The United Nations will send an extra contingent of troops to the Central African Republic amid warnings that lack of international support would leave the country at a real risk of ethnic cleansing.

During a Wednesday session of the UN Security Council, member countries unanimously agreed to beef up the UN mission in CAR, which is known as MINUSCA.

The agreement came after negotiations between France, a main foreign power present in CAR, and the US, the biggest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping. That led to a 15-0 vote to extend MINUSCA mandate in Central Africa for one more year and a deployment of 900 extra peacekeeping troops to the country, as requested by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Guterres had previously warned that Central Africa was at the brink of an ethnic cleansing if the UN failed to contribute more.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre hailed the decision and said the US approval of an extended mandate was very crucial.

“The Security Council cannot afford to take the risk of allowing the CAR to relapse into a crisis in which it was mired,” Delattre said, adding, “With our American friends, the more the discussions are based on a pragmatic approach, about life-and-death issues, about effects on the ground, the better.”

France intervened in CAR in 2013 to push back Seleka rebel alliance that had toppled longtime leader Francois Bozize. However, the country has seen widespread violence since then as various groups continue to vie for power across provinces.

MINUSCA’s chief resigned in 2015 in the face of rising allegations of sex abuse against the UN peacekeepers, further complicating the situation of foreign troops in the country.

Source: Presstv

Munyenge youths arrested, brutalised, and labeled as terrorists

The Anglophone population is yet to come to terms with the recent happening in Munyenge, a village in Muyuka County. An unprecedented crackdown on Sunday November 12 2017 by forces of La Republique du Cameroun (LRC), saw the confiscation of several farm tools from the population, and arrest of some people. The crackdown that led to the dead of two people, and several others displaced to cocoa farms, have now had those arrested declared as terrorists.

Speaking to local media one day after the illusive labelling of the people as terrorist and illegal confiscation of their farm tools, many descending voices have lashed at La Republique du Cameroun (LRC) for using Machiavelli tactics in arbitrarily arresting the people of Southern Cameroons. Many are of the opinion that LRC is using all such means to impoverish the people and then use devilish means of bribing their way.

machetes, hoes, cutlasses, knives, etc. seized by LRC forces

“When you take away a farmer’s “man-no-rest”, seize axes & kitchen knives from families; you are suffocating them. Those present farmers can no longer clear their fields, crack open cocoa pods, split firewood, chop up cassava. And some old people can’t now walk without their walking sticks. Kids won’t choose their lands at school,” lamented Ekongwesse Ronald, an inhabitant of Ekona

Others say LRC is committing genocide in Southern Cameroons, yet the world is not saying anything. They accuse LRC of arbitrary arrests and seizures of their only livelihood tools.

“If this is not synonymous to genocide, then what is it? We all know how village people sacrifice to buy a single cutlass, and which they will use for long years. And for those who can afford a new machete, how free are they to do so without being accused of sour sourcing a war weapon? As for hunters, they might never be authorised to replace their dane guns. So their only source of life and proteins for family is over. And no more ‘cha’voooom’ for ancestral ceremonies. Dane guns graciously handed down generations gone! Just like that!” Cried out Eko Mosoke Joseph, a culturist in Buea.

Many say the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER), should be petitioned. According to them, MINADER gave these farmers the tools to till the soil and invest in agriculture.

Munyenge youths arrested, brutalised, and labeled as terrorists

“Me sef a tire. If them ask my opinion. I instead think the government should punish the people doing this for

misleading the public. This same farming tools was given to this farmers by the ministry of agriculture. A da cover events wey minister he sef sef hand over such farming tools nor. This thing da begin turn to drama,” lamented Pa Loko Smith.

Meantime, a French daily, Le Jour, carried a story this Tuesday indicating the farm tools the colonial forces seized are weapons. That headline has created so much disgruntlement among journalists of English Expression.

“I am shockkkkkkkkkkkked. That cutlasses (man no rest), kitchen knives, dig axes and other farm tools are seized from the homes of peasants in a locality near Muyuka in the south west region, and a leading French language tabloid (Le Jour) describes all those household items as “weapons”. This hate language, manipulation and cheap propaganda is indeed uncalled for at this moment. At its best, it can only fuel the already escalating crisis in Anglophone Cameroon,” lamented Patrick Mua, a reporter of an English daily, the Guardian Post Newspaper.

Influence-peddling headline on Le Jour

Another opined that the government is using all means to wipe out Anglophones. They say English newspapers should probe in.

“Our Publishers should write on this. How can they seize the tools of farmers, in a region where 80 % of people are farmers? So after killing Marketing Board and Wada in Wum, these fellows have declared war against rudimentary farmers in SW? The struggle has made this government confused. Instead of looking for a way forward they seize farm tools. A blatant expression of frustration to me. Not just agricultural outputs shall be pulled down, but the rubbishing of technical education in Cameroon. Rivers are flowing backwards!” Rawlings Nvem, another reported cried out.

Others say it is of the government’s ploy to use all unorthodox means in killing the people. “This is journalism made simple. For an agrarian population whose farming tools were seized by the military, clearly displayed in pictures to be tagged as stock of war weapons is not just misleading but demurring. Very provocative too. What’s government struggle to defend at this point? The wanton killing of its own citizens?” moaned Larry Essong, a Senior Journalist and Publisher.

From every indication, LRC will use all methods in distracting the people from Southern Cameroons from being steadfast in consolidating their statehood. While they continue to kill, brutalise, arrest and commit all sort of atrocities in our land, the people will never give-up. When they go low, we go high.

Source: Modern Ghana

Zimbabwean military officers have denied rumors of a coup after reports of explosions in the capital Harare. The military made the announcement during a live broadcast early on Wednesday, stressing that President Robert Mugabe was safe.

The announcement comes shortly after three explosions were reported in Harare. The US embassy also released a statement in which it said it will be closed on Wednesday amid what it called ongoing uncertainty. Britain has also advised its citizens residing in the country to avoid leaving their homes.

Zimbabwe was on edge Tuesday as armored personnel carriers were seen outside the capital a day after the army commander threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over the president’s firing of his deputy. The Associated Press saw three armored personnel carriers with several soldiers in a convoy on a road heading toward an army barracks just outside the capital, Harare.

While it is routine for armored personnel carriers to move along that route, the timing heightened unease in this southern African country that for the first time is seeing an open rift between the military and 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe. The military has been a key pillar of Mugabe’s power since independence from white minority rule in 1980.

Mugabe last week fired Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and accused him of plotting to take power, including through witchcraft. Mnangagwa, who enjoyed the backing of the military and was once seen as a potential successor to Mugabe, fled the country and said he and his family had been threatened.

Over 100 senior officials allegedly supporting him have been listed for disciplinary measures by a faction associated with Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe.

The first lady, whose political profile has risen in the past few years, now appears positioned to replace Mnangagwa at a special conference of the ruling party in December, leading many in Zimbabwe to suspect that she could succeed her husband as president.

On Monday, army commander Constantino Chiwenga issued an unprecedented statement saying purges against senior ruling ZANU-PF party officials linked to the 1970s liberation war should end “forthwith.”

“We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” the army commander said.

Mugabe did not respond to the military statement, and government spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo said only the president could respond. The state-run broadcaster did not report on the statement.

The ruling party’s youth league, aligned to the first lady, on Tuesday criticized the army commander’s statement, saying youth were “ready to die for Mugabe.”

The army spokesman was not immediately available for comment Tuesday. State broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation was operating as usual and the capital remained calm.

Frustration has been growing in once-prosperous Zimbabwe as the economy collapses under Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state. The country was shaken last year by the biggest anti-government protests in a decade, and Mugabe’s appointment of a minister for cybersecurity last month was criticized by activists as a crackdown on social media users.

Source: Presstv

The United Nations on Tuesday called on DR Congo’s government to allow peaceful demonstrations on the eve of expected protests against President Joseph Kabila.

In a statement, the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO urged the authorities “to respect the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Congolese Constitution, including freedom of assembly and of demonstration.”

The authorities, it said, should “instruct defense and security forces to respect the principles of necessity, proportionality and legality, consistent with international standards.”

Mineral-rich but chronically poor, politically unstable and saddled with a reputation for entrenched corruption, the Democratic Republic of Congo faces a feared flare-up of violence over Kabila’s decision to stay in office.

He was scheduled to have stepped down in December 2016 after a constitutional maximum of two terms in office.

But as protests and a bloody crackdown swelled, a deal was brokered by the Catholic church enabling him to stay in office pending elections to be held by the end of this year. Those elections have now been delayed.

The country’s election body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), blames the delay on compiling an electoral roll in parts of the sprawling country that have been troubled by unrest.

Pressured by the international community, led by the United States, the ballot will be held on December 23, 2018, according to a CENI announcement on November 5.

A large part of the country’s political opposition, along with grassroots groups such as Lucha and Filimba, have scheduled rallies on Wednesday to protest against the 2018 date.

Demonstrations against Kabila have met with a heavy police response since September 2016.

Clashes in the eastern city of Goma last month left four civilians and a policeman dead and scores of activists were arrested.

The MONUSCO statement also reminded citizens “that the right to demonstrate implies abstaining from resorting to any form of violence.”

Kabila took over as president in January 2001 in wartime after the death of his father, Laurent Kabila, who was assassinated. He was first elected for a five-year term in 2006.

Under DRC’s constitution, he is banned from seeking a third mandate, but is authorized to stay in office until his successor is elected.

(Source: AFP)

French Cameroun soldiers on Saturday, November 11, 2017 launched a military operation against Southern Cameroonians in the Muyenge locality located 150 km from Mutenguene in the Buea Province.  Cameroon Concord News sources revealed that young Ambazonians were staging a peaceful demonstration and prevented trucks transporting cocoa and coffee from accessing their village.

Informed of the situation, the Francophone governor of the so-called South West region ordered troops to the area and the situation degenerated into violence. An Ambazonian was killed and another, Anziah Louis Ebowadi, was shot in the neck. The Francophone troops opened fire forcing many of the youths to escape in to the forest.

The Yaoundé authorities have considerably strengthened the military presence in Southern Cameroons and for that reason; Ambazonians have vowed not to stop expressing their discontent.
By Fru James, CCN

Four people were killed and over 20 wounded when grenades were thrown into a concert in the capital of the chronically unstable Central African Republic, while revenge attacks later left another three people dead, the UN peacekeeping force and a local official said Sunday.

In the first serious incident of violence in Bangui this year, the assault late Saturday saw two unidentified attackers hurl grenades at a cafe called “On the Crossroads of Peace” during a performance, said Herve Verhoosel, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA.

CAR’s minister for public security, Henri Wanzet, told state radio that four people had died in the attack and around 20 were injured. An official probe has been opened, Wanzet said.

The cafe is located near the PK5 majority Muslim district of Bangui, once a Muslim rebel bastion, and now home to several armed groups.

Even though relative peace has been restored in Central Africa following the civil war that erupted in 2013, inter-communal tensions remain.

Among those injured in Saturday’s attack were several musicians from the group that was performing, Verhoosel said.

A doctor at the hospital where the injured were rushed for treatment said 21 people had been admitted.

Seven others were taken to another health center, a local official with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical charity said.

A local public figure said three people were killed later in the night in revenge attacks — two of whom had their throats cut and one who was beaten to death.

‘Innocents’

“They were two motorcycle-taxi drivers and a young man who was walking in the neighborhood,” the man, who asked not to be identified, told AFP. “They are innocents”.

He appealed for calm in the neighborhood where sporadic gunfire could be heard and armed members of “self-defense” groups patrolled. An armored car carrying MINUSCA troops was stationed at the entrance to PK5.

An AFP correspondent saw three bodies taken to the morgue from a local mosque. A witness who did not give his name said the attackers at the cafe had launched four grenades.

In a video posted on his Facebook page, the concert’s singer Ozaguin — dubbed the king of Central African rumba — confirmed six of his fellow musicians had been injured.

He said he was surprised that he was not himself injured by grenade fragments. “Ozaguin came to perform here to ensure that all Central Africans — Muslims and Christians — can find some social cohesion,” the cafe’s owner, Issiakou Guymba, told AFP.

“An unidentified group came on a motorcycle-taxi, they threw one or some grenades in the middle of the crowd,” he said. “It makes us lose hope, when people come to cause panic like that among the population.”

Mired in poverty but rich in diamonds and other minerals, CAR has been battered by a conflict between rival militias that began after then-president Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013.

Under a UN mandate, the former colonial power France intervened to push out the Muslim Seleka rebels who had taken over, and the UN launched a peacekeeping mission in 2014.

But the country remains chronically prone to violence, with armed groups controlling most of the country. Fighting between armed groups around the town of Batangafo in northern CAR left at least two dead and 10 wounded at the end of last month.

(Source: AFP)