News

19, September 2022

Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey ⁰

Hundreds of thousands of people have descended on London as Queen Elizabeth II is laid to rest on Monday after a grand state funeral attended by leaders from around the world, and a historic last ceremonial journey through the packed streets of London.

Elizabeth II’s body has been lying in state at Westminster Hall since Wednesday, and people from around the country and overseas have queued for hours to file past her coffin in a constant, emotional stream.

Hundreds of thousands of people have camped out for days to witness the elaborate spectacle of pageantry and to pay their final respects to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan says the funeral is an “unprecedented” security challenge, with crowds packing central London and a guest list of 500 emperors, kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers.

After the funeral, the flag-draped coffin of the queen, topped with the majestic Imperial State Crown, will be taken west to Windsor Castle.

Elizabeth II will be buried alongside her father king George VI, her mother queen Elizabeth the queen mother, and sister princess Margaret, reuniting in death the family who once called themselves “us four”. The coffin of her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year aged 99, will also be transferred to lie alongside her.

Culled from France 24

18, September 2022

Ambazonia Interim Government condemns deadly attack on St. Mary’s Catholic Church Nchang ⁰

The Ambazonia Interim Government on Sunday condemned in the strongest terms the attack on St. Mary’s Catholic Church Nchang that saw five Roman Catholic priests, a Religious Sister and two worshipers kidnapped by unidentified people.

“This cowardly act is rejected by the people of Southern Cameroons and their Interim Government. The Interim Government once again calls on all restoration forces to protect places of worship and prohibit violating their sacredness,” said the Vice President Dabney Yerima statement published by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation (SCBC).

Several attackers stormed the church in Nchang village some few kilometers away from Mamfe the chief town in Manyu Division during mass on Friday, burnt down the building and kidnapped five priests, one Religious Sister and two lay faithful.

Dabney Yerima said the attack on St. Mary’s Catholic Church Nchang only aims to spread sedition and fuel hatred against a genuine struggle for independence by the people of Southern Cameroons.

“This shocking crime reveals the lowness of its perpetrators and those behind them, and we call for the immediate release of the five clerics, our beloved Revered Sister and the two worshippers” Vice President Dabney Yerima said, urging all progressive Ambazonia Self Defense Groups to work decisively and without hesitation to confront terror in Southern Cameroons in all its forms.

By Isong Asu

18, September 2022

The schedule for Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral ⁰

Two thousand guests, including several hundred presidents, heads of state and monarchs, will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral at Westminster Abbey in London on Monday. She will then be buried at Windsor Castle in the evening.

Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral, which is one of the biggest logistical challenges in British history, will take place on September 19 in Westminster Abbey, London.

US President Joe Biden, the Emperor of Japan Naruhito and French President Emmanuel Macron are among the 2,000 guests attending this historic event. More than 10,000 police officers from all over the country will be stationed in the capital as the authorities expect record crowds along the funeral route.

In the afternoon, Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will travel to Windsor Castle for a church service. She will then be buried in a private ceremony. FRANCE 24 outlines the programme for this extraordinary day.

Procession with music

On Monday morning, the royal coffin, which is currently on display at Westminster Palace in London, will be moved to Westminster Abbey where the state funeral will take place. The procession will begin at 10.35am (11.35am in Paris) and the coffin will be placed on a gun carriage towed by 98 naval officers, in a tradition dating back to Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901.

The procession, followed by the king and members of the British Royal Family, will be led by a band of 200 pipers and drummers from the Royal Air Force to Westminster Abbey Gate at 10.52am.

State funeral

Although the state funeral service, led by the Dean of Westminster David Hoyle, will begin at 11am, the Abbey’s doors will open three hours earlier to welcome the 2,000 people who have been invited to the event.

While the final list of invitees is being kept secret for security reasons, several heads of state, political representatives and monarchs have already said that they will be attending. These include President Biden, President Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Indian President Droupadi Murmu.

Members of the Belgian, Dutch, Qatari and Saudi royal families will also be present, as well as several hundred anonymous people who were decorated by the queen, including social workers and carers.

After the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s sermon, the Last Post will be sounded, followed by two minutes of silence to be observed in the Abbey and throughout the UK.

The Reveille, national anthem and a lament performed by the queen’s piper will conclude the state funeral service at around noon.

Foreign heads of state and government representatives will then attend a reception hosted by the British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly at Church House, the headquarters of the Church of England, next to Westminster Abbey.

The queen’s coffin will be paraded through the capital to Hyde Park Corner, to the sound of the bells of Big Ben, where it will be loaded into a hearse and driven to Windsor, a town in south-eastern England, some 30km from London.

Religious ceremony and burial at Windsor

From 3pm, a new procession, preceded by members of the Royal Cavalry, will cross the ‘Long Walk’ leading to Windsor Castle, the British Royal Family’s famous residence. The Royal Family will then join the procession to St. George’s Chapel.

Some 800 guests, including the queen’s personal staff, will attend the service, led by the Dean of Windsor David Conner.

Finally, at 7.30pm, the queen will be laid to rest in a private funeral service held in the presence of the king and members of the Royal Family.

Queen Elizabeth II will be buried with her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, in the King George VI Memorial Chapel.

Culled from France 24

17, September 2022

Japanese gov’t ordered to pay 1.65 million yen over death of Cameroonian man ⁰

A Japanese court on Friday ordered the government to pay 1.65 million yen in damages to the bereaved family of a Cameroonian man who died while being detained in an immigration control facility in eastern Japan.

The mother of the man, who died aged 43 in the Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, in March 2014, had demanded that the government pay 10 million yen in damages, alleging that immigration officials failed to send him to a medical institution despite his claims of ill health.

The ruling “confirmed that it is but natural to send someone who is suffering to the hospital,” said the defense counsel, describing it as a “breakthrough” that the court determined the state had the duty of care over the man.

In handing down the judgment, the Mito District Court ruled the immigration bureau failed to carry out its duty, saying it should have sent the man to a hospital immediately.

But Presiding Judge Masahiko Abe ruled out linking the bureau’s actions to the man’s death. “As the man’s health had rapidly deteriorated, it does not necessarily mean he might have been saved if he had been taken immediately to a hospital,” he said.

The plaintiff’s side will consider appealing the case, while the Justice Ministry said it will look into the ruling and take the appropriate action.

In a March 2022 hearing, Abe had recommended that the two sides reach an out-of-court settlement.

According to the ruling, the Cameroonian man was detained by the center in November 2013 after he was refused entry into the country at Narita airport outside Tokyo a month earlier.

He was reported to have health issues, including diabetes, and on March 27, 2014, he was transferred to a recuperation room monitored by a security camera after complaining of feeling unwell.

Although he underwent a medical examination in the facility, his condition worsened until his death days later, on March 30.

Until authorities found him in cardiopulmonary arrest, he had not been seen by any doctor outside the facility, nor had he been sent by ambulance to a hospital, the ruling said.

Security camera footage taken the night before his death showed the man falling from his bed to the floor and crying out, “I’m dying.”

The man’s bereaved family maintained that the immigration agency’s response to his illness was illegal, while the national government sought the case’s dismissal arguing the response was appropriate.

The government had said that leaving the judgment on dispatching detainees by ambulance to staff without medical knowledge is difficult, and even if the man had been transported from the facility, he still might not have been saved.

Treatment of foreign nationals detained at Japanese immigration facilities has come under increased scrutiny in recent years.

In March 2021, 33-year-old Sri Lankan Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali died in a Nagoya detention facility after complaining of ill health, including vomiting and stomachaches, for around a month.

Her family members say it is clear she would have lived if immigration bureau officials had given her appropriate care.

Her death contributed to a backlash that culminated in the government shelving in May 2021 revisions to the immigration law, which included measures to make it easier to deport asylum seekers.

Plans to resubmit the bill in the Diet session in the fall have also been abandoned, government sources said earlier.

Wishma’s family is also seeking damages from the government over her death. Her sisters filed a complaint in August seeking an independent review of the Nagoya District Public Prosecutors Office’s decision not to prosecute 13 people working at the facility when she died.

Prosecutors said they could not make a conclusion on her cause of death or establish a causal link between her treatment and her death.

Shoichi Ibusuki, a defense lawyer representing her family, said the ruling regarding the Cameroonian man was the “first-ever ruling that found the immigration facility responsible for a death.”

Source: Japan Today

17, September 2022

Biden en route to London to attend funeral of Elizabeth II ⁰

US President Joe Biden on Saturday headed to London to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

The state funeral, the first in Britain since the death of Winston Churchill in 1965, will take place Monday at Westminster Abbey in London at 11:00 am (1000 GMT).

Biden will be among several hundred leaders from around the world attending the somber and historic event, along with some 2,000 other guests.

While the leaders of the European Union, France, Japan and many other countries will attend, those of Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria and North Korea were not invited.

On Sunday, Biden will attend a reception organized by King Charles III, the White House announced. The two men spoke by phone on Wednesday, with Biden vowing to preserve the “special relationship” between their countries.

A meeting Biden was to have held Monday with new Prime Minister Liz Truss at her Downing Street residence has been canceled, US and British officials announced, but the two instead will meet Wednesday in New York when both arrive to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly.

World leaders were beginning to gather in London on Saturday to prepare for Monday’s funeral.

Their presence — along with that of hundreds of thousands of mourners from across Britain and around the world — poses an extraordinary challenge to British police.

It will be London’s largest ever policing event, the city’s Metropolitan Police force said Friday.

More than 2,000 officers have been drafted from across the country to help Scotland Yard.

After the funeral, the queen’s coffin will be transferred by royal hearse to Windsor Castle, west of London, for a committal service.

That will be followed by a family-only burial in which the queen will be laid to rest alongside her late husband Philip, both her parents and her younger sister.

Source: AFP

16, September 2022

Biya French Cameroun regime’s foundation based on marginalization and crimes ⁰

Vice President Dabney Yerima has strongly denounced the massacre of six Southern Cameroonians in Kumbo and the recent French Cameroun government army raids on the Kumbo Divisional Hospital, stating that the foundation of the Yaoundé regime is based on marginalization and crimes.

The exiled Ambazonia leader made the comments in a statement released late on Thursday which he observed that the shameful events in Kumbo reveal a continuation of appalling and unbelievable massacre of Southern Cameroons civilians throughout the Ambazonian territory at the hands of the blood-thirsty Biya French Cameroun regime and its Southern Cameroons collaborators in Maryland USA.

Dabney Yerima added, “The happenings in Bui County was neither the first crime committed by the French Cameroun crime syndicate nor would be the last one.”

“The foundation of the Biya French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé is based on marginalization, crimes and flagrant violations of human rights,” the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government pointed out.

In recent weeks, Ambazonia fighters have carried out a series of deadly ambushes against the Cameroonian army which have been on a bigger scale than anything yet seen since the start of the conflict five years ago. The army high command wants to change strategy but has yet to say how it intends to proceed.

By Chi Prudence Asong

15, September 2022

Biya regime deploys over 1,000 soldiers to join UN forces in Central African Republic ⁰

Cameroon’s Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo on Wednesday announced the deployment of more than 1,000 soldiers to maintain peace and stability in the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR).

The 750 soldiers and 360 gendarmes make up the ninth contingent of Cameroonian troops tasked with carrying out stabilization and peacekeeping mission in the CAR.

The contingent is part of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), which began protecting civilians in CAR in 2014 under the UN Charter, Assomo said during a ceremony in the country’s East region to award medals to soldiers who underwent special training in the region.

“I urge you to represent your country in the right way,” Assomo said, and demanded the soldiers execute their assignment in strict respect of the rules guiding MINUSCA.

The contingent is taking over from predecessors who spent a year building peace in the war-torn country.

The CAR has been wracked by violence since the Seleka rebels ousted then President Francois Bozize in 2013. The conflict has forced nearly half of the country’s population to migrate and depend on humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.

Source: Xinhuanet

14, September 2022

Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin arrives at Westminster to lie in state ⁰

Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin left Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday as it was taken amid somber pageantry on a horse-drawn gun carriage past crowds of mourners to the Houses of Parliament, where the late monarch will lie in state for four days.

Crowds began massing early along the flag-lined road outside the palace for the procession from the monarch’s official London residence to the historic Westminster Hall at Parliament. King Charles III and other members of the royal family walked behind the coffin.

Thousands of people gathered on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace and along the banks of the River Thames hours before the coffin procession began.

About a half-hour before the procession was due to start, the gun carriage passed through the palace’s wrought iron gates.

Joan Bucklehurst, a 50-year-old retail worker from Cheshire in northwestern England, said the queen “meant so much for everybody”.

“She was amazing, yeah,” she added, choking up with emotion. “So, we had to be here. We’ve been here a few times when there have been special occasions, but this one, I couldn’t miss this.”

The crowds are the latest manifestation of a nationwide outpouring of grief and respect for the only monarch most Britons have ever known, who died at her beloved Balmoral summer retreat on Thursday at age 96, ending a 70-year reign.

Outpouring of grief

“It’s a very sad day, but it’s our last opportunity to do our duty for the queen and it’s our first opportunity to do it for the king, and that makes us all very proud,” said Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, of the Household division, who is responsible for organising the ceremonial aspects of the queen’s funeral.

London’s Heathrow Airport halted flights that could disturbing the procession. British Airways canceled 16 flights as a result of the changes.

The airport said in a statement that the changes would “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall”.

Troops involved in the procession have been preparing since the queen died. So have the horses of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.

Sgt. Tom Jenks, from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, said that the horses have undergone special training, including how to handle weeping mourners, as well as flowers and flags being thrown onto streets as the procession passes by.

People stood behind metal barriers or sat on folding chairs, umbrellas at the ready, takeout coffees in hand under gray skies hours before the coffin was scheduled to leave the landmark palace at 2:22pm (13:22 GMT).

Crowds have lined the route of the queen’s coffin whenever it has been moved in its long journey from Scotland back to London.

On Tuesday night, thousands braved a typical London drizzle as the state hearse, with interior lights illuminating the sovereign’s flag-draped casket, drove slowly from a military air base into the heart of London.

Geoff Colgan, a taxi driver who took the day off to witness the moment, stood stunned in the moments after the queen’s coffin passed.

“It’s one of those things you know would happen, but when it does you can’t believe it,” he said, holding his toddler.

Crowds line the banks of the River Thames

Earlier, in Edinburgh, some 33,000 people filed in silent respect past her coffin as it lay for 24 hours at St. Giles’ Cathedral.

Hundreds of thousands are expected to do the same in London when the queen lies in state at the 900-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest building in Parliament, for four days before her state funeral on Monday.

The hall is where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried, where kings and queens hosted magnificent medieval banquets, and where ceremonial addresses were presented to Queen Elizabeth II during her silver, golden and diamond jubilees.

Chris Bond, from Truro in southwest England, was among those lining up along the banks of the River Thames. He also attended the lying in state of the queen’s mother in 2002.

“Obviously, it’s quite difficult queuing all day long, but when you walk through those doors into Westminster Hall, that marvellous, historic building, there was a great sense of hush and one was told you take as much time as you like, and it’s just amazing,” he said.

“We know the queen was a good age and she served the country a long time, but we hoped this day would never come,” he added.

Chris Imafidon, secured the sixth place in the queue.

“I have 1,001 emotions when I see her,” he said. “I want to say, God, she was an angel, because she touched many good people and did so many good things.”

Source: AP

13, September 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Six Amba fighters killed in Bui County ⁰

At least six Amba fighters were killed in weekend clashes in the Northwest, locals and security sources said Monday.

The clashes took place between the army and the Ambazonian fighters in Bui County, a division of the region where Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces have set up several camps.

Six Amba fighters, including a commander, were killed in the clashes Saturday and Sunday, said a military official in the region who asked not to be named.

No casualties were reported from the government forces.

Southern Cameroons saw renewed clashes in the past week as Amba fighters attempted to impose blockades and disrupt schools, according to security reports.

Since 2017, government forces have been clashing with the Ambazonian fighters who attempt to establish an independent state they call “The Federal Republic of Ambazonia.”

By Fon Lawrence with files from Xinhuanet

12, September 2022

Prince Harry calls Queen Elizabeth II his ‘guiding compass’ ⁰

Prince Harry on Monday paid an emotional tribute to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, calling her his “guiding compass”, and vowing to “honour” his father in his new role as king.

In his first public comments since the queen’s death last week aged 96, Harry said he was “forever grateful” to her and said she was “sorely missed”.

Harry and his wife Meghan stunned the monarchy by announcing they were quitting royal duties and moving to the United States in early 2020.

From there, they launched a series of broadsides criticising their life in the institution, including claims of racism.

That exacerbated tensions with his older brother, heir to the throne Prince William — with whom he is reported to be barely on speaking terms — and their father, now King Charles III.

But Harry, who was on a whistlestop visit to Britain with Meghan when the queen died, was handed an olive branch by Charles in his first speech as king, when he spoke of his “love” for the couple.

William also invited his brother and sister-in-law to join them for an impromptu walkabout to view floral tributes at Windsor Castle on Saturday.

Harry, a former British Army captain who saw service in Afghanistan, said the queen was his commander-in-chief but also his “granny”.

He said he would cherish the memory of the first time she met Meghan and hugged the couple’s young children, Archie, aged three, and Lilibet, one.

“I cherish these times shared with you, and the many other special moments in between. You are already sorely missed, not just by us, but by the world over,” he added.

“We now honour my father in his new role as King Charles III. Thank you for your commitment to service. Thank you for your sound advice.

“Thank you for your infectious smile. We, too, smile knowing that you and grandpa (Prince Philip) are reunited now, and both together in peace.”

Close

Harry and Meghan jetted in from their new home in California last week to attend a series of charity functions in Britain and Germany, where the next Invictus Games for disabled veterans takes place.

Queen Elizabeth II joined her grandson in a 2016 spoof video before the first edition of the multi-sports event, poking fun at playful jibes from the former US president Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.

The video indicated a close relationship between Harry and his grandmother, which persisted despite the bombshell announcement that he was leaving royal life.

She allowed the couple to retain their official titles as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and said they would remain “much-loved members of the family”.

The late monarch also held back from publicly rejecting the couple’s claims of racism, stating that “some recollections may vary”, but promising an investigation.

Harry rushed to the Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highland last Thursday after an announcement about the queen’s health.

But he travelled separately from his brother and other senior royals, arriving several hours after the death was announced.

Harry, who is expected to stay on Britain for the queen’s funeral next Monday, is believed to have last met her in private during the public celebrations for her Platinum Jubilee in June.

Source: AFP