News

24, June 2017

Far North Region: 2 young girl “suicide bombers” blow themselves up in Mora ⁰

Two suicide bombers died in Mora, in the Mayo-Sava Division on Friday morning during prayers in the Guirbala district, at the entrance to the city. The two suicide bombers blew themselves up by making two light casualties. Another kamikaze was killed in Kolofata, an important locality of Mayo-Sava.

Cameroon Concord News learnt that the kamikaze woman was shot by elements of the defense forces some few seconds before she set off her bomb. The missed attack followed that of June 22nd in Kolofata, where some 8 people were killed and 4 others seriously wounded in a double explosion.

Cameroon is facing a resurgence of attacks attributed to the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram, which has allegedly pledged allegiance to the Organization of the Islamic State and is now called the Province of the Islamic State in Africa.

The Nigerian sect, although militarily weakened by the Joint Multinational Force, continues to stage regular attacks deep inside the Lake Chad region. In its recent annual report on Central Africa, the UN, acknowledged that Boko Haram, “remains a threat to the countries of Lake Chad and their people”.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News

24, June 2017

EU, Britain clash over Brexit citizen plan ⁰

A first item in talks between Britain and the European Union on the so-called Brexit, Britain’s exit from the EU, has appeared to be very problematic as EU leaders slam London’s plan to ensure the rights of EU citizens after Britain leaves the bloc. European Council President Donald Tusk warned on Friday that offers by British Prime Minister Theresa May on how the EU and Britain should ensure the rights of each other’s citizens risked leaving the two sides on more disagreements in the ongoing Brexit talks.

“My first impression is that the UK’s offer is below our expectations, and that it risks worsening the situation of citizens … It will be for our negotiating team to analyze the offer line by line,” Tusk said during a summit of EU leaders in Brussels. Tusk and other EU leaders urged Britain to give more details on its proposal to guarantee the rights of the three million EU citizens who now live in Britain.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “there is a long road in front of” the EU and Britain and that the plan introduced by May was “not yet the breakthrough.” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said May’s initial proposals were “extremely vague,” which lacked the requirements to deal with the “incredibly complicated” issue of the rights of citizens.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker described May’s offer as a “first step” but said it was not “sufficient.” Many expected May to use her immense leverage on issues such as citizens’ right to make an immediate impact on a negotiation process, which could become very complicated on other thorny issues such as how much Britain should pay to quit the EU and how its access to the EU’s single market would be after the withdrawal.
May, however, described her proposals on citizens’ right as “fair and serious”, reiterating her previous conditions that the EU should guarantee equal respect in the post-Brexit scenario for about 1.5 million British citizens living in EU countries. She vowed that under her plan, the fate of EU citizens will be a priority, laying out a series of benchmarks, which she said could shield the citizens from excessive harm because of the political divorce between Britain and the EU.

“I want to reassure all those EU citizens who are in the UK, who’ve made their lives and homes in the UK, that no one will have to leave, we won’t be seeing families split apart. This is a fair and serious offer,” May said.
Under May’s plan, those EU citizens that have legal status of residence in the United Kingdom will have the chance to regularize their situation after Brexit. They should fill an 85-page form to declare if they want to stay in the country. Authorities have vowed that they would significantly reduce the paperwork needed for the process. More details of her plan would emerge on Monday in the British parliament.

Brexit narrowly won the vote of British voters in June last year. The breath-taking process, which is expected to drag on for two years, officially kicked off on Monday as top negotiators, Michel Barnier for the EU and David Davis for Britain, gave a “positive” start to the talks in Brussels.

Source: Presstv

23, June 2017

After 34 years of crime, cruelty and corruption, Biya regime only wants Mebara’s blood ⁰

The Jean-Marie Atangana Mebara legal battle is still alive and active before the Supreme Court of Cameroon. The former secretary-general at the presidency of the republic filed appeals against two of his three convictions for embezzlement of public funds.

The famous “Albatros” case has not yet been scheduled. However, the “Cameroon Airlines” case was the subject of a hearing on June 13th, 2017.

In their pleadings, the defendants’ lawyers requested the annulment of the sentence imposed by the Special Criminal Court in 2013, based on eight grounds … which the Court’s rapporteur immediately moved for a rejection. However, the prosecution ruled in favor of a cessation.

In its decision on the 27th of June, the Court could confirm the sentence (twenty years’ imprisonment), reduce it, or aggravate it. Whatever the verdict, the former Biya acolyte, Jean Atangana Mebara will always face two other convictions, of twenty-five and fifteen years’ imprisonment, in two parts of the “Albatros” case. He has been held in the central prison in Yaoundé since 6 August 2008.

By Sonne Peter
Cameroon Concord News

22, June 2017

Boko Haram Kolofata attack: 8 dead, 4 injured as terrorists target Minister Amadou Ali residence ⁰

8 people were killed on Wednesday afternoon in a suicide bomber attack in Kolofata, Mayo-Sava Division in the Far-North region. Eyewitnesses said that the eight people included six civilians and the two suicide bombers. 4 people were seriously injured.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that shortly after 17:30, local time, two young teenagers foiled the surveillance of the members of the vigilance committee, infiltrated Kolofata and found themselves in the vicinity of the residence of Amadou Ali, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of relations with the Assemblies.

One of the two suicide bombers staged the attack killing 6 people including his companion. The wounded were rushed to a hospital in Mora, the chief city in the Mayo-Sava Division where they are currently receiving treatment.

The locality of Kolofata, bordering Nigeria, is among Cameroonian settlements which have been under constant Boko Haram incursions. The Nigerian Islamic sect reportedly paid allegiance to the Organization of the Islamic State and is now called, Province of the Islamic State in West Africa.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News

21, June 2017

“For goodness sake!” Pro Consortium SDF MP returns to La Repubique’s National Assembly ⁰

Hon. Joseph Wirba, the SDF MP reportedly missing for over five months has appeared unexpectedly at the National Assembly today Wednesday the 21st of June 2017. He once again marked his presence among other MPs against all odds. Wirba had been on the run since his historic speech last year during the third and last parliamentary session of the year 2016.

On the rostrum of the National Assembly, in a long speech of about thirty minutes, he denounced the government of the 84 year old dictator, Paul Biya. Joseph Wirba told the world that the Biya Francophone regime was marginalizing Southern Cameroonians and after his speech, the MP declared his unflinching support for secession. He was received as a hero in his native Jakiri constituency but later on disappeared from circulation. Southern Cameroon sources hinted that he had escaped to the US.

The opposition MP reappeared and made another long speech attacking the Speaker of the National Assembly, Cavaye Djibril accusing him of doing nothing to ensure his safety. Joseph Wirba told local media houses in Yaounde that he was still not out of danger. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has so far not reacted to the second coming of Wirba.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

21, June 2017

ELECAM: Chairman talks support with visiting Commonwealth delegation ⁰

The Chairperson of Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), former governor Enow Abrams Egbe has met with a delegation from the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth team headed by the Director of the Rule of Law, Katalaini Sapoulu was at the ELECAM office in Yaoundé on the 20th of June 2017.

State radio and television reported that during the audience, Enow Abrams Egbe expressed gratitude to the Commonwealth for its constant support to ELECAM. Katalaini Sapoulu reportedly told pressmen that their visit is in line with the Commonwealth’s partnership deal to strengthen Cameroon’s electoral procedures.

The present visit comes shortly after one from a delegation from La Francophonie that declared similar objectives.

Source: CRTV

19, June 2017

Boko Haram militants kill 16 people in northeast Nigeria ⁰

At least 16 people have been killed when suspected members of the Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group detonated their explosive vests near a camp of displaced people in the volatile northeastern state of Borno, the birthplace of the terror outfit.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said in a statement that the bomb attacks occurred close to the Dalori camp at Kofa village, located nearly 10 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Maiduguri, at about 08:45 p.m. local time (1945 GMT) on Sunday.

According to Abdulkadir Ibrahim, the spokesman of the NEMA, two female terrorists first attempted to enter the camp but were thwarted by security personnel of the camp.

However, “two other female bombers detonated their explosives at the adjoining Dalori Kofa village, where they killed 16 people,” he added in the statement.

Borno state police spokesman Victor Isuku gave a more detailed account of the attacks in his initial report of the incident, saying the first assailant detonated her explosives “near a mosque”, claiming the lives of seven people, and the second one blew herself up “in a house”, killing six people. He added that at least 11 people also sustained injuries in the blasts and were taken to hospital.

However, Ibrahim updated Isuku’s report, saying three of the wounded succumbed to their injuries later on. “The 16 does not include the bombers,” he added.

Isuku revised the number of attackers up to five from four, and maintained that other three assailants, not directly involved in the blasts, were also killed.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks but they bear the hallmark of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group, as it in the past employed radicalized females on multiple occasions to conduct bombing attacks against people or army troops.

Dalori is one of the largest camps allocated to internally displaced people (IDP) in the remote region and Boko Haram terrorists had previously tried to hit the camp. Back in January last year, Takfiri militants killed at least 85 people as they rampaged through the communities near Dalori. They burned down houses and killed people either by gunfire or by detonating explosives.

The Sunday attack is the deadliest one in Nigeria since June 8, when Boko Haram militants killed 14 people in yet another mixture of gunfire and blasts in the Jiddari Polo area of Maiduguri.

In recent months, army troops and civilian fighters in Nigeria have managed to foil many bomb attacks involving terrorists wearing explosive vests before the assailants were able to reach heavily-populated targets and detonate their bombs of their own accord.

Last December, however, two women, with the Boko Haram, killed 57 people and injured 177, including 120 children, after they detonated their explosive vests at a bustling market at Madagali, a town in the neighboring province of Adamawa.

On December 24, 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group a day earlier by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno.

The group, however, has resorted to sporadic shooting and bombing attacks in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among the local residents.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly terror attacks in Nigeria since the beginning of their militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.7 million displaced.

The United Nations has warned that areas affected by Boko Haram face a humanitarian crisis.

Back in February 2016, four nations of the Lake Chad Basin – Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria – launched a campaign, together with a contingent from Benin, to confront the threat from Boko Haram terrorists in the region.
Source: Presstv

19, June 2017

Revealed: Biya regime paid Boko Haram 3.5 million US dollars ⁰

The Action Group Against Money Laundering in Central Africa (GABAC) has revealed in its April 2017 report that the Biya regime paid a ransom for the release in 2013 of the seven members of the French family Moulin- Fournier. Cameroon paid the sum of 3.5 million dollars (about 2 billion FCFA) to the terrorist group Boko Haram.

It was in April 2013 when the Nigerian Islamic sect abducted seven members of a French family Tanguy Moulin-Fournier. Gabac in its report cited a confidential file from the Nigerian government that says “Boko Haram received about $ 3.5 million from the French and Cameroonian negotiators in exchange for the hostages.”

Cameroon Concord News understands a certain Alhaji Abdallah, a Cameroonian financial agent and an exporter of vehicles based in Amchide was the intermediary who played a major role in the Boko Haram deal. In February 2013 and in exchange for the release of the French citizens, the government paid $ 3.5 million and did release some Boko Haram prisoners of war in April 2013.

Alhaji Abdallah was subsequently arrested by Cameroon security agents including all members of his team that took part in the Boko Haram negotiations. Seven French tourists, including four children, were kidnapped on a Tuesday (February 19th 2013) in the Far North region of Cameroon on the border with Nigeria.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News

18, June 2017

Half of Nigeria food never reached Boko Haram victims ⁰

Nigeria says half of government food aid meant to reach the victims of a militancy northeast of the country has not reached its destination. A spokesman for acting president Yemi Osinbajo said late on Saturday that half of the trucks carrying food aid for people driven from their homes by Boko Haram Takfiri group have been diverted away from their destination.
“Over 1,000 trucks of assorted grains are now on course, delivering the grains intact to beneficiaries since the commencement of the present program as against the reported diversion of over 50 trucks in every 100 trucks sent to the northeast,” said Laolu Akande in an emailed statement.
Osinbajo, acting in lieu of President Muhammadu Buhari who is in Britain on medical leave, launched a program on June 8 to reach out to around 2.7 million people identified as IDPs, or internally displaced, as a result of more than eight years of insurgency by Boko Haram. Akande said the new system for distribution of food would significantly prevent the diversion of the humanitarian aid.
“The issue of diversion of relief materials, including food and related matters, which has dogged food delivery to the IDPs would be significantly curbed under the new distribution matrix,” said the official, elaborating that 1,376 military personnel and 656 armed police would be tasked with guarding the food from where it its loaded to the trucks to the three main location where displaced people live, namely Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
More than 20,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram started its devastating campaign in northeast Nigeria in 2009. The violence has claimed many lives in neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameron. A large-scale government offensive has pushed the militants from key areas they used to control, although sporadic attacks have continued over the past months.

Source: Presstv

18, June 2017

Top Iranian general says Tehran has the means to punish US ⁰

A top military official says Iran has the means to punish Washington after the US Senate approved a new sanctions bill which targets the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on terrorism charges. “The ruling establishment in the US is a hegemonic, expansionist, bullying and blackmailing regime and the root of hostilities with us is based in these things,” Deputy Chief of Staff of Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said.

“Since the early years of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian nation has been familiar with US enmity towards the revolution, the establishment and its effective organs such as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps,” he added. On Thursday, US senators approved sweeping sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile program. The measure would also enforce sanctions and an arms embargo against IRGC.

The Senate legislation, hailed by Israel and its influential lobby groups in the US, still must pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Donald Trump to become law. Iranian officials have said the bill violates, “both in letter and spirit”, a nuclear accord, to which the US is a party. They have called for a strong response, with Iran’s parliament working on retaliatory measures, according to an MP. “If the Americans and the Zionists do not change their manners, we will take more drastic steps – hereby announcing that we have the means of punishment at our disposal,” Gen. Jazayeri said without elaboration.

“Of course, America has to change its manners, or we will force the Americans to do that,” he told the Central News Service which is affiliated to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). Jazayeri said the world public opinion views “the US and international Zionism as the godfathers of terrorism.”

“Evidence suggests that Daesh and other terrorist groups have been raised in the lap of America and the reactionary regimes of the region,” he said. The commander said US measures in intensifying sanctions on Iran and accusing IRGC of supporting terrorism “will make us fight the Great Satan with a more determined spirit.”

The “Great Satan” is the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini’s description of the United States, who led a revolution against Iran’s Pahlavi regime which was a close American ally. “This is a historical irony that the terrorist Americans are calling the revolutionary and popular IRGC, whose mission has been fighting terrorism from its inception and supporting the Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian people as well as confronting homegrown terrorists, as a sponsor of terrorism,” Jazayeri said.

“The other strange thing is that the peoples of the world have not forgotten the current American president’s admission about the creation of Daesh and assistance to it,” he added. Addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in August, Donald Trump said then-President Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton “founded” Daesh in the Middle East.

Source: Presstv