Inside Cameroon

Police have opened fire on a car which tried to crash through barriers set up for the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris. The car escaped with its two occupants apparently unharmed after coming under fire in the Place de la Concorde. Hundreds of thousands of people gather in the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysees for the final leg of the Tour de France. 

The race is due to arrive there later in the day. Police official Luc Poignant said officers were finishing setting up the barricades for the race when the car tried to crash through the barriers. Officers opened fire on the car, which ultimately drove away. Poignant told the BFM television network that no officers were injured. The final stage of the Tour de France is due to begin at 3.35pm, leaving from Sevres, a town southwest of Paris.The riders are then due to arrive in the French capital at around 4.30pm and do 10 laps around the Champs-Elysees before finishing at Place de la Concorde at about 6pm.

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Ngwa Bertrand

26.Jul.2015

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Unconfirmed reports from the nation's capital Yaounde say a European has been arrested with explosives. Cameroon Concord is yet to verify the correctness of this developing story. 

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Ngwa Bertrand

25.Jul.2015

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Cameroon has released the European citizen arrested this morning with his driver in Yaounde. After very intensive and productive cross-checking,security services were able to established that he was a Western journalist whose name they did not revealed. The EU citizen was arrested following a false alarm.  Our intelligence officers in Yaounde hinted it was a CPDM concoction aimed at assuring the population that our policing services were in total control of the security situation in the country.

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Ngwa Bertrand

25.Jul.2015

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Austrian President Heinz Fischer will become the first European head of state to visit Iran following the successful conclusion of nuclear talks between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1. A statement by the Austrian Presidency on Friday said Fisher will be on an official working visit to Tehran from September 7 to 9, according to The Local Austria digital news publisher.

Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz as well as Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner will accompany Fisher in his trip to Tehran. Fischer’s trip to Tehran will be the first such visit by a leader of a member state of the European Union (EU) since former Austrian President Thomas Klestil traveled to Tehran in January 2004. 

The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is also due in Tehran next week, according to a statement by her office issued on Wednesday. Earlier, two high-ranking Iranian officials met Fisher in Vienna as part of efforts aimed at increasing the level of economic cooperation between the two countries. The meeting at Hofburg Palace saw Fisher discussing ways of boosting bilateral trade and business activities with Iran’s Vice-President for Scientific and Technological Affairs Sorena Sattari and Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh.

During the meeting, Fischer said he is very pleased about his upcoming official visit to Tehran, saying a high-ranking economic, scientific, cultural and media delegation will accompany him during the trip.

Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers finalized the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna on July 14, after 18 days of intense negotiations that capped around 23 months of talks between Iran and the six other countries.

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Jul.2015

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A convoy of trucks en route to Bangui from Cameroon was attacked on July 18 by rebels in the Central African Republic. Cameroonian truckers came under heavy artillery fire on the evening of Saturday 18 July at Lokoti-Bangui, a town located some 70 km from the CAR. Cameroon Concord sources in Bertoua, capital of the Eastern region have unanimously confirmed that eight drivers were killed.

At the time of writing this report, information filtered to our Yaounde bureau news desk that among those killed was a trade union official from the Adamawa. The Divisional Officer of Lokoti-Bangui was quoted as saying that he has completely lost contact with Yaounde ever since rebel incursions started in the Eastern region. 

The president of Cameroon's Professional Drivers Union have written to Prime Minister Philemon Yang threatening a nationwide strike action. For several months now, Cameroon has been the subject of numerous incursions of CAR rebels from the east.

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Ngwa Bertrand

22.Jul.2015

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Iran’s Foreign Ministry says UN Security Council Resolution 2231 does not cover the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities including its ballistic missiles. Iran will continue to enhance its defense capabilities to safeguard its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity against any potential acts of aggression as well as the threat of terrorism in the region, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Monday after the Security Council adopted the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Therefore, the statement added, Iran’s military capabilities, including development of its ballistic missiles, are solely meant for defense as they have not been designed to carry nuclear warheads, and those capabilities are outside the scope of the UN resolution and its annexes. The Islamic Republic will reconsider its obligations under the JCPOA in case sanctions against Iran remain in place or new ones are imposed, the statement said.

The removal of nuclear-related sanctions or limitations imposed by the European Union and the United States facilitates business activities with Iran without any possible punitive measure, it stated, adding, the JCPOA clarifies that the EU and the US must refrain from the re-imposition of sanctions as such a move would be tantamount to the violation of the JCPOA, and therefore either partially or fully exempts Iran from any commitment.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry statement, Tehran will pursue its peaceful nuclear program, including uranium enrichment, its development as well as related research, as stated in the JCPOA and will have close cooperation with its partners to ensure that the accord will honor all its aims and objectives. 

The joint commission envisioned under the JCPOA must be able to resolve potential disputes impartially, effectively, efficiently and quickly, the statement said. In case anti-Iran sanctions remain in place or new bans similar to the previous ones are introduced, the Islamic Republic reserves the right to reconsider its commitments regardless of the nature of the bans, it said.

The statement further stressed the need for the complete annihilation of nuclear weapons as a necessity for the world’s security and a duty anchored in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), adding that Iran is determined to actively participate in any internationally legal or diplomatic initiative meant to save the humankind from the dangers of nuclear arms and their proliferation.

Tehran declares that signatories to the NPT must not be stripped of their inalienable rights to develop and use nuclear energy for civilian purposes, the statement said, adding, Iran considers science and technology, including peaceful nuclear technology, as the common heritage of the mankind.

The Islamic Republic, given its solid ideological, strategic and international principles, also rejects weapons of mass destruction, nuclear arms in particular, as obsolete, inhumane and detrimental to the world’s peace and security, the Iranian Foreign Ministry statement read. Iran announces that under the fatwa (decree) issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, its long-established policy is to oppose acquisition, production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons, the statement pointed out.

The conclusion of nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – plus Germany in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on July 14, signifies the resolution of an unnecessary crisis by means of negotiations and mutual respect, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

The JCPOA is based on reciprocal commitments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers, and includes the termination of all the provisions of Resolutions 1696, 1737 (passed in 2006), 1747 (passed in 2007), 1803 and 1838 (passed in 2008), 1929 (passed in 2010) and 2224 (passed in 2015), and the removal of all nuclear-related sanctions that the US, EU and its members have imposed on Iran, the statement said. Iran is determined to actively help the promotion of regional peace and stability in the face of growing threats of terrorism and extremism, the foreign ministry said, adding that Iran will continue its role in the fight against the menaces, and is ready to help its neighbors as well as the international community in this regard.

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Jul.2015

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