Headline News

27, January 2021

Global tally of Covid-19 cases surpasses 100 million as new strains emerge ⁰

More than 100 million Covid-19 cases have now been recorded worldwide, according to an AFP tally on Tuesday, as newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden pledged to ramp up the United States’s struggling vaccine program.

The number of cases, compiled from data provided by national health agencies, represents just a fraction of the real infections as the coronavirus has spread around the globe.

The United States, which passed 25 million confirmed cases last weekend, remains the country with the largest outbreak — and the largest death toll of over 420,000.

Biden is seeking to turn around the fight against the virus, which took a ferocious grip on the country during Donald Trump’s presidency when the risks were downplayed and officials gave mixed messages on mask-wearing and socialising.

Biden said vaccinating the entire US population was a daunting challenge, and the program inherited from the Trump administration “was in worse shape than we anticipated or expected.”

“This is a war-time undertaking. It’s not hyperbole,” he said, announcing the US was buying an additional 200 million doses and will have enough to vaccinate 300 million Americans — virtually the entire population — by early fall.

In another day of grim milestones, Britain surged past 100,000 Covid-19 deaths, and other European nations looked to tighten their borders, hoping to keep out new, more transmissible virus strains.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “hard to compute” the loss felt by British families after his country became the first European country to surpass 100,000 Covid-19 deaths.

But he said his government, which faced criticism over its initial response to the outbreak, “did everything that we could to minimise suffering and minimise loss of life.”

‘Drastic measures’

The UK has struggled to counter a brutal third wave blamed on a new variant that emerged there before Christmas before spreading to dozens of countries around the world.

Neighboring Ireland said Tuesday it would enact mandatory travel quarantines for the first time, as well extending its third national lockdown until March 5.

Among other European nations looking to strengthen border controls was Germany, which said it is considering almost completely halting flights into the country.

“The danger from the numerous virus mutations forces us to consider drastic measures,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild newspaper.

Iceland meanwhile started to issue vaccination certificates to ease travel for those who have had both required doses.

The new measures came as anger rises over grinding anti-coronavirus restrictions, with the Netherlands rocked by nightly riots since it imposed a curfew on Saturday.

More than 400 people were arrested after the worst unrest to hit the country in four decades, but the Dutch government said it would not back down.

“You don’t capitulate to people who smash shop windows,” Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra said, calling the rioters “scum.”

Israeli police also clashed with protesters, arresting 14 people after ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated against lockdown measures.

With the global death toll at 2.1 million, the world has looked to vaccines to break the gloom, but bickering over access to doses has intensified.

Tensions have in particular mounted between the European Union and pharmaceutical firms over delays to deliveries.

“Europe invested billions to help develop the world’s first Covid-19 vaccines,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told the virtual World Economic Forum (WEF). “And now, the companies must deliver. They must honour their obligations.”

‘Vaccine nationalism’

Europe’s vaccination campaign stumbled after British-Swedish drugs company AstraZeneca warned it would not be able to meet promised targets on EU shipments — a week after US group Pfizer said it was also delaying delivery volumes.

AstraZeneca’s CEO insisted Tuesday that the company was not selling vaccines ordered by the EU to other countries at a profit.

The widening gap for vaccine supplies between rich and poor countries led both South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to lash out at “vaccine nationalism.”

Ramaphosa told the WEF that low- and middle-income countries were being shouldered aside by wealthier nations able to acquire “up to four times what their population needs.”

The row over access to vaccines at the WEF — normally held at the Swiss ski resort of Davos — comes as the pandemic compounds economic inequality.

Despite Lebanon being under one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, father-of-six Omar Qarhani told AFP he was still selling vegetables on the side of a road in Tripoli because he is desperate to support his family.

“I’m not scared of corona — what scares me is being in need and poverty,” he said.

Brazil banned flights from South Africa — both countries have their own new variants — while virus deaths in Mexico passed the 150,000 mark on Monday just a day after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he tested positive.

The IMF now predicts a “cumulative output loss” of $22 trillion — the equivalent of the entire US economy — over 2020-25.

Nevertheless, optimism that vaccines will bring the pandemic under control and allow economic activity to resume, coupled with stimulus in major economies, boosted the IMF’s growth forecast this year to 5.5 percent.

(AFP)

27, January 2021

Biya and the Atangana-Titus Edzoa affair billions ⁰

The Biya regime freed a French businessman whose 17-year imprisonment on corruption charges became a source of tension between the two countries and drew appeals from the then French President François Hollande and the UN human rights agency.

Michel Thierry Atangana was released from jail in the capital, Yaoundé and his family, lawyers and many political observers have maintained that his arrest and imprisonment were purely political.

Today, Michel Thierry Atangana, the so-called French businessman of Cameroonian origin who spent 17 years behind bars in Cameroon, is battling Yaoundé to extract 57bn CFA francs (€86m) in compensation over a decades-old financing mechanism.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands Atangana had been working in Cameroon on a motorway development project when he was accused of embezzling 1.1 billion CFA francs (90 million euros) of public money alongside former health minister Titus Edzoa.

Before their imprisonment, Edzoa, a former adviser to President Paul Biya, resigned from his cabinet position and announced he would challenge Biya in the 1997 election. Atangana was his campaign manager and at this juncture nothing was mentioned of him being a French citizen in a country where dual nationality is not accepted.

Minister Edzoa Titus and Thierry Atangana were due to complete their initial prison terms in 2012 but new charges were brought against them and both were found guilty and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in October 2013. The decision prompted an outcry from France, the UN rights commission and international rights groups who denounced the trial as unfair and politically motivated.

Atangana and Edzoa have always denied the allegations against them.

The release of the two came after the French government forced Biya to sign a special decree to pardon a category of prisoners – those sentenced for more than ten years on charges of embezzling public funds – as part of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the reunification of British Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun.

In January 2013, French President François Hollande described Atangana’s detention as “unacceptable” and urged Biya to “push for a solution”.

Reported by Soter Agbaw-Ebai with files from Africa Intelligence and France 24

26, January 2021

Britain in Cameroon COVID-19 Relief Caravan ⁰

In solidarity with the Government of Cameroon’s efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the British High Commission in Yaounde led the British Business Community in Cameroon on a distribution campaign dubbed, “UK in Cameroon COVID-19 Relief Caravan”. The purpose was to handover personal protective equipment (PPE), to over 10,000 persons within semi-urban and rural populations, with focus on vulnerable communities, women and persons living with disability.

This outreach aimed at building resilience in communities through an inclusive strategy of community mobilisation, donation of personal preventive equipment and sensitising/ educating communities in an effort to support the national strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Cameroon.

The British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Rowan Laxton said:

The coronavirus pandemic is a global public health emergency. The disease is life-threatening for people of all ages everywhere in the world. To help save lives and provide support, the UK Government and the British Business Community in Cameroon, together with our implementation partner, Local Youth Corner (LOYOC), is organising a nationwide COVID-19 Relief Caravan.

The Caravan will reach out to some semi-urban and rural areas in the country and touch persons with disabilities. Women and girls will be particularly targeted. We hope the Caravan will also raise awareness on the importance of inclusion and solidarity towards those experiencing great difficulty in these trying times. Please stay safe!

Source: Gov.uk

26, January 2021

Doing Business with Africa’s Hitler: New Age receives approval from Biya to apply for a new Etinde exploitation agreement ⁰

New Age has received formal approval from Cameroon’s government to apply for a new Etinde Exploitation Agreement (EEA) for the Etinde offshore license.

The existing EEA came into force by presidential decree in January 2015.

According to New Age’s partner Bowleven, the new EEA would cover production of hydrocarbons, including delivery of gas to thermal power plants or other projects confirmed by the state.

The decision followed discussions with the state oil and gas company, Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH).

Eli Chahin, CEO of Bowleven, said: “This is very positive news for the Etinde development, as it essentially eliminates the possibility of the government of Cameroon removing the Etinde license from the JV partners, following the end of the initial six-year development implementation period in January 2021.”

Bowleven expects the partners to take a final investment decision on the license later this year.

Source: Offshore-mag.com

26, January 2021

Southern Cameroons genocide: 4 teenagers killed as Cameroon gov’t soldiers open fire in Bamenda ⁰

Four young people were killed when Cameroon government army soldiers opened fire at Meta Quarters, a key site in Bamenda, witnesses said, as the Biya Francophone government sought to end the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

Several witnesses, gathered along the main road in the neighborhood, said that pickup trucks arrived shortly after 2:00 pm on Saturday, January 23, 2021 and soldiers began to fire tear gas and then bullets. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people had been killed, but each of the witnesses said they saw four bodies on the road.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that three of the four victims, Ngalim Alucious, Ntakah Nelly Mbah, and Sale Sadam reportedly came from Old Town to visit family relations while the fourth, Brian, was a Meta Quarters resident.

We understand the army revealed in a statement that soldiers found the teenagers smoking weed in an uncompleted building.

“The government in Yaoundé has sent the army to come and kill us and our children and grand children,” said an 86-year-old woman.

The North West governor’s office referred questions about the killings to the police commissioner in Bamenda, who couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

The constant killing of civilians in Southern Cameroons and the decision to use military force to quell the Ambazonia uprising has moved politics in the two Cameroons into an uncertain phase.

On Thursday, May 28, 2020, the Cameroon government military conducted an offensive raid around the neighborhood of Upper Bunduma, Buea, which led to the killing of four unarmed young men, according to the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA.

The people of Bakweri Town, Sandpit area in Buea, on Monday, July 30, 2018, experienced one of their greatest horrors when masked elements of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) moved into Bakweri Town and massacred youths, took some away several teenagers and executed them in neighboring Muea.

On September 27, 2018, Cameroon government soldiers arrested six young men around Babouti quarters in Buea Town in the early hours of the morning before shooting them dead. A stray bullet caught a seventh person, an elderly man who gave up the ghost.

By Fon Lawrence with files

26, January 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Atanga Nji Militia’s deadly PSS Mankon attacks ⁰

In the early hours of Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd January, about 21 gunmen from the Atanga Nji Militia stormed PSS Mankon boarding school. The attackers attempted to lock the dormitories and later on set it on fire.

Yaoundé has already blamed the incident on Southern Cameroons Self Defense Forces but people in the know in Bamenda are saying the attacks were carried out in an area protected by government troops.

Some 60 girls and 73 boys were rushed out of the dormitories. Our correspondent in Bamenda revealed at the time of filing this report that three female students sustained life threatening injuries.

A source at the North West governor’s office that spoke to Cameroon Concord News but sued for anonymity said elements of the Cameroon government Army Rescue were in PSS Mankon on Saturday night at the time of the action and came under attack from Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

There are conflicting reports as to which side should be held responsible for Saturday’s attacks with the pro Biya Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, Rt. Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba saying “the source of the fire is yet to be ascertained”.

The office of the Southern Cameroons Vice President is maintaining a kind of deliberate silence on the matter and no Ambazonia group has claimed responsibility.

In a statement the Moderator noted that “Two separate fire incidences at the campus of PSS Mankon on Friday, 22nd and Saturday 23rd January 2021 affected three dormitories and the property of some students. The students in the affected dormitories have been relocated and the Proprietor, in collaboration with the Education Secretary and the administration of the school, is doing everything possible to ensure that affected students are well catered for.”

A beaming Senior Divisional Officer for Mezam, Simon Emile Mooh has ordered the Mayor of Bamenda II to begin reconstruction of the boys ‘dormitory while the Mayor of Bafut is to focus on the girls’.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

26, January 2021

Bundes: Far-right AfD braces for surveillance ⁰

Germany’s domestic security agency is on the verge of announcing whether the far-right AfD will be placed under surveillance for posing a threat to democracy, dealing a potential blow to the anti-immigration party in a key election year.

After a two-year investigation and a report totalling over 1,000 pages, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) is to decide in the coming days if the Alternative for Germany (AfD) will be classed as a “suspected case” over its ties to right-wing extremism.

The classification would allow intelligence agents to shadow the party, tap its communications and possibly use undercover informants.

The anti-Islam, anti-immigration AfD has often courted controversy by calling for Germany to stop atoning for its World War II crimes. Senior figure Alexander Gauland once described the Nazi era as just “a speck of bird poo” on German history.

The BfV’s decision comes at a sensitive time for the AfD. While it is the largest opposition party in parliament, it has seen its ratings fall as the pandemic has kept the spotlight firmly on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition parties.

AfD leader Joerg Meuthen has vowed to take legal action if the BfV decides to begin surveillance, accusing the government-run agency of playing politics in what pundits have dubbed a “super election year” in Germany.

The AfD faces six regional elections this year and a general election on September 26, the first in over 15 years that won’t feature Merkel.

The first regional test will come with state polls in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate on March 14, where support for the AfD is hovering around 10 percent.

– Radical ‘Wing’ –

The AfD started out at as an anti-euro outfit in 2013 before capitalising on public anger over Merkel’s 2015 decision to allow in a wave of asylum seekers from conflict-torn countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The AfD took nearly 13 percent of the vote in the 2017 general election, allowing it to make its debut in the German Bundestag.

But the party has long been locked in an internal battle between an extremist faction and populist, conservative members who are wary of scaring off mainstream voters.

Germany’s domestic intelligence service already placed a radical fringe of the party, known as The Wing, under surveillance last year over its association with known neo-Nazis and on suspicion of violating the constitution.

The faction, led by firebrand Bjoern Hoecke, dissolved itself last March but many of its 7,000 members remain active in the AfD.

“This gives rise to doubts about whether they really lost influence,” Der Spiegel weekly said.

Hoecke, the AfD’s leader in Thuringia state, famously referred to Germany’s Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as “a monument of shame” and has called for a “180 degree reversal” in the country’s remembrance culture.

The AfD’s Thuringia branch and another one in Brandenburg have also been designated as “suspected cases” of right-wing extremism by the BfV.

The authorities’ concern about the AfD has grown after the country suffered a string of right-wing, anti-Semitic attacks in recent years. The risk of violence from Germany’s far-right scene is now considered the country’s top threat.

AfD chief Meuthen has struggled to rein in the party’s more radical figures, telling a congress in November that they would not win over voters by being “increasingly crude, aggressive”.

He also rubbished comparisons of the current coronavirus restrictions with a “dictatorship”, as AfD lawmaker Gauland had done.

Nevertheless, more than a few of the AfD’s 35,000 members are believed to harbour extremist sympathies.

One of them, Andreas Kalbitz, was the head of the AfD in Brandenburg before he was kicked out for hiding his past membership in a neo-Nazi youth group.

“The AfD could be declared a suspected case because it is dominated by the radical wing of the party, whose influence has only grown in recent months,” Hajo Funke, a political scientist at Berlin’s Free University, told AFP.

As for the party’s chances at the ballot box in 2021, Funke said “endless” infighting had left the AfD without clear policies, settling instead on “simply saying the opposite of whatever the government proposes”.

Source: AFP

26, January 2021

Old men, old office, old powers: Biya, Mbasogo, Museveni and others ⁰

It is true that Africa is the home to many of the world’s longest-ruling heads of state. According to Claire Felter, some postcolonial leaders in the 1960s and 1970s sought to become “president for life,” with several managing to remain in power for three or more terms. Yet today, by the dawn of 2021, it is still quite pathetic that the trend of enrooted leadership had propagated like the gospel of Jesus Christ across the region, instigating corruption, vice, debauchery, political unrest, economic instability, societal fractures, and many more.

Just 16 January 2021, the electoral commission of Uganda announced that Museveni won re-election for a sixth term with 58.6% of the vote. For the umpteenth time, promoting long rulership in Africa is still actively surviving, while mending this, we still expect, more compelling leadership in Africa. Wherein, this piece shall take a look at the Oldest and longest actively serving Presidents in Africa.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – Equatorial Guinea

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo is the 2nd president of Equatorial Guinea since August 1979. He ousted his uncle, Francisco Macías Nguema in a military coup that took place in August 1979 and has overseen Equatorial Guinea’s emergence as an important oil producer, beginning in the 1990s. Nguema Mbasogo is the second-longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world.

According to The Economist, the Equatorial Guinea leader has been widely accused of corruption and abuse of power. In marked contrast to the trend toward democracy in most of Africa, Equatorial Guinea is currently a dominant-party state, in which Obiang’s Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) holds virtually all governing power in the nation.

The constitution provides the 77-year-old Obiang sweeping powers, including the right to rule by decree, effectively making his government a legal dictatorship. Yet more, according to US News, He has held onto power ever since, relying on the repression of political opponents and revenues from the country’s offshore oil reserves.

Paul Barthélemy Biya’a bi Mvondo – Cameroon

Paul Barthélemy Biya’a bi Mvondo also known as Paul Biya has been the Cameroonian president since 6 November 1982. According to Emvana, Michel Roger, He rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, serving as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982.

He succeeded Ahidjo as president upon the latter’s surprise resignation in 1982 and consolidated power in 1983–1984 staged attempted coup in which he eliminated all his rivals. Notes from www.cameroonvoice.com say that Biya introduced political reforms within the context of a one-party system in the 1980s. Under serious pressure, he accepted the introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s.

He won the contentious 1992 presidential election with 40% of the plural, single-ballot vote and was re-elected by large margins in 1997, 2004, 2011 and 2018. Opposition politicians and Western governments have alleged voting irregularities and fraud on each of these occasions. Many independent sources have provided evidence that he did not win the elections in 1992 and that subsequent elections were rampant with fraud. The 87-year-old is today the second-longest-ruling president in Africa (after Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea ), the longest-ruling non-royal leader in the world, and the oldest head-of-state in Africa.

Yoweri Tibuhaburwa Kaguta Museveni – Uganda

Yoweri Tibuhaburwa Kaguta Museveni has been serving as the President of Uganda since 1986. Museveni was involved in rebellions that toppled Ugandan leaders Idi Amin (1971–79) and Milton Obote (1980–85) before he captured power in the 1980s. According to US News, Museveni, 75, declared himself president in January 1986 when he seized Kampala after a five-year guerrilla struggle. The ruling party endorsed him as its candidate in the 2021 election after he scrapped a 75-year age limit that would have barred him from standing again.

Obviously, Museveni’s presidency has been marred by involvement in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other Great Lakes region conflicts; the rebellion in Northern Uganda by the Lord’s Resistance Army, which caused a humanitarian emergency; and the suppression of political opposition and constitutional amendments scrapping presidential term limits (2005) and the presidential age limit (2017). On 16th January 2021, the electoral commission of Uganda announced that Museveni won re-election for a sixth term with 58.6% of the vote.

Denis Sassou Nguesso – Congo

Denis Sassou Nguesso has been President of the Republic of the Congo since 1997. He was previously president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as president, he headed the single-party régime of the Congolese Party of Labour (PCT) for 12 years. Research showed that under pressure from international sources, he introduced multiparty politics in 1990 and was then stripped of executive powers by the 1991 National Conference, remaining in office as a ceremonial head of state.

According to the Reuters, he stood as a candidate in the 1992 presidential election but was defeated, placing third. According to the Reuters, Sassou Nguesso was an opposition leader for five years before returning to power during the Second Civil War (1997–1999), in which his rebel forces ousted President Pascal Lissouba.

Following a transitional period, The 76-year-old won the 2002 presidential election, which involved low opposition participation; he was re-elected in the 2009 presidential election. The introduction of a new constitution, passed by referendum in 2015, enabled Sassou Nguesso to stand for another term. He was re-elected in the 2016 presidential election with a majority in the first round.

Idriss Déby – Chad

Idriss Déby Itno has been the President of Chad since 1990. He took power at the head of a rebellion against President Hissène Habré in December 1990 and has since survived various rebellions and coup attempts against his own rule. He won elections in 1996 and 2001, and after term limits were eliminated he won again in 2006, 2011, and 2016. According to Douglas Farah, he added “Itno” to his surname in January 2006.

He is a graduate of Muammar Gaddafi’s World Revolutionary Center and has been described as authoritarian by several international media sources. Since the 67-year-old man took power at the head of an armed rebellion, he has since abolished presidential term limits in 2005 before reimposing a two-term limit in 2018. It will not be applied retroactively, however, meaning he could serve two terms after the next election in 2021.

Isaias Afwerki – Eritrea

Isaias Afwerki has been the first and current president of Eritrea, a position he has held since after the Eritrean War of Independence in 1993. He led the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in May 1991, ending the 30-year-old war for independence. He has been cited for human rights violations by the United Nations and Amnesty International.

In 2015, Reporters Without Borders ranked Eritrea under the government of Afwerki last in its Press Freedom Index for the eighth year running. Afwerki, 74, since his rule since it gained independence from Ethiopia. There have never been national elections in Eritrea, which rights groups consider one of the most repressive states in the world.

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh – Djibouti

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh has been the current president of Djibouti since 1999. According to CBS News, Guelleh was first elected as President in 1999 as the handpicked successor to his uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon who had ruled Djibouti since independence in 1977. Guelleh was re-elected in 2005, 2011 and again in 2016; the 2011 election was largely boycotted by the opposition amid complaints about widespread irregularities.

Guelleh has been characterized as a dictator, and his rule has been criticized by some human rights groups. Guelleh, 72, was handpicked to succeed his uncle, independence leader Hassan Gouled Aptidon. He was elected to a fourth five-year term in 2016.

Paul Kagame – Rwanda

Very Tall Paul Kagame is the 6th and current president of Rwanda, having taken office in 2000. Kagame previously commanded the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), an Uganda-based rebel force which invaded Rwanda in 1990 and was one of the parties of the conflict during the Rwandan Civil War and the Rwandan genocide.

He was considered Rwanda’s de facto leader when he served as Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu from 1994 to 2000. Kagame, 62, was widely seen as the real power in Rwanda after leading the rebel army that ended the 1994 genocide. He was formally elected president by the national assembly in 2000 and changed the constitution in 2015 to extend term limits, a move that could let him stay in power until 2034.

Culled from Qwenu.com

26, January 2021

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Justice for detained journalist Paul Chouta ⁰

Paul Chouta, an independent journalist and a fierce critic of President Paul Biya’s government in Cameroon, has been detained without trial for more than 600 days – his case having been postponed 16 times. So far, the courts have failed to provide credible reasons as to why they continue to detain him and infringe on his right to freedom from arbitrary detention.

The journey leading to the arrest of the journalist who runs an online news platform, Cameroon Web, and manages a famous Facebook page called Le TGV de l’info, has been long and painful. At one time, Chouta was attacked, beaten and stabbed near his house by unknown people. In 2019, he was detained for what police called publishing defamatory content and fake news. He has been vocal in criticising the government and has written extensively on corruption and police abuse.

Freedom of speech is sacrosanct. As media freedom continues to thin in Cameroon, with journalists being detained without trial, taken to court on frivolous charges, threatened, beaten and even murdered, the international community must amplify the call to the Cameroon government to respect and allow journalists to do their work without fear or favour.

Both the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) have clearly spelled out the right to freedom of expression, and Paul and thousands of other Cameroon journalists must be allowed to unequivocally enjoy that right. The world should demand the immediate release of Paul.

Source: Fairplanet

25, January 2021

Covid-19 pandemic makes rich much richer as poor suffer ⁰

Billionaires including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk have seen their wealth soar during the Covid-19 pandemic while the world’s poor face years of hardship, charity Oxfam said on Monday as it demanded steps to tackle inequality.

Nations have a “shrinking window of opportunity” to build a fair, green recovery, according to “The Inequality Virus” report, published as global leaders tune in for the World Economic Forum’s virtual “Davos Dialogue” meeting.

“We stand to witness the greatest rise in inequality since records began,” Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International, said in a statement as the charity called for higher wealth taxes and stronger protections for workers.

“Rigged economies are funnelling wealth to a rich elite who are riding out the pandemic in luxury, while those on the frontline of the pandemic — shop assistants, healthcare workers, and market vendors — are struggling to pay the bills.”

Covid-19 has unleashed an economic storm that hit the poor and vulnerable hardest, with women and marginalised workers facing the worst of job losses and the World Bank warning more than 100 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty.

It could take more than a decade to reduce the number of people living in poverty back to pre-crisis levels, Oxfam said.

Meanwhile, the collective wealth of the world’s billionaires rose $3.9 trillion between March and December 2020 to reach $11.95 trillion, the report calculated.

The 10 richest men — a list led by Bezos and Musk which also includes LVMH luxury group’s CEO Bernard Arnault, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg — saw their net worth increase by $540 billion in the same period, Oxfam said.

That sum would be enough to prevent anyone from falling into poverty as a result of the pandemic and pay for a vaccine for everyone on earth, researchers calculated.

The pandemic marks a “pivotal” point which has exposed economic disparities and built support for “transformative” policies, Oxfam said, calling for higher taxes on wealth and corporations alongside stronger protections for workers.

A temporary tax on excess profits made by the 32 global corporations that have profited the most during the pandemic could have raised $104 billion in 2020, Oxfam said.

International cooperation would be key to implementing many changes, said Jayati Ghosh, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was among the economists polled by Oxfam for the report.

The administration of new U.S. President Joe Biden will spur “more willingness” for joint action on issues including a crackdown on tax havens and a bailout for developing nations, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

“There are some very, very big hurdles, but there are many things that can be done very quickly,” she added.

Source: REUTERS