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13, June 2020

London: Queen Elizabeth II marks official birthday with scaled-back parade at Windsor ⁰

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her official birthday on Saturday in subdued style, with a scaled down version of the traditional “Trooping the Colour” ceremony due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 94-year-old monarch watched a smaller military parade in the grounds of Windsor Castle, where she has been staying during the COVID-19 outbreak, in her first official public appearance since the country’s virus lockdown began in late March.

It was the first time the castle, west of London, has staged an event to mark a sovereign’s official birthday since 1895, when a ceremony was held in honour of Queen Victoria.

The parade featured soldiers from the Welsh Guards, who observed government virus guidelines to keep at least two metres apart, in a ceremony dubbed “mini-Trooping”.

The annual “Trooping” event, which normally features hundreds of servicemen and women from Britain’s most prestigious regiments for a centuries-old spectacle of military pomp and pageantry in front of thousands of spectators, was cancelled because of the health crisis.

Britain has been among the worst-hit countries in the world by COVID-19, with the number of suspected and confirmed deaths passing the grim milestone of 50,000 this week.

The Queen observed Saturday’s pared back ceremony in the quadrangle of Windsor Castle from a dais and was given the royal salute by the troops.

Despite isolating at the castle for the last three months, the elderly monarch has tried to remain visible, making a rare televised address to the nation in April and her debut on a digital platform this week in a video conference call.

She celebrated her actual 94th birthday on April 21 without the traditional gun salute, due to the health crisis.

The double birthday tradition was started by King George II in 1748, who wanted to have a summer celebration as his own birthday was October 30.

Source: AFP

13, June 2020

“We are witnessing massacres every day” Ambazonia VP tells AIT television ⁰

Many political commentators familiar with the Rwandan genocide are now shaken by the scale of killings as Cameroon government army guns seek out Southern Cameroons civilian targets in Mezam, Bui, Lebialem and Manyu County.

Exiled Southern Cameroons Vice President Dabney Yerima told AIT television network that many Ambazonian civilians including women and children have been killed by Cameroon government army soldiers after being lured to return to their villages.

“The Federal Republic of Ambazonia has massacres on a daily basis,” Vice President Yerima told AIT Live, during an interview with the Nigerian media organization.

Dabney Yerima revealed that Biya regime forces have destroyed schools and health centers and are now targeting innocent civilians using French made AK47s.

Yerima noted that the Ambazonia Interim Government has been trying to make life livable in the rural areas of Southern Cameroons in dangerous of circumstances.

The Ambazonia VP hinted AIT that the French Cameroun regime never respected the ceasefire that was announced following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic by the UN Secretary General and has reportedly carried out more that 97 raids in Mezam, Menchum, Manyu, Kupe Muanenguba and Ndian.

“Maybe Southern Cameroons was excluded from the international partial ceasefire” Yerima said.

By Isong Asu in London

13, June 2020

US: Trump to address West Point amid tensions with Pentagon ⁰

President Donald Trump plans to address the new graduating class of the West Point military academy Saturday, as relations with the Pentagon fray over accusations that he has politicized the US military.

Tensions have soared in two weeks since Trump threatened to call out active duty troops to deal with anti-police brutality protests around the country, and then staged a surprise photo op with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chair General Mark Milley at a site that had been forcefully cleared of protesters.

Esper’s job was reportedly in the balance last week after he took the extraordinary step of breaking with the president by declaring he would not support calling up regular troops to stifle protests.

And Trump’s actions drew scathing criticisms from former Pentagon chiefs — including Esper’s predecessor James Mattis, who accused Trump of deliberately dividing the country, abusing his power and making “a mockery” of the US constitution.

On Thursday, Milley said he regretted his presence at Trump’s side on June 1, when National Guard fired smoke bombs and pepper balls to clear hundreds of peaceful protestors from outside the White House so the president could walk across and pose for pictures at a nearby a church.

Trump’s display, with Milley wearing his camouflage battle uniform, drew strong criticism that he had turned the Pentagon into a political tool of repression.

“I should not have been there,” Milley told graduates of the elite National Defense University, adding that his presence “created a perception of military involvement in domestic politics.”

– Battling for reelection –

The fracture in civil-military relations weighs on Trump’s address to the 1,110 graduating cadets at the picturesque West Point campus, north of New York City.

The event is clearly important to Trump, who wants to be seen as a tough leader as he battles for reelection in November against Democrat Joe Biden, who Trump labels “weak.”

The academy had been shut and students sent home because of the coronavirus pandemic. But Trump announced in April that he would address the graduates in person.

So cadets were recalled and put through weeks of COVID-19 quarantine and testing. About 1.5 percent have tested positive, Pentagon officials say.

It was not known what Trump plans to say Saturday.

But he has flatly rejected the Pentagon’s criticisms, arguing it was crucial to use force against protestors.

He derided Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general who garners deep respect in the US military, as “our country’s most overrated General.”

“You have to dominate the streets,” he said Monday, defending the June 1 action.

Asked in a Fox News interview that aired Friday about Esper and Milley, Trump replied, “If that’s the way they feel, I think that’s fine.”

“I have good relationships with the military,” he said. “Now we have the greatest military we’ve ever had.”

– Deeper strains –

The strains with the Pentagon go deeper than the protests.

Trump controversially overrode top Pentagon generals in 2019 to protect a Navy Seal, Eddie Gallagher, accused of war crimes and convicted of misconduct.

The president has also forced the Pentagon to divert billions of dollars from other projects to build a wall along the southern US border with Mexico.

And his precipitous efforts to withdraw US troops from abroad — including a reported plan to slash troop levels in Afghanistan before the election — have also upended plans by the defense establishment.

All of that took place in the public eye, ensuring that the graduating cadets are aware of it.

In an open letter this week, several hundred West Point alumni warned the new graduates of being used by politicians.

“Sadly, the government has threatened to use the Army in which you serve as a weapon against fellow Americans engaging in these legitimate protests,” they wrote.

“Politicization of the Armed Forces puts at risk the bond of trust between the American military and American society.”

Source: AFP

13, June 2020

Ambazonia: Bui County reports conflict amid Interim Gov’t’s account of massacre ⁰

Interim Government of Ambazonia Statement on the Massacre

In Mbokam, BUI COUNTY

Last night, the regime in Yaoundé ordered its forces to disconnect internet services and power supplies from Bui County. Earlier today, 12 June 2020, French Cameroun’s military entered the village of Mbokam, Bui County, Southern Cameroons, through Koutaba and Jakiri.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia Intelligence Services have now confirmed that our people were randomly arrested and shot at in the market square. In an act of utter barbarism, eleven civilians were massacred in cold blood. Amongst the slaughtered, are three children and a pregnant woman. Our thoughts and prayers are with their close friends and families.

In a replica of the massacre in Ngarbuh, Dunga Muntung, on the 14 February 2020, the French Cameroun military burned down homes and properties to cover their heinous crimes. Eyewitnesses report that people were burned alive inside their homes. Ambazonia Intelligence Services have now obtained photographic evidences of these crimes.

The action this morning not only constitutes a flagrant violation of Cameroon’s own law and international human rights laws, but contradicts the assurances of good faith that French Cameroun officials have given the international community after the publication of the report to the massacre in Ngarbuh, Dunga Mantung on the 14 April 2020.

Their choice to deploy the military at dawn after the disconnection of power and internet services is a clear indication of the mayhem and atrocities they intended to commit.

This act makes entirely clear that the Cameroon regime has deliberately sought to deceive the international community by false statements that they hope for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. World leaders must renew their commitment to stop the persistent and wholesale violations of fundamental human rights that our people have been subjected to for the past four years.

This week, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), stated that our crisis would worsen throughout 2020. The agency stated that for a second year running our crisis topped the list as the most neglected crises on the planet in 2019. This is extremely worrying and challenging for the people of Southern Cameroons.

Today, communicated Cameroon’s unwavering commitment to violence as the sole medium of resolving this conflict. Ambazonians are opposed to war. We chose the universal symbol of peace, the dove with the olive branch, for our national flag. No matter how long it may take us to end the occupation, the Ambazonian people in their boundless determination will prevail.

Acting therefore to free our people from subjugation, domination, genocide, and in accordance with the International law of self-determination,

I’m calling on the African Union, European Commission, United States, Germany and the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution mandating a UN Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the alleged abuses during the Ambazonia–French Cameroun Conflict. The French Cameroun regime cannot be trusted to investigate itself. A UN-mandated Fact Finding Mission has the authority to challenge the culture of impunity that the French Cameroun regime currently operates within, and such responsibility is a prerequisite for achieving a just peace. I believe that a UN-mandated Fact-Finding Mission will have the immediate effect of quelling violence, saving lives, and halting the destruction of our peoples’ lives and livelihood.

This is a treacherous and difficult journey we have embarked on. We have seen hundreds of our villages burned to the ground, thousands of our men, women and children shot dead for no other reason than belonging to our community.

No one can say for sure how much more suffering we will be subjected to by this regime. The price of freedom is always high. This time, we want real freedom and real peace.

Thank You,

DabneyYerima

Vice President, Federal Republic of Ambazonia

The United Nations

USA State Department

The African Union

The EU Commission

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norway

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sweden

Ministry for Foreign Affairs Finland

Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution

12, June 2020

Burundi COVID-19 Transition: Court rules president-elect to take power after Nkurunziza’s death ⁰

Burundi’s constitutional court on Friday ruled that the country’s newly elected leader Evariste Ndayishimiye be sworn in following the sudden death of former leader Pierre Nkurunziza earlier this week.

“No interim necessary, the president-elect… must be sworn in as soon as possible,” presidential advisor Willy Nyamitwe wrote on Twitter of the court’s announcement, which was also confirmed by the ruling party’s information secretary.

Nkurunziza, who died on Monday aged 55, had been due to step down as Burundi’s president in August after his surprise decision not to run in an election last month won by the ruling party’s handpicked successor.

Under the country’s constitution, the speaker of the National Assembly, Pascal Nyabenda, should take over in the event of the president dying.

However Nkurunziza’s sudden death put Burundi in an unusual situation, sparking rumours and fears of renewed violence in the troubled East African nation.

The council of ministers on Thursday decided to ask the constitutional court for guidance.

Iron rule

Burundi’s economy is mired in poverty and cut off by international donors after the UN documented the widespread rape, torture and murder of political opponents by ruling party activists and state security forces.

Nkurunziza was elected by parliament as president in 2005 and re-elected in a general election in 2010.

His final years in office saw the country placed under sanctions and cut off by western donors, with Burundi ranked by the World Bank as one of the world’s three poorest countries.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

12, June 2020

Biya regime told to publish information on Emergency Reserve use for Covid-19 ⁰

Cameroon’s government should immediately publish information on the revenues, disbursements, and management of its Health Solidarity Fund, Human Rights Watch said today.

Healthcare facilities have made mandatory contributions to this emergency fund for over 25 years. The government should also disburse funds to support healthcare facilities responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, if it has not already done so, and investigate any missing funds.

“Cameroon is the Central African country with the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, yet the government appears not to have disbursed funds from a reserve that healthcare facilities have been paying into exactly for emergencies like this one,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The health minister should immediately make the Health Solidarity Fund available to healthcare facilities in dire need of support, publish information about its transactions, and investigate any irregularities.”

Cameroonian law has required public primary care facilities to pay 10 percent of their monthly revenues to the Health Solidarity Fund since 1993. Hospitals are officially exempt, but medical staff told Human Rights Watch that they also pay into the fund. The fund should fall under the responsibility of the health ministry and was established to provide surge support during health emergencies. However, to the best of Human Rights Watch’s knowledge, after unsuccessfully seeking such information from the government, no information about the rules governing the fund or its activity has been published, making it vulnerable to corruption and misuse.

Human Rights Watch interviewed eight medical staff, including six doctors and two nurses, three lawyers, and several representatives from local nongovernmental organisations across Cameroon between April 6 and May 24, 2020. They all said they have no information regarding disbursements from the Health Solidarity Fund. Medical staff said that they believe that the government has never disbursed any money from it, including in response to Covid-19, and yet healthcare facilities continue to contribute 10 percent of their revenues. Human Rights Watch also wrote on May 11 to the health minister, inquiring about the rules governing the fund and its activities, but has received no response.

Cameroon had 8,681 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 208 deaths as of June 9, the majority in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala. The actual number of cases is most likely higher because testing is limited. In late March, the government asked citizens to contribute to the Special Fund of National Solidarity, which it established to provide additional support to efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 and treat the sick. It also received US$226 million in emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Healthcare facilities lack adequate resources to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers interviewed reported shortages in basic hospital goods, including thermometers, disinfectants, and medicines, as well as ventilators and oxygen, and protective gear for doctors and nurses, such as masks, gloves, and glasses. Despite these shortages, the government has not provided any information about the revenues, balance, or disbursements of the Health Solidarity Fund, nor has it clarified any rules governing its use. The apparent lack of disbursement to support the health and economic crisis raises serious concerns that the money has been misused or lost to corruption.

As the World Health Organization has declared Covid-19 a pandemic, the health and economic crisis it has caused is sufficiently serious to trigger disbursements from the Health Solidarity Fund. A 2018 World Bank report sounded an alarm regarding the lack of rules or information on the fund, noting “it is not clear what the Solidarity Fund is used for” and “there is still no legislation about its use.” The report also raised concerns that transfers to the fund “are a key source of revenue-side inefficiency,” especially since primary care facilities are allotted a disproportionately small share of the health budget.

Healthcare workers echoed these concerns. A doctor based in the capital, Yaoundé, said:

There has always been lack of information about this fund. What is certain is that health facilities keep paying and if they don’t, they are sent reminder letters from the Ministry of Health. The use of the fund is not transparent. How much money is in there? Has it ever been used? There are all the ingredients for a slush fund.

The lack of transparency is especially problematic because the fund’s revenues largely come from patient fees that drive up the cost of health care. As of 2018, 70 percent of the total health expenditure for the country was borne by households. Cameroonian households’ contributions to healthcare costs are the third highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the average is 34 percent.

Studies have shown that about 64 percent of households in Cameroon do not seek health care because they perceive the cost to be high. This poses unique dangers in the context of the ongoing pandemic because while the government has made testing free, people still need to pay for everything associated with treatment, which can be expensive. These costs could act as a disincentive to seeking care and lead to further poverty and an inability to access health services. While there are some insurance providers in the country, many are bankrupt and cannot pay the health facilities for the services offered to their members.

The government has retaliated against political opposition efforts to address shortcomings in official responses to Covid-19. On May 11, police arrested six volunteers from the Survival Initiative, a fundraising initiative by the opposition leader Maurice Kamto to respond to the health emergency, while they were handing out protective masks and sanitizing gel in Yaoundé. They were charged with rebellion, then released on May 15. But on May 23, security forces arrested three other volunteers from the group in Sangmelina, a city in the South Province. They were released on May 29.

Through the minister of territorial administration, the government has blocked fundraising initiatives sponsored by the opposition, as well as donations of protective masks and Covid-19 tests. The government refused to accept donated equipment from Survival Initiative, sparking criticism, particularly from health professionals, who complained about the lack of material to protect themselves and treat affected patients.

Corruption is prohibited under section 134 of the Cameroonian Penal Code, yet the country has a long, well-documented, and consistent problem with corruption. In recent years, the government has established ad hoc institutions to fight corruption, including the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the office of Supreme State Audit, and a Special Criminal Court. However, analysts, critics, and nongovernmental organizations have questioned whether these bodies have been effective and raised concerns that the government may be using anti-corruption bodies to crack down on political dissent.

“The government of Cameroon should urgently clarify whether money from the fund has been lost to corruption or misuse and establish clear rules and transparency requirements to prevent it from happening in the future” Mudge said. “For nearly 30 years Cameroonians paid dearly for the fund, and they should be able to rely on it to help them through this global pandemic.”

Culled from Human Rights Watch

12, June 2020

Ngarbuh Massacre: Three French Cameroun soldiers charged with murder ⁰

Three soldiers have been charged with murder after a massacre earlier this year in western Cameroon where security forces are fighting Anglophone separatists.

“The three Cameroonian soldiers have been placed in provisional detention in Yaounde military prison,” army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack Guemo told AFP news agency, adding they had been charged with “murder”.

At least 23 civilians, including 15 children and two pregnant women, were killed on February 14 in the village of Ngarbuh, in what the United Nations, called “a shocking episode in the ongoing crisis that has afflicted the country’s Northwest and Southwest regions for the past three years”.

The military initially denied any role in the killings and said the deaths resulted from an “unfortunate accident” that happened when fuel containers exploded in the crossfire between separatists and troops.

As the international outcry amplified, President Paul Biya ordered an investigation.

The preliminary conclusions, published in mid-April, found three “uncontrolled” soldiers who disobeyed orders killed 10 children and three women with the help of local auxiliaries from the Fulani ethnic group.

The troops then “tried to hide the facts by setting fires” before submitting a bogus report, according to the probe.

“The killings were so outrageous, the abuses so blatant, and evidence so damming,” Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

The incident occurred in a remote part of the Northwest region – one of two English-speaking regions gripped by the conflict sparked by demands for independence from majority-Francophone Cameroon.

The Northwest and neighbouring Southwest region were once part of British colonies in West Africa. They joined French-speaking Cameroon after it gained independence from France in 1960.

Conflict between Cameroon’s army and English-speaking fighters seeking to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia began after the government cracked down violently in 2017 on peaceful protesters complaining of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority.

Rights groups have accused both sides of atrocities in the conflict, which has left more than 3,000 dead, closed schools and clinics, and forced 700,000 people to flee their homes.

Source: Aljazeera

12, June 2020

Biya and Cameroon: Vox Popoli, Vox Dei ⁰

When in power, many people, especially dictators, always hold that they are above their people and divine justice.

This belief could be seen in the behavior of the country’s president, Paul Biya, who had recklessly ruled his country for almost 38 years.

Despite the people’s tears, Mr. Biya has been conducting himself as a monarch who unfortunately holds that divine justice is nothing more than fiction.

He has ruined the country’s economy through massive mismanagement and destructive corruption, transforming the country into a living hell for young Cameroonians who have seen their dreams crushed in a country ruled by diaper-wearing octogenarians.

Under Mr. Biya’s watch and instructions, thousands of Southern Cameroonians have been sent to an early grave in a war that was unnecessary and avoidable.

Today, the country is falling apart, but the man who thinks that it must always be his way has no pity or kind words for Cameroonians who are dealing with multiple crises.

Even the arrival of the Coronavirus on the country’s shores could not cause Mr. Biya to reconsider some of his decisions.

While other leaders around the world were scrambling to reassure their citizens, the “chemist of Etoudi” simply recoiled into his palace and left his fellow citizens to battle an enemy they were unable to see.

Many families are still shedding tears for the death of their loved ones while the economy is still reeling from the impact of an insidious enemy who is simply no respecter of persons.

Tempers have been flaring because of Mr. Biya’s mismanagement of the country which has resulted in millions of premature deaths.

Millions are out of work, but still have huge challenges to deal with. Their health is failing and, for many, medication has become their food. That is, if they are lucky to have it.

The country’s hospitals have collapsed and street pharmacies are mushrooming and doing a great job at poisoning the country’s citizens who do not know where to turn to for solutions to their numerous headaches.

The captain has simply left the ship to sink slowly while he spends time thinking about his declining health and eventual death.

In all this anger, the people of Cameroon have been left with only thing. The curses their ancestors bequeathed to them and they have made the most of them.

Many had predicted that Mr. Biya would die miserably and this is gradually coming to pass.

Besides his failing health, the “greedy and incompetent monarch” is spending his last days crying and calling on God to grant him some mercy, the mercy he has never granted to other Cameroonians.

His children have crashed like a pack of cards and this has left Mr. Biya in a world of brutal thoughts.

His world is really unravelling. While his sons are good for nothing, his only be loving daughter, Brenda Biya, is heading to the bottom of the abyss as portrayed by two videos that are currently trending on the Internet.

The curses have come home to roost. Vox popoli, vox dei (the words of men are the words of God). Brenda Biya is gradually letting Cameroonians into that dangerous world of false importance and flamboyant celebrations.

She is gradually losing her mind and it appears that there is nobody to help her out. Mr. Biya has not only failed as a president, he has failed as a father and his heart is broken.

Mr. Biya’s world, like the country’s economy, is crashing. He has hurt Cameroonians for far too long and his time has come.

He is having a dose of the medication he had manufactured for Cameroonians. What goes around has finally come around. Mr. Biya thought he would go Scot-free after having inflicted unbearable and excruciating pain on Caneroonians.

It is hoped that he would repent before dying. He is already living his hell here on earth. The world he created for Cameroonians has become the world of his children.

A mentally ill Brenda will have to be quarantined at the Unity Palace. She will never go out of the world of falsehood created by her parents because Cameroon was designed for the poor and not for children of the rich. And this will only complicate her mental health issue.

While we all have to choose our poisons here on earth, Mr. Biya decided to choose the most lethal poisons for himself – arrogance and dishonesty – which have come back to bite him.

He will leave the world knowing that he hurt Cameroonians and his own children. May he continue to live with his arrogance and dishonesty! Long live the monarch!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

11, June 2020

Biyas: First Family Life Crumbling ⁰

A video posted on social media by Brenda Biya, a chartered member of Cameroon’s wealthy young elite shows that things are really falling apart for the Biya family and that the evil that men do live with them.

To be sure, the video reveals that those among President Biya’s inner circle and family have enjoyed comfortable lifestyles while millions of Cameroonian citizens went hungry.

The 87 year old French Cameroun monarch has refused to resign and his tribal Beti Ewondo entourage is foolishly pushing his children to market via social media passionate celebrations heralding a shameful and disgraceful end to his leadership.

Biya over the years has built up a huge personal fortune in France and in Switzerland from looting Cameroon’s oil, gold and diamond reserves.

Today, Biya’s own daughter Brenda Eyenga Biya 22 is renowned for revealing their family luxury life on social media.

Cameroon’s First Lady Chantal Biya has spent millions of US dollars on shopping trips in Europe and the USA on designer labels and her hairstyle is now a legal frame work for Nollywood reference.

Today’s social media outing by Brenda Biya is a frank and thoughtful key to understanding that the Biya’s family is rich and shameless and that the first family have enjoyed immense wealth as Cameroon as a nation battles a struggling economy for more than three decades.

In an interview with Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai of the Herald newspaper, the late Dr. Siga Asanga described Biya as a very careful civil servant. This explains why it has been extremely difficult to know the worth of the Biya family despite Cameroon being among the poorest countries in the sub Saharan region.

Biya’s family fortune comes from Cameroon’s mineral resources and from the Cameroonian tax payer. His lavish Mvomeka’s palace has more than 50 bedrooms and Biya, his family and his acolytes have homes overseas including in France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.

The Biya family is also rumoured to own property in countries in Latin America and Barbados. The Biyas have billion-worth of assets, mostly invested outside Cameroon.

Biya, his first wife the late Jeanne Irene Biya and the current First Lady Chantal Biya have all repeatedly been accused of stealing from Cameroon’s coffers and plundering Cameroons’s immense natural resource wealth for their own benefit.

The Biya family are also said to own several properties in Yaoundé and Douala and his first son Franck Biya has been involved in several dodgy deals in the Cameroon timber sector. However ,it’s Brenda Biya who travelled to the USA to study who have attracted the most criticism for her lavish lifestyles.

In this recent video, Brenda Biya has revealed her hidden privileged lifestyle, even going so far as stating on social media that is it is indeed vanity.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

11, June 2020

WHO warns coronavirus pandemic accelerating in Africa ⁰

The speed the new coronavirus jumped from 100,000 to 200,000 confirmed cases in Africa shows just how quickly the pandemic is accelerating on the continent, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

According to an AFP tally, Africa topped the 200,000 mark on Tuesday.

“It took 98 days to reach the first 100,000 cases, and only 18 days to move to 200,000 cases,” Doctor Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, told a video briefing hosted by the UN press association in Geneva.

“Even though these cases in Africa account for less than three percent of the global total, it’s clear that the pandemic is accelerating.”

The novel coronavirus has infected nearly 7.4 million people worldwide and killed at least 416,000 since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

Africa has reached 5,635 deaths from 210,519 confirmed cases, according to AFP’s count at 1100 GMT on Thursday.

In Africa, “the pandemic is still concentrated in and around capital cities but we are seeing more and more cases spread out into the provinces,” Moeti said.

She said that in most countries on the continent, the virus entered capitals through international flights from Europe.

– South Africa worst affected –

“Ten of the 54 countries in Africa are currently driving the numbers,” Moeti explained, with those states accounting for 80 percent of cases.

South Africa accounts for nearly 25 percent of the continent’s total cases.

“The majority of countries still have fewer than 1,000 reported cases,” said Moeti.

“There is community transmission in more than 50 percent of countries, however.”

Meanwhile more than 70 percent of the deaths have occurred in just five countries: South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and Sudan.

Moeti said that while it was possible that some asymptomatic and mild cases were going undetected, WHO Africa believed that large numbers of severe cases and deaths were not being missed on the continent.

Africa’s relatively young population compared to other continents, and in-built experience of dealing with disease outbreaks have been cited as reasons why Africa has not so far seen the death rates experienced on other continents.

Moeti said early action by African countries had helped keep the numbers low — but constant vigilance was still needed.

Asked by AFP how she saw the pandemic developing in Africa, Moeti said the continent had not seen the sustained exponential rise in cases previously witnessed in Europe and the United States.

“Until such time as we have access to an effective vaccine, I’m afraid we are probably going to have to live with a steady increase in the region, with some hotspots having to be managed in a number of countries, as is happening now in South Africa, in Algeria, in Cameroon, which really require very strong public health measures,” she said.

“We’re hoping very much not to see health systems overwhelmed with large numbers of people who are ill,” she said.

Source: AFP