Thousands of Cameroonian prisoners have effectively regained their freedom, as ordered by the central African state’s President Paul Biya, after his government reported that the coronavirus pandemic was spreading and inmates were among the groups with the highest level of exposure. The government has, however, not provided the number of infected inmates but says more than 1,500 people have been tested COVID-19 positive in Cameroon  in less than two months, with over 50 deaths. 

Speaking via a messaging application from Cameroon’s English-speaking northwestern town of Bamenda Henry Asaah Ngu, superintendent of the Bamenda Central prison says the 138 inmates who have regained their freedom were all tested COVID-19-free. He says their departure makes it possible for prison staff to ensure that compliance with principles of hygiene is effective to check the spread of the coronavirus. 

“With this release, we will be able to apply very strictly that aspect of social distancing even within the prison,” he said.

The Bamenda Central Prison has 403 officially declared inmates. Cameroon has 78 overcrowded prisons, with 30,000 prisoners in detention facilities constructed for a maximum of 9.000 inmates.  

Among the 1,400 who have regained their freedom from the Bamenda, Bafoussam, Bertoua and Buea central prisons is Emmanuel Ngomba. He says he was arrested two years ago, at 16, and held at the Buea Central Prison.

“I left the house one evening to go and see a friend. He said he wanted us to go and take some things from his uncle’s shop. We went there, took some gas bottles and engine oil. They [the police] caught me. Prison is not a good place,” he said.

Ngumba, who spoke via a messaging application, said his rights were abused because he was accused of theft and detained in prison for two years without trial. 

Fifty-two-year-old Pierre Tchamba also regained his freedom after more than two dozen years in the Bertoua prison, where he was given a life sentence for voluntary manslaughter and aggravated theft. 

Tchamba says after 24 years and four months of detention in inhumane conditions, he has finally regained his freedom thanks to COVID-19, which has been spreading in Cameroon and infecting inmates.  

A crisis meeting chaired by Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute last week announced that COVID-19 was a threat in Cameroon prisons but did not say how many inmates had been contaminated or have died from the pandemic. 

On April 15, President Biya ordered the release of thousands of prisoners over concerns about congested facilities spreading the coronavirus. Under the presidential decision, life sentences were reduced to 25 years and those for whom life sentences had been reduced to 25 years had five years taken off their sentences. Ten-year sentences were cut by three years, five-year sentences reduced by two years and three-year sentences cut by one year.  

However, separatists fighting for an independent English-speaking state in the central African nation and officials jailed for corruption were excluded. 

Source: VOA

Southern Cameroons Secretary of the Economy, Comrade Tabenyang Brado has reportedly chaired a process to reconcile all of Manyu self defense groups and donors to the Ambazonia struggle and quest for an independent state, taking a more hands-on approach to solving the main problem.

In a heavily attended Manyu Town Hall Meeting that held yesterday Sunday the 26^th of April 2020, Tabenyang Brado including a cream of senior Manyu citizens and the Chairman of the Manyu County Sesekou Dr Ako Peter explained to Manyus that there was an urgent need to maintain only defense structures during these difficult times.

The Ambazonia Economy Secretary supported by prominent Manyu titles holders had attempted late last week to resolve a serious issue that saw Manyu Restoration Forces fighting among themselves in the Mamfe Local Government Area.  However, yesterday’s meeting made huge efforts to end the Manyu rift and a real pact has been sealed with the outcome of the talks described by many as positive.

A high-ranking source in the Southern Cameroons intelligence who attended the Manyu Town Hall Meeting told Cameroon Intelligence Report on condition of anonymity that the new Manyu Self Defense plan as designed by the organizers of the town hall is more structured than previous ones. The new Manyu vision focuses on completing the liberation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia step by step and guaranteeing the security of every Southern Cameroonian in Ground Zero.

Cameroon Concord News Group London Bureau Chief Asu Isong said all stakeholders agreed to the new vision and all were positive. We understand the Ambazonian leader, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has expressed his sincere gratitude to all his fellow Manyu Community members for putting the struggle first with their new commitment to support and assist the suffering people on Ground Zero and Ground 1.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Dublin

Alfred Forgwei Mbeng is now resting in peace in a cemetery in Douala. The General Manager of the Cameroon Shipyard and Industrial Company known as Chantier Naval was buried in the French Cameroun metropolis early this Sunday morning the 26^th of April 2020.

The Southern Cameroons civil engineer died on April 25, 2020 at the Laquintinie Hospital in Douala as a result of the coronavirus. He reportedly self isolated at his home when it was confirmed that he had contracted the virus, but was later moved to the Laquintinie hospital after his health condition worsened.

A former official of the Ministry of Public Works, Forgwei Mbeng was also a chartered member of the French Cameroun ruling CPDM crime syndicate who supported the Biya regime’s genocidal campaign in his home county of Bui in Northern Ambazonia.

He had been at the head of Chantier Naval since 2014. He is the first prominent French Cameroun government official to give up his life, struck down by COVID-19.

By Fon Lawrence in Douala

Cameroonian police used force to disperse Muslims praying at mosques at the start of the holy month of Ramadan Friday for violating government orders not to gather because of the coronavirus.  Cameroon has confirmed at least 1,300 COVID-19 infections and 43 deaths, the hardest-hit country in central Africa.

A police statement said force to disperse Muslims from at least 13 Mosques in the country’s West, Center and Far North regions where they insisted on saying prayers during the Ramadan fasting period that began Friday in spite of a government ban because of COVID-19.

Awah Fonka, governor of the Western region of Cameroon says he asked the police to force Muslims who did not respect the order and were praying in mosques in the towns of Foumban, Foumbot and Bafoussam out. He spoke to VOA from Bafoussam via a messaging app.

Fonka says he will not spare anyone who refuses to respect measures taken by the government of Cameroon to protect its citizens from the deadly coronavirus and that he cannot imagine how people can be joking about  a virus that is claiming lives all over the world and sparing no one who refuses to protect him- or herself.  

The police also said that some Muslims in Cameroon were sending away outsiders from towns hit hardest by the outbreak, and that they had received 175 complaints from Cameroonians who were either stigmatized or chased from villages because they had come from towns where COVID-19 infections had been reported. 

Thirty-four-year old fruit and vegetable seller Gaston Asabe is one of them. He says when he arrived in his northern village of Koza Thursday night to buy onions and supplies to take back to Yaounde, villagers and relatives chased him, saying he was a coronavirus carrier, since he was coming from Yaounde, which has Cameroon’s highest COVID-19 infection rate. He spoke via a messaging app from the northern town of Maroua, where he took refuge for safety reasons.

He says Koza villagers went to their chief and imam and told them he had come from Yaounde with the coronavirus and they were afraid he would contaminate them.  The villagers wanted the chief and imam to allow young men to throw him out of Koza. He says he struggled in vain to explain that he was not infected, but no one would listen to him. 

Imam Dairou Abdoulahi of the Fifth Mosque in Koza says Asabe was attacked after the government repeated that mosques should remain closed during Ramadan. Abdoulahi says Muslims in the village argued that they have not had any cases of COVID-19 and will remain safe attending Ramadan prayers in their mosque if they stop visitors from towns where the virus has been confirmed from coming to their village. Abdoulahi said by phone from Koza that he asked the Muslims to stay home and be safe.

He says Islam and their prophet Mohammed teaches through the Quran that lives should be protected through good health and hygiene and, as such, all Muslims should stay at home as a sign of obedience to the Quran’s teachings. He says no one should blame the government for asking for mosques’ closure because that will save lives. 

Manaouda Malachie, Cameroon minister of health, speaking to VOA through a messaging app, called on the population to respect government measures to stop COVID-19 no matter their religious or traditional beliefs. 

He says he is insisting that people should be responsible because COVID-19 is a matter of life or death. He says believers should know that by staying safe and praying at home, they are not only protecting themselves, but other faithful from being contaminated by the coronavirus. Manaouda says there will be time to celebrate when the virus is conquered. 

Cameroon’s first case of COVID-19 was confirmed March 5. The government, among other measures, asked Christians and Muslims to pray at home to avoid its spread. The health ministry says that the cases will continue to rise if Cameroonians fail to take COVID-19 seriously.

Source: VOA