By NOELA EBOB BISONG
The House of Representatives of the United States 116th Congress has adopted Resolution 358 on Cameroon. Tabled on May 7, 2019, a majority, 2/3 of the US House of Representatives voted in favour of resolution H.RES.358, which among other things recommends a return to a Federal System of government, as the ultimate solution to the problems plaguing Cameroon’s North West and South West regions.
The resolution also enjoins the Cameroon Government and Ambazonia leaders to sit on a dialogue table without preconditions, urging for a ceasefire, back to school, the release of political prisoners, sentence or deportation of Ambazonia leaders to Nigeria.
The resolution which reads in part that “Whereas many Anglophone Cameroonians have long felt marginalized by official actions and policies of the Government of Cameroon, including the abolishment of a federal form of government, which was the constitutional basis under which English-speaking Southern Cameroons entered into the union, and replacing it with a unitary state dominated by the Francophone majority”, strongly condemns the abuses committed in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions by the Government of Cameroon security forces and armed groups, including extrajudicial killings and detentions, the use of force against nonviolent civilians and protestors, and violations of the freedoms of press, expression, and assembly. It affirms that the United States continues to hold the Government of Cameroon responsible for upholding the rights of all citizens, regardless of political views or beliefs or the regions in which they reside, in accordance with Cameroon’s international obligations and Cameroon’s own Constitution. It also urges all parties, including political opposition groups, to exercise restraint and to ensure that protests remain peaceful.
The resolution further urges the Government of Cameroon to initiate broad-based dialogue without preconditions, follow through on the initiatives developed to address grievances, including the Commission of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, the Ministry of Decentralization, and the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration, that currently offer no visible evidence of having played a constructive role in resolving the crisis. Cameroon’s government has equally been urged to respect the fundamental rights of all Cameroonian citizens, including political activists and journalists, ensure that any security operations are conducted in accordance with international human rights standards, including efforts to ensure security forces only use force under appropriate circumstances, transparently investigate all allegations of human rights violations committed in the Anglophone regions and take the necessary measures to prevent arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, deaths in custody, and inhumane prison conditions as well as promptly charge or release all those detained in the context of the Anglophone crisis, including the Cameroonians forcibly returned from Nigeria, and ensure that any future detainees are treated with due process, in line with Cameroon’s penal code among others.
The resolution beseeches the separatist groups to engage with Cameroonian government officials, as well as civil society and religious leaders, in a broad-based dialogue without preconditions, to peacefully express grievances and credibly engage in nonviolent efforts to resolve the conflict; immediately stop committing human rights abuses, including killings of civilians, use of child soldiers, torture, kidnapping, and extortion, end the school boycott immediately and cease attacks on schools, teachers, and education officials, and allow for the safe return of all students to class; end incitement to violence and hate speech on the part of the diaspora; and immediately release all civilians illegally detained or kidnapped in the Anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions.
The resolutions will be sent to the US Senate for adoptions. It should be recalled that some Congressmen and women, led by Karen Bass, were in Cameroon in June to ascertain the situation of the two troubled regions