Ambazonia leader Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and two of his top aides Barrister Shufai and Barrister Eyambe have been taken out of the Kondengui Prison by Francophone Gendarmes to an unknown destination in Yaounde.

 Stéphane Semengue , son of retired General Pierre Semengue has passed away today April 16, 2020 in Yaoundé, following an undisclosed illness.

The son of the controversial Cameroon top army brass General Pierre Semengue recently took ill and spent a month in a Yaoundé hospital. His condition stabilized but suddenly worsened three days ago.

Family sources say he died this morning in the French Cameroun capital of Yaounde.

Stéphane Semengue was not only known as the son of the former Cameroon army chief of staff. He was also the director of a company known as TKC SOS, a company which in recent years had problems with the associative branch of the mythical Tonnere Kalala Football club of Mvog-Ada where his dad had been chief executive.

By Rita Akana

Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers have become the unwitting heroes of the coronavirus pandemic, winning applause from balconies and streets around the world. They are dealing with a huge influx of patients, while also facing a lack of equipment in many cases and the fear of becoming infected themselves. Often, they face heartbreaking decisions while treating their patients.

Let’s take a look at Dr Roger Etoa’s experience in Douala:

Roger Etoa, a doctor in Cameroon, one of the worst-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, admits that fear of catching the disease also affects healthcare workers.

“I live with my wife and children,” the 36-year-old said. “When I arrive in the evening I rush to the shower, but it is difficult to stop the children from jumping on you.”

Etoa is the director of a healthcare centre in Douala, the commercial capital of Cameroon.

As a precaution, he’s started taking chloroquine, a drug used to treat malaria.

We don’t yet know if it works preventively or even curatively, but I prefer (to take it) just in case,” he said.

Early studies have shown that chloroquine, may be effective in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19, though more evidence is needed.

“We are afraid, like the rest of the population. Afraid that our masks or suits are not fitted properly when we are dealing with a patient who is showing symptoms,” the doctor said.

“We’re obviously afraid of catching it. When you get up in the morning and you have a bit of a headache, you ask yourself, ‘What if this is it? What if it’s our turn to get the virus?'”

Culled from Wionews.com

At least one civilian was killed and six others abducted by armed separatists Monday night in Bonakanda, a locality in Cameroon’s troubled English-speaking region of Southwest, local authorities said on Tuesday.

Heavily armed separatists raided the locality, killing a woman and kidnapping six other civilians after accusing them of “defying laws” put in place by the separatists, witnesses said.

The army has launched a search and rescue mission in the locality, officials said.

Clashes between government forces and the separatists in the region have “dropped drastically” since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Cameroon on March 6, according to security sources.

“Most of the boys kidnapping people for ransom and stealing now are actually thieves not the separatists,” an army official who asked not to be named told Xinhua.

Since 2017, separatists have been fighting to create an independent nation in the two Anglophone regions of the largely-French-speaking Cameroon.

Source: Xinhuanet

President Biya’s complete absence from the nation’s capital Yaoundé and his little or no response to the coronavirus pandemic, has been seriously condemned by a cream of French Cameroun political commentators including some prominent regime barons as shameful, disgusting and disgraceful with many observing that his poor management of the virus outbreak is ruining Cameroon’s reputation as the giant of the Sub Saharan region.

Biya’s recent decision to self isolate at his Mvomeka’a palace and his 37 documented years of incompetence and dishonesty in managing state affairs including the COVID-19 pandemic has left many in Yaoundé in disbelief.

Biya’s arrogant style of governance rich in several trips abroad tolerated in the past is now seen as downright dangerous by members of his own Beti Ewondo ruling clan. A prominent member of the CPDM political bureau who hails from the Centre Region told Cameroon Concord News that no one in government including Prime Minister Dion Ngute trust President Biya. The French Cameroun political elite who sued for anonymity also said the 87 year old Biya is now been seen as a threat to the future of the nation.

The regime in Yaoundé is noted for failed leadership and a sea of reckless actions. So far, Prime Minister Dion Ngute has made the wearing of face mask compulsory in all government buildings. But the whole mechanism put in place by the Francophone dominated government to combat the spread of COVID-19 ranges from plain fiction to the most absurd.

The new coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19, is believed to have emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and President Trump’s latest decision to halt US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) will of course affect countries like Cameroon that rely on the international system for survival.

The United States is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based WHO, contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.

Last month, the Group of Seven (G7) countries failed to agree on a joint statement on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic because US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted on calling it the “Wuhan virus”.

Mask wearing is one of seven supplementary preventive measures, Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, announced last week as part of government response to Covid-19 as Cameroon counted 848 confirmed cases on Sunday, including 98 recoveries and 14 deaths.

The additional measures also include the local production of medicines, protective masks and hand sanitisers, the establishment of specialised treatment centres for Covid-19 patients in all regional capitals, intensification of screening and awareness-raising campaigns. 

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap  in Glasgow and Chi Prudence Asong in London

The compulsory wearing of face masks in public places as part of measures to curb spread of coronavirus begins Monday in Cameroon as cases of the virus in the country near a thousand.

Mask wearing is one of seven supplementary preventive measures the Prime Minister, Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, announced last week as part of government response to Covid-19.

Cameroon counted 848 confirmed cases on Sunday, including 98 recoveries and 14 deaths, according to a tally by The EastAfrican.

The additional measures also include the local production of medicines, protective masks and hand sanitisers, the establishment of specialised treatment centres for Covid-19 patients in all regional capitals, intensification of screening and awareness-raising campaigns.

The new measures add to an initial 13 which have been effective since March 18 including closure of borders, schools, prohibition of gathering of more than 50 people, systematic closing of bars, restaurants and leisure spots from 6pm, urban and inter-urban travel restrictions, the regulation of consumer flows in markets and shopping centres.

“I urge the population to become actively involved in the fight against the spread of the Covid-19 in our country by scrupulously observing the measures prescribed by the government, especially the prohibition of gathering and the restriction of urban and inter-urban travel,” the Prime Minister advised in a televised address amidst reports that some Cameroonians have been flouting the rules.

Source: Daily Nation

Former Momo West sub constituency MP Hon. Mbah Ndam Joseph Njang has died. An SDF spokesman says the 65-year-old suffered “a major heart attack” Monday morning and died at his Yaoundé residence.

The opposition MP represented the Momo County legislative district for more than two decades. The district includes parts of Batibo sub division. Mbah Ndam also was the parliamentary group leader of the Social Democratic Front (SDF).

In a statement released today by his family in Essen, Germany, Mbah Ndam Jr called the late Hon. Joseph Mbah Ndam a “dedicated public servant and successful legal practitioner.”

Hon. Mbah Ndam recently survived an attack on his campaign convoy that left at least four persons injured.  Momo West was among ten other electoral constituencies in Southern Cameroons that witnessed election rerun as a result of a Constitutional Council decision of February 25, 2020 that annulled the contest in Menchum North, Bui West, Mezam South, Bui Centre, Bui South, Mezam Centre, Momo East, Menchum South, Momo West and Mezam North – and Lebialem in the Southern Zone of Ambazonia.

Mbah Ndam, a product of Government High School Mamfe and a graduate from the University of Yaoundé and Member of Parliament since 1997, was born on February 28, 1955 in Batibo, Momo Division of the then North West province. He has been a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the SDF since 1991.

He was a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Yaoundé from 1988-92. In 1992, he became the adviser on legal and judicial matters of National Financial Credit Bank and he was the chair of the Momo Cultural and Development Association.

Joseph Mbah Ndam was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, married and a father of six children.

His retirement home in Batibo was burnt down by armed Southern Cameroons fighters on Sunday, December 15, 2019.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with additional reporting from Oke Akombi AyukepiAkap in Glasgow

Hon. Joseph Mbah Ndam has died at 65

This item is still developing

Cameroon coronavirus cases climb to 820, total deaths reaches to 12 today 12-Apr-2020! Total confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) have increased to 820, while 12 people died due to the growing infection in the country.

Here are the latest cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in Cameroon:

Source: NewsdeskIndia

Cameroon’s government should ensure that its response to the COVID-19 pandemic respects rights and prioritizes support for those who need it most, including in violence-affected areas. The authorities should allow unhindered access to aid organizations in conflict zones to deliver life-saving assistance.

Health officials have confirmed over 800 cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths as of April 10, 2020, the majority in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala. The actual number of cases is most likely higher since testing is limited. The country has only four testing laboratories, three of them in Yaoundé, the capital.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding at a time of crisis across Cameroon, particularly in the Anglophone regions and in the country’s Far North region,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “More needs to be done to ensure that those at greatest risk and those who are fleeing fighting are protected from infection and able to get care if they become sick.”

In addition to crucial steps to prevent COVID-19, a broader humanitarian response is critical to saving lives in the Far North region, the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency, and in the two Anglophone regions, where armed separatist groups are fighting for independence. Ongoing attacks by Boko Haram and separatists and military operations in these areas have already severely restricted access for aid agencies and their capacity to assess needs and deliver assistance to the people most in need. 

On April 5, Boko Haram fighters stormed Amchide, Far North region. Three witnesses told Human Rights Watch that two teenage suicide bombers detonated their explosives in the center of the town, killing six men on the spot and injuring 13 others, three of whom later died. Another man was shot in a confrontation between Boko Haram fighters and the military, a resident said.

Since late 2013, the Boko Haram conflict in the Far North has caused about 300,000 people to flee their homes and has left 1.9 million in need of assistance.

In the English-speaking regions, violence is also ongoing despite the call for a COVID-19 ceasefire by a separatist group, Southern Cameroons Defence Forces (SOCADEF), on March 26. The UN secretary-general’s spokesperson welcomed the move, urging other groups “to do the same thing.” So far, the group, which operates in Fako and parts of the Lebialem divisions in the South-West region, is the only separatist group to have stopped fighting because of the pandemic.

At least 15 separatist groups operate in the North-West and South-West regions. In areas of the South-West region and across the North-West region, violence is continuing and military operations are being carried out. On March 31, gendarmes killed four civilian men in the village of Okoyong, Manyu division, South-West region. Four witnesses told Human Rights Watch that gendarmes shot them in front a shop. One witness said: “The gendarmes were looking for Amba boys [armed separatists] but it has been over one year that Amba boys left our village [and] these men were construction workers.”

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the government has suspended flights by aid groups, jeopardizing their operations. The head of an international humanitarian organization based in Cameroon told Human Rights Watch: “Since over three weeks, humanitarian flights have been grounded. UN agencies and non-governmental organizations continue to ask the government to resume them. These flights are key to reach the most vulnerable people living in remote areas. With the virus rapidly spreading, this is exactly the time when the Cameroon’s government needs to facilitate our work.”

In an April 8 news release, the United States Embassy said that Cameroon’s government should allow the UN Humanitarian Air Service to resume its flights and allow aid workers and medical supplies “to assist people in need and fight COVID-19.”

In the North-West and South-West regions, health facilities have been badly affected by the violence, exacerbating a situation in which the hospitals, like many across the country, lack capacity and equipment. According to the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, only 34 percent of health facilities are functional in the Anglophone regions. Since late 2016, many health facilities have been shut down, attacked, or burned. Medical staff has been assaulted, threatened, or forced to flee, depriving people of access to medical care.

The Cameroon government has taken steps to contain the spread of COVID-19, including shutting schools and universities, closing borders, banning mass gatherings, encouraging people to follow hygiene rules, and creating a help line. Medical staff, however, have told Human Rights Watch of their concerns that the pandemic is straining the resources of an already fragile health care system.

A doctor working in Bamenda, North-West region, told Human Rights Watch: “I worry the spread of the virus in the North-West region might have catastrophic consequences. Hospitals lack basic equipment. There are only three ventilators in the whole region and nearly no isolation-designated spaces in hospitals.”

Even in major urban centers like Yaoundé and Douala, hospitals are ill-prepared to respond to the pandemic. A doctor in Douala told Human Rights Watch: “There are less than 10 ventilators in the whole city. We are having challenges in treating patients with acute respiratory distress.”

Instead of improving its pandemic response, the government seems more concerned with silencing free speech, Human Rights Watch said. On April 3, an opposition party leader, Maurice Kamto, called on Cameroonians to work together in response to government inaction. The police stormed the premises of Equinoxe TV in Douala late that day, threatening to arrest journalists if they aired Kamto’s declaration. Efforts should be focused on critical measures, such as health care and protecting health care workers, not threatening those who question the government’s response, Human Rights Watch said. “Cameroon’s government should accelerate its response to COVID-19, expand access to testing, and make sure those affected by violence, including the displaced, are protected and have access to care,” Allegrozzi said. “If the government doesn’t take preventive steps, shortages of goods, including food and non-food items, water, shelter, and health care could have a devastating impact on people who are already vulnerable.”

Source: Human Rights Watch