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Serbia Urged to Stop Selling Arms to Cameroon

20, July 2018

Serbia Urged to Stop Selling Arms to Cameroon 0

After a video of executions in Cameroon featured what seemed to be soldiers using Serbian-made arms, Amnesty International has asked Serbia to stop exporting weapons to the country.

Amnesty International told BIRN that Cameroon has used Serbian-made weapons in a pattern of “systematic violations” of human rights, and has called on Serbia to suspend arms export to the African state.

“Given the credible evidence of a Zastava M21 being used by Cameroonian soldiers to carry out the horrific extrajudicial executions of two women and two young children, Serbia – a major supplier of small arms to Cameroon – should suspend further supplies,” Patrick Wilcken, an arms-control researcher at Amnesty International, told BIRN.

“This is not the first time Amnesty International has documented human rights abuses by Cameroonian forces using Serbian small arms. Rather, it reflects a pattern of systematic violations,” Wilcken added.

The comment came after both Amnesty and Bellingcat stated that they had verified that the gun seen in the video of the execution of the women and children, accused of belonging to outlawed Islamist terror group Boko Harram, was a Serbian-made Zastava M21. The gun is produced in the state-owned Zastava arms factory in the central town of Kragujevac.Serbia’s Ministry of Trade, which issues arms export licenses, and the Ministry of Defence, did not reply to BIRN’s questions on arms sale to Cameroon by the time of publication.

According to data from the UN/Arms Trade Treaty, Cameroon has been one of the largest recipients of Serbian weapons since 2013.

BIRN reported in September last year that tweets had captured images of Serbian-made Coyote machine guns in Cameroon and Nigeria – apparently seized from Boko Haram fighters.

On July 12, Amnesty reported that an investigation had “gathered credible evidence that it was Cameroonian soldiers depicted in a video carrying out the horrific extrajudicial executions of two women and two young children.”

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon’s Communication Minister, dismissed the video as fake news, but said the authorities would conduct an investigation.

“Although we have demonstrated that this is fake, the head of state has instructed the Minister of Defence to open a thorough investigation in which no stone should be left unturned,” UK’s ITV quoted Bakary as saying.

Amnesty, however, stated that “both the weapons and uniforms of the soldiers in the video are indicative of the Cameroon Army, and display patterns consistent with a number of possible units, including regular infantry and the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), the special forces of the Cameroonian army.”

“The Cameroonian authorities’ initial claim that this shocking video is fake simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,” Samira Daoud, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s West Africa office, said in Amnesty’s report.

“The evidence we have provided forms a firm basis for strongly suggesting that the individuals committing these atrocities are members of Cameroon’s armed forces.”

Paul Biya, who has been Cameroon President for 36 years, is facing accusations of brutal human rights abuses.

On July 13, the Associated Press reported that Biya is “one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders” and that “he oversees an increasingly restive Central African nation that faces an Anglophone separatist movement and the threat from Boko Haram extremists crossing the border from Nigeria.”

CNN reported on June 14, citing an Amnesty International report, that English-speakers in the country were being targeted by both the Cameroonian military and separatists in violence that Amnesty described as “unlawful, excessive and unnecessary.”

Source: Balkan Insight



French Cameroon military, Ambazonia Restoration Forces blamed for ‘grave abuses’

20, July 2018

French Cameroon military, Ambazonia Restoration Forces blamed for ‘grave abuses’ 0

Violent tensions between Cameroon’s government and Anglophone separatists have forced more than 180,000 people from their homes since December, Human Rights Watch said Thursday in a new report that blames both sides for “grave abuses” against civilians.

Warnings about Cameroon’s crisis are growing as the Central African nation faces an October election in which 85-year-old President Paul Biya, in power since 1982, says he will run again.

The human rights situation in the largely French-speaking country where Anglophone separatists seek an independent state has taken a deadly turn since late 2016 and “could still get much worse,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “International action is needed to ensure that both sides protect civilians and ensure justice for crimes against them.”

Among the dozens of victims interviewed for the report was a man who described finding his 69-year-old mother’s remains among the ashes of his home after a military operation in the northwest. While his wife and children fled his mother had been unable to follow, he said.

Cameroon’s northwest and southwest have faced unrest since 2016, when teachers and lawyers held demonstrations demanding respect for the region’s English education and justice systems. The government responded with force, and though an agreement was reached with lawyers and teachers’ unions last year, armed separatists emerged seeking an English-speaking state.

As the separatists, described by the government as “terrorists,” began attacking schools to enforce a boycott, some Anglophone activist groups declared an independent state of Ambazonia.

In response, government forces have “killed civilians, used excessive force against demonstrators, tortured and mistreated suspected separatists and detainees and burned hundreds of homes in several villages,” the Human Rights Watch report says, also citing satellite imagery.

“Despite the abuses and provocations by armed separatists, the government should never be attacking civilians and burning villages,” Segun said. Human Rights Watch wants Cameroon to give independent monitors and the United Nations human rights office access to the troubled regions.

Biya has authorized investigations, and his government last month announced a plan to rebuild more than 10,000 homes affected by the violence.

In response to the new report, the government condemned separatist attacks and defended its security forces, saying all alleged atrocities are investigated. Just because such investigations “are not always widely disseminated to the public does not in any way mean that they are not taken,” it said.

Cameroon’s security forces also are under scrutiny for their response to a separate threat from Boko Haram extremists in the north. After a video emerged last week showing uniformed men blindfolding two women with small children strapped to their backs and shooting them as suspected Boko Haram supporters, Amnesty International experts said Cameroonian forces appeared to be involved. The government denied it.

Amid the expressions of shock and outrage, the United States said it was “gravely concerned” and called on Cameroon to investigate.

Source: Fox News


Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government can’t believe it!

20, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Government can’t believe it! 0

When Cameroon’s long-serving dictator, Paul Biya, declared war on Southern Cameroonians in January 2018, little did he know that government casualties will become the next crisis he will be dealing with. His defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, had overtly declared that his troops would implement the president’s decision without batting an eyelid. A veiled threat that did not cut ice with Southern Cameroonian fighters who had secretly hatched a plan to get weapons that would leave the country’s military in grief for a long time.

Today, some 1,000 soldiers, police and gendarmes have been sent to an early grave by poorly trained Southern Cameroonian fighters who have shown great valor and determination to keep the country’s military in permanent fear. The government is yet to come out of its shock. But that is the truth. Those who have died will never come back. They died doing what they loved doing. Fighting for their country even when the ruler is a bloody dictator whose interest is to stay in power.

Currently, there is a bill at the country’s national assembly for the approval of some CFAF 600,000,000,000 for the compensation of families that have lost loved ones. This is a very guarded secret, but a source at the National Assembly that has elected anonymity has hinted Cameroon Concord News Group that this has become a hot potato, as those who sold the idea that a fast military action in the two English-speaking regions would produce the best results are clearly disappointed. Their so-called professionally trained military has not lived up to its billing.

There is fear within government circles that when Cameroonians will understand that they have lost so many soldiers, they would rise up against a government that has been working so hard to hide the truth.  The government had felt that by killing a few Southern Cameroonians and by burning down some villages, Southern Cameroonians would be silenced forever.

Unfortunately, their best effort has been counter-productive. Southern Cameroonians have displayed a lot of bravado that has left the government in shock. Their unity of purpose has forced admiration on the docile Francophone population that thought the government’s action would only be second to Hitler’s blitzkrieg.

The government had clearly underestimated a lot of things. Southern Cameroonians are a very determined people and nothing short of a true and sincere resolution of this crisis that has been on the horizon for more than half a century will bring peace to Cameroon.

Cameroon has lost its charm. Its peaceful nation image has been shattered. Southern Cameroonians are still prepared to take on the government. The killing of their people and burning of their homes will not deter them.

Today, it is reported that more than three thousand Southern Cameroonians have been sent to an early grave by government militia and soldiers who have been working in close collaboration to decimate the English-speaking region’s population.

The number of atrocities and deaths has continued to rise as the government keeps on dilly dallying on the creation of the right conditions for the holding of the inclusive dialogue that the international community has called for.

According to Humans Rights Watch in its July 19, 2018, report published in New York, “Government security forces and armed separatists have committed grave abuses against residents of Cameroon’s Anglophone region, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The region has been rocked by protests and violent clashes rooted in long-standing political grievances by the country’s Anglophone minority.”

The report, based on research in the region, satellite imagery and video analyses and entitled, “These Killings Can Be Stopped’: Abuses by Government and Separatist Groups in Cameroon’s Anglophone Regions” found that both government forces and armed separatists have abused civilians in the western part of the country, displacing over 180,000 people since December 2017.”

“Anglophone separatists have extorted, kidnapped and killed civilians, and prevented children from going to school. In response to protests and violence by armed separatists, government forces have killed civilians, used excessive force against demonstrators, tortured and mistreated suspected separatists and detainees, and burned hundreds of homes in several villages,” the report also adds.

“The human rights situation in Cameroon has reached crisis level and could still get much worse,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “International action is needed to ensure that both sides protect civilians and ensure justice for crimes against them.”

Human Rights Watch documented abuses by both government forces and a variety of separatist between late 2016 and May 2018. It interviewed 51 victims, relatives of victims, or witnesses of abuse, as well as 31 education and medical professionals, lawyers, and key international sources. The interviews were conducted in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon in April.

Southern Cameroonians have seen the worst and they strongly hold that if they do not stand up to the bully that the government is, they will never know their peace. They are determined to walk away from a poorly stitched marriage with a dishonest and ineffective Francophone government that has been robbing them of their natural resources.

Initially, Southern Cameroonian fighters depended on hit and run tactics, but after more than five months in the jungle, they now believe they can take on government troops that are properly equipped, but poorly trained. In the last week, they have been moving from one city to the next, chasing out faint-hearted government army soldiers who have already begun asking why the government is killing its own people.

Southern Cameroonian fighters have made their presence felt in the city of Buea which was considered by the government as impenetrable. Limbe, Southern Cameroon’s port city, was considered off limits to the fighters, but last week, they broke the myth and sent many residents running in different directions. Even soldiers and policemen had to flee for their dear lives. It is even reported that policemen and gendarmes are those who are helping to enforcement ghost towns declared by Southern Cameroonian fighters for fear of being targeted by the merciless fighters.

The pseudo-peace in Limbe has vanished. Southern Cameroonian fighters who were initially lurking in forests around the region have made up their minds to come to the cities and Limbe is now hosting lots of them. They are sick and tired of constant attacks from mosquitoes and poisonous reptiles who consider their presence in the jungle as an unfriendly intrusion into their private space and territory.

With an influx of people coming from other cities, it is obvious that Southern Cameroonian fighters have used the opportunity to establish a foothold in the city. Residents of the city are now respecting ghost town orders from the Southern Cameroons Interim Government that is widely considered as the legitimate authority in region to the letter.

The Southern Cameroons crisis stems from events in late 2016, when local lawyers and teachers mobilized over demands for respect of the region’s educational and judicial systems. This escalated into armed confrontations following heavy-handed repression by government security forces. The Cameroonian government negotiated with lawyers and teachers’ unions in early 2017, but its security forces continued to clamp down on Anglophone protesters, including the arrest of two prominent negotiators on January 17, 2017.

This caused the crisis to escalate. Calls for a federal system quickly turned into demands for secession. This rapidly metamorphosed into a full blown civil war, making the independence of the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon a certainty, especially as the government engaged in targeted killings.

Ever since the crisis, started, the country’s economy has taken many punches. State corporations located in Southern Cameroons have been significantly affected. Pamol, a palm oil production corporation located in Lobe, a small town in Ndian Division, has shut its doors as the fighting between Southern Cameroonian fighters and army soldiers takes a turn for the worse.

More than three thousand Pamol workers are today unemployed and living in permanent fear, as the fighting between the warring factions rages on. Schools and courts in the region have been closed for more than two years and it is increasingly obvious that the Yaoundé government has lost control of certain parts of the two English-speaking regions.

The Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), one of the major employers in the region, is also going through a rough patch. Malende, a small town located some 6 km from Muyuka, has witnessed huge unemployment rates. The corporation’s rubber factory was set ablaze last week by some unidentified men and this has hit CDC like a ton of bricks.

In other plantations, many workers have simply deserted. The fighting is disrupting economic activities in those plantations and many workers hold that it is better to quit than to be caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea. The fighting, coupled with the derisory salaries the corporation pays to its workers, has made CDC unattractive and this is gradually eroding the government’s tax base.

Many of the fighters hold that it is time to target the country’s lone refinery located in the region’s port city of Limbe. They hold that they have never benefitted from it and they will have no remorse for burning it down to ashes.

In a taped message sent to the Cameroon Concord News Group’s Global Headquarters in the UK, the fighters say that is their target and they are prepared to bring Cameroon to its knees. They argue that their God-given wealth has never trickled down to them.

The last two years have really been challenging to the government, its revenue base has been eroded, as the national oil refinery located in the Southwest region is also facing really challenges. The crisis is a true nightmare to this once-upon-a-time oasis of peace. It is indeed a millstone around the neck of the government which is gradually collapsing under its weight.

While the government is putting on a brave face in public, it is indeed worried that Southern Cameroonians might walk away from the union that was stitched together in 1972 between West and East Cameroon. Southern Cameroonians hold that the union has been predicated upon lies right from the beginning and that a review of the system is long overdue.

Southern Cameroonians stress that much blood has already flowed and this makes it hard for the warring factions to sit around a negotiating table to narrow their differences. The killing of many Southern Cameroonians and the burning of their homes have left Southern Cameroonians with just the option of quitting their French-speaking counterparts.

Walking away from that ‘political marriage’ implies taking with them about 60% of the country’s wealth. Southern Cameroons is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits to the country. For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil.

In 2014, Cameroon exported US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, was from crude oil. This is a significant amount of money and no government can afford to stay on the sidelines and watch manna vanish into thin air.

But the government’s indifference to calls for an inclusive dialogue is giving secessionists more confidence and time to spread their gospel. The government’s military action has transformed it into a monster and this has pushed the civilian population into the arms of secessionists who are making hay while the sun shines.

However, with international pressure mounting on the government and the fear that the presidential election scheduled for October may be derailed, the government is gradually considering smoking the pipe of peace. But how possible is it to make peace in less than three months with all the blood that is all over the place?

Experts argue that the first step to such an effort is to ensure that the killings and burning of homes stop. They posit that this could be possible if the government grants a general amnesty and releases all Southern Cameroonians that are currently being held in jails across the nation. For the moment, everybody is holding their breath, hoping that the country’s president who has been indifferent to many calls for inclusive dialogue will finally see wisdom in the advice the world has given him.

By Kingsley Betek in Yaounde


Southern Cameroons Crisis: The dangers of Yaounde-Buea’s war of words

20, July 2018

Southern Cameroons Crisis: The dangers of Yaounde-Buea’s war of words 0

FOR decades Cameroon, wedged between central and west Africa, enjoyed a reputation for calm and stability while its neighbours were mired in a cycle of coups-d’état, wars and bloodshed. Yet today that stability is no longer guaranteed, and a long-simmering crisis is erupting. Protests, which began in October 2016 with Anglophone teachers and barristers demonstrating about French curricula and legal texts, have morphed into a conflict of kidnappings, beheadings and the torching of villages. What went wrong?

Cameroon was colonised by the Germans in the late 19th century, and after the first world war the League of Nations entrusted the administration of different parts to the British and the French. In 1961, lured by the promise of federalism, the formerly British-held North-West and South-West regions chose to join the newly independent and previously French-held Cameroon. But 11 years later, the country’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo reneged on the federalist deal and imposed a unitary state, governed from French-speaking Yaounde. In 1984 the current president, Paul Biya, changed the name of the country to the Republic of Cameroon (the name of the former Francophone territory) and removed from the national flag the second star, which represented the Anglophone regions. The effects are still felt today. Anglophones, who make up less than a fifth of the population, feel marginalised in almost every sphere of life, ranging from the allocation of state resources to political representation.

The government reacted to the spreading protests by dismissing the demonstrators as terrorists, throwing their leaders in jail and cutting off internet connections to the two Anglophone regions. This just created more problems. The leadership vacuum was filled by a range of separatist groups, with senior activists ranging from worried men in suits to armed criminals taking advantage of the chaos. Still angered by Ahidjo’s treachery almost half-a-century ago, Anglophones continue to complain that they were not given the option to set up their own state after independence. That has become one of the main demands of some fighters, who declared the establishment of the “Republic of Ambazonia” last October. The crisis has duly developed into a vicious war. Both sides have committed atrocities, but the Anglophones are paying the harshest price. More than 21,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria, while in south-west Cameroon entire settlements have become ghost villages, with more than 150,000 people displaced.

Worse, this is just one of three crises facing Cameroon. Northern parts have been affected by the Boko Haram insurgency spilling over from Nigeria. The jihadists’ campaign of suicide bombings and other attacks has forced almost 250,000 Cameroonians to flee their homes and led to the arrival of more than 95,000 Nigerians refugees. At the same time, over 230,000  refugees from the Central African Republic have come to eastern Cameroon, bringing with them a bloody struggle for power and access to natural resources. In the presidential election due for October, Mr Biya—Africa’s oldest ruler at 85—is expected to seek a seventh term in power. Mr Biya has no obvious successor, in a government anchored in sclerosis. Yet stability in Cameroon is vital not only for the region but for Africa at large. It is the biggest economy in central Africa, and for many people in Cameroon, Chad and the Central African Republic, the port of Douala is a life-line. Cameroon’s elite soldiers, arguably the most efficient in the region, have played a crucial role in the fight against Boko Haram and ISIS splinter groups. If Cameroon plunges further into chaos, other countries could be pulled down with it.

Culled from The Economist


Ambazonian MPs, Senators still in Yaounde as Southern Cameroons faces more persecution

20, July 2018

Ambazonian MPs, Senators still in Yaounde as Southern Cameroons faces more persecution 0

The Ambazonian Interim government says French Cameroun army violence persists against Southern Cameroonians and the overall environment remains menacing for Ambazonians on ground zero. Communication Secretary, Hon. Chris Anu said in a statement on Thursday that the genocide going on in Southern Cameroons towns and villages and the arrival of thousands of Southern Cameroons refugees in Nigeria reflects the continuing gravity of the human rights violations by French Cameroun soldiers in Southern Cameroons.

Chris Anu wondered aloud why Southern Cameroons members of parliament and senators were still serving in French Cameroun mindful of the overt threats they faced of violence and persecution. The Ambazonian Communication Secretary also noted that it was shameful Southern Cameroons political elites are mute when their people are being cut off from their sources of livelihood, hundreds including women and children are being killed and the overall menacing environment is pushing thousands to flee their ancestral homeland.

The statement comes as the Francophone dominated army has reportedly intensify its onslaught in Southern Cameroons. There are reports that the deadly violence against Southern Cameroonians is premeditated and amounted to genocide. Human Rights groups including Amnesty International have all indicated that the Cameroon military was guilty of committing crimes against humanity and genocide.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands that the French Cameroun army made systematic preparations for genocide against Southern Cameroonians in Belo, Batibo, Kwa Kwa and Muyenge.  The brutal campaign has forced some 50,000 Southern Cameroonians to flee their homeland and seek refuge in Nigeria. Southern Cameroonians based in Ndian, Meme, Manyu, Menchum, Fako, Mezam and Bui Counties have been subjected to a campaign of killings, rape and arson attacks by the Cameroon government military backed by the country’s ruling CPDM party.

By Sama Ernest with files from Rita Akana


President of South Sudan says ready to accept peace deal

19, July 2018

President of South Sudan says ready to accept peace deal 0

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said he is ready to accept a peace deal to end a civil war and set up an inclusive new government.

The deal being negotiated in Sudan would give the country five vice presidents and also covers security and power sharing.

“The people of South Sudan are looking for peace and if that arrangement can bring about peace to the people of South Sudan, I am ready to take it,” said Kiir late on Wednesday at a swearing-in ceremony for his foreign minister.

“People talk about exclusivity, nobody is to be left out of the government. I accept it,” he said.

South Sudan erupted in conflict in 2013 because of a dispute between Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar. Tens of thousands have been killed, a quarter of the population has fled their homes and the oil-dependent economy has been wrecked.

A 2015 peace deal briefly halted the fighting but it fell apart after Machar returned to the capital the following year.

The conflict has mostly been fought along ethnic lines, pitting Kiir’s dominant Dinka tribe and its rival, the ethnic Nuer of Machar.

President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir (4th R) poses with South Sudan’s opposition leader Riek Machar (3-L) during peace talks at Uganda’s statehouse in Entebbe where they were received by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (C) along with Sudan counterpart Omar al Bashir (4th L) on July 7, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

This week Kiir named Nhial Deng Nhial, ex-presidential adviser and also his chief negotiator in the Khartoum talks, as his new foreign minister, replacing Deng Alor.

(Source:Reuters)


Congo-Kinshasa: Kabila mute on political future in address to lawmakers

19, July 2018

Congo-Kinshasa: Kabila mute on political future in address to lawmakers 0

President Joseph Kabila has refused to make clear pronouncements on his political future as leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Speaking in an address to a joint sitting of the country’s legislature, Kabila whose legal tenure of office expired in December 2016 failed to address the issue of whether he was interested in continuing as president.

His over 40-minutes address to lawmakers focused largely on internal issues like security, the economy, unemployment and development plans executed under his presidency. He also touched on the DRC’s repositioning in regional and global diplomacy.

Most political watchers had expected him to make clear statements on his political involvement in a country that is heading to the polls in December 2018. He, however, stated that the elections would take place.

Opposition parties have long claimed that despite the expiration of his term two years ago, Kabila has plans of seeking a third term in office – which provision is not existent in the current constitution.

Top regime officials – Kabila spokesperson Lambert Mende and Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala, are on record to have said that Kabila will oversee elections and step down once a successor is elected.

Kinshasa has repeatedly used the lack of security and lack of a credible voters register to postpone elections. The December 2018 date has the full backing of the international community even though the opposition have expressed concerns over the process so far.

Source: Africa News


Biya regime arrests four soldiers in connection with execution of women and children

19, July 2018

Biya regime arrests four soldiers in connection with execution of women and children 0

Cameroon has arrested four soldiers suspected of shooting dead two women and two children in the country’s far north where its army is battling jihadist group Boko Haram, two security sources told Reuters.

A video of the incident, which has been shared tens of thousands of times on Twitter since it emerged last week, has provoked international outcry.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary initially described the footage as “fake news” and said that the men in the footage, who were wearing military fatigues, did not appear to be Cameroonian soldiers. However, he said the government would open an investigation.

“Four soldiers were arrested on Sunday. They are suspected of being the authors of the executions in the video,” said an army officer in Cameroon’s Far North region near the border with Nigeria.

A second security source said that three of the soldiers had been transferred to the capital Yaounde while the fourth was still being held in Maroua, the capital of the Far North.

Spokesmen for the army and the government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The shaky footage shows two women, one with an infant strapped to her back, being led across a patch of dusty scrubland by a group of uniformed men, who accuse them of belonging to the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram.

The women, silent throughout the ordeal, are blindfolded and told to sit down alongside their children. Moments later, two men step back, level their rifles and fire a series of rounds.

Amnesty International said last week that it had gathered credible evidence that the men in the video were indeed Cameroonian soldiers based on an analysis of their weapons, speech and uniforms.

Four Cameroonian military sources, including the officer in the Far North, told Reuters that the video did show Cameroonian soldiers. Two said the video was filmed in 2014 or 2015 in the early months of Cameroon’s operations against Boko Haram.

REUTERS


French Cameroun: Shocking video exposes extrajudicial killings

19, July 2018

French Cameroun: Shocking video exposes extrajudicial killings 0

A video which appears to show Cameroonian soldiers executing two women, a young girl and a baby was widely circulated on social media last week. The video depicts two men in army uniforms assaulting the female detainees outside a village in northern Cameroon, telling them, “BH, you are going to die” (BH is slang for Boko Haram). The women and children are then led off a dirt track, blindfolded and shot dead. The Galil rifles the soldiers are carrying suggest that they are part of the Cameroonian Army’s Rapid Intervention Battalion who have a history of human rights abuses while battling the extremist armed group, Boko Haram.

According to research by Amnesty International and other experts, the shocking video constitutes credible evidence of an extrajudicial killing carried out by Cameroonian soldiers in the Mayo-Tsanaga region. The government of Cameroon initially denounced the video as “fake news,” but has since announced a formal investigation.

Cameroon’s security forces are also embroiled in a rapidly deteriorating conflict in the country’s Anglophone regions. Widespread protests during 2016 against the marginalization and under-representation of English-speakers were met with violent repression by the government, leading to dozens of deaths and mass displacement. In October 2017 English-speaking separatists symbolically proclaimed the independent state of “Ambazonia.” Since then, violence between security forces and armed separatists has escalated. Government forces have arbitrarily arrested and tortured detainees, and have destroyed a number of villages throughout the Anglophone regions. Armed separatists have also carried out human rights abuses.

There is growing concern that upcoming presidential elections scheduled for 7 October will lead to further intensification and militarization of the conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. President Paul Biya has been in power since 1982 and announced on 13 July that he will be running again for the presidency.

It is not too late to avert the growing risk of mass atrocities in Cameroon. The security forces must immediately end the use of disproportionate and deadly force against civilians and the government must ensure that the human rights of all Cameroonians are equally protected. All soldiers and police officers responsible for unlawful killings and the torture of detainees must be held accountable for their actions.

Source: Reliefweb


How Boko Haram ruined Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission

19, July 2018

How Boko Haram ruined Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission 0

The demarcation of the Cameroon-Nigeria border and the pillar construction continued to face challenges due to insecurity in areas affected by the presence of Boko Haram, the United Nations (UN) has said.

This is contained in a ‘Report of the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on the activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS)’.

Guterres also cited the unrest in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon as partly contributing to the challenges faced by the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission.

“Insecurity in areas affected by Boko Haram continued to hinder the activities of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission in the northernmost regions of the land boundary between the two countries.

“Social and political unrest in the English-speaking north-western and south-western regions of Cameroon raised additional security concerns.

“As a result, the demarcation of the border and the subsequent emplacement of pillars continued to be a challenge,’’ he said.

Against that background, parties to the Mixed Commission met in Lagos, Nigeria, on March 19 and March 20 to finalise the implementation of reinforced security measures for field operations.

In this regard, Guterres noted the activities of his Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who also serves as Chair of the Mixed Commission.

He said Chambas, on March 18 in Abuja and on May 15 in Yaoundé, “engaged in bilateral consultations with the heads of the Nigerian and Cameroonian delegations to work on outstanding areas of disagreement.

“Overall, the parties reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the judgment of the International Court of Justice of October 2002 and to fully demarcating the land and maritime boundaries shared by the two countries.

“My Special Representative also successfully concluded fundraising efforts to replenish a trust fund for pillar construction along the land boundary.

“Consequently, pillar emplacement is expected to resume in October 2018 at the end of the rainy season.’’

On the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers, he said UNOWAS supported the ECOWAS Commission in the development of a regional action plan on transhumance.

Guterres said the office also established an informal working group on pastoralism and conflict prevention with the participation of the UN and regional entities working on the issue.

“In Abuja, from April 24 to April 26, UNOWAS participated in a ministerial and experts meeting on conflicts between herders and farmers in West Africa, organised by the ECOWAS Commission and the Government of Nigeria.

“Relevant recommendations included the need for States to report on the implementation of the ECOWAS transhumance protocol,’’ the UN Chief said.

On Boko Haram, he said his Special Representative continued to support diplomatic, security and humanitarian responses to the terrorist organisation.

“On Feb 28, my Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel took part in the International Conference on Lake Chad, hosted by the Government of Nigeria with the support of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

“The Heads of State and Government of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, the Niger and Nigeria adopted a declaration reaffirming their commitment to increase cooperation to safeguard Lake Chad and address the socio-economic impact of climate change and instability.

“In his capacity as my High-level Representative for Nigeria, my Special Representative also held discussions with security institutions and other key stakeholders on the situation in the Lake Chad basin with a view to enhancing regional cooperation, reintegrating ex-combatants and dealing with root causes.

“Through the facilitation of my Special Representatives for West Africa and the Sahel and for Central Africa, the governors of territories bordering Lake Chad met for the first time in Maiduguri, Nigeria on May 8 and May 9.

“They established the Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum to enhance joint efforts towards building peace and fostering sustainable development across the Lake Chad basin.

Guterres said governance and development efforts must continue to be accompanied by a robust security response.

He commended the efforts of the countries participating in the Multinational Joint Task Force and encouraged strengthened partnership among the affected countries and with regional organisations, including the African Union.

“I congratulate the Government of Nigeria for conducting trials of Boko Haram suspects and urge the acceleration of the reintegration of victims and other categories of individuals associated with extremist groups in all affected countries.

“I encourage national authorities to provide critical humanitarian assistance to vulnerable communities.

“In addition, I reiterate my call on the international community to increase political, humanitarian, logistical and financial assistance to the affected countries, the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Joint Force of the G-5 Sahel and the Multinational Joint Task Force, and to advance the disbursement of pledged funds.’’

 

Source: News Agency of Nigeria


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