All African member states of the United Nations have blasted US President Donald Trump’s “outrageous” and “xenophobic” remarks about immigrants, calling on him to apologize for the vulgar comments.

In a statement issued on Friday, a group of 55 African countries demanded a “retraction and an apology” from Trump after the US president referred to countries such as El Salvador, Haiti and certain African nations as “shithole” countries.

The American head of state further urged lawmakers at a White House meeting to make efforts to stop immigrants from those countries entering the US, and instead accept immigrants from wealthy and overwhelmingly white countries such as Norway.

The African Group of UN ambassadors further said in the statement that it was “extremely appalled at, and strongly condemns the outrageous, racist and xenophobic remarks by the president of the United States of America as widely reported by the media.”

The group also stressed that it was “concerned at the continuing and growing trend from the US administration toward Africa and people of African descent to denigrate the continent and people of color.”

Angered by Trump’s comments, Jessie Duarte, the deputy secretary general of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress said, “Ours is not a shithole country and neither is Haiti or any other country in distress.”

“We would not deign to make comments as derogatory as that about any country that has any kind of socio-economic or other difficulties,” he said, adding that much like their African counterparts, millions of US citizens were affected by problems such as unemployment.

The United Nations also denounced the remarks made by the US president as “shocking,” “shameful,” and racist.”

During the 2016 presidential race, Trump campaigned for “a total and complete shutdown” of US borders on those he deemed as undesirable.

Last week, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 260,000 immigrants from El Salvador, forcing them to gradually leave the US.

The US president also angered Muslims worldwide by imposing travel ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority nations.

US President Donald Trump has admitted to using “tough” language while commenting on immigrants during a private meeting with lawmakers on Thursday.

During the meeting, in which he rejected a bipartisan deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, he reportedly asked why “people from shithole countries come to” the United States.

His contemptuous comments, which were about immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African countries, have provoked sever criticism in the US and abroad.

However, in a series of Friday morning tweets, Trump said that “the language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used.”

“What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA.”

He also denied saying that Haitians must be removed from negotiations about protected status for people from certain countries.

“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!”

However, Senator Dick Durbin, the only Democrat in the room disputed the president’s account.

“He said these hate-filled things and he said them repeatedly,” Durbin said. “When the question was asked about Haitians … he said, ‘Haitians? Do we need more Haitians?’”

Also, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake tweeted that “the words used by the President, as related to me directly following the meeting by those in attendance, were not ‘tough,’ they were abhorrent and repulsive.”

“I think it was stupid and irresponsible and childish,” said Republican Mike Simpson. “He’s president of the United States. That’s not how a president behaves.”

African countries expressed disbelief and disgust at the president’s remarks. The United Nations human rights office also denounced as “racist” Trump’s remarks.

During the 2016 presidential race, Trump campaigned for “a total and complete shutdown” of US borders on those he deemed as undesirable.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 260,000 immigrants from El Salvador, forcing them to gradually leave the US.

Source: Presstv

Ten leaders of the independence movement in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon could be at risk of torture and unfair trials if extradited from Nigeria, where they have been arrested and detained in secret for one week, Amnesty International said today.

On 5 January, armed men in plain clothes stormed a hotel in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja where the pro- independence activists were meeting, and arrested them without presenting a warrant or providing an explanation. They are being held incommunicado, without any access to a lawyer, in contravention of Nigerian law which demands they must be seen by a judge within 48 hours. Human rights lawyers in Nigeria have said that an extradition request has been made by the Cameroonian government, but no details have been made public.

“Efforts to tackle the Anglophone crisis should always respect the law, and avoid restricting freedom of expression. Authorities in Nigeria should immediately disclose the activists’ whereabouts, allow them access to a lawyer, and unless they have sufficient evidence to charge them with a recognizable crime, release them immediately”.

The pro-independence activists said that they were meeting in Nigeria to discuss the influx of thousands of asylum seekers following protests in October, in which more than 20 civilians were killed by security forces. In recent months, more than 10 members of security forces have also been killed by more radical pro-independence groups. They have always claimed to pursue their aim of independence for the Anglophone regions through peaceful means.

All those arrested were legally living in Nigeria, and some had been granted political asylum. Under Nigerian law, it would be illegal to extradite the activists for political crimes, or if they faced the risk of torture or an unfair trial.

In Cameroon, those charged with crimes related to national security are prosecuted by military courts without respect for due process, and Amnesty International has documented a widespread pattern of torture by security forces and intelligence agencies. In July 2017 the organization published a report documenting more than 100 cases of torture of people accused without evidence of supporting Boko Haram.

www.amnesty.org

The family of the abducted President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia H.E. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe from Abuja tearfully pleads with the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the international community to contact them and let them know that their husband and father is alive and safe.

“All we want is him to come back to us,” the abducted President’s wife said. “Sisiku, if you are out there listening, pick up the phone.”

Family members last heard from the President on January 5 at around 2:00 pm local time when they talked on phone. Since then, he is unreachable via his phone and he has not reached out to any family member.

According to eye witness accounts, the Ambazonia President and nine of his top aides were arrested by Nigerian security agents.

Below are the names and professional and legal information of those arrested.

1 / – Wilfred Tassang

Recently granted Asylum Status in Nigeria

2/ – Doctor Nfor Ngala Nfor

Political Asylum; – UN Refugee status;

3 / – Professor Awasom

US citizen; Teachers at a US University;

4 / – Doctor Cornelius Kwanga:  PhD. Economics, Professor of Economics and Management

Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Nigeria.

Nigerian Permanent Resident’s Status,

5/ – Doctor Henry Kimeng: PhD, Civil Engineering,  Associate Professor of Civil Engineering

Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria Nigerian Permanent Resident Status  6 / – Lawyer Elias Eyambe: Granted Asylum status In Nigeria,  Member African Bar Association;

7 / – Lawyer Nalova Bih: Recently Granted asylum Status in Nigeria, Member, African Bar Association

8/ – Doctor Ojong Okongo: Former professor at a Nigerian University,  Nigerian Citizen Now Works as a business owner in Nigeria.

9 / – Julius Ayuk Tabe: Computer Engineer

Nigerian Permanent Resident’s Status

10 /- Dr. Fidelis Nde Che

PhD. in Electronics and Electrical Engineering,  Professor at the American University of Nigeria in Yola

Adamawa State, Nigeria. Nigerian Permanent Resident

The President including nine of his aides were arrested at Nera Hotel in Abuja at around 8:00 pm during a crisis meeting to map out a strategy to provide support and improve living conditions of over 40,000 Southern Cameroonians who have fled to neighbouring Nigeria from military repression in across Ambazonia territory since October 2016 when independence sentiments started. In particular, President Paul Biya declared war on Manyu county residents on November 30, 2017.

Biya declaration was emphasized by a decree signed by his appointed Senior Divisional Officer in Manyu that ordered all residents in more than 27 villages to vacate the county within 24 hours. Barely 3 hours into the order, armed soldiers and paramilitary forces in war vehicles and helicopters were already in Manyu. Since then, there is ongoing targeted killing, arbitrary arrest, burning of homes and destruction of farms and businesses that contributes to mass migration.

President Ayuk Tabe and his government have been providing moral, spiritual, material and financial support to the refugees and he often visits them. Since his arrest, refugees are afraid Cameroon government officials will follow them into Nigeria and kill them all.

One week after the arrest of their leaders, the people of Ambazonia worldwide do not know yet what led to their President and aides arrest and are treating the case as a plan by La Republique du Cameroun government to derail the independence restoration movement. The current atmosphere across Ambazonia is tense and ripe with anger as youths and parents are waiting instructions from Ambazonia leadership to explode.

In the coming days, the insecurity and instability across Ambazonia and La Republique du Cameroun territories might escalate as more radical groups and the largely angry populations burst into sporadic and uncontrollable activities in respond to the arrest of President Seseku Julius Ayuk Tabe and his nine aides.

By Fru James in Abuja, Nigeria

NB: Fru James is a Cameroonian freelancer

Over a thousand Ambazonian citizens in the Federal Republic of Germany are expected to stage a demonstration on Friday the 19^th of January 2018 in Berlin in front of the Nigerian embassy. Cameroon Concord News understands the demo is in solidarity with the Interim Head of State of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 9 of his top aides arrested in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja by the Department of State Security (DSS).  The Ambazonian anti- Nigerian government protests is also aimed at attracting the German administration to the genocide going on in Southern Cameroons.

Protests are being planned all over Western Europe including the US and Canada. The move was triggered by President Buhari’s negative intervention into the crisis in Southern Cameroons. Demonstrators will be asking that the Nigerian government release the Interim Head of State and his senior advisers currently being held in an undisclosed location in Abuja.

The Ambazonian interim government has put the number of those who have died in the unrest at 732 and has disputed allegations from the Francophone dominated regime in Yaoundé that the Ambazonian  defense force killed Cameroon government security officers.

Southern Cameroonians who will be protesting in Berlin will also ask that the Nigerian government demand that human rights violations in Ambazonia are addressed. There will also be calls for President Biya and his army chiefs to be tried at the International Criminal Court.

By Sonne Peter in Berlin

Using the most condescending and undiplomatic language imaginable, US President Donald Trump has reportedly asked why “people from shithole countries come to” the United States.

Trump made the contemptuous comments about immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African countries during a White House meeting on Thursday with lawmakers who were reportedly startled and charged that the Republican president is racist, according to multiple people briefed on the meeting.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to The Washington Post.

“Why do we need more Haitians?” he added, according to the report. “Take them out.”

Trump reportedly suggested America should accept more immigrants from European countries such as Norway, whose Prime Minister Erna Solberg met with Trump on Wednesday in the White House.

Later on, The New York Times also reported the same comment, citing unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the extraordinary Oval Office conversation.

Trump’s comments surprised Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte, who attended the meeting, according to the Post.

The White House did not deny Trump’s despicable description of an entire continent but said the president supports an immigration policy that welcomes “those who can contribute to our society.”

“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said while commenting on Trump’s racist slur.

“The president will only accept an immigration deal that adequately addresses the visa lottery system and chain migration — two programs that hurt our economy and allow terrorists into our country,” the spokesman said.

“Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation. He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway.”

‘Trump’s comments go beyond the pale’

Commenting on Trump’s remarks, American political analyst and academic Dennis Etler said, “The president of the United States can no longer be considered by anyone of conscience as a paragon of ‘democratic values,’ as if he ever could. Not that any recent president has been, but Trump’s comments have gone beyond the pale.”

“The Statue of Liberty has emblazoned on its base the immortal words of Emma Lazarus, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’” Etler, who has a decades-long interest in international affairs, told Press TV on Friday morning.

“It doesn’t say, ‘Go home you tired, you poor Aids infected filthy masses yearning to rape and murder. We don’t want the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed back to their shithole countries. I extinguish my lamp and slam shut the golden door!’” the scholar stated.

Source: Presstv

A human-rights lawyer representing English-speaking Cameroonian separatists said Thursday the group had been arrested by Nigeria’s secret service and were being held “illegally”, calling on the government to probe their disappearance. Femi Falana Femi Falana said Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the president of the anglophone separatist movement in Cameroon, and nine others were detained at a hotel in Abuja last weekend. “Armed operatives of the State Security Service (Nigeria’s secret service) invaded the venue, abducted our clients and took them away to an undisclosed place,” he said. The intelligence agency has denied any arrests but rumours have swirled about the men’s possible whereabouts.

Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Wednesday told reporters he had met the security agencies and said questions remained about the identity of those detained. “I don’t know whether to call it an arrest or it could be people just called in for questioning or whatever. The investigations are ongoing,” he said after a cabinet meeting. Falana, however, called for his clients to be either released from “illegal custody” or charged within 48 hours, threatening court action “to secure the enforcement of their fundamental rights to personal liberty”. The leaders have not been in contact with their families or legal team, he said, adding he had “confirmed” the government in Yaoundé had asked Abuja to repatriate the men. “Our clients are not illegal immigrants in Nigeria as some of them have been granted political asylum by the federal government while others have valid permanent resident status in Nigeria,” said Falana.

On October 1, the breakaway Anglophone movement issued a symbolic declaration of independence for “Ambazonia”, claiming autonomy over English-speaking regions in the country. Cameroon’s President Paul Biya fiercely opposes secession and has met the agitation with a crackdown, including curfews, raids and restrictions on travel. Thousands of refugees have flooded the border into Nigeria to escape the violence. International monitors say at least 20 and possibly 40 people have been killed in clashes since late September, though the Biya government fiercely disputes the death toll. The Anglophone minority dates to the emergence of Cameroon in 1960-61, as France and Britain wound down their colonies in west Africa.

www.vanguardngr.com

Source: Reuters