Day: August 17, 2022

YAOUNDÉ— Rebels killed three people, including a soldier and a police officer, in Cameroon near a region wracked by a conflict between anglophone separatists and security forces, a regional governor said.

The rebels attacked an army post in the village of Kengwo in the West Region on Sunday morning, killing a soldier, a police officer and a motorcyclist, said the region’s governor, Augustine Awa Fonka.

The attackers seized weapons and suffered no losses, he added.

The attack occurred near the North West region, which with the neighbouring South West region has suffered a bloody conflict between anglophone separatists and the state for five years.

English speakers make up a majority of the regions’ populations in predominantly French-speaking Cameroon, which President Paul Biya has ruled with an iron fist since 1982.

Some of Cameroon’s anglophones feel marginalised and an independent state called “the Federal Republic of Ambazonia” was declared in 2017 without achieving international recognition.

Biya, 89, has resisted calls for more autonomy in the regions and responded with a crackdown on the separatists.

The violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced around a million people, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

International monitors and the United Nations say both sides have committed abuses, including crimes against civilians.

In June, anglophone rebels killed five soldiers in an attack in western Cameroon.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

RABAT— Three firefighters died and two others were seriously injured in a forest fire in northern Morocco that was suspected to have been started deliberately, authorities said.

The firefighters were in a vehicle that plunged into a ravine while they were battling the blaze in M’diq-Fnideq province late Monday, the authorities said.

Four men suspected of starting the fire were arrested, they said.

Firefighting services, including Canadair water bombers, were being used on Tuesday to try to bring the flames under control and prevent them from spreading to populated areas.

The fire has so far destroyed about 120 hectares of forest land, according to the latest estimates.

Morocco has been gripped by scorching temperatures, intense drought and stress on water supplies.

The agriculture ministry said more than 10,000 hectares of land in the country’s north had been hit by forest fires this summer.

Last month forest fires in the north of the kingdom killed four people.

According to the agriculture ministry, 2,782 hectares of forest have been destroyed by fire this year, especially in the northern mountainous Rif region.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

NAIROBI— Parties seeking legal redress regarding the presidential results declared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Wafula Chebukati have until Monday, Aug 23 to file petitions at the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has set up the ceremonial hall at Milimani Law Court for this purpose.

The Supreme Court has already set preparations to receive, hear and deliver a ruling in the event of a presidential petition.

Legal experts say the filing of the petition will then trigger a number of activities, before the case is heard.

The constitution empowers the highest court in the land to either validate or invalidate the declaration of William Ruto as President elect depending on how both the petitioners and the respondents will argue their cases and the evidence that they will have tabled.

One scenario is an outcome that could agree with the petitioners with the other being an outcome that could validate the election of Ruto as president.

And with there being seven judges on the bench, legal experts underscore the fact that each of judges is expected to give their independent rulings.

The other question is if Ruto’s win is invalidated what would the fresh election entail?

This will not be the first time in Kenya’s history that a presidential election is contested in court and outcome determined before a president elect is sworn in.

In 2017 the Supreme Court invalidated President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election and ordered for a fresh vote.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK