UN GATE, Oct 21 –
After Inner City Press
repeatedly asked UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres and
his spokesman about Cameroon's
Internet cut-off and abuses,
the UN's answer after its
Resident Coordinator was shown
to block the Press and then
left for the Central African
Republic was that the UN
Office on Central Africa
(UNOCA) envoy Francois
Lounceny Fall would be
visiting. This turned out to
be misleading like so much
with today's UN system, which
since July 5, 2018 has banned
Inner City Press for covering
the UN's Budget Committee and
the deal UNSG Antonio Guterres
is said by sources close to
him have made with Cameroon as
chair of the committee (Fox
News story here,
GAP blogs I
and II).
Now on 21 October
2020 in the middle of its
Annual Meetings the IMF is
doling out yet another $156
million to Biya's government
without mentioning his
killings in SW and NW nor that
he lives, on the cash, in
Geneva. Here's from the
announcement: "IMF Executive
Board Approves a US$ 156
million New Disbursement for
Cameroon to Address the impact
of the COVID-19 Pandemic
October 21, 2020 This is
the second disbursement under
the Rapid Credit Facility
(RCF) to help Cameroon address
urgent balance of payment
needs stemming from the
COVID-19 pandemic. Weaker
external demand and a
deepening of the economic
impact of the COVID-19
pandemic have further
deteriorated growth prospects
and worsened external and
fiscal positions. Additional
resources under the RCF will
help address urgent financing
needs to mitigate the impact
of the pandemic, including
spending on health, social
protection, and to support the
most vulnerable as well as
catalyze additional donor
resources. Washington, DC: The
Executive Board of the
International Monetary Fund
(IMF) today approved a
disbursement of SDR 110.4
million (about US$ 156
million, 40 percent of quota)
under the Rapid Credit
Facility (RCF). This is the
second emergency disbursement
to the country since the onset
of the COVID-19 pandemic,
bringing total IMF emergency
support since the outbreak of
the pandemic to SDR 276
million (about US$ 382
million, 100 percent of
quota). The new emergency
disbursement will help
Cameroon meet its urgent
balance of payments and fiscal
needs.
Since the approval of the
first Rapid Credit Facility
(RCF-1) request on May 4, 2020
(IMF Country Report No
20/185), weaker external
demand in major trading
partners and a more pronounced
impact of containment measures
to slow the rising number of
COVID-19 cases have further
deteriorated growth prospects
and worsened Cameroon’s
external and fiscal positions.
As a result, urgent balance of
payments needs arising from
the pandemic have increased,
with the financing gap now
estimated at about CFAF 917
billion. The additional
disbursement under the RCF
will help address urgent
financing needs to mitigate
the impact of the
pandemic.
The authorities have been
proactive in responding to the
COVID-19 pandemic and are
stepping up their efforts to
contain the spread of the
disease, boost health and
social protection spending,
and provide temporary support
to affected businesses and
households. In that regard,
they adopted a series of
measures including a revised
budget with a larger deficit
to accommodate automatic
stabilizers and crisis-related
emergency spending; a
three-year preparedness and
response (P&R) plan
against the pandemic; and they
created a COVID Special
Account. Following
the Executive Board’s
discussion on Cameroon, Mr.
Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy
Managing Director and Acting
Chair, issued the following
statement:
“The COVID-19 pandemic
continues to pose significant
challenges for Cameroon." But
reforms? Biya lives in Geneva
and has journalists beaten up
there. With questions pending,
there is an upcoming press
conference.
Previously the
IMF published a report on
Cameroon, including touching
on the economic impact of the
"anglophone crisis." The IMF
report states: "The current
anglophone crisis takes its
roots in Cameroon’s
unification in 1961. The 1972
constitution replaced
federalism with a unitary
state. Throughout the years,
the anglophone population,
which resides mostly in the
north-west and south-west
regions and account for 20
percent of Cameroon’s total
population of 25 million, has
demanded more autonomy and
rights, while the state has
become increasingly
centralized. They founded the
largest opposition party
(Social Democratic Front) in
the 1990s.
The crisis has escalated to an
armed separation movement with
rising humanitarian costs. The
crisis started in October 2016
with strikes by lawyers and
teachers and was followed by a
boycott of schools, protests
and ghost towns. It
subsequently morphed into an
armed movement for
independence marked by
violence on both sides, which
escalated in recent months to
killings and detentions,
burning and looting of
villages, and kidnappings of
government officials and
civilians. Despite a heavy
military presence, the
insecurity has spread leading
to rising humanitarian costs.
The United Nations’ Office for
the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs estimated
that more than 20,000 people
have fled to Nigeria, and
160,000 have become internally
displaced persons (IDPs). This
adds to the burden from
340,000 refugees from Nigeria
and the Central African
Republic. The United Nations
High Commission for Refugees
estimates that the cost of
assisting refugees and IDPs in
Cameroon has risen to US$87
million, of which only US$15
million are funded. Anecdotal
evidence suggests that the
anglophone crisis is taking a
toll on the economy. A
rigorous quantification is
difficult because of lack of
adequate data. However, real
exports of coffee and cocoa,
grown mostly in the anglophone
areas, have decreased by about
10 percent in 2017. Coffee
export volumes further
declined by 72 percent in the
first quarter of 2018 (y/y).
Tax revenues decreased by 8–9
percent in both regions in
2017 compared with 2016, due
to lower economic activity and
difficulties to collect taxes.
Additional security expenses
amounted to 0.4 percent of GDP
in 2017 and at least 0.2
percent of GDP in 2018."
While the UN
Security Council visited
Cameroon during the 94 day
Internet cut off and said
nothing publicly about it (but
see below), Inner City Press
has obtained and has
exclusively published
on Patreon and now Scribd,
here Cameroon's "Urgent
and Confidential" letter to
the UN Security Council, about
weapons. On May 23, 2018 -
before being roughed up and
banned from the UN -- Inner
City Press went to the New
York event for Cameroon's
"National" Day, which was
boycotted in the Anglophone
regions of the country. In New
York, however, UN Deputy
Secretary General Amina J.
Mohammad and Antonio Guterres'
Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza
Ribeiro Viotti attended, along
with French Permanent
Representative to the UN
Francois Delattre, Burundi's
Albert Shingiro and others.
Video here.
Periscope
inside was not possible due,
ironically, to a lack of
Internet. There were toasts in
French for Chantalle Biya and
for the UN officials; on the
way out UN staffers told Inner
City Press it was sure to
criticize them. What matters,
as always, is what happens
going forward. Italy is a
member of the Security Council
this year, and on the morning
of May 18 including in light
of Italian President
Mattarella's meetings this
year with Cameroon's 34 year
president Paul Biya, Inner
City Press asked Italy's
Mission to the UN: "your
Mission was part of the
Security Council's trip
including to Cameroon earlier
this year, during the
country's 94-day Internet shut
off to millions of people in
the Northwest and Southwest
(or Anglophone) regions. The
IMF, for what it's worth, told
Inner City Press the
government's Internet cut off
is among other things a
financial risk in 2017. Could
you comment on your Mission's
aware of the issue, during the
Security Council visit to
Cameroon and since, and on
whether you believe the
Secretary General and DPA, as
a matter of prevention of
conflict, may have a greater
role to play in this
long-standing, UN-related
conflict or dispute?" Eight
hours later, the Italian
Mission's spokesperson
Giovanni Davoli replied on
Cameroon that "the situation
you are mentioning was not in
the agenda of the UNSC
visit."Corruption.
***
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