Headline News

6, October 2018

Still Time to Increase Chance of Peaceful Poll in Cameroon – A Letter from Crisis Group ⁰

Dear friends of Crisis Group,

On 7 October 2018, Cameroonians will vote in a precarious presidential election. The political climate is tense, the economy unsteady and the country is threatened by Boko Haram in the Far North and armed separatists groups in the Anglophone regions in the Northwest and Southwest. A few days ahead of polling day, communal tensions are also growing, while new movements are forming across the country, which, though still embryonic, reject the election.

Crisis Group has been closely following recent developments in Cameroon and their implications for the upcoming election, along with a steady flow of reporting since 2014 on Boko Haram in the country’s Far North, and on the Anglophone crisis since 2016. Our publications provide an overview of key issues surrounding the vote. We have prepared a full reading list, and outline some of our key publications below.

Today, our briefing entitled Cameroon: Divisions Widen Ahead of Presidential Vote was made available in full in both English and French. In it, we argue that the government and armed Anglophone separatists still have time to declare a ceasefire to improve prospects for a peaceful poll in areas affected by the conflict. In addition, the government should strike a more conciliatory tone toward the Anglophone conflict and make moves to curb rhetoric stigmatising specific ethnic groups across the country. Outside powers – in particular the African Union, France, the UN and the U.S. – should use the days before the election to push for a ceasefire while taking a firmer line against leaders implicated in violence on either side. They should also call on the government to refrain from cracking down violently against any protests that take place around the vote.

In September, Crisis Group issued a statement calling for national and international support for the proposed Anglophone General Conference. We argue that the conference could offer a decisive breakthrough in the Anglophone crisis if all parties, including the separatists, attend.

As fighting between government forces and Boko Haram insurgents in Cameroon’s Far North diminishes, a lasting peace depends on how the government deals with former members of the jihadist movement, its former prisoners and the vigilante groups set up to fight it. Our August report advocates for community service, public confessions, symbolic ceremonies and vocational training to help reintegrate those who do not pose a threat.

The danger of bloodshed around this weekend’s vote is high in Anglophone regions, and insecurity in the Far North will hinder the administration of the poll. In a more peaceful climate, the election could offer the political renewal Cameroon needs. As things stand, it risks further polarising society. Though time is short before the vote, these parties could take steps to calm tensions and reduce this risk.

Dr. Comfort Ero
Director, Africa Program
International Crisis Group

6, October 2018

Nigeria: Opposition PDP holds critical primaries to choose Buhari opponent ⁰

Nigeria’s main opposition party will have its unity tested in the aftermath of this weekend’s primaries for the presidential flag-bearer, which is being contested by several political heavyweights in the party.

Both the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will hold primary elections this weekend to select their nominees for presidential polls scheduled for February 2019.

While President Muhammadu Buhari is likely to be unanimously endorsed to contest a second term at the APC convention in Abuja, the opposition PDP which was in office from 1999 until 2015 has a tighter race in the southern city of Port Harcourt.

PDP’s candidates

The leading contenders in the race to be PDP presidential flag-bearer are former allies of Buhari, who fell out with his administration, and defected to the opposition.

But since then, Buhari’s party has seen a wave of defections in protest at his leadership style and a surge in PDP contenders that could give it momentum as the vote approaches.

Perennial presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, a 71-year-old former vice-president from the northeastern state of Adamawa, was the one of the first big names to throw his hat in the ring.

Then, after lawmakers crossed the floor in July, former Kano state governor Rabiu Kwankwaso emerged as a leading opposition candidate, promising he can secure the key northern state.

Sokoto state governor Aminu Tambuwal joined the PDP defectors and declared his candidacy to pry northern voters away from Buhari, who enjoys mass support across the north.

Finally, the ambitious Senate leader Bukola Saraki, a former Kwara state governor who is seen as the shepherd of the defectors, announced he would campaign for the top job.

The likely chosen candidate is expected to come from the Muslim-majotity North, following an unwritten rule in Nigeria that the presidency should alternate every two terms between a candidate from the north and south.

Unity beyond primaries?

Rising tensions and divisions have been reflected in hotly contested local party primaries, said Idayat Hassan, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja.

“These primaries have been fractious,” she said. “It’s one of the most contentious in a long time.”

After the PDP officially chooses its presidential candidate, the party will select a running mate, who will likely come from the largely Christian south.

“What we’re waiting to see is if the (PDP) will be able to continue as one,” said Hassan. “Now they are putting up a united front — but will that continue?”

AFP

6, October 2018

Southern Cameroons crisis hits economy ⁰

As Paul Biya seeks a seventh term in office in Sunday’s presidential election, the economic outlook for Cameroon is far from rosy. In reality businesses are shutting down as unemployment is increasing in the country’s restive Anglophone regions.

Coffee and cocoa are key economic mainstays of the country’s two English-speaking regions.

“Previously when you come to the market, you see a lot of people here. But now you don’t see anybody around. Now people are not coming to the market because they are afraid of the crisis”, said popcorn vendor Kenji Jude.

“All the customers have gone. Most of the time we come out but there is not customer to buy. So it is not making work because the customers are out, they have gone. The place is empty”, said butcher Wilfried Eron.

“Our President has been in power for 36 years and there has been no change. So everyone’s angry. I’m angry, we go to school and graduate without a job, nothing, nothing. Everyone is angry.”, said taxi driver John.

Last month the country’s employers’ group GICAM estimated that exports for both crops were down 20 percent, blaming the insecurity and the displacement of people escaping the unrest.

Fighting has become a daily occurrence in both Anglophone regions since late 2017 when separatists issued a symbolic declaration of “independence” from mainly francophone Cameroon.

AFP

6, October 2018

Interpol chief reported missing in China, say French police ⁰

Interpol’s president Meng Hongwei has been reported missing after travelling to his native China last week, French police said on Friday.

Meng’s wife contacted police in Lyon, the French city where the international police cooperation agency has its headquarters, after not hearing from him since his departure on September 29, police sources said.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed source as saying Meng, 64, was under investigation in China and had been taken away for questioning as soon as he landed there. Interpol said it was aware of reports in connection with Meng’s “alleged disappearance”.

“This is a matter for the relevant authorities in both France and China,” the agency said in a statement. French police sources told Reuters their investigation was into what is termed in France a “worrying disappearance”.

Interpol’s main function is to provide a mechanism for police forces in different countries to notify each other of wanted suspects.

Meng has almost 40 years’ experience in criminal justice and policing, and has overseen matters related to legal institutions, narcotics control and counter-terrorism, according to Interpol’s website.

Meng is listed on the website of China’s Ministry of Public Security as a vice-minister, but lost his seat on its key Communist Party Committee in April, the South China Morning Post said.

He was named president of Interpol in 2016. Rights groups expressed concern at the time that Beijing might try to use Meng’s position at the body to go after dissidents abroad.

Beijing has in the past pressed other countries to arrest and deport back to China citizens it accuses of crimes including corruption and terrorism. Reuters was not immediately able to reach China’s Ministry of Public Security for comment.

Diplomats say the role of Interpol president is largely ceremonial, with day-to-day work carried out by its secretary general Juergen Stock and his staff.

In July last year, Meng gave a speech on the importance of cracking down on cyber crime which observers said might reflect China’s views on the issue. Police sources said Meng’s wife and children remained in Lyon.

(REUTERS)

6, October 2018

Opposition forms coalition ahead of Cameroon vote ⁰

Two Cameroonian opposition parties agreed a coalition on Friday to jointly contest this weekend’s presidential polls, a spokesman said, in an effort to dislodge six-term President Paul Biya.

The announcement confirms rumours of an opposition manoeuver to try to defeat 85-year-old Biya at Sunday’s polls, but the new union will not include the main opposition Social Democratic Front’s hopeful Joshua Osih.

Akere Muna, leader of the People’s Development Front (FDP) agreed to “withdraw his candidacy… and to support Maurice Kamto,” leader of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC), Muna’s spokesman said in a statement.

Kamto’s party alleged earlier on Friday that a “massive fraud” was underway to ensure the sitting president wins a seventh term.

Maurice Kamto’s campaign chief Paul-Eric Kingue said efforts to rig Sunday’s ballot “had the blessing” of the electoral commission.

“We won’t accept any result if this kind of fraud continues,” he said at a media briefing by Kamto’s MRC in the capital Yaounde.

Cameroon’s authorities have long faced accusations of unfairly favouring Biya, one of Africa’s longest serving rulers who won 78 percent of votes in 2011’s polls which were described as “flawed” by observers and the opposition.

‘Attempting to spread chaos’

Cameroon will vote amid tight security including a ban on internal travel by road, rail and air from 1700 GMT Saturday until the conclusion of voting.

The borders of the central African nation of 25 million people will also be sealed 48 hours ahead of voting day, according to a decree seen by AFP.

Kamto’s MRC has alleged that polling cards have been forged and that voter registration has continued despite the process being officially closed.

“In 62 percent of areas, the (ruling) Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party is still adding names to the voter roll,” said Kingue.

“We’re not preparing for war, but wherever there is fraud, there will be a firm response.”

Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement that “measures have been taken… to prevent any actions that might create violence or disorder around the elections”.

He added that “political figures linked to foreign interests were preparing groups of agitators to stir-up violence in the event that the results don’t go their way”.

The minister did not specify who he was referring to.

“By attempting to spread chaos, they risk being unpleasantly surprised,” he said. The authorities would “not tolerate any disorder before, during or after the presidential vote,” he added.

Biya has been in power for 35 years and now faces seven opposition contenders following Muna’s withdrawal.

The opposition front-runners are Osih and Kamto.

(AFP)

6, October 2018

Anglophone crisis looms over Cameroon’s presidential election ⁰

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who is running?

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

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

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

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

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

Key Issues

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

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

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

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

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

The end of Biya?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Mounting hate speech’

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

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

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

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

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

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

6, October 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Amsterdam News

6, October 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BBC

6, October 2018

Cameroon marred by violence ahead of presidential poll ⁰

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

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

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

Credible elections “impossible”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Opposition parties defy separatists

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

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

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

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

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

Displaced voters

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

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

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

Army policing polls

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

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

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

Source: Deutschwelle

6, October 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

Security situation remains perilous in the North

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

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

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

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

Extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances

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

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

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

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

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

Anglophone region plagued by violence

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Amnesty International