4, July 2018
War in Ambazonia: There are no longer any words to describe Southern Cameroons’s horror 0
The senseless war in Southern Cameroons has exhausted all superlatives. Worst day, worst month, worst year, worst ever. To be sure, words can no longer describe the killings currently going on in Southern Cameroons. For the past few days, Cameroon government army soldiers have fired rockets and artillery in many areas in the Northern and Southern Zone.
Over the weekend alone, the French Cameroun government army killed more than 87 residents, including women and children in villages around the Muyuka and Muea districts according to a variety of groups contacted by Cameroon Concord News Group. The two year crisis death toll has now exceeded a thousand.
The state-run Cameroon Radio and Television reported on Monday that separatist’s fire from within the Fako County had killed civilians. However, what we do know is that Cameroon government troops have been responding to attacks from the Ambazonia Restoration Forces with strikes destroying homes and burning down villages.
The desperate situation and the near-total absence of any sign that further violence can be avoided have pushed many Southern Cameroonians to flee to neighboring Nigeria and some to French Cameroun. A Roman Catholic clergy who spoke to our correspondent in Buea wondered aloud if those inflicting the suffering on Southern Cameroons women and children still have words to justify their barbaric acts.
No doubt the so-called United Nations will express concern over the bloodshed, and that is it. Many more Southern Cameroonians will die, with words of sympathy ringing in their ears.
By Chi Prudence Asong, London
5, July 2018
Heat wave kills 17 in eastern Canada 0
A heatwave in Quebec has killed at least 17 people in the past week as high summer temperatures scorched eastern Canada, health officials said Wednesday.
Twelve of the dead were reported in the eastern province’s capital Montreal, said regional public health director Mylene Drouin.
The Tribune newspaper said five of the deaths occurred in the past 48 hours in the Eastern Townships, a rural area just east of the city.
“My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who have died in Quebec during this heat wave,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter.
“The record temperatures are expected to continue in central and eastern Canada, so make sure you know how to protect yourself and your family,” Trudeau said.
Drouin said the victims were part of “the very vulnerable population, the elderly or people suffering from chronic or mental illnesses.”
Temperatures soared to 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) with a humidity that made it feel closer to 40 degrees, the meteorological service said.
The mercury has regularly topped 30 degrees since Friday in southern Quebec, accompanied by stifling humidity levels.
A government heat warning is in place for the region, but meteorologists are forecasting a drop in temperatures at the end of the week.
No deaths had been reported for the same period in the neighboring province of Ontario, which has also sizzled under extremely high temperatures.
In 2010, a heat wave killed around 100 people in the Montreal area.
(Source: AFP)