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10, May 2020

Obama calls Trump’s response to Covid-19 pandemic a ‘chaotic disaster’ ⁰

Former President Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an “absolute chaotic disaster” during a conversation with ex-members of his administration, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo News.

Obama also reacted to the Justice Department dropping its criminal case against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, saying he worried that the “basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.”

More than 78,400 people with COVID-19 have died in the United States and more than 1.3 million people have tested positive, according to the latest estimates from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Obama’s comments came during a Friday call with 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association, people who served in his administration. Obama urged his supporters to back his former vice president, Joe Biden, who is trying to unseat Trump in the Nov. 3 election.

“What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life. And by the way, we’re seeing that internationally as well. It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty,” Obama said, according to Yahoo News.

“It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government,” he said.

White House press secretary responds

Trump has consistently defended and boasted of his response to the virus, saying that travel restrictions from China and Europe as well as social distancing guidelines have prevented far greater damage. “I think we saved millions of lives,” he said earlier this week.

Trump has criticized the Obama administration in relation to his own administration’s response to the outbreak. Yet Trump’s contention that his administration inherited “a broken system and a broken test” from Obama’s is false; the novel coronavirus did not exist until late last year. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention struggled to develop its own test in January and then discovered problems in its kits in February.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not mention Obama directly in her response to his remarks.

“President Trump’s coronavirus response has been unprecedented and saved American lives,” she said. “While Democrats were pursuing a sham witch hunt against President Trump, President Trump was shutting down travel from China.”

She added: “While Democrats encouraged mass gatherings, President Trump was deploying PPE, ventilators, and testing across the country.”

Obama has generally kept a low profile on current political events, even when Trump would disparage him or his administration on Twitter. But Friday’s call indicates that he’ll be playing an active role in the coming election. He told supporters that he would be “spending as much time as necessary and campaigning as hard as I can for Joe Biden.”

Source: AP

10, May 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The violence continues, with Mamfe mayor killed by gunmen ⁰

Despite efforts by the international community to obtain a ceasefire in Cameroon, the country’s two English-speaking regions are still witnessing extreme violence, with most of it orchestrated by the government.

Over the last month since the Coronavirus showed up on the country’s shores, the government has been slaughtering its citizens, especially in the North West region where Ambazonian fighters are protecting their positions.

The government does not seem to comply with the terms and conditions of a ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations.

Over the last four years, the Yaounde government has diminished the population of the two English-speaking regions by spraying bullets all over the place, in total disregard for calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement.

In many cities across the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, government officials have been chased away and many of them are facing death sentences for conspiring with the enemy to kill innocent women and children.

Even the people’s representatives such as senators, parliamentarians and other elected officers live in fear as armed gunmen could always spring surprises.

This was what actually happened on Sunday, May 10, 2020, in Mamfe, a border town in the Southwest region where the town’s mayor, Presley Ojong, was brought down by gunmen executing an order from their commanders.

Mayor Ojong

The 34-year-old mayor took office a few weeks ago after participating in an election that was banned in Southern Cameroons and boycotted by all major opposition parties due to massive fraud and corruption by the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) led by the absentee and alcohol-inflammed president, Paul Biya.

The CPDM is outlawed in Southern Cameroons because it is considered a crime syndicate and a terrorist organization that has no place in the 21st Century.

The conflict, that has pitted the country’s English-speaking minority, has already claimed more than 6,000 lives, with more than 2,000 soldiers losing their lives in the two regions.

The fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons has plunged the country’s economy into the doldrums, with thousands losing their jobs as many corporations are obliged to fold up.

Many state-owned corporations such as PAMOL, CDC and SONARA are currently facing difficulties. Things will certainly continue to look south as the government rejects calls for a negotiated settlement.

PAMOL has been shut down and it will take huge amounts of money to bring it back to working condition. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), for its part, is really struggling. The country’s second largest employer is clearly staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.

Most of its workers have fled their duty stations just to avoid threats by Ambazonian fighters who frown upon those they consider as enablers.

Anybody working for the Yaounde government is considered an enabler and is automatically handed a death sentence.

SONARA, for its part, is witnessing diminishing operations as a huge portion of the refinery was brought down by a huge fire whose origin is still unknown and questionable.

Economic experts hold that SONARA’s cessation of activities will lead to a drastic decline in government revenue and, over the long term, the country’s GDP will decline by at least 5 percentage points.

The violence in the two English-speaking regions of the country has struck fear in many people. Even senior government officials such as Peter Mafany Musonge, a one-time prime minister; George Tabetando, the chief of Bachou Ntai; and many traditional rulers who stand with the Yaounde corrupt government have been duly advised by the armed groups to continue enjoying their exile in Yaounde.

Many of these officials have death sentences hanging over their heads like swords of Damocles. They have prizes on their heads and this makes them attractive to the Ambazonian fighters who really want to earn the money.

Though the focus is now on the Coronavirus, the international community should not forget about the Southern Cameroons crisis that has created over a million refugees and internally displaced persons who are living rough wherever they are.

The Biya government does not believe in peace and this is making it hard for the violence to end.

Both sides are still committing atrocities and today’s killing of a young mayor only serves as a reminder that the region remains unsafe and tense despite the ceasefire called for by the international community.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

10, May 2020

Southern Cameroons: Vice President Yerima to deliver State of the Nation address tonight on SCBC ⁰

Ambazonia Vice President, Dabney Yerima will be delivering his first anniversary speech later today at 8pm Amba on SCBC TV. It was 12 months ago when President Ayuk Tabe appointed the veteran Southern Cameroons freedom and independence campaigner as his assistant with the responsibility of steadying a sinking revolutionary boat.

In the speech, Vice President Yerima will set his vision for the Federal Republic of Ambzonia for the next twelve months. Mr. Dabney Yerima will focus on six critical sectors: Education, Defense, Diplomacy, Humanitarian, Finance and Communication.

He will say “Over the last twelve months, we worked meticulously to develop a framework of collaboration between the IG, the Consortium and AGovC across Ambazonia”. On education, the Ambazonian freedom fighter will say “Our children are the future of the country we are fighting for” and “My appreciation goes to those who have continued to provide education to our children both online and in community schools in the liberated areas of Ambazonia.”

Comrade Dabney will highlight challenges and some landmarks of his first twelve months. He is also expected to announce the creation of a semi-autonomous Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Ambabonds project. He will be calling on Ambazonians to invest in the future of their country by investing in both projects. He will say “despite the many challenges we faced last year, two significant successes from the Department of Economy and Finance was the creation of the Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Ambabonds Project” and go on to say “All our projects need funding and I implore all Ambazonians to invest in the Ambabonds project”

On the diplomatic front, the freedom fighter will highlight his administration’s role in the passing US Senate house resolution 358 last year and their involvement with the Switzerland parliament to get Paul Biya of Cameroon indicted for war crimes. On defense, he is expected to announce the trial of a stipends/reward scheme in certain counties for restoration forces.

The exiled leader will sound a defiant note to the international community and a hopeful position to Southern Cameroonians with “all Ambazonians living at this moment have an incredible historical burden. In our hands lies the possibility for our people to break free once and for all, from oppression to a new dawn of freedom and independence.”

Cameroon Concord News Group believes Yerima’s vision for the next 12 months is bold but achievable and we implore all Ambazonians to follow his outing tonight and join Vice President Dabney to realize the Amabzonian dream.

Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

10, May 2020

French Cameroun official hails Chinese medical donations ⁰

A French Cameroun governor on Thursday thanked the Chinese government for providing medical supplies and hailed the cooperation between China and Cameroon in fighting against COVID-19 pandemic.

Bernard Okalia Bilai, Francophone governor of the Southwest region made the remarks in the region’s chief town Buea while receiving a consignment of supplies.

“This is exactly what we need. We are grateful for China’s help (as) we are in the fight against COVID-19”, Bilai told reporters and stressed that the supplies will be put into good use.

The medical supplies included an ambulance, two imaging machines, two portable ultra sound machines, hospital beds, mattresses, and surgical kits.

“These are going to take us many hundreds of miles forward. I think it is a really much needed donation,” Director of Buea Regional Hospital, Martin Mokake told reporters.

These supplies are to ease the humanitarian crisis in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, where COVID-19 cases were also detected.

Source: Xinhuanet with additional editing from Camcordnews

10, May 2020

Cameroon Continues to Suffer Staggering Mother, Child Birth Mortality Rate ⁰

Coinciding with Friday’s observance of the African Day for the Reduction of Maternal and Newborn Mortality, Cameroon disclosed that tens of thousands of newborn babies continue to die at birth and thousands of women continue to lose their lives while giving birth each year in the central African of 25 million. Health officials say the situation is worse on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, where most mothers do not go to hospitals.

Martina Lukong Baye, Cameroonian Coordinator of the National Multisector Program to Combat Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality, says it is unfortunate that the number of mothers and babies dying in Cameroon has remained high due to many women neglecting prenatal care and some delivering at home using untrained traditional birth attendants.

“We are counting about 4,000 women dying every year from causes linked to pregnancy or delivery. It is pathetic. It is about 22,000 newborn babies that we lose every year. It is really, really unacceptable.” Baye said.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health, however, reports that the number of pregnant women who die has dropped from 8,000 in 2015 to 4,000 in last year, and babies who are dying each year has decreased from 30,000 in 2015 to 22,000 last year.

Baye says Cameroon could do more to reduce most of the deaths by paying more attention to reasons why the women and babies die.

“The first direct cause of women dying in Cameroon is bleeding. We do not have enough blood available in our health facilities to give these women. The other cause too, now, that is quite prominent now is hypertension in pregnancy. The other cause now would be infection after delivery and, of course, home deliveries,” Baye said.

According to a 2018 Cameroon government-sponsored demographic and health survey, 33% of Cameroonian deliveries are carried out at home or with African traditional birth attendants, without trained health staff members.

The situation is critical on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria, where Boko Haram has chased medical staff away and torched hospitals, and the border with the Central African Republic that has been an epicenter of CAR rebel atrocities.

Malachie Manaouda, Cameroon’s health minister, says the government has taken measures to improve health care delivery at hospitals as an urgent measure to reduce the deaths.

He says the universal health coverage plan Cameroon is developing prioritizes mother and child care. He says President Paul Biya is personally supervising the plan as an indication of a strong political will to stop women from dying while giving birth, and babies from dying before, during or shortly after birth.

Manaouda said Cameroon has, within the past three years, equipped maternities and trained and recruited about a thousand midwives and pediatricians to attend to the needs of mothers and babies. He also said the government two years ago instructed all hospitals on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria and Cameroon’s border with CAR to offer free prenatal care.

The African Day for the Reduction of Maternal and Newborn Mortality, observed since 2009, offers an opportunity for African countries, members of the African Union, to intensify actions aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality, examine challenges faced, and press for greater political commitment among African countries to stop mothers and babies from dying.

Source: VOA

10, May 2020

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: deadly mix of war and coronavirus ⁰

Prominent Cameroonian human rights activist Beatrice Titanji leapt for joy when a major secessionist group declared a ceasefire on 29 March to protect people from the “fury” of coronavirus in the central African state’s English-speaking heartlands, but her hopes have since been dashed as fighting continues to rage.

“It’s a scary situation. Thousands are trapped in the bushes,” Dr Titanji told the BBC.

“How do we tell them about Covid-19?” she added.

The Southern Cameroons Defence Forces (SCDF) unilaterally declared the ceasefire, following an appeal by UN chief António Guterres for conflict to end across the world.

“The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war,” he said.

“It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives,” Mr Guterres added.

However, none of Cameroon’s other secessionist groups, estimated to number at least 15, have heeded the appeal.

The Ambazonia Governing Council, which is one of the biggest groups, said a unilateral ceasefire would open the way for government troops to march unopposed into territory under its control.

Hunger and illness

Cameroon’s government, led by the French-speaking President Paul Biya, has not declared a truce either and, to the dismay of aid workers, has banned humanitarian flights, along with commercial flights, in its efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

“If we don’t have the means to reach out to people and give them food and medication, many of them are going to suffer. They will die of hunger and illnesses,” said Dr Titanji, an academic who leads the Women’s Guild for Empowerment and Development, a non-governmental organisation involved in peace initiatives in Cameroon.

Both English and French are official languages in Cameroon following a complicated colonial history but in practice, the Francophone majority dominates, leading the Anglophone minority to complain of discrimination.

About 3,000 people have already died since protests over the increasing use of French in courts and schools in the English-speaking heartlands of the North-West and South-West regions morphed into violence in 2017.

Nearly a million people have also been displaced by the conflict – many of them fled into bushes, where they built huts and villages as they started life afresh after their once-peaceful cites and towns turned into battle zones.

Cameroon – still divided along colonial lines:

French commentary on the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885: Otto von Bismarck, then Chancellor or Germany, is portrayed here wielding a knife over a sliced-up cake, labelled "Africa". His fellow delegates around the table look on in awe.

Colonised by Germany in 1884
British and French troops force Germans to leave in 1916
Cameroon is split three years later – 80% goes to the French and 20% to the British
French-run Cameroon becomes independent in 1960
Following a referendum, the (British) Southern Cameroons join Cameroon, while Northern Cameroons join English-speaking Nigeria

The UN children’s agency, Unicef, estimates that about 255, or 34%, of the 7,421 health facilities in the North-West and South-West are either non-functional or only partially functional because of the conflict.

Some of the facilities have been attacked and burnt down, forcing medics to flee.

This has increased fears about treating people in the event of a major outbreak of Covid-19.Beatrice Titanji Cameroon has so far recorded more than 2,200 cases and 100 coronavirus-related deaths since March, the highest in central Africa.

However, few of them have been in the North-West and South-West, either because of little testing or because conflict has heavily restricted movement, effectively putting many urban and rural areas on lockdown long before the outbreak of coronavirus.

Like most civilians, soldiers are now seen wearing mass-produced protective masks, and using hand sanitizer, as they patrol cities and towns in the North-West and South-West.

A local man walks thru a burnt-out restaurant on May 11, 2019 that was destroyed in fighting between armed Anglophone separatists and Cameroonian military forces in Buea,Cameroon

However, there is little indication that the armed militias have taken any protective measures against coronavirus, or that they are medically equipped to deal with infections in their forest hideouts – where they sometimes hold abducted government officials.

About 300 government troops carried out a six-day operation against the separatists late last month. The military said it had killed 15 fighters, and destroyed two of their military camps outside the town of Bafut in the North-West.

The security forces are still searching for three government officials, including a court registrar, after they were seized by separatists in Boyo, another town in the North-West, late last month.

Lamenting the continuing conflict, Dr Titanji said: “It’s a great challenge getting aid to the suffering masses. We don’t need war at this time, with Covid-19 raging and killing people.”

Culled from The BBC

9, May 2020

Bonn: Legendary Cameroonian artist releases new song on coronavirus ⁰

Cameroonian legendary artist, Asamor has made public a new song entitled “Dr Coro Coro” composed while in quarantine after he reportedly contracted the coronavirus.

Asamor paints the virus as dangerous and deadly and cautioned humanity to be more protective.

The album is to sensitize, sympathize, give courage, bring joy and comfort to all during this difficult moment of total lockdown.

The musician based in Bonn, Germany who is set to tour the Shengen Zone for a series of shows immediately after the lockdown explored the new hit showering praises to the Almighty God for all those healed from the pandemic.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

9, May 2020

Football: Umtiti suffers calf knock in second Barca training session ⁰

France defender Samuel Umtiti has picked up a calf injury in just the second session since Barcelona returned to training from the cornonavirus quarantine, the Spanish champions announced on Saturday.

Barca said that Umiti picked up an injury to his right calf during Saturday’s training session at the club’s Joan Gamper facility, but did not specify how long the 26-year-old would be out for.

Spanish media report that he will be unavailable for two or three weeks, so will likely be back in time for a potential June 20 restart for football in Spain as the country attempts to loosen coronavirus restrictions.

The 26-year-old Umtiti joined Barca from Lyon in 2016 after he helped France to the final of Euro 2016. He had further success with France in their successful 2018 World Cup campaign.

He played 16 times for the Catalan giants this season before play was suspended in March, and was twice injured earlier in the campaign, causing him to miss 10 matches between September and November last year.

Barca returned to training at the club’s facility on Friday after almost two months on lockdown in defence against a virus that has killed over 26,0000 in Spain.

Footballers in Spain restarted training following the announcement last week of a government plan that aims to end quarantine for professional players.

Individual training sessions are the first step to what La Liga hopes will be a return to action in June that will complete the 2019-20 season behind closed doors.

Source: AFP

9, May 2020

US withdraws support for UN Security Council global ceasefire resolution ⁰

The United States on Friday stunned other members of the UN Security Council by preventing a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said.

Washington’s reversal came a day after it agreed to the text, negotiators said under cover of anonymity.

“The United States cannot support the current draft,” the country’s delegation declared, without further detail, to the 14 other Security Council members, after nearly two months of difficult negotiation over the text.

The latest stalemate continues to leave the global peace and security body largely mute in the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic that has killed more than 270,000 people and raised further fears for the world’s most vulnerable.

When asked for an explanation of the US move, a State Department official told AFP that China had “repeatedly blocked compromises that would have allowed the Council to move forward.”

Diplomats told AFP that the language used in the draft to describe the World Health Organization was behind the US move to prevent the vote.

But other sources said Washington wanted the Council to return to an initial draft of the resolution which highlighted the need for “transparency” in global cooperation in tackling the pandemic.

“In our view, the Council should either proceed with a resolution limited to support for a ceasefire, or a broadened resolution that fully addresses the need for renewed member state commitment to transparency and accountability in the context of COVID-19,” the State Department official said.

Compromise had implicit WHO reference

US President Donald Trump has accused the WHO of downplaying the seriousness of the outbreak in China.

The procedure blocked by the United States would have allowed the sponsors of the resolution, France and Tunisia, to put it to a vote.

The latest version of the text — obtained by AFP — called for a cessation of hostilities in conflict zones and a 90-day “humanitarian pause” to allow governments to better address the pandemic among those most suffering.

It called on all nations to “enhance coordination” in the virus fight and highlighted the “urgent need to support all countries, as well as all relevant entities of the United Nations system, including specialized health agencies, and other relevant international, regional, and sub-regional organization.”

This wording, which implicitly refers to the WHO without explicitly mentioning it, was the compromise obtained from US and China on Thursday night, according to diplomats

‘Very bad news’

Washington had threatened to use its veto if there were any explicit reference to the WHO, while Beijing brandished its own veto if the global health body were not mentioned, before in the end accepting that it would not be.

Diplomats said the US had let go more than a week ago of its demand for mention of transparency in the French-Tunisian text. The “ball was in the Chinese camp” now, one of them said previously.

The US turnaround “is a very, very bad news for United Nations, the Security Council and multilateralism,” said one ambassador from a Security Council member.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been pushing for a cessation of hostilities around the world since March 23, urging all sides in conflict to lay down arms and allow war-torn nations to combat the coronavirus.

French Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere told AFP that he would like “of course to continue to try to reach an agreement, if there is room for that.”

His Tunisian counterpart Kais Kabtani said discussions are continuing “to convince the Americans.” He vowed that the procedure for going to a vote would be taken up again.

Ironically, the Security Council was also engaged Friday in a major videoconference organized by Estonia, which holds the body’s rotating presidency this month, on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.

More than 50 ministers from around the world participated, most of them issuing a “plea for multilateralism.”

Source: AFP

9, May 2020

Biya is no longer in control of his CPDM government ⁰

A prominent baron of the political bureau of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate has told Cameroon Intelligence Report that President Biya 88 is no longer in charge of his government.

Speaking to our chief political correspondent Rita Akana in Yaoundé, the French Cameroun political elite who sued for anonymity claimed President Biya knows only 4 of his sea of ministers. Our source furthered that Biya only talks to Gregoire Owona, Laurent Esso, Atanga Nji and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

“President Biya does not know the people he has been appointing as most of the several members of government came into cabinet through private connections with some close family relatives to Biya” he added.

According to another well-placed source in Yaoundé, Biya’s lack of control over his government is now a major concern among his Beti Ewondo supporters. A lot of people who had access to him in the yesteryears are now being prevented from informing him on the poor state of the country by a selected few.

Biya recently betrayed his ignorance when he questioned the actions of the Minister for National Education. We gathered that he wondered aloud why Dr Dorothy Njeuma was not coming out strong on the fight against COVID-19 in schools and colleges but was reminded that it was Prof Nalova who was now at the head not Njeuma.

By Fon Lawrence in Yaoundé