US President Donald Trump has admitted to using “tough” language while commenting on immigrants during a private meeting with lawmakers on Thursday.

During the meeting, in which he rejected a bipartisan deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, he reportedly asked why “people from shithole countries come to” the United States.

His contemptuous comments, which were about immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African countries, have provoked sever criticism in the US and abroad.

However, in a series of Friday morning tweets, Trump said that “the language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used.”

“What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA.”

He also denied saying that Haitians must be removed from negotiations about protected status for people from certain countries.

“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!”

However, Senator Dick Durbin, the only Democrat in the room disputed the president’s account.

“He said these hate-filled things and he said them repeatedly,” Durbin said. “When the question was asked about Haitians … he said, ‘Haitians? Do we need more Haitians?’”

Also, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake tweeted that “the words used by the President, as related to me directly following the meeting by those in attendance, were not ‘tough,’ they were abhorrent and repulsive.”

“I think it was stupid and irresponsible and childish,” said Republican Mike Simpson. “He’s president of the United States. That’s not how a president behaves.”

African countries expressed disbelief and disgust at the president’s remarks. The United Nations human rights office also denounced as “racist” Trump’s remarks.

During the 2016 presidential race, Trump campaigned for “a total and complete shutdown” of US borders on those he deemed as undesirable.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 260,000 immigrants from El Salvador, forcing them to gradually leave the US.

Source: Presstv

Ten leaders of the independence movement in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon could be at risk of torture and unfair trials if extradited from Nigeria, where they have been arrested and detained in secret for one week, Amnesty International said today.

On 5 January, armed men in plain clothes stormed a hotel in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja where the pro- independence activists were meeting, and arrested them without presenting a warrant or providing an explanation. They are being held incommunicado, without any access to a lawyer, in contravention of Nigerian law which demands they must be seen by a judge within 48 hours. Human rights lawyers in Nigeria have said that an extradition request has been made by the Cameroonian government, but no details have been made public.

“Efforts to tackle the Anglophone crisis should always respect the law, and avoid restricting freedom of expression. Authorities in Nigeria should immediately disclose the activists’ whereabouts, allow them access to a lawyer, and unless they have sufficient evidence to charge them with a recognizable crime, release them immediately”.

The pro-independence activists said that they were meeting in Nigeria to discuss the influx of thousands of asylum seekers following protests in October, in which more than 20 civilians were killed by security forces. In recent months, more than 10 members of security forces have also been killed by more radical pro-independence groups. They have always claimed to pursue their aim of independence for the Anglophone regions through peaceful means.

All those arrested were legally living in Nigeria, and some had been granted political asylum. Under Nigerian law, it would be illegal to extradite the activists for political crimes, or if they faced the risk of torture or an unfair trial.

In Cameroon, those charged with crimes related to national security are prosecuted by military courts without respect for due process, and Amnesty International has documented a widespread pattern of torture by security forces and intelligence agencies. In July 2017 the organization published a report documenting more than 100 cases of torture of people accused without evidence of supporting Boko Haram.

www.amnesty.org

The family of the abducted President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia H.E. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe from Abuja tearfully pleads with the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the international community to contact them and let them know that their husband and father is alive and safe.

“All we want is him to come back to us,” the abducted President’s wife said. “Sisiku, if you are out there listening, pick up the phone.”

Family members last heard from the President on January 5 at around 2:00 pm local time when they talked on phone. Since then, he is unreachable via his phone and he has not reached out to any family member.

According to eye witness accounts, the Ambazonia President and nine of his top aides were arrested by Nigerian security agents.

Below are the names and professional and legal information of those arrested.

1 / – Wilfred Tassang

Recently granted Asylum Status in Nigeria

2/ – Doctor Nfor Ngala Nfor

Political Asylum; – UN Refugee status;

3 / – Professor Awasom

US citizen; Teachers at a US University;

4 / – Doctor Cornelius Kwanga:  PhD. Economics, Professor of Economics and Management

Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Nigeria.

Nigerian Permanent Resident’s Status,

5/ – Doctor Henry Kimeng: PhD, Civil Engineering,  Associate Professor of Civil Engineering

Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria Nigerian Permanent Resident Status  6 / – Lawyer Elias Eyambe: Granted Asylum status In Nigeria,  Member African Bar Association;

7 / – Lawyer Nalova Bih: Recently Granted asylum Status in Nigeria, Member, African Bar Association

8/ – Doctor Ojong Okongo: Former professor at a Nigerian University,  Nigerian Citizen Now Works as a business owner in Nigeria.

9 / – Julius Ayuk Tabe: Computer Engineer

Nigerian Permanent Resident’s Status

10 /- Dr. Fidelis Nde Che

PhD. in Electronics and Electrical Engineering,  Professor at the American University of Nigeria in Yola

Adamawa State, Nigeria. Nigerian Permanent Resident

The President including nine of his aides were arrested at Nera Hotel in Abuja at around 8:00 pm during a crisis meeting to map out a strategy to provide support and improve living conditions of over 40,000 Southern Cameroonians who have fled to neighbouring Nigeria from military repression in across Ambazonia territory since October 2016 when independence sentiments started. In particular, President Paul Biya declared war on Manyu county residents on November 30, 2017.

Biya declaration was emphasized by a decree signed by his appointed Senior Divisional Officer in Manyu that ordered all residents in more than 27 villages to vacate the county within 24 hours. Barely 3 hours into the order, armed soldiers and paramilitary forces in war vehicles and helicopters were already in Manyu. Since then, there is ongoing targeted killing, arbitrary arrest, burning of homes and destruction of farms and businesses that contributes to mass migration.

President Ayuk Tabe and his government have been providing moral, spiritual, material and financial support to the refugees and he often visits them. Since his arrest, refugees are afraid Cameroon government officials will follow them into Nigeria and kill them all.

One week after the arrest of their leaders, the people of Ambazonia worldwide do not know yet what led to their President and aides arrest and are treating the case as a plan by La Republique du Cameroun government to derail the independence restoration movement. The current atmosphere across Ambazonia is tense and ripe with anger as youths and parents are waiting instructions from Ambazonia leadership to explode.

In the coming days, the insecurity and instability across Ambazonia and La Republique du Cameroun territories might escalate as more radical groups and the largely angry populations burst into sporadic and uncontrollable activities in respond to the arrest of President Seseku Julius Ayuk Tabe and his nine aides.

By Fru James in Abuja, Nigeria

NB: Fru James is a Cameroonian freelancer

Over a thousand Ambazonian citizens in the Federal Republic of Germany are expected to stage a demonstration on Friday the 19^th of January 2018 in Berlin in front of the Nigerian embassy. Cameroon Concord News understands the demo is in solidarity with the Interim Head of State of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 9 of his top aides arrested in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja by the Department of State Security (DSS).  The Ambazonian anti- Nigerian government protests is also aimed at attracting the German administration to the genocide going on in Southern Cameroons.

Protests are being planned all over Western Europe including the US and Canada. The move was triggered by President Buhari’s negative intervention into the crisis in Southern Cameroons. Demonstrators will be asking that the Nigerian government release the Interim Head of State and his senior advisers currently being held in an undisclosed location in Abuja.

The Ambazonian interim government has put the number of those who have died in the unrest at 732 and has disputed allegations from the Francophone dominated regime in Yaoundé that the Ambazonian  defense force killed Cameroon government security officers.

Southern Cameroonians who will be protesting in Berlin will also ask that the Nigerian government demand that human rights violations in Ambazonia are addressed. There will also be calls for President Biya and his army chiefs to be tried at the International Criminal Court.

By Sonne Peter in Berlin

Using the most condescending and undiplomatic language imaginable, US President Donald Trump has reportedly asked why “people from shithole countries come to” the United States.

Trump made the contemptuous comments about immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African countries during a White House meeting on Thursday with lawmakers who were reportedly startled and charged that the Republican president is racist, according to multiple people briefed on the meeting.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to The Washington Post.

“Why do we need more Haitians?” he added, according to the report. “Take them out.”

Trump reportedly suggested America should accept more immigrants from European countries such as Norway, whose Prime Minister Erna Solberg met with Trump on Wednesday in the White House.

Later on, The New York Times also reported the same comment, citing unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the extraordinary Oval Office conversation.

Trump’s comments surprised Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Representative Bob Goodlatte, who attended the meeting, according to the Post.

The White House did not deny Trump’s despicable description of an entire continent but said the president supports an immigration policy that welcomes “those who can contribute to our society.”

“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said while commenting on Trump’s racist slur.

“The president will only accept an immigration deal that adequately addresses the visa lottery system and chain migration — two programs that hurt our economy and allow terrorists into our country,” the spokesman said.

“Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation. He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway.”

‘Trump’s comments go beyond the pale’

Commenting on Trump’s remarks, American political analyst and academic Dennis Etler said, “The president of the United States can no longer be considered by anyone of conscience as a paragon of ‘democratic values,’ as if he ever could. Not that any recent president has been, but Trump’s comments have gone beyond the pale.”

“The Statue of Liberty has emblazoned on its base the immortal words of Emma Lazarus, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’” Etler, who has a decades-long interest in international affairs, told Press TV on Friday morning.

“It doesn’t say, ‘Go home you tired, you poor Aids infected filthy masses yearning to rape and murder. We don’t want the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed back to their shithole countries. I extinguish my lamp and slam shut the golden door!’” the scholar stated.

Source: Presstv

A human-rights lawyer representing English-speaking Cameroonian separatists said Thursday the group had been arrested by Nigeria’s secret service and were being held “illegally”, calling on the government to probe their disappearance. Femi Falana Femi Falana said Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the president of the anglophone separatist movement in Cameroon, and nine others were detained at a hotel in Abuja last weekend. “Armed operatives of the State Security Service (Nigeria’s secret service) invaded the venue, abducted our clients and took them away to an undisclosed place,” he said. The intelligence agency has denied any arrests but rumours have swirled about the men’s possible whereabouts.

Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Wednesday told reporters he had met the security agencies and said questions remained about the identity of those detained. “I don’t know whether to call it an arrest or it could be people just called in for questioning or whatever. The investigations are ongoing,” he said after a cabinet meeting. Falana, however, called for his clients to be either released from “illegal custody” or charged within 48 hours, threatening court action “to secure the enforcement of their fundamental rights to personal liberty”. The leaders have not been in contact with their families or legal team, he said, adding he had “confirmed” the government in Yaoundé had asked Abuja to repatriate the men. “Our clients are not illegal immigrants in Nigeria as some of them have been granted political asylum by the federal government while others have valid permanent resident status in Nigeria,” said Falana.

On October 1, the breakaway Anglophone movement issued a symbolic declaration of independence for “Ambazonia”, claiming autonomy over English-speaking regions in the country. Cameroon’s President Paul Biya fiercely opposes secession and has met the agitation with a crackdown, including curfews, raids and restrictions on travel. Thousands of refugees have flooded the border into Nigeria to escape the violence. International monitors say at least 20 and possibly 40 people have been killed in clashes since late September, though the Biya government fiercely disputes the death toll. The Anglophone minority dates to the emergence of Cameroon in 1960-61, as France and Britain wound down their colonies in west Africa.

www.vanguardngr.com

Source: Reuters

The formation of the Interim Government prompted the Biya regime and its think tank to convene an important meeting that held in Mvomeka’a. President Biya wanted to know the General XX including some of the members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. A senior Anglophone political elite approached Biya during the deliberations and suggested that Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the Interim Head of State of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia be eliminated. The suggestion, coming from a Southern Cameroonian surprised even some CPDM hardliners. (See http://www.cameroonintelligencereport.com/nigeria-to-expel-the-interim-president-of-the-federal-republic-of-ambazonia/)

Yaoundé decided to put the Nigerian ambassador Lawan Abba Gashagar under pressure. To be sure, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Cameroon was either responding to questions coming from the Minister-Secretary General at the Presidency or meeting the Minister for External Relations over the activities of the Interim Government in Nigeria. Etoudi at some point requested that the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, should arrest and repatriate President Ayuk Tabe from Nigeria to Cameroon to stand trial. In a correspondence to President Buhari via Minister Rene Sadi, President Biya politely accused the Buhari administration of aiding the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Amabzonia.

Biya maintained that a Nigerian interest group was assisting the Ambazonian leader to travel out of the country to Europe and America extensively. President Buhari sent a letter to Biya stating that the Federal Republic of Nigeria has no intention of supporting Southern Cameroonians. The Nigerian ambassador handed over the Buhari letter and issued a statement to that effect in Yaoundé.

Yaoundé has never trusted Abuja and so it secretly staged a military operation deep inside Nigerian territory that attracted wide condemnation from the outspoken governor of the Cross River State of Nigeria.  The Biya regime denied the cross border raids and stepped up the pressure on Ambassador Lawan Abba. The Mvomeka’a meeting had an inner caucus that resolved to assassinate President Ayuk Tabe including at least four Ambazonia cabinet ministers. Anglophone Secret Service officers were dispatched to join the thousands of Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria and 10 of them who are originally from the Manyu County deceived the Interim Government that they had actually defected from the Cameroon army.

President Ayuk Tabe gave standing instructions that the 10 so-called former soldiers of La Republique be properly auditioned before any integration into the secretariat for defense. This instruction was never followed. 4 among the ten knew that if Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was eliminated, a Manyu son will be appointed Prime Minister and Head of Government. Little did they know that from the very first day they introduced themselves as soldiers who had defected, the Nigerian Secret Service kept them under severe surveillance.

The 4 moved to other parts of Nigeria and had access to intelligence information on the activities of the Interim Government. They could afford 4 and 5 star hotels in Lagos and Abuja and had planned to kill the Interim President and members of the Governing Council in Abuja. The 4 reportedly entered Abuja and disappeared from the Nigerian security radar. Our sources in Nigeria say, the Nigerian Secret Service, the DSS were in that area where the Nera Hotels is located but were not on their normal ongoing show of force. Immediately Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides entered the hotel, the DSS drove in and staged the arrest. Further efforts to establish contact with the Ambazonia leaders have remained unsuccessful. As it stands now, we can confirm that the leadership of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is in protective custody.  The DSS Buhari-led operation was principally targeted at securing the president and his cabinet.

The arrest is yielding the desired result to the liberation struggle as it has attracted the US, the French and the British governments. The Nigerian DSS has launched a manhunt for the 4 Cameroon government security agents.

The world now knows that the Biya administration has practically abandoned its call for dialogue with Southern Cameroonians in search of a brute route to eliminate the Ambazonian leader.  The situation is very tense at the moment in Southern Cameroons as death threats are being issued to Nigerian citizens. None of the so-called Anglophone political elites have demanded the withdrawal of troops from the territory as their presence is raising the level of tension that already exists in the country.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Voter registration is underway in Cameroon ahead of nationwide elections later this year, however the electoral body is encountering both voter apathy and challenges due to insecurity in some parts of the country.

The staff of Cameroon elections management body ELECAM move from shop to shop at the busy Mfoundi market in Yaounde convincing potential voters to have their names registered on electoral lists.

A man registers for the elections in Bafoussam, Cameroon, Jan. 5, 2018.

Business lady Winifred Bwei, 34, decides not to sign up.

“Last election year [2013], I went to vote,” she explained. “I saw that somebody had already voted. I saw my name that somebody had already voted [as me] and I was not the one and political parties are complaining that elections are always rigged by the ruling government so I don’t think my voting would change anything.”

Cameroon plans to hold local council, parliamentary and presidential elections starting in September. If held separately, the polls could continue into October.

Few see much suspense as President Paul Biya seeks re-election. He is one of Africa’s longest ruling heads of state. The ruling party has controlled parliament and most local councils for decades.

ELECAM officials, who are appointed by the president, have dismissed allegations of rigging as unfounded.

Besides the voter apathy, election workers are struggling with insecurity in several parts of the country.

Cameroon is currently experiencing tensions in its two English-speaking regions where separatists have declared independence for a new state they call Ambazonia. The yearlong crisis has led to bouts of violent unrest.

FILE – Demonstrators carry banners as they take part in a march voicing their opposition to independence or more autonomy for the anglophone regions, in Douala, Cameroon, Oct. 1, 2017.

Voter registration has been suspended in some places like Manyu Division in southwestern Cameroon where there have been regular clashes between the military and armed separatists.

Meanwhile, the central African state also continues to battle Boko Haram in its Far North region. The suicide bombings that re-intensified in mid-2017 have abated, but many people are yet to return home.

As of November 30, the U.N. Refugee Agency reports a total of 240,000 internally displaced people in Cameroon, nearly all of them in the Far North.

FILE- Cameroonian internally displaced queue at a camp in Kolofata, in the extreme north of Cameroon, for a food distribution provided by the International Red Cross Committee (ICR) on Feb. 22, 2017.

Paulin Djorwe, official of the opposition political party the Movement for the Defense of the Republic, says the Boko Haram conflict has left people unable to register to vote.

He says many potential voters are unable to acquire national identity cards because police identification stations in some border zones were closed due to Boko Haram terrorism. He says if the elections management body ELECAM and the government want many more people of voting age to register, they should reopen the identification offices.

ELECAM says it can only move into conflict zones in the north and some villages and towns in the anglophone regions to begin voter registration once the military declares those areas safe.

FILE – This photo taken June 17, 2014 shows Cameroonian soldiers standing next to pick up trucks with mounted heavy artillery in Mora, northern Cameroon.

The electoral body aims to register 10 million from the estimated 12 million people in the country aged 20 and above and eligible to vote. So far, 6.5 million voters have registered.

Abdoulaye Babale, head of ELECAM, says they will intensity their efforts.

“We are developing a new strategy,” he said. “In rural areas, generally people take their time. We are going to have caravans informing them long in advance and then we implicate the traditional rulers and the civil society to help us because time is against us. In major cities, we also have our caravans and [we will] multiply our stations in order to catch as many voters as possible.”

No date, or dates, for the polls have been set. Voter registration is scheduled to end the day President Paul Biya makes that announcement. The president can postpone the elections if calm does not return to hotspots.

Source: VOA

Unlawful arrest /abduction of Cameroonian refugees by Nigerian Security agents

On behalf of the African Bar Association, I write to bring to your esteemed attention and to formally protest the unlawful arrest and abduction of scores of Cameroonian refugees resident in Nigeria by Security agents believed to be from the department of State Security, the Military intelligence or other security organs of the Nigerian State.

Information of this unfortunate incident which reportedly occurred  in Abuja on Saturday was made available to the African Bar Association by some of the refugees who witnessed the abduction and managed to escape .

Honourable Attorney -General Sir, it may interest you to know that most of the abductees are Lawyers and registered members of our Association.

Furthermore, these individuals had their privacy invaded and whisked away without a warrant or any explanation at all and taken into custody at an unknown location.

Needless to say that the political problems in the Republic of Cameroon are notorious and in the domain of the international Community with the attendant consequences.

We make bold to say that Nigeria as a respectable and responsible member of the international community has Legal obligations under the United Nations Convention on Refugees, the African Charter on human and people’s rights and several other international and local legislations that gives rights   to refugees and other endangered civilian Nationals of other Nations which must be taken into account at all times as Nigeria has obligations to protect these rights.

If the motive for these unlawful acts is to return the refugees to Cameroon, then Nigeria would be violating international Law that forbids Countries from returning refugees to the Countries they are fleeing from.

Cameroon right now is in total chaos with wide spread state sponsored terrorism, political persecution, intimidation, mass rape and murder particularly against the citizens of the Southern part of that Country which has led many to flee  the dictatorship there to temporarily reside in Nigeria and other Countries within and outside the African Continent. It may interest you to know sir that Afba has been working hard with other likeminded Continental and international bodies to see that this crisis is resolved and normalcy returns to Cameroon but so far the Government of that Country has prefered  Facism and Gestapo tactics to dialogue.

Sir, the African Bar Association as a responsible Professional Association cannot sit by and allow this type of situation to stand where Security operatives under whatever guise or directives violate Human Rights and international Law especially of members of our esteemed Association .

In the circumstances, the African Bar Association demands as follows :

(1)immediate release of all those abducted by Security agents of the Nigerian State.

(2)apology and adequate compensation to these innocent individuals for these grave legal infractions and

(3) thorough investigation into the circumstances which led to this unfortunate incident and adequate punishment for those found culpable.

While we trust in the ability and speedy attention of your good office to meeting these Lawful demands, we shall however not hesitate to approach the Local and international Courts to seek Legal redress if this matter is not resolved with the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile, please accept the assurances of the cooperation and high considerations of the African Bar Association.

Best Regards

Hannibal .E. Uwaifo

President

African Bar Association

8 Ribadu Road, S/W Ikoyi,

Lagos Nigeria

www.afribar.org

hannibal.uwaifo@afribar.org,  neoncorporate78@gmail.com, contact@afribar.org, info@afribar.org

+234-8034352861

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+234-8094110833

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