News

18, February 2017

Massive Southern Cameroons demonstration to be held at Dag Hammarskjod Plaza in New York ³

All Southern Cameroonians in North America have been invited to a mass demonstration on Friday, March 3rd, 2017 at the Dag Hammarskjod Plaza in New York .This demonstration will take place between 11 am and 2:00 pm.

Our senior political commentator and editor, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai opined that the area chosen to host the event is significant. Mr. Agbaw-Ebai pointed out that it was Dag Hammarskjod who as UN Secretary General did declare French Cameroun independent under Prime Minister Ahmadou Ahidjo.

West Cameroonians residing in the DC Metropolis have been told to register in order to help the organizing committee know how many buses to hire. A statement from Chairman Elvis Kometa noted that further modalities will be given later.

By Chi Prudence Asong

18, February 2017

Obama rated America’s 12th best president ⁰

Barack Obama has been rated as the 12th best American president a month after leaving the office, according to a new survey. C-SPAN’s 2017 presidential historians survey published on Friday put the first African American president between former heads of state Woodrow Wilson (No. 11) and James Monroe (No. 13) and outranking Bill Clinton (No. 15)

The 91 historians who were consulted for the survey gave Obama and 42 other commanders in chief a score of one to 10 on 10 different “qualities of presidential leadership,” including “economic management,” “vision/setting an agenda,” “relations with Congress,” “crisis leadership” and “public persuasion.”

He ranked 10th on public persuasion, 15th on crisis leadership, 8th on economic management, 7th on moral authority, and 24th on international relations. Obama was the 19th president in terms of administrative skills and 39th in terms of relations with Congress. The former president, who left the office with a notable 57 percent job approval rating, ranked third when it came to pursuing equal justice for all.

“Although 12th is a respectable overall ranking, one would have thought that former President Obama’s favorable rating when he left office would have translated into a higher ranking in this presidential survey,” said Edna Greene Medford, a Howard University history professor and one of the survey’s advisers.

“But, of course, historians prefer to view the past from a distance, and only time will reveal his legacy,” she added. Topping the overall list was Abraham Lincoln, the 16th American 16th president known for abolishing slavery and leading the Union through the Civil War.

George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower ranked below Lincoln. The country’s 15th president James Buchanan, whose presidency preceded the Civil War, took the bottom spot.

Presstv

17, February 2017

Militants in Central African Republic executed 32 civilians in December ¹

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed details of the execution of at least 32 civilians by an armed group in the lawless heart of the Central African Republic late last year. The HRW said in a report on Thursday that militants from the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), a splinter group from a rebel force in neighboring Chad, had killed 32 civilians and captured fighters in the town of Bakala in December 2016.

The New York-based rights group said 25 people had been killed after they were called to a school for an alleged meeting, while seven other men were executed as they were returning from a nearby gold mine. “Accounts of the incidents were provided by a survivor and eight witnesses, including five men who were forced to help dispose of the bodies,” said the HRW in a statement.

A representative of the rights group in the Africa region also denounced the killing as “brazen war crimes by UPC fighters who feel free to kill at will.” In January, the UPC denied that its militants had been involved in any form of killing in Bakala region. “Soldiers in the UPC cannot execute civilians or prisoners … What you have heard about the UPC are lies,” said Ali Darassa, UPC’s commander since the formation of the group in September 2014.

Experts from the United Nations had earlier warned that armed groups were using the lawlessness in tracts of the CAR to maintain their interests, ranging from control of gold and other mines, cattle rustling and highway robbery. “They have taken the place of the judicial apparatus and [they] terrify the population,” Marie-Therese Keita-Bocoum, an independent UN expert on human rights in the CAR said, adding that “armed groups reign as masters over more than 60 percent of the territory, benefiting from total impunity.”

France and the UN’s mission in the CAR, known as MINUSCA, have intervened militarily in the African country to end large-scale massacres and restore relative order to the capital, Bangui. However, insecurity continues to grip swaths of the territory.

Presstv

16, February 2017

EU’s Mogherini says Never seen US so polarized and divided ⁰

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has warned that the current polarization and division in the US may result in destabilizing the rest of the world.

“I have never seen the US so polarized, divided and burdened by conflicts as now. However, the one who would like to play a global leadership role needs to be internally strong, self-confident and cohesive,” said Mogherini during an interview with German-language newspaper Die Welt published on Wednesday.

She stressed that the current tensions in the new US administration may become a “destabilizing factor” for the rest of the world.

Mogherini made the remarks shortly after a trip to Washington, where she met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, US President Donald Trump’s aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner and several other officials.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R) meets with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at the State Department in Washington, DC, on February 9, 2017.

‘Widening US-EU rift’

She added that while several key elements of the new US administration’s foreign policy remain obscure, future EU policies should be aimed at finding out “where our positions coincide.” “In the future there may be more topics, on which the European Union and the United States will have different positions,” she added.

The 2016 presidential election in the US exposed more than ever the deep division within the society in which minor groups, including Muslims, African Americans and Hispanics, are marginalized.

Despite tapping into the division, Trump managed to gain electoral victory and became president but lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly three million ballots.

Presstv

16, February 2017

Yaounde: 56 soldiers seriously injured in an accident at Olembe ⁴

At least 56 soldiers were seriously injured in an accident on Wednesday in Yaoundé. Among the 56 wounded soldiers, nine reportedly sustained life threatening injuries and have been rushed to the military hospital of Yaoundé.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that these were essentially new military recruits who traveled to the Btap training center at Koutaba in the West region to continue their training. The accident happened at the Olembé school entrance, where one of the trucks in the military convoy lost its brakes and drove into another military vehicle parked full with gendarmes and military students. Traumatized, the convoy from Yaounde, turned back towards the headquarters of the gendarmerie.

Culled from CIR

16, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: North West Senators, MPs call for release of detained Consortium leaders ¹

Some 10 members of Parliament and Senators of the ruling CPDM party from the North West region have appealed on Head of State Paul Biya to release the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

The message was part of a 10 point resolutions reached by the representatives in a forum that held at Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda, North West region at the invitation of Senate Vice President Senator Achidi Achu.

The Wednesday February 15, 2017 Bamenda CPDM meeting made public an acknowledgement of the prevailing situation in the two English speaking regions and praised the 84 year-old President Paul Biya for putting in place the Ad Hoc Committee which according to them have solved some of the problems raised by Trade Union leaders.

Simon Achidi Achu and his group also thanked the Head of State for creating the National Commission on Bilingualism and Multiculturalism which they consider a giant step in the right direction in resolving the crisis and appeal for an expedient appointment of its members for effective work to begin.

Cameroun Info.Net

15, February 2017

Anglophone Crisis: Consortium warns Diaspora, Says Southern Cameroons is at tipping point ¹

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has warned the Anglophone Diaspora that Southern Cameroons is on the verge of a human rights catastrophe amid a Francophone government pattern of increased violence against Anglophones, rapes, executions, and detentions.

The Consortium gave the warning on Tuesday as ghost town operations were held throughout West Cameroon amid massive arrest of innocent citizens including some religious leaders. The interim leaders announced a major diplomatic break through but did not provide further details. The first two months of 2017 alone has witnessed an alarming upsurge in rapes, killings and arbitrary and abusive use of force by troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium with legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons added that West Cameroonians should stay indoors and observe the civil disobedience campaign as the Yaoundé regime does not respect Anglophone rights, and has refused to halt its military operations in Southern Cameroons. Inside sources say, the number of Anglophone citizens arrested and detained in Francophone prisons is far more than the number of Boko Haram militants captured ever since the Nigerian Islamic sect began its incursion into Cameroon territory. La Republique du Cameroun will soon be dealing with a full blown human rights crisis.

Since 2016, the Francophone government and its political elites have been claiming that they have taken meaningful steps towards reform. The Biya Francophone government has failed to comment on its human rights obligations. The past few weeks have seen a very concerning renewed pattern of violations in Mamfe, Jakiri, Kembong, Batibo, Bamenda, Buea and Limbe including arbitrary detention and torture, facilitated by a continuing climate of impunity.

Anti- Biya regime protests have been held on an almost daily basis ever since the popular Anglophone uprising roared into life in 2016. The Francophone army has gone to great lengths to silence dissent and French speaking soldiers have been deployed to assist the 84 year-old leader in his crackdown. Hundreds of Anglophone Cameroonians have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or been arrested since then.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with cables from West and East Cameroons

15, February 2017

Biya celebrates his 84th birthday privately at Unity Palace ²

The Cameroonian dictator has celebrated his 84th birthday at the presidential palace in the Etoudi district of Yaoundé. Paul Biya, the Head of State, held his closed family celebration on Monday the 13^th of February 2017.

A photo that immortalizes this extraordinary day was posted on the front page of the official website of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon. Biya who replaced the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo and has been in power for 35 years, blew his 84th candle at the Unity Palace in the strictest family intimacy.

Dressed in funny attire as against his normal gandoura, Paul Biya had beside him his well-known son, Franck Biya and the first lady, Chantal Biya.

By Sama Ernest

14, February 2017

The trial of the Consortium leaders: Profiling the man heading the defense ⁰

Karim Ahmad Khan is a British lawyer and specialist in international criminal law and international human rights law. He was called to the bar in 1992 at London’s Lincoln’s Inn and later attended Wolfson College at Oxford University for doctoral studies in law. He presently carries on an international practice before courts in Britain and abroad.

He worked as a Senior Crown Prosecutor at the British Law Commission and from 1997-2000 served as a legal adviser to the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and later as defence counsel before Special Courts in East Timor, Sierra Leone and Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He is the lead counsel in the defense team of William Ruto at the International Criminal Court. In addition to international criminal and human rights law, he has in-depth experience and expertise in immigration and asylum law and is an approved counsel to act for Britain’s Attorney General. His international standing and expertise was further recognized by the offer of the post of international legal adviser to the Appeals Chamber of the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) in 2005.[1] He was also made a member of the Queens Council.

Karim Ahmad Khan was appointed to lead the Defence team of President Charles Taylor of Liberia at the Special Tribunal.He was recently the head of incumbent Kenyan Deputy-President, His Excellency Mr. William Ruto’s defense team at the Hague before the latter’s case was dismissed on 5 April 2016

Career

Honorary lecturer, School of Law, University of Utrecht, Netherlands (2010-11; 2011-to date); former senior research fellow, Dept of War Studies, Kings College, London; director, Peace and Justice Initiative; director of Global Victims Initiative; former member Executive Board of ICTY, current member (with ICTY judiciary) of ICTY Disciplinary Appeals Board and election to Disciplinary Appeals Board of ICC (along with ICC judiciary); former legal adviser, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (International Law Appeals); grade 7 lawyer, Law Commission of England and Wales (1996-97); former senior crown prosecutor (1993-96). Publications: co-author, ‘Archbold International Criminal Courts’ (Sweet & Maxwell; 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition); co-editor and contributing author, ‘Principles of Evidence in International Criminal Justice’ (OUP 2010); co-editor, ‘International Criminal Law Reports’ (ICLR, 2006 to date); contributing author, ‘A Commentary to the Rome Statue on the ICC’ (Baden-Baden 2000; 2008); contributor, ‘Human Rights Practice’ (Sweet & Maxwell, 2002 to date); author, Oxford Transitional Justice Research -Working Papers Series (2010); co-author, ‘Enlargement and human rights law, norms and realities’ (Manchester University Press, 2007).

Member

Association of Defence Counsel; International Legal Assistance Consortium; International Criminal Defence Bar; International Bar Association.

Education

Silcoates School, West Yorkshire; Kings College, University of London (LLB Hons); King’s College London, (AKC); Inns of Court School of Law; member of Lincoln’s Inn; CIFE (Distinction, diploma international relations); Abo Akedemi, Turku Law School, Finland (advanced diploma in protection of Human Rights); Wolfson College, Oxford (P Phil, candidate); University College, Pristina, Kosovo (doctorate, honoris causa). Awarded 1999 John D & Catherine MacArthur Foundation Fellowship on International Peace and Security; Alexander Maxwell Law Scholarship Trust Award winner 2001

14, February 2017

11 killed in series of violent clashed in Congo-Kinshasa ⁰

At least 11 people have been killed in a series of violent clashes between the army and fighters loyal to a slain militia chief in central Democratic Republic of the Congo, a local activist says.

Jean Rene Tshimanga, a local activist, said that the clashes took place between the DR Congo soldiers and the militia loyal to a traditional chief killed in fighting with security forces last year. He added that the violence occurred near the town of Tshimbulu in Kasai-Central Province on Monday.

“This morning, we learned again that (the militia) attacked the men in uniform [who] repelled them,” Tshimanga, the president of the Civil Society of Kasai-Central Province, said. The activist did not specify how many of the dead were militia members and how many army soldiers.

The town, where the army killed more than 60 militia members in fighting last Friday, has been the scene of constant clashes between the soldiers and armed groups over the past few months. Similar clashes in recent months have killed hundreds and uprooted thousands across the troubled region.

Presstv