We, associations of English-speaking journalists and defenders of woman’s rights, condemn the verbal assault and insults by the SDF Chairman, Mr John Fru Ndi, on two journalists, including a woman, during a press conference in Yaounde on December 12, 2020, as reported by The Guardian Post No. 2034 of December 14, 2020, and demand an immediate apology from him.

The party Chairman’s utterances gave a sense of the same condemnable attitude of undermining the Press, a vital corps in the socio-political and socio-economic development of society by politicians in power and those still in the opposition.

We have keenly listened to an audio clip of the entire press conference circulating on social media and we heard our colleague, Ebenezer Akanga, who works for CRTV, the state TV broadcaster, ask the Chairman whether he did not think his party ought to share in the blame for the electoral predicament his party was deploring at the press conference.

As the watchdogs of society and mediators of the socio-political landscape with a duty to hold public personalities to account, we simply expected the SDF Chairman to admit Akanga’s claim or deny it with explanations. We are shocked at his bad-tempered response and the uncivil badmouthing of our colleagues. Nothing in the audio recording of the press conference suggested nor justified Fru Ndi’s “shut up your mouth, shut up your mouth” assault on our colleague.

Protesting the incident, our colleague, Franklin Sone Bayen, Executive Secretary of both CReAM (Come and Redeem Anglophone Media Practice) and CiJA (Courage in Journalism Awards) says, “A  politician who tells a journalist to shut up would shut up journalists by locking them up if such a politician ever got to power.” That is disquieting to us.

Commenting on the brawl, Akanga says, “I felt humiliated to be insulted in public and infront of my colleagues simply for asking a question as a journalist. At my own small level, I have decided that I will not go to cover any activity of the SDF again.”

 Reacting  to another incident at the same press conference where Fru Ndi described a female journalist, Annie Babele who works for The Post newspaper, as “very ugly”, our colleague, Commy Mussa, CEO of a women’s rights organization, Sisterspeak237, says by so doing the SDF Chairman knowingly or unknowingly promoted “the tradition of denigrating women in media by criticizing their appearance rather than their work.

“Such attacks can reinforce gender norms, create pressure for women to present themselves attractively (with “attractiveness” defined by men, of course), and even persuade  some women to stay out of the public sphere altogether,” Mussa underscored.

“Verbal abuse from a top ranking personality on a fellow woman irrespective of the circumstances and context, is totally unacceptable because it is from them that we expect to see  good examples.”

While still evaluating the possible short-term and long-term consequences of the Chairman’s action on our corps and on the said individuals and considering any action we may take in the future, we demand an immediate apology from Chairman Fru Ndi to the individuals and the Press Corps in general and hope this type of arrogance towards the Press will cease forthwith.

Done in Yaounde, this 16th day of December 2020

Signed:

-Cameroon Association of English-speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ)

-Cameroon Community Media Network (CCMN)

-Come and Redeem Anglophone Media Practice (CReAM)

-Courage in Journalism Awards (CiJA)

-Association of Combined Action to Protect and Empower Journalists (ACAPEJ)

Returnees displaced people of Kembong have reasons to smile this Christmas notwithstanding the precarious situation in Cameroon that has brought untold suffering to the poor and guiltless.

Kembong was the first major settlement to experience the burning down of homes and its inhabitants were the first to escape into the bushes for fear of their lives. This prompted Eyum Anneh & Co., a German based NGO to start the Kembong Relief Initiative.

This ingenuity brought some concerned Kembong indigenes and friends of Kembong in Germany to a collaboration of relief support for the troubled people.

To this outcome, the managing director of Eyum Anneh & Co., Mr Tanyi Tambendiparrah sincerely expresses his profound gratitude to all participants, supporters, especially to those who open-handedly donated their widow´s mite ´towards this relief support. We are indeed deeply grateful for all the support directed towards this effort, be it financial, material, moral or otherwise.

Immense thanks to our partner in Cameroon ETAYA NGO and the director Mr Tanyi Felix, who in cooperation made it possible for the relief to get to affected population. We equally extend gratitude to the Kembong family meeting in Buea, state officials and Mrs Ayukakpa Pauline who accompanied the delivery to Kembong. Many thanks to the Diocese of Mamfe, especially Rev. Father Tanyi Tabeson, Rev. Father Vuni, the Kembong Catholic church for assisting in the distribution of the relief support. And to many of you whose names we can´t mention here.

We are gratified that the distribution was done according to plan, irrespective of age, gender, religious or political orientation.

This consignment comprised basic life´s need (clothes, salt, sugar, flour, cooking oil, rice, play kits, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, skin cream, toilet paper, disinfectants, first, toiletries, detergents, etc) gives them hope, peace of mind particularly as they understand that they are not alone in moments of difficulty and each of them is happy with whatever he / she received irrespective of the quantity and quality.

This write-up is an Eyum Anneh & Co. production

The United States government should protect all Cameroonians in the United States from deportation because of serious threats to their safety in Cameroon, Human Rights Watch said today.

The government should designate Cameroonians in the United States for temporary protected status, which is intended to protect nationals and habitual residents of countries experiencing extraordinary and temporary conditions from being returned to those countries if they are not able to return in safety. US authorities should also investigate allegations that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel physically abused Cameroonian asylum seekers to force them to sign documents related to their deportation.

“The US government should suspend deportations to Cameroon because of the serious threats Cameroonians face to their lives and freedom upon return,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “In addition to a generalized risk of serious harm because of violence in the Far North, North-West, and South-West regions, deportees to Cameroon also face a risk of torture and ill-treatment because of their real or imputed opposition to the government.”

Immigrant rights groups and the media reported that ICE deported more than 90 Cameroonians on two deportation flights, in October and November 2020. Human Rights Watch confirmed that at least several dozens of those deported had sought but did not receive asylum, according to court documents and interviews with lawyers, activists, and volunteers.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in Cameroon in the past year in the Anglophone North-West and South-West regions, where violence has been acute since late 2016, as armed separatists seek independence for the country’s minority Anglophone regions. Violence has displaced tens of thousands of people in the past year, adding to the hundreds of thousands who have fled their homes since the start of the violence.

Security forces have responded abusively to separatist attacks, often targeting civilians, their lives, and livelihoods. Armed separatists have killed, tortured, assaulted, and kidnapped hundreds of people. They have also prevented humanitarian workers and teachers from doing their jobs, depriving children of access to education. Few people responsible for serious abuses have been held accountable since the crisis in the English-speaking regions began in late 2016.

In the Far North region, the Islamist armed group Boko Haram has deliberately attacked civilians, including internally displaced people, with almost daily killings, kidnappings, thefts, and destruction of property.

The government has also cracked down on political opponents and opposition party supporters, charging hundreds participating in peaceful protests in September 2020 with terrorism and rebellion, and using the pandemic as pretext to silence opposition and quell dissent.

Anglophones deported to Cameroon face a serious risk of abuse by government security forces because they may be assumed to have links to separatists, or from the separatists themselves. Torture is common in official and unofficial detention centers, including military bases, where many people are being held incommunicado.

Cameroonians fleeing the Far North region are at serious risk of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and harassment if they are returned, as the government has accused many residents of supporting Boko Haram. Cameroonians who are seen as sympathizers to opposition parties can also face threats if returned due to the government’s crackdown on the political opposition.

Given these conditions, many Cameroonians qualify as refugees under US asylum and international refugee law. Cameroonians in Africa will also qualify under the expanded refugee definition in the 1969 Africa Refugee Convention, which recognizes as refugees those who have fled their country “owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality.”

While asylum approval rates show that many Cameroonians in the United States have qualified for asylum or for withholding of removal because of the risk of persecution, the US government should designate Cameroonians for temporary protected status because of the “ongoing armed conflict within the state…[and] extraordinary and temporary conditions,” that constitute broader threats that prevent nationals of Cameroon from returning there in safety, as defined in US law.

Despite the wide and continuing range of risks in Cameroon, the rate of granting asylum for Cameroonians in US immigration courts dropped from 81 percent in fiscal year 2019 to 62 percent in fiscal year 2020. Cameroonians, along with asylum seekers from other African countries, have faced increased detention under the Trump administration. Studies have found that detained immigrants in general are less likely to obtain legal representation and to win asylum or other forms of protection from deportation. The Trump administration has also made numerous changes to the asylum system designed to make it extremely difficult for anyone to obtain asylum.

Recent complaints filed by US immigrant rights advocates allege abuses by ICE personnel against Cameroonian asylum seekers in detention. These include threats, coercion, and physical violence to force asylum seekers to sign documents related to their deportation. These complaints should also be investigated and corrective action taken by the Department of Homeland Security.

The two known flights of deportees from the United States to Cameroon, on October 13 and November 11, carried a reported 57 and 37 Cameroonians respectively. The more than 90 Cameroonians deported by ICE in the first two months of fiscal year 2021 already exceeds the total number of Cameroonians that ICE deported to Cameroon in fiscal years 2020 (49), 2019 (74) and 2018 (68).

Human Rights Watch has also called on the US government to suspend all deportations during the coronavirus pandemic to avoid contributing to the global spread of the virus.

“Cameroonians fleeing very real danger in their country deserve protection from abuse and a fair assessment of their claims for asylum and related forms of protection in US law,” Allegrozzi said. “The US government should suspend deportations of Cameroonians and ensure that all ICE abuse allegations are properly and impartially investigated.”

Culled from Human Rights Watch

Cameroonian security operatives have arrested a former member of the parliament Blama Malla for alleged ties with the Boko Haram terrorist group, HumAngle reports.

Malla is a member of the country’s ruling party – Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM).

Multiple security sources said that Blama Malla is being held in the Mora gendarmerie brigade in the Mayo-Sava division of the Far North Region.

“The former CPDM parliamentarian is being interrogated by gendarmes for colluding with the Boko Haram terrorist sect,” a security source told HumAngle.

The security source narrated that “It all started with the arrest in Kolofata of a certain Talba who is a nephew of the former parliamentarian.

“At the time of his arrest by members of the Kolofata vigilante group, the suspect was leading a herd of 10 cattle he said he bought at Meme with his final destination being Nigeria.”

Another security source said Talba admitted that the cattles were to be delivered to Boko Haram members during interrogation.

“The suspect Talba, known in the Kerawa locality as a member of the vigilance committee, admitted that the cattle were destined for elements of the Boko Haram terrorist sect adding that he was taking them to Nigeria on the instructions of the former member of parliament who is currently the Vice President of the CPDM permanent commission in Mayo-Sava as well as member of the Central Committee of the CPDM, Blama Malla,” the security source said.

Consequently, Blama Malla and his nephew Talba were consequently arrested and are currently being interrogated at the Mora territorial brigade of the national gendarmerie.

In 2018, the president of the Cameroon National Assembly, Cavaye Yegue Djibril, announced during a parliamentary session that some lawmakers are representatives of the Boko Haram insurgency group.

Djibril, however, did not disclose the names of the lawmakers allegedly working with Boko Haram.

Source: Guardian.ng