Monthly Archives: September 2020

7, September 2020

Yaoundé holding prominent Southern Cameroonians incommunicado ⁰

Cameroon Intelligence Report has gathered from reliable sources in Yaoundé that the Biya Francophone regime is denying imprisoned Southern Cameroons activists and French Cameroun pro-democracy campaigners contact with their family members and lawyers.

Information filtered recently to our Yaoundé city reporter that Ministers Paul Atanga Nji and Laurent Esso of the ministries of Territorial Administration and Justice appear intent on making certain Ambazonia and French Cameroun detainees including their loved ones suffer by denying them the ability to meet each other and know for certain that they are still alive.

A member of the legal team representing President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides was quoted as saying that “All prisoners be they from Southern Cameroons or supporters of Prof Maurice Kamto should be allowed unfettered communication with their families and the world outside their prison cells.”

Several family members of leading Southern Cameroons detainees are still seeking Cameroon government permission to visit loved ones being held in incommunicado detention by the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé. Many Southern Cameroonians including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe have gone on hunger strike.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands several of the Southern Cameroons detainees are being held in solitary confinement and facing torture and sexual harassment.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

7, September 2020

French Cameroun: 2 soldiers killed in Boko Haram attack on military base in Toufou ⁰

The French Cameroun army reportedly came under attacked late on Sunday by elements of the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram in Toufou in the Mayo-Tsanaga Division in the Far North Region. Cameroon Concord News learnt from security sources that two soldiers were killed and their weapons taken away.

Our source revealed that the Boko Haram fighters targeted the military post at Toufou and destroyed the dilapidated building.

The last skirmishes between the French Cameroun army and the Islamist group were several months ago, but the Sunday incident demonstrated that the group seems to have regained confidence and is now ready more than ever before to confront the French Cameroonian soldiers.

According to a statement transmitted by Commander Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo spokesman of the Cameroon government army, soldiers loyal to the regime in Yaoundé had the upper hand during the attack and five Boko Haram fighters were killed.

However, a military source who sued for anonymity said the fighting lasted several hours before the French Cameroun army managed to repel the attackers. In the end, two Cameroonian soldiers were killed.

By Fon Lawrence

7, September 2020

French Cameroun imposed war shutting down Southern Cameroons health facilities ⁰

The war declared by President Paul Biya against the people of Southern Cameroons is pushing all working health facilities in the Ambazonian territory toward total collapse, many health organizations including Medicine Without Borders have warned.

In a Saturday statement released by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Vice President Dabney Yerima issued a warning, saying that several medical facilities in Southern Cameroons are no longer functioning and many are expected to be shut down in the near future due to attacks on medics coming from the French Cameroun military.

Vice President Yerima added that the UN Security Council including other international bodies is not paying serious attention to the humanitarian disaster in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

The Dabney Yerima statement also pointed out that nearly all major hospitals in Southern Cameroons towns and cities are suffering from the war.

Supported militarily by the French government of President Emmanuel Macron and several other French multinationals, the 87 year old President Biya and the Cameroon government military launched the devastating war on Southern Cameroons four years ago to crush a popular uprising that witnessed the creation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The Southern Cameroons Interim Government estimates that the war has claimed more than 35,000 lives in Southern Cameroons.

By Isong Asu in London

7, September 2020

Tokyo Olympics will go ahead ‘with or without Covid’ ⁰

Tokyo’s postponed Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the coronavirus pandemic, IOC vice president John Coates told AFP Monday, saying they would be the “Games that conquered Covid”.

The Olympics have never been cancelled outside of the world wars and Coates, speaking in a phone interview, was adamant that the Tokyo Games will start on their revised date.

“It will take place with or without Covid. The Games will start on July 23 next year,” said Coates, who heads the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission for the Tokyo Games.

“The Games were going to be, their theme, the Reconstruction Games after the devastation of the tsunami,” he added, referring to a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan in 2011.

“Now very much these will be the Games that conquered Covid, the light at the end of the tunnel.”

In an historic decision, the 2020 Olympics were postponed because of the global march of the pandemic and they are now set to open on July 23, 2021.

But Japan’s borders are still largely closed to foreign visitors and a vaccine is months or even years away, feeding speculation about whether the Games are feasible at all.

Japanese officials have made clear they would not delay the Games a second time beyond 2021.

A recent poll found just one in four people in Japan want them to go ahead next year, with most backing either another postponement or a cancellation.

– ‘Monumental task’ –

Coates said the Japanese government “haven’t dropped the baton at all” following the postponement, despite the “monumental task” of putting the event back a year.

“Before Covid, (IOC president) Thomas Bach said this is the best prepared Games we’ve ever seen, the venues were almost all finished, they are now finished, the village is amazing, all the transport arrangements, everything is fine,” he said.

“Now it’s been postponed by one year, that’s presented a monumental task in terms of re-securing all the venues… something like 43 hotels we had to get out of those contracts and re-negotiate for a year later.

“Sponsorships had to be extended a year, broadcast rights.”

With much of that work underway, or accomplished, a task force has been set up to look at the different scenarios in 2021 — from how border controls will affect the movement of athletes and officials, to whether fans can pack venues.

The group, comprising Japanese and IOC officials, met for the first time last week.

“Their job now is to look at all the different counter-measures that will be required for the Games to take place,” said Coates, the long-time president of the Australian Olympic Committee.

“Some countries will have it (Covid) under control, some won’t. We’ll have athletes therefore coming from places where it’s under control and some where it is not.

“There’s 206 teams… so there’s a massive task being undertaken on the Japanese side.”

Source: AFP

6, September 2020

Notorious gang leader killed in Bamenda ⁰

The Cameroon army said Sunday its troops have killed a notorious gang leader of multiple high-profile crimes in restive English-speaking region of Northwest.

The gang leader simply identified as Fonteh alias Mad Dog was killed in an operation conducted by Special Forces early Sunday in Bamenda, the region’s chief town, the army said.

Fonteh was notorious for abductions, theft, harassment and killing of several civilians and members of government forces in the region, according to security reports.

The region has been facing an armed separatist conflict since 2017. It is unclear if Funteh was part of separatist fighters who attempt to create an independent nation in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet

6, September 2020

Accra: Cameroonian Grabbed For Stabbing Woman ⁰

Ulrich Njoh Mussima, a Cameroonian who went into hiding after inflicting knife wounds on a woman, has been picked up by the Tesano Divisional Police Command.

He was picked at the Amasaman court last Thursday after he had gone to court to support his colleagues in another case.

The victim (name withheld), according to the police, was injured in the nose, chest and right shoulder during the attack.

The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), DSP Effia Tenge, said on August 27, a complainant who is a neigbour to the suspect reported to the Tesano Divisional Police Command that some foreigners were operating a pub in the area and were making excessive noise.

According to the complainant, several reports had been made to owners of the pub and the police about their activities, and the police proceeded to arrest four persons, namely Toungo Thera, Mola Asobo, Michael Matouala and Mouladi Bycther, who are from Cameroon, Congo and Senegal.

“The machines they were using were also seized and brought to the station by the police team,” DSP Tenge disclosed.

The police officer said Mussima was not at the scene but upon hearing the news about the arrest of his colleagues, he stormed the house of the complainant to attack him for reporting them, but he (complainant) was not present.

He then vented his spleen on the complainant’s daughter and inflicted knife wounds on her.

DSP Tenge said last Wednesday, the four arrested suspects appeared before court for trial and Mussima went there to offer support for them and was arrested.

Source: Daily Guide

6, September 2020

Cameroon’s twin crises create surge in teen pregnancy ⁰

Rachel Tarh (not her real name) is four months pregnant. She is from the English-speaking north-west region of Cameroon, but lives on the outskirts of Douala, the largest city. Along with her family, she was displaced by conflict between separatist rebels and government forces.

When Cameroon implemented Covid-19 restrictions in March, Tarh’s school was closed along with all the others. So she started working with her mother, selling meat in the market. She met a customer she liked, and became sexually involved with him. Now she’s pregnant.

“I have been crying since then, I am always locked up in the house. My parents too are not happy with

what I have done,” said Tarh. The father has refused to take any responsibility, and she’s scared for her future.

“It’s hard for me to continue this business, it brings back memories of the days I used to go out and sell, and the promises the father of my unborn child made to me. I equally wonder if my mother can trust any of my younger ones to go out and sell. Most of our customers are men who drink in bars, at times I tried to be nice to them so they would buy from me. That is where I met the father of my baby,” she said.

It is unlikely that Tarh will return to school. “All of us used to go to school, my parents farmed for us to go to school. My mother said whatever I made as profit from the meat I sold would help me go back to school. Now my parents have to worry about me and my baby.”

Rachel’s first visit to the hospital for antenatal care was a week ago. The floods and the rains have made things worse: the roads leading to their neighbourhood are inaccessible. She was only able to afford the journey and the medical care thanks to support from two local non-governmental organisations, the Rahel Randy Foundation and Rural Doctors.

The double crisis

Tarh’s story is not unique. She is one of many young women whose lives have been impacted by not one but two crises: Covid-19 and the ongoing conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. In Douala, the worsening economy and the closure of schools has forced many young women — already trying to recover from being displaced — to turn to sex work to make ends meet, or made them vulnerable to exploitative men.

This has led to a surge in teenage pregnancies, according to the Rahel Randy Foundation, which focuses on uplifting underprivileged and orphaned girls. Ten of the 50 young women they work with have become pregnant during the pandemic. Of these, most do not have access to maternal healthcare, and suffer from familial stigma.

“Most parents fear to open up on or report these cases,” said Rahel Randy, the head of the foundation. “This ends up affecting the girl child negatively. Many times, they drop out of school, and some end up as single child mothers who head families.”

According to the United Nations Children’s Agency, maternal mortality in Cameroon is among the highest in the world at 596 deaths per 100 000 births.

Source: Mail/Guardian

6, September 2020

Cameroonian Christians Leave COVID-19-Doubting Churches ⁰

Christians have left Cameroonian churches that claim COVID-19 does not exist. The defecting Christians say they saw some who obeyed church instructions to ignore barrier measures infected or dying from the virus. Christians are being accepted into other congregations.

This song “When God Speaks” blasts through loudspeakers at Winners Chapel, a popular church in the Fouda neighborhood in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé. The song, by the Nigerian gospel singer Frank Ugochukwu Edwards, is played to welcome 23 new members.

Among them is 37-year-old Annabella Tabot. Tabot says she left the Tabernacles of Freedoms Ministries because her pastor deceived them, saying that COVID-19 did not exist. Tabot says the pastor asked her 60-year-old husband not to go to the hospital and was instead praying for healing from evil spirits.

“His health condition kept on deteriorating and he finally died. Luckily the government came in and isolated him and the other family members were not contaminated,” she said.

In August, Cameroon’s government closed Tabernacles of Freedoms Ministries for preaching that COVID-19 is a hoax. Many of its 300 members defied government orders and kept worshiping in front of the closed church.

Tabot said more than 100 members left the church when her sick husband died, shortly after he was suspected of having COVID-19 and forced to go to the hospital by the government.

The Association of Pentecostal Churches in Yaoundé reported that at least 270 Christians left from six churches that preached against the existence of COVID-19. Protus Ngala, pastor of Redemption Ministries says 11 of his followers left.

“I have gone to some of the people,” he said. “I made some questionnaires and passed them over to the church [remaining members] to try to know what needs to be adjusted. I try to do all of those things to make sure that I am a better leader. I understand that I also could be defective.”

Ngala said he has always believed that COVID-19 exists but thought it could be treated through prayer and fasting.

Governor Naserie Paul Bea of Cameroon’s Center region says the Christians are changing churches after a rigorous campaign he led to educate the public on the dangers of COVID-19. He says churches that do not respect barrier measures to protect against the virus will be punished.

“We need to limit the activities of some of these groups,” he said. “We cannot be in a state that is saying one thing and another person is preaching another thing. The [churches] are there to be a relay, not only of the government but equally to teach the people what the Bible says.”

Sociologist Paul Emmanuel Somb of the University of Yaoundé says the high wave of defections show people are not happy with most churches’ teachings.

He says many new churches should face reality and acknowledge that their teachings truly do not respond to their member’s growing spiritual and health needs. He says pastors, priests and Imams should be true guarantors of the uprightness and morality of people who are counting on them. He says religious leaders who deceived their followers, saying that COVID-19 does not exist and collected money from them, claiming to instead deliver patients from evil spirits should be held responsible for their actions.

Since March 5 Cameroon has reported more than 19,000 COVID-19 cases, with 415 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University data.

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 central African state blames negligence, lack of knowledge and the failure of some churches to educate their members on the dangers of COVID-19 as among the factors in the increasing number of cases.

Culled from VOA

6, September 2020

Italian Grand Prix red-flagged after Leclerc crash, Hamilton gets penalty ⁰

The Italian Grand Prix was red-flagged and brought to a halt on Sunday after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed heavily into the barriers after slewing off the track at the Parabolica.

The Monegasque driver was unhurt and walked away from the high-speed crash, but severe damage to the barriers required repairs.

Leclerc won last year’s race from pole position.

His exit after 25 laps of the 53 followed the earlier retirement of outgoing team-mate Sebastian Vettel with brake failure.

Ferrari’s premature exit completed a miserable weekend for the most decorated team in Formula One which failed to get one car in the top ten on the grid on home soil for the first time since 1984.

Lewis Hamilton set sail from pole and looked en route to his 90th career win but the Mercedes world champion picked up a 10-second drive through penalty for pitting when the pitlane was closed.

It will leave him at the back of the pack when the race led by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll restarts.

Source: AFP

6, September 2020

Football: Moment of Mbappe brilliance gives France victory in Sweden ⁰

Kylian Mbappe scored with France’s only shot on goal on Saturday in Solna to give the world champions a 1-0 victory over Sweden in the opening round of matches in the Nations League.

Mbappe picked up the ball wide of the goal in the 41st minute, squeezed past two defenders, waited for goalkeeper Robin Olsen to go down and then clipped the ball just inside the post from the narrowest of angles.

The strike was enough to give France victory in a cagey opener in Group 3 of the elite League A in the competition.

Sweden managed just three strikes on target in the 90 minutes, though one of those was a deflection off French defender Dayot Upemecano that Hugo Lloris had to save.

Antoine Griezmann had a chance to double the French lead with the last kick of the game after Anthony Martial was fouled in the box, but the Barcelona attacker blasted the penalty high.

For France’s first match since they beat Albania last November, manager Didier Deschamps recalled Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot for his first appearance since he refused to serve as a standby for the 2018 World Cup.

France face Croatia in a rematch of the 2018 World Cup final at the Stade de France in Paris on Tuesday while Sweden take on the fourth team in the group, Portugal, winners of the inaugural Nations League, in Solna.

AFP