Politics

Details: Boko Haram

Troops from Chad and Niger have discovered what appears to be a mass grave outside the northern Nigerian town of Damasak, liberated from the Islamist group Boko Haram at the weekend, Niger military sources said on Friday. The sources said investigations were underway to establish the number of bodies and that they were awaiting the arrival of Nigerian authorities to take charge of the operation. "Niger and Chad's troops have discovered a mass grave at Damasak, which appears to contain the bodies of Boko Haram's victims," said one of the military sources, who asked not to be identified. The dusty streets of Damasak were largely deserted following its liberation on Saturday, after many inhabitants had fled the Islamists' four-month rule. Shops and businesses were looted and Boko Haram's black and white insignia were scrawled on buildings around the town.

The military sources said they had requested Nigeria's military to occupy the town, which lies close to the border with Niger, but had yet to receive a response. "As far as I know, as of yesterday, the Nigerian army has still not arrived in the area. We are waiting," said one of the sources. The regional offensive launched this year by Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria comes as Africa's most populous country and biggest economy prepares to hold presidential elections on March 28. At the start of this year, Boko Haram controlled around 20 local government areas, a territory the size of Belgium. With the help of foreign allies, Nigeria's army said on Tuesday it pushed the rebels out of all but three districts. President Goodluck Jonathan has been criticised for not doing enough to tackle the insurgency. His challenger Muhammadu Buhari has campaigned on a reputation for toughness gained when he was military ruler of Nigeria in the 1980s.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 20.Mar.2015; Hits: 572

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Details: Boko Haram

The Takfiri Boko Haram militants have attacked a town in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno near the border with Cameroon, killing nearly a dozen people. The killings took place after hundreds of Boko Haram terrorists stormed the town of Gamboru, located some 700 kilometers (434 miles) north of the capital, Abuja, following the withdrawal of about 2,500 Chadian troops from the Nigerian territory last week. “Boko Haram gunmen returned on motorcycles to Gamboru yesterday (Wednesday)... and shot dead eight people,” Mudi Dankaka, a local of the nearby Cameroonian town of Fotokol, said. He added that three more people were killed on Thursday. Another Fotokol resident, Umar Ari, said Nigerian forces have not been spotted in Gamboru, leaving the area exposed and with no security presence since the Chadian troops’ pullback. Boko Haram Takfiris had earlier massacred dozens of women in Bama – a city of about 200,000 people located just 75 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Borno state’s capital, Maiduguri.

Nigeria’s states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe have been the scene of six years of Boko Haram violence, which has claimed over 13,000 lives and displaced a further 1.5 million people since 2009. In May 2013, all the three states were put on a state of emergency while troops and civilian forces pushed the militants out of the urban centers into remote rural areas. In November 2014, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan tried to extend the state of emergency for a third time but the country’s parliament blocked the move. On 7 March, Abubakar Shekau – the leader of the feared Nigerian terrorist group, Boko Haram, opened a new page in the history of the group when he announced his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed ‘caliph’ and leader of the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL). Al-Baghdadi’s acceptance of Shekau’s bay’ah, or pledge of allegiance, has formalised the alliance between two of the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisations. Boko Haram joins a growing number of extremist groups in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia that have since the beginning of 2014 voluntarily given up their independence by proclaiming the supreme authority of ISIS. Shekau, however, is known for his uncompromising views, raising questions as to how he would respond to orders from al-Baghdadi. The practice of giving bay’ah has become common among African terrorist groups and is often mistaken to be a sign of weakness or imminent demise. Many factors – including strategic, organisational, leadership and ideological reasons – may account for a group’s decision to pledge loyalty to another.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 20.Mar.2015; Hits: 454

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Details: Editorial

Never, never and never again has President Biya ever had a difficult holiday abroad. His recent trip to Switzerland has been rocked by too many political scandals leaving some political commentators to opine that his days as Head of State are numbered. It all started with the scandal at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, where he had to intervene to calm the anger of the public. It was followed immediately by the photomontage on the website of the Presidency of the Republic. The 82 year old instructed an investigation to uncover the perpetrators and felt he could rest peacefully at his five star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. Events instead took a dramatic turn when French daily Le Monde made public some nasty revelations about the health of the presidential couple. Intelligence sources say the elderly politician was stunned by Le Monde’s take on his person and family.

Interestingly, from a purely Beti-Ewondo entourage accompanying the president namely, Martin Belinga Eboutou, Minister and Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency, Rear Admiral Joseph Fouda, Special Adviser to the President and Simon Peter Bikele, the head of presidential protocol, a conspiracy theory filtered with some people accusing officials in Yaoundé of deliberately releasing information. Deep inside the presidency, the health of the Chief Executive is never on the agenda for any discussion. The Cameroonian dictator is now very angry because he did not see his end coming and never had anticipated the disclosure of such sensitive information to a foreign media by his acolytes. Le Monde thinks the Cameroonian media has failed the Cameroonian people and it is time for help to come from abroad. After its report on President Biya’s health, Cameroon government officials contacted the publication the next day. They demanded initially that the paper should tear down the article. Yaoundé also did threaten legal action. But met with a stone wall!! Le Monde will publish on Saturday evening, a new version of the text that confirms the information on the health of President Biya and his wife Chantal.

The CPDM gang in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, have been busy trading “outside plot” conspiracy theory yet things seem more complicated more than ever before. None of the Biya men and women have attempted a rejoinder or legal proceedings against the French based news magazine. This begs the question: Is Biya actually working with the wrong guys? Inside sources say Biya had actually planned to have a 10 days holiday and he and his delegation were supposed to have left the Intercontinental Hotel on March the 11, 2015. However, by some strange happenstance, their stay has been extended to March 20^th, 2015. So, here at last is Paul Biya being taunted by young Cameroonians in front of a hotel in Swiss! Some conclusions could be drawn from the happenings in Swiss and one of them is simply that, considering the fact that the Whiteman who invented the aeroplane has till date not been able to create a garage for its repairs up in the air, this is a truism that everything that goes up must come down.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 19.Mar.2015; Hits: 3332

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Details: Editorial

Never, never and never again has President Biya ever had a difficult holiday abroad. His recent trip to Switzerland has been rocked by too many political scandals leaving some political commentators to opine that his days as Head of State are numbered. It all started with the scandal at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, where he had to intervene to calm the anger of the public. It was followed immediately by the photomontage on the website of the Presidency of the Republic. The 82 year old instructed an investigation to uncover the perpetrators and felt he could rest peacefully at his five star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. Events instead took a dramatic turn when French daily Le Monde made public some nasty revelations about the health of the presidential couple. Intelligence sources say the elderly politician was stunned by Le Monde’s take on his person and family.

Interestingly, from a purely Beti-Ewondo entourage accompanying the president namely, Martin Belinga Eboutou, Minister and Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency, Rear Admiral Joseph Fouda, Special Adviser to the President and Simon Peter Bikele, the head of presidential protocol, a conspiracy theory filtered with some people accusing officials in Yaoundé of deliberately releasing information. Deep inside the presidency, the health of the Chief Executive is never on the agenda for any discussion. The Cameroonian dictator is now very angry because he did not see his end coming and never had anticipated the disclosure of such sensitive information to a foreign media by his acolytes. Le Monde thinks the Cameroonian media has failed the Cameroonian people and it is time for help to come from abroad. After its report on President Biya’s health, Cameroon government officials contacted the publication the next day. They demanded initially that the paper should tear down the article. Yaoundé also did threaten legal action. But met with a stone wall!! Le Monde will publish on Saturday evening, a new version of the text that confirms the information on the health of President Biya and his wife Chantal.

The CPDM gang in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, have been busy trading “outside plot” conspiracy theory yet things seem more complicated more than ever before. None of the Biya men and women have attempted a rejoinder or legal proceedings against the French based news magazine. This begs the question: Is Biya actually working with the wrong guys? Inside sources say Biya had actually planned to have a 10 days holiday and he and his delegation were supposed to have left the Intercontinental Hotel on March the 11, 2015. However, by some strange happenstance, their stay has been extended to March 20^th, 2015. So, here at last is Paul Biya being taunted by young Cameroonians in front of a hotel in Swiss! Some conclusions could be drawn from the happenings in Swiss and one of them is simply that, considering the fact that the Whiteman who invented the aeroplane has till date not been able to create a garage for its repairs up in the air, this is a truism that everything that goes up must come down.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 19.Mar.2015; Hits: 2996

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Details: Editorial

Never, never and never again has President Biya ever had a difficult holiday abroad. His recent trip to Switzerland has been rocked by too many political scandals leaving some political commentators to opine that his days as Head of State are numbered. It all started with the scandal at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, where he had to intervene to calm the anger of the public. It was followed immediately by the photomontage on the website of the Presidency of the Republic. The 82 year old instructed an investigation to uncover the perpetrators and felt he could rest peacefully at his five star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. Events instead took a dramatic turn when French daily Le Monde made public some nasty revelations about the health of the presidential couple. Intelligence sources say the elderly politician was stunned by Le Monde’s take on his person and family.

Interestingly, from a purely Beti-Ewondo entourage accompanying the president namely, Martin Belinga Eboutou, Minister and Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency, Rear Admiral Joseph Fouda, Special Adviser to the President and Simon Peter Bikele, the head of presidential protocol, a conspiracy theory filtered with some people accusing officials in Yaoundé of deliberately releasing information. Deep inside the presidency, the health of the Chief Executive is never on the agenda for any discussion. The Cameroonian dictator is now very angry because he did not see his end coming and never had anticipated the disclosure of such sensitive information to a foreign media by his acolytes. Le Monde thinks the Cameroonian media has failed the Cameroonian people and it is time for help to come from abroad. After its report on President Biya’s health, Cameroon government officials contacted the publication the next day. They demanded initially that the paper should tear down the article. Yaoundé also did threaten legal action. But met with a stone wall!! Le Monde will publish on Saturday evening, a new version of the text that confirms the information on the health of President Biya and his wife Chantal.

The CPDM gang in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, have been busy trading “outside plot” conspiracy theory yet things seem more complicated more than ever before. None of the Biya men and women have attempted a rejoinder or legal proceedings against the French based news magazine. This begs the question: Is Biya actually working with the wrong guys? Inside sources say Biya had actually planned to have a 10 days holiday and he and his delegation were supposed to have left the Intercontinental Hotel on March the 11, 2015. However, by some strange happenstance, their stay has been extended to March 20^th, 2015. So, here at last is Paul Biya being taunted by young Cameroonians in front of a hotel in Swiss! Some conclusions could be drawn from the happenings in Swiss and one of them is simply that, considering the fact that the Whiteman who invented the aeroplane has till date not been able to create a garage for its repairs up in the air, this is a truism that everything that goes up must come down.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 19.Mar.2015; Hits: 2866

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Details: Editorial

Never, never and never again has President Biya ever had a difficult holiday abroad. His recent trip to Switzerland has been rocked by too many political scandals leaving some political commentators to opine that his days as Head of State are numbered. It all started with the scandal at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, where he had to intervene to calm the anger of the public. It was followed immediately by the photomontage on the website of the Presidency of the Republic. The 82 year old instructed an investigation to uncover the perpetrators and felt he could rest peacefully at his five star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. Events instead took a dramatic turn when French daily Le Monde made public some nasty revelations about the health of the presidential couple. Intelligence sources say the elderly politician was stunned by Le Monde’s take on his person and family.

Interestingly, from a purely Beti-Ewondo entourage accompanying the president namely, Martin Belinga Eboutou, Minister and Director of the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency, Rear Admiral Joseph Fouda, Special Adviser to the President and Simon Peter Bikele, the head of presidential protocol, a conspiracy theory filtered with some people accusing officials in Yaoundé of deliberately releasing information. Deep inside the presidency, the health of the Chief Executive is never on the agenda for any discussion. The Cameroonian dictator is now very angry because he did not see his end coming and never had anticipated the disclosure of such sensitive information to a foreign media by his acolytes. Le Monde thinks the Cameroonian media has failed the Cameroonian people and it is time for help to come from abroad. After its report on President Biya’s health, Cameroon government officials contacted the publication the next day. They demanded initially that the paper should tear down the article. Yaoundé also did threaten legal action. But met with a stone wall!! Le Monde will publish on Saturday evening, a new version of the text that confirms the information on the health of President Biya and his wife Chantal.

The CPDM gang in the nation’s capital, Yaoundé, have been busy trading “outside plot” conspiracy theory yet things seem more complicated more than ever before. None of the Biya men and women have attempted a rejoinder or legal proceedings against the French based news magazine. This begs the question: Is Biya actually working with the wrong guys? Inside sources say Biya had actually planned to have a 10 days holiday and he and his delegation were supposed to have left the Intercontinental Hotel on March the 11, 2015. However, by some strange happenstance, their stay has been extended to March 20^th, 2015. So, here at last is Paul Biya being taunted by young Cameroonians in front of a hotel in Swiss! Some conclusions could be drawn from the happenings in Swiss and one of them is simply that, considering the fact that the Whiteman who invented the aeroplane has till date not been able to create a garage for its repairs up in the air, this is a truism that everything that goes up must come down.

Details: Ngwa Bertrand; 19.Mar.2015; Hits: 2946

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