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TITLE:  CAMEROON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                            CAMEROON


Nominally a multiparty republic, Cameroon continues to be ruled
in fact by President Paul Biya and a circle of advisers drawn
largely from his own ethnic group and from his party, the
Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM).  The reigning
CPDM's power was last challenged in 1992 in relatively free
National Assembly elections and highly flawed presidential
elections.  The CPDM successfully dominates the National
Assembly through its controlling share of a ruling coalition
that has rendered the one significant opposition party in the
Assembly, the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP),
essentially powerless.  In addition, Cameroon's 1972
Constitution gives extraordinary powers to the President,
including the authority to govern by decree during the 10
months of each year when the Assembly is not in session.  Few
significant opposition measures ever come to a vote.

Internal security responsibilities are shared by the national
police, the National Intelligence Service (DGRE), the
gendarmerie, the Ministry of Territorial Administration
(MINAT), Military Intelligence (SEMIL), the army, and to a
lesser extent, the Presidential Security Service.  The police
and the gendarmerie have dominant roles in enforcing internal
security laws.  As in previous years, security forces committed
numerous and egregious human rights abuses.

Cameroon's economy has continued to contract dramatically,
despite abundant natural resources.  In January the much-needed
devaluation of the CFA currency, recommended by the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank went into
place.  While it provided a significant boost to agricultural
exports, city dwellers and salaried workers were badly
pinched.  Financially, the Government has a burdensome foreign
debt and runs a chronic budget deficit.  Its capacity to
collect revenues is hampered by widespread and long-standing
corruption and inefficiency.

The authorities continued to commit serious human rights
abuses, including a number of extrajudicial killings.  In at
least one case army troops, trying to control ethnic conflict
in Far North province and to deal with a serious problem of
banditry in that area, massacred civilians, including women and
children, in retaliation for attacks on troops by bandits.  In
numerous instances, the police and other members of the
security forces beat and tortured suspected criminals.  They
routinely beat prisoners throughout the country; in several
instances, they beat and abused opposition party activists to
intimidate and repress political activity.  The Government
rarely tries or punishes human rights abusers, thus creating a
climate of impunity in which the abuses continue to flourish.
The Government also restricted, to one degree or another,
almost all of the human rights discussed in this report,
including freedom of press and assembly, the right to a fair
trial, and the right to change the government.  The Government
has failed to carry out repeated promises to undertake
constitutional reform or hold multiparty elections.
Discrimination and violence against women remain a serious and
growing problem.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

While there were no killings known to have been politically
motivated, public security forces continued to be responsible
for a number of extrajudicial killings.  There were several
reliable reports of detainees having been beaten to death in
prisons around the country.  The most serious incidents
occurred in Far North province near the Chadian border, where
government security forces were called in to quell ethnic
violence between Choa Arabs and members of the Kotoko ethnic
group and to stamp out banditry.  Security forces were
responsible for arbitrary arrests of suspected perpetrators
and, in at least one case, for a retaliatory attack on a
village suspected of harboring them.

Malloum Eli, a Choa Arab arrested by government security forces
in late January in connection with an assault on government
security forces, which resulted in the death of nine soldiers,
reportedly died in detention at an army barracks in the village
of N'Djamena, Far North province.

In an apparently unrelated incident, three Choa Arabs, Harouna
Djidda, Allakhou Mahmat, and Issa Mahmat, died in the custody
of security forces shortly after their arrest on January 21 in
Far North province.  Djidda and Mahmat were credibly reported
to have been tortured to death, while the third, Issa Mahmat,
is reported to have been summarily shot.

On February 17, army troops, after an exchange of gunfire with
bandits, were credibly reported to have entered a village of
Choa Arabs in Far North province and to have massacred in
retaliation as many as 55 people, most of them women and
children, and wounded many others.  While local provincial
officials at first disputed the Choas' account of the incident,
admitting only that several villagers were injured during an
arms search, a report dated February 25 by a Far North
Provincial Commission found that a number of deaths had in fact
occurred.  Villagers claimed the army surrounded the village
and opened fire indiscriminately.  Military officials later
claimed that their troops had returned fire in self-defense.
It has not been possible to verify either side's account of the
events.  The National Commission on Human Rights and Liberties,
a government-appointed and funded group, did not have
sufficient funds to visit the site of the alleged massacre or
perform an investigation.

The Government is faced with a difficult situation in northern
Cameroon where several ethnic groups carry on banditry and
internecine disputes.  Chadians, some of them engaged in
banditry, generally move easily across the border.  There were,
however, reports that authorities arrested, mistreated, and
possibly killed detained Chadians suspected of illegal entry or
banditry.

On April 19, soldiers in Edea, Littoral province, arrested
Desire Nken for suspected burglary and tortured him to death at
a nearby military base the same day.  Photographs of his badly
beaten body were widely disseminated in the private press.  The
Government ostensibly investigated the incident but announced
no results.  During the night of May 25-26, a secondary school
student was shot to death during a riot by a gendarme in the
town of Nanga Eboko, Center province.  According to a report by
a Ministry of Education official who investigated the case,
gendarmes removed the student's body to their headquarters,
extracted the bullet, and stabbed the body to make it appear
that the boy had died during the riot by nonofficial means.  A
robbery suspect, Christian Pidi Ekoka, died on July 15 in the
custody of Douala gendarmes, following what the attending
physician determined to have been a severe beating that had
produced multiple injuries.

In September the head of a notorious special police unit that
has been widely and credibly accused of engaging in
extrajudicial arrests, tortures, and murders was arrested.
Credible reports indicate that his arrest was precipitated in
part by his extrajudicial activities.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reports of long-term disappearances.  However,
police and gendarmes frequently failed to inform detainees'
family members or attorneys of their whereabouts.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The Penal Code proscribes torture, renders inadmissible in
court evidence obtained thereby, and prohibits public servants
from using force against any person.  In spite of this, there
were many credible reports of security forces inflicting severe
beatings, systematic torture, and other inhuman treatment (see
Section l.a.).  Sanctions against those responsible are rare,
although the Government maintains that they face administrative
punishments which are not made public.  Public security forces
are credibly reported to operate a number of unofficial prisons
and torture centers of which one, the Chateau Americanos, is
particularly notorious.  These unofficial prisons have been
inaccessible to outside observers from the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or other humanitarian
organizations.

In November the authorities arrested and jailed two Yaounde
police officers after they allegedly stripped and beat a
submagistrate who had attempted, as part of his official
duties, to visit prisoners.  No public legal proceedings had
begun involving police officers by the end of the year.

Security forces habitually inflict degrading mistreatment on
detainees, including stripping, confinement in severely
overcrowded cells, and denial of access to toilets or other
sanitation facilities.  Police and gendarmes routinely beat
detainees to extract confessions and the names and whereabouts
of alleged criminals.  In particular, they often beat them on
the soles of their feet with an iron bar or whip them with a
reinforced rubber tube.

In July the government-supported National Commission on Human
Rights and Freedoms, with a grant from the Canadian Government,
sponsored a 3-day human rights conference for military and
police officers.  Some 70 officers attended.  In November the
ICRC sponsored a course on law and order and the code of
conduct in combat, which was attended by 30 instructors from
the army, marines, and gendarmerie.

On January 12, following a riot at the University of Yaounde,
security forces supported by helicopters sealed off the
University and attacked the students with tear gas, then
transported them to the infamous Chateau Americanos.  Many were
badly beaten before being released the next day.  In another
incident, a squad of gendarmes assaulted four activists in a
branch office of the opposition UNDP Party near Bot Maka,
Littoral province, as they returned from a party meeting on
April 30.  The four were badly beaten and left unconscious by
the roadside.

Similarly, on May 21, several members of the Progressive
Movement, an opposition party, were badly beaten by gendarmes
and riot police when they attempted to hold a meeting at the
Bamenda Omnisport Stadium in Douala.  The Government had
earlier banned the intended meeting.

On September 25, a U.S. resident of Yaounde was struck in the
face and kicked in the groin by a police officer when stopped
at a roadblock and accused of speeding.  Unusually, the victim
later received an official apology.  This incident typifies
police conduct at roadblocks.  It is widely believed that some
police have targeted expatriates for harassment in order to
extort money.

Prison conditions are life threatening, especially outside
major urban areas.  Between March and September, 21 inmates
died in an epidemic of typhoid and tuberculosis in Douala's
central prison.  There are serious deficiencies in food, health
care, and sanitation in almost all prisons.  Some traditional
rulers in Northern Cameroon continue to maintain private
prisons which operate outside the authority of the government
penitentiary system.  Prisoners are sometimes chained in their
cells.  Beatings are common, with numerous credible reports
appearing in the private press of prisoners having been burned
by cigarette butts or painfully suspended over iron bars.
Seriously ill prisoners are often denied adequate medical
care.  Juveniles and nonviolent prisoners are often
incarcerated together with violent adults.  Corruption among
prison personnel is widespread.  The ICRC doesn't visit prisons
because it is too infrequently allowed access to those
detainees in whom it is interested.  These include detainees
who are detained outside the official prison system.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Arbitrary, prolonged detention remains a serious problem.
Security forces failed to implement fully a Penal Code
requirement that detainees be brought promptly before a
magistrate and have held detainees incommunicado.

Police may detain a person in custody in connection with a
common crime for up to 24 hours before bringing charges.  That
period may be renewed three times.  However, the law only
provides for the right to a judicial review of the legality of
detention in a few areas of the country with an Anglophone
majority.  Elsewhere, the Francophone legal tradition applies,
precluding judicial authorities from acting on a case until the
administrative authority that ordered the detention turns the
case over to the prosecutor.  After a magistrate has issued a
warrant to bring the case to trial, he may hold the detainee in
"pretrial detention" indefinitely pending court action.
Furthermore, a 1990 law permits detention without charge for
renewable periods of 15 days "in order to combat banditry."
Persons taken into detention are frequently denied access to
both legal counsel and family members.  The law permits release
on bail only in the Anglophone provinces, where the legal
system includes features of British common law.  Even there,
bail is granted infrequently.

On July 30, the authorities arrested 28 members of the UNDP and
charged them with having fomented civil disorder as a result of
a riot in Maroua, North province, in which the motorcade of
Hamadou Moustapha, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Town
Planning, was attacked.  The Government claimed that the
detainees either participated in the attack or instigated it.
Leaders of the UNDP claimed that the detainees had nothing to
do with the attack and that the Government instigated the
attack as an excuse to arrest prominent members of the UNDP.
At the end of the year, the detainees remained in police
custody without any indication of when a trial would be held.
They were allowed access to attorneys.

The Government does not practice political exile.  Some
opposition members who considered themselves threatened by the
Government have voluntarily left the country and declared
themselves to be in political exile.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The court system is part of the executive branch of Government,
subordinate to the Ministry of Justice.  Magistrates are thus
subject, particularly in political cases, to government
direction.  Corruption is endemic, and in many cases a
favorable judgment goes to the highest bidder.  Some
politically sensitive cases are never heard.

Magistrates acknowledge that rendering a decision in a
political case that displeases the Government may result in
transfer to a less desirable position.  Because appointed
attorneys receive little compensation, the quality of legal
representation for indigent persons is often poor.  The Bar
Association and some voluntary organizations, such as the
Cameroonian Association of Female Jurists, offer pro bono legal
assistance in some cases.  Trials are public.

Traditional courts are important in rural areas.  Their
authority varies by region and ethnic group, but they are often
the arbiters of property and domestic disputes and may serve a
probate function as well.  Most traditional courts permit
appeal of their decisions to traditional authorities of higher
rank.

There were no known political prisoners, as distinct from
political detainees, at year's end.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

Both invasions of the home and tampering with correspondence
are illegal, but there were numerous credible reports that
police and gendarmes harassed citizens and conducted searches
without warrants.  Security forces, including police,
frequently set up roadblocks to extract bribes from travelers.
This longstanding practice appears to have increased as the
economy declined.  In June a high-ranking CPDM official
involved in a commercial dispute with a foreign citizen, rather
than resolve his dispute through legal means, employed the
police to seize the citizen's property unlawfully.  The foreign
citizen then sought redress through the courts.  At year's end,
the dispute remained before the courts without resolution.

On August 23, the national police breached accepted diplomatic
immunity in forcibly entering U.S. Government diplomatic
property (USAID and Administrative Compound) in Yaounde,
removing three vehicles and miscellaneous items.  The bailiff
claimed he had authority to seize the property pursuant to a
court decision.  The bailiff also claimed to have an order of
execution (warrant) signed by the Attorney General.  Police and
bailiffs again forcibly entered the grounds on August 26 and
again attempted to seize U.S. Government property.  The Embassy
in both instances protested vigorously this violation of
diplomatic immunity and twice received high-level apologies.
Government officials repeatedly promised that the vehicles
would be returned to the Embassy, but at year's end their
return was still pending.

There were numerous credible reports that the Government kept
some opposition activists and dissidents under surveillance.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

Although the Constitution provides for freedom of expression
and press, these liberties are not always respected.  In 1990 a
new law established more liberal regulations to begin
publication of newspapers and magazines.  That law, however,
formally enshrined prepublication censorship and granted the
Ministry of Territorial Administration the authority to suspend
or revoke the right to publish.  The law also provided for the
licensing of private radio and television stations, but at the
end of 1994, no licenses had been granted, and the Government
retained complete control of the electronic media.  Public
servants employed by the official media face retribution for
openly criticizing the Government, as in the case of numerous
radio and television journalists who have been transferred to
less desirable assignments for remarks that the Government
considered critical.

The Government publishes an official newspaper, the Cameroon
Tribune, and determines the content of radio and television
broadcasts.  Nevertheless, Government reporters sometimes write
articles which implicitly criticize the ruling party or portray
government programs in an unfavorable light.  The government-
controlled broadcast media provide disproportionately greater
attention to CPDM functions, than to opposition events.

Approximately 40 to 50 private newspapers are published, most
only sporadically.  These newspapers are often outspoken in
their criticism of the Government and the President, but
newspapers are not read widely outside the major cities.
Censorship declined and was suspended completely for a period
of about 6 weeks following a national communications conference
in late August.  By mid-October, however, censorship was
reinstituted, and police posted at printing plants to enforce
it.  The Government continued to censor articles or newspapers
that it considered libelous or a threat to the public order.
As in earlier years, authorities seized or restricted articles
critical of the Government and its supporters.

By year's end, the Government had censored 73 individual
articles, seized 7 issues of various newspapers, and suspended
3 newspapers for periods ranging from 1 to 3 months.  During
the course of the year police arrested or intimidated several
journalists and editors.

Authorities detained publishers and editors for publication of
unfavorable news and commentary about the Government.  For
example, on January 7, police arrested Ndzana Seme, publisher
of Le Nouvel Independant, following an interview with
Presidency Secretary General Joseph Owona in which Owona was
quoted as having made unfavorable comments about the Bamileke
ethnic group.  Police held Seme for 3 days without charges in
three different Yaounde police stations.  His newspaper was
suspended for 2 months.  Seme's wife was not notified of his
arrest, nor was she permitted to visit him.  Ndzana Seme was
arrested again on October 14 on charges of inciting public
disorder and of slander against President Biya.  The charges
were precipitated, apparently, by a series of articles dealing
with inner circle political scandals in the Government.  The
arresting authorities, however, cited no specific offending
article.  After being held without bail for 2 1/2 months, his
case was heard on December 23.  He was found guilty on both
counts, and fined approximately $900, given a 1-year suspended
prison sentence, and placed on probation for the next 3 years.

Although there are no legal restrictions on academic freedom,
it is generally believed that there are state security
informants on university campuses.  Some professors believe
that their political viewpoints and activism have had a
negative impact on professional opportunities and advancement.
Free political discussion at the university is dampened by the
presence of armed security forces, as well as the sometimes
strident pro-opposition groups.  In July newly appointed
Minister of Higher Education Peter Agbor Tabi decreed that
university lecturers would not be permitted to depart Cameroon
without his specific authorization.  In at least one instance,
a departing professor was removed from an airplane destined for
Bangui by security forces and forbidden to leave the country.
The Education Minister's apparent primary purpose in initiating
the travel ban, which has not been tested in court, was to stem
the outward flow of trained cadres rather than inhibit the
movement of political opponents.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Freedom of assembly and association are provided for in law but
restricted in practice.  The Penal Code prohibits public
meetings, demonstrations, or processions without prior
government approval.  Some 90 political parties operated
legally, albeit with severe restrictions, along with a growing
number of civic associations.

The Government severely hindered the ability of opposition
parties to operate, generally by refusing them permission to
hold meetings on various technicalities.  While the Government
insisted that political parties were permitted to hold meetings
if they had obtained a permit, it frequently denied permits on
the grounds that the proposed meetings threatened public
order.  Through such means, the Government prohibited the UNDP
from holding meetings in its stronghold of Adamaoua and the
North provinces, following a riot in Maroua in late July.
Although the ban on meetings included all parties, the
directive was clearly aimed at the UNDP.

Similarly, the Government in August banned meetings by the
Social Democratic Front (SDF) Party, and several times
prohibited the Progressive Movement Party from holding a rally
in Douala.  Various bans and interdictions effectively limited
the ability of opposition parties and coalitions to function
normally.  On November 26, government security forces broke up
a rally in Bafoussam by members of the Allied Front for Change,
a coalition of 16 opposition political parties.  Police
prevented John Fru Ndi, the head of the coalition, from
entering the city to lead the rally and arrested several
coalition activists.  The Government asserted that, as the
coalition is not a legally recognized political party, it does
not have the right to stage rallies.  The Government permitted
the Allied Front for Change to hold an end-of-year rally in
Yaounde on December 29, but discouraged attendance through
intimidation tactics, such as roadblocks on routes leading into
Yaounde, a heavy police presence around the stadium venue, and
helicopters circling over the stadium.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

The Government generally does not restrict freedom of
religion.  A religious group must be approved and registered
with the Ministry of Territorial Administration in order to
function legally.  There were no reports of Government
harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses, although the Government has
not returned properties confiscated in 1970.  The Witnesses are
free to build new places of worship.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

The law does not restrict freedom of movement within the
country, but the Government does in fact impede domestic
travel.  Police frequently stop travelers to check
identification documents, vehicle registrations, and tax
receipts as security and immigration control measures.  With
increasing frequency, police demanded illegal payments from
citizens at roadblocks or other points.

Although most opposition leaders traveled freely, some
political activists faced restrictions.  The Government, for
instance, occasionally used its passport control function to
prevent dissidents from leaving the country.  In February, for
example, Charly Gabriel Mbock, the national campaign manager
for the SDF, was prevented from traveling to Benin where he was
to represent his party at a conference.  Airport special police
questioned Mbock for several hours under the apparent pretext
that he was wanted for a criminal offense and freed him only
after his flight had departed.  In several instances,
opposition parties erected roadblocks or otherwise impeded free
movement of the public.

Cameroon has long served as a safe haven for displaced persons
and refugees from the region.  The Government estimates the
total number of displaced Africans, mostly Chadians, at
45,000.  Although Cameroon occasionally returns illegal Chadian
immigrants, there were no reports of forced repatriation of
recognized refugees.  Some illegal immigrants have been
subjected to harsh treatment, including imprisonment (see