Step by Step: S. Africa claims universal jurisdiction.

SCAPO PRESS RELEASE



A SOUTHERN CAMEROONS HUMAN RIGHTS CASE DUE HEARING AT THE BAMENDA HIGH COURT





SCAPO/PR.01/2013



The Southern Cameroons Peoples' Organization (SCAPO) informs the

people of Southern Cameroons at home and abroad and Human Rights

Organisations world-wide that a Southern Cameroons human rights case

(HCB/19M/2013) filed at the Bamenda High Court of Mezam Division is

due to be heard on Tuesday 26 February 2014. The case was filed

following the persistent human rights violations unleashed yearly

against the people of Southern Cameroons on the first day of October

by agents of the Republic of Cameroon.



Southern Cameroons, a former United Nations Trust Territory was

granted independence by the United Nations General Assembly in 1961 by

instrument of Resolution 1608 (XV to take effect from 1 October 1961

upon joining La Republic du Cameroun in a Federal Union. Although the

Union never concluded, the two territories cohabited informally until

1984 when President Paul Biya pulled the State of East Cameroons out

of the Union and renamed it La Republique du Cameroun. The UN

sponsored Federal United Cameroon Republic is now defunct, but the

action of La Republique du Cameroun in incorporating the State of West

Cameroon as its 9th and 10th Provinces when she seceded from the UN

sponsored Federal Union is in breach of her bilateral Agreement with

the Southern Cameroons prior to the UN plebiscite and is a flagrant

violation of key UN instruments setting out guidelines about the

Union. Her yearly arrests, detention and torture of Southern Cameroons

people on 1st October , the anniversary of their independence is

clearly a war of subjugation being waged on the people of Southern

Cameroons, a war which violates key Articles of the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.



This "war" of subjugation has gone on in Cameroon since La Republique

du Cameroun annexed the Southern Cameroons and supressed its

Statehood. It will be recalled that the Southern Cameroons was a

self-governing State (with Ministerial government headed by a Prime

Minister, a bi-cameral Legislature and an Independent Judiciary) as

far back as 1954. It is unthinkable that a people will attain that

level of political development and then offer themselves and their

territory as a gift to become two Provinces of another country. The

only reason why this "war" has so far not escalated to an armed

conflict is the restraint with which Southern Cameroonians have

responded to the bad faith from the leadership of La Republique du

Cameroun. However, while we are engaged in exhausting peaceful options

to the annexation of our country, let no one be in doubt: All options

are on the table. When peace and justice are denied our people and

country everywhere, other options will be studied.



The bad faith from the leadership of La Republique du Cameroun

manifested itself in the callous and insensitive manner in which La

Republique du Cameroun annexed the State of the Southern Cameroons and

supressed its statehood; It is manifested in the pusillanimous steps

they have taken to obliterate the Anglo-Saxon heritage in Southern

Cameroons and assimilate the people to the French inherited systems

operating in La Republique du Cameroun especially in Administration,

Education and the Legal system. The people of Southern Cameroons

salute all their sons and daughters in the fields of education and

the Legal Profession who have defied the odds to keep our system from

complete obliteration. So far all has not been swept away. The

Southern Cameroon Human Rights case in



HBC/19M/2013 AUGUSTINE FEH NDANGAM ( PETITIONER ) VS. THE PRESIDENT OF

THE REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON, THE GOVERNOR OF THE NW REGION, THE GOVERNOR

OF THE SW REGION ( RESPONDENTS )



is about the right of the people of Southern Cameroons to

self-determination. It has been filed at the Bamenda High Court

because we have faith in the Judiciary of the Common Law system

inherited in the Southern Cameroons. The "war" to sweep this system

under carpet has so far not attained victory point. "Though much is

taken, much abides" Lord Tennyson :Ulysses.

The people of Southern Cameroons will be kept updated on developments

on the case.



Lawyers who are interested in the case or wish to have more

information should contact any of the Law-Firms below:



1. Njobara….. Tel…..



2. Law-Firm….Tel



3. Law-Firm….Tel



4. Law-Firm….Tel



5. Abalu and Bobga …. Tel…….



Pressmen who wish for more information about the case should contact

the National Vice- Chairman of SCAPO, Mr. Augusttine F. Ndangam, Tel

237 7749 2352 or by E-mail at southerncameroons.scapo@gmail.com



Southern Cameroonians abroad who wish for more information should

contact the National Chair of SCAPO, Dr. Kevin Ngwang Gumne Tel……… or

E-mail at southerncameroons.scapo@gmail.com







--------------------------------------

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Augusttine F. Ndangam

Dr. Kevin Ngwang Gumne







Distribution

HE President Paul Biya of the Republic of Cameroon, Yaounde

The Secretary General of the United Nations

The President of the United Nations Security Council

The President of the United Nations Human Rights Commission

The Chairman of the African Union

The President of the Commission of the African Union

The Chairman of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union

The Chairperson of The African Commission on Human and People's Rights, Banjul

The Ambassador of the United States of America in Yaounde

The Ambassador of the of the People's Republic of China in Yaounde

The Ambassador of the of the Russian Federation in Yaounde

The Ambassador of the of Liberia in Yaounde

The Nigerian High Commissioner in Yaounde

The South African High Commissioner in Yaounde

The Canadian High Commissioner in Yaounde

The British High Commissioner in Yaounde

The French Ambassador in Yaounde

All Traditional Rulers of Southern Cameroons

Leaders of Political Parties with Headquarters in Southern Cameroons

All MPs of Southern Cameroons Origin in the National Assembly of LRC

All Mayors of Southern Cameroons Local Governments

The Press. National and international

Human Rights Organizations world-wide









On 11/27/13, Chief Charles A.Taku <Charto_us@yahoo.com> wrote:

> South Africa has joined France, Belgium and Spain in exercise universal

> jurisdiction over international crimes perpetrated everywhere world wide.

> Of immediate interest are the alleged crimes perpetrated during the 28

> February 2008 uprising, attempts against Chairman Akwanga in S. Africa

> itself and crimes of deportation, political and programmed cultural genocide

> of indigenous peoples by ceding their land to multinationals and the

> recorded criminal violations associated with such acts, widespread and

> systemic crimes perpetrated on Southern Cameroonians on their territory

> which sadly resemble a form of apartheid etc: Also of interest is the fact

> that it sets the potential for some crimes perpetrated in Africa to be

> investigated and prosecuted in Africa away from the ICC. The rush for this

> route to attain international criminal justice has only just opened. This

> development is interesting because crimes perpetrated in countries that are

> out of the reach of the ICC like Cameroon, USA, that have not ratified the

> Rome Statute may one day find themselves in court and on the African soil.

>

> Read on:

>

>

> A top South African court has declared that the country's police and

> prosecutors are obliged to investigate allegations of torture and crimes

> against humanity committed by Zimbabwean government officials, against

> Zimbabweans, in Zimbabwe.

> In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Appeal said the

> South African law dealing with the implementation of the Rome Statute - the

> legal instrument which set up the International Criminal Court - required

> that the South African Police Service initiate an investigation.

> The court said the police were empowered to investigate the alleged crimes

> "irrespective of whether or not the alleged perpetrators are present in

> South Africa".

> The case before the court arose from the refusal of South African

> authorities to investigate a case brought in 2008 by a civil society group

> and Zimbabwean exiles. The court said it believed the case was the first

> directly raising South Africa's competence to investigate crimes against

> humanity.

> A dossier handed to South African police and prosecutors in support of the

> case named a number of Zimbabwean officials as perpetrators of torture and

> implicated six government ministers in the alleged crimes.

> Affidavits gave what the South African court called "a graphic picture" of

> torture allegedly carried out on members of the opposition Movement for

> Democratic Change after a raid on its offices in Harvest House, Harare:

> "They describe severe physical assaults being perpetrated, which included

> the use of truncheons, baseball bats, fan-belts and booted feet," the court

> said. "There are accounts of victims being suspended by a metal rod between

> two tables; of being subjected to water boarding; and of electrical shocks

> being applied to the genitals of some of them."

> Early in its 39-page judgment, the Court of Appeal said the question at the

> heart of the case was: "What business is it of the South African authorities

> when torture on a widespread scale is alleged to have been committed by

> Zimbabweans against Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe?"

> In effect the court decided that when South Africa signed the Rome Statute,

> and then passed domestic legislation enabling it to meet it obligations

> under the statute, it became responsible for investigating charges under the

> statute.

> South African courts may not be able to try suspects unless they are present

> at their trial, but their absence from the country does not prevent police

> from investigating charges, the court found.

> It noted during the course of its judgment that prosecutors were concerned

> at the impact of an investigation on South Africa's relations with

> Zimbabwe.

> "One of the considerations," the court said, "was that the President of

> South Africa's role as mediator between the opposition and ruling parties of

> Zimbabwe would be compromised."

> Under South African law, the government has only one more option before it

> is obliged to implement the Supreme Court of Appeal's ruling: it can argue

> that the case should be finally decided by the Constitutional Court





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