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Misanet.com / IPS, 21 March - A wave of angry demonstrations is sweeping across Cameroon's economic capital Douala, sparked by public outrage over the removal of nine Cameroonian youths from their homes by security forces, earlier connected to extrajudicial killings in Cameroon. The minors are believed to have been summarily executed. According to the group Christian Action Against Torture (ACAT), the youths were taken to the station house of the Corps of Gendarmes of Littoral province on 23 January, and then transferred to the post of the Operational Command, where they were summarily executed. Their names can now be added to the long list of innocent people killed by the Operational Command, an elite army unit that was recently dissolved by President Paul Biya. According to accounts supplied by relatives of the victims who were eyewitnesses to the events, the missing were accused by a neighbour, Annick Souki, of having stolen her canister of household gas. In all, nine youths were forcibly transported to the Corps of Gendarmes station house in Bonanjo, a Douala neighborhood. They were Marc Etaha, Frederic Ngouffo, Chatry Kuete, Eric Chia, Jean Roger Tchiwan, Charles Kouatou, Chia Effician, Elysee Kouatou and Fabrice Kuate. During their detention at the gendarmerie, the youths were visited by their families and allowed to correspond with them. They complained that they were being tortured and mistreated by uniformed guards. "They beat us constantly. We have bruises all over our bodies," they wrote. Two days later, they were transferred to the Operational Command station located in the second military region of Douala's Bonanjo neighbourhood. On 28 January, all communication from the prisoners ceased. Since then, the parents have had no word from them and have received no information as to the fate of their children. "We tried several times to contact authorities to get some information. But our attempts were in vain. No one ever responded to our many requests. We even greased the palm of some officers hoping they'd tell us where our children are. One of them bluntly told us to make funeral arrangements," confided one woman whose two children have gone missing. The victims' parents are in mourning, convinced that their children are dead. The ACAT supports this supposition. In a communique, the ACAT said that the nine youths were taken from the Operational Command post with 41 others, and were undressed, tied up, and taken to a spot where they were executed. "They were killed in cold blood and their bodies were mutilated with acid. It occurred sometime during the nights between 31 January and 8 February 200l," ACAT specified. This troubling revelation has once again served to dishearten parents and friends of the victims who, in spite of rumours saying they had been executed, were holding out hopes of eventually finding them alive. Marches and demonstrations organised to protest the executions immediately took on a more desperate quality. The demonstrators, supported by many politicians, papered the Place du Defile du 8 Mars, named in honour of International Women's Day, with leaflets about the missing youths. On the main roads leading into the city, more leaflets were distributed, urging people to "refuse cowardice and fight back". Police quickly counterattacked and beat the tearful mothers of the victims. A representative of Littoral province's governor was forced to make a quick exit before the march was officially over. As a safety precaution, the Committee for the Defence of the Nine Disappeared (C9) postponed its own march until 11 March. But the police didn't seem to care about such prudence. As with the previous demonstrations, their anti-riot truck sprang into action and sprayed water mixed with teargas on the crowd, estimated at more than 500. The boldest of the demonstrators were whipped. The final casualty toll was five seriously injured, including Anicet Akane, an opposition politician who was supporting the demonstrators. Three other demonstrators are now themselves missing. But the C9 seems determined to pull out all the stops, in spite of attempts by the government to intimidate them. - We will not back down, we will march ... every Sunday ... until we get the truth, Bethuel Kouaou, the C9 spokesperson, said after that incident. The C9 also led a group of protesters to the home Annick Souki, who has been missing since the affair turned sour. Her house was sacked by the demonstrators. The public is demanding the truth, and is wondering why the authorities are keeping mum as to where the missing parties were taken. Captain Aba Ndzengue of the Corps of Gendarmes of Littoral province, and Commander Bobo Ousmanou, the chief of staff of the Operational Command post, are the only two in the government to have broken the silence, telling a local newspaper that "the nine young people were members of a gang of thugs which had long been tailed by the security forces." But the two officers have not yet revealed the whereabouts of the nine or of their bodies. - If the boys were executed, where are their bodies? Can't human decency be observed even in death, even if they were criminals? asked Cardinal Christian Tumi, an official of the Archdiocese of Douala. In an interview with Jeune Afrique Economique last September, Cardinal Tumi told the publication that 500,000 Cameroonians have been executed by the Operational Command. According to the national media, the death toll is somewhat higher, and they state that the missing individuals were taken out in groups and shot in the back in a military quarry in Log-badjeck, a town on the Douala-Yaoundé road. Their bodies were then covered in acid to mask their identities and shoved into a ditch dug expressly for this purpose with road-building equipment, the press reported. Amnesty International, the London-based human rights organisation, has demanded that the Cameroonian government account for those who have disappeared from Douala. "The government must take urgent steps to respond to the concerns of Cameroon's people, media, and civil society, and guarantee freedom of information in regard to this affair," the organisation declared. Established by decree of Paul Biya, Cameroon's president, on 20 February 2000, the stated mission of the Operational Command, led by General Philipe Mpay, was to fight the increase in organised crime in the Littoral province area. At first, most people applauded the activities of the Operational Command. Just several days after it was established, 12 criminals were arrested with a large publicity fanfare. In addition, the Command was able to seize guns and ammunition and catch some escaped convicts. A hold-up man fleeing in a stolen car was chased down with a helicopter. But rapidly, the bravado feats of heroism disintegrated into "unfortunate errors" and summary executions. According to official sources, President Biya was forced to order the suspension of the Operational Command, the special unit which was supposed to wipe out the "bad guys", after the national and international community exerted pressure.
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