Headline News

29, May 2020

Coronavirus: More Cameroonians are dying at home ⁰

There is increasing evidence that more Cameroonians are dying at home from COVID-19 as the health system gets overwhelmed. Reports from Douala say many people are dropping dead in their houses and are buried by family members using traditional protocols which do not comply with globally recognized health protocols.

Many people are scared of being quarantined and are simply avoiding government health facilities that are noted for declaring many patients COVID-19 positive even when they are suffering from other ailments. There are reports that people suffering from erectile dysfunction, diabetes and hypertension have been declared COVID-19 positive without tests by health officials in Cameroon and left to die in COVID-19 wards.

According to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s Chairman, Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, the drama playing out in Cameroon’s hospitals needs to be investigated and ‘we have our reporters on the ground who will give us first hand information’. More will be yours.

By Chi Prudence Asong

28, May 2020

Douala: Fire outbreak in New Bell Prison ⁰

An afternoon fire outbreak has gutted the Douala New Bell Prison.

The fire, which started late this afternoon, has caused panic in the Douala metropolis with major streets leading to the prison cordoned off by mobile police officers.

Confirming the incident to our London Bureau Chief, a prison guard observed that it was too early to assess the damage done to the facility and the number of inmates injured in the fire incident.

Cameroon Concord News has also not been able to establish if all Southern Cameroons prisoners of conscience are safe.

By Fon Lawrence in Douala

28, May 2020

Ngarbuh Villagers Flee Military Base at Site of Massacre ⁰

Cameroonians are fleeing the northwestern village of Ngarr-buh after the military began building a base this week near where troops in February massacred at least 13 civilians. Cameroon says the base is needed to stop separatists from getting supplies in neighboring Nigeria. But, villagers fear they may once again be targeted or get caught in crossfire.

Twenty-two-year-old Cameroonian farmer Emelda Tatah says she and her family were among around a hundred villagers who fled Ngarr-buh on Sunday morning after several military trucks full of troops arrived.

The troops began constructing buildings for a military base to fight off anglophone rebels in the area.

Speaking via a messaging application from the neighboring village of Ngondzen, Tatah said the military’s massacre in their village was still fresh in their minds.

“On the 14th of February, military people entered Ngarr-buh and killed many women and innocent children,” she said. “The military has built a camp in the village again and the villagers think that this same military that was supposed to protect them [villagers] they [military] are the very people killing them [villagers]. So, they have to flee to neighboring villages where they feel they will be more secured.”

Cameroonian rights groups and opposition political parties have criticized the base in Ngarr-buh, saying it will only increase tensions with villagers.

They estimate over 300 villagers have fled Ngarr-buh within the past week.

National President of the United Socialist Democratic Party Prince Ekosso says the military presence in the village is uncalled for.

“Why establish a military base in Ngarr-buh, where the military has been accused of massacring civilians, children, women, pregnant women,” he said. “We are calling on the government to retrieve [stop] the initiative of establishing a military base in Ngarr-buh. And we call on the international community to put their eyes [pay attention] on this particular situation in Ngarr-buh. The use of force has never resolved any conflict.”

Despite the ongoing tensions between the villagers and military, Cameroon authorities say the new military base is needed to stop rebels from re-supplying in neighboring Nigeria.

Speaking Sunday on state radio, Cameroon government spokesman Rene Emmanuel Sadi defended the base as a needed defense against the rebels.

Although troops had killed civilians, said Sadi, most atrocities in the area were committed by the separatists.

He said most of the rebel fighters in Ngarr-buh disguised themselves as Cameroon troops to commit atrocities on villagers just to give troops a bad image and make civilians hate their military. Sadi said the troops are out to protect civilians from the rebels, who are stealing, raping, abducting for ransom, and making life very difficult in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. He says the troops will protect Cameroon’s border with Nigeria and stop the separatists from using the border for supplies.

Human Rights Watch said in April the attack in Ngarr-buh was part of a larger pattern of rights violations by Cameroon’s military in the anglophone regions.

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, admitted in April troops committed the massacre after an international outcry when authorities initially denied it.

Biya ordered the arrest of troops that attempted to cover up the deaths by burning homes and filing a false report. 

Some 600 villagers in Ngarr-buh had fled immediately following the atrocity. The separatists have been fighting since 2017 to carve out an English-speaking state from French-speaking-majority Cameroon.

The United Nations says the fighting has cost more than 3,000 lives and forced half-a-million to flee to French-speaking regions or into neighboring Nigeria.

Source: VOA

28, May 2020

Archbishop Andrew Nkea: the truth behind the Audio ⁰

Where there is war, there must be criminality and impunity, and this is the case in Southern Cameroons where a separatist insurgency has been raging for almost four years. The Southern Cameroons crisis has transformed a once-upon-a-time oasis of peace into a playground for criminals who are really making hay while the sun shines. A criminal enterprise, some of which is government-sponsored, is booming as the country’s government and organised criminals are feeding fat on Southern Cameroons resources. A solidly established underworld of warlords and trade-offs is sprouting as ragweed, leaving many innocent civilians in a tough and hopeless situation that is characterized by fear. On April 22, 2020, the French Cameroon government published a dubious and exceedingly bogus report on the massacre of 24 civilians by its military in the village of Ngarbuh, Dunga Mantung, on February 14, 2020. The report was a clear indictment of the French Cameroon government which shamelessly admitted that it recruited and utilised vigilante groups in its operations in Ngarbuh.

The government’s admission of guilt has left it with a bloodshot eye and its military actions in Southern Cameroons are a clear manifestation of desperation against an insurgency that is not going away anytime soon. It is no surprise that drafting armed vigilante groups is reckless and perilous in a region that is awash with sophisticated weapons. Guns, lawlessness, poverty and testosterone constitute a hazardous and explosive mix and the temptation for those under the influence of these to engage in criminal activity is exceedingly high.

Earlier this week, there were audios circulating on social media, allegedly from Amba boys calling for the head of the Archbishop of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province, Andrew Nkea. The contents of those audios were disturbing and Cameroon Concord News Group had to publish a detailed editorial outlining the political ramifications to the Southern Cameroons if the man of God is attacked by Amba boys or any group that is acting under the cover of darkness. The urgency of the matter prompted a statement from the Ambazonia Interim Government, calling on any persons involved in such an ungodly enterprise to think twice before acting.

Later on Monday, May 25, 2020, Cameroon Concord News and Cameroon Intelligence Report launched a joint investigation into the source and rationale behind the audio. Our team of top-class investigators quickly established that Archbishop Andrew Nkea was ordained a Priest in Buea in April 1992. He served the Church, the Lord and the people of Buea until August 2013 when he was ordained Bishop of the Mamfe diocese. The investigation revealed that it was in Mamfe that the new Bishop flourished in his work for mankind and The Almighty. In Mamfe, his determination to rejuvenate farming delivered huge dividends. Our investigators can reveal that the Archbishop’s work and influence in his diocese was monumental. The palm nuts, maize, cassava, poultry, goat farms he established were not only profitable, but also revolutionary.

Wherever there is hard-work and success, green-eyed monsters are never far away. Our team uncovered that his work in Buea and Mamfe dioceses brought plaudits from the congregants but built a steady army of resentful adversaries within Ecclesiastical ranks. Cameroon Concord News Group uncovered that some years back, the opposition within the church to the then Reverend Father was excessive and exhausting emotionally.

The man of God’s appointment to the position of Archbishop of Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province in February this year was a reward for his hard work in the Mamfe diocese. But this was not well received by many within the church. Many within the Church consider his rise as meteoric and undeserved.

The position of Archbishop, splendid and powerful, was coveted by numerous established bishops. Cameroon Concord News Group uncovered that there were many who believed that they or their close associates should have been appointed to the position instead of Archbishop Andrew Nkea.

Our undercover reporters cross-examined many people within the church in Buea, Mamfe and Bamenda who elected anonymity said they were convinced that the audio calling for the head of the Archbishop to be blown off was the work of dark forces within the Church. Blood-stained disputes are not uncommon in the ranks of the church. In 2017, Bishop Jean Marie Benoît Balla’s body was discovered in a river days after his disappearance. Cameroonian bishops issued a statement after claiming he was murdered saying “we have the impression that the clergy of Cameroon in particular is pursued by obscure diabolical forces”.

The insecurity in Southern Cameroons is a textbook heaven for criminal elements within the Church to bring their plot against Archbishop Andrew Nkea to fruition. It will be the supreme offence if these dark forces within the church committed the ultimate crime only to pin it on innocent Ambazonian self-defence forces. But the huge net of Cameroon Concord News Group is closing in on them and they will be exposed.

By Isong Asu in London with intelligence files

28, May 2020

Takfiri militants kill 40 civilians in Congo-Kinshasa ⁰

Takfiri militants have launched a brutal attack on a village in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo near the Ugandan border, killing at least 40 civilians.

The massacre was perpetrated by the armed militants from the so-called Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) early on Tuesday when they attacked Samboko Village, located about 100 kilometers southwest of the city of Bunia in the DR Congo, with machetes and looted the villagers’ food and valuables.

The ADF, which was driven out of Uganda and moved into the DR Congo in the late 1990s, had a day earlier killed at least 17 in the nearby village of Makutano.

More than 400 people have reportedly lost their lives in attacks by the ADF since the Congolese army began an offensive to oust the group from its bastions last year.

The ADF has pledged allegiance to the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, and the latter has claimed responsibility for some ADF attacks in the DR Congo.

Over the past two months, about 200,000 people have fled their homes in Ituri Province — where the two villages recently attacked are located — due to the widespread violence by a variety of armed groups.

A United Nations (UN) report said in January that more than 700 people had been killed in Ituri since late 2017, adding that some of the killings might constitute a “crime against humanity.”

Researchers and rights groups say some Congolese soldiers have been involved in the killings since 2014 for a variety of motives often related to competition for power in the country’s lawless zones dominated by dozens of militia groups.

The UN warned on Wednesday that widespread and systematic killings, beheadings, sexual assaults, and other barbaric acts by militia mostly from the ethnic Lendu community in the northeastern DR Congo may constitute “crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) said in a report that in the six months to April 2020, at least 296 people had been killed, 151 wounded, and 38 raped, including women and children, mostly by militia linked to the CODECO rebels form the Lendu ethnic group.

“The persistence of this violence is likely to push members of the communities targeted by the attacks, who have so far shown restraint, to form self-defense militias,” UNJRHO said. “This could increase the likelihood of large-scale inter-communal violence in the region.”

“There is a high risk that leaders with more radical positions will emerge and plunge the area into a more serious cycle of violence, with even more attacks against (the army) and civilians,” UNJRHO added in the report. Since October last year, the DR Congo’s army has launched a crackdown on armed groups and the ADF in particular to contain the violence and restore calm in the country’s eastern region.

Source: Presstv

28, May 2020

Nigeria: Buhari, Tinubu, and the Macbeth in us all ⁰

“Owe ni Ifa npa, Omoran ni imo”

Ifa’s revelation is always in parables; only the wise can understand their meanings.

In his analysis of the Shakespearean Tragedy “Macbeth” Michael Stratford argues that the essence of human pride was covered in three dimensions by this work. He asserted in supports of the works of Majorie Garber on the play which concluded that Macbeth’s confrontation with morality at the end of the play portrayed “real recovery” and completed the depiction of the phases of pride in men. He went further to outline these stages as: The hubris that hurls a man into sin and error, the false pride that secure and justifies all and perpetuates us in evil acts, and the final realization of our immortality and futility of all things.

The play Macbeth has been analyzed by many due to its relevance in everyday human progression. Macbeth was a young and virile soldier honored for his love of Scotland and bravery at war by King Duncan. He was at the zenith of his profession as a soldier and revered titled gentleman in Scotland when the story started. A chance meeting with the “three witches”, their predictions of Macbeth as the King of Scotland, transported this gentleman into a murderer, a wicked usurper and finally, his death.

Given the level of public exposure to education against current public discourse about the rulers in Nigeria which pulls towards a group suspected of inadequacies in formal education, maybe this narrative could be brought home. Recent curiosity made me look into the Ifa esoteric and cosmogony and I was amazed at the level of sophistication of the Odu Ifa in explaining and predicting main pattern of human conscious, and unconscious acts; going even further to reveal the purpose and destinies of humans on earth. I was further impressed by the manner with which knowledge and wisdom for managing pride and power were expressively itemized thorough the use of parables.

For noninitiates, the Ifa divinity comprises of sixteen major quadrant of ancient Yoruba Ifa cult, which was subdivided into 256 distinct sub-heads detailing all areas of human: wisdom for proper interrelations, truth and moralities, science, cosmology, metaphysics, medicine and other established norms of the Yoruba People of Southwest Nigeria as established by Orunmila. Orunmila the first Ifa priest was reputed to have started the accumulation of this knowledge base, handing it over to his sixteen children, who continued to practice and develop the Ifa practice.

The Odi Isa, noted amongst the Odu Ifa tried to balance power and pride; it depicts the travail of the Tiger, the king of the jungle when the entire animal challenged him to battle. The tiger despite his overwhelming power, applied wisdom and appealed to the elders for help. The elders asked the Tiger to perform a sacrifice and in respect to the words of the elders, the Tiger performed all necessary rites. And to this day, no animal was able to conquer the tiger.

Tiger’s power though vast and reputed never for once doubted that the whole animal kingdom could overrun him and take over his kingdom. When faced with adversities, he went begging the elders for advice. Instead of ruin and death as in Macbeth case, the tiger excel and its kingdom expanded.

Many writers in the pre-2015 era had lauded the achievements of the new progressives led by General Mohamadu Buhari and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The duo in conjunction with other heavy weights in Nigerian politics had performed the first presidential election upset in Nigerian history; the defeat of a sitting president in a general election. The global press was agog in the spirit of the wave of change coming to Nigeria politics. The emergence of Buhari as the new government leader was heralded as a milestone in Nigerian political arena.

Given sixteen years politicking before his emergence as the president, people were thoroughly misled that the “Buhari presidential dream” was driven by passionate goals for real change, when the new government started showing signs of unpreparedness to rule and obvious lack of cohesion in policy in its first few years in office. Nigerian people still believed and attributed this to huge challenges emanating from long period of institutionalized corruption by previous governments. Nigerian new government was later revealed to have been distracted by huge amount of propaganda, vain retribution, illegal and unnecessary arrests and prosecutions in its first year in power. Apparently, governance and economy finally start to show negative growth. Before the end of the second year, the country which was previously reputed as one of the ten growing global economies was in recession.

Economic indicator aside, the failing security architecture has been witnessed in all theaters of operation. Conflict escalations in most areas were being witnessed. Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) continued to rise as repetitive conflicts engulfs the state. Youth and elites migration have more than doubled within three years, and statistics on youth unemployment is reading above one third of population. The national currency’s value in international trade fell by over 200 percent in the first year of this government and it took direct intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria to shore up the Naira to its current 360 to one dollar status. Failed economy, repetitive conflicts, insurrections, low school attendance, thriving illicit economies, and high youth emigration, according to Mary Kaldor are signs of failing states.

The constant stay outside the country by the president was a minor issue until the whole world was treated to the caricature of Nigerian President’s show of shame in faraway Poland on the Saturday Night Show recently. The lack of grace and charisma that goes with the esteemed office of the president of Federal Republic of Nigeria, the representative of over 200millon people, and one of the fastest growing states globally by apparent lack of charisma displayed by the president and his minders. Most posits that the posture reflects apparent lack of understanding of the power and privileges garnered over the years by the Nigerian State in global politics.

Tinubu rise to stardom in Nigerian politics was midwifed by the NADECO movement against military rule in the late eighties and early nineties. The movement which led to the emergence of this ongoing republic equally blessed BAT with the governorship of the most priced state in Nigeria, Lagos. Lagos represents the hub of commerce and economy of Nigeria controlling over 25% of Nigeria economy and the claim of Nigeria as the giant in Africa business resides in the economic performance of Lagos State. Eight years direct rule, twelve years of his protégés ruling, characterized by unashamed plundering of Lagos state’s resources has created a new “Czar” in Lagos. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the political czar of Southwest Nigeria was born.

By 2014, Tinubu had in his control a war-chest big enough to start and prosecute any political war in Nigeria against any opposition. When Tinubu pitched his tent against President Goodluck Jonathan. He midwifed an impossible coalition of unlike minds from several parties to form the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) in supports of Buhari. The die was cast, Tinubu’s prowess and political machinery was founded on the Lagos State dynasty. This base he has always controlled since 1999. Experts have posited that the loss of Lagos by the Tinubu gang will surely sound the kernel of his political demise.

Recent happenings have shown the arrival of the new Tinubu. Four month to the 2019 general elections, Tinubu unilaterally influenced the removal of the name of the incumbent governor of Lagos State from the ballot and imposed a new man as the party representative. A move that reportedly irked some locals and party faithful. Obviously, Tinubu’s power as sole godfather and power broker in Lagos politics was on test during the 2019 February elections looms.

Buhari’s reign and reelections as president was supported by the Tinubu’s camp. The alliance many agreed was based on the pact to return Tinubu as president in 2023. This ambition has fueled the unalloyed support from Lagos APC for Buhari’s return. It’s a big gamble on the path of Tinubu and Buhari. Like the proverbial fly, Buhari has tasted the wine and is ready and willing to die in the same cup of wine. Tinubu ambition might also turn him to the fly that refused to heed the warnings of the elders and has decided to follow the corpse into the earth.

Ambition is necessary to achieve and progress in life, yet ambitions should be ethically based, no normal leader will continue to aspire to hold and office in which he does not have capacity for managing, and no normal human being will sacrifice the future of his people, merely for his sole selfish ambition.

Ambition contaminated by acute pride surely begets disaster. Macbeth ambition was fueled by greed and selfish ambition to rule Scotland, never because he was a pushed by a need to work out a better society for his people. His endgame led to war and carnage pushing Scotland which was growing as a nation into complete recession and pillage by ravaging armies.

Tinubu contesting the presidential elections in 2023, might be met with high resistance by Lagos and the people of Western Nigeria, given current apathy and political inequalities current leaders have imposed on the public. Unlike, the Tiger, Tinubu might probably resort to the use of might against his enemies with the Federal might behind him, but he should remember Macbeth, won the seat of King of Scotland but lost the heart of its homeland to civil wars and marauders.

Wisdom and respect for the animals led the Tiger to the elders. Tinubu and Buhari have achieved the impossible in Nigerian politics; plundered its commonwealth shamelessly, many would say; “the time has come for them to both respect the people and leave the scene for others in 2023”. But if they refuse, remind them of Macbeth: Unrestrained pride and ambition, the elders say always lead to death and destruction.

By Don Michael Adeniji is a Contributing Editor for Cameroon Concord News Group and an expert in Terrorism, International Crime and Global Security

28, May 2020

MOLA NJOH LITUMBE: In him, Southern Cameroons arose to fall no more ⁰

A few remarkable events in my high school and university education introduced me to some Southern Cameroons Politicians and committed advocates for the reactivation of an independent sovereign Southern Cameroons. During my brief sojourn in the Bilingual Grammar School Molyko, I opposed and disrupted a brainwashing session convened by one Hongla Moma, the Secretary-General in the Governor’s Office to educate us about the green revolution. Sometime later, I wailked out on one Bidias a Ngon the Minister of education. Mola Njoh Litumbe was among the elders who were invited to both occasions.

In the University of Yaounde, the discriminatory humiliation and the cultural genocide we were subjected to, thrust me to the leadership of a protest movement that grounded the University to a halt. Our entreaties to politicians of Southern Cameroons nationality to support our cause were favourably received only by Dr EML Endeley. Mola Njoh Litumbe knew and took note of these developments in the life of a Southern Cameroons student victim of French Cameroun’s cultural genocide.

It was a pleasant surprise shortly after my call to the bar that Mola Njoh Litumbe approached me one day at the premises of the High Court in Buea and briefed me to represent him in a Chamber motion before the Hon Justice T.E Mbuagbaw, bypassing many senior lawyers whom he knew for many years. From thence a longstanding relationship developed around the Southern Cameroons problem. We spent many hours discussing and developing strategies on how to sensitise lawyers and students to join the struggle.

An opportunity came during the so-called pro-democracy political agitation that led to the creation of the Social Democratic Front. Bate Besong and me were disappointed with the ideological drift of the SDF that did not fully articulate the Southern Cameroons problem. Professor Obenson, was living across the road from Bate Besong and me. We spent many evenings ruminating about the devastation of our mineral resources, the excruciating suffocation of civil liberties and the evisceration of our cultural identity. Professor Obenson listened attentively. On one occasion, he told us that he was working with committed Southern Cameroons patriots to create a political party that was primarily intended to be used as a vehicle to fight for the Southern Cameroons cause. He invited us to one of such meetings.

In attendance were Mola Njoh Litumbe, Ray Koge, Sam Ekontang Elad, B.T.B Foretia, Charles Oben, Chief Alexander Taku and Chief Ngole. The discussions went on deep into the night about the objectives of the Liberal Democratic Party that fulling aligned with the reactivation of the Southern Cameroons identity. Unfortunately, Professor Obenson died in a yet to be explained motor accident on his way to Yaounde shortly after the party was legalised. Mola Njoh Litumbe thence piloted the party but the ideological orientation of the party remained intact until his transition.

Outside the structure of any political party, from the home of Mola Njoh Litumbe, sometime from my law firm or Professor Atang’s residence, we developed strategies on how to mobilise our people to reject the slave status that was imposed on us and rise to assert our liberation and freedom. Mola Njoh Litumbe was with us at the SCARM (formerly CAM) Batassof Hotel conference in Buea in which delegates from all the counties of the Southern Cameroons deliberated on mass mobilization, the signature referendum which overwhelmingly voted for independence and the Buea Peace Initiative to formalize the peaceful redeployment of La Republique du Cameroun and its criminal forces and administration from our territory. The idea to support the convening of the AAC1 which was first developed by George Ngwane, Bate Besong, Vincent Anu, Francis Wache and me was endorsed.

Mola Njoh Litumbe, from thence prominently helped to established a strong and enduring Southern Cameroons governing authority in our capital of the Southern Cameroons. His residence became the de facto Southern Cameroons Government House from which meetings were held and demonstrations throughout our national territory were organized and monitored. The international and national press were on hand to report on our cause and the tensions that were mounted by the enemy to attempt to contain the lava of freedom flowing from the top of Mount Fako. He became the respected voice of the Southern Cameroons at home and abroad.

In attempting to stop Mola Njoh in his crusading leadership to free his people, the lava of freedom burnt the enemy and catapulted our cause to the international arena. Mola Njoh Litumbe took our cause to all corners of the globe. He dared the coloniser and its criminal network in our territory on his own terms and left them defeated and humiliated. Enemy attempts to barricade his residence, arrest him or deny him his freedom of speech were defeated because the international media such as the VOA and the BBC were on hand to provide him their platforms to talk to his people while armed soldiers, gendarmes and police were out of his gate to stop him from coming out to speak to his people.

On the 14 May 2014, I submitted a ninety page petition that was authored by Mola Njoh Litumbe, Denis Atemnkeng, Hon Barrister Paul Ayah and me to the President of the United Nations General Assembly and to the Trusteeship Council. I remember coming all the way from Arusha Tanzania to come and work with Mola Njoh Litumbe on that petition. The time I spent with him in that endeavour was so enriching and rewarding in many ways. He was a very knowledgeable man of wisdom and a passionate god fearing advocate of the truth and justice.

He was a towering fountain of wisdom that inspired and directed our freedom quest. Mola Njoh Litumbe is dead, but he will remain green in our memories and that of posterity. In honour to this great leader and thousands of Southern Cameroons martyrs of the revolution, we must fight on until the lofty mission for which they lived and died is attained. Njoh Litumbe by his life and times taught us how to be great in humility. He did not seek power for the sake of power of for himself. He dedicated his life for the cause of the freedom of the Southern Cameroons and the people followed him because the truth and justice that he defended are power. He is dead but alive because freedom, justice and love for our people never dies. He is alive in our spirit and in our determination to secure a free and independent Southern Cameroons. In him Southern Cameroons arose to fall no more.

By Chief Charles A. Taku

28, May 2020

Coronavirus Crisis: Boeing cutting more than 12,000 US jobs, thousands more planned ⁰

Boeing Co (BA.N) says it is eliminating more than 12,000 US jobs as the largest American planemaker restructures in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Boeing also disclosed it plans “several thousand remaining layoffs” in coming months but did not say where those would take place.

Boeing is slashing costs as a sharp drop in airplane demand during the pandemic worsened a crisis for the company whose 737 MAX jet was grounded last year after a second fatal crash.

Boeing said it restarted 737 MAX production at a “low rate” at its Renton, Washington factory. Reuters reported in April that regulatory approval for the MAX was not expected until at least August.

Boeing shares closed up 3.3% at $149.52, then rose another 4.6% to $155.84 after hours on news of the MAX production restart.

The company announced in April it would cut 10% of its worldwide workforce of 160,000 by the end of 2020. Boeing said Wednesday 5,520 US employees will take voluntary layoffs, and also disclosed it was notifying 6,770 workers of involuntary layoffs.

Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told employees in an email the “pandemic’s devastating impact on the airline industry means a deep cut in the number of commercial jets and services our customers will need over the next few years, which in turn means fewer jobs on our lines and in our offices. … I wish there were some other way.”

CFRA analyst Colin Scarola upgraded Boeing to buy and raised his price target to $174 from $112 saying Boeing “can weather its current crises and grow over the long term.”

In April, Boeing recorded zero orders for the second time this year and customers canceled another 108 orders for the 737 MAX, compounding its worst start to a year since 1962.

Last month, Boeing raised $25 billion in a bond offering that allowed it to avoid taking government aid.

The job cuts include more than 9,800 employees in Washington State. Boeing said the “several thousand remaining layoffs will come in additional tranches over the next few months.”

Boeing said it expects to resume 737 MAX deliveries in the third quarter following regulatory approvals before gradually increasing to 31 per month during 2021.

The aerospace sector has been hard hit including many Boeing suppliers.

General Electric Co (GE.N) said this month it planned to cut its aviation unit’s global workforce this year by as much as 25%, or up to 13,000 jobs. SpiritAero Systems Holdings (SPR.N) announced it is cutting another 1,450 jobs in Kansas.

American Airlines to cut management, support staff by 30%

American Airlines Group Inc must reduce its management and support staff by about 30% and may have to cut frontline employees as it downsizes due to the coronavirus outbreak, showed a letter to employees made public on Wednesday.

All major US airlines have said they will need to shrink in the fall, once US government payroll aid that bans involuntary job cuts expires on Sept. 30.

Competitor United Airlines Holdings Inc has also said it will need to reduce its management and administrative staff by about 30%.

Despite the bailout and other liquidity raises, American must “plan for operating a smaller airline for the foreseeable future,” Executive Vice President of People and Global Engagement Elise Eberwein said in the letter.

American, with over 100,000 employees, will offer voluntary options before implementing involuntary reductions if there is not enough take-up, she said.

Once it has reduced its management ranks, the company will turn to frontline employees including flight attendants and pilots, who will receive fresh voluntary leave and early retirement options in June with the aim of avoiding involuntary furloughs.

“This is a goal, though, not a commitment, and a stretch goal at that,” Eberwein said, adding the company will be working with unions in coming weeks and months.

American has said it is accelerating fleet retirement and expects to fly roughly 100 fewer aircraft in the summer of 2021. Nearly 40,000 employees have already opted for temporary voluntary leave or early retirement.

Earlier, American Chief Executive Doug Parker said the airline hoped to avoid furloughs and rejected speculation that it or another major US carrier will have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to the coronavirus crisis.

(Source: Reuters)

28, May 2020

Bill Gates conspiracy theories echo through Africa ⁰

As the novel coronavirus wreaks global havoc, Bill Gates is the new bete noire for conspiracy theorists worldwide including in Africa where a Kenyan politician’s false online post has added major fuel to the spread of misinformation.

While Gates’s vaccine programmes on the continent have long provided ample fodder for speculation, the bogus claims have gained new traction amid the pandemic.

On March 15, Nairobi governor Mike Sonko published an old video of Gates warning about the consequences of a future pandemic, with the caption “Bill Gates told us about the corona virus 2015 (sic)”.

While the clip shows the philanthropist telling an audience that the world was unprepared for global outbreaks in his TED talk five years ago, he made no mention of the coronavirus.

Sonko’s post generated so many interactions among his two-million plus Facebook followers that it remains the most prolific global post about Gates in the COVID-19 era, according to social media analysis tool CrowdTangle.

So far, it has been shared more than one million times and has garnered 38 million views on social media.

The post highlights the role played by local public figures in spreading false or misleading claims in different parts of the world, according to the Washington-based Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), which studies disinformation globally.

“They typically travel beyond… niche communities when an influencer, such as a prominent celebrity, or even mainstream media source, amplifies them,” DFRLab’s Zarine Kharazian told AFP.

“Once they’ve achieved this level of spread, they migrate across languages.”

– ‘All-powerful elites’ –

Rumours about links between Gates and the current pandemic have enjoyed particularly broad appeal among different conspiracy communities worldwide since the virus erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.

Since January, more than 683,000 posts globally from public Facebook pages and groups mentioned Gates, producing nearly 53 million likes, shares and views.

“One commonality of conspiracy theories that seems to span borders, languages, and cultures is a mistrust in ‘all-powerful elites’ and institutions,” Kharazian said.

“Gates’s prominent profile, outspokenness and active engagement in international public health work has made him a prime target for this particular strain of conspiracy.”

Among the most popular claims in Africa is the idea that Gates wants to control mankind with the use of microchip implants or digital tattoos.

Conspiracy theorists have also alleged that Gates stands to profit handsomely from an eventual vaccine and that his foundation patented a treatment years ago before unleashing the novel coronavirus.

Others again believe he created the virus for population control — a sensitive point in Africa where much of the visible push-back online has focused on the issue of a COVID-19 vaccine and experimental trials on local test subjects.

– Past controversies fuel suspicion –

A history of Western medical abuses in Africa explains some of the backlash, said Sara Cooper, senior scientist at the South African Medical Research Council’s Cochrane Centre.

“Over the last few decades, there have been various incidents of medical research conducted in Africa which have involved gross human rights abuses,” she told AFP.

They range from forced sterilisation experiments carried out in Namibia when it was part of Germany’s colonies in the late 1800s, to controversial drug trials conducted by Western pharmaceutical giants in various African nations in the 1990s.

The distrust of Western vaccines was evidenced by a recent viral post, which claimed that French maverick scientist Didier Raoult had warned Africans against using “the Bill Gates vaccine” because it contained “poison”.

AFP Fact Check debunked the claim — Raoult never made the comments and a vaccine does not yet exist.

But it struck a chord: the French version of the post was shared more than 47,000 times before it was taken down.

Politicians in Nigeria have also pushed similar narratives including Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister notorious for sharing misinformation along political and religious lines.

Fani-Kayode, who has a strong following among Christians from southern Nigeria, has shared multiple posts claiming Gates was part of a secretive power elite, which wanted to achieve world domination using the coronavirus and 5G technology among other things.

– WHO fights back –

As the virus numbers and rumours spiralled, agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) raced to stem the spread of misinformation by running online campaigns and helping governments to set up dedicated web portals.

The WHO also held a workshop with more than 50 journalists in Nigeria in February. “Journalists and media are critical to getting the right messages to the community,” emergency officer Dhamari Naidoo said.

“We want you to transmit the right information to the people, and to contribute in stopping the spread of rumours.”

Source: AFP

27, May 2020

Exit of a Sasse Old Boys Association icon: Mola Njoh Litumbe’s spirit of the age ⁰

The names of my classmates in the photograph, from left to right, are: John Nsoyenika Obanus Vega, who later became a Surveyor; Thomas Mbua Ndoko, who later became a Civil Administrator; Stephen Mokosso Ndeley, who later became Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly; Daniel Agbor Tiku, who later became an Agriculturist; My humble self, who later became a Chartered Accountant, but now a Politician; Godfrey Layu, who later became a Barrister-at-Law; Jacob Achidi Kisob who later became Cameroon’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom; Michael Njamfa, who later became an Agriculturist; Stephen Nyenti, who later became Chief Nyenti, a Traditional Ruler and Politician.

I must inform you that my classmates have all ascended into Heaven, and I am the only slow survivor, repeating a class because of unfinished homework which, when completed, I too will get promoted to Paradise! Oma nanu Mola