Biya is destroying basic human rights in Southern Cameroons
The 86 year old French Cameroun dictator is reportedly destroying basic human rights and putting the long standing democratic culture in Southern Cameroons at risk. Biya gave the green light to Cameroon government army soldiers to use excessive force without proper justification against innocent Ambazonia civilians in a conflict that has entered its fourth year.
Ever since the proclamation of the independence of Southern Cameroons by President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Southern Cameroonians have seen the French Cameroun leader frontally attacking with his military and his policies all of British Southern Cameroons political, economic and social institutions.
With unflinching support from the French government and the deliberate silence on the part of the United Nations, Mr. Biya has blatantly refused any face-to-face talks with the leadership of the Ambazonia Interim Government or with representatives from the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch.
French Cameroun political elites such as Justice Minister Laurent Esso, the Minister Secretary General at the presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh and the Minister for Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo who basically run the ruling CPDM crime syndicate are not allowed to speak to the media.
The Yaoundé regime has adopted a hard-line security strategy that has fueled a surge in army killings in Southern Cameroons in the last three years. Biya himself has frequently lambasted the leadership of the Ambazonia Interim Government and the Southern Cameroons diaspora including French Cameroun political leaders, activists and media outlets – accusing everyone but his gang of attempting to destabilize the so-called one and indivisible Cameroon.
For 37 years, Mr. Biya has been the target of massive nationwide demonstrations over his policy that ranges from plain fiction to the most absurd. Biya’s supporters often take to the streets in a show of support, but generally in smaller numbers in Southern Cameroons.
For more than three decades as head of state, Biya has successfully narrowed down the democratic space in both La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons. The former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Yaoundé who enjoyed political flirtation with the Biya Francophone regime was heard murmuring privately that his kinsman Biya has slowly but surely transformed La Republique du Cameroun into an elected dictatorship were the head of state is above the law.
By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai