The Southern Cameroons Special Tribunal Coordination Committee (SCSTCC) has announced it first Accusation. Adolphe Lele Lafrique, governor of the Northwest Province of the Republic of Cameroon, has been accused of war crimes to with.
Lafrique is the ultimate civil authority in the Northwest Province of the Republic of Cameroon which along with the Southwest Province composes the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia. He is responsible for the welfare of noncombatants and civil property.
In 2018 Lafrique announced a plan to crush all Ambazonian secessionists without mercy and deployed units of the elite Battalion D’intervention Rapide (BIR) to militarily engage and eliminate so called Ambazonian secessionists. BIR has been equipped and trained in part by the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) to fight Boko Haram. Amnesty International has documented numerous BIR violations of human rights, including summary execution, brutality and torture by BIR units. SCTCC is in the process of gathering and investigating additional information about BIR including destruction of villages, crimes against women and children, and looting.
By calling in BIR troops trained and equipped to fight Boko Haram terrorists, Lafrique knowingly exposed noncombatants to harm. BIR had already acquired a reputation for brutality in the Boko Haram campaign. By calling for BIR to crush the lightly and unarmed armed secessionists, Lafrique in no uncertain terms consigned civilians to death and created tens of thousands of internally displaced persons.
According to the SCSTCC Coordinator Dr. Jonathan Levy, the announcement of the Accusation against Adolphe Lele Lafrique was prompted by recent reports of brutality against civilians by government forces in the Kumbo town region of the Northwest Province. Dr. Levy reports that investigations and evidence gathering is ongoing against Lafrique and many others and that the SCSTCC will immediately start disseminating the particulars of the Lafrique dossier to accredited national and international war crimes units, international government organizations and will be laying criminal charges in third countries against the governor
The Special Tribunal Committee has received a mandate from several Ambazonian organizations and their supporters to collect evidence, carry out investigations, and prosecute using any and all means possible including the national courts of third countries and international tribunals. The Special Tribunal Committee will also contact other national war crimes units with their findings and will seek visa bans, asset forteitures and sanctions on implicated individuals and organizations.
The initial backers of the Special Tribunal include the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), the Southern Cameroons Defense Force (SOCADEF), the Ambazonia Governing Council (AGC), the African Peoples Liberation Movement (APLM), the Organization of Emerging African States (OEAS) and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.
For more information contact:
Dr. Jonathan Levy, Coordinator
Prof. Clement Chidi-Ife Chigbo, Deputy Coordinator
Tel +1 202 470 4337
Fax +1 202 478 1970
3 comments
Many frontline activists and the spokesperson for the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia have variously and jointly acknowledged that our country is NOT YET A RECOGNIZED SOVEREIGN STATE and therefore we are limited to the claims and actions that can be carried out, including initiating a lawsuit for prosecution. What good are accusations of high crimes without a follow up action to see the perpetrators pay for such crimes? Accusing Lele Lafrique, Paul Biya, Musongo, Nji Atanga and a long list of others for enabling and perpetrating brutality and murder against the people of the former British Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia is one thing. Actually having them prosecuted in any court right now as defenders against accusations brought on by persons of or on behalf of an unrecognized state is entirely another unrealistic venture. Read Comrade Don Wan-Obi’s excerpt from his 12 point Illusions and Realities write-up just a couple of days ago.
“CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY: There’s no court or political authority out there that will prosecute Paul Biya and Adolphe Lele Lafrique for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes on complaint launched by Southern Cameroonians or any private citizen. The interest of those who would cause such proceedings are either tied to the survival of “One Cameroon” or are against the independence of Southern Cameroons.”
At best we should continue to collect and archive evidence of war crimes and genocide but more importantly escalate the fight on all fronts for the achievement and recognition of the complete independence of Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia. Then and only then can we initiate prosecution of persons accused of the said crimes.
“There’s no court or political authority out there that will prosecute Paul Biya and Adolphe Lele Lafrique for genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes on complaint launched by Southern Cameroonians or any private citizen.” This is simply not true. Numerous prosecutions have been launched by third parties against various war criminals in Spain, France, the United States, Belgium and other countries. These alleged war criminals may also be civily sued, and subject to visa bans and sanctions. The idea is to prevent people from being killed, to deter war crimes and send a strong message that the killers will be held responsible. Waiting for trained extermination units like BIR to do their dirty business and then prosecuting is the game the UN plays. We must take action now and support the Amba people. War crimes are universal, no one can assert ownership over the, the crimes against the people of Ambazonia which offends all humanity.
JONATHAN LEVY-YOU ARE SHAME AND DISGRACE.THIS GROUP THAT YOU ARE SUPPORTING IS MADE UP OF PEOPLE WHO BARELY WORE CLOTHES 100 YEARS AGO UNTIL YOUR ANCESTORS AND COLONIOAL MASTERS PUT CLOTHES ON THEIER BACKS AND TAUGHT THEM THEIR LANGUAGES OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH.WHEN FRANCE AND ENDGLAND SHARED THE WAR BOOTY OF GERMANY,SOUTHERN CAMEROONS THAT SPEAKS ENGLISH WAS CREATED.THERE WAS SOME MARGINZALIZATION WHICH THE CAMEROON GOVEWRNMENT ADDRESSED ALBEIT GRUDGINGLY BUT GUESS WHAT?A BUNCH OF BIG DICK DYSFUCNTIONAL MISFITS IN CONFORMITY WITH THEIR GHETO AND JUNGLE INSTINCTS HIJACKED A STRIKE AND PROCEEDED TO DELCARE AN IMAGINARY REPUBLIC OF AMBAZONIA.THIS REPUBLIC IS NOT RECDOGNIZED B LET ALONE ANY HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL.THE UN AFFIRMS THAT SOUTHERN CAMEROONS INCLUDING BAKASSI FORM PART OF CAMEROON.IN NSO, THE PEOPLE REBEELED AND TRIED TO OVERTHROW THE GOVENRMWENT AFTER DETHRONIING THEIR KING AND DESECRATING ALL TRADITIONAL INSTITUTIONS ALL BECAUSE THE KING REFUSED TO ENDORSE THEIR UTOPIAN REPUBLIC.THEY THEN WENT ON THE RAMAPGE WITH THE ARMYCALLED IN TO PRESERVE ORDER BUT THEY BEHADED SOLDIERS AND FOUGHT CAT AND MOUSE BATTLES WITH THEM PROMPTING THE SOLDIERS TO DEFEND THEMESLVES WHICH THEY DO TILL TODAY.NOTE THAT THE NSO PEOPLE TOOKS SCAMPERED IN ALL DIRECTIONS WITH MOST NOW LIVING IN BUSHES.THINGS ARE NOT MITIGATED WITH COSNATCTNT ONLINE EMAILS INFLAMMING THE SITUATION WITH THE GRASS THAT IS BEING TRAMPLED ON BEING THE ORDINARY CITIZEN WHO DID NOT AKS FOR A DANE GUN WAR FOR AN IMAGINARY PUTATRIVE REPUBLIC BUT IS BEARING THE BRUNT OF THINGS.THEREFORE, YOU AS A JEW WHO KNOWS WHAT GENOCIDE MEANS CANNOT ACCUSE AN ADMINISTRATOR OF A FORE3IGN COUNTRY WHO IS MERELY DOING HIS JOB FOR GENOCIDE.DUEFOR THE REASON THAT THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTH WEST AND SOUTH WEST NEVER AUTHORIZED A BUNCH OF DYSFUCNTIONAL MISFITS A PACKING BIG DICKS TO DECLARE WAR ON CAMEROON AND AREVNOW DYING IN DROVES, YOU SHOULD INSTEAD SUE THE PUTATIVE AMABAZONIA REPUBLIC WHO ARE PAYING YOU!THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PEOPLE’S SUFFERINGS AND WE HAVE EMAILS TO PROVE THIS FACT.LELE L’AFRIQUE ADOLPHE WILL COUNTER SUE YOU FOR DAMAGES.YOU ARE ALSO CAUTIONED AND ADVISED TO DESIST FROM MATTERS INVOLVING POOR LAZY DIRTY MONKEYS FROM THE HEART OF DARKNESS.NOTHING GOOD COMES FROM AFRICA AND WE HAVE PERPETUATED THAT MYTH.MAZEL TOV!