Day: October 29, 2021

New violence has wracked northwestern Cameroon, where the military said it killed some 40 separatist fighters over the past two weeks. The Catholic Church said some of those killed were civilians, and witnesses said many houses were burned to the ground.

Cameroon’s government is expressing frustration with the separatists but vows it will not allow the breakup of the country.

External Relations Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella summoned ambassadors to a meeting Thursday where he laid out the government’s position on the separatist crisis.

Mbella Mbella said the separatists are again causing untold suffering in the English-speaking western towns and villages of the majority French-speaking nation.

He said Cameroon is surprised fighters continue to commit atrocities when much has been done to satisfy the needs of the minority English speakers who feel marginalized.

“The government of Cameroon has undertaken the most expensive and extensive structural and administrative reforms in its recent history,” Mbella Mbella said. “As a key recommendation of the major national dialogue, the government tabled the bill to institute the special status. His excellency Paul Biya has also granted a general full amnesty to combatants who voluntarily drop their weapons.”

None of the heads of diplomatic missions invited to the meeting would comment when contacted by VOA.

By “special status,” the minister is referring to political reforms that gave the largely English-speaking northwest and southwestern regions greater autonomy. The reforms were passed after Cameroon organized what it called a major national dialogue to solve the separatist crisis in 2019.

Mbella Mbella also declared the government will not allow any part of the country to secede.

The separatists have a different point of view. This week, an official from what the separatists call the Ambazonia Interim Government said on Facebook that their forces will never surrender, and that the English speakers will fight until freedom is achieved.

They also accuse government forces of being responsible for many killings and much of the destruction in the western regions.

Separatists blame the government for torching houses during recent operations in the northwestern town of Kumbo and areas nearby. The government said separatist forces were to blame.

The military also said about 40 fighters have been killed in raids on separatist camps in the past two weeks.

However, the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon’s Catholic Bishops — a neutral party in the conflict — said some of those killed were civilians.

Kumbo Mayor Venatius Mborong said several hundred civilians had fled the renewed fighting.

“They left Kumbo because they have been kidnapped a couple of times and they have paid ransom and now they are frankless [poor],” Mborong said. “People have sold houses, they have sold their lands, and so they cannot continue staying there.”

The United Nations says the separatist war has forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes since the conflict erupted in late 2017.

Source: Voice of America

The United States urged the military leaders of Sudan’s coup to refrain from “any and all violence” against peaceful protesters who are planning major demonstrations on Saturday.

The appeal to Sudan’s military leaders came from a senior State Department official who was briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.

“Tomorrow is going to be a real indication of what the military intentions are,” the official said.

Since Monday’s military takeover, protesters have taken to the streets of Sudan to demand the restoration of a civilian government. A group of neighborhood committees and other activists are planning a “march of millions” on Saturday under the slogan “Leave!”

Security forces have killed at least nine people by gunfire and wounded at least 170 others during the protests, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee.

Saturday’s planned protests have some residents fearing a full-blown clampdown, Reuters reported.

“Confronting peaceful protesters with gunfire is something that should not be tolerated,” said Haitham Mohamed in Khartoum. “It will not make us back down; it only strengthens our resolve.”

The military takeover occurred after weeks of escalating tensions between military and civilian leaders over Sudan’s transition to democracy. The coup threatens to derail the process, which has slowly progressed since the army ousted longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir, ending a popular uprising in 2019.

Sudanese military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan said Tuesday that the army’s overthrow of the country’s transitional government was necessary to avoid a civil war.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement Friday, “I urge the military to show restraint and not to create any more victims. People must be allowed to demonstrate peacefully. And this is essential.”

Source: Voice of America

Ethiopia’s media authority on Friday ordered a local radio and TV broadcaster to cease sharing foreign news reports.

A letter from the Ethiopian Media Authority, issued to Ahadu Radio and TV (Ahadu RTV), said the station could no longer air coverage provided by international news agencies via satellite.

Ahadu RTV is an affiliate of Voice of America, which is the predominant source for its international coverage.

The letter, written in Amharic and viewed by VOA’s Africa Division, provided no specific reason for the ban or a timeframe for how long it would stay in place, saying only that the “station was acting outside its goals of establishment.”

Several other stations received the same order, according to Eskinder Frew, a journalist in Addis Ababa who contributes to VOA.

Ethiopia has issued orders or suspended licenses for various media groups and expelled at least one foreign journalist in the past year, often on accusations that the news outlets were legitimizing terrorist groups, a reference to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

Ethiopian federal forces and the TPLF have been fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region since November 2020.

In July, the media regulator suspended the license of the Addis Standard, which led to the news outlet’s suspension of operations.

The regulator said it was investigating complaints that the Addis Standard was publishing content that posed a threat to national security, the Committee to Protect Journalists said at the time.

That same month, authorities arrested about 20 journalists from two independent broadcasters.

Media analysts including Reporters Without Borders told VOA in July that the arrests were likely connected to the media coverage of the federal government and the conflict in Tigray.

VOA sent requests for comment late Friday to Ethiopia’s embassy in Washington and to the Ethiopian Media Authority. As of publication, neither had responded.

The media regulator said in its letter Friday that broadcasters must operate “according to the terms and obligations they agreed upon … to inform, educate and entertain the public.”

Ahadu RTV however, “has been rebroadcasting the Voice of America contents via satellite link, abandoning its objective.”

VOA expressed disappointment at the order Friday and called on the Ethiopian Media Authority to reconsider its decision.

“The Voice of America strictly adheres to the principles of accurate, balanced and comprehensive journalism. Our content addresses issues important to the people of Ethiopia,” acting director Yolanda L?pez said in a statement.

“The order restricts the free flow of information to the citizens of Ethiopia and undermines press freedom. It sends a chilling message to all journalists in the country.”

Source: Voice of America