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Coronavirus pandemic politics costing lives in Brazil

12, May 2020

Coronavirus pandemic politics costing lives in Brazil 0

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro keeps saying coronavirus fears are overblown. Other officials at the federal, state and local levels insist the danger is all too real.

Brazil is torn by a deep political divide over how to respond to the pandemic, and it is taking a heavy human toll.

On Saturday, even as the death toll in Brazil crossed the threshold of 10,000, Bolsonaro continued pressing to get the country back to work.

“The army of unemployed keeps growing,” he tweeted.

“Is chaos coming?” added the far-right leader, who has compared the virus to a “little flu” and condemned the “hysteria” surrounding it.

Some argue the “chaos” is already here — at least as far as the Brazilian government’s response goes.

Bolsonaro’s criticism of stay-at-home measures to fight the virus has put him at odds with state and local authorities across Brazil, not to mention his own former health minister.

The president sacked the latter, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, last month after a long series of public spats.

Meanwhile, Brazil has emerged as the epicenter of the pandemic in Latin America, with 11,519 deaths so far.

Experts say under-testing means the real figure is likely far higher, and that things stand to get a lot worse.

“We know from history that anytime there’s such a cacophony in a situation like this, such huge disagreement on public policy among leaders, tragedy ensues,” said Brazilian historian Sidney Chalhoub, a professor at Harvard University.

As an example, he cited the last major cholera outbreak in Europe, in the late 19th century, that killed more than 10,000 people in Hamburg, Germany.

“It was largely caused by divisions between the local political elite and dominant economic interests, which trumped public health concerns. And the result was an even bigger economic catastrophe,” he said.

– Polarizing disease –

Bolsonaro supporters have held a series of anti-confinement protests in recent weeks.

Sometimes the president himself has joined in, hitting the street, shaking hands and giving fiery speeches, all while refusing to wear a face mask.

The protests have included virulent attacks on Congress and the Supreme Court, which have moved to counter Bolsonaro’s anti-confinement measures.

At times, they have erupted into violence, including against journalists and even nurses.

But a recent poll by the Datafolha institute found that 67 percent of Brazilians believe stay-at-home measures are needed to contain the virus, even if they hurt the economy.

Even in his own camp, Bolsonaro’s support is far from universal.

Another poll found that while 56 percent of those who call themselves right-wing or center-right supported the president’s handling of the pandemic, 40 percent did not.

“The more closely related people are to someone who has been infected or died, the more they distance themselves from Bolsonaro,” said political scientist Carlos Pereira of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, who conducted the latter poll.

– ‘Anti-knowledge’ –

Like his US counterpart Donald Trump, whom he admires, Bolsonaro has touted the medication chloroquine as a wonder drug against COVID-19.

Scientists at Brazil’s leading public health research institute, Fiocruz, have stated that preliminary studies do not indicate chloroquine is an effective treatment for the disease.

Perceived to be attacking the president, they have received threats on social media in response.

“We’re talking about a far-right, anti-democratic government,” some of whose supporters have “fascist” tendencies, said sociologist Debora Messenberg, of the University of Brasilia.

“We can’t even talk about society being ‘polarized’ in the usual sense. It’s not a democratic polarization. Right now, the debate is between democracy and authoritarianism,” she said.

Brazil, like the United States, is facing the pandemic “with a government that is anti-knowledge,” said Chalhoub.

The Bolsonaro administration “is depicting this as a public health catastrophe versus an economic catastrophe. But that’s a harmful view that will drive us toward both,” he said.

 Source: AFP

Russia to begin easing Covid-19 lockdown today

12, May 2020

Russia to begin easing Covid-19 lockdown today 0

President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would start gradually easing coronavirus-related lockdown measures from Tuesday, but that individual regions would need to tailor their approach to varying local conditions.

“Starting from tomorrow, May 12, the national period of non-working days will be over for all sectors of the economy,” Putin said.

The president’s announcement comes after Russia registered a record number of daily cases Monday, with more than 11,000 people testing positive over the last 24 hours.

Health officials have recorded a total of 221,344 coronavirus infections and 2009 deaths.

Putin said that Russia had used the self-isolation period to prepare its healthcare system, increasing the amount of hospital beds and saving “many thousands of lives.”

This “allows us to begin a gradual lifting of restrictions”, he said.

“It is in the interest of all of us for the economy to return to normal quickly.”

Construction, agriculture and energy should be restarted first, he added.

“The epidemic and associated restrictions have had a strong impact on the economy and hurt millions of our citizens,” he said.

As people begin going back to work, mass events are still suspended and “strict sanitation demands” must be observed, Putin said.

He added that Russia’s regions will be able to keep in place any necessary anti-virus measures.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

US: Trump shrugs off concern about Covid-19 spreading in White House

12, May 2020

US: Trump shrugs off concern about Covid-19 spreading in White House 0

US President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed concerns over the possible spread of coronavirus in the White House but said he may limit contact with Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump, speaking to masked reporters in the White House Rose Garden, suggested that Pence was in quarantine after his press secretary tested positive, though he did not say it outright.

Katie Miller, the spokeswoman for Pence, who heads the White House’s coronavirus task force, tested positive for coronavirus last week along with a personal valet to Trump.

Three members of the task force have since gone into quarantine – infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Stephen Hahn, head of the Food and Drug Administration.

A Pence spokesman denied over the weekend that the vice president was also in quarantine but Trump suggested he was when asked on Monday whether he had considered limiting his contact with him.

“I would say that he and I will be talking about that,” Trump said at an occasionally testy press conference.

“During this quarantine period, we’ll probably talk,” Trump said. “I have not seen him since then.”

“We can talk on the phone,” he said of Pence. “He tested negative, so we have to understand that, but he comes into contact with a lot of people.”

‘No vulnerability whatsoever’

Trump sought to play down any concerns about an outbreak of the virus in the cramped quarters of the West Wing, where the president works out of the Oval Office.

“We want to keep our country running so we have a lot of people coming in and out (of the White House) and many of those people, most of those people, are tested,” he said.

“Everybody coming into the president’s office gets tested, and I’ve felt no vulnerability whatsoever,” he said.

Trump, who is desperately seeking to reboot the economy ahead of the November election, said the US was making “tremendous strides” in ramping up testing and the number of virus infections is “coming down very rapidly.”

He said it was essential to get the country reopened.

“The people want our country open,” the president said.

“Some states could be moving more quickly,” he said. “People are dying in the lockdown position too.”

Trump abruptly ended the press conference after an exchange with a CBS News reporter who asked him why when Americans were losing their lives did he keep insisting that the US was doing better than other countries when it came to testing.

“Well, they’re losing their lives everywhere in the world,” Trump said. “And maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me, ask China that question, OK?”

The CBS reporter, Weijia Jiang, who is of Chinese-American origin, than asked Trump “Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically?”

“I’m telling. I’m saying it to anybody who would ask a nasty question like that,” Trump replied before abruptly ending the press conference.

‘Scary to go to work’

Though it may appear spacious in movies and TV shows, the West Wing is actually rather cramped, making social distancing difficult.

It houses not just the president’s office but also those of some of his closest advisers, the press briefing room and the desks of White House correspondents, who work elbow to elbow.

Kevin Hassett, a senior economic advisor to the president, told CBS over the weekend that it is “scary to go to work.”

“I would be safer sitting at home in my house than going into a West Wing that with even all the testing in the world and the best medical team on Earth, is a relatively crammed place,” Hassett told another network, CNN.

In a memo issued on Monday, the White House instructed all staff to wear a mask when inside the West Wing, except when at their desks.

Unlike a number of other world leaders, the 73-year-old Trump has not been wearing a mask in public.

He said Monday that Americans have “learned about face masks.”

“The good and the bad, by the way,” he said.

“It’s not a one-sided thing, believe it or not,” Trump said without elaborating.

The United States is the country the hardest-hit by the virus with more than 80,000 deaths and 1.3 million infections.

(AFP)

Researchers concerned mutations in some strains may help coronavirus spread

11, May 2020

Researchers concerned mutations in some strains may help coronavirus spread 0

Scientists have found evidence for mutations in some strains of the coronavirus that suggest the pathogen may be adapting to humans after spilling over from bats.

The analysis of more than 5,300 coronavirus genomes from 62 countries shows that while the virus is fairly stable, some have gained mutations, including two genetic changes that alter the critical “spike protein” the virus uses to infect human cells.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stress that it is unclear how the mutations affects the virus, but since the changes arose independently in different countries they may help the virus spread more easily.

The spike mutations are rare at the moment but Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious diseases and a senior author on the study, said their emergence highlights the need for global surveillance of the virus so that more worrying changes are picked up fast.

“This is exactly what we need to look out for,” Hibberd said. “People are making vaccines and other therapies against this spike protein because it seems a very good target. We need to keep an eye on it and make sure that any mutations don’t invalidate any of these approaches.”

Studies of the virus revealed early on that the shape of its spike protein allowed it to bind to human cells more efficiently than Sars, a related virus that sparked an outbreak in 2002. The difference may have helped the latest coronavirus infect more people and spread rapidly around the world.

Scientists will be concerned if more extensive mutations in the spike protein arise, not only because they may alter how the virus behaves. The spike protein is the main target of leading vaccines around the world, and if it changes too much those vaccines may no longer work. Other potential therapies, such as synthetic antibodies that home in on the spike protein, could be less effective, too.

“This is an early warning,” Hibberd said. “Even if these mutations are not important for vaccines, other mutations might be and we need to maintain our surveillance so we are not caught out by deploying a vaccine that only works against some strains.”

The scientists analysed 5,349 coronavirus genomes that have been uploaded to two major genetics databases since the outbreak began. By studying the genetic makeup of the viruses, the scientists worked out how it has diversified into different strains and looked for signs that it was adapting to its human host.

In an unpublished study that has yet to be peer reviewed, the researchers identified two broad groups of coronavirus that have now spread globally. Of the two spike mutations, one was found in 788 viruses around the world, with the other present in only 32.

The study shows that, until January, one group of coronaviruses in China escaped detection because they had a mutation in the genetic region that early tests relied on. More recent tests detect all of the known types of the virus.

Last month, an international team of scientists used genetic analyses to show that the coronavirus likely originated in bats and was not made in a lab as some conspiracy theorists have claimed.

(Source: The Guardian)

Cameroon Coronavirus: 2579 Cases and 114 Deaths

11, May 2020

Cameroon Coronavirus: 2579 Cases and 114 Deaths 0

The Francophone dominated government in Yaoundé confirmed on Sunday that the nation has now recorded 2579 positive cases of Coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 6. According to the health authorities some 1467 people have recovered from the illness and 114 people have died from Covid-19.

Archbishop Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of the Douala metropolis, claimed that 600 patients who contracted the coronavirus have been cured by his herbal treatment.

“No patient has died with our treatment,” Archbishop Samuel Kleda said. The health authorities who only communicate using the French language are asking Cameroonians not to rejoice too soon.

“The virus is still circulating,” said the youthful French Cameroun Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie. Elsewhere, 139 Cameroonians stranded in the United Arab Emirates (out of 152 registered) due to border closures because of the Covid-19 pandemic have returned to Cameroon by special flight chartered by the Cameroonian government. They arrived in Yaoundé on Sunday, the Minister of External Relations announced on state radio and television.

By Rita Akana

Pope, UN chief press for solution to the Ambazonia crisis as deadly fighting rages on

11, May 2020

Pope, UN chief press for solution to the Ambazonia crisis as deadly fighting rages on 0

Pope Francis and UN Secretary General António Guterres have renewed pressure on the Cameroon government to find lasting solutions to the Anglophone problem in the western African nation.

According to a top government official who asked not to be named, Francis and the UN boss recently asked Cameroon’s “President for Life,” Paul Biya, to declare a ceasefire and to open a space for peaceful discussions.

The official told Crux that he took part in a meeting convened by the country’s Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, on May 7 to discuss the issue.

“In the days ahead, we will be going to the field to examine the possibilities of a ceasefire,” the official said.

“I think it is going to be relatively easy because the separatists have been reduced to an embattled core,” he said.

Separatists in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions for nearly four years now have been fighting for what they call “the restoration of the statehood of the Southern Cameroons.” It’s the part of Cameroon colonized by Britain, but which, at independence, voted in a plebiscite to reunite with the part of the country colonized by France.

The two entities then formed a Federal Republic of two theoretically co-equal parts. That federation was scrapped in a controversial 1972 referendum and replaced with a united republic. Ever since, the minority English-speakers have always felt marginalized.

Pent-up frustrations burst to the open in 2017, when teachers and lawyers’ strikes over perceived attempts by the Francophone-dominated administration to wipe out the Common Law educational systems practiced in Anglophone Cameroon.

The military responded with lethal force. Rising anger crystallized into political demands, with the growth of separatists asking that Anglophones should carve out a separate state called Ambazonia.

The fighting, now in its fourth year, has left a minimum of 3000 people dead and over a million forced from their homes.

Resolving the Anglophone problem and restoring peace to the troubled country has become a major concern in the Francis Papacy.

On September 29, just one day before what authorities in Cameroon said was a ‘Major National Dialogue’ to resolve the Anglophone problem, Pope Francis asked worshippers at St. Peters’ Square to pray for a successful dialogue.

The Supreme Pontiff expressed his closeness to “the sufferings and the hopes of the beloved Cameroonian people,” and expressed the wish that the dialogue “might be fruitful and lead to peaceful, just and lasting solutions, to everyone’s benefit”.

During his traditional Easter Urbi et Orbi address last year, Francis again raised the issue of the Cameroon conflict when he prayed for conflict zones all over the world, calling on citizens of the world to be “builders of bridges, not walls” and to end “the roar of arms,” in conflict zones and the rest of the world.

Specifically citing Mali, Nigeria, Niger as well as Cameroon, the pope complained that Africa was “rife with social tensions, conflicts and at times violent forms of extremism that leave in their wake insecurity, destruction and death.”

In February and March 2019, the Vatican offered to broker dialogue in the conflict. In February, the Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, British Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, met with Cameroon’s External Relations Minister, LeJeunne Mbella Mbella, and said he was prepared to mediate on behalf of the Holy See.

On March 18, 2019, Monseigneur Julio Murat, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, brought a special message from Francis to Biya which bore on the Anglophone crisis.

“The Supreme Pontiff assures His Excellency the President of the Republic about his prayers for Cameroon, and expresses his desire for a just and peaceful solution to the crisis in the north west and south west of the country,” Murat said shortly after the meeting.

He said the Catholic Church was willing to “contribute to the promotion of the common good and to peace in Cameroon.”

Many observers believe the Church could make a contribution. According to the International Crisis Group, the Cathoic Church that represents nearly a third of Cameroon’s 24 million people is uniquely placed to arbitrate.

“The Catholic Church could help break this dangerous stalemate. Present in all ten of Cameroon’s regions, the Church is one of the country’s strongest institutions. Almost a third of Cameroonians are Catholic, and the Church operates a dense network of schools and hospitals. Cameroonians take its views seriously,” the group stated in a 2017 report.

“Other than the Catholic clergy, there are few prospective peacemakers. If no one fills that role, the separatist sentiment already voiced by many Anglophones will continue to grow, fueling further violence and exacerbating the ongoing insurgency in the Anglophone regions.”

Catholic clerics already have been involved in the search for solutions.

In November last year, the government entrusted Catholic prelates with leading two “peace caravans” to inform people of the English-speaking regions of the resolutions of an Oct. 29-Nov. 4 “Major National Dialogue,” aimed at ending the secessionist rebellion.

The two prelates came back with reassuring messages that there could be a return to peace, but those signs of hope have been dashed by continued fighting.

Guterres is pushing for a ceasefire amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war,” Gutterez said.

“That is why … I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world,” he said.

This isn’t the first time the head of the global Catholic church and the UN chief have teamed up. Francis and Guterres met in the Vatican in December 2019, recording a joint video message appeal for an end to armed conflicts. Guterres hailed the pope for carrying a “clear moral voice.” “You are a messenger for hope and humanity – for reducing human suffering and promoting human dignity,” he said.

Biya may be especially receptive to a papal initiative, given that he’s a former seminarian with the Spiritan fathers. When Pope Benedict XVI visited Cameroon in 2009, Biya went out of his way to express fondness for the pope, even having billboards erected in the capital city in the run-up to the papal visit with a Photoshopped image of him and Benedict XVI together, despite the fact that, at that stage, the two men had never met.

Later Biya would also meet Pope Francis in the Vatican in March 2017.

However, despite efforts by the international community to obtain a ceasefire in Cameroon, the country’s two English-speaking regions are still witnessing extreme violence, with most of it orchestrated by the government.

Over the last month since the Coronavirus showed up on the country’s shores, the government has been slaughtering its citizens, especially in the North West region where Ambazonian fighters are protecting their positions.

The government does not seem to comply with the terms and conditions of a ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations.

Over the last four years, the Yaounde government has diminished the population of the two English-speaking regions by spraying bullets all over the place, in total disregard for calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement.

In many cities across the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, government officials have been chased away and many of them are facing death sentences for conspiring with the enemy to kill innocent women and children.

Even the people’s representatives such as senators, parliamentarians and other elected officers live in fear as armed gunmen could always spring surprises.

This was what actually happened on Sunday, May 10, 2020, in Mamfe, a border town in the Southwest region where the town’s mayor, Presley Ojong, was brought down by gunmen executing an order from their commanders.

Reported by Crux and Cameroon Concord News Group

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Vice President Yerima praises his one year in office

10, May 2020

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Vice President Yerima praises his one year in office 0

Dear Comrades, Fellow Ambazonians,

Happy mother’s day to all mothers for without you there is no Southern Cameroons, (Ambazonia)

I come tonight to address you on the one year anniversary of my appointment as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. I know that the dark cloud of the malicious and unprovoked violence by the lawless and murderous troops of La Rebublique Camerounis now our daily concern. Over the last few weeks in Bafut and many times over the last three years, thousands of our people have been massacred by these state sponsored thugs from La Republique du Cameroun.Though we may be shaken by the scale, ruthlessness, unending nature of this violence, tonight I want Southern Cameroonians to know that we shall prevail.

By the time the people of Ambazonia entrusted me with the responsibility of VP this time last year, there were concerns and challenges in many areas of our revolution. Our task was to work diligently to gain your confidence. My responsibility has been to restore assurance and direction in our struggle. I have approached my tasks with humility and gratitude whilst very mindful of the trials ahead. To all our leaders serving life sentences in Yaoundé and all our prisoners of conscience in La Republique du Cameroun, our thoughts and prayers are with you. To all our fallen heroes, may The Almighty God grant you eternal rest. To all our refugees, IDPs and our people in the forests, I come to tell you that although the days and nights are dark and dreary, freedom shall come to pass.

Over the last twelve months, we worked meticulously to develop a framework of collaboration between the IG-CARE, the Consortium and AGovC across Ambazonia. This partnership has made significant gains in diplomacy, humanitarian activities and self-defence operations. Tonight, I intend to set a vision for the next twelve months. This vision is bold, ambitious and attainable.  And to achieve this, we have transformed these visions into projects with short, middle and long term goals. Every Ambazonian of good faith is encouraged to participate in the realisation of these projects.As a government, our focus is on six critical sectors: Education, Defence, Diplomacy, Humanitarian, Finance and Communication.

Education;

Our children are the future of the country we are fighting for. The continuous abuse, rape and massacre of civilian population by the marauding lawless army of La Republique du Cameroun breeds insecurity in our communities. With this insecurity, we have had to look for alternative methods of schooling our children.My appreciation goes to those who have continued to provide education to our children both online and in community schools in the liberated areas of Ambazonia. Over the next twelve months;

  • We are expanding access and support to such community schools.
  • With SCBC TV back on the ground, we have started and would intensify the education of our children by making available free educational resources daily.
  • Our team of learning professionals is in the process of producing first-rate educational materials that would be made available to all in Ambazonia and the refugee camps at no cost.

Defence;

The superior strength of the military power of La Republique du Cameroun is obvious.But after three years of fierce determination, our brave restoration forces are making us proud.We must now evaluate our strengths and challenges over the last three years. Our splendid restoration forces have registered successes in certain parts of our territory but have faced trials in many.Their bravery is absolute and admirable but we need to equip them to protect our communities with the right kind of firepower to match that of our oppressor. One of the biggest challenges we face is the presence of unscrupulous vigilante groups sponsored by La Republique du Cameroun’scriminal office-bearers. Our main goal must be to free our communities from these thugs, rapists and murderers. Over the next twelve months our goal is to;

  • Recruit, train and support our brave restoration forces
  • Provide hardware and logistic support to restoration forces
  • Collaborate with other self-defence groups in Ambazonia to drive out militias sponsored by La Republique du Cameroun politicians
  • Recommend stipends/reward scheme to our restoration forces
  • Potentially capture and hold territory.

Diplomacy;

The struggle for our independence will not be achieved through the barrel of the gun alone. We must continue to focus on diplomatic breakthroughs with friendly and sympathetic governments and international actors across the globe. Last year, we refused to engage in a La Republique du Cameroun stunt in Switzerland and our decision was later vindicated.We call upon France, the chief sponsor of this murderous regime to take concrete steps to end the genocide that is being committed on our people. The people of La Republique du Cameroun must understand that we intend to live peacefully as neighbours after our independence but our freedom is non-negotiable.

During my first twelve months, we worked diligently with some members of the Switzerland parliament to get Paul Biya indicted for war crimes and declare him persona non grata to Geneva. Last year, we worked actively to rewrite a bill in the US Congress, house resolution 358, to condemn La Republique du Cameroun for its human rights violations in our country. I am happy to announce the resumption of work at the US Senate on Monday May, 4, 2020. There is a bill pending in the US senate on the war La Republique du Cameroun is waging against our people. Ambazonian Advocacy groups are continuing a 50 states mobilization strategy, for senators to support the bill. So, we are calling on all Ambazonians in the United States who have not yet been active in this campaign for Senate resolution 292 to please contact us, so we can connect them to the people in their communities facilitating this campaign.This bill, if passed will set the stage for far more consequential actions by the US government against the genocidal regime of La Republique du Cameroun. We have on-going strategic engagements with political parties and civil society movements in a number of countries. Over the next twelve months, we are putting a plan to:

  • Lobby and secure a State/International recognition in 5 targeted countries
  • Establish Consular post in any friendly country
  • Intensify international awareness of the plight of Ambazonians.

Humanitarian;

During the last three years, the state sponsored terrorists passing for the military of La Republique du Cameroun have burned down more than 320 of our villages. The enormity of the humanitarian crisis as a result of the war in our nation is particularly alarming. Over the last twelve months, we made significant progress with the delivery of medications and other essentials to our prisoners of conscience, refugees and IDPs. On behalf of the people of Ambazonia, we want to say special thanks to HSS, Mama Amba Initiative, MAWUH Global, SCEW, SCAWOL, Save the Community, and others for their humanitarian works in our struggle.As IG-CARE, our progress in this essential department has been challenging but encouraging. I’m happy to announce that due to some of the work from our humanitarian heroes, ten of our refugees will be graduating soon as fashion designers. With more than 1,000,000 IDPs, 100,000 refugees, over the next twelve months, we intend to;

  • Aggressively engage the international donor communities for increase humanitarian support
  • Setup an independent Ambazonia humanitarian platform to focus specifically on refugees and IDPs
  • Train our refuges in minor technical skills like sewing, hairdressing and farming
  • Provide tents and mosquito nets
  • Provide more food to IDPs and Refugees
  • Provide counselling and counsellors in affected areas

Finance;

Despite the many challenges we faced last year, two significant successes from the Department of Economy and Finance was the creation of the Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Amba Freedom Bonds Project. As a semi-autonomous institution managed by a governor and a board with representation from all counties, the BOA has transparently raised and distributed funds for projects across Ambazonia. Its growth has maintained an upwards and impressive trajectory since creation. My gratitude goes to the Governor and the board of the BOA for their ingenuity and dynamism. Thanks to those who have invested in Amba Freedom Bonds thus far, we have dramatically increased our support to our restoration forces and other vital projects. All our projects need funding and I implore all Ambazonians to invest in the Amba Freedom Bonds project. Over the next twelve months, the experts within the funding environment have recommended and put together asustainable plan for our revolution. The plan includes but not limited to;

  • Continue to build on the strengths of the Bank of Ambazonia
  • Aggressively engaging independent investors and donors
  • Building a funding mechanism between and within counties based on monthly commitments

Communication

The importance of communication cannot be overemphasized. An effective communication strategy is as potent as the bullets on ground zero. We are fighting a ruthless enemy and international conspirators, and this will require an aggressive communication strategy to counter the negative narrative against our fight to complete the decolonization of Southern Cameroons. We must not allow others to tell and twist our story. We will not accept France or La Republique du Cameroun to tell us who we are or what we must be. We speak for ourselves and make our choices. Human rights organisations report one out of every hundred incidents of coldblooded massacre of our people. We must reject such cheapening of the lives of our people.We must define our own narrative and our internal communication remains a priority. SCBC TV which has been a pillar of this revolution was off air for a significant part of this last twelve months. This absence impacted negatively on our duty to educate our people on the facts of our revolution. We are all pleased that we have this station back on air doing its revolutionary duties. We have put in place a plan to:

  • Force the Ambazonian Revolution and conflict into the mainstream media like CNN, and BBC
  • Carry out an aggressive and proactive public relations campaigns

Fellow Ambazonians, ours is one of the fastest growing displacement disasters in Africa due to the unruliness and indiscriminate murder of our people by the La Republique du Cameroun army. In the middle of a war, the United Nations in collaboration with our oppressors announced last week a phoney reconstruction program for our country. We believe this is another ill-advised and unworkable proposal to end this bloodshed. We call on the United Nations Security Council to pass an immediate resolution mandating a UN Independent Fact-finding Mission to investigate the alleged crimes committedby La Republique du Cameroun military and administrators in our territory. The La Republiquedu Camerounregime cannot be trusted to investigate itself as it demonstrated in its dishonourable report on the Ngarbuh massacre. We believe that a UN mandated Independent Fact-finding Mission will have the immediate effect of quelling violence, saving lives, and halting the burning of our villages by raiding La Republique du Cameroun army.

Fellow comrades, we face a lawless and brutal enemy that is being sustained by the biggest institutions and richest countries in the world. This neo-colonial regime has widened its national debt with astronomical borrowing and reckless military spending over the last three years. They have borrowed and continue to do so to exterminate our people. The way to stop this massacre is within our reach. We need to make a choice now; a choice to fight for our survival or we perish.

To all those now in Ambazonia, the refugee camps and all our IDPs, we have stood up for freedom and the cost is dear. But I have no doubt that if we muster our efforts collectively as a people, victory will be ours against all odds.We should not be discouraged and disheartened. Do we want freedom? If the answer is yes, then go out with confidence and persuade your friends and family members that a liberation war is worth it.No one can say for sure how much more suffering we will be subjected to by this murderous regime. But we must continue forward and keep our eyes on the prize. Freedom! We definitely shall not accept a return to the status quo, nor accept anything less than total independence.

In my first address to you twelve months ago, I called for the unconditional release of our President, SisikuAyukTabe and his leadership team abducted in Nigeria on the 5th of January 2018 and detained unlawfully in Yaoundé. I’ll make that call again today for the immediate and unconditional release of all Ambazonian prisoners of conscience detained by the La Republique du Cameroun regime.

We stand at the crossroads of history. All Ambazonians living at this moment have an incredible historical burden. In our hands lies the possibility for our people to break free once and for all, from oppression to a new dawn of freedom and independence.

Yet our freedom as a people has never been so close. If we confront this challenge of our time, I have no doubt we shall prevail.

Thank you and God bless you.

God Bless Ambazonia

This time,it shall Be Independence or Resistance Forever

Obama calls Trump’s response to Covid-19 pandemic a ‘chaotic disaster’

10, May 2020

Obama calls Trump’s response to Covid-19 pandemic a ‘chaotic disaster’ 0

Former President Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an “absolute chaotic disaster” during a conversation with ex-members of his administration, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo News.

Obama also reacted to the Justice Department dropping its criminal case against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, saying he worried that the “basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.”

More than 78,400 people with COVID-19 have died in the United States and more than 1.3 million people have tested positive, according to the latest estimates from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Obama’s comments came during a Friday call with 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association, people who served in his administration. Obama urged his supporters to back his former vice president, Joe Biden, who is trying to unseat Trump in the Nov. 3 election.

“What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, we’re seeing that internationally as well. It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty,” Obama said, according to Yahoo News.

“It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government,” he said.

White House press secretary responds

Trump has consistently defended and boasted of his response to the virus, saying that travel restrictions from China and Europe as well as social distancing guidelines have prevented far greater damage. “I think we saved millions of lives,” he said earlier this week.

Trump has criticized the Obama administration in relation to his own administration’s response to the outbreak. Yet Trump’s contention that his administration inherited “a broken system and a broken test” from Obama’s is false; the novel coronavirus did not exist until late last year. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention struggled to develop its own test in January and then discovered problems in its kits in February.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not mention Obama directly in her response to his remarks.

“President Trump’s coronavirus response has been unprecedented and saved American lives,” she said. “While Democrats were pursuing a sham witch hunt against President Trump, President Trump was shutting down travel from China.”

She added: “While Democrats encouraged mass gatherings, President Trump was deploying PPE, ventilators, and testing across the country.”

Obama has generally kept a low profile on current political events, even when Trump would disparage him or his administration on Twitter. But Friday’s call indicates that he’ll be playing an active role in the coming election. He told supporters that he would be “spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden.”

Source: AP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The violence continues, with Mamfe mayor killed by gunmen

10, May 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The violence continues, with Mamfe mayor killed by gunmen 0

Despite efforts by the international community to obtain a ceasefire in Cameroon, the country’s two English-speaking regions are still witnessing extreme violence, with most of it orchestrated by the government.

Over the last month since the Coronavirus showed up on the country’s shores, the government has been slaughtering its citizens, especially in the North West region where Ambazonian fighters are protecting their positions.

The government does not seem to comply with the terms and conditions of a ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations.

Over the last four years, the Yaounde government has diminished the population of the two English-speaking regions by spraying bullets all over the place, in total disregard for calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement.

In many cities across the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, government officials have been chased away and many of them are facing death sentences for conspiring with the enemy to kill innocent women and children.

Even the people’s representatives such as senators, parliamentarians and other elected officers live in fear as armed gunmen could always spring surprises.

This was what actually happened on Sunday, May 10, 2020, in Mamfe, a border town in the Southwest region where the town’s mayor, Presley Ojong, was brought down by gunmen executing an order from their commanders.

Mayor Ojong

The 34-year-old mayor took office a few weeks ago after participating in an election that was banned in Southern Cameroons and boycotted by all major opposition parties due to massive fraud and corruption by the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) led by the absentee and alcohol-inflammed president, Paul Biya.

The CPDM is outlawed in Southern Cameroons because it is considered a crime syndicate and a terrorist organization that has no place in the 21st Century.

The conflict, that has pitted the country’s English-speaking minority, has already claimed more than 6,000 lives, with more than 2,000 soldiers losing their lives in the two regions.

The fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons has plunged the country’s economy into the doldrums, with thousands losing their jobs as many corporations are obliged to fold up.

Many state-owned corporations such as PAMOL, CDC and SONARA are currently facing difficulties. Things will certainly continue to look south as the government rejects calls for a negotiated settlement.

PAMOL has been shut down and it will take huge amounts of money to bring it back to working condition. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), for its part, is really struggling. The country’s second largest employer is clearly staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.

Most of its workers have fled their duty stations just to avoid threats by Ambazonian fighters who frown upon those they consider as enablers.

Anybody working for the Yaounde government is considered an enabler and is automatically handed a death sentence.

SONARA, for its part, is witnessing diminishing operations as a huge portion of the refinery was brought down by a huge fire whose origin is still unknown and questionable.

Economic experts hold that SONARA’s cessation of activities will lead to a drastic decline in government revenue and, over the long term, the country’s GDP will decline by at least 5 percentage points.

The violence in the two English-speaking regions of the country has struck fear in many people. Even senior government officials such as Peter Mafany  Musonge, a one-time prime minister;  George Tabetando, the chief of Bachou Ntai; and many traditional rulers who stand with the Yaounde corrupt government have been duly advised by the armed groups  to continue enjoying their exile in Yaounde.

Many of these officials have death sentences hanging over their heads like swords of Damocles. They have prizes on their heads and this makes them attractive to the Ambazonian fighters who really want to earn the money.

Though the focus is now on the Coronavirus, the international community should not forget about the Southern Cameroons crisis that has created over a million refugees and internally displaced persons who are living rough wherever they are.

The Biya government does not believe in peace and this is making it hard for the violence to end.

Both sides are still committing atrocities and today’s killing of a young mayor only serves as a reminder that the region remains unsafe and tense despite the ceasefire called for by the international community.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Southern Cameroons: Vice President Yerima to deliver State of the Nation address tonight on SCBC

10, May 2020

Southern Cameroons: Vice President Yerima to deliver State of the Nation address tonight on SCBC 0

Ambazonia Vice President, Dabney Yerima will be delivering his first anniversary speech later today at 8pm Amba on SCBC TV. It was 12 months ago when President Ayuk Tabe appointed the veteran Southern Cameroons freedom and independence campaigner as his assistant with the responsibility of steadying a sinking revolutionary boat.

In the speech, Vice President Yerima will set his vision for the Federal Republic of Ambzonia for the next twelve months. Mr. Dabney Yerima will focus on six critical sectors: Education, Defense, Diplomacy, Humanitarian, Finance and Communication.

He will say “Over the last twelve months, we worked meticulously to develop a framework of collaboration between the IG, the Consortium and AGovC across Ambazonia”. On education, the Ambazonian freedom fighter will say “Our children are the future of the country we are fighting for” and “My appreciation goes to those who have continued to provide education to our children both online and in community schools in the liberated areas of Ambazonia.”

Comrade Dabney will highlight challenges and some landmarks of his first twelve months. He is also expected to announce the creation of a semi-autonomous Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Ambabonds project. He will be calling on Ambazonians to invest in the future of their country by investing in both projects. He will say “despite the many challenges we faced last year, two significant successes from the Department of Economy and Finance was the creation of the Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Ambabonds Project” and go on to say “All our projects need funding and I implore all Ambazonians to invest in the Ambabonds project”

On the diplomatic front, the freedom fighter will highlight his administration’s role in the passing US Senate house resolution 358 last year and their involvement with the Switzerland parliament to get Paul Biya of Cameroon indicted for war crimes. On defense, he is expected to announce the trial of a stipends/reward scheme in certain counties for restoration forces.

The exiled leader will sound a defiant note to the international community and a hopeful position to Southern Cameroonians with “all Ambazonians living at this moment have an incredible historical burden. In our hands lies the possibility for our people to break free once and for all, from oppression to a new dawn of freedom and independence.”

Cameroon Concord News Group believes Yerima’s vision for the next 12 months is bold but achievable and we implore all Ambazonians to follow his outing tonight and join Vice President Dabney to realize the Amabzonian dream.

Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

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