Anglophone Crisis:

UNO, USA pressure Biya to free detainees, restore internet

President Paul Biya

The resident UNO representative for Central Africa last week met with government officials and jailed Anglophone leaders before granting a press conference in Yaounde. Reports say the USA is also threatening to withdraw its troops in North Cameroon if government does not improve on its human rights record.

By Essan-Ekoninyam in Yaounde

Yaounde authorities are not having peaceful sleep ever since the Anglophone uprising started and after they massively arrested some Anglophone leaders and shutdown internet in the two Anglophone regions of NW and SW.

                After some opposition parties notably the SDF and MRC have continued urging government to free the arrested Anglophone activists and their leaders, and NW CPDM MPs some time ago also joined their voice to the call for release of the detainees and the restoration of internet in NW and SW it was the turn of international Peace Crusader, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle last week who also took the queue along with other opinion leaders to mount pressure on government to consider granting general amnesty to the detainees.

                But if government has since given a deaf ear to all these calls, it is difficult to say whether or not she will do the same for calls coming from international bodies especially the UNO and the USA that have now made their positions known on the Anglophone crisis.

                The Special envoy of the UN secretary General for Central Africa was in Cameroon for throughout last week during which time he held fact finding meetings with government authorities and some leaders of the Anglophone struggle now detained at the kondengui prison. Francois Lounceny Fall on Tuesday 11 April met with the minister of Justice, foreign affairs, the SG of the Presidency, British High Commissioner, Canadian High Commissioner, French and US Ambassadors etc. Then the UN envoy also met with leaders and lawyers of the consortium to get their side of the story.

                At the end of his visit, the UN diplomat called a press conference at which he urged government to free all those detained and restore internet in the NW and SW. Francois Fall said the detention of the activists is not helping to solve the crisis but that their liberation and the restoration of internet will do the trick of bringing people back to their good humor.

                On the question of a return to a federation, the diplomat said that can only be decided by Cameroonians themselves. He said this could be tabled to Parliament for consideration.

                On the silence of the international community, he said this was not true. He noted that the UN has since been monitoring the situation since from the start in November. He said he was in Cameroon in November 2016 and he met with some authorities to talk on the crisis. ‘The UN cannot afford to be silent when security is threatened in a whole sub-region,” he said, calling on the authorities to pursue genuine dialogue with the activists.

                Meanwhile, as the UN diplomat rounded off his stay here unconfirmed sources said the United States was also threatening to withdraw its soldiers stationed at the Boko Haram stronghold in the North if Cameroon does not manage the crisis in the Anglophone regions satisfactorily.