National And International News Roundup – 11th November 2020

John Moses Sama, a teacher at Government High School New Bell, Douala in Cameroon’s commercial city was arrested on Tuesday, jailed for one day and later transferred to Yaounde for complicity with Separatists. Sources close to the father of four say he was arrested on campus after reportedly being framed by his colleagues. “When he was arrested, they asked him why he is following Amba activists on Facebook, he said he knows none of them. His android phone has not been functioning for months now, my uncle is innocent, he has been a government teacher in Douala for over 20 years,” narrated a relative in tears. This Wednesday, relatives discovered that Moses Sama suddenly dissapeared at the Judicial Police in Bonanjo where he was held. “We were told today that he has been sent to Yaounde after he was severely tortured,” MMI was told. Details of this story later.

Some 24 students in Douala have reportedly contracted the Coronavirus. The schools made the revelation during a visit by Littoral Governor, Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua. The institutions added that since registering the new cases, they had disinfected classrooms and intensified barrier measures against the virus.

Some parents have contradicted schools in Douala for declaring that their kids had contracted COVID-19. State media reports that after the schools announced that 24 were COVID-19 positive, some parents took their kids to different health facilities for further testing and got negative results.

There have been mixed reactions in Douala following the brutalisation of some lawyers at Bonanjo Court of First Instance yesterday. While many are criticising the military, others say lawyers violated the decision of the court by forcing to bail two of their colleagues accused of corruption and false pretence. The accused lawyers are still in detention at New Bell Prison.

Cameroon’s last Ordinary Parliamentary Session opens tomorrow. The National Assembly and the Senate are to focus on drafting the 2021 budget. The lawmakers are expected to deliberate on the Anglophone Crisis after the killing of seven students in a private school in Kumba.

Rising water levels in Nyong and Nkelle Division in the Centre Region of Cameroon has led to the death of two women. Reports say they were returning from the farm when they were carried away. Inhabitants lament that floods have become a major threat in the area of recent.

Access with hand bags and other packages with doubtful contents have been prohibited in restaurants, bars and other drinking spots in Yaoundé. That is a decision signed by the 1st Assistant SDO. The measure is to curb rising insecurity in Cameroon’s political capital Yaoundé.

Mozambique’s national football team is poised to defeat the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon tomorrow at Reunification Stadium in Douala. The head coach of the team recognises Cameroon’s football prowess but says they are determined to win. The match will be played on camera beginning from 5:00 pm.

Nine students were caught engaged in group sex in Douala today. Reports say the nine had skipped school to organise a party and had consumed alcohol suspected to be laced when they were caught in the act. Their ages range from 14 to 21.

Ndawa Precious, a 12-year-old boy found breaking rocks months ago is back in school. Thanks to the African Women and Children Empowerment Initiative, AWCEI, he was able to once more attend school like the rest of his peers. He was one of thousands of kids forced into child labour in the country due to lack of finances.

Kenya’s health minister has come under criticism after he expressed vague doubts over the recent announcement of a vaccine. Mutahi Kagwe was appearing before a parliamentary committee to give an update on the country’s fight against the pandemic. When asked about the vaccine he said: “I really, personally to tell you the truth, I have got my many doubts about it because we are talking about a [vaccine] that stops people from getting the virus,” he said.

Environmental activists in Kenya have welcomed a presidential declaration to save a 100-year-old fig tree that had been marked for removal to make way for a road project. Activists have been demonstrating for weeks to oppose the cutting down of trees in the capital to clear the way for the Nairobi Expressway, a 17-mile, four-lane highway which is aimed at reducing traffic.

Felicien Kabuga, the alleged financier of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has made his first appearance at a United Nations court in The Hague. The 84 year old is accused of funding militias and helping set up a media group which urged ethnic Hutus to kill Tutsis. He denies wrongdoing. The court in The Hague will decide whether Mr Kabuga is well enough to be transferred to the main UN facility in Arusha, Tanzania.

Police in the Angolan capital, Luanda, have used tear gas to disperse demonstrators protesting against rising living costs, unemployment and the postponement of local elections due to coronavirus. A number of people were arrested. Some were injured during the demonstrations, which had been banned by the authorities.

At least 5,000 Ethiopians have crossed the border to neighbouring Sudan as the government continues with a military offensive in the northern Tigray region, a commissioner for refugees in Sudan’s Kassala state has told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme. Al Sir Khalid said that as many as 20,000 refugees could cross the border this week. He said that some of the refugees had walked for two or three days to escape “bombardment”, and that some of them were Ethiopian soldiers.

Foreign news: BBC