When Cameroon’s President for the past 30-plus years Paul Biya came to meet Antonio Guterres on September 22, before he went back to the Hotel Inter-Continental in Geneva, he was accompanied by his state media and… Inner City Press. Now Biya, still in Geneva, has directed his forced to use water cannons in Buea, as they shoot to kill in Belo in North-West Cameroon. Inner City Press asked the UN Resident Coordinator in Cameroon Allegra Baiocchi for her response – none yet – noted the similarity to the UN’s silence in Myanmar and emailed the UN’s top three spokespeople: ”

In light of the government crackdown on communications and unarmed civilians in North-West and South-West Cameroon, after the UN’s readout of September 22 and subsequent statement of concern, this is a request for the UN’s already belated response to the government’s killing. How many people does the UN acknowledge have been killed? What is the UN, both the country team and the wider UN, doing?” The lead spokesman has provided this interim response: “We will try but may not have answers until tomorrow.”

Inner City Press has asked that any and all information be emailed to it as soon as available. According to the UN read-out, the September 22 conversation was entirely positive and did not mention Biya’s abuse of Anglophones, or human rights in any way. Now on October 1 Biya’s forces have opened fire from Buea to Ikiliwindi, Mamfe to Nkwen, Ndu to Nguti. Still, grainy footage has been sent to Inner City Press of Ambazonia independence celebrations in Bamenda despite the orders against freedom of association and movement, and ultimately freedom of speech and of belief.

Biya has again undermined the Internet and rights to communicate in Southern Cameroons, to which Inner City Press after asking the UN  four days in a row until exclusion now turns. Here is a letter sent not only to Inner City Press, but to the UN Office of the Spokesperson: “I am writing from Southern Cameroons. I am pleading you should use your high office to stop the genocide that President Biya wants to exercise on the English speaking Cameroonians. a lot of people have lost their lives already and yet the President of Cameroons is seriously planning to shed more blood.  The truth is clear, the people of southern Cameroons (English speaking ) was a country  of its own that legally voted to joint La Republic of Cameroon. But now La Republic of Cameroon are treating these people as if they colonize them or conquered them in a war. sir use your conscience, it could have been your family going through what we are going through. Where is human rights in the 21st Century where people of a particular nation turns to treat their fellow brothers and sisters as slaves and the whole world is reacting as if there is nothing happening Does it mean that if tomorrow if I’m in one top position in the world that has to deal with the society i will give deaf ears to a situation that has to do with millions of lives ? what is wrong with the world today? where is human right? there is no justice at all? is it that human lives no longer matters? Please kindly react to stop the genocide that is about to happen in 48 hours.” No response from the UN.

Here is another letter: “Dear Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press: Accept my greetings and that of those who can’t write to you. I am writing to you from Buea, Southern Cameroons. Am reacting to your articles on September 28 concerning the crisis in Southern Cameroons. The approach of the UN concerning the Southern Cameroons and it people, proves time and again that the UN must be very corrupt, and have turned it back against in commitment to protect human rights freedoms, and states sovereignty. How can the Secretary General be talking of his to consolidate peace and the Territorial integrity of Cameroon, when knows very well that, the UN holds no legal treaty that binds the British Southern Cameroons with LA Republique DU Cameroun? I hereby want to inform you that, I, as well as an overwhelming majority have chosen to separate from la Republique DU Cameroun because of what we have gone through in 56 of forced union. If the government of la République du Cameroun, considered us Southern Cameroonians as a people with the same rights as Francophones, if the government wanted to make peace and resolve this problem from it core, I think the repression taking place now won’t have been. While you published on the Cameroon crises yesterday, the government of la Republique DU Cameroun became violently repressive and attacked and beating people their homes, taking seizing money and smart phones, and taking them to jail. As am writing to you now, six people were shot yesterday in the town of Ekona, and a grandmother was killed by the military in her home. 14 years old kids are being arrested and detained in jails under very cruel conditions. Since the beginning of this crises since November last year, 112 people have been killed by the military of la Republique DU Cameroun. The la République du Cameroun’s government have been using terrorism blackmail the peaceful protests. I hereby call on the Secretary General to read the the UN charter on human right and freedoms, and the right for self governance.”

Biya’s renewed attacks on the Internet have ranged from Bamenda to Kumbo and Kumba, but are being circumvented by VPNs. Meanwhile Inner City Press is receiving video of protests in front of the Inter-Continental Hotel in Geneva where Biya is staying. Guterres praised Biya, then belatedly called on him to dialogue: while Biya is not even in the country. His landing in Geneva: “VP-CAL used by #PaulBiya, President of Cameroon (Boeing 777) on 2017/09/26 at 08:56:46.” We ran this sample letter to Inner City Press: ” woke up this morning and discovered Internet Services in Cameroon have somehow been limited. I am suspected the regime of Paul Biya have tampered with the internet service and Facebook, Twitter,  WhatsApp, VPNs, Vcontact  aren’t working. I am sure many other social media have been cut off as well.

There have been plans to celebrate the symbolic independence of this region ‘the Former British Southern Cameroons’ on the 1st of October 2017. That is on Sunday and the region have been heavily militarized by the Biya regime, Homes of people invaded, beaten , some killed, many kidnapped and with this shutdown to major social media to  which it is where most of these crimes are exposed, many have been fearing a total Genocide that can be perpetrated on the people of that region. There were rumors that, the internet will be shutdown come 30th September. The Minister of Communications made a public communique two days ago to say, the internet won’t be shutdown but I guess it was just a ploy as through some websites are working, major social medias ( Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter) have been cut off. Please, make the world know what is happening in this region. This is a sly move to blackout to the world what atrocities the Biya’s regime is/will be perpetrating in these regions.”

In Fiango, Biya’s security forces have killed, reportedly Enogene Basile, following their September 28 killings in Ekona. Inner City Press on September 26, 27 and 28 asked Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric about these glaring omissions. The first time, Dujarric alluded to “private” diplomacy. Then on September 27 when Inner City Press asked ask, Dujarric said that UN envoy Francois Fall will be going to Cameroon “next week.” On September 28, Inner City Press asked Dujarric deputy Farhan Haq if this would be before or after October 1, and Haq said he didn’t know. Hours later, Dujarric’s office put out a statement of concern below, which many see as too little, too late, with its emphasis on territorial integrity. On September 29, Inner City Press asked Dujarric not only about the UN’s surveillance of the Press, on which he refused to answer referring to the question to the UN Department of Public Information whose chief Alison Smale has refused to answer basic questions for a month (now keeping a close eye on Catalonia, if not blatant crackdowns in Cameroon), but also if Guterres’ concern is at threats to those in Anglophone Cameroon to stay indoors or be treated as “terrorists,” for citing UN General Assembly Resolution 1608. Dujarric replied that he doesn’t have “granularity” about what’s being done and said.

But he put this out: “The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the situation in Cameroon, including with regard to the recent security incidents in Bamenda and in Douala, and mounting tensions in the South-West and North-West regions related to planned events on 1 October. The Secretary-General has encouraged the Cameroonian authorities to continue their efforts to address the grievances of the Anglophone community. He urges the authorities to promote measures of national reconciliation aimed at finding a durable solution to the crisis, including by addressing its root causes. The Secretary-General supports upholding the unity and territorial integrity of Cameroon and urges all parties to refrain from acts that could lead to an escalation of tension and violence. The Secretary-General believes that genuine and inclusive dialogue between the Government and the communities in the South-West and North-West regions is the best way to preserve the unity and stability of the country.  The Secretary-General stands ready to support these efforts, including through the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). ” We’ll see.

On September 26, Dujarric replied that Guterres would say there is a time for public diplomacy, and a time for private diplomacy. Some wonder, how many people have to die, or what kind of people, for it to be time for UN “public” diplomacy? Earlier on September 22 Inner City Press interviewed Southern Cameroonians out on 47th Street, then asked Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric about people killed that very day.  The crackdown is also financial: Biya’s Minister of Finance has threatened the National Financial Credit Bank in Bamenda with loss of its license for taking part in the “Ghost Town” expression of desire for independence, or in the first instance a referendum.  This politicization should trigger action by the “decision making phere” [sic] written about by Biya’s state media, the kind of media that the UN and now its new head of Public Information favor over independent press.

Cameroon’s government has banned public gatherings, suspended transportation and shut businesses in the country’s English-speaking regions as activists symbolically declared independence from the majority French-speaking areas.

Tensions continue to run high in towns and cities in Cameroon’s northwest and southwestern regions country with thousands of security forces said to be patrolling the streets in a bid to quell planned demonstrations against President Paul Biya’s administration.

“Today, we reaffirm our autonomy over our heritage and over our territory,” the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front (SCACUF) said in a statement on Facebook.

The government has said the move carries no legal weight.

The declaration and protests come on the anniversary of South Cameroon’s independence from Britian in 1961.

Christopher Njong, information officer with the the governing council of Southern Cameroons, also known as Ambazonia, told Al Jazeera earlier on Sunday that people were gathering to march in the town of Bamenda, but were facing “major resistance from the army and police”.

“They [authorities] are doing everything to stop people from marching, because they don’t want the world to see our call for independence,” he said.

Njong added that people were attempting to march in the towns of Buea and Kumbo with white and blue flags (the flag of the country they would name Ambazonia) and placards, but were facing similar resistance from authorities.

They also argue that oil, found in the southwestern region, has been used to the benefit of the state and not the region in which the resources are found. English-speaking Cameroonians make up one-fifth of Cameroon’s population of 22 million. They have long accused the central government of discriminating against their community, arguing that they are excluded from employment and forced to speak French in business and official affairs, despite English being one of the country’s official languages.

But the discontent goes much deeper.

Southern Cameroons joined Cameroon in 1961 through a referendum, but pro-independence groups argue that UN resolution 1608 that set the terms of an unification plan was never properly followed. Additionally, in 1972, when the country moved from a federalist system to a centralised system, with power resting firmly in the capital, Yaounde, those from the Anglophone regions said they suffered further neglect.

As a result, many Anglophones contend that the French-speaking majority annexed Southern Cameroon.

“They have turned us into servants in our own house,” Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, president of the movement for the independence of Southern Cameroons, said earlier this month.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon’s communication minister, told Al Jazeera that there would be no amputation or division of Cameroon.

“This division will never happen,” Bakary, speaking from Yaounde, said.

In response to allegations that the central government have deployed a disproportionate number of military to the region, Bakary said that “necessary measures had been taken to look after people and property, and to ensure people are not bullied”.

“We deployed to prevent violence; their [the protesters] aim is to provoke violence, this is why we sent them [the army] there.”

The minister would not say how many troops were sent, but rejected allegations that internet services had been slowed despite numerous suggestions that people were struggling to access social media.

Six people have been killed and hundreds have been arrested and detained as the government looked to crack down on what they see as a secessionist movement.Dissent in the two regions have been growing over the past year, with protests taking place intermittently.

Earlier this year, the internet was shut down in the two English-speaking regions for more than three months.

Many students and teachers in the two regions have also boycotted schools and banks have been closed, leaving in its wake empty towns, which activists have dubbed “ghost town” protests.

Rising dissent comes as Cameroon’s government faces a wave of criticism by rights groups over what they call the government’s growing authoritarian tendencies. They point to the imprisonment of journalists and those who are critical of Biya or his administration.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in September that the government was using an anti-terror law to quell dissent.

Ayuk Patrick, the secretary-general of SCACUF, a movement calling for independence for the two regions, said that people would be marching worldwide on Sunday for “the restoration of our nation state”.

He also denied government claims that secessionists were armed and disruptive.

“Our people are being called to march peacefully. We don’t have armed groups. Instead, we have a three- throng approach: First, we are litigating the regime, second, we are exercising our right to civil disobedience and the third thing is diplomacy,” Patrick told Al Jazeera ahead of the planned march in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“We have a right to self defence. But we are not attacking the government.”

Culled from Al Jazeera