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25, February 2019

Nigeria: Polls close with reports of dozens killed in election violence ⁰

As many as 39 people have died in election-related violence in Nigeria, as the country awaits the results of this weekend’s voting in what is forecast to be its tightest poll since the end of military rule in 1999

Current President Muhummadu Buhari, 76, a former military ruler is seeking a second term on an anti-corruption platform.

He faces off againstbusinessman Atiku Abubakar, 72, a former vice president who has promised to expand the role of the private sector.

The election was held on Saturday, but violence and problems with electronic voting machines meant voting continued in a small number of places before polls closed on Sunday.

The ballot was initially due to take place last week, but was postponed just hours before it was due to begin, with the authorities citing logistics.

The President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari attends a news conference.

PIncumbent President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari

Nigeria’s 73 million eligible voters chose from a pool of more than 70 presidential candidates, although only those from the two main parties — Mr Buhari and Mr Abubakar — are seen as having a chance.

The President last year publicly denied social media claims he died and was replaced by a Sudanese clone, and also courted international controversy in the past by suggesting his wife “belongs in the kitchen”.

The Situation Room — which represents more than 70 civil society groups — gave Sunday’s figure of 39 deaths, citing data from Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence.

In one incident, seven people were killed in a shootout between Nigerian army troops and a gang.PMahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),said an electoral official had been shot dead by unknown people.

The president’s office declined to comment, while the opposition candidate Mr Abubakar condemned the violence in a statement.

“No politician’s ambition is worth the blood of any innocent Nigerian,” he said.

The number of deaths reported by Sunday was below the final death tolls in previous elections in Africa’s most populous country, but in the past most unrest has taken place after results were announced.

P Nigerian election observers watch votes being counted

What’s at stake?

A credible and relatively calm poll would open a new chapter in the chequered political history of Nigeria, where nearly six decades of independence have been tarnished by military coups, endemic corruption and secessionist movements.

“From Tuesday onwards we should have a substantial number of results,” said Festus Okoye, an election commission official.

The contest between Mr Buhari and Mr Abubakar, commonly called “Atiku”, hinges on revamping an economy struggling to recover from its first recession in 25 years, which it slipped into in 2016 and emerged from in 2017.

P Electoral officials compile voting results

Nearly a quarter of the workforce is unemployed, while the cost of living has also risen rapidly.

Mr Buhari has focused his campaign on rooting out corruption, but critics say there have not been any significant convictions in his first term.

Mr Abubakar has said he would aim to double the size of the economy to $900 billion by 2025.

Reuters

25, February 2019

Pope compares sexual abuse of children to ‘human sacrifice’ ⁰

Pope Francis on Sunday compared the sexual abuse of children to human sacrifice as he addressed the Catholic Church’s top bishops at the end of a landmark summit to tackle paedophilia.

“Our work has made us realise once again that the gravity of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors is, and historically has been, a widespread phenomenon in all cultures and societies,” he said.

Calling for an “all-out battle” against a crime he called abominable, the pontiff said the crime reminded him of “the cruel religious practice, once widespread in certain cultures, of sacrificing human beings – frequently children – in pagan rites,” he stated.

Francis was speaking after a four-day meeting which he had opened by calling for “concrete measures” on tackling priests and handing 114 senior bishops a roadmap to shape the debate on how to stop a global scandal.

Widespread abuse

“If in the Church there should emerge even a single case of abuse – which already in itself represents an atrocity – that case will be faced with the utmost seriousness”.

The ongoing scandals have hit countries around the world, with recent cases affecting Australia, Chile, Germany and the US.

Francis said those who priests who pray on children are “tools of Satan”.

“No explanations suffice for these abuses involving children,” the Argentine pontiff said.

“The echo of the silent cry of the little ones who, instead of finding in them fathers and spiritual guides encountered tormentors, will shake hearts dulled by hypocrisy and by power.

“It is our duty to pay close heed to this silent, choked cry,” he added.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

25, February 2019

Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa refuses substitution in Carabao Cup Final ⁰

Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa refused to leave the pitch during the Carabao Cup Final after Maurizio Sarri tried to substitute him off due to an injury.

Chelsea’s Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga (C) sits on the pitch and asks for medical attention during the English League Cup final football match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in north London on February 24, 2019. (AFP)

Chelsea’s Italian head coach Maurizio Sarri (L) reacts after Chelsea’s Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga remains on the pitch after an attempt to substitute him for Chelsea’s Argentinian goalkeeper Willy Caballero (R) during the English League Cup final football. (AFP)

Chelsea’s Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga gestures toward the bench after his number came up for substitution and didn’t leave the pitch during the English League Cup final football match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley stadium in north London on February 24, 2019. (AFP)

The incident resulted in Sarri throwing a bottle in the Wembley dugout and storming off down the tunnel. Chelsea lost the match to Man City on penalties.

Presstv

25, February 2019

Cameroon Slowly Moving To A War Zone ⁰

In recent years, Cameroon – a peaceful country in Central Africa ruled by President Paul Biya – has transitioned from a tranquil harbor to a site of horror. The Cameroonian army has been battling with Boko Haram militants on the northern border alongside security forces from Nigeria, Niger, and Chad. The conflict has registered over 20,000 dead and 2.4 million people displaced. The former French colony has also been struggling with a secessionist uprising in the English- speaking Northwest and Southwest Regions since 2016, with hundreds of deaths over the course of the confrontation. Furthermore, clashes with rebels from the Central African Republic in Bertoua and a very tense political atmosphere have plunged the country into an unending crisis.

Many of these crises are attributed to the unlawful arrest of Professor Maurice Kamto, the main opposition leader in Cameroon, after his organization of peaceful protests in the towns of Douala and Yaoundé on 28 January, 2019. Kamto was arrested at the home of a leading supporter, Albert Dzongang, before Dzongang and other supporters such as Christian Penda Ekoka, Alain Fogue, and Celetine Djamen were also arrested for participating in the organization of these peaceful protests.

It was clear from the evidence Kamto brought forward to the Constitutional Council before the announcement of the winner of the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon that Paul Biya supporters affected the results of the election in favour of his party, the ruling Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM).

While protests went viral in Cameroon under Kanto’s leadership of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameron (MRC), some fifty protesters opposed to Biya broke into the country’s Paris embassy, vandalizing portraits of him. The demonstrators filmed themselves invading the empty offices in the French Capital’s 16th district around 7: 00 PM on Saturday, broadcasting the protest live on Facebook. However, French law enforcement agents forced them out of the building and onto the street two hours later, where they continued their protest outside the embassy. Daniel Essissima, one of the protesters, stated: “The Cameroon administrators are taking Cameroonians for idiots… …They cannot bring people to rock-bottom like this. In the anglophone regions the army is killing people; in Douala, they are firing with real bullets.”

Because the attack on the Cameroonian Embassy in Paris took place on the same day as the protest organized in Cameroon, the Cameroonian authorities have since linked both demonstrations without providing any proof of this conclusion. Kamto vehemently denies these claims, separating himself from any violent attack perpetrated at Cameroon’s diplomatic mission abroad.

Following Kamto’s arrest, around 300 people gathered outside Dzongang’s house, and on Saturday 117 people were arrested during protest marches in several towns. Kamto has continued to claim he was the rightful winner of last October’s presidential election, which saw veteran leader Paul Biya win a seventh consecutive presidential term. The MRC has blasted this election as an “electoral hold-up.” Paul Biya has been ruling Cameroon since 1982 with the support of the army, government administrations, and the CPDM.

International Condemnation of Kamto’s Arrest

Last month, human rights groups condemned Kamto’s arrest and called for his immediate release, orders which fell on deaf ears. The European Union this month accused Cameroon of a “disproportionate use of force” in dispersing the protests. “Finding a solution to the challenges faced by the country can only be achieved through dialogue in a calm and inclusive atmosphere where fundamental rights and the rule of law are respected,” stated EU spokesman Maja Kocijancic. Amnesty International said the arrest of Kamto and his staff “signals an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists in Cameroon.” Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa director Samira Daoud claimed that “instead of taking steps towards improving the country’s human rights record, we are witnessing the authorities becoming less and less tolerant of criticism. This must stop.”

Professor Kamto Post-Arrest

After being taken to the Groupement Special d’Opération (GSO) in Yaoundé, Kamto appeared before judges in the Military tribunal on Friday 1 February, 2019 and charges against him were made known to the public. Kamto is being charged with insurrection, hostility against the fatherland, group rebellion, and public disorder. Just last week, Kamto and fellow party members Albert Dzongang, Clestine Djamen, Christian Penda Ekoka, and Paul Eric Kingue were all transferred to the Principal Prison in Kondengui while investigations are ongoing. This action by the government goes a long way to instill fear and repression in the heart of any group that wants to take to the street for any type of demonstration. Minister Atangana Nji in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization threatened to withdraw the MRC’s party licence, while Minister of Communication Rene Emmanuel said that because Kamto protest disrupted public order and perpetrated various assaults he will face the court’s judgement.

It is very clear that after President Biya and his supporters fixed the election in their favour it will be difficult for the people of Cameroon to express their dissatisfaction, even when their fundamental human rights have been violated by the present administration. The only means by which the Cameroonian people can express gross dissatisfaction, through peaceful streets protests dubbed “white marches,” has been taken away from them and led to unending new forms of crisis.

Source: Organisation For World Peace

24, February 2019

Senegal: Presidential election begins, incumbent tipped to win ⁰

Senegal went to the polls Sunday in an election that incumbent President Macky Sall is tipped to win after his main challengers were banned from running.

His two biggest rivals in the first-round vote in the West African nation — popular former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, the son of the previous president — were disqualified after corruption convictions in trials questioned by rights groups.

People queued in large numbers as the polling station opened at Fatick in the center of the country, where Sall, 56, cast his ballot, as well as at Thies in the west, AFP reporters said.

But the start of voting was delayed at Grand-Yoff, the stronghold of Khalifa Sall.

“I want to get home as soon as possible, I’m frightened there will be violence on election day,” said 25-year-old voter Fatoumata Sall.

“I hope this election goes off peacefully and that tomorrow everyone will be going about their business — that will mean a peaceful vote,” said accountant Lamine Diatta after he cast his ballot in Dakar.

President Sall, a former geologist who first took the presidency in 2012 after beating his former political mentor Wade, campaigned for a second term pitching his “Emerging Senegal” infrastructure project to boost economic growth.

“Victory in the first round is indisputable,” Sall told a recent Dakar campaign rally, seeking to emulate all three of his predecessors by landing a second term — Abdoulaye Wade needed just one round in 2007 to secure his second term.

Often held up as a model of stability in Africa, Senegal has enjoyed strong growth. The Muslim-majority country has largely escaped the militant attacks that destabilized neighbors such as Mali.

Sall made infrastructure a priority, including a new airport, motorways, and a rail link. But basic services, healthcare, and education often remain inadequate, sometimes triggering strikes and protests.

Sall faces competition from four lesser-known rivals who campaigned hard against his plans for a second phase of his project, which critics see as a waste of taxpayers’ money and a potential debt burden.

His rivals are former prime minister Idrissa Seck, Issa Sall of the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), former justice and foreign minister Madicke Niang, and tax inspector-turned MP Ousman Sonko.

The five-horse race leaves voters with a limited choice compared to 2012, when 14 candidates vied for the top post, and 2007, when 15 battled it out for the presidency.

Preliminary results were expected soon after polling closes at 1800 GMT on Sunday, but will only become official a day or two later.

A man casts his ballot in Senegal’s presidential election at a polling station in Thies, on February 24, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Some 6.7 million in a population of around 16 million are registered to vote in a country which gained independence from France in 1960.

‘Lack of independence’

A candidate must get more than 50 percent to prevent a second-round runoff.

If no one wins more than half the ballots, a second vote is provisionally scheduled for March 24. The exact timing will be determined by how long it takes to officially proclaim the first-round results, and whether there is a challenge.

A new system approved by parliament last year despite opposition party challenges requires candidates to demonstrate they have the support of a minimum number of citizens and regions.

Once the new regulations were applied, only seven candidates made the cut, two of whom were then disqualified. Both Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade have claimed their criminal convictions were engineered to rule them out of the race.

Supporters of the convicted men staged demonstrations, while rights group Amnesty International spotlighted “unfair trials” in Senegal, and a “lack of independence” by the judiciary in Khalifa Sall’s case.

Senegal has known two peaceful power transfers in 2000 and 2012, and no coups. But election campaigns are often marred by charges of corruption, disinformation, and sometimes violence.

Recent clashes between supporters of rival parties left two dead at Tambacounda, 420 kilometers east of the capital.

Authorities also reinforced security and legislation, sometimes at the cost of freedom, according to rights groups.

Officials said 8,000 police were on duty in urban areas alongside an undetermined number of civilian security staff. The interior ministry said some 5,000 observers — including 900 from abroad — were monitoring proceedings.

Opposition rallies have recently been banned and pre-trial detention for people suspected of “terrorism” extended from 48 hours to 12 days.

(Source: AFP)

24, February 2019

Maurice Kamto challenges Yaounde Military Tribunal ⁰

Cameroonian politician and opposition leader Maurice Kamto has told the military court that he is a civilian and doesn’t deserve to be tried and charged in a military court.

Kamto and his supporters are being charged of insurrection – a crime punishable with the death penalty, other charges include holding illegal gatherings and disturbing the peace the peace of the country.

Kamto, a leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) and his supporters contested last year’s elections claiming that the country’s decade’s ruler Paul Biya had rigged the election.

He then called upon his supporters to hold protests in four major cities across the country which according to authorities distorted the peace and security of the nation.

The court later postponed his trail until next week in order for court to make a decision about the legality of his trial.

PlustvAfrica

24, February 2019

The scantily attended Mountain Race of Fear ⁰

The 24th edition of Mount Cameroon Race, Africa’s oldest international athletic competition, held early Saturday in Buea, chief town of Southwest, one of the two English-speaking regions of the country torn by an armed conflict.

Close to 250 athletes from Cameroon, Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, Kenya, Nigeria, Niger and Zimbabwe took part in the race. The race was staged under tight security amidst threats from armed separatists to disrupt the event.

All sorts of activities in the town were not operational following an order from the Southern Cameroons Interim Government.

Since November 2017, government forces have been clashing with armed separatist forces who want the two Anglophone regions of in northwest and southwest to secede from the largely French-speaking nation and form a new country they called “Ambazonia”.

Officials said in spite of the prevailing situation, the race must take place to strengthen Cameroon’s unity and integrity.

“This edition of the race gives us the opportunity to further prove our desire of living together because in spite of linguistic and political diversity, the Cameroonian people are and must remain one and indivisible,” Cameroon’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi told reporters at the start of the competition.

All safety measures were put in place by the Francophone dominated army for the successful unfolding of the race, the region’s governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai said.

The race dubbed Race of Hope is of a particularly difficult terrain with athletes going up and down the mountain which is over 4,100 metres above sea level.

24, February 2019

High-profile journalist kidnapped in Southern Cameroons freed ⁰

Cameroon Association of English-speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) said Friday the president of the Northwest regional chapter of the association Ambe Macmillian Awa, who was kidnapped Thursday by “unknown gunmen,” has been released.

“He was released today Feb. 22 by 11 am. He is doing well and in good health. He was not tortured by his captors,” Fongoh Primus Ayeh, secretary general of CAMASEJ Northwest, told Xinhua.

He said, Awa was interrogated by government forces after his release. “We still don’t know who kidnapped him and why. Journalism is not a crime,” he said.

Awa, who is also secretary general of the Northwest chapter of Cameroon Journalists’ Trade Union, is the first high profile journalist to be kidnapped since an armed conflict started in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon in November 2017.

Kidnappings have become widespread in the two troubled Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since the start of this year.

Over the weekend, some 170 students and their teacher were kidnapped in the Northwest. They were released later following negotiations.

Xinhua

24, February 2019

Sudan appoints new vice president, premier ⁰

Sudan’s Defense Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf has been appointed as the first vice president of the country.

Ibn Auf will take office while remaining as the defense minister, the presidency announced on Saturday, adding that Mohamed Tahir Ayala, the governor of Gezira state, is to be appointed as the new prime minister.

The new appointments came after President Omar al-Bashir declared a one-year nationwide state of emergency on Friday.

Bashir, who has set up a caretaker administration, has replaced all the state governors with military officials.

The country’s dire economic situation has prompted protesters to take part in mass anti-government demonstrations in the past months.

The protests started after food and fuel prices increased and shortages started to plague the country.

The anti-government protesters demand an end to the decades-long rule of Bashir over the country.

Witnesses say police have used live munition to disperse the protesters in some cases.

Earlier this month, Ibn Auf, who previously served as the head of the military intelligence, made an effort to ease tensions by saying that the younger population who participated in the recent protests had “reasonable ambition.”

In November, Bashir said he would support Ayala in the 2020 presidential election if he decided to run.

Presstv

23, February 2019

Cameroon’s Dictator Heads to Europe Leaving the Country on Fire ⁰

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, and first lady, Chantal Biya, are scheduled to leave Yaounde, Cameroon, for Geneva, Switzerland, on bord a chartered aircraft tomorrow February 24, 2019.

The luxurious airplane, which has been rented for tens of millions of taxpayer’s money, will also take the reclusive leader to France. He is expected to spend several weeks in Geneva where he will be seeking medical attention.

Meanwhile, the Brigade Anti-sardinards (BAS) – a Diaspora-driven initiative designed to raise awareness of the despicable military, economic and political situation in the country – which had issued a warning to the Intercontinental Hotel in Switzerland, which hosts Mr. Biya and his large entourage each time he is in Geneva, have begun taking positions across continental Europe, particularly in Switzerland, to disrupt Mr. Biya’s health tourism program.

More than 100 members of the BAS are already in Geneva while hundreds more are expected to leave Germany, Belgium and France today evening to ensure that the Cameroon leader does not know any peace during his time in Europe.

Mr. Biya and his entourage are very likely to face lots of protests in Geneva as the country’s Diaspora is prepared to give the dictator a very bad name for his brutal killings in Southern Cameroons and the imprisonment of Maurice Kamto, the country’s opposition leader.

It should be recalled that Mr. Biya had declared war against the country’s English-speaking minority in 2017 and since his declaration of war, more than 3,000 civilians have been killed by Mr. Biya’s army, more than a million civilians have been displaced, with more than 400,000 seeking refuge in neighboring Nigeria that is collaborating with the Yaounde government in its determination to slaughter as many Southern Cameroonians as possible.

Meanwhile, more than 170 villages have been burnt down by soldiers who are out on a collective punitive expedition which is only making the secession of the English-speaking minority a likelihood.

It has been reported that the Cameroon strongman and his government are seeking to change his itinerary given that they are aware of the protests waiting for them in Switzerland and France.

The profile picture attached to this report is a photo of the airplane rented for the presidential couple and their itinerary. More will be yours in the days ahead.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai in the United Kingdom