Another of the World's Forgotten Problems #1- Cameroon

Over the past few months, numerous countries have been in the news due in part to their poor human rights record. China and Burma spring to mind. Several African countries have been in the news as well regarding unrest surrounding elections with Zimbabwe and Kenya grabbing a large amount of the headlines. However, the problems in the West African nation of Cameroon seemingly combine both human rights violations with a country on the brink of becoming a dictatorship. While that isn’t exactly a new thing, the shocking problem is the lack of news it has been making considering that the country has killed at least 40 people, possibly hundreds more, and imprisoned at least 800 people after a protest ostensibly regarding a hike in transit costs was trounced by military forces.

Violence broke out in late February across 31 towns and cities in Cameroon, but mostly centred in the economic hub of Douala, when thousands of young people took to the streets mainly to protest rising transit costs (attributed mainly to rising fuel costs) but it also quickly became a protest bemoaning the rising cost of food in relation to lack of jobs and opportunity within the country. Within hours the country’s long time leader, Paul Biya ordered the military to squash the peaceful protests.

In one incident involving protesters on a bridge in Douala, the military trapped 70 people by surrounding them on either side and having a military helicopter flying overhead to drop teargas canisters onto the helpless crowd. While some protestors escaped to the river below, the ground forces waited until the teargas was dropped to open fire into the crowd. Estimates from Cameroon’s internal government place the death toll from this incident alone at 12.

One of the main reasons the mainstream media has not picked up on the story seems to stem from a massive internal cover-up within the highest levels of government. In addition to being unpopular, Paul Biya is trying to gain support to over turn Cameroon’s constitution to allow him to run in the country’s next election in 2011. Biya has served as Cameroon’s president since 1982 and much like other African leaders shows no signs of wanting to relinquish power any time soon.

Human rights organizations have been trying to bring Biya’s atrocities to the attention of the international community, but Biya has become quite adept at keeping Cameroon’s dirty secrets within his own country. The death toll is officially 40, but outside estimates suggest it is far higher. Autopsy results of the deceased have been sealed from families and the press. In some cases, state funded coroners have been ordered to remove bullets and touch up the bodies of the deceased to make it appear as if they were never shot.

This deception extends even further once families try to actually bury their loved ones. Biya has ordered that families of the dead pay 250 Euros (quite a large sum of money in Cameroon) for the release of the body to the family. Once the body is back in the possession of the family, government assigned guards must be allowed to attend the funeral to ensure that no one speaks about how the person died. The people who pay to have a monitored funeral are lucky, however. Most people aren’t given the option of having the body released from government custody.

The unrest resulting from the demonstrations in late February are still being felt today, as the military has been rounding up and blackmailing young people and arresting them with little to no proof that they were even involved in the protests. At least 800 people are being detained in Douala’s main prison alone and almost 1500 people have had charges filed against them. Prisoners are being tortured and are subjected to mass trials where lawyers are barred from even seeing individual arrest reports. One lawyer said she saw a single arrest report for 200 prisoners, all of whom had been arrested at different times.

While the judicial system is technically independent of the executive branch of Cameroon’s government, judges have their promotions and job security decided by Paul Biya, who is also the judicial minister. Their job performance means nothing if it does not agree with Biya’s philosophies.

I find it hard to believe that something like this isn’t more widely known. Is the world suddenly burnt out on African conflict? Or maybe it is because Cameroon is one of the largest oil producers in Africa? One thing is certain. Action must be taken sooner rather than later. Hopefully someone will take up the fight.