With
Cameroon Internet Cut, World
Bank Brags of Speeding Up
Funding, UN System Failing
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
April 3 – As Cameroon's
Internet cut-off to Anglophone
areas extends toward 80 days,
and the International Monetary
Fund has told Inner City Press
the cut-off presents a
financial risk for 2017, the
World Bank, part of the UN
"family," brags that it
expanding its disbursements to
the country. "Elisabeth
Huybens, Operations Director
for the World Bank in
Cameroon, said that the
government made important
progress in the disbursement
of funding made available by
the World Bank group. On 29
March, during a meeting at the
Ministry of Economy, she
revealed that the disbursement
rate moved from 7.5% in 2016,
to 23% last year. 'Globally
speaking, we can say that the
performance of the portfolio
is relatively satisfactory. It
considerably improved during
the past 4 years thanks to the
efforts of the project teams
who I congratulate and the
support of the government,'"
she said. Does the World Bank
have fewer standards than the
IMF? We'll have more on this.
Inner City Press
on March 31 asked UK
Ambassador to the UN Matthew
Rycroft for the second time
about the issue. On March 9,
he said the UK keeps it under
review. So what has been the
findings of that review, after
three more weeks of no
Internet, show trials against
human rights barristers, and
threats against the media? It
is still under review. Video
here. From the UK
transcript:
Inner City Press:
Since your visit to the
region, UNHCR has complained
that Cameroon pushed out
refugees back into Nigeria
saying that the area wasn’t
yet safe. Also, I have
asked you about this before
but it is now more than 70
days that the internet has
been turned off in the
Anglophone areas of
Cameroon. One both
issues, one were you aware,
was this refugee issue raised
during your trip and what do
you think of the pushing back
into Nigeria? And on the
other issue, you say you
monitor it, do you think
things are getting better or
worse? Thanks.
Amb Rycroft: So, on the first
issue. Yes, absolutely,
the refugee questions were
central to our visit to all
four countries. And I
think that in each place we
had the opportunity to say how
important it was to the host
governments and others to
ensure that any returns of
refuges are done in a
voluntary way and done in a
safe way and done in
cooperation with the
governments of the
region. In fact the day
that we arrived in Cameroon
was the day after Cameroon and
Nigeria had reached agreement
with each other and with the
United Nations on a
tri-partite agreement for that
very purpose.
On the other question, you are
right - we keep it under
constant review and we will
carry on making our judgements
about whether the situation is
one that merits being put on
the Security Council’s agenda
or not."
How is it
not? Inner City Press asked
both the International
Monetary Fund and the UN
Security Council's president
about the crisis in Cameroon's
Anglophone areas on March 9
and heard that while the IMF
acknowledges the financial
risk, the Security Council
does not see it as a threat to
international peace and
security. But the UN's
Resident Coordinator Najat
Rochdi has said nothing about
the crisis, and blocks
on Twitter the Press
which asks about it. Is the UN
system failing, in its new
Secretary General's promise of
increased preventative
diplomacy?
When the
IMF's spokesperson Gerry Rice
took questions on March 9,
Inner City Press asked about
Cameroon, specifically the
crackdown in the northwest and
southwest of the country.
Inner City Press asked, "On
Cameroon, after the mission
led by Corinne Delechat, what
is the status of talks for a
program, and since the IMF
cited “civil unrest in the
neighboring Central African
Republic,” please state the
IMF's awareness of civil
unrest and arrests in
Northwest and Southwest
Cameroon, also known as the
Anglophone areas, and their
impact." Rice read out the
question and then said, among
other things, that the risk
factors for 2017 include a
continuation of the "social
and political events" in the
"so-called Anglophone" areas
of Cameroon. Interim
video here. On IMF
site, here,
from 34:56. IMF
transcript below.
But a few
hours later when Inner City
Press asked the month's UN
Security Council president
Matthew Rycroft of the UK, who
had just been in Cameroon,
about the crisis, he said it
is not a threat to
international peace and
security. From the UK
transcript:
Inner City Press:
In Cameroon there’s an issue
that has been existing since
November in Anglophone areas
which have no internet for 52
days, there’s been teachers
arrested, no schools. So I’m
wondering as one Council
member said, it did somehow
come up in meetings, but was
the issue raised at all, and
what response was given by the
government to this ongoing cut
off of internet and abuse in
this area?
Amb Rycroft: It came up
informally in our contacts
with members of the Government
of Cameron but as far as I
recall it did not come up in
any formal meeting, and I
think that makes sense because
we were going there to look at
the threat to international
peace and security, and Boko
Haram, and related issues, but
in private, informal
discussions with ministers in
the Government of Cameroon it
came up and they gave us the
benefit of their perspective
on the issue.
Inner City Press: Is there any
Security Council role that can
be played in trying to
preventively deal with this
issue?
Amb Rycroft: I don’t think
it’s an issue on our agenda
per se, we keep our eye on our
radar across the world, but we
have to make a judgement about
whether something is a threat
to international peace and
security, and at the moment, I
think our judgement would be
that issue is an issue that is
confined within Cameroon
without international aspects.
But the UN
Resident Coordinator does
nothing about it, says
nothing, blocks the Press.
Inner City Press asked the
UN's holdover deputy spokesman
Farhan Haq, UN transcript
here:
Inner
City Press:
the answer you
sent about Mr.
[Francois]
Louncény Fall
saying that he
would raise
issues to the
authorities.
Can you say
whether the
issue of the
internet being
off in two
provinces for
52 days has
been
raised?
And,
secondarily, I
wanted to ask
you
this.
You announced
from this
podium that
Najat Rochdi
is going to
Central
African
Republic as
Resident
Coordinator.
What's the
process to
appoint a new
Resident
Coordinator
for the UN
system in
Cameroon?
And is it… is
it… is it… can
it be public
in any
way? It
seems many
people have
complained
that, while
she was there,
she never
raised the
Anglophone
issue.
And, in fact,
I found that
she blocks
Inner City
Press on
Twitter, so
I'm unable to
ask her why
this issue has
not been
raised.
But what's the
process to
replace… and
you can smirk,
but should a
UN official in
their official
account…?
Spokesman:
That's an
unrelated
thing. I
mean,
obviously, all
people… all
individuals,
not even just
all UN
officials, are
free to block
whoever they
want on
Twitter.
That's within
their rights.
Inner City
Press:
Including
missions?
So you think a
peacekeeping
mission should
pick and
choose which
media can
follow it?
Spokesman:
Organizations
will respond…
are supposed
to respond to
press
requests.
Individuals
can do
whatever they
like with
their Twitter
accounts.
Inner City
Press:
What's the
process of
replacing the
Resident
Coordinator in
Cameroon?
Spokesman:
It's the same
as in any
other
place.
There's a
process that
goes… that you
go through,
and the
Resident
Coordinator's
selection
process is
supervised by
the UN
Development
Programme
(UNDP).
This is at
odds with the
UN's claims to
be transparent
in its use of
public money,
and to be open
to the press
and impacted
public, and
will be
pursued at
Rochdi's next
assignment at
the UN in
Central
African
Republic. But
it raises the
question: how
are UN
Resident
Coordinators
selected?
Inner City
Press reported
on Ban
Ki-moon's son
in law
Siddharth
Chatterjee
getting
multiple
promotion
under Ban,
including
being named UN
Resident
Coordinator in
Kenya by Ban
himself.
(Inner City
Press was evicted
by Ban's UN,
and remains
restricted
under Ban's
successor).
But shouldn't
Anglophone
Cameroonians
have some
input into the
UN's next
Resident
Coordinator in
their country?
This is a
project for
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info.
Watch these
sites and
feeds.
From the IMF's
March 9 transcript:
"There is a
question of Cameroon, from
Matthew Lee, "After the
Mission what is the status of
talks for a program; and since
the IMF cited civil unrest in
the neighboring Central
African Republic, please state
the IMF's awareness of civil
unrest and arrests in
Northwest and Southwest
Cameroon? And also known as
the Anglophone areas, and
their impact?"
So, the background here is, I
think important the context.
So, the Fund's engagement here
in the CEMAC Region, CEMAC is
the six Central African
Economic nations that comprise
the Central African Economic
and monetary community. They
met in Yaoundé on December
23rd. The Managing Director
was there. And in that
meeting, heads of state
discussed the economic
situation, the severe shocks
that have hit that CEMAC
region in recent years,
including the sharp decline in
oil prices, and decided to act
collectively and in a
concerted manner. And the
heads of state requested the
assistance of the IMF to
design economic reforms needed
to reestablish macroeconomic
stability in each country and
in the region as a whole.
So, again, context: I can tell
you that the funders already
sent missions to Gabon,
Republic of Congo. And a
reminder to you, that we
already have programs with
Central African Republic and
Chad. Okay?
Now, we also have sent a
mission to Cameroon, which is
the question. And we did issue
a press statement, which the
question referred to, just on
Tuesday. That was the Corrine
Delechat reference.
So, the specific question, to
turn to that. We are indeed
aware of the events in the
so-called Anglophone regions
of Cameroon. The macroeconomic
impact of any event that could
affect production and/or
consumption, is typically felt
with a certain lag. So, these
events started in November
last year, and thus are likely
to have not had a significant
impact on production in 2016.
For 2017, the risks to our
growth outlook include a
combination of external and
domestic factors, including
continuation of the
sociopolitical events in the
northwest and southwest
regions of Cameroon. And as
our press release the other
day indicated, our view is
that the medium-term outlook
for the Cameroonian economy
remains positive, subject to
the implementation of
appropriate policies."
We'll have more
on this. Watch this site.
***
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