Continued Detention of SCNC Activists is Illegal and in Violation of Human Rights
CCDHR is calling on the Cameroon Government to unconditionally release all officials, activists, members, supporters, and sympathizers of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) arrested on January 20, 2007, by a mixed force of police and gendarme officers during an SCNC Press Conference in the city of Bamenda, North West Province of the Republic of Cameroon. The persons currently in custody include some influential and high ranking leaders of the Southern Cameroons Movement, amongst them, Nfor Ngala Nfor, the Vice-Chairman of the SCNC.

CCDHR is requisitioning the international community, the civil society, and other stakeholders to pressure the Cameroon Government into releasing these detainees, whose main crime seems to be the mere fact that they are Southern Cameroonians. Their arrest and current detention is illegal because they clearly did not commit any offence punishable by any law of the country. The continuous persecution of Southern Cameroons activists by the Francophone led government of Paul Biya has made live unbearable to most Southern Cameroonians.

CCDHR is very concerned at the physical and mental status of all the SCNC officials in detention following this arrest. The arrest process itself violated Section 30 (4) of the New Criminal Procedure Code (Law N°2005 of 27 July 2005) which came into force on January 01, 2007. Section 30 (4) states that:

“No bodily or psychological harm shall be caused to the person arrested”.

This provision of the law was flagrantly violated by the forces of law and order who executed the arrest because some SCNC officials had been brutalized during the arrest process in spite of the fact that they showed no resistance. Also, the administration continues to play with time by adjourning their arraignment before a court of law in a effort to subject them to various forms of psychological torments in an effort to break their will and commitment to their struggle.

In addition, the detention of these SCNC activist under deplorable conditions continues to be in violation of Section 37 of the Criminal Procedure Code which states that:

"Any person arrested shall be given reasonable facilities in particular to be in contact with his family, obtain legal advice, make arrangements for his defence, consult a doctor and receive medical treatment and take necessary steps to obtain his release on bail".

Since their arrest, the SCNC officials have not been afforded access to medical care even though some had sustained injuries from being assaulted during the arrest. Moreover, defence motion to get the detainees released on bail has not been entertained, and the detainees continue to languish in prison without charge.

The SCNC, it should be recalled, is a pressure movement fighting against the marginalization of the Anglophones in Cameroon with the goal of achieving self-determination and independence for the former British Southern Cameroons. The constant oppression of SCNC activists and sympathizers is part of the broader intimidation and repression campaign by the Cameroon administration against critics of the government. These individuals are being held against their will for political reasons and are merely prisoners of conscience, not criminals.

Chief Ayamba (Chairman of the SCNC)
Meanwhile, CCDHR will like to shoulder support for the statement of the SCNC Chairman, Chief Ayamba "… to continue to seek justice through peaceful means, using the force of argument as opposed to the argument of force …”. CCDHR supports and encourages the attainment of the goals of the SCNC within a peaceful context and reiterate the call for the Government of Cameroon to unconditionally release all SCNC activists across the country who are currently in detention solely for purposes of their affiliation with the Southern Cameroons Movement.