Sources close to Colonel Etoudi Marius family have hinted that the senior officer of the Cameroonian army has been carried away by the Coronavirus, the dreaded pandemic that is wreaking havoc throughout the world.

The native of Konabeng, a village in Okala district, Lekié Division in the Central region was a chartered member in President Biya’s private medical team.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that he died early this morning in Yaoundé.

By Rita Akana

Cameroon is marking its national day Wednesday under coronavirus restrictions and amid ongoing clashes between the military and anglophone separatists.  President Paul Biya has spoken publicly for the first time about the pandemic.

Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, broke his silence on the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday night in a televised address to mark the country’s national day.

Biya’s two-month absence and lack of commenting in public on the pandemic had raised speculation about his health.

The 87-year-old, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, is known for his frequent travels overseas that spark criticism.

In a live broadcast on state television, he said there would be no festive events or military parades to celebrate this year as the number of COVID-19 victims continues to rise.

“Most of you have understood that it is necessary to put aside political squabbles and adopt a common front in the face of the insidious danger posed by COVID-19,” he said.

Instead of public gatherings to mark their independence, Biya called on Cameroonians to follow social distancing guidelines and promote national unity.

A member of medical staff wearing protective equipment, prepares to take care of patients amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

A member of medical staff wearing protective equipment, prepares to take care of patients amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

He made no mention of the ongoing separatist conflict in western Cameroon that the U.N. says has cost more than 3,200 lives and displaced more than half-a-million people.

Cameroon’s military raised flags on public buildings Wednesday to mark the anniversary of a 1972 referendum for a unified state instead of the federal system agreed to when the country first gained independence.

Cameroon’s anglophone rebels refuse to honor national day, saying the referendum was unjust because it allowed the French-speaking majority to rule over them.

Ruling party supporter Enow Tanjong voted on the referendum and said the rebels should stop fighting and work for peace in the English-speaking regions.

“They should lay down their arms and come and be integrated in the economic progress of the country. Those who think that we should go and found another country are completely wrong. The world is looking forward to having countries come together and that should be what should guide us,” said Tanjong.

Ongoing clashes

Cameroon’s military said clashes with rebels this week killed at least six people, where separatists had called for a lockdown and vowed that national day would not be observed.

The rebels claimed on social media to have abducted at least nine people they said were watching national day TV programs.  Their claim could not be independently confirmed.

Dorothy Njeuma is a Biya supporter but said the over-centralization of power by the central government in Yaoundé was provoking the separatists.

“Over the years, people have had second thoughts about whether it is the best arrangement to have an over-centralized system, but I am not sure that the way that some people have gone about it is the best.  I would go more for an effectively decentralized system,” she said.

The conflict started in 2016 when protests by English-speaking teachers and lawyers against the dominance of French-speaking Cameroonians led some to take up arms.

Cameroon’s military declared war on the rebels, who have been fighting since 2017 to create an independent, English-speaking state.

Source: VOA

Cameroon’s president on Tuesday called on all citizens to get involved in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic that has killed 140 people in the Central African country.

“I strongly urge all political, religious and opinion leaders, all officials of associations, all traditional rulers and all dignitaries to fully participate in the fight against COVID-19,” Paul Biya said.

“I, therefore, call on each and every one of you to get involved,” Biya said in a televised speech ahead of the country’s national day celebrated on May 20 each year.

He said that it was important to observe coronavirus preventive measures such as wearing face masks, social distancing, and frequent hand washing.

“Under these circumstances, it was not possible to maintain the festivities marking the celebration of our national day due to the gatherings it entails,” he said.

“This is crucial for the health of everyone,” he emphasized.

“I also wish to hail the courage of the Cameroonian health professionals and those assisting them,” Biya said. “With the resources available to us, they are doing the utmost best to treat those infected with the virus.”

The Central African country has so far confirmed 3,529 coronavirus cases, with 140 death and 1,567 recoveries, according to data from the US-based John Hopkins University.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the need to respect social distancing measures, the president of the republic has decided to cancel the public celebrations of the 2020 edition of the national day, Victor Tchatchouwo, Cameroon’s ambassador to Turkey, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ambassador also wished “a pleasant national day to all the members of the Cameroon community in Turkey.”

Source: AA.com

OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE FOR THE DEFENSE  TEAM OF SISIKU AYUK TABE & THE REST OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONIANS  IN DETENTION

PRESS RELEASE

 We are reaching out  this May 20th 2020,  to the entire  defense   team of  Sisiku Ayuk Tabe  and  the rest of southern Cameroonian detainees consequential to the ongoing struggle for the restoration of the statehood of the former British Trust Territory  now   popularly  (the Anglophone Struggle) , National  and International Press,  Foreign Embassies and International Organizations accredited to Yaoundé, local and International  Human Rights organizations, Minister of State Minister of Justice and keeper of the seals, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice in charge of Penitentiary Administration.

 That on the night of May 19th, 2020, the superintendent of Prison Principale Kondengui Yaoundé ordered four prison guards to chain the two hands of our client and colleague Shu Fai Blaise Esq to his sick bed at Yaoundé Military Hospital throughout the night. We received a late night distress call about the brutal act from one of his family members who was chased   out shabbily amid dramatic commotion and warned not to approach the ward as they overpowered the patient to chain his two hands to his sick bed with a drip on one of them.

At about 08:30 this May 20th, 2020 some counsel visited Shu Fai Esq to gauge the veracity of the news and effectively we met Shu Fai Esq in a gloomy state as he narrates that he had one the longest painful nights in his lifetime because he slept in chains. That  he struggled not to be chained until the drip was dripping  out of  his veins but the prison guards went ahead to subdue him in chains.

Shu Fai Blaise  Esqwas critically sick for ten days in prison and was deprived of adequate medical attention until  when he collapsed under the watchful eyes of the superintendent of prison Principale Kondengui  Yaoundé before being rushed to the Military Hospital in the early hours of May, 16th, 2020.

The superintendent has visited him twice  at the Military Hospital and  disturbingly, during his visits,  he  has been pressing hard that Shu Fai Blaise  Esq  should be  discharged  back to prison whereas  the results  of  the  clinical tests done on him  at the Military  Hospital are pending in  laboratories. After the prison guards threw out his family members last evening, the superintendent issued firm instructions that his lawyers should not be allowed access to him. At the time we arrived the Military Hospital today, the chains were removed.

Done in Buea

This May 20th, 2020 Communication and Media Chairman

For the defense team

Cameroon’s 87-year-old President Paul Biya has made a televised address to his people ending more than two months of silence as the central African nation dealt with a burgeoning coronavirus crisis.

Biya’s long silence was for supporters a sign of gravitas but for critics one of failure. “Like most countries in the world Cameroon is suffering from COVID-19,” Biya said Tuesday night on state channel CRTV.

“The number of people infected rises day after day, bringing proof that the fight against the pandemic is complex and difficult.”

Biya urged people to respect “measures taken by the government, such as the obligatory wearing of masks”. He also asked them “not to give in to panic and not to believe false information put out on social networks.”

He last spoke to the nation on March 5, although Cameroon had counted by Monday 3,500 cases including 140 deaths, and has been hit harder by the virus than most sub-Saharan African countries.

Speculation about his death even circulated on the internet in late April and the government was moved to put out a denial. In his 37 years in power, Cameroonians have become accustomed to Biya’s long absences, mainly because of poor health.

But his silence over the pandemic raised numerous questions for a leader who has overseen many crises since he took power in 1982.

He posed for the cameras after talks with the US ambassador on March 11 and again after meeting the French envoy. His subsequent absence from public view saw the opposition question his role.

Main opposition leader Maurice Kamto, the runner-up to Biya in 2018 elections, said he had launched proceedings for the Constitutional Council to declare the presidency vacant.

Six opposition activists were arrested last week in Cameroon for “illegally” distributing face masks and disinfectant gel. All are supporters of Kamto whose initiative to collect funds to fight the virus has been banned by government. They were released after five days.

Biya reappeared finally on the eve of national day. “Most of you have fully understood that faced with the silent danger that COVID-19 represents it was time to set aside political quarrels and form a united front,” he said.

Source: AFP