Amnesty International Report 1998 - Cameroon

(This report covers the period January-December 1997)

Hundreds of critics and opponents of the government, most of them prisoners of conscience, were detained. More than 60 political prisoners remained held without trial at the end of the year. Torture and ill-treatment remained routine and at least eight people died in custody from torture. Harsh prison conditions amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. At least one prisoner was executed.

          Legislative elections took place in May. In late March armed attacks in the English-speaking North-West Province, an opposition stronghold, led to several hundred arrests, predominantly of supporters of the Social Democratic Front (sdf), the main opposition party. The sdf accused the authorities of exploiting the insecurity to intimidate opposition supporters and prevent political activity before the elections. Both the sdf and another opposition party, the Union nationale pour la démocratie et le progrès (undp), National Union for Democracy and Progress, called for the elections to be annulled because of fraud. The ruling Rassemblement démocratique du peuple camerounais, Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (cpdm), of President Paul Biya, gained an absolute majority. International observers noted irregularities and intimidation and recommended an independent body, in place of the Ministry of the Interior, to oversee future elections. The sdf, undp and two other parties refused to contest the presidential election in October without an independent electoral commission and called for a boycott. President Biya was re-elected for a seven-year term. The opposition disputed the government's claim of high voter turn-out. A new government formed in December included three undp members.

Legislation prohibiting torture was passed in January. It specified that torture is unjustifiable in all circumstances and that causing injury or death through torture is punishable by up to life imprisonment.

          Four Rwandese nationals arrested in 1996 and accused of participating in the genocide in Rwanda, whose extradition had been requested by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, were extradited in January and the extradition of another two was authorized in November. Six others were released in February after a Court of Appeal ruled that there was insufficient evidence against them. (See Amnesty International Report 1997.)

Several hundred sdf members and supporters were arrested because of legitimate political activities. Saïdou Yaya Maïdadi, a prominent sdf member from northern Cameroon, was held for almost two weeks in Maroua, Far-North Province, in January. Although charged with contempt of the Head of State, he was not tried. Up to 50 sdf members and supporters were arrested in May and June and held for several weeks in South-West Province under legislation allowing administrative detention for renewable periods of 15 days. Hundreds of people were rounded up during the night by security forces in Douala and detained without charge for several hours shortly before the election results were announced on 6 June, in an apparent attempt to deter demonstrations

Thirteen sdf supporters were arrested during a peaceful demonstration outside the Supreme Court on 6 June. Despite a legal limit of 72 hours' detention before referral to a judicial authority, they appeared before the Public Prosecutor five days later. They were charged with contempt of the Head of State and other offences, but subsequently acquitted.

          Scores of sdf supporters were arrested around the time of the October presidential election. They included Konga Philip Kuate, a prominent sdf official in Ebolowa, South Province. He was held briefly on 6 October and rearrested on 12 October, the day of the election, accused of distributing leaflets calling for a boycott. He was released uncharged a month later. At least 60 people were arrested in Santa and Ako in North-West Province. All were released without charge after several weeks.

          Seven prisoners of conscience – undp members held since 1994 and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 1996 – remained imprisoned until December, when they were released pending their appeal hearing scheduled for February 1998 (see Amnesty International Reports 1995 to 1997)

Up to 20 undp supporters were arrested in Far-North Province in October because of their boycott of the presidential election. Detained at a police station, they were escorted to the polling station and ordered to vote. They were released only after paying bribes to the security forces.

In February Abdoulaye Math, president of a non-governmental human rights organization, the Mouvement pour la défense des droits de l'homme et des libertés (mddhl), Movement for the Defence of Human Rights and Liberties, was arrested when attempting to travel to the usa for a human rights seminar, shortly after organizing a conference on human rights abuses in northern Cameroon. He was charged with fraud and unauthorized selling of pharmaceuticals, although this charge was later dropped. He was released pending trial after eight days. Although the trial was scheduled for May, judicial authorities said that the case file had disappeared.

Journalists writing for independent newspapers were harassed and assaulted, convicted of criminal offences and imprisoned. Alain Christian Eyoum Ngangué, of Le Messager, was imprisoned in January at the Central Prison, New Bell, in Douala, after being sentenced to one year's imprisonment in October 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997). He was conditionally released in March. Evariste Menounga, chief editor of L'Indépendant Hebdo, previously detained without charge in late 1996, was arrested in March and imprisoned at the Central Prison, known as Nkondengui prison, in Yaoundé, the capital. Charged with inciting revolt and disseminating false news following an article about disaffection in the armed forces, he was convicted of the second charge only. He was released in May after receiving a six-month suspended sentence. Bosco Tchoubet, director of La Révélation, was arrested in April, following an article alleging that a government minister had established private militias, and charged with contempt and defamation. He was released in July after receiving a six-month suspended sentence. In late December the director of Le Messager, Pius Njawé, was imprisoned following an article which questioned President Biya's state of health. Five people who attempted to visit him in New Bell prison were also briefly detained.

In February Christian Mbipgo Ngah, a journalist working for The Herald, was arrested in Santa, apparently accused of criticizing the government and security forces. He was beaten for several hours at a gendarmerie headquarters before being released uncharged.

Shortly before the legislative elections, a undp delegation, including a former National Assembly member, Nana Koulagna, was attacked by the private militia of the traditional ruler of Rey Bouba in North Province; five people died in the confrontation. Nana Koulagna and 15 others were arrested, apparently accused of murder, but without evidence of individual responsibility for any death, and held at the Central Prison in Garoua. No member of the private militia was arrested. Although two were subsequently released, the others remained held and had not been charged by the end of the year.

          In northern Cameroon, traditional rulers known as lamibe, often prominent members of the cpdm and acting with the tacit approval of the authorities, were responsible for illegal detention and ill-treatment of political opponents. There was no official investigation into human rights violations committed by them and their private militias. Some undp members who remained held illegally on the orders of the lamido of Rey Bouba had been held for several years. Three local chiefs from around Tcholliré arrested in 1996, apparently because they allowed undp members to live in the area, also remained held.

A former government minister and a close associate were sentenced to lengthy prison terms after an unfair trial. In April Titus Edzoa, Minister of Health, announced his resignation and intention to contest the presidential election. Security forces subsequently surrounded his home and his movements were severely restricted. In July he was imprisoned at Nkondengui prison, together with his presidential campaign manager who had been in police custody since May. Both men were charged with corruption and misappropriation of public funds. Their trial in October proceeded despite defence lawyers withdrawing in protest against being informed of the trial only 24 hours earlier. They were sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. Appeals had not been heard by the end of the year.

Following armed attacks on several towns in North-West Province in late March, in which 10 people including three gendarmes died, up to 300 people were arrested. The attacks were attributed by the authorities to a group supporting independence for Cameroon's two English-speaking provinces. sdf supporters were arrested without evidence of involvement in the attacks. About 100 people were also arrested in South-West Province but later released.

Many of those accused of involvement in the attacks were transferred from Bamenda in North-West Province to Yaoundé. Almost 60 remained held at the end of the year, but none had been charged. They included members of the Southern Cameroons National Council (scnc), which supports independence for the English-speaking community, and the affiliated Southern Cameroons Youth League. Five other scnc members arrested in 1995 and 1996 in connection with a referendum on independence remained held without charge throughout the year (see Amnesty International Reports 1996 and 1997).

Many of those detained following the violence in North-West Province in March were tortured or ill-treated, both when arrested and subsequently at police stations and gendarmerie headquarters. At least five people died from torture, ill-treatment and lack of medical care. They included Emmanuel Konseh who died in late March after being severely beaten and stabbed with a bayonet, and Pa Mathias Gwei who, although critically ill following torture, was repeatedly denied medical treatment. He died in May within hours of being finally admitted to hospital. Ndifet Zacharia Khan was severely beaten following his arrest in Bamenda. He sustained serious injuries to his legs and buttocks; toes on both feet were amputated because of gangrene. During the arrests in North-West Province, civilians were beaten, kicked and humiliated and many incidents of rape were reported.

Opposition supporters arrested around the time of the presidential election were also tortured or ill-treated. sdf members Justin Pokam and Thomas Seme were reportedly beaten by police in Yaoundé. undp supporters in Far-North Province arrested for boycotting the election were publicly tortured by soldiers, including by being beaten on the soles of their feet.

Two young men died in police custody in Yaoundé in early November; one was tortured with a heated domestic iron applied to his genitals; the other was severely beaten. Action against those responsible for torture and ill-treatment was rare in the past, but in this case six police officers were arrested and charged with murder and complicity in murder.

Prisoners were regularly beaten and held chained in punishment cells without light, sanitation or water. In May a prisoner who attempted to escape, Ibrahim Mikila Bélédé, died after being severely beaten by prison guards at Maroua Central Prison. There was no investigation into his death. Also at Maroua Central Prison in May, a prisoner was reported to have been stripped and severely beaten by prison guards. When a member of the mddhl intervened to protest, he too was beaten.

Prison conditions remained extremely harsh throughout Cameroon, with severe overcrowding, inadequate or non-existent sanitary facilities and seriously deficient health care and nutrition.

Several people were injured in incidents where the security forces apparently used excessive force. In early January, five women were admitted to hospital with injuries from beatings or gunshot wounds after gendarmes opened fire during the arrest of a traditional ruler in Fungom, North-West Province, in connection with a communal dispute. When women later protested against the gendarmerie's refusal to comply with a High Court order for release, more than 20 were injured, three of them seriously, after gendarmes opened fire.

In January a prisoner under sentence of death at Maroua Central Prison was reported to have been executed, the first known execution since 1988. Other executions also possibly took place during the year.

Twelve people from Equatorial Guinea arrested in September and at least two Chadians arrested in November were at risk of grave human rights violations if forcibly returned to their own countries. They remained held without charge at the end of the year; the reasons for their continued detention were unclear.

Throughout the year Amnesty International called for the release of prisoners of conscience and for other political detainees to be charged and tried, or released. It called for safeguards to protect all prisoners and detainees from torture and ill-treatment, for independent and impartial investigations into reports of torture and ill-treatment and for those responsible to be brought to justice. In September Amnesty International published a report, Cameroon: Blatant disregard for human rights, which made specific recommendations to the government to end human rights violations. It also called on the international community to scrutinize human rights in Cam-eroon and to press Cameroon to adhere to its human rights commitments. The government disputed the report but did not comment in substance. Amnesty International also called on the government not to forcibly return detained nationals from Chad and Equatorial Guinea and asked why they were held in detention.