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The African Union leadership summit will start on Monday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. It's almost time for leaders to vote for a new AU Commission Chair. There are six candidates in the running. Among them the current UN representative for the Central African Republic Abdoulaye Bathily, who is Senegalese. Current Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohammed is also running for the AU's top position.

Analysts say the alignment of countries across the continent shows that countries will vote along their regional economic blocs or as influenced by their local politicians. Dr. Patrick Muluki from Nairobi University's Diplomacy and International Studies Institute tipped Amina Mohammed as one of the top contenders going by the Union voting blocs. 

"The AU elections are mainly determined by regional blocs. We have five blocs. One of the advantages Amina has is that she has been endorsed by the East African Community bloc. She goes with an advantage of about 14 votes as opposed to other candidates, who have not been endorsed by their region," Muluki said.

The five blocs of the AU are the East African Community, Southern African Development Community, the Economic Community of West African States, the Economic Community of Central African States and the Arab Maghreb Union.

Muluki said that the Francophone-Anglophone issue is also at play with the West African bloc's votes divided between Chad and Senegal. "Senegal has a strong top candidate, but so does Chad. Those two are Francophone countries, and that is something they have to square off. But ECOWAS has not endorsed Senegal's candidate," he added.

Traditionally, the chairmanship rotates between English-speaking and Francophone countries. The previous chairperson, South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was from an Anglophone country.

The return of the prodigal member

Morocco's bid to rejoin the Africa Union (AU) after 33 years is also one of the major highlights in the two-day summit in Addis Ababa. The North African nation quit the AU in 1984 in protest of a decision by the body's predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, to accept Western Sahara as a member. Since Morocco applied to rejoin the union in July 2015, its monarch, King Mohammed VI, has been crisscrossing the continent lobbying for support.

"The AU has become more and more relevant, so Morocco realizes it cannot drive an [economic] agenda on the continent without being in the AU," said Liesl Louw-Vaudran, a consultant with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Addis Ababa.

The membership of Morocco could also be a financial boon for the AU. Currently, foreign donors account for some 70 percent of its budget, according to the ISS. But Louw-Vaudran believes Morocco's return is still "not a done deal" since heavyweights such as Algeria and South Africa are lobbying hard against the move. 

Algeria and South Africa support the fight of Western Sahara's Polisario Independence Movement for self-governance. Morocco maintains that the former Spanish colony, which it annexed in 1975, is an integral part of its kingdom.

"The question now is whether Morocco's reintegration means Western Sahara will now be excluded," said Senegal-based political analyst Gilles Yabi. "This is where there are very clear divisions in the AU."

Political bickering

The summit is also expected to discuss several crises on the continent, especially the conflict in South Sudan, where ethnic violence has continued. Tens of thousands have died and more than three million have been displaced since the violence broke out in 2013.

A 4,000-strong regional protection force mooted at the last AU summit has been mired in delays and disputes as South Sudan's government insists the force is no longer needed. "There hasn't been a sense of urgency to save lives and get this force up and running," said Louw-Vaudran. "I think it is just South Sudan fatigue; they are out of any ideas of how to solve this [crisis]."

Another issue dividing African leaders is a growing discontentment over the International Criminal Court. Burundi, South Africa and The Gambia decided late last year to pull out of the court, claiming it unfairly targets African nations. Others, such as Kenya, threatened to follow suit, but Botswana and Senegal argued in the court's favor.

Other key subjects will be the turmoil in Libya, radical Islamism in Mali, Somalia and Nigeria and the ongoing political tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

During the summit, Rwanda's president Paul Kagame is expected to submit his first report on suggested reforms for the African Union, which has long been weighed down by bureaucracy.

The summit comes after several shake-ups on the international stage: the election of US President Donald Trump and a new head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, who will also be attending the summit.

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Rita Akana

29.Jan.2017

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U.S. President Donald Trump's decision on Friday to ban people entering from several Muslim majority countries has triggered mixed reactions. A federal judge has blocked the deportation of people held at U.S. airports under President Donald Trump's immigration ban. The ruling presents the first legal challenge to the executive order signed by Trump. Citizens from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yeman are affected.

There is something peculiar about this list. The draft of the executive order begins by citing 9/11 as a failure of the "visa-issuance process". It blames the state department for preventing "counselor officers from properly scrutinizing the visa applications of several of the 19 foreign nationals who went on to murder 3000 Americans."

The overwhelming majority of those individuals were from Saudi Arabia, yet, Saudi Arabia is not on the list. Furthermore, when it comes to "homegrown terrorism" of all the Muslims accused, charged, convicted and killed, some of them are from these seven countries in Trump's list and some are not, some are immigrants and some are American citizens, and a number of them have been entrapped by federal law-enforcement agencies. This either means that the list needs to be much longer or there is something more than national security concerns at play.

'TIP OF THE SPEAR'

Several Democratic governors said they were examining whether they could launch legal challenges, and other groups eyed a constitutional challenge claiming religious discrimination.

"I don't think anyone is going to take this lying down," said Cleveland immigration lawyer David Leopold. "This is the tip of the spear and more litigation is coming."

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The Department of Homeland Security said the order would stay in place.

"No foreign national in a foreign land, without ties to the United States, has any unfettered right to demand entry into the United States," the department statement said.

Mark Krikorian, the director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, called lawsuits challenging the order "last ditch efforts" that would only apply to a few individuals, and he said a broader constitutional argument would be hard to win.

"The first amendment doesn't apply to foreigners living abroad. The law explicitly says the president can exclude any person or class of people he wants," Krikorian said.

Some leaders from the U.S. technology industry, a major employer of foreign workers, issued warnings to their staff and called the order immoral and un-American.

"This ban will impact many innocent people," said Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber Technologies Inc UBER.UL, who said he would raise the issue at a White House meeting on Friday.

Arab travelers in the Middle East and North Africa said the order was humiliating and discriminatory. Iran vowed to retaliate.

Sudan called the action "very unfortunate" after Washington lifted sanctions on the country just weeks ago for cooperation on combating terrorism. A Yemeni official expressed dismay at the ban.

Iraq's former ambassador to the United States, Lukman Faily, told Reuters that Trump's ban was unfair to a country that itself has been a victim of terror attacks, and could backfire.

"We have a strong partnership with U.S., more so in the urgent fight against terrorism. This ban move will not help, and people will start questioning the bond of this partnership, Faily said.

Allies in the United Kingdom, France and Germany were critical. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted a photo of himself welcoming Syrian refugees.

 

GREEN CARD CONFUSION

Confusion abounded at airports as immigration and customs officials struggled to interpret the new rules. Some legal residents with green cards who were in the air when the order was issued were detained at airports upon arrival.

However, senior administration officials said it would have been "reckless" to broadcast details of the order in advance.

Other officials said green card holders from the affected countries would require extra screening and would be cleared on a case-by-case basis.

Airlines were blindsided and some cabin crew were barred from entering the country.

Travelers were handled differently at different points of entry and immigration lawyers advised clients to change their destination to the more lenient airports, said Houston immigration lawyer Mana Yegani.

At Chicago O’Hare International Airport, brothers Bardia and Ayden Noohi waited for four hours for their father Kasra Noohi - who has an Iranian passport and a U.S. green card - to be allowed through.

They knew Trump had pledged tougher rules but did not expect the problems. "I didn’t think he’d actually do it," Bardia Noohi, 32, said. "A lot of politicians just talk."

Thousands of refugees seeking entry were thrown into limbo. Melanie Nezer of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society said she knew of roughly 2,000 who were booked to come to the United States next week.

Trump's order indefinitely bans refugees from Syria. In a television interview, he said he would seek to prioritize Christian refugees fleeing the war-torn country.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were not consulted on the action and in some cases only learned the details as they were made public.

At the State Department, a senior official said lawyers were working to interpret the executive order, which allows entry to people affected by the order when it is in the "national interest."

However, a federal law enforcement official said: "It's unclear at this point what the threshold of national interest is."

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

29.Jan.2017

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La Republique du Cameroun agent in Belgium attacked leader of the Ambazonian Governing Council Dr Ayaba Cho Lucas, shortly after a meeting with Consortium provisional leader Mark Bareta. The agent is on the run according to Belgian police. The AGC leader is reported to be responding to treatment.

There have been many threats directly and indirectly to all Southern Cameroonian leaders living in the diaspora.A few weeks ago, Cameroon's minister of communications said in a statement that the government will be seeking the deportation of all activists from foreign countries and come back and face justice in Cameroon.

Last week, a regime loyal newspaper in Yaounde had on its frontage the image of consortium leader Tapang Ivo with the caption WANTED! The government of President Paul Biya is becoming more and more frustrated as it gradually looses grip on the Anglophone regions of the country.

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Rita Akana

29.Jan.2017

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Switzerland on Thursday detained former Gambian interior minister Ousman Sonko, who is under investigation for crimes against humanity during the regime of ex-president Yahya Jammeh.

The arrest and probe come as The Gambia Monday welcomed their new president Adama Barrow, who had fled to Senegal after winning a landmark election as Jammeh refused to give up power sparking a political crisis.

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O'Brian Ortese

28.Jan.2017

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Gambians have celebrated the arrival of their new President Adama Barrow after a post-election crisis forced him to flee. After two decades of rule under Jammeh, Barrow's return signifies a new chapter for the country.

After weeks of a political impasse, The Gambia's new President Adama Barrow returned home on Thursday.

Barrow landed at the airport in the capital Banjul shortly after 1700 UTC. Dressed in flowing white robes called the "Haftan," Barrow shook hands with elders and senior members of his coalition government on the tarmac.

"I am a happy man today," Barrow told the Associated Press after he arrived. "I think the bad part is finished now." He promised to get his Cabinet in place and "then get the ball rolling."

He was accompanied by two of his wives and some of his children as well as dozens of Gambian soldiers and troops from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Barrow's return marks the first democratic transfer of power in The Gambia's history.

Hundreds gathered to greet the new president in the capital after he was forced to flee to neighboring Senegal on January 15 after his predecessor Yahya Jammeh refused to step down.

Jammeh, who ruled the country for 22 years, lost the December 1 election but failed to the recognize Barrow's win. After weeks of regional pressure and the threat of arrest by West African troops, Jammeh conceded defeat.

The former strongman went into exile in Equatorial Guinea on Saturday, with authorities accusing him of plundering state coffers and absconding with $11 million (10 million euros).

Barrow already has named a female vice president, Fatoumata Tambajang, who has called for Jammeh's prosecution for alleged human rights abuses. One of his first jobs, however, is to deal with an internal crisis over the appointment after it was revealed that she may be constitutionally too old for the position.

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Rita Akana

28.Jan.2017

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Hundreds of Southern Cameroonian on Friday 27 January 2017 pulled a tremendous crowd of sympathisers from all across Germany and some neighbouring European countries after they staged a powerful yet peaceful demonstration at the Brandnburger Gate, Berlin-Germany.

The demonstrators dressed in the popular Bamenda regalia and accompanied by some Germans gathered at the gates of the French embassy which is adjacent to the Brandenburger Gate. All along at the French embassy, demonstrators were chanting anti French colonial practises in Africa with particular reference to Cameroon and the Southern Cameroonian struggle. Many demonstrators could be heard chanting loud that "France leave Africa alone... tell Biya to leave Southern Cameroons alone. Southern Cameroons is not a French colony, so France cede all your activities our oil-rich region." From one speaker to another, they all decried the excesses of France in Camerroon with the pitch felt by Anglophones.

A petition was later on signed and handed to the French embassy. From the French embassy, demonstrators marched along the Brandeburger Gate towards the British embassy, chanting anti Biya Slogans and displaying placards showing images of victims of the recent atrocities perpetuated by the Biya regime forces on peaceful Southern Cameroonian peaceful demonstrators.

Sympathizing with their grievances, German citizens joined the demonstrations demanding answers to the plethora of questions raised. At the British embassy, the demonstrators aired out their plight to the British government which happened to be the colonial master of former British Southern Cameroon. The spokesperson for the Southern Cameroonians in Berlin spoke lenghtly on the role Britain played in shaping the current situation in which Southern Cameroons finds itself,the British government was called upon to complete the job accorded them by the league of Nations, now United Nation and give Southern Cameroons its deserved independence. A Signed petition was later handed to the embassy with the representative promising to forward the petition to the British government. From the British embassy, demonstrators marched peacefully chanting slogans of freedom, liberation towards the German foreign ministry.

At the German foreign ministry, a representative from Southern Cameroonians, Dr Agustine Mofor, read a petition were in he laid emphasis on the fact that since Kamerun was a former German colony, Germany should use its voice as a member of the UN security council to call to light the plight of Southern Cameroonians. While urging Germany to intervene promptly to avoid a pending massacre by Biya forces in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon, he emphasised that "enough is enough.

" Speaking at the massively attended rally, a youth from Former southern Cameroon questions why Germany was giving a deaf ear to the situation in Cameroon? "...Why are the Germans complaining of so many refugees coming into the country, yet they do little to prevent such exodus? if Germany does not react quick, they should be expecting a mass entry of ayslum seekers from Cameroon in the nearest future." he cried out.

The demonstrations ended with the handing of the petition to the German authorities at the foreign ministry. As they on their part promised to forward the petition to hierarchy.

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Rita Akana

28.Jan.2017

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