News

8, November 2017

President Trump says he never knew there were so many countries ⁰

US President Donald Trump has candidly revealed his ignorance of geography and international politics, saying he never knew there were “so many countries” until he was elected president.

Trump dropped the clangor while delivering a speech to Japanese dignitaries on the first leg of his Asian tour on Monday, admitting that he had been unaware of the number of countries in the world until he became president and received congratulatory phone calls from world leaders over his election victory.

The US president also referred to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by his first name as he was recounting how he first became acquainted with the premier during a meeting in New York in November last year, just over a week after his surprise election win.

“So my relationship with Shinzo got off to quite a rocky start because I never ran for office, and here I am. But I never ran, so I wasn’t very experienced. And after I had won, everybody was calling me from all over the world. I never knew we had so many countries,” Trump said.

US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo on November 6, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The businessman-turned politician continued to explain how inexperienced and ill-informed he had been when he assumed the office, once again proving his incompetence for the post of presidency.

“I didn’t know you were supposed to not see world leaders until after you were in office which was January 20th,” he said.

“You were just not supposed to because it was considered bad form. It was not a nice thing to do and I understand that from the standpoint of the president whose place you were taking,” Trump added. The US president’s offhand comments in Japan went viral on social media and faced massive outrage and mockery.

Trump’s visit to Japan was part of a 12-day Asian tour aimed at urging the international community to place maximum pressure on North Korea over its nuclear and missiles program. On his five-nation Asia tour, the US president will also visit South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Source: Presstv

7, November 2017

La Republique: Far North inhabitants fear escalating Boko Haram incursions as troops leave for Ambazonia ⁰

At least seven people have been killed in the Far North region of French Cameroun in the space of three days, in several attacks attributed to the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram. Cameroon Concord News gathered that in Bogo, a small locality in the Diamaré constituency, a rich merchant was killed on the night of Thursday, November 2, 2017, by unidentified men.

According to security sources, three men aboard a motorcycle shot the merchant at close range in his home. The militants did not take anything from his residence. On the night of 4th November, 3 people were also killed in Mahola, a town located in the Mayo-Sava Division, just over 30 km from Mora, targeted by Islamist armed incursions. Before disappearing, the attackers took away cattle and 8 motorcycles. The attackers arrived on board motorcycles and fired shots.

The French Cameroun security forces have always attributed these murders to Boko Haram fighters. Troops have been withdrawn from the Far North region and deployed to Southern Cameroons leaving the inhabitants vulnerable to attacks coming in from neighboring Nigeria.

By Sonne Peter, CCN

7, November 2017

Gabonese Defense Minister in Yaounde ⁰

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

7, November 2017

Boko Haram attack kills six in Nigeria ⁰

At least six people were killed when suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked a town in northeast Nigeria, in the latest attack against vulnerable, isolated rural communities, the local government said on Monday.

Bukar Wakil Tawu, secretary of the Magumeri local government area, said about 20 people believed to be from the jihadist group attacked Jaddannam at about 21:00 (2000 GMT) on Friday.

“They killed six people and burnt almost the whole town. They also burnt livestock and food supplies from recent harvests,” he told AFP from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, nearly 50km away.

“I went to the town yesterday (Sunday), where I met the poor residents. They are peasants who rely on subsistence farming and their livestock.

“They have now lost all their belongings. We are appealing to the government to come to their aid and for patrols to be intensified because the area is remote and it has relatively huge population.”

Eight years of conflict have left at least 20 000 people dead and more than 2.6 million homeless in northeast Nigeria but has also devastated infrastructure, including telecommunications, leaving communities virtually cut off.

Local residents had to travel to Maiduguri to report the attack. Recent weeks have seen an increase in Boko Haram activity in northeast Nigeria and the Far North region of neighbouring Cameroon after the end of the rainy season in September.

At least 20 people were killed in a series of raids and suicide bomb attacks in the space of a few days last month, while civilians were also killed when their vehicles hit landmines planted by the Islamists. Those deaths – and the latest in Jaddannam – underline the continued threat posed by Boko Haram, despite claims from the military and the government that the insurgency is nearing an end.

Boko Haram fighters loyal to factional leader Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi have been known to operate in the Magumeri area. In July, 19 soldiers and 33 militia members were among 69 killed when Boko Haram ambushed a heavily-armed convoy of oil exploration workers.

Source: News24

6, November 2017

The Butcher of Yaounde clocks 35 years in office ⁰

Monday marked 35 years since Cameroon’s President Paul Biya took office. His supporters are marking the anniversary with celebrations. His opponents are calling for him to stand aside when the country holds a presidential election next year.

A song, praising Biya for bringing peace and development to Cameroon, blasted through loud speakers in Nanga Eboko, a town in central Cameroon, where thousands of people have been brought in to celebrate the anniversary of Paul Biya’s rise to power.

In power for 35 years

Among the speakers was Benjamin Zibi, an official of Biya’s CPDM party. He said Biya’s supporters are proud because a majority of Cameroonians have adhered to the party’s policies for 35 straight years.

He said he can spend the whole night enumerating what Biya has achieved as president, but that the important thing is that he has constantly made sure all Cameroonians live in peace and feel happy in their country.

Professor Elvis Ngolle Ngolle of the University of Yaounde, an ally of Biya’s and a former government minister, said the president has stayed in power because he has positively impacted the lives of all Cameroonians.

“We are celebrating not only the progress, the accomplishments of the new deal, but we are also re-awakening caring for one another, making sure that we are assets to one another, making sure that each Cameroonian feels like they belong to the same Cameroon, making sure that we continue to preserve, consolidate, reinforce our national unity, national integrity and peace,” he said.

Biya became president on November 6, 1982, after the resignation of the Central African state’s first leader, Ahmadou Ahidjo. He has won five elections since then, and in 2008 he revised the 1996 constitution to remove term limits.

Unchallenged

A CPDM supporter, 27-year-old Lucas Ndiforba, sees no one inside or outside the party willing to challenge the president.

“No, he wants to remain in power, so we are there,” he said. “The day he will say that he wants to step down, we will instead go to the streets for him to remain. We have accepted him as our life president.”

Not all Cameroonians feel that way, and parties like the main opposition SDF have been calling on Biya not to be a candidate in next year’s election.

The SDF says Biya’s policies have reduced economic growth, raised unemployment and allowed corruption to flourish. They say he also has a poor human rights record and throws his opponents in jail.

An official of the opposition NUDP, 34-year-old Ndansi Elvis, said he regrets that since he was born, he has known only one leader. He said instead of celebration, Cameroonians should be mourning this day.

“I have heard my comrades all over Africa celebrate a new president coming to power,” he said. “Some have celebrated three, some have celebrated two, but in Cameroon we have seen just one person… How can it be that we can be celebrating 35 years of a monster, that at the 21st century we still have women who can not deliver safely in safe facilities because of lack of hospitals or hospital personnel. How can we be celebrating 35 years of misery, pain?”

But the CPDM, in this song, says at 84 Biya is still strong enough to lead and are urging him to be their candidate again in next year’s presidential election.

Source: Africa News

6, November 2017

Texas Mass Shooting: Democrats blame Republicans for loose gun control laws ⁰

The deadly mass shooting in a Texas church that killed over two dozen people on Sunday has once again sparked gun control debates in the US, with former President Barack Obama and other figures weighing in on the issue.

“May God also grant all of us the wisdom to ask what concrete steps we can take to reduce the violence and weaponry in our midst,” Obama wrote in a tweet on Sunday night, after a former US Air Force serviceman killed 27 people at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Former vice president Joe Biden also reacted by urging Americans not to give in to “hopelessness” and “persist in our efforts to prevent gun violence.”

The shooting came a little more than a month after the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history in Las Vegas, which killed over 50 people and injured hundreds more at a concert.

Following in footsteps of the former Democrat president, Democratic Senators Bob Casey Jr., Dick Durbin and Kamala Harris also voiced concern and urged the Republican-dominated Congress to act in response to the latest deadly shooting.

“The shooter turned his gun on people — kids — in a place of worship. America is in the grips of a gun violence crisis. Congress must act,” Durbin wrote in a tweet.

Harris, a possible 2020 presidential contender, condemned “senseless gun violence” after the incident.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, another Democrat, went one step further and accused Congress of “complicity.”

“Enough is enough. Now is the time for commonsense gun violence prevention steps. Congressional complicity must end,” he wrote on Twitter.

Other Democratic heavyweights like Senators Dianne Feinstein and Elizabeth Warren also commented on the issue. While Feinstein called for immediate action, Warren pointed the finger at Republicans.

“Thoughts & prayers are not enough, GOP. We must end this violence. We must stop these tragedies. People are dying while you wait,” she wrote in a tweet.

Republican reaction

The issue of gun violence has provoked a lot heated debates under Republican President Donald Trump, one of the most pro-gun US heads of state.

Once a strict supporter of banning assault weapons, Trump’s views on gun control have shifted so much he now takes pride in defending the constitutional right to own arms and refuses to tighten up gun regulations.

Facing questions in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, Trump reluctantly said the US will “be talking about gun laws as time goes by.”

There was no hints towards a possible change of views in his response to the recent church shooting either.

“May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan,” wrote the president, who is on a 12-day trip to Asia.

The lackluster Republican response to the issue continued after Representative Steve Scalise, a victim of a shooting himself, called the shooting “devastating” in a tweet. House Speaker Paul Ryan also said the shooting was “devastating.”

Source: Presstv

6, November 2017

Ambazonia: Governor of Cross River State says UN Paying Lip Service to Crisis in Southern Cameroon ⁰

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

5, November 2017

CEMAC Regional Bloc Creates Six-country Visa-Free Zone ⁰

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

4, November 2017

Ambazonia: Interim Head of State expected to announce Cabinet positions soonest ⁰

Speculation over Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s first cabinet has intensified as the interim president opted to keep Ambazonians in suspense over his first cabinet team. The head of state’s official spokesperson refused to comment on claims that the Sisiku’s cabinet will be made public in London after a presentation at the London Metropolitan University.

Despite widespread suggestions that His Excellency President Ayuk Tabe’s main cabinet appointments would emerge before the trip to London, Cameroon Concord News understands the cabinet will now be announced after very intensive and productive discussions with the Ambazonia Diaspora in Europe and the US.

However, the Governing Council confirmed that Mr Ayuk Tabe will nominate Southern Cameroonians based on their expertise and commitment to nation building. Our source also hinted that gender and age will be key factors in the auditioning. The Southern Cameroons rumour mill has been whirring following claims that La Republique is anxiously waiting for the Ambazonian maiden cabinet.

But even if the rumours prove ill-founded, the Ambazonian first cabinet is expected to be extensive, with Sisiku Ayuk Tabe requiring reliable faces to fulfill his mission. President Ayuk Tabe also has the option of appointing a Vice President. Earlier today, an emotional Sisiku Ayuk Tabe pledged to use all the talents as he prepared to shape the cabinet and wider government for the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Aides to the Ambazonia chief executive said that the cabinet would be announced alongside Southern Cameroons diplomatic representatives in the West and in major African countries. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe will also continue to hold regular televised press conferences, although it is not yet clear whether there will be one this month.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, CCN

4, November 2017

Thousands of French Cameroonians to stage anti-Biya protest ⁰

French Cameroun activists have announced a series of anti-government demonstrations to coincide with celebrations marking President Biya’s 35-years in power. The activists are planning events in major capitals around the world, including London, Paris, Washington, Brussels.

Through their demonstrations, these French Cameroonians intend to show support for the people of Southern Cameroons who are victims of repression from the Biya regime. Our French Cameroun sources in Paris hinted that the organizers plan to demand the release of prominent Southern Cameroons detainees including all those arrested in connection with the so-called “Anglophone” crisis.

They also intend to demand the organization of an inclusive national dialogue, as well as the reform of the electoral code and the creation of an independent electoral commission. Back home in La Republique du Cameroun, the ruling CPDM crime syndicate which has been banned in Southern Camerons and labelled a terrorist organization by the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council is mobilizing its troops for the 35th anniversary of President Biya’s accession to power.

French Cameroun political elites say this 35th anniversary is under the theme: “Let us contribute together to strengthen the” spirit of Cameroon “for the consolidation of national unity and integrity and peace”. As a reminder, it was on November 6, 1982 that the French Cameroun dictator, Paul Biya came to power after the resignation of the first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo.

By Sama Ernest, CCN