OEAS Calls For Pan Africa Cease Fire To Allow COVID-19 Aid
Accra, Ghana:
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a global cease-fire to facilitate the global response to COVID-19.
According to OEAS Secretary-General Ebenezer Akwanga: “Africa must brace for the coming storm of COVID-19; our front line members are among those most at risk. The liberation struggle should not be an impediment to obtaining medical aid for our peoples.”
OEAS members include Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons), Azawad (Northern Mali), Biafra (Nigeria), Cabinda (Angola), Kabylia (Algeria) and the Riff region of Morocco where long simmering disputes have at times erupted into armed conflict.
The UN and global community recently hailed the decision of OEAS member The Southern Cameroons Defense Forces (SOCADEF) to declare a 14 day cease fire so that COVID-19 aid workers could set up in Ambazonia. The OEAS hopes other armed groups in Africa, OEAS members and nonmembers, will follow the example of SOCADEF.
The OEAS Chief Legal Officer, Dr. Jonathan Levy, explains that these COVID-19 cease fire should not be equated with truces: “These are limited events for the sole purpose of letting aid workers into regions already suffering from armed conflict. Freedom fighters will not be hindered from defending themselves, civilians or aid workers.” On the Ambazonia cease fire Levy specifically stressed, “ The onus is on the Camerounian army to respect the cease fire; the UN and SOCADEF want aid workers in the region to fight the pandemic, we hope the government troops will stand down and in the face of the common enemy of COVID-19.”
The Organization of Emerging African States (OEAS) is a United States 501(c)(3) public charity registered with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs NGO Branch and The European Commission Authentication System (ECAS) with members throughout Africa and the European Union and a branch office in Accra, Ghana.
