4, June 2020

CPJ asks Cameroonian govt to account for arrested journalist ⁰

Cameroonian authorities must immediately disclose the whereabouts and the health and legal status of imprisoned journalist Samuel Wazizi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

“Samuel Wazizi’s friends, family, colleagues, and lawyers have unsuccessfully sought answers about his arrest from the Cameroonian government for far too long,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal. “We are extremely disturbed by recent reports of the journalist’s death in government custody, and demand that authorities immediately and publicly account for his status.”

News reports and a tweet by Denis Nkwebo, the president of the Cameroon Trade Union of Journalists, published yesterday and today, allege that Wazizi died at a military hospital at an unspecified date after being tortured by security forces.

The Cameroonian government has not commented on those reports. CPJ called and texted representatives of Cameroon’s Justice Ministry, Communications Ministry, and prime minister’s office for comment, but did not receive any replies.

Wazizi, whose legal name is Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, was arrested on August 2, 2019, was transferred to military custody on August 7, and has not been seen since, according to CPJ research. Until his arrest, he worked as an anchor for privately owned broadcaster Chillen Muzik and TV.

Source: Premium Times Ng

4, June 2020

‘Violence has never solved anything’ – Ex-Cameroon coach Seedorf reflects on racial unrest ⁰

Former Cameroon coach Clarence Seedorf shared a video on Instagram in which he spoke about the ongoing unrest over the killing of George Floyd, asserting “violence solves nothing”.

The American died in the city of Minneapolis on May 25 after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes while he was apparently struggling to breathe.

Floyd died in hospital and the action of the police officer has drawn outrage all over the United States, with some of the protests turning violent which has been strongly condemned.

The football world has stood in solidarity for Floyd and has issued numerous calls for an end to racial injustice.

“Hi folks, I’m reflecting here, reflecting with you, reflecting about us, reflecting about the world,” Seedorf said in the video.

“Violence has never solved anything in the world, education has.

“I wish it would be more, I wish it would be really a movement of humanity to get things as they should be, not just better.

“But the passiveness of looking and seeing what is happening by the white people, that is not acceptable because then you become as guilty as those who started manipulating and killing for fun just because they thought they were superior.”

Seedorf joined a host of African stars like Didier Drogba, Jordan Ayew, Mikel John Obi, Franck Kessie, Michael Essien, Thomas Partey, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and many others who posted plain black squares on social media in what was tagged #BlackOutTuesday.

Borussia Dortmund and Morocco international Achraf Hakimi alongside his teammate Jadon Sancho wore a shirt with the inscription ‘Justice for George Floyd’ in their 6-1 thrashing of Paderborn on Sunday.

The Liverpool squad with African stars Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Joel Matip, all stood on their knees in solitary with Floyd.

Seedorf was the manager of Cameroon between August 2018 and July 2019.

He led the Indomitable Lions to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt but lost out 3-2 to fierce rivals Nigeria in the Round of 16.

Seedorf managed a total of 13 games with Cameroon, winning four, drawing five and losing four.

Source: Goal.com

4, June 2020

Cameroonians, Nigerians clash ‘over beer price’ in Dubai ⁰

Two persons were feared dead when groups of Cameroonian and Nigerian traders clashed in Deira, Dubai this week, a witness told The Guardian on Tuesday.

The two persons killed were Cameroonians, two witnesses said in separate voice notes the witness sent to our correspondent.

A video the witness sent showed a man suspected to be Nigerian bleeding profusely from his head.

The fight broke after Cameroonian traders accused Nigerians of selling beers at cheaper rates, thereby drawing more customers to their stores.

“Nigerians are selling beer at a cheaper price than they do,” one person familiar with the crisis said in one of the voice notes. “That was the cause of the serious crisis, although they said the situation is under control. People are still fighting in other places.”

The chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission Abike Dabiri-Erew did not respond to the SMS sent to her phone on Tuesday evening.

Cameroon News Agency, however, reported that the fight broke after Nigerians attacked a Cameroonian trader identified as Tasso. It said both communities have been having a cold war in a place where they both sell beverages.

“Last night after beating Tasso to near death, about 10 Cameroonians stormed the streets looking for their aggressors. One person was seriously beaten as others escaped,” the Douala-based news website said in a post on its Facebook page.

“Police in Dubai have been notified but the situation remains tense.”

A Nigerian said indiscriminate arrest by the police has not helped to douse the tension.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with the head of the police. We are complaining about the situation of things, they’re doing a different thing,” he said.

An email sent to the Dubai Police on Tuesday night was not immediately replied.

Source: The Guardian

4, June 2020

Yaounde silent on reports that detained journalist died in military custody ⁰

Journalists and activists in Cameroon are calling on the government to respond to media reports this week that the military has killed in detention journalist Samuel Wazizi. The military detained Wazizi about a year ago for allegedly supporting anglophone separatists and he has not been seen in public since.

Lawyer and rights defender Christopher Ndong says he has reliable information that Cameroonian journalist Samuel Wazizi died in a military hospital in Yaoundé of wounds inflicted on him by the military.

“The brutal torture that was exerted on Wazizi by military officers is a condemnable act,” said Ndong. “He was arrested and badly tortured and when he fell ill, they took him to a military hospital in Yaoundé, where he finally died. And so, we are asking for an independent investigation to detect all the culprits so that they should be brought to book and punished.”

Ndong says does not know when Wazizi died but most local media have this week been reporting his death as confirmed and that military officials are refusing to release his body.

Cameroonian activists and journalists are calling on the government to respond to the reports and explain the circumstances, if Wazizi is in fact dead.

Ambe Macmillan Awah is president of Cameroon’s Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ).

He says Wazizi’s death in prison would prove how officials continue to abuse the media.

“Cameroon is a state of law and our laws provide for journalists to be tried. So, we keep asking, why was the law not applied? We are calling on the competent authorities to investigate and bring all the perpetrators to book,” said Awah. “Nobody is above the law.”

Samuel Wazizi, whose legal name is Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, worked for Chillen Music Television.

Police arrested Wazizi last August for allegedly supporting anglophone separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions and turned him over to the military. He hasn’t been seen since. The military claims Wazizi was hosting rebels on his farm.

After Wazizi’s disappearance, authorities threatened to go after any journalists reporting on alleged military abuses or giving a voice to the rebels.

Yaoundé-based freelance journalist Ndi Eugene Ndi says it is becoming impossible to report in Cameroon’s English-speaking west regions under such pressure.

“If you do a report which seems like giving some little credit to the separatists, you should be sure of meeting a military court,” said Ndi. “It is not easy. We are not safe.”

Cameroon’s Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) says Wazizi was being held in a prison in the capital, Yaounde.

Both a military spokesman and a government spokesman refused to comment on Wazizi and the reports of his death.

Source: VOA

3, June 2020

Ambazonia Interim Government weighs in on Samuel Wazizi affair ⁰

Interim Government of Ambazonia Statement on Samuel Wazizi

On the 2^nd of August 2019, Samuel Wazizi, a Southern Cameroons journalist with CMTV, was abducted by police in Buea, Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). He was handed over to the French Cameroun military five days later. Since then, his family and lawyers have not been granted access to him nor has any information about his whereabouts been made public. Several attempts by his lawyers and international organisations to make contact were declined. He was not charged for any crime or brought before any competent law court.

Yesterday, the Interim Government of Ambazonia was informed that he has been murdered in custody. This, we find unacceptable and a flagrant disregard of international law, norms and conventions. The deliberate attack on journalists and the press as a mechanism to prevent the dissemination of information by the regime in Yaoundé is unacceptable and unlawful. The French Cameroun authorities must be cognizant of their international obligations to protect the rights of journalists and civilians without prejudice.

French Cameroun has rapidly earned an unenviable reputation as one of the worst countries in the world on press freedom. The international community must act now.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia is hereby calling on the government La Republique du Cameroun to make public vital information on the whereabouts of Mr Samuel Wazizi without any further delay.

Sincerely,

DabneyYerima

Vice President, The Federal Republic of Ambazonia

The United Nations

USA State Department

The African Union

The EU Commission

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland

3, June 2020

Cameroon: The appalling silence of good people is hurting the country ⁰

If there is one thing that the political elites in Yaoundé have been brilliant at over the last 38 years, it is their astonishing consistency in creating political tragedy and fostering appalling silence through intimidation and bribery. As we were about to retire to bed last night, our editorial desk was forwarded a photograph of a fragile creature in God’s waiting room. Upon close scrutiny, it dawned on me that the photograph was that of French Cameroun’s senate president, Marcel Niat Njifenji, who is 86 years old. It is summer in France as I write but he was covered in a blanket. He is doubtlessly in an apartment he purchased in France from the proceeds of his protracted and well-documented unlegislated activities in the Cameroons over the last 50 years.

Mr. Njifenji is a classmate and close collaborator of Paul Biya, the commander-in-chief of the most sophisticated state-ordained terror and misappropriation enterprise ever operated from the Cameroons. He has been the senate president since its inception in 2013. It is alleged within CPDM political circles that the man who presided over the death of SONEL has nine lives. He was once the country’s deputy prime minister and the former managing director of the country’s main power provider, SONEL, in the 1980s. Mr Njifenji’s embezzlement while at SONEL is well-known and documented and that explains why he can never walk away from Mr. Biya. He is one of the bigots who have ensured that no meaningful political change takes place in the country.

Confronted by crises in the Southern Cameroons, economic meltdown, human rights abuses, unprecedented unemployment, Coronavirus deaths, a collapsed public service, Cameroon has diapers-wearing-pensioners passing for leaders. How did a nation of 25 million minds end up in such a state?

After four decades in power, these senile pensioners are watching helplessly as the nation they pretend to govern is melting down. They are in care homes in France contemplating the emptiness of life in their last days on this planet. What a pity? In life, our unwise acts accompany us to plague and torment us and this is very true when it comes to these political arsonists. They have scorched all they inherited from the country’s first President Amadou Ahidjo.

He is about to meet his maker with nothing to show for as his contribution to mankind. Mr Njifenji is soon going to come face to face with the man he most wishes to avoid. He would be answerable to him without the thugs he has helped to sustain for forty years. From his photograph, his regrets and apprehensions are colossal. He has made his bed, let him lie on it. But the most fascinating thing is he is still hanging on to his earthly position as the senate president of a banana republic at 86.

One of the tests of good leadership is how well one grooms his successor. Somehow, for nearly forty years, there is no succession line in any department or arm of government in Cameroon. These ancient and senile individuals that could hardly support themselves are still hanging on to power in flagrant disregard of civility and logic. The most amazing thing is that sane people in their millions seem to find nothing wrong with this insanity. These ancient creatures wobble once every nine months to their offices for photo opportunities and the nation of Cameroon finds nothing wrong with such senselessness.

Cameroonians who have opted for silence will have a lot to repent for as posited by Martin Luther King Jr; “we will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people”. Cameroon Concord News Group believes that the good people of this resource-rich country must end this silence and sorrowful episode of their history by standing up to these senile tyrants. Cameroonians must understand that there is no chain of disasters that wouldn’t come to an end. The criminal pensioners are on their way out. Slowly but surely, four decades of political tragedy in the Cameroons are coming to an end.

One thing is now certain; this clique of criminal and senile pensioners that has conspired to ruin a once rich country will not be missed when they leave this planet. Cameroon Concord News Group will supply their families with appropriate headstones with the following message; I CAME; I SAW; I WRECKED.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

3, June 2020

COVID-19 aggravates Southern Cameroons Crisis ⁰

Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s northwest region, has been at the heart of a three-year conflict between Cameroon government troops and armed groups that are fighting to create a state they call Ambazonia.

Frequent gun battles, lockdowns, road blocks and now the COVID-19 pandemic have made life difficult for the majority English-speaking population. The Anglophone crisis and the coronavirus pandemic have two things in common: lockdowns, hospitalizations and an ever-increasing number of deaths.

The Anglophone crisis has been raging for four years with no end in sight

Scot, a resident in Bamenda said at least with the Anglophone crisis, one knows how to respect some rules like getting home early and avoiding no go areas.

“But for coronavirus, the risk is just so high. You might get into a public space and contract the disease,” Scot, who did not wish to give his second name for fear of reprisal, told DW.

“For the crisis, you know that there are some places that you are not supposed to go and certain things to do and not to do to avoid getting into trouble.”

One treatment center

The region is experiencing a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. Health officials are warning that if people do not observe preventive measures — such as washing of hands, wearing masks and maintaining physical distance — the number of infections could rise further. Cameroon now has more than 6,300 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Nearly 200 have lost their lives.

The northwest region’s only COVID-19 treatment center is housed in a government-run hospital. It has a pre-isolation ward, quarantine center, diagnostic laboratory and other facilities for people infected with the coronavirus. Bamenda, Cameroon’s third-largest city, has more than 500,000 inhabitants.

“Since we have more intense cases which are moderate or severe, the doctors see patients as often as need be,” Mercy Fundoh, head of the solidarity ward, told DW. “We try to do a clinical evaluation of these intense cases at least on a daily basis and sometimes twice a day.”

Patient care

As the health of the patients improves, they are transferred to the isolation center where they complete treatment and their number of days of isolation before they are retested.

According to Denis Same, the hospital director, a suspected case of COVID-19 is directed to the pre-isolation ward for investigation and sample collection. “If it is positive then you are taken to the solidarity ward or Azam Hotel meant for those who are asymptomatic, meaning that they do not have or have mild symptoms,” Same told DW.

Coronavirus, an extra burden

Before the coronavirus, Cameroon’s three-year Anglophone crisis had already made life difficult for people. Roadblocks, set up by separatist fighters, often block transport five days a week. They restrict movement between divisions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We are faced with two monsters, the Anglophone crisis and coronavirus as we try to avoid those who call the shots, military or separatists,” Thomas Mokum, another resident said.

“For coronavirus, somebody like myself without a job, I put food on the table with the menial things I do around. If you are to respect the social distancing, if you quarantine yourself, if you stay at home, if you do not go out to make money. This is how the two monsters affect my family.”

Battling the coronavirus while trying to stay alive in a conflict zone may result in the people of northwest Cameroon becoming simply too desperate to care about health and safety measures. That could make the grim situation even worse.

Culled from DW

3, June 2020

US embassy says Cameroon COVID-19 Cases Still on the Rise ⁰

The U.S. Embassy informs U.S. citizens that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cameroon continues to rise. According to Johns Hopkins University, there are 5,904 confirmed cases and 191 deaths as of June 1, 2020.

Although some restrictions have been lifted to alleviate economic hardship, the Cameroonian Ministry of Public Health reminded all residents on May 31 to redouble efforts to practice good hygiene, maintain physical distancing, only leave home when necessary, and always wear a mask in public.

Culled from the US Embassy Yaounde

3, June 2020

Southern Cameroons War: 5 Cameroon gov’t soldiers killed in Manyu County ⁰

Five Cameroon government army soldiers were killed on Monday in an attack reportedly staged by Ambazonia Restoration Forces, Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from defense sources in Yaounde.

The ambush occurred in Otu village in Eyumojock Sub constituency bordering the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A senior Cameroon army Commander was quoted as saying that the remains of the soldiers have been recovered.

The soldiers were deployed to Otu to provide security during a football match organized by pro French Cameroun ruling CPDM barons of the area to ascertain the return to normalcy in the locality that has been controlled by the Ambazonia Self Defense Forces since 2018.

Several other soldiers were wounded in the attack. The victims are currently receiving treatment at a military facility in Mamfe.

As usual, the corrupt separatist leader Ayaba Cho immediately claimed responsibility for the attack he knew nothing about on social media.

Government forces and armed Ambazonia Self Defense Gropus have been clashing since 2017 in Southern Cameroons where Ambazonians have established an independent nation known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

By Fon Lawrence in Mamfe

3, June 2020

Cameroon records highest number of Covid-19 deaths in central Africa ⁰

Cameroon has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours compared to other central African countries, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Monday.

Cameroon recorded 197 deaths, the DRC 72, Chad 65, the Republic of the Congo 20, Gabon 17, Equatorial Guinea 12, while Sao Tome and Principe each recorded 12.

At least 5,564 more people in Africa tested positive for the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, according to the health agency of the African Union.

The total number of infections on the continent reached 147,099, said the organisation, with the death toll currently standing at 4,228.

The total number of recoveries climbed to 61,808 as 2,596 patients recovered over the past 24 hours.

North Africa recorded a total of 43,900 Covid-19 cases; west Africa 35,100, southern Africa 34,900, East Africa 17,000 and Central Africa 16,100.

In terms of the death toll, North Africa had 1,900 fatalities, west Africa 717, southern Africa 707, east Africa 513 and Central Africa 398.

The worst-hit country in terms of number of infections was South Africa, currently sitting on 32,700 cases. Egypt follows with 25,000.

In terms of Covid-19-related deaths, Egypt recorded 959 cases and South Africa 683.

In West Africa, Nigeria registered 287 deaths, Mali 77, Niger 64, Burkina Faso 53, Sierra Leone 46, Senegal 42, Ghana 36, Cote d’Ivoire 33, Liberia 27, Guinea 23 and Togo 13.

In East Africa, Sudan had recorded 286 fatalities, Somalia 78, Kenya 64, Djibouti 24, Tanzania 21, Ethiopia 11 and South Sudan and Mauritius 10 each.

In Central Africa, Cameroon reported 197 deaths, the DRC 72, Chad 65, and Republic of the Congo 20; Gabon reported 17 fatalities, Equatorial Guinea 12, while Sao Tome and Principe also reported 12 each.

Since the virus emerged last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, it has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.

African News Agency (ANA)