Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, says the series of military activities underway in the country mark a “bloodless transition” of power from long-time President Robert Mugabe.

The army has deployed soldiers to the streets across the capital. Soldiers and armored vehicles have blocked roads to the main government offices, the parliament, and the courts in central Harare. The army has also taken over the headquarters of the national broadcaster.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Mugabe’s own ruling party denied that the totality of those activities amounted to a coup.

“Zimbabwe has not had a coup. There has been a decision to intervene because our constitution had been undermined, in the interim Comrade E Mnagngawa will be president of ZANU PF as per the constitution of our revolutionary organization,” it said in one tweet, referring to Emmerson Mnangagwa, who Mugabe sacked as his vice president earlier in the week.

“Last night the first family was detained and are safe, both for the constitution and the sanity of the nation this was necessary. Neither Zimbabwe nor ZANU are owned by Mugabe and his wife,” it said in another.

It was not clear who exactly was posting the tweets, and whether they reflected the mentality of the entire party.

Zimbabwean soldiers overran the headquarters of the state broadcaster and ordered staff to leave overnight Tuesday. After taking control of the national broadcaster, a spokesman for the military interrupted taped programming and read out a statement early on Wednesday.

“To both our people and the world beyond our borders, we wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover of government,” said Major General S.B. Moyo.

He insisted that the army had taken action to “target criminals,” who were “committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering” and was planning to “bring them to justice.”

“As soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect that the situation will return to normalcy,” he added.

The statement did not clarify who it was referring to as “criminals” around Mugabe, but a government source later told Reuters that Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo had been among those detained. The minister was a leading member of the so-called ‘G40’ faction of the ZANU-PF party, run by the president’s wife, Grace Mugabe.

Moyo called on security services to “co-operate for the good of our country” and warned that any provocation would “be met with an appropriate response.”

He said all soldiers on leave “should return to barracks immediately.”

The major general also urged the public to remain calm but called on them “to limit unnecessary movement.”

Shortly after the army seized the national broadcaster, a number of loud explosions were heard in the capital, Harare.

Mugabe talks to Zuma, confirms ‘house arrest’

Later in the day, Mugabe talked to South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma on the phone, confirming that he was under house arrest but that he was fine, Zuma’s office said in a statement.

Zuma said he was sending special envoys to Zimbabwe to meet with Mugabe and the Zimbabwean Defense Force.

The South African president would be sending the envoy in his capacity as chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is an inter-governmental organization among 16 southern African states. The organization works to resolve economic and political challenges faced by the regional countries.

And so begins a coup

Zimbabwe has been on edge since Monday, when army chief General Constantino Chiweng held a press conference warning that the army was prepared to act to end purges within Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. The ruling party accused the army chief of “treasonable conduct.”

Political tension started to rise in the South African country after Mugabe, in a sudden decision, sacked Mnangagwa this week.

Mnangagwa had previously been considered the most likely to succeed the president if Mugabe resigned or died while in power. His sudden dismissal, however, raised speculations that Mugabe was clearing the way for his wife, Grace, to take the position.

Mugabe, 93, came to power in the 1980s. He has been the longest serving leader in Africa.

‘Coup by any name’

A former political aide to ex-Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangari, told the CNN that the army’s action was “a coup by any other name.”

“They are being very careful in their words,” said Alex Magaisa. “They might be trying to give a fig leaf to the notion that President Mugabe is still the leader. But de facto they are obviously the military force.”

US, UK issue warnings to citizens

The United States and the United Kingdom both issued warnings to their citizens inside the African country.

US State Department encouraged the Americans in the country to “shelter in place until further notice” due to ongoing uncertainty and political unrest. A US embassy spokesman in Zimbabwe also said the embassy would be closed to the public on Wednesday.

The UK Foreign Office, meanwhile, advised Britons in Zimbabwe to avoid demonstrations and rallies, saying it was “monitoring the situation closely.”

Culled from Presstv

The Governing Council of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has released a draft constitution for Southern Cameroonians all over the planet to study and make possible contributions before the next meeting of the interim cabinet. Cameroon Concord News understands the daft proposal to Southern Cameroonians was designed during the 4^th conclave that held in Nigeria.

Our senior political man, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai who examined the draft constitution late today, opined that “for the purpose of growth, the Governing Council identified three points of power in the 64-page document. The Council suggested in the draft that the executive power should be in Buea, the economic capital should be in Bamenda and the judicial authority should be in Mamfe.”

A spokesperson for the interim president Sisiku Ayuk Tabe told Cameroon Concord News that the draft is by no means anywhere near to the final document that will be adopted via a referandum.  Southern Cameroonians have been called upon to send feedbacks to the ruling body and also to make positive criticism of the draft constitution.

According to the proposals that came out from the last conclave, Ambazonia will have three federal states. In Article 1, the document states that Ambazonia is headed by a President elected by direct and universal suffrage. He is assisted by a Prime Minister also “elected from among the members of the Federal Assembly”.

According to the proposed constitution, federal states will be led by elected governors. Each state will have a local government represented by its municipality. English has been retained as the official language but “Pidgin and other languages ​​can be developed for official use”.

The document stipulated that “Only Ambazonians between the ages of 35 and 70 may be eligible for the office of President”. Its mandate is five years and renewable once.  It also states that anyone who has reached the age of 18 must undergo military training for 12 months.

The draft constitution comes only a few weeks after the 4^th conclave confirmed Sisiku Ayuk Tabe as interim president and mandated him to form a government.

By Sama Ernest, CCN

The Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed has denied any allegations of fraud following a report by a US based environmental agency.

The report claims that local and international laws were violated when she granted permits to Chinese firms to import Nigerian timber while she was the country’s minister of environment. Ms Mohammed says that the permits she signed for the export of rosewood logs to China were done following due process.

In a statement released by the United Nations, the deputy secretary general also welcomed efforts to shine more light on the issue of illegal rosewood logging and exportation. Nigeria is a key exporter of wood to China but the country has faced issues of illegal wood exportation.

Following what they say was a two year investigation, the US based Environmental Investigation Agency released a report on the illegal importation of rosewood logs worth $300m (£220m) from Nigeria to China.

It claims that thousands of permits were retrospectively signed off by the Ministry of Environment, permitting Chinese importers to release 1.4 million logs that had been detained at the Chinese border for months.

The report also claims that $1m was subsequently paid to unidentified government officials for the release of the wood. UN Secretary-General António Guterres was informed about the allegations and reiterated his full support and confidence in his deputy.

Source: BBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, have agreed during a brief meeting to maintain military communications in Syria.

The Kremlin said on Saturday that the two leaders had approved a joint statement during a brief meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang.

Putin and Trump agreed “to maintain the existing military communication channels to ensure the security of US and Russian armed forces, as well as to prevent dangerous incidents involving the forces of allies fighting the Daesh terror group,” according to the text of the statement, as published on the Kremlin’s website.

They stressed that there was no military solution to the Syrian crisis — which began in 2011 — and confirmed their commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.

The Russian and US presidents also called on all parties to the Syrian conflict to play an active role in the United Nations (UN)-brokered peace talks in the Swiss city of Geneva.

The statement had been prepared by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary Rex Tillerson earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Spunik news agency reported.

There had been speculation on whether the two presidents would meet in Vietnam. While no official meeting had been scheduled, both sides had pointed to the likelihood of a brief meeting.

Moscow and Washington support opposing sides in the Syrian conflict. Russia assists the Syrian government and has been carrying out an aerial bombardment campaign against terrorist positions in Syria. The US backs anti-Damascus militants and is also involved in military operations against purported Daesh targets.

The US and Russian militaries set up a communication hotline to avoid mid-air collisions and other potential accidents in Syria.

Russia cut the hotline in response to a US missile attack against a Syrian airbase in Syria’s Homs Province on April 7. Russian military advisers had been stationed near the base, and Russia deemed the American missile strike hazardous. Later, however, the communications line was reestablished.

Source: Presstv

The body of a French Cameroun 2nd class soldier serving with the 22nd Mechanized  Infantry Division, Yaya Emmanuel was found on Friday morning in Akwen, about twenty kilometers from the Mamfe County in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The French Cameroonian army is now bearing the brunt of the socio-political crisis that has rocked Southern Cameroons.  A few days after the assassination of two gendarmes at the entrance to the Bamenda County and the killing of another Francophone security agent in Jakiri, the remains of Yaya Emmanuel was found violently murdered. He was part of a French Cameroun deployment that reportedly killed hundreds of innocent Ambazonians in the Akwaya and Eyumojock sub constituencies.

According to a security source, the soldier was slaughtered on the night of November 9 to 10, 2017 and his missing weapon was allegedly taken away by the Ambazonian militants. Cameroon Concord News gathered from a reliable source that, Yaya Emmanuel was on duty the night of the drama and left his colleagues to buy food. “And it is probably at this moment that he was surprised by his unidentified assassins.”

French Cameroun government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma says this new package brings to 4 the number of soldiers killed since the outbreak of the Southern Cameroons crisis in November 2016.

By Sama Ernest, CCN