Covid-19: City of 21 million in new lockdown as China maintains strict policy

2, September 2022

Covid-19: City of 21 million in new lockdown as China maintains strict policy 0

China has placed millions of its citizens under renewed lockdown following fresh outbreaks of COVID-19, authorities reported Tuesday, as the government persists in its hard-line policy on containing the virus.

The measures affected about half of the 6 million residents of the port city of Dalian, along with an undisclosed number in Chengde and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, both around three hours from the capital Beijing.

Dalian’s lockdown was due to last five days, although authorities have in past extended restrictions depending on the number of new cases.

Beijing has been relatively unaffected thus far, although travel in and out of the capital has been discouraged and residents are subject to testing on an almost daily basis.

Partial lockdowns have also been imposed on cities such as Chengdu in the southwest, Shenyang in the northeast and Jishui in the southeast.

Such measures are mandated under China’s “zero-COVID” policy, which contrasts starkly with moves by other nations to coexist with the virus through gradual easing of restrictions, vaccinations, improved therapeutics and voluntary isolation.

China has largely kept its borders closed to foreign visitors, while requiring those who do come to submit to more than a week of quarantine in hotels where sanitary conditions are often poor. Masking and regular testing are also standard and anyone found to have been in close contact with a person confirmed to have the virus is forcibly transported to field hospitals.

The World Health Organization has called China’s policy unsustainable and on Monday, a Chinese think tank issued a rare public disagreement with the ruling Communist Party, saying the curbs that have shut down cities and disrupted trade, travel and industry must change to prevent an “economic stall.”

The Anbound Research Center gave no details of possible changes but said President Xi Jinping’s government needs to focus on shoring up sinking growth. It noted the United States, Europe and Japan are recovering economically after easing anti-disease curbs.

“Preventing the risk of economic stall should be the priority task,” the think tank said in a report titled, “It’s Time for China to Adjust Its Virus Control and Prevention Policies.”

Previous lockdowns have seen tens of millions confined to their homes, sometimes for weeks. A strict lockdown in the largest city and commercial hub of Shanghai earlier this year led to protests online and in person over lack of food and medical services.

China on Tuesday reported 1,717 cases of local transmission, 52 of them in Liaoning province where Dalian is located. Most of the cases were reported in Sichuan province, whose capital is Chengdu, and the vast majority were asymptomatic.

Source: AP

Yaoundé School reopening claim aimed at covering up regime’s crimes in Southern Cameroons

2, September 2022

Yaoundé School reopening claim aimed at covering up regime’s crimes in Southern Cameroons 0

The Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) says claims by the Biya Francophone regime about school reopening in Southern Cameroons are aimed at covering up the continued crimes committed by Francophone army soldiers in the Southern Cameroons homeland.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Vice President of the Ambazonia Interim Government Dabney Yerima accused the French Cameroun regime of trying to market fake achievements and victories for the French Cameroun society and the international community.

However, Vice President Dabney Yerima stressed that Ambazonia Revolutionary Guards have the right to use all means at their disposal to face the French Cameroun enemy and respond to its crimes.

Dabney Yerima’s remarks came after defense minister Beti Assomo said recently that nearly all schools in Anglophone Cameroon have now been reopened.

Minister Beti Assomo further said all necessary security measures have been put in place to enable primary and secondary schools to resume in the rural areas of Anglophone Cameroon.

Cameroon government military has repeatedly said over the past five years that it has secured all academic institutions in Southern Cameroons. But schools have come under attack from both Cameroon government troops and Amba fighters.  

By Chi Prudence Asong

French Cameroun: Eneo to cut electricity supply to the University of Douala over non-payment concerns

1, September 2022

French Cameroun: Eneo to cut electricity supply to the University of Douala over non-payment concerns 0

Cameroon’s power utility threatened to take retaliatory steps against the University of Douala, citing payment concerns. Eneo said it would suspend electricity supply to the university if it does not repay the CFA1.7 billion in unpaid bills it owes.

“Errors and omissions exempted, the review of your accounts in our books to date reveals that you still owe us CFA1,760,818,212, excluding interest on arrears,” the company wrote as a “formal notice to pay before suspending the supply of electricity.”

This situation highlights the issue of unpaid bills within public administrations. As a reminder, the government has begun to implement a plan to repay a total of CFA182 billion of debt to Eneo from December 2021.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The IEDs are still killing

31, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The IEDs are still killing 0

For some time now, Cameroon government forces have been scoring some points with the killing of some key Ambazonian forces such as Field Marshall and this seems to have emboldened the country’s army soldiers who have been staging raids in many parts of Southern Cameroons.

However, Ambazonian fighters are also hitting the soldiers where it hurts the most, blowing them up with IEDs.

The gains may not be significant, but they are sowing fear in political circles and even among the young soldiers who have been hastily recruited and sent to the killing fields of Southern Cameroons.

On Sunday, Ambazonian forces in Bafut used IEDs to blow up an armored car which was part of a military patrol team, killing at least three government forces.

Little victories like this one are serving as morale boosts to Ambazonian fighters who have vowed to bring about the total independence of Southern Cameroons.

By Miriam Metchane Ewang

After nasty Trump: Obamas to unveil White House portraits

31, August 2022

After nasty Trump: Obamas to unveil White House portraits 0

Former US president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will finally unveil their official portraits at the White House next week after being denied the honor by Donald Trump.

The September 7 ceremony, announced by the administration on Wednesday, traditionally gives presidents the chance to pay homage to their predecessors.

But Trump, who led the United States for a single term after Obama’s eight years in office and frequently attacks his predecessor, declined to continue with the custom.

Instead President Joe Biden — who served as Obama’s vice president — and his wife Jill Biden will host the couple.

The 44th president’s latest visit since he vacated the Oval Office in 2017 comes five months after he made a high-profile homecoming for a public event on health care spending.

Trump, a world-renowned aficionado of the decade-spanning contretemps, demonstrated repeatedly during his tenure that he was untroubled by the mandates of tradition and protocol.

The norm-shredding Republican reportedly removed portraits of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush from the White House’s Grand Foyer, considered the most prominent position in the executive mansion.

They were not restored until Biden took office last year.

Source: AFP

Environmental Protection in Cameroon: Just a slogan!

31, August 2022

Environmental Protection in Cameroon: Just a slogan! 0

Cameroon, like most countries in the world, has signed many agreements on environmental protection and under those agreements; Cameroon is expected to protect endangered species. However, from every indication, environmental protection in Cameroon is just another slogan designed to please the international community. 

Ever since the price of beef went up following the outbreak of violence in Ukraine, Cameroonians have stepped up their consumption of wildlife as an alternative source of animal protein.

In many parts of the country, many “carnivorous” Cameroonians could be seen eating “bush meat” which is considered a delicacy in the country. Unfortunately, not many of them care about the impact of their irresponsible actions on the environment and future generations. 

Besides the trade on animals, there is also the danger of felling trees for fuel wood. Many Cameroonian households are incapable of purchasing cooking gas whose price has gone up over the last six months. The use of fuel wood and biomass to cook in Cameroon is altering the country’s landscape and setting the stage for many natural disasters which will hit the country like a ton of bricks.

Climate change is real, but Cameroonians are not worried about its adverse impact. Floods, rising sea levels and fires are threatening lives in many cities and towns in Cameroon. Recently, most coastal towns in Cameroon were flooded after many days of heavy rainfall and not even the government is sensitizing the public on how to mitigate the impact of such disasters. 

Cameroon is part of the Convention on international trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). To implement and incorporate it into its national laws, Cameroon laid down the National Strategy and Wildlife Control Strategy to regulate the trade and to manage and protect endangered species. 

Cameroon also ratified the UN treaty to combat desertification which has been implemented through a National plan to combat Desertification. Cameroon also ratified the UN Convention on the law of the sea and the Fisheries Act as well as the Territorial Waters Act which have been adopted, but partially implemented in real life due to the lack of a political will, lack of expertise and funding.

Lastly, the enforcement of most environmental instruments in Cameroon leaves much to be desired due to some internal and external factors and challenges such as funding, training, corruption, political will, commitment, technology, science and the government’s half-hearted involvement in environmental protection activities in the country

The country is clearly trailing other countries in this regard and political corruption, embezzlement of public funds and the absence of sufficient or adequate structures and infrastructure capable of strengthening and materializing the environmental laws and principles into real and concrete facts with relevant results from an institutional perspective are to blame for the government’s abysmal performance regarding environmental protection.

 Similarly, national scientists, researchers, public and private sector lack the means to participate in this process which must be inclusive. The public must also be trained and sensitized on the environmental issues facing the country and this requires financial resources which are unfortunately not available. This unfortunate situation has therefore triggered a vicious circle whereby poverty leads to environmental degradation, and environmental degradation compounds the poverty that is already hurting the population. 

By Briyan Tambe Ashu

Eto’o wants Lions to dominate & ‘bring the FIFA World Cup trophy home’

31, August 2022

Eto’o wants Lions to dominate & ‘bring the FIFA World Cup trophy home’ 0

The FECAFOOT boss has expressed his desire to see the Indomitable Lions go all the way in Qatar and not just make up the numbers

Cameroon FA president Samuel Eto’o does not want the Indomitable Lions to just make up the numbers at the 2022 World Cup but rather try and bring the trophy home.

Cameroon are in Group G alongside five-time winners Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland as they return to the grand stage after failing to qualify for the 2018 tournament, but Eto’o wants them to grab the opportunity and go all the way.

“During last week’s General Assembly, we came together to discuss the road ahead for Cameroonian football,” Eto’o said via a social media post.

“We must seize every opportunity, nationally and internationally. We’ve made it to the World Cup, not to play extras but to dominate all seven matches and bring home the trophy.”

No African team has ever gone past the quarter-final at the World Cup and the Indomitable Lions’ best performance came in the 1990 edition in Italy when they reached the last eight.

Cameroon have also been to the 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 editions but have not gone past the group stages, making the desires of Eto’o all the more difficult.

The Indomitable Lions have also not been at their very best in recent matches, having lost 1-0 at home to Algeria before edging them 2-1 with an extra-time goal to seal their World Cup ticket in March.

That came after Cameroon had come from three goals down to beat Burkina Faso in the third-place playoff of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which they hosted and followed it up with a 1-0 victory against Burundi in a 2023 Afcon qualifier in June, a performance that did not impress Eto’o.

“I am not happy,” Eto’o told the players after the match. “I don’t care who you play against; you represent Cameroon. I am not happy at all. In my time, I missed the World Cup because I knew what problems I had. Those problems won’t repeat themselves while I’m president.

“Places in this team will be earned. Nobody, I repeat, nobody has a place guaranteed in this team. You must do your job. Whoever comes here to wear this shirt must do the job, or else, he goes and I will be happy to have the children play.”

The four-time African Player of the Year will hope that his charges have addressed the things he did not like in June’s performance before they take on Switzerland in their World Cup opener on November 24.

Cameroon have lined up two pre-World Cup friendly matches against South Korea and Uzbekistan next month.

Source: Goal.com

Yaoundé: Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville discuss border demarcation issue

31, August 2022

Yaoundé: Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville discuss border demarcation issue 0

Officials from Cameroon and Congo on Tuesday began meeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, to discuss the border demarcation issue between the two countries.

This is the first time that experts from the two sides, who are members of the technical sub-commission in charge of the border demarcation, met to discuss the border issue.

“We also expect that this meeting will provide a legal framework to facilitate the demarcation of our common borders,” said Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji at the beginning of the meeting. He believed that the meeting will help trace the border between the two countries and determine the geographical distinctions, among other issues.

Both countries want to make the border “an instrument of peace and shared development,” the minister said and stressed that there is no border dispute between the two countries.

The two sides are expected to finalize a working document that will help the experts when they visit the border Friday.

Source: Xinhuanet

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Will schools ever start in rural Southern Cameroons?

31, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Will schools ever start in rural Southern Cameroons? 0

It is over five years since schools in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions were shut down because of a dispute between the country’s English-speaking minority and the Yaounde government over key issues the government was reluctant to address.

English-speaking Cameroonians had complained of marginalization in 2016, and many held that the quality of education in the two English-speaking regions was deliberately being watered down as the government posted French-speaking Cameroonians to teach English-speaking Cameroonians in French even when the students could not understand French. 

Lawyers, who were also at the forefront of things, also complained about deliberate attempts by the government to erase the common law system from Cameroon. All peaceful attempts where completely ignored by the Yaounde government which has always held that only brutality and military violence could address any socio-political difference in the country.

As the government sought to change things by force, matters only got worse, as schools and universities were shut down and ever since, many rural schools are still closed, with armed separatists enforcing a shut-down which has been condemned all over the world. 

In certain cases, separatist forces which are not controlled by any real chain of command, even undressed students who wanted to go to school. They have been accused of burning schools, intimidating students, and killing teachers in rural parts of the English-speaking parts of Cameroon.

There are thousands of children who have been robbed of a bright future due to a conflict they know nothing about.  Those who call the shots among the separatists are incapable of calling off the school boycott as some rogue elements have transformed the school boycott into their stock-in-trade. 

Some people or groups of people are permanently ensuring that schools in the two English-speaking regions of the country do not resume. Each year, when its is time for the resumption of the school year, a school is burnt down as a strategy to sow fear in the minds of many parents who may want to send their children to school.

Last week, a dormitory in the Presbyterian Secondary School in Mankon in the Northwest region was burned down by some armed men who sent out the students from the dormitory before setting the structure ablaze. 

The incident bore the hallmarks of the separatists who, for five years, have insisted that children should be kept at home, a strategy which has not given the revolution a good name. 

The government, for its part, has not changed its strategy. Despite calls from people around the world for a negotiated settlement, the Yaounde government has continued to operate as if the education of those children is not important. 

From every indication, schools in rural parts of the two English-speaking regions of the country will remain closed as separatists marauding the streets of small towns and villages are spreading word that parents should keep their children at home again this year, making it six straight years that these children have not been to school.

If things must change in this regard, the government must make some painful decisions and one of such decisions will be bringing the separatists to the negotiating table so that children who never bargained for what is happening to go back to school as a means of guaranteeing them a better life in the future. 

By Dylan Tambe Ashu

Cameroon Anglophone Crisis: Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Justice, Jean de Dieu Momo and his demagogy!

31, August 2022

Cameroon Anglophone Crisis: Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Justice, Jean de Dieu Momo and his demagogy! 0

A few days ago, l was watching some old WhatsApp videos then l came across this one (posted hereabove). In it, Cameroon’s Minister Delegate at the Ministry of Justice, Jean de Dieu Momo is mocking Southern Cameroonians and blaming each an every one of us for the ongoing crisis and suggesting we are all up with arms as terrorists. In fact, loosely translated, he says, “Anglophones have taken up arms (killing themselves). Does that stop me from drinking my palm wine?” 

Coming from a government minister? This to my mind is very insensitive, vile, disrespectful, discriminatory and even inflammatory.

Jean de Dieu Momo is a very shamelessly controversial individual. This is the same man who in 2019, justified the holocaust, saying the Jews were arrogantly very proud for their business acumen and successes, which was the thing that attracted their mass termination in gaz chambers by Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. I remember this caused a diplomatic row until Cameroon’s Minister of External Relations had to apologize to the Israeli Ambassador to Cameroon and all Jews worldwide.

Ever since, I have been thinking … and this reminded me about a story which my grandmom was in the habits of telling us as we grew up as kids. No matter how many times the story was told, each time she sat down to re-tell it, the same sounded as if it was the first time we were listening to her. The story goes viz:

Once upon a time, a farmer suffered lots of loss of his crops to thieves. In order to put an end to this, he set up a mouse trap. Sooner or later, the trap was noticed by a rat. The rat as a matter of urgency ran to the cow to report the case. But the cow moored at the rat saying: “that is none of my concern”. The cow didn’t take the matter seriously because the mouse trap can only catch a mouse and can do nothing to a cow.

The rat informed the goat but the goat didn’t see the matter as a momentous one, so it didn’t put its mind to it.

Then the rat informed the cock and cock crowed in laughter saying “Mr. Ratu, Mr.Ratu, am I supposed to be on the lookout for some trap that has a mouse name attached to it? You and I know that a mouse trap is none of my business.”

The rat went back disappointed that its problem wasn’t taken seriously by the other members of the farm.

When nighttime reached, everyone went to sleep as usual. Suddenly the mouse trap sprang and caught something!

The wife of the farmer went to the trap which was obviously in the dark. But she was bitten by a snake. The mouse trap had caught a snake by the tail. The woman screamed while the farmer came in with a machete to kill the snake. He then rushed his wife to the hospital.

She was discharged from the hospital the next day and was brought back home but with a fever.

Her fever became so severe that she only craved for chicken pepper soup. So the farmer got the cock and slaughtered it for a good pepper soup for the wife. The wife didn’t get better as her health deteriorated. The next day, the farmer killed the goat to entertain those who came to visit his sick wife at home. The farmer’s wife eventually died on the third day and the cow was made to lay down its life for the funeral ceremony of the late farmer’s wife. The rat was perplexed at how events had turned against those who refused to help in times of trouble.

This is the situation of the Cameroons and their citizens. If we do not take each other’s problems as ours, a day will come when we shall all be victimized by the same things we keep sweeping under the rug. We are all walking on broken bottle tops that should not be ignored yet we all pretend not to be seeing them. Right now, any discussion about the Anglophone problem has become a taboo. No matter which side your views tilt towards, someone will find you as a traitor. But my take is that if we continue on this note, a time will come when it will no longer be about who is SAFE but about who is NEXT.

I remember when I was in law school, one morning, when our lecturer for “Introduction to Rights” entered the classroom, the first thing he did was to ask the name of a student who was seated on the first bench: “What is your name?”

“My name is Juan, Sir.”

“Leave the classroom and I don’t want to ever see you in my class. Ever!” screamed the unpleasant lecturer.

Juan was bewildered. When he got hold of his senses, he got up quickly, collected his belongings and left the classroom.

All were scared and angry; however, nobody spoke anything.

“Well, let’s start the class,” said the new lecturer. “What purpose do the enacted laws serve?”

We were afraid, but slowly gained confidence and we began to answer his questions.

“So that there is order in our society.”

“No!” the lecturer shouted.

“So that people pay for their wrong actions?”

“No! Doesn’t anybody here have enough brains to know the answer to this question?!” asked the lecturer, sarcastically.

“So that there is justice,” said a girl timidly.

“At last! One person who is not a complete moron! That’s correct…. so that there is justice. And now, what is the use of justice?”

All of us were extremely uneasy with his rude attitude. However, we continued trying to answer….

“To safeguard human rights.”

“Well, what more?” asked the teacher.

“To differentiate right from wrong and to reward the good.”

“Ok, that’s not bad. However, answer this question: Did I act correctly when expelling Juan from the classroom?”

All were quiet, nobody answered.

“I want a decisive and unanimous answer!” he shouted.

“No!” we all replied in unison.

“Then could you say I committed an injustice?”

“Yes!”

Then his voice softened and he asked, “And why did nobody do anything in that respect? So why do we need rules and laws if we don’t have the necessary will to practice them? Each one of you has an obligation to do something when you witness an injustice. ALL of you! Do not stay quiet, never again! Go and call Juan,” he said staring at me.

On that day, I received the most practical lesson in my law school training and for about two decades that I have practiced and taught law now, this has always been a driving force. When we don’t defend our rights, we lose our dignity, and dignity is not negotiable.

I truly wonder how come I didn’t notice this obnoxious and loathsome video of the Minister’s. I found it in my phone gallery meaning if I had checked, I should have noticed the same.

Most of our leaders in Cameroon have taken impunity to a highly condemnable level. I remember when this crisis just started, another government minister, Atanga Nji said there is no Anglophone problem! How can one deny history? This was even after the President himself Paul Biya, in an interview with Mo Ibrahim, had admitted that French Cameroun has tried to assimilate Southern Cameroons in many ways, but their attempts have yielded no fruits. A few years into the crisis, the same Atanga Nji said the crises are over. Yet many people have been kidnapped by separatist fighters and others killed by government-backed forces. Cameroon is now a country where a legitimate agitator is labeled a terrorist and incarcerated while a confirmed enemy of state is given honours in full view of government officials and celebrated in the company of his co- terrorists and allowed to freely return to base. This administration oozes injustice, nepotism, parochialism, tribalism, intolerance and outright incompetence. It will go down in history as the most divisive government ever, apart from its internationally acclaimed position as the best example of how a government should not be run.

This disgusting display of demagogy from a man who is at the helm of the Justice Ministry in the country is very unwarranted. The same is inadmissible and chroniclers of the sorry situation in Cameroon are not taking this lying down. Mr. Minister, I am even ashamed to say here that you are my colleague, a lawyer. This action of yours is bridling with ignorance, founded on a sheer will to deny being fair. Increasingly, it would appear that in Cameroon, it is a crime to dream, hence your pithy affirmation; that we are “sustained by our dreams”. Here, to dream “is a personal invitation to voluntary self-immolation; an indulgently willful, ill – advised and consequential engagement in a life-threatening enterprise, with predictable and assured disastrous ends. The guaranteed result to such adventure is that, both the dreamer and the dream are soon parted, usually tragically and the dreamer’s audacity to engage in such an exercise as innocuous as dreaming is appropriately recompensed, with decapitation of both. Dream not sir; for as one famed philosopher of yore popularized eons ago;” abandon hope, all ye, who enter here”. Woe betides all Southern Cameroonian dreamers, for they dream in vain and provide unmerited notches for the axe man’s belt.

The late Dr. Bate Besong once made an analogy that stuck in my mind since I heard it. It captures the disconnect between our leaders and the true situation of the common Cameroonian: he said that the titanic was a big ship with many floors. It was so luxurious at the top deck that the first-class passengers could easily believe the story that the ship was unsinkable. The lower decks were packed with lower class people that weren’t even counted when planning for lifeboats.

When the titanic started sinking, water started filling up from under the ship beginning with the lower decks where the lower class people were. While those in the lower floors were struggling and dying, those in the first-class cabins on the higher floors had no idea that their end was nearby, they were making merry in the grand ballroom with champagne and fine dining, still living the lie that their ship was unsinkable. As the ship tilted and made irregular movements amidst the turbulence, they looked around them at all the luxurious fittings and despite all the signs that they were in trouble, they just didn’t get it. By the time they realized the danger they were in, it was too late to save themselves.

Cameroon is sinking; those at the bottom know it, while those at the top think its business as usual. With the kidnapped delegates in Ndian and others still in captivity, the crisis is far from being over and until the government decides to truly listen to the suffering people, the crisis is truly far from being over. Initially, some people thought that bad things in this crisis will happen only to a particular class of people until Chief Moja Moja’s crony was shot dead by government forces. Right now, all of us are susceptible to kidnapping, maiming, arson, murder, etc. and the true question is not who is safe but who is next.

By Samuel Tabi Tanyi-Mbianyor

The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Cameroon Concord News Group

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