Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

Wikileaks: Cameroonian President Biya Gives Ambassador Political/Economic Overview

In this most revealing wikileaks document on Cameroon thus far, President Paul Biya makes a number of interesting revelations during a February 2010 discussion with (former) U.S. ambassador Janet Garvey – a rare window into the mind of Cameroon’s taciturn and inscrutable ruler. For example, during the discussion the President "confirmed that more corruption-related arrests were coming under his anti-corruption initiative Operation  Epervier" (Sparrowhawk), although (contrary to rumor) he thought this would not likely include former Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni because the evidence against him was thin and he didn´t steal much money".  The president also "professed frustration with China contrasts with the rising profile of Chinese investments in Cameroon..." Read on.

 

¶1. (C) Summary: On February 4 [2010], Ambassador met with President Paul Biya for a two-hour tour d´horizon of domestic and international issues. Biya was concerned about the threat of Islamic extremism. He praised growing Central African regional cooperation and improved relations with Nigeria. He was positive about the recent Copenhagen summit although frustrated with China´s role.

Cameroon Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2006

Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (US State Department)

Excerpt:

The government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit numerous human rights abuses. Security forces committed numerous unlawful killings; they regularly engaged in torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and prisoners. Impunity was a problem in the security forces. Prison conditions were harsh and life-threatening. Authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained anglophone citizens advocating secession, local human rights monitors and activists, and other citizens. The law provides for the arrest of homosexuals and persons not carrying identification cards. There were reports of prolonged and sometimes incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on citizens' privacy rights.

Amnesty International 2006 Cameroon Human Rights Report

Amnesty International (Covering events from January - December 2005)

Human rights defenders were harassed, assaulted and detained. Individuals were unlawfully detained on account of their sexual orientation. A group of political prisoners, convicted after unfair trials and held in life-threatening conditions that have killed three of their number since 1999, continued to be denied a right of appeal. Investigations were started into a few deaths in police custody that reportedly resulted from torture, but they were not independent or open. Inmates were killed and injured in prison riots stemming from severe overcrowding and harsh discipline.

The Biya Succession Debate: When Fact, Fiction and Fantasy Collide

By Dibussi Tande

According to an article from Le Journal Chrétien, which is currently making rounds on the Internet, President Paul Biya is preparing to resign from office. The article states that French have decided that his successor will be from the Muslim North, “in keeping with neocolonial tradition”. The list of potential successors has allegedly been narrowed down to two prominent Northerners: (1) Ahmadou Ali, the current Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, and (2) Sardou Hayatou, a former Prime Minister and current head of BEAC.

Cameroon Human Rights Report for 2005

The U.S. Department of State has released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2005. The report, which is published each year, details the state of human rights in 196 countries. In the preface to this year's report, the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, writes that the United States:

must help countries develop the democratic institutions that will ensure human rights are respected over the long term. We must help fragile democracies deliver a better life for their citizens. We must call countries to account when they retreat from their international human rights commitments. And we must always stand in solidarity with the courageous men and women across the globe who live in fear yet dream of freedom.

Click here to read the human rights report for Cameroon.

President Biya Alludes to the "Gay Outing" Saga

(Youth Day Message, February 11, 2006)

"My dear young compatriots,

The society of freedom and progress that we are trying to build implies common attachment to the democratic institutions which we are putting in place and respect for human beings as regards their most fundamental and most sacred rights. For, it should be borne in mind, human beings are the cornerstone of that society. It is, unquestionably, a difficult and exacting task because of our ethnic, social and cultural diversities which require the cooperation of each and everyone in strengthening social peace and national unity.

"Le Front" Publishes the "Hit Parade of Billionaire Civil Servants" in Cameroon

Le Front, a biweekly French-language newspaper, has published what it describes as the ""Hit Parade of Billionaire Civil Servants" in Cameroon in its February 9, 2006 issue (no. 065). According to the newspaper, the names, banks, and accounts of the civil servants involved were revealed by "American financial networks" who have traced the bulk of the accounts to banks in Spain, South Africa, Portugal, Switzerland and Monaco. Le Front claims to have obtained the list from “most reliable sources at the very top of the Cameroonian State.”

Indigenous Minorities and Political Pluralism in Cameroon

By Dibussi Tande

The concept of "Indigenous Minorities" as used in Cameroon refers to ethnic groups located primarily in the coastal and urban areas of the South-West, Littoral and Center priovinces. The common denominator among these ethnic groups is that they are numerically outnumbered in their native lands by non-natives who have emigrated from other parts of the country. The numerical superiority of these non-native communities (whose members are commonly referred to as  "strangers")  is usually accompanied by their domination of the political, economic and social life in these areas.