9, April 2020

France to extend coronavirus lockdown again, will run beyond April 15 ⁰

France will extend its nationwide lockdown put in place to contain the spread of the new coronavirus for a second time, meaning it will run beyond April 15, the French presidential palace said on Wednesday.

The Élysée Palace said French President Emmanuel Macron would address the nation regarding the disease situation on Monday evening.

Macron will from now until Monday “speak to a large number of public and private actors – French, European and international – on what is at stake concerning Covid-19 and prepare the decisions that will be announced on Monday to the French”, the presidency said.

It will be Macron’s third prime time address from the Élysée Palace since the crisis began.

The announcement comes as France’s coronavirus death toll rose to 10,869 after hospitals recorded 541 new fatalities over the most recent 24-hour period.

Jérôme Salomon, head of the public health authority, told reporters that there were now 7,148 people in intensive care at hospitals across France, a net increase of 17 from the day earlier, the lowest increase recorded in recent weeks.

Salomon said he was unable to give a tally for the country’s nursing homes, which account for more than 30 percent of total fatalities, due to “technical problems”.

The health official said the nationwide lockdown, which began on March 17, had helped slow down the virus’s spread.

“The slowing seen over the last days is linked to your good respect of the confinement rules,” he said.

He expressed hope that France would see a flattening in its curve of cases in coming days but emphasised that this “plateau is at a very high level”.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

9, April 2020

WHO fires back after Trump dig about their handling of coronavirus pandemic ⁰

The head of the World Health Organization gave a strident defence of his agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism and suggestions that Washington could review its funding for the agency.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for unity and a halt to “politicization” of the global health crisis, specifically urging China and the United States to show “honest leadership”.

Tedros said he expected U.S. funding to continue with traditional bipartisan support.

Trump and his administration repeated its criticism, on Wednesday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was re-evaluating U.S. funding to the body, saying international organizations utilizing U.S. taxpayer money needed to deliver on their goals. But he objected to a leadership change at the WHO at this time.

U.S. contributions to the WHO in 2019 exceeded $400 million, almost double the second-largest country donor, according to U.S. figures. The WHO website shows the United States as its top donor, contributing nearly 15% of the budget.

Trump told the daily White House briefing on the coronavirus that Beijing’s payment was a small fraction of Washington’s WHO contribution, and that was “not fair at all.”

“So, we’re going to do study, investigation. And we’re going to make a determination as to what we’re doing. In the meantime, we’re holding back. We … want to see.”

Trump said the WHO issued a statement on Jan. 14 saying “there was no human-to-human transmission” and criticized him “very strongly” when he said he was going to shut down flights from China.

Tedros said the WHO had “kept the world informed about the latest data, information and evidence” and noted that Thursday would mark 100 days since China first notified the organization of cases of “pneumonia with unknown cause” on Dec. 31.

Tedros, a former foreign minister of Ethiopia, rejected Trump’s suggestion that the WHO was “China-centric”, saying: “We are close to every nation, we are colour-blind.”

Earlier, Dr Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to Tedros, also defended the U.N. agency’s relationship with China, saying its work with Beijing authorities was important to understand the outbreak.

“It was absolutely critical in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to get on the ground and work with the Chinese to understand this,” said Aylward, who led a WHO expert mission to China in February.

In an interview with KDKA Radio, Pompeo said: “I think it’s pretty clear that the World Health Organization hasn’t lived up to its billing, it hasn’t been able to achieve what it was designed to achieve, and we just can’t continue to permit that to go on. We’ve got to find a way.”

Pompeo was asked at the coronavirus briefing whether it was time to change the WHO leadership and replied: “This is not the time to be doing that kind of change.”

‘We make mistakes’

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday now was not the time to assess the global response to the pandemic, calling instead for the international community to focus on working in solidarity to stop the virus.

Tedros said his U.N. agency would conduct its usual assessment of its performance after the emergency and draw lessons about its strengths and weaknesses, adding: “We make mistakes like other human beings.”

He summarised his advice as: “Please, unity at national level, no using COVID for political points. Second, honest solidarity at the global level. And honest leadership from the U.S. and China.”

“The most powerful should lead the way and please quarantine COVID politics,” he added, referring to COVID-19, the highly contagious, sometimes deadly illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Tedros said Beijing and Washington should follow the example of what the former Soviet Union and the United States did in 1967 when they launched a 10-year global campaign that eradicated smallpox, a disease then killing 2 million people annually.

Tedros rejected “racist slurs” against him, which he said had originated in Taiwan, and disclosed that he had also received a death threat during the crisis.

“We are losing people, why would I care about being attacked when people are dying?” he said, noting there were already “60,000 body bags” after more than 1.3 million infections.

“We will have many body bags in front of us if we don’t behave,” he added.

Source: REUTERS

9, April 2020

Cameroonians are worried about coronavirus but also about an absent president ⁰

Like elsewhere, Cameroonians at home and abroad are very worried over the novel coronavirus which has been rapidly spreading across the country.

By the close of April 7, Cameroon had registered 685 cases of Covid-19, with nine deaths, overtaking other countries to become the second hardest hit in Sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa. Cameroon now has over 15 times as many confirmed cases as any other country in the central African sub-region and one of the highest numbers of daily new cases on the continent. Like many other African countries, Cameroon is not well-equipped to handle a major outbreak of the disease.

But as Cameroonians grapple with the spread of Covid-19, they are also preoccupied with the absence of their leader. President Paul Biya, 87, who in 2018 secured another mandate to extend his 36-year rule to 2025, has not publicly addressed his compatriots since the country registered its first case on March 6. His next-door peer, Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, with just 30 confirmed cases, has addressed his people on at least three occasions, despite still recuperating from a stroke.

Biya was last seen in public on Mar. 11, when he received the US ambassador to Cameroon at the Unity Palace in Yaoundé. No official mention has been made of his whereabouts thereafter. Even pressure from activists and opposition leaders has not forced the African strongman out in public.

Two weeks ago, Cameroon’s main opposition leader, Maurice Kamto issued an initial seven-day ultimatum, calling on president Biya to personally address the nation. On April 3, Kamto called on the population of coronavirus-affected regions to stay at home—a move the runner-up of the 2018 presidential election said he took because “the Head of State has refused to assume his functions in the fight against the coronavirus.”

The Popular Action Party on its part expressed concerns over the inaction of President Biya and accused Yaounde authorities of playing “a hide-and-seek game.” The party promised to seize the country’s constitutional council to make a declaratory statement on the vacancy or not of the presidency.

Despite his country exhibiting multiple layers of vulnerability to Covid-19, Biya has stuck with his reticence for public speaking. He however instructed the prime minister to put in place a 13-point response strategy and has through social media called on Cameroonians to respect the measures put in place. From wherever he is, the president has also signed several decrees, including one instituting a national solidarity fund to fight COVID-19 and another appointing officials to lead the reconstruction of the conflict-ravaged English-speaking regions in the country’s southwest.

It isn’t unprecedented for Biya to be unseen or silent during critical moments in the life of the country. Even recent widespread rumors of his demise on social media have not forced his hand. His aides and supporters have described this phenomenon as “presidential silence” and have often argued that “his attitude is a sign of maturity and wisdom.”

Biya’s “private visits” to his usual retreat at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva has often been a source of political controversy and quiet embarrassment. One estimate is that he’s spent 15% of his time in power, abroad.

Over the last decade, Biya has made the top floor suites of the five-star luxury hotel into his home away from home spending months at a time even as his country has slowly descended into conflict from Boko Haram Islamic terrorists in the north and an Anglophone-led insurgency in north- and southwest of the country.

Culled from Quartz Africa

8, April 2020

French Cameroun: Bombing Kills 10, Triggers Renewed Boko Haram Fear ⁰

Cameroon is calling on people living in two villages bordering Nigeria to return from their hideouts after two teenagers detonated explosives and killed at least 10 civilians. The military says it has secured the area, but civilians maintain that the villages have been infiltrated by Boko Haram terrorists.

Speaking via a messaging app from the northern village of Blama Kamsoulou, community official Adamu Sidiki says dozens of people have fled since Sunday night’s suicide bombing, fearing Boko Haram.

About 70 people have escaped to the bushes and nearest towns because they believe Boko Haram is making a powerful comeback, Sidiki said, adding that barely two weeks ago, the terrorist group killed at least 90 Chadian soldiers in the nearby Boma peninsula. It is high time Cameroon protected its citizens by redeploying its military to border zones that terrorists are again occupying, he said.

Cameroon’s government said in a release Monday that two male suicide bombers were spotted by civilians Sunday near the Blama Kamsoulou village primary school. When the attackers noticed that they were being monitored, they rushed to the traditional ruler’s palace and detonated the explosives they were carrying.

Roger Saffo, secretary general of the Far North Region governor’s office, said the blasts took the lives of many villagers.

“On the spot, there were nine people killed and 15 people wounded,” Saffo said. “I want to seize this opportunity to appeal to our population to be more vigilant, to be cautious, to collaborate with the forces of law and security.”

FILE - Cameroonian soldiers stand guard at a lookout post as they take part in operations against Boko Haram militants on Elbeid bridge that separates northern Cameroon form Nigeria's Borno state near the village of Fotokol, Cameroon, Feb. 25, 2015. — FILE – Cameroonian soldiers stand guard at a lookout post as they take part in operations against Boko Haram militants on Elbeid bridge that separates northern Cameroon form Nigeria’s Borno state near the village of Fotokol, Cameroon, Feb. 25, 2015.

Suffo said the wounded were transported to a hospital in the nearby town of Mora, where one person died. Nine others are in critical condition.

Midjiyawa Bakary, governor of the Far North region, said he has ordered soldiers to deploy to the border villages that Boko Haram fighters have allegedly infiltrated.

Local vigilante committees should be reinforced immediately and civilians should work in collaboration with the militias to make sure both the military and administrative authorities are informed anytime strange people are found in their villages, Bakary said.

On March 24, Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, announced that 92 Chadian troops were killed in a Boko Haram attack that lasted several hours. He said 24 army vehicles were destroyed, and captured military arms were taken away in speedboats by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has also renewed attacks on the Nigerian military, with the killing of at least 50 soldiers in an ambush near Goneri village in Nigeria’s northern Yobe state in March.

Cameroon has not reported a large-scale Boko Haram attack for the past two months, but the Islamist militant group invades the territory regularly for supplies or to kidnap citizens for ransom.

Source: VOA

8, April 2020

Bernie Sanders quits 2020 US Democratic presidential campaign ⁰

Leading US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has ended his presidential campaign, paving the way for his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, to win the Democratic presidential race.

This is Sanders’ second failed attempt to grab the Democratic party’s nomination after he fell short of defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 primaries.

“The path toward victory is virtually impossible,” Sanders said in a livestreamed speech to supporters from his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, on Wednesday.

“I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful. And so today, I am announcing the suspension of my campaign,” the 78-year-old US senator added.

Sanders’ exit comes after a series of losses to Biden, beginning in South Carolina in late February and continuing with losses in crucial states like Michigan and Florida last month.

Source: Presstv

8, April 2020

Trump threatens to withhold funds from WHO, says UN body is ‘China-centric’ ⁰

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to cut US funding to the World Health Organization, accusing it of bias toward China during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump told reporters he was “going to put a very powerful hold on” funding to WHO, the UN body whose biggest funding source is the United States.

“We’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO,” said Trump, who pursues an “America First” agenda and has previously criticised other UN and multilateral agencies.

He gave no details about how much money would be withheld and minutes later during the same press conference he said: “I’m not saying I’m going to do it.”

“We will look at ending funding,” he added.

According to Trump, the WHO “seems to be very biased toward China. That’s not right.”

His comments built on an earlier statement on Twitter in which he accused the WHO of being “very China centric.”

Trump asked why the WHO had given “such a faulty recommendation,” apparently referring to the UN body’s advice against curtailing international travel to stop the virus which first spread from China.

“Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on,” Trump wrote, referring to his decision to ban travel from the country.

China faces criticism in Washington, particularly from Republicans, over the way it handled the pandemic and Trump has expressed doubt over the accuracy of Chinese statistics for cases and deaths.

However, Trump himself has been widely criticized for initially downplaying the virus, which he likened to an ordinary flu and said was under control in the United States, before later accepting that it was a national emergency.

More than 12,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19.

(AFP)

8, April 2020

Coronavirus: How President Biya is protecting himself ⁰

The last public appearance made by Cameroon’s president was on 11 March. On that date, he was paid a visit by Peter Henry Barlerin, the US ambassador to Cameroon, at his office in Etoudi Palace.

Unlike the vast majority of other heads of state in the region, Paul Biya did not address his fellow citizens to announce measures to combat the epidemic. Prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute and health minister Malachie Manaouda are regularly informing the public about the health crisis.

Biya’s absence has provoked criticism from the opposition and alarmist rumours about his state of health. However, according to our information, Biya has not tested positive for COVID-19.

To prevent any contamination, he has retreated to his hometown of Mvomeka’a, located 180km to the south of Yaoundé. Shut away in his home, he has prohibited nearly all work-related meetings and only sees a handful of people.

He still speaks to his loyal special adviser, Rear Admiral Joseph Fouda. He also receives the Deputy Chief of Civilian Staff, Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, while Biya’s aide-de-camp, Squadron Leader Mike Davy Ottou, makes himself available. Non-essential staff are no longer allowed to enter his home, which sits atop a hill overlooking the town. The government awaits his instructions to act.

Culled from The Africa Report

8, April 2020

CPDM crime syndicate sweeps coronavirus elections in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Cameroon’s ruling party has swept all 13 seats in parliamentary by-elections held late last month in the conflict-wracked anglophone west of the country, the constitutional council announced Tuesday.

Long-ruling President Paul Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) won all 13 seats at stake in 11 constituencies in the North-West and South-West regions of the central African country.

The CPDM “ran the table” in 10 North-West districts and one in the South-West, state broadcaster CRTV reported.

The wins reinforced the party’s massive majority in the 180-member parliament to 152 seats.

The two anglophone regions have been rocked by deadly violence as armed separatists campaign for independence from the rest of Cameroon, which is majority French-speaking.

The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly 700,000 in less than three years, according to humanitarian organisations.

Separatist fighters had called on people in the two regions to boycott nationwide municipal and legislative elections on February 9, issuing threats to anyone who planned to vote.

Several NGOs including Amnesty International reported multiple clashes between the separatists and the army ahead of the polling, though only one incident — in the North-West region — was reported on election day itself.

The constitutional council said on February 25 that the vote would have to be rerun in several parts of the two anglophone regions.

The opposition Social Democratic Front, dominated by anglophones, contested the results of the by-elections, but the constitutional court rejected their demand for another re-run.

Source: AFP

8, April 2020

France’s coronavirus death toll passes 10,000 after steep rise at nursing homes ⁰

France officially registered more than 10,000 deaths from coronavirus infections on Tuesday, becoming the fourth country to go beyond that threshold after Italy, Spain and the United States.

The total death toll from Covid-19 rose to 10,328 from 8,911 on Monday, Jérôme Salomon, head of the public health authority, told a press conference, warning that “the epidemic is continuing its progression.”

Salomon said 7,091 fatalities have been recorded at French hospitals since March 1. A further 3,237 people have died at care homes for the elderly, he added, giving a much higher figure than reported on Monday.

He stressed that the latter count was still partial, with some nursing homes yet to report.

More than 30,000 people were being treated in hospitals around the country, with 7,131 in intensive care, Salomon added.

“We are in the ascending phase of the epidemic, even if it is slowing a bit,” he warned. “We have not yet reached the peak.”

The death toll of 10,328 included 597 fatalities in hospital in the last 24 hours, according to a government update .

Paris bans daytime jogging

Earlier on Tuesday, Paris officials said they would ban lone daytime jogging as people continue to flout anti-coronavirus lockdown rules.

“Every excursion avoided aids the fight against the epidemic,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and police chief Didier Lallement said in a statement announcing the partial jogging ban.

Paris bans daytime jogging in bid to slow spread of coronavirus

Paris and other cities have already closed public parks and gardens as part of the nationwide lockdown that requires people to carry a document justifying any excursion from the home.

Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the unwinding of the lockdown, which at this stage is supposed to run until April 15, would not “happen overnight”.

The lockdown “is difficult for many French people, I am fully aware of this. But it is essential if we do not wish to find ourselves in an even worse situation than the one we are experiencing today”, he said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

8, April 2020

EU to continue missions in Africa, Balkans despite covid-19 ⁰

The European Union says some of its training missions have seen personnel cuts in the Balkans and Africa. This is due to conditions imposed by hosting countries amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The bloc has no intention of halting those missions though, saying that security is the priority.

Speaking on Monday after chairing talks between EU defense ministers via video conference, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said it was important to keep the six missions going “to avoid a negative security impact.”

It’s also launched a new mission off the coast of Libya. The purported goal is to monitor the UN arms embargo on Libya. But what many fear, is that it’s just another attempt at keeping thousands of migrants off European shores. According to Human Rights Watch, EU states and institutions are sustaining a network of detention centers within Libya, where torture, sexual violence, extortion and forced labour are rife.

Part of the EU’s new mission is to continue training the Libyan coastguard, so they can intercept migrants and asylum seekers at sea more effectively. The EU says it is providing security, and stopping arms from being trafficked, as well as stemming the flow of migrant. But observers say security measures should not override humanitarian endeavors at a time when the world is facing a common threat.

Source: Presstv