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The Cameroonian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release two civil society leaders arrested in the English-speaking part of the country, and lift the ban imposed on their organization, Amnesty International said today.
On 17 January the Minister of Territorial Administration banned the activities of the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC).

The president of the CACSC, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla, and its Secretary General, Dr. Fontem Aforteka’a Neba, were arrested, sparking protests in the southwest city of Buea.
On the same day both Agbor-Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba had signed a statement calling for protest activities to be carried out without violence.

“These two men have been arrested solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression. This flagrant disregard for basic rights risks inflaming an already tense situation in the English-speaking region of the country and is clearly an attempt to muzzle dissent,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, Amnesty International Central Africa Researcher.

According to the Minister of Territorial Administration, “all activities, meetings and demonstrations initiated or promoted by the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), any other related groups with similar objectives or by anyone partisan to these groups, are hereby prohibited all over the national territory”.

The government has accused the two groups of supporting a series of demonstrations that began in late October 2016 across several cities in the English-speaking region of Cameroon. The protesters are calling, among other things, for an end to the use of French in courts and schools. This week a “ghost town” strike – where citizens are asked to remain at home - was called in the regions’ main cities.

“This worrying pattern of arbitrary arrests, detention and harassment of civil society members is entirely at odds with the international human rights law and standards that Cameroon has committed to uphold,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi.
In December, at least two unarmed protestors were killed in Bamenda, the largest city in the English-speaking region, when security forces used live ammunition to disperse a protest.

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Rita Akana

21.Jan.2017

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Donald Trump took power as the 45th president of the United States on Friday and pledged to pursue "America First" policies in an inaugural address that was a populist, anti-Washington rallying cry.

Sketching a bleak vision of a country he said was ravaged by rusted-out factories, crime, gangs and drugs, Trump indirectly blamed his predecessors in the White House for policies that helped the establishment at the expense of struggling families.

"From this moment on, it's going to be America First," the Republican told hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the grounds of the National Mall after taking the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.

Four past U.S. presidents, three Democrats and a Republican, sat nearby. Scattered street protests erupted against Trump elsewhere in Washington.

"Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families," Trump said, describing the country's social and economic ills as "American carnage."

Trump, 70, takes over a country divided after a savage election campaign. A wealthy New York businessman and former reality TV star, he will set the country on a new, uncertain path at home and abroad.

Trump's inaugural address revisited the themes of the campaign rally speeches that carried him to an improbable victory on Nov. 8 over Democrat Hillary Clinton, who attended the ceremony with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Under pressure to unite the country after the bitterly fought campaign, Trump said that through allegiance to the United States, "we will rediscover our loyalty to each other" and called for a "new national pride" that would help heal divisions.

Abroad, Trump signaled the possibility of a more aggressive approach to Islamic State militants than his immediate predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama.

"We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones, and united the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth," he said.

After repeating the 35-word oath of office, Trump stretched his arms wide and hugged his wife, Melania, and other members of his family. Ceremonial cannon blasts fired.

The transition from a Democratic president to a Republican took place before a crowd of former presidents, dignitaries and hundreds of thousands of people on the grounds of the National Mall. The crowd stretched westward on a cool day of occasional light rain.

Away from the Capitol, masked activists ran through the streets smashing windows with hammers at a McDonald’s restaurant, a Starbucks coffee shop and a steakhouse several blocks from the White House.

They carried black anarchist flags and signs that said, "Join the resistance, fight back now." Police used pepper spray and chased them down a major avenue.

In another location not far from the White House, protesters also scuffled with police, at one point throwing aluminum chairs at them at outdoor café.

Former presidents George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter were present at the inauguration with their wives. Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, 92, was in Houston recovering from pneumonia.

Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, began the day with a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House.

Trump took office with work to do to bolster his image.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll this week found only 40 percent of Americans viewed him favorably, the lowest rating for an incoming president since Democrat Carter in 1977, and the same percentage approved of how he has handled the transition.

During a testy transition period since his election win, Trump has repeatedly engaged in Twitter attacks against his critics, so much so that one fellow Republican, Senator John McCain, told CNN that Trump seemed to want to "engage with every windmill that he can find."

 

TRUMP'S AGENDA

His ascension to the White House, while welcomed by Republicans tired of Obama's eight years in office, raises a host of questions for the United States.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to take the country on a more isolationist, protectionist path and has vowed to impose a 35 percent tariff on goods on imports from U.S. companies that went abroad.

His desire for warmer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and threats to cut funding for NATO nations has allies from Britain to the Baltics worried that the traditional U.S. security umbrella will be diminished.

In the Middle East, Trump has said he wants to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, at the risk of angering Arabs and stirring international concern. He has yet to sketch out how he plans to carry out a campaign pledge to "knock the hell out of" Islamic State.

More than 60 Democratic lawmakers stayed away from the proceedings to protest Trump, spurred on after he derided U.S. Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a hero of the civil rights movement, for calling him an illegitimate president.

Many demonstrators are to participate in a "Women's March on Washington" on Saturday. Protests are also planned in other cities in the United States and abroad.

 

QUICK ACTION

Trump's to-do list has given Republicans hope that, since they also control the U.S. Congress, they can quickly repeal and replace Obama's signature healthcare law, approve sweeping tax reform and roll back many federal regulations they say are stifling the U.S. economy.

"He's going to inject a shock to the system here almost immediately," Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News.

Democrats, in search of firm political footing after the unexpected defeat of Hillary Clinton, are planning to fight him at every turn. They deeply oppose Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric from the campaign trail and plans to build a wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico.

Trump's critics have been emboldened to attack his legitimacy because his win came in the Electoral College, which gives smaller states more clout in the outcome. He lost the popular vote to Clinton by about 2.9 million.

Trump's critics also point to the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia used hacking and other methods during the campaign to try to tilt the election in the Republican's favor. Trump has acknowledged the finding - denied by Moscow - that Russia was behind the hacking but said it did not affect the outcome of the election.

Reuters

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Rita Akana

20.Jan.2017

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West African leaders were due in Banjul on Friday morning to offer Gambia's veteran leader Yahya Jammeh a last chance to step down peacefully before regional forces, which have already entered the country, oust him.

Troops from regional bloc ECOWAS, spearheaded by Senegal and Nigeria, crossed into Gambia on Thursday at the request of newly elected President Adama Barrow, who had to be sworn in at Gambia's embassy in Dakar as Jammeh clings to office.

The West African armies have given Jammeh, in power since a 1994 coup, until midday on Friday to quit before they continue their advance across the tiny slither of a country to the capital, Banjul.

The city was quiet overnight after hundreds of Gambians celebrated Barrow's swearing in and the subsequent ECOWAS advance into their country - a popular destination for European tourists that Jammeh has ruled with an iron fist.

Gambia's only land border is with Senegal and the regional coalition, which ECOWAS says involves 7,000 troops, has entered from the southeast, southwest and north.

Marcel de Souza, head of the ECOWAS commission, said Guinea's President Alpha Conde would travel to Banjul with the leaders of Mauritania and Liberia to try to convince Jammeh to travel to Guinea before choosing a country of exile.

"It's out of the question that he stays in place," de Souza said.

Jammeh initially conceded to Barrow after a December election before he reversed his decision, saying the vote was flawed and he would remain in power until a new election could be held.

Barrow has been recognized as Gambia's new president by world powers and Jammeh is increasingly isolated at home as ministers abandoned his camp.

On Thursday night, army chief General Ousman Badjie, who had publicly stood by Jammeh, was seen smiling on the streets, wading through a mass of jubilant Banjul residents shouting and dancing.

Barrow asked for foreign help to assume office immediately after he was sworn in on Thursday, a plan that was backed by the U.N. Security Council in New York.

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

20.Jan.2017

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Senegalese troops have entered Gambia after Adama Barrow was sworn in as president. Political crisis continues in the country as longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh refuses to step down.

News agencies reported on Thursday that troops from Senegal had entered the Gambia. "We have entered Gambia," Colonel Abdou Ndiaye wrote in a text message to Reuters news agency.

A hastily arranged ceremony took place in the Senegalese capital of Dakar to inaugurate Adama Barrow as the new president of Gambia. Around 40 people were present in the ceremony, including Senegal's prime minister and head of Gambia's electoral commission. Several hundred people watched the televised event standing outside the Gambian embassy in Dakar, news agencies reported.

"This is a day no Gambian will ever forget in a lifetime," Barrow said in his inaugural speech.

Following the ceremony, he called upon security forces in his country to "demonstrate their loyalty," asking soldiers to remain in their barracks. Those who did not would be considered rebels, the Reuters news agency reported. Thousands of Gambians were reported to have fled the country fearing unrest, the UN said. Officials from ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, were also present at the swearing-in.

The group has threatened to invade Gambia to force out Yahya Jammeh. The UN Security Council has meanwhile unanimously backed the new president and called for a peaceful transition of power.

Jammeh has been in power since a coup in 1994. His mandate ended after Barrow won the elections in December. Jammeh conceded initially, but backtracked later, saying the vote was flawed. Subsequent talks to persuade him to step down also failed.

Adama Barrow is a former businessman and a real estate tycoon. He was chosen the head of the coalition of Gambia's opposition parties. After winning the elections in December, he announced his country's exit from the Commonwealth - a group of former British colonies - and the International Criminal Court, which tries crimes against humanity.

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Rita Akana

19.Jan.2017

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A new Gambian president has been sworn into office in neighbouring Senegal while the Gambia’s defeated longtime ruler refuses to step down, deepening a political crisis in the west African country.

Adama Barrow was inaugurated on Thursday in a hastily arranged ceremony at the Gambia’s embassy in Senegal. The embassy room held about 40 people, including Senegal’s prime minister and the head of the Gambia’s electoral commission.

A huge TV screen broadcast the swearing in ceremony to several hundred people watching outside. “This is a day no Gambian will ever forget,” said Barrow, dressed in a flowing white robe.

Also at the event were officials from west Africa’s regional bloc, Ecowas, which is threatening to invade the Gambia to force the outgoing president, Yahya Jammeh, to step down.

The UN security council was set to vote later on Thursday on a draft resolution endorsing the west African regional force’s efforts to remove Jammeh.

Jammeh was at his official residence, State House, in Banjul, the Gambia’s capital, and intended to stay there, said an official close to the administration. He added that the regional force would have to arrest him there.

Many of Jammeh’s loyalists at State House will resist, the official added. But the Gambia’s army, estimated at well below 5,000 troops, is divided over its loyalties to Jammeh, and those not sympathetic to him will not leave until they are invited by the new government, the official said.

Barrow won the December election, defeating Jammeh, who came to power in a coup in 1994. Jammeh initially conceded defeat but then changed his mind and said he would not accept the results, saying the election was marred by irregularities.

Jammeh has resisted strong international pressure for him to step down. His mandate expired at midnight.

African nations began stepping away from Jammeh, with Botswana announcing it no longer recognised him as the Gambia’s president. His refusal to hand over power “undermines the ongoing efforts to consolidate democracy and good governance” in the Gambia and Africa in general, it said.

The African Union earlier announced that the continental body would no longer recognise Jammeh once his mandate expired.

AP

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Rita Akana

19.Jan.2017

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Cameroonian Opposition leader Kah Walla released a statement today on her Facebook page after she paid a visit to the arrested Anglophone Consortium leaders currently being held at the SED in Yaounde.Below is the stement she posted on her Facebook page:

Very happy to report that we have seen Barrister Nkongho Felix Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba today.

They are both well and in strong spirits.

They report being literally kidnapped from the South West region on Tuesday 17 January and brought to Yaoundé by car, via Douala in the very early hours of Wednesday morning.

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Rita Akana

19.Jan.2017

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