Source: oiac.org /  U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-New York), Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today called on the State Department to address troubling crackdowns on freedom of expression in west-central Africa nation Cameroon. In a letter to Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy, Engel pointed to the Cameroonian government’s arrest of political opposition leaders like Maurice Kamto as evidence of the growing problem. Kamto, Cameroon’s main opposition leader who insists he won last October’s presidential election, was arrested in January and charged with insurrection. Paul Biya,  an 85-years-old veteran leader,  who has ruled Cameroon for 36 years, was  sworn in last November as the Central African country’s  President for a seventh term.  Kamto is currently being held in the maximum security Kondengui Central Prison, a location which has drawn international criticism for harsh conditions and overcrowding.

Cameroon  Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC) opposition leader Maurice Kamto was arrested by Cameroonian authorities  in January 2019 and charged with insurrection

“Mr. Kamto’s arrest and subsequent hearing deferrals are part of a much wider trend of criminalizing dissent and persecuting President Biya’s perceived enemies. Moreover, Mr. Kamto is but one of hundreds of political prisoners in Cameroon who could soon be facing the death penalty, which is indicative of a rapidly contracting space for free speech and political opposition.”

U.S. Representative Eliot Engel.

Congressman Engel Challenges Tibor P. Nagy, Jr., Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs To Take Action Against Cameroon 

Credit: U.S. Department of State / Tibor P. Nagy, Jr., Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs

Nagy is scheduled to travel to Cameroon March 17–18.  Engel urged the  U.S. diplomat to back up his previous stern talk regarding the  Cameroonian government  with concrete action fo r its ongoing  human rights violations.

 In an interview on Radio France International last week, Nagy stated concerns over jailed Cameroon opposition leader Kamto. Nagy told RFI that:

the Cameroonian government “must ensure that Maurice Kamto has been arrested and jailed for legitimate reasons. I really think it would be wise to release him.”   U.S. diplomat  Tibor  P. Nagy , Radio France International .

“In advance of your upcoming trip to Cameroon, I am writing to you out of concern for Maurice Kamto, President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement and former candidate for the Cameroonian presidency.   His arrest and subsequent hearing deferrals are part of a much wider trend of criminalizing dissent and persecuting President Biya’s perceived enemies. Moreover, Mr. Kamto is but one of hundreds of political prisoners in Cameroon who could soon be facing the death penalty, which is indicative of a rapidly contracting space for free speech and political opposition. I appreciated your March 4th interview on Radio France Internationale, in which you stated that the Cameroonian government should release Mr. Kamto due to the perception that he has been incarcerated for his political actions. I hope that you continue to challenge the merits of his arrest with President Biya and other government officials during your time in Cameroon.”

Congressman Engel’s letter to Tibor P. Nagy, Jr., Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs.

Congressman Engel stated that he also hoped Nagy will  raise “the fact that the Government of Cameroon has clearly violated the rights of Mr. Kamto and other political prisoners to assemble freely and express and disseminate their opinions, which are encapsulated in the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which Cameroon ratified three decades ago.”     

Nagy, a retired career Foreign Service Officer, spent 32 years in government service, including over 20 years in assignments across Africa.  Nagy knows Cameroon  quite well, having served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Cameroon (1990-1993).

“As you served in Cameroon earlier in your career,  may share my alarm at the country’s current trajectory – with the brewing insurgency in the Anglophone region, the ban on protests and public demonstrations following the flawed October 2018 election, and the mass arrests of protestors and journalists in January 2019.”

Congressman  Engel letter to U.S. diplomat Nagy.