United States Asks Biya’s Regime to Respect Constitution, Stop Torture

Culled from Cameroon Journal

United States Asks Biya's Regime to Respect Constitution, Stop Torture

UB student tortured by armed Cameroonian police in Buea yesterday.
UB student tortured by armed Cameroonian police in Buea yesterday.
November 29, 2016

Cameroon Journal, Washington D.C – John Kirby, U.S Assistant Secretary
and Department Spokesperson, Bureau of Public Affairs has issued a
statement of disapproval on how the Paul Biya regime in Cameroon is
brutally suppressing dissent from protesting Cameroonians in the two
English speaking regions of Bamenda and Buea. The statement, issued
yesterday Nov. 28, reminds Cameroon authorities that the country's
constitution guarantees



freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. It
questions, however, why citizens are being arrested and molested for
exercising same freedoms. The full text of the statement bellow:

"The United States is deeply concerned by the loss of life, injuries
and damage as a result of protests that turned violent in Bamenda and
Buea, the respective capitals of Cameroon's Northwestern and
Southwestern regions. We call on all parties to exercise restraint,
refrain from further violence, and engage in dialogue for a peaceful
resolution to the current protests.

The United States urges the Government of Cameroon to protect and
defend human rights and fundamental freedoms, ensure that all voices
are heard and respected, and preserve the guarantees enshrined in its
constitution and international obligations. Apart from the events in
Bamenda and Buea, we are also concerned over recent Cameroonian
government actions to



restrict free expression and peaceful assembly, including ten-year
prison sentences for men who exchanged texts referencing Boko Haram
and the arrest of 54 members of the opposition Cameroon People's Party
while they were peacefully conducting a party meeting.

The constitution of Cameroon guarantees freedoms of expression,
association and peaceful assembly, and we believe that non-threatening
rhetoric and activities – especially private conversations and
gatherings – warrant neither prosecution nor government censure."

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