Monthly Archives: February 2021

Biya poised to buy Chadian oil pipeline stake

25, February 2021

Biya poised to buy Chadian oil pipeline stake 0

The Chadian government, which is mired in debt and badly affected by the Covid-19 crisis, wants to speed up the sale of part of its shares in the COTCO oil pipeline to Cameroonian state-owned oil company SNH and President Biya and his ruling CPDM crime syndicate are poised to buy the Chadian oil pipeline stake as Idris Deby battles with economic crisis.

Source: Africa Intelligence

Football: Mendy’s late strike puts Real Madrid in sight of Champions League quarters

25, February 2021

Football: Mendy’s late strike puts Real Madrid in sight of Champions League quarters 0

Ferland Mendy scored late as Real Madrid beat 10-man Atalanta 1-0 on Wednesday to close in on the Champions League quarter-finals.

The French left-back’s strike in Bergamo came four minutes from time in a last 16 first leg game which the hosts played a man down for over 70 minutes as Zinedine Zidane’s side hold the advantage heading into the second leg in Madrid on March 16.

Atalanta had attacked early but the game was transformed when Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler was harshly send off on 17 minutes for tripping Mendy at the edge of the penalty area.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s woes continued with forward Duvan Zapata limping off after half an hour with a muscular problem with midfielder Mario Pasalic coming off the bench.

Spanish midfielder Isco got a rare start up front for injury-hit Real Madrid playing alongside Marco Asensio and Vinicius.

The 13-time European champions were without striker Karim Benzema due to an ankle problem with an injury list also including Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard and Dani Carvajal.

But Zidane’s side failed to make the most of the extra man despite coming closest to breaking through in the first half with a Casemiro header, with Nacho, Isco and Vinícius Junior also threatening and Luka Modric sending over the goal.

Zapata and in-form Luis Muriel lead the Atalanta attack in their first meeting with Real Madrid.

Atalanta continued to attack, with Muriel missing a chance to give the hosts the advantage four minutes before the break with a long-range strike that went just wide.

Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini kept the hosts in the game keeping out a Casemiro header on a free kick before the half-time whistle.

Modric sent wide of the post after the break and sent through for Vinícius but was headed away from the Brazilian.

Josip Illicic came on in place of Muriel after 56 minutes.

The Slovenian scored five goals against Valencia at this stage of the competition last season, but was substituted off four minutes from time after a poor display.

Soon afterwards Madrid broke through thanks to Mendy, who beat Gollini with a stunning curling effort into the top corner.

Real have the advantage going into the second leg having missed out on the quarter-finals for the last two seasons.

Atalanta need a historic effort in the away leg to reach the last eight for a second successive year.

The Bergamo side won their last 16, first leg clash against Valencia 4-1 a year ago on front of 45,000 spectators in Milan’s San Siro.

That match was considered to have been one of the reasons behind the acceleration of the virus in Italy with Bergamo at the epicentre of the country’s outbreak.

The were playing their second Champions League campaign, but the first knock-out match in their home stadium which underwent renovations last season when they reached the last eight.

And thousands of fans ignored the Italian team’s plea to stay away with a party atmosphere outside the stadium with a fireworks display.

Source:  AFP

Bangui: Pro-government forces capture ex-president’s stronghold

24, February 2021

Bangui: Pro-government forces capture ex-president’s stronghold 0

Pro-government forces in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Wednesday seized a stronghold of former president Francois Bozize, who was accused in December of plotting a coup, Prime Minister Firmin Ngrebada said.

“I hail the capture of the town of Bossangoa by our forces and allies today,” he said on Facebook, referring to a key pro-Bozize town 280 kilometres (175 miles) north of the capital Bangui.

“Allies” is a term used by CAR’s government for Russian paramilitaries and Rwandan troops who are supporting the beleaguered authorities against rebel groups.

“Never again will bandits disturb people in this part of the country,” Ngrebada vowed.

A senior government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said “fighting is still ongoing” but “resistance has been broken, the enemy is fleeing.”

In mid-December, six rebel groups united to launch an offensive against President Faustin Archange Touadera, just over a week before presidential and legislative elections.

The government said the rebels had acted in concert with Bozize, who seized power in 2003 and was ousted a decade later—an act that sparked a civil war along sectarian lines.

Russia and Rwanda flew in military personnel to shore up the CAR’s poorly- equipped armed forces, which are also backed by a 12,000 UN force, MINUSCA.

The rebels attacked a string of towns in January and twice came close to the capital, but the government and its allies went on the counter-offensive.

A string of towns—Boda, Boali, Bossembele, Bossemptele, Yaloke and Beloko—have been recaptured and on February 16, Bangui’s road lifeline to neighbouring Cameroon was reopened.

The following day, the government said it had “completely liberated” Bambari, CAR’s fifth biggest town, located in the centre of the country, and captured “numerous prisoners.”

Shadow of Bozize

Bozize fled abroad after being toppled in 2013.

He returned in late 2019, stoking fears that the troubled nation would be plunged once more into a full-fledged conflict as elections loomed on the horizon.

Violence remains endemic in a country where two-thirds of the territory is controlled by militia groups.

Touadera won re-election in the first round of the polls, according to official figures, but the turnout was just 35 percent as many voters were unable to cast their ballot.

Bozize denies giving any support to the six rebel groups, who teamed up in December under the name of the Coalition of Patriots for Change, or CPC.

On January 4, the government launched an inquiry into him for “rebellion.”

Thousands of people have died in the CAR since 2013 and more than a quarter of the population of 4.9 million have fled their homes.

Of these, 675,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries.

Source: AFP

EU ‘yellow cards’ Biya regime over lack of action on illegal fishing

24, February 2021

EU ‘yellow cards’ Biya regime over lack of action on illegal fishing 0

Cameroon could lose its access to the lucrative European Union seafood market due to the government’s failure to tackle illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The European Commission has put Cameroon on notice by issuing the country a “yellow card,” which is a formal warning that could lead to a total ban on seafood exports from the country to the E.U.

Cameroon, the commission said, has so far failed to abide by agreed standards “under international law of the sea as flag, port, and market state.”

The commission identified a lack of a robust registration policy for fishing vessels to operate under its flag, and insufficient attempts to ensure efficient and adequate control over fishing activities carried out by vessels flying the country’s flag, key constraints in Cameroon’s involvement in the fight against IUU.

According to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Cameroon is notorious in offering a “flag of convenience” to fishing vessels operating illegally with minimal monitoring and enforcement hence facilitating illicit marine seafood harvest “by making it hard to identify and take action against boat owners.”

“We very much welcome the European Commission’s decision to warn and initiate a formal dialogue with Cameroon,” EJF Executive Director Steve Trent said.

Trent said illegal operators using Cameroon’s flag of convenience abetted illicit fishing that “undermine any attempts to manage fisheries sustainably and push fish populations to collapse, threatening food security and livelihoods in many regions.”

He commended the European Commission’s use of the carding system, which he said is a “powerful tool against flags of convenience and has helped several countries such as Togo, reform dramatically.”

The preference of Cameroon as the source of the flag of convenience has been linked to laxity in government, with EJF’s previous findings showing at least a third of vessels, now sailing under the country’s flag, were adopted “only recently, in the last two to three years, despite having no obvious link with the country.”

The country’s fishing capacity is now nine times larger than it was before 2018, according to the EJF.

“Sustained commitment to progress is needed from all countries if we are to succeed in ending illegal fishing and once again the European Union is leading the world in this commitment,” Trent said.

Previously, FAO had observed emergence of a small industrial fleet “consisting primarily of shrimp trawlers, which are however often operated in joint venture with distant fishing nations.”

Despite nearly 50 trawlers greater than 24 meters having been reported way back in 2009, FAO says there are no reliable recent figures reported.

By 2015, a total fleet of 12,700 vessels was reported with 4,000 unpowered and 7,200 powered vessels, all under 12 meters, according to the FAO. An estimated 239,000 metric tons (MT) of fish was caught at the time, with 75,000 MT from inland waters and 164,000 MT from marine waters. More than 65 percent of the total catch is small pelagics.  

Source: Seafoodsource.com

8 killed, 25 injured in French Cameroun bus crash

24, February 2021

8 killed, 25 injured in French Cameroun bus crash 0

At least eight people were killed and at least 25 others were injured when a bus collided head-on with another vehicle on a highway in Cameroon’s West region early Monday, police said.

Several passengers were ejected in the accident that happened in Fossang locality of the region along the Koutaba-Yaounde highway.

More than 25 people were taken to hospitals after sustaining serious injuries, according to local police.

Road accidents are common in Cameroon often caused by reckless driving, poor state of vehicles and roads as well as overloading.

In January, at least 53 people were killed and 21 others seriously injured in an accident in the western village of Santchou.

Source: Xinhaunet

Martyr General Joel Tanteh, Lt. General Fuonkeh aka Chop: Yerima says Ambazonia will not back down on independence issue

24, February 2021

Martyr General Joel Tanteh, Lt. General Fuonkeh aka Chop: Yerima says Ambazonia will not back down on independence issue 0

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima says the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will not back down on its right to an independent state and will continue its self defense policy and resistance in line with the right to sovereignty as defined by the founding fathers of the United Nations.

“The Federal Republic of Ambazonia will not back down on its sovereignty in the face of a French backed French Cameroun genocidal campaign and will continue to march on the basis of self defense” Dabney Yerima told Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora via zoom during a meeting on the situation in Bambili and the assassination of two top Amba self defense soldiers-Martyr General Joel Tanteh and Lt. General Fuonkeh.

Underlining the fact that the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will never join the list of failed states, Vice President Dabney Yerima said “What prevents Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces from attacking La Republique du Cameroun is the Anglo Saxon way of thinking and principles, which prohibit the use of violence to massacre innocent citizens.”

Referring to massacre of thousands of innocent Southern Cameroonians in both the Northern and the Southern Zones as well as the recent indiscriminate killings in Bambili and Mautu, Dabney Yerima said, “Massacring civilians and innocent people is the way of French Cameroun political system, but the Federal Republic of Ambazonia does not believe in this method.”

Elsewhere in his comments, Vice President Yerima stated that those Southern Cameroons clowns in the French Cameroun crime syndicate in Yaoundé, who keep saying that we will not get to Buea must know that they and those bigger than them in La Republique du Cameroun cannot prevent the Ambazonian people from establishing their own nation.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Argentina: Calls for medical board to rule on Maradona death

23, February 2021

Argentina: Calls for medical board to rule on Maradona death 0

Argentina’s public prosecutor’s office will convene a medical board on March 8 to decide whether or not late football legend Diego Maradona was given proper treatment before his death, legal sources said on Tuesday.

Maradona died of a heart attack on November 25, weeks after undergoing brain surgery on a blood clot.

Investigators are trying to determine whether or not there was negligence in Maradona’s health care before he died.

Nine experts will be called on March 8 including the medical examiners that took part in Maradona’s autopsy.

The public prosecutor in San Isidro, a suburb of the capital Buenos Aires, has also called two more witnesses to appear before investigators on Thursday: a nursing coordinator and the doctor tasked with coordinating Maradona’s home care during the days before he died.

Five other people, including neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, are already under investigation in the involuntary manslaughter probe.

The latest two people included in the investigation were members of a WhatsApp chat group discussing Maradona’s care, local media reported.

Two of Maradona’s daughters — Gianinna, 31, and Jana, 24 — will also appear before prosecutors on Thursday.

They have accused Luque of responsibility in Maradona’s deteriorating health.

A first autopsy conducted the day Maradona died found he had suffered from liquid on the lungs with acute heart failure brought on by a disease of the heart muscles that makes it harder to pump blood. His heart was twice the normal size.

Maradona is an idol to millions of Argentines after he inspired the South American country to only its second World Cup triumph in 1986.

An attacking midfielder who spent two years with Spanish giants Barcelona, he is also loved in Naples where he helped Napoli win the only two Serie A titles in the club’s history.

He was coach of Argentine top flight outfit Gimnasia y Esgrima when he died.

He had celebrated his 60th birthday on October 30 at the club but looked in poor physical health and seemed to have trouble speaking.

Sources close to Maradona said he suffered from depression during eight months of coronavirus restrictions that confined him to home as he was considered a high-risk person.

Maradona was suffering from liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders when he died.

He had battled cocaine and alcohol addictions during his life.

Source:  AFP

Iran blocks IAEA nuclear inspections under Additional Protocol following sanctions deadline

23, February 2021

Iran blocks IAEA nuclear inspections under Additional Protocol following sanctions deadline 0

Iran has stopped the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement that allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to carry out short-notice inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities, following a deadline set by Tehran for the removal of US sanctions.

Talking to reporters, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed that the implementation of the Additional Protocol had been stopped as of Tuesday morning.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s permanent representative to Vienna-based international organizations, also announced late on Monday that all the IAEA’s additional access to the nuclear sites would be halted by midnight.

“As of 12:00 p.m. local time (2030 GMT), we have nothing called obligations beyond the Safeguards Agreement,” he said. “Necessary orders have been issued to nuclear facilities.”

Zarif pointed out that Iran will continue to implement its commitments under the NPT Safeguards Agreements and cooperate with the IAEA.

He explained that footage recorded by cameras at Iran’s nuclear sites will now be withheld and no longer shared with the IAEA on a daily and weekly basis as was done in the past.

The foreign minister also noted that Iran will have no official meeting with the US, since Washington is no longer a party to the nuclear deal.

The halt came under the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions, a law passed last December by the Iranian Parliament.

The legislation set February 23 as a deadline for the Iranian government to further scale back compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), if the US does not lift its sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The withdrawal from the Protocol adds to Iran’s previous steps away from the JCPOA in response to the US’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 and the other parties’ failure to fulfill their commitments.

Admin. welcomes Leader’s call for unity with Parliament

Additionally, the administration of President Hassan Rouhani on Monday welcomed a call by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for it and the Parliament to resolve their rifts and act in unison regarding the anti-sanctions law.

“Negotiations and agreements between the Islamic Republic and the IAEA have been in full compliance with the Constitution and the laws of the country, in particular the resolution of the 759th session of the Supreme National Security Council. All experts and security officials have acknowledged that they (the negotiations and agreements with the IAEA) were the most efficient and the least costly way to fully implement the Parliament’s resolution,” it said in a statement.

“The goal of the Islamic Republic and the definite plan of the government are to realize the rights of the Iranian people, intelligently and decisively confront the illegal actions and policies of the United States, and lift the cruel and inhumane sanctions against the Iranian nation as soon as possible,” it added.

During a visit by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to Tehran on Sunday, the UN nuclear watchdog struck a three-month deal with Iran.

Source: Presstv

US: Supreme Court allows release of Trump’s tax returns to NY prosecutors

23, February 2021

US: Supreme Court allows release of Trump’s tax returns to NY prosecutors 0

The US Supreme Court on Monday allowed the release of Donald Trump’s tax records to criminal prosecutors, rejecting a last-ditch bid by the former president’s lawyers to keep them secret.

Trump, 74, has been waging a protracted legal battle to prevent his tax records from being handed over to New York prosecutors probing hush payments to women and possible fraud.

The nation’s highest court denied the request filed by lawyers for Trump without comment, paving the way for the documents to be handed over to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

The prosecutor, a Democrat, has been fighting for over a year to obtain eight years of Trump’s tax returns as part of an investigation into the ex-president’s finances.

Monday’s ruling concerns a subpoena that Vance had issued to Trump’s accountants Mazars USA in August 2019 ordering it to furnish documents stretching back to 2011.

“The work continues,” Vance said in a three-word statement issued after the ruling.

Vance’s probe was initially focused on payments made before the 2016 presidential election to two women who claim they had affairs with Trump, including porn star Stormy Daniels.

But the state-level investigation is also now examining possible allegations of tax evasion, and insurance and bank fraud.

Trump, who left the White House last month, called the investigation “a continuation of the greatest political witch hunt in the history of our country.”

“The Supreme Court never should have let this ‘fishing expedition’ happen, but they did,” he said in a statement following the ruling.

US presidents are not required by law to release details of their personal finances but every US leader since Richard Nixon has done so.

Trump repeatedly said he would release them pending an audit but ultimately broke with the tradition.

Vance’s investigators have interviewed Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who received a three-year prison term after admitting making hush payments to the two women.

The ex-lawyer had testified to Congress that Trump and his company artificially inflated and devalued the worth of their assets to both obtain bank loans and reduce their taxes.   

Civil probe

If Trump were charged and convicted he could face a possible jail term. Unlike federal offenses, state crimes are not subject to presidential pardons.

Investigators also recently interviewed employees of Deutsche Bank, which has long backed the former president and the Trump Organization, US media reported.

They spoke to staff at Trump’s insurance broker Aon, too.

Vance’s investigation is taking place behind closed doors in front of a Grand Jury.

It is unclear if and when it will lead to a prosecution, which would be the first of a former US president.

In July, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s argument that as a sitting president he was immune from prosecution.

Trump’s lawyers then challenged the scope of the requested documents, saying it was too broad.

Ahead of the November 3 election, The New York Times alleged that Trump had avoided paying federal taxes in 11 out of the 18 years for which it had obtained returns.

The newspaper also reported that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, a claim the former president denies.

New York state’s Attorney General Letitia James is also investigating allegations of bank fraud and insurance fraud through civil proceedings.

Trump’s legal troubles may not end there.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said that as a civilian Trump “is liable for everything he did while he was in office.”

At his historic second impeachment trial, the US Senate acquitted Trump of inciting the crowd that stormed the US Capitol in January, but McConnell suggested Trump could face criminal and civil action over the riot.

In February, prosecutors in Georgia opened an investigation “into attempts to influence” the presidential election in the state.

Trump had pressured officials to overturn his loss in the key battleground.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: French President Macron writes rare letter to Biya

23, February 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: French President Macron writes rare letter to Biya 0

Health cooperation within the framework of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the Southern Cameroons crisis were the two main subjects on the menu of the audience granted on Monday, February 22, 2021 by the French Cameroun dictator, Paul Biya, to Christophe Guilhou, the French Ambassador to La Republique du Cameroun.

The French Commissioner to Yaoundé is a regular at the so-called Unity Palace. He was back on Monday afternoon in Etoudi, seven months after his last meeting with the 88-years-old President Paul Biya.

“I gave Biya a letter from President Emmanuel Macron“, Mr. Christophe Guilhou told French Cameroun state radio and television and “We discussed a number of subjects. The coronavirus pandemic, the situation in Anglophone Cameroon and the excellent bilateral relationship” Christophe Guilhou, French Ambassador to Cameroon since June 2019 added.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

< 1 2 3 4 5 >»