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Manchester United Crisis: Zinedine Zidane is an early favourite with bookmakers

21, November 2021

Manchester United Crisis: Zinedine Zidane is an early favourite with bookmakers 0

Manchester United have sacked manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Watford.

The club have won just one of their past seven Premier League matches and are seventh in the table, 12 points behind leaders Chelsea.

First-team coach Michael Carrick has been placed in temporary charge while United seek an interim manager to the end of the season.

“It is with regret that we have reached this difficult decision,” United said.

The club’s recent run of poor form includes a 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool on 24 October and a 2-0 defeat by Manchester City on 6 November.

United added: “While the past few weeks have been disappointing, they should not obscure all the work he has done over the past three years to rebuild the foundations for long-term success.

“Ole leaves with our sincerest thanks for his tireless efforts as manager and our very best wishes for the future.”

Solskjaer is a former Red Devils player, scoring 126 goals in 11 seasons from 1996-2007 including the winner in the 1999 Champions League final.

United said in their statement: “His place in the club’s history will always be secure, not just for his story as a player, but as a great man and a manager who gave us many great moments.

“He will forever be welcome back at Old Trafford as part of the Manchester United family.”

United next play when they travel to Spain to take on Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday, before league games against Chelsea and Arsenal.

Darren Fletcher will stay on as technical director, while Mike Phelan and Kieran McKenna – who were part of Solskjaer’s coaching set up – will also remain at the club for the time being.

Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, currently out of work, is an early favourite with bookmakers to become United’s next manager.

Source: BBC

Prominent Nigerian Senator says no evidence linking Ambazonia fighters to Taraba Attack

20, November 2021

Prominent Nigerian Senator says no evidence linking Ambazonia fighters to Taraba Attack 0

Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume has rejected the idea that the recent attack by Ambazonia fighters on a community in Taraba State is a threat on the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

He said what happened should not be viewed as an attack by the separatist group or Cameroon on Nigeria as a country.

According to the lawmaker, the area of attack is a border community between Nigeria and Cameroon, hence based on information available so far on the incident, what happened was a communal clash.

Ndume said Ambazonia is a “stateless” group that cannot challenge the territorial integrity of Nigeria, adding that the government must take measures to protect those staying in border communities.

“I don’t want you to take it the way you say now like an external aggression. I have listened to the governor, this is more of communal or tribal conflict that affect communities along our borders,” he said.

Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku had claimed that Ambazonia separatist militants from Cameroon attacked Takum LGA of Taraba State killing the village head and some residents of Manga community.

Reacting to the Nigerian governor’s take on the Taraba attack, the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima issued a statement saying “We have not taken this war to La Republique du Cameroun, there is no reason whatsoever for our Liberation fighters to take it to a friendly neighboring country. Our liberation fighters have no motive or interest to invade another friendly Anglo-Saxon country.”

The Ambazonia Vice President furthered “On the 10th of November 2020, Buhari was in Paris with Macron shortly after French Cameroun soldiers illegally entered into Taraba State (Nigeria) for unknown reasons and caused havoc on the people living in that community. This shameful heinouscrime perpetuated by Paul Biya’s military Junta on part of another sovereign country was reported by the Daily post of Nigeria on the 22nd of October 2021. It is believed Paris invited Buhari to cool down the tension and influence him to come up with a whitewash story through another news tabloid in Nigeria so as to continue to manipulate the people of Taraba and the world.”

By Chi Prudence Asong with files

Football: Thomas Nkono says Cameroon mentally tougher than Nigeria

20, November 2021

Football: Thomas Nkono says Cameroon mentally tougher than Nigeria 0

The Espanyol stopper explains what gave his country the trophy-winning edge over their rivals in continental competition. Thomas Nkono believes Nigeria suffered for their relative lack of mental strength in epic Cameroon encounters

While at international level Nigeria has a strong head-to-head record against their neighbouring rivals, things are skewed in the favour of the five-time African champions when meetings at the continental showpiece are taken into account.

Cameroon have memorably pipped Nigeria to AFCON success on three different occasions at the Final stage, boasting wins in 1984, 1988 and 2000, the latter of which came at the National Stadium in Surulere.

N’Kono was a part of the 80s playing squads, and was also in Pierre Lechantre’s technical staff for the penalty shoot-out triumph in Lagos. He believes it was the Lions’ greater psychological fortitude that gave them the edge in crunch meetings with Nigeria.

“I’ve been very fortunate to play against Nigeria,” the Espanyol legend said. “We won great Finals against great players in the African Cup, playing against Nigeria. It’s true that it was many years ago.

“I was also fortunate to accompany the new generation of players who won the African Cup in Nigeria (in 2000). Obviously, these can be tense moments. We’re talking about a neighbouring country that also wants to win. It’s like a derby for us, and you know the atmosphere is tremendous.

“But it’s all about mentality. Each player has to use the best of their skills to win the match. Fortunately for us, we had very strong players in terms of their mindset, their mentality. Because these things can get to your head, they can really affect your mind. Mental preparation is very important, and if you are well prepared in that respect you can play against anyone and beat them anywhere in the world.”

Organisation – there is no other way

Since his retirement in the late 1990s. N’Kono has been a goalkeeping coach at Espanyol, the club for whom he first played in Europe and with whom he amassed close to 300 La Liga appearances.

His time in Spain has taken in football’s last great evolution, as the Iberian nation has been at the forefront of tactical development in Europe and the world. La Roja won three straight international tournaments between 2008 and 2012, with their possession-based style greatly influencing the direction of football in the last two decades.

Amidst all of this, African football has found itself largely left behind internationally. Since Cameroon thrilled and danced their way to the quarter final at the 1990 World Cup, there has been no quantum leap forward for the continent, despite Senegal and Ghana reaching the same stage in 2002 and 2010 respectively.

Having been in a unique position to witness it all, the 65-year-old believes there is one hurdle the continent must overcome in order to remain relevant at the highest level of football.

“I think there is one very important aspect that we have to highlight, and that is organisation,” N’Kono said. “Until Africa is able to organise football better, it’s going to be difficult.

“In my opinion, there are certain shortcomings in terms of organisation, particularly travel, the provision of hotel accommodation. Young players don’t benefit from the same organisation in Africa as they do when they come to Europe, and that is a very important handicap in my opinion.

“Then we can also question and consider the preparation for each match in training. If Africa wants to develop further and try to win, or get close to winning a title, very similar to what Cameroon did in the team I played in, then we really need that organisation, there is no other option. Because otherwise Africa will always be behind.”

Greater appreciation for goalkeepers

There has been a groundswell of criticism against the shortlist for the FIFA Ballon D’Or following the exclusion of Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

The Senegal international was instrumental to the Blues’ run to Champions League glory in 2020/21, keeping a record number of clean sheets (nine) to usher Thomas Tuchel’s side to glory.

His exclusion follows a general theme of underappreciation around goalkeepers in football, and has led to calls for a separate award for the net-minders going forward.

It is an opinion to which N’Kono is sympathetic. “Unfortunately, it’s always been the case that goalkeepers have largely been ignored,” he said. “But I think people are becoming more and more aware of the importance of goalkeepers and their role.

“We have to remember that, in my opinion, the most demanding position on the pitch today is that of a goalkeeper. I’m sure that organisations like FIFA that arrange these kinds of awards will probably create one to compensate goalkeepers and recognise their performance, to acknowledge the best goalkeeper.

“We always end up just recognising strikers, the ones who score goals. What about the ones who prevent goals being scored, which is perhaps more important in being able to win a match?”

N’Kono’s Espanyol will, this weekend, come up against city rivals Barcelona in La Liga action at Camp Nou.

Source: Pulse.ng

Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad Say New Jihadist Terrorism Threats Warrant Change of Military Response

20, November 2021

Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad Say New Jihadist Terrorism Threats Warrant Change of Military Response 0

Cameroonian, Nigerian and Chadian troops fighting terrorism in the Lake Chad basin say attacks on military positions have been increasing since Boko Haram leader Aboubakar Shekau was declared dead in May.

Military officials from the three countries say the Islamic State in West Africa Province group, or ISWAP, is completely changing terrorism tactics to gain the sympathy of Lake Chad basin civilians. They say ISWAP is emerging as the terrorist group that is taking over from Boko Haram, which is weakened by the death of its leader Shekau.

Major General Saly Mohamadou is commander of Cameroon’s troops fighting terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin. He says, unlike Boko Haram, which attacked civilians for supplies and killed both the military and people who opposed the terrorist group when it was very active, ISWAP only attacks military positions to gain support from civilians. He says ISWAP is fighting to control border areas between Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.

Mohamadou said senior military officials of the Multinational Joint Task Force or MNJTF met in Maroua, Cameroon this week to formulate a strategy toward the new terrorism threat.

The task force, headquartered in the Chadian capital of N’djamena, is made up of more than 10,000 troops from Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.

The MNJTF says militants have carried out scores of attacks on its military positions since May, causing many casualties, but gives no further details.

Officials accuse ISWAP of infiltrating areas along the Cameroon-Nigeria-Chad border. Cameroonian authorities say ISWAP promises jobs and better living conditions to convince vulnerable and jobless youths to join the terror group.

The governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, on the border with Nigeria and Chad Midjiyawa Bakari says Cameroon is carrying out actions that will keep its civilians from sympathizing with terrorists. He says besides fighting terrorists, Cameroon troops have been teaching children in schools abandoned by teachers because of terrorism. He says military medical teams treat wounded and sick civilians who are in villages on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria that are hard to reach. Bakari says the military distributes food and water to civilians in former Boko Haram strongholds.

The governor also said that to stop ISWAP from recruiting vulnerable youths, Cameroon ordered the creation of militias in all northern villages.

ISWAP has not made any formal statement on its expansion to the Lake Chad Basin.

In August though, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said African states should act quickly to stop the restructuring of ISWAP. It says if the countries fail to act, Islamic State’s plans to expand in the region will further endanger millions of Africans.

Source: VOA

Who will be Cameroon Concord Person Of The Year 2021?

20, November 2021

Who will be Cameroon Concord Person Of The Year 2021? 0

Intended to be an honorary award since 1999, the people chosen to be the most significant in Cameroon and deep within the African continent have predominantly been men and women of English expression, indicative of either Commonwealth political and cultural clout, or simply English speaking parochialism. By routine Anglophone Prime Ministers in Cameroon get selected immediately after their appointments, regardless if they ever did any significant thing beyond sitting in the so-called Star Building and pretending to be running government business.

Just as prime movers and shakers like the late Cardinal Tumi, Simon Achidi Achu, John Fru Ndi, Tataw Eta Stephen, V.E. Mukete  missed being winners of the award, the title of Cameroon Concord Person of the Year has however been awarded to people the world remembers.

In December every year Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report decide on persons who generate the most news in the past 12 months and our readers vote to get the winner.

Cameroonian football legend Samuel Eto’o, Bishop Emeritus Francis Teke Lisinge, the Southern Cameroons leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and former Nigerian Head of State, Goodluck Jonathan including  Cameroonian dictator Paul Biya have all won the award.

Last year Judith Nwana a strong advocate for human rights and a Steering Committee member of CHRI (Cameroon Humanitarian Relief Initiative) emerged winner.

Our editorial team recently shortlisted 5 persons for this year’s award and the winner shall be made public on Decemeber 1, 2021 at midnight.

The list include Barrister Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus, one of the lawyers representing President Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, the jailed leader of the Ambazonia Interim Government, and several other people arrested in connection with the Southern Cameroons crisis, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, Enow Ngashu, Director General of the National Football Academy, Prof Maurice Kamto of the MRC party and Archbishop Andrew Nkea of the Bamenda Eclessiastical Province.

SO, who will be Cameroon Concord Person Of The Year 2021?

Voting is only by email via: Cameroonconcordnews@gmail.com

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

Russian fleet of diesel tankers heading to US amid fuel crisis

20, November 2021

Russian fleet of diesel tankers heading to US amid fuel crisis 0

A Russian fleet of tankers, carrying the most substantial amount of diesel to the United States in recent years, is heading to the US East Coast to help alleviate a fuel shortage that has led to the soaring of prices in the country to a seven-year high.

A fleet of four tankers laden with 2 million barrels of Russian diesel are set to arrive in New York, New Haven, and Connecticut next week, Bloomberg reported, citing data from energy cargo-tracking agency Vortexa.

“Russia is better positioned to supply diesel than other refiners in Europe because of its access to cheap natural gas,” said Clay Seigle, a managing director for Vortexa in Houston.

“It’s very rare we’d see volumes this large coming to the East Coast,” he added.

The Russian shipment of diesel is heading to the US at a time when stockpiles in the East Coast, the largest US importing region, are close to the lowest seasonally since 2017.

US imports of European gasoline hit a nine-month low in October. The price of diesel and other fuels have skyrocketed across the globe since energy demand has been back with the world economy reopening but supply simply has not kept up.

Deliveries of European gasoline to the US plunged last month by 51% month-on-month to about 202,000 barrels per day, the lowest monthly tally since January.

Europe is also facing an energy crisis as natural gas prices have more than tripled there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that his country could help ease Europe’s natural gas shortage. But Russian supplies have so far not been enough as a Russian pipeline, the Nord Stream 2, is held up by permitting delays in Germany. Germany on Tuesday suspended the approval process for the pipeline project.

Source: Presstv

US House passes Biden’s historic social spending bill

20, November 2021

US House passes Biden’s historic social spending bill 0

US lawmakers voted Friday to elevate President Joe Biden’s giant social welfare bill to the Senate, in a major step forward for his vision to create a more equitable society — the centerpiece of his domestic agenda.

Build Back Better — Biden’s potentially legacy-defining package of education, health care, childcare and climate reforms — was green-lit by the House of Representatives four days after he signed into law the first part of his economic blueprint, a sweeping upgrade of the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

The $1.8 trillion measure faces a bumpier ride in the upper chamber Senate, with the Democrats’ deficit hawks jittery over spiraling inflation, before it gets a final rubber stamp in the House, likely in January.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had hoped for a vote late Thursday but Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy scuppered that plan by breaking her record for the longest House floor speech, clocking in at more than eight-and-a-half hours.

The breakthrough vote in the House came as Biden was set to transfer power to Vice President Kamala Harris while he underwent a colonoscopy under anesthesia as part of a regular health check.

The White House released a statement from the president as he was out of action, describing the vote as “another giant step forward in carrying out my economic plan to create jobs, reduce costs, make our country more competitive and give working people and the middle class a fighting chance.”

Dealbreaker

The legislation would provide millions of jobs, according to the White House, although Republicans have characterized it as an example of wildly out-of-control Democratic spending.

It will likely be trimmed further in any case in the upper chamber, where Democrats have the narrowest of majorities and moderates are voicing concerns over Biden’s spending plans.

Annual inflation jumped to 6.2 percent last month, giving Republicans another cudgel to bash Biden with as they bid to retake both chambers of Congress in next year’s midterm elections. 

House Democrats would have lost the party-line vote had there been more than three defectors.

In the end only one Democrat — from a competitive district in Maine — joined the Republicans in rejecting the bill, boosting the majority party’s hopes that members in both chambers can overcome months of infighting to get the package signed into law.

Republicans seized on an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office saying the bill would boost the deficit by $367 billion over 10 years.

But White House officials had already been warning for days that the estimate would not take into account savings that could be made through tougher taxation enforcement.

‘Craptacular mess’

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that Build Back Better was “more than fully paid for,” and would help reduce the deficit in the long run “by asking large corporations and the country’s top earners to pay their fair share.”

The bill is likely to be taken up by the upper chamber in late December or possibly January, with more urgent priorities such as avoiding a debt default and a government shutdown expected to take up much of the holiday period.

Pelosi downplayed the potential for senators making major changes, telling reporters after the vote that 90 percent of the text had been agreed among Democrats in both chambers of Congress and the White House.

“There were some differences at the end, and we’ll deal with that as we go forward,” she said.

The Senate has been locked in a 50-50 split for one of the longest periods in its history, and, with no votes to spare, every Democrat effectively has a veto on any bill as long as Republicans stick together.

Senate progressives are pushing for a national paid family leave program and a bigger expansion of health care benefits, but the latest inflation data could torpedo those efforts.

“We will act as quickly as possible to get this bill to President Biden’s desk and deliver help for middle-class families,” the upper chamber’s leader Chuck Schumer said.

But Nebraska’s Ben Sasse led a chorus of opprobrium from Senate Republicans over the legislation, labeling it a “craptacular mess” that will lead to “a million more annual IRS (tax) audits.”

Source: AFP

Taraba killing spree: Cameroon gov’t soldiers put on Amba clothes then shot 11 Nigerians

19, November 2021

Taraba killing spree: Cameroon gov’t soldiers put on Amba clothes then shot 11 Nigerians 0

Heavily armed Cameroon government army soldiers put on Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards robes before heading off on their killing mission to Taraba State in Nigeria, Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from a well placed source at the Ministry of Defense in Yaoundé.

The Cameroon government soldiers who slaughtered 11 Nigerian civilians and four Southern Cameroons refugees in Taraba were disguised in Ambazonia self defense dress, Cameroon Intelligence Report can now reveal.

The Cameroon government troops who targeted Manga village in Shigom ward of Takum Local Government Area and killed the local chief alongside four notables had standing instructions from Yaoundé, our source said.

People in the know deep within the Nigerian military positions in Taraba also hinted this reporter that those who carried out the attack spoke in French and had the kind of weapons used by Cameroon government special forces, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR).

First, a group of Cameroon government soldiers arrived the Takum Local Government Area and signaled the 23 Battalion of the Nigerian military command post in Takum that they were inside Nigerian territory on an anti Ambazonia mission. But their real mission was to provide cover for their colleagues disguised in Ambazonia Self Defense dress.

The disguised Francophone soldiers reportedly staged the attacks and were ferried back to their base by elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion.  Eleven Nigerian and four Southern Cameroons civilians were gunned down in Manga.

Speaking to our correspondent in Nigeria, a Taraba man recalled the terrifying scene as the disguised Cameroon government soldiers moved stealthily through Manga looking for more victims during their murderous spree.

In Abuja, a senator representing Taraba South, Hon. Emmanuel Bwacha, raised the alarm that Nigeria’s territorial sovereignty was under threat following the alleged invasion of Manga community in the Takum Local Government Area of Taraba by Ambazonia separatists from Southern Cameroon. His statement was greeted with much relief by pro Biya military officers.

Immediately after the attack, the 23 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, stationed in Takum Local Government Area was on high alert as locals raged about the killings.

So far Yaoundé has refused to comment on the Taraba attack even though Abuja has blamed the attack on Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Ambazonia-Taraba Attack:  IG says the Guardian Post of Nigeria is covering the evils of Macron, Biya and Buhari

19, November 2021

Ambazonia-Taraba Attack:  IG says the Guardian Post of Nigeria is covering the evils of Macron, Biya and Buhari 0

The Guardian post of Nigeria lost credibility for attempting to cover the evils of Macron,Biya and Buhari on the people of Southern Cameroons and Taraba.

The ongoing armed conflict in the territory of the Southern Cameroons has finally redefined itself. It has redefined itself from a war simply of self-defense against the predatory onslaught of France through its vassal state of French Cameroun, to a decolonization war. It is a decolonization war against France, French Cameroun and its hawkish Bulu-Beti minority tribe. That tribe dominates and controls the government, the legislature, the judiciary, and the military in French Cameroun. It believes the people of the Southern Cameroons and their territory must remain imprisoned under French Cameroun colonization, spoliation, and occupation.

Macron and Biya unleashed the war on the Southern Cameroons under the subterfuge of maintaining a so-called “one and indivisible Republique du Cameroun.” But the territory of the Southern Cameroons, separate and distinct from the territory of French Cameroun, is firmly secured by international boundary treaties and is well delimited and demarcated. It is not, and has never at any time been, part of the territory of French Cameroun.

Nigeria a friendly neighbor is being used by France to serve their interest in the Cameroons. On the 10th of November 2020, Buhari was in Paris with Macron shortly after French Cameroun soldiers illegally entered into Taraba State (Nigeria) for unknown reasons and caused havoc on the people living in that community. This shameful heinouscrime perpetuated by Paul Biya’s military Junta on part of another sovereign country was reported by the Daily post of Nigeria on the 22nd of October 2021. It is believed Paris invited Buhari to cool down the tension and influence him to come up with a whitewash story through another news tabloid in Nigeria so as to continue to manipulate the people of Taraba and the world.

Following dubious reports received, as published in the  Guardian Post of Nigeria that Ambazonian fighters invaded Taraba and caused havoc, killing 11 people, your Interim government wants to make the following remarks.

1.)           We have not taken this war to La Republique du Cameroun, there is no reason whatsoever for our Liberation fighters to take it to a friendly neighboring country. Our liberation fighters have no motive or interest to invade another friendly Anglo-Saxon country.

2.)           If such invasion took place, indeed the Daily Post of Nigeria has earlier reported the invasion of Taraba by LRC military (Nigerian activists on social media have also accused Cameroun of invading Taraba),it  is clearly a well thought out plan from France with a supporting role formBuhari’s regime, and firmly executed by the French Cameroun military so asto get the Nigerian government directly involved in the ongoing genocidal war in Ambazonia.

As of October 2021, about forty thousand civilians have lost their lives in this war. More than a million persons have fled to Nigeria and other countries as refugees, and millions have been made IDPs. More that 600 towns and villages and countless homes have been burnt down by French Cameroun troops. Hundreds of females have been raped (a good number deliberately infected with HIV and other STDs), scores of children killed in targeted killings, food and food crops and livestock destroyed to impose conditions of famine, water sources defiled and polluted to provoke a pestilence, and mass graves punctuate the landscape. Genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in the Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun military which systematically continues to kill women, teenagers, and even babies, the elderly, the infirm. Presidents Emmanuel Macron, Paul Biya and Buhari bears direct responsibility for these heinous crimes.

The UN Security Council has so far failed to assume its responsibility under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations to deal with French Cameroun’s colonial war in the Southern Cameroons. In the circumstances, it is not inconceivable that the Southern Cameroons abandons the self-defence posture to which it has so far restrained itself, in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter. It may eventually go on the offensive and broaden its offensive posture by targeting economic and social infrastructure in French Cameroun that support that country’s war effort, in the same way social and economic infrastructure in the Southern Cameroons continues to be targeted by the French Cameroun army. The objective of this new offensive would be to bring it home to Macron and Biya that their fanciful claim that “l’Ambazonieestcamerounaise” (Ambazonia belongs to Cameroun) is a pipe dream and that pursuing it will be very painful for French Cameroun in 2022 in the same way as the French claim that “l’Algerieestfranaise” (Algeria belongs to France) was for France in 1962.  The people of the Southern Cameroons strongly reject any idea or suggestion, explicit or implicit, that the Southern Cameroons is an area under French influence given that the Southern Cameroons does not have and has never had any ties, colonial or otherwise, with France.  

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Yaounde: Civil servants reject COVID-19 vaccines

19, November 2021

Yaounde: Civil servants reject COVID-19 vaccines 0

Authorities in Cameroon say fewer than 300 of a targeted 300,000 state workers have agreed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 two weeks into a campaign. Some civil servants who spoke to VOA hold a mistaken belief that the virus is no longer a threat in Cameroon. But health officials say vaccinations in the Central African state must be stepped up amid concerns about another wave of infections.

Several dozen people enter and leave Cameroon’s Public Service and Administrative Reform Ministry Thursday morning. At the ministry’s courtyard is a new stand where civil servants can get COVID-19 vaccines free of charge.

Vaccination team member Roland Njalla said only 11 of the expected 400 ministry employees have volunteered to be vaccinated over the past 10 days.

“People are not well informed and edified as to what the vaccine is going to bring as an advantage, as a plus. People are afraid, they don’t know the side effects of the vaccine. I think that is the principal problem,” he said.

Cameroon officially launched a one-month campaign to vaccinate at least half of its 600,000 active and retired government workers against COVID-19 November 10. Vaccinations started five days before the official launch.

The Public Health Ministry says it has vaccinated just 300 of the 300,000 expected active and former state workers.

Public Service and Administrative Reform Minister Joseph Le said he is pleading with workers to accept the COVID-19 vaccine.

“This campaign is intended to ensure that the professional environment is not a place where the virus spreads, but a suitable environment for professional development for all of us. We will continue to emphasize that vaccination is the only way to protect ourselves from the devastating effects of this terrible pandemic,” he said.

Cameroon announced last month that the COVID-19 Delta variant was present in the country and infection rates were increasing.

The health ministry is encouraging people to be vaccinated and continue to wear face masks, wash their hands regularly and keep at least a meter from each other.

Health Minister Manaouda Malachie said people are reluctant to take the vaccine because of lack of awareness, rumors and exposure to misinformation spread mainly on social networks.

Manaouda said 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, whom many Cameroonians consider their mentor, once called vaccinations the most powerful of all preventive health measures. He says the COVID-19 vaccine saves lives and reduces the risk of getting and spreading the virus.

The Cameroon Bar Association said last month that some government officials were blocking unvaccinated civilians from public offices.

Evaristus Morfaw Nkafu, president of the General Assembly of the Cameroon Bar Association, said no law compels public service users to provide vaccination cards.

“There are some authorities who have decided that those who are not inoculated will not enter into their premises. It means they are discriminating against Cameroonians. Rather than coercing, I think the government should educate the people. They should persuade the people and even give incentives,” said Nkafu.

Nkafu said a campaign to raise awareness on COVID-19 vaccination should be offered to those who are hesitant by reaching out and providing crucial information where they live.

The government denied that it is compelling people to be vaccinated.

It is definitely encouraging the jabs.Only one-half percent of the targeted 12 million people were fully vaccinated as of October 30.

Source: VOA

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