Monthly Archives: July 2020

20, July 2020

Coronavirus: Ballon d’Or will not be awarded in 2020 ⁰

The Ballon d’Or will not be awarded this year due to the extraordinary conditions created by the coronavirus pandemic, organisers France Football announced on Monday.

It will be the first time the trophy given for the world’s best men’s footballer has not been awarded since Englishman Stanley Matthews won the inaugural edition in 1956.

“There will be no edition in 2020, because it turns out, after thoughtful consideration, that all the conditions are not met,” said Pascal Ferre, the editor of the magazine.

The COVID-19 outbreak saw all major football leagues shut down in March, with the German Bundesliga the first to resume behind closed doors in May.

France Football said it would be unfair to vote on the world’s best player when some leagues, including the French Ligue 1, cancelled their seasons early.

Ferre also suggested that it would not be right to judge players based on games played without spectators present.

“We believe that such a singular year cannot… be treated as an ordinary year,” he added.

“Two months (January and February), out of the eleven generally required to form an opinion and decide who should lift the trophies, represent far too little to gauge and judge, without forgetting that the other games were played –- or will be played –- in unusual conditions (behind closed doors, with five replacements, Champions League’s Final 8 played in a single game).”

Lionel Messi won a record-breaking sixth Ballon d’Or last year.

The women’s Ballon d’Or, which was first awarded in 2018, has also been cancelled.

France Football added that it was looking forward to holding a ceremony in 2021, but that this year it would instead organise a vote for the all-time greatest men’s XI.

Source: AFP

20, July 2020

Southern Cameroons War: Dozens flee as Biya regime forces advances on Pinyin ⁰

Several Southern Cameroonians including women and children have fled a Cameroon government assault on Pinyin, prompting warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe in the Northern Zone of Ambazonia.

The Yaoundé regime advance comes amid calls by UN Secretary General for a global cease fire. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from eyewitnesses that an attack in the village of Pinyin late on Sunday the 19 of July 2020 killed a baby girl, who was just two months old, and her mother.

Our chief correspondent in Bamenda who contributed to this report hinted that the major goals of the French Cameroun government operation are to deprive Southern Cameroonians of healthcare, kill Ambazonia medical workers and push Southern Cameroonians to flee to Nigeria.

Exiled Ambazonia leader Vice President Dabney Yerima described the Pinyin situation as a “tragedy”.

With 32,500 Southern Cameroonians killed, 550 Southern Cameroons villages burnt, 125,000 refugees, 1.4million IDPs and 3,000 still detained any military intervention will have solid basis in international law.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda

20, July 2020

Mamfe Mayor says Amba fighters are in complete control of Manyu County ⁰

Southern Cameroons Restoration fighters are in complete control of the entire Manyu County except the town of Mamfe, the mayor of Mamfe and a military source said on Sunday, although the Biya regime in Yaoundé said it had control of the area.

In an interview with a local radio station, Mayor Tabenchung Robinson Ashu revealed that Ambazonia Restoration Forces were running the affairs of the entire rural communities in Manyu and that only Mamfe the chief town in the county was enjoying some form of Yaoundé protection.

Cameroon Concord News learnt that recent deadliest assault in Manyu by the Cameroon government army on the Amba fighters has failed to turn the tides.

Troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaounde reported that they retook the Ekok border post but said they lost control again and that the Ekok-Mamfe road remained under Amba control. A military source in Mamfe confirmed the takeover.

At the time of filing this report, our correspondent in Mamfe was unable to independently verify who had control of the Mamfe-Ekok road.

By Kingsley Betek

19, July 2020

Yaoundé tense as post Biya succession void looms ⁰

With the Southern Cameroons crisis showing no signs of ending, the burning question now for many Cameroon political commentators is: Who will succeed Biya? Biya, 87, has ruled the oil-exporting nation for 38 years, making him among Africa’s longest rulers.

There are a lot of under-the-table talks about the issue of succession in Yaoundé. This is another major threat to stability in the already divided nation.

Stability in the two Cameroons matters to the wider region. Its $22 billion-a-year economy is by far the largest in CEMAC region. Reuters reported that aside from Cameroon’s oil sector, the country hosts miners such as Canada-listed Geovic GMC.TO and Australia’s Sundance Resources (SDL.AX) and the port in Douala is vital to traffic in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.

Over the years, Biya has achieved “stability” while astutely outmaneuvering opposition both within his ruling CPDM crime syndicate and outside it. With Mr.Paul Biya all-powerful, there is no clear successor or plan to manage a post-Biya era.

Consequently, several close relatives of President Biya are vying for the leadership of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate and some of the party barons have already been silenced, Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from a reliable source in Yaoundé.

The war raging within the Francophone dominated political structure is to succeed the 87 year old President Paul Biya as head of state.

We understand that some of the Biya acolytes have been very careful not to display their ambitions for fear of suffering a similar fate like the former Secretary General at the Presidency Jean-Marie Atangana Mebara and the former Finance Minister Polycarp Abah Abah. Out of the woods before the 2011 presidential election, both men were immediately targeted by the anti-corruption Operation Sparrow hawk.

Among the contenders to take over from Mr. Paul Biya is the current Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze who is a Bulu from Dja-et-Lobo Division. To be accurate, Motaze is from President Paul Biya’s home constituency and he is also a nephew to late Jeanne-Irène Biya, Cameroon’s former First Lady. Minister Louis Paul Motaze presently moonlights as the CPDM’s regional coordinator for the South Region.

Motaze is being challenged by Justice Minister Laurent Esso, the all-powerful Sawa political boss from the Littoral fiefdom and also by the current Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

The political heat generated by the infighting within the ruling CPDM party is making the job of the Secretary General of the CPDM Central Committee Jean Nkuété very difficult. Jean Nkuété is President Paul Biya’s long-time friend and the Beti Ewondo gang considers him a lesser evil in the struggle for power.

By Isong Asu

19, July 2020

WHO reports nearly 260,000 single-day Covid-19 infections, a record high ⁰

Countries from the U.S. to South Africa to India were struggling to hold down rising rates of the coronavirus, as global deaths from COVID-19 surged past 600,000 in a sign of how far off the world remains from a return to normalcy.

While the U.S. leads global infections, South Africa now ranks as the fifth worst-hit country in the pandemic with 350,879 cases — roughly half of all those confirmed on the African continent. Its struggles are a sign of trouble to come for nations with even fewer health care resources.

India on Sunday reported a 24-hour record surge of 38,902 new cases, taking the country’s total to 1,077,618. Elsewhere in Asia, China confirmed 13 new cases in the northwestern city of Urumqi while South Korea reported less than 40 additional cases for a second straight day.

The Urumqi outbreak is the latest to pop up since China largely contained the domestic spread of the virus in March. At least 30 people have been infected and authorities are conducting universal testing in communities where cases were discovered, later to be expanded to other parts of the city and major businesses.

South Korean authorities are also struggling to suppress an uptick in local infections, with 34 additional cases, 21 of them domestic and 13 from overseas, raising the country’s total to 13,745 with 295 deaths.

Both countries are mandating testing and enforcing two-week quarantines on all overseas arrivals.

After a one-day respite, COVID-19 cases in the Australian state of Victoria rose again, prompting a move to make masks mandatory in metropolitan Melbourne and the nearby shire of Mitchell. Health officials on Sunday recorded 363 new cases in the past 24 hours. Two men and a woman in their 90s died, taking the national death toll from COVID-19 to 122.

‘Sitting ducks’

The World Health Organization on Saturday again reported a single-day record of new infections with 259,848.

South Africa now trails the U.S., Brazil, India — all far more populous countries — in the number of infections, surpassing Peru, after health authorities announced 13,285 new cases.

South Africa’s new coronavirus epicenter, Gauteng province, hosts the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria and one-quarter of the country’s population of 57 million, with many poor people living in crowded conditions in the middle of a frosty Southern Hemisphere winter.

“The simple fact is that many South Africans are sitting ducks because they cannot comply with World Health Organization protocols on improved hygiene and social distancing,” the foundation of former South African archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah, warned in a statement.

Global COVID-19 deaths have hit 601,549, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The United States tops the list with 140,119 deaths, followed by 78,772 in Brazil and 45,358 in the United Kingdom and 38,888 in Mexico, where a surge in cases has frustrated plans to reopen the economy.

The number of confirmed infections worldwide has passed 14.2 million, out of which 3.7 million are in the United States. There are over 2 million in Brazil and more than 1 million in India. Experts believe the true numbers around the world are higher because of testing shortages and data collection issues in some nations.

‘Never seen anything like this’

Infections are soaring in U.S. states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, fueled by the haphazard lifting of lockdowns and the resistance of some Americans to wearing masks.

Teams of military medics have been deployed in Texas and California to help hospitals deal with a deluge of patients who are flooding emergency rooms in parts of the U.S. Some patients are being moved into hallways to make room for most seriously ill and nurses are working extra shifts to keep up with the surge.

Patients struggling to breathe are being placed on ventilators in emergency wards since intensive care units are full, officials say.

Patients are waiting “hours and hours” to get admitted, said Dr. Alison Haddock of the Baylor College of Medicine in the state of Texas, which reported a new daily record for virus deaths Friday and more than 10,000 confirmed cases for the fourth consecutive day. More than 80 infants have tested positive for the virus in the state.

“I’ve never seen anything like this COVID surge,” said Haddock, who has worked in emergency rooms since 2007. “We’re doing our best, but we’re not an ICU.”

The surge of infections means that millions of American children are unlikely to return to classrooms full time in the fall.

Local lockdowns in Spain, India

Police in Barcelona are limiting access to some of the city’s beaches because sunbathers are ignoring regulations amid a resurgence of the coronavirus. Authorities in Amsterdam are urging people not to visit the city’s famous red light district and have closed off some of the historic district’s narrow streets because they are too busy.

Local governments in India continued to reimpose focused lockdowns in several parts of the country following a surge in cases. And in Iran, the president made the startling announcement that as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Hassan Rouhani cited a new Health Ministry study that has not been made public. Iran has the Middle East’s worst outbreak with more than 270,000 confirmed cases.

In Bangladesh, confirmed cases surpassed 200,000 but experts say the number is much higher as the country lacks adequate labs for testing. Most people in rural areas have stopped wearing masks and are thronging shopping centers ahead of the Islamic festival Eid al-Adha this month.

Scientists, meanwhile, poured cold water on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hope that the country may return to normal by Christmas, saying that, without a vaccine, normal life was a long way off.

Source: AP

18, July 2020

Kuwait’s ruler hospitalised, crown prince steps in ⁰

Kuwait’s crown prince stepped in as partial ruler on Saturday after the hospitalisation of the 91-year-old emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, state news agency KUNA said.

“The crown prince (Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah) is to temporarily execute certain prerogatives of the emir,” his half-brother, the head of state’s office announced, quoted by KUNA.

The agency reported earlier that Sheikh Sabah, ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state since 2006, was hospitalised “to undergo medical tests”.

In September 2019, Sheikh Sabah underwent medical tests shortly after arriving in the United States, leading to a meeting with President Donald Trump being called off.

The emir had his appendix removed in 2002, two years after having a pacemaker implanted. In 2007, he underwent urinary tract surgery in the United States.

Sheikh Sabah argued last year for de-escalation in the Gulf as tensions surged between the US and its arch-foe Iran.

He is widely regarded as the architect of modern Kuwait’s foreign policy.

Sheikh Nawaf, 83, is an elder statesman who has held high office for decades, including the defence and interior portfolios.

Source: AFP

18, July 2020

Berlin, Rome, Paris threaten sanctions on states interfering in Libya ⁰

France, Italy and Germany are “ready to consider” sanctions on foreign powers violating an arms embargo in Libya, a joint statement by their leaders said Saturday.

The statement did not directly name any foreign actors funneling arms to Libya but multiple powers have been sending fighters and weapons, fuelling a bloody proxy war that reflects wider geopolitical rifts and divisions in the Middle East and within NATO.

While forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar are backed by Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the UN-recognised unity government is fighting back with Turkey’s support.

“We … urge all foreign actors to end their increasing interference and to fully respect the arms embargo established by the United Nations Security Council,” the statement said.

“We are ready to consider the possible use of sanctions should breaches to the embargo at sea, on land or in the air continue.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said they therefore “look forward to the proposals the EU High Representative/Vice President will make to this end.”

Voicing “grave concerns” over the escalating military tensions in Libya, they urged “all Libyan parties and their foreign supporters for an immediate cessation of fighting and for a stop of the ongoing military build-up throughout the country.”

In Brussels for a crunch EU summit on hammering out a huge recovery rund for the bloc, the three European leaders had met on the sidelines of the meeting to discuss the deteriorating situation in Libya.

Since 2015, a power struggle has pitted the UN-recognised, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against forces loyal to Haftar, who is based in eastern Benghazi.

Ankara’s military support for the GNA has tipped the balance and allowed its forces in June to repel Haftar’s 14-month advance on Tripoli and launch a counteroffensive.

This week, Egypt racheted up tensions, with its president warning his country “will not stand idle in the face of any moves that pose a direct threat to the national security not only of Egypt but also that of Libya”.

Libya has been mired in chaos since the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Source: AFP

18, July 2020

Ambazoniagate: Lawyers demand dismissal of case, immediate release ⁰

The lawyers of jailed Southern Cameroons leaders have called for the dismissal of the case against them and every Ambazonian detained ever since the crisis started as well as their immediate release from French Cameroun government’s captivity.

Barristers Sihm ,Akuwiyadze Joseph , Ndong Christopher, Pekum Emmanuel , AmungwaTanyi, Ndoki Michelle and Ayukotang Ndep representing President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides in a statement read in front of the Kondengui Prison demanded that all charges against the leaders be quashed, and that they be freed as soon as possible.

The Court of Appeal in the French Cameroun’s Central Region that recently postponed the hearing has not set a date to listen and decide on the demand.

In January 2018, President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe was arrested with 46 Southern Cameroonians in NERA hotel in the Nigerian capital, Abuja by Nigerian Special Forces. They were then handed over to the Biya Francophone regime in French Cameroun – a move that was ruled illegal by a Nigerian court in March this year.

President Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, and nine of his senior advisers were convicted of charges including terrorism and secession and given a fine of $350m (£286m) after an all-night sitting by the French Cameroun court.

The severity of the sentence has failed to stop the bloody conflict playing out in Southern Cameroons between Ambazonia Restoration Forces and the Cameroon government military.

By Rita Akana in Yaoundé

18, July 2020

Cho Ayaba and the AGOVC are the SDF of the Ambazonian Revolution! ⁰

The butterfly thinks himself a bird. Such is the case with the Ambazonian struggle that hundreds of butterflies envisage themselves as parrots. Factionalism is a natural part of the human family but never before has the human community, fighting for the same goal, seen as many factions as in the current Ambazonian struggle. There are more so-called frontline movements in this fight for liberation than followers. One of such groups goes by the appellation of AGovC under the leadership of Dr Ayaba Cho Lucas. Like many of the trivial factions in the revolution, they claim to have all the answers for the Ambazonian people.

The Interim Government of Ambazonia, the major frontline movement, under Dabney Yerima adopted a policy of collaboration with the AGovC and other miniature factions for the greater good of the nation. The unease for many veteran political commentators with such collaboration was the AGovC’s inflated ego, history with the truth, and integrity. Twelve months after the move from the Ambazonia vice president, the AGovC has proven their critics right.

The cunning side of the AGovC with its double speak was already raising concerns within the Interim Government and SCBC TV. The abuse of trust by so-called AGovC activists on the national broadcaster to question the integrity of President AyukTabe wasn’t well received by the elites and elders. Suppressed anger has been the portion of IG sympathisers in dealing with AGovC.

Many within the IG and academic community have raised questions many times about AGoVC comedians and morons passing for activists and spokespeople. But Comrade Dabney was confident that he could tame these unruly knuckleheads.

Earlier this week, Dr Ayaba put out a statement in which he put the final nail into the coffin of the fragile partnership. In saying one thing to the leaders in detention when he was briefed about the pre-talks in Yaoundé and expressing another view in public, the concerns of many Ambazonians about the true intentions and trustworthiness of Ayaba were confirmed. The sole purpose of the AGovC was to propagate and defend Cho Ayaba’s feelings and demands. The elites, elders and discerning Ambazonians find him deeply offensive and a major security risk to the nation.

As a keen observer of the political landscape in Cameroon for the last 4 decades, I am befuddled to see that Ambazonians have failed woefully to pick up increasingly obvious clues on the similarities between the erstwhile sit-tight Chief Scribe of the SDF opposition in Cameroon, Ni John Fru Ndi, and the Jean Bendel Bokassa look-alike of the AGovC called Ayaba Cho Lucas. Is this is a particular trait from Mezam/Santa because both mis-leaders come from this enclave?

The SDF chief managed to successfully eliminate all intellectuals and individuals with a backbone to challenge him in the party and surrounded himself with spineless stooges and truants. Chairman Fru Ndi has never seen collaboration or the unity of the opposition parties in Cameroon as useful except looking through the egomaniac prism of Fru Ndi at the helm because the SDF is the biggest and strongest party. What a mockery! Have we quickly forgotten the many failed attempts at collaboration and unity of opposition parties in Cameroon?

Now enters Ayaba Cho Lucas, the knucklehead and power monger in Norway in a similar political contraption called AGovC/ADF. In mirror-like similarities like identical twins, Dr. Ayaba Cho has eliminated all intellectuals and people with backbones who could challenge his waywardness with spineless, frail and not so manly stooges, some of whom could not even make a single complete sentence in proper English as his henchmen.

He wants to be leader at all cost with the pitiful argument that he has been advocating for the Southern Cameroon’s cause for 32 years. Longevity in the struggle is respected but sound personal achievements, integrity, leadership skills, and a clear vision are revered. The people of Ambazonia want leaders who know where they are going. The Ambazonia people understand that 32 years in the struggle while making the same mistakes is akin to insanity. The nature of our emergency calls for much more than a village celebrity with a long history of divisiveness.

For a long time, many in the IG have discerned the AGovC as a tragedy waiting to happen. Honesty and collaboration holds a vague terror in the small mind of Ayaba and his gang of ruffians. They are deluded. Extremely deluded! Our people say when the moon is shining; the cripple becomes hungry for a walk. The AGovC is inundated with many intellectual and academic cripples who count the Queens Language in the past and present continuous tenses. The adoption of Pidgin English as a language of communication in this revolution has saved them excessive embarrassment by masking their deficiencies.

My sources tell me that time without number, Ayaba has sent representatives to important collaboration meetings with the IG and third parties because he is too significant to make appearances. What planet does he live in? The delusions of grandeur in the AGovC are tragic. They believe in their own propaganda which is a dangerous disorder. These paper tigers and social media warlords are possessed and self-absorbed in their illusions.

In the Southern Cameroons of pre social media, AGovC characters would be nowhere close to political leadership. Their opinions would be ruthlessly dismissed. Their infantile stubbornness, naiveté and pride are their greatest undoing. Ayaba in particular, has not got complete control over his character and temperament which is a huge worry. His character is tremendously flawed and millions in this revolution trust him not.

He is ruled by one passion; to hate everything that every other leader does, especially Sisiku AyukTake. He is bitterly consumed by not being elected the leader of the Southern Cameroons revolution.

Ayaba Cho just like Fru Ndi has been the main stumbling block in all attempts at collaboration of forces within the Ambazonian Revolution. Facts and history are always stubborn to shove aside. SCYL breakup, 4th Conclave disruption, Dadi go-in-alone, The ARCC, The Washington DC collaboration conference, the ASC, the SCLC and the current IG-Care-AGovC charade, all attempts at collaboration have failed woefully. Why? I will intimate that you ask Dr Know-it-all Ayaba because just like the Chief in Ntarikon, Ayaba and the AGovC/ADF cynically believe they have the biggest and strongest forces on the ground. Although with no evidence and no political organization, he believes he has all the answers to the Ambazonian revolution. What a delusional comedian!

The King of Ntarikon has occupied the helm of the moribund political party for over 30 years. Ayaba has been at the helm of his own moribund organization for over 3 decades too. Posterity will not treat us fairly if we allow another Fru Ndi-like character within our political spectrum. It’s time to take a deeper look into the chameleon-like, disruptive and manipulative nature of Dr. Ayaba Cho Lucas.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

17, July 2020

Ivory Coast PM Coulibaly laid to rest after shock death ⁰

Ivory Coast’s prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly was buried in a private ceremony on Friday at the end of week-long national mourning triggered by a death that stunned the West African country.

Gon Coulibaly’s sudden death of a heart attack on July 8 has deprived 78-year-old President Alassane Ouattara of an anointed successor less than four months before key elections.

He was buried in the family tomb in his home town of Korhogo, the main city in the country’s north, a source close to his family said.

Funeral prayers were said earlier in the city’s main mosque, with several hundred mourners, including Ouattara, in attendance.

Gon Coulibaly, 61, died shortly after returning from France, where he had undergone long treatment for cardiac problems.

Nicknamed the “Lion of Korhogo,” he was highly popular in the city of his birth, where he was also an MP and mayor for a long time.

Gon Coulibaly “was a model,” said teacher El Hadj Bambadji Bamba.

“This is the funeral of a chief. We turned out in large numbers today. We had to be here, after everything that this man did for his country.”

Local people said infrastructure funds had flowed into Korhogo during his time in office.

“He tarmacked the main roads and the neighbourhoods, installed electricity throughout the city and the villages outside, gave us piped water and built schools and health centres,” said the local mayor, Lazani Coulibaly, who shares the same family name.

“He changed the face of the city — he achieved more in 10 years than people did in the previous 40.”

The ruling RHDP party is now expected to step up deliberations on how to fill the gap left by Gon Coulibaly for the presidential vote, due on October 31.

One of the world’s major coffee and cocoa producers, the country still carries the scars of a brief civil war that erupted nearly a decade ago.

In 2011, Ouattara ousted then-president Laurent Gbagbo, who refused to step down after losing elections. The months-long standoff claimed 3,000 lives.

In March, Ouattara announced to much surprise that he would not seek a third term in office, and then named Gon Coulibaly as his desired successor.

No clear successor to Gon Coulibaly has so far emerged within RHDP ranks, stoking speculation that Ouattara may change his mind.

Source:AFP