Former Ghanaian Head of State Jerry Rawlings has criticized the international community for turning a blind eye to the plight of Southern Cameroonians, urging France and the European Union to unite in support of the persecuted English speaking minority in Cameroon.

The senior Ghanaian citizen made the comments at a special edition of GUBA Awards 2018 in Ghana recently.  He condemned the global media blackout on the sufferings of Southern Cameroonians, saying horrific images of the killings in Ambazonian of women and children have made no headlines in media worldwide.

The Great JJ also censured the international community’s indifference to the plight of Southern Cameroonians and called on the United Nations to focus on the crisis gripping the English speaking community in Cameroon.

Southern Cameroonians have been deprived of their inalienable rights while facing systematic discrimination, violence and hatred from the Biya regime. Rawlings further urged the French government to pressure Biya’s government to respect Anglophone rights, advocating for the urgent dispatch of humanitarian aid to the internally displaced Southern Cameroonians inside Cameroon and those forced to take refuge in neighboring Nigeria.

Rawlings urged the Biya Francophone regime to end its crackdown on Southern Cameroonians. Many Southern Cameroonians have suffered appalling deaths, and those that have lived through the atrocities have witnessed or endured unspeakable cruelty.

The Southern Cameroons community is one of the most persecuted minorities in Africa. Some 161,000 Ambazonians are languishing in displacement locations in French Cameroun since President Biya declared war against the English speaking community in Cameroon.

The French Cameroun army has carried out several operations in Southern Cameroons, home to about 8 million English speaking Cameroonians. For over two years now, there have been numerous reports of arbitrary killing, rape and other atrocities against Southern Cameroonians at the hands of troops loyal to the Biya Francophone regime. At least 50,000 Southern Cameroonians have fled to neighboring Nigeria in the face of the crackdown.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai