At least 56 soldiers were seriously injured in an accident on Wednesday in Yaoundé. Among the 56 wounded soldiers, nine reportedly sustained life threatening injuries and have been rushed to the military hospital of Yaoundé.

Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered that these were essentially new military recruits who traveled to the Btap training center at Koutaba in the West region to continue their training. The accident happened at the Olembé school entrance, where one of the trucks in the military convoy lost its brakes and drove into another military vehicle parked full with gendarmes and military students. Traumatized, the convoy from Yaounde, turned back towards the headquarters of the gendarmerie.

Culled from CIR

Some 10 members of Parliament and Senators of the ruling CPDM party from the North West region have appealed on Head of State Paul Biya to release the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

The message was part of a 10 point resolutions reached by the representatives in a forum that held at Ayaba Hotel in Bamenda, North West region at the invitation of Senate Vice President Senator Achidi Achu.

The Wednesday February 15, 2017 Bamenda CPDM meeting made public an acknowledgement of the prevailing situation in the two English speaking regions and praised the 84 year-old  President Paul Biya for putting in place the Ad Hoc Committee which according to them have solved some of the problems raised by Trade Union leaders.

Simon Achidi Achu and his group also thanked the Head of State for creating the National Commission on Bilingualism and Multiculturalism which they consider  a giant step in the right direction in resolving the crisis and appeal for an expedient appointment of its members for effective work to begin.

Cameroun Info.Net

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has warned the Anglophone Diaspora that Southern Cameroons is on the verge of a human rights catastrophe amid a Francophone government pattern of increased violence against Anglophones, rapes, executions, and detentions.

The Consortium gave the warning on Tuesday as ghost town operations were held throughout West Cameroon amid massive arrest of innocent citizens including some religious leaders. The interim leaders announced a major diplomatic break through but did not provide further details.   The first two months of 2017 alone has witnessed an alarming upsurge in rapes, killings and arbitrary and abusive use of force by troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium with legitimate authority in Southern Cameroons added that West Cameroonians should stay indoors and observe the civil disobedience campaign as the Yaoundé regime does not respect Anglophone rights, and has refused to halt its military operations in Southern Cameroons.  Inside sources say, the number of Anglophone citizens arrested and detained in Francophone prisons is far more than the number of Boko Haram militants captured ever since the Nigerian Islamic sect began its incursion into Cameroon territory.  La Republique du Cameroun will soon be dealing with a full blown human rights crisis.

Since 2016, the Francophone government and its political elites have been claiming that they have taken meaningful steps towards reform. The Biya Francophone government has failed to comment on its human rights obligations. The past few weeks have seen a very concerning renewed pattern of violations in Mamfe, Jakiri, Kembong, Batibo, Bamenda, Buea and Limbe including arbitrary detention and torture, facilitated by a continuing climate of impunity.

Anti- Biya regime protests have been held on an almost daily basis ever since the popular Anglophone uprising roared into life in 2016. The Francophone army has gone to great lengths to silence dissent and French speaking soldiers have been deployed to assist the 84 year-old leader in his crackdown. Hundreds of Anglophone Cameroonians have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or been arrested since then.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with cables from West and East Cameroons

The Cameroonian dictator has celebrated his 84th birthday at the presidential palace in the Etoudi district of Yaoundé.  Paul Biya, the Head of State, held his closed family celebration on Monday the 13^th of February 2017.

A photo that immortalizes this extraordinary day was posted on the front page of the official website of the Presidency of the Republic of Cameroon. Biya who replaced the late President Ahmadou Ahidjo and has been in power for 35 years, blew his 84th candle at the Unity Palace in the strictest family intimacy.

Dressed in funny attire as against his normal gandoura, Paul Biya had beside him his well-known son, Franck Biya and the first lady, Chantal Biya.

By Sama Ernest

Karim Ahmad Khan is a British lawyer and specialist in international criminal law and international human rights law. He was called to the bar in 1992 at London’s Lincoln’s Inn and later attended Wolfson College at Oxford University for doctoral studies in law. He presently carries on an international practice before courts in Britain and abroad.

He worked as a Senior Crown Prosecutor at the British Law Commission and from 1997-2000 served as a legal adviser to the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and later as defence counsel before Special Courts in East Timor, Sierra Leone and Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He is the lead counsel in the defense team of William Ruto at the International Criminal Court. In addition to international criminal and human rights law, he has in-depth experience and expertise in immigration and asylum law and is an approved counsel to act for Britain’s Attorney General. His international standing and expertise was further recognized by the offer of the post of international legal adviser to the Appeals Chamber of the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) in 2005.[1] He was also made a member of the Queens Council.

Karim Ahmad Khan was appointed to lead the Defence team of President Charles Taylor of Liberia at the Special Tribunal.He was recently the head of incumbent Kenyan Deputy-President, His Excellency Mr. William Ruto’s defense team at the Hague before the latter’s case was dismissed on 5 April 2016

Career

Honorary lecturer, School of Law, University of Utrecht, Netherlands (2010-11; 2011-to date); former senior research fellow, Dept of War Studies, Kings College, London; director, Peace and Justice Initiative; director of Global Victims Initiative; former member Executive Board of ICTY, current member (with ICTY judiciary) of ICTY Disciplinary Appeals Board and election to Disciplinary Appeals Board of ICC (along with ICC judiciary); former legal adviser, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (International Law Appeals); grade 7 lawyer, Law Commission of England and Wales (1996-97); former senior crown prosecutor (1993-96). Publications: co-author, ‘Archbold International Criminal Courts’ (Sweet & Maxwell; 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition); co-editor and contributing author, ‘Principles of Evidence in International Criminal Justice’ (OUP 2010); co-editor, ‘International Criminal Law Reports’ (ICLR, 2006 to date); contributing author, ‘A Commentary to the Rome Statue on the ICC’ (Baden-Baden 2000; 2008); contributor, ‘Human Rights Practice’ (Sweet & Maxwell, 2002 to date); author, Oxford Transitional Justice Research -Working Papers Series (2010); co-author, ‘Enlargement and human rights law, norms and realities’ (Manchester University Press, 2007).

Member

Association of Defence Counsel; International Legal Assistance Consortium; International Criminal Defence Bar; International Bar Association.

Education

Silcoates School, West Yorkshire; Kings College, University of London (LLB Hons); King’s College London, (AKC); Inns of Court School of Law; member of Lincoln’s Inn; CIFE (Distinction, diploma international relations); Abo Akedemi, Turku Law School, Finland (advanced diploma in protection of Human Rights); Wolfson College, Oxford (P Phil, candidate); University College, Pristina, Kosovo (doctorate, honoris causa). Awarded 1999 John D & Catherine MacArthur Foundation Fellowship on International Peace and Security; Alexander Maxwell Law Scholarship Trust Award winner 2001

Violent reactions are reportedly increasing in Manyu Division over the arrest and continued detention of Lord Justice Ayah Paul of the Supreme Court of Cameroon and the Chairman of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, Barrister Agbor Felix Nkongho.

The people of Manyu have declared their unflinching support for the interim leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and have vowed to counter violence with violence. On the 11^th of February, some angry youths burnt down two vehicles belonging to the mayor of Mamfe and on Monday the 13^th of February, the Divisional Delegation of Basic Education for Manyu was set ablaze following what the people termed provocation from the Divisional Delegate, Mr. Arreyngang Haman.

Tracks had been distributed in Mamfe town calling on every Manyu citizen to follow the instructions of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and boycott Youth Day celebrations.  Arreyngang Haman who defied the 11th Feb boycott and marched alone in front of the colonial SDO for Manyu was targeted by an angry mop. The said delegate has been quoted as saying that he did not march alone. However, Consortium sources in Mamfe say, Mr. Arreyngang is not a youth and will remain a target until the struggle is won.

Manyu Division has had a long history of romance with the Biya Francophone regime and has always ended up with nothing. Ever since independence, the people of Akwaya the home constituency of Lord Justice Ayah Abine have never been linked by road to the rest of Manyu. All what Manyu political elites claimed to have done for their area ranges from plain fiction to the most absurd.

By Eyong Johnson

A United Nations expert has called on the Government of Cameroon to restore internet services to predominantly English-speaking parts of the country which have been cut off in what he termed “an appalling violation of their right to freedom of expression.”

The Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, David Kaye said “I am particularly concerned at the tightening of the space for free speech at a time where its promotion and protection should be of the utmost importance.”

His call follows reports that Cameroonians in the Northwest and Southwest regions, which are predominantly English speaking, have been unable to connect to the internet since 17 January. It also comes against a background of widespread protests against government policies which have reportedly marginalized the country’s English-speaking population.

Cameroon has two official languages: French and English. But English speakers have long reported that they face discrimination and marginalization, and are excluded from top civil service positions and public services. They also complain their access to justice is limited because the majority of legislation and judicial proceedings are in French.

According to Mr Kaye, a network shutdown of this scale violates international law – it not only suppresses public debate, but also deprives Cameroonians of access to essential services and basic resources.

In 2016, the Human Rights Council passed a resolution which unequivocally condemned measures to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to or dissemination of information online in violation of international human rights law, and called on all States to refrain from and cease such measures.

This followed the 2015 Joint Declaration of UN and regional experts in the field of freedom of expression, which stated that network shutdowns or internet ‘kill switches’ are measures which can ‘never be justified under human rights law’. Reports say the UN Special Rapporteur will continue to monitor developments in Cameroon closely, and is at the disposal of the authorities to provide assistance or advice as required.

CIN