Amnesty International Report 2004 - Cameroon

Covering events from January - December 2003

Security forces used lethal force against demonstrators, killing several. Political activists were prevented from holding meetings and some were briefly detained. Journalists and trade unionists were arrested for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Independent radio and television stations were closed down. Members of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) serving lengthy prison terms were not granted the right to appeal; one of them died in custody. Torture was systematic. The state failed to protect women against violence. Eight people were sentenced to death but no executions were reported.

Background

Political activity by opposition parties and repression by government and security officials increased in the run-up to presidential elections in 2004. As in 2002, the authorities banned opposition meetings and detained government critics, including political activists and journalists.

In June Nigeria agreed to implement a 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice and return the Bakassi Peninsula and 33 border villages to Cameroon in May 2004. Nigeria undertook to withdraw its civil servants and security forces from the region before the transfer of sovereignty.

Impunity

No progress was reported on investigations into reports of extrajudicial executions in previous years or the "disappearance" in February 2001 of nine adolescents in the Bépanda Omnisports neighbourhood in Douala.

In April Patrick Mbuwe, a former secretary of the SCNC – a group supporting independence for Anglophone provinces – was shot by men in civilian clothes and later died in hospital. Local sources suspected that the assailants were members of the security forces.

In July police shot dead five people and wounded more than 30 others during demonstrations in Douala. The demonstrators were protesting against police corruption and extortion, and the beating to death by police of a motorcycle taxi driver who reportedly failed to stop at a roadblock. No action was known to have been taken against the police responsible for using lethal force and causing deaths during the protest.

Threats against human rights defenders

In November the authorities harassed and threatened human rights defenders suspected of helping the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights to compile a report on torture in Cameroon which was published in October. Franka Nzounkekang, director of the Human Rights Defence Group, was followed by security agents and received an anonymous telephone call threatening her assassination. The home of Alh Wakil of the Movement for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms was searched by security agents without a warrant. His colleague, Bouba Dirva, was told by two armed gendarmes that he was to be arrested and was then forced to pay them a large sum of money. The offices of the Douala-based Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture and the Death Penalty were under surveillance and its director, Madeleine Afité, received anonymous telephone calls.

Muzzling of independent media and government opponents

The authorities closed down or refused to grant licences to several independent radio and television stations. In February RTA and Canal 2 television stations were closed down by the authorities who accused them of operating illegally. In May Freedom FM radio station was shut down on the eve of its inauguration. In November Veritas radio station, owned by the Roman Catholic Church, was ordered by the Minister of Communications to stop transmissions. Its founder, Cardinal Christian Tumi, is a known critic of the government's human rights record. In early December, Veritas was licensed and allowed to resume broadcasting.

• On 14 April the security forces prevented the publication of Mutations newspaper and seized a computer disk containing the newspaper's edition. The edition reportedly contained an article about the succession of President Paul Biya. The newspaper's editor and several journalists were arrested and briefly detained. Two days later copies of the newspaper were seized from kiosks by members of the security forces in civilian clothes.

The authorities repeatedly prevented opposition political parties and political activists from holding public or private meetings. Those targeted included the Front of Alternative Forces, some of whose leaders were briefly detained in October; the Alliance of Progressive Forces; and the Social Democratic Front.

Detention of trade unionists

In January and February Benoît Essiga, President of the Workers' Trade Union Confederation of Cameroon, and at least 13 other trade unionists were arrested and detained for several days each time. The authorities accused them of responsibility for train derailments in Central Province. They were rearrested in mid-April and released in May. They appeared to be prisoners of conscience targeted for their non-violent trade union activities.

Political prisoners

Members of the SCNC sentenced to lengthy prison terms in 1999 continued to await a decision by the Minister of Defence on their right to appeal against their convictions and sentences. One of the 18 prisoners, Daniel Ntanen, died in custody after a short illness in April. Another, Ebenezer Akwanga, who was serving a 20-year term, escaped while receiving treatment in Yaoundé General Hospital. Other detainees were in poor health and only receiving treatment offered by humanitarian organizations.

Torture and ill-treatment

In November the UN Committee against Torture expressed grave concern about systematic torture by police and gendarmes after the arrest of suspects, with perpetrators almost always enjoying impunity. It highlighted reports of severe overcrowding in prisons with life-threatening conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. As many as 72 prisoners were reported to have died in Douala central prison alone. Detainees were obliged to pay for their medical care and women and men were often not separated in custody. Only rare visits were allowed by officials of the judiciary and the National Human Rights Committee.

Violence against women

The UN Committee against Torture expressed concern that Cameroon had not passed any legislation prohibiting female genital mutilation. Provisions in the Penal Code that exempt a rapist from judicial proceedings if he marries his victim remained in force.

Death penalty

Seven people were sentenced to death in February after they were convicted of murdering a police officer in Bamenda in January 2002. In June a nurse was sentenced to death after she was found guilty of infecting her former lover's two children with HIV and hepatitis viruses by injecting them with her blood.