On June 22, 2020, a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, former heads of state and human rights experts issued a join call for a ceasefire in Cameroon. The ceasefire is essential to provide space to medical professionals and to assist those in need amid Covid-19 pandemic. Cameroon has one of the highest rates of Covid-19 infection in Africa. As a result, civilians are caught between conflict and pandemic.
A poster tribute on the side of the former home of a woman killed in crossfire between Cameroon ... [+]
The ongoing conflict in Cameroon, the Anglophone crisis, began in 2016. It is grounded in long-standing and unresolved political, economic, and social marginalization issues in the Anglophone minority community that inhabit southern Cameroon. The Anglophone community constitutes approximately 20% of the country’s population, with the remaining 80% being Francophones. In 2016, Anglophone lawyers and teachers took to the streets in protest against the Government’s appointment of French-language judges and teachers, and the introduction of French-language procedures, in Anglophone-region courts and schools. The response to the protests was marked by excessive use of violence. In subsequent months, the situation deteriorated. International Crisis Group reported in September 2019, since 2017, as a result of the crisis, approximately 3,000 people have been killed, over 500,000 have become internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 40,000 sought refuge in Nigeria. In November 2019, UNICEF reported that close to 2 million people in the Anglophone Regions were in urgent need of humanitarian aid. 855,000 children were forced out of school because of the crisis.
Government forces are accused of involvement in extrajudicial killings, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force, use of torture, forcible displacement of the population, using rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war, and attacks on hospitals. Non-state actors involved in the crisis have been accused of using torture, kidnappings, violence, rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.
As the conflict continues, Covid-19 added yet another layer to the suffering of people in Cameroon. This is why the Global Campaign for Peace and Justice in Cameroon, a non-governmental organization, issued a Covid-19 ceasefire challenge to the Cameroon government and the non-state armed group leaders who are entrenched in the Anglophone conflict. The organization was joined by Nobel Peace Prize laureates Doctor Denis Mukwege, Professor Muhammad Yunus, the Honorable José Ramos-Horta, the Honorable FW de Klerk, the Honorable Oscar Arias Sánchez, former heads of states and human rights experts. The letter was subsequently endorsed by 21 civil society organizations and coalitions from within and outside of Cameroon
They echoed the recent call of UN Secretary-General Guterres for a global ceasefire to mitigate the risk posed by Covid-19 in conflict zones. They challenged the government and military of the Republic of Cameroon, and all non-state armed groups (NSAGs) to call a ceasefire in the two Anglophone regions. Their letter reminds the government of the Republic of Cameroon that it holds a responsibility to protect its citizens under international law. It states:
“Citizens cannot be protected from Covid-19 and other catastrophic health threats in an active war zone. There should be a ceasefire to:
• protect human life, health workers, patients, health facilities, and ambulances
• allow unfettered access of humanitarian aid to the North-West and South-West regions.”
The letter further calls upon the UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General, the African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Commonwealth, and La Francophonie to use all instruments of power at their disposal to urge the Republic of Cameroon to call a Covid-19 ceasefire and to ensure that Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict is on the agenda of the forthcoming UN Security Council meeting and all UN Regional Office for Central Africa sessions before the UN Security Council.
Some steps have already been taken. For example, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2532, demanding an immediate and durable humanitarian pause in hostilities for a period of at least 90 days to enable safe provision of humanitarian aid and medical services.
While the Cameroonian Minister of Higher Education said that the government had no plans to declare a ceasefire, the Presidency and the Ministry of Defense of Cameroon have not yet formally responded to the calls for a ceasefire. However, some news outlets have been reporting on early ceasefire talks between the parties.
Furthermore, the Global Campaign for Peace and Justice in Cameroon reports that some non-state armed groups have expressed their willingness to engage with the ceasefire calls.
While some small steps are being taken, the letter has yet to elicit a palpable change for the people in Cameroon. The voices which ask for an urgent Covid-19 response to protect populations deprived of medical, cannot be left unanswered.
