7, August 2021

South Africa: Jailed ex-President Zuma in hospital ⁰

South Africa’s imprisoned former President Jacob Zuma has been admitted to hospital for observation near the Estcourt Correctional Center where he is currently serving a 15-month sentence, the government announced on Friday.

Zuma is in prison for defying a Constitutional Court order to testify at a state-backed inquiry probing allegations of corruption during his presidential term from 2009 to 2018.

A routine checkup indicated that Zuma should be admitted to a hospital, according to the correctional services department’s statement.

Zuma’s jailing last month sparked violent riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, which quickly descended into widespread looting of shopping centers and the torching of trucks in KwaZulu-Natal.

More than 330 people died in the rioting and more than R20 billion ($1.36 billion) in property was destroyed.

Zuma has filed an application for his prison sentence to be rescinded by the Constitutional Court, and is expected to appear in the Pietermaritzburg High Court next week in a separate trial for corruption.

The news of Zuma’s hospitalization follows the Cabinet reshuffle in which President Cyril Ramaphosa fired some of his ministers over the recent riots and corruption allegations.

Source: AFP

7, August 2021

Geneva: Biya seen with a head bandage ⁰

President Paul Biya was recently spotted in a secured park in Geneva with what appeared to be a bandage on the back of his head.

The bandage appeared toward the left side of the 88-year-old dictator’s head during a walk in the Geneva Park, Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent on special assignment to Geneva covering the secretive corrupt leader reported.

Biya has frequently faced speculation that he is in ill health. Our sources in Geneva say he was spotted limping in the park and appeared to be breathless.

An official at the Cameroon embassy in Switzerland contacted by CIR said getting an insight into Biya’s health would be the toughest because of Biya’s entourage robust counterintelligence practices.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands President Biya is in very grave danger after surgery in a private clinic in Geneva.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files

6, August 2021

Football tsunami: Barca captain Busquets ‘trying to digest’ Messi departure ⁰

Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets said the shock of Lionel Messi leaving the Spanish giants had yet to sink in as he thanked the Argentine for all he’d done for the club on Friday.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi had been expected to sign a new five year deal with Barcelona on Thursday but instead, after 788 games, is leaving the club at the age of 34.

“I’m still trying to digest the news,” Busquets wrote on social media.

“I can only thank you for everything you did for the club and for those of us who were there with you over the years, me especially,” said Busquets, who played alongside Messi in midfield.

“I shared so many moments with you, nearly all good ones, and I was lucky to grow up alongside you over 13 seasons.”

“We will miss you.”

Messi had reached agreement with Barcelona to sign a five-year contract with the trade-off that he earn 50 percent less per year.

But La Liga’s financial fair play rules, which are expected to reduce the amount Barca can spend on salaries this season by some 200 million euros (235 million dollars), led Joan Laporta to conclude they were unable to afford the deal.

Paris Saint-Germain are expected to lead the chase for Messi but Manchester City, who attempted to sign him last year, could also join the bidding.

Source: AFP

6, August 2021

Remains of 5 police officers returned to Yaoundé three weeks after they died in S. Cameroons ⁰

The remains of 5 Cameroon government police officers killed in the Southern Cameroons war returned home to Yaoundé and have been handed over to their families.

A Cameroon government military ambulance carrying the caskets arrived in the Yaoundé military mortuary today and a handover ceremony was staged by the police force.

The five police officers from the Beti-Ewondo extraction fought on the Cameroon government’s side against Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces in Bali and were killed by Amba fighters on July 18, 2021.

Ever since the war started, the remains of Francophone service men and women have been buried on several quiet hillsides and forest in both South West and North West.

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has never given a precise number for its Southern Cameroons war dead, but estimates run as high as 3000.

By Rita Akana

6, August 2021

Anti-Amba accusations over Ndu Tea kidnap plot politically-motivated from Yaoundé ⁰

Renowned Southern Cameroons political elite, Prof Carlson Anyangwe has strongly dismissed accusations against Ambazonia Restoration Forces on the recent attempt to kidnap workers at Ndu Tea plantation, stating that such claims are politically-motivated by agents of the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé and meant to tarnish the image of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces.

“Any clowns appointed DO or SDO by the regime in French Cameroun rushes to hold the Ambazonia Restoration Forces responsible for whatever goes wrong in Southern Cameroons. The Southern Cameroons Interim Government is simply asking for an international fact finding mission to establish the reality in the Federal Republic of Ambazonia” Prof Anyangwe noted.

He continued, “French Cameroun is still inventing and playing new blame games: Who declared war against the people of British Southern Cameroons? You well know who did it. Who had a well equipped military before the war started? You know much better than anyone else. These French Cameroun clowns in Yaoundé must be aware of the facts and present them. By not stating the facts, they are taking advantage of any possible opportunity to hold Ambazonia Restoration Forces responsible. They will clearly fail to tie Amba fighters to the Ndu Tea Plantation kidnap affair. Such accusations are politically-motivated from Yaoundé.”

By Isong Asu

6, August 2021

Biya’s bill of health: Ambazonia Restoration Force raises combat readiness ⁰

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Dabney Yerima says the current health situation of the French Cameroun dictator in Geneva has pushed Ambazonia Restoration Forces to move to high alert and significantly increased its combat readiness preparing for an imminent chaotic situation in La Republique du Cameroun.

Vice President Dabney Yerima made the comment on Tuesday and said Amba fighters were on the highest alert level ever since the Southern Cameroons war started four years ago.

The Francophone dominated military recently rejected the idea of deploying its air force in Manyu Division in what the French Cameroun military officials claimed will not change the situation in Ground Zero. The army leaders added that there was an urgent need for a political solution to the crisis in Southern Cameroons.

Dabney Yerima announced that Amba fighters would be on alert and warned the Beti Ewondo youthful and inexperience leaders deputizing for the 88-year-old Biya against a continuation of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo folly against the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Yerima stressed in a conversation with Cameroon Concord News London Bureau Chief Isong Asu on Tuesday that all Ambazonia Restoration forces would take unseen defensive measures and monitor the French Cameroun occupying forces maneuvers.

By Chi Prudence Asong

6, August 2021

Italy makes Covid-19 ‘Green Pass’ mandatory for restaurants, public transport ⁰

The Green Pass will be required to enter restaurants, cinemas, museums and indoor sports venues starting on Friday.

Italy’s cabinet Thursday made the coronavirus health pass obligatory for teachers as well as passengers on public transport, including domestic flights, ferries and long-distance trains.

The Green Pass, which is an extension of the EU’s digital Covid certificate, will already be required from Friday to enter cinemas, museums and indoor sports venues, or eat indoors at restaurants.

The health certificate proves bearers have either been vaccinated with at least one dose, have recovered from Covid-19 within the past six months, or have tested negative in the previous 48 hours.

Under the new decree law, school and university staff will need the pass, as will university students.

Staff without passes for five days straight will be suspended and have their pay frozen, Italian media said.

‘Italians remarkably disciplined and accepting’

Education minister Patrizio Bianchi told a press conference that over 86 percent of school personnel had been vaccinated, and that the number may be closer to 90 percent.

Health minister Roberto Speranza called on families to give the jab to children over 12 years old, and said teenagers would be eligible for cut-price rapid covid detection tests.

The green pass will be obligatory on domestic flights, trains and some ferry services from September 1.

Speranza said the pass — which has sparked protests in some quarters — was key to curbing rising Covid-19 cases, and he urged Italians to carry on getting vaccinated.

“The numbers are encouraging, with 70 million (vaccine) doses administered,” Speranza said, adding that the use of the green pass would “avoid closures and protect freedom”.

The minimum quarantine period for people who test positive for the virus or have been in contact with a COVID-19 patient was reduced for those who have been vaccinated, from 10 to 7 days.

Italy was the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for doctors and health workers in the public and private sector to get vaccinated or face being banned from working directly with patients.

A group of 300 Italian health workers has gone to court to try to get the obligation overturned.

(AFP)

6, August 2021

24 Chadian troops killed in suspected militant attack ⁰

Twenty-four Chadian soldiers were killed in an attack by militant fighters in the troubled Lake Chad region, a senior local official said Thursday.

“Troops from a returning patrol were resting when they were attacked by Boko Haram” on Wednesday, the region’s deputy governor, Haki Djiddi, told AFP.

“Twenty-four troops were killed, several were wounded and others have scattered into the countryside.”

Army spokesman General Azem Bermandoa Agouna confirmed that an attack had taken place at Tchoukou Telia, an island 190 kilometres (118 miles) northwest of the capital N’Djamena, but refused to give any toll.

Troops from “three army sectors have joined the soldiers who came under attack yesterday,” Mahamat Fodoul Makay, the governor of Lake province, told AFP.

Lake Chad is a vast area of water and marshland bordered by Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon as well as Chad.

Jihadists from Boko Haram and a rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have been using the region for years as a haven from which to attack troops and civilians.

The Chadian authorities tend to call the jihadists “Boko Haram” regardless of their affiliation.

In March 2020, around 100 Chadian troops were killed in an overnight attack on the lake’s Bohoma peninsula, prompting an offensive the following month led by Chad’s then president, Idriss Deby Itno.

After pursing the militants deep into Niger and Nigeria, Deby said there was “not a single jihadist anywhere” on the Chadian side of the lake region.

Attacks have continued, however.

In July, 11 Cameroonian troops and a civilian were killed in two attacks in Cameroon’s Far North region, the tongue of land that lies between Chad to the east and Nigeria to the west.

Deby was killed in April 2021 during fighting against rebels in northern Chad and was succeeded by his son, Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, at the head of a military junta.

Boko Haram launched a revolt in northern Nigeria in 2009 before extending its campaign into neighbouring countries.

According to UN figures, more than 36,000 people, most of them in Nigeria, have died and three million have fled their homes.

In 2016, Boko Haram split over its indiscriminate targeting of Muslim civilians and use of women suicide bombers.

Boko Haram said in June that its leader, Abubakar Shekau, had died in fighting with ISWAP, which claims allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Source: Africa News

6, August 2021

French Cameroun: At least 40 persons dead from three road accidents in two days ⁰

At least 40 people were killed and dozens injured in Cameroon on Wednesday and Thursday in three road accidents involving travel buses, the Ministry of Transport has announced.

The deadliest accident occurred Thursday morning in Batchenga, 60km north of the capital Yaoundé, and killed 22 people in a collision between a travel bus and a truck carrying sand, Transport Minister Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle Bibehe wrote in a statement.

On Wednesday night, another accident killed 16 people and injured several others about 50 km east of Yaoundé, after another bus collided with a semi-trailer truck.

Finally, a third accident left two people dead and 28 injured in the center of the country.

“These unfortunate incidents, which occurred in the midst of a special campaign of prevention and road safety (…) highlight the negligence of both intercity transport companies and freight carriers,” said the Minister.

“The Minister of Transport informs the transport companies of people and goods, it will proceed from now on to their suspension of any transport activity in case of new involvement in a road accident,” he also wrote.

Road accidents involving passenger buses are relatively frequent and deadly in Cameroon. In late January, at least 53 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a van carrying fuel in the west. In late December, at least 37 people, including ten women and four children, died in another accident.

Source: Africa News

6, August 2021

Enfin: Lionel Messi no longer a player with FC Barcelona ⁰

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi will not sign a contract extension with Barcelona, which he is leaving at 34 after more than 20 seasons in the Blaugrana shirt, the Catalan club announced Thursday.

“Although an agreement has been reached between Barcelona and Leo Messi (…) it will not be able to be formalized due to economic and structural obstacles (Spanish La Liga regulations),” Barca said in a statement, pointing to La Liga’s salary cap rules that would prevent the Argentine’s contract from being registered.

“Faced with this situation, Lionel Messi will not remain linked to Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of both the player and the club cannot be realized,” the club continued. “Barca wants to thank the player wholeheartedly for his contribution to the institution and wishes him the best for his personal and professional life.”

FC Barcelona thanking Messi

At the end of his contract last June, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner finds himself free to sign wherever he wants, a thunderous blow even as the Spanish press expected the agreement between the two parties to be concluded imminently.

– Financial difficulties –

Since the end of the disappointing 2020-2021 season, which ended with the only King’s Cup trophy on the shelf, the Catalan club has done everything to keep its jewel and chase away the Argentine’s desires for elsewhere, who had already expressed in the summer of 2020 his desires for elsewhere.

But the serious financial difficulties of Barça to stay within the limits of the financial fair play of the Spanish League, have been the reason for the operation, despite a monetary effort of the small Argentine striker, ready to divide his salary by two and to extend for five seasons according to the Spanish press.

The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who just won the Copa America with Argentina, had become the player with the most appearances for Barça this season, ahead of the 767 appearances of the legend Xavi.

This shocking turn of events concerning one of the greatest players in history could upset the transfer market and the specialized press, before the Argentine star’s destination is known.

Last summer, Messi’s desire to leave the club caused a long drama, but the player finally decided to stay in Catalonia, despite the interest of Paris SG and Manchester City.

Source: Africa News