Mar 06, 2007

Southern Cameroons: Article by VOA on Detention of SCNC Leaders


Below are excerpts from an article written by Naomi Schwarz published by Voice of America on 5 March 2007, following the case of Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) arrested on 20 January and still held in detention:

“The government has banned the SCNC and says any meeting of the group is illegal and grounds for arrest.

[Nfor Ngala] Nfor, along with about 20 other SCNC members, have been in prison for more than a month. They have not yet been charged with a crime, but a hearing to bring charges is scheduled again soon. Several hearings have been postponed because witnesses for the prosecution have been absent.

Tanyi Joseph Mbi is a lawyer for the jailed SCNC members. He says English-speaking areas are less developed.

"We do not have roads," he said. "We do not have petrol. It is more expensive in Southern Cameroon than in the Republic of Cameroon."

Mbi says even if the courts bring secession charges, they will have to prove that the SCNC members actually committed a crime.

"The court has a duty to prove to the entire community that these members have taken steps to secede. Because secession is not just by word of mouth, it is by action," he said.

A researcher for London-based Amnesty International, Godfrey Byaruhanga, says the detention represents an abuse of the right to free speech.

"They have not advocated nor have they used violence against the state," he said. "And, hence, we are certainly very concerned that the government of Cameroon continues to detain people who only are agitating, making their views known publicly without any recourse to violence."

"The government surely should allow them to express their views even if those views are not necessarily in concert with those of the government," he continued.”