On
Cameroon, Guterres' Spox Dujarric
Laughs After Inner City Press
Asks of Anglophones Plight
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
May 9 –
Amid the worsening crackdown
by the army of 36-year
Cameroon president Paul Biya
in the country's Anglophone
areas, 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 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.
Periscope 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. 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.
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
Past
(and future?) UN Office: S-303, UN, NY 10017 USA
For now: Box 20047,
Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2018 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
