Cameroon’s aged president is coming under fire for his absence from the national stage as the central African country faces a burgeoning coronavirus crisis.

A month after the first case of COVID-19 was recorded, 87-year-old Paul Biya has yet to address the nation — a silence that for supporters is a sign of gravitas but for critics one of failure.

According to official figures posted early Monday, Cameroon has 658 cases of the virus, with nine deaths, making it the second most-affected country after South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cameroon is already waging two violent conflicts, one against Boko Haram terrorists in the north, the other against English-speaking separatists in the west. The fighters in the new front are doctors and nurses who are woefully lacking in masks and breathing equipment.

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 is raising sharp questions. He posed for the cameras after talks with the US ambassador on March 11, but did not speak to the press.

Six days later Biya urged Cameroonians on Facebook to “respect” measures taken to combat the virus, but since then there has not been so much as a whisper from a leader who has overseen many crises since he took power in 1982.

– Biya ‘cannot be pinned down’ –

Biya’s track record suggests he is not a major communicator in the best of times, making just three or four appearances a year. But for researcher Stephane Akoa, “In a context like this, the presidential message is important.”

Last week, speculation mounted on social media that Biya could be dead, prompting a formal public denial by Communications Minister Rene-Emmanuel Sadi, who insisted that Biya was “going about his official business as normal”.

But there was no word from the president himself, provoking a sharp attack from main opposition leader Maurice Kamto, the runner-up to Biya in 2018 elections. On Friday, Kamto demanded that the president address the nation within seven days, otherwise “the people… will inevitably see his failure”.

Biya’s silence “is becoming criminal,” he added. Labour Minister Gregoire Owona snapped back, saying Kamto wished to politicise the crisis, calling it “shameful”.

Oswald Baboke, the president’s deputy chief of staff, commended Biya’s “wisdom… (and) restraint,” writing in the press that “the President’s time cannot be improvised and cannot be pinned down.”

Thus far the youthful health minister, Malachie Manaouda, has been the point man for the coronavirus crisis, tweeting out frequent updates and detailing the government’s response. But criticism has grown louder with the rise in known cases from 142 to 658 in a week.

– ‘Lack of coordination’ –

“Government communication is weak, its response was late and in some respects poorly prepared,” said Stephane M’Bafou, a consultant in public management and governance. “There is an obvious lack of coordination,” said economist Albert Ze.

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on March 13 announced measures such as closing borders and a ban on rallies, which have been extended.

The one new step since then, attributed to Biya but announced by Ngute, has been the creation of a solidarity fund worth one billion CFA francs (1.5 million euros / $1.65 million). Others say the response does not go nearly far enough.

“We must quickly declare a curfew, isolate the cities where cases are confirmed and move towards a general containment regardless of the socio-economic cost,” said M’Bafou.

Source: AFP

Cameroonian separatist fighters have relaunched attacks after the government announced a reconstruction plan, claiming that peace was returning to the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of the central African state. The military said attacks were reported in at least seven villages, with about 13 fighters killed, but the fighters say the military had more casualties.

Public Works Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi says road construction engineers are leaving after persistent attacks in several parts of the Northwest region, where President Paul Biya had instructed them to begin reconstructing the central African state’s English-speaking regions, devastated by three years of separatist conflict. Djoumessi spoke to VOA via a messaging app.

“The work started, unfortunately some criminals came and destroyed the property of the company but we have to continue without showing any signs of weakness. The head of state [Cameroon’s president] himself is extremely committed,” he said.

Biya last week created what he called the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions. The reconstruction and development plan envisages construction of roads, schools, hospitals, public edifices, markets, private homes and villages in areas destroyed by three years of fighting. 

After the plan was announced, separatists warned on social media that they will not accept such projects from what they said a foreign government in Yaounde, and began attacking military posts and burning more infrastructure. The fighters torched local council offices and schools in Bui, Donga Mantung and Ngoketunjia administrative units in the Northwest and Lebialem and Manyu administrative units in the Southwest.

The military said in a release that there was heavy fighting in the northwestern villages of Vekovi, Tatum and Mbiame and the southwestern town of Kumba, with 13 fighters killed. The fighters on social media said the casualties were more on the side of government troops. The military has denied the allegations.

Benard Okalia Bilai, governor of the English-speaking Southwest region, speaking via a messaging app, said since the attacks were relaunched last week, the population has been collaborating with the military to denounce the attackers.

“The populations have understood that they were misled, so they have realized that their future, their hope is within the institutions, and that what the head of state has put at their disposal is their future and that they should collaborate with those authorities, the forces of law [the military], to denounce those who are disturbing. The damages are enough,” he said.

Christopher Effimba, leader of the NGO Hope Cameroon, said the central African state should make sure peace fully returns to its English-speaking regions before reconstruction projects are launched. He said the separatists are still very active and strong. He also spoke via a messaging app.

“Infrastructural development cannot be implemented in the field if we do not have a peaceful atmosphere. Therefore, calm the atmosphere,” he said. “We need peace to enable the road workers to dig the roads. If the people do not accept peace, it is impossible for any Caterpillar, any bulldozer to go in there and try to do any road.”

Unrest began in Cameroon in 2017 after a government crackdown on peaceful protests led by lawyers and teachers who complained of being marginalized by the French-speaking majority.

In October 2019, Biya organized a national dialogue to solve the crisis but the separatists did not attend. The separatists said they will only be ready to discuss the terms of their independence in a republic they have created called Ambazonia.  

The unrest has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced over 500,000 according to the United Nations.  Fifty thousand others are asylum seekers in neighboring Nigeria.

Source: VOA

Cameroon is calling on people living in two villages bordering Nigeria to return from their hideouts after two teenagers detonated explosives and killed at least 10 civilians. The military says it has secured the area, but civilians maintain that the villages have been infiltrated by Boko Haram terrorists.

Speaking via a messaging app from the northern village of Blama Kamsoulou, community official Adamu Sidiki says dozens of people have fled since Sunday night’s suicide bombing, fearing Boko Haram.

About 70 people have escaped to the bushes and nearest towns because they believe Boko Haram is making a powerful comeback, Sidiki said, adding that barely two weeks ago, the terrorist group killed at least 90 Chadian soldiers in the nearby Boma peninsula. It is high time Cameroon protected its citizens by redeploying its military to border zones that terrorists are again occupying, he said.

Cameroon’s government said in a release Monday that two male suicide bombers were spotted by civilians Sunday near the Blama Kamsoulou village primary school. When the attackers noticed that they were being monitored, they rushed to the traditional ruler’s palace and detonated the explosives they were carrying.

Roger Saffo, secretary general of the Far North Region governor’s office, said the blasts took the lives of many villagers.

“On the spot, there were nine people killed and 15 people wounded,” Saffo said. “I want to seize this opportunity to appeal to our population to be more vigilant, to be cautious, to collaborate with the forces of law and security.”

Suffo said the wounded were transported to a hospital in the nearby town of Mora, where one person died. Nine others are in critical condition.

Midjiyawa Bakary, governor of the Far North region, said he has ordered soldiers to deploy to the border villages that Boko Haram fighters have allegedly infiltrated.

Local vigilante committees should be reinforced immediately and civilians should work in collaboration with the militias to make sure both the military and administrative authorities are informed anytime strange people are found in their villages, Bakary said.

On March 24, Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, announced that 92 Chadian troops were killed in a Boko Haram attack that lasted several hours. He said 24 army vehicles were destroyed, and captured military arms were taken away in speedboats by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has also renewed attacks on the Nigerian military, with the killing of at least 50 soldiers in an ambush near Goneri village in Nigeria’s northern Yobe state in March.

Cameroon has not reported a large-scale Boko Haram attack for the past two months, but the Islamist militant group invades the territory regularly for supplies or to kidnap citizens for ransom.

Source: VOA 

The last public appearance made by Cameroon’s president was on 11 March. On that date, he was paid a visit by Peter Henry Barlerin, the US ambassador to Cameroon, at his office in Etoudi Palace.

Unlike the vast majority of other heads of state in the region, Paul Biya did not address his fellow citizens to announce measures to combat the epidemic. Prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute and health minister Malachie Manaouda are regularly informing the public about the health crisis.

Biya’s absence has provoked criticism from the opposition and alarmist rumours about his state of health. However, according to our information, Biya has not tested positive for COVID-19.

To prevent any contamination, he has retreated to his hometown of Mvomeka’a, located 180km to the south of Yaoundé. Shut away in his home, he has prohibited nearly all work-related meetings and only sees a handful of people.

He still speaks to his loyal special adviser, Rear Admiral Joseph Fouda. He also receives the Deputy Chief of Civilian Staff, Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, while Biya’s aide-de-camp, Squadron Leader Mike Davy Ottou, makes himself available. Non-essential staff are no longer allowed to enter his home, which sits atop a hill overlooking the town. The government awaits his instructions to act.

Culled from The Africa Report

Doctors in Cameroon helped a 19-year-old, who tested positive for coronavirus, safely deliver a baby girl.

The patient had initially complained about breathing problems but medics at the Central Hospital of Yaoundé kept her in isolation after her result showed she had the virus, Dr. Sone Charles told CNN.

Charles said the teenager, whom authorities have not named, went into premature labor on Saturday night and doctors on duty raced to protect the baby and the mother.

The delivery happened within an hour with no complications, according to Dr. Yaneu Ngaha, who led the team that assisted with the birth.

“It was quite fast. The baby came out and we separated her from the mother, who did not touch the child,” Ngaha said. “We wore protective jackets and the mother also wore a mask.”

The mother and baby are in good condition, Ngaha said.

She added that samples were taken from the baby 14 hours after her delivery and the hospital is awaiting her test results.

“The baby has been transferred to the neonatal unit and kept in an incubator because she is premature, weighing about 2,000 grams. We check her temperature three times per day,” Ngaha told CNN.

Cameroon has reported 650 cases of coronavirus within a month of its first case, according to the World Health Organization.

The spike in cases has been blamed on indiscipline from people with travel history abroad who evaded quarantine, Erick Tandi with the Public Health Emergency Operations Center in Yaounde said.

“When the Minister of Public Health announced, before the closing of borders, that those who have come from abroad within early March should quarantine themselves in their homes — this was not respected fully,” Tandi said.

“That is the result of the community Covid-19 cases we are having now,” he added.

Source: Erie News Now

Cameroon is in stage 2 of the COVID-19 epidemic, with the main objective to curb the spread of the virus in the national territory, health minister Manaouda Malachie said Sunday evening.

“I am afraid that we are to this day, already in a community transmission therefore at stage 2 of the epidemic,” said on twitter the minister answering questions by netizens on the extent of local transmission in Cameroon.

The Central African country announced its first COVID-19 case on March 6, and a month later, counted until Monday morning 658 confirmed cases including nine deaths and 17 cured cases, according to the latest official report.

In epidemiology, stage 1 is where the priority is to stop the introduction of the virus, followed by stage 2 whose objective is to slow down the spread.

The peak of the epidemic is in stage 3 characterized by an active circulation of the virus, and the strategy becomes the mitigation of the effects of the epidemic before it ends at stage 4.

“Although (the number of cases are) growing, the situation remains under control because we are looking for cases and putting them in isolation,” reassured Manaouda via twitter.

Cameroon is currently the second country in sub-Saharan Africa most affected by the new coronavirus after South Africa, which has 1,655 cases, according to official statistics.

In the capital Yaounde, two new care centers are under preparation at the military stadium and in the old building of the Orca supermarket, which should make it possible to increase the reception capacity up to 3,000 beds, according to the health ministry.

Since March 18, a series of barrier measures have been put in place by the Cameroonian government. These include closing of borders, isolation of people at high risk, the restriction of mass gatherings and movement. However, these measures have not been scrupulously respected by the population.

“Some of our compatriots do not make our job easier, thus endangering the lives of others,” said Manaouda, calling on the populations to remain confined as long as possible, and to cover their noses and mouths when leaving their house.

Recently the wearing of a protective mask has become mandatory for all those wishing to approach certain hospitals and public services, like the General Hospital of Yaounde, and government bodies in the Cameroonian region of Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet