Life

4, August 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders withdraws from the South West ⁰

Charity group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on Monday announced its withdrawal from two towns in Cameroon’s English-speaking South-West region.

It said the decision follows the arrest of four members of its local team and the suspension of its activities by the government.

The charity said a small team and adequate resources will still be maintained in Kumba and Mamfe towns.

MSF said it would also continue to work for the release of its staff and engage with the authorities for a safe and secure environment for its operations.

The demand for medical care is high in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, which have been plagued by a separatist conflict since 2017.

Several hospitals have been burned there – depriving locals of proper healthcare.

In December 2021, the spokesperson of the defence ministry, Colonel Cyrille Atonfack accused MSF of supporting the separatists after they helped a wounded rebel leader.

MSF denied the accusation, saying it treats people regardless of their ethnic, political or religious background.

Source: BBC

21, July 2022

Cameroon mega star, Ekambi Brillant in poor medical condition, needs help ⁰

Veteran Cameroonian musician Ekambi Brillant is down with an unknown illness as new reports from Douala suggest.

Elvis Kemayo recently paid him a visit, raising awareness of his condition.

Ekambi Brillant was popular in the 70s, 80s and early 90s and remains one of the greatest song writer and composer Cameroon as a nation has ever known.

Ekambi recorded a sea of greatest hits including Minya ma bobe, Moussoloki, Elongi, Cameroon Airlines and Yeye Yeah Massoma.

Cameroon Concord News senior entertainment correspondent Diamond Esoh commenting on the Ekambi situation opined that “It appears the story of riches to rags has become a major issue in the Cameroon music industry as Ekambi is yet another musician in dire need of medical and financial assistance.”

Unconfirmed reports in Douala say the renowned artist may have suffered some sort of paralysis.

By Rita Akana in Douala

18, July 2022

Biometric vaccination cards available for Cameroonians ⁰

Cameroon has introduced biometric vaccination cards to facilitate entry requirements for international travellers.

The head of the International Vaccination Center in Yaoundé, a structure under the Ministry of Public Health of Cameroon, Dr Ntsobe Njoh Bolo Bolo Yanne Emmanuel, says that biometric vaccination and health cards have been introduced for Cameroonian travelers in order to facilitate the process of verifying their vaccination status when entering or leaving the country.

This initiative is a novelty intended to keep Cameroon at the same level as other nations in terms of delivering modern and secure vaccines and digital health cards.

“It’s not just a (biometric) COVID-19 vaccination card,” says Dr Ntsobe.

“The biometric card also applies to vaccines against other diseases like yellow fever, cholera, typhoid fever and meningitis which are often required for international travel. All information regarding these vaccines can be stored in this card”.

The new biometric vaccination card can be obtained at all international vaccination centers in the country, including vaccination centers in Yaoundé, Douala, Bafoussam, Maroua and Garoua.

These cards contain a unique and secure QR code which, when scanned, reveals a directory of all vaccines a traveler may have taken. The maps are also stored digitally.

Source: OICanadian

16, July 2022

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Doctors Without Borders to close projects in Mamfe and Kumba ⁰

After suspending activities in March 2022 to focus on securing the release of four detained staff members, MSF will close projects in Kumba and Mamfe on August 1.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has made the difficult decision to close our projects—which were suspended in March— in Kumba and Mamfe, in the South-West region of Cameroon.

This closure will take effect on August 1, 2022, and will result in the termination of contracts of the majority of MSF’s staff. The closure follows the suspension of MSF activities in the region three months ago.

MSF has been working to secure the release of four colleagues who were unjustly detained in December 2021 and January 2022 while carrying out medical humanitarian activities in in the South-West region. While two of our four colleagues were conditionally released in May, two remain in prison, and all are set to face trial.

A small team will remain in the South-West region to support the release and resolution of the cases, as well as to continue dialogue with the authorities as MSF seeks to re-establish conditions that will enable our teams to carry out medical activities in a safe environment. MSF made this decision as are unable to indefinitely maintain our teams with no clear vision of when we may be able to restart our activities, or when our staff will be able to work without being prosecuted for providing medical assistance to those in need.

MSF will consider reviewing this decision following the trial and based on our exchanges with Cameroon’s government. We continue to seek to improve the humanitarian notification system, so that staff can hopefully return to their jobs in confidence that their lifesaving work will not put them at risk of legal prosecution. MSF remains hopeful that we will be able to find an understanding with the authorities that could enable MSF to support the local health system and deliver medical assistance to local people.

As an international medical humanitarian organization, MSF provides impartial medical support to every patient in need, in line with medical ethics and international humanitarian law.

For almost five years, South-West Cameroon has been impacted by violence between separatist armed groups and state armed forces. MSF provided free health care to people in the region until March 29, 2022, when we made the difficult decision to focus on obtaining the safe release of our colleagues. MSF has specified that, as a neutral and impartial medical organization, it has supported wounded patients from both sides of the conflict in South-West Cameroon, including those from the state armed forces. MSF always provides free medical to those who need it most, based solely on need.

Culled from MSF

9, July 2022

University of Buea lecturer kidnapped ⁰

The Department of Engineering and Technology of the University of Buea was yesterday visited by gunmen who disrupted the writing of exams in that department and kidnapped a lecturer who was invigilating the exam.

The gunmen, suspected to be amba boys, came with the intention of disrupting exams and they succeeded in doing that, a student at the Univetsity of Buea told the Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Buea.

“Amba boys came in while we were writing our exams. This is unfortunate. How are they going run their country when they are against education,” the student said.

“Amba boys have made life very hard for students in the two English-speaking regions of the country. In rural parts of the country, children are still denied access to education by these so-called fighters,” he added.

Meanwhile, the kidnapped lecturer has not been heard from and the University community is really concerned.

No group has taken responsibility for the reckless behavior but many observers are already concluding that the revolution has lost its way.

More will be yours as we get it.

By Stephen Mokake

6, July 2022

King of Pop: Three disputed Michael Jackson songs pulled from streaming sites ⁰

Three Michael Jackson songs have been removed from streaming sites following longstanding claims that they are sung by someone else, Sony and the late singer’s estate said Wednesday.

“Breaking News,” “Monster” and “Keep Your Head Up” appear on the 2010 compilation album “Michael,” released a year after Jackson’s death from a drug-induced cardiac arrest.

Some fans have long argued that the vocals on the tracks actually belong to an American session singer by the name of Jason Malachi, claims Sony has denied.

The record company and Jackson’s estate said, however, that they had decided to remove the songs “as the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation associated with these tracks once and for all.”

They added in their joint statement that the removal had nothing to do with whether the songs were authentic.

“Nothing should be read into this action concerning the authenticity of the tracks — it is just time to move beyond the distraction surrounding them,” they said.

Sony and Jackson’s estate added that the seven other tracks on “Michael” would remain available.

On its release in December 2010, “Michael” was billed as containing unreleased songs that were “recently completed using music from the original vocal tracks and music created by the credited producers.”

Jackson is supposed to have written and recorded them with producers Edward Cascio and James Porte in 2007.

But ardent fans and even some Jackson family members expressed skepticism and Sony was forced to release a statement saying it had “complete confidence” that the vocals belonged to Jackson.

Skeptics said the songs were actually sung by Malachi who, according to TMZ, admitted in a 2011 Facebook post that that was the case.

His manager later denied it, claiming the post was faked, reports said.

In 2014, fan Vera Serova launched a class-action lawsuit in California against Sony, Jackson’s estate, Cascio and Porte accusing them of lying to consumers.

An appeals court ruled in favor of Sony and the estate in 2018, removing them from the suit. Serova then appealed to California’s supreme court, according to TMZ.

The judges did not take a stance on whether Jackson had actually sung the songs, and the controversy has not gone away.

Source: AFP

1, July 2022

Moscow: Body of Cameroonian singer Pierre Narcisse, who died last week, will be sent home ⁰

The body of the singer Pierre Narcisse, who died last week, will be delivered to Cameroon after the farewell ceremony.

This was stated by the ex-wife of the artist Valery Kalacheva, According to RIA-Novosti.

According to her, the farewell ceremony for Pierre Narcisse will take place on Thursday, and the body will immediately be taken to Cameroon.

Narcisse’s ex-wife noted that she did not understand why the singer’s relatives refused to bury him in Moscow.

Source: The Times Hub

23, June 2022

Mamfe District Hospital Disaster: Who is to blame? ⁰

It is now almost two weeks since the Mamfe District Hospital was brought down by some unscrupulous arsonists and while fundraising efforts are underway to help with the reconstruction of the hospital and maybe the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment once the facility is restored to its pristine state, many people are still asking why a hospital which is needed by everybody should be the target of arsonists.

For over five years, the country’s military has been engaged in a war with those the government describes as separatist fighters seeking the total independence of Southern Cameroons; a war which has already killed more than seven thousand Cameroonians.

For five years, there has been a lot of destruction of national assets and landmarks, and hundreds of children in the English-speaking parts of the country are still not going to school because of threats by Ambazonian fighters who hold that keeping children at home could be a good bargaining chip which could force the government to the negotiating table. The government, for its part, is not bulging and the blood is still flowing throughout the two English-speaking regions of the country.

Fire has been used by both sides as a weapon of war over the last five years, making it hard to clearly apportion blame when it comes to the burning of the Mamfe General Hospital. The country’s military was the first to employ fire in its bid to frustrate efforts by Ambazonian fighters to create an independent state.

The elderly just like kids were burnt by the military in places like Kwakwa and Muyengue in the country’s Southwest region. In both incidents, the military was caught with its hand in the cookie jar setting houses on fire to demonstrate its determination to stop the separation of the country.

This tactic has not only radicalized many English-speaking Cameroonians, but it has also been counterproductive. Instead of stopping the separation of the country, it has created a lot of bitterness and a strong feeling of revenge which makes it hard for any real reconciliation to take place.

Schools have been burnt, hospitals have been torched and even other government landmarks have been set ablaze by some arsonists who hold that the best way of sending out the predominantly Francophone government out of Southern Cameroons is by burning down facilities which provide services to Southern Cameroonians.

The military had indeed set a very wrong precedent and the government, for its part, has hardly demonstrated any real goodwill to address the concerns of the country’s English-speaking minority. Politics seems to be the objective of every government endeavor while the population takes the full brunt of the fighting. Women get raped, children get undressed in public by Amba fighters because they want to seek knowledge in schools and innocent civilians get maimed if they are not killed when caught in the crossfire.

Each time there is an arson, both factions trade accusations, making it hard for a genuine investigation to be conducted. While it is indisputable that the military has used arson as a weapon of war, it must also be highlighted that no army in the world can clearly boast that its soldiers are disciplined enough not to commit atrocities.

American and British soldiers have been caught on many occasions on the wrong side of the law while in war zones and their atrocities are usually uncovered by human rights groups and even the military itself.

It is therefore preposterous to only apportion blame to the Cameroon military while Amba fighters, who have many undisciplined elements in their ranks, have also distinguished themselves through their atrocities and even the use of fire and other ungodly methods to prosecute their war.

Many students in rural areas of the English-speaking parts of the country have been refused access to schools by Amba fighters. Parents who can afford it have sent their children to towns and cities in French-speaking Cameroon as the self-destruction continues.

Mamfe District Hospital before the attack

Amba fighters have torched many government vehicles, including military equipment during this war. They have torched trucks owned by breweries located in the French-speaking parts of the country and even now, those who are caught with drinks produced by Brasseries du Cameroun are tortured if they are lucky and even killed if Amba boys are having a bad day.

All Amba fighters are not saints and angels. Some of them have gained an unfortunate reputation as arsonists, kidnappers, and killers. Their original mission was to protect the population, but they have now turned against their own people. Torture has become their weapon of choice, and this is really hurting their cause. The population is now caught between the devil and deep blue sea. Even soldiers who are supposed to protect the population sometimes go on an unprovoked killing spree, making it hard for the population to trust them.

As the fighting continues, more atrocities will be committed, and it will be hard to determine who is responsible for such atrocities. Only a fair and objective investigation conducted by international organizations will bring out the truth on the burning of the Mamfe General Hospital which has left residents of Mamfe desperate and frustrated.

However, if the government decides to change its approach to the issue, things could be different. Dialogue, indeed, genuine dialogue, will be the right answer to a situation which continues to fester on a daily basis, as both sides double down and seek to demonstrate that they are winning the war.

Indeed, nobody wins a war. At the end of the day, everybody will be a loser, as many lives would have been ruined and national landmarks destroyed. The sooner both camps realize the folly in their action, the better for a country which would have been a model on the continent if its linguistic riches had been developed.

By Joachim Arrey, Ph.D

23, June 2022

WHO emergency committee meets on monkeypox ⁰

A World Health Organization committee of experts will meet on Thursday to discuss the monkeypox outbreak for the first time and decide whether it constitutes a global health emergency.

The one-day meeting, being held in private, was due to start at 1000 GMT, with a statement on the outcome likely to be issued on Friday.

A surge of monkeypox cases has been detected since May outside of the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic. Most of the new cases have been in Western Europe.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has convened an emergency committee to assess whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.

A PHEIC is the highest alarm that the WHO can sound, under the International Health Regulations — the legally-binding framework agreed by 196 countries on handling public health events that could cross borders.

Besides providing a PHEIC assessment, the committee members are set to give the WHO and its member states advice on how to better prevent the spread of the disease and manage their response.

“The emergency committee will provide a recommendation to the director-general based on scientific principles, and an assessment of the risk to human health, the risk of international spread and the risk of interference with international traffic,” the WHO said.

Tedros then makes the final determination on whether a PHEIC should be declared, based on their advice.

There have been six PHEIC declarations since 2009, the last being for Covid-19 in 2020 — though the sluggish global response to the alarm bell still rankles at the WHO’s Geneva headquarters.

Emergency committee meetings on the new coronavirus outbreak were held on January 22 and 23, 2020 but the panel could not agree at that time that the PHEIC threshold had been reached.

A PHEIC was declared after a third meeting on January 30. But it was only after March 11, when Tedros described the rapidly-worsening situation as a pandemic, that many countries seemed to wake up to the danger.

More than 2,000 cases

This year, as of June 15, some 2,103 laboratory-confirmed cases and one probable case of monkeypox, including one death, have been reported to the WHO from 42 countries.

But the WHO’s Europe office and the EU health agency ECDC said that 2,746 cases had been recorded in Europe alone as of Tuesday.

“The outbreak of monkeypox continues to primarily affect men who have sex with men who have reported recent sex with new or multiple partners,” the WHO said.

Some 84 percent of the cases have been found in Europe, with the most cases being reported from Britain, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Canada and France.

The WHO says there may have been undetected transmission for some time before its unexpected appearance in multiple countries.

The UN health agency currently assesses the global risk level as moderate, considering the low mortality rate.

Tedros announced on June 14 that he would convene an emergency committee, describing the outbreak as “unusual and concerning”.

Source: AFP

19, June 2022

Manyu Women: Transform your tears into concrete actions! ⁰

Videos of Manyu women crying in Yaoundé following the burning down of the Mamfe General hospital by unknown arsonists have been trending online and many people have been asking very serious questions about the rationale behind such an action when many in the Division need more than tears.

Crying is not always a bad thing. It is an expression of a feeling which could be positive or negative. That is why a famous philosopher said that “crying is the noble language of the eye.” The Manyu women in Yaoundé were, for sure, demonstrating their frustration and anger with whoever undertook the ignoble action of robbing more than 100,000 people of quality healthcare in a region which is already in the grip of multiple issues.

Mamfe has no lights. Its water system clearly belongs to the distant past. It is still a miracle that water-related illnesses have not yet popped up in the town, especially cholera which has wreaked havoc in Limbe and Buea, two towns whose water supply systems are by far better than what passes for a water system in Mamfe.

There is no doubt that Manyu women in Yaoundé and indeed across the world love their native Manyu whose capital is Mamfe but converging on a small town hall in Yaoundé to shed tears because of a massive disaster that needs more financial resources than tears is indeed mind-boggling.

The crowd in Yaoundé a few days ago was impressive. Many of the women showed up with some of the finest worsted fabric the world could boast of. The heels of their shoes were so long and beautiful that you could think they were designed for a purpose and by the goddess of beauty. Their expensive eyewear spoke volumes of their love for earthly things. There was no symptom of poverty on any of the women. The occasion seemed to have been an opportunity for some of them to display their wealth and their love for material things. Indeed, that was not the right attire for mourning women.

A lot of tears were shed, but what is baffling to many minds is the real objective of those tears. But since no human being is a god, these women can be given the benefit of the doubt. The world can cut them some slack, especially if they transform those tears into real concrete actions. The walls of the cultural center on which they converged had been transformed into wailing walls and many of the women wept and cursed those responsible for the heinous crime.

Their coming together clearly demonstrated that there was power in numbers and these women can use their numbers to breathe faith and hope into the desperate people of Mamfe. The Mamfe population needs help and tears alone will not solve their mounting health issues that are staring them in the face.

Manyu women across the globe can use their numbers to mobilize resources which could be used to alleviate the pain of their fellow women in Manyu Division. The damaged hospital was where many women were delivered of their babies. With this facility up in smoke, the future looks very bleak for young women who look forward to having their own families in Mamfe.

While rebuilding the damaged hospital may not be the responsibility of the people of Manyu Division, it must be remembered that the primary beneficiaries of the quality healthcare that was provided by the General Hospital was the local Manyu population. It certainly will take a lot of time for the burned hospital to be rebuilt, but the women of Manyu can come up with the finances that will help local women have access to healthcare – not by wearing expensive clothes and crying, but by make huge sacrifices.

They could mobilize resources to enhance the capacity of the Preventive hospital which has now been transformed into a full-fledged hospital without proper equipment. Arrangements could be made with the two local clinics in the town for pregnant women and nursing mothers to receive the care they need at affordable prices in those two clinics. This is not an impossibility, and it will not cost anybody an arm and a leg.

Manyu women organizations such as MOHWA, which have brought together thousands of women, could depart from their original goal of promoting the culture of the region to raising funds for a cause that will put smiles on many faces. It is always a pleasure to see women leaving the United Kingdom to the United States to attend a MOHWA occasion, but it is also disheartening to know that ever since the Mamfe General Hospital went up in smoke, MOHWA has not issued a statement, nor has it even tried to raise funds for other women whose future is in danger because of the disaster brought onto the population by some lawless and devilish persons.

MOHWA should not only be a place to show off. It should be a medium through which women can help other women, especially those who need medical attention in Manyu Division. In this unfortunate situation, every bit will go a long way in alleviating the pain of the residents of Mamfe. The Manyu women in Yaoundé just like their sisters in the Diaspora should be leading key resource mobilization efforts to reduce the pain brought about by the burning of the Mamfe General Hospital.

This is the time for Manyu women to demonstrate their sense of purpose. They can at least skip some of the parties organized by their groups just to help those who are at home. They can also forget about the long heels they want to buy and the expensive clothes and hairpieces just to bring joy to other people. They can cry if they so wish, but the ultimate way of demonstrating love and concern in this context will be to participate in fundraising efforts which will reduce the pain of those whose lives hang in the balance due to the massive fire which gutted the Mamfe General Hospital. Manyu women have to act now, if not, theirs will be the kingdom of tears for many years.

By Joachim Arrey, PhD