Impunity Watch: Africa

Media Crackdown Follows Violent Protests in Cameroon

By:  M. Brandon Maggiore
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, - At least 17 people have been killed in protests in Cameroon in which youths are fighting with police. The opposition says the unrest is due to the rising costs of fuel and food while the president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, accused his political rivals of creating the unrest in order to depose him. The violence started as a nationwide transport strike because of fuel costs and turned into anti-government demonstrations. Preisdent Biya has been in power for twenty-five years and has suggested amending the constitution of Cameroon so that he can run for president again in 2011, another source of anger amongst the protesters.

Biya says he will use all legal means to end the violence in which boarding schools have been targeted by mobs of young men demanding they join the protesters. The boarding schools may have been targeted by the youths because the children of the Cameroonian elite are students there. Teachers managed to prevent the taking of most of the students except for about two-hundred. There is fear that the students were taken to be used as human shields. Some children are still unaccounted for after most returned to their homes or boarding schools within several hours. However, it is believed that a teenage boy was shot dead in Bamenda.

The main journalist’s union in Cameroon accused the government of trying to silence media coverage of the riots. A privately owned radio station in Yaounde was shut down by armed law enforcement on Thursday after callers to the radio station criticized the President’s handling of the protests. This shutdown followed the shutdown of a radio station in Biya on Tuesday. Reporters Without Borders has also expressed its concern over the media crackdown in Cameroon and has called on the government to return all equipment removed from the radio station in Yaounde and to permit it to resume broadcasting.

Cameroonian writers, both from inside Cameroon and abroad, signed a letter sent to deputies in the government urging them not to modify the country’s constitution. The letter used strong language stating a "single foul play with the constitution could plunge the entire nation into insurmountable chaos." The letter also criticized members of parliament saying "The President has availed himself of the de facto majority accorded him in the national assembly by you, CPDM parliamentarians, to trample on the constitution of this land. Worse still, he has had recourse to armed elements of the police force to silence those dissenting voices that have dared to openly object to his scheme."

For more information, please see:

BBC News - Deadly violence rages in Cameroon - 29 February 2008

Reuters - Cameroon govt accused of muzzling media over riots - 29 February 2008

afrol News - Cameroon writers warn MPs - 29 February 2008

Reporters Without Borders - Private radio suspended, independent newspapers prevented from appearing - 29 February 2008

BRIEF: Attempt to Halt Rwandan Trials

NAIROBI, Kenya – The lawyers for Rwanda’s leader Paul Kagame are demanding the suspension of the trial and investigation against Kagame. President Kagame and his Tutsi rebels are credited with halting the 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus within 100 days.

Judges in France and Spain has called for the prosecution of Kagame and 40 of his associates for the killing of thousands of civilians including nine Spaniards. In November 2006, a Paris anti-terrorist judge issued a summons for Kagame to stand trial for the murder of his predecessor, Juvenal Habyarimana, whose death instigated the genocide. Kagame has denied the claims.

France and Spain could not prosecute Kagame since he has immunity as a head of state. Peter Erlinder, head of the Defense Lawyer’s Association, requests an independent investigation by the U.N. Security Council of manipulation of the prosecutor’s office. Defense lawyers claim the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) should cease investigations because it is biased.

For more information please see:

Yahoo News (Reuters) – Lawyers Try to Halt Rwanda Genocide Tribunal - 27 February 2008

UPDATE: Agreement Reached in Kenyan Peace Talks

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and rival Raila Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), have signed an agreement that will create a new coalition government.The agreement comes after more than one month of negotiations brokered by Kofi Anan. The agreement, which is expected to be released later today, will detail the plans for the sharing of power between members of the current government and opposition leaders.

For more information, please see:

BBC News - Kenya rivals agree to share power - 28 February 2008

Impunity Watch - Update: Anan Calls for Break in Kenyan Negotiations - 26 February 2008

Human Rights Groups Urge Chad to Release Suspected Prisoners

By Ted Townsend,
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

PARIS, France – Representatives from rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, pressed French President Nicolas Sarkozy not to “cover up” the actions of Chadnian President Idriss Deby (“Deby”). Deby is accused of playing a role in the February 3^rd disappearance of members of political opposition groups, as part of a crackdown against political opponents after a failed coup. Further investigation by Human Rights Watch has determined the opposition politicians were taken by state security forces, despite Chadnian claims to the contrary.

The Chadnian Government denies any role in the disappearances, and stated that “an official inquiry had been unable to locate Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh (Saleh) . . . and Ngarley Yorongar (Yorongar).” Both men are vocal members of the political opposition; Saleh a spokesman for a coalition of opposition parties, and Yorongar a prominent member of the opposition in Parliament.

Further, Chadnian Interior Minister Ahmat Bachir suggested that since the men were seized while rebels controlled the N’Djamena neighborhoods they lived in, they were likely rebel captives. Chadnian Foreign Minister Ahmad Allam-Mi also added that Yorongar was “hiding” in N’Djamena, and that Yorongar’s sister and chauffer said he was going to resurface and speak to the press soon. The chauffeur refutes this, claiming he has not heard from Yorongar since February third.

Multiple eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch researchers that Chadnian government soldiers took each man into custody, forcing their way into each man’s home and removing him forcefully. The eyewitnesses detailed each arrest, claiming that ten soldiers in Chadnian army uniforms took each man away in beige Toyota four-wheel drive vehicles, the type of vehicle that is standard issue in the Chadnian army.

Human Rights Watch African Director Georgette Gagnon believes the “Chadnian Government should publicly acknowledge the whereabouts of Yorongar and Ibni.” “They should be released immediately, or charged with a crime and accorded all their rights.” An Amnesty International representative added “These men are at grave risk of being tortured. The French Government should not cover up the excesses of the Chadnian Government.”

The pressure this week is focused on France because President Sarkozy is visiting the former French Colony this week. Many see the French in the best position to effectuate the release of the prisoners given the relationship between the two countries. President Sarkozy, for his part, claimed “he would ask Deby to set up an independent inquiry into the disappearances.”

 

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Chad: Account for ‘Disappeared’ Opposition Leaders - 25 February 2008

IOL.com – Opposition Figure Still Missing – Colleague – 27 February 2008

VOA News – French President Visits Chad as Rights Groups Urge Pressure on Chadian Leader – 27 February 2008

AFP – Sarkozy urged to press Chad on fate of opposition members – 27 February 2008

Impunity Watch – Amnesty International Claims Chadian Government is Violating Human Rights – 22 February 2008

UPDATE: Anan Calls for Break in Kenyan Negotiations

UDNAIROBI, Kenya - Kofi Anan called for a break in the Kenyan Negotiations because the two sides are at an impasse. Anan said it is time for the principles, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and rival Raila Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), to get directly involved in the negotiations. Anan Plans to meet with them to try and overcome the current stalemate over the details of a power-sharing deal involving the creation of a new prime minister post which is to be occupied by Odinga when first established. The impasse came on the same date the African Union chief Jakaya Kikwete arrived in Kenya to try and support the negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there is no excuse for further delay in the two sides reaching an agreement. Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said that Kenya’s “international friends” an make suggestions to aid the negotiations but that that they cannot impose solutions.

 

For more information, please see:

Agence France Press - Annan suspends talks with Kenyan crisis negotiators - 26 February 2008

Reuters - Rice demands action as Kenya talks stall - 26 February 2008

Impunity Watch - Brief: Kenyan Peace Talks Faltering - 25 February 2008

Ugandan Peace Deal: End in sight for 22 year war

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

JUBA, Sudan – The Ugandan Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Rebels signed a deal over the weekend. The deal will include a permanent cease-fire to the twenty-two year war that killed thousands of people and displaced another one to two million. The agreement requires one final step: agreement on the disarmament, demobilization and re-integration of the rebel fighters. The official cease-fire will go into effect once the comprehensive peace deal is signed, an event most expected to occur by next weekend. However, negotiators such as UN envoy Joaquim Chissano see this past weekend’s events as “the laying down of arms. . . the end of the war.”

Peace talks began in mid-2006 when the parties signed a cessation of hostilities agreement that required both parties to stop shooting at each other and remain with their weapons. Last week, the peace agreement talks picked up steam when the two parties reached agreements on how to prosecute alleged war criminals and how rehabilitation efforts in war-torn regions would proceed. The progress made was almost lost Friday of last week when members of the LRA stormed out of the peace talks over demands for government positions.

The cease-fire agreement creates a temporary staging area in the southern part of  Sudan where rebels will remain prior to demobilization. The area creates a buffer of six miles (ten kilometers) around the area, which will be guarded by Sudanese troops. The rebel assembly area is on the border between  Sudan and Congo, in a town called Ri-Kwangba. The town has been used previously in the talks as one of the two locations the rebels were to assemble after the initial cessation was signed in 2006. However, the government contends the rebels never honored the assembly area and roamed throughout southern Sudan causing havoc.

Further, in the agreement a provision was left for the UN to play a policing role, assisting in compliance with the cease-fire. This cease-fire has “raised expectations that up to 500,000 of the (estimated) 1.3 million internally displaced people created by 20 years of war could go home in 2008,” according to a U.N. news released. Some refugees have returned to the areas they were displaced from, but aid agencies expect the cease-fire will lead to a “mass return” once finalized.

The revolt against President Yoweri Museveni, aimed at destabilizing the government, has torn apart Northern Uganda since 1986.  The LRA became infamous for their brutal tactics and methodology, including mutilation of their victims and recruitment of child soldiers. The Acholi people of North Uganda have been especially hard hit, suffering from not only the rebel attacks and recruitment but also from rape and other abuses by the military in refugee camps.

As the talks come to a close, LRA leader Joseph Kony is still at large. Kony claimed his power from spiritual authority, and his rebels demanded the Ugandan constitution be replaced with a version of the Ten Commandments. The International Criminal Court has had an outstanding arrest warrant for Kony since 2005. The warrant charges Kony with twenty-one counts of war crimes, including sexual enslavement, rape, directing attacks against civilians, and forced enlisting of children to fight.

For more information, please see:

Washington Post.com - Voting Starts in Remote Areas - 24 February 2008 (free registration required)

International Herald Tribune - Major Step Toward Final Peace Deal in Uganda - 24 February 2008

CNN.com - Ugandan Peace Deal Looms as Rebels, Rulers Sign Cease Fire - 24 February 2008

allAfrica.com - Govt, Rebels Sign Permanent Ceasefire Agreement in Juba  - 24 February 2008

Sify.com - Uganda Signs ceasefire with rebels - 24 February 2008

Impunity Watch - Brief: Second Breakthrough in Uganda Peace Talks this Week - 22 February  2008

Brief: Kenyan Peace Talks Faltering

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kofi Anan, the moderator of the peace talks in Kenya, is intervening due to a failure of the two sides to reach agreement. Anan is going to talk to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and rival Raila Odinga, the leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM,) in an effort to get the talks back on track. The dispute is over the powers to be ceded to the newly agreed upon post of prime minister which is to be occupied by Odinga if it is created as talks have suggested it will be.

The ODM has said it will resume mass protests this Thursday if agreement is not reached.

Some government leaders believe the final plan should be put to the people for a referendum.

It is now estimated that 1,500 people have been killed since the late December 2007 election.

BBC News - Kenya peace talks reach impasse - 25 February 2008

Reuters - Annan meets rivals to break Kenya talks stalemate - 25 January 2008

Impunity Watch - UPDATE: AU Chairman Pushes for Agreement in Kenya - 22 February 2008 

BRIEF: UNAMID Reports Renewed Aerial Bombings in Darfur

DARFUR, Sudan - There is serious concern for the safety of thousands of civilians in the Jebel Moun area of Darfur where the Sudanese Military is reported to have renewed its bombing campaign. UNAMID, the joint African Union and United Nations mission in Sudan received reports of aerial bombings conducted by the Sudanese government. The conflict started five years ago and has resulted in 200,000 casualties and over 2.5 million homeless persons. The UN estimates that there are 20,000 people in the Moun area.

China is under increasing pressure to use its influence over Sudan to help resolve the situation. China is expected to provide $11 million dollars in humanitarian assistance this week. China played down allegations that its arms sales to Sudan have helped fuel the conflict saying that even if they were to stop selling arms to Sudan this would only account for 8% of the countries arms imports.

UNAMID began deploying troops in the region in January and thus far the UNAMID force consists of only 9,000 of its full force level of 26,000.

BBC News - Sudan 'renews Darfur air strikes' - 24 February 2008

Reuters  - Darfuris caught in crossfire as Sudan bombs rebels-UN - 24 February 2008

Update on Charles Taylor Trial

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor continued into its sixth week with the testimony of two more prosecution witnesses. Aruna Gbona (“Gbona”), prosecution witness TF1-330, testified first with the majority of his testimony focusing on the forced labor of civilians by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Following the close of Gbona’s testimony, prosecution witness TF1-275 Foday Lansana (“Lansana”), a former RUF radio operator, took the stand, and testified about coordination between Taylor’s forces and RUF commanders.

Gbona testified over the course of two days, mostly with regards to the period between 1996 and 2000, when he was forced to work for the rebels. All groups of civilians working for the rebels during this time had a solider in charge of the group, called a G5.  Each G5 had a group of rebel soldiers with him, many of whom were from eight to ten years old. The G5’s and their soldiers forced the civilians to farm, fish, mine and hunt in their native villages and nearby towns. All harvests, catches and kills had to be immediately turned over to the rebels. Gbona “considered this procedure to be slavery: before the war he could cultivate the land pace and the harvest would be for him and his family to eat and to sell.”

Gbona further testified about the physical ramifications for the civilians. When they wouldn’t work to the rebels desired level, or when they were reluctant to work, beatings ensued. Moreover, the rate of hernias during the rebel occupation rose significantly due to the heavy loads the civilians were often required to carry for the rebels. Women, in addition to the forced labor, also were often forced into marriage with the rebels.

The defense did not have any questions for Gbona.

Prosecutor Christopher Santora next called Lansana to the stand.  The questioning began focusing mostly on his background. Lansana, a native Liberian, was recruited by the National Freedom Party of Liberia (NFPL) from a refugee camp and trained to be a radio operator. He was posted in Monrovia at a Coca Cola factory that doubled as a base, where, on the second day of his posting, he witnessed a meeting between Taylor and more than 25 members of his special forces. Taylor told those assembled that jets from Sierra Leone were “killing people” and that he would “inform the world that Sierra Leone had been used as a base to kill his people.”

Lansana was later sent to the RUF/NFPL headquarters for Lofa County, Liberia, where he witnessed troops, weapons and supplies going in and out of Sierra Leone. He recounted to the court that, in order to disguise the groups operations in Sierra Leone, they would refer to Sierra Leone as “Kuwait,” because of the perceived wealth of the country. Later, Lansana himself was sent with a group of reinforcement troops into Sierra Leone and charged with installing a radio at RUF commander Foday Sankoh’s house. This radio allowed Sankoh to communicate with Taylor, code name “Butterfly.”

Christopher Santora’s questioning of Lansana continued for two days, covering everything from the development of radio communication and technical explanations of how the communications were conducted, to specific facts regards communications between the witness and specific commanders. He specifically recounted the procedure for passing on messages and instruction from Sankoh, who had been imprisoned, to Taylor.

Lansana was also questioned about his own personal arrest, on 14 counts of shooting with intent, a sentence which he served ten years for. He did not recall what the arrest was for, but believed it to be in relation to a 2000 incident where 15 civilians were shot at Sankoh’s home.

True to their strategy with other witnesses, he defense began its cross examination of Lansana mostly by reviewing details, and small factual discrepancies in his testimony. They also explored possible benefits he may have received in exchange for his testimony.

For more information, please see:

allAfrica.com - Prosecution Witness Describes RUF Use of Civilian Forced Labor - 20 February 2008

allAfrica.com – Former NPFL/RUF Radio Operator Testifies - 21 February 2008

The Trial of Charles Taylor -Prosecution’s Examination of Foday Lansana Completed; Defense Counsel Begins Cross-Examination of Lansana - accessed 22 February 2008

allAfrica.com - Taylor’s Defense Team Pleased With Trial - 21 February 2008

allAfrica.com – Lansana Testifies Concerning Communications Between Taylor and Sankoh - 22 February 2008

Impunity Watch -  Update on Charles Taylor Trial – 16 February

 

Brief: War Crimes Sentences Upheld in Sierra Leone

FREETOWN, Sierra Leon - In a decision handed down last year, Alex Tamba Brima, Santigie Borbor Kanu, and Brima Bazzy Kamara were sentenced to 50, 50, and 45 years respectivly for eleven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The crimes against the former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Counsel included rape, terrorism civilians, and abductions. The crimes were committed during the country's 1991-2002 conflict.

Presiding judge George Gelaga King said he found no reason to reduce the sentences noting that “Women and young girls were gang raped to death. ... Sons were forced to rape mothers, brothers were forced to rape sisters" and that "Men were disembowe[l]ed and their intestines stretched across a road to form a barrier. Human heads were placed on sticks on either side of the road to mark such barriers."

 For more information, please see:

Special Court for Sierra Leon Press Release - Appeals Chamber Upholds Sentences of Convicted AFRC Leaders - 22 February 2008

Reuters - S.Leone court upholds sentences on militia chiefs - 22 February 2008