3, September 2023
Southern Cameroons Crisis: Three government soldiers killed in Kumbo 0
The Ministry of Defense said three soldiers were killed Friday in firing from Southern Cameroons restoration forces as tensions between Yaoundé and the Ambazonia Interim Government persist over reopening of schools.
Yaoundé initially reported four soldiers were killed and one wounded, but later said one of those believed to have died was resuscitated.
The ministry said government positions were hit in Kumbo the chief town in Bui Division.
While confrontations between the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military and Southern Cameroonian fighters are rare today, it cannot be said that the war, which has raged for more than six years is over.
The soldiers have been identified by Cameroon News Agency, a sister publication as Nupoh, Meka, and Njikam.
If the killings have reduced, it is more because government troops have been ordered not to kill like they used to kill in the past.
Their recklessness with their guns is to blame for the streams of blood which have flowed in the two English-speaking regions of the country.
Actions by Southern Cameroonian fighters are just acts of retaliation whenever the sex-starved, alcohol-inflamed and trigger-happy Francophone soldiers went on a killing spree.
The Southern Cameroons crisis which started as a protest by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has sent more than 7,000 Cameroonians to an early grave, with soldiers accounting for 40% of the deaths.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
4, September 2023
Niger re-opens airspace to commercial flights 0
Niger on Monday reopened its airspace nearly a month after imposing a ban following a military coup in July, the official Nigerien news agency ANP said.
After taking power on July 26, the coup leaders closed the country’s airspace before reopening it again on August 2 – a measure that was reversed on August 6 after regional countries threatened to intervene militarily to restore civilian rule.
“The airspace of the Republic of Niger is open to all national and international commercial flights,” the agency quoted a transport ministry spokesman as saying, adding that ground services had also resumed.
It added that Niger airspace remained closed to all operational military flights and others requiring prior authorisation from the relevant authorities.
The Economic Community of West African States has imposed sanctions on Niger after the ousting of President Mohamed Bazoum and the bloc threatened military intervention as a last resort if talks fail to restore civilian rule.
On August 2, Niger reopened land and air borders with five neighbouring countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad.
Some flights that have received special authorisation have been able to continue to use the airport in the capital Niamey.
On Friday, the United Nations warned that tons of food aid destined for Niger was stuck in transit due to border closures.
Source: AFP