US: President Trump records show Chinese business pursuits and bank account

21, October 2020

US: President Trump records show Chinese business pursuits and bank account 0

Donald Trump spent years cultivating business projects in China, where he maintained a previously unknown bank account, The New York Times reported Tuesday, as the US president attempts to portray election rival Joe Biden as weaker on Beijing.

Trump has spent recent days promoting a murky claim that Biden’s son Hunter sold access to his father in Ukraine and China when he was vice president under Barack Obama.

It is Trump, however, who maintained an office in China during his first run for president, and partnered with a major government-controlled company, the Times reported.

Trump additionally keeps a previously unknown bank account in China, controlled by Trump International Hotels Management, according to an analysis of his tax records by the paper. It is one of only three foreign nations — including Britain and Ireland — in which he does so.

The tax records show the company “paid $188,561 in taxes in China while pursuing licensing deals there from 2013 to 2015,” the Times reported.

Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten said the company had “opened an account with a Chinese bank having offices in the United States in order to pay the local taxes.”

“No deals, transactions or other business activities ever materialized and, since 2015, the office has remained inactive,” he told The Times. “Though the bank account remains open, it has never been used for any other purpose.”

Under his “America First” banner, Trump has portrayed China as the greatest threat to the United States and global democracy.

He has launched a massive trade war that has cost China billions of dollars, harangued Chinese tech firms and laid blame for the coronavirus pandemic with Beijing.

Even so, in 2008 Trump attempted an ultimately unsuccessful office tower project in Guangzhou, and in 2012 he opened a Shanghai office, the Times said.

Additionally, Trump Hotel Collection (THC) negotiated with the State Grid Corporation of China — an electricity company, and the country’s largest state-owned enterprise — to brand and manage a major development in Beijing, sources told AFP. But the bid was later abandoned.

Biden’s income tax returns and financial dealings meanwhile show no business connection to China.

Source:  AFP

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Leader calls for unity

21, October 2020

Federal Republic of Ambazonia: Leader calls for unity 0

“Collaboration we need, not collaboration we want. Ultimately, we will get that which we deserve.”

1. The lives of 8 million Ambazonians are in our hands.

2. The destiny of future generations of Ambazonians is in our hands.

3. The fate of our people in the different detention centers across our land and in La République du Cameroun is in our hands.

4. The return of our people from refugee camps in America, across Africa, especially in Nigeria, Cameroun and Ghana, as well as those internally displaced within homeland is in our hands.

5. The freedom and restoration of the Independence of our nation is in our hands. We have more in common than the minor issues that challenge and divide us.

 The Restoration of our Independence and Sovereignty.

Our people are watching us; the International Community is watching us, and we are failing to conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects maturity and leadership. These qualities are needed to truly represent our people in every sphere. We are delaying attainment of our ultimate goal and deepening the suffering of our people instead of alleviating it. Are we blinded by our self-interests to their pain?

What legacy do we leave behind? Would we leave success in taking our people to our homeland or failure in not attaining Ambazonia and in everything else we are trying to prioritize?

The Journey ahead of us might still be very long. Negotiations, if and when they happen, will be very tough. Should we not focus our energies and resources on that which is important to helping us attain our Independence?

Note

Power concedes nothing. LRC is not ready to concede anything. If we don’t stand together for that which we want; the restoration of the independence of Ambazonia, we will always be begging for a few crumbs under the LRC table. In our restoration struggle, there is no more room for spectators amongst Ambazonians. We all must be active participants. Remember that if there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm. Given what we now know about what we are capable of accomplishing together, evidenced by the 2020 Takumbeng & Independence Days celebrations, why then do we have the infighting? I urge all and sundry to look up to the Ambazonian flag and refrain from attacking or insulting others.

For the attention of:

HRM Fon Gorji Dinka, Pa Nfor Ngalla Nfor, Sessekou Christmas Ebini. Hon Wirba,

Dr. Fontem Neba, Dr. David Makongo, Abdul Karim Ali, Milan Atam, Milton Taka,

Chris Anu, Dr Larry Ayamba, Eric Tataw, Mark Bareta, Tapang Ivo. Tassang

Wilfred, Patrick Ndangoh, Mancho Bibixy, Penn Terence Khan, Tita Tebit, Tsi

Conrad, Pa Augustine Ndangam, Rev Andrew Ambiazeh, Elvis Kometa.

Special attention:

 Self-defense groups and our Takumbeng mothers

The Southern Cameroons thieves of Maryland are all virtually baptized Christians

21, October 2020

The Southern Cameroons thieves of Maryland are all virtually baptized Christians 0

Once upon a time, there was indeed an Ambazonia struggle! To be sure, the people of Southern Cameroons and the Ambazonia Interim Government read from the same script. The rushed succession plan following the Abuja incident changed the whole concept and pattern of the Southern Cameroons war of independence. One cannot but wish for a different narrative, a different kind of story.

Every well-meaning Southern Cameroons citizen that is not worried about where the Ambazonian revolution is now and where we are headed must be living in Maryland, USA or in French Cameroun. Southern Cameroonians including President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe believed, and rightly so, that the corrupt leadership of the disgraced Dr Sako Ikome and Chris Anu was clueless and didn’t have the capacity to take Southern Cameroonians to the next level, and, therefore, instituted change.

But ever since President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe made public the Southern Cameroons dream Interim Government administration headed by Vice President Dabney Yerima, Sako Ikome and Chris Anu have blatantly refused to allow the Southern Cameroons Interim Government to put its acts together.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group can now reveal that the Southern Cameroons resistance is in a free fall. The Federal Republic of Ambazonia seems to be on a standstill and, in recent times, the Biya French Cameroun regime that has slaughtered thousands of Southern Cameroons citizens including women and children is gaining an upper hand in the Ambazonia homeland.

Those who are complaining about the killing of prominent Amba fighters are no longer only President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and Vice President Dabney Yerima but also the corrupt Southern Cameroons so-called front line leaders that are haunted by their sordid and avaricious past to whom the Sako-Chris Anu period had become the ultimate nemesis.

The real tragedy of the Southern Cameroons situation is that its diaspora and thousands in Ground Zero are not convinced that the struggle is making progress. We of the Concord Group are sad about what has become of the war to liberate the people of Southern Cameroons, and more so of what has become of Ambaland.

It is evidently clear that the silence maintained by men like Hon. Joseph Wirba is deliberate! If those still rallying behind the Maryland mafia group think that Southern Cameroons had made progress, the assassination of General Ayeke and the disappearance of the Field Marshal in the Lebialem County can now help them to see today how much the resistance had gone down the hill! Not only on the negative politics being played by the diaspora including members of the cabinet appointed to assist Vice President Yerima but things like armed robbery and kidnapping, robbery and thieving that were such a taboo in a typical Southern Cameroons society are now the hallmarks of the Ambazonia revolution. While fighters who are pro Sako and Chris Anu in Ground Zero are getting away with murder, the disgraced US based Ambazonia front liners are getting away with massive embezzlement of My Trip To Buea funds!! With these things, you just wonder where we are heading.”

It has been extremely difficult for this writer to understand why the few still passing for a Sako IG, with their overt religiosity, find it difficult to walk their religious talk. The Southern Cameroons thieves of Maryland are all virtually baptized Christians. And since most Southern Cameroonians are Christians, most of the thieves are Christians too!!

Is it that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and the Ambazonia Interim Government have not put in their best? If so, is their best so bad or so poor that Southern Cameroonians haven’t made any significant difference? The leader’s recent call for unity from his cell in the Kondengui High Security Prison and the Maryland reaction that followed with the endorsement of Deacon Tassang, gave we of this publication a dissenting sense of defeatism.

We believe and fervently too that the Southern Cameroons diaspora have failed their fellow citizens in Ground Zero and this failure is slowly but surely generating a kind of frustration among the jailed leaders which is gradually translating to regrets.

Of course, like many living in the bushes and in refugee camps in Ghana and Nigeria, Southern Cameroonians can always console themselves with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. But Let Vice President Yerima continue to do all that he can, while Prof Carlson Anyangwe remains steadfast in diplomacy, hoping that another generation may stand on their shoulder and stand higher and do better for the suffering and oppressed people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. But it goes without saying that President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has done his bit.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Yaounde defers new tax on smartphones and tablets

20, October 2020

CPDM Crime Syndicate: Yaounde defers new tax on smartphones and tablets 0

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has requested the suspension of a new tax regime that would have compelled consumers to pay a levy equivalent to 33 percent of the cost of any imported phone or tablet purchased from mid-October as import duty. Citing the official statement, Investir au Cameroun reports that the President’s decision will force the government to rethink the method of collection of the new tax, which was supposed to rely on a new online platform developed by data management firm Arintech.

Introduced by the 2019 finance bill, the duty would have reportedly been collected by the country’s mobile operators via deductions from consumers’ call credit, using IMEI numbers to identify taxable devices.

The country’s association of mobile operators (AOTMC) had urged a rethink of this process, highlighting a number of technical problems with Arintech’s new online platform. It is proposing an alternative method of collection that would, among its other benefits, better inform and protect consumers.

According to Investir au Cameroun, the 2019 finance bill also stipulates an additional measure to increase tax receipts from imported products, consisting of a fixed duty of XAF 200 (approximately EUR 0.30) for taxable mobile applications once downloaded onto a consumer device.

Source: Telecompaper

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Pro French Cameroun Chiefs Create Militias for Protection from Amba Fighters

20, October 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Pro French Cameroun Chiefs Create Militias for Protection from Amba Fighters 0

Traditional village chiefs in Cameroon’s restive western regions are for the first time creating armed militias for protection against separatists. Cameroon’s government has been asking traditional rulers who fled the separatist conflict to return to their palaces and take part in December’s regional elections. But a majority of the chiefs has been reluctant to return due to threats from the rebels.

The Nso people of Cameroon’s Northwest region shout and applaud in the town of Kumbo. They came out to listen to a plea from their elders and palace notables to give a memorable welcome to their traditional leader, Sehm Mbinglo, whenever he returns.

Mbinglo fled the area three years ago after separatists abducted him three times and killed two of his children for unknown reasons.

Among the nearly 1,000 people who came to listen to the notables was Dorothy Yekong, who said she is longing to see her Fon, or traditional ruler.

“When the peace makers said the Fon will be coming back, we just felt some peace in Kumbo because when we were there without the Fon it was just as if to say the child is there surrounded by lions. So, if he finally comes, we are sure that peace will return in Kumbo. He is the father of everybody in Kumbo,” she said.

Yekong said she was pleading with separatists fighting to create an English-speaking state in Cameroon not to attack palaces and notables who are only there to promote African cultures and traditions.

But shortly after the Nso elders and notable made the plea on people to welcome their village chiefs, separatist groups on social media warned against the chiefs returning.

Donatus Kewa, who said he is a spokesperson for separatist fighters in the North West region, says the chiefs act as informants for the military.

He said the village chiefs and their notables who escaped from the English-speaking regions to the French-speaking zones, especially Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, will be killed if they return. He said the chiefs received help in escaping from the Cameroon military, which he said  is an enemy that all English speakers should fight against.

John Ewome Eko, traditional chief of the southwestern village of Boassa, said he is ready to face the separatists. He said he has armed a militia to protect his palace, notables and all traditional artifacts.

“I have put in place a strong vigilante group of more than 100 youths ready to stand and face the Amba guys. They came and burned down parts of my own palace. They left with two girls and they stayed with them in the bushes for two weeks. They were raped, they tortured them, they came back with wounds all over their bodies. They came again, they seized goods from my villagers,” he said.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest region, said militias created by chiefs should collaborate with government troops. He said no one should fear the separatists, whom he says are only intimidating chiefs and civilians.

“The traditional rulers are committed. The municipal counselors are committed. Elections Cameroon is ready. The security services are securing the region to allow us come the sixth of December to organize those elections in a peaceful environment,” he said.

Tchoffo said they were giving fighters another opportunity to drop their weapons and be pardoned or to be crushed by the military.

The separatist crisis that is in its fourth year has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced 550,000, according to the United Nations.

Culled from VOA

Guinea opposition candidate claims victory before official results

20, October 2020

Guinea opposition candidate claims victory before official results 0

Guinea opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo said on Monday he had won the first round of the Oct. 18 presidential election, but his claim was quickly disputed by the electoral commission and the government, setting the stage for a stand-off.

“Despite the serious anomalies that marred the smooth running of the … election and in view of the results that came out of the ballot boxes, I am victorious in this election in the first round,” Diallo told journalists and cheering supporters.

He did not give any figures but said the tally was based on his party’s count, not an official tally being conducted by the national election commission, which has yet to publish results.

The electoral commission said Diallo’s claim carried no weight.

“The Independent National Electoral Commission is the only body authorised to give provisional results. It is neither for a political party nor for any individual to do so,” Mamadi 3 Kaba, a spokesman for the commission, told Reuters.

“We regret the attitude of Mr. Diallo and we say that this declaration is null and void,” he added.

Guinea’s government said in a statement late on Monday that Diallo’s statement was irresponsible and could sow confusion and undermine peace in the West African state. It warned it could launch criminal charges against him.

The government said results from over 15,000 polling stations were still being tallied. “It is impossible, at this stage of the process, to have neither trends, let alone the results of the vote.”

Diallo is the main challenger to Guinea’s 82-year-old incumbent president, Alpha Conde, who is seeking a third mandate after a constitutional change in March which sparked deadly protests.

Following his announcement, Diallo’s supporters swept into the streets in his strongholds, declaring their alleged victory.

Diallo said on Twitter that three young men were killed in the capital, and several others were injured by security forces while they celebrated his victory.

The government was not immediately available to comment on the deaths.

Security Minister Damantang Albert Camara earlier accused Diallo’s party of publishing false results, and warned it risked triggering violence.

“This strategy of forced, premature and unjustified celebration was carefully planned well before the election,” Camara said in a statement.

Rights groups say at least 50 people having been killed over the past year during demonstrations against the constitutional change that allowed Conde to seek at least six more years in power.

(REUTERS)

US: Final Trump-Biden debate will feature ‘mute’ button to avoid interruptions

20, October 2020

US: Final Trump-Biden debate will feature ‘mute’ button to avoid interruptions 0

The final debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden will feature a mute button to allow each candidate to speak uninterrupted, organisers said on Monday, looking to avoid the disruptions that marred the first matchup.

The Trump campaign voiced objections to the change – made after the president repeatedly talked over both Biden and the moderator at last month’s debate in violation of its agreed-upon rules – but said the Republican would still take part in the Thursday night event, one of his last chances to reach a large prime-time audience before voting ends on Nov. 3.

The Presidential Commission on Debates said each candidate’s microphone at the debate in Nashville, Tennessee, would be silenced to allow the other to make two minutes of opening remarks at the beginning of each 15-minute segment of the debate. Both microphones will be turned on to allow a back-and-forth after that time.

“President Trump is committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last-minute rule changes from the biased commission in their latest attempt to provide advantage to their favored candidate,” campaign manager Bill Stepien said.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 30 million Americans have already cast their ballots, limiting Trump’s chances of reframing a contest that national and state opinion polls show him trailing.

Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden during a chaotic and ill-tempered debate on Sept. 29, at one point provoking Biden to snap: “Will you shut up, man?”

‘They cut you off’

Trump backed out of a second scheduled debate set for last Thursday over a disagreement about the virtual format following his Covid-19 infection. At that time, he raised concerns about having his microphone muted.

“You sit behind a computer and do a debate – it’s ridiculous, and then they cut you off whenever they want,” Trump said in an Oct. 8 interview on Fox Business.

Earlier on Monday, Trump’s campaign said it was unhappy with the announced set of topics for Thursday’s debate, arguing that it should focus more on foreign policy and asserting that the nonpartisan group was tilted toward Biden.

Biden’s campaign said both sides previously agreed to let moderators choose the subjects. It said Trump wanted to avoid discussing his stewardship of the coronavirus pandemic, which surveys show is the top issue for voters.

“As usual, the president is more concerned with the rules of a debate than he is getting a nation in crisis the help it needs,” Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo said.

The number of Americans who voted early reached 30.2 million on Monday, according to the University of Florida’s United States Elections Project. That number represents more than one-fifth of all the votes cast in the 2016 election.

Early voting is likely to ramp up this week as more states open up voting centers for those who want to avoid possible coronavirus exposure at crowded Election Day polling sites.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS)

Biya regime says fire at Bamenda Gendarmerie Command Post linked to electrical accident, not Ambazonia crisis

20, October 2020

Biya regime says fire at Bamenda Gendarmerie Command Post linked to electrical accident, not Ambazonia crisis 0

A statement attributable to Cameroon’s Minister Delegate at the Presidency of the Republic in charge of Defense says Friday’s fire outbreak at the Command Post of the Bamenda Territorial Gendarmerie Unit was the result of an electrical accident.

In a press release Monday, October 19, 2020, Commander Atonfack Guemo Cyrille Serge, Head of Communication Division at the Ministry of Defense dismissed allegations that the fire incident may be related to the ongoing socio-political unrest in Southern Cameroons.

 Atonfack Guemo says preliminary results of the investigations carried out by the competent services suggest that the fire outbreak developed from the electricity meter supplying the building.

“The Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense informs as follows: In the afternoon of Friday, October 16, 2020, at about 4:30 pm, a fire broke out in the building hosting the Command Post of the Bamenda Territorial Gendarmerie Unit, located at Up-Station,” Atonfack Guemo said in a press release. “The quick intervention of firefighters together with the combined effort of elements of the National Gendarmerie and residents of the locality made it possible to contain the flames and bring the fire under control at about 7:00 pm.”

From the first indications of the investigations that have been launched, Atonfack Guemo went on, it appears that the fire was an accident caused by the sudden return of electric power in Bamenda after a power outage that led to a shock on the electricity meter supplying the building.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

Football: Cavani swaps life on farm for Man Utd spotlight

19, October 2020

Football: Cavani swaps life on farm for Man Utd spotlight 0

Marcus Rashford insists Edinson Cavani will prove a valuable addition for Manchester United after the veteran Uruguay striker swapped life on the farm for the Old Trafford spotlight.

Cavani signed a two-year contract worth £210,000-per-week ($271,000) on transfer deadline day.

The 33-year-old missed Saturday’s 4-1 victory at Newcastle — United’s first match since his signing — after going into quarantine for 14 days following his arrival in England.

He was not part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad for their Champions League group game against his former club Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

But when Cavani is finally available, he is sure to find himself the centre of attention.

Cavani scored 200 goals in seven years with PSG, but he left the Ligue 1 champions in June after a contract dispute, missing their run to the Champions League final.

His age and lack of recent action — he hasn’t played since PSG’s Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund in March — prompted some United fans to label Cavani a panic buy after their failure to land Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon Sancho.

Cavani spent the last few months shearing sheep on his farm back home in Uruguay and indulging his unlikely passion for ballet — even featuring in an advert for a Montevideo dance school.

But, while he relishes his quiet life away from football and could easily have slipped into retirement, Cavani’s love affair with the game was strong enough to persuade him to accept a new challenge with United, regardless of what the critics say.

“I had a lot of different opportunities, I was excited to play in the Premier League and even more so for Manchester United,” Cavani said.

“I am very motivated because I always want to play as much as possible, work, train and give the best of myself.”

– ‘Massive player’ –

Cavani and his girlfriend contracted Covid-19 over a month ago after a holiday in Ibiza, but he is recovered and ready to add his experience and predatory instincts to a young United team in need of guidance.

While their free-scoring victory at Newcastle suggested United already have enough attacking talent, the truth is Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Daniel James are all still relatively raw, capable of excellence and head-scratching inconsistency in equal measure.

Rashford hopes Cavani can emulate the impact made by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who joined the club in 2016 having left PSG as a free agent.

Ibrahimovic, who was also in his 30s during his time at Old Trafford, bagged four goals in his first five United appearances and finished with 28 in his debut season as his talismanic presence took the pressure off his team-mates.

“As a forward line it is something to look forward to,” Rashford told Sky Sports.

“Hopefully he comes in and scores goals, because he can definitely help us win games and points. He can be a massive player for us this season.

“To win two or three trophies in a season you need a squad, it’s not possible if you don’t have people who can score goals one week and the next week.

“Growing up, United always had four or five forwards who could score goals at any time. The closer we get to that, the more strength we’ll have.”

Source:  AFP

September 22 protests: Human Rights Watch calls on Biya regime to release those held arbitrarily and end crackdown on dissent

19, October 2020

September 22 protests: Human Rights Watch calls on Biya regime to release those held arbitrarily and end crackdown on dissent 0

Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, HRW, says as further opposition-led demonstrations are expected across Cameroon in the coming months, the AU and the ECCAS should press President Paul Biya to end the wave of repression and promote respect for human rights.

She is quoted in a HRW dispatch today that condemns the arrest and detention of political leaders and their supporters in Cameroon.

“African and regional bodies should not remain silent in the face of escalating repression and should rally support from within their institutions to hold Cameroonian authorities to their human rights obligations, including by calling for the immediate charge or release of all arrested demonstrators and political opponents,” Allegrozzi said.

The international human rights NGO holds that Cameroonian security forces fired tear gas and water cannons and arrested hundreds of people, mainly opposition party members and supporters, to disperse peaceful protests across the country on September 22, 2020.

Many peaceful protesters were beaten and mistreated while being arrested and in detention. Cameroon’s authorities should immediately release all those held for their political views or for exercising their right to peacefully assemble, said today’s release.

HRW calls on the African Union (AU), the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Cameroon’s other regional and international partners to publicly denounce the crackdown on Cameroon’s political opposition and other dissenters. These groups should press the Cameroon government to hold to account those responsible for violations of the rights to assembly, to liberty, and to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, it said.

“African and regional bodies should call out Cameroon’s government for its repression and rampant abuses,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “As the end of the AU’s 2020 theme, ‘Silencing the gun,’ approaches, it’s crucial for these institutions to send strong messages to President Paul Biya’s administration that flagrant violations of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other human rights treaties are unacceptable.”

According to the opposition party Cameroon Renaissance Movement (Mouvement pour la Renaissance du Cameroun, MRC), over 500 people were arrested on September 22, only 155 of whom have been released. Lawyers for the party say that 21 were taken before a civilian court on various charges, including rebellion and participating in an illegal demonstration; 107 have been taken before a military court on various charges including terrorism and insurrection; 63 others continue to be held without charge, while the situation of others still in custody is unclear. In a statement on October 14, Cameroon’s communications minister said that 294 people were arrested on September 22, of whom 176 have been released.

Human Rights Watch, between September 22 and October 10, says it interviewed ten leaders and members of the opposition party MRC, five lawyers, three journalists and four relatives of men who were arrested and beaten by the police on September 22. Human Rights Watch also reviewed photographs and video footage showing the September 22 demonstrations and the security force response.

HRW notes that in early September, Cameroon authorities banned demonstrations across the country after the MRC encouraged people to take to the streets over the government’s decision to call regional elections in December. The party has said the government should revise the electoral law and resolve the crisis in the Anglophone regions – where violence has been acute since late 2016, as separatists seek independence for the country’s minority Anglophone regions – before holding these elections.

The territorial administration minister then announced that anyone organizing or leading demonstrations would be arrested, claiming that protests would endanger lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. The communications minister warned political parties on September 15 that protests could be considered “insurrection” and that illegal demonstrations would be punished under the anti-terror law.

The wife of a 32-year-old MRC member who was arrested in Yaoundé, the capital, on September 22 told Human Rights Watch: “I went to the central police station where my husband is being held. His eyes were red and swollen. He told me that the police beat him up when they arrested him.” A party member who visited his 36-year-old friend at the Yaoundé central police station after his arrest, said: “Policemen beat him so savagely that his wrist is now dislocated. He’s being held in a small dirty cell with 20 other people with no light and a non-functioning toilet.”

At least eight journalists were among those arrested on September 22, and it appears that at least some were deliberately targeted. Radio France Internationale (RFI)’s correspondent in Yaoundé, Polycarpe Essomba, told Human Rights Watch: “I had finished covering the demonstrations, and I was in a hairdresser shop preparing my radio show when six policemen came in and pointed at me. One said: ‘That’s him whom we are looking for. That’s him who’s spoiling Cameroon’s image abroad.’ They put me in their truck and forced me to lay down. Then they kicked me, and one hit me with a truncheon.” The reporter, who was taken to the central police station in Yaoundé, was released three hours later. The other seven journalists were also released over the course of that day and the following day.

Maurice Kamto, the MRC leader, who had been arrested in January 2019 after countrywide peaceful protests and released following a presidential decree in October 2019, has been held under de facto house arrest since September 22. Dozens of police and gendarmes surround his residence in Yaoundé, refusing to allow him to leave. On October 5, his lawyers filed a request before the Yaoundé Court of First Instance seeking to free the leader, but the court rejected the request the following day “for lack of urgency.” On October 11, Kamto’s lawyers filed a complaint against the state of Cameroon, accusing the authorities of holding the leader under house arrest illegally. The first hearing, scheduled for October 15 before the Yaoundé Court of First Instance, was postponed until October 29.

Two other prominent MRC leaders – its treasurer, Alain Fogue, and its spokesperson, Bibou Nissack – were also arrested, on September 21 and 22 respectively. They are being held at the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’Etat à la défense, SED) without charge. While their lawyers and family members can visit them, their lawyers say they cannot talk to their clients privately and that visits are only allowed for less than 10 minutes. Nissack is being held in solitary confinement and is not permitted to have reading material, reports HRW.

On October 1, following the announcement of a protest, policemen and gendarmes surrounded the headquarters of the opposition party Cameroon People’s Party (CPP) in Yaoundé and the residence of its president, Edith Kahbang Walla, known as Kah Walla. “Police initially informed me that I was under house arrest, but then backed down when I demanded to see the court judgment authorizing such an arrest,” Kah Walla said in an October 9 statement.

The right to peaceful protest is guaranteed by Cameroon’s constitution and international human rights law. Arbitrary arrests, mistreatment in detention, and unnecessary use of force to disperse protesters violate those guarantees and Cameroon’s international obligations. Protesters should instead be protected by the authorities.

While the authorities used the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to ban the demonstrations, HRW said, detaining hundreds of people in cramped conditions poses serious risks to public health and could be considered a right-to-health violation.

Human Rights Watch has urged governments around the world, including Cameroon, to reduce their jail and prison populations, given the heightened risk of Covid-19 for detainees and staff. For the same reason, authorities should only make custodial arrests when strictly necessary. Especially given that those arrested during the September 22 protests were not engaged in violence and presented no immediate threat to commit violence, there was no justification for custodial arrests.

HRW regrets that Cameroonian authorities have arbitrarily arrested critics of the government and political opponents on multiple occasions, and security forces have used excessive and indiscriminate force to stifle other opposition-led demonstrations. In late January, Kamto, the MRC leader, and some of his closest allies were arrested alongside another 200 party members and supporters after they held countrywide protests.

In June 2019, security forces arrested at least 350 MRC members and supporters across the country as they tried to hold demonstrations. Some, including the party vice-president, Mamadou Mota, remain in detention on politically motivated charges.

“We feel as if there’s a normalization of repression,” a Cameroonian human rights lawyer, Michelle Ndoki, told Human Rights Watch. “The international community should know that the political space for opposition groups to express themselves freely is getting smaller every day.”

On October 12, 14 United Nations independent human rights experts called on Cameroon to release Kamto and others arrested during peaceful protests and to stop the intimidation of political activists. On October 14, the communications minister said that the UN human rights experts’ statement is “partial and biased” and “based on false information.”

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

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