MR PRIME MINISTER, SIR,THIS IS ACELEBRATION OF
GENOCIDE AND
NOT DIALOGUE
By Charles Taku*
 |
| Barrister Charles Taku |
Dr. Dione Ngute was the agent representing LRC at the hearing
of the case brought on behalf of the Southern Cameroons by Dr Gwang Gumne and
others in the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. Judgement in the
case was rendered in Banjul, the Gambia during the 45th Ordinary Session that
held from 13 - 27 May 2009.
In the Judgment that was subsequently endorsed by the General
Assembly of African leaders during the AU conference in Sirtre in Libya, the
African Commission unequivocally called for dialogue to resolve the crisis and
offered its services to facilitate the dialogue. It gave LRC 180 days to comply
with its Judgment. It is on the records of the African Commission that LRC
asked for an extension of time to comply with the Judgment.
Mr. Prime Minister, true to itself, LRC did not comply with
that Judgment and did not respect the decision relating to dialogue facilitated
by the African Commission, even after the expiration of the extended timeline
it sought and obtained. What a reckless display of bad faith! .
In its characteristic exercise of impunity, LRC intensified
its systemic and widespread violations of the protections afforded Southern
Cameroons in international law. These violations have been ongoing since an
unprecedented conspiracy facilitated the breach of the UN Charter and UN
Resolutions paving the way to the annexation and colonisation of Southern
Cameroons by the LRC. The escalation of the violations has led to genocide,
also called the mother of crimes on the watch of a slow to act civilized world.
This is unacceptable.
The Government of Cameroon considers these atrocity crimes as
its legitimate exercise of impunity with arrogant alacrity. Its civilian and
military commanders have in publicly available and well documented statements
taken responsibility for these crimes. They have consistently praised the
professionalism of its military for conducting a war of genocide in which more
than 200 civilian settlements have been torched with shocking charred remains
of vulnerable children, women, the old and the sick left in the debris. The
Prime Minister Dr Dione Ngute himself on this so-called dialogue with the dead,
praised the professionalism of these soldiers.
During his visit there
perpetrated egregious violations even in the neighbourhood of Bambili which he
visited. There, they massacred in a cold blood, a mother and her baby. Mr Prime
Minister, this is genocide and not dialogue. I did not hear you order the
arrest and prosecution of the criminal soldiers who massacred that mother and
her baby. The massacre of that woman and her child a few metres from where you
visited indeed symbolizes the fate of hundreds of thousands of Southern
Cameroonians for no reasons other than that they are Southern Cameroonians.
That again sir, is genocide.
I began this piece by making a reference to the Judgment of
the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights which LRC accepted and
asked for time to comply with but reneged on. LRC in contempt instead
intensified its 58 year old campaign of intimidation, humiliation,
dehumanisation, indignity and death. As the representative of LRC during the
entire proceedings and judgment, you were and are better placed to advise your
government to the hard reality that international legality may be slow but
effective. When Justice catches up with the arrogant exercise of impunity and
criminality, its impact may devastate the soul of conscienceless predators of
human life. Differently, stated, a time comes when the victims of atrocious
crimes are given a voice from their unmarked lonely graves to seek justice on
their own behalf. That time sir, will come, sooner or later, here or in the
hereafter. This truth sir, is sacrosanct.
Therefore, sir, I beg to ask. How do you feel conveying the
concomitant message of conditional dialogue and genocide from your President to
his victims? Does the said message not greatly contradict the dialogue decided
by a respectable continental justice mechanism the African Commission which was
endorsed by continental leaders? Was it not obvious from the Judgment of the
African Commission that an international facilitator would be required to
oversee the dialogue? And was it not for this reason that it offered to play
that role? In your so-called ongoing dialogue, sir, I did not hear you regret
the massacres, the genocide, the crimes against humanity, the war crimes etc.
Why? I did not hear you talk about a transitional justice mechanism to
prosecute civilian and military commanders responsible for these atrocity
crimes in the Southern Cameroons. I did not see you feel the pain and suffering
of millions of civilian victims of the atrocity crimes. Rather, I heard the
evocation and rendition of the typical and resentful CPDM sycophantic war cries
and slogans praising the god-president for his promise of mercy for those who
lay down arms. Laying down arms to facilitate the atrocity crimes sir? Those
you alleged laid down arms, have the locations from which they allegedly
defected been spared the visit of your angels of death and the mayhem they bring
to the civilian population? Have they sir? I bey to ask.
There is a common and recurring position taken by the
international community on this war that was declared by LRC. That position is
that there should be an inclusive dialogue with no pre-conditions, to tackle to
the root causes of this conflict. From where then did you come about with the
exclusion of the so-called secession or separation? Is this pre-condition not a
distraction and an attempt to obviate the mandatory root causes of the
conflict? Are the root causes not the umbilically linked violations that
eviscerated the Southern Cameroons right to external self determination under
the UN Charter guaranteed by UN Resolutions which LRC opposed and opted for
annexation and colonial rule?
The right to resolve this conflict through an internationally
organised dialogue in which negotiations will hold sway was obtained through a
legal process before a Continental legal mechanism and endorsed by African
Leaders. The international community has overwhelmingly taken the same position
with renewed vigour. That position is therefore, not subject to a unilateral
modification by LRC. That sir, is an unacceptable diktat. This unacceptable
diktat tantamount once more to a disregard for the international rule of law on
the basis on which international legality, peace and security are founded.
Mr Prime Minister, sir, as you pursue this futile adventure
to insult the memory of victims, permit me to remind you that the informal
meeting of the UNSC on this crisis on 13 May 2019, apart, the celebration on
the 23 May 2019 at the UN of the 70 th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions
which LRC is a state party, should be a shock reminder to LRC that the spirit
of that multilateral treaty and many others is alive. That LRC place on the
radar of the Geneva Conventions will soon be guaranteed, not for the right
reasons, but for its atrocity crimes in the Southern Cameroons against
civilians who are protected by the convention. The anniversary ceremony of the
23 May 2019 of the Geneva Conventions 1949 and the ten anniversary of the UN
Resolutions for the protection of civilians in armed conflicts should be an
opportunity for LRC to seriously consider, calling off this genocidal war and
withdraw its soldiers for peace to prevail. It's military misadventure and
atrocity crimes have failed and will continue to fail to tame the spirit of
Southern Cameroons freedom seekers who are inspired and emboldened by the
justice of their cause, international legality and the pursuit of legitimate
self-defence.
History sir, provides you and the government you serve
another opportunity to listen to the voice of humanity and the international
community and get to the negotiating table while there is time. Stop the
callous slaughter and the genocide now. Your present tour is a celebration of
genocide and not dialogue.
*Charles Taku is a celebrated Cameroonian Criminal Defense Counsel
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