The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) has revealed that the Biya regime was holding more than 73 Southern Cameroon activists in jails in the nation’s capital Yaounde. The body also said that claims made by the Yaoundé regime that only 23 Anglophones were currently being held in detention is not true.

Triggered in mid-October 2016, the Anglophone crisis has made headline news around the world and prompted many reactions from international organizations including the United Nations (UN) and the African Union. It was also under the mediation of the former that the Internet was re-established in Southern Cameroons after it was suspended for nearly four months by the Biya Francophone government.

To date, the main defendants in this case are still in detention and official sources had indicated that only 23 defendants were in police drag net awaiting judgment. The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC) stated that there are 71 defendants not 23 in detention facilities in Yaoundé.

REDHAC and Véritas Common Law are two civil society organizations that have taken a leading role in denouncing the Biya regime’s violation of Articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

By Fru James

Cameroon Intelligence Report