A senior representative of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has warned the Biya regime that its decision to declare a war against the people of Southern Cameroons has left Ambazonians with no other choice but to fight for the creation of a sovereign Southern Cameroons state, increasing speculation that a real arm struggle could begin anytime from now.

The Ambazonian leader who is currently in Taraba in Nigeria and whose name we are withholding for security reasons said the Yaoundé government’s insistence on using military force has empowered the hands of Southern Cameroonians who want to break away from French Cameroun.

He told our senior correspondent Kingsley Betek that the Macron government in France was deceiving President Biya and that every Southern Cameroonian was working towards building a separate nation because they understand that there is a United Nations mandate to establish such a state for all English speaking Cameroonians.

He added that the recent French Cameroun army onslaught in Ossing village in the Manyu County is a justification that the Francophone government in Yaoundé is giving Ambazonians no other option than to defend their homeland using the best tools that the Interim Government institutions have.

His remarks came hours after we got intelligence that the 85 year old Cameroonian dictator was preparing to announce a truce including the release of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and hundreds of Southern Cameroonians arrested ever since the crisis in Southern Cameroons started.

Reports on Friday suggested that some members of the ruling Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government were urging Biya to end the senseless war in Southern Cameroons by calling for national dialogue, while others particularly those of the North and Far North were pressing him to step aside – a move he has so far resisted.

Tensions between the government in Yaoundé and the Ambazonian Interim Government headed by Dr. Samuel Sako Ikome have risen to new heights following the CDC and oil and gas contract with the New Age Global Energy Company.  Biya and his gang have refused to engage in dialogue with the Southern Cameroons leadership and the Francophone Cameroun leader has said that there can be no international mediation on a domestic, constitutional issue.

Cameroon Concord News Group recently called on Interpol, The Serious Crimes Unit of the British Police, The FBI, The Criminal Investigations Department of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and all Police and Intelligence Agencies worldwide to urgently step in and investigate the oil and gas contract between New Age Global Energy Company and French Cameroun that was signed recently in Britain. There are many reasons for an urgent criminal investigation of this international crime masked as a business contract.

The contract is a front for money laundering conceived for criminal purposes. The oil and gas fields which are subject of the contract are in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia over which a war and genocide declared by Paul Biya the head of the crime syndicate in French Cameroun are ongoing. The contract is directly linked to the subject of this in who the perpetration of international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by one of the contracting parties, French Cameroun is ongoing.  These crimes have led to a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable proportions. The contract will directly contribute to the war efforts of French Cameroun in which international crimes are being perpetrated by French Cameroun.  Control over the mineral resources of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is among the reasons for the declaration of war by French Cameroun against Ambazonia.  This contract therefore will substantially contribute to the crimes and the humanitarian calamity.

The contract is a front for the laundering of money and resources for criminal purposes. These criminal purposes include the bankrolling of the elections of Paul Biya and members of his criminal gang in power. These elections have all elements of fraud and criminality.

The contract is illegal, null and void in every respect.   This will be the first contract where French Cameroun will be signing with a company which has no incorporation within the territory in which the oil and gas fields are located. Pursuant to the foreign imposed laws of the colonial annexationist criminal government of French Cameroun in the territory of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, the foreign firm needed to comply with several OHADA treaty requirements. It has neither complied with Southern Cameroons laws nor that of the occupier.

The choice of a British firm in a French occupied economic annexed territory is intended to buy through this corrupt slave economic deal, the continuing support of Britain of the colonial occupation and criminal war and genocide.  The fact that the Secretary-General in the Presidency of French Cameroun’s crime syndicate went to England to sign the contract far away from the battlefields of Ambazonia where the intended loot is located, and far away from its own centre of French Cameroun’s criminal operations, Yaoundé, evinces an intention to shield the fine elements of criminality contained in the criminal deal from the scrutiny of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia victims.  French Cameroun has a record of signing bilateral agreements in Yaoundé and at the official locations of its partners.  This criminal contract is not a bilateral agreement but a business contract.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Brussels

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned that Italy’s decision to close its ports to humanitarian rescue boats would entrap more refugees in Libya’s detention centers and in the hands of traffickers, where they face torture.

Christophe Biteau, the head of Doctors Without Borders mission in Libya, said everyone intercepted by the Libyan coast guard, around 10,789 people this year, has been held indefinitely in government-run detention centers.

“With fewer rescue ships and the summer surge in departures, the situation in the centers will get worse and worse,” he added.

Italy’s new far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has taken a tough stance on refugees since taking office on June 1. The new coalition government in Italy has been cracking down on humanitarian groups that rescue refugees in the Mediterranean Sea and then ferry the asylum seekers to the country’s ports.

Late last month, Salvini declared that the country’s ports would be closed “all summer” to charity ships which rescue refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to the European Union.

The aid group further said that between 5,000 and 7,000 people are held in seven official centers in the capital Tripoli, which it described as overcrowded and unsanitary, with scabies and tuberculosis common.

There are 17 government detention facilities across Libya, amid reports of physical assaults and inhumane conditions in the centers.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says nearly 700,000 refugees are estimated to be in Libya. MSF said it is not clear how many refugees are held in secret camps run by human traffickers.

“Our perception about people coming from Libya is that the violence is widespread,” said Gianfranco De Maio, MSF’s global supervisor for its treatment of torture victims.

“All of the migrants being brought back end up in detention centers and the recent increase in the number of people being intercepted is putting increasing pressure on the already overcrowded facilities,” Roberto Mignone, the UN refugee agency’s representative to Libya, said on Friday.

Source: Presstv

The International Criminal Court revealed Thursday it has issued a second arrest warrant for a Libyan military commander accused of shooting dead 10 Takfiri prisoners after a Benghazi mosque attack.

The new warrant for Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli, issued Wednesday, cites “his alleged responsibility for murder as a war crime” in the Libyan conflict, the ICC said in a statement.

Despite an earlier warrant issued in August, Werfalli, a commander of the Benghazi-based al-Saiqa Brigade loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, has remained at large.

Now ICC judges have found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Werfalli “allegedly shot dead 10 persons in front of the Bi’at al-Radwan Mosque in Benghazi” on January 24.

Almost 40 people were killed and scores injured in twin car bombings outside the mosque after evening prayers frequented by Takfiri opponents in Libya’s second city.

The first warrant accused Werfalli of the cold-blooded executions of at least 33 civilians or injured fighters in seven incidents in 2016 and 2017.

The ICC judges referred to video footage allegedly showing Werfalli personally shooting hooded and bound prisoners, or ordering a firing squad to open fire on them.

In February, Werfalli said in an unconfirmed Facebook video post that he had handed himself in to Haftar, insisting on his innocence, and justifying any executions as “sentences” against Takfiri killers.

Libya fell into chaos after the ouster of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, with competing authorities in Tripoli and the east vying for power.

Haftar supports an administration based in the east, while the UN-backed unity government based in the capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside of the west of the country.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has repeatedly called for help in arresting Werfalli, as well as Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, who is also wanted on charges of war crimes.

A warrant has also been issued for the arrest of former security chief Al-Tuhamy Mohamed Khaled, accused of war crimes committed in 2011.

(Source: AFP)

A giant blimp depicting Donald Trump as a baby will fly over London during the US president’s visit next week after mayor Sadiq Khan approved the request, protesters behind the stunt said Thursday.

The 6-meter (19-foot) orange balloon, which shows the president wearing a nappy, will fly near parliament at a height of 30 meters between 9:30 am and 11:30 am local time.

“The mayor supports the right to peaceful protest and understands that this can take many different forms,” said a spokesperson for Khan, who has had frequent Twitter spats with the US leader.

Activist Leo Murray from the group behind the protest credited a “huge groundswell of support” for Khan’s decision, with more than 10,000 signing an online petition.

“We didn’t get off to the best start with the mayor’s office over this, who originally told us that they didn’t recognise ‘Trump Baby’ as legitimate protest,” he told Sky News.

“But following a huge groundswell of public support for our plan, it looks like City Hall has rediscovered its sense of humour. Trump Baby will fly!”

Huge protests are expected when Trump visits Britain next week, where he will meet Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II.

(Source: AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron said a new vision of Africa that reflects the continent’s vitality is necessary to tackle Europe’s migration crisis in an exclusive interview Wednesday with FRANCE 24-RFI in Nigeria.

Capping a two-nation Africa tour that included an African Union summit in Mauritania and a visit to Nigeria, Macron called for a comprehensive rethink of the migration crisis that has seen millions risk their lives in recent years to reach Europe.

“Let’s look lucidly at this subject of migration. The very poor do not leave their country, they are the middle classes of emerging economies that are passing through Libya today,” said Macron, referring to the dangerous Mediterranean routes from Africa to Europe. “An overwhelming majority of those who go to sea after months, years of wandering, suffering, where do they come from? Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea. Are these countries doing less well than they were ten years ago? No. And so we have a youth who believe there is no hope in their countries.3

Speaking to Claudy Siar of FRANCE 24’s sister radio station RFI in the southern Nigerian city of Lagos, Macron admitted that migration is “one of the greatest political challenges today and the next few years because it will not stop.”

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel evaded a political crisis by striking a deal this week with her Bavarian allies to limit migrant entries, Macron noted that the issue had “plunged Europe into a moral and political crisis and it is born, it must be said, of an African crisis.”

Paying respects at ‘The Shrine’ nightclub

Macron’s interview came at the end of a three-day African tour that saw the 41-year-old French president inaugurate a cultural centre at the Alliance Française in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos on Wednesday.

The previous night, Macron made an unconventional stop, for a visiting head-of-state, at the New Afrika Shrine, an iconic nightclub founded by the Nigerian music legend Fela Kuti.

He also announced France’s plans to host a major cultural event featuring music, dance and fashion, titled, “Season of African Cultures 2020”.

Speaking to Siar at the Lagos Alliance Française, Macron noted that his Africa visit was not just about “big defence contacts, big mining and commercial contacts,” but also about “the ecosystem of economic and development and how to involve civil society”.

Not a land of ‘worry, immigration and terrorism’

Calling for a contemporary vision of Africa in France, Macron noted that most French people had a vision of the continent from the archaeological finds and artworks in museums and private collections. “But that is not the Africa of today,” he said, noting that the majority of French people knew little about the youth of Africa and the young artists, writers and filmmakers that made the continent a vibrant place.

As a university student, Macron did an internship in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, a stint that familiarised him with the vibrant West African cultural scene.

The New Afrika Shrine, he noted, was familiar terrain. “I went several times to the Shrine and some other iconic places of Nigerian culture, of the Afrobeat,” he said. “I experienced even more furious evenings there than yesterday,” he joked. When questioned further, he added, “Well, look, they slightly arranged things. But there’s an energy, tremendous energy and still this strength, this vitality of a tremendous cultural project.”

That image and discourse of vitality, Macron suggested, was critical to change the vision of Africa inside the continent as well as for the African diaspora in Europe. “Yesterday at the Shrine, I seemed like the middle-aged man. If you see the artists, they’re very young. We don’t have to give the youth their place, they’ve already taken it.” That, said Macron, was essential for a fundamental rethink on both sides of the Mediterranean. “The first thing is that France should have is a different view of Africa, that Africa is not viewed as a land of worry, immigration and terrorism, but a land of vitality, of culture.”

Source:France 24

A heatwave in Quebec has killed at least 17 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, health officials said Wednesday.

Twelve of the dead were reported in the eastern province’s capital Montreal, said regional public health director Mylene Drouin.

The Tribune newspaper said five of the deaths occurred in the past 48 hours in the Eastern Townships, a rural area just east of the city.

“My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have died in Quebec during this heat wave,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter.

“The record temperatures are expected to continue in central and eastern Canada, so make sure you know how to protect yourself and your family,” Trudeau said.

Drouin said the victims were part of “the very vulnerable population, the elderly or people suffering from chronic or mental illnesses.”

Temperatures soared to 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) with a humidity that made it feel closer to 40 degrees, the meteorological service said.

The mercury has regularly topped 30 degrees since Friday in southern Quebec, accompanied by stifling humidity levels.

A government heat warning is in place for the region, but meteorologists are forecasting a drop in temperatures at the end of the week.

No deaths had been reported for the same period in the neighboring province of Ontario, which has also sizzled under extremely high temperatures.

In 2010, a heat wave killed around 100 people in the Montreal area.

(Source: AFP)

Another boat carrying refugees has capsized while making the risky journey across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Europe, leaving 63 asylum seekers missing.

The boat sunk off the coast of Libya, according to a spokesman for the North African country’s navy on Tuesday, who cited eyewitness accounts.

Navy spokesman General Ayoub Kacem said that 41 asylum seekers who had been wearing life jackets were rescued.

According to the survivors, there were 104 people on board the inflatable dinghy, which sank off Garaboulli, east of Tripoli.

A Libyan coastguard boat returned to Tripoli Monday with another 235 migrants — including 54 infants and 29 women — rescued in two other operations in the same area.

Spain to the rescue, once again

Meanwhile, a humanitarian boat carrying 59 asylum seekers was on Tuesday heading to Spain after Italy and Malta — both much closer to the place of rescue — refused to let it dock in their ports.

The boat, Open Arms, run by the Spanish Proactiva Open Arms charity, was offered a safe port by Barcelona’s mayor.

Spain had earlier allowed in another group of refugees also turned away by Italy and Malta.

Media reports say around 204 people have died in the past few days after trusting smugglers, who use unsafe vessels to get them to Europe.

On Friday alone, 103 people lost their lives when one such vessel sank.

Libya is a main departure point for asylum seekers trying to cross the Mediterranean. Many of those who succeed to cross the sea have landed in Italy and Malta over the past four years.

Human traffickers have been taking advantage of the security gap in Libya that has existed since the toppling of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed in October 2011.

According to UN figures, more than 1,000 people have drowned in the Mediterranean this year while making the perilous journey from Libya to Europe.

Source: Presstv

Cameroon Intelligence Report has gotten clearance from the FDP parliamentary office in Berlin and can now reveal that there is a bill sponsored by the Free Democrats Party (FDP) to be discussed in the German lower house on the Southern Cameroons crisis.

Our chief correspondent in Mulheim an der Ruhr said the bill is yet to be discussed but pointed out that much of the document´s content includes the narrative of the Southern Cameroons crisis and its ramifications, German relations with Cameroon and the explosive risk if the 85 yrs old dictator Biya, should be allowed to stand in for the next presidential election.

With this bill the FDP is hoping to request the German government to pressure the Biya regime to engage in reforms and inclusive dialogue with the representatives of the Anglophone community.

The key essential points include the following:

The German Bundestag (lower house of German parliament) calls on the German Government to

1. To resolve the conflict together with their European partners
2. Calling on all parties involved in the conflict to respect human rights and to avoid violence;
3. To call on the Cameroonian Government to denounce the increasing escalation of violence;
4. The Government of Cameroon should comply with constitutional standards in the use of security forces;
5. The Government of Cameroon; to release all political prisoners;
6. To work within the framework of the United Nations for education in the course of the current human rights violations in accordance with Geneva convention
7. To seek support for a peaceful solution from the African Union towards the crisis;
8. To dialogue on reforms between the government and representatives of the Anglophone regions and promote inclusive dialogue formats;
9. To include the churches in the mediation between government and Anglophone representatives;
10. Include the civil society actors in the Anglophone parts of the country to this effect so as to strengthen the base for a common position.
11. Assist the Government of Cameroon in complying with the constitutional requirements to implement political decentralization; to strengthen the electoral commission and to support its independence;
12. In the field of development cooperation, projects with local civic-society organizations should be intensified and implemented with development partners.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai

The Ambazonia Secretary of the Economy, Hon. Tabenyang Brado has told Cameroon Concord News Group that he heard unimaginable accounts of French Cameroun army atrocities as he paid a visit to a Southern Cameroonian family that arrived Italy fleeing away from the  French Cameroun state-sponsored military campaign at home in Ambazonia.

Tabenyang described the Southern Cameroons situation as a humanitarian nightmare after meeting with our London Bureau Chief, Sesesskou Asu Isong during a recent trip to the UK and Italy.  The Ambazonian cabinet minister further pointed out that the United Nations and the African Union have abandoned the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Ever since the Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe declared Southern Cameroons independence from French Cameroun, Southern Cameroonians have been subjected to a campaign of killings, rape and arson attacks by the Francophone dominated army backed by French military advisers from Paris.

Many of the displaced Southern Cameroonians are either living in squalid camps in the Federal Republic of Nigeria or in the forest.   Human rights group Amnesty International released a comprehensive report on the crisis in Southern Cameroons observing that it has a mountain of evidence that French Cameroun government military onslaught against the Ambazonian population was a perfectly orchestrated, systematic attack teleguided by President Biya. The regime in Yaoundé dismissed the Amnesty International report as baseless.

By Chi Prudence Asong in London

Ambazonian Barrister Chief Charles Achaleke Taku has been elected president of the International Criminal Court Bar Association replacing the renowned Karim Khan. His Royal Highness Chief Charles Taku is a Southern Cameroons lawyer with 30 years experience in the International Criminal Court and the Sierra Leone Tribunal including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Arusha).

The Man of Law recently came under attack from Cameroon government Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary on his stance on the Southern Cameroons war. Chief Taku takes over from Karim Khan who defended the Kenyan Vice President William Ruto during the post-election violence trial in that east African country.

Speaking to our UK correspondent, Chief Charles Taku said “I am deeply honored to have been elected by my peers as president of the International Criminal Court Bar Association.” It is vital to include in this report that the president of the International Criminal Court, the Chief Prosecutor and the head of the bar association are all from the African continent.

This item is still developing

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai