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Gabon’s opposition leader, Jean Ping, has filed a formal request to the constitutional court for a recount of votes in the country’s presidential poll.

Ping who had previously said he doubted the neutrality of the court, filed just before the end of a deadline.

His campaign team issued a statement saying, “Jean Ping has filed a request for reversal of the proclamation of results of the presidential election’‘ in Bongo’s stronghold province.

A power-sharing deal is seen as unlikely, mainly due to the feud between the two candidates.

Bongo has also accused the opposition of cheating and said on Wednesday he would ask the constitutional court to investigate irregularities in Ping’s stronghold and elsewhere.

Africannews

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09.Sep.2016

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A coalition of Southern Cameroons activists dubbed Ambazonian Governing Council has petitioned President Biya “to grant them immediate independence, release all imprisoned activists with immediate effect and stop tormenting Ambazonians.”

The Ambazonians wrote to President Biya following a session at the Buea Magistrate Court on September 5, after which the activists from different walks of life held an enlarged meeting with 15 of their accused colleagues.

In the letter titled “The Ambazonian People’s Quest For Freedom” and signed by the leader of the Ambazonian Governing Council, Dr. Lucas Ayaba Cho, the activists vent out their grievances and demand for Southern Cameroons to be granted its independence from “La République du Cameroun”.

“Accept fraternal greetings from the people of Ambazonia, who are constantly subjected to torments by your government of Cameroun’s forces of repression and annexation over the Ambazonia people’s justified struggle to be freed from the captivity, subjugation and annexation by your country La République du Cameroun,” partly reads the letter.

Demands

For the sake of the maintenance of peace in the West and Central African sub-regions, according to the activists, over eight million compatriots of Ambazonia, living both in the Ambazonia and in the diaspora, through the instruments of the Ambazonia Governing Council, call upon Biya as the President of La République du Cameroun and its government, to do the following:

First, they quote from Proverbs “…do not move back the boundary of long ago and into the field of the fatherless do not enter, for their redeemer is strong, he himself will plead their case with you.” Secondly, release all activists in your prisons with immediate effect. And cease immediately from tormenting Ambazonians with arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention.

Thirdly, respect the provisions of the Green Tree Accord and that Biya should acknowledge that the occupation of Ambazonia was and still remains an act of aggression against a people.

Finally, the activists urge Biya to start a process that will immediately see to the “withdrawal of all Camerounese military personnel and administrators from Ambazonia to ensure the peaceful handover of the territory to the people to whom it rightly belongs.”

Harassment

The activists state that they are appalled at being constantly inundated by men in alien military regalia each time they stand up for their inalienable rights to be free and to enjoy their territorial integrity as a nation separate from Cameroun.

“The fact that at the independence of Cameroun on 1st January 1960, Ambazonia was not a part of Cameroun and perhaps the fact that that same independence caused Cameroun’s international boundaries to become fixed and inviolable, there is no possibility under International Law and jurisprudence that it could today become a part to it, especially in the absence of a treaty of union and also given that Ambazonia in itself became an independent state as at 1st October 1961, going by the votes cast to that effect by 50 nations who voted ‘YES’ OUT OF THE 53 nations present during the 4th Committee of the United Nation’s General Assembly; 15th Session, 21st April 1961. The fact that La République du Cameroun, during this event, vigorously campaigned to block it and upon failing to do so walked out, was quite telling of an illicit Agenda to annex the Ambazonia former British Southern Cameroons.

Today’s realities have proven the illegal occupation of The Ambazonia by your country La République du Cameroun,” says the letter.

The letter continues, “These are two nations with distinct political and territorial leanings whose status as such must be duly respected by all instruments of International Law as elaborated and conceded to by the rulings of the Bakassi Peace Accord which saw your Excellency signed in accordance to the following statement;

‘I President Paul Biya of the Republic of Cameroon, in a bid to provide lasting peace to the Bakassi conflict, do hereby commit myself and my government, to respect the territorial boundaries of my country as obtained at its Independence,’ an event surrounding which the International Court of Justice ordered both your country Cameroun and Nigeria to return to their respective boundaries as obtained at independence.

“The fact that sovereignty is an inalienable right of Ambazonia to enjoy her territorial integrity in an outstanding respect of international treaties of boundary delimitation was further impressed upon by the handing of two fully framed maps by the President of The United Nations Organisation’s General Assembly, to your person and government, which included the map of the British Southern Cameroons, AMBAZONIA, and that of La République du Cameroun as obtained at its independence.”

The Southern Cameroons activists further states that the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the independence of La République du Cameroun was eloquent attestation to the fact that the presence of Biya’s government in The Ambazonia is an illegality which cannot in itself birth and oversee legality within a territory that does not belong to it but which it occupies only by the use of brute force, intimidation and demeaning political manoeuvres.

They also state that it was equally a testimony to the fact that “the international community has joined its voice with the people of Ambazonia who have been deprived of their State by your government and country, in praying you in a diplomatic overture to withdraw to your own country East of the Mongo and let Ambazonia go free in a liberty of the restoration of her pre-1961 Statehood.”

Cameroonpost

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09.Sep.2016

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08.Sep.2016

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About 130 Gabonese have fled across the border to Cameroon due to violence that erupted after disputed presidential polls in August. Many fear that incumbent president Ali Bongo will cling to power at all costs. Gabon's capital Libreville has been rocked by protests and mass arrests since the disputed election results were announced last week. Opposition groups say that between 50 and 100 people have been killed since then, while the government reported only three deaths.

According to government sources 1,200 people are currently in police and military custody. And over the past few days, over 100 people crossed over to the Cameroonian border town of Kiossi on the Cameroonian border with Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Among the new arrivals is Constance Oyoubi, a 33-year-old, who said she escaped from a police cell in Libreville where she was detained for protesting in support of opposition leader Jean Ping.

She believes that incumbent president Ali Bongo will do anything to remain in power. "He does not want to leave power and we are very afraid because Gabon is a very small country. If they start destroying it, I do not know what will happen."

Cameroon Tribune

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08.Sep.2016

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Gabon's re-elected President Ali Bongo shrugged off international calls for a recount of last week's disputed vote, saying it was a matter for the constitutional court to decide.

The European Union has questioned the validity of election which the opposition has dismissed as a sham. France, the former colonial ruler of the central African oil producer, has said a recount would be wise

Asked in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Wednesday whether he would permit a recount, Bongo told France's RTL radio: "What people should be asking me to do is apply the law. I cannot violate the law. As far as a recount is concerned ... that's done at the level of the Constitutional Court."

Opposition leader Jean Ping, who has said the election was stolen, called on Tuesday for help from the international community. He told Reuters: "Everybody knows the result and everybody knows that Bongo is doing everything not to accept it."

Ping has said he has no faith in the constitutional court because it was tied to the Bongo family and that he wants a recount done under international supervision before any appeal to that court.

Asked about the possibility of forming a unity government with the opposition, Bongo said it was premature to discuss such a move.

"I will be the president for all Gabonese, I will work with all my compatriots who want to join me in working for the development of the country. But it is difficult to work with those who asked the Gabonese people to go into the streets and loot."

Reuters

 

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07.Sep.2016

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The U.S. State Department and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday stressed the need for ties with the Philippines to be based on mutual respect, after Manila's new leader raised worries about the future of the key alliance by calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch."

Despite U.S. dismay over Duterte's remarks, current and former U.S. officials played down the impact, saying they did not expect any serious damage to ties at a time of high tensions over China's extensive territorial claims in Asia.

The State Department said a planned first meeting between Obama and his counterpart Rodrigo Duterte on the sidelines of a regional summit in Laos on Tuesday was canceled because the tone of the Philippine leader's rhetoric raised questions about the chances of productive talks.

"Words matter, and we want to see an atmosphere that is cordial and open to strong cooperation," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a regular news briefing in Washington.

Clinton, who as secretary of state was an architect of Obama's policy of emphasizing the importance of the Asia Pacific to U.S. interests in the face of a rising China, said Obama was right to cancel the meeting.

"When the president of the Philippines insulted our president, it was appropriate in a very low-key way to say: sorry, no meeting," she told reporters on her campaign plane.

"We have a lot of ties between the United States and the Philippines. And I think it's very important that we have a relationship, but there has to be a certain level of respect that is expected on both sides," Clinton said.

Duterte made the remark about Obama while explaining that he would not be lectured over extrajudicial killings in the war against drugs he has launched since taking over two months ago and which has killed about 2,400 people.

He has previously called the pope a "son of a whore" and the U.S. ambassador a "gay son of whore."

The Philippines voiced regret for Duterte's comments after Obama canceled a formal bilateral meeting. The White House then said Obama might speak with Duterte informally.

 

"FEELING HIS WAY"

Duterte's volatile nature threatens to complicate Washington's ties with its closest ally in Southeast Asia as it tries to forge a united front in the region in response to China's extensive claims in the strategic South China Sea.

The Philippines has been central in this effort due to an international court case it brought and won against Beijing.

In March, the United States and the Philippines agreed on five locations for U.S. military facilities in the country under a new security deal. The deal grants Washington increased military presence in its former colony through rotation of ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security operations.

Asked about Duterte's comments, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the defense relationship with the Philippines was a "strong" and "longstanding" one.

Speaking to reporters, Carter also described the Philippines' new defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, as someone who was "very knowledgeable about all the things that we do together."

An official of the U.S. State Department said "government to government" relations with Manila remained strong.

"The areas that we believe we have robust, strong cooperation with them, we are not going to just simply throw that aside.”

The official noted that Duterte was new to national leadership having served as a city mayor.

"He is maybe feeling his way into the new job," the official said.

Former U.S. officials said China would be pleased by the U.S.-Philippines friction.

    “Time will tell whether President Duterte steps back from this episode and realizes he needs to recalibrate his choice of words in engaging U.S. leaders,” said Amy Searight, a former senior Pentagon official now at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Evan Medeiros, Obama’s former top Asia adviser and now a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, saw the row as a “speed bump, not a road block” in U.S.-Philippines ties.

    “It's unfortunate, but doesn’t fundamentally derail the relationship,” he said.

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

07.Sep.2016

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