Politics
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"There are three signs of a hypocrite. When he speaks, he lies. When he makes a promise, he breaks it. And when he is trusted, he betrays his trust."Holy Prophet of Islam Muhammad (PBUH).
We just saw a major political and military shift take place this week in the Mideast. It was not in Syria, Lebanon, or Israel -- but Yemen, a poor country of 26 million people and some say with 35 million guns, which were historically used in tribal and personal disputes, and then civil wars in that order.
Over the weekend, we are told the Houthi revolutionaries are such a threat to all the countries in the Arab League that they have triggered the formation of a coalition to reinstall deposed Yemeni president Hadi.
The Saudis began bombing Houthi positions in what we are told is the beginning of the restoring security to the country. But if you think the goal is to pursue a negotiated political settlement, think again. At the Arab conference on Saturday, Hadi called for the intervention to end only when the Houthis have surrendered.
He must know how much death the destruction that would cause, and does not care. Before he arrived at the summit he announced he would be seeking a Marshall-type plan for his country, so it seems he is planning to destroy it…so he can rebuild it. Maybe that is why so many want him gone.
Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon made his usual Arab League conference remarks to encourage a peaceful resolution of the Yemen conflict, but many did not seem interested in that. Surprisingly, the Secretary General then savaged the Arab League attendees for doing nothing to stop the five-year-long slaughter going on in a fellow Arab country, Syria.
We know the Arab League has not stood by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, even while several [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council members have financed the destruction of Syria with now five million refugees. With the US help, they have paved the way for introducing terrorist operations into Syria with brigade-sized units. So are we to believe their sincere motives? Let’s take a closer look.
The ex-General and new president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is promoting his army as the cornerstone of this Arab NATO. Yes, he has had problems with militants in the Sinai, but they do not represent a strategic threat to Egypt.
On the contrary, after cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood by banning it and imprisoning most of its leaders, old-time Intel hands feel Sisi has not done the same with the Sinai militants, as they are worth more to him with their continued guerrilla attacks, by blooding his army and keeping the public “security conscious”.
Many Americans feel that one of the goals of 9/11 for the real perpetrators who did it was to pave the way for the Patriot Act and kick off the ‘War on Terror’, which has drenched several countries in blood and destruction and buried the American people in a red ink ocean of debt.
So Sisi tells the Arab League gathering that militants are a danger to its existence -- this is pretty strong language. Egypt has already launched some airstrikes in Libya to blunt the offensive of the militants there who were intent on seizing as much of the country's wealth and key infrastructure prior to any political negotiations.
But Sisi did not offer the elected Libyan government this assistance much earlier in the game, when it could have prevented getting into the terrible state that it is now. Was that by design by Sisi, again to watch the crisis develop and to then take advantage of it?
He had sought the UN backing for intervention in Libya, but no attempt was made in the Yemen situation. And when the Assad government did not fall as expected, and the Saudis and Qataris launched their terror attacks on northern Syria to gain physical control over gas and oil pipeline routes to Europe, we did not hear any calls for an Arab League intervention to save Syria.
On the contrary, with Egypt’s economy in a coma, the Saudis and Qataris have kept it afloat as Egypt’s sugar daddies and de facto co-owners of the country now. So no, we did not hear much from Sisi about Takfiri terror when he approved using them against the Syrian people. The entire Arab League did not. Money speaks louder that Arab blood or even being fellow Muslims, it seems. We have a wonderful American term to describe this maneuver: “hypocrisy on steroids”.
But let’s take a closer look at the history of the Yemen conflict. It was once a fertile country in ancient times, known in Latin as “Arabia Felix”, the happy or fortunate country. In modern times, it has swapped European colonialism for the Arab version. North Yemen became a Republic in 1970, with its civil war between the royalists and the rebel republicans of the time.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt were intimately involved in Yemen back then, with Saudi Arabia not surprisingly supporting the royalists, and Egypt the republicans, via former president Gamal Abdel Nasser who had overthrown the monarchy there. Now Egypt has joined the side of its banker, despite the threat of the Saudis and their Wahhabi extremists being a major exporter of terror whenever it suits them.
We saw the usual economic-based internal disputes after North and South Yemen united in 1990. This resulted in another civil war, which ended in semi-autonomy for the northern tribal areas and the old hostilities continuing to simmer beneath the surface.
There is also the case of religious make-up in Yemen, but tribal ties trump that ten times over, as do economic issues, since the coastal Yemeni tribes were not prone to sharing the commercial trade of the country. The Saudis backed former president Saleh in the south, as containment of the Houthi tribes in the north.
So I will close now with the old adage that things are often not as they appear, and sadly you have to dig down deep to know what is really going on and why, and overcome the many dead ends and diversions to confuse your path.
But color me suspicious. I think that if the Saudis wanted to, they would have intervened with the Houthis before president Hadi was deposed and thereby avoided the bigger challenge of now having to retake the country if they refuse a political settlement. And yes, I think they let Hadi be deposed…to use him for the staging what they and others needed to kick off; their planned Arab NATO force.
A bombing campaign is one thing, but if the new Arab NATO goes into Yemen with its 26 million people and 35 million guns, a lot of them will never be returning home.
I fear for innocent lives as people will die along the way. And I don’t think the Arab League is going to care very much, as long as it gets what it wants. A negotiated political settlement is the wiser path.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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- Boko Haram
The Takfiri Boko Haram militants have killed 44 people, including a legislator, and prevented hundreds of eligible voters from turning up at polling stations and casting their ballots in Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections for fear of reprisal. The Boko Haram extremists stormed the town of Miringa in the northeastern state of Borno before dawn on Saturday, setting houses ablaze and shooting indiscriminately the residents as they tried to escape the thick smoke covering the area. Twenty-five people died in the attack. “They had sent messages earlier warning us not to encourage democracy by participating in today's election,” said Mallam Garba Buratai, a Miringa resident who witnessed the act of violence. Later in the day, another 14 people were killed in attacks against the towns of Biri and Dukku in Gombe State. A legislator from the violence-wracked northeastern Nigerian state, identified as Umaru Ali, was among the dead. Moreover, two voters were shot dead when yelling Boko Haram militants opened fire at polling stations in the twin Gombe towns of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani.
The terrorists also invaded four towns in the northeastern state of Yobe, and fired shots into the air to scare people from voting, according to police. Also on Saturday, three people, including a soldier, were fatally shot in Nigeria’s southern state of Rivers. Two car bomb explosions also ripped through polling stations in the southeast, but there were no reports of casualties. Meanwhile, Nigerian authorities have extended the elections until Sunday, on account that ballot papers arrived late or imported card readers failed to recognize the fingerprints of the voters.
The front-runners for Nigeria’s presidential election are incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the former military chief, Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term, while Buhari, who has lost the last three elections, has a realistic chance of winning. This is while 739 candidates are also vying for a place in Nigeria’s 109-seat Senate and 1,780 seeking election to the 360-seat National Assembly during Saturday’s parliamentary elections. All this comes at a time when Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” and controls parts of northeastern Nigeria, has vowed to disrupt the polls by violent attacks. The Takfiris have claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of their activities in 2009, which have so far left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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- Biya
After 27 days out of the country, President Biya and Chantal Biya returned to the nation’s capital Yaoundé on March 27, 2015, under strong military presence. Cameroon's presidential couple arrived in Yaoundé early in the evening of yesterday from Europe.
Despite the untimely water shortages and electricity and giant traffic jams which residents of Yaoundé are subject to, CPDM militants were mobilized by the hierarchy to greet their leader. The city was crisscrossed by elements of the Presidential Guard, deployed for the security of the presidential couple.
It should be recalled President Biya and Chantal Biya left Yaoundé on March 1 for a private stay in Europe- a trip that caused a lot of controversy both in the foreign press and local media. French media announced that the Cameroon presidential couple were hospitalized. Yaoundé published a denial.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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- Boko Haram
Nigerians are preparing to go to the ballots shortly to elect the West African nation’s president and parliament amid security threats from the Boko Haram Takfiri militant group. Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its preparedness for Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary polls, and has already distributed ballot boxes as well as other related material at polling stations across the country. Nigerian authorities have beefed up security as part of efforts to impose strict measures during and after the voting time, and have ordered land and sea borders sealed off. Both local and foreign observers will be monitoring Nigeria's polls. Past elections have been marred by violence and allegations of vote-rigging. Since campaigning began in mid-November last year, both the ruling and opposition camps have reported violent attacks, which have killed a number of their supporters.
Meantime, Ibrahim Zikirullah, a member of the Transition Monitoring Group, has told Press TV that the governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has dominated Nigeria’s politics since 1999, would do everything possible not to let the leadership slip from its fingers, as it faces tough election challenge from the opposition. The front-runners for Nigeria’s presidential election are incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and former military chief Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term, while Buhari, who has lost the last three elections, has a realistic chance of winning.
This is while 739 candidates are also vying for a place in Nigeria's 109-seat Senate and 1,780 seeking election to the 360-seat National Assembly during Saturday’s parliamentary elections. All this comes at a time when Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” and controls parts of northeastern Nigeria, has vowed to disrupt the polls by violent attacks. The Takfiris have claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of their activities in 2009, which have so far left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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- Biya
A feeling of misunderstanding has developed in Cameroon between President Biya and the Cameroonian people. This time around is over the publication of a condolence message from President Biya to the families of the victims of the Airbus A320 crash operated by Germanwings. President Biya published on his official face book page that, "I sent my condolences following the crash of the Airbus A320”
In response to this message of condolence, Cameroonian face book users reacted angrily demanding that their president addressed his condolences to the victims of Boko Haram atrocities in Fotokol and other parts of the country. "Our brothers and sisters who die in the Far North, really deserve sympathy," wrote one of them. "You're laughing at us Mr. CPDM Chairman. We want more job creation for young people that we are. So stop informing us about unnecessary things, "says another visitor.”Have you sent your condolences to the Cameroonians who died in an accident on the Ebolowa highway? "Asks another. However, some moderate users observed that the president has always sent condolences to all the unfortunate situations that occur in the world. To them, it is positive and real diplomacy.
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- Ngwa Bertrand
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- Boko Haram
The Chadian president has lamented the lack of cooperation with the Nigerian authorities in the fight against the Nigerian Islamist sect, Boko Haram. In an interview with the newspaper Le Point, Chadian President Idriss Deby complained that Abuja has so far offered little cooperation in dealing with the Islamic militants, wondering over the absence of the Nigerian military at key points.
"We would have liked to have at least a Nigerian regiment fighting alongside the Chadian army”. Idriss Deby observed. The Chadian leader noted that Chad joined the anti-Boko Haram coalition following a specific request from the Nigerian government, “but for reasons unknown to us, so far we have not been able to work together. Some cities, we had to take them twice. We are forced to give up and Boko Haram returns, we must return ... This has a human and material cost, "he said. N'Djamena had deployed thousands of soldiers to fight in Nigeria. The republic of Chad is a chartered member in the anti-Boko Haram coalition.
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Biya Article Count: 73
# Paul Biya and his regime
Explore the political landscape of Cameroon under the rule of Paul Biya, the longest-serving president in Africa who has been in power since 1982. Our Paul Biya and his regime section examines the policies, actions, and controversies of his government, as well as the opposition movements, civil society groups, and international actors that challenge or support his leadership. You'll also find profiles, interviews, and opinions on the key figures and events that shape the political dynamics of Cameroon.
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