Moscow: Two thousand Santas run for charity
A snowy Moscow park turned red on Sunday (December 23) as 2,000 volunteers dressed as Santas came together for a charity run to raise money for Russian hospices.
(Source: Reuters)
A snowy Moscow park turned red on Sunday (December 23) as 2,000 volunteers dressed as Santas came together for a charity run to raise money for Russian hospices.
(Source: Reuters)
New records by the International Organization for Migration find more than 6,600 Africans have died over the past five years, most while crossing the Sahara desert toward Europe. However, the study notes these numbers are “just the tip of the iceberg.”
This year alone, hundreds of eye-witness accounts have confirmed nearly 1,400 migrant deaths on the African continent. But researchers say these numbers represent only a tiny fraction of the overall number of deaths of people on the move in Africa.
The International Organization for Migration reports most of the recorded deaths have occurred in the Sahara Desert, northern Niger, southern Libya, and northern Sudan. It says the migrants use these routes to reach Libya, the gateway to Europe and a hoped-for better life.
IOM spokesman, Joel Millman, says the migratory routes are used by smugglers and traffickers who take advantage of the African migrants they encounter. He says the main causes of recorded migrant deaths in Africa indicate that many are preventable.
“Starvation, dehydration, physical abuse, sickness and lack of access to medicines are causes of death frequently cited by the migrants who reported deaths on routes within Africa,” he said. “Involvement with human smugglers and traffickers in human beings can put people in extremely risky situations in which they have little agency to protect themselves, let alone fellow travelers they see being abused.”
While most of the deaths identified are young men, Millman tells VOA hundreds of women and children also are among the victims. He says the survey, which deals with the deaths of migrants, reveals that little support is given to those who have survived the terrible journey.
He says people who have seen their fellow travelers die are severely distressed. He says they experience significant psychosocial stress but receive little help in recovering from the traumatic events.
Culled from the VOA
Acting President Ikome Sako of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia says the French Cameroun regime has failed to achieve any goals from its more than 2 years military campaign on conflict-ridden Southern Cameroons.
“We have effectively denied our adversaries the military victory they promised their western Masters! We have convinced all that Biya cannot retain Ambazonia by use of force any more. Hence the new solution: “Dialogue without precondition”. President Sako noted recently in the US.
The Ambazonian Acting President further pointed out that the French Cameroun assaults on Batibo, Nkambe, Bali, Kembong and Ekok were meant to break the will of the Southern Cameroons nation and restoration forces, but instead increased their resilience and steadfastness.
Dr Ikome Sako noted that “From UN to USA, From Uk Parliament to Germany’s Bundestag, From the Scandinavia to Switzerland, the ultimatums are raining on Biya. Those who love this revolution should actively shame all demagogies against the IG and fearlessly defend it against destructive lies.”
He stated that Biya and his gang of inexperienced French Cameroun political elites rushed to launch a military campaign against Southern Cameroonians because they knew their claims of a one and indivisible Cameroon was plain fiction and groundless.
The Ambazonian Interim Government has slammed the numerous French Cameroun attacks on Southern Cameroons as a flagrant violation of Southern Cameroons’s sovereignty. “The war that Biya and his Francophone army are waging against Southern Cameroons, against its people and the Ambazonian restoration forces will not realize its goals” Dr Sako added.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Chad this weekend, where he will meet his counterpart Idriss Deby to discuss the crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR), amid widespread concerns about increasing Russian influence in the country.
Moscow has been supplying arms to the CAR since December 2017. Around 175 Russians, including five soldiers employed by private contractors, were sent to the country to train two battalions. That’s while a Russian, Valerii Zakharov, was appointed as a national seciurity adviser to the president.
Russia also started talks with former members of the Seleka – an alliance of rebel militias that seized power in 2013 – and unsuccessfully tried to hold talks between the CAR government and armed groups in July 2018.
France is suspicious about such Russian activities in what it thinks of as its sphere of influence. “It fears that the Russians are going to replace them as the CAR’s main patron,” said Thierry Vircoulon, a researcher at the Africa Centre of the Paris-based IFRI think-tank.
Parallels with Syria
He argued that Russia is taking a similar approach with the CAR to the one it has shown in Syria: “Russia gives the government military support and then acts as a mediator in peace talks, thus becoming a solution to the conflict.”
“Paris also fears that the Russians are trying to advance their economic interests there, and that they’re trying to develop ties with rebel groups to get their hands on natural resources, at the expense of the security situation,” added Roland Marchal, a central Africa specialist at the CNRS think-tank in Paris.
Whether its driven by diplomatic or economic interests, the threat of Russia legitimising armed groups worries France. The CAR’s western neighbour, Chad, shares Paris’ concerns, fearing that it could bolster support for Chadian rebel groups.
According to Marchal, “reliable sources say that, since last spring, there has been contact between rebel groups in Chad and CAR President [Faustin-Archange] Touadéra, while Russians and Chadian rebels have been holding discussions in Sudan.”
That makes things even more worrying for the Chadian government, seeing as its capital is relatively easy to reach from across the border with the CAR.
France and Chad both want to contain Russian influence in the CAR, at the same time as preventing any further outbreak of violence and avoiding getting entangled in the process. “Chad doesn’t want problems on its border while France doesn’t want to be asked to intervene militarily,” Vircoulon concludes.
Source: France 24
Cameroon said on Friday that the commander of the Ambazonia Defense Force (ADF), popularly known as General Ivo, and three other armed separatists were killed early Friday in a clash in Teke, a remote locality in Southwest, one of the two English-speaking regions of the country.
“Chief terrorist called General Ivo was killed during an operation early this morning at Teke,” an army statement said. “His corpse has been brought to the military camp in Mabanda.”
The death was immediately confirmed by Ambazonia Governing Council (AGC), the main sponsor of ADF.
“This morning, one of Ambazonia’s bravest and finest breed was killed in action. General Ivo died in the battle of Teke,” AGC leader Ayaba Cho posted on his Facebook page.
There were conflicting reports about who killed the separatist leader. Locals told Xinhua he was killed when a local armed vigilante group attacked his camp but the army said he was killed by Cameroon’s elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR).
Ivo, one of the very first separatists who took up arms to fight the Cameroonian army, was controlling over 30 camps of armed separatists across the restive Anglophone regions, a military source told Xinhua.
ADF is among about 20 armed separatist groups, the source said.
Since November last year, government forces have been clashing with armed separatist forces who want the two regions to secede from the majority French-speaking nation and form a new country called “Ambazonia.”
Source: Xinhua
“A lie is told by someone who is either ignorant or malicious. But the strength there-of, depends on the extent that the lie is believed. The problem is when the lie is believed or spread by those who were supposed to debunk it. It becomes the “truth out there” especially when the truth is quiet. One day we shall be bold to find and defend the truth as we know it and many will regret for what they did or did not do because of a widespread lie.
For our information more money is now going into the Revolution (I didn’t say the IG) than before. We designed the Amba Peace Plan LGA by LGA to achieve exactly this in response to the vicious misinformation campaign by enemies within and without that was aimed at grounding this IG. Today one single LGA raises $50k in two months. We have 61 local Local Governments. MTTB on the contrary Raised $86k in its first month – from all Ambazonians.
Working with the people’s elected representatives we will resolve a lot of issues. Yesterday also, the self defense leaders to whom we gave money From MTTB to organize “their boys” to fight for us NEVER told them the money or materials was from the IG. So how will GZ not believe the bogus story that the IG either ate their money, kept it or paid out salaries. Now many elected reps are discovering what happened and how things are done by our IG as we govern from a distance. When they understand they will “ forgive “ us for the “salaries”, the “Houses we bought” or the BitCoin stories etc. they believed. They will tell the others and the truth shall prevail!
Today the lies notwithstanding the GAME ON GZ HAS CHANGED DRASTICALLY; pushing the world powers to pay serious attention to our case for the FIRST TIME in the history of our struggle. Our victory is that we have effectively denied our adversaries the military victory they promised their western Masters! We have convinced all that Biya cannot retain Ambazonia by use of force any more. Hence the new solution: “Dialogue without precondition”. From UN to USA, From Uk Parliament to Germany’s Bundestag, From the Scandinavia to Switzerland, the ultimatums are raining on Biya. Those who love this revolution should actively shame all demagogies against the IG and fearlessly defend it against destructive lies.”
Dr. Ikome Sako
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) says Cameroon has agreed to host the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations after being stripped of the 2019 finals.
“Cameroon has officially accepted to host the Afcon 2021 through an official letter addressed to Caf,” a statement said.
“[It is] signed by the Cameroonian Head of State, His Excellency Paul Biya.”
The latest comments come despite Caf saying four days ago that “no decision was taken by the Executive Committee.”
Caf statutes indicate that the awarding of a Nations Cup to a country shall be determined by the Executive Committee.
Following a Caf Executive Committee meeting on 30 November, Cameroon was stripped of hosting the 2019 finals due to poor preparations and security issues.
In addition to the email from Caf on 17 December, Executive Committee member Musa Bility has said no agreement was reached at the meeting.
“As a member of the executive committee and emergency committee, I want to say that Caf must pay attention to its declarations to avoid creating problems,” he said.
“We have only dealt with the case of Cameroon.”
Should Cameroon stage the 2021 tournament, it means that Ivory Coast – which had been scheduled to host in three years’ time – would have to wait until 2023 prior to hosting.
Ivory Coast has already lodged an appeal against this with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Earlier this month, Caf president Ahmad told an African television station that Cameroon had been offered the 2021 finals instead of Ivory Coast.
The decision on who will replace Cameroon for 2019 will be made on 9 January at an executive committee meaning in Senegal with Egypt and South Africa having made bids.
Caf president Ahmad had also indicated that Ivory Coast has now been offered the hosting rights for 2023. Guinea, awarded hosting rights for 2023, would be affected by this shift.
Source: BBC
Our chief intelligence officer in Yaoundé says the Biya regime offered money to Cho Ayaba and the so-called Ambazonia Defense Council to forgo the Southern Cameroons resistance and to help the French Cameroun intelligence unit of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) to locate General Ivo at one of Chief V.E Mukete’s plantations in the Meme County.
Our Yaoundé correspondent who served in the Cameroon army and retired as a captain also opined that following the failure of several attempts to destroy the Ambazonian resistance, the Biya Francophone regime has been conspiring against the Southern Cameroons Interim Government using ego/power-seeking profiteers, opportunists, activists and clueless self-seekers.
Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the Ambazonian Communications Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu will be commenting on the happenings in the Meme County and also on the state of the revolution tomorrow December 22nd.
We gathered that the French Cameroun government assigned Paul Atanga Nji- the Minister of Territorial Administration to offer Cho Ayaba including some prominent members of the AGC and ADF anything in return for stopping the Southern Cameroons revolution.
“They were offered money and have been told that they shall be part of the authority in Anglophone Cameroon on condition that they work against the Interim Government of Southern Cameroons,” our Intel officer in Yaoundé revealed.
There are many other French Cameroun conspiracies against the Southern Cameroons revolution, including attempts to stir up a conflict between the Ambazonia Self-Defence and Restoration Forces Council (ASC/RF), the command and control system prosecuting the war against La Republique du Cameroun and the Ambazonian Interim Government.
The French Cameroun government under Biya is seeking to create such a rift because the Ambazonian Interim Government is the guarantor of the Southern Cameroons resistance.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Sama Ernest and Pierre Onana
Cameroon has slammed a one-month ban on a private television station that falsely announced the death of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Odimba while he was in a Saudi hospital.
Cameroon Media watchdog, the National Communication Council (NCC), said the Yaoundé-based Vision 4 television aired an “unfounded declaration” on its prime time newscast of October 27.
The council said the broadcast was a gross disrespect of “professional requirements of investigation and crosschecking of information delivered to the public”.
Gabonese authorities had in October banned the TV channel on its territory for six months for the same reason.
Latest prohibitions
NCC also imposed a one month ban on journalist and Vision 4 TV director Ernest Oboma “for inciting tribal hatred and violence” on television.
Officials of the channel have snubbed similar decisions against them by the watchdog previously and it was not clear whether they would respect the latest prohibitions.
Besides Vision 4 TV and its director, the Cameroon media regulator also sanctioned four other media organs and about 20 local journalists for allegedly flouting professional ethics.
Pre-trial detention
The council said it had prohibited Ms Mireille Flore, a journalist with Canal 2 International television, from practising in the country following a complaints against her by a bicycle repairer who she presented in a report, “without proof”, as a paedophile.
Mr Dom Pipelassi Michael Dopass, a journalist and presenter of the radio programme, Sports and Investigation, was slammed a two-month ban following the broadcast of “unfounded claims” against football legend Samuel Eto’o, the NCC said.
The council also suspended the Sports and Investigation programme for same reason and same duration.
The journalist who works for the Yaoundé-based Soleil FM is in pre-trial detention in the Cameroon capital for same crime.
The Cameroon Journalists Trade Union (SNJC) was yet to comment on the latest sanctions by the regulator, but had described previous suspensions by the watchdog as attempts by government to muzzle the already gagged press.
Culled from The East African
At least six people have been killed in eastern Sudan cities amid mounting protests over the rising price of bread. A student and another demonstrator were among at least six people killed during violent protests in cities in eastern Sudan on Thursday.
Police fired tear gas at around 500 people in the capital Khartoum, some of them chanting, “The people want the fall of the regime.” In northern city of Dongola, protesters set fire to the local offices of President Omar al-Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party, witnesses said, while in the northeast, protesters hiding their faces behind scarves came out for a second day in Atbara, chanting “freedom,” and setting car tires alight.
A government decision to raise the price of bread this week from one Sudanese pound to three (from about two to six US cents) sparked protests across the country on Wednesday.
Demonstrators in al-Qadarif “threw stones at banks [in the city center] and smashed cars,” resident Tayeb Omar Bashir told the agency by phone, adding that they then “moved to the ruling party headquarters near the market it torched it completely.”
Protests in Dongola, 500 kilometers north of Khartoum, “started with university students who were joined by others when they reached the city center,” an eyewitness told AFP by phone. ” They attacked the headquarters of the NCP and set it ablaze,” the witness said.
In the city of Atbara, around 400 kilometers (248 miles) east of Khartoum, the police fired tear gas to disperse protesters just hours after authorities imposed a curfew on the city because demonstrators had torched its NCP headquarters.
Hours later, a state of emergency was declared in the eastern Sudanese city of al-Qadarif, an official speaking on condition of anonymity was quoted by Reuters. A curfew was also imposed from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. local time, the city’s commissioner said.
A state of emergency and curfew were also declared in the northeastern city of Atbara after protests there.
The bread shortage has hit Sudan’s cities for the past three weeks, including the capital. In the past year, the cost of some commodities has more than doubled in Sudan, where inflation is running at close to 70 percent and the pound has plunged in value.
Sporadic protests broke out in January this year over the rising cost of food, but they were soon brought under control with the arrest of opposition leaders and activists.
Sudan had significant oil reserves until South Sudan gained independence in 2011, and the north-south split saw the country lose three quarters of its reserves.
(Source: Reuters, AFP)
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