repeated absences from the country have riled critics.

His foreign travels have been the subject of an online spat between the state-owned Cameroon Tribune newspaper and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which calculated the amount of time the president spent abroad using reports from the daily newspaper.

The OCCRP estimates that the president spent nearly 60 days out of the country last year on private visits.

It also alleges that he spent a third of the year abroad in 2006 and 2009. The Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva is said to be his favourite destination.

The state-owned Cameroon Tribune called their investigation “a clear electoral propaganda”.

President Paul Biya (L) and his wife Chantal Biya in Yaounde — Image captionCameroon football players bow before President Biya and his wife Chantal to mimic an obsequious greeting

Back home, President Biya adopts a low-key style, staying out of the limelight and sometimes retreating to his home village.

He entrusts the day-to-day running of the government to the Prime Minister, Philemon Yang, who holds monthly gatherings of a “cabinet council”.

The prime minister is accorded wide latitude to manage the work of his ministerial team, while the head of state meets senior figures in private at the presidential palace in the capital, Yaoundé.

Culled from the BBC

25, March 2018

German police arrest ex-Catalan leader on Danish border ⁰

Catalonia’s former President Carles Puigdemont has been detained by German police as he was crossing the border with Denmark by car.

The arrest on Sunday came just two days after Spain’s Supreme Court vowed to prosecute 13 key separatists, including Puigdemont and his nominated successor Jordi Turull, over their role in the region’s failed breakaway bid.

Puigdemont “was arrested today at 11:19 am by Schleswig-Holstein’s highway patrol force,” a German police spokesman said, adding that the detention was based on a European warrant.

“He is now in police custody”, added the spokesman.

Separately confirming his arrest in Germany, Puigdemont’s party spokeswoman Anna Grabalosa said, “It happened as he crossed the Danish-German border. He was treated well and all his lawyers are there. That is all I can say.”

Puigdemont was picked up by German police as he was traveling back to Belgium, his lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas said on Twitter.

He “was heading to Belgium to present himself, as always, at the disposal of Belgian courts,” added Alonso-Cuevillas.

On Friday, Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena issued an international arrest warrant for Puigdemont, accusing Catalonia’s former president of organizing the vote on secession in October last year.

The independence referendum, called by Puigdemont despite objections from Madrid, triggered an unprecedented political standoff between Catalonia and Spain. Puigdemont used the yes vote as a base to make a declaration of independence on October 27, prompting Madrid to dismantle his government and the regional chamber, where he made the declaration.

Following the referendum vote, Puigdemont fled to Belgium to avoid prosecution on charges of sedition and rebellion. A number of his ministers, along with senior regional authorities, have been jailed or freed on bail over similar charges.

The new Catalan parliament was formed after snap elections in December in which pro-independence parties, like that of Puigdemont’s, retained their majority.

While separatist parties won Catalonia’s regional elections, they have been unable to form a government for the region as numerous leaders are in exile abroad or in jail.

Puigdemont to appear in court on Monday

Later on Sunday, Spanish court officials said Puigdemont would appear before a judge on Monday after he was detained by German police on a European arrest warrant issued by Spain.

“The sole purpose of this appearance is to verify the identity of the person arrested. The regional tribunal of Schleswig-Holstein in the town of Schleswig will then have to decide if Mr. Puigdemont has to be taken into custody” in view of handing him over to Spain, the court was quoted by AFP as saying.

Source: Presstv

25, March 2018

Chad soldier, 20 Boko Haram militants killed in clashes ⁰

A Chadian soldier and 20 militants from the Nigeria-based Takfiri group Boko Haram have been killed in a clash in the volatile Lake Chad region.

A Chadian military officer said Saturday that the incident took place on Friday on an islet named Tchoukou Hadje, adding that five soldiers were injured.

“Twenty Boko Haram members were killed and a large amount of weapons was recovered,” the officer said. “The Chadian army lost one member.”

Two Chadian soldiers including a captain were killed in an ambush in the area a month ago in the first attack by the Nigerian militant group on Chadian soil since May last year in which nine soldiers died.

Chad is a member of a multinational task force combating Boko Haram across its border with Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon. The force has been created with the aim of preventing a spillover of the militancy to those countries from Nigeria.

Boko Haram has been largely pushed out of its main strongholds in northern Nigeria, according to the country’s military and government. The group, however, is still active in its Sambisa Forest enclave in Borno and launches sporadic attacks on civilians and security forces from there.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in more than eight years of insurgency by Boko Haram in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger. The group pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh group in 2015.

The United Nations has warned that areas affected by Boko Haram face a humanitarian crisis.

Source: Presstv

25, March 2018

Thousands rally in Brussels to protest racism, discrimination ⁰

Around four thousand people have rallied in the Belgian capital to denounce racism and discrimination and demand equality for all.

The Saturday rally was organized by social groups and left-wing parties in Brussels where participants marched five kilometers (three miles) through the city.

They held up signs reading, “United against racism” and “together against discrimination.”

“I am here today to demonstrate against racism in Belgium and in the world, against the Federal Government that takes racist measures against refugees,” said one protester.

People take part in a national protest against racism, hatred, discrimination, inequality and aggression in Brussels, March 24, 2018. The banner reads, “Fear is the path towards the dark side, fear leads to anger, anger leads hatred, hatred leads to suffering.” (Photo by AFP)

Meanwhile, 16 anti-racism and migrant support organizations hailing from the country’s Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia regions issued a joint statement, commemorating the “victims of hatred and terror in Brussels and elsewhere.”

The government has tightened migration laws since Daesh’s bombings of the Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station in Brussels two years ago, which left 32 people dead and hundreds more wounded.

In their statement on Saturday, the protesters said they will not allow “terrorists” to create division within the Belgian society.

Europe has been the scene of rallies especially since 2015, when the continent was hit by an influx of refugees, mostly fleeing violence in the Middle East.

Countries across Europe have seen a significant rise in xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments, mostly toward Muslims. Amnesty International has sounded the alarm about right-wing parties in Europe advocating anti-immigration and anti-Islam policies.

Last year alone, extremists in Germany which is home to some three to four million Turks launched 950 attacks against Muslims, including many arson attacks targeting mosques.

Source: Presstv