INTRODUCTION
Covid- 19 is no doubt one of the bad faces of the soon to end the year 2020. The pandemic has and is still making news around the globe as we draw nearer to the end of the year. With over 1.8 million people killed by the disease worldwide, with nearly 8.000 of those deaths in the UK alone, the disease justly deserves its place in the annals of history as the worst event. It has been suggested by some academics and policymakers that the pandemic has shifted the debate from other important world subjects which before now should have been given greater attention or addressed. One of such topics is Human Rights. The abuses and violations of HR around the world have doubled and most of these have gone unnoticed or given less attention partly due to the pressure the covid 19 pandemic has imposed on humanity.
The Central African State of Cameroon has equally been greatly affected by Covid, but this article is not tailored to dwell on the impact of Covid on that country. The article will be reviewing a country which has seen in 2020, a massive increase in Human Rights abuses and violations both by the State and the armed separatists in the ongoing Anglophone Crisis. Before we proceed, it is important to highlight that the 1996 constitution of Cameroon (as amended), clearly establishes the country’s will and attachment to the respect and protection of human rights and all other forms of abuses.
The Cameroonian constitution in its preamble includes human rights standards of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights, and many other ratified international conventions.
It States, for example, that; “Human beings without distinction as to race, religion, sex or belief possesses inalienable and sacred rights.”. The first three articles of the preamble States as follows:
All persons shall have equal rights and obligations. The state shall provide all its citizens with the conditions necessary for development.
The state shall ensure the protection of minorities and shall preserve the rights of indigenous populations in accordance with the law;
Freedom and security shall be guaranteed each individual, subject to respect for the rights of others and the higher interest of the state.
From the above provisions of the Cameroons constitution, and cognisance of what is happening in the country presently, it would not be wrong to suggest that Cameroon in the ongoing crisis is in a constant breach and violation of its constitutional provisions. It is equally important to point out here that Cameroon’s constitution in its article 45 states that “Dully approved or ratified treaties and international agreements shall, following publication, override national laws, provided the other party implements the said treaty or agreement.”
By the above constitutional provision, therefore, all international agreements and conventions ratified by Cameroon should be binding to all state agents, including the military, gendarmes, and members of all other security corps. Cameroon is a signatory to several international human rights instruments whose provisions the country has dramatically violated and breached in the last 12 months based on its involvement in all the reported and documented abuses taking place in the country.
In the subsequent paragraphs, this essay will review cases of abuse which have occurred in the course of the year 2020, to demonstrate that the State has become a world case study when it comes to rights violations. The paper will join the Norwegian Refugee Council in agreement as the rights organisation had labelled the ongoing Anglophone crisis as the most underreported crisis in the world. The article will also suggest some recommendations into the way forward in resolving the crisis.
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, TORTURE AND SUMMARY KILLINGS IN CAMEROON; JANUARY 2020 TO PRESENT.
In January 2020, a Cameroonian military General Valere Nka had issued an ultimatum asking separatists fighters to lay down their weapons. Shortly after this memo, the county’s army raided a separatist base in a North West Town called Kumbo. This raid culminated in the summary execution of a separatist lead fighter “General” Chacha including 20 other of his fighters. The summary nature of these killings is what intrigues this writer who is of the opinion and in line with the country’s constitution and other international instruments that these people could well have been arrested, arraigned in appropriate jurisdictions, tried and sentenced in accordance with the laws of the land.
14th FEBRUARY NGARBURH MASSACRE
February 14th is generally a day set aside for lovers, on the contrary, the 25 victims of Ngarburh on this date instead of being shown love, were served with cruelty, torture and painful death. On this date, the military raided the village, killing 25 civilians amongst whom were pregnant women and children.
The government in its characteristic manner accused the separatist of being the perpetrators of the crime. After much pressure and demand for clarity from the international community, with satellite evidence from Human Rights Watch showing the contrary to government’s declarations. The president reluctantly ordered an investigation into the attacks. The investigations concluded that the government forces were the culprits. Some of the junior military staff involved in this attack have since been arrested and began appearing in the Yaounde military court last December 17 2020. However, many observers do not believe in the genuineness of the trial especially as top military and government officials who gave the orders to kill are not involved in the said trial.
7th MARCH 2020, NGALIM GENDARMARIE POST ATTACKS.
On the evening of March 7th 2020, suspected separatist gunmen, over 50 of them stormed a gendarmerie post in a place called Ngalim in the West region of the country. This attack killed 8 people including newly recruited female officers and many wounded. A separatist group had claimed responsibility for this attack and promised more of such attacks if the military continues to kill “their people”, they said.
MARCH 8TH EXPLOSIONS IN BAMENDA.
Three weeks after the Ngarburg massacre, and just a day after the Ngalim attacks, on March 8th 2020, while the population was celebrating the International women’s day at the commercial avenue in Bamenda, an explosion occurred injuring over 8 people with 5 of them in a critical state.
The explosions were once again claimed by the separatists who had issued warnings against any such celebrations in “their land”. The separatists by this act demonstrated that their modus operandi has mutated from Dane guns to artisanal, locally made explosives. The Cameroon government and some Human rights NGO’s condemned the attack and government promised to bring the offenders to book.
MAY 10TH, MAYOR OF MAMFE AMBUSHED AND KILLED.
After the March 8th attacks in Bamenda, relative calm seemed to have returned to the embattled regions. However, this did not last for too long as on the 10th of May 2020, one of the first senior elected officials in the regions was killed by suspected separatist fighters. Ashu Prisley Ojong (O.J as he was fondly called), newly elected Mayor of Mamfe was travelling to his native home town Eshobi when his convoy was ambushed and he was shot dead. Two military men who accompanied him were also injured in the ambush. Once again, the government accused and pointed all fingers at the “Amba Boys”. However, until the time of writing this article, no arrest has been made directly linking to the incident. This has equally triggered the belief in many pundits who are of the opinion the killing was politically motivated by the Mayor’s opponents in Mamfe Central.
JOURNALIST SAMUEL WAZIZI TORTURED TO DEATH IN CUSTODY.
According to Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index ranking for 2020, Cameroon occupies number 134 out of 180 countries in abuse of journalists. This position is not surprising to this writer as the country consistently clamps down on pressmen and women trying to stop them from doing their job independently. An example of such which has stood out recently and has exposed the country negatively is the Samuel Wazizi case. Samuel Wazizi was abducted without contact from family members or his legal team who tried to contact since his arrest las August 2019. The journalist who worked for CMTV was arrested for criticising the way the government was handling the Anglophone crisis. In June 2020, a privately-owned TV channel Equinox, quoting what it described as a source close to the military command said, Wazizi died during his transfer to Yaounde on an unknown date after his arrest. The government had promised an enquiry into the case but surprisingly, nothing has emerged about the dead Wazizi and the whereabouts of his corpse has since remained a top-secret known only to his abductors.
AUGUST 11TH 2020, AFIRI COMFORT BRUTALLY KILLED BY SUSPECTED SEPARATIST IN MUYUKA
The Anglophone separatists fighters also called “Amba Boys” describe all those they suspect of giving out information to the government about their activities and hideouts as “Black Legs”. Such persons if captured, are most times killed or in cases where they are lucky tortured and warned not to repeat same. It was based on these accusations that 35-year-old mother of two Comfort Afiri was brutally killed in an ISIS styled manner on the streets of a Town called Muyuka in the South West Region of Cameroon by suspected separatists fighters. This gruesome killing was filmed by the suspects and the images went viral on social media. The act was condemned by International Human Rights Organisations like The Centre For Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA), Amnesty International and Human Right Watch among others. The United Nations through the spokesperson of its SG, Stephen Dujarric also condemned the act and called for restraint in civilian attacks. The UN in that outing equally reiterated the organisation’s readiness in seeking a political solution of the crisis through dialogue.
SEPTEMBER 22ND 2020, ARBITRARY ARREST AND DETENTION OF OPPOSITION PROTESTERS.
Peaceful protest is one of the hallmarks of any democratic State. In Cameroon, the right to protest is enshrined and guaranteed by the 1996 constitution. However, practising this right in Cameroon has remained more of an appearance than a reality. The CPDM lead government is ready to crack down on any protest once this is not geared towards praising the regime in place. This was exactly the case last September 22nd 2020 when at least 500 people were arrested, most of them members of the Movement Pour La Renaissance Du Cameroun (MRC) opposition party as they tried to protest demanding the president to resolve the Anglophone crisis before any further elections were organised in the country. Of those arrested, over 160 remain in detention as 13 have been sentenced to prison by civilians courts, while 14 others still appear before the military court with charges ranging from high treason to non-possession of ID cards.
OCTOBER 13TH, RENOWNED SEPARATIST FIGHTER “GENERAL” AYEKE SUMMERILY KILLED.
In a bloody military operation around Besali, Wabane Sub Division in Lebialem Division in the South West Region, one of Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, a separatist lead fighter Ayeke was killed and his body paraded in Kumba another town in the same region by the military. According to reports, the fighter was killed and 13 of his hostages were freed by government forces. One military officer also died in this operations. This once again brings the state to the limelight as it failed to apply the constitution by summarily executing rather than arrest.
OCTOBER 24TH, KUMBA MASSACRE
On Saturday, October 24 2020, unknown gunmen stormed the Mother Francisca School around midday, after arriving on motorbikes popularly known in the regions as Okada. These men perpetrated a mass shooting on innocent children in their classroom where they went to acquire knowledge with their pens and books. This act which has no doubt and unsurprisingly been condemned in the strongest terms by virtually nearly all national and international organisations including the United Nations and the European Union, not forgetting Human Rights Watch and the Cameroonian government itself through its minister of communication Rene Emmanuel Sadi.
However, and curiously so, the Cameroon government in her condemnation statement, seem to have finished an investigation as it accused the separatist of being the perpetrators of the heinous act. In the government communique, they have apportioned all the blame to the “Amba Boys” and this with no evidence whatsoever to buttress their allegation. Many still remember vividly how the same government accused armed groups of committed the 14th February Massacre in Ngarburh before an investigation revealed otherwise weeks later. Assuming that we agree with the regime that separatist committed this crime, is it not clear that the regime has also failed in its responsibility to protect its civilians during situations like this especially women and children? The Cameroon government is by this act of early accusations without evidence trying to evade once again the fact that it has failed to protect its citizens given that we all saw government officials in these regions campaigning and reassuring parents and teachers that all was well. They even went as far as promising them protection and asked them to resume school.
The Responsibility To Protect R2P is the political commitment to stop all forms of violence and persecutions. It seeks to bridge the gap between member states pre-existing obligations under international humanitarian law and Human Rights law, and the reality faced by populations at risk of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity just like what we are seeing today in the Former British Southern Cameroons.
Koffi Annan in his September 1999 annual report to the United Nations General Assembly had said “member states must find a common ground in upholding the principles of the Charter and acting in defence of common humanity”. Annan repeated this challenge in his 2000 Milenuim report when he insisted that “If Humanitarian Intervention is indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to Rwanda, to gross systemic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity”
Going by the above, the Cameroonian government can therefore not invoke the notion of sovereignty to evade a possible and imminent International Humanitarian intervention in the country to stop the war before it turns to another Rwanda. This writer believes that if the Cameroon government is failing in its responsibility to protect, the United Nations should not fail in ordering a Humanitarian Intervention to stop the atrocities as doing so will constitute a betrayal by the United Nations to the people of Former British Southern Cameroon.
The Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols lay down the rules on how soldiers and civilians should be treated during armed conflicts like the case in hand. These conventions were adopted in 1949, considering the sad experiences of the Second World War, and these conventions still apply in today’s armed conflicts.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) advocates the protection of victims of armed conflicts and this includes civilians and combatants who have been injured or captured. All parties concerned in such conflicts whether states or organised Non- States actors are therefore bound by the IHL in matters of this nature.
If after proper investigation, it is established that the Separatist committed the massacre in Kumba, this will deal a deadly blow to the reputation of the separatist who for some time have enjoyed the sympathy of the International community especially the United States, the European Union and other powers that be. The legitimacy of their struggle for independence will have suffered there, a major set back because they will be seen as committing the same crimes they have been accusing the State of Cameroon of for the last close to four years now.
On the other hand, if the investigations come out with evidence to suggest that there has been a repeat of the 14th February 2020 Ngarburh crime, the state of Cameroon to my opinion, would have been caught hands in the bag, violating its constitution, International Humanitarian Law, the Geneva Convention and the responsibility to protect. Sanctions must therefore be called on the country for such violations.
NOVEMBER 5TH, CARDINAL TUMI KIDDNAPPED.
Cardinal Tumi, the Archbishop Emeritus of Douala, was in the company of the paramount ruler of Nso, a village in the North West Region of Cameroon when they were both stopped by suspected separatists fighters and taken to an unknown destination. The traditional ruler was heading back to his palace months after a self-imposed exile due to the ongoing Anglophone crisis. Both men were later released by their abductors unharmed.
CONCLUSION
The State of Cameroon is now beset with two violent conflicts. The one between government and separatists fighters from the Anglophone minority regions which have killed over 3000 people and internally displaced 600.000 others with over 58.000 refugees currently in neighbouring Nigeria. The other is the renewed Boko Haram insurgency who have come back recently to carry out deadly attacks in the Lake Chad Basin area. Moreover, and particularly after the October 2018 presidential elections, ethnic discourse and hate speech is heightening political tensions in the country daily. There is, therefore, an urgent need for de-escalation of these tensions before the country crumbles in a full-blown war. International stakeholders need to come on board now to seek a permanent resolution to the multifaced conflicts befalling the formerly most peaceful central African Nation.
Bibliography
Books:
Laura- Stella E Enonchong, The constitution and Governance in Cameroon (Routledge Studies on Law in Africa 2021)
Augustine Ndangam, Ceded At Dawn, The Aborted Decolonization of the UN Trust Territory of British Southern Cameroons. (Spears Media Press LLC. 2020)
Jean-Bruno Tagne, Accordee Avec Fraude, De Ahidjo A Biya, Comment Sortir Du Cycle Des Elections Contestees (Les Editions Du Schabel, Yaounde 2019)
Patrice Nganang, La Revolte Anglophone, Essais De Liberte De Prison Et D’Exil, (Teham Editions 2018)
Legal Instruments
International
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
African Charter for Human and Peoples rights 1981
United Nations Charter 1945
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998
The Genocide Convention,1948
National Legal Instruments
Constitution of Cameroon, 1996 (As dully amended)
Cameroon Criminal Procedure Code, (Harmonised) 2005
Cameroon Penal Code, 2016
Cameroon Labour Code
Resolutions
African Charter for human and Peoples Rights Resolution No ACHPR/Res.405 (LXIII) 2018
United Nations Resolution 1608(XV) April 21, 1961
Online Sources
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-b6360f40-84f9-469b-b6a3-a4568e161c4f Accessed 29 December 2020.
The impact of COVID-19 on human rights and the rule of law – Our action. At https://www.coe.int/en/web/human-rights-rule-of-law/covid19
Cameroon tops the list of most neglected crises At https://www.nrc.no/news/2019/june/cameroon-tops-list-of-most-neglected-crises/
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/06/18/cameroon-troops-kill-separatists/ Accessed 29 December 2020
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/24/cameroon-massacre-findings-made-public
Three Cameroon soldiers charged with murder for village massacre At https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/6/11/three-cameroon-soldiers-charged-with-murder-for-village-massacre
https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-51781072
Mayor killed in an ambush in Cameroon’s restive region At https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-cameroon-separatists/mayor-killed-in-ambush-in-cameroons-restive-region-idUKKBN22M0KD
Cameroon military admits journalist Wazizi died 10 months ago At https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20200605-cameroon-military-admits-journalist-wazizi-died-10-months-ago
Horrific Video Shows Cameroon Killing At https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/14/horrific-video-shows-cameroon-killing
Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the reported killing of civilians in Cameroon At https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2020-02-17/statement-attributable-the-spokesman-for-the-secretary-general-the-reported-killing-of-civilians-cameroon-scroll-down-for-french-version
Cameroon: UN human rights experts call for an end to detention and intimidation of peaceful protesters At https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26372&LangID=E
Notorious separatist fighter “General” Ayeke killed in Lebialem At https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-notorious-separatist-fighter-general-ayeke-killed-in-lebialem/
Cameroon: Gunmen massacre school children At https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/11/02/cameroon-gunmen-massacre-school-children
Responsibility to Protect, At https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/about-responsibility-to-protect.shtml
https://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19990920.sgsm7136.html
The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, At https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/overview-geneva-conventions.htm
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/misc/57jpzn.htm
Cameroon: Abducted Cardinal Tumi Released, At https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-11/cardinal-kidnap-tumi-cameroon-north-west.html
Nelson A. Agbor.
Doctoral Research Student, International Human Rights Law.
School of Law Criminology and Government
University Of Plymouth.
[dflip id=”702″][/dflip]
