Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2003 - Cameroon

National Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms (CNDHL)¹⁶

The National Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms (Comité national des droits de l'Homme et des libertés – CNDHL) was created by a presidential decree dated 8th November 1990.

While its creation brought hope, the way it is actually run is a real problem, especially as regards its independence and representativeness.

Reports, for instance, are sent to the head of State but not made public, on the pretence that publishing them would be too expensive. As a result, the Commission's activities are not widely known. Although a draft law is under preparation that would give Parliament, rather than Government, control over the CNDHL budget, the Commission remains politically tied because of the system for appointing members. In deed, the Committee is composed of 24 commissioners, but opposition representatives are not allowed. Its chairman, Mr. Chemuta Divine Banda, has publicly advocated the creation of a permanent member status, which would make the Commission even less representative.

Furthermore, current political pressure for the CNDHL to "coordinate civil society" has naturally raised a series of questions. This new brief would give the Committee a key role in defining criteria where none existed previously – that would determine approval of NGOs. Mr. Banda told the Observatory's representatives conducting their mission in Cameroon that this "coordination role" would provide an opportunity to "sort out what are called NGOs, do a little cleaning up...".

New circular letter infringing on defenders' rights¹⁷

On 10th January 2003, the prosecutor for the Maroua courts (Diamaré district) addressed a specific circular letter to criminal investigation officers (order n° 0994) to take in all human rights activists in his jurisdiction and turn them over to the prosecutor's office for questioning. Informal instructions, apparently, were given so that this directive more specifically applies to members of the Movement for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (Mouvement pour la défense des droits de l'Homme et des libertés – MDDHL). Public prosecutor Koué Kaokamla justified the order by referring to alleged activities by counterfeiters claiming to work for the defence of human rights.

In another circular letter (PPR/MRA/623), dated 3rd November 2003, Mr. Kaokamla stated that the "activities of human rights defence organisations shall not be impeded in any way when carried out within the framework of missions defined in their respective statutes". He nevertheless reasserted the measures set forth in order n° 0994, confirming that they remained "applicable to any person liable for fraudulent acts".

Continued harassment of MDDHL¹⁸

Arbitrary detention of Mr. Blaise Yacoubou and Mr. Aminou Mohamadou¹⁹

On 10th August 2003, Mr. Blaise Yacoubou and Mr. Aminou Mohamadou, both MDDHL members, were summoned to the Maroua investigations unit, supposedly to retrieve their identity papers that had been confiscated on 30th April 2003, when they were on assignment in Ndoukoula. They had then been arrested by the head of the Ndoukoula district, in application of abovementioned order n° 0994.

However, when Mr. Yacoubou and Mr. Mohamadou appeared before the Maroua investigations unit on 11th August, they were immediately arrested and remanded in custody. They were notified that since they had been sought for several months, they were considered as fugitives. The Diamaré district prosecutor accused them of having entered the office of the Ndoukoula district head, during their mission in April, threatening him, and then fleeing away, leaving their identity papers and mission order behind.

Mr. Yacoubou and Mr. Mohamadou were released after the prosecutor visited them on 14th August 2003. Their health had by then become precarious due to the poor conditions under which they were detained. In particular, they had not been allowed to eat nor drink for two days. On 18th August 2003, the Maroua investigations unit called them in again. Mr. Kaokamla had personally promised the chairman of MDDHL, Mr. Abdoulaye Math, that their identity papers would be returned at that time.

Yet Mr. Yacoubou and Mr. Mohamadou were not able to recover their papers until 2nd September 2003, when released by the prosecutor's office. By the end of December 2003, their mission order had still not been returned.

Harassment of Mr. Abdoulaye Math²⁰

In January 2003, the MDDHL publicly denounced the situation of several minors in the Doualaré district of Maroua, who were held as slaves by a man called Mr. Malbakari. On 6th June, Maroua public prosecutor Kaokamla intimated that this accusation constituted "yet another frame-up hatched by Mr. Math, head of an NDO [sic], whose sole purpose is to sully the image of Cameroon in order to obtain funding from international human rights defence organisations". However, faced with evidence brought by MDDHL, the prosecutor finally admitted the truth of these facts in a letter sent to the minister of Justice on 24th July. An investigation was opened against Mr. Malbakari before the criminal Court. The next hearing is scheduled for January 2004.

In addition, on 17th June 2003, Mr. Abdoulaye Math was held for questioning during two days, as directed by the prosecutor, Mr. Kaokamla. Mr. Math was accused by the chancery to have allegedly extorted a sum of 800,000 CFA francs from Mr. Alhadji Yougouda. The MDDHL's president was not released until 19th June, after two days of detention during which he was not allowed to meet with his lawyer. Proceedings were brought against him. During a hearing, Mr. Yougouda himself denied the facts and claimed he did not know Mr. Math, further denying responsibility for the complaint and blaming a certain Mr. Hamal. The hearing was postponed until 21st January 2004. It is worth noting that Mr. Hamal was arrested on 19th November 2003 for aggravated theft and released several hours later on the prosecutor's order. He was arrested again on 22nd December as a result of pressure exerted by his victims.

Obstruction of legal actions taken by MDDHL

In December 2002, the association's phone lines were cut without any explanation.²¹ The MDDHL lodged a formal complaint for abuse of commission against Mr. Ahmadou Ahidjo Jamot, representative of CAMTEL, the national telecom company. As Mr. Ahidjo Jamot never appeared in court, the hearing has been systematically postponed. The next hearing is scheduled for 21st January 2004.

MDDHL also filed two suits against Mr. Semdi Soulaye, a former member of the MDDHL executive board, and currently coordinator of the Network of Human Rights Organisations and Associations (Réseau des organisations et des associations de défense des droits de l'Homme – ROADH), an organisation linked to the government. The first suit, for forgery and use of false documents, as well as for confiscation of all MDDHL financial documents, is still pending. The second was brought against Mr. Soulaye and the managing director of the Crédit du Sahel bank on 5th December 2003, for forgery and use of false documents, and aggravated breach of trust. Specifically, Mr. Soulaye is suspected of having withdrawn, with the bank's support, the sum of 2,177,000 CFA francs from the MDDHL's bank account. The Maroua court of first instance postponed the summons set for 8th December to a later and as yet undetermined date.

MDDHL and its president are now forced to call on lawyers in Douala and Yaoundé, since those in Maroua have repeatedly been subjected to pressure by the public prosecutor. In one such instance, in December 2003, Mr. Michel Nkenko Yameni, Mr. Math's lawyer in the Crédit du Sahel case, received a call from the public prosecutor, Mr. Kaokamla, who threatened to open an investigation against him if he continued to handle the case. Mr. Nkenko relinquished the case following that call.

Persecution following the publication of an investigative report on torture in Cameroon

Smear campaign against NGOs²²

Since the FIDH report on "Torture in Cameroon, an 'ordinary' reality, systematic impunity" was published on 29th October 2003, the government of Cameroon launched a vast smear campaign against the NGOs and human rights defenders who had met with the mission.

For example, in a newspaper interview with Le Messager on 19th November 2003, the minister of Communication, Jacques Fame Ndongo, denigrated the work achieved by the FIDH and its "henchmen" who, according to him, were only interested in "instrumentalising the Cameroonian people and misinforming public opinion". These words confirmed the Cameroonian NGOs' fear to be further considered as "enemies of the people seeking to destroy the country's image abroad".

In addition, during the session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture held from 10th to 21st November 2003, the government systematically challenged civil society's denunciations of human rights violations in the country. Denying all acts of torture, the Cameroonian government accused civil society of giving the Committee "false and sensationalist" information and called several NGOs "troublemakers".

Lastly, on 10th December, International Human Rights Day, several local radio stations including Radio Maroua, which covers the north of the country, broadcast statements highly damaging to human rights activists, who were defined as "crooks sullying the country's image".

ACAT-Littoral and its members targeted²³

Since the report was published, the offices of the Christians' Action for the Abolition of Torture in Douala (Association des chrétiens pour l'abolition de la torture – ACAT-Littoral) are being watched by suspicious-looking men. The manager, Mrs. Madeleine Afité, discovered the day after she returned from Geneva, where she had attended the session of the Committee Against Torture, that the locks on her office and home doors had been forced.

At about 9 p.m. on 28th November 2003, three men in military uniforms were seen scouting the neighbourhood around Mrs. Afité's parents' home. At the same time, she received anonymous phone calls from people trying to find out where she was.

For several years, ACAT-Littoral members have been under pressure and continuous surveillance. Their movements are monitored by police and army officers, who also keep the entrance to the organisation's offices under surveillance. The association's phone is tapped. ACAT-Littoral members are regularly taken in for questioning and intimidated, and constantly have to explain their activities; in particular, Mrs. Afité was brought in for questioning in January and March 2003, on her return from Geneva where she attended the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, held from 17th March to 25th April.

Harassment of Mrs. Franka Nzounkekang²⁴

On 22nd November 2003, a man came to the office of the Human Rights Defence Group (HRGD) in Bamenda and asked the president, Mrs. Franka Nzounkekang, to accompany her on a visit to a victim of abuse. Mrs. Nzounkekang was worried and refused the invitation. Meanwhile, her brother saw three individuals with suspicious-looking equipment, including a gas cylinder and a pipe, in the man's vehicle.

On 24th November, a National Security Agent confirmed to the association's secretary that a special mission was under preparation against HRDG and that Franka Nzounkekang's arrest had already been planned.

On the evening of 26th November, Mrs. Nzounkekang's taxicab was followed by a car driven by two unidentified individuals.

Finally, on 27th November, an anonymous phone call warned Mrs. Nzounkekang that a high-ranking official had ordered her assassination.

Retaliation against MDDHL²⁵

The recurring pressure exerted on MDDHL worsened after the publication of the FIDH investigation mission report.

In an article published in the weekly magazine L'Oeil du Sahel, dated 20th to 27th November 2003, MDDHL chairman Abdoulaye Math was accused of embezzlement and fraud. Mr. Math lodged a complaint for libel against the magazine. Fearing the lack of independence on the part of the Maroua magistrates, the complaint was lodged with the Douala court of first instance. End of December 2003, Mr. Math was still awaiting the public prosecutor's summons.

In Kousseri, 275 kilometres away from Maroua, two other MDDHL members were harassed by the police as well. The home of one of them, Mr. Alh Wakil Mahammat, was searched without any legal grounds on 29th November. As for the other, two plain-clothes policemen came to Mr. Bouba Birva's home on the night of 28th November and told him "he was on the wanted list". The two men left after extorting 100,000 CFA francs from him. That money still has not been returned to him, despite the promises made by a police officer after the MDDHL chairman interceded.

Finally, on 10th December, a woman from Yaoundé, Mrs. Elise Monthé, broke into MDDHL premises in Maroua. After declaring that she was the wife of the association's chairman, Mr. Math, the woman spent more than 24 hours in the office. Amongst other acts, she threatened to accuse Mr. Math of rape if he tried to throw her out. On 11th December, she physically attacked Mr. Math and broke his arm. At that point, the police intervened, called in by MDDHL staff. Although wounded, Mr. Math remained in custody all night at the Maroua police headquarters "for the purpose of the investigation", as the superintendent put it. Mr. Math was not able to receive any medical treatment until the next morning, on 12th December, and was released in the afternoon only, whereas the woman who had attacked him was released in the morning. Mr. Math lodged a complaint for assault and battery, and destruction of property. His complaint for attempted murder having been dismissed, the case was brought into the Maroua magistrate's court on 24th December 2003. Mrs. Monthé likewise lodged a complaint and changed her grounds three times. After having declared that Mr. Abdoulaye Math was her husband and had swindled her, she claimed she used to own a restaurant in which Mr. Math had run up a bill of nearly two million CFA francs. According to the latest version held by Mr. Kaokamla, the public prosecutor, Mr. Math is said to have extorted large amounts of money from her, promising a visa she never got. The hearing was postponed until 28th January 2004.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

16. See FIDH investigation mission report on Cameroon: La torture au Cameroun, une réalité banale, une impunité systématique, October 2003, chap. 5, "A civil society under surveillance" in the framework of the Observatory's mandate.

17. See Urgent Appeal CMR 001/0803/OBS 039.

18. See Annual Report 2002.

19. See Urgent Appeals CMR 001/0803/OBS 039 and CMR 001/0803/OBS 039.01.

20. See abovementioned investigation mission report and Urgent Appeal CMR 002/1203/OBS 066.

21. See Open Letter dated 20th June 2003 to Cameroonian authorities.

22. See Urgent Appeal CMR 002/1203/OBS 066.

23. See Annual Report 2002 and Urgent Appeal CMR 002/1203/OBS 066.

24. See Urgent Appeal CMR 002/1203/OBS 066.

25. See Urgent Appeal CMR 002/1203/OBS 066 and press release dated 12th December 2003.