Cameroon security forces have been cited as engaging in significant human rights abuse in respect of armed combat they are engaged in across three regions of the country, a United States government report has said.

The Central African nation is beset by Boko Haram insurgency in its Far North region whiles the Anglophone crisis continues to pose a security challenge to the government in the Northwest and Southwest i.e. Anglophone regions.

According to the U.S. Department of State’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2017, the military, police and gendarmerie – paramilitary – forces were using among others arbitrary killings, forced disappearances and prolonged military / unofficial detentions in the three regions.

In its Executive Summary relating to the country, the report said: “The most significant human rights issues included: arbitrary and unlawful killings through excessive use of force by security forces; disappearances by security forces and Boko Haram.”

It went on to mention: “torture and abuse by security forces including in military and unofficial detention facilities; prolonged arbitrary detentions including of suspected Boko Haram supporters and individuals in the Anglophone regions.”

Then there was the issue of “harsh and life threatening prison conditions; violations of freedoms of expression and assembly; periodic government restrictions on access to the internet; trafficking in persons; criminalization and arrest of individuals engaged in consensual same-sex sexual conduct; and violations of workers’ rights.”

The government has deployed a military unit the BIR, which continues to engage with Boko Haram insurgents in the Far North region. Communities in the region have been attacked mostly by suicide bombers and raids by the group.

Over in the Anglophone region, guerilla style attacks on security forces by suspected separatists under the so-called Ambazonia republic banner has led to the formation of a new military unit headquartered in the capital of the northwest region, Bamenda.

There has been a sustained call for dialogue to solve the crisis even though the government has insisted that it will only engage with persons with the unity of the nation at heart.

Separatists have killed over 20 security forces, locals have fled their homes for fear of being caught in the cross fire with thousands now seeking asylum in neighbouring Nigeria.

Source: Africa News

Cameroon Intelligence Report has been informed that elements from the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR deployed from Dschang in French Cameroun to Menji were ambushed by the Red Dragons protecting the Lebialem County.  A well-placed source deep within the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia who confirmed the attack also said that the Red Dragons staged the ambush around Ntsianbeh Catholic Mission in Lewoh. We gathered that 4 government soldiers were killed during the attack.

Elsewhere in the Lebialem County, Cameroon government officials accompanying the Francophone governor of the South West region came under attack by Southern Cameroons self-defense forces. The Biya regime soldiers retaliated by firing against the Red Dragons. Citing French Cameroun military sources, our Menji correspondent reported that the Red Dragons have been observing a slow buildup of pro- Biya regime forces over the past week and have alerted the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Dr. Samuel Sako.

Source: www.cameroonintelligencereport.com

Cameroon is denying a report by the U.N. refugee agency that it has forcibly repatriated close to 400 Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers since January, but it says people running to areas prone to regular attacks by Boko Haram had to be moved to safer localities.

Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon’s far northern region that shares border with Nigeria’s Borno State, a former stronghold of Boko Haram, said Saturday that there had been no forced repatriations of refugees from Cameroon’s territory. He said Cameroon had complied with agreements made with Nigeria and the refugee agency regarding voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees, and that his government would assure the refugees’ safety until they left Cameroon.

He added, however, that people who had settled outside their camp at Minawao — especially in the Logone and Chari administrative unit that is prone to Boko Haram atrocities — had to be moved to safer localities where they could also receive humanitarian assistance from the U.N., the government of Cameroon, and well-wishers.

U.N. report

On Friday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported that despite warnings, Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers who had fled Boko Haram violence were continuing to be returned from Cameroon, and it underscored the need to provide international protection to those in need.

In the report, the UNHCR said that since the beginning of 2018, 385 Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers had been forcibly returned from Cameroon — the majority of them last month, including 160 on April 10 and another 118 a week later.

The UNHCR said it recognized legitimate national security concerns of states affected by the Boko Haram crisis, and stressed that it is important that refugee protection and national security are not seen as being incompatible.

There are about 110,000 Nigerian refugees in northern Cameroon. Ninety thousand are at the Minawao refugee camp. The UNHCR says 5, 000 have arrived since January, when the multinational joint task force of the Lake Chad Basin — composed of troops from Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger — launched attacks on the Sambisa Forest, stronghold of the insurgents.

Mamadi Fatta Kourouma, coordinator of the UNHCR in northern Cameroon, said about 60,000 refugees want to return, and the Cameroon-Nigeria-UNHCR commission is assuring that any repatriation takes place in safety and dignity.

Surrounding villages

He said close to 30,000 refugees have been living in villages surrounding the Minawao camp for up to three years, and that UNCHR wants to help them return as well.

The Lake Chad Basin task force announced last year that it had rolled back Boko Haram’s gains and said the terrorist group was living its last moments, but warned the insurgency had switched to terror attacks and remained a threat.

The conflict that began in northeast Nigeria eight years ago has left at least 25,000 people dead and forced more than 2.6 million others to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger are calling on the displaced population and refugees to voluntarily return to towns and villages, but to be vigilant as the terror group is gradually being eliminated.

Source: VOA

Catholic Bishops in Cameroon are calling on President Paul Biya to begin a dialogue to find a sustainable solution to the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon.

Since 2016, English speakers in the Central African country have been protesting against what they say is gross marginalization by the Francophone-dominated administration. They have also been complaining about the use of French in Common Law courts and Anglophone schools.

The two English-speaking regions – in the northwest and southwest of the country – constitute 20 percent of Cameroon’s over 24 million people. The Catholic Church is the largest religious group in the country, representing about 40 percent of all Cameroonians.

At the 43rd plenary meeting of the national episcopal conference, the bishops said the president in his capacity as “father of the nation” holds the keys to the speedy resolution of the crisis, and it is through “an inclusive dialogue” that the solution will come.

“If the head of state decides today that there will be a meeting with all those spear-heading the Anglophone crisis, there will be dialogue,” said Bishop Michael Bibi, the auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Bamenda, which is located in the English-speaking part of the country.

“Those who are in prison can be granted clemency and freed. Those who are out of the country and who are engineering these problems can be called back home. Those who are back home but who are not in jail but are sympathetic to the Anglophone crisis should be invited to the discussion table…religious leaders, administrative authorities, the civil society, opinion leaders, Anglophone secessionist leaders…In fact the various stakeholders should be brought to the discussion table…let this dialogue take place so that together, we can find solutions to the crisis,” Bibi told Crux.

Noting that the search for peace had become a national emergency, Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé told Crux the bishops had decided to organize “Novenas for Peace” in the days leading up to the celebration of Cameroon’s National Day, May 20.

But the deputy Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Jervis Kebei said that peace will only come if it is accompanied by justice.

“We all want peace, but there can be no peace without justice, there can be no peace without reconciliation,” Kebbei told Crux.

He said the government had taken a number of measures to resolve the crisis.

These include the creation of a National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multi-culturalism; the creation of a Common Law Bench at the Supreme Court; the deployment of English-speaking lawyers and teachers to Anglophone schools and courts; and the appointment – for the first time since independence – of Anglophones to head the Ministries of Territorial Administration and Secondary Education.

But these measures are seen by many in the Anglophone regions as “too little, too late.”

“If all the measures taken by the government are not helping out the situation, if they are instead making young people to be more radicalized, it means that there is something more fundamental that the government has to do,” Kebei said.

The monsignor said only an inclusive dialogue can help Cameroon go “to the root cause of the problem,” noting that understanding the problem could provide important indications on how a solution can be found.

No talks with separatists, says government

Despite the plea of the bishops for an all-inclusive dialogue, the government has made it clear that there will be no discussion whatsoever with separatists.

Paul Atanga Nji, the first-ever Anglophone to head the Ministry of Territorial Administration, said on state media that “everything we do must be done within constitutional order.”

“Those who wish to operate outside that order can expect nothing else than to be dealt with firmly. We shall not entertain any language, we shall not entertain any action that either threatens territorial integrity of our nation or threatens life,” he said.

He said however that government was ready for dialogue “with those who seek the oneness of Cameroon.”

But the stance has been criticized by the bishops, since it would exclude those advocating independence for “Ambazonia,” what they call the Anglophone regions.

A surge in violence

Meanwhile, the crisis has continued to escalate. Local media continue to file daily reports of fighting between security forces and “Ambazonian” fighters.

The bi-weekly newspaper The Voice reported that on April 11 a police commissioner was killed in the locality of Kom in Cameroon’s Northwest Region, allegedly by separatist forces. In response, the military killed 18 civilians.

Kebei told Crux that the bishops “strongly deplore the insecurity that is going on, perpetrated by people who are angry and – most often – by the military that goes reckless and on the rampage.”

“The military men are still being killed. In retaliation, the military kill the civilians and destroy property, and I think that it has reached a stage that the Head of State… (should) bring all together for an inclusive dialogue… and if a solution can not be reached then it means there is something fundamental that still needs to be done,” Kebei told Crux.

The monsignor said such dialogue must be accompanied by faith in God. He said the power of the Gospel can be employed to resolve the problem. “Christ’s message is the Word, and if this is applied to the existing situation, it will touch on people’s consciences.”

Source: Crux

Two Cameroonian soldiers died and four were seriously injured on Friday after a mine exploded in an anglophone region hit by violence between separatists and the government. “A Cameroonian army vehicle went over a mine” in Eyumojock, a town in an English-speaking part of the southwest, a security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The source said the blast close to the Nigerian border caused “two deaths and four serious injuries”. Eyumojock lies between Mamfe, the main town of the Manyu, and Ekok “in an epicentre of violence in the southwestern Anglophone region,” the source added.

Since late 2017, anglophone separatists have killed 30 members of the security forces, according to an AFP count based on official statements and including the two deaths on Friday. Other observers in Yaounde believe the toll is higher. Northwest and southwest Cameroon are home to the English-speaking inhabitants of Cameroon, who make up 20% of the population.

Separatist ambitions have long simmered in the two minority anglophone regions in the west of the country, where people complain of being marginalised by the French-speaking elite. The deep socio-political crisis has gradually turned into a low-intensity armed conflict in recent months.

The separatists, who are fighting for independence, have asked Yaounde and military personnel to leave their territory, calling them “occupation forces”. For three months, armed separatist groups have ramped up violence against the police, kidnapped civil servants and clashed with the army.

As the crisis grows, new separatist groups have appeared, posing on social networks with weapons and a flag of “Ambazonia”, the name of the state they want to create. Cameroonians swept up in the conflict are facing a humanitarian crisis, according to aid groups, as they struggle to reach people in remote areas that have become virtually off-limits.

Source: AFP

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today expressing its alarm at continuing forced returns to Nigeria of refugees and asylum-seekers from Cameroon’s Far North Region.

Despite UNHCR’s advocacy efforts and engagement with the authorities, 385 Nigerians have been forcibly returned from Cameroon since the beginning of 2018. The majority of them were returned during the last month.

More specifically, on 10 April, 160 Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Nigeria’s Borno state – an area whose residents continue to face risks. They had been seeking refuge in Cameroon’s Waza district since 2014.

On 17 April, an additional 118 asylum-seekers were forcibly returned to Borno state. They had arrived in Cameroon only two days earlier, having fled violence by Boko Haram.

The forced returns are in violation of the principle of no forced returns or non-refoulement. They are also a significant setback to progress previously achieved by Cameroon in granting asylum to Nigerian civilians fleeing Boko Haram violence in Borno State.

UNHCR appeals once again to the authorities in Cameroon to refrain from further forced returns and to ensure protection to those fleeing insecurity and persecution in Nigeria, in accordance with Cameroon’s national and international obligations. In total, UNHCR has registered some 87,600 Nigerian refugees in the country.

While recognizing the legitimate national security concerns of States affected by the Boko Haram crisis, it is important that refugee protection and national security are not seen as being incompatible. Properly functioning screening, registration and asylum systems help safeguard host country security.

UNHCR reiterates its support to the government of Cameroon to ensure that all those seeking international protection have access to efficient screening and registration procedures, as well as appropriate reception arrangements.

Source: UNHCR.org