Togo’s opposition on Wednesday accused the security forces of “savage repression” after nearly 20 of its supporters were injured as they tried to protest against the ruling party.

The opposition held the first of three planned demonstrations this week on Tuesday, calling for constitutional reform and the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbe.

But it said its supporters were prevented from taking to the streets in the northern cities of Sokode and Bafilo, despite government permission.

Heavily armed soldiers with their heads and faces covered positioned themselves at the starting points of the protests, breaking up crowds with sticks and tear gas.

In Sokode — the stronghold of opposition leader Tikpi Atchadam — the opposition said 16 people were injured by gunshots and beatings and three in Bafilo, where one disabled person was beaten up.

Amnesty International said it counted “at least 10 injured” in hospital in Sokode on Tuesday afternoon, including one with gunshot wounds in intensive care.

“There are others in houses,” making an exact number difficult to ascertain, the organization’s country director Aime Adi told AFP by telephone.

“The coalition condemns in the strongest terms this savage repression and the doublespeak of the regime,” the opposition said in a statement.

On Monday, the government had indicated it was open to talks with the opposition and announced the release of 42 people arrested during previous demonstrations.

Since the first protests began in late August, at least 16 people have died and more than 200 others have been injured as hundreds of thousands took to the streets across the country.

Demonstrators were again out in force on Wednesday and are expected again on Thursday.

In a joint statement, the European Union, United Nations and the French, US and German embassies said they welcomed the government’s measures to calm the situation.

It appealed for protests to take place peacefully.

The opposition wants Gnassingbe to step down and the introduction of a two-term limit for presidents, applied retroactively to prevent Gnassingbe standing for re-election.

Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005 and won three elections. His father General Gnassingbe Eyadema was president before him and ruled for 38 years.

(Source: AFP)

The Gabonese Minister of Presidential Affairs and National Defence, Etienne Massard Kabinda Makaga has paid a one-day working visit to Cameroon. It was about 10 am when Etienne Massard Kabinda Makaga arrived the premises of the Ministry of Defence.

After the usual military ritual was staged, he discussed ways of reinforcing ties between his country and Cameroon especially in the domains of defence and free circulation of goods within the CEMAC sub region. The audience gave way to a guided tour supervised by the Secretary of State in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam.

The first stop was at the Military Engineering Corps in the Ngoa-Nkelle neighbourhood where the achievements of this department were highlighted.

From Ngoa-Nkelle, the Gabonese Minister was led to the Combined Armed Services Military Academy, EMIA, created in 1962. It was then time to stop over at the over-a decade-old, International War College, Simbock which has trained senior military officers from both CEMAC and non-CEMAC countries.

The August guest later visited the International School for Security Forces created in 2008; a visit which did not leave the Gabonese Defence Minister, indifferent. It is the hope of many that this visit paves the way to better relations between Cameroon and Gabon.

Source: CRTV

As thousands of Camerounians flee their country into Nigeria and particularly Cross River State, as a result of the crisis in Southern Cameroun, the state Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has charged the United Nations to always nip each crisis in the bud before it morphs into a humanitarian crisis.

Ayade stated this at the weekend when he received the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and the Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS High Commission for Refugees, Antonio Canhandula, during a courtesy call on him in Calabar, the state capital.

The governor who clarified that he was speaking as a human being and not as a governor, maintained: “In the video clips going round the world today, I think humanity is being debased and I think UN must sit up because what you are doing is medicine after death and a lip service.”

Flaying what he described as reactionary on the part of the federal government and the UN, Ayade’ said: “You cannot watch the dislocation of family structures, kids being separated from their parents, husbands separated from their wives and all you do is to rush with food to their corridors and create squatters and camp for them and you think that is UN? You have failed. What is united about that? There is nothing united, if we are indeed a UN, the issue on Cameroon should be at the forefront of UN today.”

Insisting that he was yet to see any serious issue being made out of the crisis on either CNN or BBC, the governor said: “Any form of relocation of a people, no matter how temporary, is a failure of the world to address the issues that border on humanity, and I think UN must take this message very clearly that it has gotten too involved in the politics of redistribution of wealth and has forgotten its essence which was peace, unity and love.”

Frowning at the alleged closure of the Cameroon international borders against the Anglophones Camerounians, Ayade, who described the act as criminal, said: “Today, the Cameroon international borders are all sealed against the Anglophone Cameroonians, and UN is watching and coming with food, that is not food. That is poison because indeed you know their real trouble and ypur silence has done nothing today; just note that it will hunt you one day.”

The governor who explained the supportive roles played by Cameroon at the height of Biafra, IPOB and Boko Haram, enjoined President Muhammadu Buhari as the leader of Africa not to get involved in the politics of the Cameroon issues but should  interfere in the lives of every single Black man on earth.

Recounting the associated challenges of the crisis prone area, Ayade said: “The young people’s lives have been cut short, young kids don’t go to school, the entire southern part of Cameroon, the English speaking part is  completely shut down, hospitals are not working and people’s lives are in danger.”

The governor who disclosed that with about 2,430 refugees already  in Cross River State,   which he said was an indication of a near cataclysm, stated that the state government would partner the federal government to bring succour in order to return the victims to their homes within the shortest possible time.

He also assured the people that “we will join hands with UN to find a political solution and a lasting peaceful option for the people of Cameroon to live in peace as well as have prosperity and realise their full potential as human beings.”

Earlier, Farouq told the governor that the team was in the state to applaud him for hosting the refugees who sneaked into the state through Ikom and Amaga in Obudu, as well as meet with the victims who were at the moment being attended to through the distribution of relief materials.

The Country Representative Canhandula, intimated that “the solutions to the crisis could not be offered by one person, hence we are here  to offer our partnership towards resolving these problems,” adding: “We also have other UN agencies that have been accredited in your state, we will synergise with them to boost humanity care.”

Source: Thisday

The Central African Economic and Monetary Community reached a key milestone this week. Heads of state meeting in Chad lifted visa requirements for their citizens traveling within the six-member regional bloc. But challenges remain to ensuring free movement and deepening economic integration.

The announcement marked the culmination of 23 years of negotiation. Citizens of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon and Chad no longer need visas to travel within the six-member economic bloc.

Chadian President Idris Deby made the announcement at the CEMAC heads of state summit in Ndjamena. Deby said the people have rightfully been waiting for strong actions that concretely demonstrate that the integration of central Africa is a reality, which is the main reason the Central African Economic and Monetary Community was created. He said everyone who visited Chad this week can testify that they were exempted from visa charges.

CEMAC was founded in 1994, but has trailed behind other regional blocs on the continent in lifting visa restrictions. Economist Youssouf Saleh, Chad’s former prime minister, said for CEMAC, it is better late than never. But he added that the effectiveness of the free movement of goods and people will depend on whether there is also an integrated and competitive economy and whether political divides that have hampered economic activity are broken.

Last year, the economies of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea took a hit amid the global drop in oil prices. The two countries sealed their borders to stop job-seeking youths flooding into their countries and even began expelling some migrants from other CEMAC countries.

Only Chad, Cameroon and Gabon have started issuing the CEMAC biometric passports, despite a January 2014 deadline. Security concerns are also hindering free movement. At Garoua-Boulai on Cameroon’s eastern border with the C.A.R., border controls remain with travelers prevented from crossing on both sides. Cameroonian Colonel Etienne Detou said they have arrested rebel combatants from the Central African Republic trying to cross disguised as business persons and refugees.

He said although there is relative peace on the Cameroon side. But he added it should be noted there are regular incursions by armed groups and highway robbers from Central African Republic. He said the military and the police should be very vigilant and self-defense groups should participate in safeguarding their territory.

Cameroon and Chad are also limiting free movement of people at their common border. Both countries have suffered Boko Haram atrocities as well and want to make it harder for the terrorists to penetrate. CEMAC Commission President Pierre Moussa said the states are taking measures to address security concerns.

He said for the new visa-free policy to be fully effective, the heads of state have authorized the Development Bank of Central African States to pay $2 million as part of the debt they owe the International Police Organization so that they can help secure the borders of CEMAC. Other ambitious plans for CEMAC regional integration are yet to be executed, including plans to create a regional airline and to build roads linking the regional capitals.

Source: VOA

Five children were killed and two others wounded by a suicide bomber in northern Cameroon on Tuesday night, two security sources have told the AFP news agency. “A suicide bomber blew herself up at around 19:45 [18:45 GMT]” in the village of Zamga, about 2km (1.2 miles) from the Nigerian border, a security officer in the area is quoted as saying.

The bomber, who is believed to be a young girl, was also killed in the explosion. A group of children were playing when “a young girl slipped in” among them and triggered her explosives, the officer told AFP. For several years, fighters from the Nigerian-based Islamist group Boko Haram have been crossing the border to carry out attacks in Cameroon. Cameroon’s army has been battling Boko Haram militants for several years.

Source: BBC

Protests in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, have left at least 28 killed as people have reportedly become discontented with a government decision to take over control of an Islamic school.

Reports on Wednesday said some 100 people had also been injured in the protest, which began earlier Monday and escalated on Tuesday.

Nasredin Ali, a spokesman for the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization, a group based in neighboring Ethiopia, said clashes began after people resisted to hand over to government forces control of a Muslim community school in Asmara.

“Following the refusal to hand over the school, some 40 people were arrested and this led to the massive protests,” he said, adding that a tense atmosphere continued to dominate Asmara on Wednesday as people gathered to hold a funeral ceremony for those slain in the clashes. Ali even said that the Eritrean army was deploying troops to the city.

Authorities denied there were fatalities with Information Minister Yemane Meskel saying police had managed to disperse without any casualty the “small demonstration by one school in Asmara.”

Officials representing Eritrea in the African Union mission in Ethiopia were not available for comment on the reports of unrest.

Sunni Muslims comprise half of Eritrea’s population while there are other practices of Islam that the government bans. The government also allows religious education in private schools but it strictly monitors if there is any political activity.

Eritrea has also faced criticism from the West over its harsh military conscription laws. Many say those laws and lack of freedom for the youth have been mainly responsible for the influx of refugees from Eritrea into Europe.

Source: Presstv

Nigerian High Commissioner to Cameroon, Lawan Abba Gashagar has met the so-called Speaker of the Senate, Marcel Niat Njifenji over comments made by former Nigerian Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo on the Southern Cameroons crisis. Niat Njifenji and Ambassador Lawan Abba reportedly held a meeting on Friday, October 27, 2017.

Lawan Abba Gashagar, recalled that Cameroon hosted thousands of Nigerian refugees and that to date, the two countries are thinking about the strategy to set up a process to accompany them to their country of origin in the best conditions.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that regarding the situation in Ambazonia, Lawan Abba Gashagar said that his country encourages a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the problem.  “There is no question of supporting any situation likely to create problems for our neighbors, just as we do not want our neighbors to support a situation that will be a problem to us,” he added. Many Southern Cameroonians have taken refuge in Nigeria as a result of the rapes, extra judicial killings and massive arrests including genocide currently going on in Southern Cameroons.

In an interview on October 25, 2017 in the panafrican newspaper Jeune Afrique, Olusegun Obasanjo, former Nigerian Head of State made public his opinion on the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. OBJ said that federalism is a good system of governance, because “thanks to federalism, each party can express itself on the future of the country and move at its own pace without disturbing others.” He also made a passionate call for President Biya to leave power.

By Rita Akana, CCN

Fighting between armed groups around the town of Batangafo in northern Central African Republic have left at least two dead and 10 wounded, aid workers said Monday.

Seven of the wounded were admitted to a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Batangafo and three were sent to a facility in Kabo, Sandra Smiley, with MSF in the capital Bangui, said.

UN sources said fighting broke out on October 24 between anti-Balaka militia — a group that says it is defending Christians — and another armed group, the Patriotic Movement for Central Africa (MPC).

At least two people died in the village of Saraghba, a few kilometers from Batangafo, but it was too dangerous to access the zone to get a complete toll, concurring sources said.

Batangafo is one of many hotspots in the violence that has gripped CAR over the past four years. In September, the death of a worker employed by a humanitarian group plunged the town into violence, leaving a confirmed death toll of six and 28,000 people without aid.

Mired in poverty but rich in diamonds and other minerals, CAR has been battered by a conflict between rival militias that began after then-president Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013.

Under a UN mandate, the former colonial power France intervened to push out the Muslim Seleka fighters who had taken over, and the UN launched a peacekeeping mission in 2014. But the country remains chronically prone to violence, with armed groups controlling most of the country.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, who last week made a four-day visit to CAR, is calling for the UN Security Council to renew the mandate of the organization’s 10,000 peacekeepers when it expires on November 15, and add another 900 blue helmets.

(Source: AFP)

Suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 10 villagers in northern Cameroon on Sunday night in what army and local officials said was revenge for attacks by Cameroon’s army.

Cameroon’s semi-arid far North region has been a target of Boko Haram suicide bombings and raids for eight years as the Islamist insurgency spilled over the border from Nigeria, killing 20,000 and uprooting nearly three million in the Lake Chad region.

Cameroon forces have tried to beat back insurgents but have struggled to stop unpredictable attacks that have been the hallmark of Boko Haram’s bid to carve out an Islamic state. A senior army source said the attackers came to the village of Gouderi at 11 p.m. on Sunday and killed 11 people.

Two local officials told Reuters by phone that “about 10” had been killed. “It looks like revenge because the army killed Boko Haram members in this village and forced others to retreat to Nigeria,” the army source said.

Source: Vanguard

The Great Bibixy Mancho has appealed to the Biya regime and its gang of corrupt judges to release all Southern Cameroons young men and women detained in the context of the Anglophone crisis. The Hon. Bibixy Mancho made the declaration at the hearing on October 26, 2017 in the Yaounde Military Tribunal.

During the hearing, the radio host was the first to speak at the Yaoundé Military Court, “Madam President, Yes, I took part in the demonstrations, condemn me to death, but let these children go back to Bamenda, they did not do anything. They are detained in very bad conditions, without being able to benefit from the assistance of their parents. When some members of their families come to visit them in prison, they are stuck in front of the gate because they do not have a pass to get to them, it is better that they are judged in Bamenda where they can benefit from the assistance of their loved ones, “the leader said.

After his speech and that of the other detainees who denounced the inhuman conditions in which they are incarcerated, Mancho Bibixy who is the only geniune leader of the Southern Cameroons crisis remained in detention. He was accused by the state prosecutor for  instigating the rebellion in the Bamenda County.

Mancho Bibixy was arrested on November 30, 2016 in Bamenda. Seen once in a coffin during a march, on November 28, 2016, he also demonstrated with the MPs and Senators of the Social Democratic Front. But by some strange happenstance, Mancho Bibixy did not benefit from the so-called presidential pardon on August 29, 2017.

By Eyong Johnson, CCN