1 The Major National dialogue to resolve the crisis in the North West and South West Regions and other issues plaguing the Nation started today with repeated calls for the Dialogue to be frank and sincere. Most of the participants insisted that no subject should be left out, including discussions on the form of the state.
2 Barrister AKERE Muna has condemned the process used by the organising committee of the national dialogue to select members to work in the eight commissions. To the 2018 presidential election candidate, core issues responsible for the anglophone crisis like the form of state are not given due attention. To him, the party in power has a well-prepared agenda and thus staging a drama in the name of dialogue.
3 Cardinal Tumi on the first day of dialogue says so far, he is optimistic that something good will come out of the dialogue. He appreciates the frankness in the course of deliberations.
4 Some journalists are doubting the identity of boys and girls presented at the conference centre today as ex Ambazonia fighters. This position is shared by the chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF). To some people, nothing concrete points to the fact that the people are real ex ‘Amba boys.’
5 The spokesperson of the national dialogue says there is no taboo subject at the ongoing dialogue. Dr. George Ewane, said delegates are discussing from federalism to decentralisation, limitations of the presidential mandate, electoral code and all other issues in Cameroon. He was speaking in a press briefing this evening.
6 Ex Amba boys and girls have questioned the continuous marginalisation of anglophones in Cameroon. In a speech delivered by Yannick Kawa Kawa believed to be an ex-fighter, he said lack of jobs in the North West and South West Regions pushed them and others into the bush to fight for the restoration of the Ambazonia statehood.
7 Some journalists have been expressing frustrations following what they described as ” discriminatory accreditation of journalists to cover the national dialogue “. Hundreds of journalists shuttled between the Yaoundé Conference Centre and the Ministry of Communication in a bid to get their batches, to no avail. Many were denied access to the centre even after fulfilling the criteria to be accredited.
8 Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute has called on Cameroonians to use the national dialogue to reshape activities in Cameroon for the better. The PM in a statement to open activities of the dialogue says the pains of the war and not helping Cameroonians but instead destroying the present and the future.
9 Security was reinforced in the South West Region today amid ghost town. Activities in major cities like Buea, Kumba, Limbe and Mutengene residents say were paralysed. Some vehicles which left South West were forced to make a U-turn as only administrative vehicles could circulate. Mondays are traditionally ghost town days, but it intensified today, as a sign of rejection of the National dialogue by pro-independence fighters.
10 Another beheaded person has been found this Monday in the restive North West Region. Persons close to the victim have identified her as a prison administrator at the Bamenda central prison. No official statement has been made by the government of Cameroon. This is as the Major National Dialogue enters day 1 at the Cameroon Capital, Yaoundé.
11 The police in Lagos on Sunday said they have uncovered a suspected baby factory, rescuing 19 pregnant girls. According to Bala Elkana, the police spokesman, the suspects bring the girls from the South-East to Lagos where they are impregnated and the babies sold based on their sex; while male babies were sold for N500,000, the girls were sold for N300,000. Nineteen pregnant girls, aged 15 and 28, and four kids were rescued from four different locations. The young women were mostly abducted by the suspects for the purpose of getting them pregnant and selling the babies to potential buyers. The principal suspect escaped and is on the run.
12 Former president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe finally rests in a steel-lined coffin under a layer of concrete on Saturday, September 28th. This followed a bitter dispute over his resting place between government officials, traditional leaders and family members. Family sources say the coffin which brought his embalmed body to Harare from Singapore had to be changed for security reasons. Though he had specifically asked to be buried next to his mother, Mugabe was rather buried in the same village with his Mother.
13 A middle-aged man, Samuel Chikwedum has been arrested by the Nigerian Army’s counter-insurgency Operation Lafiya Dole Theatre Command for being an alleged supplier of logistics for Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State. Chikwedum was caught by army operatives while travelling to Baga town, heading towards the Lake Chad region with contraband. According to the GOC 7 division, Aliyu Ibrahim, the suspect had also attempted to bribe personnel at the point of arrest and during interrogation, accusations the suspect denies, insisting his business is legitimate. He has demanded a fair hearing.
14 The people power movement in Uganda led by the Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has defiantly vowed to continue donning the Red Beret. The Red Beret has been gazetted by the government as a military attire of the Uganda People’s defence forces (UPDF). According to the Gazette unlawful possession, selling or dealing in them shall be prosecuted under the UPDF Act of 2005. People Power spokesperson Joel Senyonyi has said that gazetting the red beret as military attire is a sign of panic from the side of government. He added that they will keep wearing the berets because the people power berets do not have a UPDF logo.
15 The US has condemned an attack against a military base outside Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and praised the army for acting swiftly to repel it. The base is used by American forces to train Somali soldiers. The al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the early morning attack.
16 A team of special envoys from South Africa who were sent across the continent following recent xenophobic attacks has presented President Cyril Ramaphosa with a preliminary report. The envoys visited countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to reassure people there that South Africa was committed to pan-African unity.
17 A total of 467 people accused of economic sabotage crimes in Tanzania have written to the country’s chief prosecutor to apply for an amnesty introduced by President John Magufuli. Last week, President Magufuli advised the country’s Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Biswalo Mganga to open his doors to all economic crimes suspects who were ready to confess and return the funds they are alleged to have illegally accumulated, in exchange for their freedom.
18 More than $600m (£487m) worth of Kenya’s old 1,000-shilling notes have yet to be turned in with just hours before the deadline for demonetisation of old generation notes. Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) remains at a loss as to where the cash could be but is making a final push to find it. (Source Foreign News: BBC Africa)
