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11, April 2022

Football: Netherlands coach Van Gaal says cancer treatment behind him ⁰

Netherlands football coach Louis van Gaal insisted Monday that he was fit enough to lead his nation to the World Cup finals saying his prostate cancer treatment has been successful.

Van Gaal, 70, said ten days ago he had been receiving treatment since being diagnosed in 2020, but still plans to lead his team at the World Cup in Qatar in seven months’ time.

“I had 25 sessions of chemotherapy. Then I had to wait five or six months to see if that had worked. It has,” he told the ANP press agency.

The former Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munch and Manchester United coach also underwent surgery.

The no-nonsense Van Gaal managed the Oranje between 2000-2002 and 2012-2014, when they finished third at the World Cup in Brazil.

He then returned to the Dutch national team after the resignation of Frank de Boer in the aftermath of the country’s last-16 exit from Euro 2020.

The Netherlands were placed in Group A with hosts Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal in Friday’s draw.

Source: AFP

11, April 2022

Preparations underway for ordination of new Bishop of Mamfe ⁰

Preparations are under way for a very special day in the history of the diocese of Mamfe – the Episcopal ordination of Aloysius Abangalo Fondong as the third residential Bishop of Mamfe on May 5, 2022. He will be ordained at St Joseph’s Cathedral in New layout Mamfe. A large number of Roman Catholic clerics from around the Bamenda Ecclesiastic Province will join members of his family, colleagues and friends to witness his ordination.

His appointment was announced recently by the Holy Father Pope Francis. A native of Lebialem Division in the South West, Bishop Fondong was a priest of the Buea Diocese who studied Canon Law in Rome. He was a lecturer at the St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Bambui.

Bishop Aloysius Fondong was ordained a priest on April 20, 2006 in Buea. He has held the following positions in the Church hierarchy: Vicar of the Holy Family Parish of Limbe (2006-2007); Dean of Our Lady of Grace College in Muyuka (2007-2009); Diocesan Treasurer and Member of the College of Consultors (2009-2011); Teacher and trainer at St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Bambui and Defender of the Bond at the Inter-diocesan Tribunal of Bamenda (2014-2019).

The diocese has been without a bishop ever since Bishop Andrew Nkea was appointed Archbishop of the Bamenda Archdiocese.

By Soter Agbaw-Ebai

10, April 2022

Corrupt France: Macron leads first round of election, to face Le Pen in run-off ⁰

French President Emmanuel Macron will face the far right’s Marine Le Pen in a presidential run-off on April 24 after leading the first round on Sunday with 28.5% of the vote to Le Pen’s 23.6%, according to an Ipsos exit poll.

Macron was projected to win 28.5% of the vote, ahead of Le Pen (23.6%) and third-placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon (20.3%), according to projections by our partners Ipsos Sopra Steria.

Some 48.7 million voters were called to the polls for Sunday’s first round. By 5pm, 65 percent of registered voters had cast a ballot, down 4.4 points on the previous election in 2017.

Twelve candidates, from the far left to the far right, were on the ballot for the first round. The two finalists will vie for France’s top job in two weeks’ time, on April 24.

Source: France 24

10, April 2022

Biya regime says Amba fighters attack Mbororo ethnic community ⁰

Cameroonian authorities said Friday that separatists had attacked a village on the Nigerian border earlier in the week, with local officials saying they torched at least 12 homes and killed six people. Authorities say the rebels appeared to be targeting members of the Mbororo ethnic group, who the separatists accuse of collaborating with government troops.

The Cameroonian military said separatists shot indiscriminately in the air and torched houses in Mbonhong, a western village in Ndu district on the border with Nigeria. The military did not say how many houses were burned nor how many people were killed or wounded.

Separatists have shared videos of the attack on Mbonhong village on social media including WhatsApp and Facebook.

About 15 separatists in the videos say that they are avenging abuses committed against them by Cameroon’s military and charge the government forces are using homes, farms and cattle ranches of ethnic Mbororo and Fulani as military bases. The fighters are seen torching about eight houses.

Nkwenti Simon Dooh, the highest-ranking government official in Donga Mantung, the division where Ndu is located, told Cameroon state broadcaster CRTV that a week hardly goes by without separatists attacking Mbororo.

“Armed groups benefit from the fact that the Mbororo populations are scattered over the hills to cause so many atrocities,” he said. “They [separatists] carried away many herds of their [Mbororo] cattle, looted, killed and burnt most of their structures.”

Dooh said that besides deploying the military to protect Mbororo, the government asked the ethnic group to create militias to collaborate with government troops in protecting goods and people.

Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics estimates that there are over a million Mbororo in the central African country. More than 70% of the Mbororo are cattle ranchers owning about 70% of the estimated 3 million cattle in the English-speaking regions.

Mohammed Umaru Abubakar, a Mbororo rights activist and member of the Human Rights Committee of the Mbororo Cultural and Development Association,

said Mbororo are victims of brutality because the ethnic group has refused to support separatists fighting to carve out an independent English-speaking state in the majority French-speaking Cameroon.

Abubakar said the Mbororo are one of the ethnic groups that has suffered most from separatist brutality within the past four years.

“Three thousand eight hundred forty-two cattle were killed or seized or killed by the separatists, and over 5,000 cows have left the Northwest to other [safer] regions, while others [cattle] left for Nigeria,” Abubakar said. “Over 195 million [have] been taken away from Mbororo people in the name of ransom. As of date, the statistics we have is about 325 Mbororo people that [have been] murdered by the separatists.”

Abubakar said Cameroon should compensate Mbororo who have lost their cattle and protect ethnic group members from separatist attacks, looting and killing.

Separatists say they do not specifically target Mbororo, but they target all individuals and groups who collaborate with the Cameroon military. The United Nations says the Cameroon separatist crisis that turned into an armed conflict in 2017 has killed at least 3,300 people, and internally displaced some 750,000.

Source: VOA

10, April 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Amba commander killed in infighting in Bui ⁰

Security and local sources said on Saturday that a notorious separatist commander has been killed in Cameroon’s war-torn Anglophone region of Northwest in clashes between rival separatist groups.

The commander who was identified as ‘field marshal Insobu’ was killed in Bui division of the region late Friday after he attempted to attack another separatist group.

Separatist fighters released a video of him on social media saying they were celebrating the “death of a traitor”.

“The terrorist commander was responsible for countless killing and abductions of civilians and soldiers. He blocked a major highway in the region for over five years causing untold suffering. Civilians are actually celebrating his death,” a senior military official in the region who asked not to be named told Xinhua.

It is unclear whether other fighters were killed in the clashes.

Infighting among separatist fighters has caused the death of over 100 fighters since an armed separatist conflict erupted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest in 2017, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

10, April 2022

Douala: Arbitrarily detained person dies of cholera, other detainees at risk ⁰

At least six inmates at the New Bell prison in Douala have died of cholera since 18 February last. The latest, Rodrigue Ndagueho Koufet, who died on 7 April, had been held in arbitrary detention since September 2020 for being involved in peaceful protests.

“The Cameroonian authorities must urgently take all necessary health measures to ensure that detainees suffering from cholera and other medical conditions have prompt access to adequate medical care” Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa

It has been confirmed that Rodrigue Ndagueho Koufet died of cholera on 7 April at Douala Hospital, where he was taken from the city’s central prison and chained to his hospital bed. According to the judgment, which we have seen, the Douala Military Court sentenced him to three years in prison and a 200,000 CFA franc fine on 7 December 2021 for ‘co-action of insurrection, gathering, meetings and public demonstrations’, having been arrested in September 2020 during peaceful protests of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC). Others detained for the same reasons are also likely to be in a worrying health situation.

The authorities must also release all those arbitrarily detained, including detainees from the English-speaking regions and members of the main opposition party, the MRC, who have been arrested over the past five years for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

Culled from Amnesty International

9, April 2022

Pakistan PM Imran Khan ousted after losing no-confidence vote in parliament ⁰

Imran Khan was dismissed Sunday as Pakistan prime minister after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament following weeks of political turmoil.

It was not immediately clear when a new premier will be chosen, but Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif was almost certain to be picked to lead the nuclear-armed nation of 220 million people.

No prime minister has ever served a full term in Pakistan, but Khan is the first to lose office this way.

Acting speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said 174 lawmakers had voted in favour of the motion, “consequently the vote of no confidence has passed”.

Khan, 69, tried everything he could to stay in power — including dissolving parliament and calling a fresh election — but the Supreme Court deemed all his actions illegal last week, and ordered the assembly to reconvene and vote.

There was drama right until the midnight deadline ordered by the Supreme Court, with the speaker of the assembly — a Khan loyalist — resigning at the last minute.

In the end the session continued through to Sunday with a replacement.

“We will put a balm on the wounds of this nation,” Sharif said immediately after the result was announced.

Khan, who was not present, lost his majority in the 342-seat assembly through defections by coalition partners and members of his own party, and the opposition had needed just 172 votes to dismiss him.

Militancy on the rise

Whoever takes over will still have to deal with the issues that bedevilled Khan — soaring inflation, a feeble rupee and crippling debt.

Militancy is also on the rise, with Pakistan’s Taliban emboldened by the return to power last year of the hardline Islamist group in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Tempers rose earlier when Sharif insisted a vote be held immediately — as ordered by the Supreme Court on Thursday — but Khan loyalists demanded discussion first on their leader’s claims there had been foreign interference in the process.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi accused the opposition of leading the country down a dangerous path.

“History will expose all those, who set the stage for this move to topple the government,” he said, to chants of “vote, vote” from the opposition.

Khan insists he has been the victim of a “regime change” conspiracy involving the United States.

He said the PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — two normally feuding dynastic groups who joined forces to oust him — had conspired with Washington to bring the no-confidence vote because of his opposition to US foreign policy, particularly in Muslim nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also accused the opposition of buying support in the assembly with “open horse-trading… selling of lawmakers like goats and sheep”.

How long the next government lasts is also a matter of speculation.

The opposition said previously they wanted an early election — which must be called by October next year — but taking power gives them the opportunity to set their own agenda and end a string of probes they said Khan launched vindictively against them.

Local media quoted an election commission official as saying it would take them at least seven months to prepare for a national vote.

Publicly the military appears to be keeping out of the current fray, but there have been four coups since independence in 1947 and the country has spent more than three decades under army rule.

Source: AFP

8, April 2022

Hollywood: Will Smith banned from attending Oscars for 10 years after slapping Chris Rock ⁰

Hollywood’s film academy on Friday said its board of governors banned Will Smith from any of its events, including the Oscars, for 10 years after the best actor winner slapped presenter Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards ceremony.

“The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year,” Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President David Rubin and Chief Executive Dawn Hudson said in a statement.

“However, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage.”

In a statement, Smith said, “I accept and respect the Academy’s decision.” The actor had resigned from the academy on April 1 and has issued statements apologizing to Rock, the Oscars producers, nominees and viewers.

At the March 27 televised ceremony, Smith strode up to the stage after comedian Rock made a joke about the appearance of the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, then smacked Rock across the face.

Less than an hour later, Smith gave a tearful speech on stage as he accepted the best actor award for his role in “King Richard.” After the ceremony, he was seen dancing at Vanity Fair’s annual post-Oscars party.

Rock’s joke about Pinkett Smith made a reference to the 1997 film “G.I. Jane” in which actress Demi Moore shaved her head. It was unclear whether Rock was aware that she has a condition that causes hair loss.

Source: REUTERS

8, April 2022

World food prices hit record high over Ukraine war ⁰

World food prices hit an all-time high in March as Russia’s military operation of Ukraine sent “shocks” through markets for staple grains and vegetable oils, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.

The disruption in export flows resulting from the February 24 military operation and international sanctions against Russia has spurred fears of a global hunger crisis, especially across the Middle East and Africa, where the knock-on effects are already playing out.

Russia and Ukraine, whose vast grain-growing regions are among the world’s main breadbaskets, account for a huge share of the globe’s exports in several major commodities, including wheat, vegetable oil and corn.

“World food commodity prices made a significant leap in March to reach their highest levels ever, as war in the Black Sea region spread shocks through markets for staple grains and vegetable oils,” the FAO said in a statement.

The FAO’s food price index, which had already reported a record in February, surged by 12.6 percent last month, “making a giant leap to a new highest level since its inception in 1990”, the UN agency said.

The index, a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 159.3 points in March.

The jump includes new all-time highs for vegetable oils, cereals and meats, the FAO said, adding that prices of sugar and dairy products “also rose significantly”.

– Famine fears –

Russia and Ukraine together accounted for around 30 percent and 20 percent of global wheat and maize exports respectively, over the past three years, the FAO said.

The war continues to rage as sowing season has started in Ukraine.

Wheat prices rose by almost 20 percent, with the problem exacerbated by concerns over crop conditions in the United States, the organization said.

The FAO’s vegetable oil price index surged by 23.2 percent, driven by higher quotations for sunflower seed oil, of which Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter.

Spanish supermarkets have rationed the sale of sunflower oil to stop customers stockpiling over shortage fears due to the war.

The United States has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of creating “this global food crisis”.

France has warned that the war has increased the risk of famine around the world.

The conflict has also sent oil and gas prices through the roof, causing inflation to rise further across the world and raising concerns that it could derail global economic growth.

(Source: AFP)

8, April 2022

Yaoundé Says Amba fighters Abduct Women Protesting Abuses ⁰

Separatist fighters have kidnapped 10 villagers in Cameroon’s restive Anglophone region of Northwest, accusing them of working with government forces to fight the rebels, according to local and security sources.

On Thursday, the fighters released a video on social media of the kidnapped civilians, including six elderly women, three middle-aged women, and one man in the Oku locality of the region.

The fighters said they “will be treated accordingly” for their “crime”.

Since Monday, civilians in some villages in Cameroon’s troubled English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest have been staging protest demonstrations to denounce atrocities by the separatist fighters on civilians.

On Tuesday, villagers in Mbalangi locality of Southwest killed three separatist fighters after they attempted to disrupt a football game.

Villagers are increasingly forming self-defense groups to protect homes and families from the separatist fighters in the regions, according to security reports.

Separatist fighters started clashing with government forces in 2017 in a bid to create an independent nation they called “Ambazonia” in the two Anglophone regions.

Source: Xinhuanet