In a letter addressed to President Paul Biya dated 12th December 2019, the US congress has expressed dissatisfaction in the way the government of Cameroon is handling the Anglophone Crisis.
According to them, the situation is not getting any better as the Cameron Government herself recently asserted. drawing more data from the recent United Nations publication in November 2019 according to which, over 2000 people have died, Over 710.000 Internally displaced, more than 44,000 seeking refuge in Nigeria, 2.6Millions people in dying need of humanitarian assistance in the two affected regions and over 855.000 children unable to enjoy their right to education, given the fact that so many internally attempted solutions to solve the problem have all failed, The US congress thus advised the Government of Cameroon to demonstrate political will by engaging in the Swiss-led facilitation process in which both parties of the conflict can openly dialogue without pre-conditions to come out with a long-lasting solution.
see letter below
The US Congress, however, congratulated the government for some light gestures amongst which are the released of the some imprisoned anglophones and members of the MRC political party with their leader professor Maurice Kamto. But insist military means cannot solve the anglophone problem. they added that Despite rights violations by non-state armed groups, “a broad spectrum of international and domestic experts disagree with the Cameroon government’s assertion that non-state armed groups are responsible for most of the violence”.Among other grave happenings, “Soldiers have raped women either for opportunistic or punitive reasons” it adds, explaining that some persons authority too misused their power at several instances especially during the registration for next year’s twin election.
Read more in the letter below
They concluded by stating that many of them in congress are assessing US policies towards Cameroon. Reminding the government of the fact that the United States recently terminated the designation of Cameroon as a beneficiary of sub-Saharan African Country under The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for reason of non-respect of human rights And equally the withdrawal of US military aid to Cameroon in February 2019 for a similar issue of human right violation. according to them, The US-Cameroon relationship strongly on Cameroon’s willingness to engage in a sincere and frank dialogue in which they believe can bring a long-lasting solution and facilitate the displaced people to return and build their homes, children go back to school and economic activities return to normal
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