Refuge Network International, a humanitarian NGO working with refugees in Africa, recently paid a visit to two African migrant camps in Morocco. The RNT team visited refugees in the border town of Oujda and another large camp in the ancient Moroccan town of Fes where we encountered hundreds of disillusioned suffering Sub-Saharan African migrants stranded in Morocco on their way to Europe. The camps where they call home are segmented into small groups of ram shackled tents, composed of the main nationalities represented within the community. Cameroonians constitute the largest groups in both camps. Yaya, leader of the Oujda Cameroon camp group, informed us that there are over 200 Cameroonian refugees living there. We also found large numbers of Nigerians, Ghanaians, Gambians, Malians, Guineans and other French speaking Africans in the two locations. Conditions in these camps are so bad that even animals might find it challenging surviving there. All that separates the inhabitants from the harsh unforgiving North African weather are small improvised huts made up of a combination of polyethylene material, cardboard paper, pieces of stones, sticks and damaged car tyres. There are no toilets, no clearly defined cooking areas, no medical facilities, no electricity supply, no pipe borne water, and absolutely no proper infrastructure whatsoever. When they need to answer the call of nature, they simply do it out in the open field right next to where they sleep, shielded only by tall grasses and a few trees. Cooking is also done in the open with dry wood collected from the area. 

It is difficult to comprehend how these people survive from day to day. There are men, women, and children eating, sleeping and somehow carving out an existence there. Without proper documentation and without jobs, their options are pretty limited. The majority spend the day begging for money from passing cars in town. Time is also spent scavenging for food at the Medina. The situation is so depressing that it has left some mentally deranged. Though Moroccan society as well as the authorities is generally tolerant in their attitudes towards migrants, some undocumented Africans interviewed, complained of persecution and victimization by certain elements of the Moroccan police. A number of them had terrible physical scars sustained from brutal beatings. There were also allegations of unlawful confiscation and theft of their phones and money by law enforcement agents. Minor instances of racial discrimination were also reported.

With a view to addressing the huge refugee crisis in the country, the Moroccan government recently initiated a migrant integration programme aimed at regularizing the status of thousands of illegal immigrants in Morocco. Based on meeting certain stipulated pre-requisites, about 18 thousand undocumented persons were granted the right to legal residency. However, this liberal gesture has sadly not changed the many thousands who were not affected by the documentation exercise. Many are still living like animals on the fringes of the Moroccan society with no hope of going forward towards Europe, no funds to go back to their own countries, and no prospect of settling down permanently in Morocco.

Charles Gimoh                                                                       

Refuge Network International

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Jul.2015

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Refuge Network International, a humanitarian NGO working with refugees in Africa, recently paid a visit to two African migrant camps in Morocco. The RNT team visited refugees in the border town of Oujda and another large camp in the ancient Moroccan town of Fes where we encountered hundreds of disillusioned suffering Sub-Saharan African migrants stranded in Morocco on their way to Europe. The camps where they call home are segmented into small groups of ram shackled tents, composed of the main nationalities represented within the community. Cameroonians constitute the largest groups in both camps. Yaya, leader of the Oujda Cameroon camp group, informed us that there are over 200 Cameroonian refugees living there. We also found large numbers of Nigerians, Ghanaians, Gambians, Malians, Guineans and other French speaking Africans in the two locations. Conditions in these camps are so bad that even animals might find it challenging surviving there. All that separates the inhabitants from the harsh unforgiving North African weather are small improvised huts made up of a combination of polyethylene material, cardboard paper, pieces of stones, sticks and damaged car tyres. There are no toilets, no clearly defined cooking areas, no medical facilities, no electricity supply, no pipe borne water, and absolutely no proper infrastructure whatsoever. When they need to answer the call of nature, they simply do it out in the open field right next to where they sleep, shielded only by tall grasses and a few trees. Cooking is also done in the open with dry wood collected from the area. 

It is difficult to comprehend how these people survive from day to day. There are men, women, and children eating, sleeping and somehow carving out an existence there. Without proper documentation and without jobs, their options are pretty limited. The majority spend the day begging for money from passing cars in town. Time is also spent scavenging for food at the Medina. The situation is so depressing that it has left some mentally deranged. Though Moroccan society as well as the authorities is generally tolerant in their attitudes towards migrants, some undocumented Africans interviewed, complained of persecution and victimization by certain elements of the Moroccan police. A number of them had terrible physical scars sustained from brutal beatings. There were also allegations of unlawful confiscation and theft of their phones and money by law enforcement agents. Minor instances of racial discrimination were also reported.

With a view to addressing the huge refugee crisis in the country, the Moroccan government recently initiated a migrant integration programme aimed at regularizing the status of thousands of illegal immigrants in Morocco. Based on meeting certain stipulated pre-requisites, about 18 thousand undocumented persons were granted the right to legal residency. However, this liberal gesture has sadly not changed the many thousands who were not affected by the documentation exercise. Many are still living like animals on the fringes of the Moroccan society with no hope of going forward towards Europe, no funds to go back to their own countries, and no prospect of settling down permanently in Morocco.

Charles Gimoh                                                                       

Refuge Network International

 

 

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Jul.2015

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Anglophone Lawyers recently gave an ultimatum to the Cameroonian dictator President Paul Biya to decree a new rebirth of bilingualism in the country. The Anglophone legal brains stated inter alia that "what is at stake is our Anglophone dignity". Although the Republic of Cameroon has an official policy of bilingualism, it is in reality very much a Francophone country. We of this publication believe this is not just because more than three-quarters of its population belong to the French-speaking regions but especially because English is neither protected nor encouraged officially. Evidently, Anglophones must learn French to survive in Cameroon while Francophones feel very much at home and have no need to learn English because public affairs are conducted in French.

Ever since reunification, Anglophones have struggled with this discrimination but Francophone rulers backed by France have blatantly refused to make any concession. With the apparent failure of the All Anglophone Conference, the Southern Cameroons National Council including the Southern Cameroons Youth League to champion the secession of Southern Cameroons territory from La Republique du Cameroun, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers who seek both to maintain and promote the Anglophoneness of Southern Cameroons took yet another decisive step in the direction of forcing the 82 years old head of state into enacting legislation that would make it possible for Anglophone Cameroonians to smile again in the United Republic of Cameroon. To the lawyers, Biya must solve the Anglophone problem!

In a strongly worded document sent to the presidency of the republic, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers revealed that English and French were official languages of equal value. To be sure, the Anglophone Lawyers petition called for special responsibility for the promotion of bilingualism in every sector of the country.  However, anyone who knows how Anglophones conduct themselves in Cameroon finds the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers action as yet another loud sounding nothing threat coming from a desperate group of people described by our chief political reporter as merely “seeking for notice”.

Who are these lawyers? Who are their leaders? Who do they represent and what do they stand for? How could Anglophone Lawyers be addressing a petition or better still, an ultimatum to a monstrous liability of a head of state who himself has little regard for English because he has never addressed the nation in this other official language? Can Biya be trusted to deliver faced with the lawyer’s ultimatum or is it just the normal hot air tactics inherited from the SCNC? Anglophones have been eagerly looking forward to what the lawyer’s statement will amount to in practice. We of Cameroon Concord do not want Southern Cameroonians particularly those in the Diaspora to build up false hopes.

From Bamenda to Buea, our cream of intelligence officers have revealed that contrary to what the lawyers told the world, the delay in getting a leader for the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers is centred on the North West/South West divide politics. In similar obedience to conscience, we questioned Barristers Agbor Balla and Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy at OIC in Buea last month and both men shied away from the issue of leadership. If Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers have so belatedly decided to revamp the Anglophone struggle, they should better do so with the necessary boldness and far-sightedness that a new beginning deserves.

Good luck

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Ngwa Bertrand

06.Jul.2015

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Anglophone Lawyers recently gave an ultimatum to the Cameroonian dictator President Paul Biya to decree a new rebirth of bilingualism in the country. The Anglophone legal brains stated inter alia that "what is at stake is our Anglophone dignity". Although the Republic of Cameroon has an official policy of bilingualism, it is in reality very much a Francophone country. We of this publication believe this is not just because more than three-quarters of its population belong to the French-speaking regions but especially because English is neither protected nor encouraged officially. Evidently, Anglophones must learn French to survive in Cameroon while Francophones feel very much at home and have no need to learn English because public affairs are conducted in French.

Ever since reunification, Anglophones have struggled with this discrimination but Francophone rulers backed by France have blatantly refused to make any concession. With the apparent failure of the All Anglophone Conference, the Southern Cameroons National Council including the Southern Cameroons Youth League to champion the secession of Southern Cameroons territory from La Republique du Cameroun, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers who seek both to maintain and promote the Anglophoneness of Southern Cameroons took yet another decisive step in the direction of forcing the 82 years old head of state into enacting legislation that would make it possible for Anglophone Cameroonians to smile again in the United Republic of Cameroon. To the lawyers, Biya must solve the Anglophone problem!

In a strongly worded document sent to the presidency of the republic, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers revealed that English and French were official languages of equal value. To be sure, the Anglophone Lawyers petition called for special responsibility for the promotion of bilingualism in every sector of the country.  However, anyone who knows how Anglophones conduct themselves in Cameroon finds the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers action as yet another loud sounding nothing threat coming from a desperate group of people described by our chief political reporter as merely “seeking for notice”.

Who are these lawyers? Who are their leaders? Who do they represent and what do they stand for? How could Anglophone Lawyers be addressing a petition or better still, an ultimatum to a monstrous liability of a head of state who himself has little regard for English because he has never addressed the nation in this other official language? Can Biya be trusted to deliver faced with the lawyer’s ultimatum or is it just the normal hot air tactics inherited from the SCNC? Anglophones have been eagerly looking forward to what the lawyer’s statement will amount to in practice. We of Cameroon Concord do not want Southern Cameroonians particularly those in the Diaspora to build up false hopes.

From Bamenda to Buea, our cream of intelligence officers have revealed that contrary to what the lawyers told the world, the delay in getting a leader for the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers is centred on the North West/South West divide politics. In similar obedience to conscience, we questioned Barristers Agbor Balla and Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy at OIC in Buea last month and both men shied away from the issue of leadership. If Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers have so belatedly decided to revamp the Anglophone struggle, they should better do so with the necessary boldness and far-sightedness that a new beginning deserves.

Good luck

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

06.Jul.2015

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Anglophone Lawyers recently gave an ultimatum to the Cameroonian dictator President Paul Biya to decree a new rebirth of bilingualism in the country. The Anglophone legal brains stated inter alia that "what is at stake is our Anglophone dignity". Although the Republic of Cameroon has an official policy of bilingualism, it is in reality very much a Francophone country. We of this publication believe this is not just because more than three-quarters of its population belong to the French-speaking regions but especially because English is neither protected nor encouraged officially. Evidently, Anglophones must learn French to survive in Cameroon while Francophones feel very much at home and have no need to learn English because public affairs are conducted in French.

Ever since reunification, Anglophones have struggled with this discrimination but Francophone rulers backed by France have blatantly refused to make any concession. With the apparent failure of the All Anglophone Conference, the Southern Cameroons National Council including the Southern Cameroons Youth League to champion the secession of Southern Cameroons territory from La Republique du Cameroun, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers who seek both to maintain and promote the Anglophoneness of Southern Cameroons took yet another decisive step in the direction of forcing the 82 years old head of state into enacting legislation that would make it possible for Anglophone Cameroonians to smile again in the United Republic of Cameroon. To the lawyers, Biya must solve the Anglophone problem!

In a strongly worded document sent to the presidency of the republic, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers revealed that English and French were official languages of equal value. To be sure, the Anglophone Lawyers petition called for special responsibility for the promotion of bilingualism in every sector of the country.  However, anyone who knows how Anglophones conduct themselves in Cameroon finds the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers action as yet another loud sounding nothing threat coming from a desperate group of people described by our chief political reporter as merely “seeking for notice”.

Who are these lawyers? Who are their leaders? Who do they represent and what do they stand for? How could Anglophone Lawyers be addressing a petition or better still, an ultimatum to a monstrous liability of a head of state who himself has little regard for English because he has never addressed the nation in this other official language? Can Biya be trusted to deliver faced with the lawyer’s ultimatum or is it just the normal hot air tactics inherited from the SCNC? Anglophones have been eagerly looking forward to what the lawyer’s statement will amount to in practice. We of Cameroon Concord do not want Southern Cameroonians particularly those in the Diaspora to build up false hopes.

From Bamenda to Buea, our cream of intelligence officers have revealed that contrary to what the lawyers told the world, the delay in getting a leader for the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers is centred on the North West/South West divide politics. In similar obedience to conscience, we questioned Barristers Agbor Balla and Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy at OIC in Buea last month and both men shied away from the issue of leadership. If Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers have so belatedly decided to revamp the Anglophone struggle, they should better do so with the necessary boldness and far-sightedness that a new beginning deserves.

Good luck

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

06.Jul.2015

Hits: 2164

Write comment (0 Comments)

Anglophone Lawyers recently gave an ultimatum to the Cameroonian dictator President Paul Biya to decree a new rebirth of bilingualism in the country. The Anglophone legal brains stated inter alia that "what is at stake is our Anglophone dignity". Although the Republic of Cameroon has an official policy of bilingualism, it is in reality very much a Francophone country. We of this publication believe this is not just because more than three-quarters of its population belong to the French-speaking regions but especially because English is neither protected nor encouraged officially. Evidently, Anglophones must learn French to survive in Cameroon while Francophones feel very much at home and have no need to learn English because public affairs are conducted in French.

Ever since reunification, Anglophones have struggled with this discrimination but Francophone rulers backed by France have blatantly refused to make any concession. With the apparent failure of the All Anglophone Conference, the Southern Cameroons National Council including the Southern Cameroons Youth League to champion the secession of Southern Cameroons territory from La Republique du Cameroun, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers who seek both to maintain and promote the Anglophoneness of Southern Cameroons took yet another decisive step in the direction of forcing the 82 years old head of state into enacting legislation that would make it possible for Anglophone Cameroonians to smile again in the United Republic of Cameroon. To the lawyers, Biya must solve the Anglophone problem!

In a strongly worded document sent to the presidency of the republic, the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers revealed that English and French were official languages of equal value. To be sure, the Anglophone Lawyers petition called for special responsibility for the promotion of bilingualism in every sector of the country.  However, anyone who knows how Anglophones conduct themselves in Cameroon finds the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers action as yet another loud sounding nothing threat coming from a desperate group of people described by our chief political reporter as merely “seeking for notice”.

Who are these lawyers? Who are their leaders? Who do they represent and what do they stand for? How could Anglophone Lawyers be addressing a petition or better still, an ultimatum to a monstrous liability of a head of state who himself has little regard for English because he has never addressed the nation in this other official language? Can Biya be trusted to deliver faced with the lawyer’s ultimatum or is it just the normal hot air tactics inherited from the SCNC? Anglophones have been eagerly looking forward to what the lawyer’s statement will amount to in practice. We of Cameroon Concord do not want Southern Cameroonians particularly those in the Diaspora to build up false hopes.

From Bamenda to Buea, our cream of intelligence officers have revealed that contrary to what the lawyers told the world, the delay in getting a leader for the Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers is centred on the North West/South West divide politics. In similar obedience to conscience, we questioned Barristers Agbor Balla and Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy at OIC in Buea last month and both men shied away from the issue of leadership. If Cameroon Anglophone Lawyers have so belatedly decided to revamp the Anglophone struggle, they should better do so with the necessary boldness and far-sightedness that a new beginning deserves.

Good luck

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

06.Jul.2015

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