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8, September 2021

No milk or water: Shoppers face shortages at UK grocery stores ⁰

The supply chain troubles caused by Brexit and the pandemic have been so bad for Satyan Patel that the shelves at his convenience store in central London are seriously lacking water and soft drinks.

“Last week I ran out of Coca-Cola. I haven’t had large bottles of Evian for three weeks,” said Patel.

“Without products, there’s no business. With empty shelves like this, no one is going to come in the shop anyway,” he added.

A wide range of businesses have suffered through shortages for several months in the UK — from milkshakes at McDonald’s to beer at a pub chain to mattresses at Ikea.

But shoppers are also facing empty shelves for things as basic as water and milk at UK supermarkets and grocery stores.

The coronavirus crisis has severely disrupted the global supply chain, but Britain’s divorce from the European Union late last year has exacerbated the problem in the UK.

Shops are not getting products delivered to them as rules making it harder to hire EU citizens has left haulage companies with a drastic shortage of lorry drivers.

Many people who returned to their home countries from Britain during the lockdown have not returned.

Co-op, a cooperative supermarket group, said it was “impacted by some patchy distribution” to its deliveries but it was working with suppliers to re-stock quickly.

The group said it was recruiting 3,000 temporary workers “to keep depots working to capacity and stores stocked as quickly as possible”.

– Where’s the milk? –

According to recent estimates, the UK currently faces a shortage of about 100,000 lorry drivers.

“We had already decided to reduce our stock because of Covid… but now we’re finding it hard to get some products as well because they’re just not available,” Patel said.

At a supermarket near his store, the soft drinks aisle was a little short of bottles and cans but other shelves were full.

One shop assistant said some customers blamed them for the shortages JUSTIN TALLIS AFP

But 22-year-old sales assistant Toma said the situation was grim.

“We don’t have stock, we have nothing in our warehouse,” said Toma, who declined to give her last name.

“We have gaps everywhere,” she said. “Sometimes we receive only a certain amount (of some products). We don’t even have water.”

The shortages began when the pandemic hit and got worse after Brexit came into force on January 1, Toma said.

Some customers complain to supermarket staff and “say it’s us to blame”, she added.

At another major supermarket in southeast London, water bottles were sparse and milk was missing from shelves.

Frozen-food group Iceland and retail giant Tesco have warned of Christmas shortages.

Iceland head Richard Walker said the company has reduced deliveries as it has 100 fewer drivers than it needs.

“Every day we are missing around 10 percent of the stock we have ordered into our depots,” he wrote in a blog, adding that “when things were at their worst” its sole bread supplier was unable to deliver to as many as 130 stores per day.

– ‘Perfect storm’ –

Shortages of goods in the UK “will probably last for a while and may even intensify further”, according to a note by Capital Economics, a research consultancy.

A report this week from the Confederation of British Industry cited the Road Haulage Association as saying it would take at least 18 months to train enough Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) drivers to replace those who have left.

For the CBI, the dual effects of Brexit and Covid-19 are a “perfect storm”.

Signs apologising for the lack of stock are now a common sight in British shops JUSTIN TALLIS AFP

Stock levels in relation to expected sales fell by more than 20 percent to a record low across the retail and distribution sector in August, according to the CBI.

The group has urged the government to be more flexible on immigration and add skilled lorry drivers to a list of professions that are short on workers.

Road transport companies and businesses dependent on deliveries are offering bonuses and higher wages in an attempt to retain drivers, but the moves have raised concern that they could contribute to rising inflation.

Ryan Koningen, a 49-year-old project manager at a company in the City of London, said his colleagues often discussed the situation and “the question of costs: will they rise because drivers are paid premiums?”

He too said he had noticed shortages of “day-to-day products”.

Source: AFP

8, September 2021

Concord Group Chairman receives Special invitation to attend the 2021 SOBA UK Convention ⁰

The leadership of SOBA UK has invited high-profile Africans including the Chairman of the Cameroon Concord News Group to the 2021 Sasse Old Boys Annual Residential Convention on 15th to 17th October 2021 at The Hilton at St. George’s Park, Burton upon Trent,UK.

The invitation card, which was seen by Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief Isong Asu, showed that the venue Hilton at St. George’s Park is the home of the England National Football teams.

Concord Group Chairman, the Right Hon. Soter Agbaw-Ebai is set to make the trip from Dusseldorf to London.

The editorial boards of both Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report have given the approval, for the complete coverage of the SOBA UK event.

Below is the SOBA UK correspondence to the Cameroon Concord News Chairman

Special Invitation to Attend the 2021 SOBA UK Convention

Soter Agbaw-Ebai

6th September 2021

Dear Mr Soter Agbaw-Ebai,

I am writing to formally invite you to the 2021 SOBA UK Annual Residential Convention on 15th to 17th October 2021 at The Hilton at St. George’s Park, Burton upon Trent, United Kingdom. The Hilton at St. George’s Park is the home of England National Football teams and a venue we are happy to return to after the successful convention in 2018.

We would be most delighted if you can confirm your attendance to this event. The main event is on Saturday, 16th October, where we have a SOBA UK Gala Night and Fundraiser from 4:30pm to 2.30am.

Convention theme and Fundraiser

The theme of this year’s Convention is “Appreciating Community Spirit”, reflecting on the difficult year we have had as a community due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our fundraising focus is equipping the Sasse College library, providing the students with study aids to help with their academics. We are looking to assist where possible and welcome your generous support. This year, SOBA UK had a successful elections resulting in a new mandate for the executives to 2023.

Covid-19 measures

SOBA UK will seek to provide reasonable safety measures and encourages all guests to take the necessary Covid-19 measures, in line with UK Government advice. We encourage our guests to take their double vaccine jabs and/or take a Covid test prior to the event. The capacity at the event will be limited to 250 places to allow for sufficient distancing and guests will have access to hand sanitizers and temperature checks at entry.

You have been allocated a free standard ticket but if you would like to be seated at a VIP table then please let me know, as there is a small fee to be upgraded.

We look forward to seeing you and please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Franklin Egbe

President, SOBA UK

Tel: +447429880730

soba@sobaintheuk.org

7, September 2021

Africa Covid death toll tops 200,000 ⁰

More than 200,000 people have died from Covid-19 in Africa since the start of the pandemic, according to an AFP tally compiled from official records as of 1700 GMT.

A total of 200,254 fatalities have been registered in Africa, home to more than 1.3 billion people, since the virus emerged in China in December 2019.

After several deadly months, including some 27,000 deaths in July and 26,000 in August, the pandemic appears to be easing on the continent, with current daily figures of 617 compared to up to 990 in late July, a record for the region.

The figures are based on tolls communicated daily day by health authorities in each country or by the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) and include the countries of North Africa.

The WHO has said that if excess deaths directly or indirectly linked to Covid are taken into account, the real toll could be double or triple.

The total number of infections is also likely to be an under-estimate, given insufficient testing capacity in Africa.

“It’s probably a lot higher than that,” said researcher Glenda Davidson of South Africa’s Cape Peninsula University of Technology. “Testing resources are very low on the continent.”

Death registration processes were often delayed and inaccurate, she added.

The current fall in the continent’s tally is a result of sharp drops in the hardest-hit countries.

South Africa has recorded 83,899 deaths so far. But last week’s daily average of 7,400 new cases and 234 deaths is significantly lower than in late July, when the daily average was up to 20,000 new cases and 420 deaths.

– Vaccination key –

The decrease has been even more striking in Tunisia, which has recorded a daily average of 1,680 cases and 64 deaths: 41 and 39 percent down on the previous week.

The figures are well below those of July, which were described by the government as “catastrophic”, with up to 7,900 cases and 207 deaths daily.

Tunisia’s summer was also marked by a sharp acceleration in its vaccination drive, with nearly 37 percent of the population having received at least one dose, compared to just 11 percent on July 1.

Africa has seen the lowest vaccination rate to date of all the continents, with only eight jabs administered per 100 inhabitants administered, according to an AFP count, compared with 102 in Europe and 116 in the United States and Canada.

According to the WHO, around three percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population are fully vaccinated. By comparison, 52 percent of people are fully vaccinated in the United States of America and 57 percent in the European Union.

“The inequity is deeply disturbing. Just two percent of the over five billion doses given globally have been administered in Africa,” WHO Africa chief Dr Matshidiso Moeti said last week.

However, inoculation in South Africa has been picking up after a rocky start.

“The vaccine has been our weapon,” said South African public health practitioner Shakira Choonara.

“It is contributing to certain changes in trends we are beginning to see.”

Source: AFP

7, September 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima categorically rejects Yaoundé reconstruction project ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government has strongly rejected the so-called reconstruction project announced by the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé warning that the scheme is a continuation of French Cameroun’s annexation policy.

Addressing the Ambazonia war cabinet late on Monday, Dabney Yerima stated that all Southern Cameroons Self Defense groups with ties to the Interim Government have unanimously decided to prohibit the Biya French Cameroun reconstruction project in Southern Cameroons.

Yerima stressed that the so-called scheme constituted a dangerous part of Yaoundé’s continued marginalization project aimed at ultimately keeping the people of Southern Cameroons in poverty and suffering.

Dabney Yerima pointed out that once the people of Southern Cameroons get to their historic capital in Buea, the Interim Government with international partners would launched a massive development project to rebuild the homeland.

By Chi Prudence Asong

7, September 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: IG must supply the Big Rubber gun to all resistance groups ⁰

A Southern Cameroons front line leader says Vice President Dabney Yerima of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government should ensure that all Ambazonia resistance groups in Ground Zero get the big rubber guns as soon as possible.

“The Interim Government must offer as many Big Rubberguns that it can to all Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups, so that they would not face any difficulty when confronting the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military,” Dr Ngassa Anyangwe a member of the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Cooperation board told Cameroon Concord News in an exclusive interview on Monday.

Dr Ngassa, who was elaborating on Vice President Dabney Yerima’s recent measure to send some Big Rubber guns to Ground Zero, added that the big rubber project is going to be a game changer in the war in Southern Cameroons.

The German based Southern Cameroons academic described it as important to the Ambazonia Interim Government to meet the needs of all Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups.

Dr Ngassa Anyangwe went on to say that several big rubber guns have already been sent to Amba fighters and a trial process will begin soonest.

By Isong Asu

6, September 2021

Iconic French New Wave actor Jean-Paul Belmondo dies aged 88 ⁰

Jean-Paul Belmondo’s battered face, laconic style and roguish smile captured the imagination of French 1960s youth.

Belmondo, who has died at his Paris home aged 88, was the cool rebel of the new wave of French cinema typified in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film classic, A Bout de Souffle.

His moody performance as a doomed thief and Humphrey Bogart fan struck a chord and saw him dubbed the Gallic James Dean.

Later, he forsook arts cinema to become a highly bankable commercial actor, as at home in comedy as in drama.

Jean-Paul Belmondo was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris on 9 Apr 1933, the son of Paul Belmondo, a sculptor whose statues grace many a Parisian park.

The intensely Bohemian atmosphere of his upbringing had a formative effect on him.

He failed at school and became an amateur boxer. In his short-lived career, he won 15 of his 23 bouts before giving up to concentrate on acting.

Jean-Paul Belmondo in A Bout de Souffle — image captionA Bout de Souffle was his first starring role

His trademark bumpy nose, however, was a result of a fight in the school playground rather than the ring.

After performing on stage in provincial theatres, his movie break came with the role of Laszlo in Marcel Carné’s 1958 film Les Tricheurs.

On the strength of his forceful portrayal, he was given his first starring role in A Bout de Souffle.

One critic described him as “a bewitchingly ugly man.”

His cult image carried him through several action films such as Les Distractions and La Novice.

Flying grandpa

Determined not to be stereotyped, Belmondo also accepted more demanding roles such as the idealistic intellectual of Vittorio de Sica’s La Ciocara in 1961, and as the young country priest in Philippe de Broca’s swashbuckling Cartouche the following year.

He also enjoyed comic roles, in Godard’s Une Femme est une Femme, and, particularly, in De Broca’s L’Homme de Rio, in which he played a suave, unflappable secret agent.

By the mid-60s, he had switched completely to the commercial mainstream and formed his own production company, Cerito.

Jean-Paul Belmondo — image captionHe relished his role as an elder statesman of French cinema

He even performed his own stunts in such films as Les Tribulations d’Un Chinois en Chine in 1965, though he gave this practice up after an accident in the 1985 film Hold-up.

He brightened many an all-star cast in international productions such as Is Paris Burning? (1966), the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967) and with Alain Delon in the gangster movie Borsalino (1970),

He moved away from action movies claiming that “I don’t want to be a flying grandpa of the French cinema.”

In 1987 Belmondo returned to the stage for the first time for nearly 30 years and divided his work between theatre and film for the rest of his career.

Two years later he won a Cesar, the French equivalent of an Oscar, for his performance in Itineraire d’un Enfant Gate.

He branched out creatively as part of the ensemble in Varda’s homage to international cinema Les Cent et une Nuits de Samon Cinema in 1995 and as the Jean Valjean figure in Claude Lelouche’s re-working of Les Miserables in the same year.

Jean-Paul Belmondo was divorced from his first wife Elodie in 1965. His second marriage to Constantin also failed. He later had long relationships with actresses Ursula Andress and Laura Antonelli.

Cinema audiences at home and abroad were drawn to his charm and seeming disregard for whatever absurdities were taking place on screen. He was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.

Culled from BBC

5, September 2021

South Africa’s former president Zuma released from prison on medical parole ⁰

South Africa’s jailed former president Jacob Zuma has been placed on medical parole because of his ill health, the government’s correctional services department said on Sunday.

Last month prison authorities said Zuma, serving a 15-month sentence in Estcourt prison for contempt of court, underwent unspecified surgery at an outside hospital where he had been sent for observation. He remained in hospital with more operations planned.

The 79-year old’s eligibility for medical parole follows a medical report received by the Department of Correctional Services, it said in a statement.

“Medical parole placement for Mr Zuma means that he will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections, whereby he must comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until his sentence expires,” the department added.

Its spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo said that Zuma, who was imprisoned in early July, was still in hospital but could go home to continue receiving medical care. He gave no details on Zuma’s illness, his parole conditions nor whether his health had deteriorated since surgery.

Mzwanele Manyi, a spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, said it welcomed the decision of the parole board and a more detailed statement would be issued after consultation with Zuma’s legal team.

Zuma was jailed for defying a Constitutional Court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level corruption during his nine years in office until 2018.

When Zuma handed himself in on July 7, protests by his supporters escalated into riots involving looting and arson that President Cyril Ramaphosa described as an “insurrection”.

(REUTERS)

5, September 2021

Coup d’etat in Guinea Conakry: President Alpha Condé arrested ⁰

The President of Guinea Conakry, Alpha Condé has been arrested by troops of the country’s Special Forces; Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from media sources in Guinea.

Information also filtered that gunshots were fired in Camayenne, a neighbourhood in Conakry. Witnesses say some top members of government have equally been arrested.

At least two people were injured during the heavy gunfire that broke out near the presidential palace in Conakry on Sunday morning, while military vehicles patrolled the streets.

The army has released photos of the 83-year-old President Alpha Conde who is presently under protective custody.

A military source announced that Alpha Conde was no longer in command and said the gunfire involved angry members of the Special Forces, an elite army corps.

This item is still developing

5, September 2021

Heavy gunfire, troops on streets reported in Guinea capital Conakry ⁰

At least two people were injured as heavy gunfire broke out near the presidential palace in Guinea’s capital Conakry on Sunday morning, while military vehicles patrolled the streets, witnesses said and videos shared on social media showed.

It was not clear who was exchanging fire.

A senior government official said 83-year-old President Alpha Conde was unharmed but gave no further details.

A military source said the gunfire involved angry members of the special forces, an elite army corps. The source did not say what caused the anger.

Another military source said the only bridge connecting the mainland to the Kaloum neighbourhood, which houses most of the ministries and the presidential palace, had been sealed off and many soldiers, some heavily armed, were posted around the palace.

Three witnesses told Reuters they saw two civilians with gunshot wounds.

“I see groups of soldiers heading towards the presidency. There has been a lot of shooting,” said Ousmane Camara, a resident of Kaloum.

A Reuters reporter saw two convoys of armoured vehicles and pick-up trucks heading towards Conakry Autonomous Port, also near the palace. The convoy was accompanied by a white vehicle that appeared to be an ambulance.

Conde won a controversial third term in October after changing the constitution to allow him to stand again despite violent protests from the opposition, raising concerns of a backslide in a region that has seen coups in Mali and Chad in recent months. Footage shared on social media, which Reuters was not immediately able to verify, showed heavy gunfire ringing out over Conakry, and vehicles full of soldiers approaching the central bank, close to the palace.

“President Alpha Conde is doing extremely well… the situation is under control,” an ally of the president said in a video shared on Whatsapp.

Guinea has seen sustained economic growth during Conde’s decade in power thanks to its bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamond wealth, but few of its citizens have seen the benefits.

Critics say the government has used restrictive criminal laws to discourage dissent, while ethnic divisions and endemic graft have sharpened political rivalries.

(REUTERS)

5, September 2021

Cameroon army generals lining their pockets off Southern Cameroons war ⁰

Senior military officials who are commanding Cameroon government troops deployed to Southern Cameroons are amassing fortunes from their postings there despite their disastrous conduct in the occupied British Southern Cameroons territory.

Six generals including the Joint Chief of Staff Rene Meka and Valere Nka who are supervising the troops now have family relations serving as military contractors, according to Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in Yaoundé.

Our sources hinted that the wives and brothers of top Francophone army generals who are leading the mission in Southern Cameroons are thriving in the private sector responsible for army logistics and feeding.

Through their family relations, these Francophone army officials have amassed influence within businesses in Douala and Yaoundé with ties to the military and are making hundreds of millions of FCFA monthly in a conflict that has left thousands of Southern Cameroonians dead and displaced, and costing the Cameroon government millions of US dollars and will conclude with the holding of a frank and genuine dialogue with the people of Ambazonia.

Meanwhile, the Biya regime is censoring all televised debates in the country over what was the essence of the Southern Cameroons war and who is benefiting from the 4-year war against the impoverished people of Southern Cameroons.

By Chi Prudence Asong