This Nov. 6 will mark 38 years president Paul Biya has clung on to power in Cameroon—making him Africa’s second longest-serving head of state, after his peer Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.

Biya, 87, became president in 1982, long before the majority of the central African country’s 25 million people were born. His current mandate will expire in 2025 when he’ll be 92.

As has been tradition, Biya supporters and members of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) party, often use the day to feast, pledge their “unalloyed and unconditional” support to the president and call on him to continue leading the country indefinitely. But this year’s anniversary will also be coming up at a particularly uncertain time as a campaign is to end his four-decade reign picks up steam.

Biya’s former ally, Maurice Kamto, now one of his sternest critics who leads the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) party, has been publicly calling for the president’s ouster.

On Sept. 22, mass protests were organized in the capital Yaounde, the economic hub Douala, and a few other localities across the country. But the popular uprising was met with force as security forces used water cannons and teargas to break up demonstrations. In what the Human Rights Defenders Network in Central Africa (REDHAC) described as “serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the clampdown was so intense that hundreds of people were arrested and detained. At least eight journalists were also arrested while covering the protests and locked up.

Authorities have vowed to prosecute those arrested and go after others on the run. Rene Emmanuel Sadi, minister of communication, said any move at toppling the government, citing specifically the “insurrection” launched by the CRM party, will be crushed. He said the government will “resolutely pursue its salutary action to defeat all internal and external attempts at destabilization.”

Despite the government warming, the revolution organizers are keen on carrying on even as opposition leader Maurice Kamto remains under house arrest. “We are preparing for another one [protest], which will then become regular until the regime yields to our demands,” Fah Elvis Tayong, CRM deputy national communication secretary, told Quartz Africa.

Street protests seem to be the most viable option people have at their disposal for political change in Cameroon as there are no indications for reforms or the long-serving president quitting power, according to Jeffrey Smith, executive director of Vanguard Africa; a pro-democracy advocacy group. “Biya is a prime example of a leader who has stayed in power long beyond his political expiration date,” Smith says..

Making allusion to Zimbabwe and Algeria, Smith says sustained citizen protests that are held peacefully could lead to change. But he estimates it can’t be an easy task in Cameroon because the country is highly authoritarian. He suggested the CRM has to bring more opposition parties and civil society organizations on board in order to be successful.

The battle lines were drawn between Biya and his main challenger in the 2018 contentious election when the former on Sept. 7 convened the electoral college for the first-ever regional council election without heeding to the latter’s demands. Kamto had requested that there should be electoral reforms to ensure free and fair election before any voting can take place.

The CRM leader had also insisted that the government negotiates a ceasefire and organizes genuine dialog to end the drawn-out armed separatist conflict in the country’s English-speaking regions. Kamto has repeatedly blamed the Biya government for mishandling the crisis which erupted in 2016 as low-level protests over real and perceived marginalization of Anglophones by the Francophone-dominated government.

Back then, the government’s instinct was to respond with force to squash the protests. But four years into the conflict, government troops continue to have running battles with defiant armed separatists who remain resolute to establish their independent state called “Ambazonia.” The belligerent parties have both inflicted heavy casualties on each other, as well as on civilians. So far, 680,000 people have been internally displaced while a further nearly 60,000 have fled to neighboring Nigeria, according to UNHCR. Local rights groups say over 5,000 people have been killed.

In July, there was brief hope when jailed separatist leaders said they were in talks with government to negotiate an end to the crisis. But then, the government said the declaration was “not consistent with reality.”

The Boko Haram insurgency, humanitarian crisis, economic downturn, political upheavals, Anglophone crisis, coupled with the coronavirus pandemic which seemed to have grounded the president from his frequent trips abroad has made life difficult for Biya and his bloated government.

Culled from  Quartz Africa

Elections Cameroon (ELECAM), the electoral body in Cameroon, says about 10 political parties have provided required documents for the regional elections on December 6, 2020.

Erik Essousse, ELECAM Director General, made the disclosure at a press conference on Wednesday in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde. He said about ten political parties would take part in the December 6 polls.

“With regards to the divisional delegates to be elected by the municipal councilors, 27 out of the 58 constituencies will compete. While on the side of the traditional leaders, it will have 24 constituencies out of the 58 which record at least two competing lists,” Essousse told reporters.

Over 10,000 Municipal councilors were elected in February this year and traditional rulers form the electoral colleges.

However, ELECAM says that there will be some cleaning up of the registers. “There have been deaths; there are those who have chosen to go to the college of traditional chiefs to avoid duplication. In general and concerning the two colleges, we are about 24,000 voters ”, the Head of ELECAM affirmed.

As far as the material preparation is concerned, Erik Esssousse told journalists, “Currently, the general management is preparing to receive the files which will be transmitted no later than next September 27, to the Electoral Council which will meet from this day within the framework of the 2nd ordinary session as of right, since the convocation of the  electoral college. This with a view to the publication of the lists of candidates no later than October 7, 2020 .”

87 year old President Paul Biya who came to power in 1982 called up the first Regional elections in Cameroon on September 2, 2020. Each of the country’s 10 regions will have 90 members; that is 70 divisional delegates and 20 traditional rulers.

The poll has been received with mixed feelings by some opposition political parties calling for boycotts, among them the Social Democratic Front SDF and the Cameroon Renaissance Movement CRM. Joshua Osih, 1st Vice President of the SDF told TODAY NEWS AFRICA that, the party’s decision to boycott the election even after taking in the February 9, 2020 Municipal election is hinged on the fact that the Supreme Court is yet to rule on petitions calling for the annulment of the polls in the Anglophone regions of the North West and South West where Government forces and secessionist fighters have been clashing for close to four years now.

“The conditions under which elections were held were not good. Many of our voters have fled violence. But soldiers and some government workers are compelled to vote Mr Biya’s CPDM party, enabling them to win unjustly. We cannot have Regional representatives who do not reflect the aspirations of the people.” Osih lamented

For the CRM priority must be given to concrete resolution of the separatist conflict in the North West and  South West regions. Barrister Christopher Ndong, Secretary General of the party cries out that, “Holding election o the blood of English speaking compatriots means Mr Biya has no regard for Anglophones.” This explains why the party leader Maurice Kamto called for anti -Biya demonstrations earlier this week where over 400 people have been arrested.

The Cameroon President however believes that, the Regional Councils constitute the culmination to the establishment of institutions inscribed in the 1996 Constitution making Cameroon a unitary Decentralized state.

According to the National Communication Secretary of the CPDM, ” This election will finally see the birth of the Special Status for Anglophones who want autonomy for their regions.” But Osih argues that it is a smoke screen. To him “Paul Biya is obsessed with centralizing power and dictating to the masses.”

Despite the challenges, ELECAM has vowed to continue with the elections calling on internal and external actors to support.

Source: Todaynewsafrica

On September 22, hundreds of citizens in Cameroon’s Anglophone region took part in an organized anti-government protest. But the numerous opposition parties are under scrutiny for lacking clear leadership or a strategy.

Cameroon’s opposition parties have much in common with one another. They all agree that the political landscape is in dire need of change following President Paul Biya’s almost 40 years in power. They also wish to see an end to the ongoing Anglophone crisis in the country’s south and are pushing for a free and fair electoral system.

Despite this, however, the parties have consistently failed to present a united front in practice. A planned nationwide protest on September 22 organized by the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) party, Maurice Kamto, failed in its aim to facilitate the resignation or ousting of Biya.

Ako John Ako, the founder of the Cameroon Youth Movement Association (CYMA) says the opposition’s inability to come together is the main reason these demonstrations regularly unravel.

“The call for protest was unilaterally done by head of the MRC party, Maurice Kamto,” Ako told DW. “There should be a pre-consultation of all the opposition forces in Cameroon, before any nationwide protest is called.”

While the MRC branded the parties who did not join the demonstration as “afraid,” the president of the Cameroon People’s Party (CPP), Edith Kah Walla, says for her party “and several other organizations, it was a question of timing.”

Supporters of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) party hold their fists up during an election rally

Supporters of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) party put on a united front during a campaign rally for presidential elections in 2018

Bruised, but not beaten

With the much-anticipated September 22 protest having come and gone, many opposition supporters are now feeling the anti-climax.

But the MRC party has taken an optimistic view of the situation, claiming it still succeeded in sending a “strong message” to the government. The party’s secretary general, Christopher Ndong, has decried the heavy-handedness of the Cameroonian military and use of state intimidation to silence protesters.

“Over 300 people have been arrested, two people died in Douala, over a hundred wounded,” Ndong told DW.

While lawyers are beginning to galvanise efforts to ensure those who were arrested are soon released, the MRC says it will not give up its aim to unseat Biya from power and is urging other parties to join them at the forefront.

“Let other parties now come in and take the lead, we are ready to join them too, whenever they are ready,” Ndong added.

History repeats?

On the day of the protest, news quickly spread that Kamto and other MRC party leaders had been placed under house arrest.

The government’s swift attempt to quell the demonstration came as no surprise to many.

“Cameroon has for several decades been led by a repressive regime,” Ako said. “In the 1990s, more than six months of protests led by the opposition had a similar response – and they did not remove Biya from power.”

Cameroonian President Paul Biya has been in power since 1982. He has been accused of marginalizing the country’s southern Anglophone region

Observers have begun to question if Kamto has an alternative plan to delegate leadership of the opposition, should history repeat itself. The lack of a strategic, coordinated plan has been highlighted by some as one of the reasons why the wave of protests in the 90s faltered under Biya’s rule.

Ndong disagrees. Instead, he argues that the opposition “didn’t succeed because of the heavy presence of military forces, violating the constitution and rights of Cameroonians to march against Biya. People who are only fighting for change. Deploying soldiers to fight unarmed civilians was an intimidation tactic.”

Protests amid a divided opposition

A total of seven opposition political parties and civil society groups signed and endorsed the call for the latest nationwide protest. But with Kamto under house arrest, there was no obvious candidate to take his place as leader.

The MCR’s Ndong puts the blame on the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) party and the CPP.

“We took the initiative to bring everyone on board, others are pulling us back,” he said.

Kah Walla agrees that finding a solution to the Anglophone won’t be found in the ballot box, but through peaceful protest. But she believes that taking to the streets without a proper plan will prove futile for the opposition movement.

“We have to establish a clear strategy, we have to establish clear communication,” she explained. “All of this was impossible to do before the 22nd so our movement said, ‘please, go ahead. We will not be a part of it’.”

But opinions are also divided within the MRC party. Key allies including Paul Eric Kingue, Celestin Djamen, Michelle Ndoki – who were jailed alongside Kamto for challenging Biya’s 2018 presidential election victory – have remained curiously silent over the issue. Despite criticism within the opposition movement, Kamto remains determined in his party’s goal to unseat President Paul Biya

Kamto remains defiant

Kamto – whose Yaoundé residence is still under military surveillance – has meanwhile taken to Twitter to celebrate the movement’s “victory.”

“The peaceful, patriotic and republican Marches of 22 September 2020 were a resounding success. Warm congratulations to the Cameroonian populations who have gone out in large numbers,” he wrote.

While some observers believe the September 22 protest did manage to debunk myths surrounding the government’s invincibility, possibly emboldening civilians, Biya still remains in power, while the opposition has no apparent strategy going forward.

Ako warns that any protest perceived to be a “one-man-show” cannot succeed.

“If we honestly want change, there should be a better plan,” he explained. “We have a common problem as Cameroonians, whether you are of the ruling CPDM, SDF, or a soldier. We are struggling to get the tyranny out and put our institutions on track.”

Culled from DW

Cameroon’s opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, has been confined at home for planning Tuesday’s anti-government protests.

 A video showing police vehicles outside the leader’s house has been shared online. The leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) told Voice of America that he was neither beaten nor detained, but feared that he would be arrested if he stepped out of his guarded house.

 Mr Kamto called for protests to demand an end to the Anglophone crisis and a reform of the electoral code. Demonstrators were dispersed by police in major towns and the opposition says one person was killed and several injured.

 Mr Kamto on Wednesday tweeted wishes of a speedy recovery to those injured and termed Tuesday’s protests as “a resounding success”. He said the protests were a powerful force and that they will continue until President Paul Biya resigns.

 Source: BBC

Cameroonian authorities announced Tuesday the start of the candidacy submission for the country’s pioneer regional elections scheduled for Dec. 6.

The country’s national electoral body Elections Cameroon (Elecam) is expected to publish the lists of political parties and candidates vying for the elections after the submission.

“The organisational and logistical aspect is ready. The elections would be a historic moment and a turning point in our democracy,” Essousse Erik, director general of Elecam, told reporters in the capital city Yaounde.

According to Cameroonian constitutional law, the regional council is the deliberative assembly for the affairs of the region. The regional elections, contained in the constitution for many years, have however never been organized.

The regional elections are deemed by local observers to be a measure to accelerate decentralization and to help end a separatist crisis in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, the Northwest and the Southwest.

Cameroon’s two main opposition parties, Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) and Social Democratic Front (SDF) have said they will boycott the elections, citing “biased” electoral code and insecurity in the Anglophone regions.

Source: Xinhuanet

Cameroon authorities banned demonstrations after the opposition party Cameroon Renaissance Movement (Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun, MRC) encouraged people to take to the streets over the government’s decision to call regional elections, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

On September 11, 2020, the governors of the Littoral and Centre regions banned public meetings and demonstrations indefinitely. Three days later, Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji, in a letter to the two governors and the governor of the West region, warned that law enforcement forces would break up unauthorized demonstrations. He said that the governors should arrest anyone organizing or leading demonstrations, claiming that protests would endanger lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. On September 15, the communication minister warned political parties that protests could be considered “insurrection” and that illegal demonstrations across the country would be punished under the anti-terror law.

“These steps are a thinly veiled attempt by the Cameroonian government to use the Covid-19 pandemic and the draconian anti-terror law as a pretext to quell the right to assemble,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Cameroon’s authorities should protect and facilitate the right to assemble, not seek to curb it.”

These measures came after President Paul Biya announced on September 7 that Cameroon’s first regional elections would be in December. On September 8, Maurice Kamto, the MRC leader, called for peaceful protests on September 22 against holding the elections. Seven other opposition parties and civil society organizations have joined Kamto’s call for peaceful demonstrations. Opposition parties have multiple concerns that they cannot be conducted freely and fairly without reforming the electoral code and addressing the lack of security in the Anglophone regions.

Human Rights Watch conducted phone interviews between mid-August and early September with 15 leaders and members of opposition parties, as well as 5 representatives from civil society and human rights groups.

The Cameroonian government started lifting Covid-19 restrictions in May, allowing bars, restaurants, and nightclubs to reopen. In June, it allowed schools and other training centers to reopen, as well as churches and mosques. The efforts to target the opposition-led demonstrations over Covid-19 appear to be arbitrary, Human Rights Watch said. On September 16, the MRC issued a note providing guidance to all members and supporters who are planning to participate on September 22 on how to ensure peaceful demonstrations and curb the spread of Covid-19 by wearing a face mask.

Other opposition-led meetings and demonstrations have been banned in Cameroon in the last 18 months. In April 2019, the authorities banned a week of demonstrations planned by the MRC across the country. Local authorities recently prohibited two private meetings planned by the party in Maroua, Far North region, on August 9, and in Nkongsamba, West region, on August 15, citing concerns around Covid-19 and general public order.

The Nkongsamba meeting was to be a private meeting at the party headquarters and should not have been subject to a public order ban. In Maroua, where the meeting was to be held in a hotel, the local authorities prohibited the meeting ostensibly on health grounds, although party leaders said they were taking preventive measures to avoid the spread of the Covid-19, including respecting the limit of 50 participants, as required by law. Party leaders told Human Rights Watch that authorities have allowed similar meetings in both cities by the governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement.

On September 19, the headquarters of the opposition party Cameroon People’s Party (CPP) in Yaoundé was surrounded by over 30 policemen and gendarmes. “The Yaoundé District Officer claimed that the CPP was holding a public meeting without declaration, but we informed him that we were holding our regular weekly meeting whose participation is limited to our members,” Edith Kahbang Walla, known as “Kah Walla,” CPP president said in a statement published the same day. “This is an umpteenth violation of the law and attempt to intimidate us.” After a standoff of about one hour, CPP members were allowed to leave.

Human Rights Watch has previously documented that Cameroon’s government has used the pandemic as a pretext to settle scores and punish the opposition. In May, the authorities arrested several volunteers from the Survival Initiative, Kamto’s fundraising initiative to respond to the health emergency, as they handed out protective masks and sanitizing gel in Yaoundé, the capital. They were charged with rebellion, then released on May 15.

MRC spokesperson Biboun Nissack told Human Rights Watch that the government’s recent ban on demonstrations “threatens to force our party underground.”

Cameroon’s constitution guarantees freedom of assembly. Cameroonian law requires organizers to notify local authorities seven days before a demonstration. While freedom of assembly is not absolute, and restrictions including those aimed at protecting public health are permissible, any such measures must not only have a legal basis but be strictly necessary and proportionate to achieve the objective and not discriminate against particular groups.

Broad, blanket bans such as that invoked by the Cameroon government, in particular in response to political organizing by opposition parties, do not meet these criteria. On March 16, United Nations human rights experts warned that “Emergency declarations based on the Covid-19 outbreak should not function as a cover for repressive action under the guise of protecting health, and should not be used simply to quash dissent.”

The anti-terror law, promulgated in December 2014 as Cameroon struggled to address the escalating threat posed by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram, has been widely criticized, including by Cameroonian and international rights groups and opposition parties, for its overbroad definition of terrorism, the provision of the death penalty, and for being used to silence the opposition, civil society, and the media.

This recent crackdown on freedom of assembly also follows a well-documented pattern of politically motivated arrests and prosecutions of opposition party members and activists, including MRC vice president, Mamadou Mota.

“When government authorities threaten to treat exercise of the right to peaceful protest as an act of insurrection, they are attacking the fundamentals of a society based on human rights and the rule of law,” Mudge said. “Basic freedoms and rights – guaranteed not only under Cameroon’s international obligations, but also in its constitution – are at risk, and if this crackdown leads to wider protests, the excessive use of force and ill-treatment could dramatically escalate.”

Source: Todaynewsafrica

Cameroon authorities banned demonstrations after the opposition party Cameroon Renaissance Movement (Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun, MRC) encouraged people to take to the streets over the government’s decision to call regional elections.

On September 11, 2020, the governors of the Littoral and Centre regions banned public meetings and demonstrations indefinitely. Three days later, Territorial Administration Minister Paul Atanga Nji, in a letter to the two governors and the governor of the West region, warned that law enforcement forces would break up unauthorized demonstrations. He said that the governors should arrest anyone organizing or leading demonstrations, claiming that protests would endanger lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. On September 15, the communication minister warned political parties that protests could be considered “insurrection” and that illegal demonstrations across the country would be punished under the anti-terror law.

“These steps are a thinly veiled attempt by the Cameroonian government to use the Covid-19 pandemic and the draconian anti-terror law as a pretext to quell the right to assemble,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Cameroon’s authorities should protect and facilitate the right to assemble, not seek to curb it.”

These measures came after President Paul Biya announced on September 7 that Cameroon’s first regional elections would be in December. On September 8, Maurice Kamto, the MRC leader, called for peaceful protests on September 22 against holding the elections. Seven other opposition parties and civil society organizations have joined Kamto’s call for peaceful demonstrations. Opposition parties have multiple concerns that they cannot be conducted freely and fairly without reforming the electoral code and addressing the lack of security in the Anglophone regions.

Human Rights Watch conducted phone interviews between mid-August and early September with 15 leaders and members of opposition parties, as well as 5 representatives from civil society and human rights groups.

The Cameroonian government started lifting Covid-19 restrictions in May, allowing bars, restaurants, and nightclubs to reopen. In June, it allowed schools and other training centers to reopen, as well as churches and mosques. The efforts to target the opposition-led demonstrations over Covid-19 appear to be arbitrary, Human Rights Watch said. On September 16, the MRC issued a note providing guidance to all members and supporters who are planning to participate on September 22 on how to ensure peaceful demonstrations and curb the spread of Covid-19 by wearing a face mask.

Other opposition-led meetings and demonstrations have been banned in Cameroon in the last 18 months. In April 2019, the authorities banned a week of demonstrations planned by the MRC across the country. Local authorities recently prohibited two private meetings planned by the party in Maroua, Far North region, on August 9, and in Nkongsamba, Littoral region, on August 15, citing concerns around Covid-19 and general public order.

The Nkongsamba meeting was to be a private meeting at the party headquarters and should not have been subject to a public order ban. In Maroua, where the meeting was to be held in a hotel, the local authorities prohibited the meeting ostensibly on health grounds, although party leaders said they were taking preventive measures to avoid the spread of the Covid-19, including respecting the limit of 50 participants, as required by law. Party leaders told Human Rights Watch that authorities have allowed similar meetings in both cities by the governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement.

On September 19, the headquarters of the opposition party Cameroon People’s Party (CPP) in Yaoundé was surrounded by over 30 policemen and gendarmes. “The Yaoundé District Officer claimed that the CPP was holding a public meeting without declaration, but we informed him that we were holding our regular weekly meeting whose participation is limited to our members,” Edith Kahbang Walla, known as “Kah Walla,” CPP president said in a statement published the same day. “This is an umpteenth violation of the law and attempt to intimidate us.” After a standoff of about one hour, CPP members were allowed to leave.

Human Rights Watch has previously documented that Cameroon’s government has used the pandemic as a pretext to settle scores and punish the opposition. In May, the authorities arrested several volunteers from the Survival Initiative, Kamto’s fundraising initiative to respond to the health emergency, as they handed out protective masks and sanitizing gel in Yaoundé, the capital. They were charged with rebellion, then released on May 15.

MRC spokesperson Biboun Nissack told Human Rights Watch that the government’s recent ban on demonstrations “threatens to force our party underground.”

Cameroon’s constitution guarantees freedom of assembly. Cameroonian law requires organizers to notify local authorities seven days before a demonstration. While freedom of assembly is not absolute, and restrictions including those aimed at protecting public health are permissible, any such measures must not only have a legal basis but be strictly necessary and proportionate to achieve the objective and not discriminate against particular groups.

Broad, blanket bans such as that invoked by the Cameroon government, in particular in response to political organizing by opposition parties, do not meet these criteria. On March 16, United Nations human rights experts warned that “Emergency declarations based on the Covid-19 outbreak should not function as a cover for repressive action under the guise of protecting health, and should not be used simply to quash dissent.”

The anti-terror law, promulgated in December 2014 as Cameroon struggled to address the escalating threat posed by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram, has been widely criticized, including by Cameroonian and international rights groups and opposition parties, for its overbroad definition of terrorism, the provision of the death penalty, and for being used to silence the opposition, civil society, and the media.

This recent crackdown on freedom of assembly also follows a well-documented pattern of politically motivated arrests and prosecutions of opposition party members and activists, including MRC vice president, Mamadou Mota.

“When government authorities threaten to treat exercise of the right to peaceful protest as an act of insurrection, they are attacking the fundamentals of a society based on human rights and the rule of law,” Mudge said. “Basic freedoms and rights – guaranteed not only under Cameroon’s international obligations, but also in its constitution – are at risk, and if this crackdown leads to wider protests, the excessive use of force and ill-treatment could dramatically escalate.”

Culled from Human Rights Watch