One of the world’s largest charities knew for years that it was funding alleged human rights abusers but repeatedly failed to address the issue, a lengthy, long-delayed report revealed on Tuesday.

A News investigation first exposed in March 2019 how WWF, the beloved nonprofit with the cuddly panda logo, financed and equipped park rangers accused of beating, torturing, sexually assaulting, and murdering scores of people. In response, WWF immediately commissioned an “independent review” led by Navi Pillay, a former United Nations commissioner for human rights.

The 160-page review, which has now been published online, corroborates problems exposed by News in Southern Cameroons, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The report claimed the panel was prevented by the Covid-19 pandemic from traveling to locations where the abuses reportedly took place.

The review found that WWF had failed again and again to follow “its own commitments to respect human rights” — commitments that are not just required by law but essential to “the conservation of nature.”

In a statement issued in response to the review, WWF expressed “deep and unreserved sorrow for those who have suffered,” and said that abuses by park rangers “horrify us and go against all the values for which we stand.” The charity acknowledged its shortcomings and welcomed the recommendations, saying “we can and will do more.”

Pillay’s review declined to address whether high-level executives, who News found were aware of “accelerating” violence at at least one wildlife park as early as January 2018, were responsible for the charity’s missteps.

Overall, WWF paid too little attention to credible abuse allegations, failed to construct a system for victims to make complaints, and painted an overly rosy picture of its anti-poaching war in public communications, the report found. “Unfortunately, WWF’s commitments to implement its social policies have not been adequately and consistently followed through,” the report’s authors wrote.

WWF has supported efforts to fight wildlife crime for decades. Although local governments officially employ and pay park rangers who patrol national parks and protected wildlife reserves, in a number of countries across Africa and Asia WWF has provided crucial funding to make their jobs possible. The charity has framed its crusade against poaching in the hardened terms of war.

In a multi-part series, News found that WWF’s war on poaching came with civilian casualties: impoverished villagers living near the parks. At the , WWF responded that many of ’s assertions did “not match our understanding of events” — yet the charity swiftly overhauled many of its human rights policies after publication.

In the US, the series spurred a bipartisan investigation and proposed legislation that would prohibit the government from awarding money to international conservation groups that fund or support human rights violations. It also prompted a freeze of funds by the Interior Department, a review by the Government Accountability Office, and separate government probes in the UK and Germany.

Three Cameroun government army soldiers were killed on Thursday by Ambazonia Restoration Forces in Prime Minister Dion Ngute’s constituency.

Cameroon Intelligence Report sources revealed that the Cameroon government soldiers were on a patrol in Ekondo Titi where they reported came under attack.

In a statement addressed to the Minister for Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, the Senior Divisional Officer for Ndian said “A patrol of soldiers of the 21st Marine Rifle Battalion was ambushed by separatists on Thursday morning. The separatists opened fire. Three of our soldiers were killed,” Nwafua Lawrence Forwang concluded.

This new Ambazonia Restoration strike in the ranks of the French Cameroun army comes a week after that of November 19 during which two gendarmes and a civilian were killed in Kissem in Bui County in the Northern Zone.

The Biya Francophone military authorities have regularly announced the strengthening of security in Southern Cameroons in the wake of attacks on schools.

Biya’s kinsman Joseph Beti Assomo recently chaired a meeting with military leaders during which he prescribed the strengthening of French Cameroun security apparatus in Ambazonia. But the situation seems to be deteriorating.

As a reminder, Southern Cameroons have been shaken since late October 2016 by corporatist demands from teachers and lawyers. In October 2017, these demands led to an armed conflict between the Francophone dominated army and Southern Cameroons Self Defense groups.

According to the UN, the conflict has already resulted in more than 3,000 deaths and at least 700,000 internally displaced persons with children paying the highest price. According to UNICEF, more than 800,000 children have been deprived of education as a result of the conflict in Southern Cameroons.

By Fon Lawrence  

Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said Wednesday the government plans to create 500,000 jobs in 2021.

Cameroon will adopt new pro-employment measures and enhance its support for key groups of job-seekers, Ngute said in the capital Yaounde while presenting the 2021 government plan of action to the National Assembly.

He said that access to vocational training will be improved by diversifying sectors and increasing training in new centers while making efforts to support market entities and create jobs.

Cameroon will improve its healthcare and educational systems, revamp its economy and agriculture and enhance the security of its territory and citizens, Ngute added.

He stressed that the success of the action plan will “largely depend on the behaviour of COVID-19 pandemic” that has so far slowed down economic growth.

Upon discussion and adoption of the action plan by the parliament, the Cameroonian government will approve detailed measures for meeting the strategic goals, which will be implemented through field-based development plans and programs for local governments, as well as public, private and third sector organizations.

Source: Xinhuanet

Cameroon’s army said Wednesday that three soldiers accused in the massacre of civilians in a troubled anglophone region, a case that triggered an international outcry, would go on trial on December 17.

The killing took place on February 14 in the village of Ntumbaw, in the Northwest Region, where anglophone separatists and security forces are embroiled in a bloody three-year-old conflict.

According to the government, 10 children and three women died, while the UN has put the toll at more than 23 dead, including nine children aged under five and two pregnant women.

“Three soldiers will appear in Yaounde military court for murder, arson and destruction of property, violence against a pregnant woman and disregard for orders,” army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack told AFP.

The trial will start on December 17, he confirmed.

The Cameroon authorities denied for two months that its security forces were to blame for any deaths at Ntumbaw.

It said the fatalities had resulted from an “unfortunate accident” when fuel was set ablaze during a gunfight between troops and separatists after a patrol came under fire.

But Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its own investigation, said civilians had been slaughtered by government forces and an auxiliary militia drawn from the ethnic Fulani community.

It based this on interviews with 25 people, including three witnesses to killings and seven relatives of victims, and on satellite imagery taken before and after the attack.

In April, as international pressure mounted, President Paul Biya’s office acknowledged responsibility by the security forces, saying three soldiers and a self-defence group had “attacked” a separatist base.

“After exchanges of fire in which five terrorists were shot dead,” they “discovered that three women and 10 children had died as a result of their actions,” it said.

HRW’s Cameroon specialist, Ilaria Allegrozzi, said the watchdog group was “pleased” that a date had been set for the trial.

“We have gone from complete denial to investigation, a presidential statement and now a trial,” she said, but cautioned that “senior individuals in the chain of command” also had to be prosecuted.

English speakers account for nearly a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 24 million, who are majority French-speaking.

Most of this minority live in two western regions called the Northwest and Southwest, which were once part of British colonies in West Africa.

Decades of grievances at perceived discrimination brewed into a declaration of independence in October 2017, which was followed by a government crackdown.

More than 3,000 people have died and at least 700,000 have fled their homes. Rights monitors say abuses have been committed by both sides.

Source: AFP

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard Fabrece Nguegoub was spotted masturbating as he walked through a housing estate on the outskirts of the city.

The 26-year-old Cameroonian national, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent behaviour.

He was arrested after police were alerted on October 15 this year.

The court was told a member of the public reported seeing a man matching his description walking through Merville Garden Village in Newtownabbey.

He was said to be masturbating with his trousers around his ankles. A photograph was taken of the suspect and the authorities notified.

Nguegoub was detained on the Antrim Road in Newtownabbey later that day. Defence solicitor Stewart Ballentine stressed his client made an immediate admission.

“He accepts his behaviour was totally unacceptable and may have caused offence, but that wasn’t his intention ,” the lawyer said.

“He suffers from mental health problems, he said he had started to urinate and then followed on from that.”

Mr Ballentine disclosed that Nguegoub had travelled from his native Cameroon to stay with his sister in the Republic of Ireland.

“He then made his way north to Belfast on this particular day,” he added.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall imposed a £150 fine, with the defendant to serve three days in custody for any non-payment.

Source: News Letter

Cameroon has begun the campaign season for its December 6 regional council elections amid threats and attacks from separatists fighting to create an English-speaking state in the French-majority country. The separatists, who have vowed to disrupt the polls, attacked several military convoys dispatched to protect voters. The government is pleading with citizens to help recently deployed troops by denouncing suspects.

Councilor Emile Ngalla, 47, said he fled from Bui to Mezam, both administrative areas in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region on Saturday. He said separatist fighters came to his home and threatened to kill him if he takes part in Cameroon’s December 6 regional council elections.

“I am not sure taking [I will take] part in the elections, but all I want to beg is that the government should enforce security for those who have the courage to do it [participate]. The issue of elections is bringing a lot of fear,” he said.

Ngalla said he will stay in the English-speaking northwestern town of Bamenda, which he said is safer, until the elections are held.

Government officials in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions say councilors and traditional rulers who constitute the electoral college are increasingly receiving death threats from fighters.

A video shared on social media appears to show an armed man in his 30s threatening to kill candidates if they do not stop campaigning and resign.

“I am coming out today to make it clear to the international community that there will be no elections come December 6, 2020. I want to advise all our people. you must stay vigilant. There will be no elections,” he said.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest region said besides the audios and videos shared on social media, separatists have been making anonymous phone calls threatening candidates and voters.

Speaking via telephone from Bamenda, Tchoffo said troops have been deployed to protect voters, candidates and election materials. He said separatist fighters who have intensified attacks and threats to disrupt the polls should know that they will be killed by the military if they do not surrender. He said the elections will offer special status to the English-speaking regions, as requested by residents.

Tchoffo said on Friday and Saturday there were several attacks on military convoys. He did not say if there were any deaths, but civilians said at least four troops were wounded and five military vehicles damaged in the northwestern town of Kumbo.

Friday, President Paul Biya dispatched his defense minister, police boss and defense chief of staff to the English-speaking regions to make sure the elections take place.

Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said the population should cooperate with the military by denouncing separatist suspects in their community.

“I wish to highlight unequivocally that our presence here attests the government’s resolve to provide an effective and definite solution to this crisis which keeps tormenting our people. A people who are only asking for a peaceful life, that is to live in a safe stable and prosperous environment,” he said.

Assomo called on voters and candidates to brave the threats and asked those who had left the region to return.

The government says the December 6 regional election will put in place the special status for the English-speaking regions as decided during the grand national dialogue called by Biya last September 30 through October 4.

The dialogue was to propose solutions to the crisis in the country’s English-speaking regions. Separatist leaders invited to the national dialogue refused to take part and called the special status a nonevent, stating that they want nothing but total independence for the English-speaking regions.

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions descended into violence in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

The government responded with a crackdown and separatists took up OK? Weapons, claiming that they were defending civilians. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced over 500,000, according to the United Nations.

Source: VOA

Paul Biya’s regime is ignoring the battle against Boko Haram and the Islamic State and using foreign counterterrorism assistance to fund its brutal repression of citizens with legitimate grievances.

Cameroon was once thought to be an island of stability in a sea of instability, but that mirage started to crumble in 2016, as President Paul Biya mishandled what many in the outside world call the “Anglophone Crisis,” but what to many Cameroonians (English and French speakers alike) is just further evidence of the lack of political freedom, accountability, and competence that has plagued the country since 1961.

For the second year in a row, the Norwegian Refugee Council selected Cameroon as the most neglected displacement crisis in the world. More than 1 million Cameroonians have been displaced internally, tens of thousands have fled to Nigeria, and thousands more from other countries have escaped to Cameroon to flee Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), or violence in the Central African Republic.

Both the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide report that Cameroon is at risk for mass atrocities and urgent action is needed. Since the beginning of 2020, violence has surged both in the Anglophone Southwest and Northwest regions and in the Far North region, where Boko Haram and ISWAP are resurgent.

The Cameroonian government has conflated the Far North jihadist threat with the Anglophone crisis in an effort to maintain the flow of international support. The Cameroonian government has conflated the Far North jihadist threat with the Anglophone crisis in an effort to maintain the flow of international support. At the U.N. General Assembly in September, Cameroonian Foreign Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella asked for increased international cooperation in support of the country’s ongoing struggle against “terrorism.” His belabored attention to “multilateralism,” however, belied Cameroon’s usual intemperate reaction to any international comment about its internal politics, economic policies, or conduct of its military operations.

Cameroon does all it can to reduce the international consequences of its failed militarization strategy against legitimate grievances in its Anglophone regions. Rather than seeking peace through political compromise and better governance, the regime confuses the international community by describing the crisis as a two-front war against “terrorists” and “criminals.”

After two years of painstaking research using GIS tools and open-source data analysis, we have drawn the conclusion that Cameroon’s military operations against Anglophones in the Southwest and Northwest regions have noticeably weakened Cameroon’s efforts against Boko Haram and ISWAP, leading to broader regional insecurity.

Since 2019, Boko Haram and ISWAP have conducted larger-scale operations again, attacking Nigerian, Cameroonian, Nigerien and Chadian military targets and inflicting heavy casualties on soldiers and civilians alike. In late September, Nigeria’s Bornu state governor’s convoy was attacked twice in two days not far from the Cameroon border. But the Cameroonian regime is willing to ignore Islamist resurgence around Lake Chad because it perceives the Anglophone crisis as a bigger threat to its tight grip on power. And, unfortunately, it is confident the international community will again ride to the rescue if the situation appears out of control. Call it the moral-hazard problem of the global war on terrorism.

Culled from Foreign Policy

Activists in Cameroon held events and marches for Thursday’s World Toilet Day, calling on authorities to provide more public bathrooms. Cameroonian authorities say 60% of its 25 million people lack toilets, fueling the spread of diseases such as cholera and dysentery.

School authorities at Yaoundé’s Government Primary School Efoulan say they have close to 2,000 children and teachers but only five toilets, which are often unusable as they run short of water and toilet paper.

The Cameroon Association to Improve Hygiene organized this and similar events in 30 schools in the capital to mark this year’s World Toilet Day. The group’s head, Edmond Kimbi, said hundreds of their members also marched in Yaoundé and coastal cities to demand more and better public toilets.

“It is actually too regrettable that schools and universities have very few toilets, which lack water and are always dirty,” he said. “It is worse when you visit markets, where thousands of people visit the markets each day. The consequences of this is that nearby bushes and dark corners are being transformed into toilets, thereby making our towns always dirty.”

Authorities say a September outbreak of cholera, a bacterial disease spread through dirty water, in the port cities of Douala and Kribi killed at least 90 people.

Dr. Sintieh Ngek, a medical officer with the Cameroon Baptist Convention, said the lack of toilets is spreading disease.

“Waterborne and water-based diseases like cholera, like diarrheal diseases, will be more present, and it is worth noting that these diarrheal diseases are among the leading causes of mortality for children under 5 years of age,” the doctor said. “Secondly, if persons do not have toilets, they turn to use bushes, they turn to use streams. When this happens, bacteria from these feces are easily collected into water.”

Yaoundé hygiene official Gabriel Minou said the city council is partnering with private companies to construct more public bathrooms. Meanwhile, he said, anyone caught defecating or urinating in the street or in rivers will pay fines of up to $20.

Minou said the inability of the Yaoundé City Council to efficiently manage toilets is due to the fact that many users do not want to pay before using the public bathrooms. He said the Yaoundé City Council has ordered its hygiene services to repair public toilets and make sure people pay before using them. Minou said the council has also ordered intercity bus agencies to make sure toilets are provided free of charge to all passengers.

The United Nations’ World Toilet Day seeks to raise awareness of more than half the world’s population living without access to safe sanitation and the deadly costs.

The U.N. says globally more than 800 children under 5 die every day from diarrheal diseases due to poor sanitation.

Source: VOA

Two people have been seriously injured in an explosion that happened overnight into Thursday in Cameroon’s commercial hub of Douala, according to the police.

Witnesses say that the explosive device seemed to have been thrown from a passing motorcycle.

“This is a very busy environment especially at night. Motorcycles were passing when suddenly I heard a very loud sound. It caused much panic and two people who were close to where the explosion occured were injured on the face and leg,” Cynthia Watat who witnessed the incident said.

“We have never experienced this kind of thing in Douala. We need security,” another witness Julius Malo said.

Authorities have ordered investigations into the incident and asked the inhabitants to stay calm and “go about normal activities.”

Police said the attackers “probably” used improvised explosive device that have been used in similar attacks in the capital Yaounde.

According to security reports, there have been over 10 attacks from improvised explosive devices in Yaounde since the start of the year. No deaths have been reported so far.

Source: Xinhuanet

Travel, once the ultimate status symbol for Cameroon’s political elite, has become a nightmare for this most privileged class.

It feels like everywhere they turn there’s an angry mob ready to heckle, jeer, and interrupt their activities. Unable to freely protest in their homeland, Cameroonians living overseas have devised a strategy to make their voices heard where they can’t be arrested and charged with dissent.

At the start, these protests on foreign soil were spontaneous and carried out by a few who would find out where their target was staying or working and then ambush them. The deepening Anglophone Crisis and hotly-contested presidential elections in 2018 have pushed the protesters into more organized groups who travel around Europe and America hunting down Cameroonian officials to denounce. Groups from both Francophone and Anglophone Cameroon are partnering to advance their common cause. Francophone Cameroon protesters ultimately want regime change while Anglophone protesters are pushing for secession, but both camps agree on the fundamental issue of human rights and abuses back home.

At home, the jury is still out on the merits of embarrassing government officials on foreign soil. On TV and radio, some pundits have been coy, but there’s a naughty sense of amusement about these protests when people feel safe to talk. There’s strong support online for this kind of retribution, but its critics point out that no matter what’s happening, Cameroonians abroad have no right to bring the country and its symbols into disrepute.

Brigade Anti-Sardinards (BAS), Ambazonians (Anglophone Cameroonians fighting for independence), and their allies aren’t holding back. On September 22, 2017, Ambazonians organized an unprecedented global protest at home and abroad that targeted the U.N. General Assembly in New York. That particular protest saw millions in blue and white wailing at the headquarters of the U.N. and other stations in London, Berlin, Geneva, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Washington, D.C., and several others. On their part, BAS has developed an uncanny ability to suss the hideouts of Cameroon’s top officials. Several riots at Switzerland’s InterContinental Hotel, the favorite getaway of Cameroonian President Paul Biya, have led the city’s administration to contemplate the damage to its reputation. The Geneva Council even held a vote to decide if they should declare Biya persona non grata, a poll which he won 43-27.

At last year’s Paris Peace Forum which President Biya attended, BAS made its presence felt with rallies around the events. They even gathered outside the president’s hotel in Paris to protest. Apart from targeting events and vacations, the protesters have also aimed their anger at Cameroon’s embassies abroad. In a coordinated move, they vandalized Cameroon’s embassies in Berlin, Paris, and Brussels on January 26, 2019. Many demonstrations have been staged outside the Cameroonian embassy in London, which has become a fixture in the protest calendar when Ambazonians celebrate their independence on October 1.

Prominent among the demonstrators is the leader of BAS France, Calibri Calibro, whose given name is Abdoulaye Thiam. He has shown a dogged determination to the cause over the years and is a real rallying force within the Cameroonian diaspora. He forced his way into the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, who stopped to listen to his pleas for France’s intervention in Cameroon’s conflicts. Many believe that the encounter led to the release of Cameroonian opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who’d been in jail since organizing protests to overturn the 2018 election results. Not one to shy away from controversy, Calibro led another group of protesters into a church in France where a Cameroonian minister’s family was attending mass. The president’s daughter was also targeted during her stay at the Hotel Plaza Athenee, a luxurious hotel overlooking the Eiffel Tower in Paris with great views of the Arc de Triomphe and the Seine. Calibro’s activism is born out of the arduous journey he made from Cameroon to Europe on foot, a perilous journey that has killed many Africans trying to find a better life. His experience crossing the Mediterranean Sea hardened his resolve to fight the regime from abroad and his coalition for change, or at least chaos, isn’t relenting.

The bad news for government officials and their families is the level of grassroots work and organization that is going into the effort to make their trips uncomfortable and their hosts reluctant to accommodate them. This doesn’t look like something that’ll change any time soon. The Anglophone and Francophone groups have put together structures to inform, travel, and collect donations. They’re recruiting lawyers and lobbying international allies sympathetic to their cause. They can also easily track flights to monitor their targets, and always record videos that quickly spread over the internet. In their defense, the protesters argue that this campaign of shaming is yielding results. A well-documented traveler with extended vacations abroad, President Biya’s trips are noticeably less frequent.

Apart from what is happening back home, the Cameroonian diaspora has its grievances to contend with. First, the political climate in their host countries has become hostile as the global economy stalls and anti-immigration sentiments rise. Many worry about their future and need real change to happen in their country if they ever have to go back. Dual citizenship also is not permitted in Cameroon, forcing many to choose between the privileges of a foreign passport and their home country. A foreign passport means they give up their privileges when they return home, making it harder to invest and give back to their communities.

The victims of this law are quick to point out the hypocrisy in its implementation, citing high profile figures like footballers who play for Cameroon while carrying foreign passports, or government officials they claim secretly have dual citizenship. These and other grievances are still up for debate in parliament and on the street. In the meantime, the mobs keep jeering, marching, and pelting their prey with eggs and tomatoes while their hosts stand in between, puzzled.

Source: fodors.com