Freedom Now and Dechert LLP filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Cameroonian journalist Thomas Awah, Jr. Freedom Now and Dechert LLP argue that Cameroon’s detention of Awah violates the government’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“The continued detention of Thomas Awah, Jr. is yet another example of Cameroon’s sustained campaign against media freedom,” said Freedom Now Legal Officer Adam Lhedmat. “We are confident that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention will conclude Awah’s fundamental human rights have been violated, primarily his right to freedom of expression. Freedom Now calls on the Cameroonian government to abide by its international commitments and immediately release Awah and all other journalists imprisoned in Cameroon.”

Prior to his arrest, Awah worked in the Anglophone region as a correspondent for the privately-owned Afrik 2 Radio, as publisher Aghem Messenger magazine, and communications secretary of the non-violent secessionist Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC), a group banned by the government. He had prior encounters with the government due to his journalism and activism and has been detained on several occasions in 2015, though he has never been tried or convicted before.

His most recent arrest occurred on January 2, 2017 when he was seeking to interviewing residents of a town in the Anglophone region of Cameroon. Military officers placed Awah under arrest without a warrant or under any specific charges once he identified himself as a journalist. The officers discovered Awah was carrying SCNC documents when they searched him. Two weeks later, the government banned the SCNC on national security grounds.

After his arrest, Awah was taken to an unknown prison where he was interrogated for four hours about the Anglophone secessionist movement. On the same evening, he was transferred nearly 250 miles away to the capital city, Yaoundé, for pre-trial detention.

In May 2018, Awah was tried before a military tribunal along with two other journalists, Tsi Conrad and Mancho Bibixy, as well as five other Anglophone detainees; despite the men having no apparent relationship. It was here that Awah first learned of the charges against him, which included terrorism, hostility to the fatherland, secession, revolution, insurrection, the spreading of false news, the spreading of false news through electronic means, and contempt for civil authority. After a one-day trial he was found guilty of these charges and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Awah is currently detained in Kondengui Central Prison, where he shares an overcrowded cell with 25 other prisoners, several of whom are forced to sleep on the ground for lack of beds. He suffers from several medical conditions, including tuberculosis and toxoplasmosis, which have been exacerbated by poor prison conditions.

Nodem, who’s from Cameroon, is the Presbyterian Hunger Program’s Associate for International Hunger Concerns. Serving in Lima, Peru, Koball is a mission co-worker serving with the Peru Joining Hands Network.

Nodem spoke about colonization and globalization. He said that although Cameroon gained its independence from Great Britain and France 60 years ago, it’s as if colonizers are still present. In part that’s because Cameroon’s natural resources — including oil, timber and coffee — are exported. Value is added in other countries, and the money made by selling those products remains outside Cameroon’s coffers.

He identified three drivers of colonization in Cameroon: gold, God and glory. The first two are fairly well-known: colonizers had a financial interest in extracting natural resources and were also interested in converting people to Christianity. The “glory” part “was about showing your influence,” Nodem said. “What resources did you find there? It was about showing power.”

As a result of the 19th century “Scramble of Africa,” countries were sliced up arbitrarily, he said. “They weren’t thinking about the consequences” of the warfare those practices would help bring about.

“Colonization makes people feel powerless in their own country,” he said. “The system is still strongly governed by foreign powers who robbed countries of a lot of resources. It’s ripped up regions that used to live in peace.”

As a college student in Cameroon, Nodem “was always going to pretty much any demonstration,” he said. “My parents were always upset. They said, ‘Stay out of trouble and don’t do anything.’” Later they told him it’s because they feared for his life.

Source: Presbyterianmission

Southern Cameroons pro independence groups have unanimously dismissed a French Cameroun school resumption and regional election politics deal as the Biya Francophone regime sought to present a scheme against the Ambazonia Interim Government.

DAC, CONSORTIUM, SCAWOL, SKEW, APOC, AIPC, Southern Cameroons Community in South Africa, Southern Cameroons Community in Germany, Southern Cameroons Community France, Southern Cameroons Community in Italy have all opined that  Ambazonians cannot accept any pro Yaoundé political elite speaking in their name.

“Ambazonians allowed it for more than three decades but they will never again allow it,” Vice President Dabney Yerima said at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland held to commemorate the independence day of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Vice President Dabney Yerima added, “Our position on school resumption has not changed. As a government, we value the rights to life and we have publicly observed that only parents can determine if the conditions are conducive for Southern Cameroons children to return to school. The Southern Cameroons Interim Government wants children to study in a calm and peaceful environment. Correspondingly, where it is unsafe to resume, we advise parents to let their children to stay at home. We will continue to support community schools in areas where there is peace.”

Comrade Dabney Yerima further noted that “the Ambazonia Interim Government (IG) will remain the sole and legitimate representative of the Southern Cameroons people,” and that Southern Cameroons groups must all join the Ambazonia Interim Government in order to protect and strengthen its status as an umbrella organization for all Southern Cameroons compatriots and the diaspora.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Geneva

Cameroon Intelligence Report chief correspondent in Manyu on Wednesday confirmed the alleged rape of several girls at the Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish in Bachuo Akagbe by soldiers of the Mamfe and Besongabang Artillery Brigade of the Cameroon Army in Manyu Division.

The Cameroon government army soldiers were said to have raped the girls recently after they were deployed to the village some 12 kilometers from Mamfe to counter armed Ambazonia militia fighting against the resumption of schools in Southern Cameroons.

We gathered that many of the girls have reportedly narrated their ordeal to the Bishop’s House in Mamfe via Revered Father Chamberline Arinze, the Parish Priest in Bachuo Akagbe.

A spokesperson for the Bachou Akagbe traditional council confirmed that the ruler Chief John Etchu who is presently out of the country for medical reasons was aware of the incident, and had ordered investigation into it.

Our Manyu reporter who visited Bachou Akagbe village on Monday said the girls are willing to identify the soldiers and revealed that they were raped serially by the French speaking servicemen.

By Kingsley Betek in Mamfe

Two language teachers, from Philippines and Cameroon, have been arrested in Thailand for alleged involvement in a face mask fraud that cost investors about 27 million baht, the Bangkok Post reports.

Pol Maj Gen Jirapop Puridet, commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said last week, Filipino Tanko Romo Jr, 27, was arrested in Kantharawichai district of Maha Sarakham, and Cameroonian Asaka Mbah, 38, in Nong Nakham district of Khon Kaen, both on Tuesday.

The two suspects are allegedly part of a gang that claimed in March to be a large manufacturer of surgical masks.

The fraudsters created a fake website with a company name and logo and false procurement and transport documents. They offered surgical masks for sale in large amounts. They attracted purchases worth 27 million baht, which buyers transferred to the gang’s bank accounts.

During the investigation, detectives managed to warn off one victim who was just about to make payment for an order, Pol Maj Gen Jirapop said.

The two suspects were working as language teachers. Police targetted them after the earlier arrest of a Thai woman who was also part of the fraud, he said.

Source: The Standard.com.hk

Bloodshed has continued to rock Southern Cameroons as Vice President Dabney Yerima traveled to Switzerland for a protest march with Ambazonians to commemorate October 1.

Yerima and his entourage attended a pictorial ceremony in Geneva for President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, before moving on to the venue for the Independence Day celebration.

A Dabney Yerima spokesman was quoted as saying that the exiled leader offered his gratitude to Southern Cameroonians residing in Switzerland for their support to the Southern Cameroons war of independence.

“Several fund raising events are planned for the struggle in Swiss immediately Covid-19 rules are relaxed” the Yerima aide told Cameroon Concord News on Monday.

No peace in sight

Fighting has continued unabated in Southern Cameroons, an indication that the crisis is badly in need of a UN Security Council Resolution. The UN reported an additional 1,000 deaths in recent times indicating how tense the crisis is.

The U.N. also revealed that the Southern Cameroons war has forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes since the conflict erupted in late 2017. Ongoing armed clashes, civilian casualties and the burning of houses, hospitals and other infrastructure are causing further displacement.

Michael Bibi, auxiliary administrator of the Southern Cameroons Catholic Diocese of Buea, who took part at the so-called National Dialogue, says the regime in Yaoundé should negotiate a cease-fire for peace to return.

By Chi Prudence Asong