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Mr. Tassang Wilfred officially rejoins the Consortium. Sends first official statement with the Consortium interim Leaders Mark Bareta and Tapang Ivo Tanku. The communique emphasizes the need for Ghost towns to be effective on Friday and Saturday, condemns administrators forcing parents to go out and march etc, condemns Buea Education secretariat to force start schools amongst others.

Dear West Cameroonian.

The Consortium is pleased to congratulate you all for your resilience in the face of all forms of pressure and threats from a government that has refused to look at facts in the face, acknowledge your sufferings and settle down to discuss frankly and honestly on how to bring about lasting solutions.

By ignoring the ignoble action of some of our trade union officials purporting to call off the school boycotts, you sent a clear message not only to Yaounde but to the entire world that the time has come for a people once considered as slaves, to assert themselves and regain their freedom. Slavery and servitude of any kind were made criminal in the world way back in the 19th century and it is not in Cameroon that such shall be tolerated.

For those of you who still doubted that the Yaounde authorities have been meting out the inhuman treatment we have experienced for 55 years on us deliberately, a secret memo written in 1985 by the former French Ambassador to Cameroon was leaked out a few days ago.

At the level of the universities, particularly the University of Buea, clearly verified information indicates that police constables and inspectors In training in Mutengene are being hired to impersonate as students and march on that day in the name of that Anglo-Saxon institution. In the same light. the Catholic Education Secretary at the Buea Diocese. a Francophone is arm-twisting students to resume school at all costs this Thursday. February 8. 2017. with the only objective of ensuring they march on Saturday.
As if that was not enough. the Governor of the South West Region, who is also Board Chairman of Pamol Plantations Plc and Member of the Board of Directors of the CDC is putting enommous pressure on the management of these companies to impose on their employees to either go out and march, posing as students or be fired from their jobs.
As indicated on their release: the Bishops simply reiterated a truth we all know, that their campuses, like all other schools for that matter, have always been open. It is us the parents who have refused to send our children to school because we want a better future for them.Truth be told, that no one can love our children better than us. It is our duty to take the best decisions in their interest knowing fully well that their future shall be rendered brighter by our action.

Need for intense civil disobedience

In addition to the ghost town operations prescribed every Monday and Tuesday across West Cameroon, we are henceforth calling on our business community to desist from paying any form of taxes to whomever. It is unacceptable that all our wealth is being caned to other regions to ensure their development, while we continue to lack the most basic amenities.
The Consortium is still finding it difficult to understand how our major companies are forced to pay their taxes either in Douala or Yaounde, while our treasuries get labelled as some of the poorest in the country. It results in the unfortunate situation whereby our businessmen and women execute contracts and wait for several months or even years to be paid.

The Consortium is still to be given convincing explanations why localities like Mundemba and Ekondo Titi where all the oil of the Republic is drilled do not enjoy any royalties that could speed up their development, while peoples' farms in the South Region are linked excellently tarred roads. The same goes for council areas in Kupe Muanenguba. Meme and Manyu, where timber is exploited and no royalties are paid like it is the case in other places like Belabo and Batouri in the East Region.
These reasons and much more explain why we must not continue to pay taxes to a corrupt administration which does not have our interest at hand. While looking forward to a massive and total boycott of 11 February festivities, with ghost towns beginning this Friday  February 9. 2017. at 6 pm, the Consortium calls on us all to continue praying and fasting for God to do what he has promised his people of West Cameroon.

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Rita Akana

09.Feb.2017

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Baretanews reports that a person has been killed as police clash with locals in Ndop."Ndop is on seriously fire right now. Police arrest has provoked great rioting in the whole town. The population is threatening to burn down thé police station if their brothers are not released. Reinforcement had been called from Bamenda. One dead and about 30 injured already..."

Please, with no internet, killings are going on. We call for restrain. Those in Cameroon should call our people to fall back, please. La Republique forces should stop this. Stay tuned.

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Rita Akana

08.Feb.2017

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Special forces troops poured out of their camp firing weapons in the air and seized control of a town in southeast Ivory Coast on Tuesday in another show of discontent within the military.

The revolt in Adiake, about 95 km (60 miles) east of the commercial capital Abidjan, comes on the heels of a series of mutinies across the country last month that dealt a blow to Ivory Coast's post-war success story.

"Gunfire began earlier in the special forces' camp and then the town began panicking as armed soldiers left the barracks," said a high school teacher, who asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal.

Military sources said Tuesday's mutineers were demanding the payment of bonuses.

The streets cleared as town residents fled indoors and soldiers took up positions around Adiake.

Mutinying soldiers, some wearing balaclavas, manned a roadblock leading into the town, turning away cars and firing their rifles in the air.


"We're not here to play games. We want our money, and we'll have it," one soldier yelled at a team of Reuters journalists attempting to enter the Adiake.

A Defence Ministry official told Reuters that General Lassina Doumbia, commander of the special forces, travelled to Adiake to meet the soldiers in an attempt to end the uprising.

Under the stewardship of President Alassane Ouattara, Ivory Coast has emerged from a decade-long political crisis as one of the world's fastest growing economies and a favourite for investors eying frontier market opportunities.

Unrest within the military ranks since last month, however, has led some companies rethink their investment strategies.

in the country, the world's top cocoa producer.

The government agreed to a payment demand by a group of mainly former rebel fighters last month who claimed they were owed money for fighting against ex-president Laurent Gbagbo.

Ivorian authorities have not released details but mutiny leaders said the deal included a promise to pay 12 million CFA francs ($19,476.73) to some 8,400 troops.

The payout angered other segments of the military, leading to a wave of copycat mutinies and exposing the deep divisions that still plague the army six years after the 2011 civil war capped a decade of unrest.

While those revolts have eased in recent weeks, one regional security official said that Tuesday's mutiny by the special forces - among the best trained and equipped troops in the army - was worrying.

"This is particularly disturbing," he told Reuters. "This is really stepping it up, because these guys are essentially a presidential unit."

($1 = 616.1200 CFA francs)

 

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Rita Akana

08.Feb.2017

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his family did not "own" the country they have run for 46 years, saying he would step aside if the Syrian people choose another leader in an election.

Assad also told a group of Belgian reporters that he saw promise in U.S. President Donald Trump's determination to fight Islamic State, although it was too early to expect any practical steps, state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

With backing from Russia and Iran, Assad now seems militarily unassailable in the Syrian civil war that spiralled from protests against his rule nearly six years ago during a wave of uprisings against Arab autocrats.

Assad, 51, came to power in 2000 after the death of his father, former President Hafez al-Assad, who became head of state in 1971 after a military coup the previous year.

Asked if he could imagine a Syria that was not run by his family, Assad said: "Of course. We don't own the country. My family does not own the country."

"Syria is owned by the Syrians, and every Syrian citizen has the right to be in that position," Assad said.

Russia, his most powerful ally, is seeking to revive peace talks aimed at ending a war that has shattered Syria into a patchwork of separate areas and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Russia circulated a reformed Syrian constitution at peace talks in Kazakhstan last month that said no president could serve more than two consecutive terms, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

Moscow says the document drafted by Russian specialists was only tabled for the purpose of discussion.

Moscow's effort to revive peace talks follows the rebels' biggest defeat of the war, when they were driven from eastern Aleppo in December by the Syrian army with decisive help from the Russian air force and Iranian-backed militias.

Assad said he would step aside if voted out of power in an election - something he has said in the past.

"If the Syrian people choose another president, I would not have to decide to step down, I will be out of this position," he said in the interview published on Tuesday.

Assad controls all the main cities of western Syria, where the bulk of the population live. A presidential election was held in 2014, though the vote was declared a farce by his opponents. Swathes of Syria remain out of his control including areas held by the Islamic State group and a Kurdish militia.

 

TRUMP SEEN AS "PROMISING"

Trump has held out the possibility of cooperation with Russia in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

The Kremlin said Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had discussed setting up "genuine coordination" in the fight against Islamic State and "other terrorist groups" in Syria during a phone call last month.

Assad was quoted by SANA as telling a group of Belgian reporters: "I believe this is promising but we have to wait and it's too early to expect anything practical."

Assad was also quoted as saying that U.S-Russian cooperation in stepping up the fight against the militants would have positive repercussions.

Under former U.S. President Barack Obama, the United States ruled out the idea of cooperating with Assad in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, viewing his rule as a big part of the problem.

Trump has made defeating Islamic State a core goal of his presidency and signed an executive order asking the Pentagon, the joint chiefs of staff and other agencies to submit a preliminary plan on how to proceed within 30 days.

For now, U.S.-Russian cooperation is largely limited to coordinating to ensure that the two countries' air forces operate safely and that the risk of accidental confrontation or collision is minimised.

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

08.Feb.2017

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Nigeria's absentee president is in good health and is expected to return home soon, his deputy said on Monday, after mounting unease about the leader's well-being spilled over into street protests.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been in Britain since mid-January for unspecified medical checks and many Nigerians suspect his health is worse than officials admit.

Hundreds marched through Lagos on Monday calling for a change of government, a rare show of public dissent reflecting worry over Buhari's absence and a sputtering economy.

Some fear a rerun of the unstable three months in 2010 when then-president Umaru Yar'Adua's illness was shrouded in secrecy before he died, after which Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in.

Current Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, acting leader in Buhari's absence, told reporters in Abuja the president was "hale and hearty" when they spoke on Monday afternoon.

Buhari asked after progress of his proposed budget for 2017, which has not yet been approved by parliament, and plans for economic recovery. Nigeria is mired in its first recession in 25 years.

Osinbajo acknowledged Monday's protests, saying: "I informed (Buhari) about the protest march and feedback about what people are saying about the economy," without giving details of the president's response.

The president needed to go for more tests, as outlined in a letter to parliament on Sunday requesting extended medical leave.

"Once he sees the test results and gets medical advice, we expect him very soon," Osinbajo said.

Reuters

 

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Rita Akana

07.Feb.2017

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump's warning to Tehran to stop its missile tests, and called on Iranians to respond to Trump's "threats" on Friday's anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

"No enemy can paralyze the Iranian nation," Khamenei was quoted as saying by his website in a meeting with military commanders in Tehran.

"[Trump] says 'you should be afraid of me'. No! The Iranian people will respond to his words on Feb 10, (the anniversary of revolution) and will show their stance against such threats."

Reuters

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Rita Akana

07.Feb.2017

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