News

23, October 2023

More than 1,400 African migrants reach Spain’s Canary Islands ⁰

More than 1,400 African migrants have reached Spain’s Canary Islands this weekend, with one vessel bringing a single-boat record of 321 people, authorities said Sunday.

A total of 1,457 migrants had reached the Spanish islands off the western African coast between Friday night and Sunday morning, the authorities said on X, formerly Twitter, adding to a recent spike in arrivals.

An emergency services spokesman said all of the arrivals hailed from sub-Saharan Africa.

Saturday saw 321 people reach the island of El Hierro aboard one vessel, a rescue services spokesperson told AFP, surpassing the previous record for a single boat of 280 on October 3.

Spanish broadcaster TVE showed images of a multicoloured vessel crammed with smiling and waving passengers reaching port.

Latest data from Spain’s interior ministry show 23,537 migrants reached the Canaries between January 1 and October 15.

The first fortnight of this month alone saw 8,561 arrivals — a record for a fortnight since a previous migration crisis in 2006.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska last week said on a visit to the archipelago the spike in numbers resulted from political “destabilisation in the Sahel”.

The Canaries route has been favoured in recent years with controls having been tightened in the Mediterranean.

However, many barely seaworthy vessels have not made it to shore as thousands of migrants risk their lives on the long and dangerous crossing from Morocco or Western Sahara — 100 kilometres (60 miles) away.

Others try even riskier routes from Mauritania, Senegal and even Gambia, around 1,000 kilometres away.

Source: AFP

21, October 2023

First of 20 aid trucks enter besieged Gaza from Egypt ⁰

The first of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the war-torn and besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, said AFP correspondents on both sides.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said he was “confident that this delivery will be the start of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies… to the people of Gaza” and warned that “this first convoy must not be the last”.

The border crossing was closed again after the passage of the trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent which is responsible for delivering the aid, including food and medical supplies from various UN agencies.

Rafah is the only route into Gaza that is not controlled by Israel, which agreed to allow the aid in from Egypt following a request from its top ally the United States.

Israel has been bombing Gaza since Hamas’ bloody surprise attack of October 7 and has also declared a total siege, cutting off most water as well as food, electricity, fuel and other supplies.

Hamas militants stormed into Israel from Gaza and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.

Since then, more than 4,100 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed in relentless Israeli bombardments, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the aid passage as “an important first step that will alleviate the suffering of innocent people”.

Source: France 24

21, October 2023

Every drop of Anglophone blood brings Biya’s family closer to destruction ⁰

The Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government has said that the man heading the criminal French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé is only accelerating the demise of his own family by killing innocent Southern Cameroons women and children.

In a press briefing late on Friday, Vice President Dabney Yerima stated that every drop of Anglophone blood brings Biya, his wife and children closer to destruction.

Dabney Yerima wondered aloud why French Cameroonians have continued to remain silent and accepting the heinous crimes in Southern Cameroons where soldiers loyal to the 90-year-old Francophone dictator are Killing women and children and destroying hospitals.

Vice President Dabney Yerima also pointed out that Yaoundé is now suffering the economic consequences of the war in Southern Cameroons at the hands of Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces’

Yerima also emphasized the rising resentment towards the ruling CPDM crime syndicate and its leader Paul Biya.

By Chi Prudence Asong

19, October 2023

“Genocides are on-going in Southern Cameroons” ⁰

Professor Carlson Anyangwe has slammed the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé for its continued war crimes in Southern Cameroons.

The renowned academic told Cameroon Intelligence Report that the international community continues to ignore the killings in Southern Cameroons and that no world power has suspended foreign relations with the criminal regime in Yaoundé.

Elsewhere in his conversation with CIR, he likened the Biya Francophone regime to “Nazis” due to their brutal aggression in Southern Cameroons.

Since the start of the Ambazonia crisis, Professor Carlson Anyangwe has voiced his support for the Ambazonia Interim Government and has been helping Vice President Dabney Yerima on strategy formulation and implementation.

Anyangwe has repeatedly said La Republique du Cameroun must cease its systematic attacks on Southern Cameroons civilians and has urged the US government and its European allies to condemn French Cameroun crimes in British Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong

18, October 2023

Turkey to declare three days of mourning over Gaza hospital strike ⁰

Turkey will declare three days’ mourning over a deadly strike on a hospital in war-torn Gaza that killed hundreds, a Turkish official told AFP on Wednesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause, has accused Israel of “striking a hospital sheltering women, children and innocent civilians” and urged the world to stop the tragedy in Gaza.

“Turkey will declare three days national mourning,” the official, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Israel has said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

Source: France 24

17, October 2023

Yaoundé: National Assembly Speaker heads to France to die ⁰

Cavaye Yegue Djibril, Cameroon’s Speaker of the National Assembly, heads to France for treatment for multiple organ failure.

The speaker’s health is failing very fast and there is no hospital in Cameroon which can help the man who has helped to reduce the country to a living hell for many in Cameroon.

The government he has served for almost 60 years has not built any world-class hospital in Cameroon in decades and their recklessness is now catching up with them.

Like the Senate President, the House Speaker’s health is a major issue and many attribute it to years of alcohol and cigarette abuse.

It has been reported that Cavaye drinks dry gin in his office and he drinks directly from the bottle as if he is drinking water.

Sources close to the Speaker say he has respiratory track problems, diabetes and his heart is also threatening to fail if the old and desperate speaker does not change his ways.

Family members who are already tired of Cavaye’s social chaos and chronic alcoholism say he is a colony of diseases which may yield to the cold and waiting hands of death if something is not done and fast too.

More will be yours as our correspondence in Paris monitors the situation.

By Rita Akana in Yaoundé

17, October 2023

Soon and very soon Biya will be gone as victory belongs to Ambazonians ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government (IG) has said that French Cameroun will be gone soon and very soon and the Federal Republic of Ambazonia will be victorious in the final battle to liberate the Southern Cameroons homeland.

“La Republique and its consortium of criminal gangs headed by Mr Paul Biya are collapsing day-by-day,” Vice President Dabney Yerima added in a Monday meeting with members of the IG amid Yaounde’s raids on Southern Cameroons villages.

Yerima hailed the recent ghost town operation that shutdown the entire Southern Cameroons territory, saying that the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia are moving ahead on the right path toward getting to Buea.

Dabney Yerima emphasized that the IG stands by the oppressed Ambazonia people in Ground Zero and would continue its support for all Amba fighters and restoration forces.

He also encouraged Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces to resist with all their might, saying the Amba fighters who were deceived by the so-called disarmament commission are languishing in abject poverty and suffering in Francophone controlled detention centers.

More than 4000 Southern Cameroonians have been killed and thousands displaced as the Biya Francophone regime presses ahead with its military campaign against separatist forces.

By Isong Asu

17, October 2023

Russian leader Vladimir Putin arrives in China to meet Xi Jinping ⁰

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China on Tuesday to meet his “dear friend” Xi Jinping, bolstering their relationship at a summit that will be overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war.

China this week welcomes representatives of 130 countries for a forum of President Xi’s landmark project, the Belt and Road Initiative, that Beijing is using to extend its global influence.

Putin is at the top of the invitation list, with the Russian leader on his first trip to a major global power since the Ukraine invasion threw his regime into international isolation.

His plane landed in China just before 09:30 am, an AFP journalist on the tarmac saw.

He is due to meet Xi for talks on Wednesday, the Kremlin said.

Source: AFP

17, October 2023

President Biden to visit Israel on Wednesday ⁰

US President Joe Biden will pay a solidarity visit to Israel on Wednesday following the Hamas attacks, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also announced that Israel had agreed to work on civilian aid for Gaza.

Blinken spoke after meeting for nearly eight hours at the defence ministry with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the top US diplomat’s second visit since the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

“The president will reaffirm United States solidarity with Israel and our ironclad commitment to its security,” Blinken said early Tuesday in Tel Aviv.

“Israel has the right and indeed the duty to defend its people from Hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks,” Blinken said.

Biden “will hear from Israel what it needs to defend his people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs,” he said.

Biden will visit Tel Aviv, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in Washington. He also announced that Biden would travel to Jordan where he would meet Jordanian King Abdullah II, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Blinken said that the United States also secured assurances from Israel on working to bring foreign assistance into the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip as Israel prepares a ground offensive against the Hamas-ruled territory.

US officials said that a new US coordinator on humanitarian aid, David Satterfield, would work with Israel to develop more concrete plans.

Biden hopes to “hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hama,” Blinken said.

“At our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza,” Blinken said.

He said the two sides were discussing the “possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm’s way.”

“We welcome the government of Israel’s commitment to work on this plan. The president very much looks forward to discussing it further when he’s here on Wednesday,” he said.

Biden has vowed unwavering solidarity with Israel after suffering the worst attack in its 75-year history. But he also has voiced concern about more severe proposals that could impact civilians in Gaza and earlier pressed Israel to reverse a decision to shut off water supply.

“We share Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid going entering Gaza or otherwise preventing it from reaching the people who need it,” Blinken said.

“If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian aid from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it and we will work to prevent it from happening again.”

Source: AFP

16, October 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Over 875 persons forced to flee Akwaya ⁰

The situation is deteriorating in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon, where separatists are demanding independence.

Armed clashes, targeted attacks resulting in killings, armed extortion, and arbitrary arrests are frequently reported.

In Akwaya subdivision of the Manyu region, over 875 persons have been forced to flee due to targeted attacks by non-State armed groups (NSAGs).

During those attacks, NSAGs killed four people, injured 25 others, and burned 33 houses and seven motorbikes.

The population in local villages and in most of the villages in Akwaya subdivision have fled either to villages in neighbouring Nigeria, to Mamfe or to nearby bushes due to the attack and continuous threats.

Increasing security incidents and blockages of major roads in the North-West caused delays or prevented the delivery of life-saving assistance.

“This also limited the mobility of aid workers and deprived some vulnerable communities of humanitarian assistance,” said a humanitarian spokesperson.

A new wave of acts of violence against humanitarian workers negatively impacted the humanitarian response, especially in the North-West.

In the Donga-Mantung division, international NGO staff returning from a field mission were stopped at an NSAG checkpoint and requested to pay for their safe return.

They were released without payment after access negotiations.

In addition, in the South-West, several enumerators collecting data for a multi-sector needs assessment were held by NSAGs for several hours before being released.

The NSAGs claimed that they were not informed about the activity.

Attacks on education continued as the educational community prepared for school resumption in early September.

The previous month, some NSAGs factions announced a lockdown to disrupt the back-to-school preparations.

Attacks on education in the North-West and South-West regions continue to deprive hundreds of thousands of children of their right to education.

Besides the siege by pro-English separatists, Cameroon is beset by an insurgency by the Islamist Boko Haram from neighbouring Nigeria.

Source: CAJ News