News

7, April 2023

Dozens killed in Nigeria amid clashes between herders and farmers ⁰

Gunmen have attacked a rural village in northern central Nigeria, killing dozens of people, local government officials said on Friday.

The attack happened on Wednesday in Umogidi community in Benue State, where tit-for-tat clashes are common between nomadic herders and settled farmers competing for land and resources.

“The 46 casualties were from the bodies of victims found and retrieved. Many people are still missing, so the number of those killed may be higher,” Paul Hemba, security advisor to Benue State governor, told AFP.

He blamed herdsmen who he said had been attacking local communities over the last month.

“Soldiers have been dispatched to the area, so the situation is a bit calm now.”

The motive for the attack was not clear but Benue has been one of the hardest hit by clashes between farmers and herders who they accuse of destroying farmland with their cattle grazing.

A representative of the national herders’ association was not immediately available for comment.

Bala Ejeh, Otukpo local government chairman, said the gunmen attacked on Wednesday afternoon when people were mourning three others killed a day earlier.

He also said 46 bodies had been recovered so far, including that of his own son and two relatives.

Communal violence is just one of the security challenges facing President-elect Bola Tinubu who won a presidential ballot last month that was marked by heavy delays and accusations of vote rigging.

Security forces are also battling a 14-year-long jihadist conflict in the country’s northwest and attacks by separatists in the southeast.

Intercommunal violence has spiralled into broader criminality in the northwest and centre of the country, where heavily armed bandit militias ransack villages and carry out mass abductions for ransom.

Source: AFP

7, April 2023

Gunmen abduct at least 25 people in Ako Sub Division ⁰

At least 25 people were abducted during a week of attacks by armed men in Cameroon, local officials said Thursday.

The kidnappings by gang members took place in several villages in Ako district along the Nigerian border, Patrick Kernyuy Tah, the top official in Ako, said.

“Several hundred people fled the attacks by unidentified gunmen in Abafum, Akwancha and Abutu villages,” he said. The government has deployed the military to rescue those abducted and help the injured, he said.

Local residents have been calling on Cameroon authorities to increase security in the area, as armed gangs operate on both sides of the border. While it’s unclear who is responsible for the abductions, officials believe it could be ethnic Fulani herders from Nigeria, a largely Muslim semi-nomadic group who regularly cross into Cameroon with their cattle and clash with farmers.

The Central African nation has been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017, with the stated goal of breaking away from the area dominated by the French-speaking majority country and setting up an independent, English-speaking state. The government has accused the separatists of committing atrocities against civilians. The conflict has killed more than 3,300 people and displaced more than 750,000 others, according to the U.N.

Ako, where the abductions took place, hasn’t been prone to attacks and many people fleeing the separatist violence have sought refuge there.

Those who fled the fighting, which began last week, said people were tortured if they refused to give the attackers money, while many were taken away from their families.

“I am not very concerned about the several bags of rice which were looted from my shop. My main worry is the whereabouts of my two children,” said Cyprain Meme. “I do not know if they are hiding in the bush or if they were abducted.”

Source: Fox News

6, April 2023

Iran, Saudi Arabia move to reopen embassies, vow to bring ‘stability’ to Mideast ⁰

Top diplomats from Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday, pledging to work together to bring “security and stability” to their turbulent region following a surprise China-brokered deal.

In a joint statement released after talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the two sides vowed to continue to work together to improve ties.

“The two sides emphasised the importance of following up on the implementation of the Beijing Agreement and its activation in a way that expands mutual trust and the fields of cooperation and helps create security, stability and prosperity in the region,” said the statement.

Tehran and Riyadh announced a Beijing-brokered agreement in March to restore relations that had been severed seven years ago when protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions.

The ministers’ visit to Beijing came as French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen were also in the Chinese capital, seeking to make Europe’s case in a meeting with Xi Jinping for bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

The shock rapprochement between mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and Shiite-majority Iran, strongly at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, has the potential to reshape relations across a region characterised by turbulence for decades.

The two sides “negotiated and exchanged opinions with the emphasis on the official resumption of bilateral relations and the executive steps towards the reopening of the embassies and consulates of the two countries”, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saudi state TV channel Al Ekhbariya aired footage of the pair shaking hands in front of Saudi and Iranian flags and then talking and smiling.

In a readout from state broadcaster CCTV, Beijing hailed “the first official meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in more than seven years” and Beijing’s “active mediation” in the diplomacy.

Under last month’s agreement, the two countries are to reopen their embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation deals signed more than 20 years ago.

Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran in January 2016, after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran and consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad over Riyadh’s execution of the Saudi opposition Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Talks between the foreign ministers are expected to be followed by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Riyadh.

Raisi accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said on Monday.

Challenge to US

Iran and Saudi Arabia support rival sides in several conflict zones across the region, including in Yemen, where the Huthi rebels are backed by Tehran and Riyadh leads a military coalition supporting the government.

The two sides also vie for influence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Riyadh’s traditional ally Washington welcomed the detente agreement, but said it remains to be seen whether the Iranians will “honour their side of the deal”.

China’s success in bringing Iran and Saudi Arabia together has challenged the United States’ long standing role as the main outside power broker in the Middle East.

An expert told AFP that Beijing’s role would likely increase confidence that any deal would stick.

“Because China is a strong backer of Iran, Saudi should have more confidence in Iran’s ability to comply with the agreement, an issue that has always been in doubt,” said Joel Rubin, former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.

Thursday’s meeting “suggests that the process hasn’t gone off track since the Beijing announcement last month”, said Ali Vaez, Director of the International Crisis Group’s Iran Project.

“But it’s still early days to judge whether this is just a tactical detente or a way-station towards strategic rapprochement.”

Warming ties

Officials from Iran and Saudi Arabia held several rounds of dialogue in Baghdad and Oman before they met in Beijing.

In 2016 a number of Gulf countries followed Riyadh’s action in scaling back ties with Tehran, but they have led the way in restoring diplomatic relations.

Iran welcomed an Emirati ambassador last September, after a six-year absence, and on Wednesday named its own ambassador to the UAE, following a nearly eight-year hiatus.

Last year Iran said Kuwait had sent its first ambassador to Tehran since 2016.

Iran has also welcomed a potential rapprochement with Bahrain, a close Saudi ally, which in the past accused Iran of backing a Shiite-led uprising in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, an accusation Tehran denies.

Source: AFP

5, April 2023

French Cameroun: Traditional leader kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants ⁰

Suspected members of the terror group Boko Haram have abducted a traditional leader in Cameroon’s Far North region, according to security and local sources.

The traditional leader of Hidjelidje village was abducted after militants of the terror group raided the village late Monday, a military official in the region said.

“They did not shoot. They just came and kidnapped the leader. Obviously, it was a targeted attack. Villagers are progressively fleeing the village,” the official who asked not to be named told Xinhua by phone.

Raids on civilian communities in the region in recent weeks have displaced several families, especially in the Logone and Chari division where the attacks have become frequent, according to security reports by the local police.

The terror group has been active in the region since 2014.

Source: Xinhuanet

5, April 2023

Southern Cameroonians to pay final respects to loved ones who died at sea!! Yaoundé won’t talk ⁰

Preparations are underway in Cameroon for family members and friends to pay their final respects for some of the African migrants believed to have died in the March 28 boat tragedy.

The family of Mofor Verdo, Observer can confirm, has made arrangements in his homeland to celebrate his life.

His brother Fedelis told our newsroom yesterday that the family had been able to confirm from a survivor of the incident that Verdo was one of those killed.

Verdo was one of 30 Cameroonians who lost his life when La Belle Michelle capsized near the coast of St Kitts and Nevis, after the overcrowded fishing vessel ran into difficulty.

Verdo’s wife, according to his brother, has taken ill since hearing the news.

When Verdo left Cameroon in November, he had promised his wife that once he arrived in the US, where he had intended to end up, life would be better.

Hundreds of thousands of Cameroonians have fled violence in the Central African nation, where Anglophone separatists and government forces have been fighting each other for six years.

Several other distraught relatives are still waiting to confirm the status of loved ones believed to have been on the boat which was heading from Antigua to the US Virgin Islands.

“They are supposed to be sending the list out of both dead and alive. It is not right that we are kept in such suspense. They treat Cameroonians like dogs, locked in a cage without a name. Even dogs have names. This is painful and hurtful,” one Cameroonian here in Antigua told Observer.

Those who arrived in Antigua on charter flights from Nigeria last November and December were promised they would be transported to South America or the United States.

Instead, they were left stranded.

Meanwhile, 16 survivors who include two Antiguans remain in St Kitts and Nevis at a community centre while arrangements are made to return them to Antigua and Barbuda.

The government has been in dialogue with authorities in St Kitts to determine whether they will be transported by sea or air.

Observer can also confirm that no charges have been laid against against those suspected of organising the doomed voyage, St Kitts police confirmed to Observer. However, investigations into the incident continue in Antigua and Barbuda, along with Guadeloupe where La Belle Michelle was registered.

One of the two Antiguans on board has been released to relatives in St Kitts, according to sources.

It’s now been a week since the search for survivors was called off. And while law enforcement officials search for answers, questions linger over what international implications this matter could have on Antigua and Barbuda.

Akaash Maharaj, ambassador-at-large and former CEO of the Global Organisation of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), weighed in on that discussion earlier this week.

He said while he has not yet had dialogue with other territories, those who offer visa-free travel for Antiguans and Barbudans are likely considering tightening up travel restrictions as the country could now be seen as a nation linked to illegal migration.

“Now we see a situation where not only has there been a human trafficking situation based out of Antigua and Barbuda but there’s a reason for apprehension. That is one that happened with the knowledge and with the financing of the government.

“The question that the government should be asking themselves and other states would be asking themselves regarding what was a catastrophic error by the government of Antigua and Barbuda is, is it quite likely to repeat itself or is this potentially part of a pattern that they can expect to see happening in the future.

“That is another reason why it is so important that there is a full independent inquiry into these events,” Maharaj said.

Maharaj went on to share suggestions on how the government could help to clean up the country’s image.

“The best way the government of Antigua and Barbuda can reassure the international community that these events will not be repeated and that they need not fear that this is the first in a line of human smuggling activities is for the people within the country who are responsible for complicity to be brought to justice.

“If the international community sees any political actors’ fingerprints who were on this human smuggling operation have been struck from power, have been convicted after an independent, fair and impartial process, and have paid a price before the law enforcement system, then they will feel reassured that this is not going to reoccur, but if the government evades accountability for those who are guilty, inevitably foreign states will ask themselves, well if they got away with it this time, are they not likely to try it again,” he explained.

It is believed that about 30 migrants were smuggled out of Antigua and Barbuda aboard La Belle Michelle.

The 14 migrants who were rescued along with two Antiguans were revealed to have arrived in Antigua and Barbuda between November and December aboard charter flights from Nigeria.

Maharaj referred to last week’s ordeal as a “great tragedy” and a matter that did not need to snowball into such a fiasco.

He said government must take responsibility for it despite claims by government ministers, including Prime Minister Gaston Browne, that they were misled.

He added that the fact that the airline was part-owned by government already implicates them as “they were more than happy to take credit when it was first touted as a great tourist pool for the country”.

Source: Antigua Observer

4, April 2023

US: Trump pleads not guilty to criminal charges ⁰

As expected, the former US president has entered a “not guilty” plea, Reuters reports.

Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, Trump, 76, pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Trump has entered the courtroom on the 15th floor of the Manhattan Criminal Courts building, where his arraignment will begin shortly.

The former US president did not address the media as he entered the room.

Jail time?

While the criminal charges remain sealed, it is difficult to predict whether a potential conviction could see the unprecedented situation of a former US president being sentenced to prison.

The charges against Trump are believed to involve business fraud and campaign-finance violations, but whether they rise to the level of felonies – which carry potential jail time – is unknown for now.

Trump has no criminal record and whether he would be sentenced to prison in the event of a conviction remains to be seen.

Source: France 24

4, April 2023

French Cameroun: Three Wounded In Boko Haram Attack ⁰

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacked Amchide and Kolofata in Cameroon during the early hours of Saturday, leaving three persons wounded.

Two of those wounded were shot, while the third person suffered a machete attack. Sources say they also made away with kitchen utensils, clothes, and three telephones, amongst other items in the Yaboga neighbourhood.

This is the third attack within two weeks in the locality. On March 21, at least one member of the Cameroonian forces died, and several others got injured in a landmine explosion between Amchide and Kolofata. Another attack occurred on March 18.

Since Boko Haram entered Cameroon in 2011, it only started attacks in March 2014. The attacks had prompted President Paul Biya to join other neighbouring Presidents at a May 2014 Paris Summit to say, “We are here to declare war on Boko Haram.” Out of all border villages, Kolofata has remained one of the most hit.

Boko Haram has been trying hard to build an Islamic State in Northeast Nigeria. They easily extended attacks to the Far North of Cameroon in 2014, made easy by the region’s proximity to Nigeria.

With rising attacks this year in the Far North, other regional divisional officers are making dispositions to protect their communities from attacks.

Authorities in the Logone and Chari divisions have raised alerts on a possible infiltration of insurgents in their community. The Divisional Officer, Fombele Mathias, issued a letter to all subordinates, urging them to instantly hold sensitisation meetings, rebuild vigilante groups, engage the population and collaborate with church and traditional authorities.

Crisis Group says the Boko Haram crisis in Cameroon has caused over 1500 deaths, 155,000 displaced persons, and 73,000 refugees.

Source: Humanglemedia

3, April 2023

US: Trump leaves Florida home to face criminal charges in New York ⁰

Donald Trump left his Florida home Monday bound for New York where he will surrender to criminal charges, taking the United States into uncharted and potentially volatile territory.

The 76-year-old Republican, the first American president ever to be criminally indicted, will be formally charged Tuesday over hush money paid to a porn star during the 2016 election campaign.

TV footage showed a motorcade departing Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home at 12:20 pm (1620 GMT) to head to the city where he made his name, and where he hopes to use his appearance before a judge to rouse support for his 2024 White House bid.

“The Corrupt D.A. has no case,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social, of the Manhattan district attorney prosecuting the case. “What he does have is a venue where it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to get a Fair Trial.”

New York police were on high alert ahead of Trump’s arrival, with security cordons and Secret Service agents outside Trump Tower and the criminal court where he will appear before a judge Tuesday afternoon.

Police guard the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City, where Donald Trump is expected to surrender to charges on Tuesday.

Police guard the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City, where Donald Trump is expected to surrender to charges on Tuesday. © Leonardo Munoz, AFP file photo

New York Mayor Eric Adams warned that anyone protesting violently during Trump’s historic arraignment will be “arrested and held accountable, no matter who you are.”

“While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow our message is clear, is simple: ‘control yourselves’,” the mayor told a press conference.

As part of his arraignment, Trump will undergo the standard booking procedure of being fingerprinted and photographed, likely to result in one of the most famous mugshots of the modern era.

‘Up in the air’

There is no roadmap for a former president’s surrender to court authorities, and it remains to be seen whether the famously unpredictable Trump will follow the script, or find a way to upend events.

“It’s all up in the air,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said on CNN Sunday.

But a “perp walk” – in which a defendant is escorted in handcuffs past media cameras – is unlikely for an ex-president under US Secret Service protection, Tacopina said.

“Hopefully this will be as painless and classy as possible for a situation like this.”

But Trump, who has denounced the legal proceedings as a “witch hunt” and “political persecution, is girding for battle, Tacopina added.

A grand jury indicted Trump last week in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat.

The specific charges will be revealed during Tuesday’s hearing. They revolve around the investigation of $130,000 paid to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels just days before Trump’s election win.

Trump’s former lawyer and aide Michael Cohen, who has since turned against his ex-boss, says he arranged the payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about a tryst she says she had with Trump in 2006.

Trump, who was already married to his wife Melania at the time, denies the affair.

Legal experts have suggested that if not properly accounted for, the payment could result in misdemeanor charges for falsifying business records that could be raised to felonies if it was intended to cover up a campaign finance violation.

The Daniels case is only one of several investigations threatening Trump.

Republicans unite?

An independent prosecutor is looking into any potential role Trump played in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, as well as his handling and keeping of classified documents after he left the White House.

In the swing state of Georgia, Trump is under investigation for pressuring officials to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory there – including a taped phone call in which he asked the secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse the result.

Biden, knowing anything he might say could fuel Trump’s complaints of a politically “weaponized” judicial system, is one of the few Democrats maintaining silence over the indictment of his political rival.

Republicans have largely rallied around Trump, including his rival in the party’s presidential primary, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the indictment “un-American.”

But some Republicans bristled at the prospect of a twice-impeached president facing multiple legal probes seeking the party’s nomination.

Some observers believe the indictment bodes ill for Trump’s 2024 chances, while others say it could boost his support.

A CNN poll Monday found that 94 percent of Democrats surveyed approved of the grand jury’s decision to indict Trump while 79 percent of Republicans disapproved. Some 62 percent of independents

Source: AFP

2, April 2023

Burkina Faso expels reporters from French newspapers ⁰

Foreign reporters working for France’s ‘Le Monde’ and ‘Libération’ dailies have been expelled from Burkina Faso as part of measures the West African country has taken against French media.

French newspaper Le Monde reported the expulsion on Sunday, saying Burkina had told French correspondents to leave.

“Our correspondent in Burkina Faso, Sophie Douce, has been expelled from the country… at the same time as her colleague from Libération, Agnes Faivre,” Le Monde announced, condemning the move as “arbitrary” and “unacceptable”.

“Libération” also said it “vigorously protests these absolutely unjustified expulsions” and suggested they were linked to an investigation it published earlier in the week.

“The March 27 publication of a Libération investigation into the circumstances in which a video was filmed showing children and adolescents being executed in a military barracks by at least one soldier evidently strongly displeased the junta in power in Burkina Faso,” the paper said.

The Burkina government spokesman said after the piece was published that “the government strongly condemns these manipulations disguised as journalism to tarnish the image of the country”.

The two reporters arrived in Paris early on Sunday after being expelled late on Saturday, Le Monde added.

Also on Monday, Burkina’s ruling junta suspended all broadcasts by the France 24 news channel, after it interviewed the head of Al-Qaeda North Africa.

In December, the Burkina junta suspended Radio France Internationale (RFI), which belongs to the same France Medias Monde group as France 24, accusing the radio station of airing a “message of intimidation” attributed to a “terrorist chief”.

Burkina Faso, which scrapped a 1961 agreement on military assistance with France only weeks after it told the French ambassador and troops to quit the country, is battling extremist militants.

This week we are focusing on the move by Burkina Faso to eject the ambassador of France from the country in response to demands by the masses who believe France is the source of insecurity in this West African country.

Bilateral ties between Burkina Faso and its former colonizer France have been strained following two military coups last year fueled in part by the failure of the government in protecting civilians from terrorist organizations in the Sahel region.

The decade-long militancy has caused significant instability not only in Burkina Faso, but also in neighboring Niger and Mali, the original epicenter of the insurgents.

Both France 24 and RFI, which cover African affairs and broadcast news in former French colonies in Africa, referred to as Françafrique, have been also suspended in Mali.

The militancy has taken on even greater proportions with the spillover effects of the crisis reaching neighboring West African littoral states such as Ivory Coast and Benin.

Source: Presstv

31, March 2023

Biya meets New UN Special Representative for Central Africa ⁰

Mr Abdou Abarry, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) was received in audience at Unity Palace on 29 March 2023 by the 90-year-old Cameroonian dictator Paul BIYA.

As usual, the new UN Diplomat, an alumnus of the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (IRIC), said it was an absolute privilege and honour to have been received by Mr Biya to whom he conveyed the special salutations of the UN Secretary General.

“I conveyed to him the special greetings of Mr Antonio Guterres – his good friend and a good friend of Cameroon,” he said.