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21, April 2019

Trump ridicules Romney for his 2012 loss to Obama ⁰

US President Donald Trump has swiped at Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) one day after Romney said he was “sickened” by Trump’s actions detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Romney issued a sharp rebuke of Trump Friday following the release of Mueller’s report, saying, “I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President.”

Trump, in response, took to Twitter Saturday, mocking Romney for his loss to former President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.

His tweet also featured a video compilation of clips from Romney’s 2012 election night defeat. Romney, the current Utah senator and former Massachusetts governor, lost the election by over 100 electoral votes, while losing the popular vote to the incumbent Obama by about 4 percentage points.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

If @MittRomney spent the same energy fighting Barack Obama as he does fighting Donald Trump, he could have won the race (maybe)

Trump has said the report “was written as nastily as possible” by “true Trump haters.”

In other tweets earlier on Saturday, he called Mueller a “highly conflicted” individual and described his investigation as “the greatest Witch Hunt in US political history.”

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

Despite the fact that the Mueller Report should not have been authorized in the first place & was written as nastily as possible by 13 (18) Angry Democrats who were true Trump Haters, including highly conflicted Bob Mueller himself, the end result is No Collusion, No Obstruction!

Congressional Democrats have taken a legal step to see all of Mueller’s evidence from his inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, with some members pushing for the impeachment of Trump just 18 months before the 2020 presidential election.

The redacted edition of the much-anticipated 400-page investigation, covering Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election, as well as Donald Trump and his team’s wrongdoings and possible presidential obstruction of justice, was released in the report on Thursday.

US Attorney General William Barr said Mueller did not discover any evidence that Trump’s election campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

He also said the Mueller’s two-year investigation did not uncover any evidence that Trump obstructed the special counsel probe.

Source: Presstv

21, April 2019

Boko Haram: Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Niger Deploy Troops After Fresh Attack ⁰

The Multi-National Joint Task Force of the Lake Chad Basin Commission made up of forces from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger, has deployed troops after suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacked Cameroon killing at least 13 people and leaving hundreds homeless. Cameroon has been asking its people to collaborate with the military, stating that more attacks will be reported during Ramadan, expected in a few weeks.

It is a very quiet and deserted Tchakarmari village on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria with carcasses of animals and torched houses reminding visitors of a sad event.

Torched Tchakarmari village. Tchakarmari, Cameroon, Apr, 20, 2019.

Resident Abba Malloum says the village of more than 400 people was reduced to ashes by Boko Haram fighters who came from neighboring Nigeria on the late Thursday night.

He says over a hundred Boko Haram fighters attacked their village, shooting indiscriminately and torching all of their houses. He says at least 13 people were either shot to death or slaughtered, many wounded, about a hundred men, women and children abducted, and their maize, beans, groundnuts and sheep burned as hundreds of their cattle were taken away.

Bachair Hachimi, traditional ruler of Tchakarmari says relative peace had returned to their village a year ago after several attacks by the terror group and residents who had fled started to return. He says even though dozens were killed in a series of suicide bombings, residents were determined to collaborate with the military in fighting Boko Haram, but the fresh attack has scared almost everyone.

He says because of the attack, people who had started returning home after the military pushed back Boko Haram fighters and installed a base of the Multi-National Joint Task Force have again fled to places they consider safe in the towns of Mora, Meme, Mokolo and Maroua. He says most of his people have lost everything they struggled to gather when peace returned to their village.

Children eating some food in Tchakarmari village, Cameroon, Apr, 20, 2019.

Midjiyawa Bakary, governor of the far north region of Cameroon has called for vigilance. He says after a crisis meeting, troops have been deployed to secure the area and bring back the abducted people whose number and whereabouts he said was still being investigated

He says he has asked for the remobilization and redynamization of self-defense groups and more vigilance from the population that had been dormant thinking that Boko Haram had been defeated. He says after a crisis meeting, the Multi-National Joint task force of the Lake Chad basin that is fighting Boko Haram has been instructed to organize regular patrols and systematic searches of people, vehicles and homes and suspected villages and towns.

Victims of Boko Haram attack taken to Mora hospital, Cameroon, Apr. 20, 2019.

This week, Cameroon authorities said they had detained 30 Nigerians who crossed the border Saturday on suspicion of links to Boko Haram Islamist militants.

Governor Bakary warned that Boko Haram was looking for opportunities to infiltrate when many people are travelling across the border for religious or national holidays. He said with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan beginning May 5, international Labor Day on May 1, and National Day on May 20, Boko Haram may want to infiltrate and kill people as they gather around mosques and markets.

More than 1,500 Cameroonians have been killed in attacks by Boko Haram since the insurgency began nine years ago.

Source: VOA

21, April 2019

Regime change in Africa: Next Stop—-Yaounde ⁰

In under a month, two African dictators have been brought down by mass protests. Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 82, and Sudan’s Omar Al-Bashir, 75, resigned after massive protests. Bouteflika had ruled Algeria for 30 years and was seeking re-election amidst declining health, while Al-Bashir had been at the helm of Sudan since 1989. These events have focused attention on long-serving dictators in Africa and how this wave might affect their political futures. Amongst them is Cameroon’s Paul Biya.

At 85, he has ruled Cameroon for 36 years and was recently declared winner in a hotly contested election that saw now detained opposition leader Maurice Kamto, declaring himself winner. There are striking similarities amongst the African dictatorships that have recently been toppled such as Gambia, Zimbabwe, Algeria and Sudan. These governments are characterized by huge deficits including dictatorship, long rule, abuse of institutions, poverty, corruption, and youth unemployment. These indicators are very present in Cameroon under the Biya regime and have implanted acute feelings of dissatisfaction, frustration and inertia triggering pockets of protest, resistance and rebellion across the country. Recent events in the country contain all the telltale signs of a regime in decline and a failing environment.

For a long time Paul Biya has relied on the usual dictatorial tactics to maintain his stranglehold on the country; ethnic divisions, brutal military crackdown on dissenters, arrest and imprisonment of opposition leaders, keeping a close college of cronies, most of whom are from his region of origin and have remained blind loyalists. Those that have shown signs of wavering have been quickly thrown in prison. Loyalists make dictators. Because above all else, the sustaining element of dictatorships is the willingness of a cross-section of the oppressed to not just acquiesce but to actively seek the oppression of all others. Biya has shrewdly eschewed a military coup, especially after the April 1984 attempt failed, by neutralizing the power of the military through the creation of several independent military and paramilitary bodies with him as the only centralized commander. In addition, the military, across its ranks is made up of members of his ethnic group.

The uncertainty of where power resides makes it difficult to stage a coordinated takeover. Following the October 7, 2018 presidential election, supporters of the leading opposition party, Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) staged peaceful demonstrations protesting election results and the government’s handling of the ongoing socio-political crisis plaguing the country’s two English speaking regions. The leader of the CRM and presidential candidate, Maurice Kamto was arrested and has been in detention alongside 131 supporters. In the meantime, he has been charged with rebellion, inciting insurrection, offence against the president of the republic and treason amongst others. Charges which if found guilty, he and his supporters will be facing the death penalty. All forms of anti-regime demonstrations are immediately banned in the country ensuring and fostering a system in which there is no space for democratic expression.

The government and its supporters have attempted to downplay demonstrations by CRM as a parochial group of people from the Western region of the country, lacking nationwide support, but who want to muzzle their way into power. The fallout has been the increase in hate speech and tribalism, especially on social media with supporters of Biya and Kamto referring to each other as ‘sardinards’ and ‘tontinard’, respectively. These two derogatory appellations which have gained widespread use are interpreted to mean Biya supporters are a selfish bunch who vote based on receiving cans of sardines, while tontinards means Kamto’s supporters as miserly and cheap. This trend of ‘us’ against ‘them’ has bled through the country manifesting in the description of Anglophones as “Biafrans” and “Ambazonians”, and Northerners as “Sheep”.

This is a country disintegrating on the crucible of hate speech and ethnicity. Perhaps one of the early signs of a crack in the government of Biya is the new trend of leaks of sensitive and classified documents. Because the government has a long history of withholding information from the public, the recent upsurge in leaks is indicative of fault lines within the government ranks. Just over a week ago, classified documents were leaked detailing the president’s planned sojourn to Switzerland and the accompanying security details. Hitherto, this would have been majorly unheard of, and its occurrence now signals a lot. No other happening right now spells more trouble for the Biya reign than the ongoing crisis in the English speaking regions of the country. The crisis is caused by Anglophone perceptions of over 57 years of marginalization by the two successive francophone-led governments. The Anglophone regions voted to join the French speaking side in 1961 in a federation.

Anglophones have over the years complaint about the abrogation of the terms of the union including the dismantling of the federal system and the destruction and neglect of pristine Anglophone culture and institutions such as the English common law system and the Anglophone educational system and the underrepresentation of Anglophones in government. These grievances have bulged into calls for outright secession to create the putative state of Ambazonia. The government’s reaction to the Anglophone protest was characterized by military clampdown and what has been described as imposition of measures and solutions on the protesters. Essentially, the government has failed to productively handle the grievances leading to armed resistance.

The crisis has dealt a severe blow on the country’s economy with thousands being internally displaced, with over half a million refugees in Nigeria, hundreds have been killed and education has been halted in many areas in the Anglophones regions by separatist militia. This crisis poses a serious existential threat to the country as a whole but more so to the longevity of the Biya reign. And this is largely due to its economic impact. Though Cameroon is not officially classified as a fragile state by the World Bank, it contains all the indicators including weak institutional coping capacity to withstand external shocks, pressures and risks; it is facing violent conflicts, high unemployment, corruption and embezzlement, poor health and educational infrastructure etc.

Quite frankly, the economic threat posed by the Anglophone crisis is what might just tip the country over to open mayhem. It can be argued that the reason why there is still an uneasy stability in the country is because it has not been completely tethered economically. Cameroonians can still afford basic needs and daily food but the prices of basic commodities are on a steady rise especially with the stall of free-flow of economic activities and products from many parts of the English speaking regions. In 2008, the country witnessed a nationwide strike due to hikes in fuel prices. This is indicative, and the government should understand this by now, that it would be brought to its knees by economic pressures as prices of commodities continue to soar.

The state-owned agro-industrial corporation, the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), is operating at below 10% of its capacity, losing billions as a result of attacks by separatists on their operations. CDC is one of the major employers in the country and the loss in production capacity has led to non-payment of salaries and arrears and general disgruntlement. It is only a matter of time before separatist block the flow of oil from the southwest region of the country as they have attempted and sometimes succeeded with other produce like timber. Blocking the flow of oil will paralyze the entire CEMAC zone which is dependent on the country’s oil refinery, SONARA. It is clear that the key strategy of separatists is to attack state institutions, stall their functioning, strain the government economically and then bring it to its knees.

Clearly, the government still survives because the crisis in the Anglophone regions and the protests in other regions like those spearheaded by opposition leaders have not been able to coalesce into a nationwide protest. However, with the current trend of economic decline, it is only a matter of time before economic disgruntlement matures into popular uprising. The trigger at that time, like in Sudan, might be something which a notoriously complacent regime would consider insignificant, such as bread.

Culled from Face2face Africa

21, April 2019

Southern Cameroons War: EU’s Mogherini urges humanitarian and human rights action ⁰

The Anglophone crisis in Cameroon must remain a priority for the European Union, particularly the need for humanitarian support for those displaced, said EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini in an address to the European Parliament.

“Regrettably, unlawful killings and atrocities continue to be reported regularly, allegedly involving both the security and defense forces and separatist groups,” said Mogherini. “The humanitarian consequences of this situation are alarming, with about half a million internally displaced people and over 32,000 refugees from Cameroon registered in Nigeria.”

The EU has consistently pressed for a national dialogue to resolve escalating conflict between the government of President Paul Biya and armed separatists in the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon.

The EU also urged Cameroon to release political prisoners where appropriate, and said it is closely watching the cases of 47 detained Anglophone leaders and their need for a fair and transparent trial.

“On behalf of all the 28 Member States we have asked for the release of detainees against whom hard evidence cannot be produced and we asked for an immediate halt to violence, to human rights violations and hate speech,” Mogherini said.

Cameroon’s situation is made worse by Boko Haram’s presence in its far north, and in neighboring Chad, Niger and Nigeria, she added. New refugees continue to arrive from Nigeria.

“If we consider both the Internally Displaced People and the refugees coming from Nigeria and the Central African Republic, if we consider that all together, there is about one million people in need of help,” she said. “I believe we have a humanitarian duty that we need to respond to.”

Source: Africa Times

20, April 2019

Ukraine opposition figure urges presidential candidate to reconcile with Russia ⁰

A pro-Russian opposition figure in Ukraine calls on presidential frontrunner Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is expected to easily win an election runoff, to reconcile with Moscow and get back eastern Ukraine.

Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the political council of the political party Opposition Platform – For Life, outlined the prospect in an interview before the election runoff on Sunday, saying Zelenskiy could regain control over the separatist-controlled east of Ukraine of takes the office.

Polls suggest the 41-year-old comedian and actor is due to score an overwhelming victory over Western-backed incumbent President Petro Poroshenko.

“They don’t have any expectations in Moscow,” Medvedchuk said. “They want to see what happens afterwards, who will be in his (Zelenskiy’s) entourage and what he will do and with whom.”

A deadly war has battered Ukraine’s industrial east over the past four years, although there has been a relative calm in the area in the recent past.

The war broke out in Ukraine in early 2014 after pro-Russian protests erupted in eastern cities and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea re-joined Russia following a referendum. The West brands the unification as annexation of the territory by Russia.

Kiev and its Western allies also accuse Moscow of supporting pro-Russian militia in eastern Ukraine, an allegation the Kremlin vehemently denies.

The pro-Russians have turned the two regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east — collectively known as the Donbass — into self-proclaimed republics.

An agreement on how to implement a peace deal over eastern Ukraine could be reached “within several months” and implemented on the ground within “six to eight months,” said Medvedchuk.

Russia has reacted to the runoff votes, saying it was watching candidates’ statements closely and hoped any new president could implement a peace deal on Donbass.

Asked about Medvedchuk’s advice for Ukraine’s new president on Friday, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, called him “very active” and “important” when it came to his humanitarian work as an intermediary between Moscow and Kiev.

“We would always like to hope for the best. Of course we want to hope that the person who is elected Ukraine’s president will not be from the party of war. And we want to hope that this person will take a different perspective on relations between Ukraine and Russia,” Peskov said.

Ukraine’s current President and presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko (R) speaks during a presidential election debate in Kiev on April 19. 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Zelenskiy has so far said he seeks peace in the east and to wants to breathe new life into the stalled talks.

In September 2014, Kiev and the pro-Russia forces signed an EU-brokered ceasefire agreement in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk in a bid to halt fighting in Ukraine’s eastern regions.

The warring sides also inked another truce agreement, dubbed Minsk II, in February 2015 under the supervision of Russia, Germany, and France.

The fragile ceasefire has frequently been violated, with Kiev and the militants blaming each other.

Source: Presstv

20, April 2019

Southern Cameroons Women Call on Biya regime to Stop the killings in Ambazonia ⁰

Hundreds of Cameroonian women gathered in the capital this week to urge the government to stop the killings in the country’s Anglophone separatist western regions. Weeks of violent clashes in those areas have left at least 70 people dead.

The event Thursday at the Yaounde conference center saw about 700 women from various cultural associations call for efforts to end fighting in the English-speaking regions.

Teacher Elizabeth Mankaa, who organized the groups, said most of the women have lost family members or belongings in battles between the military and separatists.

“The northwest and the southwest region are suffering, and we are here to cry like mothers so that the government should hear our cry and stop this crisis,” she said.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that dozens of separatists have been killed within the past two weeks.

The Catholic dioceses in the regions said they counted at least 70 bodies, including those of civilians and military members.

Mankaa said all of the victims were children of Cameroon, dying in what she described as a senseless war.

Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute adresses English-speaking women in Yaounde, Cameroon, April 18, 2019.

Government to separatists: Surrender

At a separate event Thursday, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute claimed Cameroon’s military is winning the fight. He called on the wives and mothers of separatists to persuade them to surrender.

“I have it on very good information that a lot of those young people out in the bushes are there in spite of themselves,” he said. “They want to come out, but many do not know how to come out. Talk to them [in] a language of fraternity, that we are begging them to leave the bush because they are our own. They are our children.”

Daniel Mukete, a political analyst at the Cameroon Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Conflicts, says the government cannot declare war and deploy heavily armed troops, then expect separatists to disarm.

“Let the enabling condition for an inclusive dialogue be set. Let violence [cease]. Let guns stop being heard. Let the people feel free to express their minds,” Mukete said.

He added that rebel fighters will only believe that troops will not kill them if they withdraw.

Liberian born Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Roberta Gbowee speaks in Yaounde, Cameroon, April 18, 2019.

Humanitarian principles

Liberian peace activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Roberta Gbowee was at another Yaounde-related event Thursday. She warned that Cameroon will descend into chaos if there are no talks to bring peace to the separatist regions.

“From my own experience as a Liberian, I think it is important that Cameroonians come to the place where there is consensus on humanitarian principles,” she said. “When you hear stories of women using leaves for sanitary pads and people giving birth in the bushes, you know that it is time for leaders to take a step back and say we need to think about the humanity of the people.”

International pressure is growing over the worsening conditions in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, on Thursday called for talks between the government and rebels as the only way to achieve a sustainable solution.

In a speech at the European Parliament, she said the humanitarian consequences were alarming with about half a million internally displaced people and more than 32,000 Cameroon refugees registered in Nigeria.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions since fighting broke out in 2017.

The unrest was sparked by English-speaking teachers and lawyers protesting Francophone dominance.

Armed rebels took over the movement, demanding independence for an English-speaking state they call “Ambazonia.” Their demands were met with a government crackdown and calls to surrender or be killed.

Source: VOA

20, April 2019

Cameroon’s watchdog rejects MTN’s tariff proposal ⁰

The Cameroonian Telecommunications Regulatory Board (TRB) has rejected MTN Cameroon’s proposed tariff plan for 2019, ITWeb Africa reported. It rejected the operator’s technical offering and pricing conditions for access and sharing of network infrastructure, because it reportedly did not respect certain proposals made by TRB’s board.

TRB had recommended that MTN Cameroon reduce the cost of interconnection for SMS and voice by 50 percent, eliminate validity periods for SMS bundles, reduce SMS tariffs by 30 percent, as well as reduce the surcharge distribution key in favour of partners. The regulator had also asked the company to define the maximum duration of an internet session and the period of disconnection, and to reduce the 40 percent activation fee. The network operators had been urged to remove fixed monthly fees which do not correspond to any service or validity duration of offers, amongst others.

Officials said following a review of the company’s interconnection catalogue, it was clear that most of the recommendations were not taken into account. According to the regulator, in MTN Cameroon’s proposal, some fees were maintained while others were increased compared with 2018. Ali Soungui, TRB’s Director of Licensing, Competition and Interconnection, said MTN Cameroon replicated its 2018 interconnection catalogue, which levied call cost at XAF 22 per minute during peak hours and XAF 20 per minute off peak, instead of XAF 12 per minute as recommended by TRB.

MTN Cameroon has not responded to the latest development.

Source: Telecompaper

20, April 2019

Boko Haram kills 11 civilians in Cameroon attack ⁰

Boko Haram fighters torched a village in Cameroon’s troubled Far North Region overnight and killed 11 civilians in their sleep, security sources told AFP on Friday.

“Boko Haram made an incursion at night in the Tchakamari area,” a source close to security services in the area said, confirming a report from a member of a local self-defence militia.

It was the deadliest Boko Haram raid in recent months in Cameroon.

The bodies were “charred”, the source close to security services said, adding that the attackers had burnt the village.

The dead included both children and the aged. It began at around 10pm and lasted until about 1am Friday.

The Boko Haram conflict began in 2009 in neighbouring Nigeria, in which more than 27,000 people have been killed and 1.8 million left homeless in the country’s northeast.

The violence has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Source: AFP

19, April 2019

Southern Cameroons Crisis: EU Parliament Pushes Yaounde to the Wall ⁰

Yaounde is under pressure and the pressure is coming from an unlikely source. Its usual allies are slowly jumping ship and this spells a disaster for a government that is on its last leg. The European Union has sent a tough message to Yaounde and sources at the Unity Palace say the bad news is keeping Palace’s occupants awake all night.

Though the French are still solidly behind the corrupt regime in Yaounde, Mr. Paul Biya, the country’s long serving president, knows that the tides are turning and turning very fast. The EU’s rhetoric is gradually changing and EU parliamentarians are not happy with the way the Yaounde government has handled the Southern Cameroons crisis that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

For more than two years, the Yaounde government thought it had many allies and with such a played out mindset, it has gone about killing its own citizens, especially in the North West and South West regions.

But this week’s discussion of Cameroon in the EU Parliament has clearly revealed that Yaounde has no allies and its hopes of continuing to ride roughshod over the opposition have been dashed . Speaker after speaker at the EU Parliament only lambasted Mr. Biya’s long rule that is collapsing from within.

The EU Parliamentarians also pointed out that the mind-blowing human rights abuses in the country only spoke to the desperation of a regime that has overstayed its welcome.

The speakers clearly indicated that the EU had the means and resources that could bring down the gerontocracy in Yaounde. EU parliamentarians want to use their influence to mount pressure on Mr. Biya who has rejected all calls for an inclusive dialogue.

The EU might have been quiet for a long time, but its members have now decided to speak out and to call on France, the only big nation still supporting Mr. Biya, to take the appropriate steps that should lead to a peaceful and inclusive dialogue that the Yaounde government has rejected for years.

While EU Parliamentarians acknowledged that Cameroon was a strategic partner in the fight against Boko Haram, they also pointed out that good friends should also be reprimanded when they are straying into violence and irresponsibility.

The Cameroon government, they said, had used the fight against terrorism to stifle genuine political opposition. They stressed that in prosecuting its war against religious extremists in the country’s northern part, the Biya regime had committed despicable acts of atrocities that must be condemned.

They pointed to the killing of a woman and her children by government forces, adding that the videos of those killings did not show that those killed were terrorists. They also condemned the army’s reckless and wanton killing of innocent civilians in the two English-speaking regions of the country.

The EU Parliamentarians regretted the fact that the government had not displayed any remorse for the chaos it had created in the country, adding that the EU should help the thousands of Cameroonian refugees who are scattered all over Nigeria and those who have been internally displaced by irresponsible army soldiers.

The EU Parliament clearly backed the U.S. decision to curtail military aid to the Cameroon government because of its awful human rights records. They constantly urged the beleaguered Yaounde government to release Professor Maurice Kamto and his supporters, pointing out that Mr. Biya had been in power for far too long and should start thinking of transferring power to a younger and more democratic leader.

These unsettling messages from the EU Parliament come on the heels of the acerbic criticism by the U.S. Under-secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, who has openly congratulated Cameroon’s Diaspora for the effective public relations job it has done to bring the world’s attention to the unfortunate civil war that is playing out in Cameroon. Mr. Nagy recently said that he was looking forward to profound change in Cameroon following the collapse of Omar El-Bechir’s government in Sudan.

It should be recalled that Americans and Canadians have been working behind the scenes to get Mr. Biya out of power, though they have not produced any real results. With the EU now on board, it is clear that the coalition against the ruthlessly inefficient Yaounde government is widening and the collapse of Africa’s longest serving leader is imminent.

The Biya regime has bitten more than it can chew. It has overplayed its hands and it is now running out of luck. The multiple conflicts in which it is involved will very soon relegate it to the ash heap of history.

In the northern part of the country, Boko Haram is still a threat and the government’s reckless killing of innocent civilians there has only pushed young northerners into the arms of the religious sect and this is making it hard for it to win the war.

In the two English-speaking regions of the country, it is clear that there will never be any outright military victory for the Yaounde government despite its adoption of a scorch earth policy. Many Southern Cameroonians have been killed, but the will and determination of the people and fighters remain intact. Southern Cameroonians are resolute and they hold that co-habitation with a violent Francophone regime is impossible and that only separation will solve their problems.

The government’s mismanagement of the situation has radicalized even the most level-headed Southern Cameroonian. Even chiefs and parliamentarians have begun displaying their disagreement with the government strategy of killing all young adult males in the North West and South West regions.

In a dramatic turn of events in the country’s senate, the eldest member of the upper house, Chief Victor Mukete, put his frustration and disagreement with the government on display. He castigated the government, decrying the government’s insistence on addressing the issues only through military violence.

Chief Mukete who is not being taken seriously in the English-speaking regions had however made a point – Southern Cameroonians, even those in government disagree with the government’s strategy and if that does not change, they will jump ship.

The message is clear. Even within the military, there are many dissenting voices and this is causing the government sleepless nights. With the government facing a flood of opposition both within and from outside, it is clear that it will be changing its strategy in the days ahead for fear of being chased out of power, especially as rumor is swirling that Americans could arm Southern Cameroonians for them to head to French Cameroon so as to put an end to the political mess in Yaounde.

There is fear that all these unfortunate circumstances could connive to unleash a people power revolution in Cameroon. The north is already boiling. The English-speaking regions are in a civil war, while in the east of the country, Central African rebels have stepped up their attacks on government forces and refugees. The conditions for a long-lasting chaos seem to be in place in Cameroon.

The world does not want to see Cameroon go down that path. Their best solution is to elbow Mr. Biya out of power and there are currently talks between the great powers on how to achieve this goal without putting the entire region in a tight spot.

While the French have publicly displayed their support for the failing Yaounde government, they are however gradually conceding that Mr. Biya clearly belongs to the past. They hold that if he is not replaced, they could lose their interest in the region.

Mr. Biya is therefore on the ropes and given his age, he is clearly out of steam. The pressure is mounting and Yaounde is on the wall. The days ahead will be crucial, especially as Prof. Kamto’s supporters at home and abroad are scoring more points.

Another people power revolution is surely going to take place in Africa and this time around, it will be in Cameroon, as all the ingredients are already in place. The world will surely be playing spectator soon to the fall of another reckless and ruthless dictator.

By Kingsley Betek and Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom.

19, April 2019

France: Notre-Dame fire donations pour in, spark controversy ⁰

Monday’s calamitous fire at Notre-Dame elicited an unprecedented outpouring of generosity from donors near and far, great and small. But as the embers cooled, so have cracks appeared in the initial élan of unity and controversy flared over funds.

Donations nearing the billion euro mark

Donors had by Thursday already pledged €850 million to rebuild the 850-year-old monument. The unheard-of sum appeared with lightning speed — not least, observers quip, thanks to a fortuitous, decades-old rivalry between two of France’s top culture-minded billionaire families, the Pinaults and the Arnaults, who head the world’s top luxury goods giants, Kering and LVMH.

The Pinaults pledged €100 million shortly after midnight on the night of the fire, with the Arnaults adding €200 million as Paris awoke the following morning. The Bettencourt family and its L’Oréal cosmetics firm chipped in €200 million later on Tuesday. Other French fortunes have followed suit (the Bouygues brothers offered up €10 million euros; Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière earmarked €10 million more to revive the building’s iconic spire).

Other firms pledged help in kind. Air France-KLM offered free flights for experts officially taking part in the rebuilding of Notre-Dame. The day after the blaze, the insurer Groupama offered 1,300 oak trees from the forests it owns in Normandy, on the assumption the cathedral’s ravaged roof would be rebuilt to match the 13th-century original. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal on Thursday offered up steel. Saint-Gobain has offered its glasswork expertise.

Books, videogames, cartoons

Publishers of certain French-language editions of Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, which shot to the top of bestseller lists after the tragedy, have pledged to donate the proceeds.

French video game maker Ubisoft, whose Assassin’s Creed Unity includes a faithful digital reproduction of Notre-Dame, promised €500,000 to the cause

Abroad, Apple chief Tim Cook pledged an unspecified sum and the Walt Disney Company, which turned Hugo’s Hunchback into a 1996 animated feature, said it would put up $5 million. The University of Notre Dame promised another $100,000.

An Olympic effort

The International Olympic Committee said it would give €500,000 to boost the chances of meeting French President Emmanuel Macron’s five-year rebuild goal, with Paris slated to host the summer Games in five years’ time. “The objective of completing this reconstruction in time for Paris 2024 will be extra motivation for us all,” IOC President Thomas Bach wrote in a letter to the organisers.

In Hungary, the city of Szeged, population 160,000, said it would donate €10,000 in gratitude for a donation from the City of Paris after a flood devastated the city south of Budapest killing 160 people in 1879.

Still, the astronomical pledges from conglomerates, billionaires and government authorities the world over have not discouraged individual donors from stepping forward en masse. The Fondation du Patrimoine, or French Heritage Foundation, had collected €13.1 million in donations from individuals by late Wednesday. It is one of four organisations the French government has certified to take donations, alongside the Fondation de France, the Fondation Notre-Dame de Paris and the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

Scam artists at work

The Fondation du Patrimoine issued a warning on Wednesday that fraudsters are seeking to profit from the torrent of generosity after the inferno. “A number of scams have been flagged to us both in France and abroad,” the organisation said Wednesday, saying any phone, mail or e-mail appeals aren’t coming from the foundation. “All of these initiatives are fraudulent.”

Taxman lends a hand

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced an extra fiscal incentive for individual donors, bumping the usual tax break for such donations to 75 percent, up from 66 percent, for gifts up to €1,000.

Gilles Carrez, the conservative lawmaker who reports to the French lower house’s Finance Committee on heritage spending matters, deplored the fact that exemptions meant taxpayers would be saddled with the lion’s share of reconstruction costs. “Out of nearly €700 million [pledged Tuesday], nearly €420 million will be financed by the state, by way of the 2020 budget,” Carrez told Le Monde.

The MEDEF employers’ union, for its part, put out a statement on Thursday noting that, since Notre-Dame Cathedral belongs to the state, which serves as its own insurer for the building, all of the rebuilding costs would fall to the state anyway. “Every donation, even tax exempt at 60 percent, is therefore a 40 percent savings for the state on the amount given,” it said. In short, since no one would suggest leaving the emblematic landmark in ruin, every little contribution helps.

Some rich donors, meanwhile — amid mounting controversy over their motivations as well as the hit to taxpayers – said they would forgo the fiscal favours attached to giving. The Pinault family said as much Wednesday and JCDecaux followed suit Thursday. LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault told a shareholder meeting on Thursday that his family holding company was not eligible for a tax break and that his firm had reached the ceiling for such benefits.

“There’s some pettiness and jealousy in the air, instead of people thinking about the general interest,” Arnault said, responding to criticism over his pledges. “In many other countries we’d be congratulated.”

Backlash

Indeed, in a country that has seen 22 consecutive Saturdays of Yellow Vest protests partly in the name of income inequality, the backlash to such spontaneous largesse is audible.

“In one click, 200 million, 100 million. That shows the inequality which we regularly denounce in this country,” CGT union chief Philippe Martinez said Wednesday. “If they can give tens of millions to rebuild Notre-Dame, then they should stop telling us there is no money to help with the social emergency [in France].”

On BFMTV, Ingrid Levavasseur, one of the early figureheads of the Yellow Vest movement, slammed “the inertia of the big conglomerates in the face of social misery when they prove their capacity for mobilising ‘crazy cash’ for Notre-Dame in a single night”.

Culture Minister Franck Riester responded to the controversy: “This pointless debate consists of saying ‘it’s too much money for Notre-Dame even though there are needs elsewhere’ – of course there’s a need for money for the social system, for health, the fight against climate change,” Riester told RMC radio. “But let’s leave this extraordinary show of generosity to run its course.”

Meanwhile, the media personality who Macron charged with overseeing the influx of funds has pointed out that restoring the cathedral will bring France’s unique savoir-faire to bear and that the funds raised will save métiers and create jobs. “When will people understand that stones nourish men? For goodness’ sake, all of these professions would disappear!” Stéphane Bern told BFMTV. “Opposing old stones to men is ridiculous!”

Observers further afield took note of the discrepancy in action over Notre-Dame and causes like climate change or justice for the victims of London’s deadly 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg made the analogy in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday. “Yesterday, the whole world witnessed with sadness and despair the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, but Notre-Dame will be rebuilt. I hope it has strong foundations and I hope we have strong foundations, but I’m not so sure.” Evoking the panic needed when one’s house is on fire, Thunberg told the assembled lawmakers, “Our house is falling apart and yet nothing is happening. We’ll have to switch to cathedral mode. I ask you to wake up and do what is necessary.”

Knock-on effects

The sweeping breadth of fundraising for Notre-Dame did indirectly bring attention and inspire knock-on generosity for three US churches recently ravaged by arson.

As Twitter users suggested that US President Donald Trump and US Vice-President Mike Pence appeared more interested in Notre-Dame than in the three Louisiana churches attended predominantly by African American worshippers and torched by a white suspect three weeks ago, a social media campaign urged people to give.

Supporters tweeted nods to the French cathedral blaze to encourage help century-old churches an ocean away.

Among them was Hillary Clinton, who tweeted: “As we hold Paris in our hearts today, let’s also send some love to our neighbours in Louisiana.”

Donors responded: Pledges for the Louisiana churches spiked to $1.5 million on Wednesday night, at least quintupling the money gathered over the previous week.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS and AP)