Amnesty International, Survival protest Mbororo arrests

Two global human rights watchdogs, Amnesty International (AI) and Survival have protested the arrest of four activists of the Mbororo ethnic group in Cameroon's North West province, and launched a campaign for their release. AI said on Thursday that it was concerned over the safety of the detained activists who had been held without charge and faced further risk of torture or ill-treatment. The military, Survival added, arrested Ousman Haman, Ahmadou Hassan, Adamu Isa and Yunusa Mbagoji in April and May on the orders of a member of the ruling Cameroon Peoples' Democratic Movement. Ousman Haman was arrested near Sabga in Mezam judicial division. Under the law he could only be charged within Mezam, where English Common Law is in force. Instead he was taken to Bafoussam in another province to be tried by a military tribunal under French-based Cameroonian law. Ahmadou Hasan, Adamu Isa and Yunusa Mbagoji were arrested in the city of Douala for an alleged crime that occurred near Sabga in Mezam judicial division. They were transported first to Bamenda and then to Bafoussam to be tried in a military tribunal, the organizations said. All the four suffered various types of torture, AI and Survival said, adding that the arrests were part of human rights abuses against the Mbororo Fulani of the North West Province. The government had neither explained the reason for their arrests nor allowed them access to lawyers and their families. "Several weeks after their arrests, no charges have been brought against [them]. The four were arrested in relation to a dispute over grazing land. At no time since Cameroon gained independence in 1961 has any dispute over grazing land been taken to a military tribunal. The detention of the Mbororo men suggests a wider campaign of intimidation against this politically marginal ethnic group," Survival said. In 1986 a prominent businessman and a member of the ruling party central committee established two cattle ranches in the Boyo and Menchum divisions and reportedly forced some Mbororo out of their land without compensation, which made him the largest single private landowner in the province, AI said. "The Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association which was established on 1992 to protect Mbororo rights and promote development has been a particular target," it said. Survival is a London-based organisation that supports tribal peoples by campaigning for their rights. It helps to protect the lives, lands and human rights of the minority tribes. Details of the campaign are available at: http://www.survival-international.org