Monthly Archives: November 2018

8, November 2018

White House suspends press pass for CNN reporter after fiery exchange with Trump ⁰

The White House has suspended CNN correspondent Jim Acosta of his press credentials following his tense exchange with President Donald Trump during a press conference.

During Wednesday’s press conference at the White House, a combative Trump allowed Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, to ask his question only to cut him off shortly after and branding the journalist an “enemy of the people.”

A visibly angry Trump called Acosta a “rude, terrible person,” after he refused the president’s orders to sit down and give up the microphone during the conference one day after the US midterm congressional elections.

“CNN must be ashamed of itself having you working for them,” the president told Acosta. “You are a rude terrible person.”

Trump then asked another reporter to speak but Acosta refused to sit down. That prompted a White House aide to try to to pull the microphone from Acosta’s hands but the CNN reporter pushed her away and kept talking until Trump walked away from the podium as if he was going to leave the room.

Shortly after the heated moment, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced on Twitter that Acosta was suspended for “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”

“This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history,” she added.

CNN called the accusation a lie, arguing that Acosta was banned in retaliation for his challenging questions at today’s press conference.

“This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support,” the network said in a statement.

Acosta also accused the White House of making up lies and said the real reason behind the decision was that Trump didn’t want “to be called out on his falsehoods.”

During the press conference, Acosta asked Trump why during his midterm congressional rallies he falsely called a migrant caravan moving towards the US an “invasion” while they were hundreds of miles away in Mexico and “posed no threat to the US.”

Trump insisted in response that the caravan was indeed a threat and he would do all in his power to stop it.

Acosta then tried to slip in another question about the ongoing investigation into Trump’s alleged ties with Russia and whether he was concerned about indictments now that Democrats were in control of the House of Representatives.

“I’m not concerned about anything with the Russian investigation because it a hoax… that’s enough! Put down the mic!” Trump said in response.

It was not Trump’s only scrap with the media during the press conference as he shut down several other reporters in the same manner and proceeded to once again accuse some media of being the “enemy” of American people.

Source: Presstv

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons. The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers. However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization. It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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8, November 2018

Francophone Politics: Bread, Sardine and Condoms for Breafast That’s actually delicious ⁰

Cameroon will never be the same again. The whole world was anticipating that 85 year-old President Biya will step down in the best interest of the Cameroonian nation that is badly in search for greater peace, justice, development, unity and joy. It is abundantly clear that things have taking an excellent backward trend with condoms, bread and sardine now featuring prominent in Cameroonian politics.

To be sure, Cameroonians deserve to enjoy good living conditions, democratic governance, equity and freedom for their unbelievable tolerance and long – drawn hope which the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo (military and civilian) regime have always promised, at each election year.

Recently and particularly in French Cameroun innocent Francophone voters, youths and non-partisan technocrats have been regaled with flowery campaign promises, unimaginable project deliveries from French Cameroun’s old and new public office seekers.

This seventh mandate stolen from Prof Maurice Kamto and given to President Biya did not witness the furnace of chop – I – chop political tomfoolery. It however saw the rise of bread and sardine and the presidential distribution of condoms. The French Cameroun monarch did not even campaign but reportedly dispatched his desperate merchants who masqueraded as saviours of the Cameroonian nation and assailed the Francophone population with worn-out and empty promises.

The October 7 counterfeit presidential polls in French Cameroun revealed one small thing-small but great and it is that even the Bamileke and Hausa business communities including the clergy all live on politics. So, after 35 years as Head of State, all what a University of Sorbonne graduate is offering his people is sardine and bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The 2018 presidential elections were also quite apt for those French Cameroun CPDM professionals who make their fortunes when politics, especially campaigns, hot up.

This begs the question: Who were the immediate beneficiaries of the October 7 presidential poll? They included Chinese printers, French Cameroun textile merchants, carpenters, drivers, transporters, Makossa and Bikutsi musicians, news reporters, print and electronic media, food vendors, the Francophone dominated army, body guards, soothsayers, prayer warriors, native doctors, godfathers etc.

Partaking in the bread-sardine and condom party were respectable clergies such as the Arch Bishop of Yaounde and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. Food is indeed ready!! Enjoy your meal.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

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8, November 2018

IG says attacks on S. Cameroons increased after rigged presidential poll in La Republique ⁰

A senior aide to the Acting Ambazonian leader Dr Ikome Sako says the extent of French Cameroun military aggression on Southern Cameroons has intensified ever since the 85 year old Paul Biya was sworn-in after a rigged presidential poll. The Southern Cameroons prominent figure who is currently on Ground Zero and sued for anonymity told Cameroon Concord News that Southern Cameroonians were going to continue with the struggle for independence.

The top adviser to the Southern Cameroons Interim Government revealed that the IG had gotten intelligence detailing preparations for greater attacks in Mamfe, Fundong, Bamenda, Menji and Wum and added that the ongoing French Cameroun aggression on Southern Cameroons is being primarily planned, monitored and supported by the French government of President Macron.

Recently, the Ambazonian Communication Secretary Chris Anu told the BBC that all fiendish plots against Southern Cameroons are hatched by the Biya Francophone regime in Yaounde. Chris Anu also reportedly told the VOA that French Cameroun is speaking of peace at the same time that it is directing the Southern Cameroons war.

Chris Anu held the French Cameroun political leadership as the main culprit behind the genocide and crimes in Ambazonia, stating that Yaounde is making use of its well-known policy of deception. Mr Anu also spoke of the sacrifices made by Southern Cameroons restoration forces underlining that they have thwarted French Cameroun’ bids to take full control over the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Elsewhere, Acting President Ikome Sako was quoted as saying that the people of Southern Cameroons are resisting an all-out aggression, and they are rightful to defend themselves as well as their freedom and independence. Dr Sako also called upon Southern Cameroonians particularly those in the Diaspora to keep the financial donations coming to My Trip To Buea, saying, “Aggressors will dominate us if we sit idle and do nothing. Our desire for freedom prevents us from bowing down to criminals.”

President Biya and his ruling Beti Ewondo gang launched a devastating military campaign against Southern Cameroons, with the aim of crushing the Anglophone resistance. The war according to a new report published by Cameroon Intelligence Report has so far claimed the lives of some 4000 Southern Cameroons civilians including 1500 French Cameroun soldiers.

The Biya war has also taken a heavy toll on Southern Cameroon’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and roads. The UN has already said that a record 50,000 Southern Cameroonians have fled to neighboring Nigeria and are in dire need of food and medicine, including some 161,000 internal displaced persons threatened by severe hunger.

By Sama Ernest and Asu Vera Eyere

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8, November 2018

US: Trump claims Republicans won midterms, threatens Democrats ⁰

US President Donald Trump insists his Republican Party has won the 2018 midterm congressional elections despite losing the House of Representatives to Democrats, threatening the opposition party against using their newly found power in the lower chamber of Congress to hinder his political agenda.

The Republican head of state took to Twitter on Tuesday to take credit for his party’s success in widening their narrow majority in the Senate by winning more seats in midterms.

“Those that worked with me in this incredible Midterm Election, embracing certain policies and principles, did very well. Those that did not, say goodbye! Yesterday was such a very Big Win, and all under the pressure of a Nasty and Hostile Media!”

While Democrats were never projected as the favorites to flip the Senate, it is still surprising to see how they failed to make a splash despite receiving intense support from party heavyweights such as former President Barack Obama, former VP Joe Biden and former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

In a major blow to President Trump, Democrats score a critical victory by flipping the House of Representatives, while the Senate remains in Republican control.

Trump wrote only the “fake news” would refuse to “give us proper credit for this great Midterm Election.” Trump then went after Democrats, advising them against launching House level investigations into his administration like some party members have suggested.

“If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!”

Immediately after it became clear that Democrats had won the lower chamber of Congress for the first time in eight years, there were speculation that they would use the opportunity to give Trump more headache.

While impeachment seems a distant possibility now that Democrats have failed to secure a big enough majority, they still can put Trump under pressure by frustrating his legislative agenda and also dig deep into his business career.

The president has already been accused by Democrats of obstruction of justice in the ongoing investigation into his alleged ties with Russia which is led by Justice Department’s Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Trump took a jab at the probe in his post-election Twitter rant, calling it a “witch hunt.” Keeping control of the Senate was the highlight of the night for Republicans as they lost ground in pretty much every other aspect of the midterms.

In addition to losing the House, they were also projected to lose seven gubernatorial races to Democrats as well. Overall, however, it seems like Trump managed to do well enough in what shaped up as the first chance for many Americans to pass judgment about his presidency.

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8, November 2018

Germany says Europe must unite against Trump’s policies ⁰

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Wednesday urged European countries to respond to US President Donald Trump’s protectionist economic policies and unilateralist diplomacy with “Europe United”. “We must find an answer to the motto ‘America First’ on this side of the Atlantic and to me and to us, it’s clear that the response can only be ‘Europe United’,” Maas told reporters in Berlin, referring to Trump’s most famous catchphrase all along his campaign trail.

“We Europeans must cooperate even more closely which also means investing more into our own ability to act. That applies when it’s about fighting back punitive tariffs and it applies to security issues or the fight against climate change,” he went on to say.

Maas also pointed to the US midterm elections, in which Democrats managed to take the House of Representatives from Republicans, and said he expected Democrats to use their newfound power to influence Trump’s policies more heavily.

“We’ll see to what extent that has an impact. We hope that this cooperation will be constructive and lead to constructive results in international politics. We will very intensively look to contact those who were newly elected,” Maas noted.

The German foreign minister has time and again warned about the consequences of Trump’s unilateralist approaches toward other countries, urging fellow EU member states to unite against the US policies.

Trump’s decision to restrict imports from the European Union and his withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Climate Accord and the UN Commission on Human Rights, among others, have dealt a heavy blow to ties between Washington and European countries.

However, tensions escalated between the two sides after Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, but the EU announced it will preserve business with Iran and avoid renewed American sanctions.

In defiance of US policies, European countries have declared they would not cooperate with Washington on Iran sanctions, and promised to facilitate payments related to Iran’s exports as part of efforts to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after the US’ withdrawal.

Source: Presstv

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7, November 2018

PSS Nkwen Affair: Minister Tchiroma says 79 students kidnapped have been released ⁰

Cameroon’s Communications Minister Bakary Tchiroma said on Wednesday that “all 79 students have been released.”

He confirmed the news to AFP, without providing details of the circumstances under which they were set free.

The children, along with the school principle and driver, had been abducted by assailants who entered the Presbyterian Secondary School in Bamenda and took them away on a school bus on Monday.

An army spokesman had blamed separatists for the kidnapping, while a separatist spokesman had denied involvement in the incident. He had accused the government of having kidnapped the kids to discredit the rebels.

AFP said it had seen a six-minute video — which could not be independently verified — in which 11 boys, apparently aged above 15, are seen giving their identity and name of the school in English.

The boys were also seen saying that they were kidnapped by the “Amba Boys,” a name used for Anglophone separatists in the region.

Parents wait anxiously for news of their children at a school in Bamenda, on November 6, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

A minister of the Presbyterian Church, Samuel Finke, who earlier said that he had been mediating with the kidnappers for the children’s release, also confirmed their release on Wednesday.

He said that another 11 schoolchildren had been kidnapped by the same armed group on October 31 but that the school had quietly paid a ransom of $4,400 for their release.

UN calls for the children’s release

Also on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the children’s “immediate release and return to their homes and families.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres also renewed his appeal for an end to the crisis in the restive regions.

“There can be no justification for these crimes against civilians, particularly minors,” Guterres said via his spokesperson.

Violence in the separatist regions has been on the rise recently. The armed separatists have gunned down government troops and police, imposed curfews, and closed schools as part of their rebellion against the government, which has in response launched a massive crackdown on them.

Guterres renewed his call for a peaceful solution to the crisis and offered UN help to broker dialog.

Some non-governmental groups say at least 400 people have been killed in the violence.

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7, November 2018

France: 6 far-rightists nabbed over plot against President Macron ⁰

French domestic intelligence forces have arrested six people linked to ultra-right movements in the country on suspicion of planning a “violent” attack against President Emmanuel Macron.

One female and five male suspects, with ages ranging from 22 to 62, were taken into custody by the agents of France’s DGSI intelligence bureau, which did not identify the detainees, AFP reported Tuesday, citing sources close to the case.

According to the report, four of the suspects were arrested in the northeastern city of Moselle, within a close distance of the city of Verdun, where Macron was on a visit on Tuesday as part of week-long memorial festivities marking the end of World War I.

The other two suspects were seized in southeast and western France.

One source said the investigation of the case — by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, which handles terrorism inquires — is dealing with “a vague and ill-defined project at this stage.”

French President Macron stands at the cemetery by the Ossuary of Douaumont near Verdun on November 6, 2018, during ceremonies marking the centenary of the end of the First World War. (Photo by AFP)

The plot was not the first known attempt on the life of the French president. A 23-year-old man was charged in July 2017 with plotting to assassinate Macron at France’s Bastille Day military parade. Three kitchen knives were found in that suspect’s automobile, and analysis of his computer found that he had carried out internet searches as part of his scheme.

Several other suspected far-right members have been arrested since 2017 — the year Macron was elected president — after police found they might be preparing imminent attacks.

Thirteen suspects affiliated with the country’s far-right Action des Forces Operationnelles (Operational Forces Action) group were also arrested by France’s anti-terrorist forces over an alleged plot to wage attacks against Muslims.

Ten more people were also taken into custody in October 2017 over suspicions of aiming to target Muslims as well as politicians such as France’s far-left politicians Jean-Luc Melenchon and Christophe Castaner, who now serves as the country’s interior minister.

Castaner had warned on Monday that the nation remained “on alert” over what he referred to as threats posed by “extremist networks both on the right and left, which are quite active in our country.”

Macron himself warned of the threat from far-right movements across Europe in an interview earlier this week, saying complacency during the 1930s was what opened the way for the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Germany and fascist leader Benito Mussolini in Italy.

Culled from Presstv

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7, November 2018

Hollow and Symbolic Gesture: Biya Pledges More Powers for Anglophone Regions ⁰

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya pledged to give more powers to the central African nation’s regions, starting his seventh term in office with a call to separatist groups in the country’s English-speaking areas to end a bloody insurgency.

The speech to lawmakers marked only the second time that Biya, 85, publicly addressed the conflict that has left at least 400 people dead since it began two years ago. “I understand your problems, I know them and will do well to solve them,” Biya said Tuesday in the capital, Yaounde. “Government will accelerate the decentralization process in response to the desire of the population to manage their own affairs.”

Africa’s second-longest serving head of state easily won presidential elections last month that were overshadowed by the insurgency and a security clampdown that hindered voting in the two Anglophone regions. Cameroon is divided into 10 semi-autonomous regions, which are headed by governors appointed by Biya.

Biya didn’t mention the apparent kidnapping of 79 pupils and three staff members of a secondary school on Sunday near Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest. While details of the incident remain sketchy and responsibility for the kidnapping hasn’t been claimed, army spokesman Didier Badjeck said that military operations are underway to free them.

The unrest started with peaceful protests by teachers and lawyers in the English-speaking areas against the dominance of the French language. While initial protests focused on calls for decentralization, a majority of the population in the restive Northwest and Southwest regions is now believed to support separatism.

Opposition Arrests

Maurice Kamto, one of Biya’s opponents in the October polls, and some of his supporters were arrested Tuesday when they protested in the capital against the outcome of vote, according to a party official.

“Our president was also arrested but quickly released,” Ndong Christopher, secretary general of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, said by phone.

Source: Bloomberg

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7, November 2018

Biya Promises Defeat of Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces ⁰

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, the second longest serving African president at 36 years in power, has been inaugurated for another seven-year mandate. In his speech, Biya promised to defeat terrorism in the country but made no mention of 82 people kidnapped Monday in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region.

Cameroonians sang the national anthem Tuesday as Biya was sworn in.
In his speech, Biya promised to solve Cameroon’s problems and urged unity. He said they would continue fighting terrorism until separatists in the two English-speaking regions drop their guns or are defeated.

He says in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon, negative forces took advantage of some worker complaints to execute their separatist plans and acts of terrorism.

FILE - A bus burned by separatists in Akum, Cameroon, Sept. 9, 2018. — FILE – A bus burned by separatists in Akum, Cameroon, Sept. 9, 2018.

Violence broke out so the government responded with measures to preserve public order, he says, and assure the safety and security of people and their property. Secession is against Cameroon’s constitution, says Biya, and the indivisible nature of the nation.

Biya made no mention of gunmen kidnapping 79 students and three teachers on Monday from a school in the northwest region.

Cameroon authorities say the gunmen are separatists, while a separatist spokesman claims the military is framing them for the abduction.

On the walkway of Yaounde city council, hundreds of people displaced by the region’s fighting watched the inauguration on a giant-screen TV.

Fifty-five-year-old Julius Tetang says he has been hosting 30 displaced people from the English-speaking town of Mbengwi. He wants Biya to find a solution to the region’s unrest.

“They have about 18 secondary schools and none is going,” he said. “They have about 76 primary schools and all are empty. Most of the inhabitants have abandoned their areas. The rate of killings is heavy. People are running away from bullets.”

Cletus Fonyuy, 32, fled fighting in the English-speaking town of Kumbo. He says his wife and brother were killed last month in clashes.

“Mr. Biya has been given another chance to stop killing our people of the northwest and southwest regions,” he said. “He should ask his military to stop killing our people, these are our brothers. We are one so he should do something to show that we are one.”

Biya was declared the winner of the October 7 presidential poll with a landslide victory of 71 percent of the vote. His strongest challenger, Maurice Kamto, was a distant second with 14 percent.

FILE - Cameroonian President Paul Biya casts his ballot while his wife Chantal Biya watches at a polling station during the presidential election in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 7, 2018. — FILE – Cameroonian President Paul Biya casts his ballot while his wife Chantal Biya watches at a polling station during the presidential election in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 7, 2018.

Kamto and his supporters claim the poll was rigged by election bodies chosen by Biya and loyal to him. Security forces on Tuesday’s on stopped Kamto’s supporters from trying to protest Biya’s inauguration.

Christopher Bime, 24, says police prevented him from protesting what he called Biya’s stolen victory.

“So he has been there for 36 years, youths are suffering too much. Youth that have gone to school and they are having certificates in their pockets but they suffer all over the country,” he said.

Biya has been in power in Cameroon for over four decades — serving seven years as prime minister and 36 as president.

In 2008, he removed term limits from the constitution, allowing him to serve indefinitely.

When his new term is finished, he will be 93 years old.

Source: VOA

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7, November 2018

French Cameroun Monarch Tells Ambazonian Forces to Lay Down Arms ⁰

Cameroon’s president on Tuesday warned Anglophone separatists to lay down their arms or face the full force of the law, a day after dozens of schoolchildren were abducted in the rebel region.

Clashes between a secessionist movement and the army began more than a year ago in west Cameroon, killing over 400 civilians and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

On Monday, unidentified assailants kidnapped 79 children, their principal and a driver from the PSS Nkwen school in Bamenda in Northwest region and took them into the bush outside town, military and government sources said.

An army spokesman blamed separatists for Monday’s kidnapping. A separatist spokesman denied involvement and said government soldiers had carried it out, as a ploy to discredit the insurgents.

President Paul Biya, making an inauguration speech after re-election last month that extends his 36-year-old rule, did not mention the kidnapping but attacked the separatists.

‘Rigor of the law’

“They need to know that they will face the rigor of the law and the determination of our defense and security forces,” Biya said in the national assembly. “I appeal to them to lay down their arms.”

Last week, an American Baptist missionary was shot dead amid fighting between the army and separatists in Bamenda.

The secessionists have imposed curfews and closed schools as part of their rebellion against the French-speaking government, which they say has marginalized the Anglophone minority.

Samuel Fonki, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, said he had been mediating with the kidnappers for the children’s release. He said separatists were responsible.

The search for the children continued Tuesday. About 200 parents gathered outside the school, waiting to hear if their children were among those who had been abducted or had remained unharmed at the school.

Authorities denied parents access to the school, according to six parents and a security guard who spoke to Reuters.

The kidnapping was a chilling echo of the 2014 abduction of the Chibok girls by Boko Haram in neighboring Nigeria. There are no known links between the Cameroon separatists and the Nigerian Islamist militant group.

Culled from The VOA

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