Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O.

Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

August 5, 2013 Ms. Fatou Bensouda Prosecutor International Criminal Court Post Office Box 19519 2500 CM, The Hague The Netherlands Re: Communication pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute requesting the investigation and prosecution of high-level Republique du Cameroun (LRC) officials including President Paul Biya for war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed against Anglophones in the territories of Southern Cameroons & Bakassi. Dear Ms. Bensouda, It is with utmost concern that we write to you on behalf of the Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute (EAHRHI) an organization dedicated to the promotion and defense of human rights in Africa. We urge your office to initiate an investigation and prosecution of high-level Camerounaise officials for the war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been carried out in the territories of Southern Cameroons and Bakassi in recent months, in accordance with the principles of direct and superior responsibility as laid out in Articles 25 and 28 of the Rome Statute. Such is the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis in Southern Cameroons, and such is the extent of the crimes that have been committed by the LRC gendarmes and affiliated forces, that the International Criminal Court is an appropriate and proper forum for ensuring accountability for these extremely serious human rights violations. For this reason we are providing you with

1|Page

EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

this preliminary communication, with a more detailed complaint to follow upon direct investigation by our human rights team. I. The Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute is firmly committed to helping the Office of the Prosecutor in its preliminary examination, investigation, and prosecution. The undersigned attorney works with and represents the Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute, a non-profit organization with a worldwide membership that was formed in order to counter human rights abuses taking place in Africa and promote human rights and civil society in Africa. One of its missions is to advocate on behalf of underrepresented individuals in the conflict zones of Africa. Its members include Africans, the African Diaspora and all concerned individuals and organizations. We are all mindful of the pressing need to bring human rights offenders to justice and prevention of international war crimes, and will commit all available resources in aiding the Office of the Prosecutor with its preliminary examination, its investigation, its aid to victims and its prosecution. The Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute is in a position to investigate human rights abuses in Southern Cameroons and neighboring regions and has a team on the ground to collect eyewitness and survivor testimony, to assemble expert opinions, and to furnish the type of evidence of widespread violations that could prove invaluable in the decision to prosecute. The Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute members have already been cataloguing human rights violations in the earnest hope that their work will prove of some value in holding the alleged criminals culpable for their crimes, so that these types of crimes can be properly investigated and if warranted prosecuted. We are able to work directly with all interested civil society parties involved in
2|Page
EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

Southern Cameroons including SCAPO (Southern Cameroons Peoples Organization), SCYL (Southern Cameroons Youth League), SCNC (Southern Cameroons National Council), GoSC (Government of Southern Cameroons), UNPO (Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization), BAMOSD (Bakassi Movement for Self-Determination) ,NwS (Nations without States) and OEAS (Organization of Emerging African States). Recalling that it is within your power to initiate an investigation proprio motu under Article 15 of the Rome Statute, the Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute is willing, able, and determined to assist the Office of the Prosecutor in the process of establishing that a reasonable basis exists upon which to proceed with an investigation into the matter at hand. An extensive complaint is being prepared, one which will detail the background to and nature of the war crimes and crimes against humanity that have recently been committed by the LRC and their allied military groups. Given the current situation on the ground, however, a preliminary communication was deemed appropriate to alert your office. II. The ICC has jurisdiction over the situation presented, and is the correct forum for the investigation and prosecution of the crimes outlined above. In accordance with Article 5 of the Rome Statute, the conduct in question constitutes criminal activity within the jurisdiction of the Court, meeting the criteria for classification as war crimes and crimes against humanity, those most serious crimes of concern to the international community [which] as a whole must not go unpunished. Article 7 of the Rome Statute provides for jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, which may include acts like murder, extermination, deportation or forcible transfer of population, rape, persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, and other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing
3|Page
EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. The LRC and its proxies have committed all of the above acts, as discussed above, and as will be demonstrated further in the forthcoming complaint. Under Article 8(1) of the Rome Statute, meanwhile, the Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes, the likes of which has been pursued by LRCs President Paul-Barthelemy Biya bi Mvondo. Article (8)(2)(a) includes such acts as willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, and unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement within the definition of war crimes. Article (8)(2)(b) likewise includes intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities and intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives as further examples of war crimes. These are acts that, as we have shown and will continue to show, have taken place on a daily basis in Southern Cameroons as carried out by LRC forces. The ICC has jurisdiction over the conduct in question, in accordance with the Statute's preconditions to the exercise of jurisdiction contained in Article 12(2)(a) and (b). Cameroun has accepted the jurisdiction of the court.

4|Page

EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

As will be set forth in far greater detail in subsequent communications, there is ample evidence demonstrating that highlevel Camerounaise officials have been orchestrating the commission of widespread human rights abuses with an eye to crushing any Southern Cameroons political movements. The war crimes and crimes against humanity that have taken place are not the result of misfeasance but of outright malfeasance, and must be addressed as such. For far too long have these individuals and those under their command been able to operate with impunity. Owing in no small part to the potential jurisdiction that the ICC can exercise over them, there is hope that their actions can be brought to an end. III. War crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed, and continue to be committed, by the LRC forces and its allies in the regions of Southern Cameroons and Bakassi Bakassi Region On April 4th, 2013, the Government of Southern Cameroons (GoSC) declared a State of Emergency in Bakassi after Camerounaise (LRC) gendarmes launched a massive attack on unarmed civilians at the town of Efut Obot Ikot. There were several dozen casualties and deaths and over ten thousand refugees crossed the border into Nigeria. The Camerounaise gendarmes went on a rampage of summary execution, rape, arson, and looting with the object of further terrorizing the populace. EAHRHI and its partners have dispatched teams to take victim statements, provide humanitarian aid and assess the damage however our people are subject to summary arrest and imprisonment should they be intercepted by the Camerounaise military. The unprovoked attack in Bakassi is but a prelude to the larger ethnic cleansing we fear will come. The Bakassi Peninsula is thought to be oil-rich and La Republique du Cameroun has signed contracts with Addax Petroleum, a division of the Sinopec
5|Page
EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

Company. Our investigation is not yet complete; however we are attaching some of the raw affidavits we have been able to obtain in the field indicating an organized effort to ethnically cleanse Anglophones from Bakassi and depopulate areas in advance of oil exploration. University of Buea Southern Cameroons An unknown but significant number of striking students most of them of Southern Cameroons origin have been summarily executed assaulted and detained by LRC gendarmes this year. The students have been branded criminals and are treated as such by military forces when in fact they are only seeking academic freedom. An estimated 4 dozen students have been detained and are being processed as criminals or civil miscreants and at least one or more murdered by police, and some sentenced to prison terms a process which lacks the very tenets of innocent until proven guilty. A typical affidavit collected by EAHRHI from student witnesses is attached. Summary Arrest and Southern Cameroons Detention of SCNC Activists at Kumbo,

On Saturday 27th July 2013 at about 2.30 pm a combined contingent of armed gendarmes and policemen invaded the premises of Mama Monica in Kumbo where over 120 delegates from the National Territory of Southern Cameroons were attending an SCNC National Council Meeting, chaired by Nfor Ngala Nfor, the Acting National Chairman of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC). The meeting had barely begun when the Security Men swept on the attendees and ransacked the home of Mama Monica. Nfor Ngala Nfor was recovering from surgery and requires emergency medication and nutritional support in the recovery process. The SCNC Members who were taken to different directions were finally dropped at 3 different locations for incarceration. At one prison, 30 men and 20 women have been cramped into one tiny
6|Page
EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

cell with no ventilation and water. The detainees were assaulted and tortured. Amongst the arrests is Pa Solomon Ngong (age 82) who is sick with no medical attention since his arrest. Mme Evelyn Angum who is heavily pregnant and under distress because of the tight room and poor sanitary facilities. We fear she may loose her baby if urgent medical attention is not provided. So far the Security and Administrative Authorities have not made any statement. It is a common phenomenon that each time such wanton arrests are made; members of the SCNC and other Southern Cameroons Movements and Organizations are usually subjected to many weeks or months of detention without charge or trial and held incommunicado. The meeting in question was organized to fill vacant positions in the National Executive Committee (NEXCO) and to organize a memorial mass at the St. Theresa Catholic Cathedral in Kumbo to honor Southern Cameroons activists who have dedicated their lives and work to the restoration and sovereignty of the Southern Cameroons nation. The Southern Cameroons National Council has made it their mission to bring autonomy to the Southern Cameroons nation and seek restitution for the ongoing persecution at the hands of the Camerounaise central government. Exactions by the State against the SCNC are numerous and recurrent, and often result in indefinite detention periods and postponed court hearings. The SCNC has obtained the names of eight detained Cameroons activists, not including Mr. Nfor Ngala Nfor. 1) Ntungia Michael, SCNC Northern Zone Chairman. 2) Tita Joseph, SCNC National Treasurer 3) Amadou Ndam Southern

7|Page

EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

4) Priscilia Khan [Her father was previously arrested, brutally tortured, falsely imprisoned, his toes chopped-off and left to die in jail without medical attention.] 5) Divine Dzekem 6) Pascaline Kinyuy Ndi 7) Steven Mounyo 8) Vivian Tangwa It is expected that some of the detainees will not survive the ordeal. The SCNC is a strictly non-violent organization whose motto is Force of Argument not Argument of Force and is of no threat to civil order. The SCNC however is one of several organizations and movements that advocate on behalf of Southern Cameroonians in a peaceful manner and is being persecuted for its belief that Southern Cameroonian Anglophones are entitled to equal civil and political rights. IV. Conclusion Since 1960, Southern Cameroonians have been discriminated against and subject to arbitrary arrest, torture, and murder at the hands of the Camerounaise governments military. The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights has previously offered its good offices to settle the dispute but has been turned down by LRC. (See ACHPR case no. 266/2003 Re: Kevin Ngwane Ngumne) In recent months the worsening situation in Southern Cameroons has intensified; due to internal Camerounaise political issues there is grave danger that the LRC government will initiate increased police actions against the Southern Cameroonians unless checked by international pressure. Additionally there are complicating factors in Bakassi in which the nationals of Southern Cameroons and Nigeria who call the Peninsula their Home
8|Page
EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)

Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute P. O. Box 1252 Upper Marlboro, MD 20773 United States of America www.eahrhi.org

have been given a deadline to accept Camerounaise citizenship or be forcefully deported from the stretch of islands. All inquiries, communications, and notices in this regard may be made through the undersigned counsel. Thank you in advance for your attention to this increasingly urgent matter. Sincerely,

Dr. Jonathan Levy, PhD. Attorney for: Ebenezer Akwanga Human Rights & Humanitarian Institute International Criminal Bar/ Barreau Pnal Member No. 100465 Brimstone & Co. Attorneys & Solicitors 1629 K Street NW Suite 300 Washington DC 20006 USA Tel/Fax 1-202-318-2406 chambers@brimstoneandcompany.com CONFIDENTIAL ATTACHMENTS: Witness Statements

9|Page

EAHRHI to ICC re: Republique du Cameroun (Paul Biya)