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<text>
<title>
Human Rights Watch World Report 1992: Cameroon
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Human Rights Watch World Report 1992
Africa Watch: Cameroon
</hdr>
<body>
<p>Human Rights Developments
</p>
<p> Human rights violations in Cameroon in 1991 were closely
linked to rising calls for democratization. Tensions between
the government and the political opposition worsened in the
second half of the year, reaching new heights of violence and
bloodshed as the government killed dozens of opposition
demonstrators and beat many others. Some demonstrators were
responsible for beatings of police and other civilians and for
acts of vandalism. The government also continued to arrest
opposition activists and refuse the opposition's demand for a
national conference.
</p>
<p> To its credit, the government declared an amnesty for
political prisoners in late March, releasing about one hundred
who had been held in administrative detention without charge or
trial since the abortive coup of 1984. But the government's
often brutal response to the wave of demonstrations and strikes
during 1991 raised serious doubts about its stated commitment
to democratization.
</p>
<p> On December 19, 1990, new legislation was enacted regarding
the state of emergency, the press, associations and political
parties, among other matters. Although the government claimed
to be liberalizing the laws in these areas, the revised laws in
fact retained much of their repressive nature. The press law,
for example, continues the practice of prior censorship--that
is, all publications must be submitted to the censor before
publication. Although prior censorship has existed in Cameroon
since independence, the new press law codifies the practice for
the first time.
</p>
<p> The new law on associations permits the government to ban any
organization which it deems to have deviated from its objectives
and or to threaten public order or state security. The law
relating to the state of emergency repealed legislation dating
from 1962 but permitted the declaration of states of emergency
by presidential decree for up to six months; extensions are
permitted after "consultation" with the National Assembly.
During a state of emergency, the authorities are given broad
powers of administrative detention. Although opponents no
longer face the prospect of criminal trials for "subversion"
before military tribunals, a new law permits political trials
to be held before the recently created State Security Court,
from which there is no appeal.
</p>
<p> The government's attitude toward dissent was demonstrated
early in 1991. Célestin Monga, an economist who writes for the
independent newspaper Le Messager (Le Messager was created in
1979 as a weekly journal of information, debate and political
commentary. It had a circulation in Cameroon of fifty to sixty
thousand, as well as subscribers in other parts of Africa,
Europe and North America.) as well as the Paris-based Jeune
Afrique Economie, and Pius Njawe, the editor of Le Messager,
came under investigation in late December 1990 for an open
letter to President Paul Biya that had been published in Le
Messager. The letter, written by Monga, criticized President
Biya's December 3, 1990 address in which he had stated, "I have
brought you democracy and liberty." (Monga wrote: "Like many
other Cameroonians, I was shocked by the outrageously
condescending, paternalistic and pretentious tone that you used
at the National Assembly.... This is a country where every day
the most fundamental human rights are ridiculed and where the
majority of the people do not have enough to live on, while a
small handful of opportunists share the riches of the country
with impunity.") On January 18, the two journalists were each
given six-month suspended sentences and a fine of 300,000 CFA
(approximately $1,100) on charges of insulting the courts and
the members of the National Assembly. The trial sparked large
demonstrations in support of the defendants, and three
demonstrators were killed in the northern city of Garoua.
</p>
<p> Pro-democracy demonstrations were broken up, often violently,
in various parts of the country in early 1991, and the violence
escalated in April. Between April 10 and 15, at least eight
demonstrators were killed and several others wounded in the
north and southwest of the country, as well as in the major
cities of Yaoundé and Douala. In addition, several hundred
people were detained in Yaoundé, including some three hundred
students after security forces attacked the university.
</p>
<p> Tensions, and the death toll, continued to rise in May, June
and July, after clashes between police and demonstrators. On
June 25, the opposition announced "Operation Ghost Town" in an
attempt to force the government to accede to their demands for
a national conference. The "Ghost Towns" campaign, which was
continuing in many parts of the country through December,
involves the voluntary closing of businesses, shops and taxi
services, and the refusal to pay government taxes. Meanwhile,
the government formed the Operations Commanders, charged with
re-establishing public order in areas where demonstrations and
unrest have occurred in seven of Cameroon's ten provinces. These
commanders, who are superior to the local military structure,
are widely believed responsible for the continued use of
excessive force against demonstrators.
</p>
<p> In July, six independent organizations were banned--Cap
Liberté, the Cameroon Organization for Human Rights, the
Collective of Women for the New Deal, Human Rights Watch, (The
Cameroonian Human Rights Watch is not affiliated in any way
with the New York-based organization responsible for this
report.) the Association of Professional Drivers, and the
National Association of Cameroonian Athletes. The groups were
dissolved by order of the Minister of Territorial Administration
on the grounds that their activities were incompatible with
their legal status, i.e., they were engaging in political
activity. All six groups were part of the Opposition
Coordinating Group, and their banning was clearly meant to
dampen the political opposition in Cameroon.
</p>
<p> Over the summer, the government began a new crackdown on the
independent press. Independent newspapers, notably Le Messager,
were frequently confiscated. In July, a new censorship
authority was created within the government-run printing house
(where most newspapers are printed), which reinforced government
censorship of independent newspapers. In August, without
explanation, the government banned five of the leading
independent newspapers: Le Messager, La Vision, Galaxie, La
Nouvelle Expression and Challenge Hebdo. Two other newspapers
were later suspended. The banning order against Challenge Hebdo
and Galaxie was lifted in late September or early October, and
the remaining banning orders were lifted late in the year.
</p>
<p> On September 4, when dozens of independent journalists staged
a peaceful march to protest the banning of the newspapers, they
were attacked by security forces. Several of the demonstrators
were injured, and approximately forty were detained.
</p>
<p> In late September, at least thirty and possibly as many as
sixty opposition activists were arrested in Douala after
publicly protesting the arrest of a leading activist,
Jean-Jacques Ekindi, founder of the Progressive Movement.
Despite the protesters' lack of resistance, the police severely
beat those arrested, stripped them, and put them in a filthy
cell. Charles Tchoungang, a lawyer and president of the banned
Cameroon Organization for Human Rights, was among those
seriously mistreated. Others arrested were Samuel Eboua of the
National Union for Democracy and Progress; and Anicet Ekané and
Henriette Ekwé, former political prisoners.
</p>
<p> In October, President Biya announced that legislative
elections would be held in February 1992, and invited
representatives of the opposition parties to meet with the
prime minister in early November to discuss a revisio