Police in Cameroon have detained several hundred people for not wearing face masks in public, as COVID-19 cases in the central African state continue to rise.

Seventeen-year-old David Ngwa Fru said a team of police and gendarmes detained him and his two younger sisters in the capital, Yaounde, on Thursday morning.

“The police removed us from a taxi on our way to the market because we were not wearing our masks. They detained us at the police station for three hours. We paid 2,000 (each) before we were released. Many people who did not pay the money are still there.”

Fru, speaking to VOA through a messaging app, said that although they were not issued any receipts, the police told them that the $9 he and his siblings paid were fines for not wearing their masks, and assured them that the money would be sent to the state treasury.

A health worker wearing protective equipment, disinfects a member of medical staff amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

Police official Oswald Ateba said officers are implementing a Cameroon government order that everyone in public must wear a face mask as of 6 a.m. Thursday.

He said they have been instructed to arrest everyone found along the streets, markets, bars and popular spots without masks and to impound all vehicles and motorcycles that are seen with drivers and passengers not wearing masks.

The police said authorities have detained hundreds of people, seized 250 motorcycles and impounded hundreds of taxis in Yaounde alone as part of efforts to implement the new rules.

Government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said the decision to make arrests came after lockdown restrictions were eased, but a majority of Cameroonians were not wearing masks.

He said the government is also battling the growing stigmatization of people testing positive for COVID-19 and those who have recovered from the disease, stressing that COVID-19 is neither shameful nor a curse and any person can be contaminated.

Cameroon has about 3,000 reported cases of COVID-19 and has recorded 139 deaths.

Even though the government has eased the strict lockdown measures, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said on Wednesday no one should think that COVID-19 has been conquered in the central African state. 

Source: VOA

The message of national solidarity around the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have been lost in Cameroon. While several other governments are calling on its citizens to pull together and help one another, Cameroon’s ruling party is using the pandemic to settle scores and punish the opposition.

A man who received a protective mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer donated by “Survival Initiative”, a fundraising initiative launched by opposition leader Maurice Kamto, Bangoura,Cameroon, May 2020.EXPAND

A man who received a protective mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer donated by “Survival Initiative”, a fundraising initiative launched by opposition leader Maurice Kamto, Bangoura,Cameroon, May 2020. © 2020 Private

On May 11, 6 volunteers from the “Survival Initiative,” a fundraising initiative launched by opposition leader Maurice Kamto to respond to the health emergency, were arrested while handing out protective masks and sanitizing gel for free to people in Yaoundé, the capital. The arrests would be laughable if they weren’t so serious. The volunteers face charges of rebellion and remain in detention. If found guilty, they could face up to 4 years in prison.

Earlier in May, the health minister rejected a donation by Kamto’s initiative of 16,000 protective and surgical masks and 950 Covid-19 screening tests, claiming the initiative had not been legally established.

On April 7, Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji told anyone fundraising to fight Covid-19 to stop and told citizens instead to make contributions to the “Special Fund of National Solidarity” created by Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya.

On April 9, Nji ordered accounts belonging to Kamto’s initiative to be closed and its money frozen, and later called for an investigation into the “Survival Initiative.” He also told communication companies to close mobile accounts opened to support the fund.

The arrest of the six volunteers shows the steps the government will take to crack down on any efforts by the opposition, fuelling political divisions when joint efforts are most crucial.

Health officials have confirmed 2,800 cases of Covid-19 and 136 deaths across Cameroon. On April 9, in an attempt to slow down the spread of the virus, the government made wearing face masks mandatory in public spaces. But masks are in short supply and expensive.

Distributing free masks to those who need them is not rebellion and it certainly should not land people in jail. Cameroonian authorities appear to be more concerned with defeating the opposition than protecting public health.

Culled from Human Rights Watch

While most countries across the continent and the world at large strictly impose and enforce COVID-19 lockdown measures, in Cameroon’s economic capital, Douala, the reverse is the case.

Life before the virus seems to continue unchanged except for the closure of borders and schools, football parks and children’s playgrounds are open to games with no restrictions.

The markets also remain chocked with only few respecting social distancing measures. The imposed wearing of masks also seems to be openly flouted. A situation some find worrying.

Claude Epoh, a construction engineer, bemoans the state of affairs: “It’s terrible, look, look, it’s a mess all over the place and people have become used to this, they are now acclimatised to it and it doesn’t bother them at all.

“It’s their daily routine now. Look at the bars, people are kissing, talking mouth to mouth with saliva coming out of their mouths, it doesn’t mean anything to anybody.”

But for others, it is time for the government to enforce virus prevention measures more strictly. One such person is Samuel Ebang, a computer scientist who said it was scandalous what was currently pertaining.

“We are all outraged by this laxity of the population. But what are we going to do about it? This is a decision that comes from the government. It is up to them to find solutions to make the people of Cameroon safe.”

The authorities unveiled a newly constructed unit, to be used as a confinement center for COVID-19 patients.

The country remains Central Africa’s most impacted with 2,689 cases as of May 13, the death toll was at 125 with 1,524 recoveries according to John Hopkins University tallies.

Source: Africa News

Two people were killed in tribal violence in Ntumbaw, a locality in Southern Cameroons, a tribe leader said Tuesday.

According to traditional ruler of Ntumbaw, Nfor Mohammed, about 30 armed men of Fulani community attacked and killed two of his tribesmen Monday night. The attack came after Fulanis claimed that seven of their people were killed by armed separatists in the locality.

“We look forward to your quick intervention for peace,” Muhammed said in a statement addressed to government on Tuesday.

There has been an upsurge of tribal violence in the region since 2017 when separatists began clashing with government forces, according to security reports.

Source: Xinhuanet

President of Cameroon, Paul Biya’s daughter, Anastasia Brenda Biya Eyenga also know as Brenda Biya has hit back to the internet users who were repeatedly making fun of her big eyes.

Given the extent that taking those teasing, the young woman has decided to respond to its critics.

“I don’t want the disease Graves ‘ disease to a person. But I think sometimes, I would like you to understand,” she said in her story Instagram.

“You make fun of someone who has a defect due to a disease! It shows the blackness of your souls, and jealousy in your heart, “she added.

Brenda Biya is suffering from a disease that is due to a disorder that causes hyperthyroidism in which thyroid hormones are produced in excess. This explains the size of the eye of Brenda Biya for years already.

It has to result in changes in vision, eye irritation, or exophthalmos-protrusion-important eyes due to the swelling of the tissues in the orbital around the eyes. The swelling of the eyes, a symptom found in it is a part.

There is no cure for the disease. But, there are treatments available to reduce the severity and frequency of symptoms. The first solution is the taking of medications antithyroid drugs to block the production of thyroid hormones.

Recently, Brenda had launched her own brand ‘Bree Culture’. She made the announcement on her official Facebook account.

She had announced the creation of her company called ‘Bree Culture Inc Shopping’. This company will specialize in the sale of wigs and craft shows.

Culled from DEVDISCOURSE

Dieudonné Essomba, a senior French Cameroun economist and consultant for Vision4 TV, has reacted to the recent murder of the Mayor of Mamfe, Ashu Prinsley Ojong, last Saturday by armed Ambazonia Restoration Forces. The former cadre at the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Land Management accused the Biya regime of helping the Ambazonian Interim Government to achieve its goal of an independent state for West Cameroonians.

“They denied the existence of an English-speaking problem in Cameroon and they still think they can force these people into accepting their so-called unitary state alternative for a way out of the crisis” he observed.

“The Ambaboys are convinced that they’re fighting a war of liberation which will be bloody, they’ve internationalized it and we’ve known it since the days as recorded in the Bible’s Maccabees, people convinced to liberate their country from colonization never give in,” Essomba warned.

He also revealed that the Southern Cameroons war, which has already lasted four years, is not about to fade as long as the power in Yaoundé does not agree to make concessions.

“The Anglophone Secession issue has been around for  40-years, a new generation has taken over the struggle and things will only move from bad to worse” he concluded.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow with files from CIN

Pope Francis and UN Secretary General António Guterres have renewed pressure on the Cameroon government to find lasting solutions to the Anglophone problem in the western African nation.

According to a top government official who asked not to be named, Francis and the UN boss recently asked Cameroon’s “President for Life,” Paul Biya, to declare a ceasefire and to open a space for peaceful discussions.

The official told Crux that he took part in a meeting convened by the country’s Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, on May 7 to discuss the issue.

“In the days ahead, we will be going to the field to examine the possibilities of a ceasefire,” the official said.

“I think it is going to be relatively easy because the separatists have been reduced to an embattled core,” he said.

Separatists in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions for nearly four years now have been fighting for what they call “the restoration of the statehood of the Southern Cameroons.” It’s the part of Cameroon colonized by Britain, but which, at independence, voted in a plebiscite to reunite with the part of the country colonized by France.

The two entities then formed a Federal Republic of two theoretically co-equal parts. That federation was scrapped in a controversial 1972 referendum and replaced with a united republic. Ever since, the minority English-speakers have always felt marginalized.

Pent-up frustrations burst to the open in 2017, when teachers and lawyers’ strikes over perceived attempts by the Francophone-dominated administration to wipe out the Common Law educational systems practiced in Anglophone Cameroon.

The military responded with lethal force. Rising anger crystallized into political demands, with the growth of separatists asking that Anglophones should carve out a separate state called Ambazonia.

The fighting, now in its fourth year, has left a minimum of 3000 people dead and over a million forced from their homes.

Resolving the Anglophone problem and restoring peace to the troubled country has become a major concern in the Francis Papacy.

On September 29, just one day before what authorities in Cameroon said was a ‘Major National Dialogue’ to resolve the Anglophone problem, Pope Francis asked worshippers at St. Peters’ Square to pray for a successful dialogue.

The Supreme Pontiff expressed his closeness to “the sufferings and the hopes of the beloved Cameroonian people,” and expressed the wish that the dialogue “might be fruitful and lead to peaceful, just and lasting solutions, to everyone’s benefit”.

During his traditional Easter Urbi et Orbi address last year, Francis again raised the issue of the Cameroon conflict when he prayed for conflict zones all over the world, calling on citizens of the world to be “builders of bridges, not walls” and to end “the roar of arms,” in conflict zones and the rest of the world.

Specifically citing Mali, Nigeria, Niger as well as Cameroon, the pope complained that Africa was “rife with social tensions, conflicts and at times violent forms of extremism that leave in their wake insecurity, destruction and death.”

In February and March 2019, the Vatican offered to broker dialogue in the conflict. In February, the Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See, British Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, met with Cameroon’s External Relations Minister, LeJeunne Mbella Mbella, and said he was prepared to mediate on behalf of the Holy See.

On March 18, 2019, Monseigneur Julio Murat, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, brought a special message from Francis to Biya which bore on the Anglophone crisis.

“The Supreme Pontiff assures His Excellency the President of the Republic about his prayers for Cameroon, and expresses his desire for a just and peaceful solution to the crisis in the north west and south west of the country,” Murat said shortly after the meeting.

He said the Catholic Church was willing to “contribute to the promotion of the common good and to peace in Cameroon.”

Many observers believe the Church could make a contribution. According to the International Crisis Group, the Cathoic Church that represents nearly a third of Cameroon’s 24 million people is uniquely placed to arbitrate.

“The Catholic Church could help break this dangerous stalemate. Present in all ten of Cameroon’s regions, the Church is one of the country’s strongest institutions. Almost a third of Cameroonians are Catholic, and the Church operates a dense network of schools and hospitals. Cameroonians take its views seriously,” the group stated in a 2017 report.

“Other than the Catholic clergy, there are few prospective peacemakers. If no one fills that role, the separatist sentiment already voiced by many Anglophones will continue to grow, fueling further violence and exacerbating the ongoing insurgency in the Anglophone regions.”

Catholic clerics already have been involved in the search for solutions.

In November last year, the government entrusted Catholic prelates with leading two “peace caravans” to inform people of the English-speaking regions of the resolutions of an Oct. 29-Nov. 4 “Major National Dialogue,” aimed at ending the secessionist rebellion.

The two prelates came back with reassuring messages that there could be a return to peace, but those signs of hope have been dashed by continued fighting.

Guterres is pushing for a ceasefire amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war,” Gutterez said.

“That is why … I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world,” he said.

This isn’t the first time the head of the global Catholic church and the UN chief have teamed up. Francis and Guterres met in the Vatican in December 2019, recording a joint video message appeal for an end to armed conflicts. Guterres hailed the pope for carrying a “clear moral voice.” “You are a messenger for hope and humanity – for reducing human suffering and promoting human dignity,” he said.

Biya may be especially receptive to a papal initiative, given that he’s a former seminarian with the Spiritan fathers. When Pope Benedict XVI visited Cameroon in 2009, Biya went out of his way to express fondness for the pope, even having billboards erected in the capital city in the run-up to the papal visit with a Photoshopped image of him and Benedict XVI together, despite the fact that, at that stage, the two men had never met.

Later Biya would also meet Pope Francis in the Vatican in March 2017.

However, despite efforts by the international community to obtain a ceasefire in Cameroon, the country’s two English-speaking regions are still witnessing extreme violence, with most of it orchestrated by the government.

Over the last month since the Coronavirus showed up on the country’s shores, the government has been slaughtering its citizens, especially in the North West region where Ambazonian fighters are protecting their positions.

The government does not seem to comply with the terms and conditions of a ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations.

Over the last four years, the Yaounde government has diminished the population of the two English-speaking regions by spraying bullets all over the place, in total disregard for calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement.

In many cities across the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, government officials have been chased away and many of them are facing death sentences for conspiring with the enemy to kill innocent women and children.

Even the people’s representatives such as senators, parliamentarians and other elected officers live in fear as armed gunmen could always spring surprises.

This was what actually happened on Sunday, May 10, 2020, in Mamfe, a border town in the Southwest region where the town’s mayor, Presley Ojong, was brought down by gunmen executing an order from their commanders.

Reported by Crux and Cameroon Concord News Group

Despite efforts by the international community to obtain a ceasefire in Cameroon, the country’s two English-speaking regions are still witnessing extreme violence, with most of it orchestrated by the government.

Over the last month since the Coronavirus showed up on the country’s shores, the government has been slaughtering its citizens, especially in the North West region where Ambazonian fighters are protecting their positions.

The government does not seem to comply with the terms and conditions of a ceasefire negotiated by the United Nations.

Over the last four years, the Yaounde government has diminished the population of the two English-speaking regions by spraying bullets all over the place, in total disregard for calls by the international community for a negotiated settlement.

In many cities across the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, government officials have been chased away and many of them are facing death sentences for conspiring with the enemy to kill innocent women and children.

Even the people’s representatives such as senators, parliamentarians and other elected officers live in fear as armed gunmen could always spring surprises.

This was what actually happened on Sunday, May 10, 2020, in Mamfe, a border town in the Southwest region where the town’s mayor, Presley Ojong, was brought down by gunmen executing an order from their commanders.

Mayor Ojong

The 34-year-old mayor took office a few weeks ago after participating in an election that was banned in Southern Cameroons and boycotted by all major opposition parties due to massive fraud and corruption by the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) led by the absentee and alcohol-inflammed president, Paul Biya.

The CPDM is outlawed in Southern Cameroons because it is considered a crime syndicate and a terrorist organization that has no place in the 21st Century.

The conflict, that has pitted the country’s English-speaking minority, has already claimed more than 6,000 lives, with more than 2,000 soldiers losing their lives in the two regions.

The fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons has plunged the country’s economy into the doldrums, with thousands losing their jobs as many corporations are obliged to fold up.

Many state-owned corporations such as PAMOL, CDC and SONARA are currently facing difficulties. Things will certainly continue to look south as the government rejects calls for a negotiated settlement.

PAMOL has been shut down and it will take huge amounts of money to bring it back to working condition. The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), for its part, is really struggling. The country’s second largest employer is clearly staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.

Most of its workers have fled their duty stations just to avoid threats by Ambazonian fighters who frown upon those they consider as enablers.

Anybody working for the Yaounde government is considered an enabler and is automatically handed a death sentence.

SONARA, for its part, is witnessing diminishing operations as a huge portion of the refinery was brought down by a huge fire whose origin is still unknown and questionable.

Economic experts hold that SONARA’s cessation of activities will lead to a drastic decline in government revenue and, over the long term, the country’s GDP will decline by at least 5 percentage points.

The violence in the two English-speaking regions of the country has struck fear in many people. Even senior government officials such as Peter Mafany  Musonge, a one-time prime minister;  George Tabetando, the chief of Bachou Ntai; and many traditional rulers who stand with the Yaounde corrupt government have been duly advised by the armed groups  to continue enjoying their exile in Yaounde.

Many of these officials have death sentences hanging over their heads like swords of Damocles. They have prizes on their heads and this makes them attractive to the Ambazonian fighters who really want to earn the money.

Though the focus is now on the Coronavirus, the international community should not forget about the Southern Cameroons crisis that has created over a million refugees and internally displaced persons who are living rough wherever they are.

The Biya government does not believe in peace and this is making it hard for the violence to end.

Both sides are still committing atrocities and today’s killing of a young mayor only serves as a reminder that the region remains unsafe and tense despite the ceasefire called for by the international community.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Ambazonia Vice President, Dabney Yerima will be delivering his first anniversary speech later today at 8pm Amba on SCBC TV. It was 12 months ago when President Ayuk Tabe appointed the veteran Southern Cameroons freedom and independence campaigner as his assistant with the responsibility of steadying a sinking revolutionary boat.

In the speech, Vice President Yerima will set his vision for the Federal Republic of Ambzonia for the next twelve months. Mr. Dabney Yerima will focus on six critical sectors: Education, Defense, Diplomacy, Humanitarian, Finance and Communication.

He will say “Over the last twelve months, we worked meticulously to develop a framework of collaboration between the IG, the Consortium and AGovC across Ambazonia”. On education, the Ambazonian freedom fighter will say “Our children are the future of the country we are fighting for” and “My appreciation goes to those who have continued to provide education to our children both online and in community schools in the liberated areas of Ambazonia.”

Comrade Dabney will highlight challenges and some landmarks of his first twelve months. He is also expected to announce the creation of a semi-autonomous Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Ambabonds project. He will be calling on Ambazonians to invest in the future of their country by investing in both projects. He will say “despite the many challenges we faced last year, two significant successes from the Department of Economy and Finance was the creation of the Bank of Ambazonia and the launching of the Ambabonds Project” and go on to say “All our projects need funding and I implore all Ambazonians to invest in the Ambabonds project”

On the diplomatic front, the freedom fighter will highlight his administration’s role in the passing US Senate house resolution 358 last year and their involvement with the Switzerland parliament to get Paul Biya of Cameroon indicted for war crimes. On defense, he is expected to announce the trial of a stipends/reward scheme in certain counties for restoration forces.

The exiled leader will sound a defiant note to the international community and a hopeful position to Southern Cameroonians with “all Ambazonians living at this moment have an incredible historical burden. In our hands lies the possibility for our people to break free once and for all, from oppression to a new dawn of freedom and independence.”

Cameroon Concord News Group believes Yerima’s vision for the next 12 months is bold but achievable and we implore all Ambazonians to follow his outing tonight and join Vice President Dabney to realize the Amabzonian dream.

Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief