Headline News

Europe’s Covid-19 death toll surpasses one million

13, April 2021

Europe’s Covid-19 death toll surpasses one million 0

Europe passed the grim milestone of one million coronavirus deaths on Monday, as the World Health Organization warned that infections are rising exponentially despite widespread efforts aimed at stopping them.

The death toll across Europe’s 52 countries, compiled by AFP from official sources, totalled at least 1,000,288 by 1830 GMT.

“We are in a critical point of the pandemic right now,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19.

“The trajectory of this pandemic is growing… exponentially.

“This is not the situation we want to be in 16 months into a pandemic, when we have proven control measures,” she told reporters.

The coronavirus has already killed more than 2.9 million people and infected nearly 136 million across the world.

But despite the sombre news in Europe — the world’s worst-hit region — Britain eased curbs for the first time in months on Monday, allowing Britons to enjoy a taste of freedom with a pint and a haircut.

The changes illustrate how fast-vaccinating countries are leaving other — mostly poorer — nations behind.

In South Africa, the president called for African-made vaccines as the continent lags behind, struggling with inadequate supplies as well as a lack of financing and logistical problems.

“Africa needs to harness its own continental capabilities and identify opportunities for collaboration,” Cyril Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa suggested India or Brazil could help after successfully developing their own generic pharmaceutical industries.

But both giants are battling severe Covid outbreaks, with India overtaking Brazil on Monday as the country with the second-highest number of infections after logging more than 168,000 new cases in a day.

Muslims prepare for second Covid Ramadan

Experts have warned that huge, mostly maskless crowds at political rallies and religious festivals have fuelled India’s caseload.

In the Himalayan city Haridwar, maskless Hindu pilgrims on Monday squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder on the banks of the Ganges River for a dip during the Kumbh Mela ritual.

Several Indian regions have tightened their coronavirus measures, with Maharashtra — India’s wealthiest state and current epicentre of its epidemic — imposing a weekend lockdown and night curfew.

Neighbouring Bangladesh has announced it will virtually seal itself off, shutting down both international and domestic transport starting Wednesday while shutting offices in an attempt to staunch its own spiralling outbreak.

Across the Muslim world, worshippers are gearing up for the start of their second Ramadan of the pandemic, with the holy fasting month due to kick off in many countries on Tuesday.

In Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, the sanitary measures are less strict than a year ago when mosques were shut completely and a curfew was in force.

The mood in Cairo was relatively cheerful as the city prepared for special prayers on Monday night, with bright lights festooning the streets. Many of those rushing around the city shopping for last-minute supplies were maskless, however.

Saudi authorities have meanwhile said that only people immunised against Covid-19 will be allowed to perform the year-round umrah pilgrimage from the start of Ramadan.

Glimmers of hope

In Britain, despite one of the world’s highest Covid-19 death tolls, there were glimmers of hope Monday as pubs and restaurants were allowed to serve people outside — a move welcomed by the hard-hit hospitality sector, despite wintry temperatures.

“It’ll be great to see everybody again and see all the locals,” Louise Porter, landlady of The Crown Inn in Askrigg, northern England, told AFP.

“Our lives have just been turned upside down, just like everybody else’s,” she said, adding: “We’re still here to tell the tale.”

England’s hairdressers, indoor gyms and swimming pools also got the green light to reopen.

Once the worst-affected country in Europe, Britain launched a successful vaccination campaign coupled with lockdown measures that cut deaths by 95 percent and cases by 90 percent from January.

Italy has also been one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries, and on Monday, Rome saw the latest in a series of anti-lockdown demonstrations, with several hundred people turning out in protest against weeks of restaurant closures.

In France, now the European country with the most infections, an expansion of the vaccine rollout has buoyed optimism among lockdown-weary residents. Everyone aged over 55 years old is now eligible for a Covid vaccination.

And in other positive news, clinical trial results indicated that the Regeneron antibody treatment used to treat Covid-19 patients also helps prevent infections.

(AFP)

US officials head to Europe to shore up allied support on Russia, Iran, China

13, April 2021

US officials head to Europe to shore up allied support on Russia, Iran, China 0

Top US officials are in Europe this week seeking to shore up allied support on countering Iran and China as well as recent Russian moves at the Ukraine border. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Berlin on his inaugural tour of Europe while Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Brussels on Tuesday for talks on Ukraine and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Nearly a year after President Donald Trump ordered thousands of troops to leave Germany, capping a series of setbacks for U.S. relations with major allies, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began an inaugural tour of Europe to shore up partnerships that are a cornerstone of the post-World War II order.

Austin arrived in Berlin on Monday against the backdrop of a newly emerging crisis with Iran, which on Monday blamed Israel for a recent attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility. Israel has not confirmed or denied involvement, but the attack nonetheless imperils ongoing talks in Europe over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal.

Also at stake in Austin’s visit is the future direction of U.S. defense commitments in Europe at a time of growing concern about Russian military intervention on NATO’s periphery, including a buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine’s border. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was headed to Europe to discuss with U.S. allies the Ukraine situation as well as the administration’s thinking on further withdrawals of troops from Afghanistan.

The United States also seeks European support for its approach to countering China around the world and for efforts to restore an international agreement with limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

Austin arrived in the German capital on Monday night and will hold talks Tuesday with senior government officials. He will also visit NATO headquarters later this week in Belgium and meet with British defense officials in London. He began his trip Sunday in Israel, where he underscored U.S. defense support in meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Austin, a former four-star Army general whose overseas military experience was primarily in Iraq, is likely to assure German officials of intentions by the Biden administration to keep troops in Germany, though the number is subject to discussion as part of a monthslong global review of the basing of U.S. troops. Last year, Trump ordered the number in Germany reduced by about 12,000, to about 24,000.

In his first visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels since taking office, Austin will meet with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who declared on President Joe Biden’s inauguration day that the arrival of a new administration marked “the start of a new chapter for the trans-Atlantic alliance.”

Trump’s departure from the world stage gave the Biden administration an opening to restore a more supportive U.S. approach to Europe and the NATO alliance, but complications will persist. For example, the NATO allies are anxious for Biden to decide whether to pull out of Afghanistan. NATO has more troo ps there than does the United States, and Biden’s indecision troubles them, not least because they count on U.S. military support for removing troops and equipment.

The attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility further complicates U.S. efforts to draw Iran back into a nuclear deal. Austin was asked about this earlier Monday while in Israel, and he said only that he expects the administration’s diplomatic efforts with Iran will continue.

‘Pivot’ to Asia

On the broader horizon, the European allies remain uncertain how their defense and security relationship with the United States will be affected by Biden’s push to focus more on China as the chief threat to U.S. security. That shift in U.S. thinking began during the Obama administration, which announced a “pivot” to Asia that left Europeans thinking their U.S. ally was turning its back. Washington adjusted diplomatically and rhetorically, assuring the Europeans that it was just a “rebalancing.”

Then came Trump. His administration further emphasized China as the prime security threat, but of greater concern to the Europeans was his frequent, sometimes shocking, denigration of the trans-Atlantic partnership that had been the foundation of U.S. security policy for decades. He dismissed the NATO allies as freeloaders, and last summer he ordered the removal of about one-third of the U.S. force in Germany, as well as the move of U.S. European Command headquarters from Germany to Belgium.

“We don’t want to be the suckers anymore,” Trump told reporters last July, calling the Germans ingrates who don’t spend enough on defense but expect the United States to protect them from Russia.

Germany has been an anchor for the U.S. military presence in Europe since the early post-World War II years. In addition to hosting the headquarters for U.S. European and U.S. Africa commands, Germany’s Ramstein Air Base is headquarters for NATO air and missile defenses. The U.S. Army’s largest overseas hospital, the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, is a few miles from Ramstein Air Base. The U.S. Air Force also has a substantial presence in Germany, including the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem.

In his first speech to an international audience, Biden in February declared to the Munich Security Conference: “America is back, the trans-Atlantic alliance is back, and we are not looking backward. We are looking forward together.”

Biden suspended the Trump decision on a partial withdrawal of troops from Germany, which had not yet been implemented. It seems likely the administration will decide not to carry out the Trump order.

Jim Townsend, who served throughout the Obama administration as the Pentagon’s lead policy official on Europe and NATO, said in an interview that he sees lasting value in Austin’s touring of European capitals early in his tenure.

“It’s a better way to repair the torn fabric of that trans-Atlantic relationship,” Townsend said.

Even if the Europeans can put the Trump-era tensions behind them, they will still have questions about the Biden emphasis on China, which is not a front-burner issue for the Europeans. They largely view NATO as a bulwark against Russia, particularly since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its intervention in eastern Ukraine, which is not a NATO member but aspires to join.

(AP)

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Cameroon’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating

13, April 2021

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Cameroon’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating 0

Cameroon’s public finances have proven relatively resilient to the pandemic shock and we expect the deficit to be on a downward path over the medium term. The fiscal deficit on a cash basis widened in 2020 to 4.5% of GDP from 3.0% in 2019, owing to an only mild hit to tax collection and limited expenditure increases in response to the coronavirus shock (1.3% of GDP), given financing constraints. The phasing-out of pandemic-related spending and a recovery in tax receipts will bring the deficit down to 3.5% of GDP in 2021 and 3.0% in 2022. We assume the government would cut capital expenditure if revenues fell beyond the authorities’ forecast.

Near- and medium-term financing risks have lowered, in our view. We expect Cameroon to meet around 80% of its fiscal financing needs in 2021 (7.4% of GDP) through external project loans and domestic financing. The extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) to 1H21 will provide minor relief of 0.4% of GDP, although this will be higher if the authorities extend it for the whole year. Cameroon is likely to renew its Extended Credit Facility with the IMF before the end of 2Q21, which should catalyse additional official creditor support to fully cover funding needs in 2021 and ease funding conditions over the medium term.

At present, Cameroon is not planning to request a debt treatment under the G20’s Common Framework. It may issue another Eurobond to buy back a part of its 2025 Eurobond (USD750 million; 9.5%), due to be repaid in three instalments over 2023-2025. This would smooth the repayment schedule, although the annual amortisation over the period is small at 0.6% of GDP. We expect Cameroon will be able to roll-over domestic debt coming due in 2021 (2.7% of GDP) and interest payments on the Eurobond in 2021 and 2022, are small at 0.2% of GDP.

Cameroon’s ‘B’ ratings balance low GDP per capita and weak governance indicators against moderate government debt and low inflation supported by membership of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

We project general government debt to increase to 44% of GDP in 2022, from 42% of GDP in 2019, well below the current ‘B’ median forecast of 71% of GDP for 2022. Fitch’s debt ratio includes the debt of the public refinery SONARA (3% of GDP in 2020) as the government serviced this in 2020, although there is no explicit state guarantee. There has been some progress in on-going restructuring negotiations over SONARA’s debt, which could lead to an agreement before the end of the year but further delays are possible. Other SOE debt is estimated at 4.2% of GDP in 2020, although this official figure could understate its magnitude.

We expect real GDP growth to rebound to 4.3% in 2021 and 3.7% in 2022, after showing relative resilience to the pandemic shock with a 1.5% contraction in 2020 (‘B’ median of -4.2%). The recovery will be driven by higher demand for Cameroon’s agricultural exports and increased activity in the manufacturing and services sectors, but will remain moderate given persisting financing constraints, credit retrenchments and slow progress on vaccination. A slight decline in oil production in 2022 will adversely affect the growth outlook, although at 5% of GDP the sector is not a key driver. A longer or more severe pandemic shock would hit growth.

External liquidity risks are limited. Fitch forecasts the current account deficit to narrow to 4.4% of GDP in 2021 and 4.1% in 2022 from 5.2% of GDP in 2020, as agricultural and oil exports increase. The bulk of external funding needs will be funded by government borrowing. Access to CEMAC’s pooled stock of international reserves (USD7.4 billion end-January 2021) and to the convertibility guarantee provided by France somewhat mitigates external liquidity and short-term devaluation risks.

ESG – Governance: Cameroon has an ESG Relevance Score of ‘5’ for both Political Stability and Rights and for the Rule of Law, Institutional and Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption, as is the case for all sovereigns. These scores reflect the high weight that World Bank Governance Indicators (WBGI) has in our proprietary Sovereign Rating Model. Cameroon has a low WBGI ranking at the 14th percentile, reflecting institutional weakness, political instability as well as on-going security issues in the Anglophone regions and the far-North, for which we do not expect a near-term resolution. Deeply entrenched political divisions could also compound the risk of a disorderly transition of power from the 88-year-old president, Paul Biya.

Culled from Fitchratings

Cameroonian family of five receives sacraments of Baptism, first Communion, confirmation and convalidation of a marriage together

12, April 2021

Cameroonian family of five receives sacraments of Baptism, first Communion, confirmation and convalidation of a marriage together 0

Baptisms, first Communions, confirmation and convalidation of a marriage.

All happened one day last August at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul among members of the Larry and Judith Ngonu family. The couple and their oldest of three sons, Joe Carlyn, are natives of Cameroon. They were strengthened by their faith in a long path to the United States and full communion with the Catholic Church.

The journey was made as a close, strong and persevering family, one that prays the rosary together every evening.

“You pray a rosary with all your heart, you will see like miracles,” Judith said. “The boys will remind me that it’s time to pray.”

A lottery win in 1999 enabled Larry, then a resident of Cameroon, to start a path to a new life. No, he didn’t win a large cash prize. He won the chance to move to the United States and pursue education and career opportunities. And raise a family.

Judith, who married Larry in a civil ceremony during a brief visit that he made to Cameroon after he emigrated, would say that her biggest “win” happened last summer, when the couple’s marriage was convalidated on the same day their three sons received sacraments including first Communion.

“That was my best day ever,” she said.

Larry won his immigration opportunity through the U.S.-sponsored Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. Winning applicants’ names are drawn at random each year. After interviewing for the visa process, choosing a sponsor and waiting for paperwork to be processed, he moved to the U.S. in November 2000.Jaden, left, and his brother Tyrick lead the procession at the start of Palm Sunday Mass March 28 at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul.

Jaden, left, and his brother Tyrick lead the procession at the start of Palm Sunday Mass March 28 at Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

As children, Larry, 50, and Judith, 44, were baptized and received the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation in Cameroon, where Judith was also confirmed. Joe Carlyn, 15, was baptized in Cameroon. Larry said his home country has a lot of religions, but the Catholic faith is predominant.

It took about eight years of waiting and paperwork before Judith and Joe Carlyn could join Larry in the U.S. Their two youngest sons, Jaden, 11, and Tyrick, 8, were born in the U.S.

Larry first lived in Minnesota, where he trained to become a nursing assistant. He moved to Maryland, where he completed his education to become a nurse, and then back to Minnesota.

Living in Maplewood today, the family felt welcomed when they visited Blessed Sacrament. “People said ‘welcome, where are you from?’” Judith said, adding that it quickly felt like home.

All five attended the Rite of Initiation of Catholic Adults (and Children) at Blessed Sacrament starting in fall 2019 as they prepared to receive more sacraments.

Connie Hill, faith formation director at Blessed Sacrament, described the Ngonus as a fervent and faith-filled family that perseveres.

“It was so humbling and such an honor to work with them because they were so faithful and so committed to the many preparations,” she said. She noted “all the things that the boys did” to complete the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and prepare for their sacraments.

Because the COVID-19 pandemic canceled Easter Masses in 2020, the Ngonus were unable to receive sacraments at the Easter Vigil. But the pastor of Blessed Sacrament, Father Benny Mekkatt, a member of the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception who is known to parishioners as Father Benny, held a special Mass for the family and their guests last August, and administered sacraments.

Ngonu family members and friends from Maryland and Ohio attended the church service celebrating the convalidation of Judith and Larry’s marriage and to see Larry confirmed, the two younger boys baptized and all three boys receive their first Communion. “It was a beautiful celebration,” Father Benny said. “It was a great thing,” Larry added.

Judith said she felt a big change that day physically, spiritually and emotionally. “I was so happy standing in front of God, to watch all those things,” she said.

After the service and to help prevent spread of the novel coronavirus in the midst of the pandemic, the family and guests celebrated with a socially distanced barbecue in a local park.

Joe Carlyn will be confirmed in May. The other four family members usually attend his confirmation classes because they follow Sunday Mass and it’s a chance to learn more, Judith said.

The two youngest boys serve at Mass every other Sunday, and they assisted with Stations of the Cross during Lent. Larry said he served at Mass when he was younger; he and his wife explained to their children that it was a privilege to serve.

Coming all the way from Africa, the journey was not easy for the family, Father Benny said. “But they persevere with a strong faith and also to keep their faith strong and bring that beautiful tradition from back home and bring up the children in a strong faith,” he said.

Asked what it means to be Catholic, Larry said that with Christianity in general, it means feeling close to God. “It builds you up, it makes you stronger,” he said. “It gives you a moral compass. It helps you do the right thing.”

Judith described frequently praying to Mary and the saints, such as St. Jude when facing difficult situations, and praying the rosary together as a family each evening. Larry joins when he is not working.

“I think God is your companion, like my everything,” Judith said. “When I need something, I just go down on my knees. When I want to do anything, I’m like, please God, just show me the direction. And he always answers my prayers.”

Culled from The Catholic Spirit

88-year-old Biya’s attempts to get his son to replace him is sparking a rebellion (Video)

12, April 2021

88-year-old Biya’s attempts to get his son to replace him is sparking a rebellion (Video) 0

Members of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate from the South Region have now been told that the choice of Franck Biya to succeed his father President Biya is mission impossible in the Beti constituency as a planned rally by a prominent administrative officer was boycotted by the elites including traditional rulers.

No one was there to even welcome the governor and the senior divisional officer during the meeting that was supposed to make public the Franck Biya political discourse, according to senior security officials in the South Region.

What followed was a series of drama and uncertainty that included a massive boycott staged by the people of the South Region, a protest statement by the visiting administrative officers and threats of expulsion from the CPDM party.

A video posted online recorded by a senior political elite from the South Region sent cheering crowds into the streets in Ebolowa the chief town in the South Region where thousands are reportedly anticipating the end of the Biya era.

Biya feared, not loved

Cameroon has been touted as an oasis of peace in a desert of chaos for many decades, but for some time now, the country has gradually been ranking itself among the most dangerous, corrupt and chaotic countries to live in as descent and frustration spread across the country like wildfire.

Four years ago, the country’s president, Paul Biya, erroneously declared war on the country’s English-speaking minority which was simply demonstrating to bring its sorry plight to the attention of the government and the international community and what Mr. Biya and his collaborators thought would be wrapped up in a week has now lasted four years with more than 7,000 young Cameroonians already sent to an early grave in a war that has no raison d’etre.

As the government and militia have transformed the country into an open air killing field, the country’s economy has taken a nosedive, with millions of Cameroonians seeking employment and thousands losing their jobs in the country’s two English-speaking regions where the killings are going on unabated.

The number of internally displaced person has continued to swell, while millions have fled to neighboring Nigeria where they are living rough and waiting for the fighting to end for them to return to their country, though their homes have been razed by government soldiers who are wont to inflicting collective punishment on the population each time an army soldier is killed.

But it is not only Southern Cameroons that is going through such an apocalypse. The northern part of the country has been the theater of violent confrontations between government troops and Boko Haram fighters who have bombed many civilians into an early grave.

While the government has been active in the North hoping that it could roll back Boko Haram fighters who are believed to come from Nigeria, government forces have succeeded to alienate Northerner due to massive and bloody killings and abuse of the civilian population which now sympathizes with Boko Haram fighters who are sometimes viewed as liberators.

Noted for its corruption, the government has never really sought to address those issues that are really threatening national unity and integration. The North, like many parts of the country, has been neglected, with very little development projects being implemented in that part of the country.

Tribalism and nepotism are really tearing the country apart as most senior government positions are only occupied by the president’s tribesmen and those loyal to him and his ruling crime syndicate known as the CPDM.

However, it is not the government’s nepotism that is the issue but the results it has posted over the last four decades. Cameroonians would not be bothered if those occupying those strategic positions were really delivering desired results.

While across the country the unemployment rate is high, it is a lot higher in the northern region of the country where there are no companies, no roads, no hospitals and no social services and financial assistance that can even cushion the impact of the economic hardship.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

200,000-dose donation of Chinese-made jab arrives Yaoundé

12, April 2021

200,000-dose donation of Chinese-made jab arrives Yaoundé 0

Cameroon has received 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from the Chinese government as a donation to the Central African country.

The vaccines arrived at the Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport late on Sunday.

The Chinese Ambassador Wang Yingwu and Cameroon’s Health Minister Manaouda Malachi signed the handover and reception documents for the donation.

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said he was ready to take his dose of the vaccine as soon as possible as the most appropriate means of protection against the virus.

On Friday, Malachi urged Cameroonians to get the jab, especially those in priority groups.

Cameroon has so far recorded 61,731 coronavirus cases, with 56,926 recoveries and 919 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Southern Cameroons Crisis: President Ayuk Tabe says Ambazonia and La Republique are divinely bound to be neighbours

12, April 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: President Ayuk Tabe says Ambazonia and La Republique are divinely bound to be neighbours 0

The leader of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has called on Southern Cameroonians to be strong, determined, courageous and steadfast. The jailed Ambazonian leader in an interview with a French Cameroun newspaper Emergence also noted that freedom and the independence of Southern Cameroons is priceless.

“The road may be dreary but the end is in sight. For the sake of future generations, we rose up in 2016 and made our stand. There is no turning back now. We must defend our emancipation with determination, commitment and courage. With God being our helper, we will emerge victorious and join the community of prosperous nations” President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe added. Below is the full conversation

Emergence: How are you feeling after all this time spent in prison.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe:   In the context of this crisis, all Southern Cameroonians / Ambazonians have been denied justice by La Republique du Cameroun. Our imprisonment is in violation of International and local laws. Given the fact that La Republique du Cameroun is the judge in its own case and in her own court, we know we can’t get justice from its less than independent court system. As refugees and Asylum-seekers resident in Nigeria, we are not supposed to be here. Feelings are expressions by the body, as a translation of the physical, psychological, mental and social wellbeing. However, we have been here now for 3 years and counting. We are physically, psychologically, mentally strong and positive as we pay the price for the freedom of our homeland – Southern Cameroons/ Ambazonia. But we are socially troubled because we are in an environment that is suffering socially from decadence, moral bankruptcy, academic backwardness, developmental deficiency, poor economy, and socio-political stagnation. This, however, gingers us to work harder for the emancipation of our people, the people of Ambazonia, so that the eyes of others will open.

This sacrifice will make sense in future when people will stand in awe looking at the rapid political, economic and social transformation of Ambazonia. It is our desire, planning and strategy that within as little as 3 years, post-restoration of our independence, the building-blocks and impeccable foundation of our institutions will be evident. Daily, we are driven by the ambition to go and implement these developmental changes to become like America, Israel or Japan in a relatively shorter time. We know freedom comes with a price and we are ready to pay for it. Development is a mix of many in a continuum. We will deliver our best and our children will continue.

Emergence: Negotiations had been engaged between you and the power in Yaoundé. Since then nothing is said of them anymore. Where are we on that?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe:  We must be very careful when we use the word “negotiation”. You use it loosely and inaccurately. However last year, following the UN SG’s call for a global Ceasefire in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, in April and July 2020 Mr Biya’s government consulted us on the possibility of a Ceasefire. We highlighted and gave them four Confidence-building Measures to facilitate a Ceasefire. These are:

⮚             Release of all prisoners and detainees in all the prisons and detention camps in both Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun imprisoned or detained in relation to this conflict;

⮚             Withdrawal of all La Republique forces of occupation from our streets in the Southern Cameroons;

⮚             Allow a safe travel of all Southern Cameroonians in the diaspora to return home without fear of death, arrest, harassment;

⮚             Commit to an Independent Internationally Mediated Negotiations in a neutral venue agreed to by both parties.

Since then however, we have not heard from them. It is our thinking that Mr Biya wanted to use that faulty strategy to buy time, hoping to get victory otherwise over our Ambazonian resistance.

You know as much as everyone that this is a farfetched dream. This war cannot be won militarily and this issue cannot be wished away. Ultimately, its root-causes must be addressed. As a peace loving people, we have always been and are open to talks. Given the hurt and pain in our people, the Confidence-building measures have to be enforced. Our people are saying it loud and clear that this be truly resolved now, for we are prepared to resist this black-on-black colonization forever!!!

Emergence: Today the international community is also taking note of abuses of the secessionists. To you is that a reversal?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: Point of correction! There are no Secessionists in the conflict between the people of Southern Cameroons and the system of La République du Cameroun. Let it be clear again that we are not “Secessionists”. Secessionists are people who want to break a part of one country.

Ours is a history of two nations; one got its independence on the 1st of January 1960 and the other on the 1st of October 1961 – 21 months later. These two have never been one, for there is no “Act of Union” between them. The Constitutive Act of the African Union charter is abundantly clear on this issue. Each country’s boundaries were frozen as at the date of its independence. When La Republique du Cameroun (LRC) got its independence on 1st January 1960, the Southern Cameroons was not part of it – on the 1st of January Buea was not part of La République du Cameroun, neither was Bamenda a part of it. By law we have never been part of it.

Unfortunately, it has become clear that we were simply invaded and occupied on the night of the 30th of September 1961. Thereafter, a foreign Constitution and governance was imposed on us!!! We are restoring our nationhood and not seceding from our nation of Southern Cameroons. How can we be seceding from La République du Cameroun to which we’ve never belonged?

Emergence: Since 2016, there has been an end to schooling in the NoSo, murders, arsons, economic failure. Are you satisfied with this record? Aren’t you tired of the blood that flows continuously while your demands are not even recognized by the state?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: We don’t like this hurting reference to us as “NoSo”, it is one of those dehumanizing colonial name tags labelled on our people.

For the records, LRC military has been committing genocide in the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia since Mr Biya declared war on our people on the 30th November 2017. The atrocities the LRC military is causing are alarming. The “No School” Principle is a logical response to the mayhem caused by this declared and enforced war. How can we encourage people to go to school when a war is raging? Who would take responsibility for any life cut short in a cross-fire? What is the urgency of going to school when teachers and pupils/students are being arrested, tortured and killed by Cameroun Government forces!!! Come and do a head count of all the Ambazonians incarcerated, displaced and killed and see for yourself the reality!!! When the time is right, we shall make up for lost time. It will all be worth it when we put in place the World class system of education we are designing for our people to replace the existing neocolonial contraption designed to keep us psychologically, politically, economically and developmentally subjugated to an unprogressive and decadent system!!

Diabolically there’s a lot of torture, maiming, rapes and forced disappearances of our people … so far this war has caused:- 32,500+ civilians killed, the burning of over 500 villages, the displacement of over 1.4 million people and more than 3,000 people including children and pregnant women are in various prisons, detention and torture centres in our Homeland and LRC. Notwithstanding the pain they are inflicting on us as a people, nothing will deter us from the quest for a free and independent Ambazonia. When the time comes for us to roll out our educational plan, you will understand. When we shall pickup, Ambazonia will be a hub for education, technology and trade amongst other things. You will testify what your eyes will see and your ears will hear. Our education shall make Life decent.

Emergence: The new American administration has promised to be more involved in the Anglophone crisis. What are your expectations from this new administration?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: We congratulate President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their victory during the November 2020 elections. We envy the people of America for having built strong Institutions. They have proven to the world that strong Institutions are the bedrock of democracy. Without cultivating lion men, we shall emulate America in building our democracy. We appreciate President Biden’s Administration for taking note of our plight and the gross Human Rights abuses/genocide being meted on our people. Self determination is a Fundamental Right that can’t be denied a people.

The people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia have spoken. We want a free and independent Ambazonia – checkout the Tumi survey of 2019 in which 69% of our people people said they want out, the CDN 2020 survey in which 86% of our people opted out of this unfortunate cohabitation. We appreciate the American Congress and Senate for the bilateral Senate Resolution 684 that was passed on the 1st of January 2021, interestingly sixty-one years to the day after the LRC independence. We pray that President Biden’s administration should match words with actions by unilaterally evoking the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the Never Again Promise! We also expect the USA to harness support for a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Mandated Independent International Fact-finding Mission to the Southern Cameroons as a necessary first step to addressing the root causes of the conflict. We need to establish responsibility for the atrocities in our land and sanction them accordingly.

Emergence: The secessionist camp is also profoundly divided. Does this not weaken your cause?

If by “Secessionists” you are still referring to Ambazonians, then my elucidation earlier should make you now understand and know that we are “Restorationists” and not secessionists as you and others want us to be seen. If you have any treaty or convention which sanctioned Southern Cameroons as part of La Republique du Cameroun kindly brandish it. Until then, we have not been and will never be part of La Republique du Cameroun.

Now to answer your question, all Ambazonians have a common goal which is to restore the Statehood of the Southern Cameroons. We may have differences in opinion or approach in this our journey to Buea; so were Moses, Miriam and Aaron in Israel’s March to their Promised land. However, we are united in purpose, determined, focused and steadfast in our goal. This unity of purpose is unbreakable and incontestable. Don’t be deceived to focus on the division within us. Difference of opinion is the pivot of democratic culture within our people since 1953, with attendant checks and balances. When the time comes the people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia will have one delegation made up of Representatives chosen by the people. These delegates will reflect the goal and aspirations of all the various shades of opinions of the good people of Ambazonia.

In Ambazonia, we will not eliminate the voices of opponents. We know that constructive criticism makes for better nation building.

Emergence: Do you not think that the best option would have been to denounce violence and to engage yourselves to continue your fight through nonviolent methods as it was the case with SCNC?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: The people of Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia are uniquely peace loving People. By our birth, nature and culture, we are a non violent people. Our patience with LRC for 60 years is a testimony of our incredible tolerance, understanding and patience. The coward of the country bore it for 20 years and it all bottled-up inside him. Continous provocation and injustice leads to eventual resistance. Those who reject peaceful resolution of issues make violent redress unavoidable. For your records, we are not and have not been violent at any time in our history as a people. When we are dissatisfied, we culturally and civilly will carry peace plants to demonstrate our protest, as was the case in 2016 and 2017. Instead of listening to our grievances, the LRC system declared war on us on the 30th November 2017. The army was let out to unleash arson and genocide with war weapons and helicopter gunships on us! Mr Biya’s declaration of war was well directed and it is being executed as we speak. In October 2020 after the Kumba Massacres, we heard his Minister of Territorial Administration, Mr Paul Atanga Nji say it clearly that “the government has monopoly of violence” and they have remained consistently violent despite worldwide calls for ceasefire and a Mediated Dialogue. LRC Military have commit numerous massacres; Ngarbuh, Muyuka, Ekona, Pinyin, Mautu, Ekondo-titi and Mbonge of recent, to mention but a few.

We are a peace loving people and are barely acting in Self Defense against an occupier committing genocide on our territory. The SCNC is still active. It has existed and expressed an opinion which was the wisdom of its time. Their mantra of “the force of argument; Not the argument of force” has always been met by violence and killings!!! The record of abuses on our people speaks for themselves. Evidently LRC’s mission was to exterminate the Ambazonians and claim their territory. The day Mr Biya declares a Ceasefire; he would have decided to stop this genocidal campaign in Ambazonia. If he orders his army to stop the war, the war will end!! However, if he continues, our people shall defend ourselves and our territory to the last man standing …this is as sure as “day following night”!!!

Emergence: What do you think is the role of France in this crisis since she is being accused of supporting the regime in Yaoundé in this war.

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe:  Testimonies of French involvement in the Rwandan Genocide abound and more are still being revealed. These have forced France to open her archives to the public. Let’s wait and see. In time, the evil of the country that is abode to the Notre Dame Cathedral will be revealed. A few days back, a Chinese official indicted France for its role in Genocides across the globe. Review the history of all French colonies and their current relationship. It is all marked with regrets, grief and melancholy. We know France and Britain were active in the misfortune that befell our people in 1961. Are they accomplices to the genocide and ethnic cleansing being meted on us today? Time will tell! There are undoubtedly some invisible hands behind our plight. An April 2020 Oxford University Faculty of Law Research paper, indicts France, Britain, China, Canada, the World Bank and IMF as direct accomplices to this genocide for economic reasons. French colonised nations seem to be amongst the most backward and dependent in Africa. Ambazonia shall have diplomatic relations with France based on mutual regard, like with all other nations guided by respect for each other’s dignity and requisite international norms! Ambazonia shall not do vendetta!!!

Emergence: It is known that the Cardinal was very involved in the resolution of the crisis in NW/SW Regions. What memories do you have of him?

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: Cardinal Christian Tumi is a brother who served the Catholic Church and his Community with total devotion and Commitment. Like him, many of our people are serving the same Church in various capacities all over the world; go to Tchad, Nigeria, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, France, USA, Rome itself and you will be amazed at the dedication and sacrifices of these men and women of God. Yet his demise sent shock waves across the world because of the ignominy and humiliation with which his mortal remains was treated. This is similar to what happened to the remains of another brother, Hon Mbah Ndam who was Member of LRC Parliament and Vice President of the CEMAC Parliament!! If these high-profile brothers are treated in this cavalier fashion, what fate is reserved for the rest of our people? The measure of a country is also seen in how the life and remains of its citizens are handled. We have not forgotten the shabby treatment they gave our forefathers like Augustine Ngom Jua, Pa Nanga, Dr EML Endeley, Hon Fonka Shang, Luke Ananga and even S T Muna and Dr J N Foncha posthumously!!! The LRC system has consistently exposed her pettiness to the weak, poor and dying. Look at the pitiful sight of Prof Gervais Mendo Ze in hospital. How the mighty fall and are forgotten! Cardinal Tumi was and is a noble Ambazonian, Spiritually sound, well cultured, learned, and successful and an erudite priest who died in simplicity. He spent most of his final years attempting, to the best of his will and conscience, to help bring an end to this crisis. He served people, some of whom are comparable to the Chief Priests in the Passion of Christ Jesus!! We love him but God loves him most and needs him now. May his soul rest in peace. Ambazonians and people of the world miss him. Maybe his role in this would have been more evident. We wish he lived long enough to see the end of this crisis! Like Christ, he died on “Good” Friday. What message does this tell us? We believe that he is now with God our Father. Adieu Cardinal Tumi.

Emergence: Any last words? :

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe: All conflicts end where there were supposed to begin – on the Dialogue Table. It will be the same with this one. It is rather unfortunate that immediately we were brought from Abuja with all of us still bleeding in our arms from handcuff wounds, we called for dialogue and an immediate end to the war Cameroun had declared, and nobody listened. During our unenviable, sometimes nocturnal, encounters with the investigators and interrogators since the infamous SED, we have maintained our stance for a dialogue as the only way out of this impasse!!! Mr Biya has the power to stop this baseless, senseless Genocidal war. There is no military victory in sight for LRC. We are divinely bound to be neighbours. There is no need to continue to nurture bitterness, the memory of which shall condition our relationship tomorrow.

To the International Community, the Responsibility to Protect and the Never Again promise should not only be lip service. We need action now to avoid the worst. As a first step to resolve the conflict based on its root causes, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should Mandate an Independent International Fact Finding Mission to the Southern Cameroons as a matter of urgency. The world should rise against LRC as it did when Iraq invaded Kuwait!!!

To my fellow people of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia, where ever they are; in the bushes in the homeland, in refugee camps, IDP/EDP camps, or diaspora, our condolences go to all those who have lost loved ones. We encourage everyone to be strong, remain determined, courageous and steadfast. Our freedom and the independence of our homeland is priceless. The road may be dreary but the end is in sight. For the sake of future generations, we rose up in 2016 and made our stand. There is no turning back now. We must defend our emancipation with determination, commitment and courage. With God being our helper, we will emerge victorious and join the community of prosperous nations. Amen.

Thank you

Chief Inoni Ephraim: Former Crime Minister mulls asylum in Europe

12, April 2021

Chief Inoni Ephraim: Former Crime Minister mulls asylum in Europe 0

It is normal these days for chiefs in Cameroon to seek asylum in other places in the country, especially chiefs in the two English-speaking regions of the country who have been chased away by Southern Cameroonian separatists who view them as black legs, as well as desperate and hungry creatures who are at the beck and call of a government whose hallmarks are corruption and total indifference to the plight of the suffering population.

But Chief Inoni Ephraim of Bakingili, a former Prime Minister and a ruling party stalwart is taking the notion of asylum to a whole new level.

The beleaguered former Prime Minister, who is still a convict in Cameroon and is currently hiding in a mid-level apartment in France after his medical treatment, is having thoughts that may cause his former boss, the “evil God of Etoudi” to turn off the financial tap that has kept him going in Europe.

Mr. Inoni who had spent almost a decade in the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison for his involvement in the purchase of a defective aircraft for Mr. Biya, the “evil God of Etoudi”, was evacuated to France for him to have world-class healthcare after he developed multiple health issues due to poor prison conditions and the humiliation he and his family are still going through.

Though not totally healthy, the former Prime Minister who told his fellow Southwesterners that Cameroon was the best country in the world and that the Biya regime was  an oasis of human rights in Africa, is now thinking of seeking asylum in Europe, a source close to the desperate Prime Minister has informed the Cameroon Concord News Group.

The source, which has elected anonymity, said that the rapid depreciation and unfortunate death of Professor Gervais Mendo Ze, a one-time fanatical supporter of the ruling crime syndicate and a worshipper of the country’s president, Paul Biya, has caused Mr. Inoni to lose sleep.

The source added that Mr. Inoni who has been suffering from nightmares ever since Professor Gervais Mendo Ze died, has lost appetite and weight to the point where his family is concerned.

“Inoni, who was once a key member of the Biya regime, is full of regrets. The death of Prof. Mendo Ze has left him worried and it makes him feel that he might be the next,” the source said.

“His family is really worried and a close relative in Europe gave away the chief’s secret by saying that if he sought asylum in Europe, he could finally cut of the umbilical cord that firmly holds him to the devilish and incompetent regime that is destroying its own people,” the source added.

“Chief Inoni is almost 80 and he might be the oldest person to ever sick asylum in Europe for political reasons. This will really be ridiculous as he might not have the resources to sustain himself in Europe where life is very expensive,” the source said.

“Inoni should muster courage and return home where he could be allowed to return to his native Bakingili. Biya has a way of ridiculing his collaborators and from every indication, Inoni has had his fair share of humiliation and Biya knows that he will never speak up or speak out against his government,” the source stressed.

“Biya is very Machiallian. He knows how to keep his collaborators in check. He has put all of them on a diet of fear and many are losing weight to ensure that the ‘monarch’ does not see them as living better than they should. Though most of them know that Biya is old, tired and weak, they prefer to err on the side of caution,” he said.

“Biya has created a bunch of brutal pitbulls around him and those wicked pitbulls are ready and willing to bring down anybody who is not playing by their rules. The examples of Mendo Ze, Mebe Ngoh, and other former ministers languishing in the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison are constant reminders to any free radicals who may have presidential ambitions or whose views are not in lockstep with the monarch’s prescriptions, the source concluded.

But Inoni is still weighing his chances, though his family lawyer has advised him against seeking asylum which will not only cut him off government funds. Seeking asylum will also dent his reputation out of shape. Staying in Europe will be synonymous with acknowledging guilt. He who has a clean conscious will never fear any accusations, but the poor conditions in Kondengui have really broken down Inoni who once thought he was irreproachable and untouchable.

Though Yaounde government authorities are always putting on a brave face, many know that the wheel of life could turn against them at anytime. Many hate the way things are playing out, but they cannot talk. If any of them had doubts about what Biya, “the wicked monach” could do, those doubts have evaporated following the unfortunate death of the former CRTV choir master.

If Mendo Ze, the conductor, who sang for Biya like a common nightingale and raised him to the status of a messiah could be brought down like a pack of old cards, then anybody could be left for death in the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison. Nobody is above Biya’s malicious schemes. He is an old man who knows he will be exiting the world very soon, but does not want to go down alone. He is determined to destroy anything in his path before he yields to the inevitable.

Inoni must therefore weigh his options. He had chosen his side as a young man. He had decide to side with the devil where he occupied many senior positions. It would therefore be wise for him to stick to his decision to the end, if not, his family will soon be crying like Mendo Ze’s family.

Mendo Ze’s case is certainly not the worst and not the first. The outrage is just because of the graphic images that were brought to the world via social media.

Jerome Mendouga, a one-time Cameroon Ambassador to the United States, was also arrested and jailed at the Yaounde Maximum Security Prison for participating in the purchase of a defective aircraft for Paul Biya. He developed multiple illnesses while in jail. A mercy heart attack put him out of his misery.

His family has never recovered from the pain and though they are not talking publicly, they have vowed that they would never forgive Mr. Biya who sent their father, brother and husband to an early grave.

Pictures of Mr. Mendouga’s emaciated and ailing body were never brought to the world because android phones were not as developed as they are today and the Internet was not part of the prison infrastructure. The country has simply moved on and Mendouga and his unfortunate fate have simply become a footnote in the country’s destructive history.

The examples are legion. Former Prime Minister Inoni should think twice before he acts. The devil has already shown him some of his colors and it is up to him to take the right decision.

While Cameroonians dislike the pain Biya is inflicting on his former collaborators, they are not really sympathetic with this bunch of greedy people who have aided and abetted a regime that has transformed the country into an open-air cemetery.

Those who are languishing in jail clearly deserve their fate. In the 1990s, these former ministers hailed Mr. Biya while he was crushing his opponents, especially those who were members of opposition parties.

Today, the knife has turned inwards and even   members of Mr. Biya’s inner circle are having a tough time sleeping. Inoni should take his punishment in stride. He should know that wherever he goes to seek asylum, Cameroonians will show up with documents and pictures to demonstrate that he was a key architect of this government that has sent thousands of Cameroonians to an early grave.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Paris

A Review of Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai’s Masterpiece – Light of Reason, Light of Faith

11, April 2021

A Review of Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai’s Masterpiece – Light of Reason, Light of Faith 0

Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai, Light of Reason, Light of Faith: Joseph Ratzinger and the German Enlightenment (Indiana: ST. Augustine’s Press, 2021). 403 pp. $45, ISBN 9781587314667.

In all epochs of the Church’s life, Christian apologists and intellectuals have consistently responded to challenges and questions posed to the faith of the Church.  In the early Church, the teachings of Gnostics and heretics such as Marcion, Celsus, and Donatus Magnus were countered by authentic orthodox Christian apologies by Tertullian, Origen, and Augustine of Hippo, inter alia. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, triggered by Martin Luther’s “95 Theses” against the Catholic Church on October 31, 1517, caused great turmoil in the Church and beyond. By placing the Holy Bible and Aquinas’ Summa Theologica on an altar in Trent (1545-1563), the Council Fathers offered a systematic response to the theological innovations championed by Luther and other high-voltage reformers. In the Counter-Reformation Church, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the Dominicans intellectually engaged the propositions of the reformers. It was therefore only right for one of the most articulate teachers of the faith in the person of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI to consistently engage the Enlightenment, especially the German Enlightenment, whose legacy is only becoming more disturbing, especially in the contemporary Western world.

Fr. Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai’s master class, Light of Reason, Light of Faith: Joseph Ratzinger and the German Enlightenment, offers a critically fascinating account of Ratzinger’s engagement with the German strand of the Enlightenment – the Aufklärung. “Reason” was the prime currency of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment movement that swept across Europe. That is why its motto was “dare to use your reason” (Sapare Aude). As a result, Enlightenment figures such as René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Friedrich Nietzsche callously attempted to explain the faith of the Church from a purely rationalistic way. They attacked the revealed faith of the Church and proposed a speculative rational faith. Revealed faith was seen as a hindrance to human freedom, especially considering that liberté was one of the slogans of the French Revolution. Fr. Maurice cogently examines the thoughts of the leading Enlightenment figures vis-à-vis Ratzinger’s responses over more than four decades to some of their claims. Some of the propositions enunciated by the Enlightenment are still of grave concern to the Church today. For instance, Immanuel Kant places God in the realm of the noumena because, according to him, God’s existence cannot be justified based on reason. Kant rejects the possibility of the existence of God under the notion that God is not accessible to human beings. Since the noumena cannot be accessed through theoretical reason, Kant rejects the demonstration of God’s existence by speculative or theoretical reasoning. Through his Categorical Imperatives, Kant sees a pathway through which humankind can act and subsist morally in a way that neither God nor religion is required (p.334).

Friedrich Nietzsche postulated the “death of God.” According to Hegel, the enlightenment motto “dare to use your reason” meant use your reason to arrive at the consciousness of God inside the human person. For Hegel, God emerges when the self is no longer antithetical to/with the Other. Hegel calls this process absolute knowing. This absolute knowing or absolute idea is God (p.193). God is not extrinsic to the human being. Such philosophical speculations about God and the faith of the Church are of urgent concern to Joseph Ratzinger. This is why Fr. Maurice writes, “To Ratzinger, the Aufklärung marked an enduring criticism of revealed faith, a critique that the Church must continue to engage and respond to, for it touched on the fundamental relationship between faith and reason, between the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God of the philosophers” (p.1). Being one of the most theologically and philosophically savvy popes in the history of the Church, Ratzinger understands fully well the enduring legacy of the Aufklärung in the Western world today. The atheism, secularism, indifference, and hostility toward Christianity in large sectors of the Western world today definitely trace their origins to the Enlightenment movement of the eighteenth century. The author acknowledges this fact when he writes: “To Benedict, therefore, the criticisms meted against Christianity by the Aufklärung are not dated, but continue to be relevant, especially given the pervasive influence of the Aufklärung in the post-Aufklärung culture, as seen in the anonymous Kantians, Hegelians, Feuerbachians, and Nietzscheans, even in the pews” (p.2). It is partly due to the Aufklärung that football stadia such as the Emirates Stadium, Santiago Bernabéu, Allianz Arena, Anfield, and Old Trafford are now the new religious basilicas in the West. Therefore, engaging the Enlightenment and her offshoots is an urgent pastoral necessity for Joseph Ratzinger. This is why in her book blurb, the distinguished law professor and diplomat Mary Ann Glendon points out that, “No pope has ever spoken so frequently or fulsomely of the legacy of the Enlightenment as has Pope Benedict XVI.”

Being a considerate person, Joseph Ratzinger repeatedly stressed and highlighted the positives of the Enlightenment thought. Fr. Maurice writes, “Ratzinger is not interested in rolling back the objectively good gains of the Aufklärung, such as the value of human rationality in moral discernment” (p.4). However, the overarching aim of Ratzinger’s dialogue with the Enlightenment is to reconcile the God of the philosophers and the God of faith (p.91). It is to harness and use the Aufklärung in explicating the faith of the Church. In A Turning Point for Europe? (1991), Joseph Ratzinger succinctly explained the raison d’être for his sustained engagement with the Aufklärung, “One must not only recognize the positive elements of the Aufklärung and contemporary culture, but must continue to bring the insights of faith, revealed faith, to bear on the present order to open the path to the future” (p.23). Unlike Tertullian, Ratzinger cherished a dance between Athens and Jerusalem/faith and reason.

Fr. Maurice’s book is a veritable contribution to understanding the theology of Joseph Ratzinger and the Enlightenment movement. The work truly fills some regrettable gaps in the study of the theology of Ratzinger. In the Foreword to the book, Emery de Gaál asserts, “preoccupation with Aufklärung is an underlying, constantly recurring sostenuto and leitmotif in Ratzinger’s thinking” (x). However, he rightly points out that the term is not treated by secondary literature on Ratzinger and it is not even listed as an entry in the anthology of important terms in Ratzinger’s theology Ratzinger/Benedikt XVI, Kleines ABC des Glaubens. Light of Reason, Light of Faith fills this lacuna (x-xi).

Light of Reason, Light of Faith is a well-researched, picturesque, written book. It is a book written by someone who genuinely and passionately loves his subject matter. The author is thoroughly immersed in the profound encounter between a living “Doctor of the Church” and the Aufklärung and its offshoots. It is a culmination of over two decades of research, scholarship, and reflection on the path of the author. The author first mentioned his love and admiration of the theology Joseph Ratzinger to me in the streets of Jinja, Uganda in 2004, “Giovanni, I really love Ratzinger’s theology of creation”. Our discussion of this subject matter continued in Nairobi, Kenya (2006-2009) and in Boston (2018-). Being an academic myself, I have not come across a personal library with the amount of resources in Ratzingerian theology and Enlightenment figures like that of the author. As a result, the amount of secondary literature used in the book is impressive. As the renowned Professor Peter Kreeft mentions in his book blurb, “Like Ratzinger himself, Father Agbaw-Ebai’s writing is dense and deep but well worth the effort required to engage it.”

By John Tanyi (Church Historian)

Real Madrid go top of La Liga after beating Barcelona 2-1 in ‘Clasico’

11, April 2021

Real Madrid go top of La Liga after beating Barcelona 2-1 in ‘Clasico’ 0

Real Madrid beat rivals Barcelona 2-1 at home in an entertaining, rain-soaked ‘Clasico’ on Saturday to go top of La Liga.

Karim Benzema put the champions in charge at a soggy Alfredo di Stefano stadium with a delightful backheel in the 14th minute while a deflected Toni Kroos free kick doubled their lead in the 28th.

Barca hit back on the hour mark through Oscar Mingueza and the defender almost found the equaliser later on, while the Catalans had a huge penalty appeal waved away when Martin Braithwaite fell following a challenge by Ferland Mendy.

Real midfielder Casemiro was sent off in stoppage time for picking up two yellow cards in the space of a minute while Barca substitute Ilaix Moriba hit the crossbar in the fourth minute of added time.

The hosts survived the nail-biting finish to complete a sensational week after beating Liverpool 3-1 in a Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.

Zinedine Zidane’s side joined Atletico Madrid on 66 points and moved top of the table, although Atletico can reclaim first place when they visit Real Betis on Sunday. Barca dropped to third on 65.

(REUTERS)

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