Paul Biya’s succession on life support, Africa Intelligence
Not only is the Cameroonian president’s own health failing but so too that of his constitutionally designated replacements. Culled from Africa Intelligence
Breaking News
Spain: Supreme court probes role of former King Juan Carlos in Saudi deal
Spain’s supreme court prosecutor has opened an investigation into former King Juan Carlos in connection with a high-speed train contract in Saudi Arabia, piling pressure on a once-popular monarch who abdicated six years ago.
The supreme court prosecutor will investigate whether the former king can be included in the case in respect of any action that took place after he lost his immunity when he abdicated in June 2014 in favour of his son Felipe, the general prosecutor said on Monday.
“This investigation focuses, precisely, on establishing or discarding the criminal relevance of deeds that happened after June 2014, when the King Emeritus was no longer protected by inviolability,” the statement said.
The Spanish Royal House did not respond to a request for comment. Juan Carlos’ lawyer could not be reached for comment.
Corruption scandals
Juan Carlos was popular for his role in the country’s transition to democracy in the late seventies, before various scandals eroded public approval a decade ago and forced him to pass the throne to his son.
The Supreme Court prosecutor’s investigation into the king derived from another probe led by the country’s anti-corruption prosecutor over the second phase of a high-speed railway linking the cities of Medina and Mecca in Saudi Arabia that was granted to a group of Spanish companies in 2011.
In mid-March, King Felipe said he had renounced any inheritance from his father and ended his palace allowance following allegations of secret offshore accounts.
Felipe’s decision came after Switzerland’s La Tribune de Geneve newspaper reported that Juan Carlos, while he was king, allegedly received $100 million from Saudi Arabia’s late king. The Spanish king’s office declined to comment.
The newspaper added that Juan Carlos later gave $65 million to Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a businesswoman with whom he had a relationship that led to his abdication. Her representatives declined to comment at the time.
Source: REUTERS
Ambazonia Interim Government LAWYERS meet journalist KINGSLEY NJOKA at SED, YAOUNDE
Fellow Ambazonians,
Last night, the Interim Government of Ambazonia through its legal team in Ambazonia and French Cameroun made a formal request to the regime in Yaoundé that it had up to midnight today (8th June 2020) to make known the whereabouts of Southern Cameroon’s journalist, Kingsley Njoka.
I come today to confirm that the regime in Yaoundé complied with our demand. Earlier this morning at 9:30 am, our legal representatives were invited to the Centrale Des Recherches Judiciare at the Secretariat of Defense (SED) Yaoundé. The Interim Government of Ambazonia can now confirm that Kingsley Njoka has been detained at SED incommunicado since his abduction on the 15th of May 2020 from his home in Douala.
He is frail, pale and psychologically distressed.
I have instructed our legal representatives to commence without delay a process to secure his release.
We face an enemy that is brutal and has no respect for human rights and international law. An enemy that puts no value on life but our determination as people will guide us to victory.
The Interim Government of Ambazonia will make regular updates on this matter and will continue to keep the international community and our international media partners informed on the progress of this matter.
Thank You,
Dabney Yerima, Vice President, The Federal Republic of Ambazonia
Southern Cameroons Crisis: more violence on the Manyu County menu
Armed men have killed at least 9 people in attacks in Eshobi village some few kilometers from Mamfe town according to local officials and residents.
According to eyewitnesses, about 50 armed men attacked the village, including Cameroon military post stationed around the Satom Bridge area, shooting residents, and looting and burning homes.
A citizen from Eshobi released three audios on the attack and claimed in his first two declarations that the attacks were carried out by Amba Boys.
However in his third audio, the Eshobi resident blamed the attack on the settler community of Mberere who have been fighting to get the chieftaincy of Eshobi village.
Cameroon Concord News has not been able to establish the motive for the attack and has also not been able to identify those responsible for the killings.
Our correspondent in Mamfe said assailants began shooting people at random in the village while another group engaged the army.
Killings in the Manyu Division have been the work of the Cameroon army soldiers, Amba Boys and bandits.
Cameroon Concord News Group also gathered that two of the persons killed had betrayed an Ambazonian fighter to the Cameroon army and were targeted for providing information about Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces hiding places to Cameroon government soldiers.
The attacks were staged just a day after the remains of the murdered Mayor of Mamfe, Ashu Prisley Ojong, were laid to rest. The CPDM Mayor was killed on May 10, 2020, en route to Eshobi village.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Kingsley Betek in Mamfe
Southern Cameroons War: Murdered Mayor laid to rest in Mamfe
The remains of Mayor Ashu Prisley Ojong were laid to rest in Mamfe on Saturday June 6. The CPDM Mayor was killed on May 10, 2020 en route to Eshobi village. The 35-year-old politician was buried at his residence in Laterite Pit in Mamfe Town after a CPDM ceremony at the Mamfe Grandstand chaired by Hon. Mengot Victor Arrey-Nkongho, Minister in charge of Special Duties at the Presidency of the Republic.
The Yaoundé backed member of government called on the people of Manyu to show their commitment to peace and a united Cameroon.
“When things like this happen, then love doesn’t exist. When you love each other, you cannot hurt each other. Today, what do we find in our communities – petty jealousies envy. That is why we need to find that ethos, the ethos of how to love one another,” noted Minister Mengot.
Betraying the CPDM connection to the late mayor’s demise, the Manyu Senior Divisional Officer Um II Joseph said although Mayor Ashu Prisley Ojong has been killed, the government in Yaoundé is “hopeful that his death will be useful for this division, for peace to reign and for unity also to reign.”
Senate Vice President Chief Tabetando showered praises on the deceased, painting the late Ashu Ojong as a grass leader who enjoyed popular grassroot support. “He was elected unanimously by the Mamfe Central community.”
The late mayor was shot and killed around Berore quarters, precisely at Charles Eyongechaw’s Hill, about some 500 meters at the outskirts of Eshobi, his village, on Sunday, May 10, 2020. Priestly Ashu Ojong, was killed in a fake ambush staged by the regime in Yaounde.
It is now an open secret in Mamfe that he was killed by government troops who had been ordered to carry out the execution from Yaoundé. The Yaounde government has been seeking to give Amba boys a bad name and it will stop at nothing when it comes to achieving that goal.
Priestly took a bullet to the forehead, a bullet that bore the hallmarks of the country’s military. The military man sitting in the front passenger seat is suspected to have delivered the blow that took Mayor Priestly Ashu Ojong to his grave. His driver is also suspected to be in the know of what happened to the young and ambitious mayor.
His death was received with shock, forcing the ruling CPDM crime syndicate to sponsor a protest on Saturday, May 16, 2020, pretending to demand justice for the Mayor’s death. The pro Manyu French Cameroun political elites accused a Cameroonian-US based activist, Eric Tataw for being behind the brutal assassination.
The Francophone administrator revealed that Ojong was heading to his village to receive Ambazonian fighters who claimed they had dropped their weapons before he was brutally ambushed and murdered. Born in 1985, Ojong leaves behind an expectant wife and three children to mourn him.
It is vital to include in this report that Minister Mengot and Chief Tabetando including all the so-called Manyu external elites left Mamfe immediately after the burial over security concerns.
By Kingsley Betek
Tennis icon Yannick Noah criticises white French athletes’ ‘silence’ on racism
Yannick Noah, the last French winner of a Grand Slam tennis title, on Sunday lashed out at “the silence” of his white compatriots over racism.
Noah said he was concerned that the sportsmen in France condemning police brutality and discrimination in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in the United States were all black.
The 60-year-old, a son of a Cameroonian father and French mother, saluted the stands taken by fellow tennis players Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as well as World Cup winning footballer Kylian Mbappe.
“It’s good that the young people are involved, but what bothers me is that they are all either mixed-race or black,” Noah, who captured the Roland Garros title in 1983, told France 2 television.
“Why? It’s an injustice which should make everyone aware. I am certain that in general police do a very good job but there are bad apples.”
Noah said it was important that white sports stars in France also got involved in protests.
“Yes, because their silence bothers me, but it goes further than that”.
He added: “What reassures me is that we speak quickly enough of injustice. Yes, it happens all the time.
“But there are also now young white people, a young generation who realise that this is their future and they do not want to live in this world.”
Source: AFP
Prominent Southern Cameroons lawyer Sama Francis dies
Former Chairman of the General Council of the Bar Association, Barrister Sama Francis has died after a short illness. This item is still developing
Mainz’s Cameroonian midfielder Kunde Malong takes knee to pay tribute to George Floyd
Pierre Kunde Malong on Saturday became the latest Bundesliga player to pay tribute to George Floyd when he took a knee after scoring the second goal in Mainz’s 2-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.
As thousands assembled in Berlin and Munich to demonstrate against police brutality and for racial equality, Mainz midfielder Kunde Malong paid tribute to Floyd, a black American man who died in Minneapolis last month while being arrested by police officers.
The Cameroonian will face no sanction from the German Football Federation (DFB) for the gesture after it gave the green light on Wednesday to players who wanted to honour Floyd or support the Black Lives Matter protests which have raged across the USA.
Borussia Dortmund players also wore messages on their T-shirts during their pre-match warm-up ahead of their clash with Hertha Berlin later on Saturday.
Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi wore the messages “no justice, no peace”, while midfielders Axel Witsel and Emre Can’s T-shirts displayed the words “black”, “white” and “yellow” crossed out, with the word “human” below.
Sancho and Hakimi had avoided punishment by the DFB following their on-pitch calls for justice for Floyd last week, as German football’s governing body gave players the go-ahead to show their feelings regarding Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests.
Earlier, German champions Bayern Munich became the highest-profile club in the country to show their support the protests.
Prior to their 4-2 win at Bayer Leverkusen, players warmed up in T-shirts bearing both the Black Lives Matter hashtag and the slogan of the club’s official “Reds Against Racism” campaign.
“As players, we always have the same message: we are tolerant, we are open, we are open to the world,” Bayern captain Manuel Neuer told Sky after the game.
During the game, all Bayern players also wore black armbands bearing the words “Black Lives Matter”.
“FC Bayern stands for a world in which racism, discrimination, hate, injustice and violence have no place. The death of George Floyd and the images from the USA have shocked us all,” said club president Herbert Hainer in a statement.
“It’s a matter of actively and loudly showing our colours. Black Lives Matter and Reds Against Racism. We stand for togetherness that goes far beyond sports.”
Source: AFP
CPDM crime syndicate more interested in fighting the opposition than COVID-19
As Cameroon eases coronavirus restrictions, the government is accused of politicising the pandemic.
Government leaders in Cameroon have been accused of being more interested in fighting the opposition than COVID-19.
Despite accusations of putting the population in harm’s way, the government has reopened airports and schools.
Cameroon has one of Africa’s highest infection rates with more than 200 people reported dead and 6,000 cases.
Written by aljazeera
Njoka Kingsley: Journalist who wouldn’t stay quiet is in Yaounde, CIR sources
Journalist Njoka Kingsley is missing presumed detained. He’s one of many for whom the Southern Cameroons crisis has led to a political awakening and a demand for free speech. Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in Yaoundé have confirmed that Njoka is in Yaounde undergoing torture.
Now the question arises: where is disappeared journalist Njoka Kingsley Fomonyuy, “taken into custody by plainclothes security officers on May 16, 2020 remains a mystery. Sources familiar with the incident say he was taken from his house in Douala by armed men who only identified themselves as ‘Surete National’.
He’s from Kumbo, Bui Division in the North West Region. He studied Journalism and Mass Communication in the University of Zaria in Nigeria, from where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1990.
In Cameroon, the freelance journalist worked with Magic FM and as a senior writer for Popular Catholic biweekly Magazine “L’Effort Camerounais” in Douala. Before whisking Njoka Kingsley away, the armed men ransacked his house apparently searching for possible evidence that could implicate him. Without finding what they were after, the armed men asked Njoka’s wife to hand his office keys and his identification documents to them. They took an HP laptop from Njoka’s house and then headed to his office which they equally searched thoroughly making away with two laptops marked Lenovo and DELL as well as the sum of over FCFA 50,000.
The unidentified men gave no reason for taking Njoka Kingsley into custody. They also did not say where he was being taken to. It has now been 21 days since he was “kidnapped” without any crime committed and without even being charged. With the recent declaration of Samuel Wazizi’s death in the hands of the forces of law in Yaoundé, one is tempted to think that anything can happen to Njoka Kingsley Fomonyuy if nothing is done.”
Reported by Inner City Press and Cameroon Intelligence Report