Headline News

COVID-19 Victims: Bodies found in unrefrigerated trucks in New York City

30/04/2020

The city of New York has delivered a freezer truck to a funeral home after it was found to be storing dead bodies in unrefrigerated U-Haul vehicles, a Reuters eyewitness says.

The eyewitness saw bodies in a U-Haul van and said two vans and a truck were parked outside the funeral home.

ABC News reported about 100 bodies were stored in the vehicles after the owner of the Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home said the freezer that normally stores bodies stopped working.

ABC did not identify the owner and no one at the funeral home was immediately available to comment. It was not clear how long the bodies had been stored in the U-Hauls or whether any were COVID-19 victims.

The bodies were found after neighbors reported an odor coming from the trucks, New York media reported.

The New York Police Department declined to comment. The Department of Health could not immediately be reached for comment, too.

New York City has been at the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic and the city’s funeral homes have been overwhelmed. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 18,000 people have died of COVID-19 in America’s biggest city, according to a Reuters tally.

Funeral homes say they are facing weeks-long backlogs to bury or cremate the dead.

(Source: Reuters)

More than 679,000 people have been displaced in Southern Cameroons

30/04/2020

Armed groups are fighting for a separate state in English-speaking parts of Cameroon and government forces are hitting back with brute force.

Caught in the crossfire, civilians are trying to stay alive in a deadly conflict the world knows little about.

In 2016, as lawyers, students and teachers in the English-speaking parts of Cameroon began protesting what they saw as their cultural marginalisation and under-representation in the central government, security forces hit back.

Several armed separatist groups emerged and self-declared their independence from Cameroon on October 1, 2017, calling their new country “Ambazonia”. Members of armed groups are known to locals as “the boys”.

Since then, atrocities have been committed by both sides and the escalating conflict has forced more than 730,000 people to flee. Many have been killed, tortured, raped, assaulted and kidnapped. Those who manage to survive watched helplessly as their villages burned to the ground and their children were left with no access to school.

Because of fears of repercussions if caught speaking out, the voices of those affected are rarely heard. In addition, there is limited access available for independent journalists to report on the crisis.

The lack of international attention, support and diplomacy have left Cameroon a neglected crisis with no end in sight for more than one million people in need.

'I want to ask them: 'You guys, you are fighting for separation, but instead you demand money from your brothers? How will we all live together in a new country when you do this?'.' said Kelly. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — ‘I want to ask them: ‘You guys, you are fighting for separation, but instead you demand money from your brothers? How will we all live together in a new country when you do this?’.’ said Kelly. INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

Heavily pregnant Alliance went into labour and gave birth to twins during the violence. 'I asked God: How could you give me twins in these times of conflict?' I did not know I could live like this, even for a week,' the 36-year-old said. She was not able to breastfeed at night with the lights on as that would be dangerous as warring parties were fighting outside. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — Heavily pregnant Alliance went into labour and gave birth to twins during the violence. ‘I asked God: How could you give me twins in these times of conflict?’ I did not know I could live like this, even for a week,’ the 36-year-old said. She was not able to breastfeed at night with the lights on as that would be dangerous as warring parties were fighting outside. INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

'When we fled I managed to bring with me some mesh and hair extensions. I thought it would be useful so I could work in Bamenda as well. But when we arrived here we had nothing to protect us from the cold concrete floors, so I had to use them for my twins to sleep on. They were damaged by baby pee,' Alliance said. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — ‘When we fled I managed to bring with me some mesh and hair extensions. I thought it would be useful so I could work in Bamenda as well. But when we arrived here we had nothing to protect us from the cold concrete floors, so I had to use them for my twins to sleep on. They were damaged by baby pee,’ Alliance said. INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

The scars of war are deep in Alliance's young children. 'When my children hear gunshots, they start to cry and run inside the house and they wet themselves. I lift them up and I carry them, I tell them it will be over soon,' she said. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — The scars of war are deep in Alliance’s young children. ‘When my children hear gunshots, they start to cry and run inside the house and they wet themselves. I lift them up and I carry them, I tell them it will be over soon,’ she said. INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

It was May 2018 when 71-year-old Celine escaped her village with her bedridden son, her frail mother, daughter and her three grandchildren. 'On the day we fled, there were heavy clashes and people ran into the bush to hide from the shooting. I could not run with them. My son is bedridden. My mother is nearly 100 years old. I had to stay behind. The army entered our house and asked me: 'Why are you still here?'. I showed them my son and my mother.' [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — It was May 2018 when 71-year-old Celine escaped her village with her bedridden son, her frail mother, daughter and her three grandchildren. ‘On the day we fled, there were heavy clashes and people ran into the bush to hide from the shooting. I could not run with them. My son is bedridden. My mother is nearly 100 years old. I had to stay behind. The army entered our house and asked me: ‘Why are you still here?’. I showed them my son and my mother.’ INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

Two years ago, life changed forever for 28-year-old Alpha when the conflict reached her village of Belo and took the life of her husband. 'One day the shooting got really close and our neighbours told us to quickly lock the house and hide. We did, but men in khakis broke in and dragged my husband out of the house and took him away. My kids and I ran for our lives. The next day someone found my husband dead along the roadside and asked us to come and collect him. When we dared to go back to the house, we found it burnt down to the ground. We lost everything. All our ID cards. Everything.' [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — Two years ago, life changed forever for 28-year-old Alpha when the conflict reached her village of Belo and took the life of her husband. ‘One day the shooting got really close and our neighbours told us to quickly lock the house and hide. We did, but men in khakis broke in and dragged my husband out of the house and took him away. My kids and I ran for our lives. The next day someone found my husband dead along the roadside and asked us to come and collect him. When we dared to go back to the house, we found it burnt down to the ground. We lost everything. All our ID cards. Everything.’ INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

Family members Carine, Happiness and Larissa are making the local speciality 'puff-puffs'. The women will sell these at the local market to get some income for the full family of 15 persons. After being displaced by violence, they all share one room that they rent in Bamenda. 'They killed nine people in the market square that morning we fled. I managed to bring with me a bucket of tomatoes and crayfish that I sold the next morning to get some money. I also brought some clothes, our IDs and my family photos. The military burned down our house and my shop,' Happiness said. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — Family members Carine, Happiness and Larissa are making the local speciality ‘puff-puffs’. The women will sell these at the local market to get some income for the full family of 15 persons. After being displaced by violence, they all share one room that they rent in Bamenda. ‘They killed nine people in the market square that morning we fled. I managed to bring with me a bucket of tomatoes and crayfish that I sold the next morning to get some money. I also brought some clothes, our IDs and my family photos. The military burned down our house and my shop,’ Happiness said. INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

'Life is not going anywhere,' says Glory, 28. She fled intense fighting in Ndu in January last year with her four children, her younger brother and her husband. With the daily shootings and burning of houses, life was no longer bearable in her village. As far as she knows, their house is still among those standing, but it is too unsafe to go back. So they rent a room in Bamenda with seven family members sharing one mattress. Back in the village, Glory used to roast fish and sell it along the road. Her husband worked as a driver. With barely any income, she finds it difficult to start up a business again. Most of the money they earn goes to rent and food, and most days, they go to bed hungry. School fees are too high to be able to afford them. 'It is really very difficult here,' she said. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — ‘Life is not going anywhere,’ says Glory, 28. She fled intense fighting in Ndu in January last year with her four children, her younger brother and her husband. With the daily shootings and burning of houses, life was no longer bearable in her village. As far as she knows, their house is still among those standing, but it is too unsafe to go back. So they rent a room in Bamenda with seven family members sharing one mattress. Back in the village, Glory used to roast fish and sell it along the road. Her husband worked as a driver. With barely any income, she finds it difficult to start up a business again. Most of the money they earn goes to rent and food, and most days, they go to bed hungry. School fees are too high to be able to afford them. ‘It is really very difficult here,’ she said. INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

The road leading from the small airport outside Bamenda into the city has been the site of intense fighting and the area is mostly abandoned. Burned-out cars and destroyed houses are peppered everywhere. In the two English-speaking regions, more than 250 villages have been burned down and are now fully or partially deserted. [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — The road leading from the small airport outside Bamenda into the city has been the site of intense fighting and the area is mostly abandoned. Burned-out cars and destroyed houses are peppered everywhere. In the two English-speaking regions, more than 250 villages have been burned down and are now fully or partially deserted. INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

''The boys, sometimes they want money, sometimes they just want to kill those they suspect do not support their cause,' says Reverend Mokake in the Cameroon Baptist Convention in Bamenda. 'It has been a hard year. We lost five pastors the last years as a result of the escalation of the conflict.' [Ingebjorg Karstad/NRC] — ”The boys, sometimes they want money, sometimes they just want to kill those they suspect do not support their cause,’ says Reverend Mokake in the Cameroon Baptist Convention in Bamenda. ‘It has been a hard year. We lost five pastors the last years as a result of the escalation of the conflict.’ INGEBJORG KARSTAD/NRC

Source: Aljazeera

Coronavirus lockdown: France enters recession as GDP falls by record 5.8 percent

30/04/2020

France’s gross domestic product contracted 5.8 percent in the first quarter and is officially in a recession, mainly because of the coronavirus lockdown imposed since mid-March, the national statistics agency said Thursday.

The drop is the biggest since quarterly GDP evaluations began in 1949, exceeding the third quarter 1.6 percent drop in 2009 and the 5.3 percent contraction in the second quarter of 1968, the agency said.

Following the 0.1 percent French GDP fall in the last quarter of 2019, the result confirms that France is in a recession.

The drop in activity “is mainly linked to the stop in non-essential activities as part of the lockdown imposed from mid-March”, the agency said.

The evaluation falls in line with that of France’s central bank, which in early April estimated a contraction of around six percent in the first quarter.

(AFP)

Decade of US growth ends as Fed warns of more coronavirus hardship ahead

30/04/2020

The coronavirus pandemic ended a decade of US economic expansion, but the Federal Reserve pledged Wednesday to use every tool it has to help fuel a recovery.

The central bank warned that the virus continues to pose “considerable risks” to the economy, which after a 4.8 percent contraction in the first three months of the year likely will see an “unprecedented” decline in the second quarter.

And after record job losses in just a few weeks, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned that unemployment will take time to come down to the low level of recent years.

The GDP decline in the January-March period — the biggest fall in 12 years — came after the pandemic forced businesses to close and halted purchases and investments, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

The grim numbers underscore the damage done to the world’s largest economy by the pandemic, which already has caused an estimated 26 million job losses and sent Congress and President Donald Trump scrambling to cut the losses.

The coronavirus outbreak in United States has grown into the world’s largest and deadliest, with the country’s caseload rising to 1,034,884 and deaths hitting 60,316 after surpassing the death toll from the Vietnam War on Tuesday.

The economic contraction was all the more worrying since the most strict business shutdowns and stay-at-home orders did not occur until the final weeks of March. The Commerce Department acknowledged that it could not quantify the full economic effects of the virus.

Powell warned that “economic activity will likely drop at an unprecedented rate in the second quarter” at a rate “worse than we’ve seen.”

Private sector economists are predicting a decline in growth by as much as 40 percent in the second quarter amid the collapse in consumer spending and business investment.

Job losses have hit 26 million since mid-March, and companies are beginning to make more permanent cuts due to the uncertain outlook, including aerospace giant Boeing, which plans to slash 10 percent of its workforce.

It will take “some time to get back to anything nearly resembling full employment,” Powell said.

All the tools

The central bank moved quickly to get ahead of the bad news, slashing the benchmark lending rate to zero by the middle of last month following two emergency meetings.

The Fed’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) at the conclusion of its two-day meeting Wednesday pledged to hold rates at zero “until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals.”

Powell said while the US economy should rebound in the third quarter “it’s unlikely that it would bring us quickly all the way back to pre-crisis levels.”

The central bank is “committed to using our full range of tools to support the economy… to assure that the recovery when it comes will be as robust as possible,” Powell said in a press briefing.

And while Congress too has moved quickly to provide support for businesses and households, “it may well be the case that the economy will need more support from all of us, if the recovery is to be a robust one.”

And now is “not the time” to let a concern about fiscal deficits “get in the way of us winning this battle,” Powell said.

“This is the time to use the great fiscal power of the United States to do what we can to support the economy and try to get through this with as little damage to the longer run productive capacity of the economy as possible,” Powell told reporters.

While the Fed cannot spend and its powers are limited to lending to viable borrowers, he said the central bank will do everything it can “to the absolute limit of those powers.”

The committee pledged to continue its efforts to inject funds into the financial system to ensure it doesn’t freeze up, including buying US Treasury debt, mortgage-backed securities and other corporate debt “in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning.”

(Source: AFP)

Why attempts to end the Southern Cameroons Crisis have failed- and how Francophones and Ambazonians can live together “separately”

30/04/2020

Cameroon government army soldiers are moving throughout Southern Cameroons committing what has been described by human rights organizations as crimes against humanity and war crimes as thousands of Ambazonian civilians continue to escape in to Nigeria. Hundreds of Southern Cameroonians are moving further into areas held by Ambazonia Restoration Forces with fighting reportedly slowing down due to the outbreak of the coronvirus. The war in Southern Cameroons is a geopolitical and humanitarian crisis that is threatening the Federal Republic of Nigeria and increasing crime rate in states such as Benue and Cross River.

Hundreds of poorly armed Southern Cameroonian criminal fleeing the conflict have also migrated into French Cameroun towns and cities such as Dschang, Bafoussam, Douala and Mbounda, creating the possibility of another Francophone and Anglophone confrontation deep inside French Cameroun territory. Cameroon government army soldiers dedicated to President Paul Biya of French Cameroun and abetted by French government military aid say they are in the final stages of attempting to take control of the entire British Southern Cameroons occupied by a number of Ambazonian Resistance groups. From every indication, the Buhari administration in Nigeria does not want to become involved in the Southern Cameroons war. Yet as hostilities move inside Nigerian territory and as an estimated 50,000 Southern Cameroons refugees inundate border settlements in Nigeria, Abuja could be drawn in.

The Southern Cameroons war has become a war in which the French, the British and the Chinese are exploiting to get whatever oil, gas and mining deals they had long for from the failed French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé. In a country already fractured in two, it was evidently clear that from the abduction of the Southern Cameroons leaders in Abuja and their forced extradition to Yaoundé, Southern Cameroons independence was no longer in doubt but was now linked to Biya’s continued stay in power.

The Southern Cameroons crisis has indeed spawned many arguments about humanitarian interventions with the UN coming across as a toothless bulldog that can bark but cannot bite. Under the UN’s watchful eyes, thousands of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians including women and children have been killed by the Francophone dominated Cameroon government army soldiers as they flee attacks in both the Northern and Southern Zones of Southern Cameroons. The renowned Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group have both described the situation in Southern Cameroons a total meltdown of humanity. The recent attack in Bafut carried out by the Cameroon government army is yet another humanitarian disaster in Southern Cameroons – and the Ambazonia Interim Government and its current Vice President Dabney Yerima are calling on the international community to intervene.

The Marginalization of Southern Cameroons: When facts don’t lie

Lying is a sin that was committed by five Francophone Ministers who told the world at a press conference that there is no Anglophone problem in Cameroon. The integrity deficit associated with lying about the Anglophone problem is a travesty that insults and diminishes every Cameroonian and must stop.

The point must therefore be made, and with emphasis, that there is an Anglophone problem but the problem is deeply embedded in the asymmetrical political structure of the country, which has led to institutional paralysis engendered by leadership failure. Anglophones are divided over the Anglophone problem, just as Francophones are united in their bellicosity and belligerence towards Anglophones whom they cast as treasonable felons and secessionists who cannot be trusted. Francophones have used this self-fulfilling fallacy as an excuse to exclude Anglophones from the commanding heights of decision-making and treat them as second class citizens. But facts don’t lie.

Consider this: over 58 years after independence and re-unification, there has never been an Anglophone President or an Anglophone Secretary General or Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency. Nor has an Anglophone ever held the strategic ministerial portfolio of Defense, Finance, Communication, External Relations or even in charge of the Police, Gendarmerie, the Army and Intelligence services; not even ambassadors to English-speaking countries like the USA and Nigeria.

For a region that represents about 20% of the population, accounting for over 60% of GDP, the fact that the lone oil refinery named in French (SONARA) is in Anglophone Cameroon, yet has been run by Francophone general managers with a predominantly Francophone workforce since its creation is unacceptable. It just cannot be that there are no competent Anglophones to occupy these positions.

As if that was not enough, higher institutions like the National Polytechnic, ENAM, IRIC, ESSTIC, INJS, IFORD, CUSS, Public Works, ENSPT, IRAD, are heavily laden with French courses; another way of saying, Anglophones need not apply. Although Cameroon is officially a bilingual country where both English and French are equal, when has the president ever made an official address to the nation in English? All official correspondences are in French, even when directed to Anglophones. French is the language used in the administration, police, gendarmerie, army and the courts. Anglophones have to seek translators at their own expense. All road signs are in French and there is not a single word in English on the FCFA currency in circulation; is this constitutional?

The facts and figures of Anglophone marginalization under President Biya are staggering. Of the 292 ministers appointed since Biya took office in 1982, only 76 (10.8%) have been Anglophones. In the last 63-member cabinet before Southern Cameroonians started the uprising, there were only six Anglophones (9%) and only, Philip Ngole Ngwese (2%) out of the 38 Ministers had a cabinet portfolio. There are four Anglophone Secretary Generals (10%) and three Anglophone DAGs (7%) in the central administration. In state corporations, there are less than 15 Anglophones (11%) out of over 130 general managers. Of the over 130 Board chairmen of state corporations, there are only 10 Anglophones (7%). only three of the nation’s 33 generals in the Armed Forces are Anglophones.

The picture in the judiciary is even more pathetic and scandalous with Francophones occupying all key positions in the Supreme Court – President of the Supreme Court; Attorney General; Head of Judicial Division; Head of Administrative Division; Head of audit Division; Head of Special Criminal Court; Special Attorney Special Criminal Court; Director of Military Justice; Registrar-In-Chief Supreme Court and Secretary General Supreme Court. 58 (39%) of the 148 magistrates in the Southwest are Francophones while 54 (61%) of the 89 magistrates in the legal department in the Southwest are Francophones. Of the 50 magistrates working in Buea (Bench & Legal Department), 20 (40%) are Francophones while 20 (71%) of the 28 magistrates in the legal department in Buea are Francophones. Of the 30 new bailiffs that were appointed in January 2014 in the Southwest, 28 of them (93%) are Francophones.

The situation in the Northwest region is even worse. Of the 128 magistrates in the Northwest, there are 67 Francophones (52 %). Of the 97 magistrates of the legal departments, 64 of them are Francophones, (65.9%); 22 (48.9%) of the 45 magistrates in Bamenda are Francophones. There are 27 magistrates in the legal department in Bamenda of which 21, (77.8%) are Francophones. All the 21 new bailiffs (100%) appointed in January 2014 to the Northwest are Francophones. Comparatively, of the 119 magistrates in Douala, only two (1.7%) are Anglophones. Likewise, only two (1.9%) of the 107 magistrates in Yaoundé are Anglophones. These are very disturbing statistics in a bilingual country with two legal systems!

There is no reference hospital and no functional airport or seaport in Anglophone Cameroon. It is worth recalling that preliminary studies by the consortium charged with the construction of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline had established that the project will be cost-effective if the pipeline was built from Doba in Southern Chad to Limbe, which has a natural deep seaport. According to documents from the World Bank and the Washington-based Environmental Defence Fund, the then Secretary General at the Presidency, Joseph Owona re-routed the project to his native Kribi; taking the pipeline through ecologically sensitive areas and increasing the distance by 90 miles and the cost by $2 billion. Owona warned the investors that Limbe was risky because Anglophones might one day agitate for secession and the pipeline will be exposed to sabotage and vandalism.

To add insult to injury, the government has made it a point to assign Francophones who neither speak nor understand English to Anglophone regions. A Francophone DO in Oku, Kamdem Andre once called a meeting with traditional rulers and started speaking in French. Not understanding what he was saying, the Fons started dozing. Feeling snubbed, the angry DO ordered his bodyguards to wake-up the Fons with a slap each and the meeting ended in chaos.

DO Kamdem is not an isolated case. Francophones disrespect Anglophones in positions of authority, even the prime minister, head of government. Francophone ministers either ignore cabinet meetings called by the PM or come late, in breach of standard protocol. When then prime minister, Achidi Achu appointed Raymond Gwanyalla as Director of Customs, the then Finance Minister; a Francophone openly challenged the PM in a flagrant display of insubordination. The Minister not only refused to preside at Gwanyalla’s installation, but ordered a boycott of the event which was heeded by all Francophone Directors in the Ministry of Finance. Surely, nothing like this happens in any country worthy of respect.

As Prime Minister, Peter Mafany Musonge was humiliated by the paymaster general in Yaoundé. Musonge was dealing with a crisis after a timber truck derailed killing dozens, mostly roadside hawkers in the hotbed of Mutengene. Anger was boiling on the streets when President Biya ordered that FCFA 200 million be given to the PM to go help the victims and deceased families. A voucher was established to this effect; with the “visa” of the Finance Minister and the PM’s office and sent to the Yaoundé central treasury, but then paymaster general, Etogo Mbezele refused to pay, ostensibly because the director of the treasury had not “visa” the voucher.

The treasury director was vacationing in France and traveled abroad with his “visa.” Informed of Mbezele’s decision, an exasperated Musonge could not help but exclaim in anger and frustration: “Oh these Frogs!” It must be stated in no ambiguous terms that Musonge spoke from the heart. His spontaneous outburst speaks to a deep-seated Anglophone frustration with an erratic system of government, with its consequent value misplacement, the like of which should never be countenanced in any civilized nation.

There are countless instances where Francophones are appointed to boss better educated and qualified Anglophones. It is a tragedy that after fifty-five years of independence and re-unification, we are still talking of Anglophones and Francophones, but that is the sad reality of Cameroon. Anglophones have been treated shabbily; they are asking whether they made the right choice in 1961, since only they were asked if they wanted reunification with Francophones.

Despite that fact that East Cameroun was deeply embroiled in a bloody insurgency and terrorism, Anglophones closed their eyes and voted with their hearts. Fifty-five years after that vote, all Anglophones are asking is to be given the opportunity to manage their own affairs but they are being called secessionists and enemies from within, Biafrans, and even asked to go back to Nigeria.

This in itself is demeaning and outlandish. Our strength as a nation lies in our diversity. The bridge towards our future will be built on lessons from the past; hence the government must refrain from assuming that anyone calling for restructuring of the present structure wants to breakup the country. It is not Anglophones who threaten national unity; rather, it is the politics of exclusion and marginalization of Anglophones that poses a threat to peace and stability. Those who see Anglophones as a conquered people should look at these unsettling statistics and learn the right lessons because the mood is very scary.

What Could Be Done?

To stop the genocidal campaign going on in Southern Cameroons, there must be regime change in Yaoundé. The West should design a plan for the 87 year old French Cameroun monarch to abdicate immediately. Correspondingly, France and the United States should stop supplying Yaoundé with weapons on lame and ridiculous reasons that the Biya regime is fighting the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

Southern Cameroonians should channel their financial resources to the Ambazonia exiled government represented by its Vice President Dabney Yerima instead of chosen from the many obscure resistance groups such as the ADF and the Sako-IG. All other regional participants – the Buhari administration in Nigeria, President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Chad should be required to depart.

Persuading the jailed Southern Cameroons leader, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe to accept and enforce a cease-fire will be a complex process, but could save hundreds of lives both in Ambazonia and deep within the French Cameroun army.

The provision of humanitarian aid by the UN and other aid agencies to displaced Southern Cameroonians must become a priority at the negotiating table while an independent international fact-finding mission with a UN Security Council mandate should be deployed to Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with additional reporting from Valerian Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Creation of the Manyu Liberation Council: A bold step in the right direction

30/04/2020

Cameroon Concord News Group applauds the creation of the Manyu Liberation Council (MLC) as an institution to change the momentum of the Ambazonia revolution in the Manyu County. The need for change in Ambazonia was urgent and imperative but the creation of this innovative council goes beyond the expectation of all people of goodwill and aptitude. Analyzing the draft document during the presentation, it is clear why the elites in this revolution have cheered this Council as a guiding light to dispel the darkness that has covered the Ambazonia struggle for the last 11 months. A once promising struggle runs the risk of stagnation as a result of incompetence and gross management.

Cameroon Concord News Group believes that the creation of a lean structure with three arms: Finance, Self-defense and Humanitarian is shrewd and offers an intelligent alternative to the comical Congress, Senate and Governor childishness. We should be clear on one thing; the existing system was designed by some US based comedians and it has brought failure to this struggle as well as delight to the enemy. Impatience to see an end to a clumsy administrative experiment during a war is understandable and we believe that the Manyu Liberation Council is the answer to Manyu and the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

One of the most underachieving constituent in the Ambazonia war is the humanitarian sector. With over 95,000 refugees living in squalid conditions in Nigeria and in desperate need for medicines and food supply, the existing Manyu County structure failed woefully to offer any hope and resources. The MLC’s creation of an independent humanitarian arm is astute and a relief to all the refugees in need for support. Cameroon Concord News Group is therefore emphasizing that the humanitarian wing of this new structure must get to work without delay to raise the funds needed to support our refugees in Nigeria.

For a long time now, men and women with vision have warned against sending Ambazonia self-defense forces to the frontline without adequate tools. The Manyu Liberation Council’s commitment to deliver appropriate resistance equipment is sensible. The visionary architects of the MLC document expressed valid boredom with the lack of stamina and vision that now permeates our revolution. From federal to county level, Sako Ikome and his gang have destroyed the structures that were put in place before him but we of the Concord Group believe and fervently too that his day out in an Ambazonia court in Buea shall certainly come.

The decision of the courageous sons and daughters of Ambazonia who crafted the MLC document to bring real change is one that this media outlet approves strongly. In the wise and beautifully constructed document detailing its vision for the Ambazonia struggle, the MLC seeks to bring forces around Manyu under one umbrella in a move that will improve discipline within the all Restoration Forces. We are going to push all the counties to emulate the Manyu example.

There are thousands of Ambazonian citizens living in the forests and hundreds of thousands struggling to put food on the table in the war ravaged territory but there is a social media Senate and Congress in Manyu that could only raise $ 3700 in ten months-to fight an enemy that has total control of the oil and gas fields of the Bakassi Peninsular. To question the mental health of some of these US based comedians isn’t unfair and unreasonable. For them, like Chris Anu and Barrister Fru John Nsoh, the Ambazonian struggle has become a game and some social media contest to display their unemployed selves and unemployable skills.

The role of the diaspora in the Ambazonia struggle is fundraising and diplomacy. Period! The idea that the funds aren’t trickling in is treasonous and Sako, Chris Anu and their crime syndicate must take full responsibility for their theft and lack of foresight. They must be held accountable to the Ambazonia people. The idea that ruffians can conspire to take us backwards in this struggle is unacceptable.

Sons and daughters of Manyu, you now have a liberation council; we of the Cameroon Concord News Group are challenging you to keep it. Some of us in the Concord Group may not get to Buea with you but it is abundantly clear Ambazonians will get to Buea soonest.

By Isong Asu

Coronavirus: How scientists are keeping politics out of the global race for a vaccine

29/04/2020

As the world races to combat the coronavirus, one nation is notably absent from multinational efforts: the United States. But scientists say that for now, the international research community is working together to do all it can.

Global actors are joining forces on multiple fronts to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control. On April 24, the World Health Organization (WHO) held a virtual conference to launch an international collaboration to accelerate the development and production of the health technologies necessary to do so. The United States did not participate in the conference, which culminated in a joint call for action.

Next Monday, May 4, the European Commission will respond to that call by hosting a global virtual conference to raise money from countries and business foundations to fund the development of tests, treatments and a vaccine for the coronavirus. It has invited “governments, business leaders, public figures, philanthropists, artists and citizens” to help with its efforts to raise the €7.5 billion it has set as its initial target. Announced partners include France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and Saudi Arabia. It remains unclear if the US will take part.

Under President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine, the US has tended to favour unilateral action and eschew cooperation with international organisations. Case in point: On March 14, Trump announced that he was suspending funding to the WHO, which has spearheaded the global response to the pandemic. With an annual input of about $400 million, the US is the biggest contributor to the organisation; the reduction in funds comes at a vital moment.

What all that will mean in the battle against a virus that – as global health experts have repeatedly reminded us – knows no borders and requires coordinated action remains to be seen.

Politics a separate sphere from science

On the scientific front, the impact may be minimal. While global cooperation and the sharing of expertise and information is critical, it also happens largely without government involvement and, as of now, continues unimpeded, said Laurent Humeau, chief scientific officer at Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

Humeau’s team has relied on the sequencing of the genome provided by China, genetic material from Australia and has cooperated with researchers in South Korea and the UK. “It’s a community that is moving very fast and we need everyone else’s help to get a vaccine,” he said. “It’s absolutely critical for us to have this network of scientists.”

The Inovio team is part of the WHO’s R & D Blueprint, which pulls together a coalition of experts and allows for “the rapid activation of research and development activities during epidemics”.

And despite the public distance between the US and the WHO, key health personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health continue to be part of the global scientific dialogue. For now, the international research community is working together to do all it can. “We keep pushing as fast – it’s not as fast as we can run, but as fast as we can fly,” Humeau said.

Unless governments issue restrictions – such as those the US imposed on stem-cell research – politics tends to exist in a sphere separate from science, said Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group and who also edits the international journal Vaccine. “You’re not working in a political framework – at least in the US – you’re working in a scientific framework,” Poland said.

Researchers end up primarily communicating through journals and meetings and, perhaps most importantly in the current crisis, on “preprint servers”, where researchers place articles before they have gone through peer review and been published. “That has been the primary way that scientists have been communicating with one another,” Poland said.

There may even be a silver lining to a little bit of distance between researchers, said Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. “The US and Europe sometimes have different approaches to vaccine development and how to support vaccine science, and that may not be so bad because it creates additional opportunities for innovation,” he said.

Pushed to the bottom?

Poland hopes that this pandemic, unlike the ones that preceded it, will finally have helped people understand how interrelated their nations are. “We’ve had multiple examples now, that anything that happens anywhere on this globe is maybe, at most, 36 hours away from Europe or North America,” he said. “There’s where you need a lot of cooperation, for example, on surveillance, on what is happening where, because – literally – days are lives.”

Finding a vaccine is only a first step, warned David Salisbury, associate fellow in the Global Health Programme at Chatham House. “The fact that scientists are talking to each other is admirable, because sharing what we are learning about vaccine development is, of course, hugely important,” Salisbury said. “But that is the beginning of the story … Ultimately, we’ve got to get from developing a vaccine to manufacturing and buying it country by country, and then we’re into a political world that has left the scientists behind … The critical thing is not when do we get the first dose, it’s when do we get enough.”

Manufacturing and distributing a vaccine will be herculean tasks for a disease that potentially affects everyone on the planet, and that’s where a new set of potential problems arises. “You could imagine a philosophy of America First that might actually prevent vaccines manufactured in the US from leaving the US until everyone [there] had been vaccinated,” Salisbury said. “Or what if the EU says we will prioritise European customers first? Geopolitics becomes really important in what becomes available when and for whom.”

Salisbury said that countries that can’t afford to pay market rate also risk getting pushed to the bottom of “this great long list of customers”. The international community needs to consider carefully how what are certain to be scarce supplies to begin with get distributed.

“How do we share a hugely valuable resource equitably?” he asked. “I don’t know that we have a solution yet.”

Culled from France 24

Football: Beckenbauer corruption trial ends without verdict

29/04/2020

German football great Franz Beckenbauer’s trial on corruption charges linked to the 2006 World Cup has ended without a verdict after previously being put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The five-year-long trial, held in Switzerland, of 74-year-old Beckenbauer and three other men was suspended because of the health crisis and the statute of limitations has now expired.

Beckenbauer, who headed the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup, had denied the allegations.

FIFA said on Tuesday it was disappointed that the trial would not proceed.

“FIFA is deeply disappointed that the trial related to the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 will not take place because it has now become time barred,” world football’s governing body said in a statement.

“The fact that the case has now ended without a result of any kind is very worrying, not only for football but also for the administration of justice in Switzerland.”

FIFA said it hoped the “truth” around the payment of 10 million Swiss francs at the centre of the accusations would come to light one day.

“For FIFA this case is certainly not over as we cannot and will not accept that a CHF 10 million payment is made from FIFA accounts without a proper reason.”

Beckenbauer was a World Cup winner as a player in 1974 and coach when West Germany won in 1990.

In Switzerland, criminal proceedings concerning a fraud allegation must take place within 15 years. Because Beckenbauer’s case dates back to an incident in 2005, courts no longer have jurisdiction over the case.

Beckenbauer was accused of making payments to former FIFA executive Mohamed bin Hammam in 2005.

Beckenbauer has denied he paid money to anyone “to buy votes” to help Germany win the right to host the 2006 finals.

Germany beat the pre-vote favourites South Africa 12-11 in the ballot.

Source: AFP

Biya Acolyte: Grand Master of the Order of Malta Dies in Rome

29/04/2020

The Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, died in Rome at the age of 75. This is reported by the press service of the order.

“This is unfortunate news, especially since the great master actively worked until very recently,” RIA Novosti quotes the representative of the order.

April 28, it became known about the hospitalization of Dalla Torre in critical condition.

According to an agency source in the leadership of the Order of Malta, the master died due to cancer.

Dalla Torre was elected Grand Master of the Order of Malta in May 2018.

Source: russiart

Americans losing faith in what Trump says about coronavirus

29/04/2020

Americans appear to be losing faith in what President Donald Trump says about the coronavirus pandemic, with almost everyone rejecting Trump’s remark that COVID-19 may be treated by injecting infected people with bleach or other disinfectants, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

The April 27-28 public opinion poll found that fewer than half of all adults in the US – 47% – said they were “very” or “somewhat” likely to follow recommendations Trump makes about the virus. That is 15 percentage points lower than the number who said they would follow Trump’s advice in a survey that ran at the end of March.

And 98% of Americans said they would not try to inject themselves with bleach or other disinfectants if they got the coronavirus, including 98% of Democrats and 98% of Republicans. That is a near-unanimous rejection of an idea that Trump floated at a time of widespread anxiety about the virus.

A majority of Americans said they were concerned about how the coronavirus is spreading, according to the poll, as the number of COVID-19 cases surpassed 1 million people in the United States this week, killing more than 56,000.

Trump publicly mused about the benefits of “cleaning” COVID-19 patients on the insides with disinfectants or ultraviolet light during a news conference last week, directing health officials in the room to look into it.

Medical experts immediately condemned the president’s suggestion, and the makers of disinfectant products warned the public against ingesting them. Trump later tried to portray his remarks as sarcasm, but given his popularity with some Americans, health officials expressed concern his remarks would persuade some people to poison themselves.

Overall, Trump’s overall popularity has not changed much over the past week. Forty-three percent of Americans said they approve of his overall job performance, and the same number also approve of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among registered voters, 44% said they would vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, while 40% said they would back Trump if the election were held today.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,001 adults, including 416 Democrats and 419 Republicans.

(Source: Reuters)

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