In
Cameroon, US Barlerin On
Targeted Killings, Inner City
Press Asks UN, Now UN Answer
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Video
UNITED NATIONS,
May 18 –
Amid the worsening crackdown
by the army of 36-year
Cameroon president Paul Biya
in the country's Anglophone
areas, in April a video
circulated depicting soldiers
burning down homes. Click here
for one upload of it. Noted by
many residents and activists:
blue helmet of the type used
by UN peacekeepers. On April
30 Inner City Press asked UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric about the video, the
day after publishing a story
about it, in Google News.
Dujarric said he hadn't seen
the video but militaries
should not use UN equipment or
colors, presumably when
burning civilians homes down.
April 30 Q&A video here;
transcript below. On May 18 in
Washington,
Guterres will have a meeting
with US President Donald
Trump. In Cameroon, the day
before, even Ambassador Peter
Henry Barlerin listed the Paul
Biya government's targeted
killings and burning of
villages (as well as the video
of torture that the UN would
only say is unverified).
Barlerin said, "On the
situation in the Northwest and
Southwest, the month of April
has proven the bloodiest so
things are not getting
better. I discussed with
the President our view that
the two sides in the conflict
are simply not listening to
each other. On the side of the
government, there have been
targeted killings, detentions
without access to legal
support, family, or the Red
Cross, and burning and looting
of villages. On the side
of the separatists, there have
been murders of gendarmes,
kidnapping of government
officials, and burning of
schools." The US statement,
like the one that followed
Inner City Press' question at
the US State Department
briefing in March about the
refoulement from Nigeria,
compares favorably to the
silence and worse from the UN
of Secretary General Antonio
Guterres. On May 18 Inner City
Press asked Guterres' deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq about
Barlerin's statement and, in
person, Haq acknowledged
reports of looting and burning
of villages. Then at 2:48 pm,
this UN email: "Your questions
on Cameroon: We are deeply
concerned about reports of
continued serious human rights
violations and abuses in the
North-West and South-West
regions of Cameroon allegedly
committed by armed elements
associated to secessionist
movements as well as by
national security
forces. We welcome the
decision of the Government to
conduct an investigation into
the reported incidents
involving national security
forces, as announced by the
Minister of Defense in a
communique dated 15 May. We
call on the Cameroonian
authorities to ensure that the
announced investigations are
conducted in a prompt,
independent and transparent
manner, and to hold those
found guilty to account. We
also urge all to refrain from
any acts that may contribute
to a further deterioration of
the situation, including
incitement to violence as well
as dissemination of hate
speech, notably through social
media. All armed actors must
immediately halt the targeting
of civilians and allow
humanitarian access to bring
immediate assistance to
populations in need." Even
now, the UN puts
"secessionist" violence first;
it cites hate speech on social
media after a UNHCR staffer
called for harsher repression
against Anglophones, and has apparently
not been disciplined. We'll
have more on this. On May 16,
the Governor of Cameroon's
North-West Region issued an
order "advising" Anglophone
residents to remain indoors or
relocate for their own safety
from May 18 to at least the
dubious May 20 "nation day."
His order says the "military
will be out to fight terrorist
[sic] and Fitch [?] them out
where ever they will be." Does
fitching involve torture? On
May 17, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq, UN transcript here: Inner
City Press: on this right to
assemble and protest.
Yesterday, I had asked you
about this video in Cameroon
of a person being tortured and
you said it couldn't be
authenticated, but a general
statement. Since the
army has identified who the
person in the… depicted
in the video is, has Mr.
[François Louncény] Fall not
issued any comment on
it? And the second one
is, now in the run-up to the
supposed National Day on 20
May, which many people don't
see as the National Day,
there's an order from the
Governor of Northwest region
telling people to leave their
towns because the army is
coming in and that's why
I'm asking a follow-up to
yesterday's question. Is
there anyone in the UN system
observing now the ordering of
people out of their towns, and
how does that impact the right
to protest that you've just
described?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
our envoy François Louncény
Fall is the person seized of
this matter. If he has
any specific comment, I'll let
you know about that.
Right now, what I can say
about that is, as I had
mentioned yesterday, we would
be concerned about any use of
force against people engaged
in exercising their rights to
peaceful assembly and peaceful
protest.
Inner City Press: Right, but
just one more… And
again, I'm saying because
there's a press release
by the military of Cameroon,
identifying who the person
depicted in the video is, so
what happens next? Does
DPKO (Department of
Peacekeeping Operations) ask
Cameroon which unit did
it? What's your
investigation of it?
What happens once an army is
actually --
Deputy Spokesman: As I
believe I explained to you
yesterday, when we receive
people from peacekeeping
contingents, we vet them
thoroughly to make sure that
the individuals and their
units are not linked to any
violations of human rights;
and that would be the case
with troops coming in from
Cameroon." Really? In mid-May,
a video
emerged depicting Paul Biya's
Army torturing a captive,
which they say to be Tsobonyi
Alphonse Tatia a/k/a "Title
Man" or "General," the name
used as soldiers whipped his
feet, kicked him in the back
and stood on his head. Will
those giving military support
and equipment to Cameroon take
note and stop? Will the UN
which took Biya's golden
statue and in essence covered
up the refoulement from
Buhari's Nigeria belatedly
speak up? On May 16, Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq,
video here,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: the
Cameroonian Army stepping on a
man's head and beating the
bottom of his feet, so I'm
wondering, it's a pretty
widely… in Cameroon, it is
seen by many, many people, and
given that Mr. [Francois
Lounceny] Fall was attempting
to, I guess, provide good
offices between the anglophone
areas and the capitol, maybe
you've heard from him, does he
have any comment on this video
that seems to be… put an end
to any belief of dialogue?
Deputy Spokesman: Well,
we continue to hold out the
hope that there will be
dialogue among the
parties. Mr. Fall has,
as you know, in past months
reached out to the various
participants, trying to see
what he can do in that
regard. We have no way
of verifying the authenticity
of this video. But we
would be disturbed by any
signs of torture and, of
course, we would urge all
parties, including the
security forces, to refrain
from such acts.
Inner City Press: The
ministry… thanks a lot.
The Ministry of Defence put
out a press release about the
video, and I just wanted to
know, in cases where an army
is at least initially
depicted, unless it's somehow
debunked, as being engaged in
torture, what does DPKO
[Department of Peacekeeping
Operations] do to ensure
either that it's not using the
same units who did it, the
same individuals who did
it?
Deputy Spokesman:
on the general principle, what
we do is that our peacekeeping
departments, that is to say
the Departments of
Peacekeeping Operations and of
Field Support, are engaged in
making sure that all
individuals and all units that
are engaged in peacekeeping
operations are fully vetted,
and so we go through those."
On May 9, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' spokesman
Dujarric about reports that
the Biya government is
hindering humanitarian aid to
fleeing Anglophones.
Dujarric... laughed. He
laughed at length. Video here.
Then he called Inner City
Press "self-centered." In
between, he issued a typical
Guterres canned statement of
concern - this from or for an
official who took Paul Biya's
golden statue and now seeks to
handpick which journalists can
cover Guterres, or bans the
use of Periscope even when
UNTV is filming, here. In
Yaounde, the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organization has
sent a new resident
representative, to replace
outgoing Nigerian UN official
Mal Moussa Abari. It is Athman
Mravili, a native of the
Comoros, whose Twitter feed
consists of retweets of his
boss, critique of the US
administration on North Korea,
and various virtue-signaling
progressive causes. If he's so
progressive, what about Biya's
slaughter in the Anglophone
zones / Ambazonia?
We'll have
more on this. Biya is locking
up journalists; for now what
Guterres does is have "his" UN
Security hinder the Press,
including most recently on May
5 here,
Inner City Press which has
asked about Cameroon and the
statue he took since it
happened. Now a Biya military
tribunal on April 10 ordered
that Akumbom
Elvis McCarthy,
a news broadcaster for Abakwa
FM Radio, a privately owned
broadcaster based in the
Bamenda region, be remanded in
custody for a renewable
six-month period while police
investigate claims that the
journalist aired "secessionist
propaganda." So much for free
speech and freedom of the
press. The Cameroon
Journalists’ Trade Union, SNJC
in Cameroon has called on Biya
to drop all charges against
Anglophone journalists Mancho
Bibixy and Thomas Awah Junior,
both jailed at the Kondengui
prison in Yaounde.
The SNJC made the call in
Douala on World Press Freedom
Day, when Guterres' UN was
engaged in censorship,
complete with a barely audible
video message from traveling
Guterres. The two are due back
in court on May 8. Mancho
Bibixy, a journalist and
history teacher was arrested
in Bamenda in January 2017
after leading a "coffin
revolution" on the streets to
protest against the state of
roads. Dzenyagha Thomas Awah
Junior was also arrested in
Bamenda during the same period
and transferred to Yaounde for
allegedly being in possession
of SCNC documents. Ah, freedom
of the press, under direct
attack in Cameroon and
persistently hindered and
undermined in the UN of
Antonio Guterres and his
Global Communicator Alison
Smale. They've made their
restrictions on Inner City
Press pervasive, including
requiring minders and blocking
access, refusing to answer petitions:
call it soft censorship. From
the April 30 UN transcript:
Inner City Press: a video
emerged over the weekend from
Cameroon showing or depicting
soldiers burning people's
homes in the Anglophone areas,
and what… what a lot of people
focused on is that one of
them, at least, is wearing a
blue helmet. I don't
think it means the UN is doing
it, but I do wonder, what are
the rules? I wanted to
ask you, what are the rules if
people have served in UN
peacekeeping missions… have
you seen the video?
Spokesman: "I haven't
seen that particular video, so
I can't comment on the
particular helmet, whether it
was just blue or a UN
helmet. We have seen, in
different parts of the world,
various security forces and
army… we've seen reports of
them using equipment that they
own, which had been painted
white or blue and reused
domestically. It is a
responsibility to ensure that
no equipment that has UN
markings is ever used in any
domestic operation. But,
again, I'm not… that's a
matter… that's an issue of
principle. I haven't… I
can't comment on that specific
report." Hours later, still
nothing.
The lack
of confidence in the UN in
these areas, and on this
issue, was inflamed as UN
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres in October 2017
stopped by Yaounde on his way
from the Central African
Republic (where the UN pays
Biya's government for
peacekeepers who have been
charged with sexual abuse).
Guterres did not meet with any
opposition figures, and
accepted a golden statue from
Biya.
Guterres'
envoy Francois Lounceny Fall
has publicly said that
secessionist are extremists,
the word used by Biya to
justify the scorched earth
strategy exemplified by the
video. Inner City Press asked
UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Prince Zaid why his
Office hasn't updated the
death figures and he claimed
it was because the UN has no
access.
Guterres'
humanitarian Assistant
Secretary General Ursula
Mueller visited Cameroon, but
not the Anglophone areas.
(Inner City Press asked her
why, here).
Human Rights Watch didn't even
include Cameroon in its 2018
“World Report,” and told
Inner City Press this is
because it does not view it as
among the 90 most serious
problems in the world.
Guterres' Deputy Secretary
General Amina J. Mohammed as
in Abuja in her native Nigeria
when 47 Cameroonians were
illegally sent back by the
Buhari government. Buhari will
be in Washington on April 30
and a protest of Ambazonians
is planned. Earlier in April,
Inner City Press asked
the US State Department about
the refoulement to Cameroon
and received a day later a
statement. But what will
happen on this video, and on
the underlying issues? Watch
this site.
***
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