Headline News

6, August 2021

Anti-Amba accusations over Ndu Tea kidnap plot politically-motivated from Yaoundé ⁰

Renowned Southern Cameroons political elite, Prof Carlson Anyangwe has strongly dismissed accusations against Ambazonia Restoration Forces on the recent attempt to kidnap workers at Ndu Tea plantation, stating that such claims are politically-motivated by agents of the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé and meant to tarnish the image of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

“Any clowns appointed DO or SDO by the regime in French Cameroun rushes to hold the Ambazonia Restoration Forces responsible for whatever goes wrong in Southern Cameroons. The Southern Cameroons Interim Government is simply asking for an international fact finding mission to establish the reality in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia” Prof Anyangwe noted.

He continued, “French Cameroun is still inventing and playing new blame games: Who declared war against the people of British Southern Cameroons? You well know who did it. Who had a well equipped military before the war started? You know much better than anyone else. These French Cameroun clowns in Yaoundé must be aware of the facts and present them. By not stating the facts, they are taking advantage of any possible opportunity to hold Ambazonia Restoration Forces responsible. They will clearly fail to tie Amba fighters to the Ndu Tea Plantation kidnap affair. Such accusations are politically-motivated from Yaoundé.”

By Isong Asu

6, August 2021

Biya’s bill of health: Ambazonia Restoration Force raises combat readiness ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima says the current health situation of the French Cameroun dictator in Geneva has pushed Ambazonia Restoration Forces to move to high alert and significantly increased its combat readiness preparing for an imminent chaotic situation in La Republique du Cameroun.

Vice President Dabney Yerima made the comment on Tuesday and said Amba fighters were on the highest alert level ever since the Southern Cameroons war started four years ago.

The Francophone dominated military recently rejected the idea of deploying its air force in Manyu Division in what the French Cameroun military officials claimed will not change the situation in Ground Zero. The army leaders added that there was an urgent need for a political solution to the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

Dabney Yerima announced that Amba fighters would be on alert and warned the Beti Ewondo youthful and inexperience leaders deputizing for the 88-year-old Biya against a continuation of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo folly against the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Yerima stressed in a conversation with Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief Isong Asu on Tuesday that all Ambazonia Restoration forces would take unseen defensive measures and monitor the French Cameroun occupying forces maneuvers.

By Chi Prudence Asong

6, August 2021

Italy makes Covid-19 ‘Green Pass’ mandatory for restaurants, public transport ⁰

The Green Pass will be required to enter restaurants, cinemas, museums and indoor sports venues starting on Friday.

Italy’s cabinet Thursday made the coronavirus health pass obligatory for teachers as well as passengers on public transport, including domestic flights, ferries and long-distance trains.

The Green Pass, which is an extension of the EU’s digital Covid certificate, will already be required from Friday to enter cinemas, museums and indoor sports venues, or eat indoors at restaurants.

The health certificate proves bearers have either been vaccinated with at least one dose, have recovered from Covid-19 within the past six months, or have tested negative in the previous 48 hours.

Under the new decree law, school and university staff will need the pass, as will university students.

Staff without passes for five days straight will be suspended and have their pay frozen, Italian media said.

‘Italians remarkably disciplined and accepting’

Education minister Patrizio Bianchi told a press conference that over 86 percent of school personnel had been vaccinated, and that the number may be closer to 90 percent.

Health minister Roberto Speranza called on families to give the jab to children over 12 years old, and said teenagers would be eligible for cut-price rapid covid detection tests.

The green pass will be obligatory on domestic flights, trains and some ferry services from September 1.

Speranza said the pass — which has sparked protests in some quarters — was key to curbing rising Covid-19 cases, and he urged Italians to carry on getting vaccinated.

“The numbers are encouraging, with 70 million (vaccine) doses administered,” Speranza said, adding that the use of the green pass would “avoid closures and protect freedom”.

The minimum quarantine period for people who test positive for the virus or have been in contact with a COVID-19 patient was reduced for those who have been vaccinated, from 10 to 7 days.

Italy was the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for doctors and health workers in the public and private sector to get vaccinated or face being banned from working directly with patients.

A group of 300 Italian health workers has gone to court to try to get the obligation overturned.

(AFP)

6, August 2021

24 Chadian troops killed in suspected militant attack ⁰

Twenty-four Chadian soldiers were killed in an attack by militant fighters in the troubled Lake Chad region, a senior local official said Thursday.

“Troops from a returning patrol were resting when they were attacked by Boko Haram” on Wednesday, the region’s deputy governor, Haki Djiddi, told AFP.

“Twenty-four troops were killed, several were wounded and others have scattered into the countryside.”

Army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna confirmed that an attack had taken place at Tchoukou Telia, an island 190 kilometres (118 miles) northwest of the capital N’Djamena, but refused to give any toll.

Troops from “three army sectors have joined the soldiers who came under attack yesterday,” Mahamat Fodoul Makay, the governor of Lake province, told AFP.

Lake Chad is a vast area of water and marshland bordered by Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon as well as Chad.

Jihadists from Boko Haram and a rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have been using the region for years as a haven from which to attack troops and civilians.

The Chadian authorities tend to call the jihadists “Boko Haram” regardless of their affiliation.

In March 2020, around 100 Chadian troops were killed in an overnight attack on the lake’s Bohoma peninsula, prompting an offensive the following month led by Chad’s then president, Idriss Deby Itno.

After pursing the militants deep into Niger and Nigeria, Deby said there was “not a single jihadist anywhere” on the Chadian side of the lake region.

Attacks have continued, however.

In July, 11 Cameroonian troops and a civilian were killed in two attacks in Cameroon’s Far North region, the tongue of land that lies between Chad to the east and Nigeria to the west.

Deby was killed in April 2021 during fighting against rebels in northern Chad and was succeeded by his son, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, at the head of a military junta.

Boko Haram launched a revolt in northern Nigeria in 2009 before extending its campaign into neighbouring countries.

According to UN figures, more than 36,000 people, most of them in Nigeria, have died and three million have fled their homes.

In 2016, Boko Haram split over its indiscriminate targeting of Muslim civilians and use of women suicide bombers.

Boko Haram said in June that its leader, Abubakar Shekau, had died in fighting with ISWAP, which claims allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Source: Africa News

6, August 2021

French Cameroun: At least 40 persons dead from three road accidents in two days ⁰

At least 40 people were killed and dozens injured in Cameroon on Wednesday and Thursday in three road accidents involving travel buses, the Ministry of Transport has announced.

The deadliest accident occurred Thursday morning in Batchenga, 60km north of the capital Yaoundé, and killed 22 people in a collision between a travel bus and a truck carrying sand, Transport Minister Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle Bibehe wrote in a statement.

On Wednesday night, another accident killed 16 people and injured several others about 50 km east of Yaoundé, after another bus collided with a semi-trailer truck.

Finally, a third accident left two people dead and 28 injured in the center of the country.

“These unfortunate incidents, which occurred in the midst of a special campaign of prevention and road safety (…) highlight the negligence of both intercity transport companies and freight carriers,” said the Minister.

“The Minister of Transport informs the transport companies of people and goods, it will proceed from now on to their suspension of any transport activity in case of new involvement in a road accident,” he also wrote.

Road accidents involving passenger buses are relatively frequent and deadly in Cameroon. In late January, at least 53 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a van carrying fuel in the west. In late December, at least 37 people, including ten women and four children, died in another accident.

Source: Africa News

6, August 2021

Enfin: Lionel Messi no longer a player with FC Barcelona ⁰

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi will not sign a contract extension with Barcelona, which he is leaving at 34 after more than 20 seasons in the Blaugrana shirt, the Catalan club announced Thursday.

“Although an agreement has been reached between Barcelona and Leo Messi (…) it will not be able to be formalized due to economic and structural obstacles (Spanish La Liga regulations),” Barca said in a statement, pointing to La Liga’s salary cap rules that would prevent the Argentine’s contract from being registered.

“Faced with this situation, Lionel Messi will not remain linked to Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the club cannot be realized,” the club continued. “Barca wants to thank the player wholeheartedly for his contribution to the institution and wishes him the best for his personal and professional life.”

FC Barcelona thanking Messi

At the end of his contract last June, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner finds himself free to sign wherever he wants, a thunderous blow even as the Spanish press expected the agreement between the two parties to be concluded imminently.

– Financial difficulties –

Since the end of the disappointing 2020-2021 season, which ended with the only King’s Cup trophy on the shelf, the Catalan club has done everything to keep its jewel and chase away the Argentine’s desires for elsewhere, who had already expressed in the summer of 2020 his desires for elsewhere.

But the serious financial difficulties of Barça to stay within the limits of the financial fair play of the Spanish League, have been the reason for the operation, despite a monetary effort of the small Argentine striker, ready to divide his salary by two and to extend for five seasons according to the Spanish press.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who just won the Copa America with Argentina, had become the player with the most appearances for Barça this season, ahead of the 767 appearances of the legend Xavi.

This shocking turn of events concerning one of the greatest players in history could upset the transfer market and the specialized press, before the Argentine star’s destination is known.

Last summer, Messi’s desire to leave the club caused a long drama, but the player finally decided to stay in Catalonia, despite the interest of Paris SG and Manchester City.

Source: Africa News

5, August 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon gov’t military kills 2 fake Amba fighters ⁰

Two criminals posing as members of the Ambazonia Restoration Force were killed today at Ndu by Cameroon government soldiers deployed to the area.

The Francophone civil administrator in Ndu was quoted as saying that the “Amba Terrorist came to kidnap workers of the Ndu Tea Plantation but were neutralized by Cameroon government forces.”

Cameroon Concord News sources in Ndu revealed that the two gunmen were local criminals who had been terrorizing the area and had nothing to do with Southern Cameroons Self Defense Groups.

The two armed robbers reportedly disguised as Amba fighters and fired bullets at different locations in the tea plantation, many of them randomly. They were killed in a confrontation with BIR.

A close aide to Vice President Dabney Yerima of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government contacted by Camcordnews said today that the Ambazonia Interim Government believes there may be more Atanga Nji Boys abandoned by the Minister of Territorial Administration within Ndu who are now committing crimes.

Dr Patrick Ayuk said that the Southern Cameroons Interim Government was “on the verge” of restructuring the county-by-county self defense protocols to be able to fish out the Atanga Nji Boys.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

5, August 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Bui Warriors destroy Cameroon gov’t military vehicles and weapons ⁰

Ambazonia Restoration Forces providing security in Bui Division have destroyed several Cameroon government military trucks transporting security forces as well as some armored vehicles and artillery systems.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from administrative sources in Bamenda that the armored vehicles were part of a huge volume of military equipment donated or sold to the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime by the French to help it crush the British Southern Cameroons resistance.

A video released by the Bui Warriors also claimed that they had seized and destroyed several trucks from Cameroon government forces.

Cameroon government soldiers deployed to the rural areas in Southern Cameroons are evaporating in the face of Ambazonia pressure—sometimes without a fight, due in part to the perception that the government is reportedly crumbling as the 88-year-old President Paul Biya smells his last days on earth.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

5, August 2021

France, Germany to offer vaccine boosters despite WHO call to prioritise poorer nations ⁰

Germany and France will begin offering a third COVID-19 vaccine booster shot to the most vulnerable members of their populations starting in September, disregarding a WHO appeal to delay third doses until more people in poorer countries are vaccinated.

Germany and France will go ahead with COVID-19 vaccine boosters from September, disregarding an appeal by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to hold off until more people are vaccinated across the globe.

The decision to press ahead with booster shots despite the strongest statement yet from the WHO highlights the challenge of dealing with a global pandemic while countries try to protect their own citizens from the more infectious Delta variant.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France was working on rolling out third COVID-19 vaccine doses to the elderly and vulnerable from September.

“A third dose will likely be necessary, not for everyone straightaway, but in any case for the most vulnerable and the most elderly,” Macron said on his Instagram account.

Germany intends to give boosters to immunocompromised patients, the very elderly and nursing home residents from September, the health ministry said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday for a halt to vaccine boosters until at least the end of September, saying it was unacceptable for rich countries to use more of the global vaccine supply.

High-income countries administered around 50 doses for every 100 people in May, and that number has since doubled, according to WHO. Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people, due to lack of supplies.

“I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it,” Tedros said.

Germany rejected those accusations, saying it would also donate at least 30 million vaccine doses to poorer countries.

“We want to provide the vulnerable groups in Germany with a precautionary third vaccination and at the same time support the vaccination of as many people in the world as possible,” the ministry said.

Macron’s government is trying to step up France’s vaccination programme as the country faces a fourth wave of the virus and street demonstrations in protest against the government’s COVID policies.

France and Germany have so far given at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 64.5% and 62% of their respective populations, with 49% of the French and 53% of Germans fully-vaccinated.

(REUTERS)

5, August 2021

Biden to set target of half of US car sales to be zero-emission by 2030 ⁰

President Joe Biden will set a target on Thursday that half of all cars sold in the United States by 2030 will be zero-emission vehicles, the White House announced.

Biden’s plan follows the dramatic loosening of many environmental regulations and climate protections under the Donald Trump administration.

“The President will sign an Executive Order that sets an ambitious new target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles,” a White House statement said.

The order, due to be signed on Thursday, will position “America to drive the electric vehicle future forward, outcompete China, and tackle the climate crisis,” it added.

The three big American auto manufacturers — Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis — expressed their “shared aspiration to achieve sales of 40-50%” of electric vehicles including battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2030.

In another statement, the manufacturers BMW, Honda, Volkswagon and Volvo — whose electric vehicles are often considered more advanced than their US competitors — applauded the initiative.

– Union support –

One of America’s largest unions, United Auto Workers (UAW), rallied behind the move.

“The members of the UAW, current and future, are ready to build these electric cars and trucks and the batteries that go in them,” President Ray Curry said in a statement released through the White House.

Electric car sales account for only two percentage of the overall US market, compared with 10 percent in Europe

Electric car sales account for only two percentage of the overall US market, compared with 10 percent in Europe Drew Angerer GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

“Our members are America’s secret weapon in winning this global race.”

Although the 50 percent figure would not exceed what many American manufacturers were already considering, it is a steep target for the United States as a whole.

The country is home to Tesla, a world leader in electric cars, but it has been slow to adopt such vehicles — especially compared with China or Europe.

While around 10 percent of European car sales are of electric vehicles, they account for less than two percent in the United States, according to the International Energy Agency in 2020.

Biden also intends to beef up fuel consumption and emission regulations, which had been dramatically rolled back under his predecessor Trump.

Car emissions are the single biggest US contributor to climate change.

The current emissions regulations, which date from March 2020, require manufacturers to improve by 1.5 percent the energy efficiency of their vehicles between 2021 and 2026 — compared with the five percent demanded by the Obama administration.

The Biden administration did not immediately unveil a new quantified objective.

Source: AFP