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afrol News, 28 April - Just two months after the release of half a dozen trade unionists following strong international protests, Cameroonian authorities have again embarked on a campaign of harassment and mass arrest, according to international trade unionists. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) has strongly condemned the renewed arrest of Benoît Essiga, the President of CGT-liberté, formerly the CSTC, and 14 of his colleagues on the evening of 23 April. These arrests took place whilst Mr Essiga was leaving to visit his wife, who had been imprisoned since 17 April this year, following harassment by the Camrail railway company, the confederation noted in a statement. The ICFTU had learned that the trade unionists had to spend the night on the floor at Camrail's security buildings, before being transferred in the morning to Ngoumou, a town located some 70 kilometres from the capital, Yaoundé, where they were deprived of any means of communication and visits are, in practice, impossible. In a letter to the government of Cameroon, ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder stressed that the ICFTU saw these new arrests as "clear evidence that the authorities are conniving with the management of Camrail in their intensive harassment of trade unionists who are merely defending the interests of the workers they represent." The ICFTU also suspected the government of "being engaged in a harassment campaign aimed at destabilising the key union leaders during the worsening dispute between the management of Camrail and the Mfoundi-based Rail Transport Union," of which Mr Essiga is also the President. From his Brussels office, Mr Ryder also urged the Cameroonian authorities to provide the imprisoned trade unionists with immediate access to their lawyers "so that they can defend themselves against all the accusations being levelled at them." As the ICFTU was "very fearful for the safety" of Mr Essiga, his wife
and his colleagues, it had now launched an appeal through its Committee on
Human and Trade Union Rights and asked the Director-General of the
International Labour Office, Juan Somavia, to make a personal intervention
by calling on the highest authorities of Cameroon to ensure the immediate
release of the imprisoned trade unionists.
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