[ad_1]
On October 24, armed and masked men killed at least 7 innocent schoolchildren and injured many in their classrooms in Kumba, in the Anglophone region of Cameroon.
This staggering crime is not the first in a region where there are concrete risks of genocide, as the international community is apparently unwilling to take concrete action. In February 2019, some 12 children and a pregnant woman were slaughtered in cold blood in Ngarbur.
The Cameroonian government initially blamed the ‘separatist’ groups; only after pressure from the international community, did he acknowledge that the massacre had been committed by government forces.
With regard to this recent case (the Kumba Massacre), the government of Cameroon is accusing the leaders of the Ambazonian self-determination forces of the atrocities, despite the fact that
that the government of Cameroon has not provided any evidence and that similar allegations in the recent past have always been proven false.
The Ambazonian leadership claims that the Kumba massacre was committed by Cameroonian government militias. In this situation, reliable international investigations are necessary. We believe that the international community should have taken steps earlier to prevent such a heinous crime. As many innocent lives have already been lost, we should aspire to permanently end the conflict.
It is true that with the cruelty of the Cameroonian government, the determination of the self-determination forces of southern Cameroon and the indifferent behavior of the international community, the war will continue and further massacres and atrocities will ensue.
If we really do not want this to happen again, we must constantly act to promote a peaceful solution. The government of Cameroon had and has the main responsibility to end this war that began. The so-called separatists would have no one to fight with if Cameroon calls for a ceasefire and accepts negotiations as the separatists have done.
The crisis in Cameroon has continued since 2016, when lawyers from Anglophone Cameroon were brutalized by security agents and government military during a peaceful protest in Bamenda, Buea and other cities.
Southern Cameroonian leaders in exile in Nigeria were abducted and illegally transferred to Cameroon and tried in military courts in a foreign language, contrary to international law.
Today they are serving life sentences, despite a Nigerian High Court ruling calling for their release. The ongoing conflict in Cameroon may amount to acts of genocide. Some experts already call it genocide.
This statement should not be underestimated by the international community.
Paul Biya, who has been in power as President of Cameroon since 1982, thanks to large-scale election fraud, violent repression and imposed changes to the Constitution, declared war on November 30, 2017 on the people of the old British southern Cameroon.
While the Cameroonian government claims that the conflict in Cameroon is an internal affair, the leadership of southern Cameroon believes that it is an international dispute.
We believe that a conflict between two countries that joined in 1961 under the auspices of the United Nations cannot be an internal matter of one of the countries.
Therefore, we believe that it is the responsibility of the international community to create a framework for both parties to be heard in order to end the conflict between them.
It is necessary to bring the two sides to the negotiating table, but so far all efforts have failed because Cameroon was not and still is not willing to commit to a genuine, internationally mediated dialogue.
We suggest that the international community should use any possible lever to intervene in this conflict. The lives of people, including children, in the English-speaking part of Cameroon are important. The children have not been protected and have been out of school for four years.
It is clear to us that Cameroon, which is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, has violated all Commonwealth principles and has disrespected the Commonwealth of Nations values. The African Union, the European Union and the United Nations should provide the people of southern Cameroon with a platform to present their claims.
We would like to suggest some key points for an urgent commitment from the international community:
- An investigation into all atrocities that have taken place in southern Cameroon since 2016 should be carried out by independent observers, which should include the African Bar Association and the African Forum for Restorative Justice;
- Cameroon should immediately call for a ceasefire and an end to the war it declared;
- Economic, financial and other sanctions should be imposed on Cameroon to force it to accept peaceful negotiations;
- Travel restrictions should be imposed on certain Cameroonian state officials whose names are attached to this document;
- The UN should send peacekeepers to southern Cameroon;
- The people of southern Cameroon should have the opportunity at the UN to present their claims;
- The rights to self-determination of the people of southern Cameroon must be respected and their will must be determined through a fair referendum organized by the UN. First signatories
First signatories
Prof. Antonio Stango, President of the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU)
Prof. DJ Omale, President of the African Forum for Restorative Justice
Sergio D’Elia, Secretary General of Hands Off Cain (International League of Parliamentarians and Citizens for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide)
