Senator Marcel Niat Njifenji has been re-elected as President of Cameroon’s Senate with the required absolute majority of 85 votes of the 93 votes cast with eight nul ballots. The plenary session for the elections of President of the permanent bureau of the Senate was presided over by the eldest member of the Senate, Senator Nfon Victor E. Mukete.
The delegation from Cameroon to Equatorial Guinea on a consolation mission has visited the military site in Bata where four explosions occurred on March 7. The blast killed more than 100 persons, with over 600 injured. Significant infrastructure damage was also recorded throughout the city.
Cameroon national airline carrier, Camair-Co has announced the resumption of its flights to the West regional capital, Bafoussam. The company announced this morning that operations at the Bamougoum Airport will reopen henceforth and flights will be scheduled into and out of the town three times a week.
Eleven criminals specialized in kidnappings and demanding ransoms were arrested today in the Far North Region by elements of the National Gendarmerie. Eight of the 11 criminals carried out the final operation before they got into the dragnet of the law enforcement officers on February 28 and March 01, 2021.
Security forces in Kumba today arrested Batche Calister, the girlfriend of Ambazonia general Spirito after the separatist general was killed alongside five of his boys. The SDO of Meme Division has applauded the military while stating that death remains the future of those who will not voluntarily lay down their arms.
The Principal of Government Bilingual High School Babone in Haut Nkam Division in the West Region sent students home for not buying good hand sanitizers from recognized pharmacies. According to reports, students are using locally made hand sanitizers but the principal says it is ineffective to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Saint Elliot Bidung, councilor of Yaounde 6 council in the Centre Region says the CPDM led government is delaying the process of issuing an authorization to his party for reasons best known by them. Speaking on Canal 2 TV this evening, the former militant of CPDM party says he was dismissed from the party for expressing intentions to run for the post of president of Cameroon under the CPDM party.
The second phase of vaccination against cholera in the Littoral Region will run from the 25th to March 30, 2021. Medical doctors say cases of cholera are still in the Littoral Region.
The ministry of public health has debunked rumors of the shortage of COVID test kits in Cameroon. Dr. Manaounda Malachie encourages Cameroonians to go for the COVID-19 test. He adds that experts are examining vaccines to choose what will be used in Cameroon.
The trial of suspects who carried out the Ngarbuh Massacre has been adjourned to April 15, 2021. Lawyers defending victims of the massacre continue to denounce the government’s choice of judging suspects in Yaoundé rather than Bamenda that is accessible to victims.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has hailed the late Tanzanian President John Magufuli as a “visionary” who spent “most of his life serving the country and humanity”. He introduced reforms that Tanzanians would celebrate for generations to come – including the “challenging decision to reduce the size and cost of governance, insistence on a people-focused budget with clear priorities on education and health, and consistently fighting profligacy and frivolities in public expenditures”, Mr Buhari said.
US President Joe Biden is sending a senator to Ethiopia to raise with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed his grave concerns over the crisis in the northern region of Tigray, the allegations of human rights abuses and the risk of broader instability. Senator Chris Coons will also consult the African Union.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has sued a leading independent newspaper, the Daily Monitor, for defamation after accusing it of publishing a “malicious” allegation against him about Covid-19 vaccines. The paper quoted a report in the US-based Wall Street Journal, alleging that Mr Museveni and his inner circle had secretly been inoculated before the rest of the population.
Mozambique’s national carrier flag carrier has announced that it is temporarily suspending flights to and from Kenya Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, or LAM, said the decision had been taken for “operational reasons”. It did not elaborate, but the decision is thought to be linked to the slump in air travel because of Covd-19. On 1 February 2021, LAM announced the suspension of some domestic flights because of the pandemic.
The army in the Democratic Republic of Congo says 30 people have been killed in fighting between government troops and the Codeco militia in the eastern province of Ituri. The military said 11 civilians, two soldiers and a policeman were killed. Sixteen militiamen died in an army counter-offensive. Codeco, which is split into several factions, is accused of taking over mines and illegally extracting gold.
Angola is pressing ahead with the roll-out of the Oxford-Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine that has been at the centre of controversy in Europe, with Health Minister Sílvia Lutucuta saying that no serious side-effects have been recorded so far, Reuters news agency reports. Doses shipped to Angola were from a different batch to ones distributed in Europe, she was quoted as saying.
The United Nations says its human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has agreed to Ethiopia’s request for a joint investigation into the situation in the northern region of Tigray. The UN will work with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to investigate reports of the indiscriminate killing of civilians and widespread sexual abuse. It said it was planning to launch the mission as soon as possible.
Foreign news: BBC
