Monthly Archives: June 2020

2, June 2020

Yaoundé: Biya regime opens schools amid COVID-19 spike ⁰

Schools and universities in Cameroon have opened Monday with hundreds of thousands going to class, despite the number of COVID-19 infections continuing to increase. Cameroon so far has 6,380 confirmed cases of the virus with 273 deaths. But officials say the increasing number of recoveries from the virus and health measures taken at schools makes them confident that they can handle the pandemic.

Speaking on Cameroon state media CRTV on Sunday, Cameroon prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute said president Paul Biya ordered schools that he closed last March 17 as part of measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus to reopen on June 1st because 3, 630 of the 6, 380 COVID-19 patients in the central African state have recovered from the killer disease indicating that the strategy put in place by the government to protect its citizens from the coronavirus is yielding posotive results.

FILE – A health worker wearing protective equipment, disinfects a member of medical staff amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at an hospital in Douala, Cameroon, April 27, 2020.

The prime minister said a majority of the 2, 300 active COVID-19 patients were responding to treatment and that enough measures have been taken to reduce the risk of contamination at school.

“Let us not give into panic,” he said. “The ministers concerned have been instructed to ensure that protective masks are worn and that social distancing is respected. They should also make available the required sanitary kits such as hand sanitizers and hand washing buckets in each establishment.”

Ngute said all schools will be disinfected at least three times a week and that schools that lack water will be provided with the liquid daily by the government. Ngute said not more than 24 children will be admitted in classrooms and that only one will sit on a bench instead of four or five as has been the practice.

But 19-year-old Velma Soli says the government did not respect its promises and she decided to return home.

“I went to school and I discovered that the face masks and hand sanitizers were not available as the government said so I decided to come back to the house and wait. When the hand sanitizers and face masks are ready, I will go back to school,” she said.

Teachers and university lecturers complained that some classes and lecture halls were congested and there was lack of water and soap to wash hands in some establishments.

Schoolchildren smile as they walk out of school, on the outskirts of Yaounde, Cameroon October 9, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra — FILE – Schoolchildren smile as they walk out of school, on the outskirts of Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 9, 2018.

Naloca Lyonga, Cameroon minister of secondary education says while the government is struggling to provide what is needed to protect children and teachers at school, parents should also make an effort to provide their kids with what is needed to reduce COVID-19 spread and make sure children have their rights to be educated in spite of coronavirus threats.

“Do we want to stay at home for ever because there is a virus? No. So this is the time when we should support the leadership of Cameroon,” said Lyonga. “We have made sure that everybody who is involved is going to be covered as far as masks are concerned, as far as the water in the schools are concerned.”

Lyonga said after Monday’s return of high school students who will be writing their General Certificate of Education and those of primary school age who will sit the First School Leaving Certificate Examination, the government will for three days observe if the students and teachers are behaving well to stop COVID-19 spread before allowing their peers of other classes to start school on Thursday.

The government said although schools and universities reopened effectively in spite of the coronavirus spread, hundreds of parents especially in the towns of Yaounde, Douala and Bafoussam, that have recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Cameroon, did not send their children to school.

The French Embassy in Yaounde asked its citizens not to allow their children to go to school because, according to them, Cameroon’s capacity to take care of COVID-19 cases continue to reduce as the number of positive cases increase.

Source: VOA

1, June 2020

UN agency recommends health guidelines for airlines ⁰

Mask wearing, temperature controls, disinfection of aircraft: the International Civil Aviation Organization on Monday published a series of health recommendations for a pandemic-hit airline industry as it relaunches air travel.

The protocol was drawn up by an international task force formed by the Montreal-based ICAO with the help of other UN agencies like the World Health Organization and the powerful International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Its report on relaunching aviation in the wake of COVID-19 was expected to be approved Monday by the ICAO’s executive committee.

The changes being suggested are the most important for air travel since the massive security measures put in place after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

IATA’s director general, Alexandre de Juniac, unveiled the main measures proposed in the “best practices” guide at the end of last week.

The recommendations are intended to serve as a “framework” for assuring the safety of passengers and workers on planes and at airports.

On their arrival at airports, travelers should present a health certificate and undergo an initial temperature check, under the guidelines.

Online check-in before arriving at the airport should be given priority, and passages through security should be re-thought to limit physical contact and waiting in lines.

The wearing of a mask or face covering should be obligatory inside aircraft and terminals, where physical distancing of at least three feet (one meter) should be respected.

Aboard planes, passengers should wear masks, move as little as possible within the cabin, and not line up outside toilets to lessen the risk of infecting other passengers.

– ‘Global reference’ –

But the ICAO does not advocate leaving every other seat open to assure physical distancing, a restriction that the airline industry industry sees as a threat to its profitability.

The organization, nevertheless, asks passengers to remain as far from one another as possible, to the extent occupancy rates allow it.

It also advocates that food on board be pre-packaged and that aircraft be regularly disinfected.

Temperature checks should also be taken on a flight’s arrival, according to the recommendations.

The measures aren’t obligatory but they are the product of a broad consensus that imparts “an authority that will make them a global reference for the first time on this issue since the start of the COVID-19 crisis,” said Philippe Bertoux, France’s representative on ICAO’s board, which led the “task force” debate.

“These measures will facilitate a safe and sustainable return of the air travel,” Bertoux told AFP.

To reopen after having been grounded for months and brought to its knees financially, the airline industry is pressing for rules to be harmonized to reassure passengers and states that have closed their borders in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus.

The ICAO estimates that the pandemic will reduce the number of air passengers by 1.5 billion by the end of the year.

Source: AFP

1, June 2020

France: Ligue 1 presidents slam ‘brutal’ move to end season ⁰

Some of the French Ligue 1’s club presidents joined forces on Monday to criticise the decision in April to declare the season over due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said five week ago the campaign could not restart but Germany’s Bundesliga has resumed while Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and England’s Premier League are set to follow suit by the end of this month.

“Start of April, we were the only league among Europe’s big five to propose the restart of the season,” Nantes’ Waldemar Kita said in a statement by Premiere Ligue, a union of the league’s chiefs.

“We were ahead of time, we were mocked. We were the motor and the other countries followed us later. But unfortunately, we stayed in the same spot,” Kita added.

Lille’s Gerard Lopez said the move was “pretty brutal”.

“We keep saying that we’re trying to catch up on the other four big leagues and then we make a rod for our own backs at a key moment.

“We’re all alone. It might be in France that football is not at the same level as other countries,” he added.

Saint-Etienne’s Bernard Caiazzo, who is the head of the body, pointed the finger solely at politicians.

“We’re not responsible, those who are responsible are the Prime Minister and the government. They have information we don’t have,” Caiazzo said.

“You could ask if the government decided too quickly. Was there a discussion with the clubs? No. Was there a discussion with other countries? No,” he added.

Lyon, whose chief Jean-Michel Aulas has been vociferous since the April 30 decision with his side set to miss out on Europe next season, and relegated Amiens will challenge the decision at France’s highest administrative court on June 4.

Bottom side Toulouse are among other clubs expected to appeal.

Source: AFP

1, June 2020

Brenda Biya and the Biyas: the public call for sympathy is deeper ⁰

A ringside seat with popcorn to watch the public unravelling of Cameroun’s first family is now a must. If one ever needed to be persuaded that money can’t buy you happiness, the current production in Cameroun’s first family might just do the trick. For more than thirty-eight years in power, the world’s oldest dictator has colluded to destroy two generations of his country’s youth, labour force and potential with impunity. His vindictiveness, exaggerated thievery of state funds and running down of the country’s public services will go down in history as one of the worst attempts at leadership ever. But it’s not his crimes against his people that are his latest production in town; it is the unravelling of his family in public.

This week’s revelation from his daughter, Brenda Biya, about her health problems has drummed sympathy from countless parents the world over. Brenda Biya is suffering from a disease that widens the cavity in which one’s eyes are lodged. But her revelation on Facebook that she has discontinued her treatment due to the confiscation of her documents and prescriptions has raised eyebrows in the world of political reporting. Her comments exposed a deep underlying problem from a troubled soul.

A few years ago, I was fortunate to represent a national sales establishment in the United Kingdom. In one of my presentations, I became acquainted with a lovely British citizen who had been Brenda Biya’s English teacher during her early years in Yaoundé. She educated me on the pitiful attitude she displayed as a spoiled brat. She explained that during her English classes, the presidential guards would frequently impolitely interrupt her lessons to check if Brenda was okay in a class of fifteen kids. She found the effort of teaching her and dealing with the constant interruptions from the presidential guards laborious and primitive. She registered her profound disgust at the attitude of the child towards learning.

Brenda’s English teacher lived in Bastos, Yaoundé, a place she described as an eye-sore although she was told that it was the up market part of town. There, she endured a housekeeper that plagued her with persistent begging. Her housekeeper demanded her phone, dresses and anything she owned that did not move. The aggressive begging and bad manners from the young Brenda and her bodyguards were so ruthless; the English teacher politely terminated her teaching contract and moved to China for another appointment.

Fast-forward almost sixteen years after her English language tuition in Yaoundé; she is twenty-two years old and a student at the neo-colonial institute for administration and magistracy, ENAM. She was admitted into ENAM in 2017 after a disastrous attempt to study in the USA resulted in her inhaling more toxic chemicals than her little brain could tolerate. She lived a glamorous but empty lifestyle in Los Angeles, California, from the proceeds of her father’s embezzlement.

Brenda’s brother, Paul Biya Jr, is an embarrassment of unmatched proportion. The last time anything was heard from him was when he was absent from ENAM in 2018. Those close to him made public that he had no aptitude and attitude for education and intended to pursue a career as a nightclub DJ.

It is a demonstrable fact that children acquire values from the family. Psychologists say we gain a sense of decency and learn to emulate our parents of what constitutes satisfactory and unacceptable behaviour in the home and society. Paul Biya’s continuous lodging and partying in the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva over the years made his absence from his family conspicuous and the consequences are unravelling in this pitiful family melodrama. Whether he is dead or alive, he is paying profoundly for his indiscretions and inability to perform the role of a father figure in his home. With all the hundreds of billions of US dollars he has embezzled, his home is a failed unit. Some will say Karma. None of his children Franck Biya included has earned a University degree.

It is at moments such as this that a mother can use the power endowed upon her by nature to bring the family together to make things better. But not Chantal Biya. She is pitifully under-educated and her past before her meteoric ascension to the first lady throne is less than glamorous. The value of education and good morals were never around her intellectual and moral neighbourhood. You cannot give what you don’t have. The family foundation has been built on sand, embezzlement and worldly possessions.

The fragility of character in the Biya household is particularly obvious as the days go by. Over the last few weeks, Paul Biya’s private doctor, driver and cook have all died from COVID-19. The silence from his household and collaborators is getting louder and louder. Brenda Biya’s social media rants are an indication that something deeper is trending in the Biya household.

If the collaborators in the CPDM crime syndicate in Yaoundé were confident that their actions were rational and should be seen as such, Brenda shouldn’t be reduced to tears and emotional rants on social media about her medications and particulars. Brenda has fashioned a defining moment in her family and the Cameroons with her public call for empathy. Mvomeka can’t just paper over the cracks.

It is extremely telling that Chantal Biya and the president’s close acolytes have stonewalled questions about the 87-year-old dictator’s life, health and actions over the last few months. Is he dead or alive? That’s the puzzle every Cameroonian has been seeking to solve for three months. Truth twisting in order to justify staying in power forever is not working anymore. Time has run out for the Beti-Ewondo mafia that has administered the Cameroons like a little family grocery shop. Biya has failed himself, his family and his nation miserably. His regrets, crimes and sins are aplenty and he won’t die in peace however benevolent the gods are. The time to come clean and put Brenda and the Cameroons out of their misery is now.

By Isong Asu

London Bureau Chief

1, June 2020

The Biya Family Crisis: What it means for his legacy ⁰

Biya will not die in peace. That’s what many in his entourage and extended family are now saying! A handful of his Beti Ewondo supporters are now clamoring for his son, Franck Biya to take over leadership. This position is not going down well in all the gangs that constitute the consortium of CPDM crime syndicates.

Biya is looking frailer and the Cameroon political wind continues to bat him from side to side as he walks towards a shameful and disgusting exit.

Biya stubbornly insisted upon walking unaided inside the presidency and has been struggling lately to stay upright on his own. He now tells his political story even to cleaners in Etoudi as his children are all deserting him and revealing sensitive information on the running of the family on social media.

He recently ordered the Cameroon embassy in Dakar, Senegal to issue a passport to the wife of the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo. Madam Ahidjo had her passport confiscated immediately after the April 6^th coup in 1984.

The issuing of a Cameroonian passport to the late president’s wife has indeed signaled the closing of a circle for Biya and hints of a man who wants to die in peace.

But as our London Bureau Chief, Asu Isong will reveal to us today, Biya has been caught in the pangs of a monster he (himself) created.

Stay with Cameroon Intelligence Report and Cameroon Concord News and be the first to know!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

1, June 2020

Diplomat behind Sudan-Israel normalization attempts dies of coronavirus ⁰

A close adviser to the head of Sudan’s sovereign council and a key figure behind burgeoning clandestine relations between the Northeast African country and the Israeli regime has died of the novel coronavirus after being flown to Occupied Territories to receive treatment.

English newspaper the Jerusalem Post, citing a report published by Israel’s Channel 13 television network, said Najwa Gadaheldam had passed away, just days after contracting the highly contagious virus.

Channel 13 added that an Israeli plane landed in Khartoum International Airport on Tuesday morning with senior diplomatic officials, medical personnel and equipment, after learning of Gadaheldam’s condition.

The Israeli medical team arrived too late when the Sudanese diplomat was already in critical condition. Gadaheldam later died from complications stemming from the coronavirus.

Earlier this week, the office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that the 70-year-old chairman of the Likud party and Sudanese leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had a telephone conversation on the first day of Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marked the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The two official apparently discussed ways to strengthen mutual ties during the phone call.

Source: Presstv

1, June 2020

US: George Floyd protestors and police clash in front of White House ⁰

Police fired tear gas outside the White House late Sunday as major US cities were put under curfew to suppress rioting as anti-racism protestors again took to the streets to voice fury at police brutality.

With the Trump administration branding instigators of six nights of rioting as domestic terrorists, there were more confrontations between protestors and police and fresh outbreaks of looting.

Violent clashes erupted repeatedly in a small park next to the White House, with authorities using tear gas, pepper spray and flash bang grenades to disperse crowds who lit several large fires and damaged property.

Local US leaders appealed to citizens to give constructive outlet to their rage over the death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, while night-time curfews were imposed in cities including Washington, Los Angeles and Houston.

One closely watched protest was outside the state capitol in Minneapolis’ twin city of St. Paul, where several thousand people gathered before marching down a highway.

“We have black sons, black brothers, black friends, we don’t want them to die. We are tired of this happening, this generation is not having it, we are tired of oppression,” said Muna Abdi, a 31-year-old black woman who joined the protest.

“I want to make sure he stays alive,” she added in reference to her son, aged three.

Hundreds of police and National Guard troops were deployed ahead of the protest.

At one point, some of the protestors who had reached a bridge were forced to scramble for cover when a truck drove at speed after having apparently breached a barricade.

The driver was later taken to hospital after the protestors hauled him from the vehicle, although there were no immediate reports of other casualties.

There were other large-scale protests in cities including New York and Miami.

Washington’s mayor ordered a curfew from 11:00 pm until 6:00 am, as a report in the New York Times said that President Donald Trump had been rushed by Secret Service agents into an underground bunker at the White House on Friday night during an earlier protest.

Stores ransacked

Large-scale violence has rocked many US cities in recent days, and looters ransacked stores in a neighbourhood of Philadelphia on Sunday.

In the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, looting was reported at stores in a popular beachside shopping center.

Officials in LA — a city scarred by the 1992 riots over the police beating of Rodney King, an African-American man — imposed a curfew from 4:00 pm Sunday until dawn.

“Please, use your discretion and go early, go home, stay home and help us make sure that those who want to change this conversation from being about racial justice to be about burning things and looting things, don’t win the day,” the city’s mayor Eric Garcetti said on CNN.

The shocking videotaped death last Monday of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of police in Minneapolis ignited the nationwide wave of outrage over law enforcement’s repeated use of lethal force against unarmed African Americans.

Floyd stopped breathing after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and is due to make his first appearance in court on Monday. Three other officers with him have been fired but for now face no charges.

Governor Tim Walz has mobilised all of Minnesota’s National Guard troops — the state guard’s biggest mobilization ever — to help restore order.

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to clear streets of curfew violators Saturday night in Minneapolis.

Walz extended a curfew for a third night Sunday and praised police and guardsmen for holding down violence. “They did so in a professional manner. They did so without a single loss of life and minimal property damage,” he said.

“Congratulations to our National Guard for the great job they did immediately upon arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last night,” President Donald Trump tweeted, adding that they “should be used in other States before it is too late!”

The Department of Defense said that around 5,000 National Guard troops had been mobilised in 15 states as well as the capital Washington, with another 2,000 on standby.

The widespread resort to uniformed National Guards units is rare, and it evoked disturbing memories of the rioting in US cities in 1967 and 1968 in a turbulent time of protest over racial and economic disparities.

Trump blamed the extreme left for the violence, saying he planned to designate a group known as Antifa as a terrorist organisation.

“The violence instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly,” added Attorney General Bill Barr.

‘A nation in pain’

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Trump, who has often urged police to use tough tactics, was not helping matters.

“We are beyond a tipping point in this country, and his rhetoric only enflames that,” she said on CBS.

Joe Biden, Trump’s likely Democratic opponent in November’s presidential election, visited the scene of one anti-racism protest.

“We are a nation in pain right now, but we must not allow this pain to destroy us,” Biden tweeted, posting a picture of him speaking with an African-American family at the site where protesters had gathered in Delaware late Saturday.

Floyd’s death has triggered protests beyond the United States, with hundreds rallying outside the US embassy in London in solidarity.

“I’m here because I’m tired, I’m fed up with it. When does this stop?” Doreen Pierre told AFP at the protest.

In Germany, England football international Jadon Sancho marked one of his three goals for Borussia Dortmund against Paderborn by lifting his jersey to reveal a T-shirt bearing the words “Justice for George Floyd”.

(AFP)