Monthly Archives: December 2019

25, December 2019

Pope’s Christmas message: ”God continues to love us all, even the worst of us” ⁰

Pope Francis ushered in Christmas celebrations for the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics on Tuesday, saying the celebration of Jesus’s birth reminded humanity how “God continues to love us all, even the worst of us”.

The pontiff told crowds gathered at the Vatican for his Christmas Eve Mass: “You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you.”

Pilgrims from around the world had gathered earlier on Tuesday in the biblical town of Bethlehem, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus.

Thousands of Palestinians and foreigners converged on the “little town” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with Christmas Eve festivities taking place in and around the Church of the Nativity.

The Middle East’s most senior Roman Catholic, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived from Jerusalem at the head of a procession.

Pizzaballa, who had to cross Israel’s separation barrier to get to Bethlehem, said after his arrival that it was a difficult time but there was reason for hope.

“We see in this period the weakness of politics, enormous economic problems, unemployment, problems in families,” he said.

“On the other side, when I visit families, parishes, communities, I see a lot of commitment… for the future. Christmas is for us to celebrate the hope.”

In the square outside the church, a few thousand people watched in the winter sun as Palestinian scouts paraded in front of a giant Christmas tree.

(AFP)

24, December 2019

World pilgrims flock to Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations ⁰

Christian pilgrims from around the world have gathered in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, as local Palestinians suffer from decades of Israeli occupation.

Thousands of Palestinians and foreigners began converging early Tuesday morning on the “little town” in Bethlehem, as the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ, to hold Christmas Eve festivities in and around the Church of the Nativity.

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the most senior Roman Catholic official in the Middle East, who traveled from the holy city to Bethlehem, is scheduled to lead midnight mass at the church in the presence of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Pizzaballa said although it was a difficult time, there was reason for “hope.”

“We see in this period the weakness of politics, enormous economic problems, unemployment, problems in families — so when we look at this reality, we could say that there is nothing to hope for,” he said.

“On the other side, when I visit families, parishes, communities, I see a lot of commitment… for the future. Christmas is for us to celebrate the hope,” he added.

Rula Maaya, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of the Palestinian Authority, said the number of foreign tourists visiting the West Bank increased from three million in 2018 to 3.5 million in 2019.

She added that at least 15,000 pilgrims were staying overnight in Bethlehem for Christmas, adding, “All hotels in the city are full today.”

Tourists queued in the morning to visit the grotto inside the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the exact site where Jesus was born.

Fewer Christians from the Gaza Strip were in attendance due to the Israel regime’s restrictions on issuing permits.

Israel granted permits to just around 200 of the roughly 900 people who applied, Wadie Abunassar, an adviser to church leaders in the Holy Land, told the AFP.

Bethlehem is close to Jerusalem al-Quds, but cut off from the holy city by Israel’s separation wall. Israel began building the barrier in 2002 which runs through the West Bank, separating Israeli Jews from Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

Source: Presstv

24, December 2019

Caf considering moving 2021 Afcon back to January or February ⁰

The 2019 Afcon finals were held in June/July, a departure from the traditional period where it was staged at the start of the year

Caf president Ahmad Ahmad says the dates to host the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations could be reverted to the old calendar due to unfavourable June and July climatic conditions in Cameroon who are set to host the tournament.

This year, Egypt hosted the Afcon finals in June and July as the tournament was moved from the traditional January and February period.

With rains expected in the middle of the year in Cameroon’s tropical climatic conditions, Ahmad feels it is not conducive to have the Afcon staged then.

The Caf boss said the continental football governing body will “take a decision” on what would be the appropriate dates to host the 2021 edition.

“When we took the decision to move the Africa Cup of Nations to June, which we did for the last tournament in Egypt, we have always said that we need to have some flexibility over the dates,” Ahmad told Inside World Football.

“This is because of the different climatic conditions in the continent. In my view, it is not possible, because of the climatic conditions in Cameroon, to stage the Africa Cup of Nations in June/July. This is clear, so we must take a decision on the date.”

Also the expanded Fifa Club World Cup could force the 2021 Afcon tournament to be revised back to January/February anyway.

The Club World Cup is set to be played from June 17 to July 4 2021, while the Afcon dates have been tentatively set for June 11 to July 9, placing the two tournaments on each other’s way.

Source: Goal.com

24, December 2019

France carries out first armed drone strike in Mali ⁰

France’s armed forces said Monday it had carried out a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali at the weekend in which it said 40 “terrorists” were killed.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that French forces had “neutralised” 33 jihadists in the central Malian region of Mopti, in an operation that had started the previous night.

In a statement, the French military command said the drone strike happened during a follow-up operation Saturday in which another seven jihadist fighters were killed.

As French commandos were searching the combat zone in Ouagadou forest, 150 kilometres (90 miles) from the town of Mopti, “they were attacked by a group of terrorists on motorbikes,” the statement said.

A Reaper drone and a French Mirage 2000 patrol opened fire to support the ground troops, it said.

“This is the first operational strike by an armed drone,” the statement said, confirming an earlier report published in the specialist blog Le Mamouth.

The strike came just two days after the French army announced it had finished testing the remotely-piloted drones for armed operations.

It has three drones, based near Niamey, the capital of Niger.

The operation at the weekend was in an area controlled by the Katiba Macina, a ruthless Islamist group founded by radical Mopti preacher Amadou Koufa.

Two Malian gendarmes who had been held hostage were freed, and French troops seized a number of armed vehicles, motorbikes and weaponry, “delivering a very heavy blow” to the jihadists, according to Monday’s statement.

France previously said it had killed 25 jihadists in two operations in the Sahel this month.

Last month, 13 French soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash as they hunted jihadists in the north of Mali — the biggest single-day loss for the French military in nearly four decades.

France has a 4,500-member force which has been fighting jihadists in the fragile, sprawling Sahel since 2013. Forty-one soldiers have died.

Source: AFP

24, December 2019

UK: Queen admits ‘bumpy’ year in Christmas message ⁰

Queen Elizabeth II described 2019 as “quite bumpy” in a Christmas Day message at the end of a chaotic year which saw Britain bitterly divided over its split from the European Union and her scandal-plagued son Prince Andrew withdraw from public life.

The 93-year-old monarch’s address — to be televised in full Wednesday but partially released in advance — came as her husband Philip was in hospital with an undisclosed illness.

The royal family was swept up in scandals that included a calamitous BBC interview in which the queen’s second son Andrew tried to distance himself from American paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew promised to “step back from public duties” after his denial of having sex with one of Epstein’s alleged victims was ridiculed in the UK media and reportedly criticised in Buckingham Palace.

The queen pointed to the life of Jesus as an example of how reconciliation can be achieved and “how small steps taken in faith and in hope can overcome long-held differences and deep-seated divisions.”

The remarks were interpreted by many as a reference to the Brexit debate that has torn Britain apart since it voted to leave the EU in a referendum in 2016.

“The path, of course, is not always smooth, and may at times this year have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference.”

Royal commentators noted the queen’s use of the word “bumpy”, compared to her headline-grabbing description of 1992 as an “annus horribilis”, when the marriages of three of her children fell apart and her beloved Windsor Castle nearly went up in flames.

– ‘He’s alright’ –

The queen found herself dragged into the tortuous political drama of Brexit when she approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s request to suspend parliament in August. Critics claimed it was an attempt to silence opponents to his Brexit proposals.

In fact, the Supreme Court subsequently ruled that Johnson’s request had been unlawful and many people blamed him for making the queen look bad.

The queen was also rumoured to have been disappointed by her grandson Prince Harry and his American former actress wife Meghan Markle.

The young couple made waves by speaking out about their struggle with living in the public eye and then suing three British newspapers for prying into their private lives.

Their picture was notably absent from the collection of family photographs on the queen’s desk in her televised address.

It was a difficult year for Philip, too, beginning with a car accident in which two women were injured. The police found the 98-year-old responsible but brought no charges.

Buckingham Palace has released little information about Philip’s condition since his hospitalisation on Friday for “treatment in relation to a pre-existing condition”.

“He’s alright,” Philip’s son Charles told a reporter during a visit in northern England on Monday.

“Once you get to that age things don’t work as well.”

–‘Spirit of reconciliation’ –

The queen has remained one of Britain’s most popular figures despite the royal family’s travails.

A poll by YouGov in November showed 72 percent of respondents had a positive opinion of the monarch.

The queen’s Christmas Day message also reflected on the heroism of British forces during the D-Day landings in Normandy that turned the course of World War II in 1944.

Her trips abroad are becoming increasingly rare, but she made one in June to attend the 75th anniversary commemorations in France.

“For the 75th anniversary of that decisive battle, in a true spirit of reconciliation, those who had formerly been sworn enemies came together in friendly commemorations either side of the Channel, putting past differences behind them,” the queen said in her message.

“By being willing to put past differences behind us and move forward together, we honour the freedom and democracy once won for us at so great a cost.”

Source: AFP

24, December 2019

France taking land from La Republique Du Cameroun ⁰

French brewery group Castel is planning investments in the agriculture sector. On December 20, the CEO of the group, Pierre Castel and a delegation including the French ambassador to Cameroon Christophe Guilhou was received by President Paul Biya in Yaoundé. The aim of this audience was for Castel Group to present its investment programme.

“The new investment programme presented by the CEO of Castel group to the Head of State focuses on the development of agriculture in order to reduce the importation of raw materials used to produce brewing products,” the presidency of the republic indicated.

For the time being, Castel indicates that 30% of its inputs are supplied in Cameroon. It currently collaborates with 6,000 local farmers that supply 30,000 tons of sugar and 10,000 tons of corn to the group’s local subsidiary SABC yearly.

Despite these supplies, 70% of SABC’s input needs still remain to be covered. The group’s CEO has not yet revealed the specific details on these new investments but, it can be guessed that the targetted sub-sectors are corn and sugar used in the production of brewery products.

Castel indicates that its yearly investments in Cameroon are estimated at XAF35 billion and it generates 15,000 direct jobs and 35,000 indirect jobs.

Source: Business in Cameroon

24, December 2019

Southern Cameroons special status – too little, too late? ⁰

Cameroon’s English-speaking MPs have reacted angrily to the new bill, that if signed could grant a ‘special status to Cameroon’s two crisis-hit Anglophone regions, which was passed by lawmakers of the lower house on Wednesday. The bill is an attempt to resolve a three-year conflict in the English-speaking regions that has left at least 3,000 people dead and around 600,000 people displaced, according to the International Crisis Group estimates.

If the Senate approves the devolution law and it comes into force, Cameroon’s Anglophone Northwest and Southwest Regions, where separatists are fighting government troops , will be able to develop their own education and justice policies. Decades of resentment at perceived discrimination against a fifth of the population in an overwhelming French-speaking country have boiled over into an armed campaign for independence that has been met with a brutal crackdown in 2017.

The proposals

The bill contemplates the creation of assemblies of chiefs, regional assemblies, and councils, with each of the two regions having elected presidents, vice presidents, secretaries, and public affairs management controllers. Three commissioners will be responsible for “economic, health, social, educational, sports, and cultural development affairs”. Additionally, independent public conciliators will be put in place to solve disputes over the functioning of regional administrations. The bill also proposes more powers for elected mayors to recruit hospital staff and teachers.

However, all of this is not enough, says Dr. Nick Ngwanyam, a politician who grew up in the Anglophone region. “When we were told that we would have a special status, everybody was confused. It was something we were not really looking at. In terms of terminology, we had to find out what it meant. It was like an empty container and everybody was waiting for the meaning to fill it. And when that meaning came, I for one realized it would not solve our problems.”

“Too little, too late?”

“It is too little, coming too late”, says Senator Henry Kemende. It says in Section 328: In addition to the powers devolved on regions by the proposed law, the North-West and South-West Regions may exercise the following powers: Participating in the formulation of national public policies relating to the Anglophone education sub-subsystem. This is like a piece of sugar in a basin of water, their participation will not be felt. What we would have expected is to empower the regions to determine policies over the educational, judicial, legislative and executive system, to determine issues at a national level, and not just a local level”, Kemende emphasizes.

The power to address issues that directly affect their daily lives is what Anglophone’s have been yearning for in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest regions, Kemende told DW in an Interview. “They are the people who want to be in control of their own destiny, without guidance from somewhere else with foreign mindsets that don’t suit their local realities.”

Kamerun Wahl l Präsident Paul Biya (picture alliance/dpa/j. Warnand)

In October, President Paul Biya’s government held a “major national dialogue” to settle the Anglophone crisis

Special status: No novelty

After all, the idea of special status is nothing new, says the senator. “It is no novelty before we joined then La Republique Cameroun, Cameroon had a central government that gave the Anglophone regions a special status and a state, but they consulted the people. This time now, they are going back to the special status that they have enjoyed before, but why did they not consult the people concerned?”

Some MPs from the ruling party expressed their anger as they could not make recommendations or make amends to the bill. Questor Cyprian Awudu Mbaya, asked the minister of decentralization in parliament, “why didn’t you just take the text and the president would have just signed a decree? We cannot change even a comma because you will defend it.”

According to 63-year-old Ngwanyam, the government has not taken the tools necessary to bring a long-lasting solution on the table. “If you have a piece of meat and you want to cut it, you use a knife. A knife has a sharp and a blunt end, and using the blunt one would take a lot of time. Why don’t we use the tools that work?”

USA Protest für nationale Einheit vor dem Hotel von Kameruns Staatschef Biya in New York (picture alliance/AP Photo/B. Matthews)

Unity of a federation – Cameroon is struggling to find a long-lasting solution

The fear of federation

The sharp end of the knife – this is what Ngwanyam calls his idea of a federation for the Anglophone regions of the country. He had suggested this solution in September, with the aim of breaking down the country in East and West Cameroon. “The special status was written with the spirit of assimilation, an agenda that Paul Biya has been running on for the last 36 years.” He does not understand why the government fears a federation system of governance. “They should explain it. Then we can begin to find out why a special status would do the trick.”

In October, President Paul Biya’s organized amajor national dialogueto discuss the anglophone crisis, but the main separatist movements boycotted the forum. One of the key recommendations of the talks was more autonomy for the English-speaking regions, which have so far failed to bring peace and had been criticized for lack of legislative follow-up. The United States has since backed the prospect of devolved power in the troubled regions, saying that the government’s military response was only strengthening separatists.

23, December 2019

Football: Atletico ‘very close’ to signing PSG striker Cavani ⁰

PSG striker Edinson Cavani is poised to move to Atletico Madrid in a transfer deal which could be inked in the coming days, the Marca sports daily reported Monday.

Rumours of a possible move from Paris Saint-Germain have been on the cards for months, but may be imminent, given the Uruguayan forward’s frustration at being left on the bench, the Spanish paper said.

“The transfer could take place in the coming days. In principle, the agreement would be for two-and-a-half seasons, although it is still up for discussion,” it said of Cavani, whose contract with PSG is up in June.

But securing PSG’s agreement for an immediate transfer of their best-ever goal scorer, which would likely happen during the winter transfer window that opens on January 1, would doubtless be subject to much negotiation.

French radio station RMCsport also said Cavani had inked a deal with the Madrid club, and that PSG were “open to the idea of letting Cavani go this winter”.

Although Cavani is currently not a regular PSG starter, the Parisians are likely to need him from February when they enter the decisive phase for Ligue 1, the Champions League and domestic Cup action, Marca said.

Source: AFP

23, December 2019

US: Boeing fires CEO Muilenburg as 737 MAX crisis deepens ⁰

US aerospace company Boeing has fired Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg, following a year of intense scrutiny and industrial setbacks set off by twin fatal crashes of its 737 MAX jetliner.

The management shakeup comes as the world’s largest planemaker struggles to win regulatory approvals for its grounded best-selling jetliner while trying to regain trust with passengers and airline customers.

Boeing’s chairman David Calhoun will take over as CEO and president, effective January 13, the company said Monday, adding that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company.

The 737 MAX grounding was the biggest crisis of Muilenburg’s 34-year tenure at Boeing, where he started as an intern in 1985, rising through the company’s defense and services ranks to the top job in 2015.

The company said this month it would stop production of the 737 Max in January after the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Boeing was pushing for an unrealistically quick return of the grounded jets.

A senior industry source called the wording of Boeing’s statement “brutal”. Another said the decision was inevitable after spiraling pressures from the 737 production halt to a public slap-down from the FAA, topped off by an embarrassing space launch snafu on Friday.

Speculation that Muilenburg would be fired had been circulating in the industry for months, intensifying in October when the board stripped him of his chairman title.

A Boeing official said the board deliberated over the weekend and they made the decision to fire Muilenburg in a phone call on Sunday.

In keeping Muilenburg in the job as long as Boeing has, the company was ignoring elements of the classic crisis communications playbook used by other companies, said Paul Argenti, a professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

“You want to bring somebody from the outside to bring fresh perspective to ‘save the day,’” Argenti said. “He should have been gone a long time ago. He is part of the problem.”

The 737 Max was grounded worldwide after two crashes — one in October 2018 off the cost of Indonesia and another in March 2019 in Ethiopia — which killed a combined total of 346 people.

Investigators say that in both crashes, a faulty sensor caused the plane’s MCAS system to push the nose of the plane down and pilots were unable to regain control.

“This is something that we have been asking and struggling for quite some time,” said Ababu Amha, who lost his wife, a flight attendant, in the second crash involving an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft. “The CEO reluctantly and deliberately kept the aircraft in service after the Lion Air crash. The Ethiopian Airlines crash was a preventable accident.”

The resignation, however, is not enough, Amha said. “They should further be held accountable for their actions because what they did was a crime.”

(Source: Agencies)

23, December 2019

Death of army chief Gaid Salah caps turbulent year for Algeria ⁰

Algeria’s powerful army chief General Ahmed Gaid Salah died of a heart attack at age 79 on Monday, threatening to deepen the country’s political crisis at the end of a turbulent year.

Gaid Salah was seen as Algeria’s de facto strongman following the April resignation of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the face of massive protests against his bid for a fifth term.

“The deputy defence minister and chief of staff of the army died Monday morning of a heart attack,” the presidency said in a statement read out on state news channel Algeria 3.

The general died at home of a heart attack at about 6:00 am (0500 GMT) before his body was transferred to a military hospital, the statement said.

The lifelong military man had made his last public appearance Thursday at the swearing-in of new president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was seen as close to Gaid Salah.

Gaid Salah was instrumental in pushing the December 12 vote that elected establishment insider Tebboune — in defiance of a months-long protest movement demanding deep-rooted political reforms before any poll.

– Guardian of system –

At Thursday’s ceremony, Gaid Salah was also awarded the rank of “Sadr” in Algeria’s National Order of Merit, an honour normally reserved for heads of state.

As chief of the military for a record 15 years and a veteran of Algeria’s war for independence from France, the general was seen as the guardian of the military-dominated system that has been in power since.

When Bouteflika appointed him in 2004 to head the armed forces — the backbone of Algeria’s opaque regime — he became one of the North African country’s most powerful men.

He loyally supported Bouteflika for years until the president’s February announcement that he would run for re-election sparked unprecedented protests by the youth-led “Hirak” movement.

In early April, Gaid Salah called on his boss to resign. Bouteflika quit the same day, leaving the armed forces chief effectively in charge of the country.

But the old soldier categorially rejected the Hirak movement’s key demands: deep reforms, the establishment of transitional institutions and the dismantling of the military-dominated regime.

– Hot temper –

Moussaab Hammoudi of the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris said weeks before Gaid Salah’s death that he was “not a great strategist”.

“He acts like a brutal soldier,” he said. “For him, Algeria is a huge barracks, and making a concession is a weakness.”

His death comes as huge numbers of Algerians have continued protesting after Tebboune’s appointment as president, rejecting his call to engage in dialogue.

Gaid Salah was born in 1940 in Batna region, some 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Algiers, and spent more than six decades in the armed forces.

At the age of 17, he joined Algeria’s National Liberation Army in its gruelling eight-year war against French colonial forces.

When the country won independence in 1962 after 132 years as a French colony, he joined the army, attended a Soviet military academy and rose through the ranks.

Gaining a reputation for a hot temper, he commanded several regions before becoming chief of Algeria’s land forces at the height of a decade-long civil war pitting the regime against Islamist insurgents.

In 2004, as he hit retirement age, he was picked by Bouteflika to replace overall chief of staff Mohamed Lamari, who had opposed the president’s quest for a second mandate.

Tebboune on Monday appointed land forces commander General Said Chengriha as interim military chief of staff, Algeria 3 reported.

He also declared three days of national mourning.

Source: AFP