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Chadian President Idriss Deby secured his fifth term in office Thursday, beating out more than a dozen opponents in a landslide victory. But opposition leaders are accusing him of voter fraud.

Deby won 61.5 percent of the vote in the April 10 election, according to the national election commission, beating the main opposition leader Saleh Kebzabo by nearly 50 percent. Kebzabo, though, said the vote was rigged.

Kebzabo and a group of other opposition politicians said they don’t recognize the outcome of what they called an “electoral stick-up,” and accused Deby of stuffing ballot boxes.

“Hundreds of ballot boxes have disappeared,” the politicians said, also alleging that Deby had imprisoned soldiers who intended to vote against him.

Last week African Union observers said there was no foul play involved in the election.

More than six million people cast ballots in the election – a 76 percent turnout. Since Deby secured more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be no run-off election.

The internet was cut off while voting took place and mobile phones were unable to send messages. Following the announcement of Deby’s victory, his supporters celebrated by shooting guns into the air in the capital’s large Nation Square.

VOA

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Elangwe Pauline

22.Apr.2016

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Nearly 40 people were charged in Gambia on Wednesday for arranging a small protest last week that called for free speech and electoral reform, the High Court in the capital Banjul said.

At least 50 people were arrested after the demonstration on Thursday in the tiny West African country, according to the United Democratic Party (UDP), the country's main opposition party, in a crackdown that was condemned by the international community.

Among those arrested were high-level members of the UDP including party leader Ousainu Darboe.

Three people, including a high-level party official named Solo Sandeng, are feared dead, the opposition has said.

Fifteen were released on Tuesday, but the rest remain in custody, UDP sources said on Wednesday.

The High Court said on Wednesday it had charged 37 people, 18 of whom were accused on five counts: unlawful assembly, rioting, incitement of violence, interfering with vehicles and holding a procession without a permit.

Sandeng's name did not appear on the court list.

The cases have been adjourned until April 27 and lawyers for the defendants are expected to file for bail on Thursday.

The Gambian government has not commented on the arrests. It has also not confirmed the release of any protesters or the reported deaths.

Gambian police sources last week confirmed there had been some arrests but gave no number.

The demonstrations were a rare act of defiance in Gambia and occurred while President Yahya Jammeh was in Turkey attending a summit of Islamic countries.

Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, is regularly denounced by rights groups and foreign governments for ruthlessly stamping out political dissent in the nation of 2 million people.

The former military man, who scrapped term limits from the constitution, is expected to extend his rule in elections due in December.

Reuters

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Elangwe Pauline

21.Apr.2016

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In prelude to the 44^th National Day on May 20, 2016, senior officials of the Ministry of Defence met in Yaounde on April 20, 2016, to take stock of the prevailing security situation in the country and draw up strategies for a hitch-free event. The Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Joseph Beti Assomo, presented the context of the present national and international security situation and insisted the need for more vigilance.

Minister Beti Assomo stated that the 44^th the National Day will be celebrated within a particular security context marked by the war against the nebulous terrorist sect, Boko Haram and the challenges posed by the rising terrorist attacks in France, Mali, Belgium, Turkey, amongst others. Yesterday’s meeting, during which he made a roundup of the security situation at both national and international levels, was therefore a stitch in time to take measures avert any ugly incident. Though Cameroon’s southern and western frontiers as well as maritime borders are experiencing relative calm, the situation in the Far North and East Regions is still a cause for concern, with the heavy presence of refugees. Even as the Boko Haram terrorist group is seriously weakened by Cameroonian and Nigerian Defence and Security Forces, rural and urban criminality, highway robbery, banditry, amongst others are under control, there is still need for greater vigilance.

The analysis of the security situation in Cameroon and neighbouring countries enabled defence officials to put up appropriate strategies. The presence of invited guests at the opening of the closed-door meeting like the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, René Emmanuel Sadi, the Delegate General for National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguelé, the Director General of External Research, Leopold Maxime Eko Eko was saluted by the Minister Delegate for Defence as they complement efforts in their different services in security and defence of the territory.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of Veterans and War Victims, Koumpa Issa, the Defence Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General René Claude Meka, Commanders of the different military corps, the Director of Presidential Security, Major General Ivo Desancio Yenwo, Commanders of the four Command Posts of the Military Regions and Gendarmerie Regions as well as the Commander of the Presidential Guard, Lt. Colonel, Raymond Jean Charles Beko’o Abondo. The different territorial command post Commanders presented reports of the situation in their respective areas. A careful analyses and proactive strategies were adopted for a hitch free event

Cameroon Tribune

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Elangwe Pauline

20.Apr.2016

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African-American abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman, who led hundreds of slaves to freedom, will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.

U.S Treasury Secretary Jack Lew confirmed Wednesday that Tubman will be the first African-American featured on U.S. currency, and the first woman on paper currency in more than 100 years. He did not say when the new bill would be in circulation.

Lew originally announced his intention to put a woman on the $10 bill last June, but has since faced pressure from various groups and individuals to rethink the $20.

The $10 bill will be redesigned and released in 2020 with the first U.S. treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, remaining on the front, but the back will include members of the women's suffrage movement, treasury officials told Politico. 

Andrew Jackson, the former president featured on the $20 bill, was responsible for the "Indian Removal Act of 1830," which started what is known as the Trail of Tears.

Tubman is most well-known for her role in the Underground Railroad, where she helped hundreds of Southern slaves escape to freedom in the North

VOA

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Elangwe Pauline

20.Apr.2016

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KINSHASA (Reuters) – Police in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who accused security forces of vandalising posters of opposition leaders, human rights activists said.

Political tension is high in Congo, where opponents of President Joseph Kabila say he is trying to cling to power beyond the end of his mandate in 2016. Violent protests over the issue in January 2015 killed more than 40 people.

Since then, authorities have arrested dozens of critics of Kabila on what the United Nations and human rights groups say are trumped up charges. Opposition leaders decided not to follow through on plans for a big march in February, in part to avoid possible further violence.

More than 500 supporters of the opposition UNAFEC party clashed with police in the Kenya neighbourhood of Lubumbashi, Timothee Mbuya, the president of a local human rights organisation called Justicia, told Reuters.

Lubumbashi is the largest city of copper-rich Katanga, which is Kabila’s home region, but he has faced vigorous opposition there and several prominent supporters have defected from his ruling coalition over the last 18 months.

Mbuya said the protests were provoked by police officers who on Tuesday night tore down banners bearing the likenesses of former provincial governor Moise Katumbi and UNAFEC president Gabriel Kyungu wa Kumwanza, two former allies of Kabila, at UNAFEC’s local headquarters.

UNAFEC and allied opposition parties endorsed Katumbi last month as their candidate for a presidential vote set for November. Katumbi has yet to say he will run.

“The police came to disperse the people with tear gas and went after all the young people who were wearing T-shirts of (Katumbi’s football club),” Mbuya said, adding that police made arrests.

Gregoire Mulamba, director of the Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (CDH) in Lubumbashi, and a witness, confirmed Mbuya’s version of events.

A police spokesman said the police had dispersed UNAFEC supporters with tear gas when they started throwing rocks at cars and pedestrians. He added that there was no evidence that police officers had pulled down the banners.

Kabila, who won disputed elections in 2006 and 2011, is barred by the constitution from standing for a third term but critics accuse him of trying to delay the vote to prolong his time in office.

He has not commented on his future but instead has called for national talks to resolve what he says are budgetary and logistical obstacles to holding elections

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Elangwe Pauline

20.Apr.2016

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Good afternoon – or good evening, everybody. Thank you for your patience here, we’re a little late. I just want to start by reporting to you with great sorrow that as we, the United Nations, and Cameroonian officials drove to Moloko this morning, a vehicle in the convoy that we were a part of struck a young boy. Although he received immediate medical care from an ambulance in our convoy, he died shortly thereafter.

This afternoon, I joined the governor of the area – the Cameroonian governor, the leading UN official who manages the humanitarian and development response, and Ambassador Hoza, and we visited with the boy’s family to offer our profound condolences and to express our grief and heartbreak over what the family is going through. So I wanted to share that immediately.

In terms of the rest of the trip today, which of course was very clouded by what had happened on the journey to visit with IDPs and with refugees, we met with families who described for us the human consequences of Boko Haram’s terror. In the refugee camp we visited with, virtually every family you encountered has some horrific memory of Boko Haram coming into their village – whether that’s Nigerians who have come across the border to Cameroon, or Cameroonians who’ve been attacked in their own homes here in this country, IDPs. Vivid memories of soldiers coming in, burning everything, stealing livestock, killing the men, abducting the girls, killing often the girls and the boys, as well. So, none of us needed a reminder of Boko Haram’s brutality, but to go into a camp and to see so many people affected by this terror only deepens and reinforces our commitment to the people of Cameroon, to the people of Nigeria, Niger, Chad – all of you who are attempting to fight this terror. The United States stands with you, and we will look to support you economically as well as through providing intelligence and military and other support. 

One of the young women that we met with today was a 14-year-old Nigerian girl who is living now in a camp with her younger sister, who’s been reunited, mercifully, with her mother. She had Boko Haram come to her village and tell her “either you marry me, and effectively become my slave, or I kill you and the rest of your family.” Imagine what it would be like. Even though she managed to escape finally, and even though the people who did this to her and the man who enslaved her, effectively, is now in jail – what she carries, the trauma she carries, the scars that she carries, are scars the likes of which I can’t even imagine. So we also will do everything we can to support the UN and the Cameroonian authorities and NGOs and others who provide psycho-social services, because these wounds are going to be very long in healing and it’s extremely important for the cause of reconciliation that we support beautiful young women like this young girl that we met in the camp.

I just want to underscore that America’s support for this effort is one that cuts across all areas. We cannot defeat Boko Haram only using military force. Of course, military force has to be part of it; they have guns, they have suicide vests, they have armored vehicles – they have those things, and we will fight them. And we will join you and support your fight against them. But we also have to ensure that as we take the fight to Boko Haram with us supporting you, that we do so in a manner that respects the lives of civilians in the areas where Boko Haram is operating.

The last thing we want to do is neutralize one Boko Haram soldier and create five or 10 people who want to become part of Boko Haram as we support your military efforts. So this is a really important message. It’s also extremely important that parts of Cameroon and Nigeria that have suffered economically – and suffered more now because of Boko Haram, because the border is closed – that those communities get economic support, that they obtain it of course from the international community – emergency support and development support – but also that the governments in the region that are fighting Boko Haram understand the centrality of political inclusion and economic development to the long-term ability to keep Boko Haram not just out of territory, but to defeat Boko Haram in the long-term.

Your militaries in the region are capable of clearing Boko Haram out of territory, but it is extremely important that communities are able to go back to those lands; that they can hold the territory, and then that they can build on those lands. And to do that, we have to have a comprehensive strategy, one that includes respect for human rights, inclusion – political inclusion – economic development, and of course, physical security provided by the police and on the borders by military forces. So I thank you and thank you for welcoming me to your country. Thank you.

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Elangwe Pauline

20.Apr.2016

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