The asylum-seeker from Cameroon said he resisted when guards insisted he sign what he was told were deportation papers. They wanted his fingerprints.

His thumb and index finger were broken in the struggle in September at the Mississippi lockup.

Within days, he and other Cameroonians were transferred to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, a rural town southwest of Dallas. There, he and another Cameroonian are waiting to hear about a complaint filed this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Freedom for Immigrants, and others that alleges their civil rights were violated by physical abuse that amounted to torture in Mississippi.

“I’m just trying to hold onto another day,” the man said in a phone interview with The Dallas Morning News. He’s known as C.A. in a civil rights complaint to the Department of Homeland Security. He asked that his name be withheld because he fears more persecution if he’s deported to his birth country.

His story raises questions about what happens to people in the sprawling and secretive civil justice system that governs immigrants.

C.A. and another immigrant detained at Prairieland are among the eight Cameroonians who are part of the complaint.

Source: The Dallas Morning

The international community has come under criticism for its handling of the crisis in Cameroon, where radicals killed eight children last weekend.

Twelve other children were injured when a group of unidentified armed men attacked the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, in the south-west.

While no group has claimed responsibility of the attack, the region is mired in conflict between the army and militants advocating for self-rule of the English-speaking region.

According to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, more than 1 000 students and teachers have been threatened, abducted, injured or killed by armed groups or state security forces in affected regions between 2017 and 2019.

More than 770 000 civilians have been displaced.

Another organisation, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P), said despite escalating violence during 2020, the African Union (AU) and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had failed to treat the deadly conflict in Cameroon with the seriousness that it deserved.

GCR2P believes the two organisations should help facilitate a ceasefire and an inclusive dialogue between the government and separatist groups, mediated by a neutral player on neutral territory.

Separatists claim marginalization of English speaking regions by the government, which is dominated by French speakers.

Matthias Naab, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Cameroon, this week denounced the attack is the worst atrocity since the resumption of the school year.

Schools reopened on October 5, seven months after closure because of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Source:  CAJ News

The International Conference on the Armed Conflict in the Southern Cameroons will start today October 30th in the USA.

Though initially planned for March 2020, the COVID pandemic forced the organizers to re-schedule and convert to a virtual event. Cameroon Concord News Group understands that the planning team has been working very hard over the past few months to put together a virtual event that would allow significant deliberation and opportunities to interact with other conference delegates and observers.

The virtual Southern Cameroons Auditorium has also been designed to enable participants engage with others throughout the conference.

Amongst those scheduled to speak during this 3-day Conference are H.E. Dr Amos Sawyer, Ambassador Herman Cohen, Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Pa Augustine Ndangam, Frontline leaders, Civil Society, German Parliamentarians and French Parliamentarians. International observers will be present including the United States Congress, diplomats, international non-governmental organizations and many more.

Some 700 delegates have so far been approved to participate in Working Groups and through the various Working Groups, delegates will assess, analyze and propose a path out of the conflict that addresses the root causes in a sustainable manner.

There has been a very strong grassroots involvement with ordinary citizens, those internally displaced and refugees participating in the process.

The conference continues to accept 2-minute video statements from Southern Cameroonians with proposals on the way forward. The people of Southern Cameroons are encourage to kindly record a 2-minute video using your cell phone and send to this WhatsApp number: +13126177280

World Council of Churches interim head Rev. Ioan Sauca has joined global Christians and the United Nations in expressing horror at the brutal attack on schoolchildren in Cameron in which assailants slaughtered at least eight students with firearms and machetes.

 The children were killed at the Mother Francisca International Academy in Kumba, Cameroon, on Oct. 24.

Unidentified gunmen killed at least eight children in their classroom with guns and machetes, while 12 others were injured.

“The WCC joins with the churches and all people of good will in Cameroon and around the world in condemning this abhorrent act, in commiserating with the families and communities affected, and in praying for the healing of the wounded children,” said Sauca.

Cameroonian church leaders reacted to the recent bloodshed with outrage and demands for action.

Bishop Agapitus Nfon of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kumba lamented the loss of the young lives in the same statement.

‘BLOOD OF OUR CHILDREN’

“How much of the blood of our children need to be shed before something concrete and immediate is done? How long will the powers that be and are capable of restoring peace and tranquility in the distressed North West and South West Regions sit and wait?”

The attacked was strongly conemned at the UN in Geneva by a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani.

She said that the population continues to pay a heavy price in the ongoing crisis in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon and described the attack as “vile”.

“Serious human rights violations and abuses continue to be reported, involving both security and defense forces and armed separatist groups amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Shandasani.

“The killing and maiming of children as well as attacks on educational facilities constitute serious violations of international law and the perpetrators must be held accountable with due regard for international human rights standards.”

She also said that the Cameroonian authorities have an obligation to protect access to education.

No group has claimed responsibility though local authorities have accused separatist fighters of targeting the school, CNN reported.

People have been raising awareness of the incident on social media under the hashtag #EndAnglophoneCrisis.

LINGUISTIC CRISIS

This was a reference to ongoing movements which advocate a separation between English-speaking Cameroon from the French-speaking part of the country. Separatists in Anglophone regions have been fighting with government forces and government-backed militias for several years.

Both sides faced accusations of violence against civilians, which began in 2016 after residents in the country’s Anglophone provinces, where 20 percent of Cameroon’s population live, protested the government led by French speakers.

The Anglophone conflict has internally displaced more than 670,000 people in affected areas, while 60,000 Cameroonians have fled escalating violence to neighboring Nigeria, according to the United Nations’ estimates in February.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, the Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba, on Oct. 25 prayed for justice for the victims and accountability for those responsible.

“May those behind these gruesome killings of God’s children be imprisoned by the judge of the human conscience even before they are found out, prosecuted and sentenced,” he said.

The WCC appealed for renewed efforts for a comprehensive and more inclusive dialogue to address the current security, humanitarian and human rights challenges in the affected regions.

“The WCC stands in solidarity with and offers its support and accompaniment to the churches of Cameroon as they seek to fulfil their essential ministry for justice, peace and human dignity and rights,” said the council.

Source: ECUMENICAL NEWS

More than 35 human rights organizations have signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire in Cameroon after a massacre at a school on Saturday. At least seven pupils were killed and more than a dozen wounded when gunmen stormed the school in Kumba in the southwest of the country.

Signatories to the letter include organizations from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as Africa-based rights groups.

The letter, published by Global Campaign for Peace and Justice in Cameroon, stresses that Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict needs a political, rather than a military, solution.

“We are killing ourselves, we are killing our brothers and sisters, we are killing our kids,” said Christopher Fomunyoh, senior associate for Africa with the Washington-based National Democratic Institute, who is also involved with the group that published the open letter.

‘”We must sit around a table and discuss the grievances of the Anglophone minority that are genuine and legitimate. Unless we sit down and have this conversation, this crisis will endure.”

Call for international sanctions

Fomunyoh, who is from Cameroon, believes that the open letter can make a difference, given the global attention now focused on the country following the killing of the schoolchildren.

“The world is seized with the current crisis in Cameroon and I hope that this global appeal for peace and justice in Cameroon, and for the cessation of atrocities and hostilities, will resonate internationally as well as within the country,” he told DW.

Two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, the Southwest and Northwest provinces, have become the center of a fight for secession from the French-speaking majority areas. The conflict has claimed more than 3,000 lives and forced over 700,000 people to flee their homes since it flared in 2017.

The letter, published on Tuesday, calls on the United Nations to obtain a ceasefire.

It also asks diplomats and their countries to use all means possible, including sanctions, to encourage both Anglophone separatists and government forces to put down their weapons.

In the letter, the government of President Paul Biya is accused of urging children to return to school, but doing little to protect their safety.

Cameroon’s government has blamed secessionists for carrying out the attack on the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba.

Separatists have often targeted schoolchildren for attending classes in spite of a school boycott promoted by the insurgents.

But rights groups have documented abuses against civilians carried out by both Anglophone fighters and government forces.

Fomunyoh calls for caution when it comes to assigning blame for the latest atrocity. “As long as the investigations have not been completed, it is really difficult to pinpoint how these latest atrocities in Kumba came about,” he said.

‘UN Security Council must act’

After the killing of the schoolchildren, United Nations’ secretary-general Antonio Guterres asked Cameroonian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and hold those responsible accountable.

He also extended his deepest condolences to the bereaved families

While appreciative of the UN secretary-general’s reaction, Fomunyoh stressed that there has been only one informal hearing at this year’s UN Security Council on the Cameroon crisis so far.

“That is not sufficient, because since then, hundreds of people have died and thousands have been displaced.”

Concrete action by the Security Council is “long overdue,” he said.

Source: Indianexpress

Residents in Kumba paid their respects to the seven lives lost, and those injured during the attack over the weekend.

In the latest tragedy to come from Cameroon’s historically violent clash between Anglo and Francophone citizens, seven children were murdered after attackers stormed a school with guns and machetes over the weekend.

In what has been deemed as the “darkest and saddest day,” by Bishop Agapitus Nfon of Kumba, armed attackers stormed the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy, targeting students aged 9 to 12. The tragic event saw dozens of children injured, some critically.

The attack has shocked the nation, with both local and international agencies condemning the horrible offense. On Monday, Cameroonian President Paul Biya denounced the “horrific murder” of the school children, and alluded to the “appropriate measures” being taken in order to bring justice to the families of the victims. Prime Minister Dion Ngute Joseph shared his condolences via a tweet saying, “I bow before the memory of these innocent kids.”

The Cameroonian presidency and governing body have blamed Anglophone ‘separatists’ for the attack, though the group claims no part in the attack.

Human rights groups, however, have blamed both opposing parties, as the conflict has led to the death of over 3,000 deaths and resulted in more than 700,000 Cameroonians fleeing their homes and the country.

Source:Okayafrica

Turkey on Monday condemned a deadly attack on a private school in southwestern Cameroon.

“We are saddened by the news that many children lost their lives and were injured in an attack on a private school in the city of Kumba in Cameroon on 24 October 2020,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We strongly condemn this heinous attack on the innocent children. We extend our sincere condolences to the friendly and brotherly people and Government of Cameroon and wish a speedy recovery to the injured children,” the statement added.

At least seven people died and 12 were injured on Saturday in an attack by gunmen with machetes in a classroom in southwestern Cameroon.

The Central African country has been marred by protests and violence since 2016, with residents in English-speaking regions saying they have been marginalized for decades by the central government and the French-speaking majority.

They are calling for independence or a federal state.

Violence in the Anglophone regions over the last three years has claimed an estimated 3,000 lives and caused the displacement of over 730,000 civilians, according to Human Rights Watch.

In June, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said for a second year running Cameroon topped the list as the most neglected crisis on the planet.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Following the killing of eight schoolchildren in the town of Kumba in the Anglophone region of Cameroon, Tity Agbahey, Amnesty International’s Central Africa Campaigner, said:

“The killing of eight schoolchildren inside their classroom is an atrocity that underscores the urgency of protecting ordinary people from the ongoing violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. This horrific attack shows how badly the situation is deteriorating and we call on Cameroon’s authorities to immediately take all possible measures to protect the population.

“At least 12 other schoolchildren were injured in the attack. Over the past year there has been a surge in attacks in the Anglophone region, with many people killed, abducted or injured.

“The Cameroonian authorities must send out a strong and clear signal that such appalling crimes will not be tolerated, by immediately investigating these killings. The perpetrators must be identified, arrested, prosecuted and tried in a fair trial.

“We also call on authorities to guarantee at all times and in all places the free exercise of the right to education, which is under threat.”

 President Paul Biya has condemned the killing of seven children in a mass shooting at a private school in the Anglophone region.

The president termed Saturday’s shooting as a “barbaric and cowardly crime against innocent children”.

He said he had instructed security agencies to “ensure that the perpetrators of these despicable acts are apprehended by our defence and security forces and brought to justice”.

The president tweeted his condolences to the bereaved families:

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, urged the authorities to investigate the attack and ensure those responsible are held accountable.

“He calls on all armed actors to refrain from attacks against civilians and to respect international humanitarian and international human rights law,” read a statement from his office.

Source: BBC