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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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