Russia has reportedly delivered the first missiles of the advanced S-300 long-range air defense system as part of a military contract between Moscow and Tehran. According to a report published by Tasnim news agency on Monday, the first shipment of the missiles was delivered to Iran “recently.”

Russia had committed to delivering the systems to Iran under an 800-million-dollar deal in 2007. It, however, refused to deliver the systems to Tehran in 2010 under the pretext that the agreement was covered by the fourth round of the United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Following Moscow’s refusal to deliver the systems, Tehran filed a complaint against the relevant Russian arms firm with the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva. In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree, paving the way for the long-overdue delivery of the missile defense systems to Iran.

The decision to deliver the S-300 long-range air defense system came after Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia plus Germany — reached mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2, 2015.

Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, said on July 1 that the S-300 missile defense system is to go operational in Iran by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending on March 20, 2017).

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a phone call to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to condemn the recent botched military coup attempt in Turkey and express hope that the country would soon embrace stability. In the phone call on Sunday, Putin described as categorically unacceptable the “anti-constitutional acts and violence” in the life of a state, saying that he “wishes for a speedy restoration of strong constitutional order and stability in Turkey.”

The Kremlin said in a statement that the Russian leader also offered condolences on the death of 161 troops and civilians killed during the coup attempt.  The Turkish government and the military say more than 100 coup plotters were also killed in the course of state action against the military intervention which unfolded late Friday and was declared as failed a day later.

Russia and Turkey last month restored ties which had been badly strained following Ankara’s shooting of a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last year. The restoration came after Erdogan apologized to Putin over the incident and passed on his condolences to the families of the jet’s pilot and the crew member killed after the downing.

The Kremlin said the two leaders also confirmed during the Sunday phone call plans for a personal meeting in the nearest future. Turkish officials said earlier this month that Erdogan would fly to the Russian resort of Suchi to meet Putin in August. The Sunday statement said Erdogan also vowed to take “all necessary steps” to ensure the safety of Russian tourists visiting Turkey. Later on Sunday, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, quoting presidential sources, reported that Erdogan and his Russian counterpart will meet in the first week of August.

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Yaoundé has presented a condolence message to the French nation following the deadly attacks in Nice. To be sure, it was the sixth attack in France just within a year.  At least 84 people were killed by a truck driven by a suicide bomber while they were celebrating the last hours of the national holiday at a place called “Promenade des Anglais”

Less than 24 hours after the tragedy, President Paul Biya sent a condolence message to Francois Hollande, his French counterpart in which he condemned in the strongest terms the “cowardly, barbaric and heinous acts that nothing can justify” wrote the Cameroonian chief executive.

Soon after the correspondence to President Hollande, Prime Minister Philemon Yang went to the residence of the French ambassador in Yaoundé on Friday afternoon where he was received by Christine Robichon, the Ambassador of France to Cameroon. Philemon Yang did sign a condolence book and assured the ambassador of the esteem and support of the Cameroonian people.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai (Cameroon Concord News Group)

The latest Amnesty International report on Cameroon released this Thursday, July 14, 2016 shows an alarming situation of human rights violation. Amnesty International say prisoners’ detention conditions are deplorable. The report hinted that over 1,000 people were arbitrarily arrested and are held in appalling conditions, and dozens of them die from an illness, malnutrition or torture by law enforcement operations targeting captured Boko Haram militants.

The Amnesty International report singled out the situation in the Maroua prison and reported that more than 1000 people accused of supporting Boko Haram are currently being held in extremely overcrowded and unsanitary prisons, where malnutrition is rife. The authoritative human rights organization revealed that the Penitentiary Maroua prison records each month six to eight deaths.

Amnesty warned that  water is not sufficient in many of the detention centers and added that even  the construction of new cells in the Maroua prison has failed to alleviate the sufferings of nearly 1 500 people held in a building meant for 350.

Rita Akana (Cameroon Concord News Group)

Germany and Italy have started evacuating nationals and some citizens from other European countries from South Sudan as fighting keeps surging across the African country. “The government’s crisis task force has decided to evacuate German, European and international citizens from South Sudan,” German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Sawsan Chebli, said on Wednesday, adding that the ongoing evacuation process is carried out by German air force planes.

Chebli added that the priority in the evacuation would be for those with German organizations, adding that some 100 German nationals still remain in South Sudan. Germany’s evacuation program would also include other foreigners, she said. The German official did not elaborate on the nationalities of those foreigners due to security concerns.

Italy also announced the start of evacuation from South Sudan on Wednesday with officials in Rome saying that a military plane carrying 30 Italians and an unspecified number of other EU citizens departed Wednesday morning for its base in Djibouti.

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