Systematic Rape as a means of French Cameroun warfare in Ambazonia

The Human Rights Watch report on Cameroon dated 26 February 2021 titled “Survivors of Military Assault Await Justice” was unambiguous and uncomplimentary on the actions and conduct of the Cameroon army. The report detailed the rape and abuse of more than 20 women by the Cameroon army in the village of Ebam in the South West Region of the country during raids carried out last year. The United States Embassy to Cameroon today released the following message: “The United States is deeply disturbed to learn of reports of a military raid in Ebam, Southwest Region, on March 1 of last year that resulted in violence against civilians. We condemn all violence in which civilians are targeted. We call for an immediate investigation into the alleged incident and for perpetrators to be held accountable. That this attack, if found to be true, could go unacknowledged for a year speaks to the important role civil society and media organizations play in helping governments meet their obligations to their people.”

Statistics of actual mass or gang rape of Ambazonian women and girls are difficult to come by for obvious reasons. But there is no doubt, based on concurrent first-hand accounts, that what HRW reports is only the tip of the iceberg. The wartime rape cases reported by HRW points to systematic rape aimed at destroying the identity of the people of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). It is indistinguishable from the same crime that was perpetrated in Rwanda by Hutu soldiers against Tutsi women and girls, and in Bosnia by Serbian soldiers against Bosnian Muslims.  Incidents of rape by French Cameroun troops in Ambazonia are more frequent than people are aware of or than is generally known. These cases go unreported because surviving victims internalize the occurrences and do not talk about them. Many surviving rape victims do not come forward to tell their traumatic experience because of the shame and stigma associated with the deed. They suffer in silence and bear for years their severely traumatic experience. There are no available local trauma centres providing counselling in private.

Massacres and other murders as well as systematic rape of women and girls are the well-attested shameless methods by which the ‘professional’ and ‘elite’ troops of French Cameroun conduct their colonial war in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). That colonial war claims deaths in tens of thousands. It inflicts suffering, wholesale destruction, refugee flows and other forcible displacement of large numbers of people. It causes gross human rights violations. It creates thousands of orphans, widows, widowers and breaks up family ties. People are systematically subjected to indignity, and to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The world seems inert. The people appear to have resigned themselves to an attitude of fatalistic cynicism. 

Women and girls are forced into sexual relationships by their torturers holding them captives. This results in forced impregnation and contamination with HIV and other sexually transmissible diseases. Women and girls are sometimes gang-raped to death or murdered after being raped to destroy evidence of the deed. Survivors go through emotional and psychological trauma. Rape and defilement are systematically used as a weapon and tactic of war by French Cameroun barbarian troops. They are used explicitly in efforts: to destroy population, to dislocate bonds within families and communities, to maximize humiliation and shame, to break resistance by instilling fear and terror in communities or in freedom fighters, to torture and inflict injury, to extract information, to degrade, to punish the rape victim for some alleged acts by their families, and to vent anger on the people of Ambazonia and humiliate them.

Rape always entails direct physical harm, trauma, and social ostracism for the victim. In many instances, it is also a health death sentence for the victims since they are deliberately infected with HIV and other sexually transmissible infections. Furthermore, gang rape invariably leads to vaginal destruction and traumatic fistula of the vaginal tract, bladder and rectum. Vaginal destruction is now classified as a war crime. Long term medical complication of such rape includes uterine prolapse, serious injury to the reproductive system like infertility or complications associated with miscarriages and self-induced abortions. The central element of rape is power. Rape is thus used to punish, intimidate, coerce, humiliate and degrade Ambazonian female victims and by extension Ambazonian men. As if this is not enough evil, French Cameroun troops enforce a war policy prohibiting treatment for women and girls suffering from war-related rape or other injuries. They violently eject them out of any health facility. The result is fear by affected women and girls to seek medical help. Their condition becomes irremediable. They eventually die in silence.

Rape most often occurs during search operations, during which those troops frequently engage in collective punishment against the civilian population, most often by beating or otherwise assaulting residents, and burning their homes. Rape also occurs frequently during reprisal attacks on civilians following ambushes by freedom fighters. In some cases, the victims are accused of providing food or shelter to freedom fighters or are ordered to identify or disclose the location of their male relatives as freedom fighters. In some attacks the selection of victims is apparently opportunistic and the women, like murdered civilians, are raped simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The French Cameroun regime is scared to death of its military and never credibly investigates any rapes or even massacres committed by them. The silence of the regime and its unwillingness to prosecute and punish those responsible leads to the inevitable conclusion that this form of torture is sanctioned as a matter of government policy. At least, the government of that country signals that the practice of rape is tolerated, if not condoned, and encouraged. The regime is in the habit of dismissing reports of massacres, and a fortiori, of rapes. It peddles the lie that its troops act ‘professionally’. The troops themselves habitually eliminate witnesses likely to provide evidence of rapes and massacres. The rape and killing of women and girls are a common occurrence though extremely difficult to document on account of the secrecy of the incidents, lack of pathologist evidence, and difficulty of evidence gathering for rape prosecution. 

Wartime rape is a criminal offence under the international law of war, which also applies to Cameroun. The criminalization of rape under that law is meant to safeguard human dignity. The rape of women and girls is prohibited in armed conflict. It is deemed a war crime under the provisions of international humanitarian law. The jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda characterizes wartime rape as a crime of genocide because of the intent to destroy in whole or in part a particular population group. Furthermore, the systematic mass rape of Ambazonian women and girls meets the statutory definition of systematic harm to a population or ethnical group within the meaning of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  Persons who commit or order the commission of grave breaches of international humanitarian law are individually responsible in respect of such breaches.

We call for international condemnation of this crime as a violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and appeal to:

•             the international community to make vigorous and repeated representations to French Cameroun government, both bilaterally and multilaterally, in connection with these rapes and other grave human rights violations,

•             all States, organizations and programmes of the UN system, specialized agencies and other international organizations to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to all in need of it in Ambazonia,

•             the UN to urgently take practical measures to assist and counsel the girls and women concerned ,and to mandate investigations into the facts of each individual case, and

•             the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Womento devote particular attention to the issue of rape by French Cameroun troops in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

We urge community groups on the ground to continue to ascertain and record the magnitude and extent of rape by the French Cameroun occupying forces in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia).

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

 Pro-independent Leadership Government 

Joshua Osih, an SDF vice president and parliamentarian and a son of Ndian Division in the Southwest region of Cameroon has decided to stir a hornet’s nest even when he is aware of the pressure and disaster he is inviting into his personal and political life.

The SDF MP joined parliamentarians of the ruling crime syndicate, the CPDM, to take American senators to task for calling on the Biden Administration to reconsider the repatriation of Cameroonians from the United States because of the government’s violent military response to protests by the country’s English-speaking minority.

The American senators are criticizing the government of Cameroon for its massive and senseless execution of its own citizens, most of whom are native Southern Cameroonians.

The majority of those being repatriated from the United States are from the English-speaking part of the country where an insurgency has been playing out for four years.

The SDF member of parliament knows that there is a massive and bloody conflict playing out in that part of the country but seems to be in denial of this military violence that the government has unleashed on innocent civilians in that part of the country.

Mr. Osih has had a taste of the challenges ordinary people face in that part of Cameroon but he is clearly buring his head in sand.

The MP’s father died some two years ago and for him to have him buried in his native Ndian Division, he had to pay huge sums of money to insurgents, as the government could not provide the much- needed security in that part of the country.

Mr. Osih’s decision to turn his back on the people of Southern Cameroons has triggered a backlash and even his fellow SDF parliamentarians are chiding him for such a preposterous decision.

The Social Democratic Front (SDF) has called for an emergency meeting to take a look at Osih’s misguided decision which has left the SDF with a bloodshot eye.

Many SDF parliamentarians are bitter and some are openly accusing him of placing his interest above that of the people of Southern Cameroons.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent in Yaoundé has been talking to some senior officials of the SDF and many of them are calling for Mr. Osih’s dismissal from the party.

He is being accused of cozying up to the government ever since Dion Ngute, the country’s Prime Minister, was appointed by the country’s long-serving and ailing president, Paul Biya, who has ruled the Central African country with an iron fist for almost 40 years with no results to show for his long stay in power.

Mr. Osih and Prime Minister Dion Ngute are from Ndian Division and it is alleged that they are related and this is causing Mr. Osih to embrace the government’s obnoxious policies against Southern Cameroonians who headed to the United States to seek asylum because of the conflict that has been playing out in their part of the country.

“Joshua Osih should be dismissed from the party. He has clearly demonstrated his greed and dishonesty by siding with the ruling party’s members of parliament who have never wanted the Southern Cameroons issue to be discussed in parliament,” an angry SDF Parliamentarian told our correspondent in Yaoundé.

“Every since Dion Ngute got appointed as the country’s Prime Minister, Joshua has shown total disrespect of party rules and he is now disrespecting the suffering people of Southern Cameroons who are being hunted by government forces as game,” the MP said.

“Osih is an embarrassment to the people of Southern Cameroons in particular and of Cameroon in general. He cannot claim he is not aware of the pain the country’s English-speaking minority is facing. How many more Southern Cameroonians have to die before Mr. Osih and the ruling CPDM understand that the Northwest and the Southwest regions are not safe?” the MP quipped.

“Osih wants to be the president of Cameroon and he wants to run on the SDF ticket. With his new mentality, how can he ever win an election in Cameroon, especially in the English-speaking part of Cameroon which is the SDF’s stronghold and where thousands have been killed and millions sent into exile by a government that has never prioritized dialogue over military violence? Osih should be dismissed from the party as he is more of a liability to the SDF,” the Member of Parliament said.

“Osih and his fellow CPDM parliamentarians should have instead written to their president instead of writing to American law-makers who had actually painted a true picture of what is happening in Cameroon. This is a problem that has been going on for years and for Osih to suggest that things are improving in that part of the country is a clear demonstration of dishonesty on his part,” the Cameroon law-maker who elected anonymity said.

“Osih is under enormous pressure and the Southern Cameroons Diaspora which wields a lot of influence is punching him from all directions. He has stirred a hornet’s nest and this is costing him his reputation. This demonstration of poor judgment by an SDF parliamentarian is giving the SDF a very bad name and this will surely affect the party in future elections” the MP regretted. 

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Over the last couple of days, a position statement signed by several colleagues of the National

Assembly including my humble person has been the main topic of discussion on several platforms and news outlets. This document has been subject to various interpretations, generating a lot of controversy on what its noble intentions were.

Given the unprecedented challenges the country faces, we are all called to take our responsibilities and we must boldly take it up when and where necessary. Cynics, in deliberately misunderstanding and misrepresenting the intentions of this document, have also seized the opportunity to peddle innuendos of my collusion with the regime in its poor management of the Anglophone crisis and from seeking to benefit from it. It is this toxic politics, to which we have subjected every aspect of our national life which is at the very heart of the protraction of some of the crisis we face today.

 For the last 4-5 years, political apprentices have used sentimental judgements as a tool to stoke the sympathy of desolate Cameroonians, who have suffered and continue to suffer from various trials but never truly suggest any actual solution to the problems our fellow compatriots face. We will never succeed in building the Cameroon we believe in through such cynicism and in trivialising every debate in the country.

We are faced with several hard choices and we must face up to the truth and make those tough decisions. As famously quoted by Martin Luther King, Jr “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbour will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others. “

That said, the position by some members of the Cameroon National Assembly was published on February 22, 2021, in response to a petition from the United States Congress sent on February 17, 2021 by some 40 members of the United States Congress to the Biden administration. This petition was asking the administration to suspend the repatriation of Cameroonians from the United States to Cameroon because conditions in Cameroon continue to worsen as violence continues and the pandemic continues to take its public health and economic toll…

 In matters of parliamentary diplomacy, the position of a parliament is usually entertained by the opposing parliament concerned, providing a response to the position in question except in cases of escalation. It was therefore within our remit, as representatives of the people, to provide a weighted response and seek further methods through which to best engage with these concerned members of the American Congress.

In response therefore, a position was taken on behalf of the Cameroonian Parliament and which can be summarized in its conclusion by the following words, “As legislators, we welcome the genuine expression of concern and support for the well-being of the vast majority of Cameroonians. We urge members of the United States Congress to engage more vigorously to ensure compliance with the international conventions against transnational crime and criminality to which the United States is a signatory and to ensure that their country is not a safe haven for perpetrators and funders of acts of extreme violence and terrorism on the people of Cameroon”.

This response, for those who have taken the time to read it, is both diplomatically correct and courteous. As an unusual first, this document provided a medium of exchange from the Cameroon Parliament with foreign counterparts on a topic that has been the major concern for every Cameroonian, an opportunity I personally welcomed. The document in itself evoked several aspects, which make it foolhardy to read it in a singular context. It is necessary to unpack both statements and answer some questions, while pondering the proposal of “…suspending repatriation flights back to Cameroon…” for the various reasons provided, which include but are not limited to the war in the English-speaking regions.

These questions are:

Firstly, does this de-escalate the ongoing crisis in the country? The answer is a resounding NO!

Should we be encouraging and celebrating more and more Cameroonians who are forced away from the responsibility of building this nation, the comfort of their homes in the hope of seeking asylum in the United States of America? Again, the resounding answer is NO!

Does America provide safe harbour and anchor for the financiers, propagandists and sponsors of the war? Resounding YES!

Have those who have been repatriated so far been subject to any severe treatment besides the psychological, physical and economic cost of their journey, which would have been all but avoided had we the right government in place? Once again, a resounding NO!

Do I feel for such Cameroonians who have been through such unbearable conditions, forced away from home in search of better? Absolutely YES.

Do I feel there is another way we can solicit the support of the Biden Administration to ending the crisis and ensuring that Cameroonians feel welcomed and safe in their very homes? Absolutely YES.

Those are some key questions every patriotic Cameroonian must be asking and to which we must provide true answers. My political goal is not to look for the best means by which to portray the weaknesses of the country, but rather to the best way to resolve its imminent challenges. That is the responsibility I have as a representative of the people and a duty I must uphold.

 I am therefore baffled by the various negative reactions that I have received from this petition. Not that I am surprised by them, but rather by some of the authors of the criticism levied against me. Some have questioned the audacity to question or seem unyielding to a document regarding the state of affairs in Cameroon from the United States.

 Some have questioned why I appended my signature to a ‘CPDM initiated document’ as a member of the opposition and finally some political parasites once again are hoping to gain relevance in the face of the buzz this newsworthy action is making.

When we consider the questions above, our actual challenge becomes evident. We can see how a genuine problem became hostage to the fantasies of some virtual leaders and gun wielding miscreants. From the onset, the Anglophone problem, which enjoyed the full support of every meaningful Cameroonian and to which we formulated the problem question adequately and had a clear roadmap for its resolution, was side-tracked by a group. They hijacked the “struggle” by peddling the idea of an independent country.

 Driven by frustrations and misgivings with the system and the vices we have condemned over such a long period, the idea of an independent country where they could reset and restart afresh was very appealing to several young men and women. They greeted this false believe with so much enthusiasm after giving up all hope and trust in the system. We must not forget the effect of this narrative on the escalation of this crisis. From the moment they embarked on this method, any other position or any other leader was dealt all sorts of derogatory terms.

 Several well-meaning Cameroonians were forced out of this debate because of its toxicity. For those who rightly evoke the absence since the start of this terrible war in the North-West and South-West of a real debate on the issue in the Cameroonian parliament, I would like to begin to reassure them that I am offended as much as they are by this inexplicable incongruity maintained by the CPDM majority. In their short-sightedness, they never imagined the impact the SDF debate on the crisis would have brought about. We petitioned and revolted on the floor of parliament and today they see the need to take action. By this therefore, we would call for more discussions on the floor of parliament on the crisis.

The SDF to which I belong is for a strong Cameroon, united in its diversity through a federal system set up with a broad consensus and which gives pride of place to local development and the enhancement of the specificities of its components in a participatory and inclusive democracy.

 We are for a true inclusive dialogue to resolve the crisis in the North West and South West. Our social democratic and progressive values are for peace all over the country and we carry values which dictate to us that there can be no real and lasting peace without justice and this justice knows no borders. The SDF has given its all to try to bring peace to the North West and South West regions for the past five years in a deadly conflict in which we are not a party but for which we are paying an immeasurable price. This, however, will not deter us from sticking to our democratic fundamentals enshrined in our internal constitution.

Party members should therefore not be drawn into this sentimental expressions and futile debates fanned by political lackeys. To do politics is to have political ideas, a political program, a clear vision of the economic and social mix that you want for your country. Political life is the confrontation of these ideas and these programs. Let’s talk and debate about ideas.

Let us be focused and reflect together on the fundamental problems of our society and propose to the electorate a program based on socio-democratic and progressive values to solve them. This is what the SDF should be for the days and weeks to come. This is my vision.

 Conserving old positions divides, adopting change unites. I live my political struggle as a divine blessing. Being misunderstood, stigmatized, or just fought is an inseparable part of this fight. I am for the unity of all the political forces of the left, of all the progressives. I am for a strong and united SDF. Only the struggle liberates and together we win.

Hon. Joshua N. Osih

Member of Parliament