In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Decrypt - LightRead - Honduras - Source

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 21– As more and more civilians have been killed by the Cameroon government of Paul Biya, absentee president for 37 years, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has been silent.

Inner City Press was informed by sources in Guterres' own 38th floor office that Guterres had made a deal with Biya's UN Ambassador Tommo Monthe as chair of the UN Budget Committee for administrative favors in exchange for silence on the slaughter or "subduing" of the Anglophone minority.

When Inner City Press asked about it, Guterres used UN Security to rough up Inner City Press right after it interviewed Monthe, and to ban it from entering the UN, 598 days now.  On February 21, four Guterres officials functionally complicit in his censorship including on Cameroon belatedly issued a statement: "The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Najat Maalla M’jid, and the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, deplore the continued reports of human rights abuses committed against civilians including women and children in the South-West and North-West regions of Cameroon.  “We are deeply concerned about reports of violence, including the 14 February attack on Ngarbuh village in the Northwest region that left 23 civilians dead, including 15 children. The four officials deplored continued reports of attacks against civilians including extra-judicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and property destruction, as well as retaliatory attacks, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual violence, disproportionately affecting women and children in the south-west and north-west regions of Cameroon and forcing many to flee their homes. Children continue to be particularly affected by the crisis with reports of attacks on schools, extensive school closures in the affected regions and thousands of children out of school.  Information received on the recruitment and use of children by armed actors and the detention of children for their actual or alleged association with armed actors raise further protection concerns.”  Hundreds of thousands of people are reported to be displaced in the affected regions and the lack of security has further exacerbated the plight of marginalized and vulnerable groups. “It is urgent to prevent further violence and to protect all women, girls, boys and men from grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Severely constrained humanitarian access and limited resources for service-providers has reduced the availability of sexual and reproductive healthcare for women, including urgent treatment for survivors of sexual violence,” they said.  The four senior officials called on the Cameroonian Government to discharge its primary responsibility to protect its population by addressing the root causes of violence and ensuring that victims of the attacks, are provided with the appropriate protection and assistance. They further called on the authorities to fully investigate and hold accountable those responsible for the serious violations and abuses that have been committed. “We urge the Government of Cameroon to ensure full respect for human rights, including the rights of women and children, and to ensure that the humanitarian needs of civilians are met. Furthermore, we remind the Government that children associated with armed groups should be considered primarily as victims and their detention used only as a last resort and for the shortest period of time. We also emphasize that all forms of sexual violence are categorically prohibited under international humanitarian and human rights law.”  The United Nations offers its support and assistance to the authorities in Cameroon to address this situation and improve protection and service-delivery for civilians in affected areas, and for those who have been forcibly displaced."
 
 The UN's "assistance" has been Guterres' support for Biya during his killing spree, and censorship of questions about it. These officials should speak on that, or quit. Watch this site.

On February 16, 2020 Inner City Press from its sources in Cameroon reported on the killing of more than two dozen civilians including children in Ngar in NW Cameroon.

Before 10 am on February 17 Inner City Press in writing asked Guterres, his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Eri Kaneko about the killings.  

There was no answer, and with Dujarric on vacation in Orlando, Florida, Eri Kaneko fielded only two questions at a ten minute long noon briefing on February 17 that Inner City Press was banned from entering and asking at.  

  Now on February 18, not Bachelet but her spokesman who has refused countless written questions from Inner City Press, about Cameroon and Yemen and Sri Lanka and Honduras, to name a few, has belatedly issued a statement which reminds that Bachelet's wan visit to Cameroon "welcomed" Biya's efforts: "The attack on 14 February on a village in Cameroon that left 23 people dead, the majority of them children, is a shocking episode in the ongoing crisis that has afflicted the country’s North-West and South-West regions for the past three years.     We note that the Cameroon Government announced on 17 February that there would be an investigation into the killings and that the findings would be made public. We urge the authorities to ensure that the investigation is independent, impartial and thorough, and that those responsible are held fully to account.     Witnesses said some 40 armed men, including members of the security and defence forces, attacked the village of Ngarbuh, in the department of Donga Mantung in North-West Cameroon, opening fire on people and burning down houses.     The authorities said defence forces and gendarmes came under attack from people inside the village with the exchange of shots igniting a fire that affected several dwellings.     According to information from UN colleagues on the ground, among the 23 people killed were 15 children, nine of whom were under the age of five. The victims also included two pregnant women, one of whom died of her injuries in hospital.     This attack is the latest deadly incident in Cameroon’s North-West and South-West regions where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by clashes between security and defence forces and armed separatist groups.     We call on the Government to ensure that the security forces abide by applicable international law norms standards during the conduct of their operations. We similarly remind armed separatist groups of their responsibilities under international law and call on all parties to refrain from deliberate attacks on civilians.     The UN Human Rights Office has been following developments in the North-West and South-West regions as an already tense situation worsened ahead of parliamentary and municipal elections held on 9 February.     The Government deployed some 700 additional troops in the North-West and South-West where armed separatists reportedly kidnapped dozens of candidates, most from the Social Democratic Front which is one of the country’s biggest opposition parties. Most of the candidates were subsequently released. The UN Human Rights Office also received information that voting centres and the houses of those involved in the election campaign were attacked by separatists.     In May 2019, at the end of a visit to Cameroon, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet welcomed the Cameroon Government’s openness to work with the UN Human Rights Office, and the rest of the UN, to seek solutions to the major human rights and humanitarian crises in the country.     In light of the latest violence, we urge the Government of Cameroon to take concrete steps to implement recommendations made last year by the UN Human Rights Office. We reiterate our readiness to help the Government to protect the human rights of people all across Cameroon."

Yeah right, UN Human Rights - it's become an oxymoron, and Bachelet's and Rupert Colville's collusion even with outright censorship in UNHQ is a telling and indelible example. They did nothing, and said nothing, as Inner City Press was banned even from their "Human Rights Day" event, here.

Past 5 pm on February 17 from inside the corrupt UN headquarters, this: "The Secretary-General is deeply concerned over reports about the killing of civilians, including children, in an attack on the village of Ngarbuh in the North-West Region of Cameroon on 14 February.  He extends his deepest condolences to the families and calls on the Government of Cameroon to conduct an investigation and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.    

The Secretary-General calls on armed actors to refrain from attacks against civilians and to respect international humanitarian and international human rights law. He reiterates the readiness of the United Nations to work with all stakeholders towards a political solution to the crisis in the North-West and South-West Regions of Cameroon through meaningful dialogue.     Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General  New York, 17 February 2020."

  It is a fraud. This is Guterres' genocide. 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
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Mail: 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 2006-2020 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for