News

Chinese official found dead amid probe into fatal ultramarathon

11, June 2021

Chinese official found dead amid probe into fatal ultramarathon 0

A top official from the Chinese county that hosted a fatal ultramarathon last month has been found dead, authorities said Friday, as 27 people face punishment over the incident.

In May, extreme weather at an ultramarathon in northwestern Gansu province killed 21 runners when freezing rain, high winds and hail hit competitors.

The deadly incident sparked calls for more regulation and raised questions over why organisers had apparently ignored the incoming weather.

On Friday, provincial authorities told a press conference that the Communist Party secretary of Jingtai county — which hosted the event — had been found dead.

Li Zuobi was confirmed to have died after falling from the building where he lived. Police received the incident report on Wednesday, and have since ruled out homicide.

27 people, including municipal government officials, face criminal charges or disciplinary actions over the deadly ultramarathon.

Among those punished include the party secretary and mayor of Baiyin city — which holds jurisdiction over Jingtai — as well as the magistrate of the county, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Last month’s incident also led to a suspension of sports competitions that lacked national safety standards, including events such as mountain trail running and ultra-long distance running.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon gov’t military spokesman sends out conflicting signals on war

11, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Cameroon gov’t military spokesman sends out conflicting signals on war 0

Cameroon government military spokesman Cyrille Serge Atonfack says soldiers did not carry out any attack on Southern Cameroons civilians in Ako in Donga-Mantung and Bafanji in Balikumbat.  Captain Atonfack noted in a poorly worded statement in the French language that troops loyal to the Francophone regime in Yaoundé have suspended its attacks in Southern Cameroons.   

The Cameroon government army spokesman contradicted himself in the same press release when he   claimed that a military operation was carried out in the vicinity of Ekuru in the Nkambe district by the Francophone dominated army.

The 88-year-old President Biya and his French Cameroun political elites with support from France — launched a brutal war against the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons. The ongoing war was declared to crush the British Southern Cameroons uprising and it’s Interim Government.

The offensive has failed to achieve its goals, but pushed Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia to the brink, killed thousands of innocent people, and destroyed the territory’s impoverished administrative infrastructure.

Captain Cyrille Serge Atonfack’s remarks come amid a four year offensive by the Cameroon government army to restore French Cameroun dominance in the rural areas of Southern Cameroons.

The leader of the Ambazonian nation and its people President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe say the French Cameroun aggressors have to end all their attacks against Southern Cameroons, take out all their forces, end their simultaneous and crippling occupation of the territory, compensate Southern Cameroons victims before entering any peace process that will determine the future of the two Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Disgraced Cameroonian Head of State rushed to a Yaoundé hospital

11, June 2021

Disgraced Cameroonian Head of State rushed to a Yaoundé hospital 0

The disgraced president Paul Biya (88) was hospitalized for the first time in his country of birth late on Wednesday after he reportedly suffered a minor vascular incident, Cameroon Intelligence Report sources in Yaoundé said.

We gathered that Biya did not spend a night in the hospital facility as his private doctor who is now a powerful personality in his entourage revealed that his general condition was satisfactory.

Our Yaoundé city reporter who contributed to this report said members of the Biya family had feared that the corrupt Francophone leader had probably suffered a stroke.

Biya has high blood pressure and has been suffering from arteriosclerosis.

Nobody in the current Ngute government including the so-called ruling CPDM barons have access to the president’s bill of health. The regime and its media war lords are now teleguiding the focus on Niat Marcel, leader of the House of Senate and the constitutional next-of-kin to Biya.

A medic at the National Social Insurance Hospital in Yaoundé, where the 88-year-old recently had an examination was heard saying that Etoudi warned the management of the hospital not to release any information on the nature of the illness of the head of state.

French speaking Africans have little faith in medical bulletins about their leader’s health. In Guinea, Gabon, Togo, Ivory Coast, heads of state have died after hiding their various cancers from the public. The late Omar Bongo of Gabon was diagnosed with HIV but with French support issued fake medical reports for decades.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

President Biden lands in UK with message for Prime Minister Johnson

10, June 2021

President Biden lands in UK with message for Prime Minister Johnson 0

U.S. President Joe Biden will bring a grave Brexit warning to his first meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: Prevent a row with the European Union from imperilling the delicate peace in Northern Ireland.

On his first trip abroad since taking office in January, Biden meets Johnson on Thursday in the English seaside resort of Carbis Bay ahead of a Friday-Sunday G7 summit, a NATO summit on Monday, a U.S.-EU summit on Tuesday and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva the following day.

Biden will try to use the trip to burnish his multilateral credentials after the tumult of Donald Trump’s presidency, which left many U.S. allies in Europe and Asia bewildered and some alienated.

Biden, though, has an uncomfortable message for Johnson, one of the leaders of the 2016 Brexit campaign: Stop heated EU divorce negotiations from undermining a 1998 U.S.-brokered peace deal known as the Good Friday Agreement that ended three decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.

“President Biden has been crystal clear about his rock-solid belief in the Good Friday Agreement as the foundation for peaceful co-existence in Northern Ireland,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“Any steps that imperil it or undermine it would not be welcomed by the United States,” said Sullivan, who declined to characterise Johnson’s actions as imperilling the peace.

Britain’s exit from the European Union strained the peace in Northern Ireland to breaking point because the 27-nation bloc wants to protect its markets, yet a border in the Irish Sea cuts off the British province from the rest of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland shares a border with EU member Ireland.

Such is Biden’s concern over Northern Ireland that Yael Lempert, the top U.S. diplomat in Britain, issued London with a demarche – a formal diplomatic reprimand – for “inflaming” tensions, the Times newspaper reported.

Biden will also speak on Thursday about donating more COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries.

End of the ‘Troubles’

The 1998 peace deal largely brought an end to the “Troubles” – three decades of conflict between Irish Catholic nationalist militants and pro-British Protestant “loyalist” paramilitaries that killed 3,600 people.

Biden, who is proud of his Irish heritage, will make a statement of principle about the importance of that peace deal, Sullivan said.

“He’s not issuing threats or ultimatums, he’s going to simply convey his deep-seated belief that we need to stand behind and protect this protocol,” Sullivan said.

Although Britain formally left the EU in 2020, the two sides are still trading threats over the Brexit deal after London unilaterally delayed the implementation of the Northern Irish clauses of the deal.

The EU and Britain tried to solve the border riddle with the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit agreement, which keeps the province in both the United Kingdom’s customs territory and the EU’s single market.

Pro-British unionists say the Brexit deal that Johnson signed contravenes the 1998 peace deal and London has said the protocol is unsustainable in its current form after supplies of everyday goods to Northern Ireland were disrupted.

Britain, home to a large Airbus facility, and the European Union are hoping to resolve a nearly 17-year old dispute with the United States over aircraft subsidies to Boeing and Airbus.

U.S., British and EU officials have expressed optimism that a settlement can be reached before July 11, when currently suspended tariffs will come back into force on all sides.

One source close to the negotiations said the discussions were progressing well but a deal was unlikely to be reached before the U.S.-EU summit next week.

Johnson, who wrote a biography of British wartime leader Winston Churchill, will agree with Biden an “Atlantic Charter”, modelled on the 1941 deal struck by Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The two leaders will agree to a task force to look at resuming UK-U.S. travel as soon as possible.

(REUTERS)

Corrupt France: Jail term sought for man who slapped President Macron

10, June 2021

Corrupt France: Jail term sought for man who slapped President Macron 0

Prosecutors called Thursday for a 18-month jail sentence for a man who slapped French President Emmanuel Macron across the face this week as he appeared for a fast-track court hearing in southeast France.

Damien Tarel, a 28-year-old medieval history enthusiast, has been in custody since the assault on Tuesday and risks a maximum three-year jail sentence and a fine of 45,000 euros ($55,000).

Speaking at court in the town of Valence, prosecutor Alex Perrin called for an 18-month prison term after describing the slap as “absolutely unacceptable” and “an act of deliberate violence”.

Under French law, prison sentences of less than two years can be converted into non-custodial punishment, meaning it is unlikely that Tarel would spend time behind bars even if the court followed the prosecution’s plea.

The long-haired history buff and board games enthusiast told investigators that he “acted instinctively and without thinking” after waiting for Macron outside a school in the village of Tain-l’Hermitage.

In court, he expressed sympathy for the anti-government “yellow vest” movement and said that he and two friends had considered throwing an egg or a cream pie at the head of state during his visit to the Drome region, according to the BFM news channel.

“Macron represents the decline of our country,” he told the court.

Tarel, unemployed and living on benefits with his disabled girlfriend, said he had been annoyed by Macron’s decision to come to greet him — “an electoral tactic that I didn’t appreciate”, BFM reported.

In a video of the incident, a smiling Macron can be seen striding towards a crowd of onlookers including Tarel who are being kept behind a barrier.

– Social media –

Macron has shrugged off the assault, calling it an “isolated event”, and he has vowed to continue meeting voters despite concerns for his personal security.

Asked about it again during an interview on Thursday with BFM, he called it a “stupid, violent act” and suggested it was a consequence of the poisonous atmosphere found on social media.

“You get used to the hatred on social media that becomes normalised,” he said. “And then when you’re face-to-face with someone, you think it’s the same thing. That’s unacceptable.”

Leaders across the political spectrum have united in condemning the slap, with many seeing it as a symptom of the fraught political climate and declining standards of public debate just weeks from regional elections and 10 months from presidential polls.

“The political climate is turning to vinegar. It’s dangerous what’s happening,” senior leftist MP and regional election candidate Clementine Autain told France Info.

Others saw the assault as a sign of how Macron, a reformist former investment banker, continues to inspire visceral rejection from many French people.

His presidency was rocked by the anti-government “yellow vest” protests in 2018-2019, which were driven in part by anger at his economic reforms as well as his abrasive personality.

Macron, 43, whose personal ratings have risen recently, is expected to seek a second term next year.

Polls show him holding a narrow lead over his main rival, far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Other modern French presidents have been targeted in shootings, including post-war leader Charles de Gaulle and Jacques Chirac.

In 2011, right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy had a security scare in southwest France when he was grabbed violently by the shoulder by a 32-year-old local government employee.

Source: AFP

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Interim Gov’t warns of mass deaths in Bui and Akwaya

10, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Interim Gov’t warns of mass deaths in Bui and Akwaya 0

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima has warned of mass deaths from Cameroon military operations in Bui Division and Akwaya Sub Constituency in Manyu where fighting goes on between Ambazonia Restoration groups and troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime in Yaoundé.

In Bui Division and Akwaya, clashes have escalated in recent days. Locals contacted by Cameroon Concord News said Cameroon government army soldiers fired artillery shells that landed in villages in the two Southern Cameroons administrative units bordering the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Vice President Yerima on Wednesday stated that brutal, indiscriminate attacks against the peace loving people of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia are threatening the lives of thousands of men, women and children in the rural areas.

The exiled Ambazonian leader called on the Southern Cameroons diaspora to commit immediately to the “Big Rubbergun Project” saying   mass deaths and atrocities being committed by the French Cameroun army needs immediate action.

The Francophone military is struggling to impose order in Southern Cameroons ever since the 88-year-old President Biya declared war against the English speaking people of Southern Cameroons. The Ambazonia leader President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his top aides are currently serving a life sentence in French Cameroun where tension is also reportedly mounting over plans to get Biya’s eldest son to succeed him as head of state.

The War in Ambazonia has already claimed at least 40 000 lives, almost all of them civilian children, men and women, murdered by Cameroun troops in a series of targeted killings, organized massacres, and killings by fire in over 400 villages burnt down to ashes across Ambazonia. Over half a million people have been forcibly displaced as refugees living in various countries and especially in refugee camps in Nigeria. Over another half a million people have become IDPs hiding in forests, caves and hills due to forced displacement. Additionally, over 1.5 million people are facing a humanitarian disaster.

Republique du Cameroun uses not only arson and the destruction of food, livestock, and crops in the fields as weapons of war. It also uses rape. Rape of Ambazonian women and girls by Cameroun troops is systematic and widespread. This agonizing situation is compounded by the fact that a high percentage of Cameroun troops are HIV positive and also has other STDs. When they rape they infect the women and girls. This appears to be part of the genocide agenda of Cameroun. Reports are now emerging of scores of school girls raped, impregnated and infected by Republique du Cameroun’s troops. This poses a nightmare not only of the HIV and STD infections but also of rampant teenage pregnancies. Cameroun troops have burnt down health facilities and killed health workers in rural and semi-urban areas. Accessing health facilities or health practitioners is a huge challenge for rural and semi-urban folks.

By Isong Asu

War in the Central African Republic: French role in escalating the conflict

10, June 2021

War in the Central African Republic: French role in escalating the conflict 0

Prosecutors in Bangui on Wednesday charged a French national of espionage and conspiracy but the French government that abandoned one of its own Atangana Thiery in a French Cameroun jail in Yaoundé for 17 years is now claiming that its former colony is siding with a Kremlin disinformation campaign.

Our senior political commentator in Yaoundé says the French government’s take on the happenings in the Central African Republic is shameful, disgusting and disgraceful and serves only French selfish interest in the CEMAC region.

France left the mineral-rich nation poverty-stricken and unstable since independence 60 years ago while French multinationals stayed behind and have been looting the country ever since.

Thousands of its citizens have died and more than a quarter of the population of 4.9 million have fled their homes in fighting aimed at control of mineral resources. Of these, 675,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries in the so-called CEMAC region.

Correspondingly, Juan Remy Quignolot the French director of all operations that is destabilizing the Central African Republic was arrested in the capital Bangui on May 10 and has been placed in protective custody pending an inquiry by an investigating magistrate.

Central African Republic prosecutor Eric Didier Tambo who confirmed the arrest of Mr. Juan Remy Quignolot told a press conference in Bangui that Juan Remy has been aiding several French backed armed militias fighting the elected government in the Central African Republic.

Contrary to reports that Eric Didier Tambo made no reference to any country or organisation for whom Quignolot allegedly worked, Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from a Cameroonian gendarmerie officer serving with the UN in Bangui that Juan Remy Quignolot works for the French Secret Service and that the Cameroonian military leadership in MINUSCA-United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic knew him and nicknamed him Bob Denard.

At the time of his arrest, Quignolot was in possessing a huge quantity of combat weapons and passing himself off as a journalist with a press card.

In an attempt to bully Bangui to submission, France reportedly froze cooperation with the Central African Republic over what Paris described as an anti-French disinformation campaign and pointed a finger at Russia-a world power that is in the Central African nation to help build its institutions and police force.

French speaking African aid workers were quick to say that Mr. Quignolot had worked occasionally as a security guard for several organizations in the Central African Republic. But many in Bangui are finding it difficult to accept that a man who joined the French army at a teenage age would end up as a security guard in their country.

– French anger –

Photos circulating on social media on the day of Quignolot’s arrest showed him with his hands bound behind his back, sitting on some steps before an arsenal of weapons, ammunition and military clothing.

Two days later, France lashed the arrest and the pictures as “clear manipulation.”

It said “disinformation networks” were being used, “promoting well-identified interests who are used to targeting France’s presence and actions” in the CAR.

Quignolot’s arrest was notably conveyed on Twitter by Valery Zakharov, a Russian who is a close advisor to CAR President Faustin Archange Touadera.

On Monday, France suspended budgetary aid and military cooperation with the CAR.

“The CAR authorities have several times made commitments which they haven’t upheld, both politically with regard to the opposition and in its behaviour towards France, which is being targeted by a massive disinformation campaign,” the French foreign ministry said.

“The Russians are involved, but the CAR is an accomplice at best.”

France has long played a key role in the CAR since the impoverished landlocked country gained independence in 1960.

It intervened militarily to help still a bloody conflict that erupted along sectarian lines after the then president, Francois Bozize, was toppled by predominantly Muslim rebels in 2013.

The mission, Operation Sangaris, ended in 2016 following elections.

– Russian role –

But in past months, tensions have grown over the Russian presence in the chronically unstable country.

In 2018, Russia sent weapons and a large contingent of “instructors” to train the CAR’s beleaguered armed forces.

It has also stepped up investment in the CAR’s mining sector. The country’s riches include gold, diamonds, copper and uranium.

Last December, Moscow, as well as Rwanda, sent hundreds of military personnel to help shore up Touadera as a coalition of armed groups mounted an attempted coup ahead of presidential elections.

The reinforcements have helped Touadera to regain control over much of the country, which had previously been mostly in the hands of militias.

On May 30, in an interview with France’s Journal du Dimanche newspaper, French President Emmanuel Macron said “anti-French talk has provided legitimacy to predatory Russian mercenaries at the apex of the state, with a President Touadera who today is a hostage of the Wagner group.”

The Wagner group is the name given to Russian paramilitaries that operate under the orders of the Kremlin.

Last December, Facebook removed two networks of fake accounts based in Russia and one linked to the French military which it said were being used for interference campaigns in Africa, including in CAR.

Reported by Cameroon Intelligence Report and AFP

Southern Cameroons genocide: The names are gradually emerging

9, June 2021

Southern Cameroons genocide: The names are gradually emerging 0

Ever since the U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, spoke of visa bans for people working hard to ensure that the war in the two English regions of the country does not get resolved, key political figures in Yaoundé have been wondering whether their names will be among. Many Yaoundé government officials have their children in the United States and any visa ban might affect those children as well as their investments in the United States.

It is also rumored that the United States might work with its European allies to expand the scope of the sanctions. This implies Europeans might also collaborate with the U.S. Administration to impose sanctions on people stalling efforts at solving the Anglophone crisis. 

According to a source close to the U.S. State Department, there is a list and it is just a matter of time for those involved to know their fate. The State Department has already drawn up a long list and it is closely watching any Yaoundé government authorities who are stampeding any efforts at finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Southern Cameroons. 

The Source, who elected anonymity, said the list was long and rapidly provided some names to the Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in Washington. The list is very likely to bring a lot of sorrow to many Cameroon government officials and their families as they own assets in the United States.

The visa ban is just the first step in the right direction, the source said, adding that there would surely be collective and individual economic and financial consequences if the government did not act promptly. 

“Anthony Blinken is serious about the Cameroon situation. He has appointed a collaborator of his to focus on this case and he is monitoring news out of Cameroon. He understands that there are some regime hawks making fast cash from the bloody situation in the Anglophone regions of the country. He also understands that some separatist leaders have been working hard to stall any efforts to resolve the conflict,” the source said.

“Those whose names will make the short list will be hit hard as a means of sending a strong message. Cameroon occupies a strategic position in the Gulf of Guinea and if peace and stability do not return, the entire sub-region might be dragged into a long conflict,” the source added. 

“The days ahead are critical and if the government does not take the resolution of the conflict seriously, the first sanctions will be in place in a couple of weeks. Washington is frustrated by the government’s refusal to hold talks with separatist leaders and this might result in the Yaoundé government dealing with severe political and military sanctions that might affect its ability to even deal with Boko Haram in the North,” the source said.    

Here below is the list under consideration by U.S. State Department Officials as provided by the Cameroon Concord News Group

Mr. Dion Ngute: Prime Minister and Head of Government

Mr. Joseph Beti Assomo: Minister for Defense

General Rene Meka Claude: Joint Chief of Staff

General Nka Valere: Commander of Operations in the North West Region

Mr. Lele l”Afrique Adolphe: Governor of the North West Region

Mr. Issa Chiroma Bakary: Minister of Employment

Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle: Former Minister and current board chairman of L’hopital Central Douala

Governor Okalia Bilai: Governor of the South West Region

Mr. Sadi Rene: Minister of Communications

Mr. Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh: Minister Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic

General Elokobi Daniel Njock: Commander of the National Gendarmerie

Prof. Fame Ndongo: Minister of Higher Education and Press Secretary of the CPDM Political Bureau

Commissioner Mbarga Nguele: Delegate General for National Security and Ambassador to Spain

Mr. Paul Atanga Nji: Minister of Territorial Administration and creator of death squads

Mr. Philemon Yang: Former Prime Minister and current Chancellor of the National Order

Mr. Amougou Belinga: CPDM Business tycoon and owner of television channel Vision 4

Mr. Ghislain Samou Nguewo: President Biya’s closest collaborator

Mr. Bonaventure Mvondo Assam: a former CPDM MP

Mr. Paul Elung Che: Deputy Secretary-general of the presidency

Mr. Modeste Mopa Fatoing: Director-general of the tax department

Mr. Robert Nkili: Former Minister of Labour and transport between 2002 and 2015

Mr. Louis-Paul Motaze: Minister of Finance

Mr. Alamine Ousmane Mey: Minister of the Economy

Mr. Samuel Mvondo Ayolo: Director of the head of state’s civil cabinet

Mr. Christian Mataga: The son of a former ambassador and ex-director of Biya’s civil cabinet

Mr. Laurent Esso: Minister of Justice

Dr. Owona Nguni: Lecturer University of Yaoundé

Mr. Mengot Victor: Minister of Special Duties at the Presidency

Paul Tasong: Minister Delegate in charge of planning

Chief George Tabetando: Senator and traditional ruler of Bachuo Ntai

Mr. Peter Mafany Musonge: Senator and head of the Bilingual Commission

Mr. Oum II Joseph: Senior Divisional Officer for Manyu

Mr. Cavayé Yéguié Djibril: Speaker of the National Assembly

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima on the release of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s lawyer from SED

9, June 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Yerima on the release of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s lawyer from SED 0

BARRISTER AMUNGWA TANYI NICODEMUS HAS BEEN RELEASED

On Monday, 31 May 2021, Barrister Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus, a lead lawyer for our Leaders in detention, was arrested by the French Cameroun Gendarmerie in Yaoundé on dubious charges.

After ten days in detention, the regime in Yaoundé released him this evening on bail after a series of auditions at the military tribunal. Barrister Amungwa was neither charged nor given reasons for his arrest.

I want to thank all the lawyers of the Interim Government of Ambazonia who worked tirelessly to secure his release. Likewise, the people of Ambazonia are grateful to Human Rights Watch for taking his plight to a global audience.

French Cameroun’s unacceptable harassment of members of the Southern Cameroons legal profession must stop.

The people of Ambazonia are facing a brutal enemy with no respect for life, human rights, the rule of law and international norms. But, as a people, we will not be silenced by intimidation and persecution. Our prize is Buea, and we must stay resolute and focused.

Thank You

Vice President Dabney Yerima

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s lawyer freed

9, June 2021

President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe’s lawyer freed 0

The Cameroon Bar has obtained the release of human rights lawyer Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus, a statement has said.

The prosecutor at the Yaoundé Military Tribunal granted bail to Barrister Amungwa Wednesday, June 9, 2021, with three key members of the Bar Council standing as guarantors.

The bail guarantors include Barrister Claire Atangana Bikouna, President of the Bar Council, Barrister Pierre Robert Fojou, representative of the Bar President for the Center, South & East, and Barrister Daniel Ngos, Deputy Secretary of the Bar.

On Monday, June 7, 2021, Human Rights Watch described as “unjust” the jailing of human rights lawyer Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus on “bogus charges of inciting terrorism.”

“He should be released immediately,” Human Rights Watch said.

According to the human rights organization, Gendarmes arrested Amungwa on May 31 at the Groupement Territorial de la Gendarmerie in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, while he was assisting a client.

“According to Amungwa’s lawyers, after Amungwa complained that Cameroon’s criminal procedure had been breached in his client’s case, the gendarme in charge of the investigation seized Amungwa’s phone without a warrant, claiming Amungwa had taken photographs at the facility,” Human Rights Watch wrote. “While searching for the alleged photographs, the gendarme found other photographs that recorded alleged military abuses in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions and arrested Amungwa, his lawyers said.”

It said Amungwa was transferred to the Service Central des Recherches Judiciaires (SCRJ), at the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’État à la défense, SED) – a detention facility where Human Rights Watch has previously documented repeated resort to incommunicado detention and torture – where he remains detained.

On June 1, Amungwa’s lawyers and the head of the Cameroon bar association visited him in detention and urged his release. Two days later, the Yaoundé military court prosecutor rejected Amungwa’s lawyers’ request for bail and returned the case to the SCRJ for “relevant checks.”

The release on bail of Barrister Amungwa this Wednesday suggests that the relevant checks were successful.

Amungwa, a member of the Cameroon bar association, is one of the lawyers representing Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, the jailed leader of the Cameroonian separatist group, the Ambazonia Interim Government, and several other people arrested in connection with the Anglophone crisis.

“Amungwa’s arrest is a direct attack on the legal profession,” Ayukotang Ndep Nkongho, one of Amungwa’s lawyers, told Human Rights Watch. “His arbitrary detention reveals a system geared towards stifling and undermining the role and activities of lawyers involved in key human rights cases.”

Cameroon’s state forces have been battling to dislodge armed separatists who pitched their tents in the North West and South West Regions since Anglophone protests transformed into an armed conflict in 2017.

Corporate demands by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers led to protests in November 2016. The street demonstrations later morphed into ongoing running gun battles between state forces and armed separatist fighters in the predominantly English-speaking regions, leading to untold destruction of human lives, their habitats, and livelihoods.

Tit-for-tat killings, kidnappings, arsons, maiming, and outright terror have become part of daily lives in some parts of the English-speaking regions.

Source: CIN

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