News

5, October 2023

Mali army, rebels head toward potentially decisive confrontation ⁰

Mali’s army is deploying towards a northern separatist rebel stronghold in a high-risk operation which could foreshadow a widescale confrontation and prove a turning point after a decade of conflict.

What’s happening on the ground?

A large Malian army convoy left the city of Gao on Monday headed towards the northern Kidal region.

It is reportedly to go first to the localities of Tessalit and Aguelhok north of the town of Kidal to take over camps being vacated by departing troops of the UN stabilisation force, MINUSMA.

The UN mission has been pushed out by the ruling junta and has been handing over its camps to Malian authorities.

The handover – which began with the camp at Ber in mid-August – is a prime factor in a recent resumption of hostilities by the separatists.

Against the backdrop of numerous armed groups vying for control, the separatists claim the UN sites should be returned to them.

The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) – an alliance of predominantly Tuareg groups seeking autonomy or independence from the Malian state – has carried out a series of attacks on army positions since the Ber operation.

Its fighters are now regrouping in the Kidal region.

Source: AP

2, October 2023

Ambazonians march in Ground Zero on anniversary of independence ⁰

Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians marched in the rural areas to mark the anniversary of the proclamation of the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Carrying pro-independence flags and banners, the Southern Cameroonians chanted anti-French Cameroun slogans in Bui, Manyu, Ndian, Menchum, Fako and Mezam County.

Among the Ambazonia celebrants was the jailed leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who tweeted that: “Today, on the 62nd anniversary of our stolen independence, we remember the resilience of our people. With your support, we restored our nation on October 1st, 2017. Let us continue to pursue peace through dialogue, despite the intransigence of the LRC government. “

“On this Independence Day, we honor the strength and determination of our people. We will not be silenced or denied our rights. As we rebuild our homeland, let us support the liberation movement and care for those in need. Together, we will hail the land of glory.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

2, October 2023

Mali redeploys troops to rebel stronghold ⁰

The Malian army began redeploying troops on Monday towards the northern rebel stronghold of Kidal, two security officials said, amid a resumption of hostilities in the region.

“As part of the reorganisation of our arrangements in the north, we have begun the redeployment of our forces in the northeastern region of Kidal,” a Mali military official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

A convoy left the northern city of Gao, which lies 300 kilometres (185 miles) southwest of Kidal, early Monday, the source added.

Another security official said the convoy was made up of 119 vehicles and was currently stopped on the road to the north of Gao.

National security chiefs made the deployment decision at a meeting late on Sunday, he added.

Kidal is a crossroads region in the north that is not under the control of the Malian state but of a coalition of predominantly Tuareg groups called the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA).

Since the end of August, the north of Mali has seen a resumption of hostilities by the CMA and an intensification of jihadist attacks against the army.

The fact that Kidal is still controlled by the ex-rebels continues to pose a sovereignty issue and remains a source of irritation for Bamako, including for the junta.

Military leaders have made re-establishing state control across the whole country one of their main messages.

Source: AFP

2, October 2023

Nobel Prize goes to scientists behind mRNA Covid vaccines ⁰

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists who developed the technology that led to the mRNA Covid vaccines.

Professors Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman will share the prize.

The technology was experimental before the pandemic, but has now been given to millions of people around the world to protect them against serious Covid-19.

The same mRNA technology is now being researched for other diseases, including cancer.

The Nobel Prize committee said: “The laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.”

Both were told they had won by telephone this morning and were said to be “overwhelmed”.

Vaccines train the immune system to recognise and fight threats such as viruses or bacteria.

Traditional vaccine technology has been based on dead or weakened versions of the original virus or bacterium – or by using fragments of the infectious agent.

In contrast, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines use a completely differently approach.

During the Covid pandemic, the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were both based on mRNA technology.

Professor Kariko and Professor Weissman met in the early 1990s when they were working at the University of Pennsylvania, in the United States, when their interest in mRNA was seen as a scientific backwater.

Source: BBC

1, October 2023

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Gendarmerie commander killed in Awing ⁰

A Francophone commander of Cameroon’s National Gendarmerie has been killed in the Northern Zone, a source in the governor’s office told Cameroon Concord News.

Commander Betene Manga was in charge of anti Ambazonia operations at the gendarmerie post in Awing.

He was killed when Southern Cameroons restoration forces raided the Awing gendarmerie post on Thursday.

Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards said on social media that they kidnapped another Francophone security official and seized ammunition during the attack on Awing.

Amba fighters have been fighting to create an independent nation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest since 2017.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

29, September 2023

Gabon charges ousted president’s wife with ‘money laundering’ ⁰

The wife of Gabon’s ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba has been charged with “money laundering” and other offences, the public prosecutor said Friday, a month after a coup toppled her husband.

Sylvia Bongo Ondimba Valentin, who is Franco-Gabonese, and one of the couple’s sons have been accused by the coup leader of having pulled the strings in the oil-rich country.

Their eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, has already been charged with corruption and embezzling public funds with several former cabinet members and two ex-ministers.

Sylvia Bongo was charged by an investigating judge on Thursday and ordered to remain under house arrest, Andre Patrick Roponat announced on state TV channels.

She also faces other charges including concealment and forgery, he said.

Sylvia Bongo has been under house arrest in the capital Libreville since the coup on August 30.

She has been isolated from her husband and her French lawyers have filed a complaint in Paris against what they said “appears to be a hostage-taking”.

Bongo, 64, who had ruled the central African country since 2009, was overthrown by military leaders on August 30, moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election.

The result was branded a fraud by the opposition and the military coup leaders, who have also accused his regime of widespread corruption and bad governance.

Ali Bongo was elected after his father Omar died in 2009 after nearly 42 years in power.

Corruption

Noureddin Bongo Valentin was indicted earlier this month and placed in provisional detention for alleged corruption.

In all, 10 people were indicted on charges ranging from electoral college operational issues, counterfeiting and use of the seals of the republic, to corruption, embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, Roponat had told a press conference.

Seven including Noureddin Bongo were detained.

Two former ministers — for oil and public works — have also been detained.

Bongo, who was himself under house arrest for several days after the coup, is “free to move around” and go abroad, Gabon’s new military ruler General Brice Oligui Nguema said a week after the coup.

In October 2018, Bongo suffered a stroke that sidelined him for 10 months.

Oligui, in a speech to the Republican Guard this month, accused the former “First Lady” and Noureddin of having “squandered” the president’s power.

“Because since his stroke, they have falsified the signature of the president, they gave orders in his place,” he said.

Immediately after the coup, Oligui summoned around 200 Gabonese business leaders to a meeting, whom he lectured on corruption.

Broadcast on state television, he sternly warned business leaders against “over-billing” and told them to commit to the “development of the country”.

He also vowed to make sure the overcharged money “comes back to the state”.

Source: AFP

26, September 2023

Bakassi: Militants behead Cameroon Gendarmes ⁰

Separatists militants suspected to be Black Marine have beheaded three members of the Cameroon Gendarmes in Isangele subdivision an area in Bakassi Peninsula inhabited by ethnic groups of Southeastern Nigeria origin.

The militants numbering four were sailing on big canoe boat with fishing net at 5am on Tuesday morning, when they jumped out from the water shooting one Gendarmerie and beheaded two at a spot, taking their guns and their heads.

Report says that the militants keep the head of any beheaded soldier in their camps.

Meanwhile, the Rapid d’intervention Battalions (BIR) have began manhunt for the leader of the Black Marine following a deadly suicide bomb attack that killed seven BIR members.

Henry Edet, Operational coordinator of Biafra Nations League, BnL, said his group was excited to hear that the bomb attack killed Biafra enemies.

Source: igberetvnews

26, September 2023

IG says attacks on Francophone soldiers natural response to Yaoundé’s arrogance ⁰

The Ambazonia Interim Government says attacks on checkpoints of French Cameroun security agents in Southern Cameroons will intensify in the coming weeks.

Vice President Dabney Yerima made the remarks during an interview he granted to a group of Nigerian newspapers recently.

Yerima said Ambazonia attacks are a natural response to the criminal acts of the French Cameroun occupiers.

The exiled Southern Cameroons leader said attacks against French Cameroun army soldiers should be viewed as part of a mobilization campaign in Ground Zero to defend the Ambazonia homeland.

Extremist Francophone soldiers have been raiding Southern Cameroons villages in Bui, Ndop and Akwaya in recent months as part of what many believe to be a plot to maintain a massive Francophone military presence throughout Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong

24, September 2023

Niger bans Air France and aircrafts chartered by France from its airspace ⁰

Niger’s military rulers have banned “French aircraft” from flying over the country’s airspace, according to the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) website.

Niger’s airspace is “open to all national and international commercial flights except for French aircraft or aircraft chartered by France including those of the airline Air France,” it said in the statement dated late Saturday.

The air space would remain closed for “all military, operational and other special flights”, unless receiving prior authorisation, the message said.

Air France told AFP simply that it was “not flying over Niger airspace”.

Niger had reopened its airspace on September 4 for commercial flights after having been closed for nearly a month.

The West African nation then announced on August 6 it was closing its airspace due to the “threat of intervention from neighbouring countries”, as the Economic Community of West African States threatened military action to restore the elected President Mohamed Bazoum who had been overthrown in a coup on July 26.

France has repeatedly supported the West African bloc, and relations between Paris and Niamey have been at an all-time low since the coup.

Source: AFP

22, September 2023

Far North Region: Army kills three Boko Haram militants ⁰

The Cameroonian army said Thursday that its troops had killed three militants from the Boko Haram terrorist group in the country’s Far North region.

Militants from the terror group raided Galdala, a village in the Mayo-Tsanaga division of the region on Wednesday night and were subsequently ambushed by the army while returning with the looted goods to their base, said an army official in the region who spoke to Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Local media had reported that villagers were starting to evacuate the area due to deadly attacks in recent weeks.

Boko Haram, a terrorist group originating in Nigeria, has been operating in the Far North region since 2014, posing a significant security threat to Cameroon.

Source: Xinhuanet