Chronicles of the Anglophone Problem: An African Humanitarian Crises Masterminded and Executed from Geneva, Switzerland

On Friday, January 19, 2018, the Spokesman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), William Spindler, informed the world of Africa’s latest humanitarian tragedy, the refugee crisis in Southwest Cameroon. Speaking at a press briefing held at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Spindler told the world that more than ten thousand refugees(mostly women and children) had crossed the border from Cameroon to Nigeria and that “Thousands more are among the population of unregistered Cameroonians in neighbouring states.” The refugees are fleeing the murder, rape, abductions, torture and other atrocities of the army of Cameroon’s 84-year-old dictator, President Paul Biya, who has been in power for 35 years.
Spindler’s press conference will probably go down in history as the most ironical press conference of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and of Switzerland. In effect, the humanitarian crisis the United Nations High Commission for Refugees was announcing to the world was masterminded and set in motion right under the nose of the UN, at the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, a few blocks from the UN’s Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Facts
Here are the facts: On October 1st, 2017, the oppressed and marginalized English-speaking or Anglophone region of Cameroon (population, 8 million) declared symbolic independence from the Republic of Cameroon after 56 years of marginalization, second-class citizenship and political repression. This was a desperate measure taken in response to President Paul Biya’s refusal to entertain calls for dialogue or change from striking lawyers, teachers, students and other civil society groups from the oppressed English-speaking community. Biya swiftly shut down the Internet, arrested, tortured, and jailed civilian lawyers, teacher, and students, and charged them at the Yaoundé military Tribunal, on trumped up offenses that carry the death penalty. Biya’s 35 years in power are marked by intransigence, inflexibility, and the elimination of political opponents. 

Enter the Swiss Irony

It so happened that on that fateful day of the Anglophone symbolic declaration of independence in Cameroon, (October 1, 2017), President Paul Biya was staying at his favorite European resort, the InterContinental Hotel, 7-9 Chemin du Petit-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland. That is a stone’s throw from the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva. From the luxurious trappings of his Swiss presidential chalet, Biya ordered a bloody crackdown on unarmed civilian protesters in the English-speaking region of Cameroon.

Intercepted Military Logs from Cameroon

An intercepted and leaked military report sent to Biya in Geneva, Switzerland described how civilians were shot, and how helicopter gunships were used to fire fragmentation grenades on other unarmed civilians. The military report read in part:
[01/10 à 16:33] +237 99104845: Survol à basse altitude et largage des grenades F4 à partir des hélicos
Translation
[01/10 à 16:33] +237 99104845: Low altitude flight by helicopter gunships and dropping of F4 grenades [on unarmed civilians] from helicopters
(The telephone code: 237 is the country code for Cameroon. The rest is the military number from which the reports were sent to Biya in Switzerland).

Needless to say, hundreds of civilians were killed and buried in mass graves. That deadly helicopter and ground attack against civilians was the beginning of the refugee crisis in Cameroon that Mr. William Spindler, the Spokesman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) spoke about. Biya stayed in Switzerland until October 21, 2017, a period when scores of people were killed and thousands of refugees fled to Nigeria. The situation has worsened as a fledgling insurgency has killed soldiers and gendarmes in retaliation.

The question is whether the Swiss government, the European Union, and the United Nations knew about this humanitarian crisis BEFORE it began. The answer is affirmative. While the massacres were going on, a collective of English-speaking Cameroonians in the Diaspora wrote to the government of Switzerland, informing it that human rights violations were being planned and masterminded from its national territory. The European Union and the European Commissioner for Refugees was also informed, as were the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. The InterContinental Hotel and the major Swiss newspapers were copied on these correspondences. All efforts to warn the media and the international community about this unfolding humanitarian tragedy fell mostly on deaf ears. To their credit, Reuters, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Le Monde (France) published stories about the tragedy.

Swiss Government Response

When the Swiss government was alerted to the fact that President Biya was masterminding human rights violations and crimes against humanity from the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland (he stayed there roughly from September 25-October 21), a Swiss government official, Ambassador Anne Lugon-Moulin, Head of the Sub-Saharan Africa and Francophone Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, acknowledged in a letter to Cameroon Anglophones that President Biya did indeed have lengthy stays in Geneva, Switzerland on private and official business. She did not deny that he and his entourage were in Geneva during the period of the massacres. There are reports that Biya is heading back to Switzerland for another long stay, as refugees from his country head to Nigeria. The question is whether the Swiss government, which is a self-described champion of human rights, will continue to allow the dictator, who undoubtedly represents lucrative business for InterContinental Hotel and Swiss banks, to spend long periods of time in Switzerland, while he orders his soldiers and henchmen to transform Cameroon into a hellhole.

Mola Eko