Amnesty, UN urgeYaounde to investigate
Rights abuses in NW & SW
Anglophone Unrests |
International organisations are calling for
an investigation in Cameroon after four people were killed during unrest in the
country’s English-speaking regions.
Tensions have been brewing for the past
month in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions, where people say they are being
treated as second-class citizens.
What
began as protests by lawyers against the use of French in courts quickly spread
to schools and universities after teachers agreed to strike over the dominance
of the French language.
In
Bamenda, the country’s largest Anglophone city, at least four people were
killed last week when security forces fired live ammunition in the air and
launched teargas into a market despite no evidence that there was a protest
taking place.
Amnesty
International described actions as “excessive and unnecessary”, and urged the
Cameroonian government to find out who was responsible.
IlariaAllegrozzi,
Amnesty’s central Africa researcher, said: “Responding to incidents of violence
during protests with unnecessary or excessive force threatens to further inflame
an already tense situation and could put more lives at risk.”
Local
journalists say they have been harassed by the authorities and that the plight
of local communities has not been given coverage by state-controlled media. On
Monday, ZigotoTchaya, a reporter working for France 24, was arrested and held
for a day after he interviewed Barrister Bobga, a prominent activist based in
Bamenda.
Nearly
200 miles south of Bamenda in Kumba – Cameroon’s second biggest
English-speaking city – schools, markets and transport systems ground to a halt
last week as angry residents took to the streets.
“Southern
Cameroonians do not benefit anything from the French Cameroon. We want this to
end this year,” said Enow John, who had joined the protest. Fellow protester Ni
Achu said the movement was “ready to die for the future of our children”.
Both
Britain and France controlled parts of Cameroon until 1961, when it gained
independence and became a single country split into 10 semi-autonomous
administrative regions.
Eight
are francophone and adhere to French civil law. The remaining two regions
function under British common law, but Anglophone Cameroonians say their
regions are underdeveloped and marginalised by the central government,
operating from the mainly French-speaking capital, Yaoundé.
“The
1998 law on the orientation of education clearly says that the two sub-systems
of education are independent and autonomous,” said Tassang Wilfred, the
secretary general of the teachers’ trade union in Cameroon. “[But] the French
system of education is the majority and has been trying to wipe out our system
of education, and that means wiping out our own cultural heritage.”
The
protesters have been using Facebook and Twitter to organise. Cameroonian
musician SamaNdango said online platforms served to amplify their voices. “We
have social media on our side – we are bigger than any government,” Ndango
wrote on Facebook.
Last
week many shared a shocking video of female students having their faces rubbed
in the mud by police in the town of Buea, also in the south-west. Others shared
videos of police beating up students in their dorms at the town’s university.
At
least 100 people have been arrested for taking part in demonstrations since
they began almost a month ago.
The unrest is a rare act of defiance
against President Paul Biya, whose
Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party has dominated politics since
independence.
The
president is yet to comment publicly on the protests. A close aide, AtangaNji
Paul, sparked fury last week when he denied that there was any problem with
discrimination against English-speaking Cameroonians.
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