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French Cameroun Politics: Six opposition figures arrested for distributing face masks

16, May 2020

French Cameroun Politics: Six opposition figures arrested for distributing face masks 0

Six opposition activists have been arrested in Cameroon for distributing face masks and disinfectant gel, their lawyers and Human Rights Watch said Friday.

The six were arrested on Monday in a busy market in the capital Yaounde. They are all supporters of main opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who lost the 2018 presidential election to veteran leader Paul Biya.

Cameroon’s government has banned an initiative by Kamto to collect funds to fight the novel coronavirus, ordering banks to close its accounts and freeze the money.

Communication companies have also been told to close mobile accounts opened to support the fund.

There have been 3,000 coronavirus infections and 139 deaths in Cameroon, which ranks among the worst affected African countries.

Hippolyte Meli, one of the lawyers for the six detainees, told AFP that they were being held for “the illegal distribution of masks and hydroalcoholic gel.”

Cameroonian authorities contacted by AFP have not commented so far.

HRW said the six were accused of “rebellion” — an act that could fetch them up to four years in jail, if convicted.

“Earlier in May, the health minister rejected a donation by Kamto’s initiative of 16,000 protective and surgical masks and 950 COVID-19 screening tests, claiming the initiative had not been legally established,” the rights monitor said.

“Distributing free masks to those who need them is not rebellion and it certainly should not land people in jail. Cameroonian authorities appear to be more concerned with defeating the opposition than protecting public health.”

Biya, 87, has ruled Cameroon since 1982 and he has not appeared on television since the pandemic broke out.

Source: AFP

Coronavirus: Ireland to ease lockdown, start travel quarantine

15, May 2020

Coronavirus: Ireland to ease lockdown, start travel quarantine 0

Ireland will begin to lift its coronavirus lockdown in the coming days while introducing a 14-day quarantine period for people arriving in the nation, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Friday.

“I can confirm that it is safe to proceed with phase one of our plan to ease the COVID-19 restrictions from Monday,” he said, indicating the start of a five-stage plan to reopen the country set to stretch until August.

The changes coming into effect after the weekend will see staff return to outdoor workplaces and the reopening of some shops, sports facilities and public amenities such as beaches.

Citizens will also be allowed to meet in small groups outdoors.

Social distancing measures are to remain in widespread use as they have been since Ireland’s lockdown began on 28 March.

Meanwhile, the Irish cabinet agreed to make it mandatory for arrivals to fill out forms outlining where they will quarantine.

“We’re going to examine means by which it can be enforced thereafter,” Varadkar said at a Dublin press conference.

Travellers from the British province of Northern Ireland will be exempt.

The government also issued advice for “face coverings” to be worn in enclosed public spaces such as shops and public transport.

“Coronavirus is an inferno that is raging around the world”, said Varadkar.

“In Ireland it is now a fire in retreat but it’s not defeated — we must extinguish every spark and quench every ember.”

Effects of the relaxation will be monitored for three weeks before the government decides whether to move to the next stage in the “roadmap” to reopen the nation announced earlier this month.

Ireland has suffered 1,506 deaths from COVID-19, according to health department figures.

Reported daily deaths peaked at 77 on 20 April, but on Thursday had fallen to just 10.

Chief medical officer Tony Holohan said in mid-April that the nation had successfully quashed the spread of infection.

But, as in other countries, there is fear of a second wave.

“We have to remember that just as our actions brought about the progress you’ve seen to date, our actions could also set us back,” Health Minister Simon Harris said.

If the first phase of relaxations is deemed successful, the second stage will allow wider travel, visits to other households and employees to return to work under social distancing measures.

Source:  AFP

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Yaounde police arrest people without masks as COVID-19 cases increase

15, May 2020

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Yaounde police arrest people without masks as COVID-19 cases increase 0

Police in Cameroon have detained several hundred people for not wearing face masks in public, as COVID-19 cases in the central African state continue to rise.

Seventeen-year-old David Ngwa Fru said a team of police and gendarmes detained him and his two younger sisters in the capital, Yaounde, on Thursday morning.

“The police removed us from a taxi on our way to the market because we were not wearing our masks. They detained us at the police station for three hours. We paid 2,000 (each) before we were released. Many people who did not pay the money are still there.”

Fru, speaking to VOA through a messaging app, said that although they were not issued any receipts, the police told them that the $9 he and his siblings paid were fines for not wearing their masks, and assured them that the money would be sent to the state treasury.

A health worker wearing protective equipment, disinfects a member of medical staff amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

Police official Oswald Ateba said officers are implementing a Cameroon government order that everyone in public must wear a face mask as of 6 a.m. Thursday.

He said they have been instructed to arrest everyone found along the streets, markets, bars and popular spots without masks and to impound all vehicles and motorcycles that are seen with drivers and passengers not wearing masks.

The police said authorities have detained hundreds of people, seized 250 motorcycles and impounded hundreds of taxis in Yaounde alone as part of efforts to implement the new rules.

Government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said the decision to make arrests came after lockdown restrictions were eased, but a majority of Cameroonians were not wearing masks.

He said the government is also battling the growing stigmatization of people testing positive for COVID-19 and those who have recovered from the disease, stressing that COVID-19 is neither shameful nor a curse and any person can be contaminated.

Cameroon has about 3,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and has recorded 139 deaths.

Even though the government has eased the strict lockdown measures, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said on Wednesday no one should think that COVID-19 has been conquered in the central African state. 

Source: VOA

Ambazonia Crisis, Boko Haram derails exploration in Bakassi and the Far North

15, May 2020

Ambazonia Crisis, Boko Haram derails exploration in Bakassi and the Far North 0

Force majeure has been declared at two areas in Cameroon, Bakassi in the southwest and Zina-Makary in the far north, as a result of insecurity.

Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures’ (SNH) director of strategy Maurice Matanga disclosed the problems in an interview with the company’s newsletter. Matanga was discussing the country’s 2020-24 development plan and reflecting on progress made.

Production has fallen by 25% in the last few years, he said, driven by maturing fields and insecurity, which has delayed new works.

Insecurity in Cameroon’s north is likely linked to Boko Haram. Bakassi was declared to be Cameroonian territory following a dispute with Nigeria. Cameroon’s southwest is home to a separatist Anglophone movement who were reportedly involved in the killing of the mayor of Mamfe on the weekend.

China’s Yan Chang was reported to have found oil in the Zina-Makary licence in 2011 but progress has been slow because of security worries.

The development plan to 2024 is intended to maximise revenues from oil and gas. This will come from upstream operations but also increased tariffs paid to the state from the Chad-Cameroon pipeline.

The link provided $41.2 million of revenues to Cameroon during the first eight months of 2019, from $34.24mn in 2018.

Progress on SNH’s plan covering 2015-19 made good progress overall, Matanga said, despite the difficult broader outlook for the sector.

He singled out progress on gas-fired power generation in Kribi and increased supplies in Douala. Matanga went on to note SNH had increased its stake in Chanas Assurances and Cameroon Oil Terminal SA (COTSA).

The 2020-24 plan comes in less favourable conditions, with oil production continuing to decline despite SNH’s efforts. These included improving the country’s contractual framework, searching for new fields and optimising the production from existing. A new petroleum code was adopted in April 2019.

One bright spot has been LNG, with Perenco exporting 19 cargoes in 2019, an increase of seven from the previous year.

Source: EnergyVoice.Com

Covid-19 brings out Biya regime’s ugly side, Opposition parties not allowed to participate in response

15, May 2020

Covid-19 brings out Biya regime’s ugly side, Opposition parties not allowed to participate in response 0

The message of national solidarity around the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have been lost in Cameroon. While several other governments are calling on its citizens to pull together and help one another, Cameroon’s ruling party is using the pandemic to settle scores and punish the opposition.

A man who received a protective mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer donated by “Survival Initiative”, a fundraising initiative launched by opposition leader Maurice Kamto, Bangoura,Cameroon, May 2020.EXPAND

A man who received a protective mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer donated by “Survival Initiative”, a fundraising initiative launched by opposition leader Maurice Kamto, Bangoura,Cameroon, May 2020. © 2020 Private

On May 11, 6 volunteers from the “Survival Initiative,” a fundraising initiative launched by opposition leader Maurice Kamto to respond to the health emergency, were arrested while handing out protective masks and sanitizing gel for free to people in Yaoundé, the capital. The arrests would be laughable if they weren’t so serious. The volunteers face charges of rebellion and remain in detention. If found guilty, they could face up to 4 years in prison.

Earlier in May, the health minister rejected a donation by Kamto’s initiative of 16,000 protective and surgical masks and 950 Covid-19 screening tests, claiming the initiative had not been legally established.

On April 7, Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji told anyone fundraising to fight Covid-19 to stop and told citizens instead to make contributions to the “Special Fund of National Solidarity” created by Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya.

On April 9, Nji ordered accounts belonging to Kamto’s initiative to be closed and its money frozen, and later called for an investigation into the “Survival Initiative.” He also told communication companies to close mobile accounts opened to support the fund.

The arrest of the six volunteers shows the steps the government will take to crack down on any efforts by the opposition, fuelling political divisions when joint efforts are most crucial.

Health officials have confirmed 2,800 cases of Covid-19 and 136 deaths across Cameroon. On April 9, in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus, the government made wearing face masks mandatory in public spaces. But masks are in short supply and expensive.

Distributing free masks to those who need them is not rebellion and it certainly should not land people in jail. Cameroonian authorities appear to be more concerned with defeating the opposition than protecting public health.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

Football and the virus: Liverpool’s Klopp pokes fun at Neville over lockdown rants

15, May 2020

Football and the virus: Liverpool’s Klopp pokes fun at Neville over lockdown rants 0

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has joked that his biggest lesson from the coronavirus lockdown is just how outspoken former Manchester United defender Gary Neville can be.

In his role as a television pundit, Neville has vented on a range of issues related to the Premier League and the health crisis.

The former England international has criticised Premier League chiefs for being slow to give updates on their restart plans.

He also took issue with the government’s call for players to take wage cuts during the pandemic and let rip on a host of other subjects.

Klopp could not resist a good-natured jibe at Neville when asked what his lockdown experience had been like.

“I didn’t learn a lot in lockdown, other than Gary Neville has an opinion about absolutely everything. It is incredible,” Klopp told the BBC’s Football Focus programme.

Liverpool were two wins away from winning the English title for the first time in 30 years when the Premier League was postponed on March 13.

The league hopes to resume in mid-June and players are already returning to training while observing strict social-distancing rules.

Klopp has been in touch with Liverpool’s squad, but he admitted it had been hard to go so long without seeing them in person.

“I am quite proud how we as a society have dealt with it,” he said. “We are not perfect. We will always make mistakes but I think we have learned how connected we are to each other.

“I miss the boys the most because we created a group where all the people at Melwood (training ground) have a really good relationship and we became friends over the last four-and-a-half years.

“We saw each other with Zoom and other calls but it is still not the same. Going back to Melwood and doing the things we usually do is something I really miss.”

Source:  AFP

More Americans disapprove Trump’s handling of coronavirus

15, May 2020

More Americans disapprove Trump’s handling of coronavirus 0

More Americans say they think President Donald Trump is doing a “bad job” handling the coronavirus pandemic and don’t trust him to provide accurate data about the outbreak, according to a new poll.

The CBS News poll found that 57 percent of respondents said they believe Trump is doing a “bad job” handling the public health crisis and 43 percent said the president is doing a “good job.”

Views of Trump’s handling of the outbreak are now 10 points lower than in March, the lowest rating he has received.

The poll also shows 62 percent Americans don’t trust Trump to provide accurate information about the coronavirus or what to do during the outbreak.

Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House coronavirus task force, receives similar numbers.

Trump worsening approval rating comes as the number of confirmed infections and deaths from COVID-19 mount.

The pandemic has infected over 1.4 million people in the United States, killed more than 85,000 and devastated the economy.

A whistleblower told a congressional hearing on Thursday that the United States could face “the darkest winter” of recent times if it does not improve its response to the pandemic.

Rick Bright says he was removed by the White House as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for raising concerns about the government’s coronavirus preparedness.

BARDA is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services responsible for developing drugs to fight the coronavirus.

Trump, who has been pushing for the US economy to reopen quickly, dismissed Bright as a “disgruntled employee” on Twitter on Thursday morning before the hearing begun.

Source: Presstv

Without wearing a mask, Trump tours Pennsylvania mask distribution center

15, May 2020

Without wearing a mask, Trump tours Pennsylvania mask distribution center 0

Without wearing a face mask himself, President Donald Trump toured a mask distribution center in Pennsylvania on Thursday and announced plans to replenish the US strategic stockpile of medical equipment depleted by the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump, a Republican who is running for re-election in November, has resisted wearing a mask in public despite his administration’s guidance to Americans to wear them and new White House rules requiring that staff wear them at work.

The president toured the Owens & Minor Inc distribution center, which the White House said has sent millions of N95 masks, surgical gowns and gloves to hospitals and surgery centers across the United States. Company officials wore masks.

Trump visited a mask production facility in Arizona last week, when he also did not wear a face covering, though he said he tried some on backstage.

Pennsylvania is a political swing state wooed by both Republicans and Democrats in presidential elections. Though the Thursday event was arranged by the White House, it had campaign overtones, with music similar to what is played at Trump’s rallies and a pejorative reference by the president to his expected Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Trump accused the Obama administration of allowing the stockpile to be depleted. Trump has been in office for three years; the coronavirus outbreak started hitting the United States earlier this year.

Trump said his administration would seek to have three months’ worth of supplies on reserve rather than one to three weeks’ worth.

“I’m determined that America will be fully prepared for any of the future outbreaks, of which we hope there’s going to be none,” he said during remarks after his tour.

The president has previously sought to downplay the possibility of the coronavirus returning in the fall, though doctors have said it is very likely.

A senior administration official told reporters earlier on Thursday that the Trump administration was seeking to add 300 million N95 masks, the respiratory protective devices that are key to protecting medical workers fighting the deadly coronavirus, to the US stockpile by the fall.

The official said the administration hoped ultimately to replenish its strategic national stockpile, which had only 13 million N95s at the beginning of the outbreak, to 1 billion in total.

The administration is seeking to shore up medical supplies as part of a bid to prepare for future flare-ups of coronavirus cases, as states nationwide begin to reopen after lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.

(Source: Reuters)

WHO says coronavirus could infect over 200mn in Africa

15, May 2020

WHO says coronavirus could infect over 200mn in Africa 0

The new coronavirus could kill 150,000 people in Africa in a year unless urgent action is taken, according to a WHO modelling study that says nearly a quarter of a billion people will be infected.

Authors of the research, published Friday in the journal BMJ Global Health, predicted a lower infection rate than in other parts of the world like Europe and the US, with fewer severe cases and deaths.

But while they said many African nations had been swift to adopt containment measures, they warned that health systems could still quickly become overwhelmed.

“Our model points to the scale of the problem for health systems if containment measures fail,” said the authors.

The study comes amid stark warnings that COVID-19 threatens a health emergency in developing nations where fragile health systems are already struggling with an array of other chronic diseases.

Experts at the World Health Organization’s Africa office modelled likely rates of exposure to the virus and infection in the 47 countries under its regional remit, which excludes Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan and Tunisia.

Some 231 million people, or 22 percent (with a range of 16 to 26 percent) of the one billion people in the region were expected to be infected in the 12 month period — most of them showing few or no symptoms.

But an estimated 4.6 million people would need to be admitted to hospital, while 140,000 would have severe COVID-19 infection and 89,000 would be critically ill.

That would lead to some 150,000 deaths (between 83,000 and 190,000) the study suggested.

The modelling estimates what would happen for each country over the period of a year from the beginning of widespread and sustained community transmission.

Researchers warned that surging hospital admissions for COVID-19 would divert already limited resources to tackle major health issues in the region, such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and malnutrition, worsening the impact of coronavirus.

“The region will have fewer deaths, but occurring more in relatively younger age groups, amongst people previously considered healthy –- due to undiagnosed non-communicable diseases,” the report said, adding that these trends were already emerging.

The researchers said they expect the virus would likely circulate within the region for longer than other countries, possibly for several years.

Transmission was estimated to be greatest in small nations, with Mauritius found to have the highest risk of exposure. Of the region’s large countries, South Africa, Cameroon and Algeria were also in the top ten for exposure risk.

The authors calculated this risk by looking at each country’s “gathering factor” (including family size and population density), people’s likely ease of movement, sanitation and hygiene practices.

 They also included weather. It is not known if warmer temperatures slow down the spread of COVID-19, though some research has suggested it has that effect on other coronaviruses.

Researchers factored in each country’s measures to control the spread of the virus, including physical distancing.

They also looked at health risk factors — proportion of the population over 65, HIV prevalence (as a proxy for chronic communicable conditions) and diabetes (as a proxy for non-communicable chronic illness).

They called for countries to rapidly boost healthcare capacity, particularly in primary hospitals.

This month the United Nations said the number of deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in sub-Saharan Africa could double if the provision of healthcare to HIV sufferers is disrupted during the coronavirus crisis.

(Source: AFP)

Readout of Swiss President’s phone call with Paul Biya

15, May 2020

Readout of Swiss President’s phone call with Paul Biya 0

The President of the Swiss Confederation, Mrs Simonetta Sommaruga has said on her Twitter account that she had a telephone conversation with the French Cameroun dictator Paul Biya on the 14th of May 2020 on the crisis in Southern Cameroons and the coronavirus pandemic.

She reiterated to the 88 year-old leader, her country’s willingness to accompany Cameroon in the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

“Happy to have had an exchange of views today with President @PR_Paul_BIYA on health and humanitarian cooperation in Cameroon and on Switzerland’s commitment to finding solutions in the North-West and South-West,” the Swiss official tweeted.

Correspondingly, the Swiss government reportedly tried in the past to initiate negotiations between the Cameroonian government and the English-speaking separatists. But the initiative has met with a stone wall from both sides, who are sticking to their positions.

 According to NGOs, the war in Southern Cameroons has caused at least 3,000 deaths and more than 700,000 displaced persons and refugees.

By Chi Prudence Asong

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