Headline News

14, March 2020

Douala to host CAF Champions League final ⁰

The city of Douala in Cameroon will be the hosting territory for the CAF Champions League final in May 2020, according to Moroccan reports.

The format of the CAF Champions League final has changed this season where the winner is decided through only one game.

The final showdown is set to take place on 29 May.

The battle to host the final was between Cameroon’s Japoma Stadium, Mohammed V Sports Stadium in Morocco and Tunisia’s Rades Olympic Stadium.

According to reports from Morocco’s channel Arryadia, Japoma Stadium in Douala was the winning bid and will be hosting venue for Africa’s most prestigious club competition’s final.

Al Ahly will face its Moroccan counterpart Wydad Casablanca, while Zamalek will face its Moroccan counterpart Raja in the CAF Champions League semifinals.

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Source: AlKhaleej Today

14, March 2020

CAF to assess anti-virus measures in Cameroon ahead of CHAN ⁰

CAF medical experts will assess this weekend the measures hosts Cameroon have taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic ahead of the African Nations Championship (CHAN).

The central African country is scheduled to stage from April 4 to 25 the biennial competition for footballers playing in their country of birth.

Cameroon reported two cases of the deadly COVID-19, which has shredded sport schedules across the globe.

On Friday, CAF postponed indefinitely two rounds of 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, set for March 25 to 31.

Regarding the CHAN, a CAF statement said the delegation “would assess the preventive measures taken by the local organising committee”.

Matches are due to be played in the capital, Yaounde, at two stadiums in second city Douala, and seaside city Limbe.

Cameroon qualified automatically for the 16-nation tournament and the other title contenders include defending champions Morocco.

Meanwhile, a two-day conference scheduled for March 17-18 in Durban that would have highlighted the African football industry has been postponed because of the coronavirus.

FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura had been invited to give the keynote speech at an event the organisers now hope to stage in July or August.

Source: AFP

14, March 2020

Hungary’s Prime Minister blames foreigners, migration for coronavirus spread ⁰

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday blamed foreigners and migration for the spread of coronavirus in Hungary, as the authorities announced that two infected Iranians were to be expelled.

Orban, asked during a radio interview why Hungary had closed its universities but not schools in response to the virus outbreak, said it was because “there are lots of foreigners there”.

“Our experience is that primarily foreigners brought in the disease, and that it is spreading among foreigners,” he said.

So far, Hungary has confirmed 19 cases of infections, nine of them Iranians (mostly university scholarship-holders), one British national, and the rest Hungarians.

“It’s no coincidence that the virus first showed up among Iranians,” said Orban.

“We cannot separate the tens of thousands of foreign students from the Hungarian students, that’s why we thought it best to stop all visits to those institutions,” he said.

Interior ministry announces two expulsions

The interior ministry announced Friday that two Iranian students diagnosed with the virus would be expelled because they had left a hospital quarantine hall without permission and with no protective clothing.

They had been aggressive towards the medical staff who placed them in isolation, the statement added. The pair would be expelled as soon as their health permitted and banned from staying in Hungary for three years.

In Hungarian-language messages posted on its Facebook page the government has warned Iranians of detention and deportation if they don’t cooperate with disease control authorities.

Last week after the first infections were confirmed — both Iranian students — Budapest suspended the issuing of visas to Iranian citizens.

Earlier in March Hungary barred the doors indefinitely to its border camps for asylum-seekers as it said refugees and migrants arriving there may have been in virus hotspot Iran.

Government officials and pro-Orban media have also drawn a link between the virus outbreak and migration.

“We are fighting a two-front war, one front is called migration, and the other one belongs to the coronavirus, there is a logical connection between the two, as both spread with movement,” Orban said Friday.

(AFP)

14, March 2020

Rocket attack hits US-occupied Taji base in Iraq for 2nd time in a week ⁰

A barrage of rockets hit a base housing U.S. and other coalition troops north of Baghdad, Iraqi security officials said Saturday, just days after a similar attack killed three servicemen, including two Americans.

At least two Iraqi soldiers were wounded in the attack at Camp Taji, according to the Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The officials said over a dozen rockets landed inside the base. Some struck the area where coalition forces are based, while others fell on a runway used by Iraqi forces.

The was no immediate comment from the coalition regarding Saturday’s attack.

The attack was unusual because it occurred during the day. Previous assaults on military bases housing U.S. troops typically occurred at night.

The previous rocket attack against Camp Taji on Wednesday also killed a British serviceman. It prompted American airstrikes Friday against what U.S. officials said were mainly weapons facilities belonging to Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group believed to be responsible.

However, Iraq’s military said those airstrikes killed five security force members and a civilian, while wounding five fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization including an array of militias, including some Iran-backed groups.

Iran-backed Shiite militia groups vowed to exact revenge for Friday’s U.S. strikes, signalling another cycle of tit-for-tat violence between Washington and Tehran that could play out inside Iraq.

America’s killing of Iraqi security forces might also give Iran-backed militia groups more reason to stage counterattacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, analysts said.

“We can’t forget that the PMF is a recognized entity within the Iraqi security forces; they aren’t isolated from the security forces and often are co-located on the same bases or use the same facilities,” said Sajad Jiyad, a researcher and former managing director of the Bayan Center, a Baghdad-based think tank.

“Now the (Iran-backed) groups who supported the initial strike in Taji, who were the most outspoken, feel obliged, authorized, maybe even legitimized to respond, ostensibly to protect Iraqi sovereignty but really to keep the pressure up on Americans,” he added.

“There are no red lines anymore,” Jiyad said.

Wednesday’s attack on Camp Taji was the deadliest to target U.S. troops in Iraq since a late December rocket attack on an Iraqi base, which killed a U.S. contractor. That attack set in motion a series of attacks that brought Iraq to the brink of war.

After the contractor was killed, America launched airstrikes targeting Kataib Hezbollah, which in turn led to protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

A U.S. drone strike in Baghdad then killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a top commander responsible for expeditionary operations across the wider Mideast. Iran struck back with a ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, the Islamic Republic’s most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The U.S. and Iran stepped back from further attacks after the Soleimani incident. A senior U.S. official said in late January, when U.S.-Iran tensions had cooled, that the killing of Americans constituted a red line that could spark more violence.

(AP)

14, March 2020

Western couple seized in Burkina Faso two years ago found in Mali ⁰

A Canadian woman and her Italian partner kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2018 have been found in good health in the northwest of Mali after fleeing their captors and were set to be repatriated, diplomatic and UN sources said on Saturday.

Tedith Blais and Luca Tacchetto, both in their thirties, managed to escape near the northern city of Kidal on Friday and were taken to the local base of the UN mission in Mali, known by its French acronym MINUSMA.

The pair were then flown out on Saturday afternoon on a special plane to Mali’s capital Bamako.

They appeared in good spirits but seemed taken aback when greeted by the Malian, UN and Canadian officials with extended elbows. The pair were then informed about the coronavirus crisis and the new social etiquette.

A health official sporting a mask and protective gear then took their temperature. The couple, who were wearing white T-shirts, did not speak to reporters.

They were then due to be taken to the presidential palace before being repatriated.

Malian Foreign Minister Tiebile Drame told AFP at the airport that no ransom had been paid.

– No ransom paid –

“I can assure you that nothing was paid,” he said.

MINUSMA mission head Mahamat Saleh Annadif explained some of the details surrounding their reappearance.

“We have good news. Yesterday around three in the afternoon our Kidal staff informed me they had found two hostages — a Canadian and an Italian,” said Annadif.

“We have conducted medical tests. They are keeping really well and we let them rest,” he said.

The pair were dressed like Tuaregs and apparently stopped a passing car and told the driver to take them to the nearest UN post. There was no detailed information on their escape or the identity of the kidnappers.

“From preliminary information they must have managed to escape. They were picked up by a civilian vehicle which drove them to the MINUSMA camp.”

Blais, from Sherbrooke — about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Montreal — and her partner Tacchetto, from Venice, disappeared in mid-December 2018 while travelling through the west African country.

The couple were driving by car to Ouagadougou from Bobo-Dioulasso, more than 360 kilometres west of the capital, when all trace of them was lost, according to Blais’s family.

They had been planning to go to Togo to work on a humanitarian project.

In April 2019, a Burkina government spokesman said the two had been abducted and probably taken out of the country, but that they were not in any danger.

Burkina Faso, which had been a safe destination for years, has been wracked by jihadist violence since 2015 and several foreigners have been kidnapped.

An Australian and a Romanian national still remain missing.

– Mali ‘stabilising’

It was not immediately clear how the couple were found in the vicinity of Kidal, about 1,500 kilometres northeast of Bamako which was under the control of Tuareg rebels who waged war against the Malian government from 2012 until 2015, when they signed a peace accord.

The violence has since spread from northern Mali to the centre of the country and spilled over to neighbouring states such as Burkina Faso and Niger.

But foreign minister Drame said their escape was the latest bit of “good news” in Mali.

Mali’s neighbouring governments are often wary of former rebel groups, for example, suspecting them of cooperating with jihadists. They view Kidal as a rear base for Islamist militants.

Source: AFP

13, March 2020

Gambian defender among five more Serie A players with coronavirus ⁰

Four footballers from Sampdoria and one at Fiorentina have tested positive for coronavirus, the Italian clubs said on Friday.

Gambia defender Omar Colley, Sweden midfielder Albin Ekdal, Norway playmaker Morten Thorsby and former Italy Under-21 forward Antonio La Gumina as well as team-mate Manolo Gabbiadini are suffering from COVID-19.

“The state of their health is good and they are at home in Genoa,” a statement said.

Former Southampton striker Gabbiadani’s case was confirmed by the outfit on Thursday for the virus.

Club doctor Amedeo Baldari has also tested positive.

Fiorentina’s Serbia forward Dusan Vlahovic was the fifth player case to be confirmed on Friday.

Juventus’ Daniele Rugani is the other instance in the Italian top-flight but the defender posted on Instagram on Wednesday saying he was “fine”.

Serie A as well as all sport in Italy has been suspended until April 3 and earlier on Thursday the country, the most affected by the virus in Europe, recorded its highest one-day death toll yet of 250.

Source: AFP

13, March 2020

Cameroonian becomes Congo Kinshasa’s second coronavirus patient ⁰

Democratic Republic of Congo Health authorities confirm that a second person has tested positive for coronavirus in the country, and is being treated in hospital:

The patient is a 46-year-old Cameroonian national who lives in DR Congo with this family.

He returned to the country from France on 8 March, and did not show symptoms of the virus.

Congolese health authorities say they have so far identified 117 people who have come into contact with both of the country’s confirmed cases.

The news comes a day after doctors in DR Congo decided to return to work, ending a two-month strike.

Correspondents say the medical union signed an agreement with the government to improve their working conditions and pay.

Source: Report Focus News

13, March 2020

Southern Cameroons War: Disturbing news out of Ground Zero ⁰

On January 30, armed separatists kidnapped Marie (not her real name), a 19-year-old secondary school student, in Buea, in Cameroon’s Anglophone South-West region. Three days later, they chopped her finger off with a machete.

The reason? Marie wanted to go to school.

Since 2017, armed separatist groups have enforced a boycott of education in the country’s two English-speaking regions, as part of a perverse attempt to pressure the government to get greater political recognition.

They’ve burned school buildings and kidnapped and assaulted students and teachers for not complying with their demands to keep schools shut. They have used schools as bases, torturing and holding people hostage in and near them.

“They punished me because they found schoolbooks in my bag,” said Marie. “They wanted to cut a finger of my right hand to prevent me from writing again. I begged them [not to], and then they chopped the forefinger of my left hand.”

Marie said the separatists also maimed a 19-year-old man who was held with her and also accused of attending school. Both students were released on February 3, after a ransom payment. They have received medical treatment but have not yet returned to school.

Separatists’ attacks on schools, students, and teachers in the Anglophone regions have had a devastating impact on education. According to United Nations agencies, nearly 600,000 children have been prevented from going to school since late 2016, and only 19 percent of primary and secondary schools are open across the North-West and South-West regions. Government forces have been implicated in one arson attack at a school, according to open source investigators.

In September 2018, Cameroon announced its endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration, one of 28 African Union members to join this international political commitment to protect education during armed conflict. Clearly, far more needs to be done by the government to ensure children can return to school safely and to promote alternative forms of education, including teaching by radio, the internet, or television, for those students who cannot yet return.

In their brutal campaign, separatists are using education as a weapon for political gains and are robbing an entire generation of children of their fundamental right to education. Separatist leaders should immediately direct their fighters and followers to stop interfering with children’s education.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

13, March 2020

WHO warns Europe is coronavirus ‘epicentre’ as outbreak continues to spread ⁰

The World Health Organisation warned Friday that Europe was now the “epicentre” for the global coronavirus pandemic and reporting more daily cases than China did at the height of its outbreak. This statement came as the outbreak continued to spread across the world, provoking further closures and travel bans in an attempt to contain it, and big swings on financial markets. Follow our FRANCE 24 live blog for the latest news as it happens.

“Europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a virtual press conference, describing the more than 5,000 deaths worldwide as “a tragic milestone”.

The Louvre Museum will be closing Friday evening at 6 until further notice following a French government directive banning gatherings of more than 100 people in a bid to contain the coronavirus’s spread. All schools, crèches and universities across France will be closed from Monday.

In France, 61 people have died of the virus. The number of cases was put at 2,876, an increase of 595 cases and 13 deaths from Wednesday.

Stock markets rebounded after Thursday’s plunge with European stocks staging a comeback, rising 8 percent by Friday afternoon after recording early losses. The Dow rose 773.20 points, or 3.6 percent, at opening to 21,973.82.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a two-week state of emergency beginning Saturday.

Major sports events have been cancelled, including the Champions League and the Premier League.

China reported its lowest-ever number of new coronavirus cases: just eight on Friday, with no new domestic infections outside Hubei province.

Italy, which has recorded nearly 15,113 coronavirus cases and 1,016 deaths, remains on a nationwide lockdown.

Culled from France 24

13, March 2020

French Cameroun: Maurice Kamto escapes unscathed after assassination attempt ⁰

The leader of the Cameroonian Renaissance Movement Prof Maurice Kamto has escaped an assassination attempt.

In a video posted on Facebook and shared by the party spokesperson, Sosthène Médard Lipot, a man in his forties was seen being pinched by a small group of MRC supporters in the presence of the party’s Vice Chairman Alain Fogue. The party officials accused him of having tried to take the life of Maurice Kamto, using an automatic pistol that he held in his hand.

MRC spokesman was quoted as saying that three persons have been arrested. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the Vice Chairman Professor Fogue is currently meeting with the Governor of the North Region on the matter.

Maurice Kamto’s motorcade was on its way to the Far North Region, precisely in Tokombéré, as part of the national tour he had previously embarked on. It was therefore at the entrance of the city of Garoua that the incident occurred.

An armed group infiltrated the Kamto motorcade, and one of the members pulled out his gun to open fire but had the bad luck that he was on a motorcycle, and there were cars on either side blocking his view of the MRC leader. He was apprehended.

At the time of filing this report, information filtered that the Governor of the North region Jean Abate Edi’I and his security chief have identified the presumed assassin as an officer on duty with the National Gendarmerie.

By Rita Akana