The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, HE Moussa Faki Mahamat; the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC; and the Secretary-General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), HE Louise Mushikiwabo, are visiting Cameroon from 26 to 28 November 2019 on a joint peace mission.

While in Cameroon they will meet with the country’s leadership and other stakeholders to encourage momentum in efforts to address the conflict [in the northwest and southwest regions of the country].

A Commonwealth spokesperson said: “Cameroon is a valuable member of the African Union, the Commonwealth and La Francophonie whose rich diversity is to be celebrated. Every Cameroonian deserves peace and a return to normality.”

The spokesperson added: “The Commonwealth welcomes the outcomes of the recent Major National Dialogue held in Cameroon, as well as other existing home-grown initiatives aimed at addressing the conflict.

“We look forward to engaging with President Paul Biya and other stakeholders on the progress that is being made in addressing the root causes of the conflict, and how we can lend our collective support in promoting lasting peace in the country.”

Life in Cameroon’s two English-speaking provinces has been brought to a standstill by three years of conflict, which has cost about 3,000 lives and forced 500,000 from their homes.

The dispute had been simmering for decades, but boiled over in 2016, when teachers and lawyers started to protest against the use of French in schools and courts.

The government in the majority French-speaking country responded with lethal force, provoking rebels to declare independence for the region they call “Ambazonia”, which in turn led to an even stronger military crackdown.

This is what the latest Human Rights Watch Report says about the situation in Cameroon:

Cameroon, a country previously known for its stability, faced violence and serious human rights abuses in 2018.

The country endured abusive military operations against a secessionist insurgency in two Anglophone regions, attacks by the Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, in the Far North, and a worsening humanitarian crisis. President Paul Biya, 85, won a seventh seven-year term on October 7.

In the South West and North West, government security forces have committed extrajudicial executions, burned property, carried out arbitrary arrests, and tortured detainees. A Human Rights Watch report documented a range of abuses by both sides in the Anglophone regions, including arson attacks on homes and schools. According to the International Crisis Group, government forces and armed separatists killed over 420 civilians in the regions since the crisis escalated in 2017.

The humanitarian consequences of the Boko Haram attacks and separatist insurgency are of growing concern. As of November, the United Nations estimated that more than 244,000 civilians were displaced in the Far North and  437,500 in the Anglophone North West and South West regions. About 32,600 Cameroonians found refuge in Nigeria. Also, Cameroon has continued to forcibly return Nigerian asylum seekers, fleeing Boko Haram attacks in northeastern Nigeria.

While the government maintained it did not tolerate serious crimes committed by security forces, it failed to demonstrate progress in investigating and punishing them.

On October 22, Cameroon’s Constitutional Council validated Paul Biya’s reelection, with 71.28 percent of the votes. The council’s decision was immediately contested by one of Biya’s rivals, Maurice Kamto, who claimed the results had been altered. In early November, dozens of pro-Kamto protesters were arrested in Bafoussam, Western region. Biya was sworn-in for a seventh term as president on November 6.

The Anglophone Crisis: Abuses on Both Sides

In the Anglophone North West and South West regions, the absence of a genuine political process to address decades-old grievances against the Biya government contributed to the radicalization of the discourse and tactics of Anglophone activists. Since mid-2017, Anglophone separatists have attacked government institutions and threatened, kidnapped, and killed civilians perceived to side with the government.

In 2016 and 2017, government security forces used excessive force against largely peaceful demonstrations organized by members of the country’s Anglophone minority who were calling for increased autonomy for their region. During demonstrations in late 2017, government forces used live ammunition, including from helicopters, against demonstrators and bystanders, killing at least a dozen people and injuring scores. Some individuals detained in the context of the demonstrations were subjected to torture and ill-treatment.

In October 2017, separatist leaders unilaterally declared independence of the North West and South West regions, and the formation of a new nation, Ambazonia. The following month, President Biya announced that Cameroon was under attack from terrorists and vowed to “eradicate these criminals.” The pace and scale of separatists’ attacks against security forces, government workers, and state institutions increased, especially following the arrest and deportation of 47 suspected secessionist activists from Nigeria in January 2018.

Violations by Government Forces

Human Rights Watch found that government forces responded to the growing separatist insurgency by carrying out abusive security operations against communities suspected of supporting secessionist groups. Security forces committed extrajudicial executions, used excessive force against civilians, tortured and abused suspected separatists and other detainees, and burned homes and other property in scores of villages.

During attacks documented by Human Rights Watch, security forces allegedly shot and killed over a dozen civilians, including at least seven people whom witnesses said had intellectual, psychosocial or physical disabilities who did not flee because they were unable or refused to. At least four older women died, burned alive, after security forces set their homes on fire.

Human Rights Watch also documented three cases where security forces detained people suspected of supporting the secessionist cause, and then tortured and killed them in detention. In a fourth case, Human Rights Watch analyzed evidence of torture filmed by perpetrators, who appear to be gendarmes. On September 24 and 27, a total of nine men were allegedly executed by security forces in the town of Buea, according to videos reviewed by Human Rights Watch and a report by the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, a local nongovernmental organization (NGO).

Abuses by Armed Separatists: Attacks on Students, Teachers and Schools   

To enforce boycotts of schools following protests by Anglophone teachers against perceived discrimination by the Francophone-dominated national government, separatist groups attacked and burned dozens of schools, threatened teachers, students and parents, kidnapped principals and violently attacked teachers and students. In March, people believed to be armed separatists attacked a high school dormitory in Widikum, North West region, and shot dead Emmanuel Galega, a student.

The pressure tactics forced the majority of schools to close during the 2016-2017 academic year, and as of May 2018 an estimated 42,500 children were still out of school, according to UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Most schools did not re-open in 2018.

On April 30, Father William Neba, principal of St. Bede’s College, in Ashing near Belo, North West region, was reported abducted while celebrating mass with students. He was released two days later. The school suspended classes on the day of the abduction.  In September, unidentified gunmen attacked a girl’s school in Bafut, North West region, kidnapping five pupils and severely wounding the principal.

In September, the government endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, an international political agreement to protect education during armed conflict.

On November 5, up to 78 schoolchildren were reportedly kidnapped in Bamenda, North West region, by unknown gunmen. They were released two days later.

Refugee Rights

Cameroon hosts more than 350,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including 260,000 from the Central African Republic and at least 90,000 from Nigeria. Despite its long history of hosting refugees, Cameroon has forcibly returned tens of thousands of Nigerian asylum seekers since 2015. A 2017 Human Rights Watch report documented how soldiers used violence and abuse, including torture, against asylum seekers in remote border regions. Authorities also imposed unlawful restrictions on movement in Cameroon’s only official camp for Nigerian refugees. In August 2018, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported that between January and July, Cameroon unlawfully returned at least 800 refugees and asylum seekers to Nigeria.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Cameroon’s penal code punishes “sexual relations between persons of the same sex” with up to five years in prison. Police and gendarmes continued to carry out arrests and harassment of people they believe to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). In April, police arrested four activists and a security guard at the office of AJO, an organization that works on HIV education with men who have sex with men (MSM), and other vulnerable groups. They spent a week in jail on spurious homosexuality charges before a lawyer secured their release. Cameroonian human rights organizations documented the arrest of at least 25 other men and at least two women on homosexuality charges in the first half of 2018. They also reported numerous cases of physical violence by private citizens targeting LGBT people.

Justice and Accountability

While the government has repeatedly promised to investigate crimes committed by security forces, it has not done so transparently or systematically.

Government officials told Human Rights Watch in June that while they conducted investigations, they did not want to make them public to avoid undermining the morale of government troops. However, the visible lack of accountability appears to have fueled abuses, like arson and torture, rather than ending them.

In July, the government finally granted access to ten Anglophone leaders who had been detained and deported from Nigeria to Cameroon in January. The individuals, held incommunicado for over six months, were permitted to meet their lawyers and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The government dismissed video footage that emerged in July showing two women and two children being executed by men in uniform in Cameroon’s Far North as “fake news.” Only after an investigation conducted by Amnesty International demonstrated the killings took place in Cameroon did the government announce it had arrested six soldiers suspected of executing the civilians in the video.

Key International Actors

France, the United States, and the United Kingdom are Cameroon’s principal partners, primarily in the context of the counter Boko Haram operations in the country’s Far North region. Both France and the US provide Cameroon with military and security assistance and training.

The US and the UK are the only close allies of Cameroon to have voiced public concern regarding the ongoing situation in the Anglophone regions. The US has continued to provide military aid to Cameroon.

In February, the European Union called for proportionate use of force and accountability for abuses in the Anglophone region.

In September 2018, as the pace and scope of abuses continued to escalate in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, the UN and African Union issued a joint communiqué calling on the government to facilitate access to humanitarian and human rights organizations and engage in an inclusive dialogue to address the root causes of the crisis.

The UN Security Council in August expressed concern about the situation in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.

Source: Sierra Leone Telegraph

 As Cameroon prepares for local and parliamentary elections, young people have organized protests across the central African state against the aging political leadership. Cameroonian youths have been disrupting meetings to demand more say in politics and for octogenarian leaders to step down.  

Youth activists from the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) sing and shout that they no longer want elderly politicians to represent them.  

The group of about 400 young people erected barricades and marched Sunday through the Mvogmbi neighborhood of Cameroon’s capital.

27-year-old Aristide Omgbwa, a member of CPDM’s youth wing, said it is unthinkable that people who are above 80 years of age and who have been in power since 1995, with nothing to show as achievements, still want to make decisions for the public.  The party should explain why they hate the youth, said Omgbwa, and why they want youth – who are the future of Cameroon – to continue to suffer.

Hundreds of Cameroon youth have been protesting in at least 23 towns across the country against elderly politicians seeking office during the upcoming February local and parliamentary elections.

In the town of Sangmelima, a group of angry youth crashed a swearing-in ceremony for the ruling party.  In the clashes that followed, at least seven people were wounded.

While in the town of Tokombere, youths interrupted a meeting they said tried to impose 81-year-old lawmaker Cavaye Yeguie Djibril as candidate for their region.

Djibril has been a lawmaker for 47 years and speaker of Cameroon’s national assembly for 27 years.  

33-year-old Ibrahima Bascuda said the octogenarian can no longer represent the views of youth.

He said most of the old politicians have abandoned the populations they are supposed to serve.  They do not attend meetings and only show up with huge sums of money to corrupt the electorate, claimed Bascuda, who for the most part are naive.  He said the youth are saying no to old politicians who are frail and cannot even participate at debates in parliament, where laws that affect the future of the nation are voted on.  The old(er generation) should allow the youth to build their own future in parliament and local councils, said Bascuda.

But it’s not just octogenarian politicians who are being targeted by Cameroon’s angry youths.

In the town of Ebebda, Cameroonian youths gave chase to 62-year-old lawmaker Epondo Fouda Cecile after he announced plans to run again for re-election after fifteen years in office.  

Bernard Fongang is a senior ruling party official and close aide of CPDM party chair and Cameroon President Paul Biya.  He said after the weekend’s protests, Biya has given new guidelines for party candidates.

Fongang said Biya has given firm instructions that only youths who are of good character, have not been involved in acts of violence and corrupt practices, and who have been active in party and community activities should be given priority to compete in the elections.  Youth form a strong political force, says Fongang, and the CPDM wants to modernize.  He said four out of every ten candidates must be youths.

Fongang said Biya had given instructions that should a youth party member compete for a parliamentary seat with anyone in power for 25 years, the youth should be given priority.

Biya himself is Africa’s oldest ruler at 87-years-old and has been in power in Cameroon for over four decades.  

Critics have raised concerns about the aging president’s health.    

If there were a vacancy, 84-year-old President of the Senate Marcel Niat Njifenjis would take over as head of state.  

70 percent of Cameroon’s lawmakers and 80 percent of its senators are over the age of 60. 

The protesting youths say it is time they hand power to a younger generation to prepare for the future of Cameroon. 

Source: VOA 

Cameroon has warned opposition political parties against any acts that may jeopardize its local council and parliamentary elections in February.  The warning comes after opposition party leader Maurice Kamto, who claims President Paul Biya stole last year’s October election, called for a boycott of the polls. 

Cameroon territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji says the government will not tolerate any acts that disturb the free conduct of February’s local and parliamentary elections.
 
“Politicians specialized in hate speech, manipulation and provocation, as well as defiance of state authority should know that they will face the heavy arm of the law in case of any misconduct,” he said.  “I want to make it very clear.  Promoters of political parties will henceforth be held accountable in case of any disruption of public order related to political parties.”
 
Nji’s warning came after opposition leader Maurice Kamto at a Monday press conference announced a boycott of the February polls. 
 
Kamto had planned to run for office but changed his mind and accused authorities of trying to destroy his party, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM). 

Kamto says he does not doubt that the objective of, what he calls, the illegitimate Yaounde regime, in collaboration with the ministry of territorial administration and the different state services, is to destroy the CRM party.  He says they want to eliminate the party from the political map and terrorize the Cameroonian people to keep the ruling class in power.
 
Kamto accuses Nji of scheming with Cameroon’s elections management body (ELECAM) to fix last year’s presidential election to re-elect long-serving President Paul Biya. 
 
The election authorities and Nji deny the polls were anything but free and fair. 
 
Kamto said his boycott was based on electoral laws that favor Biya’s ruling party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) and the ongoing separatist conflict. 
 
His call for an election boycott received mixed views from opposition supporters like 30-year-old Justin Alega.
 
He says Kamto has betrayed his supporters and is plugging his political party into the group of losers.  Because, when they are not represented at the national assembly, says Alega, they will no longer have a platform for their voices to be heard.  He says if Kamto wants to change Cameroon’s laws he says are bad, he should do everything to be voted-in as a lawmaker.
 
31-year-old Kamto supporter Anabel Mbi, however, says he supports the decision to boycott the elections.

“There is no need going for an election when you know that your victory will be stolen and often when you protest you are arrested. This is dictatorship,” he says.

Political analyst at the University of Yaoundé Divine Kweh says the opposition MRC should fight for political change from within, as the new parliament’s mandate will last five years.

“The meaning is that for the next five years, MRC will only make their voices heard through street protests because they will not participate at decision-making circles directly,” says Kweh. “Kamto should have gone in for the elections and try to effect changes from within parliament.”
 
Kamto called on Monday for other opposition parties, civil society, and religious groups, to join in boycotting the elections.
 
Territorial Administration Minister Nji warned he would arrest Kamto, or anyone else, who staged unauthorized protests against the elections. 
 
Kamto and more than 400 of his supporters spent nine months in prison for street protests over the October 2018 presidential election results.
 
Authorities released Kamto in October for a national dialogue on the separatist conflict in Cameroon.  But he was banned from holding public events.

Source: VOA