Monthly Archives: February 2020

Thousands rally in France for exiled Catalan leader Puigdemont

29, February 2020

Thousands rally in France for exiled Catalan leader Puigdemont 0

Tens of thousands of Catalan independence supporters gathered in Perpignan, southern France, on Saturday at a rally in support of exiled former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who called on the crowd to prepare for the “definitive struggle” for independence.

At around 30km from the Spanish border, it is the closest Puigdemont has been to Spain since he fled the country in October 2017 after calling a referendum on independence.

The referendum, which was declared illegal by Spanish courts, led to a short-lived declaration of independence by leaders in the restive northeastern region, plunging Spain into its biggest political crisis in decades.

Puigdemont, who is now a member of the European Parliament and lives in exile in Belgium, urged supporters waving Catalan flags not to give up on the fight for an independent Catalonia.

“We know that we won’t stop and they won’t stop us. We don’t have to wait for better times because they are here,” he said, to cheers from the crowd, which numbered around 70,000 according to local police, though organizers put the number closer to 150,000.

“Today we have stepped on Catalan soil as free people,” he said.

Perpignan, where Catalan is spoken, is a symbolic location for many Catalans, who call the region Northern Catalonia.

Supporters poured into the city, many crossing the border from Spain.

“Movements like this, with this magnitude, are always a positive thing,” said entrepreneur Joan Candoll, 50. “I see this as an act of unity, not a political campaign”.

Puigdemont made no mention of talks on the Catalan political crisis, which began this week between Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Catalan regional President Quim Torra, who was due to attend the Perpignan rally.

Puigdemont has been unable to return to Spain, where he is wanted on charges of sedition and misuse of public funds for his role in the failed independence bid. All extradition attempts by Spain have so-far failed, and he cannot be detained in France because of his MEP immunity.

By Haggai Fung Achuo

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government officials are up to their usual tricks

29, February 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government officials are up to their usual tricks 0

As the international community continues to condemn the killings in Ngarbuh in the Northwest region of Cameroon, the country’s Territorial Administration Minister, Paul Atanga Nji, is once more doing what he knows how to do best – doing the dirty job of the Yaoundé government.

The Territorial Administration Minister, an ex-convict and a conman, has been holding a series of meetings with the survivors of the Ngarbuh attack behind closed doors.

The first of those meetings was held on Friday, February 28, 2020, in Ayaba Hotel in the Northwest region’s capital, Bamenda, with the objective of preparing the victims and survivors of the gruesome and brutal attack for them to testify that those who  murdered their family members were armed  non-state actors and that not more than five persons were killed during the attack which the country’s defense minister said was a military operation that had gone wrong  and that those who were killed were ‘simply’ collateral damage.

On Friday, some Ngarbuh residents who had been transported in a military truck to Bamenda were received by Paul Atanga Nji, one of the brains behind many of the killings in the Northwest region, in Ayaba Hotel.

It should be recalled that a few days ago, a contingent of the country’s military had been deployed to Ngarbuh in an operation that is raising more questions.

Sources close to the Northwest Governor’s Office have revealed that the heavy military presence in the village is part of the government’s attempt to deter international NGOs from obtaining information from the locals on the February 14, 2020, massacre.

Observers hold that the military’s presence is an attempt to push the government’s narrative which holds that only five people had been killed during the government’s punitive expedition in Ngarbuh.

Meanwhile, military sources have reliably informed Cameroon Concord News Group that army soldiers sent by the beleaguered Yaounde government on an appeasement mission through humanitarian action in the village had succeeded to lure some Ngarbuh residents whose houses had been torched during the February 14, 2020, government punitive raid.

These survivors had been transported to Bamenda for them to benefit from government assistance and to memorize the government’s version of the events so that they can help to sell the government fabricated narrative that is clearly at variance with the reality on the ground.

Mr. Paul Atanga Nji has been holding close door sessions with the survivors at the Governor’s Office, promising them more government assistance and the rebuilding of their homes if they played ball with the corrupt government.

The Ngarbuh residents who are being corrupted by Paul Atanga Nji through a carefully planned scheme,  have already testified before the commission set up by the country’s  president, Paul Biya, to investigate the Feb 14 massacre that has gone a long way in ruining relations between France and Cameroon.

The public has already rejected the idea of a government sponsored investigation as it sounds like a culpable thief is seeking to cleanse his name than a true and sincere effort made to establish the truth and to bring those guilty of the heinous crime to justice.

It should be remembered that the country’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, had reluctantly admitted the government’s role in the murdering of children and pregnant women in Ngarbuh.

Also, the country’s Communications Minister, Rene Sadi (Sardine), has continued to condemn the international community for criticizing the government about the Ngarbuh massacre.

Rene Sadi’s version of events contradicts not only Joseph Beti Assomo’s version, it is also at variance with reports released by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the global human rights watchdog that went to Ngarbuh and interviewed survivors and their families.

By Rita Akana in Bamenda

Biya’s Continued Stay in Power: CPDM retains absolute majority after contentious election

29, February 2020

Biya’s Continued Stay in Power: CPDM retains absolute majority after contentious election 0

President Paul Biya’s party has retained an absolute majority in Cameroon’s parliament, the constitutional council announced Friday after the controversial February 9 vote.

His Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC) won 139 out of 167 declared seats on “moderate” turnout of almost 46 percent, said the council’s president, Clement Atangana.

Elections were cancelled in 13 other seats, in Cameroon’s troubled anglophone regions, and are to be held at a later date.

In the outgoing parliament, elected in 2013, the RDPC had 148 seats.

Atangana said an RDPC ally, the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP), won seven seats.

The biggest opposition party in the outgoing assembly, the Social Democratic Front, which had 18 seats in the outgoing assembly, has seen its share fall to just five.

Voting day in the Central African Republic was overshadowed by the crisis in two regions where anglophone separatists have declared independence from the majority French-speaking country.

Separatist fighters had called on people there to boycott the poll and issued threats to anyone who planned to vote.

More than 3,000 people have died and at least 700,000 have fled their homes in the 29-month-old unrest.

Rights monitors say abuses have been committed by both sides.

Biya, 87, who has ruled for 37 years, has ruled out demands by moderates for restoring Cameroon’s federal structure.

However, the government has lately decentralised some of its powers after a “national dialogue” on the anglophone crisis which was boycotted by the separatists.

The country’s Far North, a tongue-like region lying between Nigeria and Chad, has meanwhile been battered by Boko Haram jihadists crossing from Nigeria.

Source: AFP

Guinea delays controversial referendum

29, February 2020

Guinea delays controversial referendum 0

Guinea’s President Alpha Conde announced a “slight postponement” of Sunday’s referendum on whether to adopt a new constitution, following mounting international criticism over the poll’s fairness.

The government argues that the draft constitution would, among other things, codify gender equality and ban female circumcision and underage marriage in the West African state.

But the proposal has sparked huge protests since October over fears that the real motive is to reset presidential term limits — allowing Conde, 81, to run for a third spell in office later this year.

Speaking on national television, the president said on Friday it was “due to our national and regional responsibilities that we have accepted a slight postponement of the date of the elections”.

“This is not a capitulation or a step backwards,” he said, adding that “the people of Guinea will express their choice freely at the referendum”.

While Conde did not publicly announce a date for the new vote, a letter from the leader to the West African bloc ECOWAS, seen by AFP, said the new poll should take place within two weeks.

The poll had been scheduled for Sunday alongside parliamentary elections — also delayed in the poor but mineral-rich country of some 13 million people, which has a legacy of autocratic rule.

The long-running demonstrations over the constitution issue have sometimes turned violent, with at least 30 protesters and one gendarme killed to date.

Conde’s announcement followed criticism of the electoral process from the African Union, European Union and The International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), which gathers French-speaking states.

The OIF said this week it had problems with around 2.5 million of the 7.7 million names on the electoral roll, pointing to duplicate registrations and people who had died.

The African Union also cancelled an electoral observation mission to Guinea on Friday, citing a “major controversy” with the roll.

Meanwhile the EU said in a statement that a “lack of inclusiveness and transparency casts doubt on the credibility of the upcoming elections”.

Quiet streets

Sekou Conde, a cadre in the president’s Rally of the Guinean People (RPG) party, said the vote had been postponed purely for technical reasons.

“It has nothing to do with the electoral roll,” he said, adding that people had ransacked voting stations.

A Western diplomat, who declined to be named, said he thought the delay would make no difference anyway.

“This changes nothing,” he said, adding that there would be no credible change to the problems with the electoral roll within two weeks.

The streets of the capital Conakry were quiet on Friday evening after the announcement, despite months of protests.

Ibrahima Diallo, the operations manager for the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution — an alliance of opposition groups behind the protests — said that demonstrations would continue until Conde shelved the referendum.

Although both the current constitution and the proposed new text limit presidential terms to two, critics fear that passing a new constitution would reset presidential term limits to zero.

This would potentially allow Conde to run again when his second term runs out at the end of the year.

Conde was a longtime opposition figure who became the nation’s first democratically elected president in 2010 on promises to fight corruption. He was re-elected in 2015.

Source: AFP

US warns of possible terror attack on airlines in Kenyan airspace

29, February 2020

US warns of possible terror attack on airlines in Kenyan airspace 0

The United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) updated its alert issued on Wednesday, warning civilian airliners and all operators of US-registered aircraft to “exercise caution” when flying over Kenyan airspace, citing possible attacks by extremists.

“Those persons are advised to exercise caution when flying into, out of, within, or over the territory and airspace of Kenya East of 40 degrees East longitude at altitudes below fl260 due to the possibility of extremist/militant activity,” the agency said.

The US, backed by an express Nairobi-New York air link, is Kenya’s top source of foreign tourists recording 245,437 arrivals last year.

The FAA asked American operators to report any security related incidents they may encounter within the airspace, in addition to sharing their travel plans at least 72 hours ahead of planned flights to Kenya.

FAA said it will review the advisory by February 26, 2021.

“Aircraft may encounter fire from small arms; indirect fire weapons, such as mortars and rockets; and anti-aircraft capable weapons, including man-portable air defense systems (manpads),” said the FAA on February 26 seen by Business Daily.

“Such weapons could target aircraft at low altitudes, including during the arrival and departure phases of flight, and/or target airports and aircraft on the ground, especially at airfields located east of 40 degrees east longitude.”

The US and Kenya recently struck a new deal for direct cargo flights between the two nations.

Security beefed up

Kenya’s security agencies have beefed up deployment in cities, towns and the country’s borders, following the United States’ warning of a possible terror attack.*

“The NPS has increased border surveillance to ensure criminal elements are cut from entering the country,” Kenya’s Inspector-General of Police Hilary Mutyambai said on Thursday night.

Mutyambai asked the public to remain vigilant and cooperate with security agencies, even as they go about their normal activities without fear.

US issues terror alert

The United States embassy in the country on Thursday issued an alert on the possibility of a terror attack at an unidentified, major hotel in Nairobi County.

In a short statement posted on its website, the embassy said the targeted hotel is popular with tourists and business travellers.

“If staying at a hotel, be aware of the hotel’s evacuation plan. Plan ahead of time how you would exit the hotel in case of an emergency,” it said.

Local newspaper Daily Nation said the office of the embassy spokesperson in Nairobi highlighted the bilateral cooperation when it comes to monitoring and sharing information about security.

“We have no greater responsibility than the safety and security of US citizens overseas. Security alerts to US citizens provide timely information so they can make informed travel decisions,” it said in explaining the decision to issue an alert.

Kenya has been the victim of multiple terror attacks by the Somali terrorist organisation, Al-Shabaab.

Source: Africa News

EUROMONEY says Cameroon still a high-risk option

29, February 2020

EUROMONEY says Cameroon still a high-risk option 0

Cameroon finally held its repeatedly postponed legislative and municipal elections in February for the first time in seven years. It came amid the continuing swell of separatist fervour from the Anglophone community situated in the northwest and southwest regions bordering Nigeria. The elections took place without notable social upheaval, but have done little to usher in a calmer political environment. A partial boycott was spurred by the main opposition Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) – the party led by Maurice Kamto, who was living in exile until Thursday, when he returned to Cameroon. This invariably handed an easy victory to the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC) supporting the octogenarian president Paul Biya, despite the other large opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), participating.

Euromoney’s panel of experts is only too aware of the high risks associated with investing in Cameroon, which remains outside the top-100 sovereign borrowers, ranking a lowly 132nd out of 174 countries ranked in Euromoney’s survey. On a score of 34.7 out of a maximum 100 risk points (where a higher score implies safety), Cameroon is far riskier than neighbouring Gabon or Nigeria, and more in line with Gambia and Madagascar, while similar to Algeria and Ukraine in the crowd-sourcing survey:

One of Euromoney’s Cameroon contributors is Patrick-Nelson Essiane, an economist at the Bank of Central African States, and financial manager at the Initiative for Research and Analysis in Sustainable Development in Central Africa (IRADDAC). He brings to attention several political risks, including the constitutional council ordering the annulment of legislative elections in some parts of the southwest and northwest regions, where re-runs are expected in 20 to 40 days. He also notes that in mid-February an incident involving the army and secessionists resulted in the death of women and children in Ngarbuh (northwest region), highlighting the insecurity.

“The international community called for a deeper and independent investigation of this tragedy,” he says. “While between February 4 and 22, according to local media, 14 civilians and one of the military were killed by Boko Haram in the far north region, yet there were no special mentions of these incidents internationally.”

On top of that, three out of 10 regions have faced some instability recently, though with most of the violence occurring away from the biggest cities relatively close to the border with Nigeria.

Economic risk

However, on macro-fiscal metrics, Cameroon’s risks do appear to be slowly improving. That is the impression given by the IMF’s latest extended credit facility (ECF) programme review, showing accelerating GDP growth, the non-oil primary fiscal deficit narrowing and ample imports coverage. Cameroon can access the pool of regional forex reserves and also received a $76.1 million disbursement from the IMF in January, on completion of the fifth programme review, bringing the total up to $590 million.

If recent forecasts from the IMF, central bank and government are assessed as one, economic growth was around 3.3% in 2019, and could rise to around 4.5% in 2020, on the back of an increase in gas production, and decent prospects for manufacturing and telecommunications. “As economic activity in Cameroon is relatively well balanced geographically, the episodes of violence in the southwest, northwest and far north regions would have probably a moderated impact on the macroeconomic performance of Cameroon,” says Essiane. “In addition, the key industrial centre of Cameroon (Douala) is not fundamentally affected by the crisis, even if we see an increase of the workforce in this city due to migrations from the northwest and southwest regions.”

Yet Essiane admits there are some prominent risks to figure. “The northwest and southwest crisis has affected agriculture in these two regions since 2017, with a huge decrease of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) production of banana, palm oil and rubber. “Informal food agricultural production also decreased, with farmers leaving their plantations, leading to an increase in food inflation in urban centres of the country.”

 Oil

Moreover, last year, Sonara, the national oil refinery, suffered a fire, contributing to lower-than-projected tax revenue, constraining budget implementation. Treasury finances have become stretched by the government’s military expenses to address Boko Haram in the far north and the Anglophone crisis. Plus, Cameroon is acutely vulnerable to a global downturn caused by trade friction and/or the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), especially to any related falls in oil prices. The implications are non-trivial. For while Cameroon’s debt remains stable, there is “high risk of debt distress”, according to the IMF, with the debt servicing-to-exports ratio breaching the accepted threshold continuously until 2025, and significantly so until 2022. This is due, first, to the inclusion of Sonara’s maturing short-term liabilities and later because of a maturing Eurobond.

The IMF’s comprehensive debt sustainability analysis factors in various scenarios and indicates the debt load can be sustained and properly addressed. However, that assumes there are no shocks, including any undisclosed liabilities. There is nothing to suggest there might be, but the experience of Mozambique and Zambia should certainly temper the enthusiasm for investing in Cameroon.

Culled from Euromoney.com

Race for the White House: Sanders overtakes Biden, opens seven-point lead over Trump

28, February 2020

Race for the White House: Sanders overtakes Biden, opens seven-point lead over Trump 0

Bernie Sanders has overtaken Joe Biden and opened up a seven-point lead over President Donald Trump, according to a new Fox News poll.

The survey published by Fox News on Thursday night found that Senator Sanders (I-Vt.) jumped eight points since the same poll was conducted in January, with 31 percent of Democratic primary voters backing him for the 2020 nomination.

By comparison, former Vice President Biden slumped by eight points into second place as just 18 percent of Democrats favored him, according to the poll’s finding.

Biden’s plunge in the national primary rankings has put him two points above former New York City Mayor and late primary entrant Mike Bloomberg.

When asked which candidate they would like to see become the Democratic nominee, 16 percent of polled party voters said they backed Bloomberg, putting the billionaire six points up on his January rating.

The former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) were close behind, winning 12 and 10 percent support among Democrats, respectively.

No other candidate in the primary field polled at double-digits, with the once-insurgent Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) seeing herself backed by 5 percent of party voters, despite a surprisingly strong performance in the New Hampshire primary.

Sanders holds double-digit lead among Dems in Wisconsin: Poll

Fox News reported that its latest poll of the 2020 Democratic primary field was the first not to show Biden as the frontrunner, and the only one to show five candidates with double-digit support. A plurality (45 percent) also said they would support whichever candidate was chosen to face President Trump in the November presidential election.

But just less than a fifth of polled primary voters (18 percent) said they would refuse to support Sen. Sanders or Bloomberg in 2020, while 13 percent said the same of Biden and Warren.

When asked who they believed could beat President Trump later this year, Democrats put the most faith in Sen. Sanders.

Almost two-thirds (65 percent) said they fancied the Vermont senator’s chances of winning, while 57 and 56 percent said the same of Bloomberg and Biden respectively.

But only a little more than a third of party voters said they believed either Sen. Warren or Buttigieg could beat Trump.

In hypothetical head-to-heads between primary candidates and President Trump, a cross-party sample of registered voters told Fox News they preferred much of the Democratic field to the commander-in-chief.

Biden and Bloomberg had the joint-greatest leads over the president among Democrats, with both being separated from Trump by eight points.

Sen. Sanders was found to come seven points ahead of the president, with 49 percent opting for him and 42 percent supporting the commander-in-chief.

Both the former Mayor Buttigieg and Sen. Warren were found to be three points ahead of the Republican incumbent, putting them within the margin of error.

A total of 1,000 registered voters were surveyed nationwide between February 23 and February 26 for the Fox News poll, which has a 3 percentage point margin of error.

(Source: Newsweek)

Southern Cameroons-French Cameroun Crisis: CPDM inner circle collapses – Biya to step down

28, February 2020

Southern Cameroons-French Cameroun Crisis: CPDM inner circle collapses – Biya to step down 0

President Biya’s Francophone dominated Beti Ewondo government has been rocked by the Ngarbuh massacre and French President Macron’s acknowledgement that  intolerable rights violations were taking place in Cameroon. Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered that the numerous waves of wrong decisions and crimes committed by Cameroon government army soldiers in Southern Cameroons have prompted the Elysée Palace to seek regime change in Yaoundé as the 87 year old President Biya scrambles to repair his image, tainted by a string of economic and political missteps.

A string of high profile arrests including current minister of defense, Joseph Beti Assomo is expected soonest as Biya’s continued stay in power is now being undermined by claims from the international community that his leadership style is aloof and autocratic.

A number of ministers have been prevented from travelling out of the country and those from the Far North region are reportedly planning to exit Biya’s all-stripes cabinet. A well-placed source in Etoudi who spoke to our Yaoundé City reporter made a mockery of the situation by observing that “Every cabinet minister is now a government spokesman.”

Yaoundé confirmed that Biya recently ordered an investigation into the Ngarbuh killings. However, Cameroon Intelligence Report understands President Macron’s office sent an emailed statement asking the dictator to step down without naming Biya’s possible successor.

Millions of Cameroonians are unemployed, and many major corporations are not really doing well. The country is dealing with many crises and the impact of these crises is hitting the population like a ton of bricks.  The French can no longer continue playing spectator to an insidious genocide that is playing out in Southern Cameroons.

Unemployment, crime, dishonesty, corruption and mismanagement seem to have taken up residence in Cameroon because of a regime that has overstayed its welcome. President Macron has turned a new page following his conversation with the Cameroonian activist in France. Another one will be written soon and very soon.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

WHO upgrades global risk of coronavirus spread to ‘very high’

28, February 2020

WHO upgrades global risk of coronavirus spread to ‘very high’ 0

WHO upgrades global risk of coronavirus spread to ‘very high’

“Ambazonia can survive without help from the diaspora” Manyu Commander

28, February 2020

“Ambazonia can survive without help from the diaspora” Manyu Commander 0

The commander of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces in the Manyu County has defended recent decision to seek financial support from the business community in the constituency, saying the Manyu Ghost Warriors Odeshi will be able to fight and survive as a self defense body without help from the disorganise diaspora.

The commander whose names we are withholding also said in an audio released on Thursday that he would stand by a decision announced late last year by Vice President Dabney Yerima that all Ambazonia Restoration Forces should have a central command.

In the audio message that was aired in the Kenyang language, the commander was heard wondering aloud if the Federal Republic of Ambazonia really needs the corrupt leaders in the USA to survive as a nation. “Do we need … the lies from the US to defend our homeland and protect our people? “The Federal Republic of Ambazonia, its leader Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and its Restoration Forces have all said no we don’t it” the Manyu commander said.

In a passionate appeal to Vice President Yerima and the Ambazonia Security Council (ASC) the commander of the Manyu Warriors noted that “If after 4 years, we still cannot force every business organization in Southern Cameroons to pay their taxes to the Ambazonian treasury, then we have no business being a republic,” the commander opined. “Ambazonians both in Ground Zero and in the diaspora might as well choose. We can be a French Cameroun colony with special status or our Northern and Southern Zones can be provinces administered from West and Littoral regions by the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.”

Senior officials deep within the regime in Yaounde have been murmuring privately that things have deteriorated to a point where regime insiders are scared and there are fears thatsomething terribly bad could happen, especially as the economy has been caught in a downward spiral.

The 87 year old French Cameroun dictator is totally absent while his aides are taking all the wrong decisions. The war in Southern Cameroons has finally highlighted how the leadership of the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon is ineffective and inefficient.

A baron of the regime to who spoke to Cameroon Intelligence Report recently in Yaounde observed that “What is of importance to those at the helm is just the power. They don’t care about the country. It is like their goal is to make money while the rest of the country continues to head to the bottom of the abyss.”

By Chi Prudence Asong with additional editing from Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow

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