Politics

Here's a summary of what's happening in Ukraine/Russia
In 2010, Ukraine elected Viktor Yakunovych as president. The West (US & EU) were not happy with these events as they saw the new president as too aligned to Russia.
Before Yakunovych's election, Ukraine had a free trade deal in the pipeline with the EU. But in 2013, Yakunovych did a 180° and refused to sign the deal, favouring closer ties with Russia.
In November 2013, led by  Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, the US fomented a Colour Revolution (called Euromaidan) which led to a coup in Ukraine. Yakunovych was overthrown.
Leaders in eastern Ukraine declared allegiance to Yakunovych. This led to anti-government protests in February in 2014 and a referendum in Crimea where 97% of respondents voted to Return Crimea to Russia. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in  March 2014.
Meanwhile, the new post-coup Ukrainian government proposed a Bill to remove Russian as an official language. Russian speakers in East Ukraine were angered about this saying ethnic Russians were in imminent danger.
In early 2014, Russia started sending support to Russians in the eastern regions of Ukraine (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Odessa) who now demanded independence from Ukraine.
In April 2014, the mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk broke away from Ukraine and proclaimed themselves as separate Republics.
Also in early 2014, Russia started performing military exercises on the eastern Ukrainian border just as NATO was doing the same in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, who share borders with Russia.
In September 2014, Ukraine and Russia signed ceasefire agreements in Minsk, Belarus, to end hostilities in east Ukraine.
Despite the Minsk agreements, from 2014 to date, continuous battles have been waged between Ukrainian forces and Luhansk and Donetsk separatists over territory in the Donbas region in violation of the agreements.
Along with the armed conflict, the EU and US imposed International sanctions against Russia. The sanctions led to the collapse of the Russian currency and caused economic damage to EU countries. By 2016, Russia had lost an estimated $600 billion.
In 2017, the UN published a report stating that the EU countries were losing about "3.2 billion dollars a month" due to the Russian sanctions.
In March 2021, President Putin ordered the Russian military to mobilise troops near its border with Ukraine and in Crimea. In November, Russia deployed vessels to the Black Sea to "observe" US warships. Putin said the US ships were "a serious challenge"
In November 2021, the Russian Ministry of Defence said "The real goal behind the US activities in the Black Sea region is exploring the theater of operations in case Kyiv attempts to settle the conflict in the southeast by force".
From mid-January, 2022, the US started announcing that Russia would invade Ukraine, stating that an attack could begin before the conclusion of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.
In January 2022, NATO began providing weapons including anti-armor missiles and other US-made weapons to Ukraine. On 22 January, the US delivered 90 000 kg of lethal weapons to Ukraine. The Netherlands and Spain also deployed forces to the region in support of NATO.
In February, the US sent soldiers to Germany and Poland to boost NATO's presence in Europe, along with F-15 fighter jets to Romania. Britain also deployed soldiers, warships and jets to eastern Europe.
On 21 February, the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, requested Putin to officially recognize the republics' independence. Putin agreed and signed Russia's recognition of the republics and ordered troops to be sent there.
On 22 February, Boris Johnson announced sanctions on Russian banks and individuals. Germany announced suspending the certification process of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. EU foreign ministers blacklisted all Russians who voted in favour of the recognition of the breakaway regions.
On 24 February 2022, President Putin announced the beginning of a "special military operation" in the Donbass region. Thus is where we are now.

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Ayuk Divine

25.Feb.2022

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With his incursion into Donetsk and Luhansk, Vladimir Putin has broken international law and destroyed the best negotiating track, the Minsk agreement. That is clear. What is also clear is why he did it.

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Jonathan Steele

25.Feb.2022

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This is worth reading for a better understanding of how security policy should work under the risk of nuclear annihilation. After Henry Kissinger's warning in 2014, another former US Secretary of State offered this sober analysis again in 2016.

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Ayuk Divine

25.Feb.2022

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Cameroon's women and children have suffered disproportionately in the country's five-year separatist conflict. But a report by the International Crisis Group says the role of women has expanded from just being victims to being rebels and peacemakers.

The anglophone separatist conflict in the country’s western regions has severely impacted women and put them at greater risk of violence.

Brussels-based think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG), in a report released Wednesday, says women have suffered more than the region’s men since armed conflict broke out in 2017.

"Some of the violence women have suffered include kidnaping, rape, torture and execution," said Arrey Elvis Ntui, the ICG’s senior consulting analyst for Cameroon. "The conflict has destroyed critical medical infrastructure thereby depriving women of access to health. It has further exposed them to other ills like trafficking and sexual exploitation. The authorities should persecute those who are responsible for crimes and include women in the peace process. Separatists must ensure an effective end to the school sabotage and stop the practice of requiring women to serve them in their camps."

Cameroon’s separatist groups deny abusing women — and say that some women have joined their forces freely.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF), one of the biggest rebel groups in Cameroon.

"It is unfortunate that the Crisis Group will target the Ambazonian forces for something that is not substantiated. There have been no circumstances where women have been seen in our camps against their will. There are members within our forces who are women, who are volunteers," he said.

Rights activists accuse government troops of abusing women too, though officials deny it.

Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa, Cameroon's minister of Women's Empowerment and the Family, says Cameroon is working with female peace campaigners in initiatives to end the conflict.

"The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family along with women leaders stepped up to express their indignation on the murder of their sisters and children by secessionists in the North West and South West regions. The government has made the promotion of human rights of its citizens a major concern," she said.

More than a thousand Cameroonian women converged in Yaounde last August for a first-ever peace convention to try to end the conflict.

They asked rebels and government troops to lay down their guns so peace could return to the restive regions, but fighting has continued.

Violence erupted in Cameroon’s western regions in 2017 after English-speaking teachers and lawyers protested against discrimination by the country's French-speaking majority. The military responded with a crackdown and separatists took up arms.

The United Nations says about 3,500 people have been killed and at least 700,000 displaced, with women and children the most affected.

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Ayuk Divine

24.Feb.2022

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Dr. Tita Emmanuel, the president of the faction of the Interim Government of Ambazonia has just resigned.  Barely a few days into power, the newly appointed president decided to let go of his position.

He was elected president of the Interim Government (IG) on February 17 by a dissident faction of the Ambazonian movement fighting for the independence of the people of Southern Cameroons. Today February 22, 2022, Dr Tita Emmanuel, a pharmacist based in Florida in the USA ??, gave up his post.

In his letter of resignation, Dr. Tita explains:

Dear Compatriots, I joined this revolution like most of you to fight the enemy, take our country back and fight anything and anyone who stands in our way. I was one of those who believed that the Restoration Council had a genuine case against the President as presented by some of our compatriots, and I believed that if properly impeached he should be replaced but I was mistaken. I am objective, and I believe in institutions and in the supremacy of the constitution. I engaged in this process of change - the purported nomination and election to the office of President of Ambazonia, to replace our current President, with the belief that it was the right thing to do, but with the intention to also investigate and be sure that history will not put me on the wrong side. Fellow compatriots, I have some alarming discoveries which have caused me to reconsider my judgment today.

My conscience will not allow me to continue in what appears to be an enterprise of hate that has the propensity to destroy our struggle Iota free homeland. I discovered after close observation and investigation that most of what Chairman KOMETA and his group based their so-called impeachment on were innuendos and fabrication.

I was not given a single credible proof. And from the integrity of my heart, I have decided that I won't be part of a project founded on lies. I believe that our house - the IG needs some fixes. I also believe that the struggle needs some fixes, but we can not do these through hate and self-destruction. I want to ask Ambazonians or anyone who thought before now, that I thing the wrong side to forgive toe. But I also believe that if I didn't do this, I probably wouldn't have discovered the true intentions of the masterminds of these enterprises of hate against our struggle. Some time in the future I will speak to you and others in greater detail about toy discoveries and all the reasons that informed toy decision to withdraw from the flawed process of replacing the president of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia Dr. Samuel lkome Sako; and even if our intentions were good and the process wasn't flawed, and everything was done in full legality and constitutionality, toy family's security is paramount at this time.

Thank you for your thoughtfulness and understanding.

Emmanuel NJI TITA, PHARM.D, RPH SoS of the Department of HSS. (A.KA. Interim President-Elect )-

Tuesday, 22nd February 2022 CC,

The President Of FRA

The Restoration Council

The Ethics Committee

The Cabinet of FRA

The People of Ambazonia

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Ayuk Divine

22.Feb.2022

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The Minister of state, Secretary General at Cameroon's presidency Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh heading to the 6th European Union-African Union summit in Brussels, Belgium where he'll represent Cameroon's ailing president Paul Biya at the gathering.

According to the Organizing Committee of the sixth “European Union – African Union” summit to be held in the capital of Belgium from February 17 to 18, 2022, the objective will be to launch an unambitious Africa-Europe investment package taking into account global challenges such as climate change and the current health crisis.

Cameroon's Biya was invited to take part in this summit, however, in a press release we obtained coming from the civil cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon, it stated that the 89-year-old man has chosen his Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, to be his representative.

The document also indicates that the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella and the Cameroonian ambassadors to the European Union and the African Union will be part of the official delegation to accompany his super minister.
The organizing committee explains in a press release that the sixth summit constitutes a unique opportunity to lay the foundations for a renewed and deepened partnership between the AU and the EU benefiting from a political commitment at the highest level based on trust. And a clear understanding of the mutual interests of the two continental organizations.

“Leaders should discuss how both continents can boost prosperity. The aim is to launch an ambitious Africa-Europe investment package taking into account global challenges such as climate change and the current health crisis. They should also discuss tools and solutions to promote stability and security through a renewed peace and security architecture,” the statement read.

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Ayuk Divine

17.Feb.2022

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