Politics

12, December 2019

UK votes in general election that could determine future of Brexit ⁰

More than 45 million Britons are voting Thursday in a snap pre-Christmas general election that will be key to determining the future of Brexit amid political deadlock and bitter divisions over the country’s European Union membership.

A win for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative party would likely make a January 31 Brexit deadline a reality.

A win for the opposition, however, could mean another referendum under a new prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn.

Johnson, who has said the result is on a “knife edge”, was the first party leader to vote in person, arriving at a central London polling station with his Jack Russell dog, Dilyn. People bringing their dogs with them to vote quickly emerged as a trend, giving rise to the hashtag #dogsatpollingstations.

Corbyn, who has had to brush off criticism for his neutral stance on Brexit and claims of anti-Semitism within his Labour party, flashed a thumbs-up sign before casting his own ballot in north London.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson and Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party both voted soon afterwards in Glasgow.

The polls will remain open until 10pm local time (GMT).

Source: France 24

12, December 2019

French Camerounians told to stop organising protests in foreign countries ⁰

Cameroon’s House Speaker of National Assembly Cavaye Yeguie Djibril on Wednesday called on Cameroonians residing abroad to stop organizing protests to demand change back home.

“When one is Cameroonian, it is in Cameroon that one speaks about the affairs of Cameroon and not on the pavement of foreign territory,” Cavaye said at the close of the November session of the National Assembly.

Since January, a group of disgruntled Cameroonians known as “brigade anti-sardinard” has organized violent protests in Cameroon’s embassies in Europe and North America to press for “change of power” in Cameroon.

Cameroon has on several occasions blamed foreign countries for permitting the protesters “to destabilize the country” from abroad.

Source: Xinhuanet

12, December 2019

Israel set to hold unprecedented third general elections in 12 months amid political deadlock ⁰

Israel heads to hold an unprecedented third round of general elections within 12 months, after a deadline to form a cabinet passed with no politician able to build a coalition with disparate parties.

The new round of elections is to be held on March 2, 2020, some six months after the previous elections held in September, which itself came five months after an earlier round of votes.

Israel’s parliament voted on Wednesday to dissolve itself in a fresh bid to break political deadlock. By a vote of 94 in favor to none opposed, lawmakers approved a motion dissolving parliament and setting the new election date.

The Knesset had until midnight Wednesday to agree on someone who could command the support of 61 out of the 120 members of the Israeli parliament. When no one was able to win the minimum support, an election in March 2020 was automatically triggered.

The decision came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival Benny Gantz failed to parlay the previous two ballots into a new coalition.

Neither of the two was willing to compromise on their core demands for a power-sharing agreement.

In the two previous rounds of election in September and April, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party deadlocked with ex-general Gantz’s centrist Blue and White. Neither managed to muster enough support in the Knesset for a stable coalition.

The 2020 votes are to be held in the shadow of a corruption indictment handed down against Netanyahu last month.

Netanyahu indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of trust

Netanyahu will now remain Israel’s prime minister, even though he has presided over a transition government for nearly a year and failed to assemble a functioning coalition after the two previous elections.

As prime minister, Netanyahu is under no legal obligation to resign as a result of the indictment, and while in office he can ask the legislature to grant him immunity from prosecution.

Source: Presstv

12, December 2019

English speakers fight for equality in French-run Cameroon ⁰

Tamanjong Stella is upset because her children‘s school is closed, a victim of a bitter dispute between English-speaking protesters and the government of this largely French-speaking central African nation.

“The teachers say they cannot start classes until the government has removed the security forces that are posted everywhere,” said Stella, who lives in Bamenda, the capital of one of two English-speaking regions of Cameroon. “I do not know what is going to become of my children without school.”

Months of protests and clashes with government troops have not only forced schools to close, but the Internet also has been shutdown and dissidents have been jailed as English-speaking citizens demand equal rights.

Although English and French are both official languages, the English speakers say President Paul Biya, 83, discriminates against them by installing French teachers, judges and officials in their regions.

“Francophone teachers who teach English-speaking children must be removed and replaced by English-speaking teachers,” said Wilfried Tassang, executive secretary of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Unions, whose members walked out of their schools three months ago. “Francophone judges must also be removed to have English-speaking judges.”

In December, police killed at least four people in a market in Bamenda after a strike by teachers and lawyers. A month earlier, police killed one person and arrested more than 60 during violent protests there.

The conflict stems from Cameroon’s colonial past, when separate parts of the country achieved independence from Britain and France in the early 1960s and the English-speaking regions opted to join Cameroon rather than neighboring Nigeria. The resulting country was supposed to draw strength from its linguistic diversity.

“We should never forget that we are walking in the footsteps of our country’s founding fathers, our national heroes, who shed their blood to bequeath to posterity a nation that is united in its diversity,” Biya said late last year in a rare statement about the conflict. “Cameroon’s unity is therefore a precious legacy with which no one should take liberties.”

Critics said Biya could quell the protests by granting more powers to the English-speaking regions. “President Biya said that the founding fathers wanted a rich country with its diversity, but this diversity is also linguistic,” said George Ngwane, who has written books about Cameroon‘s politics.

A week before Biya issued his statement, security forces arrested the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, a banned group, without making the charges public. The group had organized “ghost town” demonstrations, where people refused to leave their homes or go to work.

Joseph Ayeah Chongsi, executive director of Human Rights, Peace and Advocacy, said Biya needed to hold accountable police who had killed citizens at protests or in jail or locked up activists without explanation.

“The Cameroonian government must set up an independent commission to investigate all suspected cases of death, particularly those arising during custody,” said Chongsi.

The problem has disrupted the economy of the two English-speaking regions, especially after Biya shut down the Internet in those provinces in mid-January.

Travel agent Awah Francis in Buea, capital of the southern English-speaking province, said he can’t book tickets or make financial transactions without Internet access.

“It is absolutely unacceptable,” Francis said. “I am obliged to travel to the capital to make money transfers, to receive my salary or even to consult my (email) mailbox. The banking establishments do not have a connection. We are tired of this suffering.”

The Roman Catholic Church, a powerful force in the country, offered to mediate the dispute, but so far Biya has instead asked chiefs, religious authorities and trade union leaders to find a solution to the crisis.

“There is need for dialogue, because violence, separation or anger never solves any problem. People must sit at the table to talk,” said Kwai Amos, a Catholic priest in the English-speaking Northwestern province.

That isn’t enough for many young adults who say they are missing opportunities and see a bleak future ahead.

Edmondo Bayo, 24, from the English-speaking Northwestern province, left Cameroon last year to find more opportunities in Europe and hopes to join his brother who is studying in England.

Bayo took part in the December protests, but says he was arrested and tortured for three days. He escaped his captors and made his way to Lesbos, Greece, along with about 30 other English-speaking Cameroonians who are living in a refugee camp waiting to be granted asylum in Europe.

”They call us young rebels, saying that we want to divide the country,” he said. “But as English-speaking people in Cameroon, we can‘t find a job.”

Edmondo Bayo, an English-speaking refugee from Cameroon inside the Moria refugee camp that was snowed in the beginning of January. He escaped his country to search for more opportunities in Europe.

Culled from Livingston Ledger

11, December 2019

UK Elections: The Conservative Party has come on top in every poll ⁰

As the campaign period draws to a close, there is every indication that the Tories are set to score a small victory and thus remain in power.

The latest opinion poll by YouGov (released yesterday evening) suggests that the Conservative party is set to secure a majority of around 28 seats in the House of Commons, enough to form a government.

However, YouGov was anxious to stress that the margin of error cannot rule out either a hung Parliament, or conversely, a larger Conservative majority.

The findings of YouGov are consistent with polling by multiple sources over the course of the campaign which has placed the Tories ahead of Labour by at least six percent.

Most significantly, an opinion poll for The Observer last Friday placed the Conservatives ahead of Labour by 15 points.

The Observer poll placed the Tories ahead with 46 percent of the vote, Labour in second place with 31 percent and the Liberal Democrats in third place with 13 percent of the vote.

But pollsters have warned politicians and pundits alike to be cautious as recent elections in the UK, notably the Brexit referendum of June 2016 and the general election of June 2017, delivered unexpected results.

10, December 2019

Secession Palaver: Leader of Scottish National Party shifts to a more radical position on independence ⁰

With the general election only a few days away, Nicola Sturgeon has thrown down the gauntlet at the entire British political establishment.

The leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) is now calling for a fresh poll on Scottish independence regardless of Brexit.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Sturgeon, who is also Scotland’s First Minister, said that the “contemptuous way in which Scotland has been treated” justifies a new independence referendum.

Previously Sturgeon had linked a fresh independence poll to Brexit, on the grounds that the Scottish people – unlike the English – had not voted to leave the European Union (EU).

Sturgeon defended her new position by claiming that Scotland’s “interests, voice and views” had been “ignored” over the past three years.

And to reinforce the urgency of her position, the SNP leader revealed that she will approach the UK government by the end of the year for an agreement to hold a legally binding referendum.

The SNP needs the British government’s agreement to hold a legal referendum whose outcome is guaranteed to be respected and implemented.

In addition the Scottish Parliament – which is dominated by the SNP – also has to pass necessary legislation to create the grounds for a referendum next year.

Sturgeon has repeatedly said that she wants to hold an independence poll in the second half of 2020.

The SNP leader’s new position indicates a hardening of her approach and crucially it points to her bridging the divide with more radical Scottish nationalists who are unaffiliated to the SNP.

The broader Scottish independence movement has been critical of the SNP’s cautious and legalistic approach toward achieving independence.

Now that Sturgeon has shifted toward a more radical position – by effectively setting Scotland apart from the rest of the UK – the Scottish independence movement is likely to pick up additional momentum going forward.

Source: Presstv

9, December 2019

US: Democratic leading impeachment probe says Trump violated oath ⁰

The head of a US congressional committee leading the impeachment probe against President Donald Trump has accused the US leader of putting himself before his country and violating his oath of office.

In a statement on Monday beginning a hearing in the US House of Representatives to examine evidence against Trump, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a Democratic from New York, said there was extensive proof that the Republican president has committed wrongdoing.

“The evidence shows that Donald J. Trump, the president of the United States, has put himself before his country. He has violated his most basic responsibilities to the people. He has broken his oath,” Nadler said.

The hearing on Monday is a key step before voting on an impeachment resolution, or articles of impeachment. The full House, which is controlled by Democrats, is likely to vote on whether to impeach the president before Christmas.

The House Judiciary panel is expected to vote by the end of the week on whether to send formal charges to the full House.

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, the highest ranking Democrat in Congress, instructed the House Judiciary Committee Thursday to draft articles of impeachment against Trump.

Impeachment begins in the House. If the lower chamber of Congress approves articles of impeachment, a vote is then held in the Senate. A two-thirds majority vote would be needed in the Senate to remove the president from office.

Trump’s conviction is considered unlikely in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Only two American presidents have been impeached by the House, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. Neither Johnson nor Clinton was convicted by the Senate.

In 1974, then US President Richard Nixon resigned during his second term after it became certain he would be impeached and removed from office over the Watergate scandal.

House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump in September after the unknown whistle-blower alleged the Republican president pressured his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had served as a director for Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Democrats are looking into whether Trump abused his power by withholding $391 million in US security aid to Ukraine as leverage to pressure Kiev to conduct an investigation that would benefit him politically.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the impeachment inquiry against him as “a hoax”.

Source: Presstv

8, December 2019

North Korea says denuclearization is off the table in talks with US ⁰

North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Saturday that denuclearization is off the negotiating table with the United States and lengthy talks with Washington are not needed, the starkest statement yet emphasizing the gulf between the two sides ahead of a year-end deadline set by Pyongyang.

US President Donald Trump sought to play down a recent surge in tensions with North Korea, stressing what he said was his good relationship with its leader Kim Jong Un and saying he thought Kim wanted a deal, not to interfere in next year’s US presidential election.

“We’ll see about North Korea. I’d be surprised if North Korea acted hostilely,” Trump told reporters at the White House before leaving for Florida.

“He knows I have an election coming up. I don’t think he wants to interfere with that, but we’ll have to see … I think he’d like to see something happen. The relationship is very good, but you know, there is certain hostility, there’s no question about it.”

Trump has invested considerable time trying to persuade North Korea to give up a nuclear weapons program that has grown to threaten the United States, but progress has been scant in spite of his three meetings with Kim Jong Un.

Tensions have risen ahead of a year-end deadline set by North Korea, which has called on the United States to change its policy of insisting on Pyongyang’s unilateral denuclearization and demanded relief from punishing sanctions.

Kim Jong Un has warned of an unspecified “new path” next year, raising fears this could mean an end to a suspension in nuclear bomb and long-range missile testing in place since 2017 that Trump has held up as a key win from his engagement efforts.

U.N. Ambassador Kim Song said in a statement the “sustained and substantial dialogue” sought by the United States was a “time-saving trick” to suit its domestic political agenda, a reference to Trump’s 2020 reelection bid.

“We do not need to have lengthy talks with the US now and denuclearization is already gone out of the negotiating table,” he said.

Kim Song’s comments appeared to go further than North Korea’s earlier warning that discussions related to its nuclear weapons program might have to be taken off the table given Washington’s refusal to offer concessions.

On Tuesday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry repeated a call for Washington to change its “hostile policies” and said it was up to Washington to decide what “Christmas gift” came at the end of the year.

Kim Song also hit out at a statement this week from EU members of the UN Security Council criticizing recent short range launches by North Korea, calling it a “serious provocation” and saying they were playing the role of “pet dog” of the United States.

Summits, but little progress

Recent days have seen a return to the highly charged rhetoric that raised fears of war two years ago.

In 2017, Trump and Kim Jung Un famously engaged in a war of words, with Trump calling Kim Jong Un “Rocket Man” and North Korea calling Trump, now 73, a “dotard.”

On Tuesday, Trump once again called Kim “Rocket Man” and said the United States reserved the right to use military force against North Korea. Pyongyang said any repeat of such language would represent “the relapse of the dotage of a dotard.”

In spite of Trump’s reprise of the Rocket Man meme, he has still expressed hope that Kim Jong Un would denuclearize. On Friday the US ambassador to the United Nations said the United States had not yet decided whether to have a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss North Korean human rights abuses that has angered Pyongyang.

On Friday, South Korea said Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a half-hour phone discussion on ways to maintain diplomacy with North Korea.

It said the two leaders agreed the situation has become “severe” and “dialogue momentum should be maintained to achieve prompt results from denuclearization negotiations.”

Many diplomats, analysts and US officials have long doubted North Korea’s willingness to negotiate away a nuclear program it has invested decades and a large proportion of limited national resources in creating.

Even so, Jenny Town of 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea project, said it was unclear how literally Kim Song’s words should be taken.

“It’s an interesting choice of spokesperson. Kim Song is not directly involved in the negotiation process,” she said. “These kinds of hardline messages are increasing in frequency as the deadline approaches, perhaps to try to compel a last-minute offer. Although the more they push like this, the less likely they are to get what they want.”

Town said North Korea has previously indicated a willingness to give up parts of its nuclear program as a first-phase deal, but not to discuss complete denuclearization up front.

“The North Koreans have always preferred a step by step approach rather than negotiating everything all at once,” Town said. “It is possible this is what Kim Song means, since we haven’t heard anything quite so stark from those involved in the negotiations.”
(REUTERS)

8, December 2019

Race For The White House: Trump declares self ‘greatest of all presidents’ ⁰

US President Donald Trump has called himself the “greatest of all presidents” as Democrats are meeting this weekend to prepare impeachment charges against him.

On Saturday, the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Democratic lawmakers released a 55-page report detailing offenses that could warrant impeachment against the Republican president.

The report covers the “constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment,” including bribery, abuse of power, betrayal of America’s national interest and corruption.

Trump, who has dismissed all the allegations ever since the impeachment inquiry was launched, took to Twitter Saturday afternoon, saying the American voters do not want him to be impeached.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

“Not only have the Democrats not advanced key pieces of legislation that would help the economy, but the polls, especially in early states, are showing that voters are tuning out.” @PeteHegseth They don’t want our greatest of all presidents impeached!

Trump also said that Democrats’ “case” against him is not strong because they have been shifting from the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election to Ukraine and now back to Russia.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump

“Why re-elect Democrats when you know that this is what they are doing with their majority. Their case is not strong because first it was Russian Collusion, then it was obstruction, then it was Ukraine, now their pivoting back to Russia. Why would they be doing that?”

On Friday, the White House told Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler it would not participate in the hearings and called the impeachment inquiry “completely baseless” and said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had ordered Democrats to draft articles of impeachment “before your committee has heard a single shred of evidence.”

“House Democrats have wasted enough of America’s time with this charade,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone’s letter to Nadler said. “You should end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings.”

Nadler said in a statement: “The American people deserve answers from President Trump.”

Pelosi on Thursday instructed the House Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment against the president, assuring that a formal impeachment process against the president will proceed.

The committee could draft and recommend the articles by next Thursday and the House could vote on them by Christmas.

Source: Presstv

7, December 2019

Professor Ephraim Ngwafor suffers major setback in efforts to take control of SOBA UK LTD ⁰

The British legal system has brought untold misery to Prof Ephraim Ngwafor in his fight to take control of a UK limited company SOBA UK (SASSE OLD BOYS ASSOCIATION) – a name used by the original alumni group.

Cameroon Concord News understands that SOBA UK currently has two groups using the same name, the original group consisting of over 110 members who are the applicant in the matter, and a newly created dissident group with two members being the directors of the disputed limited company as well as the respondents. The pro CPDM smaller group has not published a registration list but our London Bureau Chief was reliably informed that they are less than 20 members involved.

The UK Company Names Tribunal is currently reviewing the witness statements from Professor Ephraim Ngwafor in support of the actions taken in August 2017 to incorporate a limited company called SOBA UK (Company Registration Number 10933239) by Thomas Adamu (as director) and Francis Niba Ngwa (as Secretary).

In a statement issued to the Cameroon Concord News Group prior to the historic SOBA UK Residential Convention in Colchester, members of original SOBA UK stated that this incorporation was done in bad faith as both Mr Adamu and Mr Ngwa held no positions of responsibility in SOBA and acted on their own to take advantage of the fact that the alumni association in the UK was not formally incorporated as a limited company, despite operating as a unincorporated alumni group for some 50 years in the UK.

Events took a dramatic turn and the incorporation of SOBA UK LTD precipitated a series of actions by Prof Ngwafor as National President of SOBA in Cameroon to take control by proxy and to give legitimacy to the directors of the company who are not members of the original group.

Prof Ngwafor’s actions have been painted as being out of line and illegitimate. But his diabolic harsh ploy was to rewrite and use a new SOBA constitution in 2018 without ratification to retrospectively make his intervention possible.

We gathered that Prof Ngwafor has directly managed the witness submissions from Cameroon through a UK representative, Mr Aaron Wood, and has roped in the principal of Sasse College to give a witness statement on a UK limited company dispute which has nothing to do with Sasse College.

Interestingly, the president of SOBA America Dr Betrand Fote stated in his witness statement for the respondents that he had pledged his allegiance to Prof Ngwafor upon his own election as president of SOBA America. The intervention of these overseas power actors for the respondents has rendered any form of mediation between the disputed parties virtually impossible, given that the directors of the limited company are merely spectators of the unfolding drama.

The Company Names Tribunal has accepted the validity of the complaints made by members of the original SOBA UK Group, against the incorporation of the SOBA UK LTD. However, the respondent’s witness statements have suffered a setback when the UK adjudicator stated that “they did not refer to the proceedings to which they relate”.

The adjudicator specifically listed witness statements for the respondents from Professor Ephraim Ndeh Ngwafor, Reverend Father Kevin Sakwe Nanje (Principal of Sasse College), Emanuel Junior Eta-Besong, Sako Burnley, Dr Bertrand Pokam Fote (President of SOBA America) and Mr Aaron Ronald Wood and has given them 2 weeks to resubmit. This is a huge setback because the directors of the company are relying on the intervention of SOBA Cameroon rather than on the validity of the reason for the incorporation of the limited company.

The Tribunal also stated that upon reviewing the witness statements from Mr Wood and his exhibits, it proposes to treat them as hearsay evidence and the adjudicator will give such weight as they deserve.

Cameroon Concord News believes that the defence being put forward by Prof Ngwafor and other witnesses for the respondents remains unclear, given that they are domiciled overseas and do not have any legal responsibilities for a UK limited company, either as directors or shareholders. The current company directors being absent have deferred the responsibilities for the defence of their limited company to SOBA Cameroon and the president of SOBA America, Dr Bertrand Fote.

Regardless of whether the directors play a role in the proceedings or not they are the ones listed as respondents and any claims for costs, if they were not successful, will still fall on them. Mr Thomas Adamu, who as a student was expelled from Sasse College in his third year in 1984 for truancy and disruptive behavior is the man setting the scene for the latest impasse in SOBA.

The General Assembly of SOBA UK took action to suspend Mr Adamu in 2017 for being consistently inconsistent with SOBA UK code of conduct. It is ironic that the incumbent Principal of Sasse College, Reverend Father Kevin Sakwe Nanje is providing a witness statement to a UK limited company dispute to align with the callous actions of Mr Adamu who as a student was dismissed by his predecessor. Sasse College is going through hard times with only about 250 students remaining and receiving education in temporary accommodation away from the college campus.

A senior UK law practitioner opined that, whilst the latest update from the adjudicator will not affect the substantive legal grounds on which the matter is judged, it does help enforce the picture that the respondents are chaotic and ill-advised.

The legal arguments of this dispute, which is a test case of its kind, will be on whether Mr Thomas Adamu incorporated the limited company in good faith at the time of the registration, knowing fully well that he was not authorized by the group to which he was registered and a group that existed and used the name for many decades prior to this singular action in August 2017.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Chi Prudence Asong in London