Source: youtube.com /    Cameroon Anglophone separatist leader Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe 

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

A military court in Cameroon on Tuesday slapped Anglophone separatist leader Julius Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and 9 of his followers to life sentences in jail.  They  were convicted of charges including “terrorism and secession”. In January 2018, Ayuk Tabe was arrested with 46 other separatists in a hotel in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, allegedly by Nigerian special forces. They were then handed over to Cameroon.  A Nigerian court in March ruled the action illegal.  Ayuk Tabe, 54, was the first self-proclaimed president of “Ambazonia” – a breakaway state declared in October 2017 in two English-speaking regions of the central African country. The government responded with a military crackdown. At the Nigeria hearing, their lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), argued that the arrest and detention of refugees and asylum seekers constituted a breach of Nigeria’s Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

“Incitement of terrorism, secession, complicity in carrying out acts of terrorism, financing terrorist attacks, revolution, insurgency, holding military operations against the homeland, spreading fake news, criminal acts undermining internal and external security of the state, lack of a national identity card”, judge Jacques Baudouin Misse Njone said while announcing the verdict.”

-as quoted by Jeune Afrique magazine.

Ambazonia is an unrecognized entity in the southwest of Cameroon with a predominantly English-speaking population.

Jailed leader Ayuk Tabe Called For United Nations To Help Solve Crisis in Cameroon

Detained Ambazonia leader wants UN intervention in Cameroon.      Ayuk Tabe wrote a letter from jail that  stressed the need for the dialogue to be supervised by the United Nations as well as foreign observers like the United Kingdom, Ecowas, African Union, Ecowas, European Union and the Commonwealth, journalducameroun.com reported. However, the government of Cameroon has since stressed dialogue can hold on any topic except separation and secession. The UN has been on the sidelines regarding the political crisis in Cameroon.

EU Calls On Cameroon Government To Release Political Prisoners, halt human rights violations

credit: EU / Federica Maria Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security

The European Union has called for the release of jailed opposition members in Cameroon, a halt to escalating violence, and human rights violations.  There have been growing concerns over the Cameroonian government’s arrest of main political opposition leader Maurice Kamto and others, since the central west African nation’s controversial elections last October. 

“Key opposition figures are under arrest and face military trials. More than a hundred protesters or sympatizers are facing prolonged detentions. Defense lawyers claim that Cameroon’s own legal procedures are not being respected. A de facto ban has been imposed on marches and protests of the opposition, which is clearly not in line with the constitutional rights of Cameroonian citizens.”

-Federica Maria Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs,  Apr. 18, 2019 speech Strasbourg, France, addressing the situation in Cameroon. 

Top U.S. Diplomat Meets With Cameroon President Paul Biya Amid Human Rights Concerns

credit: twitter.com/PR_Paul_BIYA / Tibor Nagy, the Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African, meets with Cameroon President Paul Biya  in Yaoundé,  Mar. 18, 2018

It was one of the most anticipated U.S. diplomatic meetings with an African leader in quite a while. Tibor Nagy, the Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African, met with Cameroon President Paul Biya March 18, 2019.    Prior to the top U.S. diplomat’s arrival in the west-central African nation’s capital city Yaoundé, human rights , organizations, members of U.S. Congress, and the European Union were pressing Nagy to get tough with Biya  amid the troubling crackdowns on freedom of expression in Cameroon. There have been growing concerns over the Cameroonian government’s arrest of political opposition leader Maurice Kamto. Ambassador Nagy also met with Cameroon foreign minister Mbella Mbella Mar. 18, 2019 during his two-day visit, during which the diplomat highlighted his “concerns about the arrest of Kamto and others.”