Monthly Archives: September 2020

13, September 2020

Harsh vengeance awaits Minister Atanga Nji in Southern Cameroons ⁰

An Ambazonia commander in the Northern Zone has censured French Cameroun government’s plan of holding the so-called regional elections in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, saying French Cameroun surrogate Minister Paul Atanga Nji will face harsh revenge from Southern Cameroonians in the near future.

In an audio aired in the Nkwen language, the Amba commander observed that the disgraceful moves by Paul Atanga Nji and other pro Yaoundé Southern Cameroons political elites with ties with the ruling CPDM gang is a big folly and devoid of any legitimacy and will receive appropriate responses from Ambazonia Restoration Forces in Ground Zero.

The Southern Cameroons commander added that the regional elections which has been engineered by French Cameroun political elites and their hated and unwise head of state Paul Biya, seeks to impose continuous humiliation on Southern Cameroonians, an unprecedented plunder of Southern Cameroons resources and assets, and ensure security for the occupying French Cameroun administrators and military officials. But he added that it would never achieve its vicious goal.

The commander appealed to Vice President Yerima to boost the power and determination of Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora and in Ground Zero for the struggle to attain its full potential capabilities and subsequently remove the cancerous tumor of La Republique du Cameroun from the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The commander warned all Southern Cameroons puppet traditional rulers against participating in the regional elections that is intended to pave the way for French Cameroun regime’s absolute control of Southern Cameroons.

The Southern Cameroons Self Defense chief emphasized that Amba fighters would take harsh revenge on men like Atanga Nji who bring oppression, terror, violence, war, and insecurity to Southern Cameroons.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

12, September 2020

French Cameroun Crisis: CPDM crime syndicate bans mass rally against Biya ⁰

French Cameroun authorities have banned all demonstrations in the nation’s capital Yaoundé. According to a press release detailing the order, the governor of the Centre Region, Naseri Paul Bea stated that the aim is to prevent disturbances of public order.

The Biya regime decision comes as MRC leader Maurice Kamto announced a general protest to call for the departure of President Biya.

In a recent communication, Paul Atanga Nji the Minister of Territorial Administration also warned “unscrupulous politicians in search of a hypothetical notoriety, against any agenda aimed at disturbing the peace of Cameroonians, before, during and after the election of regional councillors“.

“All troublemakers, whoever they are will be accountable for their actions before the courts,” Paul Atanga Nji added.

The main opposition leader of Cameroon, Maurice Kamto, called for a general mobilization on September 22 to push for the departure of the president, Paul Biya, a day after he approved December 6 as the date for the holding of the first regional elections in the country.

Kamto’s Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (CRM) has pointed out that the protests have been called at the national level, after the opposition warned against the call for elections without a ceasefire in the Anglophone majority regions, the scene of a conflict for several years.

Thus, the spokesman for Kamto, Olivier Bibou Nissack, stressed that September 22 will be the day of the “revolution in Cameroon” Paul Biya must go, he added.

The date chosen coincides with the one that, three years ago, marked the beginning of peaceful demonstrations in the two regions with an English-speaking majority to demand reforms in the face of what the population denounced as a situation of discrimination in the country.

By Rita Akana and Fon Lawrence

12, September 2020

US: Officials warn of ‘mass fatalities’ in sprawling wildfires ⁰

US officials warned Friday of potential “mass” fatalities as more than 20,000 firefighters from across the country battled sprawling deadly wildfires up and down the West Coast.

A prediction of cooler weather offered some hope of respite in coming days, but the true scale of the destruction from dozens of massive blazes in California, Oregon and Washington states remained hard to gauge.

There were 16 deaths confirmed this week, with wide stretches of land still cut off by flames.

“We’re preparing for a mass fatality incident based on what we know and the number of structures that have been lost,” warned Andrew Phelps, director of the office of emergency management in Oregon on Friday.

Oregon defines “mass fatality incident” as one that causes death and suffering which cannot be met by usual individual or community resources, according to the Washington Post.

“We anticipate that number (of deaths) may potentially go up as we get back into areas that have been ravaged by flame and obviously, smoke begins to clear,” warned California governor Gavin Newsom, as he visited a scorched forest near the raging North Complex Fire.

Ten people have been confirmed dead from that blaze in Butte County, which was driven at unprecedented pace toward the city of Oroville earlier in the week by strong, dry winds and soaring temperatures.

But Newsom said the weather “is beginning to cooperate,” with winds settling down and some rain forecast.

In neighboring Oregon, where one million acres (400,000 hectares) have burned and three people are reported dead with dozens still unaccounted for, governor Kate Brown also expressed hope a corner had been turned.

More than 40,000 Oregonians have fled their homes so far, with around half a million under evacuation warnings, Brown told a press conference—clarifying previous higher figures given by state officials.

“The weather system fueling these fires over the past few days has finally broken down,” she said.

“We anticipate cooler air and moisture coming in the next few days, which is really good news.”

Dozens of people remained missing in connection with the fires, Brown said.

Even as the weather forecast offered hope, Newsom painted a grim picture of California as the canary in the climate-change coal mine.

“I’m a little bit exhausted that we have to continue to debate this issue,” he said in televised comments as he toured the damage. “This is a climate damn emergency. This is real, and it’s happening.

“This is the perfect storm.”

He added: “California, folks, is America fast-forward. What we’re experiencing right here is coming to communities all across the United States of America unless we get our act together on climate change, unless we disabuse ourselves of all the BS that’s been spewed by a very small group of people.”

‘Complete loss’

The August Complex Fire this week became by far the biggest recorded blaze in Californian history, ripping through 746,000 acres of dry vegetation in the state’s north, as multiple fires combined.

But it is just one of around 100 large fires on the West Coast, and other rapidly growing blazes closer to populated areas have proven deadlier.

“We are at a complete loss for words right now,” Bobbie Zedaker told the San Francisco Chronicle, after DNA tests proved her missing 16-year-old nephew was among those killed by the North Complex Fire.

Two more people were killed near the rural community of Happy Camp, a Cal Fire spokeswoman told AFP Friday.

But in a mountainous region of central California, close to where the Creek Fire is burning, some members of an indigenous community refused to leave their homes despite evacuation orders.

“I don’t feel it’s going to come this way,” said James Hancock, 52, whose home on the Cold Springs Rancheria Indian Reservation currently has no light, electricity or water.

Huge wildfires are becoming more common, with the World Meteorological Organization saying the five years to 2019 was unprecedented for fires, especially in Europe and North America.

Climate change amplifies droughts which dry out regions, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread out of control and inflict huge material and environmental damage.

California has already seen more than 3.1 million acres burn this year—an annual record, approximately the size of Connecticut—with nearly four months of fire season still to come.

Source: AFP

12, September 2020

Amnesty calls on Nigeria to disclose findings of official probe into rights abuses ⁰

Amnesty International has called on Nigeria to disclose the findings of a probe that was ordered by the government three years ago into rights abuses committed by security forces.

Following reports made by Amnesty and other rights groups that security forces have been responsible for hundreds of serious human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, rape, torture, and enforced disappearances, the then-Acting President Yemi Osinbajo set up the Presidential Investigative Panel to probe the abuses in 2017. Osinbajo served as acting president while President Muhammadu Buhari was on a medical trip.

The panel’s report was submitted a year later, but it has never been made public, in a move condemned by Amnesty as “a gross display of contempt for victims.”

“Victims and the larger public in Nigeria deserve to see and scrutinize the findings,” Osai Ojigho, the Nigeria director of Amnesty, said in a statement on Friday.

“We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfill the promise he made in 2015 to end impunity by immediately releasing the report,” he added.

Amnesty said it had attended the public hearings of the panel, which were held in several cities in Nigeria, and had made presentations.

The rights organization has blamed the security forces for the extra-judicial executions of 350 Shia Muslims in 2015 and 150 supporters of a separatist group the following year.

In December 2015, reports said soldiers opened fire on Shia Muslims attending a ceremony in a religious center in Zaria. A number of Muslims were killed there. Following the incident, Nigerian forces raided the house of Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), and arrested him.

During the brutal arrest, Zakzaky was beaten and lost vision in his left eye. His wife sustained serious wounds, and more than 300 of his followers were killed by the government forces in what became known as the Zaria Massacre.

The Nigerian government also banned the IMN, whose members regularly take to the streets of the capital, Abuja, to call for the release of their leader, Zakzaky.

Source: Presstv

12, September 2020

As Southern Cameroons Crisis continues, U.S. officials struggle to exert positive influence ⁰

On September 8, U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Ben Cardin, joined by an impressive bipartisan group of cosponsors, introduced a resolution calling for an end to the violence in Cameroon and for inclusive dialogue to address the underlying political tensions that are at the root of the conflict between the state and anglophone separatists. They are the latest in a large and diverse group of senior U.S. officials who have worked to highlight the crisis in Cameroon. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Tibor Nagy has engaged in direct and personal diplomacy aiming to influence the situation. Congresswoman Karen Bass, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, has been resolute in condemning abuses, and has worked on a bipartisan basis to clearly communicate U.S. concerns and support for peace talks to Biya’s government, including in a resolution introduced in the House of Representatives last year. The Trump Administration removed Cameroon from the list of countries eligible for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and has scaled back military assistance to the country.

But Cameroon is a case in which concern in Washington does not translate into effective influence. In Cameroon itself, little political progress has been made as various factions grapple for control of the talks and sometimes competing lines of effort stop and start. Meanwhile, the people of Cameroon continue to suffer despite calls for a ceasefire in light of the COVID-19 crisis.

Just this week, the army launched a new campaign in Bamenda, ostensibly to bring law and order to the city. The BBC reported that the operation involved house-to-house searches, seizures of citizens’ property, and even indiscriminate shooting. Residents of the city largely stayed home, caught between the government and separatists who have called for citizens to stay home as a form of protest, in an all-too-familiar impossible situation. This summer the Norwegian Refugee Council named Cameroon the world’s most neglected displacement crisis, noting that half a million people have been forced from their homes.

It can be painful to reckon with the limited capacity of the United States, or of any external power, to bring seriousness of purpose to urgently needed political dialogue. But ultimately civil conflicts with political roots cannot be resolved without domestic will and leadership, and Cameroon’s ossified political class has thus far failed to muster either. But the efforts of U.S. officials still matter. Should those vital domestic ingredients emerge, the United States is well-positioned to support a process that prioritizes the urgent needs of civilians and gives all parties in a tremendously diverse country greater opportunity in the future.

Source: Council for Foreign Relations

11, September 2020

Bundes: Germans view Donald Trump more frightening than coronavirus ⁰

Germans are more concerned with the policies of Donald Trump than the coronavirus pandemic, according to an annual survey that says the respondents believed the US president’s policies would make the world a more dangerous place.

An annual survey, entitled “Fears of Germans,” said some 53% of those asked put the US president on the top of the list of their worries.

The survey did not give details on which aspects of Trump’s policies worried Germans.

According to political scientist Manfred Schmidt of the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg, Germans are concerned over Trump’s foreign policy.

The US says it will withdraw about 12,000 of its troops from Germany and place them in other European countries to counter Russia.

“Particularly notable are the trade-war-like conflicts with China and trade and security policy attacks against allies, including Germany,” he said.

“In addition, the withdrawal of the United States from international cooperation and the confrontation with Iran,” Schmidt added.

The survey that was conducted in June and July said rising living costs, the economic situation and the cost to taxpayers of European Union debt came second, third and fourth for traditionally cautious Germans.

Thousands of people reportedly signed up to attend the demonstration against coronavirus measures before it was banned by city authorities.

The coronavirus, which has wreaked havoc on Germany, has concerned Germans much less than Trump’s policies.

Only around a third of those asked in the survey said they were concerned that they or someone they knew well would get COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.

The new infections are rising again, with health authorities having recorded a total number of 258,107 cases of infection and 9,419 coronavirus related deaths.

Source: Presstv

10, September 2020

EU mulls legal action against Britain over plan to break Brexit divorce deal ⁰

Britain and the European Union will hold emergency talks on Thursday over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to undercut parts of the Brexit divorce treaty, with Brussels exploring possible legal action against London.

After Britain explicitly said it would act outside international law by breaching the divorce treaty, EU negotiators are trying to gauge how to deal with London.

European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic will meet British counterpart Michael Gove in London at 1200 GMT alongside scheduled trade talks between chief negotiators Michel Barnier and David Frost.

If the EU is unhappy with what London says, it could use a part of the Withdrawal Agreement to take legal action against Britain, though there would be no resolution before the end-of-year deadline for Britain’s full exit.

“The dispute-settling mechanism under the Withdrawal Agreement is there,” an EU diplomat dealing with Brexit told Reuters.

Two EU officials also involved in the talks said the Commission would analyse Britain’s proposed Internal Market Bill – overriding parts of the Withdrawal Agreement – once it is passed to take into account any amendments before making a final decision on the legal case.

The British government says its planned law merely clarifies ambiguities in the Withdrawal Agreement, but also says its main priority is the 1998 Northern Irish peace deal.

Europe’s leaders have been handed an ultimatum: accept the treaty breach or prepare for a messy divorce when Britain disentangles itself from the EU at the end of the year.

Britain signed the treaty and formally left the EU in January, but remains a member in all but name until the end of 2020 under a status quo agreement.

Sterling was flat at $1.2999 though overnight sterling implied volatility rose to 13%, its highest since March 26, and the FTSE 100 share index slipped.

Ireland

Talks on a trade deal have snagged on state aid rules and fishing.

Without an agreement, nearly $1 trillion in trade between the EU and Britain could be thrown into confusion at the beginning of 2021, a further economic blow as they deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest dispute centres on rules for Northern Ireland, which shares a land border with EU member Ireland. Under the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended decades of violence, there must be no hard border in Ireland.

To ensure that, Britain’s EU divorce agreement calls for some EU rules to continue to apply in Northern Ireland. But Britain wants power to override many of them, acknowledging this would violate international law.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said any potential U.S.-UK trade deal would not pass the U.S. Congress if Britain undermined the 1998 agreement.

Former British leaders Theresa May and John Major scolded Johnson, whose government put forward the Internal Market Bill on Wednesday, for considering an explicit, intentional breach of international law.

“If we lose our reputation for honouring the promises we make, we will have lost something beyond price that may never be regained,” Major said.

European diplomats said Britain was playing a game of Brexit “chicken”, threatening to wreck the process and challenging Brussels to change course. Some fear Johnson may view a no-deal exit as a useful distraction from the pandemic.

“I’m not optimistic at this stage,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin told national broadcaster RTE when asked how confident he was in a trade deal being reached.

“I think yesterday’s development, because it undermines trust in negotiations, makes it all the more difficult to get to where everyone says they want to get to, which is a free trade agreement with no tariffs and no quotas.”

Source: REUTERS

10, September 2020

Ambazonia Restoration Forces turning to cattle rustling, Vice President Yerima won’t talk ⁰

Cameroon authorities say anglophone separatists have stolen thousands of cattle from ethnic Mbororo ranchers since July, forcing them to move livestock hundreds of kilometers away to more secure areas. Authorities say the rebels’ cattle rustling appears to be motivated by food shortages.

Forty-one-year-old Mbororo rancher Sule Kerla leads several hundred cattle to graze in the French-speaking village of Balamba, in central Cameroon, near Bafia town.

He says the cattle belong to five Mbororo, an ethnic group of ranchers, by tradition, located mainly in Cameroon’s Northwest Region.

But, Kerla says the Mbororo are fleeing the English-speaking region because anglophone rebels are stealing their cattle.

“Areas like Wum, Bui Division, Boyo Division, Mezam Division, there is no place where they {separatist fighters) have not seized cows from the Mbororos,” Kerla said. “When the military goes out for their work, you see them bringing cows that were seized from the Mbororo community. And then most of the Mbororos have carried their cows to the Western Region, Center Region.”

President of the Mbororo Cultural and Development Association (MBOSCUDA) Jaji Manu Gidado has also moved his 400 cattle to the town of Bafia.

Gidado says rebels have stolen at least 3,000 cattle from Mbororo ranchers since July.

He says ranchers have relocated about 2,500 cattle to safer, French-speaking towns like Bafia, to escape the rebels.

“Why they {ranchers} are the target group is because those guys {fighters} met the Mbororo people and asked them {Mbororos} to join them {separatist fighters} to disturb the administration {government} from functioning,” Gidado said. “And the Mbororo people told them, ‘No, we are here to rear our cattle and send our children to school.’”

Cameroon’s livestock ministry says since the separatist conflict began in 2016, the rebels seized about 300 cows each year.

Cameroon’s military says the rebels seem to be stealing more cattle these days because of food insecurity and to sell across the border in Nigeria to fund their revolt.

To crack down on the rebels, the military says it has reinforced control along the border with Nigeria.

Felix Njie Ewumbwe is the officer in charge of helping ranchers in the western town of Bafoussam. He says host communities should support the ranchers and their families.

Ewumbwe says the government gives them financial and moral support and informs them of opportunities in neighboring towns and villages, where they can sell their farm produce.

Separatists took up arms in 2017 to carve out an English-speaking state from French-speaking-majority Cameroon.

The United Nations says the fighting has cost more than 3,000 lives and forced half-a-million to flee to French-speaking regions or into neighboring Nigeria.

Source: VOA

10, September 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Civilians escaping the renewed fighting ⁰

Cameroon’s military this week launched an operation to weed out anglophone separatists in the northwestern city of Bamenda.  Locals say the commercial hub is eerily quiet after the military banned motorcycles, and rebels responded by demanding all vehicles stay off the streets.  Civilians have been escaping the renewed fighting to neighboring towns and villages.

Twenty-seven-year-old nurse Rachel Ngobising arrived in Yaoundé late Wednesday after escaping heavy fighting in Cameroon’s northwestern city of Bamenda.

“I struggled and I trekked for a very long distance before I could find a car that could smuggle me out of Bamenda. Worst of all, when I finally got a car, I had to pay five times the normal price [fare] because even the driver is scared. He was taking a risk,” she said.

The fighting broke out as Cameroon’s military this week swept the city of about 350,000 people, looking for anglophone separatists.

The commander of troops in the Northwest region, General Nka Valere, Monday announced what he called “Operation Clean Bamenda.”

He said they aimed to weed out rebels who entered the city after the military on Sunday killed a self-proclaimed rebel general. 

“That terrorist, by the name Fonteh, alias ‘mad dog,’ has killed more than 100 people,” he said. “We are taking all the measures to make sure that Bamenda will be clean. Respect the decision taken by the city mayor of Bamenda and administrative authorities.”

In a Wednesday interview, Valere said there were several running battles between the military and rebels in Bamenda and nearby villages.

However, in Bamenda, locals say the streets are eerily quiet and movement in the city has become difficult.

Officials banned motorcycles to stop the rebels from being able to quickly attack and escape.

Cameroon authorities say, normally, commercial motorcyclists alone number about 25,000 in Bamenda.

Separatists responded by demanding all vehicles stay off the city’s streets.

Daniel Caapo is a Hong Kong-based, self-proclaimed deputy defense chief for the rebel Ambazonia Defense Forces.

Speaking via a messaging application, he says they announced the demand to support motorcyclists.

“Our citizens are relying on motorbikes to go to hospital and to provide access to critical areas of Bamenda,” he said. “Most of these motor bikers earn their living only providing these services and they cater for a large population of our people who have no jobs to make a living. We cannot allow this. We have to rise up in solidarity with the bike men and also to send a strong message to the occupying force [military] and to the occupying administration [government].”

Cameroon’s military has vowed to crush rebels who refuse to surrender and hand over their weapons.

The governor of the Northwest region, Deben Tchoffo, says people should respect security actions needed to make the city safe.

He says measures taken by the government and the military to protect civilians should be respected. The announced actions, and many others that have not been made public, says Tchoffo, are intended to ensure the safety and well-being of all civilians. He asks that all civilians continue carrying out their daily activities without fear.

The rebels have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an independent, English-speaking state from French-speaking-majority Cameroon.

The United Nations says the four-year conflict has left at least 3,000 people dead and displaced more than half a million.

Source: VOA

10, September 2020

Ghanaian appointed UN Coordinator in Cameroon ⁰

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Ghana-born Matthias Z. Naab as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cameroon.

A UN statement said Mr Naab holds dual citizenship as he was born in Ghana but grew up in the United States and his appointment has the approval of the Cameroonian government.

The statement adds that Mr Naab has more than 20 years of experience in international development, acquired within the United Nations and externally.

“At the United Nations, he most recently served as United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Comoros after holding several senior positions at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He was UNDP Country Director in Mozambique, Governance Specialist in the United Republic of Tanzania, and Governance Adviser in Rwanda.

“Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr Naab was the Resident Country Director in Liberia and Nigeria for the International Republican Institute, a non-profit organization, where he managed the implementation of governance programmes in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Mr Naab holds a doctorate degree in international affairs and public policy from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States, where he also obtained a master’s degree in public and international affairs”.

Source: Graphic.com