The legality of the abduction of Southern Cameroon Leaders from Nigeria and their court-martial in Cameroun raises critical issues in International Law; in particular in times when the world is confronted with an acute refugee problem.  International Criminal Justice in which I have been involved these twenty years, has elaborately litigated this issue with my participation regarding its suspects who sought and obtained refugees status in different parts of the world prior to their arrest and surrender.

On the acquittal of the former commander of the reconnaissance battalion of the former Rwandan Army, Major Nzuwonemeye who was arrested in Cameroun and transferred to the ICTR Detention Centre in Arusha Tanzania, whom I defended at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, there is an ongoing litigation for him to be returned to France from where he sought refugees status prior to his arrest and trial at the ICTR. Prior to this case, the Court of Appeal of the Centre Province in Cameroun rejected a Rwandan request to arrest and return to Rwanda, Colonel Theoniste Bagosora, Laurent Semanza,  Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, Jean Baptiste Barayagwiza and others who fled to Cameroun after the fall of Kigali to the Rwanda Patriotic Front led by Paul Kagame. The Cameroun court decided was based on the grounds that it would be illegal to return them to Rwanda where there was a prospect of the death of penalty pursuant to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its additional protocol. There was no extradition treaty between Cameroun and Rwanda. Nevertheless the Cameroun Court found unpersuasive, the invocation of the principle of reciprocity in the absence of an extradition treaty by Rwanda to obviate the legal protections afforded by the 1951 multilateral refugee treaty.  For the record, Colonel Bagosora was then alleged to be the mastermind of the genocide in Rwanda although the prosecution at trial at the ICTR failed to prove this serious allegation.  It should be emphasized that the transfer of the suspects then to the ICTR was done pursuant to the UN Security Resolution establishing the ICTR which mandated UN member states to cooperate with the court.

The case of Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 9 others and the decision of the court-martial before whom they stand trial to assume jurisdiction overruling challenges to the jurisdiction of the court-martial must be viewed from the perspective of the multilateral regime on which the objections were based.  It  must  also be premised on the treaty obligations of the abducting state-Nigeria. The court-martial is a consequential danger that multiple international multilateral treaty regimes expressly interdicted. Nigeria is a state party to the ICC. There is an ICC preliminary examination in Nigeria since 2010. The crime of abduction is one of the crimes in the Rome Statute which is currently under preliminary examination is a multiplicity of crimes committed in the territory of Nigeria for which a preliminary examination was initiated.

Cameroun signed the Rome Statute but did not ratify it. Nevertheless, the recent Rohingya jurisprudence at the ICC establishes that where a crime committed in a ICC state party continues to a non state party, the ICC shall extend its jurisdiction to the non state party. I led the Rohingya delegation to the ICC Prosecutor to press their case on December 4, 2018.

France has not returned Mr Zang Ambassa to Cameroun due to his refugee status despite the existence of an elaborate extradition treaty and judicial cooperation between Cameroun and France.  By its own appellate jurisprudence and well established state practice, Cameroun has not established a jurisprudential regime of abductions, kidnapping and trial of alleged suspects in court-martials in foreign states, although its systematic abduction of Southern Cameroons nationals in their thousands from their territory and their submission to the jurisdiction of the Yaoundé court-martial has risen to the status of war crimes. The abduction and court-martial of Southern Cameroonians should not be dignified as cognizable due processes. The court-martial is a weapon of collective punishment, torture, cruel and degrading treatment of real and perceived opponents.

The international law elaborate treaty regime against the return of refugees to countries from which they fled when doing so, could subject them to grave danger or torture and other crimes outlawed  by international law strongly eviscerates the reasons advanced by the Cameroun court-martial for assuming jurisdiction in this case. Cameroun has litigated international cases in which it charged civilians before court-martials and lost. It was decided that on no account should civilians be court-martialed:  (1) Akwanga Vs Cameroun at the UNHRC (2) Akwanga Vs Cameroun ( African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights (3) Dinka Vs Cameroun ( UHRC).

A random search of the international treaty regime, its commentary and jurisprudence militates against the abduction, and trial of civilians who acquired refugee status under the protection of international law, in particular in judicial proceedings and court-martials where they may face the prospect of the death sentence. Lest we forget, if the interpretation and implementation of international law favoured the abduction and return of refugees to the countries from which they fled to face the dangers from which they fled, millions of refugees fleeing across international borders would simply have been returned to the countries from which they fled without due process. Armed militias and terrorists caught in battle who did not acquire the status of refugees may be detained pursuant to the laws and customs of war. As prisoners of war, they are afforded the protections in international law, and these include due process of the law. Subjecting civilians abducted and returned from foreign countries to a court-martial is not a legally recognized due process of the law. The court-martial in Yaoundé is a mockery of international law in every respect and should not be accorded a cloak of legality in any manner whatsoever.

Chief Charles A. Taku

French Cameroun political elites including opposition parties in Cameroun are viewing President Paul Biya and Senate President, Marcel Niat’s latest impromptu visits to Europe-Biya to Geneva and Niat to Paris for medical check-ups as a sign that both nonagenarian Francophone leaders can no longer cope and should step down and pave way for some new and energetic blood to take over in French Cameroun.

A cream of French Cameroun political elites have recently opined that President Biya, Senate President Marcel Niat and House Speaker Cavaye Yegue Djibril’s old age issues are costing Cameroun heavily and their frequent visits to Europe for medical care are draining the already dry state coffers because the trio including other barons of the CPDM crime syndicate spends millions of Euros on every trip, and all that money is taken from a country where people are dying from mosquito bites and thousands are being killed in Southern Cameroons.

Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Yaounde said Amadou Ali who moonlighted as Vice Prime Minister in charge of Relations with the Assemblies was forced to leave the cabinet due to a lot of health-related challenges. Martin Belinga Eboutou reportedly left the country for Canada and we gathered from family sources that his time on earth is drawing to a close.

After his 86^th birthday celebration in Mvomeka’a, many French Cameroun CPDM barons were heard murmuring privately that Biya must rest because at 86 – he cannot keep up with the demands of the highest office in the country.

We understand Biya and Niat trips to Europe to seek treatment for their age-related health problems are costing the country millions of dollars. Europe is the most expensive destinations in the world but the ruling CPDM crime syndicate spends the tax payers’ money without any shame.

Speaking after seeing a picture of Senate President Niat on social media and that of President Biya recently, our senior international correspondent Chi Prudence Asong pointed out that old age has no cure and Biya, Niat and Cavaye should realise that and do themselves and Cameroon a favour by retiring now.

“Biya, Niat and Cavaye are not doing anyone a favour at this moment. They are doing Cameroon a major disservice. They have become major national liabilities and we say they should call it a day. Biya’s Beti Ewondo kinsmen and women are looting with passion and he has no control over them that is why they want him to die in office.”

In his 36 years in power, Paul Biya has been spending more time out of the country than in and this is a national security threat because Cameroon can no longer afford to have a commander-in-chief who is always absent.

By Rita Akana and Kingsley Betek in Yaounde

Cameroon’s main opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, has been charged in a military court with rebellion and other offences, his lawyers have said. The former government minister was arrested in Douala on 28 January after his MRC party organised protests contesting last October’s election result. France says it is “worried” by the charges.

Kamto faces charges including “hostility against the homeland, incitement to insurrection, offense against the president of the republic, destruction of public buildings and goods.” If found guilty, he could face the death penalty, his lawyers said Wednesday.

The opposition leader, who says he was cheated out of the presidency in elections last year, was transferred to a prison in the capital Yaounde during the night by a military court.

Twenty-eight members of his Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) are also on trial for the same charges.

Meanwhile, 100 other supporters were due to appear before the Yaounde military court Wednesday to find out if they too will face a similar fate.

The fact that a military court is the one bringing the charges against Kamto has rattled critics.

Military justice

“How is it that someone who has never carried a weapon against the government, someone who has never called for armed struggle is judged by a military court?” asks François Ndengwe, Chairman of the African Advisory Board.

“Professor Kamto being judged in a military court is an outrage to the people of good will not only in Cameroon but all over the world,” he told RFI.

For Ndengwe, the charges against Kamto illustrate the challenges facing Africa’s justice system, often in the hands of autocratic governments.

“It is impossible to have a fair judgment in Africa,” he comments, blaming this failure on the “interference” of the International Criminal Court in African matters, most recently in the trial of the Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo.

“Africans complained about the ICC trying Laurent Gbagbo but they shouldn’t complain. Africans are not able to judge themselves according to the minimum standards of justice and equity, and this is regrettable,” he said.

On the domestic front, the charges against Kamto risk aggravating the country’s post-electoral crisis.

Restricting democratic space

They are a “clear sign of a new step in the restriction of public liberties that the government of Cameroon has crossed,” explains Hans de Marie, a senior researcher at the International Crisis Group (ICG) in Nairobi.

“The charges could increase tribal and ethnic tension in the country, as well as social tension,” he told RFI. Implicit in de Marie’s remarks is the fear of a potential civil war.

“The anger and bitterness from opposition members and civil society groups is more and more expressing itself along ethnic lines between the Beti tribe of [president] Paul Biya and the Bamyleke tribe of Maurice Kamto,” he comments.

Cameroon is already grappling with unrest in its troubled western Anglophone region after residents there were repressed.

“We know from past experience that it is the restriction of liberties that has triggered the Anglophone crisis,” states de Marie.

Kamto has called for an end to the two-year conflict. The opposition leader and his supporters demonstrated in several cities and towns on the 26 January urging an end to the crisis and for a recount of October’s election result in which he came second.

Bogus charges

It was shortly after this demonstration that Kamto was arrested in the economic capital Douala and how we got to today’s charges.

For human rights lawyer Agbor Nkongho, the charges are all too familiar. “The charges are bogus. These are the same charges that they [the government] brought against me. It’s a way to fight against dissent, repress people, and to perpetuate Mr Biya’s reign as they have been doing for the last 36 years,” he told RFI.

RFI was unable to reach the Cameroonian government for a response, but their position is that Kamto is a an “outlaw” after he defied warnings and declared himself the winner of last October’s election results.

French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said Wednesday the government was “worried” by the charges against Kamto and urged Paul Biya to allow the opposition to “express itself freely.”

Risk of conflict

That may not be enough. “We find it very low compared to the gravity of the situation,” says de Marie.

“None of the key partners of Cameroon has clearly condemned the arrest and detention of Kamto or asked firmly the Cameroonian government to release him,” he said.

Rights groups though have condemned the attitude of the Cameroonian government, with Amnesty International saying the arrest of Kamto and his staff signalled an escalating crackdown on the opposition.

“For the sake of peace if not democracy, the international community must act,” argues Hans de Marie. The risk of conflict in a country already affected by Boko Haram attacks and grappling with unrest in the Anglophone regions stands to be high, he concludes.

RFI

More than 150 people have been charged with “hostility to the homeland” and “insurrection” for their role in anti-government protests in Cameroon, the vice-president of the country’s main opposition party said.

The president of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) opposition party, Maurice Kamto, was among those charged on Wednesday in a crackdown criticised by human rights campaigners.

He and around 150 other people were arrested in late January and have been held for nearly three weeks by police in the capital Yaounde.

They have gone before a judge in groups, starting with Kamto overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. He was charged with “rebellion, insurrection” and “hostility to the country”.

Around twenty of those detained have been released on bail, MRC’s vice-president Emmanuel Simh told AFP.

“Hostility to the country” is punishable by the death penalty in theory, but the penalty has not been carried out in Cameroon for more than 30 years.

Maurice Kamto says he was cheated out of the presidency in last October’s elections, when Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 86, was re-elected for a seventh term.

Around 200 people were arrested in subsequent protests, the MRC said. Amnesty International said the wave of detentions “signals an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists.”

AFP

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya Wednesday celebrated his 86th birthday with supporters organizing lavish parties and opponents calling on him to resign.

Biya is the oldest president in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the longest-serving, but critics say his long rule has put the country in a bad position.

Supporters of Biya wished him a happy birthday Wednesday at a party attended by thousands in the capital, Yaounde.

Fadimatou Iyawa Ousmanou, president of Cameroon’s National Youth Council, said they bussed in Biya’s young supporters from all over the country to show respect and gratitude.

“You can see more than two thousand and five hundred Cameroonian young people that came to celebrate that birthday, and we came here to tell the head of state we are willing to work with him. We are encouraging him for what he is doing for the Cameroonian young people and also to promote our patriotic and civil behavior so that we can help in the building of a peaceful Cameroon,” Ousmanou said.

While supporters wished Biya divine guidance and a long life, he did not attend the celebration at the Yaounde Conference Center. He organized a private, and reportedly lavish, party at his home village of Mvomeka in southern Cameroon.

While Biya’s supporters celebrated, the opposition Renaissance Movement Party held a protest march in Yaounde calling on Biya to resign and for their leader, Maurice Kamto, to be freed.

Kamto, who claims Biya stole the October 7 presidential election, is under arrest and facing charges including rebellion for protesting the election results.

Thirsty for change

Kamto supporter Clement Metuge said he has known only one leader – Biya – since he was born. He condemned the large birthday celebrations for the president.

“We have constraints economically in Cameroon to deal with Boko Haram, our resources are not even enough for us to manage. All of us are sensitive about the fact that it is not just about his willingness to be in power, it is also about the performance, his age and everything. There is need for change and Cameroonians are thirsty for that change,” Metuge said.

In 2008, Biya revised the constitution to remove presidential term limits. Critics called the move authoritarian and have long accused his government of rigging elections — allegations that officials deny.

University of Yaounde political analyst Christophe Tiennteu said Biya has ruled with an iron fist for too long. Cameroon, he said, is plunging into an indescribable chaos with incoherent governance and democratic practice. Faced with these challenges, he said, and while craving for change and an end to domination by one man, people are distancing themselves from moves by Biya and his followers that go against Cameroon’s interests.

If something were to happen to the 86-year-old president, said Tiennteu, Cameroon could face a very difficult transition.

While the constitution stipulates new elections if the office of president becomes vacant, Biya is not known to have prepared a successor.

VOA

France has officially reacted to the arrest of Cameroon opposition chief Maurice Kamto and hundreds of his supporters.

The French Foreign Ministry said it was following developments in Cameroon and called on the government to respect the rights of people to freely express their opinions.

“We are concerned at this legal development and are continuing to follow the situation of Mr. Kamto and that of approximately 200 of his supporters who are being held in detention. The Cameroonian opposition, of which Mr. Kamto is a leading figure, must be able to freely express its opinions, in accordance with the law,” a response to Q&A daily press briefing read.

Kamto was on Wednesday charged with rebellion by a military tribunal, his lawyers confirmed to Reuters news agency. One of his lawyers said the charges were political and nothing of a judicial nature.

Another of his lawyers, Emmanuel Simh, told Reuters the charges he faces include: “hostility against the homeland, incitement to insurrection, offence against the president of the republic, destruction of public buildings and goods.”

Twenty-two members of his Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) are also on trial for the same charges, lawyers said.

Kamto was arrested in late January after he led a protest of supporters against the October 2018 presidential polls he claims was rigged. He came a distant second to President Paul Biya.

The police at the time said the gathering was not sanctioned hence his arrest. As to why he was not arraigned before a civil court, Cameroon has in the past few years charged politicians, journalists and suspected separatists to military court over charges relating to subversion and terrorism.

Africa News

Dear President Paul Biya,

For almost three years, I have been thinking of writing a very private mail to you, but given the administrative challenges and stories of you never replying to letters, especially those that contain ideas that are not music to your ears, I have opted to talk to you through an open letter.

For more than three decades, you have been telling Cameroonians that you are aware that they are suffering and that you would do anything in your power to improve upon their economic and financial circumstances, but for more than three decades, not much has changed and Cameroonians earnestly think that they are already living in hell.

Across the country, there are complaints of economic hardship. Our parents have worked and retired on derisory incomes. Their retirement benefits are just too small for many of them to survive for a long time.

Besides the amount of money they receive for their pension, there is also the issue of getting the money when they need it the most. It has become normal in Cameroon for people to retire and go without their retirement income for years. I can vividly recall that when you came to power in October 1982, you promised that the issues at the Ministry of Finance would be promptly addressed. I was in high school at the time and for more than 36 years after you made that promise, things at the Ministry of Finance have changed, but for the worse, making it hard for some of our compatriots to live a decent life after retirement.

During your 36 years in power, I have already worked for almost three decades. I have worked in the private sector and I have also worked as a civil servants in Cameroon’s public service. I have worked at the international level and I am today winding down as I have less than a decade to work. If I were still in Cameroon, I would be heading out of the civil service in Cameroon for retirement while you will still be in power. The issues you promised to address have endured and for 36 years, you have conducted state affairs in a manner that leaves much to be desired. The story is that you have no regard for the people you government and these are the people who were very happy to see you accede your country’s highest office.

Well, Cameroonians are used to tolerating a lot and they have learned to put up with the corruption and inefficiency that have become your regime’s hallmark. But over the last five years, your complacency has hit new highs with millions of young Cameroonians looking outward for opportunities. It is rare today for young Cameroonians to hold that they have a place in the country you rule. Cameroon is no longer a good place for the poor and millions of our young men and women are heading abroad for greener pastures. The brain drain in Cameroon calls for significant economic reforms. A country can only develop if its resources are used internally and if the people have faith in the system.

Looking at those who surround you, it is clear that your regime prioritizes the old over the young. Your collaborators have been in the corridors of power for decades and this has resulted in them developing a do-nothing attitude. Your ministers are people who have, on many occasion, been indicated by the public of corruption and their ages make it hard for them to deliver the goods Cameroonians have been looking forward to for more than three decades. I know if I were in Cameroon, you would still be considering me as a young person, though I am in my mid-fifties. This is not fair to our young men and women who are a lot smarter than people of your generation. As most economies become digital, it is but normal for our young men to be given a greater say in the management of state affairs.

But this is not where it hurts the most. It is the political and military chaos that have put our country in the spotlight that are compelling me to send you this letter. For almost three years, the former West Cameroon has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A peaceful strike by teachers and lawyers in 2016 has finally morphed into a civil war that might tear the country apart if you continue to pursue you military actions in the region.

Today, the military under the instruction of the defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomou, has engaged in a scorch earth policy that will cost the government – I mean the one after you – tons of money to rebuild some of the infrastructure that your soldiers are destroying in West Cameroon. Hospitals, schools, prisons, private homes and other facilities are being burnt down by your soldiers in the hope that the people will yield. I wish you and your military could understand that you never win a war. You seek to win peace and that should be your approach and objective at your age. You have nothing to prove and no power, no money and no wealth should excite you at 87.
Your military has sent innocent Cameroonian civilians into exile. Thousands of women and children are living rough in Nigeria. Thousands are hiding in the bushes for fear of being killed by soldiers who are supposed to be protecting them. Children are being born in these jungles and many do not have access to clean drinking water. Does this not bother you as a father and grandfather?

Thousands of English-speaking Cameroonian children are currently not going to school and this does not seem to bother you and your government. I thought at your age, your cardinal objective should be to ensure that after you, Cameroon continues to exist as a single geo-political entity that will make its people proud and happy to be living in such a lovely and rich country.

Thousands of English-speaking Cameroonians are today internally displaced. Many have been shot and killed by your soldiers for no just reason. Many women and men of your age have been roasted to death just because they were incapable of running away when your army showed up at their doors. I thought old age should be that moment when people should enjoy some serenity and peace. But your soldiers have proven that they have no regard for the old. Where have we kept that respect and love for the old that make Africa the envy of the world?

But in the English-speaking regions of today, your soldiers have made old age a crime for which its punishment is burning while alive. Why have you unleashed such a violent reign of terror on your own people? Why have you allowed a small difference of opinion to morph into such a violent war where killing has become a sport in Cameroon; a sport in which your soldiers are excelling? What have Cameroonians done to deserve such treatment? I am a witness of history and I can say, without fear of contradiction that your fellow countrymen considered you in 1982 as the best thing to have happened to their country.

Today, they all are looking back in anger. Parents are weeping for the loss of their children. Children are weeping for the loss of their parents. Entire villages and towns are mourning because of the crimes your soldiers have committed against the people. How do you think it will be possible for this people to live with you in the same country after all the pain and suffering you have inflicted on them?

As a child growing up, I was made to understand that with age, I should instead be thinking of making peace and ensuring that those who will live after me do not go through what I have gone through. For close to three years, I have watched you very closely. I have listened to your speeches with rapt attention and I have been reflecting on whether age really brings wisdom to everybody.

I would like to use this medium to advise that you have not conducted yourself as that person who is supposed to make our country an oasis of peace. Your actions over the last three years have clearly shown that you want to take the country down with you. You should have proven that you are a man of peace by listen to calls from the international community for a peaceful and inclusive dialogue.

While you may be right that Cameroon cannot be allowed to be fragmented on linguistic lines, I would be prompt at pointing out that if you had listened to the voices of frustration right from the beginning, we would have spared our country the agony that might last for centuries. If you do not listen to a people, you might never understand their frustrations. If you do not listen to them, you might never convince them that the path they are walking is not the most appropriate for them and their kids. Instead of unleashing a reign of terror on them, I think you should have used your high office to ensure all the children of Cameroon live in peace and harmony by listening to each and every one of them and providing strict guidance on how to make things better for every Cameroonian.

Today, Cameroon is imploding. There is no way English-speaking Cameroonians will ever feel comfortable in a country that sees them as second-class citizens and intimidates them into silence. While we all are hankering after peace as you said in New York in 2017, I would like to point out that negotiated peace is the type of peace that can last a lifetime. Imposed peace never lasts. It will collapse like a pack of cards even before it gets implemented.

A lot might have gone wrong, but there is still time for us, as citizens of the same country, to take a look at what has gone wrong in our country with the objective of making amends. We should be looking back, but not in anger as anger is a bad master. We should be looking back with a view to fixing what is broken and to addressing those things that have caused a lot of frustration in our country.

Mr. President, walking the path of peace is not a weakness. Despite the long time he spent in jail, Nelson Mandela decided to walk the path of peace so as to give future generations a greater chance at life. He did not call for war because a lot of injustice had been committed against him. He understood that nobody has ever won a war. It takes a lot of wisdom, a lot of selflessness and a lot of determination to understand that it is peace that should be our goal and not war. It is not too late for you to reverse your declaration of war against the English-speaking population of the country.

Great men are not just those who have lasted long in power. Great men are people with noble minds. While you are still alive and you have some authority – although those around you are manipulating things – I would urge you to embrace the inclusive dialogue that many have exhorted you to embrace. No killings or burning of homes will make thing better. Talk to the people of the North West and Southwest regions directly. Talk to them from your heart. Let them know that mistakes have been made. Sue for peace. Suing for peace is not a sign of weakness. Only people with noble minds have the courage to choose peace over war. You can do it. You still have the time to achieve something that will make Cameroon great again.

I look forward to a prompt reaction from you and your government.

Sincerely,

Joachim Arrey, Ph.D.
Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
arreyjoachim@hotmail.com