Inside Cameroon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he believes most or all European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem and recognize the city as Israel's capital, following a move to do so by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Speaking in Brussels alongside European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, Netanyahu said Trump's recognition of Jerusalem "put facts squarely on the table" and that "peace is based on reality."

"Jerusalem is Israel's capital. No one can deny. It doesn't obviate peace, it makes peace possible because recognizing reality is the substance of peace, it's the foundation of peace," Netanyahu said.

Mogherini said the EU will continue to follow international consensus on Jerusalem until its status is solved as part of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which at this time means not joining the U.S. position Trump announced last week.

"We believe the only realistic solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine is based on two states with Jerusalem as the capital of both the state of Israel and the state of Palestine," Mogherini said.

She pledged to increase work with partners in the region, including Egypt and Jordan, as well as the Israelis and Palestinians themselves to relaunch the peace process, "even if it seems like difficult times."

Mogherini said the worst that can happen at this time is an escalation of violence and tension, and she condemned "in the strongest way" all attacks against Jews and Israel.

Ahead of his visit to Brussels to meet with EU foreign ministers, Netanyahu had criticized European leaders for what he called their "hypocrisy" in standing against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and set in motion the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.

"I hear voices from there condemning President Trump's historic statement, but I have not heard condemnations of the rockets fired at Israel or the terrible incitement against it," the Israeli leader said Saturday.

He added Sunday after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron that Jerusalem has always been Israel's capital, and that "the sooner the Palestinians come to grips with this reality, the sooner we'll move toward peace."

Macron condemned attacks on Israel, but said he opposes Trump's decision on Jerusalem. Macron described it as a "breach of international law and a risk for peace. In risk for peace because I believe these statements do not serve security, including the security of Israel and the Israelis."

Trump's decision has been met by protests in parts of the Muslim and Arab world, including a new wave of demonstrations Sunday.

Lebanese security forces outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut fired water cannons and tear gas to beat back Lebanese and Palestinian protesters who hurled projectiles at the embassy and burned Trump in effigy, along with U.S. and Israeli flags.

In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, thousands of protesters mounted a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Jakarta. Other protests occurred in Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt and the Palestinian territories bordering Israel.

Police in the Swedish city of Gothenburg arrested three people for allegedly throwing firebombs at a synagogue. A police spokesman said Sunday the incident is being investigated as attempted arson. No one was hurt in the incident.

Israeli police said a security guard was stabbed and seriously wounded near the Jerusalem bus terminal. His attacker was arrested.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, defended Trump's decision in an interview on CNN. She said Israel already has numerous government agencies in Jerusalem, adding, "Why shouldn't we have the embassy there?" She said Trump "did the will of the (American) people" by making a decision that previous U.S. presidents refused to do.

Earlier Sunday, the Arab League called Trump’s decision "a dangerous development that places the United States at a position of bias in favor of the occupation and the violation of international law and resolutions."

The statement was issued after an emergency meeting of league foreign ministers in Cairo and went on to say that Trump’s decision also strips the U.S. of its role as a "sponsor and broker" in the Mideast peace process.

The resolution also said Trump’s Jerusalem decision "undermines efforts to bring about peace, deepens tension and will spark anger that will threaten to push the region to the edge of the abyss of violence, chaos and bloodshed."

The head of the Arab League called on the nations of the world to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, in response to Trump's announcement. The foreign ministers also called on the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Trump’s decision.

The heads of the largest Christian church in Cairo and Al-Azhar University have said they will not meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence when he visits Cairo on December 20. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has also announced he will not meet with Pence, saying "the U.S. has crossed red lines" on Jerusalem.

A spokeswoman for Pence said Sunday it was "unfortunate that the Palestinian Authority is walking away again from an opportunity to discuss the future of the region.''

A statement from the Coptic Orthodox Church called the Trump decision "inappropriate and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people."

VOA

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Rita Akana

11.Dec.2017

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Patrice Nganang is expected before the public prosecutor today Monday after being accused of threats and using 'unacceptable language on President Biya.' The writer and lecturer was arrested in Douala on December 6, according to his lawyer. He was interrogated for about five hours on Saturday by six investigators and the head of the judicial police in Yaoundé. The outspoken author is accused of threatening to fire a bullet into Biya's skull on Facebook. The charges also include the use of 'inappropriate language' concerning the president of La Republique. Patrice is being defended by a lawyer and a group created to that effect, it is reported.

At a hearing with the judiciary police on Saturday, Patrice Nganang was informed of the charges being levelled against him.

BACKGROUND
Patrice had just returned from the Anglophone region of the country which is currently experiencing a year long crisis following protests in the region against its cultural, political and economic marginalization. The government’s draconian response has included mass arrests, an internet shutdown and the excessive use of force which according to Amnesty International has resulted in more than 200 people being unlawfully killed by security forces. In the few days that Nganang spent in the region, he witnessed first hand the impact of the government’s heavy-handedness in dealing with the Anglophone minority, and he was deeply moved and angered by the injustice of what he saw.

In an article published in Jeune Afrique on 5 December, Patrice, who is a long-time vocal critic of the Biya regime, wrote: “It will probably require another political regime to make the state understand that the machine gun cannot stem a moving crowd. Only change at the top of the state can resolve the Anglophone conflict in Cameroon.”

At Saturday’s hearing, Patrice’s lawyer Emmanuel Simh argued that that he did not represent a bona fide threat to the President because he has never possessed firearms or worked with any armed militias or terrorist groups and has a long history of peaceful activism promoting democracy.

Patrice’s lawyer, Mr. Simh, reports that his defence has been well received. However, today Monday 11 December, Patrice will be brought before a prosecutor who will then decide if this case will proceed.

IN THE INTERESTS OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION, WE ASK YOU TO JOIN US AND THE COMMITTEE FOR THE LIBERATION OF NGANANG IN CALLING UPON THE PROSECUTOR TO DISMISS THE CASE AND ALLOW PATRICE TO LEAVE CAMEROON AND RETURN TO HIS FAMILY.

This statement was partly  prepared by friends and family of Patrice.

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Rita Akana

11.Dec.2017

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Hon. JK Ntoi, former Member of Parliament of the Ako/ Misaje Special Constituency is no more. Hon. JK Ntoi who in 2013 was recognized by The Eye as "Donga Mantung Political Encyclopedia" for his longevity in politics has gone on a journey of no return. Honourable, May Your Soul Rest in Peace. We will always remember you for your trappings as an educationist and career politician.

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Rita Akana

10.Dec.2017

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GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Suspected Ugandan rebels killed at least 15 Tanzanian U.N. peacekeepers and wounded 53 others in a raid on a base in Congo that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called the worst attack on the organisation in recent history. 

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli said he was “shocked and saddened” by the deaths, which come amid rising violence against civilians, the army and U.N. troops in Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern borderlands.

The U.N. chief said the attack constituted a war crime and called on Congolese authorities to investigate and “swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice”.

“I want to express my outrage and utter heartbreak at last night’s attack,” Guterres told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. “There must be no impunity for such assaults, here or anywhere else.”

The United Nations Security Council condemned the attack on Friday and held a moment of silence for the victims.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert wrote on Twitter that the United States was “appalled by the horrific attack”.

U.N. troops were still searching for three peacekeepers who went missing during the more than three-hour firefight that broke out at dusk on Thursday evening, Ian Sinclair, the director of the U.N. Operations and Crisis Centre, said.

U.N. officials said they suspected militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) staged the assault on the base in the town of Semuliki in North Kivu’s Beni territory.

The ADF is an Islamist rebel group that has been active in the area. Congo’s U.N. mission, MONUSCO, said it was coordinating a joint response with the Congolese army and evacuating wounded from the base.

Five Congolese soldiers were also killed in the raid, MONUSCO said in a statement. Congo’s army said only one of its soldiers was missing, however, while another had been injured, adding that 72 militants had been killed.

‘THEY DON‘T WANT US THERE’

Rival militia groups control parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo nearly a decade and a half after the official end of a 1998-2003 war in which millions of people died, mostly from hunger and disease.

The area has been the scene of repeated massacres and at least 26 people died in an ambush in October.

The government and U.N. mission have blamed almost all the violence on the ADF but U.N. experts and independent analysts say other militia and elements of Congo’s own army have also been involved.

In response to the growing unrest, and in an effort to protect civilians, the U.N.’s Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Pierre Lacroix said MONUSCO had stepped up its activities in the area.

“They don’t want us there. And I think this attack is a response ... to our increasingly robust posture in that region,” he told reporters.

Thursday’s raid was the third attack on a U.N. base in eastern Congo in recent months.

Increased militia activity in the east and centre of the country has added to insecurity in Congo this year amid political tensions linked to President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to step down when his mandate expired last December.

An election to replace Kabila, who has ruled Congo since his father’s assassination in 2001, has been repeatedly delayed and is now scheduled for December 2018.

Established in 2010, MONUSCO is the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping mission and had recorded 93 fatalities of military, police and civilian personnel.

Reuters

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Rita Akana

09.Dec.2017

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All top U.S. media are now demanding the immediate release of their Professor Patrice Nganang who was arrested by senior terrorist leader Paul Biya on his way back from visiting Cameroon.

Professor Nganang, a Francophone who advocates for a two-state Federal system of equal status, has now spoken from Kondengui prison, officially demanding the immediate release of all Anglophone leaders before his own release. 

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Rita Akana

09.Dec.2017

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The lawyer of detained Cameroonian writer Patrice Nganang has issued a communiqué shedding more light on the situation of his client.

"I'm happy to inform you that I have finally found Patrice and we have spoken.

"He was arrested on [December] 6 and driven to Yaoundé in a vehicle which was already on standby," the lawyer has said. 

Patrice Nganang is detained by the judicial police in Yaoundé, with his phones and other items seized, according to the lawyer.

"He was told the reason for his arrest the following, which was that he had held the president [Biya] in contempt".

Nganang is accused of having posted 'unacceptable' information about Biya on Facebook.

It was not until 13pm on Friday that Patrice was given the opportunity to contact his agent.

The lawyer has added he would meet his client at 5pm [Friday ] for a defence strategy.

In the meantime, the detained author is in good health, the lawyer has revealed. 

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Rita Akana

08.Dec.2017

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