Cameroon: Call for Release of Political and Civil Society Activists

14 March 2011

Freedom House, Washington 

Freedom House is deeply concerned about the well-being of eight political and civil society activists who have been arbitrarily arrested in Cameroon and urges authorities to release them immediately without harm. 

Between February 20, 2011 and February 23, 2011, the following individuals were arbitrarily arrested in Yaoundé: Billy Batipe, Abba Abubakar, Urban Essomba, Dibonji Bruno, Bouba Michel, Patrick Nyamsi, Olinga Cyprian, and Beloved Adoueme. Several of them are known for their activism within opposition political parties and/or civil society organizations. 

Since their arrest they have been denied all communications, including with their families and lawyers - which allowed their arrest to go unnoticed for several days. The 48-hour delay for preventive detention has long passed and they have yet to appear before the prosecutor. The detainees have been routinely moved from one detention center to another without notice to their families and lawyers, and authorities have refused to inform their lawyers of the charges against them. This treatment is in clear contradiction of Cameroon's Code of Penal Procedure and contravenes universal human rights principles. 

"The democratic process in Cameroon cannot be considered credible if citizens fear for their security when they speak out. With presidential elections just months away, it is imperative that citizens have the right to exercise their freedoms of expression and association," said David J. Kramer, executive director at Freedom House. "Freedom House calls on the Cameroonian government to immediately release those arrested and to fully respect Cameroonians' constitutionally protected freedoms." 

The arrests were triggered by calls for demonstrations to occur in Douala and Yaounde on the anniversary of the February 23, 2008 riots. The government responded to the calls with a heavy deployment of security forces on the day of the anniversary, as well as by rejecting the opposition's request to rally in Douala and by publicly stating that civil demonstrations would not be tolerated. There were no mass mobilizations on February 23, 2011. However, a few people who gathered in Douala to commemorate the anniversary were arrested and released soon after, including opposition leaders who alleged they had been brutalized. 

Cameroon is ranked Not Free in Freedom in the World 2011, Freedom House's survey of political rights and civil liberties, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2010. 

For more information:

Freedom House

120 Wall Street, Fl. 26

New York, NY 10005

USA

Tel: +1 212 514 8040

Fax: +1 212 514 8055

info (@) freedomhouse.org 

Phone: +1 212 514 8040

Fax: +1 212 514 8055

http://www.freedomhouse.org

These Winds of Change May Now Reach Across the Sahara

8 March 2011

Wangari Maathai

As protests against authoritarian rule spread throughout north Africa and the Middle East, I've been asked whether similar pro-democracy protests could take place in sub-Saharan Africa too.

At first glance, the conditions appear ripe. Many sub-Saharan Africans also struggle daily with the consequences of poor governance, stagnating economies and dehumanising poverty, and rampant violations of human rights.

It's difficult for an outsider to know the local reasons why people in any society finally decide they've had enough of their leaders and rise up against them. It's also dangerous to assume that revolutions occurring simultaneously have the same root causes. But certain factors do help explain the volatility in north Africa and the relative quiet to the south – and why that may not persist indefinitely. The first is the idea of the nation itself, along with regional identity. Because the great majority of peoples of north Africa and the Middle East are Arabs, their ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural connections provide a degree of solidarity within and across national boundaries. The majority think less along ethnic and more along lines of national identity. Al-Jazeera provides a wealth of information in the region's common language, Arabic, and allows one country's news to reach a broad regional swathe practically instantaneously.

Many in the younger generation are well-educated professionals, eager to make their voices heard. And in Tahrir Square, we heard the protesters chant: "We are all Egyptians," no matter where they came from in Egypt, their social status, or even their religion (Egypt has a small but significant population of Coptic Christians). That sense of national identity was essential to their success. But that national spirit, sadly, is lacking in much of sub-Saharan Africa. For decades, under colonial rule and since independence, many leaders have exploited their peoples' ethnic rivalries and linguistic differences to sow division and maintain their ethnic group's hold on power and the country's purse strings. To this day, in many such states, ethnicity has greater resonance than national identity.

Instead of encouraging inter-ethnic understanding and solidarity, leaders have set communities against each other in a struggle for resources and power, making it difficult for citizens to join together for the national interest.

A second factor is the role of the military. The Egyptian army's decision not to fire on protesters was key to the success of the February revolution. Sadly, we couldn't expect the same in sub-Saharan Africa, where in many – if not most – nations both police and army are sources of instability and rancour. Quite often soldiers are hired, paid and promoted by the man in power. As a result, their first loyalty is not to the nation, but to whomever is in the state house.

In addition, the majority of the army's recruits may be drawn from the leader's ethnic group, especially if the leader has been in power for many years. Since it isn't likely that the soldiers' micro-nation (tribe) would be demonstrating in the streets, it can be relatively easy for them to open fire on protesters with a certain sense of impunity.

More tragic evidence of this was provided last week when unarmed women expressing their opinion about the disputed election in Ivory Coast were mown down by troops loyal to the incumbent president. Not only was this a clear violation of human rights, but evidence of recklessness and impunity, and the extreme lengths to which leaders will go to protect their power.

A third factor is the flow of information. North Africans' geographic proximity to Europe and the ability of significant numbers to travel or study abroad have exposed them to other influences and horizons. Many have access to the latest technology and the wherewithal to use social media to communicate and organise to great effect.

But the large majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa don't have access to the same levels of education, or information and technology. It may be that their media are controlled by the state, or independent voices are so worried about being harassed or shut down that they censor themselves or shy away from politics altogether. These constraints make it difficult for ordinary citizens to understand how their governments operate, and less able to calibrate the power of a united and determined people.

Finally, oor people tend to tolerate poor governance and fear both their perceived lack of power and their leaders. This year in north Africa enough people shed their fear of losing jobs and property, of reprisals, detention, torture and even death. Until a critical mass does the same, it's unlikely sub-Saharan Africa will emulate the kind of "people power" we've seen in the north.

Even so, many sub-Saharan leaders must be paying close attention and asking themselves: "Could it happen here – my people rising up against me?" Some will make changes, perhaps cosmetic, to appease their populations; others may take bigger steps. One lesson I hope all will draw is that it's better to leave office respected for working for what they believed was the common good, rather than risk being driven out, repudiated and humiliated, by their own people.

Even though internet-organised pro-democracy protests earlier this week in Luanda, Angola's capital, were broken up by security forces and the protesters threatened with harsh reprisals by a senior member of the ruling party – tactics we have seen used in numerous African regimes over the years – the truth is that people are not rising up without reason. They are unhappy with how they are being governed and have tried others methods to bring about change that haven't worked.

A wind is blowing. It is heading south, and won't be suppressed forever. In Ivory Coast, despite last week's brutal attack, on the eve of International Women's Day hundreds of women marched to the spot where their colleagues were killed, a clear demonstration that, slowly but surely, even Africans south of the Sahara will shed their fear and confront their dictatorial leaders. The women's bravery will be an inspiration to others in Africa and elsewhere.

Eventually the information gap in sub-Saharan Africa will be bridged, partly because the world is not closed anymore: al-Jazeera, CNN and mobile phones – all available in sub-Saharan Africa – mean information can be transferred instantly. There is no doubt that those in the south are watching what's happening in the north.

I also hope that the extraordinary events in the north encourage all leaders to provide the governance, development, equity and equality, and respect for human rights their people deserve – and to end the culture of impunity. If its member states are slow to recognise the inevitability of change, let us hope that the African Union encourages heads of state to acknowledge that Africa cannot remain an island where leaders continue in office for decades, depriving their people of their rights, violating their freedoms, and impoverishing them.

In conflict and war, Africa and all its peoples lose. It would be so much better to see Africa awake and have revolutions brought about by the ballot box in free and fair elections, instead of by tanks and bullets.

Niger Delta: Harrassment and Intimidation of Journalists in Yenagoa

10 March 2011

Alagoa Morris

ERA

PRESS STATEMENT

It is a known fact that the control of crowds is not an easy task in terms of security, especially in presidential campaign rallies. Apart from deaths occasioned by stampede, heat and violence, the security operatives and organizer are very much concerned with the safety of their principals, the candidates presenting themselves to the people. Some deaths have so far been recorded around the country in relation to campaign rallies, including Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State during such a rally organized by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP].However, one major thing about such gathering is that the events has to be reported by journalists and, these people that brings us news often fall victim to the lapses in security arrangements. While this is often the cases around the country during important gatherings and political campaign rallies, the latest is the incident of yesterday in Yenagoa, at the Venue of PDP Presidential campaign rally, where some state Correspondents was held hostage and manhandled by security agents as allegedly ordered by the Aide-De – Camp [ADC] to the President, Lt.Col.Ojogbane Adegbe.

When the significant role journalist play in bringing about better societies the world over is taken at a glance: educating, informing, entertaining and, in fact bridging the lacuna in news and information, despite the fact that, as citizens, their Fundamental Human Rights ought to be protected; it becomes so disturbing to note how these set of professionals are being maltreated in Nigeria. It is really sad to note that journalists who were trying to leave the venue of the Presidential soon after Mr. President left the venue were actually disallowed from going out to file in their report to the respective media organization/houses. They were forced back and thrown over to the barricaded area and guarded to ensure that they do not leave at the time they wanted to leave to send their reports. One of the victims was THISDAY’s Segun James.

In the light of the above, the need for good working relationship between journalists and security personnel during such important gatherings, and the avoidance of a repeat, the CLO is constrained to make the following demands and recommendation:

1 Because there is no way journalists cannot cover such events, proper recognition should be always accorded this very important professionals before, during and after the events.

2 Those in charge of security should ensure that all journalist accredited to cover such events are duly briefed at least twenty four hours before the event and proper, identifiable tags are made available to each and every one of them, that gives them some measure of air of freedom to enter or leave such venues.

3 The authorities should openly apologize for the continued harassment of journalists, even for this recent case in Yenagoa.

4 Security agencies should also recognize the fact that they ought to work in close collaboration with newsmen, to ensure that the society gets the actual news and on time, to avoid rumour. The scenario whereby security agents or soldier manhandle journalists does not portray the nation in good light. Journalists, in their own right ought to be treated with respect. Our society would be worse for it without the effort of journalists; hence the authorities must take appropriate steps to put an end to all forms of maltreatment meted out on journalists in the country. Enough is enough.

5 The Nigerian Union of Journalists must rise up to the occasion and make the necessary demands from government for the protection of not only their members Fundamental Human Rights, but their rights as professionals whose areas of jurisdiction cannot be limited by intimidation. And, until the right thing is done on the subject matter, the CLO will continue to demand that the authorities prevail on the security agencies to behave in civilized manner to fellow citizens going about their legitimate duties to their employers and society in general.

The act by the security officers against journalists in Yenagoa yesterday is totally unacceptable; this has become a recurring decimal and we demand an end to the act.

Burning Questions for Mubarak’s Secret Police

6 March 2011

By Emad Mekay

The much-feared secret police and intelligence service that protected the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak by arresting, torturing, and even killing opponents has started a wave of burning documents and evidence that could incriminate them, as calls escalate for abolishing the force altogether and bringing its officers to justice.

Hundreds of protesters surrounded the main office Saturday of Amn Al- Dawla, the State Security Police, in 6th of October City, 30 kilometres south of Cairo, to try to stop the burning of files believed to contain incriminating evidence of human rights abuses. 

Protesters were shouting "Justice, Justice for they fired bullets on us". Army tanks and armoured vehicles were cordoning off the offices to protect the besieged secret police officers. 

Heaps of documents and files were on fire. Dozens of protesters used wooden ladders to take a peek from above a three-metre high fence. Some managed to salvage lightly burned files. The documents could provide insights on how the secret police operated with complete impunity under Mubarak for 30 years. 

Similar protests broke out in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and in Sharkia, a province northeast of Cairo. Protesters asked for disbanding the force after word spread on Friday night that officers were shredding documents and setting fire to "top secret’ documents. 

Eyewitnesses in Alexandria told local TV stations that officers cornered inside the building opened fire on the protesters, injuring at least three. 

Disbanding the force would be the next most important landmark in the process of the Egyptian revolution, after it succeeded in ousting the Western- backed Mubarak on Feb. 11, and the dissolution of parliament a few days later. 

Amn Al-Dawla resembles the Iranian Savak force under the Shah of Iran in the 1970s. That force was later eliminated by the Islamic revolution. 

The draconian force had instilled fear among most Egyptians and was often the main friction point between the public and the Mubarak regime. Thousands have been kidnapped and tortured by Amn Al-Dawla officers. 

The force, whose exact number and budget remain a secret, controlled almost all aspects of life in the nation of 85 million. Its reports are said to have shaped the future of most professionals in the country. 

No government appointments were made without approval of the secret police. Political activists risked at the least a ban on travel overseas. Young army officers were put under surveillance to ensure loyalty to Mubarak. Spies were planted everywhere, including in shopping malls and sports clubs to monitor public sentiment. 

"They banned all of us men over 60 years old from gathering inside mosques after prayers to read the Quran," says Haj Mohammed Ali. "They banned any gathering. They wanted to control the people with an iron fist." 

Others tell more dramatic stories. Sayed Al-Gazzar, a secondary school teacher, recounted how his brother Khaled was detained by Amn Dawla in Sharkia for three days for not carrying an ID card. 

"He came out a sick person with lots of mental problems because of the heavy torture he endured," Al-Gazzar told IPS. "We spent a year going from one doctor to the other to find a cure for him. But he died a year later leaving behind three children and a wife without any income. They killed him." 

It is such heart-wrenching stories that started off a campaign in Egypt to disband and investigate the force after the toppling of Mubarak. 

Calls are mounting on Facebook and Twitter to surround more offices of the secret police force to save the important documents. 

"The coalition of the Jan. 25 revolution" (Jan. 25 is when the first big protest was held), a loosely formed grouping of young leaders of the uprising, threatened to launch sit-ins around the country if the army doesn’t order the end of the Amn Dawla, or moves to preserve evidence of its human rights abuses. 

"Our unequivocal request is the elimination of that police force," the group said in a statement sent to IPS. "We will continue to escalate pressure within hours…including issuing calls for masses of Egyptians to demonstrate until that police force is abolished." 

But the spread of protests to other offices of Amn Dawla could lead to renewed violence as the force is well armed, and its members didn’t hesitate in the past to shoot at demonstrations. 

New Prime Minister Essam Sharaf is more responsive to disbanding the force, probing abuses by the force and holding its officers accountable. Sharaf has made statements against the force before. 

Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy, an old guard figure, has resisted calls to dissolve the powerful force, preferring instead to "restructure" it. 

Human rights groups and revolution activists have vowed to press ahead with their demands to remove all symbols of the former regime. 

On Thursday, the Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information published a series of leaked documents that detail the "crimes" of the secret police. In a statement, the group entitled the release: ‘Countdown to End Amn Dawla’.

Oil Politics: Oil, despotism and Philanthropic Tokenism

3 March 2011

Nnimmo Bassey

 

 

Equatorial Guinea sits in the heart of Africa and is the fourth highest producer of crude oil in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria, Angola, and Sudan. It has reaped huge revenues from crude oil sales since 1995 when commercial export began, although discovery of the product was made in the 1960s. It is one country whose political experience will make the years of brute military rule in Nigeria a mere child's play in comparison.

 

The current maximum ruler of that country took over power in a bloody military coup in 1979, eleven years after that country's independence from Spain. At that time, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was a Lieutenant Colonel and his uncle, Francisco Macia Nguema, was the president. He is said to have personally supervised the execution of his uncle by firing squad and has reigned supreme over the country of less than a million people since then.

 

The nation's GDP of about $37,900 is many times above that of Nigeria. The truth, however, is that the high GDP does not translate to a better life for the people. Since the ascendancy of crude oil as a major income earner, other aspects of the economy, especially production of agricultural produce such as cocoa, have suffered neglect. Does that not remind you of Nigeria?

 

While looking up on President Nguema, one could not avoid visiting the pages of Wikipedia where parts of the entry on this man reveals the following: "In July 2003, state-operated radio declared Obiang to be a god who is "in permanent contact with the Almighty" and "can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to hell." He personally made similar comments in 1993. Despite these comments, he still claims that he is a devout Catholic and was invited to the Vatican by John Paul II and again by Benedict XVI. Macías had also proclaimed himself a god.'

 

Standing up to the despot

 

The president, his family, relatives, and friends are said to own most businesses in the country. With the severe curtailment of freedom in the country, it has come as a vent of fresh air when the writer, Juan Tomas Avila Laurel, called for change and embarked on a hunger strike demanding an end to the despotic reign in his country.

 

In a letter to Jose Bono Martinez, the president of Spanish parliament, dated 11 February 2011, Mr. Laurel states among other things that, "Since you believe so deeply in the moral solvency of President Obiang, who has been in power since 1979, we fervently request that you exert some influence and take steps towards the formation of a government of transition; one in which those who have held positions in the last 32 years in Equatorial Guinea must not take any part.

"This is not a political demand, as it might seem to you, but a socially and morally driven one. We cannot continue living under a dictatorship that eats away at our very souls.

 

"Mr. Bono, all we are asking is that you find asylum in a safe country for Obiang, his son Teodorin, first lady Constancia, and his brothers and cousins, the generals and colonels who maintain this unspeakable regime. We believe that one-third of the money that any one of them has deposited in banks abroad would be enough to support themselves for the rest of their days. The remaining sum has to be returned to the country."

 

The letter ends with a painful plea for intervention: "Mr. Bono, it is not fair for me to put my life in your hands. I will not deny, however, that whatever happens to me will depend in great measure on what you do."

 

Gaddafi's oily stand and neo-philanthropists

 

The events in North Africa and in the Middle East clearly highlight the fact that crude oil has been largely responsible for the entrenchment of crude regimes in the region. This is particularly visible in Libya where the man who has been in power for over four decades clings on, threatens to cleanse the country of protesters house to house and if necessary blow up the oil and gas fields of the country.

 

This threat has introduced a new dimension to the volatility of crude oil supply and threatens to push prices to record high. Call him what you like, but Mr. Gaddafi and his cohorts have fed from the feeding bottle of crude oil and taking that from them without a period of weaning is bound to result in the slaughter and tantrums that is the hall mark of the regime in Tripoli.

 

A quick look back at the third week of February 2011 shows that as we saw a fine being slammed on the oil giant, Chevron, for polluting the Amazonian region of Ecuador, we heard of the company's philanthropic move in the Niger Delta. The gesture is a clear case of philanthropic tokenism. It appears that Chevron sought to draw attention away from the long-awaited verdict from Ecuador by moving across the Atlantic and displaying a suspect front of compassion in the bloodstained and oil soaked creeks of the Niger Delta. The link and the timing are inescapable.

 

The company announced with much fanfare a splash of $50 million, ostensibly to ignite economic development and tackle conflict in the region - of which, it must be said, the company admitted to being a contributor in the past. The money is being funnelled through the company's Niger Delta Partnership Initiative and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and will be spent over the next four years. The thrust will obviously be to generate employment since the oil company hires only a tiny fraction of the millions it has impoverished through the destruction of the creeks, swamps, farmlands and forests that they depend on for their livelihoods through oil spills, gas flares, and the dumping of other toxic wastes.

 

These are interesting days indeed. Without doubt, crude oil business is not only volatile, but explosive. It is the stuff that oils the machinery of despotism and it is the stuff that blinds the world to the bloods that flow on the streets as people fight for liberty.

 

It is also the stuff that bluffs and seeks to blind us from demanding environmental justice but accepting tokens.

Congolese Miners Speak Out on Conflict Minerals For First Time

3 March 2011

Press release

For the first time, people of the Congo speak out about The Dodd Frank Bill that aims to stop the sale of conflict minerals into the USA.

Leaders of cooperatives representing 20,000 small scale miners and their extended community of 100,000 people, lend their support to the Dodd Frank Bill, which aims to prohibit the use of rare metals and minerals that fund conflicts in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

However, they want to caution the SEC on listening to campaign organisations, most notably Global Witness, who do not represent the ordinary people in the region effected by this piece of legislation. They request an opportunity to speak, face to face with the SEC in order to present the reality on the ground, and find a way to implement a time table with the community that will promote peace and prosperity in the eastern DRC.

Below is the letter that has been submitted by the community directly to the SEC today, March 1st. We present it to you in its unedited format.

*+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*

Submission to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on the Regulatory Initiatives Under the Dodd-Frank Act

We, the representatives of the mining cooperatives COCABI, COMIMPA and COMIDER, the only three legal mining cooperatives in North Kivu representing 20,000 artisan miners, and with the full support of,

The Governor of North Kivu;

The national and provincial members of parliament elected in Walikale Territory;

The Administrator of Walikale Territory;

The President of the Walikale Civil society;

Various other cultural, civil and church organisations;

Would like to make the following statement to Unites States of America Securities and Exchange Commission in response to the sections on Conflict Minerals in the Dodd Frank Bill:

1. We want to bring to your attention that we the local population in the areas that will be the most effected by your proposed legislation Dodd-Frank Bill, have not been consulted in all these times.

2. We have been suffering greatly for many years and would like to ask you to help in a constructive way to improve the lives of the local population in the region of Walikale, and the rest of the DRC and not to
punish us further.

3. We thank our Government [DRC] for the efforts made during the resent ban on mining in the three Eastern Provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema to improve the situation. We know how difficult it is for
the government and we thank the President for his courage to implement the ban and for the consultation with us and the local population and the commitments given to us to help improve the situation.

4. This ban was very difficult and hard for us the local population, but we are very happy to see the positive effect it already had.

a. It had shown us as local mining cooperatives the benefit of working together.

b. The government have listen to many of our issues and have agreed to make many changes to protect and improve the situation of the local artisanal miners.

5. Now that our government has promised to lift the ban we are looking forward to work together with our partners to improve the lives of the local population.

6. We are aware that you plan to put an embargo in place from 1 April 2011 for all minerals that don’t have traceability.

7. We are supporting you very well in what you want to achieve and thank you for all your effort, but for us if we cannot start to work when the ban is lifted we will starve. We cannot continue to suffer any longer.
Do we now have to choose between dying by a bullet or starving to death?

8. We are also afraid that smuggling of minerals will increase – the people have to eat – and that all the positive effect of the current ban will be removed. It is important to now quickly build on the positive
effect of the ban.

9. We have been working now for three years on a solution with our international partner, Oakridge Mining Solutions to develop our area and to improve the situation of artisanal miners.

10. Through this we have created a model – Fairmining – that we will implement when the mining ban are lifted. We will be very happy to give you full detail of this model that is based on social development,
environmental development, mineral traceability and compliance and ethical and fair-trading. We are committed to work with ITRI with regards to mineral traceability for Cassiterite and Coltan and have already made preparations to extend this to the area of gold.

11. We have also formed a local Congolese mining company Kalminco (www.kalminco.com) where we the local cooperatives are the shareholders. We are planning to develop this company into a small-scale mining company and it is our vision to turn it into a large mining company owned by the local people.

12. We ask your support and help in implementing this model and to please engage with our partner and ourselves to make sure we find a solution that will last.

13. We ask you to support our efforts and to give us time to implement such a program for all areas under the control of our cooperatives.

14. We have been made aware of statements by foreign organisation, with specific reference to Global Witness and Enough Project, that we don’t agree with and we ask you to have caution when using these organisation as the primary source for legislative decisions that could effect the whole of Central Africa, without deeper consultation with the local population.

15. We want to bring to your attention that neither of these, nor any other organisations have engaged with us to any real extend and that they do not understand the reality and complexity of the situation.

16. We have been made aware of a situation where Enough Project are asking people not to buy computers because the minerals in them are from our region. We do not agree with this and are not supporting any such
actions.

17. Although it is a very difficult process for us, we believe that these problems should be resolved by legal and constitutional ways and not by uncoordinated efforts by a partially informed general public.

18. We thank you once again for all you good work and look forward to your response.

19. We would also like very much to come and present our situation in person to you.

For COMIMPAAxel Mutia, General Manager
For COMIDERKalinda Mukombo Emmanuel, President
For COCABI Idrissa Assani, Vice-president