Tuesday, April 18, 2017

A Letter From Ministry of External Relations: Identity WithHeld

Dear Mark Bareta
This is a very important message that will help our struggle. Please ask our people to take it very seriously.
I am an Anglophone working at the Ministry of External Relations in Yaoundé. Please keep my identity secret.
Right now, the Cameroon Government is in hot water with the Pentgon (U.S. Department of Defense) specifically an agency known as the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
The Pentagon gave military equipment to Cameroon for the BIR to fight Boko Haram in the North. Such transfer of defense equipment is regulated by an American law called the Arms Export Control Act. This Act forbids any US-origin military equipment from being used to violate human rights or cause or escalate conflict.
As we all know this U.S. equipment (specifically armoured trucks and other materials) have been sent to the Anglophone regions to violate human rights and clamp down on the population.
As God will have it, the above U.S. law requires the Pentagon to heavily monitor the use of such U.S. military equipment especially in countries with poor human rights records like Cameroon. The Pentagon does this through the Golden Sentry program run by the End Use Monitoring (EUM) Division.
The U.S. military attaché has sent damning reports to the Pentagon about the unauthorized way the Cameroon military has been using U.S. military equipment in the Anglophone regions. The Pentagon has opened an investigation and scheduled a compliance monitoring visit to Cameroon. If violations are found, the US President has a duty to report to Congress and suspend all military assistance to Cameroon.
Right now there is total panic in the Ministries of Defence and External Relations about this investigation and upcoming Pentagon visit.
It is very important that our people write to these U.S. investigators to support these allegations of human rights abuses using U.S. military equipment.
For your convenience a draft email follows below which you can use to send to: dsca.ncr.bpc.mbx.eum-helpdesk@mail.mil; patrick.l.evans.mil@mail.mil; dsca.ncr.lmo.mbx.info@mail.mil
“Dear End Use Monitoring (EUM) Division
I write to you with regard to your obligations under Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act and the Golden Sentry EUM program.
The Department of Defense has provided military equipment and assistance to the Republic of Cameroon.
I write to allege that this equipment and assistance is being used by the Cameroonian government for purposes prohibited by the Arms Export Control Act.
For the last six months lawful and peaceful protests have been going on in the English speaking regions of Cameroon against the government over allegations of marginalization, discrimination and exploitation of this minority community by the government. The Cameroonian government has responded to these peaceful protests with state-sponsored brutality, murders, enforced disappearances, imprisonments, torture and abuses, cruel and inhuman treatment and the deliberate suspension of all internet connectivity to these regions.
From personal evidence and credible reports, I allege that the above inhumane and reprehensible acts are being carried out with the use of military equipment that has been supplied to the Cameroonian government by the U.S. Department of Defense.
I therefore urge you to urgently invoke the Golden Sentry EUM program and ensure the actions of the Cameroonian government are thoroughly investigated and appropriate sanctions imposed.
Yours Sincerely
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