Gerald and Maas 2019 Suppressed News // #Cameroun / #DemocraticRepublicofCongo - #DRC

5.6.19

June 3, 2019

      Cameroun: Previous. As Cameroun is encouraged into civil war, these are some points to note. "The United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa" was established by the UN General Assembly and headquartered in the capital of Cameroun, Yaoundé. It represents the OHCHR (Office of the HIgh Commissioner for Human Rights), in the region and serves 11 Central African countries. This isn't to be confused with "The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa," a partisan Camerounais Anglophone NGO currently lobbying for its own cause in Canada. On May 13th the United Nations warned of increasing numbers of people displaced and deterioration of basic services in the country where over 1.3 million people are in need, primarily in the country's northwest and southwest, regions claimed by the country's Anglophone minority coalition as "Ambazonia." The movement toward secession has caused an immense amount of suffering. 600,000 children are out of school (teachers in Anglophone areas are forbidden by the Coalition to teach). Over half a million people are displaced. Over a thousand 'separatists' have been killed, 650 civilians, and 235 security forces. Cameroun's President Paul Biya has declared a willingness to discuss anything with Anglophone separatists except secession. Opposition leader of the Anglophone coalition, Julius Ayuk Tabe, has from his jail cell indicated willingness to talk, but prefers UN intervention and talks held outside the country. Offers by the country's Catholic bishops to mediate the troubles have not been welcomed. Since my article of June 14, 2018 ( "Cameroun: the Battle of Languages Serves Colonial Masters") the situation has worsened primarily because it hasn't resolved. Opposition journalists in Cameroun work under threat of detention. Biya's government is already on semi-military footing due to Boko Harum forces (from Nigeria) in the far north. The Anglophone forces of Ambazonia are not Boko Harum but have a common enemy. While the U.S. has funded and advised the government's military campaign in the far north, the U.S. recently cut back military funding, troubled by "human rights violations" against the Anglophone efforts at secession. To remember: Paul Biya was re-elected President in 2018 with over 70% of the vote when Anglophone separatists refused to vote. The Anglophone coalition has declared possession of and secession of Ambazonia which comprises a region on the border with Nigeria and hosts Cameroun's nationally owned oil refinery. On May 31, the refinery was attacked and put out of operation. According to Foreign Policy, Ambazonian rebel forces are receiving arms through allies in Nigeria and one of the coalition faction's leaders, Marshall Foncha, living in the United States, is negotiating with other countries for the delivery of arms. Human Rights Watch has annoyed Cameroun's authorities by its possibly one-sided reporting of the human rights violations against Anglophones. Anglophone rights do need protecting. Inhabitants of border regions and particularly Ambazonia speak English and have been oppressed for several generations by the requirements of French education and a French legal system. Assertion of Anglophlone culture remains difficult. After Independence a U.N. mandate allowed the Anglophone area a referendum to choose whether to be part of French speaking Cameroun or English speaking Nigeria. The people voted to stay with Cameroun. Cameroun could have allowed English-speaking culture to flourish as Canada has partially with Quebec, but did not. So secession has become an alternative. An inclusive coalition government is preferable. Peace would be possible with reform of the Biya government to accept English as primary language in the regions where it's primary. Language wars are always and only to the benefit and profit of foreign powers. Those seeking oil and resource interests will try to destabilize the region as they destabilized the Ivory Coast, Eastern Congo and Rwanda. In this case the harder the Anglophone coalition presses for secession, the greater the chance of genocidal warfare. An early genocide warning then, for the people of Cameroun.