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2 Francophone government officials visit the Kumba-Mamfe road

20/04/2017

Two Francophone government officials have paid a surprise visit to the South West region in a bid to combat the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. The Minister of Public Works, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi and the Secretary of State in charge of Roads, Louis Max Ayina traveled to the Buea province of Southern Cameroons and announced that work on the Kumba-Mamfe road will continue.

The Francophone government officials were accompanied in their tour of the South West by the Francophone Governor of the region, Bernard Okalia Bilai-an indication that Southern Cameroons remains a colony of French Cameroun. The Biya agents said the construction and rehabilitation of the Kumba – Mamfe road was the focus of their visit.

With Eyumojock now completely cut off from Nguti Sub Division after the Akak Bridge collapsed, Minister Nganou Djoumessi reading from an old CPDM script, expressed satisfaction with the evolution of work on the Kumba-Mamfe road.

By Eyong Johnson

Trial of Catholic Bishops: Colonel Tamabang, Mezam High Court washes hands off matter like the Biblical Pontus Pilate

20/04/2017

The trial of Roman Catholic Bishops, rectors and principals of Catholic academic institutions that was slated for April the 21^st 2017 at the Bamenda Court of First Instance has been postponed to a later date amid confusion as retired Colonel Tamabang announced to the world that he has never been part of the Consortium of Parents.

The Mezam High Court said in a statement on Wednesday that judges will be participating in a funeral ceremony of one of their departed colleagues. The release further stated that those who have matters in court should consult the board to have updates when they will be heard.

The Judges are reportedly washing their hands off the matter like the biblical Pontus Pilate. Archbishop Samuel KLEDA, President of National Episcopal Conference had maintained that the Catholic Church was not responsible for the stalemate in the Anglophone regions.

The ‘Consortium of Parents’ through their legal representative is demanding the sum of 150.000.000 FCFA as special and general damages. However, CIR understands the man widely believed to have created the Consortium of Parents retired Colonel Tamabang says he has never been part of the said Consortium that dragged the Catholic Bishops to court.

Lawyers for Colonel Tamabang have been quoted as saying that, “Our Client retired Colonel Tamabang Simon NCHE wishes to state publicly and categorically that he is not connected in any way to the so called CONSORTIUM OF PARENTS. He has never contacted any lawyer or bailiff to initiate court action against the above mentioned servants of Gods.”

By Sama Ernest with files from CIN

Turkey: Helicopter transporting senior officials crashes

18/04/2017

At least 14 people have been killed in an incident where a helicopter transporting senior police and judiciary officials crashed in southeastern Turkey. Officials said the police helicopter had 12 people on board when it crashed in the eastern province of Tunceli during the early hours of Tuesday. Security sources said two judges were on board the helicopter as well as seven police officers.

The rest of the casualties were crew members, the sources said, without elaborating whether people at the scene of the incident were also affected. Other reports in local media said eight police officers were killed in the crash. They said the helicopter crashed in an area between Pulumur and Ovacik districts.

A military unit, comprising staff from Turkey’s Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), were immediately dispatched to the scene of the incident for search and rescue. There was no official report about the potential cause of the crash. Local media said heavy rainfall and fog could have been a major issue while security sources said they suspected bad weather conditions.

Southeastern Turkey has been subject to long periods of state of emergency over the past two years. Turkish security forces and judicial officials have been the target of attacks by suspected militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The attacks intensified after Ankara launched a massive crackdown on the PKK. The Turkish military says thousands of militants have been killed in the crackdown while pro-Kurdish parties challenge the figure, saying most of those killed have been civilians.

Presstv

Lawyer for the Consortium of Parents alleges that his life is in danger

18/04/2017

Barrister ACHU Julius NGU, the legal representative of the so-called Consortium of Parents which has dragged some Catholic Bishops to court, has revealed that some unidentified people are after his life and want him dead or alive.

Speaking on Equinoxe Television, a Douala based news channel; the lawyer described by one of the operation managers of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium as a clown said his pictures are trading on social media with an inscription, “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Barrister ACHU Julius, who is the lawyer for the Consortium of Parents which has embarked on a legal battle with the Catholic Church in Bamenda, is claiming the sum of 150.000.000 FCFA as special and general damages for non school resumption.

The Consortium of Parents reportedly created by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime is accusing the Bishops, Principals, Reverend Fathers and Sisters for their role in ensuring that school does not resume basing their arguments on numerous outings by the latter which according to the legal representative were offences and punishable under the Penal Code.

Reacting on the accusations, the President of National Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Samuel Kleda said the, “The Catholic Church did not begin the strike and cannot be accused today of preventing students from going to school.”

The Archbishop of the Douala Archdiocese wondered why only the Catholic Church when schools have been paralyzed in almost all sectors both in Public, Private and Confessional schools. However His Lordship Samuel Kleda said the Church has no lawyer but will be in Court for Justice to prevail.

Source: Cameroun Info.Net

Biya Francophone regime creates a Consortium of Parents, Appoints senior army officials as leaders

17/04/2017

The Francophone regime in Yaoundé reportedly taking the last kicks of a dying horse has created an obscure organization known as the Consortium of Parents headed by highly placed military officers. The group announced its existence recently by dragging Southern Cameroon Roman Catholic Bishops, Principals and Reverend Sisters to a court in the Bamenda province.

Local media reports say Archbishop Cornelius Esua, Bishop George Nkou together with the Principals of Sacred Heart College Mankon, Saint Bede’s College, Ashing-Kom, Our Lady of Lourdes, Mankon and the President of Bamenda Episcopal Conference, BAPEC, have all been summoned for crimes alleged by parents whose children are in various Roman Catholic Schools. The Consortium of Parents is demanding the sum of 150.000.000 FCFA as special and general damages.

The hierarchy of the Bamenda Ecclesiastic Province has confirmed the news and added that they received a direct summons from the a group calling itself the Consortium of Parents to appear before the Bamenda Court of First Instance on Friday the 21^st of April, 2017.

In a release, the Bishops said the so-called Consortium of Parents was acting through a certain Colonel Tamambang and Lt. Colonel Terence SAMA both of whom are unknown to the Roman Catholic Church in Southern Cameroons. A senior Roman Catholic prelate was quoted as saying the summons and entire process might have a hidden commanding hand from the regime in Yaoundé.

By Sama Ernest

Dr. Boniface Forbin: Exit of a journalistic Icon

16/04/2017

Dr. Boniface Forbin has met his end in his home in Yaoundé. The circumstances surrounding his death have not been made public by his family. The publisher-editor’s death may not be separated from The Herald Newspaper. Former newsmen and women including the Herald People have observed that at the inception of multiparty politics in Cameroon, relations between the Herald and the Biya administration took a nose-drive and the Herald Group took an unfriendly view of the regime (e. g, Biya’s fictitious anti-corruption campaign). Such became the unfolding of fishing in trouble waters…

Forbin resigned from the defunct Cameroon Airlines and started The Herald Newspaper. He understood that media freedom was better in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and North Korea than in Cameroon. He successfully taught Anglophone journalists the difficulty of being a reporter in Francophone dominated Cameroon.

Forbin and his kinsman Asong Ndifor invested time in training young correspondents on the challenge for Journalism in Cameroon. Forbin had the support of Napoleon Viban and men like Dr. Joachim Arrey, the late Kum Set Ewin, Peter Ngea Mbeng, Tabe Paul Blondo, Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai, Gerald Ndikum and the Herald Newspaper told the world that the story of the press in Cameroon was that of persecution and perseverance and closure of newspapers, often without an enabling law.

Forbin declared his unflinching support for the Publisher of the Cameroon Post Group, Paddy Mbawa over the Epey Mandengue Affair. Paddy Mbawa had been flogged, head shaved with broken glass and photos published by some sister Anglophone newspapers for 30 pieces of silver. Forbin stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the wives of journalists who suffered persecution. He was in a Douala hospital to see the wife of the late Pius Njawe who lost her baby after her husband was forced out of their home and taken to the New Bell prison.

He told this reporter when he joined the Herald from the Weekly Post that “When you really want to expose human rights abuses in Cameroon… it becomes more dangerous.” Rest in peace Doc

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Brexit: Number of British citizens applying for Irish passports surges by two-thirds

16/04/2017

The number of British citizens applying for Irish passports has increased by more than two-thirds, Ireland’s Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan says, attributing it in part to Brexit. “It’s reasonable to suggest that Brexit is a factor in what are record numbers of applications,” Flanagan stated on Saturday while expressing concerns on the impact of the UK’s impending pullout from the European Union, The Guardian reported.

“I think it’s also reasonable to assume that there are large numbers of people of Irish descent who now feel that they would like to remain as EU citizens in what is a changing time in relations between Ireland and the UK,” he added.

According to the report, the Irish foreign ministry announced that 51,079 people from Great Britain and Northern Ireland applied for passports in the first quarter of 2017, compared with 30,303 during the same period the previous year. It further received 250,000 passport applications from across the world in the same quarter.

Flanagan further stated, “I am very concerned about the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on our economy here in Ireland, and I am really anxious to make sure the Good Friday agreement is not disturbed.”

Under the Good Friday agreement, the 1.8 million people resident in Northern Ireland are entitled to Irish and EU citizenship. “I am saddened that the UK is leaving the EU formally, but I of course very much accept the desire and will of the majority in the UK,” added the top Irish diplomat.

Flanagan also pointed out that less than four days after the Brexit vote last June, there had been a surge in applications because of a “sense of concern.” This is while application from the UK for Irish passports climbed by 83% in the three months after the referendum.

Ireland’s foreign ministry, the report said, is hiring extra staff and has launched an online passport renewal service to handle the number of applications.

Source: Presstv

Taking the last kicks of a dying horse: Biya regime drags Roman Catholic clergies to court

16/04/2017

The Biya Francophone government through the Bamenda Court of First Instance has summoned Bishops Cornelius Fontem ESUA, Bishop Michael, Bishop George NKOU, Fathers Michael KINTANG and Williams Neba for statements and releases made during the heart of the Anglophone crisis which according to the regime have paralyzed activities in schools.

In a summon with seven counts handed to the defendants, the complainant is accusing the Roman Catholic clergy men of failing to ask parents to send their children to school despite collecting school fees from them, causing confusion and persistently refraining from performing duties which are to teach children which according to the Francophone government is an offence contrary to and punishable under section 151 of the Penal Code.

Archbishop Cornelius Fontem ESUA and Bishop George NKOU after a meeting signed a release indicating that the non resumption of school was as a result of the Anglophone crisis. They are equally accused of causing the nonpayment of salaries of teachers in Mission schools for several months now an offence contrary to and punishable under section 183(2) of the Penal Code.

Other counts include release of Communiqué which propagated false information and puts national Unity in danger among others. The Civil Claimant is therefore claiming the sum of 150.000.000 FCF5, One Hundred and Fifty Millions Francs CFA for special and general damages from the Catholic Church which is the employer of the accused. They are expected to appear at the Bamenda Court of First Instance on April 21, 2017 by 9am.

Source: Cameroun Info.Net

Libya risking return to wide conflict

15/04/2017

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warns that Libya faces a risk of relapsing into chaos amid renewed military confrontations between rival parties and a political stalemate in the North African country. Guterres made the warning in a report to the UN Security Council on Thursday, saying that Libya could return to widespread conflict in the wake of the volatile security situation in the capital, Tripoli, and the eastern oil crescent.

The UN chief noted that the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has fully lost ground in Libya, but its operatives were still carrying out sporadic attacks in different areas. The potential for an escalating conflict remains mainly due to unaddressed political issues “and the multiplicity of armed actors on the ground with conflicting agendas,” he said.

Guterres said he was “deeply alarmed” by the human rights situation in Libya where violations of international law continue to be perpetrated by all parties involved in the conflict. “Armed groups from all sides continued to abduct, torture and kill civilians,” he said. “In addition, ordinary crime was endemic, mainly owing to the state of general lawlessness and the weakness of judicial institutions.”

Fighters allied with Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) are seen around a tank during an operation against the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in Sirte on July 2, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The UN chief called on all parties in the oil-rich North African country to address the key issues blocking the implementation of the agreement in the late 2015 on forming a unity government. He said the UN-brokered deal continues to be supported by the majority of Libyans and interested countries “as the only political framework to lead the country forward.”

An emerging consensus on the need for limited amendments to the agreement “represents an opportunity to overcome the current political stalemate and move the transition forward,” Guterres added. The UN chief also pointed to the Libyan gateway to Europe, saying that the refugees and asylum seekers in Libya “continue to suffer horrific abusers and risk death while transiting the country and across the Mediterranean Sea.”

Libya has been dominated by violence since a NATO military intervention followed the 2011 uprising that led to the overthrow and death of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Rival governments were set up in Tripoli and eastern Libya back in 2014.

In December 2015, however, the two administrations agreed on forming the Government of National Accord (GNA) after months of UN-brokered talks. The new government has not yet received the endorsement of the internationally-recognized government, which is largely based in the northeastern city of Tobruk. Meanwhile, reports emerged of clashes between rival governments vying for power in Libya’s southern desert.

Forces loyal to the Libyan National Army (LNA) commanded by General Khalifa Haftar had launched an offensive to seize the Tamenhant airbase on the outskirts of the southern Libyan city of Sabha from armed militants backing the UN-endorsed GNA.

This photo, taken on August 24, 2015, shows Libyan National Army (LNA) chief General Khalifa Haftar speaking during a press conference in the Jordanian capital of Amman. (By AFP)

The LNA forces argued that the base was a launching pad for militants who had taken control of key northeastern oil terminals last month. Haftar’s forces retook the facilities days later. Last week, world powers expressed concern over the recent clashes and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, in a joint statement, called for de-escalation of tensions in the war-torn country.

“We underline the difference between acts against the terrorist threat and acts that can lead to further deterioration of the situation in Libya,” they said. Southern regions in Libya have long neglected by authorities and rely heavily on drugs, arms smuggling and human trafficking.

Source: Presstv

Nigeria on brink of famine amid lack of aid funds

15/04/2017

The United Nations’ World Food Program could in a few weeks run out of funding to feed millions living on the brink of famine in Nigeria, four people familiar with the matter said, intensifying one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. In the northeast, 4.7 million people, many of them refugees from the conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, need rations to survive, according to the World Food Program (WFP), one of the main aid groups handing out food. Many of those living in camps for displaced people say they already barely get enough to eat.

“With the money they have right now, and if they won’t cut rations, they can only go to May 18,” one person said, citing talks with the WFP, who asked to not be named because they were not authorized to speak to media. The WFP was “reasonably certain” it would get enough funding to last until late June, the person added.

“All humanitarian crises globally are woefully underfunded and for WFP Nigeria is in one of the worst situations for funding,” a WFP spokeswoman said. “We are trying to save lives. We need over the next six months $207 million for Nigeria. At the moment the program is 13 percent funded for 2017. It’s extremely low. Of the four countries facing famine it is the least funded.”

The conflict with extremist Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a caliphate in Nigeria’s northeast, began in 2009 and shows no sign of ending. It has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than two million. Nigeria’s northeast is now teetering on the brink of famine, aid organizations say, pointing to two years of missed crop harvests in what was once a breadbasket for the country, and the high likelihood of missing a third.

The approaching rainy season increases the risk of disease spreading, especially within camps for the displaced, adding more stress to efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis. In a meeting on Monday with the WFP in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, donor countries and organizations, criticized the group for not having a satisfactory contingency plan if funding starts to dry up, two of the people with knowledge of the talks said.

The WFP spokeswoman said meetings with donors were genial, open and frank. “When we are funded and able to get out to the field we are getting to people. This crisis can be averted and we want people to understand this will work if it’s funded. We can avert the famine.”

The WFP and donors have also locked horns over who is to blame for the lack of funding reaching the aid organization, with the UN agency saying the money promised has not been released to them and donors arguing that basic paperwork still has not been submitted, the two people said.

“There’s a dark cloud hanging over them that they’ll cut rations,” one person said. “It shouldn’t be this way.” The WFP, along with other groups, has come under fire in Nigeria for its slow reaction to the humanitarian crisis in the northeast, only launching a full-fledged response last year while other aid organizations had been in the country since at least 2014. On Wednesday, the UN children’s fund said its response to the crisis “remains severely underfunded,” a warning echoed by many other aid groups.

The United Nations says it needs $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid this year for the Lake Chad region – which spreads across parts of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad – and $457 million had been pledged for 2017 by late February. Despite the Nigerian army saying the insurgency is on the run, large parts of the country’s northeast, particularly in Borno state, remain under threat from Boko Haram.

Source: Presstv

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