On Cameroon's forgotten war
Militants are fighting Cameroon’s armed forces for their own breakaway country.
UPDATE: For those of you wondering, Bangladesh’s top court scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that sparked the deadly protests across the country. The court ruled that now only 5 percent, not 30 percent, of government jobs can be reserved for the relatives of veterans of the country’s 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.
Happy weekend, everyone. This week, I sat in the House gallery as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech that sounded like a rally for endless war. I watched Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in Washington, sit quietly throughout the address with a sign that read ‘war criminal.’
I also watched Elon Musk, seated directly behind Netanyahu’s wife, observe the speech expressionless for almost an hour. It was all rather surreal. The media’s position in the gallery directly above Netanyahu made me feel like a specter hovering above the crowds to watch history unfold.
You can read all about Netanyahu’s visit in my story below. In the meantime, I have something special for you. A while ago, I asked supporters of Lazo Magazine which stories you wanted me to publish. Many of you expressed interest in a piece on Cameroon and the atrocities that government forces and Anglophone separatists are committing there. This week, we published that story by the Cameroonian journalist Nalova Akua.
You can read it by clicking here.
Lazo Magazine is now on social media. You can follow along on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. And if you can donate to Lazo Magazine or become a paid subscriber to this newsletter, that’s always appreciated.
What I’m writing:
• Lost in the shuffle of the current news cycle, Iran elected a president who wants to cool tensions with the West and has the potential to alter “the style and substance of Iranian foreign policy.” This story is unlocked and free to read.
• I reported from the House chamber while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress. “Netanyahu might be the most unpopular world leader ever to deliver a joint address,” I wrote. “Key political figures were missing from the chamber when he spoke Wednesday, and among those who did attend, some refrained from standing and clapping for a polarizing figure facing deep discontent back home.” This story is unlocked and free to read.
My weekly news blurbs:
What I’m reading:
• VICE has a lovely little article on Ireland’s illegal rave scene, unfolding in “a litany of forgotten abandoned spaces—from spooky psychiatric hospitals and warehouses to old churches and castle ruins.”
• Ukraine’s top diplomat told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Kyiv is open to negotiating with Russia if Moscow is ready to do so “in good faith.,” Reuters reports. According to a new poll, almost a third of Ukrainians would accept some territorial concessions to Russia for a quick end to the war, a more than three-fold increase over the past year.
• Russia launched 38 Shahed drones at Ukraine in one night, with three straying into NATO-member Romania’s airspace, Politico Europe reports.
• A former Ukrainian nationalist MP, Iryna Farion, died after being shot on the street in the western city of Lviv, the BBC reports. An 18-year-old man has been arrested.
• According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right party wants to schedule a rendezvous with the Republican Party before the U.S. presidential election on November 5. One idea would be for Trump allies to attend the European Congress of Families’ September conference in Croatia.
• European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borell stripped Hungary of the right to host the next meeting of foreign and defense ministers over its stance on the Ukraine war, the BBC reports.
• Leaders of rival Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, signed a joint statement in Beijing to bridge divides, the Washington Post reports.
• The International Court of Justice issued an 83-page advisory opinion declaring that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem violated international law, the Associated Press reports.
• The Israeli military said it will start offering polio vaccines to soldiers serving in Gaza after traces of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave, Reuters reports.
• Britain said it would restore funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinians, a major vote of confidence in the embattled aid group, the New York Times reports. British foreign secretary David Lammy told Parliament that UNRWA had taken steps to ensure it meets “the highest standards of neutrality.”
• Britain dropped its objections to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, the Guardian reports.
• Vietnam’s long-serving leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, died days after the government said he was stepping back to focus on his health, the BBC reports.
• Top Southeast Asian diplomats met in Laos with China’s foreign minister for talks as friction escalates over Beijing’s growing effort to press its sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea, the Associated Press reports.
• Kenya’s embattled president announced a plan to form a new “broad-based government” following weeks of deadly anti-government protests sparked by an unpopular tax bill, the BBC reports.
• The United States invited the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for U.S.-mediated ceasefire talks in Switzerland starting Aug. 14, Reuters reports.
• Police detained dozens of people as they took part in banned anti-corruption protests in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, Al Jazeera reports.
• Uganda’s main opposition leader said security forces besieged his party’s headquarters in the capital, Kampala, ahead of an anti-government demonstration, the BBC reports.
You can write to me for any reason: c.maza@protonmail.com