Cameroon has deployed troops and armored cars to towns that will be hosting matches of the Africa Football Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in its troubled Southwest region. Cameroon is hosting the continent’s top soccer tournament beginning Sunday, but the region’s anglophone separatists have threatened to disrupt the games.

Residents of Cameroon’s Southwest region towns of Buea and Limbe say in the past two weeks there has been a noticeable increase in troops and military trucks on the streets.

The troubled Southwest region is one area of Cameroon that will be hosting Africa’s top soccer championship, the Africa Football Cup of Nations (AFCON).

21-year-old University of Bueau student Fabrice Tobi says security in the city is becoming watertight.

He spoke to VOA Wednesday via a messaging application.

“I was surprised with the amount{number} of armored cars and the troops entering Buea with the ones that were already there,” said Tobi. “It is very difficult to leave from one area to the other in the city of Buea without meeting military or security men. In markets and even in student residential areas, they are everywhere. They do the controls. It is very difficult for you to leave your house without being checked or controlled.”

Cameroon’s military confirmed that troops have been deployed to Buea and Limbe to protect football players, officials, and fans for the tournament. A spokesman declined to comment on the number of troops and armored vehicles deployed.

The southwestern towns will host group matches for teams from Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, and Tunisia.

Anglophone separatists fighting in Cameroon’s west to break away from the majority French-speaking nation have vowed to disrupt the games.

Within the past two months Buea has reported at least six attacks by separatist fighters.

The rebels took responsibility for November and December bombings at the University of Buea and the town’s Great Soppo Market that wounded at least 14 people.

The governor of Cameroon’s Southwest region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, says civilians should report any rebel suspects hiding in their community.

“We will continue to sensitize the population, particularly towards vigilance. You know what happened in the Great Soppo market,” said Bilai. “It is the population themselves who seized the bag and called gendarmes to come and destroy it. That is the behavior, the action, we are expecting from the population.”

Bilai says residents and visitors should not be afraid of the separatists’ threats.

He says the separatists made similar threats when Limbe and Buea hosted matches of the African Nations Championship a year ago without incident.

Source: VOA

Cameroon is fully ready to host the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the country’s minister of Sports and Physical Education Narcisse Mouelle Kombi said on Wednesday.

“There is no need to worry about all the preparations. Things are moving on very well. We are fully ready to host. All the commissions and the site supervisors are very committed,” Kombi, also president of the competition’s organizing committee, told reporters in the capital Yaounde after a meeting to assess last-minute preparations and address concerns about COVID-19, infrastructure and security in the host country barely three days before the tournament begins.

Cameroon has faced scrutiny and criticism in the lead-up to the tournament over the not-ready-Olembe Stadium which is scheduled to host the opening and closing match of the tournament.

Kombi said that works at the stadium were virtually done and it was set to host “a very beautiful opening ceremony of the tournament”.

Over 10 African teams have already arrived the Central African nation for Africa’s biggest sports festival.

“The teams have been well received and are very satisfied because they are in very good conditions and are busy in training stadiums,” said Kombi.

Featuring 24 teams, the tournament begins on Sunday with hosts Cameroon taking on Burkina Faso at the 60,000-seat Olembe stadium in Yaounde.

The biennial competition will end on February 6.

Source: Xinhuanet

Attendances during the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be capped at 80per cent for host nation Cameroon’s fixtures and 60per cent for other games due to COVID-19, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said.

The tournament will begin on Jan. 9 with Cameroon taking on Burkina Faso at the Olembe stadium in Yaounde, which can seat 60,000 people.

“After several consultations with the Cameroonian government … CAF and the local organising committee have agreed to cap stadium capacity between 60per cent-80per cent in the Africa Cup of Nations,” the governing body said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The 80per cent maximum capacity will only apply for matches of the host country Cameroon.”

The statement added that strict health protocols had been put into place for spectators, who must be fully vaccinated and present a negative test result to attend games.

Concerns about the readiness of stadiums and the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant have made headlines in recent weeks.

A number of teams preparing for the AFCON have also reported positive COVID-19 cases, including tournament favourites Algeria, Ivory Coast and Morocco.

Source: Reuters

There are threats by armed Anglophone separatists to disrupt the 2021 African Cup of Nations which is expected to open in Cameroon on Sunday.

Some armed groups have vowed to disrupt the competition and sent threatening letters to the teams in Group F (Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania and Gambia) who will play in Limbe and train in Buea, the seaside resort and capital of the south-west region respectively.

“The threats are very serious,” said Blaise Chamango, head of the NGO Human Is Right, based in Buea. “On Wednesday, there was an explosion in Limbe in a takeaway, it is a strong message,” he said by phone to AFP.

“The government has deployed heavily armed soldiers on almost all the intersections of Buea and Limbe in particular. The defence and security forces are carrying out arrests and systematic searches in several areas,” Chamango said.

Already, there are speculations of a possible postponement of the tournament due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the new wave of the Omicron variant.

For the past four years, the regions – inhabited mainly by the Anglophone minority – of the South-West and North-West have been in the midst of a bloody conflict between armed groups demanding independence and the security forces, who have carried out a ruthless crackdown.

According to international NGOs and the United Nations, the violence has left more than 3,500 people dead and more than 700,000 displaced in the west, mainly civilians.

President Paul Biya, on Friday, mentioned “several cases of surrender” in the armed groups. But they “continue to engage in criminal activities, multiplying attacks with improvised explosive devices and murders of unarmed civilians”, warned the head of state, who is criticised by NGOs for being absolutely inflexible on the issue of the Anglophone regions.

In the face of the threat, the government repeatedly insists that “security will be ensured”.

– Arrangements” –

In the capital Yaounde, some 250 km east of the border with the English-speaking areas, the atmosphere was relaxed with few security agents observing the final preparations around the brand new stadium of Olembe, built purposely for the CAN.

“The security situation is really only a concern in the North West and South West but I think our defence forces have enough experience to deal with it,” said James Mouangue Kobila, president of the Human Rights Commission and professor of public law.

“The security arrangements are exceptional considering the stakes and we had the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in January 2021 without incident,” he argues.

Cameroon also faces another threat, in the far north, with jihadist attacks, which have however decreased in intensity since the death last May of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram.

Source: Africa News

Authorities in Cameroon say thousands of people have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine so they can attend the continent’s top soccer tournament, the Africa Football Cup of Nations, or AFCON, which begins January 9. Organizers are putting out the word that even if they have been vaccinated, fans will also need to present a negative test to enter stadiums.

Motorcycle taxi drivers assemble and wait to be vaccinated against COVID-19 at Messasi Hospital in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.

Among them is 29-year-old Gabriel Ndze, vice president of the local taxi drivers association.

Ndze says he wants to see the AFCON matches, and this is the only way.

“I am not taking the vaccine because I really trust it. No. My main problem is to get to the field, see players like Sadio Mane from Senegal, Mohamed Salah from Egypt and all of those strikers that play in Europe. I have been hearing about them but I have not seen them. This is an opportunity for me to take my vaccine, then get to the field to see them. Most of the people are taking this vaccine now just because of the Nations Cup,” he said.

Ndze said the taxi drivers association has been encouraging members who want to see the AFCON matches to voluntarily get the COVID-19 vaccine.

He said at least 300 motorcycle taxi riders have been vaccinated.

Hotels, restaurants and bus companies are also urging their staff to get the jab, so they are eligible to interact with the thousands of people coming to Cameroon for AFCON.

Fans are required to be vaccinated as well. Last month, the government said access to stadiums will depend on presentation of vaccination cards.

The Confederation of African Football, or CAF, said fans will also be expected to show proof of negative COVID-19 test results that are not more than 24 hours old.

Those who do not have test results can be tested for COVID-19 at the entrance to football stadiums.

Dr. Georges Alain Etoundi Mballa, director of pandemics and epidemics at Cameroon’s public health ministry, says besides increasing the number of vaccination centers, Cameroon has imported several million COVID-19 vaccine doses from China, Europe and America so that AFCON can be played in excellent sanitary and health conditions.

He says most people who are getting the vaccine tell vaccination teams that they do not want to miss AFCON, which is the most coveted football event in Africa.

All soccer fans, players and officials coming from abroad are being tested for COVID-19 at airports, seaports and roads upon arrival in Cameroon. People testing positive for the virus are isolated or taken to hospitals for treatment. Authorities have not said how many visiting fans, players and match officials have been tested positive.

Source: VOA

Droves of armored vehicles are patrolling the streets of Limbe in Cameroon’s conflict-torn southwest region ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) soccer finals starting on January 9 that separatist militants have vowed to disrupt.

Cameroon is hosting the tournament in six cities, but security is potentially most at threat in Limbe, a city on the tropical Atlantic coast whose surrounding region has been rocked by armed attacks since war broke out in 2017.

The conflict, in which armed groups are trying to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia, has killed at least 3,000 people and forced nearly one million to flee.

Violence has worsened this year as separatists increase their use of improvised explosives.

“My fear … is that the recent phenomenon of bomb blasts which have been happening in other parts … could be a common phenomenon during this AFCON period,” said local journalist Honore Kuma.

Insecurity is just one issue facing the tournament. Concerns about the readiness of stadiums and the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant have also made headlines in recent weeks.

Limbe’s Omnisport Stadium will host matches from Group F comprising Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania and Gambia. The group’s first game will be between Tunisia and Mali on January 12.

The nearby regional capital of Buea, where some Group F training will take place, was struck by two explosions in November including one in a university that wounded 11 students.

Authorities have kept security plans under wraps, but promised there will be no disruption to Group F matches.

Armed police, gendarmes and soldiers are already positioned at major intersections. Checkpoints have been set up on roads into the city.

“AFCON will take place in very good conditions. There are no grounds for concern,” said Emmanuel Ledoux Engamba, senior official of Fako territory, which includes Limbe and Buea.

The separatist conflict began in the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested against their perceived marginalization by the primarily French-speaking national government.

A violent crackdown by security forces radicalized the movement. Armed groups formed amid the regions’ forests and cocoa plantations.

As Limbe readies for an influx of fans, some residents said they are not focused on soccer.

“How will I enjoy it while my brothers and sisters are suffering because of the Anglophone crisis? Every day, they are dying,” said 33-year-old Roland, who lives near the Limbe stadium.

Source: Reuters

The Gambia cancelled on Saturday their two prep matches for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations due to a surfeit of Covid-19 cases in their squad.

The decision came just hours before they were due to play Algeria in Doha — the other match was against Syria on Tuesday.

“Due to the unavailability of 16 of our 28-man squad our friendlies ahead of the Cup of Nations against Algeria and Syria have both been cancelled,” the Gambian Football Federation (GFF) said in a statement.

The team’s Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet explained via Facebook that the swathe of absences were due to “Covid, other illness, injuries and restrictions to travel.”

The Algerians were less than pleased with the late notice.

“The Gambians decided unilaterally to cancel the match hours before kick-off on the pretext that they were lacking a goalkeeper!” stormed the Algerian Football Federation (FaF) in a statement.

The cancellations are hardly ideal preparation for Gambia ahead of their first appearance at the biennial African football showpiece being hosted by Cameroon and which runs from January 9 to February 6.

They open their campaign on January 12 against Mauretania, followed by Mali four days later and round off their group matches against Tunisia on January 20.

Source: AFP