Monthly Archives: October 2018

6, October 2018

UN chief urges peaceful, free and fair elections in Cameroon ⁰

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a peaceful, credible and inclusive elections in Cameroon, as the country prepares to hold presidential elections this coming Sunday.

In a statement from his spokesperson, the UN chief also called on all stakeholders to “exercise restraint before, during and after the election.”

He also urged all Cameroonians to exercise their democratic rights, urging all candidates “to address any complaints related to the electoral process through established legal and constitutional channels.” Nine candidates are contesting the elections to the country’s highest body, according to media reports.

Further in the statement, the Secretary-General condemned all threats of violence or acts of intimidation by any group and reiterated that all grievances should be addressed through inclusive dialogue.

“The United Nations stands ready to provide support in this regard,” added the statement. Insecurity is a concern in Cameroon in the country’s north, as a result of activities of the Boko Haram terrorist group, and according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are some 160,000 persons displaced across the country – a majority of them in the south-west.

Source: News.un.org

6, October 2018

Oh Lucky Man:Biya at helm of six-time election winning machine ⁰

President Paul Biya, the 85-year-old Cameroonian leader who will seek a seventh term on Sunday, has developed an effective system to stay in power despite long overseas absences. One of Africa’s longest serving leaders, he has made Yaounde’s Etoudi presidential palace his home since 1982.

“Those who want power don’t last, it’s those who can (rule)” he told journalists in 2015, making a rare remark about his long time in charge of Cameroon.

One aspect of his time in office is the “subtle balance of forces” which Biya has created in the country, in a region where leadership changes are often accompanied by force, according to International Crisis Group’s (ICG) Hans de Marie Heungoup.

Cameroon’s system was “designed so that everyone polices themselves and maintained inter-generational and ethnic rivalries”, Heungoup said.

“No one can move an active (security force) unit without the say-so of the president,” he added, emphasising the importance of the balance between the regularly army, the rapid intervention force, and the presidential guard – the last two of which report directly to the president.

The president’s appointment of loyalists to key posts has also assured his long rule.

‘Go against Biya, you’ll be crushed’

The speaker of the National Assembly, the head of the army and the head of the state-run oil and gas company are all confidants of the president, and have each held their jobs for more than 15 years.

The system has been strengthened through “a mix of resigned acceptance and patronage among certain elite leaders who rally behind the regime,” said Fred Eboko, a researcher at the French Institute for Research and Development (IRD). Biya’s primary motivation since coming to office has been “to stay in power,” he added.

“The system is built on a single individual and this individual is identified with the job,” said Titus Edzoa, a former confidant of the president who was secretary general of Biya’s presidency between 1994 and 1996 and held ministerial posts on several occasions.

“If you try to go against Biya, you’ll be crushed,” he said.

‘In power for 35 years… that’s talent’

He should know. After resigning as a health minister in 1997 to stand in elections, he was arrested and accused of stealing millions of CFA francs. He spent 15 years behind bars.

Now a free man, he warns that by centring the system on Paul Biya’s personality “not only could the system implode, but so too could the whole of Cameroon” in the near future.

“Whether you want him or not, he’s still human and you have to think of the future,” he said. “How do you look back on the story of a people dominated by an individual?”

Osvald Baboke, the deputy director of the presidency, wrote in a book published in September that “Biya’s fate seemed pre-determined” and “an opportunity given by God”. “Being in power for 35 years and standing again, that’s talent,” added Edzoa.

His repeated long absences from Cameroon, mostly in Switzerland or in his home village in his country’s south, have been bitterly criticised.

According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a consortium of investigative journalists, Biya spent “at least four-and-a-half years of his 35 years in power on private visits” abroad.

But for the final leg of the campaign, which concludes on Saturday, Biya did at least make a rare public appearance, visiting the far-north which has been engulfed by Boko Haram jihadist violence — his first trip there since 2012.

AFP

6, October 2018

Anglophone crisis looms over Cameroon’s presidential election ⁰

On the morning of October 7, eight of Cameroon’s 10 regions will vote in a presidential election that could end the long-running leadership of Paul Biya, who has been in office since 1982 and was prime minister in the seven years before that.

Dissidents in the remaining two regions – the South West and North West – home to Cameroon’s English-speaking minority, have threatened a showdown. “There is localised violence in the Anglophone regions … more than 1,000 men have pledged to dislodge the elections in those regions by violence,” says Hans de Marie Heungoup, senior analyst for Central Africa at the International Crisis Group.

Besides fighting by Boko Haram in the Far North and North regions and rebel incursions from the Central African Republic into the Eastern region, Cameroon is largely beset by the Anglophone crisis, a separatist uprising with roots in the pre-World War I era when it was a German colony.

“We are very much on the brink of a civil war,” said Kah Walla, who is from an Anglophone region. She is the leader of the Cameroon People’s Party (CPP), but the group declined to put forward a candidate for the coming vote.

“Separatist groups have gotten to a stage where they control some territory and have promised violence if the authorities attempt to hold elections there and government has vowed to hold elections there. So the population is caught in the middle.”

Southern Cameroons became German Kamerun in 1885, eventually transiting to joint French and British administration. Opting not to join Nigeria as it sought independence in 1961, it instead joined the French Cameroons, which had already gained independence a year earlier.

By 1972, the federal republic of Cameroon had become a unitary state; while the south kept its English laws and academic system, the rest of the country stuck to the French legal system and the baccalaureate schooling alternative.

There are now complaints of marginalisation and a dearth of infrastructure in those English-speaking provinces, despite being home to the oil that accounts for 40 percent of the country’s GDP. People looking to go from Mamfe to Akwaya in the same region, for instance, travel through a Nigerian border town before returning to Cameroon – a journey that could take as long as a day – because of the roads’ terrible condition.

The elections won’t be free and fair. The system is already rigged to give the president a structural advantage-KAH WALLA, CAMEROON PEOPLE’S PARTY LEADER

Rising tensions and subsequent protests caused by these divisions snowballed spectacularly in 2016.

At least 400 people have died so far. A further 20,000 people have fled into neighbouring Nigeria as their villages were razed. Schools have been closed and a three-month internet shutdown was enforced in those provinces, forcing a few hundred untrained secessionist fighters to group and arm themselves against a military crackdown.

A recent poll by GICAM, Inter-Patronal Grouping of Cameroon said more than 6,000 jobs have been lost to the crisis. In the Northwest region, a dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed. Thousands have fled both provinces, moving to stay with friends and relatives elsewhere nationwide after threats by separatists who are expected to begin taking up arms in the days leading up to the elections.

Others remain trapped in their hometowns or in informal camps for displaced people in host communities. Weeks ago, Bernard Bilai, the Southwest governor, went with a party of gendarmes to a popular motor park in Buea, capital of the region, to ask panicked people gathered there to remain.

Despite violence inflicted on them by both the military and rebel troops, many in the Anglophone areas are sympathetic to the secessionist cause, although this support is not voiced, say experts.

Early this year in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, the self-declared leader of the separatist agenda, Julius Ayuk Tabe, was arrested with nine others and has since being extradited to Cameroon for trial on charges of treason.

Who is running?

Eight presidential candidates are angling to retire Biya, who is seeking a fresh seven-year mandate in what could be his seventh term.

The frontrunners include Joshua Osih of the main opposition Social Democratic Front and Akere Muna, a veteran lawyer, former vice president of Transparency International and son of a former vice president of the Federal Republic of Cameroon running with the Front Populaire Pour Le Developpement (FPD).

Both are from the English-speaking provinces. Akere Munna is 66 years old and believes it is time for Cameroon to be run by someone from the Anglophone regions

There is also Maurice Kamto, who leads the Mouvement pour la Renaissance du Cameroun (MRC) party. He was justice minister during the 2008 constitutional amendments that revised presidential term limits and led the legal team in negotiations with Nigeria over the disputed Bakassi peninsula in the early 2000s. He has a strong following in the west of the country, where he hails from.

Most young people seem to favour Cabral Libii, an eloquent 38-year-old journalist with Univers Party and law lecturer at the University of Yaounde II. Kamto and Libii have roots in the Francophone regions.

Key Issues

In 2014, Transparency International ranked Cameroon 136 out of 175 countries in a corruption index. An estimated 48 percent of Cameroon’s population lives below the poverty line.

In March, 85-year-old Biya – who reportedly presides over the country’s affairs while living in a five-star hotel in Geneva, more than 6754km away from the presidential palace in Yaounde – held his first cabinet meeting in three years.

“The key issues include unemployment and underemployment, which is generally seen as more important and sensitive than the Anglophone crisis to some of the candidates,” says a technocrat who requested anonymity out of fear of being targeted by the authorities.

Political reforms, such as issues relating to staying a federation and changing presidential term limits, are also on the table. “It’s time for a change,” the technocrat continues. “We’ve never had this many good candidates at once.

“Osih has deep political experience from his time in parliament; Muna has international experience. Same with Kamto. “While I don’t rule out a coalition happening between the candidates post-elections … I don’t see the possibility of a coalition happening before the elections.”

The end of Biya?

It remains a tall order to dislodge the strongman of Cameroonian politics, experts and analysts say, warning that voter apathy and presidential gimmicks will be at play.

Presidential candidates have been made to pay a CFA 30million ($52,100) caution fee – to guarantee they won’t encourage their supporters to violence – and were given half that amount by the government to fund their campaigns barely two weeks before the elections.

“The elections won’t be free and fair,” says Walla, the CPP leader from the Anglophone region. “The system is already rigged to give the president a structural advantage. The minister of Territorial Administration, whose ministry supervises the elections, is a diehard Biya fan. Many of the district officers in the ministry who will count votes are helping relaunch Biya’s book on his political philosophy, so there is no line between the civil service and politics.”

Biya controls the police and military forces and has substantive influence over the electoral commission; he regularly appoints its chief. Its board members only quit their ruling party membership the day their appointments were announced.

The president also appoints all judges in the country. Members of the electorate have little faith in the biometric reader system put in place for the election and do not expect Biya to concede in the unlikely event of a loss.

Local media is also suspect, recently reporting a story about Ennovate Solutions, a supposed American election-monitoring organisation, predicting a landslide victory of 81 percent for the incumbent. The firm turned out to be a web design firm owned by a relative of Paul Nji, Biya’s minister of territorial administration.

Biya still has a strong base especially among his Beti kinsfolk, one of the major ethnic groups.

Serge Alomomou, a taxi driver in Yaounde, is one of them and blames French colonialists for the country’s problems.

“Every country has its own problems and we signed a lot of contracts with the French at independence that put us in this mess. I trust Biya and he knows the best for us, he knows us more than the people who want to try and replace him. It is those working around him that mess up his efforts.”

‘Mounting hate speech’

Over the past year, hate speech has risen. A petition against controversial TV host Ernest Obama surfaced online last October over his frequent outbursts against the Anglophone community.

In June, Prime Minister Philemon Yang blamed Cameroonian citizens in the Diaspora for inciting their compatriots to violence on social media over the Anglophone issue.

Kamto, the candidate and former justice minister, has lambasted TV host Obama’s channel, Vision 4. He pulled out of a debate on the network because, he wrote on Facebook, it “promotes division and hatred among Cameroonians, particularly against the innocent English-speaking Cameroonian population trapped between secessionist activities and security forces”.

The MRC party chief has himself been accused of stoking tribal tensions between his own Bamileke people and Biya’s Beti people, two of Cameroon’s major ethnic groups.

“There are ethnic and political tensions we can see mounting between the Bamileke and Beti ethnicities,” says Heungoup. “There is mounting hate speech and it is worrying because, in Cameroon, most of the candidates have regional bases, so what if any of them decides to reject the results?”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

6, October 2018

October 7: Grisly Video Casts Grim Shadow Over Biya’s Re-Election Bid ⁰

As the clock ticks down to Sunday’s presidential elections in Cameroon, President Paul Biya remains tightlipped about a grisly video gone viral of two mothers and their young children executed in cold blood by government soldiers.

The grainy video shows two women—one with a baby on her back and another holding hands with a young child—walking across a dirt patch. Armed men walk behind them, and one yells in French “You are B.H. [Boko Haram], you are going to die.” The women are forced to kneel. Shots ring out and the women fall to the ground, one with her child still strapped to her back.

The video, posted July 10, 2018, was examined by Amnesty International using open source investigation methodologies and found credible.

Brian Castner, military and weapons adviser for Amnesty International and a former explosive ordnance disposal officer, commented on Twitter, “My Amnesty colleagues and I have analyzed it, and here’s all the reasons—weapons, uniforms, language, geography—we think it’s legit.”

A government spokesman dismissed the video, calling it an unfortunate attempt to distort actual facts. “Its sincerity can be easily questioned,” said Issa Tchiroma Bakary. “It’s fake news.”

The government of the largely French-speaking country insists the Oct. 7 vote will be peaceful, even in the troubled English-speaking southwest and northwest, where nearly 400 people have died and 200,000 have fled into exile, according to the International Crisis Group think tank.

President Biya, known as “the Sphinx,” is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders since taking power in 1982. He downplayed the conflicts as mere “trouble.”

The central African nation of 25 million people has never held elections amid insecurity so serious that the military is currently deployed to three of 10 regions.

What began as a limited movement calling for greater economic opportunities and recognition of the English language has snowballed into a deadly fight with government soldiers from the French-speaking majority pitted against armed separatists seeking an independent state they call “Ambazonia” in Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest and southwest regions.

A spokeswoman for the Pentagon said the U.S. is working with the State Department to “ensure the government of Cameroon holds accountable any individuals found to be responsible.” A number of soldiers have been arrested, according to the BBC.

Biya is favored to win another seven-year term, as opposition parties did not succeed in backing a single candidate.

Source: Amsterdam News

6, October 2018

Ex-Cameroon stars Lauren and Bassong: ‘We can host Nations Cup’ ⁰

Two former Cameroon internationals insist the country can successfully host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Lauren and Sebastien Bassong are confident despite concerns over delays in construction work and the security situation in the country.

The pair believe Cameroon the tournament can be the “best” and will be “safe” too. “Nobody has to be worried because everything will be on time and on the right moment,” said Lauren. “I think we will be right on time. I think by the time the AFCON comes, it will be one of the best hosted so far.”

The former Arsenal defender, who won the Nations Cup twice with the Indomitable Lions, did however admit that it is understandable that people are worried about the security situation in the country.

“Security is always something that people are a bit concerned about but everything will be in the right place because Cameroon is a safe country,” he insisted.

“We have to encourage people to travel to Cameroon and enjoy Afcon.” Bassong, who spent three years at Tottenham Hotspur and was at the 2010 World Cup with Cameroon, echoed his compatriot’s assurances.

“I am sure we will be ready to welcome Afcon and it’s going to be a great competition in our home,” he insisted. “I am sure the government and the whole country has got it under control.

“There might be a bit of delay for bits and bobs but I really think we are going to be ready. What matters is to be ready on time and I think we will.” He also acknowledged that there’s been a problem with the political situation in the country but insisted the country is safe to host the tournament.

“You know that when there’s a big competition like that happening, there’s always a big buzz around it so we are always going to try to find any weaknesses and the reason maybe not to give it to Cameroon,” Bassong added.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Ahmad visited Cameroon on Tuesday to assess progress in preparations for the tournament. During the visit Cameroon President Paul Biya assured him that the country will be ready host next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Caf announced after its Extra-ordinary General Assembly held at the end of last month in Egypt that further inspection visits to Cameroon will be carried out. Adding it would be November before a any decision is taken. Next year’s Nations Cup is set to be the first to feature 24 teams and hosted in June and July rather than earlier in the year.

BBC

6, October 2018

Cameroon marred by violence ahead of presidential poll ⁰

Eight candidates representing a string of opposition parties are vying to oust 85-year-old incumbent President Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982 and is also seeking a seventh term. But unrest in most parts of the country has triggered a serious refugee crisis, forcing thousands of residents to flee to neighboring Nigeria.

On Thursday, President Paul Biya’s campaign team came under gun fire as their convoy was driving top speed through the main highway into Buea, capital of the English-speaking southwest region.

Several supporters of the ruling CPDM party were injured in the gunfire exchange between government troops and armed separatists. Biya himself was not part of the Buea campaign convoy. One of Biya’s party official Gerald Ngalla told DW that “the president was worried that his presence in Buea could lead to further bloodshed.”

Credible elections “impossible”

Prince Ekosso, head of the United Socialist Democratic Party, believes the election will be flawed. “It is impossible for credible elections to take place in the northwest and the southwest,” Ekosso said.

Ekosso’s party, which had maintained a traditional support base in the south, could not hold any rally in the restive region, due to threats by the separatists, who have vowed to stop the elections in the Anglophone areas. “As a matter of fact, the towns and cities of the northwest and the southwest have been deserted,” Ekosso said.

He added that: “It’s already late now for anything to be done for free and fair elections to take place in the two regions.”

Opposition candidates have also been avoiding the restive regions too. FDP candidate Akere Muna was travelling through the English-speaking town of Mutengene and was chased by angry protesters. Four civilians were killed.

Last week, eight CPDM supporters who were planning a campaign rally in Bamenda were kidnapped from a hotel and have not been seen since then.

“They want to provide the solution through their political lenses,” said civil society leader, Willibroad Ze Ngwa urging the ruling CPDM party to call for peace. He said the party should stop giving the impression that it can solve the crisis through war.

“It is only their political party that should be able to provide the solution to the problem and we say no. We are saying that Cameroonians from all works of life should get to the field and talk to the people in a tone of appeasement, keeping their political jackets by the side.”

However, Enow Abrams Egbe, chairman of the electoral commission Elecam, believes otherwise. “I am just coming from the northwest and the southwest, the situation is perturbed but serene in a way that all the material is on the ground,” he told DW.

“The security is working hard, leaving no stone unturned to make sure that voters go to the poll free and fair. I am only assuring them that there will be no fright,” Egbe said.

6.6 million voters will be expected to cast their ballots at 25,000 polling stations all over Cameroon on October 7 to vote their new president. The divided opposition has failed to present a single candidate.

Opposition parties defy separatists

Presidential candidates have been encouraging voters to cast their ballots. Prophet Frank Ndifor Afanui, a candidate for the opposition Cameroon National Citizenship Movement, is the only one to travel to the restive southwest region so far, with a visit to Mutengene.

In Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) candidate Maurice Kamto suggests the separatists should allow people to vote as the only way to change the system they have been fighting.

“They will not win the war, so why continue fighting that war? Is it a solution for a country in crisis just to split into two parts just because we maybe have a government which is not listening to them? Go and vote because it is the only solution. We do not have to sacrifice our people,” Kamto said.

Social Democratic Front (SDF) candidate Joshua Osih said he sees a solution to the conflict.

“The problem is not the secession. The problem is the marginalization and injustices that lead to that secession. The secession will not necessarily solve that problem,” said Osih.

Displaced voters

Elecam has vowed that those who have been “displaced will be able to vote,” according to the organizing body’s regional director Amadou Ali. “They’re not just displaced people – they are voters. The fact that they’ve been displaced will not have any impact on the election.” He added that people without their documents will be able to register to vote in the towns where they have sought refuge.

“It’s not true, I wasn’t able to get a voting card,” retorted Yagana, as she rested on a mat. “I’ve requested it but a local official asked me for 40,000 CFA francs ($70, €60).”

But Cameroonian analyst at the International Crisis Group (ICG), Hans de Marie Heungoup, believes only “one-third of those displaced in the far north are registered on the voters’ roll.” The region is Cameroon’s most populous and it’s poorest and has previously voted overwhelmingly for President Paul Biya.

Army policing polls

The army has been deployed to the two restive regions to battle separatist fighters since the end of 2017. According to the ICG, the secessionists control “a significant proportion of rural areas and main roads” in the regions. Skirmishes are violent and occur frequently, displacing thousands of local residents.

Around 246,000 people have been displaced in the southwest, according to the UN, while no estimate exists for the northwest region which is largely inaccessible to aid groups and journalists. Some 25,000 others are sheltering in neighboring Nigeria, according to the UN. In the face of continuing clashes, a surge of troops is planned, according to a senior official.

Elecam has also said that some polling stations will be “relocated” in the Anglophone region which has traditionally been a reliable well of votes for the main opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) whose candidate is Joshua Osih. He has described the planned “relocations” in interviews as “an illegal measure” that could damage his chances.

Source: Deutschwelle

6, October 2018

Amnesty International says Next Cameroon’s government must tackle human rights crises in violence-hit regions ⁰

Cameroon’s next government must urgently tackle human rights crises in which hundreds of civilians have been killed this year alone and thousands internally displaced amid violence by security forces, Boko Haram and armed separatists in the country’s Far North and Anglophone regions, Amnesty International said ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.

“Whoever wins the election cannot ignore the perilous situation for people living in the Far North and Anglophone regions and must prioritize their protection,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International Deputy regional director for West and Central Africa.

“For far too long, numerous human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings have been committed with impunity in three of Cameroon’s regions and the next government must take urgent action to end these human rights crises.”

On Sunday 7 October, Cameroonians will elect a president for the next seven years. There are nine candidates including the incumbent President Paul Biya. Sunday’s election takes place against a backdrop of violence in both the Far North and Anglophone regions.

Some political opponents to President Paul Biya, including the president of one of the main opposition parties in northern Cameroon, Aboubacary Siddiki, are still in detention on trumped-up charges.

Security situation remains perilous in the North

Since the beginning of the year, Amnesty International has recorded more than 90 violent incidents involving the armed group Boko Haram in the Far North of Cameroon.

These include five suicide bomb attacks and raids resulting in the killing of 123 civilians in 2018 so far, along with the destruction and looting of private and public properties.

In 2017, there were 111 Boko Haram-related incidents – 41 of which were suicide bombs attacks – with 201 civilians killed. Despite the year-on-year decrease in the number of attacks, the situation remains fragile in the Far North and Boko Haram still constitutes a threat for civilians.

The humanitarian situation in the Far North is bleak with overall more than 230,000 people internally displaced. Some 98,000 Nigerian refugees are also hosted in the Far North.

Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances

In response to Boko Haram attacks, Cameroonian security forces have raided villages in the Far North, destroying homes, killing civilians and arbitrarily detaining thousands of suspects, often on the basis of little or no evidence.

Among the more recent examples of human rights violations perpetrated by the Cameroonian security forces and uncovered by Amnesty International is the extrajudicial killing of four civilians and the enforced disappearances of two others on 26 June 2018 in the village of Mouri in the Far North.

On that day, soldiers from the regular army, accompanied by about 10 vigilantes fired at three unarmed men, among whom the chief of the village, injuring them seriously. Then, they arrested four other men and took them out of the village. The vigilantes came back later in the afternoon and arrested two others. Three days after the incident, four bodies were discovered by herders who recognized the men among those arrested on 26 June. The two others never came back. Amnesty International has clearly identified at least three vigilantes aged between 36 and 47.

In July, an investigation by Amnesty International experts confirmed that Cameroonian soldiers were depicted in a video carrying out the brutal extrajudicial executions of two women and two young children.

Also, a horrifying video obtained and authenticated by Amnesty International in August showed Cameroonian soldiers killing at least a dozen unarmed men during a military operation in the village of Achigachia. The organization had already documented the case depicted in the video in its 2016 report Cameroon: Right cause, wrong means: Human Rights violated and justice denied in the fight against Boko Haram.

Anglophone region plagued by violence

In the Anglophone regions, Amnesty International has recorded over 360 violent incidents since the beginning of the crisis in late October 2016. More than 400 people have been killed in the past year, while the violence has resulted in total in the internal displacement of more than 240,000 people across the North West and South West regions of Cameroon, in addition to some 25,000 having fled to Nigeria. All are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

Security forces have committed serious human rights violations, such as unnecessary use of force during peaceful demonstrations and in search operations that have resulted in arbitrary arrests, unlawful killings and the burning of dozens of villages.

On 24 September, at least two unarmed men were unlawfully killed by soldiers of the Rapid Intervention Battalion in an area of Buea known as Great Soppo. On 23 September, security forces undertook search operations in two neighborhoods in the capital Yaoundé which led to mass arbitrary arrests of over 50 Anglophone people. They were released on 24 September but only after giving money to security forces.

Armed separatist groups have also been responsible for acts of violence such as killings of security forces and ordinary people, kidnappings of state officials, students and teachers, and destruction of school buildings, gendarmerie and police stations, and military vehicles.

Amnesty International has also observed that armed separatists have become more organized with more deadly and effective weapons, including long range scoped rifles and PKM machine guns, some of which were seized from the Cameroonian security forces.

“If the incoming administration subsequent to the election outcome wants to end the impunity that has fuelled years of violence in the Far North and Anglophone regions, it must ensure that members of armed groups, security forces and others suspected of involvement in human rights abuses are brought to justice and victims compensated,” said Samira Daoud.

Source: Amnesty International

5, October 2018

Race For Etoudi: Maurice Kamto and Akere Muna form coalition ⁰

With less than 48 hours to Sunday’s presidential election in Cameroon, two opposition candidates have formed a coalition, according to the spokesperson of Akere Muna, one of the candidates.

“Akere Muna agrees to withdraw his candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic (…) and to support Maurice Kamto in the said elections,” said a statement signed by Akere Muna’s spokesman, Paul Mahel.

Nine candidates will run for the presidency of Cameroon on Sunday, including incumbent president Paul Biya, who has been in office since 1982.

Source: Africa News

5, October 2018

Cameroon: A ticking time bomb ⁰

Cameroon is on the threshold of a disaster. If care is not taken, the world might play spectator to an orgy of killing in that part of the world. Over the last two years, the world has been having a taste of what might happen after the October 7, 2018 polls in the country’s English-speaking regions.

The anger and frustration in many towns and cities in the country could reduce the slaughtering that is playing out in Southern Cameroons to a dress rehearsal. The English-speaking regions have become the theater of mass killings. Some 4,000 Cameroonians have already lost their lives, including close to 2,000 army soldiers.

So far, the conflict in Southern Cameroons has been localized. The government has been working very hard to ensure that it does not spread to East Cameroon, but this might change very soon due to the presidential poll that will take place on October 7.

The elections are coming with pressure and this election could be that factor that might tip the country into the type of conflicts Africans are used to seeing. According to the International Crisis Group report, while political tension are growing as the presidential election approaches, the government has not come up with any framework for dialogue between Yaoundé, the opposition and civil society.

The government seems to be adopting the same strategy it employed during and after the 2011 presidential poll. The government is known for breaking the main social movements, isolating the most vociferous leaders and activists and recruiting leaders from the usual sources of opposition, such as students, street vendors, commercial motorcycle drivers and others from the transport sector. Recently, it has expanded its surveillance networks across social media, especially Facebook and Whatsapp.

This strategy could prove counter-productive. By decapitating these movements, the government loses its understanding of working class dynamics and hence its insight into how the population mobilizes. The absence of leaders means that when violence erupts, as with the serious riots in February 2008, there is hardly anybody in civil society or in the opposition to moderate the rioters and dialogue with the government.

The most challenging thing now is that opinions by ordinary people are increasingly radical. In Douala and Yaoundé, dozens of young people interviewed by Crisis Group think they should “make themselves heard by doing what the Anglophones are doing”. Some go so far as saying: “since the government and opposition are both against us, we might as well spoil everything so that nobody wins, the report adds.

Since 2017, intercommunal tensions have worsened throughout the country. On social networks and in the media, journalists, politicians, academics, activists and other civil society actors speak in terms that stigmatize ethnic groups. While ethnic divides are nothing new in Cameroon, the approaching presidential election is aggravating them as leaders of the governing party and the opposition use them to create or consolidate their political base. There is a danger that ethnic antagonisms will mirror political tensions and exacerbate any violence that may occur in the electoral period, the report says.

“In recent years, the government has used the tense security situation to further reduce civil liberties. For example, it has used the antiterrorist law passed in 2014 against journalists and civil society. Since 2017, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Communications have explicitly threatened journalists and sought to regulate the media more frequently,” the report adds.

To stave off criticism, the government is also restricting public expression by banning demonstrations organized by the opposition and civil society. Some in civil society have responded by not seeking the authorization to hold their marches. With the exception of the Stand up for Cameroon movement, they have, however, been careful not to express political grievances. They limit their demands; regularly emphasizing that their actions are not political and that they are not calling for the departure of Biya, no doubt to avoid harsher repression.

The journey down the dangerous path is relentless and the leaders seem to be enjoying their own dangerous rhetoric. They are working hard to stifle opposition and this has resulted in a brutal crackdown on journalists, activists, lawyers and others. This crack-down on civil liberties is accompanied by a hardening of attitudes towards international partners and international organizations. Yaoundé responds angrily to the smallest criticisms and maintains a stern attitude toward diplomats in the capital and international organizations.

A part of the population, whom the government has recently convinced that there is an international conspiracy to destabilize the country, approve of this attitude. The government is gradually leading the country down a dangerous path; a path that has seen many other African countries and today, those countries are suffering from the effects of such a mentality.

The October 7, 2018, poll remains a tough challenge to the country. Even the ICG report underscores that the political climate is tense, the economy shaky and much of the country insecure and it is torn between Boko Haram in the Far North and a conflict in the English-speaking regions. Intercommunal tensions are worsening not only in Southern Cameroons but also in other parts of the country.

However, the government and armed Southern Cameroons separatists still have time to declare a ceasefire to improve prospects for polling in areas affected by the conflict. But this might not happen as the separatists are prepared to disrupt the elections. Outside powers do have a role in this. They could push both sides to declare a ceasefire or even press for an inclusive dialogue that will spare the country and the region the bloodshed that has been noticed in other African countries.

The ICG report also underscores that the government should take steps to curb rhetoric stigmatizing specific ethnic groups and it should do a lot to sound more conciliatory. After the vote, both sides should support efforts by religious leaders to hold an Anglophone General Conference. Such a conference could help lay the ground for a national inclusive dialogue that is necessary to resolve the Southern Cameroons crisis that is already in its third year.

“The danger of violence around the vote in Anglophone regions is high. But other parts of the country could also be affected, even if the postponement of the parliamentary and municipal elections to October 2019, which carried their own danger of localized friction, has mitigated some risks. As Election Day approaches, tensions are growing and the government has become harder-line, opting for repression and peddling conspiracy theories in response to demands for social and political reform. Embryonic movements are emerging across the country, which reject the election. Some of them call for a popular insurrection to unseat Cameroonian President Paul Biya. In the Anglophone regions and parts of the Far North, insecurity may hinder the smooth conduct of the vote,” the report says.

The presidential election on October 7 will take place in an unprecedented political and security climate for Cameroon. Lack of clarity on the country’s future is worrying. Governance issues and the succession to Biya, now 85, are of pressing concern. Reducing the risk of violence during the election, including by security forces, is a precondition for putting Cameroon on track towards a peaceful transition. The priority for the incoming government will then be to organize a national dialogue to resolve the Southern Cameroons crisis, the report concludes.

Compiled by Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai, Kingsley Betek and Irene Nayongo.

5, October 2018

Congolese Doctor, Yazidi Human Right Activist Share Nobel Peace Prize ⁰

The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist treating victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi human rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by Islamic State in Iraq.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a statement that the award recognizes “their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.”

“Mukwege is the foremost, most unifying symbol, both nationally and internationally, of the struggle to end sexual violence in war and armed conflicts,” the statement said. “His basic principle is that justice is everyone’s business.”

Murad, herself a victim of war crimes, “refused to accept the social codes that require women to remain silent and ashamed of the abuses to which they have been subjected,” the statement said. “She has shown uncommon courage in recounting her own sufferings and speaking up on behalf of other victims.”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee received nominations for 216 individuals and 115 organizations. Only a few dozen of them are known, the committee keeps the list of nominations secret for 50 years, although some candidates are revealed by their nominators.

Among those put forward this year are the Syrian civilian aid group White Helmets, Russia’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Edward Snowden and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Last year’s winner was the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, Physics and Chemistry were awarded earlier in the week.

The literature prize was not given this year because of a sexual misconduct scandal at the body that decides the award.

The Nobel Memorial Prize for economic sciences will be awarded Oct. 8.

The prize will be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will. It comes with an award of $1.1 million.

Culled from the VOA