Headline News

26, March 2020

Of President Biya and death rumours ⁰

Cameroon Concord News Group is of the opinion that news of Paul Biya’s death is being greatly exaggerated again. By our records, this is the 8th time the world’s oldest dictator has died.

In one of our extensive investigations on his crimes in 2017, we spoke to someone in his inner core who opined that these announcements of his death captivated the ailing dictator. Our informant said ‘these stories of his passing away always lift his spirit’. Weird but factual!!

So, before Ambazonians and Cameroonians start their celebrations, Cameroon Concord News Group urges them to exercise restraint.

CCN and CIR Editorial Desk

26, March 2020

Cameroon: Church facing Covid-19 ⁰

Cameroon, like many other countries in the world, has embarked on measures aimed at preventing the spread of the new coronavirus. Based on measures announced by the government, Cameroonian Bishops have invited their faithful to respect the new rules in place.

A call for compliance

The prelates have urged the faithful to pray fervently as families and as individuals for the virus to end. They have also encouraged Christians to adhere to the constant washing of hands; reception of Holy Communion in the hand and the temporary suppression of the gesture of peace by physical contact during Mass. Pastoral visits, solemn celebrations of Palm Sunday and Holy Week, as well as other general events such as Diocesan Youth Days and diocesan pilgrimages, have all been suspended until further notice.

Churches remain open but the Church leaders are urging reduced numbers at Mass as well as social distancing.

“We must avoid everything that brings us into close contact with others…We are in a delicate situation because of the pandemic. As for the reception of the Body of Christ, it will now be done in the hand,” said Archbishop Samuel Kleda of the Archdiocese of Douala.

Archbishop Kleda recites the rosary on the streets of Douala

Archbishop Kleda took to the streets of Cameroon’s economic capital, Douala, this week, carrying the statue of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. The Archbishop, accompanied by some priests, went around city streets reciting the rosary.

Archbishop Nkea appeals for more prayer

For his part, the Archbishop of Bamenda and Vice-President of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, Andrew Nkea, also appealed to the faithful of the country to pray so that the fight against the pandemic would be won.

Manu Dibango 1933 – 2020

At least 66 people in Cameroon have tested positive for COVID-19. Authorities are monitoring the situation and are not ruling out the possibility of a total lockdown.

On Tuesday, this week, Cameroon was mourning one of its most famous sons, Manu Dibango, the 86-year-old African jazz legend who died in Paris after contracting the new coronavirus.

Source: Vatican News

26, March 2020

Coronavirus Outbreak: Russia to ground all international flights from midnight ⁰

Russia will halt all international flights from midnight on Friday under a government decree listing new measures against the coronavirus outbreak.

The decree published on Thursday orders aviation authorities to halt all regular and charter flights, with the exception of special flights evacuating Russian citizens from abroad.

Russia’s civil aviation agency Rosaviatsiya will halt “regular and charter air travel from Russian airports to airports of foreign states and back,” according to the decree published on the government’s website. The grounding starts at midnight Friday, or 2100 GMT Thursday.

The decree said that flights authorised by the Russian government would be exempt from the rule. The new measures do not apply to domestic flights within Russia.

The government said Russians who were unable to return due to restrictions imposed by countries they are in should take measures to stay safe.

The decree also called on the finance ministry to allocate funds to repatriate Russians, adding that returnees would be subject to health checks and a two-week quarantine.

Russia, which has reported 658 cases of the coronavirus and announced two COVID-19 related deaths Wednesday, already closed its borders to foreigners last week.

Earlier in March, Russia limited flights to and from the European Union.

Source: AFP

26, March 2020

Coronavirus Epidemic: French military to join fight in France as toll grows ⁰

The French military will support public services strained by the coronavirus epidemic, President Emmanuel Macron has said, as the country’s death toll topped 1,300.

France like other nations has already imposed a nationwide ban on non-essential movement and closed schools and restaurants in a bid to stop the spread of the pandemic.

The military operation, named “Resilience”, will focus on “aiding and supporting the population, as well as helping public services face the epidemic in mainland France and overseas”, Macron said on Wednesday.

“Unity and courage will allow us to overcome this, we are only at the beginning, but we will hold out,” Macron added, declaring that France was “at war”.

The comments came after the president visited a military field hospital set up by the army in the eastern Mulhouse region which has been badly hit by the coronavirus.

“The whole nation has been mobilised” in the fight against the disease, said a masked Macron, who also promised more investment for hospitals.

Officials said on Wednesday Paris will also cut metro and train services to a minimum in the capital and its suburbs and close two of its airports as the country expands the lockdown measures.

Operators said the goal was to keep just enough trains running for health workers and others who need to get to work during the coronavirus crisis.

Police are carrying out checks at stations to prevent unnecessary travel, not least by people hoping to escape confinement in large cities.

Also Wednesday, Paris airports operator ADP said it would temporarily shut Orly airport, the main domestic hub, to commercial flights because of the “significant and sudden” drop-off in passenger traffic because of coronavirus travel restrictions.

“Yesterday passenger traffic at Orly was down 92 percent and down 89 percent at Charles de Gaulle,” the main Paris international hub, ADP’s managing director Edward Arkwright told journalists.

The group had already shut several terminals at both airports as airlines slashed flights.

France has reported 1,331 official coronavirus deaths since the first case was reported in January. More than 11,500 people have tested positive for the virus.

The government will announce over the coming days for how long the country’s lockdown measures would continue, spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye said.

Source: AFP

26, March 2020

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe makes public what the people of Southern Cameroons want ⁰

“The struggle in Cameroon by the people of Southern Cameroons is not only because the other side is not recognising her system and abiding by the cohabitation principles laid out in 1961, but is also due to the fact that the Republic of Cameroun is completely annexing the British Southern Cameroons, wiping away all signs of its heritage and forcing its people to become the people of the Republic of Cameroun”.

I was going to title this article “What Do Anglophone Cameroonians Want?” To avoid any confusion of identity with those who simplify being Anglophone in Cameroon as being able to speak English, I want to be clear that the claims in Cameroon centre around a people who originate from a specific geographical region known as British Southern Cameroons. In this article, any further mention of Anglophone should be related to people from the then British Southern Cameroons or from West Cameroon, as opposed to anyone from the Republic of Cameroon who can express himself or herself in English. The identity issue is foremost in this struggle. Identity is far more than language. With Identity comes language, values, governance, culture and a way of life. In these aspects, the two peoples in today’s Republic of Cameroon (British Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroun) have fundamental differences. The struggle in Cameroon by the people of Southern Cameroons is not only because the other side is not recognising her system and abiding by the cohabitation principles laid out in 1961, but is also due to the fact that the Republic of Cameroun is completely annexing the British Southern Cameroons, wiping away all signs of its heritage and forcing its people to become the people of the Republic of Cameroun.

2017 offers us a ray of hope, beckoning in the horizon. Our people now have another golden opportunity to decide on divorce from the Republic of Cameroun or to stay in this marriage of convenience and keep complaining. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. If we do today what our leaders did in 1961 and 1972, then our children, grand children and great-grand children will most likely get in 2083 and 2100 what we have now. The opportunity of this critical juncture cannot be missed!

The world is silent as the time-bomb in Cameroon is ticking to the point of explosion. Even people in neighbouring Nigeria do not seem to know what is happening next door. Hardly does one turn on the TV or the pages of Nigerian newspapers and hear or read anything about Cameroon, in spite of the over 1500 kilometres land border that the two countries share. Nigeria has an embassy and two Consular Offices in Cameroon (Yaoundé, Douala and Buea). Similarly, Cameroon has an embassy in Abuja, a consular office in Lagos and another in Calabar. Estimates put the number of Nigerians living in Cameroon at around two million. What happens in Nigeria has a direct or indirect impact in Cameroon and vice versa. The case of Boko Haram is glaring for all to see. For many people in the world, Cameroon is a country in peace. We should note that peace is not the absence of war. Behind the seeming peace in Cameroon is a growing Anglophone problem; discrimination, marginalisation and almost outright enslavement. This is happening while the world watches in silence. Unfortunately, such problems only come to the limelight when there are strikes, riots and killings.

Recently, the situation in the English speaking part of Cameroon (British Southern Cameroons) could only be described as having been totally dead. The entire Anglophone Cameroon was like a ghost-town. Reports that reached us said that from Ekok and Otu at the southern border with Nigeria, to Afab, Ewelle, Kembong, Mamfe, Batchuo, Bakebe, Tinto, Sumbe, Kumba, Ekondo-titi, Mundemba, Muyuka, Buea, Limbe (Victoria), Tiko, Bamenda, Bali, Wum, Ndop, Kumbo, Nkambe and Menchum, everything was at a standstill. There were no movements, either of people, bikes or vehicles. This was in complete obedience to a sit-in strike called by the Teachers’ Trade Union and the Common-Law Lawyers, following an impasse at the close of last year. The response was even more significant considering the fact that the government of Cameroon deployed ministers and senior administrators to the region, to meet with chiefs and other stakeholders to lobby for the strike not to be adhered to.

In their “quiet” action, the Anglophones had spoken clearly and loudly to the authorities in Yaoundé. There is an Anglophone problem in Cameroon. It should be looked into very carefully and profound solutions sought to it or the people would be left with no alternative than to go their own way. If a marriage cannot work, then divorce becomes the only solution.

Today in Cameroon, we have a situation where teachers of French origin and expression are transferred to the English-speaking part of the country to teach subjects like Biology, Chemistry, Geography, History and Physics. When I was a kid, the only French teachers we had taught us French as a language, which we reluctantly learned. Today, students who study technical education in secondary schools are taught a curriculum that is fundamentally French in nature. As if this is not bad enough, when they complete their studies and have to write the final exams, they write exams set in French. After complaining for many years, the government decided to translate the exams into English and we have ended up now with a situation where a student of Mechanics could see a question set in French as “Quel est le rôle de la bougie dans une voiture?” translated as “what is the role of a candle in a car?” While this translation is correct in verbatim, it is nonsensical in context because of the wrong use of the word “candle” as a translation of “bougie”. The correct translation would have had “spark-plug” instead of “candle”. Little wonder then that Anglophone students are failing exams even before they leave the hall because the right questions were never asked.

The French Law system (Civil Law) is fundamentally different from the British one (Common Law). The educational system in Cameroon today is such that students who go to university to study Law can either end up with a degree in Civil Law or in Common Law. However, there is only one school in Cameroon that trains magistrates and the curriculum of that school is based on the French Civil Law system. What this means is that all the magistrates in Cameroon have been prepared through the French Civil Law system and are expected to go to the English-speaking parts of the nation and adjudicate cases based on the British Common Law order.

There is no Anglophone in any key position in the Supreme Court of the nation. Of the 38 ministers with portfolios in Cameroon, only one (1) is Anglophone. Today, there is no airport in Anglophone Cameroon, but there were three airstrips in this region in 1982. The natural deep-sea port in Cameroon is in Victoria, in the Anglophone region. It has literally been abandoned in preference for the one in Douala, in the Francophone part, which has to be dredged continuously. The only oil refinery in Cameroon is located in the Anglophone part but its taxes are paid to a region in the Francophone part. Over 90 percent of the workers at the oil refinery, from the guards at the gate to the General Manager are Francophones. After a lot of pressure from the Anglophones, the government has been reluctantly creating tertiary education centres in the Anglophone region, but fills them with students of Francophone origin. The latest instance was the admissions into the School of Sports of the University of Bamenda, in the Anglophone part, to which less than five percent of the students are Anglophones. In a class of about 250 students in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Buea, less than 50 are Anglophones. The situation in the Faculty of Health Sciences at this university is even worse.

To better understand what the Anglophone Cameroonians want, let us take a walk down memory lane and see where they are coming from, why they are here, and where they are going to. The unfortunate situation of Cameroon started in 1919 at the end of World War 1. Before 1919, Kamerun, as it was known, was a German territory. After the war in which the French, British and Belgian forces defeated the Germans, the spoils of war were shared between France and Britain. This was ratified in the Treaty of Versailles. In that agreement, Eastern Cameroon was given to France and Western Cameroon was given to Britain, as Trust Territories. The British government took their part, known as the British Cameroons, and added it to the Republic of Nigeria. Before being attached to Nigeria, Western Cameroon was further divided for administrative convenience into two; Northern British Cameroons and Southern British Cameroons. The Northern British Cameroons was administered as part of Northern Nigeria and the Southern British Cameroons as part of Southern Nigeria.

In 1954, Southern British Cameroons became a self-governing territory, following her declaration of benevolent neutrality in the Nigerian Eastern House of Assembly. It had a governance structure with a legislature, judiciary, House of Chiefs and an executive branch headed by a prime minister. They built a prime minster’s lodge which still stands tall to this day in Buea. They set up democratic institutions in the region and the people there participated actively in a democratic political system. In 1959, multiparty elections were held in the Southern British Cameroons and the opposition party candidate, John Ngu Foncha won and became prime minister, replacing Dr. EML Endeley. A peaceful democratic transfer of power happened in Africa in 1959. Where did we go wrong?

The Unasked Options That Led To a Very Unhealthy Marriage

On January 1, 1960, French Cameroun got its independence from France and named itself the Republic of Cameroun. On October 1, 1960, ten months after the Republic of Cameroun, Nigeria got its independence from Britain and became the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In February 1961, a plebiscite was organised in which the people of British Cameroons (both South and North) were asked to choose whether they wanted to achieve independence by joining the already independent Republic of Cameroun or join the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The people of Northern British Cameroons (part of North-East Nigeria today) voted overwhelmingly to remain as part of Nigeria, while the majority of the people of Southern British Cameroons (today’s Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon) voted to join the Republic of Cameroun in a loose confederation. The unasked option was “whether any of the British Cameroons wanted to be an independent nation”. This option would have been in order, considering that the British Southern Cameroons had a land size of about 43,000 km², slightly larger that the 41,543 km² of the Netherlands, with a population of about eight million, more than that of Paraguay.

From July 17 to 21, 1961, the first president of the Republic of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo, organised a conference in Foumban to draw up a charter for a Two-State system within a federal political arrangement. After the Foumban conference, on September 30, 1961, President Ahidjo proclaimed into being the Federal Republic of Cameroon, and the two states celebrated unification on October 1, 1961. From thence, Southern Cameroons was named West Cameroon and the Republic of Cameroun named East Cameroun. On May 20, 1972, in another master stroke, President Ahidjo outmanoeuvred the people of Southern Cameroons in a stage-managed referendum and created the United Republic of Cameroon. In doing so, he changed the organisation of the Southern Cameroons organisation was earlier divided into six regions (Mamfe, Kumba, Victoria, Bamenda, Wum and Nkambe) into two Provinces of his United Republic; the “South West” and the “North West” Provinces. He divided East Cameroon into five provinces (Northern, Western, Littoral, Central South and Eastern).

How Long? Too Long!

President Ahidjo ruled the United Republic of Cameroon until November 1982, when it is believed that his French doctor tricked him about his health, making him resign and hand over power to his long-time associate and prime minister, Paul Biya. He remained as the president of the only political party at the time, the Cameroun National Union (CNU). It is also widely believed that in 1983, the two powerful men had a feud that led to the former president going into exile in France. In an earlier twist, in June 1983, there was a coup attempt that was foiled. Ahidjo went into exile in July, and in August he announced that he was no longer the head of the CNU. In February 1984, Ahidjo was sentenced to death in absentia for his alleged participation in the failed coup. In April 1984, another violent coup was foiled and many believed that the former president had his hands in it. Ahidjo denied any involvement in the coup. The death sentence on President Ahidjo was later commuted to life-imprisonment by President Biya. Later on Ahidjo moved to Senegal where, on the November 30, 1989, he died of a heart attack in Dakar. In one of my trips to Senegal, I felt truly sorry on visiting and standing beside the tombstone of the man who always coughed before his radio addresses, with every Cameroonian standing still. I read the inscription on his tomb, which translates to “here lies the remains of Ahmadou Ahidjo, the former President of Cameroon”. How and where the mighty fall!

President Paul Biya has been ruling Cameroon since November 1982. Yes, 18 years before the 21st century, 17 years since, and still counting. In 1984, he changed the name of the country from the “United Republic of Cameroon” back to the “Republic of Cameroon”. In the same stroke, he fractured the Northern province into three (Adamawa, North, and Far North). He met a single party in the country and reluctantly accepted multiparty democracy in the early ‘90s, in which he won elections by just over 52 percent. In the last election in 2011, he won by 78 percent. When he took over power, the presidential term of office was without limit. He changed it to two terms of five years each, not counting all the years he had ruled before that date. He changed it again to two terms of seven years, and in 2008 in another constitutional amendment, he eliminated the term limits altogether, making himself practically president for life.

Over the years, most of the people that the presidents of the Republic of Cameroon have placed in key positions in the world’s greatest organisations are Francophones. These include those appointed to the United Nations and key countries, as Ambassadors and High Commissioners. Until 2008, all the Cameroonian Ambassadors to the UN, USA, UK, Nigeria, France and Germany were Francophones. Till date only one Ambassador to these countries, the Cameroon High Commissioner to the UK, is Anglophone.

Cameroon Ambassadors/ High Commissioners to Nigeria (All French-Speaking Cameroonians):

• M. Haman Dicko – 1960 – 1966

• Hamadou Alim – 1966 – 1975

• Mohaman Yerime Lamine – 1975 – 1984

• Souaibou Hayatou – 1984 – 1988

• Samuel Libock – 1988 – 1994

• Salaheddine Abbas Ibrahima – 2008 to date

Cameroon Ambassadors to the United Nations (All French-Speaking Cameroonians):

• Ferdinand Oyono — 1974 to 1982

• Martin Belinga Eboutou — 1998

• Anatole Marie Nkou — 2007

• Michel Tommo Monthé — 2008

Cameroon Ambassadors to the United States of America (All French-Speaking Cameroonians):

• Jacques Kuoh-Moukouri

• Joseph Owono — from 1970s

• Paul Pondi — from 1982 to 1993

• Joseph Bienvenu Charles Foe-Atangana

• H.E. Étoundi Essomba — the current ambassador

Cameroon High Commissioners to the United Kingdom:

• Paul Pondi — 1977

• Dr. Gibering Bol-alima

*Libock Samuel

• Nkwelle Ekaney – 2008 (A English-Speaking Cameroonian)

Cameroon Ambassadors to France (All French-Speaking Cameroonians):

• Ferdinand Oyono — from 1965 to 1968

• Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh — from 1983

• Lejeune Mbella Mbella — over twenty years

• Samuel Mvondo Ayolo — from October 2015

Cameroon Ambassadors to Germany (All French-Speaking Cameroonians):

• Jean-Baptiste Beleoken — 1970’s

• HE Holger Mahnicke

The Anglophone Cameroon problem is real and must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia

25, March 2020

France records 231 coronavirus deaths in a day ⁰

French health authorities reported 231 new deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday, taking the total to 1,331.

The rise in the number of deaths from coronavirus represents a daily increase in France of 21%, a slight slowing from the previous two days with the country now in its second week of lockdown.

This daily government tally only accounts for those dying in hospital but authorities said they would soon be able to compile data on deaths in retirement homes, which is likely to result in a big increase in registered fatalities.

During a press conference, health agency director Jerome Salomon added that the number of cases had risen to 25,233, a rise of about 13% in 24 hours.

Salomon said 2,827 people were in a serious condition, needing life support, up 12% compared to Tuesday and meaning that more than one third of France’s 8,000 beds equipped with ventilation gear are occupied.

(REUTERS)

25, March 2020

Coronavirus and the race to save jobs: European governments step in to pay wages ⁰

Tens of millions of jobs are now at risk from the coronavirus pandemic, with entire industries being shut down to keep the virus from spreading. Governments across Europe are spending billions on wage subsidies in a desperate effort to save jobs and cushion the economic blow.

A spike in unemployment is a triple threat to a country’s economy: consumer spending and tax revenues drop, while social welfare costs skyrocket.

The International Labour Organization estimates that almost 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Governments across Europe are using public money to try to secure jobs through the crisis by paying or reimbursing companies that have seen their revenues dry up. Their goal: to keep employees on the payroll so they can resume working when businesses re-open.

Here are some of the plans to help individuals that have been announced so far.

France

As the number of cases of the virus began to rise, the French government extended its system of chômage partiel, or partial unemployment.

When a company is forced to reduce or suspend work, it can apply for state funding of 70 percent of an employee’s gross salary, to a maximum of €6,927 per month.

As of March 24, 730,000 workers were being paid under this scheme. The finance ministry has already set aside €8.5 billion in funding but that amount is expected to rise.

With schools and crèches (nurseries) closed, the French government is also giving paid leave to parents who cannot work from home and who are responsible for children younger than 16.

The annual winter embargo on evicting tenants from residential properties has also been extended to May 31.

Germany

Berlin has expanded its short-time allowance, or Kurzarbeitergeld, to include companies that cut working hours as a result of the coronavirus.

It pays at the same level as unemployment benefits: Up to 67 percent of net wages lost due to shorter hours, to a maximum of €6,700 per month.

Tenants who are unable to pay their rent will be protected from eviction until September 30, although back rent will be owed when the economic situation improves.

United Kingdom

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will see the UK government reimburse companies for 80 percent of gross salaries up to a maximum of £2,500 (€2,714) per month.

This can be backdated to March 1, with the system in place initially for three months.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “placing no limit on the amount of funding available for the scheme”.

Ireland

A new temporary wage subsidy will allow affected companies to recoup up to 70 percent of salaries from the Irish government to maintain current employment levels, with a maximum of €410 per week (€1,777 net per month).

Special arrangements have been made for the childcare sector, which include the state paying all the wages of crèche workers as well as contributing to other running costs. The aim is for parents to be able to stop paying fees and still be guaranteed a place when the crèche reopens.

Italy

As part of the economic package adopted on March 16, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government extended a series of “social shock absorbers”.

They include paying up to 80 percent of an employee’s salary for a period of nine weeks to a maximum of €1,130 net per month.

Self-employed people have also been awarded a one-off payment of €600.

Spain

The existing provision for temporary layoffs, known as ERTE, has been expanded to cover businesses affected by the virus. Up to 70 percent of salaries will be paid, with a maximum of €1,412 per month.

The Spanish government has also ordered utility companies to maintain services to all “vulnerable” households, even if they are unable to pay their bills.

Trouble ahead

These temporary packages come at a steep cost to the taxpayer but, if successful, they will help economies recover more quickly when the outbreak recedes.

Economists are nonetheless warning of a deep recession to come. A key economic survey published by IHS Markit on Tuesday showed the largest collapse in eurozone business activity on record.

And despite the quick moves to shore up economies, some warn it may not be enough.

So far, “policymakers’ efforts to date have failed to brighten the darkening picture”, said IHS Markit chief business economist Chris Williamson, in a statement accompanying the survey results.

Bell, of BMO Global Asset Management, wrote in an economic update on Tuesday that government measures “will do no more than blunt the blow to economies and families”.

Source: France 24

25, March 2020

UN launches virus aid plan, says all of humanity at risk ⁰

The coronavirus pandemic is threatening the entire human race, the United Nations warned Wednesday as it launched a humanitarian response plan featuring an appeal for $2 billion to help the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

“COVID-19 is threatening the whole of humanity -– and the whole of humanity must fight back,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in announcing the initiative.

“Global action and solidarity are crucial. Individual country responses are not going to be enough.”

Just last week, as the novel coronavirus spread to more and more countries, killing thousands and infecting many more, Guterres warned that unless the world came together to curb the spread, millions of people could die.

The plan “aims to enable us to fight the virus in the world’s poorest countries, and address the needs of the most vulnerable people, especially women and children, older people, and those with disabilities or chronic illness,” said Guterres.

If fully funded, “it will save many lives and arm humanitarian agencies and NGOs with laboratory supplies for testing, and with medical equipment to treat the sick while protecting health care workers,” he added.

The amount of money sought by the plan is small compared to the $2 trillion that the US Congress is poised to approve as a rescue effort for devastated American consumers, companies and hospitals as the world’s largest economy grinds to a sudden halt.

– Two scenarios –

The UN plan is designed to last from April to December — suggesting the world body does not see the health crisis abating any time soon.

The exact total of $2.012 billion is supposed to flow in in response to appeals that various UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme, have already made.

Guterres said that in parallel, humanitarian aid provided yearly by member states to help 100 million people around the world must continue.

Otherwise, he said, the coronavirus pandemic could lead to rampant outbreaks of other diseases such as cholera and measles, as well as higher levels of malnutrition.

“This is the moment to step up for the vulnerable,” Guterres said.

As spelled out in an 80-page booklet, the UN plan will be carried out by UN agencies that work directly with non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

It will be coordinated by the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Mark Lowcock of Britain.

The money will be used for a variety of purposes: to set up hand-washing facilities in refugee camps, launch public awareness campaigns and establish humanitarian air shuttles with Africa, Asia and Latin America, the UN says.

The exact needs of some countries are still being identified.

The plan names 20 or so as deserving top priority for aid, including some enduring war or some degree of conflict, such as Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela and Ukraine.

But countries such as Iran and North Korea are also analyzed in the booklet.

The plan foresees two general scenarios as to how the pandemic might evolve.

Under the first, the pandemic is brought under control relatively quickly as its rate of spread slows over the course of three or four months. This, it says, would allow for a relatively swift recovery in terms of public health and the economy.

But under the second model, the pandemic spreads quickly in countries that are poor or developing, mainly in Africa, Asia and parts of the Americas.

“This leads to longer periods of closed borders and limited freedom of movement, further contributing to a global slowdown that is already under way,” said the UN.

Source: AFP

25, March 2020

Coronavirus hits war-ravaged Mali, sparks scare among Nigerian leaders ⁰

Four countries led by war-ravaged Mali on Wednesday joined the lengthening list of African countries hit by the novel coronavirus as fears of the disease swept members of Nigeria’s political elite.

Mali, mired in an eight-year-old conflict, said two nationals who had returned from France had tested positive for the virus.

Libya, another conflict-torn country, as well as the volatile West African state of Guinea-Bissau and Uganda in East Africa also reported their first cases of COVID-19.

More than 2,400 cases were recorded in all of Africa as of Wednesday, according to an AFP tally, with 64 deaths.

Although the toll is far lower than those recorded in Europe, the United States and the Middle East, health experts say the world’s poorest continent is especially vulnerable to the virus.

Poor healthcare infrastructure, weak governance and crowded slums present ideal conditions for the respiratory disease to spread.

Conflict, in particular, is a major factor in aggravating the risk.

Mali is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in the north in 2012 which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.

The conflict has since spread to the centre of the country, and large swathes of the vast semi-arid state lie outside of government control.

The government, which earlier banned commercial flights from virus-stricken countries, appealed for the public to “remain calm and to strictly respect the recommended preventive measures”.

The UN on Wednesday placed the spotlight on the Central African Republic (CAR), also gripped by conflict.

CAR “is one of the least prepared countries to face a COVID-19 outbreak, with 2.2 million people already in need of health assistance and about 70 percent of health services provided by humanitarian organisations,” the country’s coronavirus Global Humanitarian Response Plan warned.

– ‘Jittery’ in Nigeria –

In the Nigerian capital Abuja, meanwhile, fears spread of coronavirus infection among senior politicians.

A number of state governors as well as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo were in self-isolation after coming into contact with two individuals infected with COVID-19.

According to the president’s office and local media, one of them is President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, one of Nigeria’s most influential figures.

The political elite “is in panic mode following the confirmed case of the chief of staff,”a source close to the presidency said.

“As the engine room of government, (Kyari) has contact with various segments of the society. So everybody who has had contact with him since he returned from Germany is jittery. Most of us are in self-isolation.”

Nigeria’s elite often jet abroad for private medical care, typically favouring Britain or the United States, rather than entrusting themselves to the country’s rundown hospitals.

“STUCK!”, said author Elnathan John on social media. “Nowhere to run.”

Buhari, 77, who was re-elected in February last year, made several trips to London during his first four-year term for a condition that has never been disclosed.

– Lockdowns, curfews –

African states have been adopting increasingly restrictive measures against the invisible peril.

Senegal and Ivory Coast have declared states of emergency and ordered nighttime curfews, similar to South Sudan, which has ordered a nightly lockdown from 8 pm to 6 am.

South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, is set to enter a lockdown from Thursday.

Ethiopia announced Wednesday it would free more than 4,000 prisoners to help prevent an outbreak in overcrowded prisons.

The measures will apply to those jailed for “petty crimes” and drug offences or have less than a year remaining on their sentences.

Conditions in Ethiopia’s prisons are “harsh and in some cases life-threatening,” marred by “gross overcrowding and inadequate food, water, sanitation and medical care,” according to the latest annual human rights report on Ethiopia from the US State Department.

Source: AFP

25, March 2020

South Africa prepares to go into lockdown as coronavirus cases top 700 ⁰

South Africa’s coronavirus cases jumped again to 709, the health minister said Wednesday, as the country with the most cases in Africa prepared to go into lockdown first thing Friday.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on state television pointed out “intense local spread” in Free State province among attendees of a church gathering where five cases were reported. All five in people who had recently traveled abroad. Now almost 30 cases have been recorded.

Cases across Africa are now well above 2,400. With Libya announcing its first case, 44 of the continent’s 54 countries now have the virus.

Those that have not recorded cases are Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Burundi, Malawi, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho and Sao Tome and Principe, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some have the most fragile health systems on the continent.

Congo became the latest country to close its borders while reporting its third death. The sprawling nation has one of Africa’s weakest health systems and has been battling another global health emergency, a deadly Ebola virus outbreak in the east.

While that outbreak now appears to be within days of being declared over, Congo also faces a large measles outbreak.

As more countries across Africa impose restrictions on gatherings and travel, many informal workers are suffering. Ethiopia’s government in a proposal to the Group of 20 major industrialized nations has said Africa needs a $150 billion emergency financing package because “COVID-19 poses an existential threat to the economies of African countries.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Source: AP