Monthly Archives: May 2018

7, May 2018

US: McCain regrets choosing Sarah Palin as running mate ⁰

John McCain, the seasoned senator of Arizona, says he regrets choosing former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate during the country’s 2008 presidential race, and instead he should have chosen Joe Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent politician.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that McCain, while still defending Palin’s performance, said in his upcoming book, “The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and other Appreciations,” that although his advisers had warned him that picking a vice-presidential candidate who caucused with Democrats and supported abortion rights would divide Republicans and doom his chances, he should still have proceeded and chosen Lieberman as is his vice-presidential nominee.

“It was sound advice that I could reason for myself,” he writes. “But my gut told me to ignore it and I wish I had.”

Many in McCain’s own party believe that, by selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, he bears at least a small measure of blame for unleashing the forces of grievance politics and nativism within the Republican Party.

In addition to the book, the senator has also participated in a nearly two-hour HBO documentary, both of which are set to be released this month. In the HBO documentary McCain strikingly expresses sorrow for not choosing Lieberman calling it “another mistake that I made.”

Lieberman later said he did not know McCain felt that regret until he watched the film. “It touched me greatly,” he said.

The Times reported that Lieberman recently visited McCain, 81, at his ranch in Arizona where the senator is recovering from his brain cancer treatment and surgery for an infection.

McCain’s daughter, Meghan, shared a photo with her father at the senator’s ranch on social media in March.

New memoir

In excerpts of his book, The Restless Wave that will be published by Simon & Schuster on May 22, the senior senator from the state of Arizona says his battle with brain cancer has given him a sense of liberation to freely speak his mind.

“I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry.”

“I don’t think I’m free to disregard my constituents’ wishes, far from it. I don’t feel excused from keeping pledges I made. Nor do I wish to harm my party’s prospects. But I do feel a pressing responsibility to give Americans my best judgment,” McCain says in the excerpts released Monday by Apple News.

McCain, a Vietnam War prisoner, says he is bothered by the “scarcity of humility” in the current political climate in America.

Criticism of Trump

McCain openly criticizes US President Donald Trump in the book saying he seems to care more about “the appearance of toughness” than so-called American values.

“The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness, seems to matter more than any of our values,” he says in the memoir referring to Trump.

“He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones,” McCain writes in the book of Trump.

Source: Presstv

6, May 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Buea security level raised from severe to critical ⁰

Security in Buea has been raised from severe to critical following threats of an imminent Amba attack announced late today Sunday the 6^th of May 2018. Many people were injured. None of the injured are thought to be in a serious or life-threatening condition as residents of the historic capital of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia rushed back home for safety after church services.

Our chief intelligence officer in Buea reported that elements of the 21st MIB,GMI,Gendarmerie have mounted Barricades on the streets leading to various military and police camps in preparation for the attack. The Francophone governor of the Southern Zone, Okalia Bilai was quoted recently as saying that the Amba fighters were gaining grounds and inflicting heavy damage on government troops.

Last week Thursday the corpses of more than 30 soldiers killed in Muyenge were brought to Buea under very shameful circumstances covered in banana leafs and palms. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from a senior army officer that the military staged an accident with one of its old trucks and then declared that the Muyenge soldiers died as they were returning from the battle front.

Elsewhere, the remains of the six soldiers killed during the attack on the governor’s convoy in Lebialem have also been ferried to Buea.

By Sama Ernest in Buea

6, May 2018

Shame on you, African football leaders ⁰

Instead of applauding and celebrating this week’s announcement that Fifa will give each of the five African representatives at this year’s World Cup in Russia an advance of $2 million (R25 million), African football leaders should hang their heads in shame.

The money, according to Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Ahmad Ahmad, is meant to help Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia “settle beforehand the question of bonuses”. This assistance stems from Ahmad’s initiative that saw CAF give each of the five countries a $2.5 million grant to help them with their preparations.

While the baby-faced Ahmed jumped up and down in unbridled jubilation like a child who has just received an expensive Christmas gift following the announcement this week, it is the reason for this advance that provoked my ire. “To help settle beforehand the question of bonuses,” Ahmad gleefully and glibly said.

Aha!

So following the theatrics that some African countries have performed just before World Cups, it has now become necessary for Fifa to take charge and prevent the shenanigans that have in the past badly affected the image of African football.

In a nutshell, Fifa’s decision means that African football bosses cannot be trusted to get their houses in order. They must be policed like a bunch of delinquent schoolboys, hence the five countries are the only ones of the 32 nations to get an advance.

All the other football federations will get their money at the end of the World Cup. Stories of the shenanigans of African players and officials around the World Cup are well-documented, dating as far back as the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Then top goalkeeper, Cameroonian Joseph-Antoine Bell – whose nickname was Mandela – was dropped for his then understudy Thomas N’Kono after raising the players’ bonus issue. However, on the field of play, The Indomitable Lions became the first African country to reach the quarter-finals at the world’s biggest sporting spectacle.

In 1994, then Cameroon coach Henri Michel (may his soul rest in peace) was left pulling his hair out after he discovered on arriving in the USA that his Cameroonian team had less than 10 players. Reports were that some of the players were left in Cameroon as people heaved and shoved to get on to a plane, where it was first come, first served.

After the entire squad had finally assembled, they staged a strike about their bonuses. An official had to leave the west African country with a bag full of US dollars, as players would not accept cheques. It was only after receiving their qualification bonuses that the players started training.

Before even departing for the USA, the Cameroonian team’s planned trip to Asia for preparations was scuppered as players arrived at the airport to find that the plane had not been booked and that there were no $20 000 cheques waiting for them, as promised.

The players had demanded that they be paid this amount upfront to leave their families with some spending money during month-long absence from home. Michel had met Cameroon’s prime minister that week and a promise was made that the cheques would be delivered to the players at the airport, before their departure.

They never materialised and the players had to be crammed into a few small yellow taxis that ferried them back to their hotel. In 2014, Cameroon arrived late for the World Cup in Brazil due to pay disputes, Ghana’s government had to fly in $3 million in cash to avert a players’ strike, while Nigeria’s players cancelled a team practice, leading to fears that they might not honour their next game.

Ahmad was correct this week when he said: “Disputes over payments at previous tournaments led to situations that affected badly the image of African football, with a considerable impact on team performances.” However, what he might see as an achievement, I view as a serious indictment on African football leaders.

It shows a high level of irresponsibility and lends itself to the thought that the continent must always go cap in hand and be shown the way by Europeans. The African countries are the only ones receiving this advance and who can guarantee that it will indeed be spent on what it is intended for?

On a different note, as a South African, I cannot help but feel sad that Bafana Bafana are missing out on this event as the $2 million advance from Fifa, the $2.5 million from CAF, the $1.5 million that Fifa gives to all 32 football federations that will be at the World Cup for preparation, plus the $8 million prize money each country receives for participating, means the SA Football Association will lose out on a tidy $14 million (that’s a cool R175 million when converted).

And what about the whopping $38 million the winning nation will receive? Makes you ponder!

Source: Sports 24

6, May 2018

Nigeria: Armed bandits kill 45 in Kaduna state ⁰

Some 45 people have been killed in an attack by armed bandits on villagers in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna.

Civilian militia members in Kaduna said on Sunday that bandits who attacked Gwaska village a day earlier were from the neighboring Zamfara state.

“The attackers were obviously armed bandits from neighboring Zamfara state who have been terrorizing Birnin Gwari area…,” said a vigilante on condition of anonymity, adding, “The 45 bodies were found scattered in the bush. The bandits pursued residents who mobilized to defend the village after overpowering them.”

The vigilante said those dead in the attack which took place at about 2:30pm (1330 GMT) Saturday included children abandoned by their parents.

“They burnt down many homes,” he said, adding that the bandits returned to their base in the forest in Zamfara after staying in the area for three hours.

Kaduna state police confirmed the attack with Mukhtar Aliyu, a spokesman, saying it was carried out by armed bandits. Two similar attacks killed 25 people last week in northern Nigeria, most of them in clashes between cattle thieves and local civilian militia in Zamfara.

Nigeria is faced with a diverse range of security threats in its northern regions where police and judicial system have failed to function properly.

Thousands have been killed in attacks by Takfiri terrorist group Boko Haram since the group launched its militancy in 2009. The region has also seen a surge in rural violence which often involves cattle theft, robbery and kidnappings for ransom.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is facing growing criticism over the insecurity in the north and other regions. Many say his administration’s inability to contain the violence might cost him dearly in the upcoming presidential polls in 2018.

Source: Presstv

6, May 2018

Southern Cameroons villages have been transformed into battle fields ⁰

The critical situation of the English regions of Cameroon is worse than ever. The violence has brought the country into a civil war in the South Western region as reported by Lilian Neg, Africa Correspondent for NewsVoice. Other sources tell NewsVoice young men flee the anglophone regions since the army capture and abduct them. If they do not flee they will ”disappear”.

The declaration of war made by President Paul Biya on November 30th 2017 to the people considered as enemies of the Republic has not been a means of peace and stability, instead the battle between Cameroonian armed forces and the various separatists groups is building up.

Villages have been transformed into battle fields where exchanges of weapons are frequent. Population are forced to leave their homes for unknown destinations. Some villages have been totally destroyed by flames, torched by the army.

Kwakwa village in Cameroon - Photo by local resident — Parts of Kwakwa village in Cameroon destroyed by the army – Photo by local resident

People are running to the bushes in fear of being killed. Villagers are captured and heavily sanctioned while others are simply murdered. Huge number of refugees is one consequence, some 40,000 are registered in neighbouring Nigeria. Other sources report lower estimates but the figures continues to increase daily. Casualties are recorded on both sides and among unarmed civilians.

AfricaNews.com: "Governor of the restive region, Bernard Okalia Bilai told the Anadolu news agency that the separatist elements had mounted road blocks in parts of the region, when the army went to clear them, the hostilities ensued." - Photo: Africanews.com

Separatists groups have been formed fighting a civil war

Recently, the vehicle of the South West region Governor Okalia Bilai was attacked by unidentified men on his way to Lebialem for the installation of the newly appointed subdivisional officer of the area.

In less than one year separatists groups have been created in various locations across the two English regions. The groups act unpredictable and they are a real preoccupation for the Cameroonian army.

Kidnappings

These various separatists movements are kidnapping government authorities. It has been the case of the social affair delegate of the North West region who was kidnapped and has not yet been released.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe - Pressphoto — Sisiku Ayuk Tabe – Pressphoto

They said, they are putting pressure on the Government to liberate their leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who was captured in january 2018 in Nera Hotel Nigeria alongside with 47 members of the newly created Nation Declare on 1st October 2017.

In spite of what is demanded by the human rights organizations and some majors institutions as well as other countries, efforts are merely regarded as radicalized opinions across these regions.

Cameroon needs to define itself as a diverse Nation

People want the government to call for a sincere dialogue.

What are the needed mechanisms to assure that things will not go back to a perpetuous conflict?
Who could implement a workable procedure?
What players will take part at the dialogue table?

It will not be an understatement to say Cameroon needs to build a new and solid foundation. Cameroon needs to define itself as a Nation. Cameroon needs to appropriate its cultural specificities and diversities. It is important to seek for an institutional everlasting solution to end the crisis once and for all.

Culled from News Voice

6, May 2018

Southern Cameroons Villagers Trapped As Military Battles ‘Ambazonia’ Fighters ⁰

At least 50,000 villagers settled in the farming localities of Ikata, Bafia and Munyenge in Muyuka Sub-division, Fako Division of the Southwest Region have put themselves out of sight in cocoa farms, following a renewed military onslaught against separatists.

The campaign which gained public notice since Saturday, April 28, and remains on course triggered the settlers to escape into the farms for fear of the unknown. Such massive escape comes as the military has since been engaged in cross fire with gunmen suspected to be fighters of the illusionary State of Ambazonia.

Midnight Escapes

Around midnight on Saturday, April 28, news of an impending Ambazonia showdown with the security forces induced the first moves. Families left their homes in the dark and headed for the bushes. The escapees comprised pregnant women, elderly, children and the sick.

At dawn, the villages were empty with human activity nonexistent. Every family had taken cover in the forest. On Sunday April 29, a military contingent which visited the Munyenge zone is said to have returned towards the Muyuka direction. News of these developments caused hundreds of people to start returning home. Life was fast returning to normal in the evening hours of Sunday.

A victim whose identity we are withholding for professional reasons told The Post that, as they crossed to find out the whereabouts a of a neighbour, news came that, another cross fire between the separatists and the military was forthcoming. Fear ripped through the villages and the few families which had returned home escaped back into the forest.

Churches Paralysed

The escape into the bushes dealt a severe blow to church services across the affected villages. Mainstream and Pentecostal churches known to enjoy a huge following within this axis were empty on Sunday. A victim told The Post that even Pastors were spotted running into hiding as the atmosphere of gloom deflated hope from every being around the villages concerned.

Medics Order Patience Out Of Health Centres

In the escape frenzy, medical personal of both private and public health centres found within the affected villages are reported to have ordered patience to leave their respective facilities. The order came as the doctors and nurses were set to escape into the forest. Some patients are said to have developed strength on the spur of a moment to escape from the health centres. Such was the case in Bafia Muyuka, The Post was told.

Houses Burnt

At the moment, reports of houses razed to ashes have emerged in the localities of Munyenge and Bafia Muyuka. In Bafia for instance, even the Palace of Chief Peter Mbua is said to be in ruins. At Munyenge, a health centre is feared to be among the brunt houses. No group has claimed responsibility for such acts.

Battle of Munyenge

The fiercest of clashes is said to have taken place in Munyenge. The separatists and military are reported to have engaged in a prolong gun fire exchange. The Post could not independently confirm reports of causalities on both sides of the fight. Security forces are reported to have made in routes into a supposed camp which the separatist fighters are said to be operating from in Munyenge.

Road Blocks

The Post gathered that after Saturday’s military visit, fresh clashes in Munyenge prompted the return of the security forces. Before the forces could drive to the localities, gunmen reportedly felled huge trees on the road and used stones to equally block the road.

Life In The Bush

In the last few days, families remain clustered in groups across the vast cocoa plantations that supports livelihood in these villages. Some families escaped with food items such as rice and other household items. They are known to be mostly spending the night around cocoa ovens for the fear of rains. Some families have migrated into Meme Division. During the day, farmers go about their normal activities in the farm. In the evening, the villagers share ideas over palm wine before falling asleep.

Pork, Goat Meat On Sale

Despite the horror of crossing swamps and rivers, groups of young men are said to be making fast cash through the sale of pepper soup pork and goat meat. The guys are said to be feasting on the domestic animals which villagers left behind in the course of escape.

After preparing the meat, victims said, the vendors move from one corner of the forest to another to sell the meat. Water Shortage At the moment, thousands of those who sought refuge in farms towards the mountain are feared to be in dire need of potable water. This part of the villages is rocky without any trace of streams like the portions sharing boundary with Meme Division. Fears are rife that such families could be exposed to water born diseases from rain water.

Bike Riders In Brisk Business

While some families are known to have trekked towards Malende and boarded vehicles into safety, it is known to have come at a cost. A family The Post interviewed said they paid FCFA 3000 each to get to a junction at Malende- Muyuka leading to Muyuka. Bikers have since flooded the escape axis reaping thousands in the process as they transport the villagers.

Context Of Clashes

Analysts hold that the separatists might have shift fighting ground from Meme with a target to infiltrate Fako Division. For one thing, forest tracks are known to exist between the villages of Bafia, Ikata and Munyenge towards Buea. The same source holds for a road passing through Munyenge to Kumba. Thus the military battle is said to be important to safeguard the disruption of public peace towards the Regional Headquarters of Buea.

Strength Of Villages

The affected villages constitute one of the best cocoa producing basins in Cameroon. It is known to enjoy a beer consumption rate of FCFA 60 million per week during the peak of the cocoa season. These communities host cosmopolitan populations. The same localities hosts dozens of public and private schools from nursery to High Schools which have gone comatose since the crisis began. A gang almost took the localities hostage in 2017, but the military intervened and brought order. The leader of the gang was arrested and ferried to Yaounde. The same villages emptied into the streets in the early days of the Anglophone Crisis.

Culled from The Post

6, May 2018

Spain: Catalan separatists again back fugitive leader for president ⁰

Separatists in Spain’s Catalonia region say they will re-nominate self-professed, fugitive leader Carles Puigdemont to head their regional government, a move that would be unacceptable to Madrid.

In October 2017, Catalonia’s pro-independence leaders held a referendum that had been banned by Spain’s central government and declared illegal by the country’s Constitutional Court. Organizers said 90 percent of voters backed secession. Before and during the referendum, Spanish police attempted to prevent the voting and arrested a number of secessionist leaders.

Amid that crackdown, Puigdemont — who unsuccessfully declared independence for Catalonia from Spain late that same month — and four of his ministers fled to Belgium, where authorities refused to extradite the fugitive leaders despite a European arrest warrant. Puigdemont then traveled to Denmark and then Germany. A second warrant has been issued by Madrid to have them extradited. Berlin is considering that request.

Meeting in Berlin on Saturday, pro-independence Catalan politicians vowed to attempt once again to get their former leader reinstalled as president of the Spanish region by May 14 and said they had no intention of holding fresh elections.

“We want to vote on the investiture of @KRLS (Puigdemont), a legitimate president, the one who emerges from the polls with the mandate… before May 14,” Eduard Pujol, a spokesman for the secessionist Junts per Catalunya Party in the regional parliament, said in a tweet.

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont (background) attends a meeting of Catalan political leaders in Berlin, Germany, May 5, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The announcement came as Catalan separatists were expected to propose a new candidate who would have been acceptable to the government in Madrid.

Pujol added that the secessionists remained loyal to Puigdemont despite previous failed efforts to install him as president.

Catalan lawmakers have until May 22 to form a government; and if they fail to do so, a new election must be held.

This will be the fifth attempt to install a new regional president since the Spanish government imposed direct rule on resource-rich Catalonia. Madrid has already said it will contest a newly-passed legislation that allows members to vote for an absent leader.

Madrid wants Puigdemont, along with the four other former officials, on charges of sedition and rebellion.

A court has normally 60 days to rule on extradition based on the new European arrest warrant.

Catalonia, one of Spain’s wealthiest and most productive regions, is now theoretically under the direct control of the Spanish national government in Madrid. Pro-independence parties won a slim majority after a December 2017 election called by the Spanish government. However, they have since been locked in drawn-out negotiations on forming a government.

5, May 2018

Boko Haram bombers hit Maiduguri, houses set on fire in Cameroon ⁰

At least four Boko Haram suicide bombers struck a village near Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno on Thursday night.

The bomb attacks on Mairanti village occurred at about 10 p.m. on Thursday, according to local television station Channels TV.

Authorities said no one else except the bombers was hurt, but advised residents to be vigilant. In neighboring Cameroon, at least twenty huts were set on fire and a man was killed on Thursday night.

The attacks occurred in the locality of Tcherive in the Mayo-Sava department in Cameroon’s far north.

Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people in Nigeria and Cameroon as well as hundreds in Chad and Niger since 2009.

The militants have said western education and western way of life are evil. They are trying to create a caliphate along the Lake Chad Basin where true Islam would be practiced.

Source: Today news Africa

5, May 2018

Earthquake in South Africa mine leaves 7 dead ⁰

An earthquake that hit a South African gold mine claimed a total of seven lives, its owner said Saturday, after rescue operations were completed at the site outside Johannesburg.

The epicenter of the 2.2-magnitude quake was close to where the miners were working on Thursday, and 13 employees were trapped about three kilometers (two miles) below the surface.

“The last three employees who were recovered (had) passed away from their injuries, bringing the total number of fatalities as a result of the seismic event to seven,” mining company Sibanye-Stillwater said in a statement.

It added that rescue teams had worked for two and a half days in “extremely challenging conditions” to save colleagues while there were further underground tremors.

Operations at the Masakhane mine in Driefontein have been suspended and an investigation launched.

Six mineworkers remain in hospital.

In February, nearly 1,000 miners were trapped underground for 30 hours following a power cut caused by a storm in another mine owned by Sibanye-Stillwater.

A few days later, two miners were killed after ground collapsed at a mine also belonging to the group.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it was “angry and concerned at the rate at which mining incidents are happening at Sibanye-Stillwater.”

Mine accidents are common in South Africa. In 2016, 73 people died in mines around the country, according to the Chamber of Mines.

(Source: AFP)

5, May 2018

Beijing blasts Macron accusations of Chinese ‘hegemony’ ⁰

China has denounced as “groundless accusations” French President Emmanuel Macron’s warning against what he called the dominance of the East Asian country in the Indo-Pacific region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying hit back at the French president’s comment and said Macron’s concerns were baseless as China has been seeking a peaceful rise to a global power status.

The French president said during his visit to Sydney on Thursday that France, India and Australia shared a responsibility to protect the region from “hegemony,” making an implicit reference to China’s growing might.

“What’s important is to preserve rules-based development in the region … and to preserve necessary balances in the region,” Macron said. “It’s important with this new context not to have any hegemony.”

“In the eyes of the world, which country could be said actually to be exercising hegemony in the world nowadays? Who has also long exercised military or economic hegemony of every kind in the region?” Hua asked.

“Before making such comments or groundless accusations, you should clarify these facts,” the spokeswoman told reporters during a regular press briefing, in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.

The Chinese state-run Global Times also blasted Macron and accused him of staging an “opportunistic show in (the) Indo-Pacific.”

“As France is in decline, opportunism is rising within its diplomacy,” the newspaper said.

France has a number of island territories in the Pacific Ocean.

The country maintains a strong security presence throughout the resource-rich region, with 4,500 permanent military personnel stationed in its Indian Ocean bases and 2,800 in the Pacific.

Australia, a Frances’s close ally, has also become increasingly alarmed at Beijing’s power and influence in the Pacific, which it claims could potentially upset the strategic balance in the region.

India and the US have recently engaged in talks to boost operational cooperation, including bilateral maritime security and open market trade, in the Indo-Pacific region.

Sailors work next to F-18 Hornet fighter jets on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on February 14, 2018, as the carrier strike group takes part in a routine deployment mission in the South China Sea. (Photo by AFP)

India has begun holding trilateral naval exercises with the US and Japan that military experts say could eventually include Australia as well.

The US has already announced plans seeking to confront China’s influential moves in the strategic region by enhancing its military presence there.

The United States has criticized China’s construction of islands and military facilities in the South China Sea, saying they could be used to restrict free nautical movement.

China says there is no issue with freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and opposes efforts to use it as an “excuse” to infringe on its sovereignty and security interests.

Source: Presstv