The global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, has slammed the Yaoundé government, accusing of Arbitrary detentions and military courts which clearly highlight the latest crackdown on opposition members.

The arrests, arbitrary detentions and prosecutions in military courts of opposition members who were peacefully gathering are the latest example of Cameroonian authorities’ crackdown on dissenting voices since late September, the rights watchdog said in its recent report on Cameroon. 

According to the report, at least 500 people were arrested on 22 September, the majority of them members of the opposition Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC). Of those, 160 remain in detention, 13 have been sentenced to prison by civilian courts, and 14 appeared before a military court.

“The harsh repression of opposition and dissenting voices shows no sign of relenting in recent months. People simply exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and demonstration have paid a high price with prison terms based on trumped-up charges,” said Fabien Offner, Amnesty International West and Central Africa researcher,” the report says

 “The authorities must immediately put an end to the mass arbitrary arrests and detentions and immediately release prisoners of conscience,” the rights watchdog urged.

Protests were scheduled on 22 September by the MRC in several towns, but they were banned by the authorities which waged a campaign of arrests and arbitrary detentions of MRC supporters.

According to the lawyers, at least 160 arrested people remain in detention as of 25 November, in the towns of Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam and Nkongsamba. The lawyers have filed applications for their release 45 times but were rejected each time.

Eight people have been sentenced to two years in prison on 17 November by the court of first instance of the town of Mfou (Center) which found them guilty for « gathering, assembly and public demonstrations, and rebellion in group”. 

Five other people have been sentenced on 6 November to four months in prison in the town of Nkongsamba (West) for attempt of public demonstration.  

The rights watchdog chided the Yaounde government for misusing military courts just to hurt its opponents. Fourteen people arrested on 22 September were prosecuted by the military court in Bafoussam (West) between 24 and 25 November, for “attempted insurgency and unauthorized public demonstration and gathering “.

One of the defendants was also prosecuted for “contempt to the President of the Republic” and for holding “two signs calling for the departure of President Biya’’. 

At least 45 other MRC members also arrested on 22 September were convicted of “attempted revolt”, “rebellion”, “aggravated assembly” and “lack of national identity card’’ by the Yaoundé military court, which placed them in pre-trial detention. Those imprisoned include Olivier Bibou Nissack, Maurice Kamto’s spokesman, and Alain Fogue Tedom, national treasurer of the MRC.

In Yaoundé, Awasum Mispa Fri, president of MRC women’s group was arrested on 21 November and charged by a military court with “complicity in revolution and rebellion” after demanding the end of Maurice Kamto’s house arrest along with dozens of other women. She was put in pre-trial detention. Kamto’s house arrest took effect on 22 September and was lifted on 8 December. 

In a separate incident, four members of the movement, Stand Up for Cameroon, very active in the anglophone regions, were arrested on 18 September by the gendarmerie in Douala after attending a meeting at the headquarters of the opposition Cameroon People’s Party. They are still in pre-trial detention after being brought before the Douala Bonanjo military court, which charged them with “attempted conspiracy, revolution and insurrection”.

“Military courts should in no way be competent to try civilians as reminded in the guidelines and principles on the right to a fair trial of the African Commission on Human and People’s’ rights,” said Fabien Offner.

Amnesty International also called out the government in its handling of the Southern Cameroons crisis. It stressed that the Killing of eight schoolchildren in Kumba was a new low in  the devastating Anglophone crisis, urging the corrupt regime to protect ordinary people.

“The killing of eight schoolchildren inside their classroom is an atrocity that underscores the urgency of protecting ordinary people from the ongoing violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. This horrific attack shows how badly the situation is deteriorating and we call on Cameroon’s authorities to immediately take all possible measures to protect the population,” it urged.

“At least 12 other schoolchildren were injured in the attack. Over the past year there has been a surge in attacks in the Anglophone region, with many people killed, abducted or injured. The Cameroonian authorities must send out a strong and clear signal that such appalling crimes will not be tolerated, by immediately investigating these killings. The perpetrators must be identified, arrested, prosecuted and tried in a fair trial. We also call on authorities to guarantee at all times and in all places the free exercise of the right to education, which is under threat,” the report said.

The rights organization also called for transparency and accountability in the investigation of the death of a Cameroonian journalist killed by the government while in custody. It urged the government to ensure that the investigation into a journalist’s enforced disappearance and death in military custody was independent, effective, thorough, and impartial.

The police arrested Wazizi, 36, an English-speaking journalist at the privately owned broadcaster, Chillen Muzik and TV (CMTV), on August 2, 2019 in Buea, South-West region, and transferred him to a military-run facility in the same city on August 7. On June 2, 3, and 4 Cameroonian and international media, as well as Reporters Without Borders and the Cameroon Trade Union of Journalists reported that they had learned Wazizi had died in custody following torture, on an undetermined date.

“We are still shocked that authorities disappeared Wazizi and then covered up his death for 10 months, but we welcome the opening of an investigation and call on Cameroon’s government to make its findings public and ensure that all those responsible are brought to justice,” Mr Felix Agbor Nkongho, also known as Agbor-Balla, President of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) and a human rights lawyer said.

Wazizi’s transfer to the military facility on August 7 was the last time any of his family, friends, colleagues, or lawyers saw him, or learned anything of his fate from the authorities, making his continued detention an enforced disappearance. He was accused of “collaborating with separatists,” but his lawyers say he had not been charged with any offense before his disappearance.

The French Ambassador to Cameroon told the media on June 5 that President Paul Biya had assured him that an investigation would be opened into Mr. Wazizi’s death. The declaration was made the same day that the military spokesman, Colonel Serge Cyrille Atonfack, announced that Wazizi had died of severe sepsis on August 17, 2019 at the military hospital in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital. No autopsy was performed, and it is not clear on what basis Atonfack made the statement.

Cameroonian authorities had not made any official statement about the death of Wazizi, nor had they responded to multiple request for information filed by his lawyers, international media groups such as Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other journalists from Radio France International until June 5.

“It took the government 10 months after Wazizi was forcibly disappeared to acknowledge he died in custody, and authorities did so only following significant national and international pressure,”  Cyrille Bechon of the Cameroonian rights organization, Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme, also said.

“Cameroonian authorities were responsible for his life and safety while in detention and must provide a full accounting as to the circumstances of his detention and death,” he stressed.

Atonfack said that Wazizi’s family had been informed about his death, but family members refute that, saying they were never told and had been seeking information on his whereabouts since his arrest.

On August 13, 2019 Wazizi’s lawyers filed a habeas corpus application before the president of the high court of the Fako division, Buea, South-West region. The application was dismissed on technical grounds. Another habeas corpus was filed on November 13, but even then, the government did not disclose that he was dead.

When he announced the death, Atonfack also alleged that Wazizi was active in one of the several separatist groups operating in the South-West region. His lawyers said that no evidence had ever been produced to support the accusations.

“If a person is arrested under the anti-terror law, due process should be followed, and evidence brought to court,” said Emmanuel Nkea, a defense lawyer. “But this has never been the case and the government is trying to cover up the facts.”

The circumstances of Wazizi’s death underscore the dangers faced by Cameroonian journalists, particularly those who report on and investigate the crisis in the Anglophone regions of the country. The organizations have repeatedly documented the vulnerability of reporters in Cameroon to harassment, intimidation, threats, torture, arbitrary arrest, and detention by Cameroonian security forces and authorities.

Under national and international human rights law, Cameroon’s authorities have an obligation to account for every death in custody and should conduct an effective, thorough, and independent investigation into Wazizi’s enforced disappearance and death.

The investigation should be capable of establishing the facts surrounding Wazizi’s disappearance and death, including whether he died following torture or other ill-treatment in custody, and identifying all those responsible with a view to bringing them to justice. Failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible would violate Cameroon’s obligations to protect people from arbitrary detention and deprivation of life and to provide an effective remedy, the groups said.

By Isong Asu in London

The Vice President of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, Dabney Yerima has urged US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to help the suffering peoples of Southern Cameroons in the face of a deliberate international neglect.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News Group, Yerima congratulated Biden and Kamala on their victory in the race against incumbent President Donald Trump.

“The people of Southern Cameroons are looking forward to working with the president-elect and his Vice President Kamala Harris who clearly understands the pain the people of Ambazonia are going through for over 59 years now and to strengthen the Southern Cameroons Interim Government-US relations and to achieve freedom, justice and dignity for humanity” Yerima said.

Southern Cameroonians reportedly celebrated Trump’s defeat on the streets in Bamenda, Buea, Wum, Kumbo, Limbe, Mamfe, Kumba and Muyuka.

During the last lap of his administration, Trump signed an executive order removing La Republique du Cameroun from a trade pact over alleged ‘persistent’ human rights violations.

President Donald Trump said the West African nation failed to address concerns over its “persistent gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” allegedly committed by Cameroon’s security forces.

The US also cut more than $17 million in security aid and support to Cameroon in February over concerns about its human rights record.

In a letter addressed to Congress, Trump cited accusations of torture and extrajudicial killings of citizens by the country’s military as reasons for removing Cameroon from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

AGOA helps sub-Saharan countries improve trade ties with the US. Eligible countries must meet criteria including a good human rights record to benefit from the trade. But the regime in French Cameroun made a mockery of the White House and the US Congress and continued with its genocidal campaign in Southern Cameroons.

Correspondingly,the outgoing US president instead increased funding to the French Cameroun military on lame and ridiculous reasons that the regime in Yaoundé was combating the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram despite enough evidence that President Biya and his criminal CPDM gang have been diverting foreign military aid to sponsor the war in Southern Cameroons.

By Rita Akana

IMMIGRATION Minister Elsworth Johnson said yesterday he is not aware of any abuses happening at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre despite claims that several asylum seekers are being deprived of certain rights in contravention of Bahamian law.

However, he noted that if such injustices are being done, those workers responsible will be dealt with accordingly.

His comments to the press came after Human Rights Bahamas over the weekend raised alarm about the alleged illegal detainment of several Cameroonians at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.

According to the activists, the group sought to take refuge in the Bahamas after fleeing war-torn Cameroon in Central Africa out of fear of their lives after having experienced many injustices there.

Rights Bahamas claimed the Cameroonians have been detained at the Detention Centre for long periods of time that contravene the laws of this country.

When asked to respond to the claims outside Cabinet yesterday, Mr Johnson said he could not directly address the matter, but noted there’s a process every applicant must go through in order to obtain refugee status.

He said: “I can’t speak directly to it but there’s a process that persons go through that’s internationally accepted and we’re going to go through that process and if those individuals prove to be entitled to asylum, we will see how best we could assist.

“But, it’s not always that the country where they claim asylum would sometimes give it. You look to see your capacity, or you can refer to the United Nations to see how best they can assist in these matters.

“So, we’re investigating it but as always, it’s the department’s intention and obligation to follow the law to ensure the rule of law is upheld and the dignity of everybody who finds themselves in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is protected and so we’re doing that.”

Mr Johnson also defended the integrity of the Immigration Department yesterday, noting that the agency has faced false accusations of abuse in the past.

“Anybody that is held and anyone that is taken in the protected custody of any agency in the Bahamas, we have a constitutional duty to protect those persons, to ensure equality before the law and to see that their rights are protected. That is what the government is obligated to do and we’re going to ensure that that happens,” he insisted to reporters.

“But what I want y’all to do sometimes is you know there were some booklets that were put out with immigration officers with firearms, attack dogs, people being beaten which I’ve said in the past are ridiculous and dishonest.”

He added: “And when I question persons as to why they would publish such lies, they indicated they were doing it for sensationalism and that’s not right. You know I took one of your colleagues, she’s not here, into the Detention Centre and allowed her to go in almost every section.”

“I took her down in the back to let her see and inspect and it was my belief that she found just what the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights had said in 2019 when it commended the Bahamas for the improvement at the centre was just that.

“We have one of the best eateries that provide food for detainees and they do it very well. There’s food that the detainees eat, the immigration officers eat and I eat from the establishment so there’s no difficulties there and so we’re trying our best as a small country in the conscience of COVID-19 to do what is right and what is acceptable by the law. “

Asked whether any abuses were being done at the centre, he replied: “Not that I know of and if abuses occur, they will be dealt with. They will be dealt with and you can see from what we’ve been doing obviously led by the director and his team where we find there are abuses by the law, persons go before the courts and we have sat with IOM and many number of human rights entities to ensure that what we’re doing meets not just first with our constitutional mandate but our international treaties that we signed onto.”

Rights Bahamas has threatened to take legal action against the government over the asylum seekers’ treatment.

Source: Tribune 242.com

Ambazonia Restoration Forces defending the Mezam County have burnt down the residence of the Mayor of Bamenda II, Peter Chenwi. The mayor’s residence situated in the Ntasen neighborhood in Bamenda III Subdivision went up in flames on Monday, December 7, 2020.

The mayor reportedly took part in the so-called regional elections banned by the Ambazonia Interim Government, fled his Ntasen home and relocated to Up-Station in Bamenda.

The Francophone administration in Bamenda, the chief city in Southern Cameroons Northern Zone said in a statement that no human casualty was recorded when armed men stormed the Mayor’s Ntasen residence on Monday.

Ambazonia Restoration Forces have already declared that they would enforce the death penalty all over Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia soonest and the names of many South West Chiefs and North West Fons are prominent on the list.

Cameroon Concord News understands several traditional authorities and councilors across Southern Cameroons were transported to the polling centers in military vehicles just to prove that the elections took place in normal circumstances.

At the heart of the crisis, which started in 2016, was a strike by teachers and lawyers, in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The professionals, supported by citizens of their areas, protested the unfair use of the French language and unjustified appointments of French speakers in their territories. Cameroon is a bilingual country. By 2017, the situation had spiralled out of control and developed into a fully-fledged separatist war. Both government forces and separatists are now bogged down in a conflict that observers say, can only be resolved through dialogue.

By Fon Lawrence in Bamenda