Russia's drones and missile barrage targets Ukraine's west, kills two
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The Star
36 minutes ago
- The Star
Cameroon's Biya, 92, brushes off health fears in bid for new term
FILE PHOTO: Cameroon President Paul Biya attends the Paris Peace Forum, France, November 12, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo YAOUNDE (Reuters) -In June 2004, on returning from yet another extended stay abroad, Cameroon President Paul Biya came down from his plane and poked fun at rumours he was dead. "People are interested in my funeral," he told reporters. "I'll see them in 20 years." That was 21 years ago, and the world's oldest serving head of state still has no plans to go anywhere. On Sunday he announced on X he would run in Cameroon's presidential election scheduled for October 12, seeking an eighth term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100. Biya has held a tight grip on power since taking over as president in 1982 from his one-time mentor Ahmadou Ahidjo, whom he later sidelined and forced into exile. Now, an unprecedented public outcry in the press and on social media since his announcement suggests cracks in that power base, and doubts in his ability to keep going, may be growing. "Nous sommes foutus" ("We are screwed!") was the front-page headline in Monday's edition of Le Messager newspaper next to a picture of Biya. The cocoa- and oil-producing Central African nation faces a host of economic and security challenges, notably a conflict with Anglophone separatists and threats from Nigeria-based Islamist fighters in the north. Meanwhile Biya, 92, remains largely out of public view, spurring widespread speculation over who is really in charge. "Most of us don't believe Biya is actually running the country anymore. His decision to run again, if it's really his, shows just how out of touch the system is," tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong told Reuters. Communications Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. He has previously said Biya is in good health and that speculation to the contrary was "pure fantasy and imagination" by critics aiming to destabilise the country. Last year, the government banned public discussion of Biya's health - though that order has been largely ignored by Cameroon's vociferous press. CALLS TO STEP ASIDE Cameroon has had just two presidents since independence from France and Britain in the early 1960s and is likely to face a messy succession crisis if Biya becomes too ill to remain in office or dies. In 2008, Biya signed a constitutional amendment removing a two-term limit for the presidency. That paved the way for landslide wins in 2011 and 2018, according to official figures, though his opponents complained of irregularities including ballot stuffing and intimidation, which the government denied. Not much has changed since the last vote, both on the security front and for Cameroonians grappling daily with poor access to basic amenities from roads and water to electricity and waste management. "These issues are not new. They have simply intensified because the situation keeps worsening," said Pippie Hugues Marcelline, research policy analyst at the Yaounde-based Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank. What is different this year, Marcelline said, is "the level of engagement and awareness" about Biya's performance. "A president needs to be seen in charge and in control. The absence of the president from the public is enough evidence that age is not on his side." Prominent human rights lawyer Alice Nkom published a video last week on YouTube appealing to Biya to step aside. "The legs are no longer holding up, the brain is no longer working. I'm telling you this because I'm in this situation, because I'm in my 80s," she said. "I know what has changed in me and what I can no longer give to Cameroonians." Perhaps more worrying for Biya, two former allies have recently quit the ruling coalition and announced plans to run in the election separately. Enonchong, the tech entrepreneur, told Reuters she did not think Cameroonians would accept another Biya term. But analyst Raoul Sumo Tayo said that, despite the many obstacles, Biya should not be counted out. "The ruling party can successfully rally the administrative elite and utilise outdated electoral practices," he said, referring to what he described as fraudulent tactics. "It might just secure an eighth term for Paul Biya." (Reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong and by Robbie Corey-Boulet in Dakar; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
The Sun
41 minutes ago
- The Sun
Trump to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine, Kyiv to get new prime minister
KYIV/WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with a U.S. envoy on Monday on increasing weapons production and arms purchases after President Donald Trump said he would send Patriot air defence missiles to Kyiv. In a sharp departure from his earlier stance, Trump is also expected to announce a new plan to arm Ukraine with offensive weapons, American news website Axios cited two sources familiar with the matter as saying. Trump's moves underline his growing disenchantment with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress in U.S.-led efforts to secure a ceasefire in Russia's more than three-year-old war in Ukraine. Zelenskiy, who has been seeking air defence systems to fend off Russian airstrikes, said he had discussed 'the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer' at talks with Trump's special envoy on Ukraine, Keith Kellogg. 'This includes strengthening Ukraine's air defence, joint production and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe,' Zelenskiy wrote on X after their talks in Kyiv. Separately, Zelenskiy said he had asked First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to take over from Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, part of what he called 'a transformation of the executive branch' of government in Ukraine. Her appointment will require parliamentary approval. Zelenskiy and Svyrydenko discussed 'concrete measures to boost Ukraine's economic potential, expand support programs for Ukrainians and scale up our domestic weapons production'. Svyrydenko, 39, is an economist by background and has previously served as minister of economic development and trade, and as deputy head of Zelenskiy's office. She played a key role in negotiations between Kyiv and Washington on a minerals deal. Ukraine's economy has been hit hard by the war, leaving it heavily dependent on Western financial assistance. TRUMP'S DISENCHANTMENT Trump has increasingly criticised Putin as his frustration mounts over the failure to end a war which he once said he could end in a day. An air-raid alert was declared in Kyiv shortly after Zelenskiy's talks with Kellogg took place. 'We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening,' Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington on Sunday. 'We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment. They are going to pay us 100% for that, and that's the way we want it,' Trump said. Trump did not say how many Patriots he plans to send to Ukraine, but he said the United States would be reimbursed for their cost by the European Union. The U.S. president is due to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte this week to discuss Ukraine among other issues, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is set to visit Washington for talks with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Berlin has offered to pay for Patriot systems for Ukraine, under a proposal made public by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and has emerged as an important player as European states in NATO move to build up their military strength under U.S. pressure. A German government official said Berlin was 'cautiously optimistic' before Trump's expected statement on Ukraine, with the expectation being that the U.S. and European countries would cooperate on getting further air defence systems to Ukraine. The possibility of Germany sending to Ukraine Patriot missile systems from its own stocks and buying replacements from the U.S. is among the possible options, the officials added. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, holds about one-fifth of Ukraine. Its forces are slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine and Moscow shows no sign of abandoning its main war goals. Putin told Trump by phone on July 3 that Moscow wants a negotiated end to the war but will not step back from its original goals, a Kremlin aide said. A year ago, Putin was ready to halt the war with a negotiated ceasefire recognising existing battlefield lines, Reuters reported at the time. But at talks last month, Russia set out punitive terms for peace, demanding Kyiv give up big new chunks of territory and accept limits on the size of its army. – Reuters
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Nigeria's former leader Buhari to be buried on Tuesday, official says
FILE PHOTO: Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari arrives to attend a visit and a dinner at the Orsay Museum on the eve of the commemoration ceremony for Armistice Day, 100 years after the end of the First World War, in Paris, France, November 10, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo LAGOS (Reuters) -Nigeria's late former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died in a London clinic on Sunday aged 82, will be buried in his northern home state of Katsina on Tuesday, the state governor said. Buhari, a former military ruler after a coup in the 1980s, returned to frontline politics to become the first Nigerian president to oust an incumbent through the ballot box in 2015. He was re-elected for a second term four years later. Nigeria's Vice President Kashim Shettima and government officials were in London on Monday to organise the repatriation of the former president's remains. Katsina state governor Dikko Umaru Radda said after consultation with Buhari's family it was agreed the body would arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday for burial the same day in his home town of Daura. Among those who paid tribute to Buhari was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who posted on X platform that "his wisdom, warmth and unwavering commitment to India–Nigeria friendship stood out." Buhari earned a devoted following for his brand of anti-corruption conviction politics, especially in Nigeria's largely Muslim north. He referred to himself as a "converted democrat" and swapped his military uniform for kaftans and prayer caps. Ibrahim Babangida, another former military ruler who toppled Buhari in a coup in 1985, said he knew Buhari as a deeply spiritual and humble man. "We may not have agreed on everything — as brothers often don't — but I never once doubted his sincerity or his patriotism," Babangida said in a statement. After leaving office in 2023, Buhari spent most of his time in Daura, away from the public eye. His successor Bola Tinubu inherited a country grappling with double digit inflation, foreign exchange shortages, economic hardship, low oil production and insecurity that had spread to most parts of Nigeria. Buhari's supporters, however, viewed him as Nigeria's conscience because he had a reputation for shunning the corruption and ostentatious lifestyles often associated with the country's political elites. To his critics, Buhari was "an absentee landlord — a leader who governed by delegation, who disappeared for long stretches (often to London for medical treatment), and whose aloofness felt like abandonment," the local BusinessDay newspaper said. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Ros Russell)
