Southern Cameroons Crisis: French Cameroun disarmament official kidnapped in Bamenda

7, April 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: French Cameroun disarmament official kidnapped in Bamenda 0

Gunmen abducted an official of Cameroon’s National Committee on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (NCDDR) in the country’s troubled Anglophone region of Northwest on Wednesday, according to local officials and security sources.

Henry Kum, Service Head of NCDDR Northwest was kidnapped at his residence Wednesday afternoon in Bamenda, a town of the region, said officials.

Kum was a main actor in helping to disarm and reintegrate armed separatist fighters in the region since government forces and the fighters started clashing in 2017.

The NCDDR was created in 2018 “to avoid the use of extreme measures” and supervise and manage the disarmament and reintegration of ex-combatants of terror group Boko Haram and armed separatists in the Anglophone regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

Yaoundé: Medical association leaders urge Biya regime to introduce COVID-19 vaccination

7, April 2021

Yaoundé: Medical association leaders urge Biya regime to introduce COVID-19 vaccination 0

It is imperative for Cameroon to introduce vaccination against COVID-19 pandemic in a bid to protect vulnerable groups and curb the spread of the disease in the Central African nation, leaders of the country’s two prominent medical associations said Tuesday.

Franck Dange Nana, president of National Council of Pharmacists, and Guy Sandjon, president of National Order of Medical Doctors, made the appeal during a meeting with Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute.

“We need the government to protect the population. To protect this population, we need vaccine. Vaccination has side effects like all medicines but we know that with vaccination against COVID-19, we will contain the disease in our country. We need to join all the countries in the world to vaccinate our people,” Nana told reporters after the meeting in the capital, Yaounde.

“As a medical professional I can assure you that the vaccine is safe. We need to introduce vaccination to safeguard our people,” Sandjon added.

In March, while saying that COVID-19 vaccines will soon arrive in the country, Ngute stressed that vaccination will not be mandatory.

Source: Xinhuanet

Understanding the Covid-19 IMF Scandal in Yaoundé and the Biya Criminal Investigation

7, April 2021

Understanding the Covid-19 IMF Scandal in Yaoundé and the Biya Criminal Investigation 0

A criminal investigation will be opened against presumed authors of financial malpractices within the framework of the management of Covid-19.

French Cameroun dictator President Biya has ordered a major judicial enquiry against some members of his ruling CPDM crime syndicate and their accomplices of fraud in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic fund.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that the instruction from the 88-year-old Head of State follows a report by the Audit Chamber of the Supreme Court on the management of funds allocated to the management of the coronavirus by the International Monetary Fund.

CIR reported earlier that the IMF set as a condition for the granting of the second installment of the Covid-19 loan to Cameroon, transparency and commitment to issuing semi-annual reports on COVID-19 spending; commission an independent audit; and publish “documents related to results of public procurement and [beneficial ownership information] of companies awarded contracts.”

An in-depth analysis of Cameroon found mixed results in meeting the IMF’s transparency commitments. There remained inconsistencies in the types of measures to which the corrupt regime in Yaoundé committed its implementation, and the role of the IMF in ensuring compliance. The transparency commitments in the emergency loans spurred the Biya government to produce information about its spending and contracts that it would have otherwise not published. However, the amount, accessibility, and quality of the disclosed information varied widely and was inadequate for meaningful oversight for La Republique du Cameroun.

CPDM-style embezzlement

Information filtered recently that in the framework of the distribution of the Special IMF Covid-19 package, the Ministry of Public Health was in the lead with 45.63 billion CFA francs. Next came the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Territorial Development (26 billion), the Ministry of Secondary Education (7 billion), the Ministry of Basic Education (6.5 billion), the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation (6.1 billion), the Ministry of Higher Education (6 billion), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (6 billion), the Ministry of Defense (3.6 billion), the General Delegation for National Security (3 billion), the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (2.5 billion), the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts (2 billion), the Ministry of Fisheries and Animal Industries (2 billion), and the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure (1.7 billion).  CIR also learnt that part of the money for the students’ masks has disappeared at the Ministry of Basic Education.

Cameroon has published almost no information on its Covid-19 expenditures mindful of the fact that since March 2020, the IMF has provided approximately US$108 billion in financial assistance to 85 countries to support their efforts to combat the pandemic.

On 4 May 2020, Cameroon received US$226 million (more than CFAF 126.4 billion) from the Rapid Credit Facility and on 21 October of the same year, the country received a second tranche of US$156 million (more than CFAF 87.2 billion).

The IMF demanded transparency commitments. But Biya and his gang changed the rules of public procurement. It is evidently clear that most of the corruption will be put on the head of the late Minister and Lamido of Garoua Alim Hayatou as dead men tell no tales.

So what is behind the Biya-Laurent Esso action?

Before the IMF approved a second emergency loan, it required the government to change its rules to enable it to publish beneficial ownership information of companies awarded contracts, and to publish “the backlog of all COVID-19-related contracts awarded since May 4, including the beneficial ownership.” In a positive step, in October the government issued circular requiring companies to include beneficial ownership information in their contract bids and mandating adding the information to a national register once a contract is awarded.

In practice, however, the Biya regime never uploaded this information into a central database. Instead, it produced a list of the names of companies awarded contracts, beneficial owners, and the contract amount, but there are no links to that document on any government website. The only link appears to be on page 47 of an IMF loan agreement. In addition, for nearly all companies, only one beneficial owner is listed, making it highly unlikely that the information is complete.

The IMF feels that Biya and his acolytes are playing a dangerous political game at a time when many people are dying from Covid-19 in Cameroon. The International Monetary Fund believes that it was not the Superior State Control (CONSUPE) that should audit the management of its money because it is an institution that it considers political.

In his war against Prime Minister Dion Ngute and the Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the Minister-Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic is trying to short-circuit the recommendations of the IMF to have the audit carried out by the CONSUPE which he controls. Thus in a letter with the subject: “Special audit mission of funds related to the fight against Covid-19” addressed on December 15, 2020 to the Minister of Finance, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh wrote: “I have the honour to ask you to release and make available to the Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of the Superior State Control, an allocation of 32 555 000 (thirty-two million five hundred and fifty-five thousand”

Dion Ngute is not happy with the current situation and was heard murmuring privately that this was a new twist from Ngoh Ngoh whom he often describes as a ‘bandit’.

President Biya weighed in and ordered that CONSUPE should limit itself to the Ministry of Health and the audit chamber would examine all the accounts of the various departments involved in the fight against COVID 19.

The situation is even more urgent as the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, has gone ahead negotiated and obtained a new agreement with the IMF. But the IMF is aware that the report of the Audit Office revealed a major financial scandal and the financial body is mounting pressure on the regime in Yaoundé.

Paul Biya has now decided to open a criminal investigation. He has instructed his Secretary General to handover the Covid-19 IMF file to the Minister of State, Justice and Keeper of the Seal, Laurent Esso.

CIR is keeping a watchful eye on this developing scandal in La Republique du Cameroun.

By Rita Akana In Yaounde

Iran’s Rouhani says Vienna talks open ‘new chapter’

7, April 2021

Iran’s Rouhani says Vienna talks open ‘new chapter’ 0

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that talks in Vienna on rescuing a troubled 2015 nuclear deal had opened a “new chapter”.

An Iranian delegation met Tuesday with representatives of the remaining parties to the agreement to discuss how to bring Washington back into it and end crippling US sanctions and Iranian countermeasures.

US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to reverse the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw from the agreement and reimpose unilateral sanctions.

But differences remain over the mechanics of the move as Tehran has since responded by suspending compliance with some of its own obligations under the deal.

The United States was not present at Tuesday’s discussions because Iran has refused to meet the US delegation so long as its sanctions remain in place.

Instead, the European Union acted as an intermediary, but all sides gave a positive assessment of the opening talks.

“A new chapter has just been opened yesterday,” Rouhani told a cabinet meeting Wednesday.

“If (Washington) shows it is honest and sincere, that’s all we ask… I think we’ll be able to negotiate in a short time, if necessary, with the (other parties to the deal).”

The talks are to resume in Vienna on Friday, a diplomat familiar with the discussions said.

The US delegation is to gather in a different hotel, with EU negotiators acting as go-betweens.

At the same time, two groups of experts — on lifting sanctions and nuclear issues — are working “to identify concrete measures to be taken by Washington and Tehran” to restore the deal, Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov said.

Washington gave an upbeat assessment of the opening session.

“We do see this as a constructive and certainly welcome step,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

Source: AFP

Bishop George Nkuo: Jubilee of Mercy in the diocese of Kumbo

7, April 2021

Bishop George Nkuo: Jubilee of Mercy in the diocese of Kumbo 0

Thousands of people are expected to take part in the Ruby Jubilee of the priestly ordination of the Bishop of the Kumbo Diocese Mgr. George Nkuo scheduled for Friday May 7, 2021 at the Kumbo Cathedral.

Every diocese in the English speaking regions and several parishes will be involved in some form of local pilgrimages as part of the major event organized by the church for the Jubilee.

The liturgy will be focused on our hope for the coming of Jesus Christ and the cry of John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord.

Major activities will be cancelled as parishes in the Kumbo Diocese joined forces to celebrate the life of a Good Shepherd.

Cameroon Concord News Group understands that the Bishop George Nkuo Ruby Jubilee is not just going to be a religious celebration but also a community event and in many parishes it will be ecumenical.

Concord Group Chairman Soter Agbaw-Ebai said it will be the most significant public celebration of a Man of God by the entire Christian community.

George Nkuo the founding father of the Cameroon Catholic Community in Mulheim an der Ruhr, Federal Republic of Germany was born on the 28 January 1953 in Njinikom, Boyo Division in the Archdiocese of Bamenda – North West Region of Cameroon. He did his Secondary and high school education in Bishop Rogan Minor Seminary, Small Soppo, Buea, from 1967-1974 where he obtained the General Certificate of Education, Ordinary and Advanced Levels.

He was then admitted in the Regional Major Seminary, Bambui, where he studied for the priesthood from 1974-1981. He completed his priestly formation in philosophical and theological studies with a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy in 1977 and a Bachelor Degree in Divinity in 1981 respectively.

He was ordained priest for the Diocese of Buea on the 26th of April 1981 at Small Soppo, Buea by the Right Reverend Pius Suh Awa, Bishop of Buea. He is of the second batch of priests trained in the present St. Thomas Aquinas’ Major Seminary, Bambui.

He did postgraduate studies in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, National University of Ireland (1989-1991) where he specialized in Education and obtained a Master’s Degree in the Science of Education.

Bishop George is known for his time spent as the Curate and Manager of Catholic Schools in the St. Joseph’s Parish, Mamfe and Kumba Town. He was Chancellor for the Diocese of Buea and Principal of St. Francis’ College, Fiango, Kumba. Before coming to the Diocese of Kumbo he was Catholic Education Secretary for the Diocese of Buea From 1994 to 2006.

Previous assignments include Provincial Chairman of the Association of Diocesan Priests, Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province; National/Diocesan Chaplain of the Catholic Women’s Association. Bishop George was also Member of the Council of Cameroon General Certificate of Education Examination Supervisory Board, member of Presbyteral Council and College of Consultors of the Diocese of Buea.

He was ordained a bishop and installed as the second Bishop of the Diocese of Kumbo on September 8, 2006.

After his appointed as Bishop, he became Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Education in the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (CNEC) and in 2009; he became member of the Study Week of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in Rome as well as member of the Permanent Committee of the Cameroon Episcopal Conference.

From the beginning of his episcopacy, Bishop George Nkuo expressed the hope that a Bishop’s responsibilities are first to the Diocese where he is ordained to oversee. This he makes visible in the way he is available to the Priests, Religious, Seminarians and Faithful in the Diocese of Kumbo. In his first meeting with his priests upon his appointment as Bishop of Kumbo, he insisted that the priests, his co-workers were to be seen as his main collaborators and emphasized on team work/collaborative ministry. Today, he recognizes the talents and abilities of the priests, religious, and laity and is ever more willing to work with them at all levels for the evangelization of the Church in Kumbo.

Bishop George is working very hard to build Catholic education, in the Catholic schools in the Diocese as well as in the religious education programs of the parishes. He has introduced the Catholic Education Week and the Bishop’s Education Fund which contributes in forming young people to become integral and holistic scholars. He is planning for the future construction of the Medical Department of the newly created Catholic University of Cameroon, Bamenda, and also carrying out improvements in the existing Schools in the Diocese.

One of the landmarks was the celebration of the centenary of the faith in the diocese of Kumbo in 2012. It was 100 years since the German Sacred Heart Fathers of St. Quentin arrived Kumbo. It was celebrated under the theme “We no longer believe because of what you told us” (John 4:42).

What is even more important for him, is pastoral plans, to be able to reach out to the people of God not only to preach the Gospel but also to be close to them in their needs is effectively being carried out. He has been trying to meet the Christians in their Parishes every year during pastoral visits and to set up little projects in the area of health and education to reassure the people of Kumbo and especially those in the remotest parts that they are not abandoned.

By Patience Ngwacalar Atanga in Essen in Germany

Italy’s ex-PM Berlusconi hospitalised again

7, April 2021

Italy’s ex-PM Berlusconi hospitalised again 0

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalised for the second time in two weeks, a source within his Forza Italia party said Wednesday.

The flamboyant 84-year-old billionaire and media tycoon has been at Milan’s San Raffaele hospital since Tuesday afternoon, the source said.

Berlusconi arrived for a check-up, and doctors decided to keep him in to conduct more tests, the source added.

The hospitalisation was also announced by one of Berlusconi’s lawyers during a hearing in Milan linked to his long-running “bunga bunga” sex scandal.

The hearing is part of the latest prong of the investigation into Berlusconi’s relationship with an underage girl, Karima El-Mahroug, dubbed “Ruby the heart-stealer”.

The probe involves alleged payments to witnesses by Berlusconi to buy their silence over his so-called “bunga bunga” parties involving El-Mahroug and other women.

Berlusconi, who has dominated public life in Italy since the 1980s, has had a string of health problems in recent years.

He already spent a couple of days at the San Raffaele in late March. His entourage said at the time it was to conduct previously scheduled tests.

In January, Berlusconi — who had open heart surgery in 2016 — was admitted to a hospital in Monaco for heart problems. Last September, he was hospitalised for 11 days with Covid-19.

Source: AFP

Tumi: The Splendor of Truth

6, April 2021

Tumi: The Splendor of Truth 0

Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi, Archbishop emeritus of Douala (Cameroon), was born on 15 October 1930 in Kikaikelaki, Cameroon. He did his secondary studies at diocesan seminaries and at the seminaries of Ibadan, Bodija and Enugu in Nigeria. From 1969 to 1973 he obtained in Nigeria a Teachers’ Training Grade; a University General Certificate of Education at Ordinary Level in London; a licentiate in theology at the Catholic Faculty of Lyon; a doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He is well versed in his native dialect, Nso, Pidgin and Hausa, Latin, English, and French.

He was ordained a priest on 17 April 1966 in Soppo, diocese of Buéa and from 1966 to 1967 carried out his ministry as a parochial vicar at Fiango (Kumbo). From 1967 to 1969 he was a professor at the Bishop Rogan College minor seminary. In 1973, after having studied abroad, he returned to his diocese and was named rector of the major regional seminary of Bambui, archdiocese of Bamenda. He was also chaplain to the Association of Catholic Dames and was very involved in promoting the ecumenical movement, obtaining much esteem by Presbyterians and Baptists.

President of the presbyteral diocesan council, on 6 December 1979 he was elected the first bishop of the diocese of Yagoua, erected the same day. He received episcopal ordination on 6 January 1980 in St. Peter’s Basilica. During his pastoral care, the local church developed rapidly, enriched with institutions and centers of formation, nursery schools and dispensaries.

Elected on 23 April 1982 vice-president of the Episcopal Conference, on 19 November 1982 he was promoted to Coadjutor Archbishop of Garoua. On 17 March 1984 he was made Archbishop.

In 1985 he was elected as president of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (until 1991). President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), 1990 – 1994.

He participated in the 6th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (1983) and in the extraordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops of 1985. President delegate to the 8th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (1990); President delegate to the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops (1994). He participated in the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops (October 2009).

Archbishop of Douala, 31 August 1991 – 17 November 2009.

He participated in the conclave of April 2005, which elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by St. John Paul II in the Consistory of 28 June 1988, of the Title of Ss. Martiri dell’Uganda a Poggio Ameno (Martyrs of Uganda at Poggio Ameno).

Cardinal Christian Wiyghan Tumi died on 2 April 2021.

Yaoundé: More than 850 Cameroonians have now died from COVID-19

6, April 2021

Yaoundé: More than 850 Cameroonians have now died from COVID-19 0

With a total of 57,337 cases, the ruling CPDM crime syndicate in Yaoundé has now been informed that La Republique du Cameroun is the 13th most affected country in Africa.

The curve of Covid-19 infection is constantly increasing in the two Cameroons and the frequency is even more worrying but not for the 88 year-old President Biya.

In one week, French Cameroun recorded 4112 new positive cases. This brings the number of people infected with the virus in the two Cameroons to 57,337.

Cameroon Concord News understands that with these figures, the divided nation is gradually approaching the top of the table of the most affected countries on the African continent.

53 people infected with the disease died recently including two cabinet ministers. A total of 851 patients have now died from Covid-19 in French Cameroun and the figures in Southern Cameroons are still being kept like a nuclear secret.

427 patients were reportedly in intensive care in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé, including 122 on oxygen. The National Order of Physicians made an appeal to the Biya regime to take important measures to limit the spread of the virus.

The so-called Dion Ngute administration instead placed a ban on all festive events only in the Centre region hosting the political capital and the barons of the Biya regime.

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute told a COVID-19 task force meeting to intensify sensitization campaigns as infections continue to increase. But it is still business as usual in all the major towns and cities in French Cameroun.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

Central African Republic: Powerful armed group vows to leave rebel coalition

6, April 2021

Central African Republic: Powerful armed group vows to leave rebel coalition 0

The most powerful of the Central African Republic’s armed groups said in a statement Monday it will quit a rebel coalition aiming to unseat President Faustin Archange Touadera.

The Unity for Peace in Central Africa (UPC), mainly active in the country’s east, “commits to withdraw from the Coalition of Patriots for Change” (CPC), the group’s head Ali Darassa wrote.

The coalition is an alliance of some of the war-torn country’s most powerful armed groups, who joined together on December 19 accusing Touadera, the frontrunner in the December 27 elections, of trying to fix the vote.

Its components were drawn from militia groups that, together, controlled two-thirds of the impoverished country.

Touadera was reelected with barely one in three voters able to cast their ballot because rebel groups control most of the country.

Darassa said Monday that since the “electoral crisis, the population has suffered terribly from insecurity, the health situation, famine and the lack of humanitarian assistance.”

The UPC, the statement continued, “reiterates its commitment to the Khartoum Accord process,” a peace agreement signed in February 2019 between the government and 14 armed groups.

Surge in violence

Tensions have been high in the Central African Republic since the December election, although the surge in violence in recent months is just the latest flare-up in a civil war that has lasted eight years since the ouster of president Francois Bozize.

More than 30,000 people have fled the country due to the violence surrounding the elections, the UN says, while tens of thousands more have been internally displaced.

On January 13, rebels launched twin attacks on the outskirts of the capital — the first time they had struck so close to the city since the start of their offensive.

But their offensive foundered faced with government forces backed by 12,000 UN peacekeepers force, Russian paramilitaries and Rwandan troops.

Since January, the government and its allies have recaptured towns once held by fighters from the alliance of militias.

Bangui has accused Bozize, now the head of the CPC, of attempting a coup.

The UPC announcement came just days after another powerful group in the CPC announced that its chief had died from wounds suffered during an attack, in another blow to the rebel alliance.

Sidiki Abass, head of Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R), died on March 25, the rebel group announced Friday.

Abass, whose real name was Bi Sidi Souleymane, died in hospital in the country’s north, 3R said in a statement, adding he had been “seriously wounded” during attacks in the town of Bossembele on November 16.

The 3R group is made up largely of the Fulani ethnic group, whose members are traditionally nomadic herders.

Abass’s group has in the past been accused of war crimes, and judicial sources said he had been the target of an investigation by the country’s Special Criminal Court, set up to probe serious human rights violations committed since 2003.

Mineral-rich but rated the world’s second-poorest country on the Human Development Index, the CAR has been chronically unstable since independence 60 years ago.

Source: AFP

US: 60% of Republicans want Trump to run in 2024 election, say election was ‘stolen’

6, April 2021

US: 60% of Republicans want Trump to run in 2024 election, say election was ‘stolen’ 0

Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, former president Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded.

His supporters appear to have listened.

Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists “trying to make Trump look bad,” a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November’s presidential election “was stolen” from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.

Since the Capitol attack, Trump, many of his allies within the Republican Party and right-wing media personalities have publicly painted a picture of the day’s events jarringly at odds with reality.

Hundreds of Trump’s supporters, mobilized by the former president’s false claims of a stolen election, climbed walls of the Capitol building and smashed windows to gain entry while lawmakers were inside voting to certify President Joe Biden’s election victory.

The rioters – many of them sporting Trump campaign gear and waving flags – also included known white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys.

In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump said the rioters posed “zero threat.” Other prominent Republicans, such as Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, have publicly doubted whether Trump supporters were behind the riot.

Last month, 12 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against a resolution honoring Capitol Police officers who defended the grounds during the rampage, with one lawmaker saying that he objected using the word “insurrection” to describe the incident.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows a large number of rank-and-file Republicans have embraced the myth.

While 59% of all Americans say Trump bears some responsibility for the attack, only three in 10 Republicans agree. Eight in 10 Democrats and six in 10 independents reject the false claims that the Capitol siege was “mostly peaceful” or it was staged by left-wing protestors.

“Republicans have their own version of reality,” said John Geer, an expert on public opinion at Vanderbilt University.

“It is a huge problem. Democracy requires accountability and accountability requires evidence.”

The refusal of Trump and prominent Republicans to repudiate the events of Jan. 6 increases the likelihood of a similar incident happening again, said Susan Corke, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

“That is the biggest danger – normalizing this behavior,” Corke said. “I do think we are going to see more violence.”

In a fresh reminder of the security threats the US Capitol faces since Jan. 6, a motorist rammed a car into US Capitol police on Friday and brandished a knife, killing one officer and injuring another and forcing the Capitol complex to lock down.

Officers shot and killed the suspect.

Allie Carroll, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said its members condemned the Capitol attack and referred to a Jan. 13 statement from Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

“Violence has no place in our politics … Those who partook in the assault on our nation’s Capitol and those who continue to threaten violence should be found, held accountable, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McDaniel said. A representative for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Dangerous spin on reality’

The disinformation campaign aimed at downplaying the insurrection and Trump’s role in it reflects a growing consensus within the Republican Party that its fortunes remain tethered to Trump and his devoted base, political observers say.

According to the new Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump remains the most popular figure within the party, with eight in 10 Republicans continuing to hold a favorable impression of him.

“Congressional Republicans have assessed they need to max out the Trump vote to win,” said Tim Miller, a former spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. “That that is the path back to the majority.”

Republicans in Congress show few signs of breaking with Trump.

Right after the deadly Capitol siege, 147 Republican lawmakers voted against certifying Biden’s election win. The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump for “inciting an insurrection”, making him the only US president to be impeached twice, but most Senate Republicans acquitted him of the charge in a trial.

Last week, Republican congressman Jim Banks of Indiana said the party must cater to the working-class voters that comprise Trump’s political base ahead of next year’s critical midterm elections that will dictate control of Congress.

“Members who want to swap out working-class voters because they resent President Trump’s impact… are wrong,” Banks wrote in a memo to Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, contents of which he posted on Twitter.

Banks was one of the 147 lawmakers who voted to block certification of Biden’s win, and he later voted against impeaching Trump. Banks did not respond to requests for comment.

Some mainstream Republicans contend that after Republicans lost both the White House and control of both chambers of Congress on Trump’s watch, the party must move on from the former president in order to attract suburban, moderate and independent voters.

In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, only about three in 10 independents said they have a favorable view of Trump, among the lowest level recorded since his presidency.

Most Americans — about 60% — also believe Biden won the November election fair and square, and said Trump should not run again.

Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of Trump’s top Republican critics in Congress, has criticized the push to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.

The disinformation effort is “such a dangerous, disgusting spin on reality,” Kinzinger wrote in a fundraising appeal to supporters last month, “and what’s even worse is that it goes unchallenged by so many in the Republican Party.”

The window for the Republican Party to distance itself from Trump seems to have passed, Miller said.

“There was a chance after January 6 for Republican leaders to really put their foot down and say, ‘We can’t be the insurrectionist party,’” he said. “Now that opportunity is totally gone.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,005 adults between March 30-31. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about 4 percentage points.

(Source: Reuters)

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