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23, July 2020

Asamor’s “Dr. Coro Coro”, An Ode to Human Resilience ⁰

Music has been one of man’s most trusted companions throughout history. In times of adversity as in times of joy, in tranquility and in excitement, the human soul is always in search of a beat rhythm, or melody to connect with, synchronize and find orientation. It is not strange that in times of uncertainties as the world is facing now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, music becomes one of the most readily available agents used by humans to rationalize the grippling suffering.

Having contracted COVID-19 and gone into quarantine, Germany based Cameroonian artist, Asamor, refused to be beaten by the vermin. He fought against it with all his might and tools at his disposal. He was physically isolated from the rest of humanity. But he kept himself connected through the power of social media with daily updates on his Facebook page. Even while in quarantine, he had already envisioned the day he would emerge victoriously. Thus, he composed the song “Dr. Coro Coro” which was released soon after his recovery to critical acclaim and rave reviews.

The artist holds that the song is meant “to sensitize, sympathize, give courage, and bring joy and comfort to all loved ones during this challenging moment of total lockdown and after.” Indeed, one can only call it “An Ode to Human Resilience”.

Who is Asamor?

Born and raised in Fontem, Lebialem Division of the South West of Cameroon, Asamor’s romance with music began right from childhood. As a prince, he grew up already exposed to many of the traditional music and dance forms of his native Lebialem. In Lebialem, princes and princesses are known for their performance skills. It is then no doubt that Asamor is a consummate dancer and an adept player of various traditional instruments.

Though enrolled at the University of Bonn to study agricultural science, Asamor could not help responding to the musical rhythms hissing within his soul. He listened to his inner muse and began experimenting with a blend of his native Bangwa rhythms and the already established makossa music rhythms. This gave birth to a hybrid form of music that he called Abanda Kossa.

His first album was released in 2002. In 2004, Asamor released his second album which featured the prolific Cameroonian musician Petit Pays in the lead song. This collaboration was ground-breaking because it was the first act that Petit Pays had ever done with any musician other than the members of his Sans Visa band. In 2008 Asamor released his third album and subsequently had a string of singles (five in number) between 2013 and 2018.

Asamor has received the KAMA Award (Germany), the African Diaspora Living Legend Award, and twice voted among the 100 most influential Africans in Germany. Yet, during all those years, Asamor was doing music mostly as a pastime, even as he had returned to school and studied Sound Engineering and opened a recording studio.

Even though Asamor has not released many albums, he still a very prolific music maker. He has a collection of unreleased songs from which he has committed to releasing between three and five songs per annum.

“Dr. Coro Coro” has become an Afrobeat anthem not just for its rhythms but also for the message. He sings about the danger and deadliness of COVID-19, its precautions, and protective measures.

The hundreds of social media impressions and dance sequences inspired by the song are testimony to the profound ways in which the audience has connected with the song. It is a sign that even as COVID-19 seems to have cornered humanity we shall surely emerge the winner.

Written by the manager

Asamor Music

23, July 2020

China launches first-ever mission to Mars in space race with US ⁰

China launched its most ambitious Mars mission ever on Thursday in a bold attempt to join the United States in successfully landing a spacecraft on the red planet.

The Tianwen-1 was launched on a Long March-5 carrier rocket from a launch site on Hainan Island.

It marked the second flight to Mars this week, after a United Arab Emirates orbiter blasted off on a rocket from Japan on Monday. And the U.S. is aiming to launch Perseverance, its most sophisticated Mars rover ever, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, next week.

China’s tandem spacecraft — with both an orbiter and a rover — will take seven months to reach Mars, like the others. If all goes well, Tianwen-1, or “quest for heavenly truth,” will look for underground water, if it’s present, as well as evidence of possible ancient life.

This isn’t China’s first attempt at Mars. In 2011, a Chinese orbiter accompanying a Russian mission was lost when the spacecraft failed to get out of Earth’s orbit after launching from Kazakhstan, eventually burning up in the atmosphere.

This time, China is going at it alone. It also is fast-tracking, launching an orbiter and rover on the same mission instead of stringing them out.

China’s secretive space program has developed rapidly in recent decades. Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in 2003, and last year, Chang’e-4 became the first spacecraft from any country to land on the far side of the moon.

Joining elite club

Conquering Mars would put China in an elite club.

“There is a whole lot of prestige riding on this,” said Dean Cheng, an expert on Chinese aerospace programs at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Landing on Mars is notoriously difficult. Only the U.S. has successfully landed a spacecraft on Martian soil, doing it eight times since 1976. NASA’s InSight and Curiosity rovers still operate today. Six other spacecraft are exploring Mars from orbit: three American, two European and one from India.

Unlike the two other Mars missions launching this month, China has tightly controlled information about the program — even withholding any name for its rover. National security concerns led the U.S. to curb cooperation between NASA and China’s space program.

In an article published earlier this month in Nature Astronomy, mission chief engineer Wan Weixing said Tianwen-1 would slip into orbit around Mars in February and look for a landing site on Utopia Planitia — a plain where NASA has detected possible evidence of underground ice. Wan died in May from cancer.

The landing would then be attempted in April or May, according to the article. If all goes well, the 240-kilogram (530-pound) golf cart-sized, solar-powered rover is expected to operate for about three months, and the orbiter for two years.

Though small compared to America’s hulking, car-sized 1,025-kilogram (2,260-pound) Perseverance, it’s almost twice as big as the two rovers China has sent to the moon in 2013 and 2019. Perseverance is expected to operate for at least two years.

Mars-launching season every 26 months

This Mars-launching season — which occurs every 26 months when Earth and Mars are at their closest — is especially busy.

The UAE spacecraft Amal, or Hope, which will orbit Mars but not land, is the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission. NASA’s Perseverance rover is up next.

“At no other time in our history have we seen anything like what is unfolding with these three unique missions to Mars. Each of them is a science and engineering marvel,” the Space Foundation’s chief executive officer Thomas Zelibor said in an online panel discussion earlier this week.

China’s road to Mars hit a few bumps: A Long March-5 rocket, nicknamed “Fat 5” because of its bulky shape, failed to launch earlier this year. The coronavirus pandemic forced scientists to work from home. In March, when instruments needed to be transported from Beijing to Shanghai, three team members drove 12 hours to deliver them.

While China is joining the U.S., Russia and Europe in creating a satellite-based global navigation system, experts say it isn’t trying to overtake the U.S. lead in space exploration.

Instead, Cheng of the Heritage Foundation said China is in a “slow race” with Japan and India to establish itself as Asia’s space power.

Source: AP

23, July 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Sisiku’s Attorney on Defending the NERA 10 ⁰

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA COMMITTEE FOR THE DEFENSE TEAM OF SISIKU AYUK TABE & OTHER SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS-AMBAZONIAN DETAINEES

PRESS STATEMENT

“Our Resolve to Stage a Peaceful Protest in front of the Principal Prison Kondengui Yaoundé to press on the Justice and Penitentiary Administrations to grant us access to our clients is maintained”

The defense Team of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the nine others in the Yaoundé Principal Prison is disappointed to announce that the Penitentiary and Justice Administrations have denied us access to our clients in their Prison.

Our senior colleague Barrister Emmanuel Simh had gone to the prison on July 15th, 2020 to meet with the superintendent, Mr.Isidore Angoule, to express this difficulty that we have been facing for over four months.

Mr.Angoule gave him his word that he will enable us to meet our clients after the hearing of their case, on July 17th, 2020. Sadly, upon our arrival, the officers on post stated that high instructions from hierarchy forbid lawyers from accessing their clients whereas other visitors were granted access. The superintendent was reported not to be on seat. Several attempts to get to him on phone were futile.

In reaction to the ban, Senior Emmanuel Simh called the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of Justice Jean de Dieu Momo, whom we know has been a human rights defender in the past, but he failed to react accordingly and we were obliged to stage a peaceful sit-in in front of the Principal Prison in Kondengui Yaoundé. We consider this as fatal to the right of counsel protected by section 240 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code “counsel shall visit his client, in detention only between the hours of six (6) am and six (6) pm”.

Additionally, section 41 of decree No.92/052 of the 27th of March 1992 regulating the Penitentiary Administration in Cameroon guarantees the right of detainees to communicate with their counsel whenever they wish during visit without the presence of any guard.

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolutions in December 17th, 2015 on the Mandela Rules wherein minimum conditions for detainees were reinforced especially rule 61-1 in particular. These rights are absolute, fundamental and foundational to the Constitutional rights of any citizen or accused

Violations of the above instruments by the Penitentiary and Justice administrations are a deliberate attempt to continue to humiliate not only lawyers but our clients whom we represent. In this desperate situation, we CANNOT and SHALL NOT cross our arms to watch them persist in their illegal acts destined to frustrate us in our practice and most importantly to drag our profession into mud in the eyes of the public.

We have resolved to return to the Principal Prison Kondengui as soon as possible, to cause the Penitentiary and Justice authorities to grant us access to our clients. We invite counsel of the entire defense team and other learned colleagues, who have been perpetually harassed, disgraced, humiliated, and denied opportunity to assist their clients properly, to join us in our action that day. Our plea is that this call for action be heeded to so that the powers that be sit up, perform their functions, obey and respect the institutions of the Republic of Cameroon by permitting us to perform our duties as lawyers as well.

It should be recalled that over two years ago, the then Cameroun Minister of Communication, Mr.Issa Tchiroma, announced that 47 of our fellow citizens had been arrested in Nigeria, and put under custody for being ‘suspected’ terrorists. Our clients, Mr Julius Ayuk Tabe, Pr. Augustine Awasum, Barrister Elias Eyambe, Dr Henry Kimeng, Dr Fidelis Nde-Che, Dr Cornelius Njikimpi Kwanga, Dr Nfor Ngalla Nfor, Dr Egbe Ogork, Barrister Blaise Shufai Berinyuy, Mr Wilfred Tassang were among them. On August 19th and 20th, 2019, they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

During the nineteen hour charade, our Clients were unrepresented, as we had withdrawn our appearances in protest of the gross travesties. Even so, the Court proceeded to carry out a lopsided trial, condemned them to life and set onerous and unconscionable conditions of Appeal – amongst them payment of deposit fees of Five Million Francs FCFA. The case is before the Court of Appeal, for the Centre Region. It is with considerable frustration and dismay that the Cameroun Government through the Ministry of Justice is doing nothing to ensure that rights of the defense are protected. Severally and without any formal apology, the legal department-prosecution failed to produce our clients before the court during three consecutive hearings.

During the last hearing on July 16th, 2020 they were finally produced before the court. The presiding judge ordered the clerk of the session to call the matters on the cause list and then proceeded to call the names of the appellants. That was done and as we were waiting for the interpreter to translate the opening remarks of the judge into English to the understanding of our clients, we were surprised to see and hear the judge in utter vexatious utterances pursuing in the French language “…ils sont où les AyukTabe là? —–ils ne sont pas dans la salle —– nous ne sommes pas en guerre ici!! —– ils doivent se lever et se présenter à la barre ——l’affaire est renvoyée au 20 août 2020”.

Invariably the collegiate bench and the prosecution all French Speaking were very unresponsive to the usage of English in violation of section 26 of Law No 2019/019 of 24th December 2019, and the case was adjourned to 20 August 20th, 2020. This decision to adjourn was suomoto.

We bring the above violations of the law visited on our client held in prisons across Cameroon to the attention of the international community, local and international press to know that “Our Resolve to as demonstrated last July 17th 2020 to Stage a Peaceful Protest in front of the Principal Prison Kondengui Yaoundé to press on the Justice and penitentiary administrations to grant us access to our clients is maintained.

That, we have as duty to uphold the rule of law and respect of institutions to ensure that the basic rights of our clients are respected. That as advocates of justice we shall never be mute to incongruous acts of injustice for if we dare, this shall tantamount to complicity to injustice and anathema to the right of defense of our clients.

Done in Buea

This 22 July 2020

Barrister Amungwa Tanyi Nico

22, July 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The smearing has begun! ⁰

Many people thought that news of the informal meeting between the Yaoundé government and leaders of the revolution who have been in jail for almost three years would be a welcome relief to many Southern Cameroonians, but this move designed to start talks that might deliver peace to the people of Southern Cameroons does not seem to bring happiness to many of those who thought they would be at the forefront of things.

In every society, there are always people who will feel diminished when others get recognized or known and these are the people who feel that they have been rubbed up the wrong way as the Southern Cameroonian President, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, and his collaborators honored the international community’s invitation for informal talks that might pave the way for formal and comprehensive negotiations.

Mr. Ayuk Tabe and his team have demonstrated that they are still faithful to the principles that have driven the revolution from the very first day. The team has always placed the people’s interest above its own and it understands that a decision to end the fighting on the ground does not depend entirely on only those who are in jail. This explains why the team laid out some realistic conditions that the Yaoundé government must fulfill before any serious talks could take place.

The leaders believe in the total independence of Southern Cameroons and they know that they must tread carefully. Their demands included calling for a ceasefire which will require the military to go back to the barracks. This action will make it possible for Southern Cameroonians who have been traumatized for years to be psychologically liberated to go about their businesses without fear of sudden aggression.

They also called for the unconditional release of all those who have been detained and imprisoned as a result of the crisis as well as a declaration of a general amnesty for all Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora, making it possible for them to visit their homeland without any embarrassment from the Yaoundé authorities.

The leaders also called on the Yaoundé government to participate in a genuine, open and inclusive dialogue without preconditions, with a timetable and venue, in the presence of an independent and impartial mediator acceptable to both parties.

The team was invited by the Yaoundé government that has been dragging its feet on the possibility of sincerely discussing the Southern Cameroons crisis that has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. President Ayuk Tabe and his collaborators did not have a choice. They are captives and are at the mercy of their captors, so they must listen, but have so far demonstrated that they will always express only the views that will reflect the genuine aspirations of the people of Southern Cameroons.

Since the people’s interest is paramount, they had to honor the invitation, especially as the international community was involved and has been urging both parties to seek ways to end the fighting and address those issues that triggered the fighting.

From every indication, this approach is ideal in the minds of peace-loving Southern Cameroonians, especially those who hold and understand that no matter how long the guns keep spitting out bullets, the final decision on separation, restoration or federalism will only be made at the negotiating table where all parties are properly represented; a point Southern Cameroonian leaders in jail reiterated by calling for the unconditional release of all those who have been detained and imprisoned as a result of the crisis as well as a declaration of a general amnesty for all Southern Cameroonians in the Diaspora.

But a bunch of warmongers led by highly discredited and easily corruptible people like Mr. Chris Anu, the disgraced former Communication Secretary of the collapsed Sako Interim Government; Mr. Boh Herbert whose major concern has been how he can be in the spotlight and Lawyer John Fru Nsoh who had to escape because he could not stand the heat in Cameroon, but is courageous enough to tag President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe as a fraud. Lawyer John Fru Nsoh still has many races to run in his life and the ones he has in the USA are tough and should keep him busy. Instead of seeking to split Southern Cameroonians who have wholeheartedly invested their confidence in President Julius Ayuk Tabe, he should use his experience as a lawyer to unite Southern Cameroonians.

Their constant attacks on President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe for attending the informal talks facilitated by some ambassadors speak to their bad faith and dishonesty. Their hunger for recognition is gradually reducing them to stage buffoons. The only unfortunate thing is that Southern Cameroonians are not finding their drama funny. Southern Cameroonians need solutions to their problems and not theories from people whose only solution to the crisis is very unrealistic. There will never be any military solution to the crisis and anybody who holds that Southern Cameroons will have its way through fighting is simply deluding themselves and selling false dreams to the people on ground zero who are taking the brunt of the fighting.

Common sense will dictate that during critical moments like the one Southern Cameroonians are going through; most people will demonstrate objectivity and modesty in their analysis of the situation that has already consumed some 5,000 lives. Yes, the fighters cannot down their weapons at this time and President Ayuk Tabe has not called for that. He has simply articulated the people’s aspiration and that does qualify him for a death sentence as advocated by Mr. Boh Herbert and his band of attention seekers.

There will be a negotiation and that will be after a general amnesty would have been granted and all prisoners released. The talks will surely take place in a neutral location and when that time comes, all stakeholders in the conflict will be free to express their minds to ensure that the people of Southern Cameroons see their dream come true. For now, Mr. Boh Herbert must use his “wisdom” to understand that he is splitting Southern Cameroonians and weakening their ability to resist the dictatorship coming from Yaoundé. He should be wise enough to understand that silence could be golden in certain circumstances, especially now that unity is considered a huge asset against the Yaoundé government that is looking for ways of disuniting the people with a view to imposing its laws on them.

In Africa, it is assumed that age comes with wisdom, but Mr. Boh Herbert and Barrister John Fru Nsoh have not proven that they are wise despite the clear signs of senile decay on their faces. It is time for them to stop singing the wrong music. Southern Cameroonians are not buying what they are selling. Many are simply asking if Mr. Boh Herbert and his team are not playing for the Yaoundé government that has a history of corrupting its opponents. While they accuse President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe of corruption, they must know that that logic clearly cuts both ways. For now, the Yaoundé government is simply enjoying the fake family feud that Mr. Boh Herbert and his team have triggered just to be in the spotlight.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

22, July 2020

Mamfe: Southern Cameroons journalist detained by security forces ⁰

A Southern Cameroons journalist serving with The Advocate as a Mamfe town reporter, Joseph Ojong has been arrested by Cameroon government security agents.

Local media in Manyu say Joseph Ojong was picked up by plain cloth military officers on Sunday 19 July 2020 in Mamfe the chief town in Manyu.

Joseph Ojong also moonlights with a community radio station in Mamfe.

He is alleged to have “taken photos of a police officer’s house, which was set on fire by Ambazonia Restoration fighters.”

Cameroon Info.Net that reported the news also stated that the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) and the National Union of Journalists of Cameroon (SNJC) have not yet reacted to the arrest.

By Rita Akana

22, July 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Vice President Yerima stresses Ambazonia right to independence ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima has stressed Ambazonians right to an independent nation, saying the armed conflict currently unfolding in the homeland is the right and hard way out of the decades-long marginalization.

In a phone conversation with some senior Ambazonia commanders in Ground Zero and Ground 1 late on Tuesday, the Southern Cameroons leader expressed diaspora’s support for all Ambazonia Restoration Forces, describing them as the real patriotic Southern Cameroons front line champions.

He said that the fight to keep the independence of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia concerns every Southern Cameroonian with a human conscience, adding that the Interim Government’s position on the issue is consistent and clear.

Yerima added that the Interim Government will not support Restoration Forces who are in his words “terrorizing the local population and committing crimes such as extortion and kidnappings.” The Ambazonia Vice President told the commanders that the Interim Government supported by many Southern Cameroons think tanks in Europe, South Africa and the US are pushing the international community to take an objective and fair position and increase efforts for promoting peace between the two Cameroons.

Yerima also said that the Interim Government was examining plans to merge the newly created Ambazonia Intelligence Service with all Self Defense Groups in order to have a comprehensive, solid and lasting resistance force to combat Biya and his French Cameroun military.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow

22, July 2020

Trump admits pandemic will ‘get worse’, urges Americans to wear masks ⁰

US President Donald Trump has urged Americans to wear masks, warning that the coronavirus pandemic in the United States may “get worse before it gets better.”

In what seems to be a shift in rhetoric and tone, Trump encouraged Americans on Tuesday to use face coverings if they cannot maintain social distance.

“It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better – something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is,” he told reporters in his first press briefing in months focused on the outbreak.

“We’re asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. They’ll have an effect. And we need everything we can get,” he added.

He also asked young people to avoid going to crowded bars, but noted that that the virus would disappear at some point.

“We are in the process of developing a strategy that’s going to be very, very powerful. We have developed it as we go along,” he claimed.

The president, who himself was not wearing a mask at the briefing, also said he was getting used to masks and that would wear one in groups or when on an elevator.

“I will use it, gladly,” said the president, who has previously disparaged masks as unsanitary. “Anything that potentially can help … is a good thing.”

This comes as the Republican president’s aides have reportedly pressed him to adopt a more measured approach amid an ongoing spike in the virus infections across the country.

So far, more than 4,028,700 have tested positive and over 144,900 died across the country.

Meanwhile, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told CNN that Trump’s new embrace of mask-wearing indicated that he was realizing his mistakes in dealing with the virus.

“This is not a hoax – it is a pandemic that has gotten worse before it will get better because of his inaction, and in fact clearly it is the Trump virus,” Pelosi said.

Trump has been under fire for publicly downplaying the threat of the pandemic and his handling of the worsening COVID-19 crisis which has killed more than 143,000 people in the United States and crippled the country’s economy.

On Monday, hundreds of scientists from the US National Academy of Sciences had rebuked Trump’s “denigration of scientific expertise” over coronavirus response and other affronts.

In an unusual move by the scientific community, more than 1,200 members of the National Academy of Sciences signed an open letter seeking to “restore science-based policy in government,” The Guardian reported.

Source: Presstv

22, July 2020

Biya regime military campaign in Ambazonia has failed: Top Commander ⁰

A senior Francophone army official has told Cameroon Concord News Group that the Biya regime’s military campaign against the people of Southern Cameroons has failed to achieve any of Yaoundé’s set objectives.

The official who spoke to our Yaoundé city reporter but sued for anonymity observed that President Biya and the Francophone dominated army declared a senseless war against the people of Southern Cameroons four years ago when he arrived from a France-Afrique summit in the Ivory Coast targeting even the rural communities with its toughest ever military power.

However, the Biya genocidal campaign not only failed in its objectives, but also unintentionally strengthened the resolve of the Restorationists and the Ambazonia Interim Government now headed by Vice President Dabney Yerima.

Our source stressed that the statement by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Yaoundé Diocese Jean Mbarga and the Bamenda Metropolitan Archbishop Andrew Nkea confirming that Biya regime officials actually met the Ambazonia leader, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides is a powerful new blow to the 87 year old Monarch.

Biya regime’s conflicting and confrontational approach to the crisis in Southern Cameroons, including its refusal that talks were held with the jailed Ambazonia leaders in Yaoundé, has given the Southern Cameroons diaspora little incentive to cooperate with French Cameroun’s geopolitical priorities.

On the contrary, added our source in Yaoundé, Southern Cameroonians including the thousands who still share the one and indivisible Cameroon dream now think that Biya is unfit to keep the two Cameroons together amid an international health and economic crisis.

“The people of Southern Cameroons would gain more by demonstrating unity as their brothers and sisters back home becomes immune to military actions and campaigns ordered by Yaoundé” he stated.

“Biya is mistaken if he still believes the army can win this war in Anglophone Cameroon. The war is not leading to Ambazonia’s capitulation or collapse, but entrenching French Cameroun-Southern Cameroons hostilities and making the streets of Douala and Yaoundé very unsafe” he noted.

By Chi Prudence Asong

21, July 2020

Fear of COVID-19 Stopping Childhood Vaccinations in Cameroon ⁰

Cameroon’s medical authorities say over 200,000 children have not received routine vaccinations on schedule since March, when the country had its first case of COVID-19.  Parents are refusing to take their kids to hospitals because they fear they may be infected with the virus, which has spread to nearly 17,000 people and caused nearly 400 deaths.  Doctors are warning that without the vaccinations, children in Cameroon risk preventable diseases such as diphtheria, the measles, and tetanus.

A 4-month-old baby cries as she receives her second polio vaccine at the Chantal Biya Foundation Hospital in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde.

Elizabeth Mbungong, 27, says she is getting her baby’s booster shot nearly three months late because she was scared of going to the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I gave birth in the month of March and the first vaccine was given to the baby against Tetanus. They gave me another rendezvous [appointment] in the month of April. I did not respect [the appointment] because I was afraid of the coronavirus,” she said.

Mbungong said after she watched a TV program on the dangers of not vaccinating children, she decided that going to the hospital was worth the risk.

Pediatrician Clemence Vougmo says many parents are letting fear of the virus prevent them from getting their children vaccinated.

She says Chantal Biya Foundation Hospital should have had 2,300 children for routine vaccinations since March. But they have seen only about half the children.

Cameroon’s medical officials say the problem has been widespread during the pandemic.

Cameroon’s National Expanded Program for Immunization reports across the country at least 200,000 children have not received their vaccinations as scheduled.

Deputy permanent secretary of the program Shalom Tchokfe says they have deployed staff to look for the children.

Speaking via telephone from Douala, a coastal city and the largest in Cameroon, he said the situation is especially troubling in the capital Yaounde, the economic hub Douala, and the western town of Bafoussam. He said 110,000 children in those cities have not received their routine vaccines since the month of March, when Cameroon reported its first case of COVID-19. Teams can meet the children in their houses, said Tchokfe. Parents and health workers are safe during routine vaccinations at hospitals, he said, as long as they wear their masks and wash their hands regularly.

Tchokfe notes that vaccinations dramatically reduce child mortality and urges all parents to get their infants vaccinated on schedule.

The United Nations warned this month of an alarming decline in the number of children getting vaccinated for preventable diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, and the measles.

According to a study published by the Lancet Global Health Journal this month, continuing with routine immunizations may lead to 8,300 additional deaths in Africa from COVID-19.

But the study said suspending vaccinations could lead to a further 702,000 African children dying from preventable diseases.

Source: VOA

21, July 2020

Roman Catholic Bishops confirm Biya regime, Interim Gov’t held secret talks ⁰

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé hosted talks between representatives of Cameroon’s government and leaders of English-speaking separatist groups earlier this month.

Another Catholic prelate, Archbishop Andrew Nkea of Bamenda (which lies in the English-speaking region) reported that the talks “took place in a very relaxed atmosphere” and the government is “seriously considering” proposals for a ceasefire.

Source: Catholic Culture