Monthly Archives: January 2019

16, January 2019

“Trial of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is like playing with fire at a petrol station” ⁰

The Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides will again appear in the French Cameroun Yaounde Military Tribunal on the 7^th of February. The case has been in court for close to a year and now.

The Ambazonian chief executive and members of his cabinet are facing lame and ridiculous charges of terrorism, secession and civil war. Ever since their first appearance in court, Southern Cameroons territory has been rocked by ghost towns and intense fighting is currently going on.

The regime in Yaounde has never been this weak. Those who have been propping the government such as Minister Amadou Ali are gradually showing signs of fatigue. The shocking death of Foumane Akame-a senior Biya acolyte recently in Geneva also indicates that years of lying and defrauding the state are clearly taking a toll on the health of these key actors.

The French Cameroun economy is crumbling; the population has lost hope in the country. The government’s mismanagement of the country and its determination to hang on to power despite losing many elections has pushed the population into the worst form of despair.

This situation has been made all the more desperate by tribalism and nepotism which have become the government’s tools of administration par excellence. Tribalism that had very little space in Cameroon’s politics under the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo has become a key component of the country’s politics.

A baron of the regime was heard murmuring privately in Yaounde that the trial of the Ambazonian leader is like playing with fire at a petrol station and that their appearance in the Yaounde military court is fanning the flames of the crisis in Southern Cameroons which has resulted to various incessant clashes between French Cameroun security forces and the Ambazonian Restoration fighters.

By Sama Ernest and Kingsley Betek

16, January 2019

Deadly Nairobi Hotel Attack Under Control ⁰

The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab is claiming responsibility for Tuesday’s terrorist attack on a hotel and office complex in Nairobi, Kenya.

Police say at least 15 people were killed and a still undetermined number wounded. One report says an American and a British citizen are among the dead.

Kenya’s Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i says the country is safe and the situation under control. But gunshots could still be heard several hours after he made that pronouncement.

The attack on the DusitD2 complex began in mid-afternoon with an explosion outside a bank and a suicide bombing in the hotel lobby.

Four gunmen could be seen on surveillance video walking through the parking lot with at least one stopping to open fire.

Terrified office and hotel workers and guests ran for cover, streaming from the buildings, climbing out of windows, ducking behind police vehicles and anything they could find while gunfire echoed off the walls.

Police found a sad and grisly scene inside one of the restaurants — wounded and dead diners at their tables, slumped over unfinished meals.

Other witnesses say they found human limbs lying on the ground.

Witness Duran Farah told VOA he and some colleagues were entering the complex at the time of the attack.

“A loud explosion happened at the gate. Next there was shooting, an exchange of fire, a lot of fire, and we see people rushing and running around in every direction,” he said. He and his friends escaped by running down an alleyway.

Cars are seen on fire at the scene of explosions and gunshots in Nairobi, Kenya January 15, 2019.

The DusitD2 hotel and shops are in an upscale Nairobi neighborhood popular with American, European, and Indian tourists, although exactly who was targeted and why is unclear.

The militant Islamic Al-Shabab staged several previous attacks in Kenya, including the September 2013 assault on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall that left 67 dead.

The militants targeted Kenya after Kenyan forces entered Somalia in 2011 with al-Shabab as their target.

Rescuers and journalists evacuate an injured man from the scene where explosions and gunshots were heard at the Dusit hotel compound, in Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 15, 2019.

Tuesday’s attack comes one day after a Nairobi court said three men accused aiding the Westgate attack will be put on trial.

A State Department spokesperson tells VOA the U.S. embassy in Nairobi is closely watching the situation and “has actively offered assistance to local authorities.”

VOA

15, January 2019

US: Government shutdown enters 25th day amid gridlock ⁰

US President Donald Trump has reiterated his demand for border wall funding as the partial government shutdown enters its 25th day.

Trump again urged Congress on Monday to give him the money to build his long-promised wall along the US-Mexican border.

Speaking at an American Farm Bureau convention in New Orleans, Trump rejected a Republican call for temporarily reopening shuttered US government agencies in order to encourage negotiations with Democrats on border security issues.

Democrats, who control the House, have rejected Trump’s $5.7 billion demand for a border wall.

He threatened to continue with the government shutdown for as long as it takes to get Congress’ approval for the wall funding across the southern border with Mexico.

PressTV-Trump: Shutdown could last ‘months or even years’

On the other side of the argument, Democrats say that there are cheaper and more effective ways than a wall to strengthen border security.

They have offered to give Trump $1.3 billion in new border security funds this year to help pay for a range of high-tech and other tools to enhance security at the southern border.

Constructing a wall along the US-Mexican border could cost way above $25 billion, according to Trump’s critics in the Democratic Party.

In the meantime, Trump was scheduled to meet members of Congress for lunch at the White House on Tuesday.

It was not announced who would be at the lunch; however, media reports cited unnamed sources as saying a group of more moderate lawmakers from the Democratic Party had been invited.

Until now Democratic lawmakers, who make up the majority of the House, have rejected Trump’s demand for funding Trump’s “big, beautiful wall”.

In an effort to restart talks with Democrats, on Sunday the powerful Judiciary Committee’s new chairman, South Carolinian Senator Lindsey Graham urged Trump to reopen the government for a short period of time.

PressTV-Graham urges Trump to reopen govt., he refuses

Temporarily reopening the government and then holding talks is an idea that the Democrats support.

The partial shutdown, which affects about 800,000 federal workers, has been the longest shutdown in the history of the United States.

Source: Presstv

15, January 2019

Kenya: Blast, gunfire reported at upscale hotel complex in Nairobi ⁰

Gunmen attacked an upscale hotel complex in Kenya’s capital Nairobi on Tuesday, sending people fleeing in panic as explosions and heavy gunfire reverberated through the neighbourhood. At least one person was killed and eight others were injured in the attack, hospital officials said. An AFP reporter said the death toll was at least five. Al Shabaab – the Somalia-based extremist group that carried out the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi that left 67 people dead – claimed responsibility for the assault and said its members were still fighting inside.

Kenya police chief Joseph Boinnet told reporters armed assailants could still be in the building and the police operation was ongoing. The complex in Nairobi’s Westlands neighborhood includes a large hotel known as DusitD2, along with banks and offices. Several vehicles burned. People were rushed, some carried, from the scene. At least one was on a stretcher. Some ducked behind cars, screaming. Others appeared to take cover behind fountains and other features in the lush outdoor complex. “It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible. I have seen a human as I ran out and there is what looks like minced meat all over,” said one man who said he ran from the scene, Charles Njenga. Another man, who did not give his name, said he hid in an office. “I have been hiding. My colleagues were running everywhere,” he said, breathing heavily.

Another witness, Robert Murire, said he saw at least two bodies at the scene, along with attackers wearing green and wrapped in ammunition. It was not clear how many attackers took part. Gunfire continued several minutes after the first reports as ambulances, security forces and firefighters rushed to the scene. Black smoke rose from the complex. A bomb disposal unit arrived, and vehicles were cordoned off for fear they contained explosives. Police said they detonated a car that had explosives inside.

An unexploded grenade was also seen in a hallway at the complex. What appeared to be plainclothes security forces inched their way toward the scene, guns in hand. “We have sent officers to the scene, including from the anti-terrorism unit, but so far we have no more information,” police spokesman Charles Owino said.

A large group of women were hurried out by security forces, one woman still in curlers. Dozens of others were hurried away as plainclothes officers went shop to shop in the complex. Some people held up their hands to show they were unarmed. Al Shabaab has vowed retribution against Kenya for sending troops to Somalia since 2011. The al Qaeda-linked group has killed hundreds of people in Kenya, which has been targeted more than any other of the six countries providing troops to an African Union force in Somalia.

The attack immediately reminded many Kenyans of the Westgate Mall attack, when al Shabaab extremists burst into the luxury shopping center, hurling grenades and starting a days-long siege. The hotel complex under attack is less than 2 kilometers from Westgate Mall and is in what is considered one of the most secure areas of the city. It lies on a relatively quiet, tree-lined road near a main avenue. Its website says it is “cocooned away from the hustle and bustle in a secure and peaceful haven.” The attack came three years to the day after al Shabaab extremists attacked a Kenyan military base in Somalia, killing scores of people.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

15, January 2019

International Criminal Court: Laurent Gbagbo, the strongman who refused to let go ⁰

The International Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo of crimes against humanity, marking the latest dramatic twist in the career of one of West Africa’s most divisive politicians. After seven years behind bars in The Hague, Gbagbo, 73, was cleared of crimes committed following a disputed presidential election in 2010. More than 3,000 people were killed in the cocoa-producing nation after he refused to accept defeat by his rival Alassane Ouattara, Ivory Coast’s current president. Gbagbo, a onetime socialist and labour activist, was the first former head of state to stand trial at the ICC. The judges’ ruling means he will now be released from jail – a familiar routine for a man who spent decades battling power-hungry strongmen, only to become one himself. The opponent Gbagbo, then a university lecturer with a PhD in history, was first jailed for “subversive” teaching in 1971, during the rule of Ivory Coast’s independence leader, president Houphouet-Boigny. The man nicknamed “Cicero”, because of his taste for Latin, would be among the first to defy Houphouet-Boigny, first as a trade union activist and then as a left-wing politician. A skilled orator whose affable manners concealed a ferocious determination, Gbagbo sought exile in Paris in 1982, cultivating ties with prominent socialist figures in France – ties that would endure during later crises with the former colonial power. He founded the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) in exile, returning only in 1988 to attend its founding congress. Further stints in jail would soon follow.

Laurent Gbagbo, leader of the opposition Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), gives a press conference on August 1992 in Abidjan, shortly after his release from jail. Issouf Sanogo, AFP

His first shot at the presidency, in 1990, ended in crushing defeat to Houphouet-Boigny, then in his seventh term, though it cemented Gbagbo’s position as opposition leader. Two years later he was again jailed for his part in student protests against the government of prime minister Alassane Ouattara. The two would meet again. In 1993, the rise to power of Henri Konan Bédié coincided with mounting xenophobia in Ivory Coast, instigated by the notion of “Ivoirité” (Ivorianness), and Gbagbo was accused of jumping on the nationalist bandwagon too. Ivoirité paid dividends in 2000 when Gbagbo won a disputed presidential election in which Ouattara, a Muslim whose nationality was disputed, was barred from running.

Laurent Gbagbo smiles as he his sworn as Ivory Coast’s new president on October 26, 2000. Issouf Sanogo, AFP

Civil war Gbagbo’s decade in power was marked by years of civil war, triggered by a failed coup in October 2002 that resulted in rebels seizing the country’s mainly Muslim north. His supporters, notably the Young Patriots that policed the streets, were accused of carrying out xenophobic attacks against northerners and foreigners. As the war dragged on, Gbagbo’s camp became increasingly frustrated with a peacekeeping force deployed by France, which it accused of undermining the country’s unity. The anger boiled over in 2004 after nine French soldiers were killed in an Ivorian air strike against rebels, prompting France to destroy the country’s air force in retaliatory attacks. Gbagbo supporters vented their fury at French expatriates, forcing Paris to hurriedly evacuate some 8,000 people.

President Laurent Gbagbo meets his French counterpart Jacques Chirac at the Elysée palace in Paris in February 2004. Patrick Kovarik, AFP

As Gbagbo’s first term drew to a close in 2005, elections were repeatedly delayed, with postponements blamed on logistical failings and a row over eligibility to vote, centered on the question of who was and who wasn’t Ivorian. Unable to recapture the north militarily, Gbagbo signed a peace and power-sharing arrangement in March 2007 with rebel leader Guillaume Soro, who later became his prime minister. Three years later, the president and opposition leaders finally agreed to hold elections, which soon shaped up into a showdown between old rivals Gbagbo and Ouattara.

Gbagbo shakes hands with rebel chief Guillaume Soro (right) and Burkina Faso leader Blaise Compaore (centre) in March 2007 before signing a peace deal to end years of civil war. Issouf Sanogo, AFP

A bloody denouement In December 2010, Ouattara was declared the winner of a run-off vote, only for the Constitutional Court, controlled by Gbagbo supporters, to overturn the verdict 24 hours later. The ensuing power struggle would bring further bloodshed to the war-scarred nation, until Ouattara’s forces, backed by French troops, stormed the president’s compound in April 2011.

Gbagbo and his wife Simone are under arrest in their Abidjan residence on April 11, 2011. AFP file photo

Later that year, the ICC opened an investigation into the violence and charged Gbagbo with four crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution and rape. He adamantly denied the charges, saying: “All my life, I fought for democracy.” Gbagbo maintained a strong following even while in jail, and news of his acquittal prompted celebrations in his Ivorian hometown of Gagnoa and other former bastions. His release comes just months after his wife Simone also walked free. Sentenced to 20 years in jail by a local court, the former “Iron Lady” of Ivory Coast was granted an amnesty by Ouattara after seven years in detention.

Source: France24

15, January 2019

Ambazonia and the Nsalai Law Firm: Extending the frontiers of genocide ⁰

Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report have seen an alleged complaint filed against Cameroon Concord Person of the Year Communication Secretary of the Ambazonian Interim Government (IG) Chris Anu by a front for the genocidal regime of French Cameroun so-called Nsalai Law Firm, of 3250 Wilshire Blvd Ste 1500 Los Angeles, CA 90010. The so-called complaint is nothing but another attempt by French Cameroun to extend the frontiers of its genocidal Campaign against Ambazonia and persons of Ambazonia origin residing in foreign countries based on their Ambazonia nationality, or ethnicity.

The determination by French Cameroun to extend the frontiers of its preplanned genocidal campaign was obvious from the abduction of the President of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the Interim Government followed by the abduction of 36 other Ambazonia refugees in Taraba state of Nigeria and 8 others in Calabar. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of others have died or massacred in cross-border attacks in their places of refuge in Nigeria. These cross-border massacres have been facilitated by a cartel of corrupt deal makers in the immediate intelligence and political entourage of President Mohammadu Buhari of Nigeria.

Cameroon Concord News Group can authoritatively assert with proof that Hon Chris Anu is targeted because of his ferocious opposition to the genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and international conspiracies by criminal networks to launder these crimes across international borders. By this act of blackmail, the Nsalai Law Firm has emerged as one of the kingpins of this international conspiracy. The action of the Nsalai Law Firm comes on the hills of repeated failed international warrants of arrests issued by Martin Mbarga Nguele, the Delegate General of National Security of French Cameroun for the arrest of Secretary Chris Anu and Southern Cameroons-Ambazonians who are standing between the criminal conduct of French Cameroun and the genocide of Ambazonians. The successful campaign against these international crimes led by Secretary Chris Anu and the international reaction is eliciting and has alarmed and overwhelmed the genocidal regime. The crime syndicate has awoken to the reality that at long last, its many criminal tentacles notwithstanding, its days of accountability for the impunity and international criminality are near, hence the desperate resort to blackmail using infantile antics and tactics such as the so-called complaint brought Nsalai Law Firm to a US congressman.

The so-called Law Firm pompously style “International Law Firm” whatever that means, is nothing but a sham, a fey man’s scheme intended to blackmail and distract the attention of Secretary Chris Anu, the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and Ambazonians engaged in the struggle to defend the civilian population of Ambazonia, from defending and protecting the people of Ambazonia. Pursuing accountability by the criminal regime of French Cameroun for the impunity and criminality of its criminal conduct is a nightmare to the crime syndicate. The resort to blackmail through smear campaigners such as the Nsalai Law Firm, abductions, assassination plots and even corruption are desperate attempts to subvert the efforts by campaigners for self-defense, accountability and international justice and an end to impunity. Hon Chris Anu has distinguished himself as an advocate of true American values of fighting international criminality. Thanks to his efforts and that of many Southern Cameroons leaders and activists, the voices of the victims of genocide are being heard world-wide, in the parliaments of democratic countries such as the USA, Britain, Canada, Germany etc. For this purpose, only a demented lawyer can urge a Congressman to interfere with the constitutionally protected rights of a US victims’ rights advocate through blackmail that benefits the perpetrator of the crimes against which his campaign is targeting. This desperate attempt by Paul Biya and his crime syndicate to attain their target in the US and other parts of the civilized world through these dire failed tactics must fail.

The Nsalai Law Firm is retained for this blackmail with money stolen from the rape of the natural and petroleum resources of the Southern Cameroons- Ambazonia. Money obtained from the plunder of the resources of Ambazonia has been used to commit sordid crimes such as abductions and the blackmail and threats against Ambazonia activists residing in the USA and other countries. A close reading of the so-called complaint establishes that it is not meant to succeed or be acted upon. It is a scheme to justify further criminal activities by French Cameroun which the lobbyists it retained could not accept to carryout for fear of violating US law.

The so-called Nsalai Law Firm, as its address portray, is based in Los Angeles, California. What mandate does this so-called firm have apart from blackmail in requesting a congressman in New Hampshire to investigate one of his constituents for alleged federal crimes when the congress man is not a law enforcement agent? The complainant must have inherited the criminal mindset of his deceased father who as a member of the Biya crime syndicate spied on and betrayed Southern Cameroonians. Many were tracked down and detained or killed for agitating for their freedom from the grips of the genocidal regime. His father like his son in this action did not require legitimate law enforcement to satisfy his pecuniary interests through criminal services to his master and god Paul Biya. He used every means including blackmail, extra-judicial abductions, detentions and disappearances. Unfortunately for his adventurous son, he is in a different world where the rule of law is alive. The American Constitution stands as a shield against the actions of the crime syndicate through the Nsalai Law Firm and the lobbyists retained by Biya to propagate the blackmail hoping to shift the focus on the international crimes committed by Paul Biya which have been denounced by the USA and other Governments and International Organizations.

The quality of legal practice of this individual must be called to question even by laymen whom we are in law. Some years back, he brought a frivolous case against SONEL for unidentified clients in a California Court. That case was a scam on the public and some gullible people who believed that a US court in California could entertain such a frivolous litigation without jurisdiction. The case died off and no one has heard about it ever. This did not deter this law firm from bringing a similar frivolous law suit against Tapang Ivo in California where he does not reside and for alleged acts which were neither committed within the jurisdiction of the said court, nor against identifiable US citizens residing within the jurisdiction of the said court. The complaint against the Hon Chris Anu to a US congressman in New Hampshire by this law firm authorized to practice law in California warrants investigation of the law firm for competency to practice law at all.

It is an open secret known to the Hon US Congressman that the genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and multiple violations against Southern Cameroons have been subject of US Congressional hearings. Politicians, activists, experts and officials of the US State Department have testified before the US Congress about the monstrous violations committed by the genocidal regime of French Cameroun in and out of the territory of Ambazonia. The US Congressman to whom he filed his blackmailing complaint may have watched thousands of Ambazonians in the US take to the streets of Washington DC and New York to protest and appeal and ask for urgent US and UN intervention to halt the genocide and bring the perpetrators to account for their crimes. The Congressman may have listened to the UN Security Council debate urging French Cameroun to abate the crimes and for full accountability for their crimes. The UN Congressman may be aware of the towering and commendable effort made by the Hon Chris Anu, the Interim Government and multiple, individual and collective efforts by Ambazonians the world over and at home to defend the people against the genocide and to assist hundreds of thousands of refugees in neighbouring countries and internally displaced. He may have seen reports of hundreds of civilian settlements torched by French Cameroun soldiers and the use of chemical weapons to exterminate Southern Cameroons-Ambazonian citizens. He may have read reports of the rape of girls in the University of Buea, the use of rape as weapons of war to humiliate and dehumanize Southern Cameroons women and girls by Cameroun soldiers on the orders of their superiors. He must have learnt of the abduction, detention and forceful deportation of Americans of Southern Cameroons origin who arrived Cameroun with valid visas on the sole basis of their Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia citizenship or affinity.

The government of French Cameroun has not denied any of these crimes and indeed one of its generals Brigadier Melingui confessed that soldiers under his command torched civilian settlements on a widespread and systematic basis and rather than punish the soldiers, he was relieved of his command. Also, the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu, one UM II signed a deportation order forcing hundreds of thousands of Ambazonia citizens from their ancestral lands to Nigeria and then ordered a systematic looting and torching of the civilian settlements. One George Tabetando boasted to an audience in Buea that he and Mafany Musonge approached Paul Biya to impose an internet ban in the territory of Ambazonia which lasted three months. Mafany Musonge denied his involvement in this criminal act. The US Congressman may have read reports of this internet ban of three months, the longest in the world. This criminal conduct which was facilitated by internet providers among them MTN which is listed in the New York Stock Exchange and thus subject to US law, was intended to conceal international media scrutiny of the elaborate crimes that are perpetrated by the genocidal regime of French Cameroun. The US Congressman may be aware that thousands of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia citizens are abducted from their homes and carried to detention and concentration centres in French Cameroun and subjected to a Beti-Bulu ethnic constituted court-martial.

The efforts of Secretary Chris Anu in denouncing these crimes and mobilizing the civilized world to urgently intervene and to hold the criminals to account earned him the Cameroon Concord News Group Man of the Year Award. Cameroon Concord News and the Cameroon Intelligence Report stand by him against the smear campaign and blackmail by the crime syndicate this time using its front the Nsalai Law Firm. This blackmail must be countered by advocates of the international rule of law and all international victims’ organizations out to confront the ongoing genocide in the Southern Cameroons- Amabazonia. Cameroon Concord News Group calls on the California bar association to urgently conduct an investigation on the potentially unprofessional, unethical and criminal activities of this law firm and mete out the appropriate sanctions provided by the ethical code of conduct of the bar.

Cameroon Concord News Group strongly urge victims’ rights association worldwide to stand with the Ambazonia people. They should harken to the call by Hon Chris Anu, the Interim Government of Ambazonia, Ambazonia Rights Activists and all Ambazonians for the immediate and unconditional freedom of the President of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, members of the IG and thousands of Ambazonians held in captivity. They should support the call for the disbanding of the ethnically composed legal wing established to enforce the genocide so-called court-martial. The international community and victims’ rights organisations worldwide should strongly support the fight against genocide, impunity and international criminality committed by the government of French Cameroun against the territory and people of Ambazonia. This struggle must be fought and won and the criminal bands committing the genocide must vacate the territory of an independent and free Ambazonia. Cameroon Concord News Group once more congratulate Hon Secretary Chris Anu for winning the Cameroon Concord Person of the Year Award based on his distinguished efforts at alerting the conscience of the free world to the genocide in the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia and his crusade for accountability and an end to impunity of French Cameroun.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-in-Chief

15, January 2019

Villages in Cameroon’s Adamawa region deserted due to growing abduction cases ⁰

Leading figures in Cameroon like politicians and legal professionals have expressed their concerns over the increasing number of abduction cases in its mountainous Adamawa region. The region representative Theophile Baoro has expressed his concerns to the media persons at an emergency meeting.

“Adamawa is going through the worst moments in its history. We are worried. Abductions and paying ransom is now very common in the region. Villages have been deserted and the economy is crumbling,” Theophile Baoro opined.

In the year 2018, around 150 abduction cases have been noted as revealed by the local authorities. At least 500 million fcfa (about 900,000 US dollars) is estimated to have been paid as ransom, as reported by CGTN Africa. Whereas, three pastoralists were captured and assassinated by the kidnappers in December 2018.

“We are hoping that the population will work hand in hand with the security forces to end this nightmare,” Baoro said. “These are armed robbers looking for victims. They have been terrorizing the population for money. They mostly operate in villages and along the highway,” a local person told Xinhua.

Xinhua

15, January 2019

Cameroon tops list for internet disruptions and holds the record for Africa’s longest internet shutdown ⁰

Autocratic leaders in Africa are increasingly relying on internet blackouts to silence young people who use social media to mobilise against post-colonial political structures across the continent.

Imagine being charged for every tweet or having no access to the internet for months on end. These are just some of the challenges that millions of young Africans face regularly.

Authoritarian leaders from every part of the continent have realised it is not enough to blacken TV screens or hand in headlines to the press anymore. They also need to shut down social media – where young people engage with the world and express anti-establishment views.

Berhan Taye, leading the #KeepItOn campaign from Access Now, an advocacy group which defends the digital rights of users, believes internet shutdowns are an extension of traditional censorship.

“With a few exceptions, many countries that shut down the internet restrict the free press and violate human rights,” Taye told TRT World, “So the internet and social media shutdowns are an extension of these traditional means of censorship.”

Cameroon tops the list for internet disruptions in Facebook’s 2018 Transparency report and holds the record for Africa’s longest internet shutdown. Following protests in the Anglophone southwest and northwest regions against systematic social, political and economic discrimination, the Francophone-dominated government either completely shut down, or significantly slowed down, the internet to silence dissidents.

To maintain his 37-year-old regime Cameroonian president Paul Biya shut down the internet for more than 40 weeks, intermittently, between January 2017 and June 2018.

“This is the first crisis in Cameroon wherein the internet has played a major role. The youths who mostly use the internet have raised awareness… brought the attention of the international community to the situation in Cameroon,” barrister Agbor Nkongho, President of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA), told TRT World.

A man holds a paper with the writing in French “A call to dismiss the dictator” in front of a crowd of supporters of the leader of the Cameroonian opposition party Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) during an electoral campaign rally on Sunday prior to the Oct. 2018 national vote (AFP)

Recently in Sudan, when the rise in bread and fuel prices triggered nationwide protests across the country, 75-year-old Omar Al Bashir blocked access to popular social media platforms used to organise anti-government protests to protect his 29-year rule.

In a country where the state tightly controls traditional media, the internet has become a key information battleground for the Sudanese youth. Of Sudan’s 40 million people, some 13 million frequently use the internet and more than 28 million own mobile phones.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, outgoing President Joseph Kabila—who delayed elections for two years to stay in power—has frequently used the shutdown of internet and SMS services as a tool to suppress anti-government protests.

Last May, Uganda implemented a tax on 58 different social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Skype. The tax is designed to charge Ugandans 200 shillings ($0.05) per day, a significant amount of money in a country where 25 percent of the population lives below the poverty line ($1.25 a day, or around 4,500 shillings).

The ban was the latest attempt by 74-year-old President Yoweri Museveni, who defended the tax saying “social media use is definitely a luxury item”.

But it backfired, and the backlash was fierce. Young Ugandans, who organised online under #NoSocialMediaTax and #ThisTaxMustGo hashtags, poured into the streets of the capital city Kampala to express their anger against the government. Following the public outcry, the government announced its decision to review the tax in July last year. People are currently still being charged the tax.

However, the social media tax controversy shed light on the deep clash of generations between the old authoritarian rulers and the younger generation.

- In this Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017 file photo, a man holds a banner as Gambians cheers in Serrekunda, Gambia. Gambians heaved a sigh of relief when longtime dictator Yahya Jammeh flew into exile in early 2017 after a surprise election defeat. Two years after a — – In this Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017 file photo, a man holds a banner as Gambians cheers in Serrekunda, Gambia. Gambians heaved a sigh of relief when longtime dictator Yahya Jammeh flew into exile in early 2017 after a surprise election defeat. Two years after a “new Gambia” emerged from the shadows, the West African nation now begins to address the alleged human rights abuses committed over more than two decades. (AP)

Generational clash

Uganda is one of the youngest nations in the world, where 78 percent of its population is under 30. For most Ugandans, Museveni is the only president they’ve ever known. This vast group of young people, suffering from high unemployment and political exclusion, see a government that does not represent them nor understand the challenges they face.

As a result, instead of consuming traditional media, such as state-controlled TV or newspapers, they turn to the internet and social media to grow their businesses, get educated and informed about the latest trends, and express their frustration with the government.

The clash of generations in Uganda is a microcosm of what has been happening across the world’s youngest continent, where 60 percent of the population is under 25 years old.

Africa’s largest country, Nigeria, ruled by the 75-year-old Muhammadu Buhari, has a median age of just 18.4 years, while 84-year-old Paul Biya has been ruling Cameroon for 36 years, where the median age is 18.5 years old, meaning a gap of 65.5 years.

Tradition and technology is not a zero-sum game

Far from being understood and having their socio-economic struggles recognised by the state as a priority, young Africans raise their critical voices online and form anti-establishment political movements over the internet.

By demanding more comprehensive democratic reforms, inclusive economic models and quality education and infrastructure, they challenge old-fashioned, elite-controlled, post-colonial political systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Taye said: “In countries where censorship is extreme, the internet and social media have given many young people that are fighting injustice the ability to reach many people and rally folks for change.”

She continued: “Even though traditional media houses were heavily censored, many used social media to show the world the injustice perpetrated by federal and regional forces, and provide momentum when the movement was fading from the international press.”

The pop-star-turned-parliamentarian Bobi Wine raises his anti-establishment voice in the Ugandan parliament and his digital activism also has an enormous impact on young Ugandans.

Boniface Mwangi, a Kenyan human rights activist, rising from the digital world, has been a critical voice against police brutality and post-election violence in Kenya. In Nigeria, the collective youth movement #NotTooYoungToRun aims to change the age-dominated political scene and push for an inclusive political structure for young people.

Taye said: “Young activists… are the vanguards that are using social media to challenge the structures that have instilled fear, injustice, and poverty in the African continent. And they are a threat to the all that want to continue to perpetuate fear and injustice.”

Protesters pose with a police shield outside the parliament in Ouagadougou on October 30, 2014. (AFP)

Many autocrats on the continent have witnessed what youth movements, which mobilise and organise on social media, are capable of. Their extensive use of the internet and frustration toward established political structures have brought considerable changes over the past years in West Africa.

When then-president of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore – who had ruled the country since 1987 – decided to run for the 2015 general elections, despite the constitutional two-term limit, no one could have guessed that his decision would trigger a massive protest movement that eventually led to the “Burkinabe Spring”.

Huge protests spread across the country and put an end to the 27 years of Compaore rule. Behind the nationwide protests that overthrew Compaore, lay a youth movement, Balai Citoyen (English: Citizens Broom), which was founded by a few musicians and grew through social media, driving thousands of young people to the streets.

When Gambia ’s then-president Yahya Jammeh did not recognise election results and refused to hand over power in 2016, a hashtag campaign #GambiaHasDecided spread and brought regional and international attention to the brutal 22-year regime in the Gambia.

“Social media has forever changed the dynamics of politics in Africa,” said Raffie Diab, one of the founding leaders of the #GambiaHasDecided movement.

Leaders like Museveni strictly control and censor the internet in a bid to stop any possible opposition through social media. However, autocrats across the continent have seen that the strategy can backfire – and as the internet continues to empower African youth, leaders will need to find new strategies to win them over, or risk losing their grip on power.

Culled from Trtworld.com

15, January 2019

How Dr Kwameh Nkrumah’s 1959 visit proves that the one and indivisible Cameroon mantra is a hoax ⁰

In 1959, at the invitation of the government of Southern Cameroons, Ghanaian President Kwameh Nkrumah visited Southern Cameroon and was welcome at the Tiko International airport by then out-going Premier, Dr. EML Endeley and the incoming Prime Minister-elect, JN Foncha, after the 1959 general election victory of the KNDP.

Dr Nkrumah left Tiko and flew back to Accra; he did not go to Yaounde or Dschang or Nkongsamba. CPDM regime sycophants and apologists of monolithic hangover can now see that the one, united and indivisible Cameroon mantra is a hoax.

Southern Cameroons was a country of its own, with all the appurtenances of a nation state – a government, its own police force, Parliament and a Senate called House of Chiefs. Southern Cameroons was never part of French Cameroun and Nkrumah’s visit proved this historic fact beyond reasonable doubt.

15, January 2019

President Ali Bongo returns to Gabon ⁰

President Ali Bongo returned to Gabon on Monday after a three-month medical leave during which a coup attempt was thwarted, two government sources told Reuters.

His return comes a week after a small military group took over the state radio station. The move to grab power was quickly halted but exposed growing frustration in the oil-producing country over Bongo’s secretive absence.

Bongo suffered the stroke during a conference in Saudi Arabia in October and was flown to Morocco in November for treatment.

He has appeared in television clips in recent weeks, including a New Year’s address in which he slurred his speech and appeared unable to move his right arm. It is not clear if he can walk.

Bongo appointed a new government on Saturday in an apparent effort to shore up his political base, including the nomination of Julien Nkoghe Bekale as prime minister.

The new government will be sworn in in Bongo’s presence on Tuesday, the two sources said. The media will not be allowed to attend.

The Bongo family has ruled Gabon for over 50 years. Ali Bongo took over upon his father Omar’s death in 2009. Ali Bongo won re-election in 2016 by fewer than 6,000 votes amid widespread accusations of fraud, sparking deadly clashes between protesters and police during which the parliament was torched.

REUTERS