Headline News

8, February 2020

Why the African Union must not ignore Cameroon ⁰

When the 33rd African Union Summit begins on Sunday, the conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions should be on the agenda. Yet the violence is unlikely to be seriously discussed by African leaders.

The Cameroonian Prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute preside the opening session of the National Dialogue(Getty Images/AFP/Str)

If the African Union (AU) is to live up to its founding charter’s high ideals, its members must confront the human rights abuses occurring in Cameroon, rather than sweeping them under the carpet.

Cameroon’s historically English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions are home to 20% of the country’s population. The UN-backed referendum following independence in 1960 failed to give the Anglophones the option to form an independent country.

Although they were promised a degree of autonomy under a federal system, power shifted to the Francophone-dominated capital, Yaounde, by 1972. There has been an ‘Anglophone Problem’ of marginalization in Cameroon ever since.

Peaceful protests began in 2016, when the government imposed French-speaking teachers and judges on Anglophone schools and courts, with a systematic process of eroding the common law.

Impartial international human rights groups believe the regime responded with disproportionate force. Escalation over the past three years has seen more than 200 villages burned, opposition leaders and journalists detained and tortured, civilians randomly fired upon and terrorized, causing 656,000 people to flee their homes for the bushes, Francophone regions, or next-door Nigeria where 50,000 people are currently living in refugee camps. More than 2,000 people are thought to have been killed.

In response, some of the more extreme Anglophone secessionists formed increasingly violent militias over time, forcing schools, clinics, markets, and businesses to stay closed.

Human rights organizations report atrocities on both the government and separatist sides. The economy is at a stand-still, and normal life is impossible for many of the 5 million residents of the Northwest and Southwest.

People fill seats at the opening session of the National Dialogue

The National Dialogue was supposed to resolve the crisis but peace in the English-speaking regions is still distant

Reacting to international pressure, the Cameroonian government held a Major National Dialogue over several days in October 2019. These limited talks were boycotted by separatist groups and some members of civil society were unable to safely attend.

The government subsequently granted ‘special status’ to the two Anglophone regions. However, critics argue that the proposed level of autonomy remains loosely defined, with power remaining in the centralized Francophone administration in Yaounde.

Even so, any implementation is uncertain, especially in light of the legislative and municipal elections set for Sunday February 9, in which few Anglophones are expected to participate or vote due to worsening violence and horrific threats.

The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Switzerland has offered to facilitate peace talks, but the Cameroonian government has not consented to take part. Very recently, the Africa Forum announced a Symposium on Cameroon in April to support a peaceful resolution — a welcome development.

The African Union role

The AU is well aware of the violence suffered by unarmed civilians in the Anglophone regions. As recently as November 2019, a delegation including the chairperson of the AU Commission urged President Paul Biya to implement the conclusions of the Major National Dialogue, encouraging peace and stability through this nonviolent process.

Yet, in his New Year’s message, Cameroon’s leader reminded his citizens that the armed forces would carry out their duties “without weakness.” Biya persists in believing a military solution will resolve the Anglophone issues.

Cameroonian armed forces stand holding guns

Biya has sent extra forces to the English-speaking regions ahead of the municipal and parliamentary elections

In January 2020, Cameroon delivered a 190-page report to the AU, measuring its own performance against its obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The document, which amounts to a student marking her own essay, boasted that Cameroon had ratified sundry protocols protecting human rights.

Its description of Cameroon is at odds with the findings of watchdog groups such as Transparency International and Freedom House, both of which give Cameroon the lowest ranking.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International would also struggle to recognize the country as it appears in its report to the AU.

The Cameroon government congratulates itself for creating a National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, aimed at “maintaining the peace,” “consolidating national unity” and “maintaining social cohesion.”

The report to the AU also justifies shutting down the internet in the Anglophone regions for four months in 2017, saying that people were using it to stir up “hatred, violence, insurrection and secession.” Freedom of speech applies only if used in a “responsible manner.”

Three months ago, 65 mainly African human rights groups wrote an open letter to the chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, calling on the AU to urgently take specific actions to address the deteriorating security situation in Cameroon. They received no response.

Among many observers, the AU has a poor reputation. Some criticize it for spending more time seeking to guarantee its leaders’ immunity from prosecution than persuading its members not to persecute minorities or detain political opponents.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights held its 2019 summit in Egypt under the leadership of current AU Chair and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — US President Donald Trump’s “favorite dictator,” who is not known for respecting civil liberties.

If the AU is to gain legitimacy in the eyes of African citizens, it must prove it exists not for the well-padded political and business elite, but to speak the truth when one of its members violates the founding principles of the AU.

Cameroon deserves more than the slap on the wrist delivered in a 2018 AU resolution. Diplomats know there is a difference between hand-wringing resolutions urging Cameroon to respect human rights, and exerting genuine, sustained pressure on President Biya behind closed doors.

The only way forward for Cameroon is through inclusive peace negotiations between the government and both moderate and extremist Anglophone voices.

The AU summit — whose 2020 theme is “Silencing the Guns” for development —should make it clear to the Cameroonian government and the armed separatist groups that there will be consequences if they refuse to participate in the proposed Swiss-led peace talks, and the upcoming Africa Forum symposium as well.

If the AU’s African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights is to mean anything, it must apply to a situation like Cameroon’s.

Culled from Deutsche Welle

8, February 2020

French Cameroun: Hundreds March for Transition, Protest Elections ⁰

Hundreds of people have marched in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, calling for the cancellation of Sunday’s local and parliamentary elections in favor of a transition ending long-serving president Paul Biya’s regime The protesters say only a transition will lay the foundation for democracy. The government has again insisted that the elections must be held Sunday.

These are the voices of at least 500 men, women and youths dressed in black, singing as they march through the streets of Cameroon’s capital Yaounde Friday. They sang that Cameroon needs a political transition to end President Paul Biya’s 38 years in power, not the local and parliamentary elections the government is organizing on Sunday.

Fifty-eight political parties including the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement some old opposition political parties, such as the Social Democratic Front, Cameroonian Democratic Union, Movement for the Defense of the Republic and the National Union for Democracy and Progress are taking part in both elections are. All of them say they are going into Parliament to enact laws that can solve the crisis Cameroon is facing.

Among the leaders of the protest is Kah Walla, president of the Cameroon Peoples Party and former presidential candidate. She says Biya’s dictatorial regime has rigged the system and can never be ousted in an election.

Kah Walla says she is certain that if the elections take place, Biya’s Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement party will still have a majority that is loyal to the long-serving leader.

“We are not going to have a parliament that would be able to do any better than the outgoing parliament has done nor mayors who will be able to do any better,” Walla said. “Yes to political transition. We need an end to this regime, we need reforms of institutions including the electoral system and then we can talk about elections.”

Kah Walla said she was calling on all Cameroonians to join protests for a transition because it was unfortunate that since Biya became president of Cameroon 38 years ago, he has been deaf to calls for electoral reforms the opposition has been clamoring for.

The protests were organized by Stand Up For Cameroon, a movement launched by five opposition political parties, including Union of Cameroon People-Manidem and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement of Maurice Kamto, who claims he won the October 2018 presidential election and that his victory was stolen by Biya.

Stand Up for Cameroon says its objective is to create for a genuine political transition in Cameroon.

Minister of Communication and government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi says Biya enjoys legitimacy after a landslide victory, with 71% of the vote in the 2018 presidential poll, with Maurice Kamto in a distant second with 14%.

Sadi says the elections must take place as planned and that any person who wants to disrupt it will be arrested.

“It is suprising that some leaders of political parties are today putting forth various considerations either to boycott the elections or to simply demand their postponement,” Sadi said. “A vast majority of Cameroonians are also legitimately and impatiently aspiring to take part in the twin elections whose importance is secret to no one.”

None of the protesters were arrested in the march that apparently suprised the government and the police. Opposition parties have always complained of widespread irregularities, insecurity and low turnout in Cameroon’s elections.

They say Biya who has been in power for over 40 years, seven as prime minister and 38 as president, uses his party’s parliamentary majority to rule Cameroon with a iron fist.

Separatist fighters have also vowed that the elections will not take place in the English-speaking regions, and imposed a travel ban in the Northwest and Southwest regions. Civilians are fleeing the English-speaking regions, where there have been battles between the military and rebels. The civilians say they do not believe the government will be able to protect them.

Cameroon says polls will be opened on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Vote counting starts immediately afterward.

Source: VOA

8, February 2020

Why upcoming polls in Cameroon won’t end the violence ⁰

Cameroonians head for the polls this weekend against the backdrop of the armed conflict that broke out in October 2017 in the country’s Anglophone North West and South West regions. Elections to the legislature and to local municipalities have been postponed twice. The last ones were held in September 2013.

In 2018 presidential elections were held which saw President Paul Biya win another seven-year term. But the poll was heavily contested, and resulted in an escalation of the violence which persists. More than 3 000 people have died, half a million have been displaced within Cameroon and 40 000 were forced to seek refuge in Nigeria. An estimated 700 000 children are out of school and one third of the population in the Anglophone regions are in need of humanitarian aid.

What impact will the elections have on the resolution of the conflict?

In our view the answer is simple: none. This is because the ruling Cameroon People Democratic Movement’s dominates state institutions such as the executive and legislature. If anything, preparation for the elections has already heightened violence.

The North West and South West regions also experienced increased rates of violence during the presidential election of October 2018. Voter turnout was low – only 5% in the North and 15% in the South. The opposition asked for a re-run but the constitutional court said the elections were credible.

Political landscape

Cameroon has three major political parties. The ruling Cameroon People Democratic Movement which currently has 148 of the 180 National Assembly seats. The Social Democratic Front follows with a distant 18 seats. It has been the leading opposition party since its creation in 1990. The Social Democratic Front has a challenger in the form of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement which is led by Maurice Kamto. Kamto came second in the 2018 presidential election, the Social Democratic Front’s candidate 4th.

Kamto challenged the outcome of the presidential elections. He was subsequently jailed but then released after 9 months. Having become the de facto leader of the opposition in the country, Kamto has announced that the Cameroon Renaissance Movement will boycott the twin elections, citing the ongoing conflict and a bad electoral code.

If Kamto’s party does indeed boycott the elections, the ruling party will not face any major challenge.

Kamto believes that on its own, the special status granted to the English-speaking region of Cameroon will not resolve the crisis. Like his counterparts in the Social Democratic Front, he has proposed federalism.

Wrestling control of territory

The spike in violence before and during elections in 2018 was due to the belligerents fighting for control of the former British Southern Cameroons territory.

The Anglophone conflict is separatist in character. The pro-independence fighters want the “restoration of the statehood of the Southern Cameroons”, which they have renamed “Ambazonia”.

The separatists have asked members of parliament representing constituencies in the Anglophone regions to stage a walk-out or resign from the parliament in Yaounde, the country’s capital. They hope that such a step will achieve the same results as the 1953 walk out.

That year, the Southern Cameroons’ representatives walked out of the Eastern House of Assembly of Nigeria to assert the right to self-determination and the separate status of the Southern Cameroons as a United Nations (UN) Trust Territory. It was a successful gambit as the administering authority – Britain – complied and allowed the territory its autonomy.

But the members of parliament have not complied. The result has been an increase in violence.

Parliamentary discipline

The latest efforts of the state to resolve the Anglophone conflict includes a a national dialogue. The key resolution was the adoption of a “special status” for the Anglophone North West and South West regions.

The legislation mentioned schools and the judiciary system as part of the special status – a delayed response to protests in 2016 by teachers and lawyers.

Members of the ruling party hailed the law as a major breakthrough but the opposition received it with a pinch of salt. Their argument is that Anglophones, even the moderate ones, want a federal state.

For their part, separatists said no law enacted in Cameroon can be enforced in Ambazonia. They firmly stand by their demand for independence.

The stalemate suggests that more still needs to be done to resolve the conflict.

Parliament has the prerogative to make laws. It can leverage this privilege to improve the special status or enact a more adequate law. But the domination of parliament by the ruling party allows the president to define its agenda.

For example, the only time the Anglophone conflict was examined by parliament was when Biya ordered it to adopt the decentralisation bill which included the special status in December last year.

The elections are unlikely to change the power dynamics in the country. The ruling party is set to maintain control of parliament and municipalities. This means that the special status law will be implemented, which in turn will mean that nothing will change. The opposition’s inability to challenge this law means the conflict will persist.

United opposition is needed

If opposition parties are to make any contribution to building a more resilient society, they will have to unite to face the ruling party.

Cameroon’s ruling party has been able to dominate the political space in the country because of fractious disagreements among opposition and civil society. Major opposition parties must settle their differences and find ways of forging solid alliances that can allow them to effectively wrest control of the parliament, municipalities, and even the presidency from the ruling party.

If a united opposition came to power it would mean that voices for change could field the type of strategies and legislation that could provide longer term solutions to the conflict. Many in Cameroon’s opposition and in civil society believe that a return to a two-state federation – that Anglophones have repeatedly called for – following all-inclusive dialogue, is the best way out the country’s impasse.

Culled from The Conversation

8, February 2020

Southern Cameroons crisis gets nastier ⁰

There’s been a surge in political violence in Southern Cameroons ahead of parliamentary and municipal elections on 9 February. Amnesty International has accused the army of dozens of killings, the burning of villages, and the displacement of thousands of people as it tries to stamp out a separatist movement.

The anglophone militants demanding independence from the rest of francophone Cameroon have vowed to disrupt the polls and have also stepped up their attacks. They have ordered the closure of schools and markets, and told people to stay indoors between 7 and 12 February.

The crisis has shuttered more than 40 percent of the health centres in the two regions, and more than 600,000 children are out of school. At least 3,000 civilians have died since the conflict began in 2016, and 730,000 people have been displaced.

8, February 2020

Cameroonian arrested for posing as American online to swindle Japanese woman ⁰

Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Cameroonian national who is suspected of posing as an American serviceman online to swindle a Japanese woman seeking marriage, reports TBS News (Feb. 7).

In 2018, Tekom Romeo, 35, communicated with the woman, 48, via a social-networking service whereby he falsely claimed to be an American soldier worth 500 million yen.

During the exchanges, he used a photograph featuring a man in uniform who was not him. “I want to retire and live in Japan,” he wrote. “I want to send you money and for you to pay the shipping fee.”

The suspect then allegedly defrauded the woman out of 1.83 million yen.

Upon his arrest on suspicion of fraud, Romeo denied the allegations. “A Pakistani national requested me to

,” the suspect was quoted by the Tomisaka Police Station. “I didn’t know the money was obtained illegally.”

Last year, police arrested three Cameroonian nationals for the same crime.

Source: Tokyo Reporter

8, February 2020

Biya regime closes borders ahead of general elections polling day ⁰

Cameroon national borders will be closed ahead of general elections polling day on Sunday, according to an order by the country’s minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji that is made public Friday afternoon.

“National borders shall be closed 48 hours to polling day. They will be reopened the following day after voting,” according to the order, adding that international flights are exempted from the border closure.

The circulation of goods and persons within the territory by intercity road, railway, and airlines is also banned from Feb. 8 at midnight to Feb. 9 at 6 p.m.

The authorities announced the measure as the election of National Assembly representatives and municipal councilors is taking place in a context of growing tension in the Anglophone regions where separatists are fighting to create a new nation they call “Ambazonia”.

Armed separatist forces have vowed they will disrupt voting in these regions, representing about 20 percent of the national population.

Cameroon had taken similar measures restricting trans-border and intercity transports ahead of last presidential election in Oct. 2018.

Source: Xinhuanet

8, February 2020

Fear grips Southern Cameroons ahead of voting day ⁰

Long-delayed elections are due to take place in Cameroon on Sunday, but in the country’s violence-torn English-speaking areas, the fear is almost palpable.

“Everyone is holed up at home,” a civil servant said in Buea, capital of the Southwest Region, one of two provinces gripped by bloody separatist violence.

Ahead of polling, the streets were empty except for heavily-armed military patrols; shops and homes were shuttered; and many people were tight-lipped — “there’s fear of reprisals,” taxi driver Derrick Mbua said.

The elections, to renew Cameroon’s legislature and local councils, should have been held in 2017 but were twice postponed.

Their credibility has already been dented by a boycott by the country’s biggest opposition party.

Its leader Maurice Kamto spent nine months in jail after contested presidential elections in 2018 won by Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for 37 of his 86 years.

But Sunday’s vote also faces a mighty security challenge in the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

They are home to Cameroon’s anglophones, who account for around four million of the 23 million population in this mainly French-speaking country — their presence is a legacy of decolonisation in the late 1950s.

Violence

Decades of anger at perceived discrimination, and refusal by the central government to meet demands for autonomy, triggered a separatist movement which declared independence in 2017.

Bitter fighting has claimed more than 3,000 lives and nearly 700,000 people have fled their homes, according to NGO estimates.

Tensions have escalated in the runup to the vote, which the separatists have vowed to block. In the 2018 presidential elections, the turnout in these two regions was just five percent.

According to a Buea-based NGO, in the past three weeks, an election commission worker has been kidnapped, an election commission building burned down and a candidate’s home torched.

In the Northwest Region, separatists machine-gunned a convoy of election campaign vehicles operated by the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC), injuring five people.

Hundreds of troops have been sent to reinforce the troubled regions.

Police and army roadblocks dot the main highway in Buea, and commandos in balaclavas patrol aboard trucks armed with machine guns or in armoured vehicles.

Amnesty International on Thursday said 14 people were killed in an army attack on the village of Ndoh, in the Southwest Region, on January 23, a day after reports of a killing of a soldier in the area.

More than 50 homes in the region were set ablaze, it said.

“The security measures and increased military presence announced by the Cameroonian government to ensure this weekend’s vote can take place, appear to have been a pretext for a much more sinister operation,” the watchdog’s specialist for the Lake Chad region, Fabien Offner, said.

“(…) Brutal military operations have been conducted while crimes committed by armed separatists continue unabated. Civilians are finding themselves trapped in a spiral of violence.”

Voter fatigue

The ruling CPDM is the only party that is campaigning visibly in the two regions, but its presence is low-key.

Cameroon’s other large opposition party is the Social Democratic Front (SDF), which traditionally draws its support from the anglophone areas.

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute addressed a rally of several hundred supporters in Buea on Thursday, which took place behind a thicket of armed troops.

He said the government had acknowledged anglophone grievances by giving the two regions a special status, the outcome of a “national dialogue” last year.

The forum was boycotted by the separatists and they dismissed its decisions.

“We are going to have to wait for the changes to have an impact on daily life for people to step back from the separatists,” said James Fotabong, a Buea businessman.

Many residents said they would not bother to cast their ballot and were dismissive of voting for representatives who were unable to restore peace.

“I won’t go out to vote,” said Francis Mukwele, the manager of a dry-cleaning store. “And I can’t imagine that people will go out to vote here in Buea — I don’t even know where I’ve put my voter’s card.”

Security has been stepped up in the troubled anglophone regions ahead of Sunday’s twice-postponed vote.

Culled from Pulselive

8, February 2020

US Politics: Iowa winners, Sanders and Buttigieg come under attack in Democratic debate ⁰

Democratic presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, the top finishers in Iowa’s first nominating contest, faced a barrage of criticism on Friday from rivals who said they did not have what it takes to lead the party to victory against Republican Donald Trump.

In a heated debate in New Hampshire just four days before the state’s pivotal primary, the two came under heavy fire as their Democratic rivals questioned whether Sanders’ democratic socialist views and Buttigieg’s relative lack of experience made them too much of a risk for the Nov. 3 election.

Sanders, 78, a U.S. senator and leader of the party’s progressive wing, and Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, finished in a virtual dead heat in Iowa earlier this week.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the one-time front-runner who finished a disappointing fourth in Iowa, came out swinging in his most aggressive performance yet, a sign of growing desperation as he looks to rebound.

He said Trump would have an easy time ripping into Sanders in a general election campaign.

“Bernie has labelled himself, not me, a democratic socialist. I think that’s the label that the president is going to lay on everyone running with Bernie if he is the nominee,” Biden said.

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who finished a distant fifth in Iowa, said Sanders would not attract the kind of centrist voters needed to win.

“Donald Trump’s worst nightmare is a candidate who will bring people in from the middle,” Klobuchar said at the eighth Democratic debate. “I think we need someone to head up this ticket that actually brings people with her instead of shutting them out.”

Biden and Klobuchar also questioned whether Buttigieg had enough experience to face off with Trump. Buttigieg served two terms as mayor of South Bend, a city with a population of 100,000.

“It is easy to go after Washington, because that’s a popular thing to do,” Klobuchar said, telling Buttigieg that “it’s popular to say and makes you look like a cool newcomer.”

‘Turn the page’

Buttigieg said the Washington insider experience of some of his rivals was no longer what was needed, and it was time to “turn the page” on the old Washington politics.

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer said Buttigieg has not been able to show much appeal to the black and Latino voters who are crucial to a winning Democratic campaign.

“Unless you can appeal to the diverse parts of the Democratic Party, including specifically the black community, including specifically Latinos, if you can’t do that, then we can’t beat Donald Trump in November,” Steyer said.

Buttigieg also came under fire for his record on race in South Bend. Asked about an increase in arrests of blacks on marijuana-related charges, he said as mayor he targeted cases “when there was gun violence and gang violence.”

Asked if Buttigieg’s answer was sufficient, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said: “No. You have to own up to the facts.”

Historically, candidates who win the Iowa caucuses see a boost in New Hampshire, and two opinion polls released this week showed Buttigieg within striking distance of Sanders, who has consistently been atop the field in the state.

But with controversy surrounding the Iowa results, New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday takes on added importance in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Biden did not seem confident about how he would do.

“This is a long race. I took a hit in Iowa, and I’ll probably take a hit here,” he said.

After the performance in Iowa, Biden’s campaign on Friday said that Anita Dunn, a longtime Democratic strategist and former White House aide to President Barack Obama, would assume a larger leadership role within the campaign.

Aides to Biden downplayed the move, noting that Dunn has been advising the campaign all along.

“This is not a reshuffling,” one aide said. “This is giving her a slightly broader portfolio.”

Sanders, who has called for a political revolution that will attract new voters, said “the way to beat Trump is by having the largest voter turnout in the history of this country.”

He said he could appeal to working class voters who have given up on the political process “because they don’t believe anybody is hearing their pain, perceiving their pain, feeling their pain. And we’ve got to bring young people into the political process.”

Notably absent from the debate was Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire former New York mayor, who is not competing in New Hampshire but has been assembling a formidable campaign operation in later voting states. Although Bloomberg has been ascending in national polls, he has been funding his own campaign and not taking donations, so he failed to meet the donations criteria for the debate.

(REUTERS)

7, February 2020

Coronavirus kills Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm ⁰

A Chinese doctor, among the first to raise the alert about China’s new coronavirus, himself died from the pathogen on Friday, emphasizing the depth of a worsening crisis that has killed at least 630 people.

Global panic also spread, with thousands trapped on quarantined cruise ships.

Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang died at 2:58 am, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on its verified account on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

The 34-year-old sent out a message about the new coronavirus to colleagues on December 30, but was later among eight whistleblowers summoned by police for “rumour-mongering.”

He later contracted the disease while treating a patient and has been hailed as a hero by Chinese internet users.

Li was among more than 28,000 people who have been infected in China, where authorities are struggling to contain the outbreak, despite ordering millions indoors in a growing number of cities.

Two dozen countries have confirmed cases of the respiratory disease, which emerged from a market selling exotic animals in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Thousands of holidaymakers on cruise ships in Hong Kong and Japan face an agonising wait to find out if more among them have been infected.

At least 20 people on the Diamond Princess — off Yokohama since Monday — have tested positive. Some 3,700 passengers and crew from more than 50 countries have been confined to quarters.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said another cruise ship, the Westerdam, was heading to the country with one confirmed case.

He said no foreigners from the vessel, capable of carrying nearly 3,000 passengers and crew, would be allowed to disembark.

Anxiety in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, 3,600 people spent a second night confined aboard the World Dream. Authorities conducted health checks after eight former passengers tested positive for the virus.

Hong Kong has been particularly nervous because the crisis revived memories of another coronavirus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It killed nearly 300 people in the city and another 349 on the Chinese mainland in 2002-2003.

Panic buying in semi-autonomous Hong Kong left supermarkets empty of toilet paper following false online claims of shortages, prompting authorities to appeal for calm.

One person has died after contracting the virus in Hong Kong.

While the death toll rises in China with the death of Li and others, experts have stressed that at two percent mortality, 2019-nCoV is far less deadly than SARS, which killed around 10 percent of the people it infected 17 years ago.

The outbreak has nevertheless been declared a global health emergency, prompting several governments to warn against travel to China and ban arrivals from the country, while airlines have halted flights and brought home their citizens.

Almost 200 Canadians showed up at the airport in Wuhan for the country’s first evacuations, most on a commercial airliner chartered by Ottawa, officials said.

Germany’s foreign ministry said it was working to bring home several nationals who had not made it out on a flight that reached Frankfurt last Saturday.

Saudi Arabia banned citizens and resident foreigners from travelling to China, while Air France-KLM extended its flight suspension by another month until March 15.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a call that all countries should “follow World Health Organization guidelines on travel and health in a timely manner”, state news agency Xinhua reported.

After Britain advised nationals to leave China, Beijing’s ambassador to London said there should not be “such a panic.”

Short of medical staff

China has enacted unprecedented measures to contain the virus, which spread during the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, when millions criss-crossed the country.

But deaths and new infections continue to rise, especially at the epicentre in Hubei province, where 18 cities housing 56 million people have been under virtual lockdown since late last month.

There is a shortage of 2,250 medical personnel in Hubei, deputy provincial governor Yang Yunyan said Thursday. The inability to offer health workers adequate protective gear is hindering the numbers that can be deployed on the front lines, he added.

With Hubei’s capital Wuhan overwhelmed, authorities were due to open a second, 1,600-bed field hospital.

The central government has announced measures intended to ensure the supply of vital resources, with tax breaks for manufacturers of medical equipment.

BGI Group, a genome sequencing company in southern China, said it had opened a lab in Wuhan able to test 10,000 people a day.

‘Don’t go out’

More cities are ordering people to stay indoors.

They include Hangzhou, 175 kilometres (110 miles) from Shanghai, where fences block streets and loudspeakers tell people: “Don’t go out!”

In Beijing — where streets remain eerily quiet — restaurants have been barred from accepting reservations for parties.

And in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province which borders Hubei, pharmacists must send reports to the authorities on anyone buying fever or cough medicine.

The outbreak has also hit major businesses.

Workers making iPhones at tech giant Foxconn’s plant in Henan province, bordering Hubei, will be quarantined for up to two weeks, the company said.

China said it would halve tariffs on $75 billion worth of US imports, as part of a trade truce with Washington and as officials look to calm markets unnerved by the outbreak.

(AFP)

7, February 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government continues to use child soldiers ⁰

The Yaoundé government has continued to use child soldiers to prosecute its war against Southern Cameroonians who simply complained about marginalization

Over the last years, the government has been organizing army recruitments in the South and it has been using money and fake promises to lure children, most of who are from poor families in the South region.

Though being a signatory to many conventions against the use child soldiers in wars, the Yaounde government has continued to violate these conventions by recruiting underaged boys and girls into the military with the objective of sending them to the two English-speaking regions of the country where a violent insurgency is playing out.

This is a violation of international law.

This is a 14-year-old soldier “Gaston from the South”, a child soldier recruited by the military because he was unemployed. The older boys are refusing to join the military for fear of being killed in Southern Cameroons.

According to a source at the ministry of defense, some 2,100 soldiers have lost their lives in Southern Cameroons and this number does not include police officers and warders.

By Rita Akana