The Manyu CPDM food aid meant to feed thousands of Ambazonian refugees and displaced persons was forcefully collected from Nigerian and Southern Cameroons businessmen trading on the Enugu-Bamenda Highway, Cameroon Concord News has learned.

The bags of rice, beans and salt were seized from traders by heavily armed Cameroon government troops and part of the items handed over to Minister Victor Mengot and his CPDM delegation from Yaoundé. We also gathered that the small quantity handed over to the pro Biya comedians is being diverted by corrupt contractors and there are already calls to open an independent investigation.

The bags of rice were taken from the businessmen and women through roadblocks manned by a bewildering array of the Francophone dominated army and bandits serving with councils controlled by the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.

Ever since the 84 year-old President Biya declared war on the Anglophone communities, not only are kidnappings and executions common, but Southern Cameroons’s insecurity also makes it difficult for senior Cameroon government officials to travel to the rural areas. Minister Victor Mengot could not go to places like Kembong, Dadi and Nsang as government agents who do go there run the risk of relying for protection on the same people they are fighting.

A prominent Manyu CPDM elite who travelled to Mamfe with Minister Mengot and who did not wish to be named, told Cameroon Concord News that a significant amount of food presented by the Minister Mengot delegation was being diverted to cartels who were selling it illegally.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

The United Nations has slammed the Democratic Republic of Congo for its inability to contain a surge in the number of extra-judicial “executions” in the country, saying figures show a three-time increase in two years of such killings by “state agents”.

The United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUSCO) said Wednesday that a crisis in vast region of Kasai has driven up the number of summary “executions” in the DRC, saying state agents carried out 1,176 extra-judicial killings last year.

MONUSCO deplores “the exceptional increase” which showed that killings had tripled in number over the past two years.

It said at least 89 women and 213 children were killed as part of the extra-judicial killings in the DRC in 2017.

The findings, which were part of MONUSCO’s annual report on human rights violations in the DRC, said that 64 percent of all extra-judicial killings by state agents last year were carried out by armed forces.

The report also indicated that rights violations and abuses committed in 2017 across the central African country had risen by more than 25 percent compared to the previous year, adding that a total of 6,497 cases had been recorded last year.

MONUSCO said at least 752 people were executed in Kasai, a region that comprises three provinces plagued by violence since August 2016 when Kamwina Nsapu, a tribal chieftain known for his fierce opposition to regime of President Joseph Kabila, was killed. Around 3,000 people have been killed since then while some 1.4 million remain displaced.

The UN report described Kasai as a region plagued with “persistent crisis”, saying crimes by state agents were rampant there. The world body lost two of its experts in the region last March while investigating the violence.

The Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 10 of his senior aides are being held captive in the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the President Buhari administration. A leading voice in the Southern Cameroons struggle for independence has said the Nigerian action is an “act of aggression” against Ambazonia.

The Ambazonian Secretary for Communication Hon. Chris Anu has condemned the act in the most strongly worded statement ever since the interim government was announced by President Ayuk Tabe. There are fears that Nigerians residing in Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun may be targeted by the Ambazonian Defense Force known as the Tigers.

“What happened in Abuja wasn’t staged by Yaoundé, but an act of aggression against the people of Ambazonia, its independence and dignity, and against relations between Ambazonia and the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” a spokesperson for the Interim Government said Wednesday.

In a telephone conversation with CIR, Ambazonia’s Secretary of State for Finance & Economy Hon. Brado Etchu Tabenyang stated that “The Ambazonian Government does not accept that President Ayuk Tabe remain hostage, and we do not know the reasons for his captivity. Nothing justifies such an action from an experienced Nigerian leader which violates the Vienna Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Responding to calls for dialogue from the President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang, a senior adviser to President Ayuk Tabe told CIR that “It is not possible for us to dialogue with our leaders in detention.”

On the whereabouts of the detained Ambazonia leaders, Cameroon Intelligence Report contacts in Abuja have met with the Sisiku and his team and we want to reiterate that they are very, very well.  The Ambazonian leaders – Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Prof. Che Awasum,  Barrister Nalowa Bih, Dr. Fidelis Che, Dr. Nfor Nfor, Dr. Henry Kimeng, Prof. Che Awasum, Mr Tassang Wilfred, Dr. Ojong Okonghor, Barrister Shufai Berinyuh, Barrister Eyambe Elias and Dr. Cornelius Kwanga – were arrested at Nera hotel by the Nigerian Secret Service, DSS in Abuja on January 5th while holding a meeting.

A high-level Cameroon government ministerial source told CIR today that President Biya and his closest allies “have no idea what’s going on with the Ambazonia leaders in Nigeria,” and that President Buhari has again sent words to Biya via the President of Equatorial Guinea.

The arrest of President Ayuk Tabe plunged Southern Cameroons counties into a political crisis and stoked fears of conflict between Ambazonians and Nigerians living in Cameroon. So far the Ambazonian interim Government have called for calm, and made public statements asking for Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s release.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

US First Lady Melania Trump, who has made no public statement since reports of payoff from her husband’s lawyer to a porn star, will not be accompanying him to the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The change of plans was confirmed Tuesday to CNN by East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham, who had said a week earlier that she would be partaking at the event in a show of support for President Donald Trump.

The new decision was made based on “scheduling and logistical issues,” according to the White House official.

Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen reportedly brokered a payment to adult industry actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the latest round of the presidential election, in October 2016, to make sure she will not leak the affair to the press.

Ever since the news broke out on January 12, the wife of the 45th US president has been silent except for a pair of tweets that do not mention Donald Trump.

Later that day, the Slovenian-born first lady departed with Trump for a long holiday weekend to Mar-a-Lago, where Trump hosted two dinner events both in her absence.

“Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & his service to this great country.  I am honored to be First Lady of a nation that continually strives for equality & justice for all,” she tweeted on January 15 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

 In another tweet on Saturday, she marked the one-year anniversary of her husband’s inauguration via a picture that excluded him and instead showed her holding an American soldier’s hand.

Daniels, who is a celebrity actress, screenwriter and  director in the porn industry, has released a signed statement, denying having had any affairs with married Trump or having received any hush money. The recent allegations add to those of sexual assault by Trump, already gripping his administration in the first year.

Source: Presstv

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn rejects Egypt’s proposal for the World Bank (WB) to arbitrate in an escalating dispute over a dam Addis Ababa is building over the Nile.

Egypt says the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is more than half way complete, could lower the water flow onto its plains.

With talks in a deadlock, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry proposed last month that the World Bank intervene in the matter but Desalegn said Sunday “this is not acceptable with our side.”

“Seeking professional support is one thing, transferring (arbitration) to an institution is another thing,” he said.

Desalegn has just returned from a visit to Egypt, where President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told him he had “extreme concern” over the lack of progress in talks which have been deadlocked for months.

Sisi warned that Egypt’s share of the Nile — which provides nearly all of its freshwater — was a red line. Addis Ababa insists the dam would not be cutting down the flow into Egypt.

Ethiopia aspires to become African’s biggest power exporter, with the $4 billion dam project being central to the plan.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which is now 60 percent complete is about to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity upon completion.

Sisi has said Egypt had no intention to go to war over the matter, while the Ethiopian premier has said it was “possible to reach agreement … through cooperation and with the spirit of trust”.

Source: Presstv

HUMANITARIAN organisations are alarmed by the spike in teenage pregnancies amid rape and gender violence in makeshift camps housing thousands of Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria.

Women and children, worst affected by the violence, represent about 80 percent of the approximately 10 000 refugees that have fled a crackdown in English-speaking areas of Cameroon and settled in Nigeria’s Cross River State.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed shock that teenage pregnancies involving girls aged as young as 14, have been reported.

“UNHCR is concerned that many more incidents go unreported or are referred only to community elders,” spokesman William Spindler, said.

Spindler said for women, the lack of work combined with the over-stretched reception facilities, created a higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly from survival sex.

Unaccompanied and separated children are particularly affected by difficult access to food and the lack of subsistence opportunities.

UNHCR reported numerous incidents where children have to work or beg to survive or to help their families. Many children are unable to attend school, as they lack both the time and funds for education.

English-speaking Cameroon is beset by protests in English-speaking regions. Communities allege marginalisation by the government dominated by French speakers.

A vicious response by government forces has led to scores of deaths and massive displacements. UNHCR is currently working with Nigerian authorities to identify sites away from the border, where refugees can be hosted according to international standards.

– CAJ News