CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by J.-D. Mihamle, Cameroon, September 1998
THEME = HUMAN RIGHTS
Bogged down by corruption, racketeering, torture and lack of
discipline,
Cameroon's police force does not have a good press. The public pays a high price for its
failings,
so some kind of shock tactics are needed to set matters right.
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights,
the following examples serves to illustrate what's been happening
There's no Nobel prize for torture but if there was, Inspector Jacques Bama of the Cameroon police, based in the headquarters of the 3rd Yaoundé precinct, would have been on the short list - for good reason. His method of making a recalcitrant prisoner talk, is truly the work of a "genius".
Almost a year ago, in order to extract a confession from a suspect who was reluctant to admit the theft of some electrical tools, Inspector Bama developed and experimented with the fearsome technique of "ironing". This consists of heating an iron, then "caressing" the body of a suspect - including the private parts - until the blood flows. Emile Njock, aged 22, is a mechanic in the "La Confiance" garage in the Nvog-Ada district of Yaoundé. He was a unlucky guinea-pig for Inspector Bama's "tender care", and didn't resist torture for long. He fell unconscious, and thirty minutes later, died. This happened on the night of 2-3 November 1997. The report from the forensic pathologist states that Njock died from "internal haemorrhaging". The incident took place in a cell in the headquarters of the Yaoundé 3rd precinct, under the horrified gaze of about twenty other prisoners.
Because so many people had witnessed the crime, Inspector Bama took off, but finally gave himself up to the authorities on 20 November 1997. He was placed under a detention order, and jailed in the Nkondengui Yaoundé prison, where he was joined by the officer in charge of his unit, Police Superintendent Joseph Nsom who had been arrested on a charge of complicity to torture.
According to Cameroon's criminal law, persons accused of this type of crime can be jailed for life. Article 132(a) states that: "anyone who, by use of torture, involuntarily causes the death of another person, is punished by life imprisonment". On 26 June 1998, Superintendent Nsom was sentenced to six years in prison and Inspector Bama to 10 years. They were also sentenced to pay 15 million CFA francs damages by the Yaoundé county court.
Cameroon's citizens hadn't even had time to get over the shock of this crime committed by those who are supposed to be the guardians of law and order, when news came three days later, of the death of yet another citizen, in the headquarters of the 5th Yaoundé precinct (Ngoa-Ekelé district) - again in suspicious circumstances. Another death, indeed, one too many. A gruesome sequence of events, which strangely enough, met with hardly any reaction from local human rights non-governmental organisations (NGO)s.
On 5 November 1997, in the Melen district of Yaoundé, Mr Djoumegni was taken in for questioning by a police patrol, to the 5th precinct headquarters. The reason for his arrest? "Unlawful occupancy of the public highway". According to witnesses, the police officers ordered him to step off the pavement. Mr Djoumegni resisted these orders, and the police interpreted his refusal as a challenge to their authority. The legal investigation opened by the Yaoundé public prosecutor's office, intimated that Mr Djoumegni had suffered physical violence before he died in police custody. The officers responsible for this assault were charged with murder and imprisoned in Nkondengui, where they are serving long prison sentences.
On 27 November 1997, Luc Loé, who occupied a senior position at the Criminal Investigation Department before being replaced on 7 December 1997 by Bell Luc René, responded vigorously to criticisms of the police force in the Press. In an exclusive interview with the government-owned daily Cameroon Tribune, he stated that: "The senior echelons of the police force want light to be shed on cases of torture and harassment, so that it can be shown the police are not above the law".
Fine words, which do not easily stand up to criticism. The deaths described above are far from being isolated cases. They're logical extensions of a long tradition, which up to now has considered physical cruelty and other degrading treatment as normal in more than one police headquarters. The evidence of people who have had the sorry "privilege" of spending time in these places, describes the cells in the police headquarters as truly being the antechambers of hell". Apart from promiscuity and lack of even minimum sanitary facilities, a detainee's day is marked by continual beatings and other acts of torture known as "the seesaw", the cafe and more recently - "ironing" (this one is homegrown - made in Cameroon).
Nobody seems to be spared the "zeal" shown by certain police officers. Here's what happened to a magistrate, Mr Obama, in the police headquarters of Yaoundé's first district in 1994. People have never forgotten this incident. Mr Obama was assistant Attorney-General attached to the county court of Yaoundé. During the course of his duties, he was on a tour of inspection of the police cells, to check on compliance with procedures, when he was violently set upon by police officers. Stripped and left almost naked, he received what was said to be a "severe beating", before being thrown into a cell full of violent criminals.
Those responsible were punished for their crime, but it can't be ignored that what happened was a serious breakdown in relations between police and public. Individual police officers have now been given symbolic nick-names by the general public - which doesn't do much for their reputation. A name currently in use, likens some police officers to those birds which regularly descend on cereal crops in the north of Cameroon, leaving famine, desolation and distress in their wake.
Also, the public are convinced, with good reason, that the police are somehow tied in with the wave of insecurity found in many urban centres throughout Cameroon. The majority of inmates in some prisons are corrupt police officers accused of being in cahoots with the criminal fraternity.
Clearly, the reputation of Cameroon's police is on a downward spiral. O.K. There are some simple solutions which can be applied to "paper over the cracks". But to get to the nitty- gritty of the problem, shock tactics are required. Gilberd Andze is presently Inspector-General of the police in Cameroon. He says that the police must put their own house in order - it's not just urgent, its' essential! The honour of Cameroon's police force is at stake. The security of the population must be safeguarded. Property must be protected. Cameroon's future economic expansion depends on what happens at home.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement