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Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe turns 93 Tuesday and on Saturday a lavish party to celebrate his birthday is expected to cost more than $2 million (1.88 million euros). 

This year's celebration of President Robert Mugabe's 93rd birthday takes place in Matobos southwest of Harare on Saturday. Some Zimbabweans are calling Mugabe to use the money to address a myriad of problems besetting the country while others are planning to celebrate their leader's birthday.

"We regard President Mugabe's birth so highly that we take him as second only to Jesus Christ. So his birthday is something we cannot miss as Zimbabweans. We are advocating for that day to be a national holiday," said one supporter in Harare.

Mugabe has been ruling Zimbabwe since 1980 when the country got its independence from Great Britain. Since then, Zimbabwe has religiously celebrated his birthday.

This year, a coalition of civic organizations called "21 Days of Activism Zimbabwe" told DW that Mugabe should not celebrate his birthday this year.

"We are highlighting key issues that need to be prioritized by government instead of spending millions of dollars on birthday celebrations when currently we have a massive cash crisis that needs to be dealt with," said Sam Farai Munro, one of the activists in the anti-birthday movement.

"So if the government can fundraise millions, then those millions should be dedicated to fixing up hospitals, or providing books in schools or paying teacher bonuses from last year," he added.

Trump supporter?

In an interview that is to be run on the state-run TV channel on the eve of his birthday, President Mugabe expressed respect for US President Donald Trump.

"When it comes to Donald Trump, on the one hand talking of American nationalism. Well America for America, America for Americans, on that we agree. Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans," said Mugabe in excerpts carried by the state-run Herald newspaper.

Mugabe has consistently opposed Western intervention in Zimbabwe and his country has recently been criticized by western governments for prosecuting Evan Mawarire and Phillip Patrick Mugadza, two pastors who have been vocal critics of his rule. Mugabe hopes that Trump will be different.

"We are just now under sanctions imposed not by Donald Trump but by Obama. What arrogance is that?" asked Mugabe.

Priorities versus parties

Zimbabwe's government is broke. Since last year, it has been failing to pay its workers salaries on time. It has not indicated when it will pay its workers their bonuses which were due in November last year. Add to that about the fact that five million Zimbabweans depend on Western food aid to following the ongoing El Nino-induced drought. 

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Rita Akana

21.Feb.2017

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A day after falsely suggesting there was an immigration-related security incident in Sweden, President Donald Trump said on Sunday his comment was based on a television report he had seen.

Trump, who in his first weeks in office has tried to tighten U.S. borders sharply for national security reasons, told a rally on Saturday that Sweden was having serious problems with immigrants.

"You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump said. "Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible."

No incident occurred in Sweden and the country's baffled government asked the U.S. State Department to explain.

"My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden," Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.

Fox News, a U.S. channel that has been cited favorably by Trump, ran a report Friday about alleged migrant-related crime problems in the country.

A White House spokeswoman told reporters on Sunday that Trump had been referring generally to rising crime, not a specific incident in the Scandinavian country.

Sweden's crime rate has fallen since 2005, official statistics show, even as it has taken in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq.

Trump's comment confounded Stockholm. "We are trying to get clarity," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Catarina Axelsson said.

Sweden's embassy in the United States repeated Trump's tweet about having seen the Fox report, and added, "We look forward to informing the U.S. administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies."

Trump has been widely criticized for making assertions with little or no supporting evidence.

He has said more than 3 million people voted fraudulently in the U.S. election, which officials say is false, and incorrectly stated that he won by the most decisive margin in decades.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom appeared to respond to Trump on Saturday by posting on Twitter an excerpt of a speech in which she said democracy and diplomacy "require us to respect science, facts and the media."

Her predecessor was less circumspect.

"Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound," former Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter.

Other Swedes mocked Trump by posting pictures of reindeer, meatballs and people assembling IKEA furniture.

"#lastnightinsweden my son dropped his hotdog in the campfire. So sad!" Twitter user Adam Bergsveen wrote

Reuters

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Rita Akana

20.Feb.2017

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Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, has died in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The ministry gave no details on the circumstances of his death but offered condolences to his relatives and said the diplomat had died one day before his 65th birthday.

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

20.Feb.2017

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The Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, has disclosed that of the 82 people arrested following uprisings in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, 21 were released.

The Minister said of the 61 people held in detention, 31 are awaiting trial before the Yaounde Military Court.

According to Tchiroma, one of those awaiting trial is appearing freely.

“Concerning the trial which was opened at the Yaounde Military Court on February 13, 27 people are involved including Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla and Fontem Aforteka’a Neba, leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, CACSC, whose existence had previously be declared null and void,” Tchiroma stated at a press briefing in Yaounde on February 15.

The Minister was updating the press on judicial proceedings targeting some persons involved in the events which took place in the Southwest and Northwest Regions.

The press briefing was void of questions.

He announced the charges against those being prosecuted to include: “acts of terrorism, hostility against the fatherland, secession, revolution, insurgency, and contempt of the President of the Republic, contempt of the constituted bodies and civil servants, group rebellion, civil war, dissemination of false news, apology for crimes.”

Quoting the 2014 law on terrorism and highlighting acts punishable by that law, Tchiroma said, “none of the defendants is prosecuted for the mere fact of having participated in a strike, having masterminded or participated in a peaceful demonstration, as it could unfortunately be heard here and there, especially through some foreign media.”

The Communication Minister quoted President Biya who in a recent speech said every citizen has the right to express his opinion on any issue of national life and take part in peaceful strike.

In the same speech, Biya had said the use of threats, intimidation or violence to compel anybody to heed a call for strike action is unacceptable.

He had added amongst other issues that it is also unacceptable to hold children hostage from education to push through political demands.

“…It should be indicated that each of the accused persons benefits from the presumption of innocence, which means that they remain innocent until the court establishes whether or not they are guilty at the end of the trial,” said Tchiroma.

He stated that the accused enjoy the right to defence as provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code, adding that the defendants are assisted by hundreds of lawyers including lawyers registered in foreign bars.

On the fact that the accused are supposed to be tried in courts of areas where the crime was allegedly committed, Tchiroma argued that the 2008 law organising military justice gives the Yaounde Military Court national jurisdiction in matters of state security and acts of terrorism.

He also mentioned the Special Criminal Court located in Yaounde that has national jurisdiction to try cases of mismanagement of public funds from FCFA 50 million and above.

The Minster also quoted the 2014 law on terrorism again, saying whoever threatens a witness…with violence, battery of death, shall be punished with life imprisonment.

“I would also like to recall, as far as the suppression of acts of terrorism is concerned, that their apology is equally punishable and that it is characterised even if made by means of the media, the internet or by any other means intended to reach the public.”

He said article 169 of the Penal Code states that whoever refers publicly to any judicial proceeding not yet terminated by final judgment in a manner liable to influence, whether intentionally or not, the opinion of any person for or against any party, shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three months.

“Where the offence is committed through the press, the custodial sentence can be up to two years and the fine, up to FCFA 5 million,” Tchiroma told the press.

Cameroonpost

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Rita Akana

17.Feb.2017

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After receiving Sergio Mattarella, on a state visit to Cameroon, from 17 to 20 March 2016, the Cameroonian president will be paying a return visit  to Italy from 20 to 22 of March 2017.

During the visit of the Italian president in Cameroon last year, the two Heads of State had given an overview of the regional and international issues facing the International Community, particularly those related to terrorism, namely the assistance of Italy to Cameroon in the fight against Boko Haram.

At the bilateral level, the two heads of state expressed the desire to further strengthen cooperation between their two countries. They had agreed on the need to strengthen economic and trade exchanges between Cameroon and Italy.

Numerous cooperation agreements had been signed between Yaoundé and Rome during this visit.

In recent days, there has been a strong presence of Italian businessmen in Yaoundé, led by Mario Giro, the Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Many transalpine investors, have come into contact with Cameroonian business circles.

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Rita Akana

17.Feb.2017

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Since October 2016, the Cameroonian government has been facing stiff protest from the English speaking minority in the country. This crises which began with strike actions from lawyers and teachers of the former Southern Cameroon where English is the official language, has now turn to outright calls for a return to the restoration of the Southern Cameroonian State. The centralized, bureaucratic government in Yaoundé has responded brutally with arrest, killings, hijacking, shutting down internet and banning all organizations that have called for civil disobedience or total separation from the French speaking part of Cameroon. The outlawed Consortium leaders arrested some weeks ago were on trial yesterday at the Military court in Yaoundé. The trial was postpone to 23rd of March. These tough measures taken by the government, has radicalized most denizens Southern Cameroon, and amidst fears the Biya regime will eventually cut phone calls, the interim Consortium leaders who are in Europe and America are calling for renewed strike actions.

In one of his Facebook posts, Mark Bareta interim Consortium leader writes;

The Truth is that most Southern Cameroonians want restoration of their independence. The situation back home has pushed many to abandoned Federation. However, to achieve any of the above, there is a cost we must pay as the consortium pushes it's diplomatic front. That cost is to continue shutting down schools, observing ghost towns, boycotting their police,gendarmes and take our case to fons,chiefs,quarter heads, refuse paying taxes to council or state. We must employ other economic boycotts to hurt La Republique. Please our communication back home must be aggressive. We need patience to get free from 56 years of La Republique bondage.

Based on our numerous protest abroad, several letters written to the UN, we have been informed by our covert operatives that the UN is planning a fact-finding mission to Southern Cameroons. However, Biya is resisting! He claims all is well, that lawyers are okay now, classes have resumed & life has returned to normal. Says he has named Bishop Kleda as mediator to complete normalization. Reason they hurriedly brought back the dissolved Ad-hoc committee and held a conference last two nights to tell lies, claiming all is ok & claim to create polytechnic for us! This conference was purposely done to refuse the fact finding mission coming in.

Our people, our UN contact advises we must keep the pressure strong, total boycott of schools, camtel, crtv, women's day celebrations & even more heavy ghost towns to hasten their coming to insist on referendum to free us as fast as possible. This will take all of us to engage. This information La Republique cannot share but we are privileged to have such.

As you read us, please circulate this message through SMS and other means back home. Tell your friends, neighbors & all to stay home Monday, Tuesday till the end of February when ghost days shall be reviewed. Remember NO schools.

Everyone of us have as responsibility to ensure that Ghost days are implemented and schools remain closed.

For the Consortium.

Tassang, Bareta and Tapang.

Circulate as widely as you can!!!!
Cc: Tapang Ivo Tanku

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Rita Akana

15.Feb.2017

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