News

6, June 2016

Raila Odinga destabilizing Kenya again!!!!! ⁰

At least two people have lost their lives and six others sustained injuries during clashes between Kenya’s police and protesters demanding the dissolution of the country’s electoral commission prior to next year’s presidential election. The casualties occurred on Monday in the western Kenyan city of Kisumu as police opened fire to disperse protesters during the latest in a series of rallies by opposition groups and their supporters demanding that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) be scrapped for allegedly being biased.

Carrying banners, the protesters who are all Raila Odinga loyalists blocked the roads with burning tires and stones in both Kisumu and the country’s capital of Nairobi, and chanted the slogan “IEBC must go.” “We have confirmed two people shot dead. We are yet to establish the circumstances,” said Dennis Onyango, a spokesman for Kenya’s main opposition group, the Coalitions for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). The Red Cross in the East African country said six protesters suffering from gunshot wounds had been taken to hospital.

Presstv/CIR

6, June 2016

SOPECAM Affair: Board Chairman 1, GM 0 ⁰

The General Manager of the Cameroon News and Publishing Corporation (SOPECAM) Marie-Claire Nnana was recently taken aback when the board chairman, Joseph Le, Deputy Director of President Biya’s civil cabinet put his foot down at the ongoing crisis meeting between the two parties to insist that he can still appoint persons within the corporation without holding any board meeting.

Explaining his position of authority, Joseph LE has signed decisions in four areas of SOPECAM. The decisions that were read over state radio and television, promoted Ignatius Ozela Claude to technical director, Koume Honore, parachuted to the Sales and Marketing department, Ngane Gustave now heads Administration and Finance while Olinga Biyo’o Georges leads Management Control service.

Cameroon Tribune, the newspaper edited by SOPECAM published just a part of the Joseph Le decision bearing the appointments of Ozela Claude Ignatius and Koume Honore leaving out the names of Ngane Gustav and Olinga Biyo’o. An aide to the GM was quoted as saying the Deputy Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic was staging a coup at SOPECAM. Marie-Claire Nnana was heard murmuring privately that what Joseph Le has done is in her view totally irresponsible. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Marie-Claire Nnana is out of the country on a CPDM mission. Our source at SOPECAM hinted that it will need the intervention of the head of state for things to normalize at SOPECAM.

6, June 2016

Gunmen kill female Somali journalist ⁰

Unidentified gunmen have killed yet another journalist in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu, as acts of murder persist against members of the media in the conflict-ridden African country. Sagal Salad Osman, a presenter and producer for the state-run Radio Mogadishu station, was gunned down outside a university in Mogadishu’s northwestern neighborhood of Hodan. The assailants managed to flee the scene after the shooting, her colleagues said.

“Three men armed with pistols killed (her)… We heard gunfire and we rushed to the scene, the gunmen had already escaped,” Major Nur Ali, a police officer, said. “She was rushed to hospital but she died on the way. They killed her near a college campus where she studied. We believe al-Shabab is behind her killing,” he added, referring to the Takfiri militant group active in Somalia.

Ali Abdulkadir, who works at the Muqdisho radio station, said, “We are very much devastated about the news of her death and we don’t know why she was killed.” Last December, Hindiyo Haji Mohamed, a journalist for Radio Mogadishu and Somali National TV networks, sustained grave injuries when a bomb planted inside her car went off in Mogadishu. She later died of her injuries. Two men convicted of the act of terror were executed in April.

Presstv

6, June 2016

Cameroon’s war on terror: US marines drill Gendarmerie, police ⁰

Twenty four investigators from the National Gendarmerie and National Police Corps on June 3, 2016 in Yaounde completed a 12-day training in terrorist crime scene investigation. The training, carried out by several instructors deployed by the government of the United States of America (USA), was the second out of five modules related to the fight against terrorism.

After handing over end-of-course attestations to the trainees at the Judicial Police Training Centre of the National Gendarmerie, Yeyap Barracks last Friday, the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the National Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bokam, expressed gratitude for the increasing multifarious assistance given by Cameroon’s strategic partner, the USA.

He expressed hope that the training, which started on May 23, 2016, will help alleviate several shortcomings observed in the handling of terrorist-related crime scenes since the country started receiving Boko Haram attacks. In this vein, US Ambassador to Cameroon, H.E. Michael Stephen Hoza, reassured that the training will enhance Cameroonian security services’ ability to investigate terrorist attacks and help the military and other branches of the government stop Boko Haram bomb makers and other threats. The US diplomat also handed over 24 sets of kits to the centre for training in counter-terrorism crime scene investigations.

Cameroon Tribune

6, June 2016

Special Criminal Court frees former Delegate to the Limbe Urban Council ⁰

Samuel Lifanda and co-accused paid the amounts they were accused of embezzling before the matter came to court. The former Government Delegate to the Limbe City Council, Samuel Ebiama Lifanda, reportedly a Pentecostal church pastor, is once more enjoying the air of freedom following his release on May 27, 2016, from detention in the Kondengui-Yaounde Maximum Security Prison by a decision of the Special Criminal Court, SCC. Lifanda was set free alongside Casimir Nyime Lyonga, the then Technical Head for Urban Affairs and Priso Simon Mokosa, ex-Service Head for Urban Affairs – all with the Limbe City Council.

Attempts on June 4, 2016, to reach Samuel Lifanda on phone were cut short by the wife who said he was not ready to talk to the media. Entreated to say when she thought her husband could be available, she retorted that she did not know and quickly hung up. Another family member would not say if Lifanda was now back with the family in Limbe or was still in Yaounde as rumoured. According to a source at the Yaounde-based Special Criminal Court, Lifanda and the two others were jointly accused of embezzling about 67 million FCFA, being funds from undue waivers he granted for building permits.

The former Government Delegate was responsible for most of the sum, with Nyime and Mokosa accused of embezzling relatively smaller amounts. The SCC judicial source said the three suspects were released in accordance with the presidential decree setting up the SCC, with the approval of the Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals before the matter got to court. The advantage at this level, our source pointed out, is that the offence will not be entered into Lifanda’s criminal records; unlike those who are charged to court and later released after reimbursing the amounts they embezzled.

Samuel Ebiama Lifanda, Casimir Nyime Lyonga and Priso Simon Mokosa, were on June 10, 2015, remanded in prison custody after appearing before an SCC Examining Magistrate on charges of embezzlement and mismanagement. The former Government Delegate was on February 6, 2009 replaced by Andrew Motanga Monjimba. He was appointed to the position in 1998, replacing the late Henry Njalla Quan, the pioneer Government Delegate to the then Limbe Urban Council.

Cameroon Tribune

6, June 2016

Peter Agbor Tabi gets befitting state burial ⁰

The former Deputy Secretary-General at the Presidency was decorated posthumously with the medal of National Order of Valour before being interred in his native Ndekwai village on June 4, 2016. All roads led to Mamfe, Manyu Division of the South West Region over the weekend as the nation paid last tribute to one of its illustrious sons, Prof. Peter Agbor Tabi who died on 26 April, 2016 in Paris, France. Not even the scorching sun could deter thousands of mourners from all the corners of the country to converge on the ceremonial ground in Mamfe for the official burial of the late Minister, Deputy Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic.

Present and former cabinet ministers, members of the Senate and National Assembly, South West Administration, ministers of God, traditional rulers, CERAC women, CPDM party supporters and the general public witnessed the official burial ordered by the Head of State in honour of his former close aide. The official ceremony began with the arrival of the representative of the President of the Republic, Minister, Secretary-General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh at the Mamfe ceremonial ground. The casket bearing the mortal remains of Prof. Agbor Tabi was thus brought in by Police officers draped in the national colours amidst solemn music from the military band. A college of clergymen officiated the ecumenical service during which they prayed for the repose of the soul of late Prof.

Agbor Tabi and implored God to comfort the bereaved family. The four eulogies that marked the funeral ceremony delivered by the family head, the South West Chiefs’ Conference, the deceased son and the representative of the Secretary General of the CPDM Central Committee, all attested to the sterling qualities of devotedness, humility, loyalty, hardworking and love for his community.

In a highly emotional speech, the representative of the Head of State described Prof. Agbor Tabi (his former teacher at IRIC) as a man of conviction, values and responsibility who served his nation with diligence and commitment. “In him, we have lost a prominent figure in Cameroon administration, a senior statesman and a patriot,” Ngoh Ngoh stated while adding that the Head of State held Prof. Agbor Tabi in a very high esteem and was deeply touched by his demise. He recounted efforts by the President of the Republic to save his life.

On behalf of the President of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh posthumously decorated the late former Director of IRIC, Rector of University of Yaounde I, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Deputy Secretary General at the Presidency with the medal of National Order of Valour. Meanwhile the Head of State’s condolence message was read and handed to the family by the Senior Divisional Officer of Manyu, Peter Tieh Ndeh.

Cameroon Tribune

5, June 2016

Pressure mounts on British Prime Minister to step down ⁰

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is likely to step down the day after the upcoming referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union (EU), a member of the British Parliament says, noting that more MPs are considering to join the Leave campaign.

Even if the Brexit campaign fails to prevail in the June 23 vote, Cameron’s government is not likely to clinch a victory by a margin bigger than 10 percent, the Daily Mirror reported Sunday. “That would let him leave in a sensible fashion rather than the bloody mess that it could be,” a backbench MP was quoted as saying by the daily.

According to the report, at least 25 Tory MPs are totally committed to the Leave campaign and can give Cameron a hard time in the build-up to the vote. The number is expected to rise as the voting nears. Last week Tory MPs Andrew Bridgen and Nadine Dorries said that the premier had effectively lost his parliamentary support after resorting to “lies” and “outrageous” claims in his bid to persuade British voters to back the Remain campaign.

Bridgen revealed that at least 50 MPs – the number needed to call a confidence vote – were on the ready to challenge Cameron’s leadership, adding that a vote on the prime minister’s future was “probably highly likely” after the referendum. Plotters of Cameron’s ouster inside his own party name leading Tory MP David Davis, his rival in the last general election, as their leader.

Presstv

5, June 2016

133 refugee bodies found on Libya’s western coast ⁰

The Libyan Red Cross says the bodies of 133 refugees, including five children, have been washed up on Libya’s western coast in recent days. Three-quarters of the dead refugees were women, said Red Cross spokesman, Al-Khalis al-Bosaifi on Sunday, noting that the bodies were found on the shore of the northwestern Zuwara City. Bosaifi added that no documents were found with the bodies to identify their nationalities but they were mainly sub-Saharan Africans.

A local official said the refugees were believed to have taken their journey from the Libyan city of Sabratha. People who hope to reach Italy from Libya pay a huge amount of money to human smugglers to give them places on their flimsy boats.The head of the EU’s Mediterranean naval mission recently said that human trafficking accounts for about 30 to 50 percent of the GDP in northwestern Libya.

The UN refugee agency said the route between North Africa and Italy is “dramatically more dangerous” than the route between Turkey and Greece.

Presstv

5, June 2016

National Democratic Institute releases statement on Gabon mission ⁰

Preliminary statement of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) mission to Gabon

Libreville, June 3, 2016

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) deployed an international delegation to Gabon from May 29 to June 3. The purpose of the mission was to assess preparations for the 2016 presidential election and to support Gabonese efforts at ensuring a peaceful, transparent and credible election.

Traveling at the invitation of the Gabonese government and welcomed by all Gabonese political parties – from the majority and opposition – the delegation included political and civic leaders, and election and regional experts from North America, Europe and Africa. It comprised Right Honorable Joe Clark, former Prime Minister of Canada; Ambassador Maria Leissner, Secretary General of the Community of Democracies; Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Senior Associate for Africa at NDI; and Dr. Sophia Moestrup, Deputy Director for Central and West Africa at NDI.

During its stay in Gabon, the delegation met with election authorities, notably the Ministry of Interior, the election commission (CENAP), the Constitutional Court and the National Communications Council (CNC); members of the major political parties from ruling and opposition coalitions; the Council for Democracy (CND); representatives of civic organizations and labor unions; the Mediator of the Republic; and representatives of international development partners present in Libreville, to elicit their views on the electoral framework and political process. The team was also received by the Head of State. The delegation conducted its activities in conformity with Gabonese law and international standards as reflected in the 2005 “Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation.”

While awaiting a more detailed assessment report, the delegation offers its preliminary findings and recommendations on steps that could enhance confidence and participation in the election process.

Overview of the electoral context

The delegation observed that there is intense political debate around the elections with several political parties and grouping splanning to participate actively in the upcoming presidential race. The Gabonese expects the outcome of the electoral process to contribute significantly to the consolidation of peace and democracy in the country.

The delegation noted considerable concerns among many of its interlocutors pertaining to growing tensions andthe possibility of violence during the election period. These concerns derive in large part from the history of past presidential elections in Gabon, coupled with an increasingly polarized socio-political environment. Under these circumstances, concrete steps should be taken to increase transparency and calmtensions. Such actions would reassure citizens that disputes and acts of violence would be prevented before, during and after the election.

These tensions also stem from grievances about the constitutional and legal framework of elections in Gabon, including the electoral system, term limits and the representation of civil society on election management bodies; highly relevant questions on which Gabonese actors should be able to agree in order to consolidate democracy in the country. These differences of opinion are exacerbated by the lack of equal access to public media by opposition parties and the lack of professionalism in information dissemination by some private media outlets.

While many Gabonese political leaders call for dialogue, they each complain of the lack of good faith efforts on the part of their opponents. Although prior attempts at dialogue may not have succeeded, most Gabonese that met with the delegation would like to see those efforts pursued.

The delegation is aware that Gabon has some institutions that could play a catalytic role in fostering citizen participation in politics, such as the National Council for Democracy (CND) and the office of the Mediator of the Republic. These innovative institutions are assets for the consolidation of democracy in Gabon, and strengthening their capacity would provide additional platforms for Gabonese politicians and citizens by facilitating communications and regular interaction. Similarly, the delegation acknowledges early steps over the past few years to modernize the Gabonese electoral system and hopes those initiatives will be further perfected.

The delegation also heard concerns about potential shortcomings in the operationalization of the electoral framework that could undermine the inclusivity, peacefulness, transparency and credibility of the August 2016 presidential poll. These concerns touch on important aspects of the electoral process such as: the reliability of the voters list; the bi-partisan make-up of the CENAP national commission and its decentralized components; and the counting, compilation, centralization and announcement of election results. Under these circumstances, extraordinary steps should be taken beyond the letter of the law by election authorities in consultation with political actors to build citizen confidence in the election and its outcome.

Recommendations

In the spirit of international cooperation and the principles of the African Union Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, and taking into consideration the open-mindedness of the Gabonese with whom we met which aligns with their best national traditions, the delegation offers the following recommendations:

Political and civic leaders should be mindful that elections are a key pillar of democracy; and viewing them as a purely recurring administrative exercise would undermine the free expression of the will of the people.
Concrete steps should be taken to enhance confidence amongst candidates and political parties in the voters list, and could include a professional, public audit of the registry.
The election management body (CENAP) should take concrete steps to speed up the vote counting and transmission of election results. It should also emulate best global practices in the consolidation of results by releasing figures in both aggregated and disaggregated forms at each level of compilation in order to enhance transparency and confidence amongst voters, candidates and political parties.
The National Communication Council (CNC) should adopt measures in partnership with public media to guarantee equitable access to public media during the two-week election campaign as provided for by law. Additionally, the CNC should make accommodations to reflect the reality that the country is already in campaign mode.
The Code of Conduct recently adopted by the National Council for Democracy (CND) as a moral and ethics charter, should be publicly endorsed and implemented by all presidential candidates and party leaders in order to reassure the population of their commitment to contribute to peaceful, transparent and credible elections.
Steps should be taken to facilitate the optimum participation of civil society groups and enhance their capacity to recruit, train and deploy citizen observers to monitor all phases of the electoral process across the country before, during and after the election.
Political and civic leaders should manifest their commitment to peaceful elections by initiatinga high level dialogue as soon as possible in order to lower tensions in the pre- and post-election periods.

The delegation calls on all Gabonese leaders across the political spectrum from majority as well as opposition parties, heads of institutions, civil society, labor unions, the media, religious leaders and the population at large to consider upcoming elections as a historic moment to consolidate peace and democracy and preserve the highest interests of the country.

The delegation thanks all Gabonese with whom we met for their warm welcome.

The mission was funded by a grant from the Department of State under the Fundamental Freedoms Fund.

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NDI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

5, June 2016

Iran says Saudi Arabia the real terrorism sponsor ⁰

Tehran on Sunday dismissed its renewed blacklisting by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism charging that it was US allies including Riyadh that were the real culprits. The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia. Washington “turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world,” foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told the official IRNA news agency.

“While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh (IS) and other terrorist groups, the Islamic Republic of Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria.” Ansari said Washington’s support for Israel despite its decades-old occupation of the Palestinian territories made it the “biggest sponsor of state terrorism”. In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said Iran also “increased its assistance to Iraqi Shiite terrorist groups, including Kataib Hezbollah, which is a US-designated foreign terrorist organisation, as part of an effort to fight the Islamic State.”Kataib Hezbollah is one of a number of Iran-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that have played a major part in the government’s fightback against the Sunni extremists of IS.

France 24