News

Nigeria: Four dead in army, police clashes

13, April 2017

Nigeria: Four dead in army, police clashes 0

A bloody clash between the army and police in Nigeria’s restive northeastern Yobe State on Wednesday left one soldier and three police dead, a security source told AFP. The police confirmed the fracas in the state capital of Damaturu, but did not say if there were casualties. “The Nigeria police force is abreast of the unfortunate incident that occurred in the early hours of today 12th April, 2017 in Damaturu between the personnel of the force and that of the Nigerian army,” police spokesman Jimoh Moshood said in a statement.

He said an investigation had been launched to determine “the causes of the incident and deal with the situation appropriately to prevent such occurrence in the future.” The army authorities were not immediately available for comment. A security officer, who did not want to be named, told AFP trouble began on Tuesday when an army officer in a mufti (civilian dress) ran into a convoy of the head of the police mobile unit in Damaturu.

“The army officer was beaten up by the police for his action. This morning, soldiers stormed the police station and took away the head of the mobile unit to their military base,” he said. He said the soldiers’ action angered some police officers who invaded the army base to free their boss. “There was a shootout in which a soldier and a policeman were killed on the spot while two policemen who were injured later died of their wounds,” he said. Yobe and two other states — Borno and Adamawa — in the northeast are the worst-hit in the eight-year Boko Haram militancy in Nigeria.

Source Presstv

UN flays Biya regime over arrest of Consortium leaders and internet shutdown

13, April 2017

UN flays Biya regime over arrest of Consortium leaders and internet shutdown 3

The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations has revealed that the world body wants a rapid resolution of the socio-political crisis that has shaken the Anglophone regions of Cameroon for nearly six months. This is the message François Louncény Fall gave to officials of La Republique du Cameroun.

During his visit to Yaoundé on the 12th of April 2017, François Louncény Fall, also Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, met with the Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh,  Justice Minister Laurent Esso, Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella and Martin Mbarga Nguelé, Delegate General for National Security.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative said  the UN has welcomed the measures announced by the Minister for Justice but added that the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres is hoping for a rapid implementation of these promises.

The UN Special envoy further pointed out that an appeasement policy should be initiated with Southern Cameroonians and should involve the release of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium arrested in connection with the crisis. Louncény Fall was at the Kondengui Prison where he met Barrister Agbor Balla and the radio host, Mancho Bibixy, who are among the 27 people who face the death penalty.

François Louncény Fall condemned the decision to shut down the internet and the arrest of the leaders of the Consortium. The cutting off of the internet is a measure taken by the Francophone government on the 17th of January and which has already cost the Cameroonian economy more than 2 billion FCFA.

By Rita Akana

Manyu Bridge Collapse: Major set back for South West CPDM elites

12, April 2017

Manyu Bridge Collapse: Major set back for South West CPDM elites 1

South West CPDM elites have suffered another major setback as the only bridge linking the Kingdom of Ossing in Eyumojock Sub constituency in Manyu headed by General Tataw James  via Akak village to Nguti Sub Division has collapsed.  The Intersubdivisional highway bridge in Akak village loaded with regular timber trucks dropped more than 60 feet into the Akak river, sending at least an overloaded timber vehicle and its two Francophone passengers into the water.

“This is a catastrophe of historic proportions for both the Manyu and the South West CPDM elites,” Enoh Njock, an operations manager for the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium said about three hours after the collapse. The old and outdated German bridge has not been repaired for ages. The bridge, which was built after the 1884 Berlin Conference, collapsed in three sections. One section of the bridge lay flat in the river, with the part of overloaded timber truck parked on the rolling pavement.

The truck driver and his companion were seen floundering in the river, calling for help. Cameroon Concord News reporter had just crossed the bridge and was heading to Ossing when it collapsed behind him.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Eyong Johnson in Nguti

“Nobody in the world will believe that Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem are terrorists”

12, April 2017

“Nobody in the world will believe that Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem are terrorists” 1

The renowned Barrister Alice Nkom has appealed to the Biya regime to release the detained leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium including all Southern Cameroonians being held at the Kondengui High security prison in Yaoundé and elsewhere in Francophone Cameroun.  The human rights lawyer told STV news channel that the accusations of terrorism against the arrested Anglophone leaders were cynical.

Nkom said the Anglophone crisis is causing the nation great pain and erecting a stone wall between families and relations in the French and English speaking regions of the country. She argued that nobody in the world will believe Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho and Dr Fontem Neba are terrorists. For her, the arrests of Southern Cameroonians are not helping to foster the business climate that President Paul Biya spoke during his recent visit to Italy. She pointed out that no right thinking investor can take Cameroon seriously and swore that Cameroon as a nation will pay dearly for the mess going on in Southern Cameroons.

Alice Nkom also said the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso acted unwisely and has failed woefully in his handling of the Southern Cameroons situation. For this experienced lawyer, the measures taken by the government to resolve the crisis in the Anglophone regions have been revolutionary and controversial.

“When you cut off communications to someone first you are violating a fundamental right. This is forbidden by the conventions you have signed. And secondly, it is an act of pure secession. And it is you Francophone who come to say that the others are secessionists?

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

3 Southern Cameroon journalists in Kondengui prison

11, April 2017

3 Southern Cameroon journalists in Kondengui prison 0

Three Southern Cameroon journalists have been arrested and detained at the Kondengui Central prison in Yaounde. They are Atia Tialrious, senior political commentator of The Sun Newspaper, Amos Fufong, reporter for The Guardian Post and Mofor Ndong, editor of Voice of  the Voiceless. Cameroon Concord News gathered they were all picked up by plain cloth police officers from La Republique du Cameroun last Friday.

A journalist with a sister publication, Cameroon Intelligence Report hinted at the time of fling this report that the three Southern Cameroon journalists were in Amos’s house at the time of their arrest.  Atia Tilarious and Amos Fufong had previously been in La Republique’s drag net on 9 February in Buea. They were arrested after being suspected of distributing pro-SCNC leaflets before being released after corporatist pressures.

By Rita Akana

Man who described the internet as a terrorist organization has inaugurated a cyber space inside the National Assembly

11, April 2017

Man who described the internet as a terrorist organization has inaugurated a cyber space inside the National Assembly 0

The Speaker of the National Assembly of La Republique du Cameroun, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril who observed some months ago that the internet was a terrorist organization has inaugurated a cyber space centre inside a VIP room at the National Assembly building. The inauguration ceremony took place yesterday the 10th April 2017.

The cyber space centre is equipped with computers all connected to the internet, printers and scanners. The cost of rehabilitating the new center is estimated at about 150 million FCFA. During the occasion, the Secretary General of the National Assembly, Victor Yene Ossomba on behalf of the personnel, pledged to make good use of the new acquisitions.

The state radio and television reported that the centre is timely as it will serve in ameliorating documentation, research and inter-parliamentary exchanges.

By Ebong Kingsley N.

Nigeria: Militant raid claims six lives in Lagos

11, April 2017

Nigeria: Militant raid claims six lives in Lagos 0

Militants in Nigeria have killed six people, including an army captain, four policemen and a civilian, in the country’s most populous city of Lagos. Nigerian police said the fatalities occurred early on Sunday when the gunmen raided a community in Ikorodu area of Lagos and kidnapped residents after looting their homes and shops.

“Around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, the police received a distress call that a group of militants and kidnappers had entered Owutu-Ishawo in Ikorodu through the thick swampy forest surrounding the area,” said Lagos police spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole.

“They were reported to have kidnapped some residents. In response, the police and the army immediately mobilized personnel to the area where the kidnapped victims were rescued,” he added. The spokesman noted that Nigeria’s police had launched a search operation in the surrounding area to find the attackers. Hard economic conditions in Nigeria and high inflation rate have severely impacted the lives of people in the African country.

In a separate incident in Nigeria, two female bombers detonated their explosives near a university campus in the country’s northeastern state of Borno early on Monday, but the explosion left no casualties. A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the bombers had blown up their suicide vests close to the perimeter fence of the University of Maiduguri at around 04:00 a.m. (0300 GMT).

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. The Monday bombing attack, the second such incident in Maiduguri in less than a week, came two days after two other female bombers detonated their explosives at a mosque in Jiddari Polo district in Maiduguri, injuring four people.

Maiduguri, the capital and the largest city of Borno State, has been the epicenter of Boko Haram’s seven-year militancy aimed at toppling the central government in Nigeria. Borno has taken the brunt of Boko Haram’s acts of terror, which started in 2009. The group has recently regained momentum after it was nearly obliterated months ago by a joint military force made up of Nigerian government forces and troops from neighboring countries.

Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq. The United Nations has warned that areas affected by Boko Haram faced a humanitarian crisis. Boko Haram terrorists have so far killed more than 20,000 people and forced over 2.7 million others from their homes.

Presstv

Battle for Southern Cameroons: Former news caster takes on Barrister Akere Muna

10, April 2017

Battle for Southern Cameroons: Former news caster takes on Barrister Akere Muna 1

AKERE MUNA: STOP EQUIVOCATING.

Lawyer Akere Muna, Please stop using ambiguous language to conceal or avoid committing yourself regarding the legal grounds for the independence of the Southern Cameroons.

You have a right, as a loyal son of Solomon Tandeng Muna, to defend your father’s enduring and endearing political legacy,even though, to his credit, he renounced the legacy of unification before his demise, by joining the 1995, 9 Man delegation to petition the United Nations on the independence of the Southern Cameroons.

We are aware of the retainer agreements you have signed with the Biya regime and the exceptional pecuniary benefits you have derived from your professional relationship with this potentate.

But you have the option of dissociating your professional relationship as a lawyer, with the responsibility to defend any client, from your political conviction to defend a bloodthirsty dictatorship from which your family has benefited.

There is testimonial evidence that apart from defending the Biya dictatorship in law suits, you have proposed your sister for a ministerial position, when you declined the offer to join the Biya government.

Akere, this is my question, why would the Biya dictatorship arrest Justice Paul Ayah Abine and not you?

What is your legal explanation for this apparent aberration, or is this politics as usual in French Cameroon where the Munas are stakeholders for this unconscionable annexation, that has been legally disguised as a federation?

Please, Southern Cameroonians need answers, because the battle lines are being drawn and we want to make sure no one is caught in the crossfire.

Thanks.

Larry Eyong-Echaw

Britons, Germans and French may also be denied entry to US

10, April 2017

Britons, Germans and French may also be denied entry to US 0

As US President Donald Trump is mulling a tougher border action, reports say that his new “extreme vetting” policy could make agents ask Britons, Germans and the French entering the country to hand in passwords for their digital devices and social media pages or risk being denied entry. The policy under consideration in the White House can require the tourists to reveal personal data, disclose financial information or even face lengthy and detailed ideological questioning ahead of entering.

“All international travellers arriving to the US are subject to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspection. This inspection may include electronic devices such as computers, disks, drives, tapes, mobile phones and other communication devices, cameras, music and other media players and any other electronic or digital devices,” the US Border Patrol and Protection told The Guardian on Sunday.

“Keeping America safe and enforcing our nation’s laws in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully examine all materials entering the US,” it added. The UK Foreign Office, meanwhile, declined to comment or provide advice for the tourists. The soc-called “extreme vetting” of foreign nationals is part of the new president’s measures to fight terrorism.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an American NGO campaigning for digital civil rights, also acknowledged that the tourists could truly be deported by an agent if they refuse to cooperate in this regard.

“Border agents cannot deny a US citizen admission to the country. However, if a foreign visitor declines, an agent may deny them entry,” it said. “If a foreign visitor refuses a border agent’s demand to unlock their digital device, provide the device password, or provide social media information, and the agent responds by denying entry, the foreign visitor may have little legal recourse.” Trump’s executive order to ban travelers from some Muslim-majority countries has so far been blocked in courts twice.

Presstv

Bribery and Corruption: Bar Association President announces end to Common Law Lawyers strike

9, April 2017

Bribery and Corruption: Bar Association President announces end to Common Law Lawyers strike 2

The so-called Bar Association President and a gang of lawyers have reportedly announced that the strike action called by the Common Law Lawyers and endorsed by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has been called off by the Batonier. The Bar Association President made public a press release from Douala informing the nation that the Common Law Lawyers are now willing to work with the Biya Francophone regime after the Yaounde authorities outlined a series of fake measures to stifle the Southern Cameroons revolution.

Below is the communiqué endorsed by Barrister Jackson NGNIE KAMGA

 PRESS RELEASE OF THE BAR ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

Following the extraordinary Bar Council meetings held respectively in Buea and Bamenda on the Saturdays 18th and 25th March 2017, which meetings were immediately followed by working sessions between lawyers of the two Anglophone regions and the Bar Council,

It was recommended that a unique framework comprising of very senior advocates from the North West and South West regions be set up to reflect on the way forward.

By The Bar President Decision No N° 038/BOABC/ADM/03/17 of 31st of March 2017, a conclave of senior advocates of the North West and South West regions to which some junior colleagues were integrated to elaborate the modalities of the way forward, was set up with the missions of making proposals on the way forward.

The conclave met in Bamenda on the 1st of April 2017 and in Buea on the 8th of April 2017.

Mindful of Government’s response to the demands of the Anglophone lawyers as announced by the Minister of State in charge of Justice ,during his press conference of the 30th of March 2017 , and the creation by the Minister of Public Services of an adhoc committee in charge of organizing the special recruitment of Common Law magistrates and judicial officers,

The conclave unanimously came up with the following recommendations:

1- That the President of the Bar Association is hereby authorized to enter into dialogue with the Government on matters bearing on the Common Law Lawyers.

2- That Advocates of the South West and North West regions shall resume work on the 2nd may 2017, for the resolutions of the ad hoc committee submitted to the Prime Minister and approved by the Head of States to be fully implemented

3- That this conclave shall be convened on the 30th July 2017 to evaluate progress made on the implementation of these resolutions.

On behalf of the Bar Council, the Batonnier sincerely thanks his colleagues of these two regions for this renewed confidence bestowed on the ruling organs of the Bar Association.

He especially thanks the members of the conclave who made enormous sacrifices and walked the extra mile to ensure the normalization of our activities.

He is mindful of all their recommendations, and announces that the lawyers in the North West and South West regions will resume work on the 2nd of May 2017.

He pledges to continue negotiations with the Government in order to satisfy the demands of the common law lawyers as well as the release of our two colleagues currently under detention in Yaoundé.

In the days ahead, the Batonnier, with a delegation of Bar Council members will travel to Buea and Bamenda to meet the heads of these jurisdictions in order to discuss and define concrete modalities for the resumption of work.

The Batonnier stresses that the return to normal is the fruit of dialogue between the Government and the Bar Association, dialogue which should be perpetuated and reinforced in a determined and responsible manner

Done in Douala this 9th April 2017

The Bar President

Jackson NGNIE KAMGA esq.

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