Monthly Archives: October 2020

Ghana: Cameroonian Money Doubler Grabbed For Defrauding Driver

13, October 2020

Ghana: Cameroonian Money Doubler Grabbed For Defrauding Driver 0

An unemployed Cameroonian who collected GH¢45,900 cedis from a taxi driver under the pretext of providing three folds of the amount but failed, has been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court.

Nkam Luc, charged with defrauding by false pretenses, has pleaded not guilty.

The Court presided over by Mrs Adelaide Abui Keddey remanded Luc into Police custody to afford the prosecution the opportunity to conduct further investigations into the matter.

It further directed the prosecution to put their house in order in relation to the matter.

Prosecuting, General Sergeant Thomas Sarfo, narrated that the complainant, Mr Ofosu Mark was a resident of Nungua and the accused also resided in the same vicinity.

Sergeant Sarfo said Mr Ofosu picked one Louis who was a Cameroonian and befriended him. Based on the friendship, Prosecution said Louis invited Ofosu to his house and introduced him to a business.

Prosecution said introducing him to the said business, Louis picked up a GH¢10.00 note and two other blank papers in the shape of the GH¢10.00 note and washed the blank pieces of papers with some chemicals when turned into real currency notes.

Prosecution said Louis then convinced the complainant to bring money so that he would give him three folds of the amount produced.

According to the prosecution, Louis later introduced Luc to the complainant as a Lab technician who would produce the money in large quantities.

Sergeant Sarfo said the complainant became convinced and managed to raise GH¢37,600.00 and GH¢3,000 which was to be used for registration and reproduction of the money in triple folds.

The accused, after taking the money, changed same into GH¢200.00 notes and arranged same with pieces of blank pieces of paper, sprinkled some powered substances on them and hand over to the complainant to keep till the following day.

Prosecution said thereafter, Luc and his accomplice (Louis) cunningly stayed away from the complainant for about a week with the excuse that the chemical needed for washing the money was scarce.

Luc and Louis later collected GH¢8,300.00 from the complainant under the pretext of buying the chemicals.

After a week, prosecution said Louis and Luc continued to give excuses and the complainant became suspicious.

Later, when the complainant visited Louis, he (Louis) had packed out of his room.

Prosecution said the complainant managed to lure accused to Nungua Methodist and he was arrested.

When Luc room was searched, Prosecution said pieces of brown envelopes, black and white substances, cotton, A4 sheets 141 pieces of black papers with $100 inscription on them were found.

Again, prosecution said four pieces of white papers with GH¢50 notes inscription on them, 89 pieces of white blank papers also cut in the shape of GH¢50 notes, some white substance and a rule were also found.

Source: GNA

US: Trump tests negative for Covid-19, ‘not infectious to others’, says White House doctor

13, October 2020

US: Trump tests negative for Covid-19, ‘not infectious to others’, says White House doctor 0

U.S. President Donald Trump has tested negative for COVID-19 and he is not infectious to others, the White House physician said on Monday, 10 days after Trump announced he had contracted the coronavirus.

In a memo released by the White House just hours before Trump was due to resume holding campaign rallies, Dr. Sean Conley said the president had tested negative on consecutive days using an Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW antigen card.

Conley said the negative tests and other clinical and laboratory data “indicate a lack of detectable viral replication.”

Trump’s medical team had determined that based on the data and guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “the president is not infectious to others,” Conley said.

Trump returns to the campaign trail on Monday night with a rally in Sanford, Florida, his first since he disclosed on Oct. 2 that he tested positive for Covid-19.

Critics fault Trump for failing to encourage supporters at campaign events, and even White House staff, to wear protective masks and abide by social-distancing guidelines. At least 11 close Trump aides have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Source: REUTERS

Indomitable Lions: Conceicao targets Afcon final on home soil

13, October 2020

Indomitable Lions: Conceicao targets Afcon final on home soil 0

The Indomitable Lions will host the continental tournament with the hope of winning it for the sixth time

Cameroon manager Antonio Conceicao aims to see the Indomitable Lions reach the final of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations which they will host for the second time in their history.

The tournament was scheduled to take place between January and February 2021 but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it had to be pushed forward to 2022.

Cameroon have automatically qualified by virtue of being hosts and Conceicao – who took over the job of the national team on September 2019 after Dutch legend Clarence Seedorf was sacked, wants to reclaim the title they had won in 2017.

“We have automatically qualified as the organising country. We are taking advantage of this qualifying phase and these friendly matches to manage to collect as much information as possible about the players we are calling in terms of personalities and sports skills,” Conceicao told FootMercato.

“That’s why we’re changing six to seven players per roster, to see as many as possible. The goal is to bring together the best possible group for the competition with the objective of reaching the Afcon final, because we will play at home. Our responsibility is great.

“We know what the hosting and its success represent for the Cameroonian people. From that moment on, we must be well prepared to take up this challenge, because the demand is great, the responsibility just as much.”

There a number of French-born players of Cameroonian descent plying their trade in Ligue 1. Conceicao reveals contact has been made with players who are interested in switching international allegiance.

“We have other players playing in France on our radar,” Conceicao continued. “I cannot say any names, but we have already contacted young people aged 20-21 who play with the youth teams in France and have Cameroonian origins, to find out if they are available to come and defend the colours of Cameroon.

“Some are thinking, some have said no. We must be attentive to the breeding grounds in France and England, which may represent the future of Cameroonian football. We will see if we are lucky in this endeavour.”

Source: Goal.com

US: Protests grow over pending deportation of dozens of Southern Cameroonians

13, October 2020

US: Protests grow over pending deportation of dozens of Southern Cameroonians 0

A national protest is widening over the pending deportations of dozens of Cameroon-born immigrants who lawyers and other advocates say were abused in U.S. detention centers and could face death if sent back to their homeland.

The immigrants, many of them asylum-seekers, were transferred in recent days to the civil detention center in Alvarado, about an hour southwest of Dallas. Four detained Camerooonians said in phone interviews from Prairieland Detention Center that they feared they would be tortured or killed if returned to their violence-plagued homeland.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and others have filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security over the alleged abuse of eight Cameroonians, when they were at a Natchez, Miss.-based detention center. The Southern Poverty Law Center alleges eight Cameroonians were abused, beaten and forced to sign their deportation papers at the Natchez detention center. All have since been moved to Prairieland, as have others from detention centers in Louisiana, Georgia and Ohio.

Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which handles deportations, didn’t respond to questions about the civil rights complaint and the pending deportations.

Officials at the Embassy of Cameroon in Washington, D.C., didn’t respond to phone calls and emails about the validity of travel documents to take detainees from the U.S.

Amnesty International has asked that U.S. immigration officials halt deportations to Cameroon, a West African nation of 25 million where violence and armed conflict is peaking.

A U.S. State Department country report from last year warns of significant human rights abuses in Cameroon, including unlawful or arbitrary killings, disappearances by security forces, and torture and armed detention by nonstate armed groups. The report also cited human rights issues involving the Boko Haram extremist group and ISIS-West Africa. A State Department travel advisory from two weeks ago carries a no-travel warning to large portions of the country because of terrorism, kidnappings and armed conflict.

Amnesty International’s Adotei Akwei, the USA deputy director of advocacy and government relations, said that “given the current conditions in the country, it is extremely likely that anyone who is returned to Cameroon will face a high risk of being detained, beaten, disappeared, tortured or possibly even killed.”

A group gathered for a socially distanced car caravan protest outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado. The group said they wanted to show support for black migrants from Cameroon detained at the facility, on Oct. 12, 2020.

In phone interviews from Prairieland, four detainees detailed their fears of deportation and their treatment at other detention centers and arduous journeys from the jungles of Panama, through Central America and into Texas border towns where they asked for asylum.

“We ran from our countries to be protected here,” said Giscard Nkenglefac, a 34-year-old Cameroonian detainee who tried for political asylum. “Now, when they are deporting us, our lives will be at risk.”

Another Cameroonian detainee in Prairieland, Josephine Kinaka, said she fears returning to Cameroon. Kinaka came into the U.S. through Laredo a little more than a year ago. She was later detained at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, before being moved to Prairieland.

“It is so scary to think what is waiting for me back in Cameroon,” Kinaka said by phone.

She said she continues to suffer physically and emotionally from a beating she received back in Cameroon.

Prairieland has had several detainees with COVID-19. It has nine active cases, and there have been a total of 94, according to ICE data. There have been nearly 6,500 cases of COVID-19 in the detention centers nationwide since the pandemic was declared, according to ICE data.

The Prairieland Detention Center opened in 2017 in Alvarado, about an hour southwest of Dallas. It has beds for about 700 detainees.

Another detainee and asylum-seeker, now at Prairieland, said he was infected with the coronavirus at another detention center and recovered.

“The stress is too much,” said Clouvis Chebegwen, who unsuccessfully sought asylum based on political persecution. “This is breaking me down,” he said in a phone call from Prairieland.

The complaint from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants and others calls for an investigation into the allegations of excessive use of force at the Mississippi detention center and for copies of any videos and reports on the incidents there. The complaint details abuse in what the immigrants called the “Zulu” dorm at the Adams County Correctional Center.

Rebecca Cassler, a lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Monday that she spoke in person with about 10 Cameroonian detainees at Prairieland this past weekend.

“We have screened several scheduled to be on those flights and they would rather stay indefinitely in detention, and they are uniformly terrified for their lives,” Cassler said.

Prairieland, which can hold more than 700 detainees, is now less than half-full at about 310 people. There have been 93 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Source: Dallas News

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Teachers reject military convoys to schools

13, October 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Teachers reject military convoys to schools 0

At least 3,000 Cameroon teachers have refused  offers by the central African state’s military to transport teaching staff to schools in the conflict-prone English-speaking regions.

The teachers, who fled separatists’ attacks, looting, burning and occupation of their schools in the English-speaking regions, say they are not sure of their safety as some separatist fighters are again threatening to kill teachers and students who go to school. The renewed separatist threats are casting doubts over all schools reopening after four years of closure due to separatist crisis.

Primary school teacher Fru Issac, 47, says he has refused an offer by the Cameroon military to take him to his school in the restive English-speaking region. However, Fru said Friday, six of his peers accepted the offer to be transported by the military from the town of Bamenda to Ndop in the English-speaking Northwest Region.  

“The authorities are now taking the teachers who cannot access their stations in armored cars. But the question is, when you successfully take them there, how would the teachers cope in the absence of these armored cars,” he said. 

Fru said he remained convinced that fighters were still hiding in the bush ready to commit atrocities on teachers and students when the military transports leave.  

However, Handerson Quetong, the highest government official in the English-speaking northwestern Ngoketungia Division, where Ndop is located, says teachers who fail to return to school will be punished. Quetong says the military will also find and punish people he describes as agents sent by separatists to threaten parents if they send their children to school.  

“Anybody, especially teachers who will continue to insist on boycott, should know that [we consider that] they have another agenda which is hidden, and woe betide anybody who will still continue to carry out campaign and sensitization for this doctrine of boycott,” he said.  

Cameroon’s military said it has been on standby since October 5, when the country’s 2020-2021 school year began, to transport teachers, students and administrative staff to schools in English-speaking towns and villages.   

The military said they acted to ensure that schools closed for the past four years as a result of the separatist crisis can reopen their doors so thousands of children can have access to education.   

However, Cameroon’s ministries in charge of elementary and secondary education said more than 3,000 teachers did not show up last week.

Cameroon reported that 140 of close to 500 schools closed by fighters within the past four years had reopened, with about 30,000 anxious children in attendance.  

Some Anglophone activists have asked for schools to be reopened, saying it was a human rights abuse to continue to deprive children of education.  

The Teachers Association of Cameroon said at least 300 teachers responded to the calls and returned to schools in the English-speaking regions. The association said many of the teachers preferred to return on their own for fear of being identified with the military by fighters.  

However, a group calling itself the Interim Governing Council of Ambazonia, the nation they are fighting to create, said it had banned all schools controlled by Cameroon central government in Yaoundé from operating in the English-speaking regions.  

It said it had ordered its fighters to abduct teachers and students who dare go to school.  

Colonel Leoue Fesso, in charge of road safety at Cameroon’s Defense Ministry says special troops have been deployed to assure the safety of the teachers and students in all English schools.  

“Our forces made it possible to restore serenity in these areas affected by the crisis. We can therefore reassure the entire education community in these areas about the protective measures being taken by the defense and security forces for a smooth and successful 2020-2021 academic year,” he said. 

Cameroon’s government is also encouraging the creation of militias around schools to inform the military of any strange movements and visitors.   

The separatist conflict in Cameroon has left over 3,000 people dead and half a million displaced according to the United Nations.  The crisis started in 2016, when teachers and lawyers took to the streets to complain about the overbearing influence of the French language in the bilingual country.   

The military responded with a crackdown and separatists took up weapons, claiming that they were defending civilians. They asked for a school shutdown and vowed to make the English-speaking regions ungovernable. 

Source: VOA

Paris: French Cameroun Minister leaves church by side door surrounded by family

12, October 2020

Paris: French Cameroun Minister leaves church by side door surrounded by family 0

Minister Celestine Ketcha Courtes reportedly left a Catholic church in Paris, France, through a side door to chants of “Southern Cameroons genocide” and “shame on you”.

The French Cameroun Minister of Housing and Urban Development was visiting her kids and extended family members in the French capital and made the unfortunate decision to attend Sunday service at a church but met with a stone wall erected by French Cameroun activists who pressured the presiding priest to kick her out of the vicinity.

Witnesses described the disgraced Celestine Ketcha Courtes being bundled into a taxi by her daughter amid fury from the pushing crowd of French Cameroun anti Biya activists less than five minutes after protests erupted inside the church.

The 55 year old left the church through a side door and was too ashamed to face the congregation, at which point family members had to hold back the angry BAS members, breaking up a scuffle as the so-called minister’s taxi drove off.

Footage shows the French Cameroun woman covering her face with a Covid-19 mask as she left the church.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Southern Cameroons suffering from longest military crackdown in African history

12, October 2020

Southern Cameroons suffering from longest military crackdown in African history 0

Southern Cameroons now known as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia is currently descending into more chaotic despair under the watchful eyes of the AU, EU and the United Nations.

Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero for the past four years are being subjected to the longest army crackdown in modern African history. 87 year old President Biya declared war against the people of Southern Cameroons since four years ago and the conflict has taken its toll on all aspects of life in the impoverished former British colony and has caused a catastrophic decline in the quality of life as well as high unemployment and poverty.

The regime in Yaoundé also severely restricts movements as well as access of Southern Cameroonians to their agricultural land and fishing areas. Ambazonians are suffering from deepening poverty and underdevelopment due to the crippling French Cameroun siege.

Presently, more than ninety percent of Southern Cameroonians rely on some sort of help to survive. French Cameroun military aggressions and pro Yaoundé armed militia atrocities over the past four years have also taken their toll on Southern Cameroons health system hindering the ability to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

Human Rights groups have all said that with sharply rising COVID-19 cases in Southern Cameroons, the health sector faces total collapse, unless the war is brought to an abrupt end.

As years go by many political commentators blame the French Cameroun imposed war on what they describe as an international conspiracy of silence teleguided from Paris. Southern Cameroonians in Ground Zero have been suffering under the Biya French Cameroun blockade since 2016. Human rights organizations including the United States government have condemned the war.

By Isong Asu in London

Exiled Southern Cameroons Vice President faces death threat

12, October 2020

Exiled Southern Cameroons Vice President faces death threat 0

Swiss and Dutch police have opened a joint investigation into a murder threat against the Ambazonia Vice President, Dabney Yerima as the resistance against French Cameroun regional elections and school resumption heats up. And this was confirmed to Cameroon Concord News Group by an aide to the Vice President, who said he was officially informed of the threat by the Comrade Dabney Yerima.

We understand security has now being increased around the Ambazonian leader. The Vice President was in Switzerland when he started receiving threats from a telephone number he does not recognize. The Ambazonia Interim Government issued a statement late on Sunday stating that threat against the Vice President and any Southern Cameroons public official at this time was a cause for concern.

Reports have been circulating in Europe that the regime in Yaoundé has put a one million dollar “hit” on the head of Southern Cameroons Vice President.

Dabney Yerima told Southern Cameroonians at a recent protest march in Swiss that persons linked to the French Cameroun regime want to have him killed.

“When I’m not under attack from French Cameroun agents who they hire to kill me, I’m under attack from pro Yaounde Southern Cameroonians who they hire to lie about the Interim Government” Yerima added.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Holland

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on an ECOWAS Mission in Mali

11, October 2020

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on an ECOWAS Mission in Mali 0

The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, who is also the current President of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is on a mission of the 15 nation-bloc in Bamako.

He was received by the transitional president Bah Ndaw on Sunday to take stock of the political transition and discuss the next steps to ensure that the deadline of the eventual election is met.

All activity is towards regional solidarity with the now embargo-free Mali still regrouping post-coup d’état August.

The Ghanaian president is the first head of state to visit the West African nations since the ECOWAS-imposed sanctions were lifted.

Source: Africa News

Nadal beats Djokovic to win his 13th French Open, ties Federer with 20th Grand Slam title

11, October 2020

Nadal beats Djokovic to win his 13th French Open, ties Federer with 20th Grand Slam title 0

Rafael Nadal demolished Novak Djokovic 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 to win his 13th French Open and equal Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles on Sunday.

For world number one Djokovic, the defeat ended his hopes of an 18th Slam and of becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four majors twice.

Nadal, 34, claimed his 100th match win at Roland Garros against just two defeats since his 2005 debut.

The Spaniard, the oldest champion in Paris since Andres Gimeno in 1972, claimed the title without dropping a set.

He finished the one-sided affair with just 14 unforced errors to his opponent’s 52.

“Congrats to Novak for another great tournament. Sorry for today. We’ve played plenty of times together – one day one wins, another the other,” said Nadal.

“After all the things I have been through in my career with injuries, I could not have done it without my family.”

Nadal said he wasn’t even thinking about matching Federer’s record.

“It’s been a very tough year. Winning here means everything to me so it’s not about equalling Roger on 20, for me today it’s just a Roland Garros victory,” said Nadal who had skipped the US Open due to the global health crisis and was playing just his second tournament since February.

“Roland Garros means everything to me. I spent most of the most important moments of my tennis career here.

“Just playing here is a true inspiration. The love story I have with this court and city is unbelievable.”

Federer, who sat out the tournament to recover from knee surgery, hailed Nadal’s 13th French Open victory as “one of sport’s greatest achievements”.

“I have always had the utmost respect for my friend Rafa as a person and a champion,” Federer tweeted on Sunday.

“As my greatest rival over many years, I believe we have pushed each other to become better players. Therefore it is a true honour for me to congratulate him on his 20th Grand Slam victory,” Federer wrote.

“It is especially amazing that he has won Roland Garros an incredible 13 times which is one of the greatest achievements in sport. I hope the 20 is just another step on the continuing journey for both of us,” the Swiss player added.

‘King of clay’

For Djokovic, it was just his second loss of 2020 following his default at the US Open.

“Today, Rafa showed why you are the king of clay. I was out-played by a better player.”

Nadal also used his victory speech to thank organisers for staging the tournament, pushed back from its traditional May-June slot due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I want to send a message to everyone around the world. We are facing one of the worst moments that we remember in this world, fighting against this virus. Keep going, stay positive.

“We will get through this and we will beat the virus soon.”

The 56th meeting between the world’s top two started under the roof of Court Philippe Chatrier, intensifying the echo of a crowd limited to 1,000 due to the pandemic.

Conventional wisdom suggested that would favour Djokovic but nobody told Nadal who broke three times in the 45-minute opening set.

The Spaniard hit 10 winners and just two unforced errors.

Djokovic’s error count was 13 with the out-of-sorts Serb even squandering three break points of his own in the fourth game.

More worrying for the world number one—Nadal improved to 111-0 when winning the first set of best-of-five matches on clay in his career.

It was the first opening set ‘bagel’ in a Roland Garros final since 2004 when Gaston Gaudio recovered to defeat Argentine compatriot Guillermo Coria in five sets.

Djokovic finally got on the board with a service hold in the first game of the second set but Nadal maintained his relentless push, going to a double break for 4-1 as even the Serb’s usual deft touches on the drop shot deserted him.

Nadal wrapped up a two-set lead with his unforced error count at just six to Djokovic’s 30.

Nadal broke for the sixth time for a 3-2 lead in the third before Djokovic suddenly restored his reputation as the sport’s best returner by carving out his first break of the afternoon for 3-3.

However, there was to be no miracle recovery as a double fault handed Nadal a 6-5 lead and he took the title with an ace.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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