Two leading opposition parties in Cameroon have declared they will boycott the February 2020 municipal and legislative elections to protest the government’s failure to end the conflict in the western region and to effect political reforms.

The Social Democratic Front, which boycotted the opening of parliament over the conflict earlier this month, said on Thursday it would not take part in the polls if peace was not achieved before the elections.

“If peace does not return to the NWSW by February 2020, the SDF will withdraw from the twin elections,” SDF vice chairman Joshua Osih said.

SDF’s threat comes only days after Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) party leader Maurice Kamto called for the boycott of the February 9 elections over weak electoral laws and the anglophone crisis.

“Given the current electoral system, it is impossible to contest the result of the February 9, 2020 elections. If someone rigs or someone who could not even have been a candidate wins, you cannot contest the result and win,” Prof Kamto said.

Authorities have warned that anyone propagating hate speech and defies authority in the run up to the elections will face the full force of the law, with Territorial Administration minister Paul Atanga Nji, saying party officials would be held accountable for “disruption of public order during political rallies.”

Prof Kamto was arrested and jailed in January for leading what the government described as ‘unauthorised protests against the results of the October 2018 presidential poll, which he claimed he won. The protests by his supporters were violently suppressed by security forces leaving at least six people with bullet wounds. He was released in October amid intense foreign pressure as government displayed commitment to the peace talks dubbed Major National dialogue on the anglophone question.

Mr Atanga Nji warned such belligerence would not be condoned this time round. “We lived through horrible scenes after the October 2018 presidential election where a candidate proclaimed himself winner, flouting the laws of the land. Such irresponsible behaviour should never repeat itself. Believe me, such behaviours will face bitter times,” Mr Atanga Nji warned.

The conflict in the English speaking South West and North West regions of the country has since 2017 been the key threat to stability in the country, especially after incursion by separatists and jihadists took advantage of it leading to more than 3,000 deaths and 500,000 displaced.

The International Community, however, fears that massive boycott of the parliamentary and municipal elections would, besides denying the ruling CPDM of legitimacy, foment chaos.

Diplomats have since the major national dialogue at the end of September been meeting President Paul Biya and opposition groups at home and abroad to encourage implementation of its recommendations. The proposals include giving the anglophone region special status with regard to resource allocation and security. A Bill to operationalise that is among the business expected to be brought before parliament.

However, politicians in the region want autonomy under a federal structure and a rotational presidency, which President Biya has said is not subject to discussion. Last week three geopolitical groups — the AU Commission, the Commonwealth and the International Organisation of the francophone — pledged their support to efforts in addressing the conflict.

Source: The East African

The controversial Southern Cameroons lawyer, Barrister John Nsoh provoked a storm recently by saying that the Ambazonia leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe is enjoying support from La Republique du Cameroun.

John Nsoh was immediately accused of using the leader as scapegoat for his own failures. His remarks were aimed at supporters of the Ambazonia Interim Government on whose donations via the Amba Bonds Project, Vice President Dabney Yerima and his team are depending in the Southern Cameroons revolution.

But our chief political man, Soter Agbaw-Ebai said it was a huge political miscalculation for a man of law who once pledged to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and to create an Ambazonia nation at ease with itself.

To be very accurate, Barrister John Fru Nsoh and his gang including the disgraced Ikome Sako and Chris Anu are trying to turn on another group of Southern Cameroonians as scapegoats to try to deflect responsibility from the poor management of My Trip To Buea funds. It is the action of a desperate man who sees his acolytes in the USA in desperate trouble and his own position under threat.

Every Ambazonian except Sako Ikome, Chris Anu and Kometa have said Barrister John Fru Nsoh was wrong to suggest that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has a laptop and a mobile phone provided by the French Cameroun regime in Yaoundé.

Mr John Fru Nsoh launched his attack in an interview with the former Southern Cameroons Communications Secretary, Chris Anu. During the said conversation, John Fru Nsoh appeared like a man in desperately straitened circumstances badly in need of a US social security safety net. Fru Nsoh was indeed begging!! The sight of Barrister John Fru Nsoh as a beggar on ABC TV was an eyesore which drove many Chris Anu viewers away.

All through recorded history, desperate political elites have always uttered and promoted inflammatory and deceptive rhetoric. Barrister John Fru Nsoh, a late arrival in the Ambazonia political amphitheatre is a quick learner in the dark art. He has learned the art of political dishonesty as fast as anyone ever known in Ambazonia history mindful of the fact that he was unknown to most Southern Cameroonians.

He was hired in good faith by the Interim Government of Ambazonia to represent the NERA10 after auditioning by giving a few interviews on Equinox TV in Douala. The leaders of the struggle failed again in hiring someone to a high position without proper background checks. A simple scrutiny would have revealed that John Fru Nsoh was unprofessional, erratic and careless in conduct and experiencing severe financial paucity.

Cameroon Concord News Group reporter in Douala wrote in April this year that John Fru Nsoh was boasting in an off-licence in Douala that his proceeds from the IG for working on the NERA10 case would help him complete the building of his house in Douala. Many saw it as witch hunt!! Today, the Barrister Nsoh builders have since stopped construction due to lack of resources.

Sako Ikome with his political bedfellow, Chris Anu, saw a financially despairing and morally bankrupt John Fru Nsoh as the perfect tool to achieve their goals. He was hired to assassinate the character and integrity of the Ambazonia President, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe. Pa Fru has ever since made ludicrous and unproven allegations that the Ambazonia leader is compromised-a position Ambazonians never bought into till date.

Barrister Fru has constantly repeated the unsubstantiated allegations and promised to provide his evidence when we get to Buea. Ambazonia public opinion has swung immensely in favour of Comrade Dabney Yerima, the Ambazonia Vice President appointed to pilot the revolution in the absence of the leader detained unlawfully in Yaoundé.

This week, Comrade Yerima launched the Ambabond project and announced the creation of The Bank of Ambazonia. A momentous decision that has raised eyebrows in political corridors around the world! Disgraced former Acting President Sako’s attempt to recapture the issue by assassinating the character of President Ayuk Tabe has been unproductive.

To be sure, Ambazonians have deserted him in their numbers since Cameroon Concord News Group uncovered and published irrefutable evidence that he was a professional 419 scammer who loomed large in Limbe before migrating to the USA. He is wanted in Limbe at the local Gendarmerie for his connections with the establishment of a credit union bank that swindled millions of CFA from small traders and farmers. These funds, paid for his trip to the USA. He has used the same approach to successfully ruin the career of John Fru Nsoh as he did to many of his victims in Southern Cameroons and like many who have been under the spell of a scammer before, the barrister is finding it impossible to break free.

In a recent fundraiser in California, the former barrister who is now a round-the-clock Ambazonia activist was paraded as a refugee. The audience was asked to donate for his welfare. Interestingly, Field Marshall of Lebialem, a fine Ambazonian fighter who is tenaciously and irresponsibly being dragged into frontline politics by some intellectually reckless and morally insolvent Ambazonian leaders reportedly pledged$150 to The Barrister John Fru Nsoh Fund.

Watching the video, a sense of sadness descended upon me. A once prominent and respected Southern Cameroons lawyer has been reduced to a public beggar in the USA.It reminded me of what a wretched combination greed and dishonesty represent.

John Fru Nsoh is in possession of a green card. Correspondingly, his claim to be a refugee in the United States is therefore bogus. He is desperate to elbow the leader of the Ambazonian revolution, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, to grab the headlines and some few dollars more.

Barrister Nsoh’s shameful demise is a lesson to every Southern Cameroons political elite that they should be mindful of greed and dishonesty. Nsoh John Fru has lost it all. He now follows his political bedfellows from one fundraiser to another with a begging bowl.

All the respect and reverence he enjoyed in Cameroon, Ambazonia and the diaspora has disappeared making him irrelevant in Ambazonia politics. Consequently, he is willing to embark on any toxic campaign against President Ayuk Tabe.

It is hard to take this pro Sako comedian seriously but it is also very difficult not to feel sorry for him to have fallen for Pastor Sako’s scam.

Asu Isong

London Bureau Chief

The result of UN Secretary General, Guterres’ sold out diplomacy – a Potemkin Village of fake dialogue accompanied by violence and censorship. Guterres is no better than Biya. At least Biya is officially senile. What is Guterres’ excuse?

Now on December 1 Guterres’ resident coordinator in Yaoundé has issued a statement about a death — it’s good she does this, but she has remained silent on many, many killings by Biya’s forces, like Guterres has: “Yaounde, 1 December 2019 – The Humanitarian Coordinator in Cameroon, Ms. Allegra Baiocchi, strongly condemns the killing of an aid worker in north-west Cameroon. “I am deeply saddened by the news of the horrific execution of an aid worker last night. On behalf of the United Nations and the wider humanitarian community, our deepest condolences go to his family, friends and colleagues,” said Ms. Baiocchi.  On 30 November, Mr. Pascal Ngwayi, of COMINSUD, a local NGO and UN partner, was abducted and later killed by armed men in Donga Mantung Division of the North West Region.” We’ll have more on this.

On November 28 Guterres was silent again about Cameroon, the continued lock up of a sick journalist (Guterres in his sick away enjoys and continues his retaliation against investigative journalism which asks how he spends public money, today in Lisbon) – while “Yaoundé Special Criminal Court decision to reject a request for Amadou Vamoulké’s provisional release although two medical reports say this journalist needs treatment abroad and his continuing detention violates Cameroonian law.

On November 5 before 8 am Inner City Press in writing asked Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, Melissa Fleming and of course Amina J. Mohammed, “November 5-2: On Cameroon and press freedom, what are the belated comments and actions of SG Guterres on that the South West Chapter of Cameroon Journalists Trade Union have showed up in court for their detained colleague, Samuel Wazizi.

Five days later, nothing at all. Nor on Cameroon peacekeepers’ sexual abuse. Guterres and the other three are entirely corrupt. And see their partners in censorship. US President Trump has written to the U.S. Congress, cutting off trade benefits to Biya’s Cameroon: “I am taking this step because I have determined that the Government of Cameroon currently engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, contravening the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the (African Growth and Opportunity Act).”

Trump took this action while Guterres covers up Cameroon “peacekeepers” rapes of children in CAR, and torching of villages in SW and NW. The dialogue of which Guterres made so much, while banning all Press questions about it, is dead.

Culled from Inner City Press

Three international organizations have ended an official visit to Cameroon with a call for efforts to restore security, justice and the conditions for the resumption of normal life in English-speaking northwest and southwest regions of the country hit by the separatist crisis that has killed over 3,000 people. The Commonwealth, African Union, and International Organization of La Francophonie delegation says it is convinced dialogue remains the preferred path for peace to return, but that the government should start implementing the recommendations of the last major national dialogue it organized. Some, however, have been critical of government efforts.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, says after exchanging views with Cameroonian President Paul Biya, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute, representatives of the main political parties, religious leaders, youth representatives and a cross-section of Cameroonians,  the organizations are convinced that there is a yearning for peace to return to the restive English-speaking regions.

He says they noted that a majority of Cameroonians welcomed the convening of the Grand National Dialogue from September 30 to October 4,  in which Cameroon’s government  consulted with political party leaders, activists, opinion leaders, traditional rulers, lawmakers and clergy, and are anxiously waiting for the government to implement its recommendations.  Those recommendations include establishing some sort of special status for the minority English-speaking regions, to be considered by the country’s parliament.  It also backed enforcement of the constitutional language giving English and French equal status and saying they must be used in all public offices and documents.  It also backed continuing the process of decentralization by giving more powers and resources to local councils. 

Mahamat participated in the tripartite mission with  International Organization of La Francophonie Secretary General Louise Mushikiwabo and Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland to encourage national peace efforts.

Mahamat said after their meetings in Yaounde, they observed that a large majority of Cameroonians supported the convening of the major national dialogue and believe it aided their quest for peace.  He said they were convinced that dialogue remains the only path to peace, and asked the government to implement the recommendations of the national dialogue.

After the national dialogue, hundreds of prisoners were freed when Biya ordered a halt to court proceedings against them, saying he was implementing the recommendations of the dialogue.

However, Albert Mvomo, an official of the opposition Cameroon United Party, says Biya’s government has not been doing enough to solve the crisis. He says the AU, OIF and Commonwealth delegation should have proposed sanctions to force Biya to solve the crisis.

He says the three organizations, like any international organization, should force the government in Yaounde to solve the crisis in the English-speaking regions through economic and diplomatic sanctions. He says Cameroon’s government shows no serious sign of wanting to stop the crisis.

Mvomo said the growing number of displaced people in towns and villages in the French-speaking regions showed the government has not been doing much to stop the separatist conflicts.

Simon Munzo,  an Anglophone leader who took part at the national dialogue, says while some recommendations would require legislation, Cameroon should have started showing serious signs that it wants peace to return by restoring public infrastructure and villages and towns destroyed by the fighting for the population to return. 

“We expect the government to maintain the momentum through the implementation of the recommendations of the dialogue,” said Munzo. “Some of them require legislation. Others do not, for example rebuilding schools and bridges and all of that. You do not need legislation for that except in terms of budgeting. Now, there are other aspects that will require modifying the constitution.”

Separatists have insisted on social media that they do not recognize the outcome of the national dialogue and will be ready to negotiate with the Yaounde government only on the terms of the separation of the English-speaking and French-speaking parts of Cameroon.

Source: VOA

War Resisters’ International has recently been joined by new affiliates. One of the new affiliates of our expanding network is the Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience Support Network (APOCS Net). On this Prisoners for Peace Day, we feature APOCS Net’s work and encourage our followers to write to Ambazonian prisoners of conscience, alongside other prisoners for peace and conscience.

Below is a call for support from APOCS Net explaining their work and encouraging everyone to stand in solidarity with, and write to, Ambazonian prisoners of conscience. 

The Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience Support Network

The Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience Support Network (APOCS Net) was started in January 2018 by Ambazonian diaspora organizers and allies in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States who wanted to help Ambazonians who had been rounded up and imprisoned in secret detention centers of the French Neocolonial regime in Cameroon.

The current generation of Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience refers to people imprisoned for the expression of their conscientiously held belief that the fundamental human rights of the people of Ambazonia, formerly the United Nations Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom administration, needs to be respected by all — including the French neo-colonial regime in Cameroon and its allies. The conflict between Ambazonia and Cameroon, which is the basis for the imprisonment of close to 3,000 Ambazonian political prisoners, has it roots in the military occupation of Ambazonia by Cameroon following an ill-fated UN plebiscite on a confederation between the two countries in 1961.

Six decades of disciplined protest have been based on the principles of nonviolence and the slogan “the force of argument, not the argument of force.” The recorded history of repression against indigenous Ambazonians, however, goes as far back as 1891 during the period of German colonization. Legendary leader Mountain King Kuva Likenye was deported from Buea to Wonya Mokumba because of his anti-colonial stance, where he fell ill and died soon after.

The number of Ambazonian political prisoners has skyrocketed since fall 2016, following nationwide protests to defend the Ambazonian common law–based judicial system from the Cameroonian regime’s attempt to replace it with what amounts to a colonial court system.

Leaders from all corners of Ambazonian civil society have been rounded up in the dragnet that followed this nonviolent uprising — teachers and teachers union leaders (including Vice Principal Penn Terrence and Mr. Wilfred Tassang, organizer with the Ambazonian Teachers’ Union, CAPTAC), lawyers and legal workers union leaders (including Barrister Shufai Berinyuy and Barrister Eyambe Elias, both organizers with the Ambazonia Legal Workers Union), journalists and press union leaders (including Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad, Awah Paul and Felix Ngalim), student union leaders, doctors, and members of the traditional rulers association. 

The most high-profile prisoner is Sisiku AyukTabe Julius, an open source tech developer known for his nonviolent leadership and philanthropic work, who in January 2018 was arrested along with his aides while meeting at the Nera Hotel in Nigeria, and forcibly returned to Cameroon in violation of the international legal principle of nonrefoulement.

In March 2019, the Federal High Court of Nigeria ruled that the abduction and deportation of these “Nera 10” and other prisoners by Nigerian authorities was illegal within Nigeria, and a violation of international law, and that they should be immediately released and returned to Nigeria. Yet they are still being imprisoned by the Cameroon regime.

These prisoners of conscience continue to provide leadership from behind bars, and APOCS Net works to support their physical and emotional well-being, to gather and disseminate information that is relevant to their struggle, and to organize solidarity actions in consultation with their needs and campaigns. We also work to support imprisoned human rights defenders in Cameroon, such as the Kamto 203 and l’Association pour la Défense des Droits des Etudiants  au Cameroun (ADDEC), as well as other political prisoners in the rest of the Francafrique controlled territories. APOCS Net actively seeks to contribute to the building of a global network in solidarity with imprisoned human rights defenders all over the world.

Below is information on how you can write to the Ambazonian prisoners of conscience named in this article. Follow the links to read more.

The Nera 10: 

• Mr. Julius AyukTabe — American University of Nigeria in Yola, North Eastern Nigeria
• Mr. Wilfred Tassang — organizer with the Ambazonia teachers Union, CAPTAC
• Professor Augustine Awasum — Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Northern Nigeria
• Dr. Cornelius Njikimpi Kwanga — Umaru Musa Yar’adua University in Katsina, Nigeria
• Dr. Henry Kimeng — Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria
• Dr. Fidelis Ndeh-Che — American University of Nigeria in Yola, North Eastern Nigeria
• Dr. Egbe Ogork — Associate Professor, Bayero University in Kano
• Barrister Shufai Berinyuy — Organizer with the Ambazonia Legal workers Union
• Barrister Eyambe Elias — Organizer with the Ambazonia Legal workers Union
• Dr. Nfor Ngalla Nfor — Ambazonia Civil Society leader

Write to the Nera 10 prisoners at the following address:

Prison Principal Kondengui Yaoundé

B. P 100, YAOUNDÉ

Cameroon

NOTE: write to each prisoner individually, using their individual names; do not use the term Nera 10!

• Penn Terrence: https://ambazoniapocs.net/node/11 
• Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad and others: https://ambazoniapocs.net/node/8 

Write to Penn, Mancho and Tsi at:

Prison Centrale de Yaoundé

B. P 100, YAOUNDÉ

Cameroon

A senior figure within the Southern Cameroons Interim Government in Ground Zero has cast doubt on the recent peace mission by the leaders of the Francophonie, Commonwealth and the African Union to French Cameroun, calling the much-publicized visit of Moussa Faki Mahamat of the African Union, Patricia Scotland of the Commonwealth and Louise Mushikiwabo of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie to Yaoundé a NollyWood movie staged by the French government of President Emmanuel Macron.

The President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe top aide (names withheld) made the comment in a conversation with our Yaoundé city reporter late on Thursday.

The three leaders announced to the world that they were satisfied with the Major National Dialogue and the dubious actions taken by the Biya Francophone regime to end the war in Southern Cameroons.

When asked whether the chief diplomats of the African Union, the Commonwealth and the Francophonie really gave the necessary push required to achieve peace in Southern Cameroons, the Ambazonian leader noted that the mission to Yaoundé was a movie staged by supporters of the French Cameroun regime within the European Union.

Asked why none of the trio never met with the jailed Ambazonia leaders, the Sisiku Ayuk Tabe adviser said, it was indeed shameful, disgusting and disgraceful to the entire Commonwealth, Francophonie and the African Union.

Many on the streets in Southern Cameroons opined that the so-called high-powered delegation came to Cameroon for tourism. A teacher in GBHS Molyko said that all what the international civil servants painted in their final joint press release ranges from plain fiction to the most absurd.

The visit came a few days after the Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima appointed the governor of the Bank of Ambazonia.

Elsewhere in the conversation, the President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe aide lashed out at the Commonwealth, the Francophonie including the African Union for keeping corrupt and celebrated bribe takers as their leaders who are basically providing political support to the French Cameroun terrorists’ army in Southern Cameroons.

The level of barbarism being perpetuated by the French Cameroun military and government militias as they pursue their genocidal war and scorch earth policy to completely annihilate the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) is alarming. So far, as a result of the on-going genocide in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia), an estimated 20,000 people have been killed, over 280 towns and villages have been burnt down, over 120,000 people are seeking refuge in Nigeria and further afield, over 1million people are internally displaced or living in bushes and over 3,000 persons incarcerated in prisons and detention facilities. It is also reported that over 4.5. Million people are at risk of famine. One thing we know for sure is that these internationally acknowledged crimes as recorded by the International Crisis Group, the UN and the renowned Human Rights Watch did not feature in the communiqué that was made public by the leaders of the African Union, Commonwealth and the Francophonie.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde with additional reporting from Chi Prudence Asong

Ambazonia Vice President Dabney Yerima has reiterated the Southern Cameroons Interim Government’s call for a consultation with other frontline leaders as the fight for independence enters a more decisive phase in Ground Zero.

Addressing the nation in a televised speech on SCBC detailing the Amba Bonds Project, Comrade Dabney Yerima renewed his invitation to other Southern Cameroons groups to send representatives to Interim Government meetings and public outings for talks.

The Ambazonia Vice President observed that he wants to closely explore the actual demands of key Southern Cameroonian groups and means to get all of the groups and their respective leadership into the Interim Government.

Dabney Yerima stressed that consultation is the only correct way to form a united front against the evil French Cameroun regime and regretted the contradictions that is coming from a group of Southern Cameroonians residing in the USA saying it only helps the French Cameroun government in Yaoundé.

The exiled Ambazonia leader noted that the challenges now facing the Southern Cameroons resistance are dangerous and that the Southern Cameroons diaspora has wasted a lot of time and what is left is not for speeches but rather for action.

Vice President Dabney Yerima informed the people of Southern Cameroons that the Governor and board of governors of the Bank of Ambazonia will make Ambazonia finances more efficient, productive and methodical.

Yerima also called on the Southern Cameroons diaspora to step up their investment in the bonds to protect the people in Ground Zero and at the same time ensure that independence is won.

By Asu Isong and Chi Prudence Asong

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