WASHINGTON, April 10 – As Cameroon's 36 year president Paul Biya has cracked down on Anglophones, the UN has largely stayed quiet. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stopped by in October 2017 and smiled, accepting from Biya a golden statue. His Deputy Amina J. Mohammed was in Abuja when Nigeria illegally refouled 47 people to Cameroon and said nothing. On April 10 Inner City Press went to the US State Department briefing and asked spokesperson Heather Nauert about it. Video here from 32:59.
From the US transcript: Inner City Press: Matthew Russell Lee.
MS NAUERT: Okay.
Inner City Press: Yeah. So I wanted --
MS NAUERT: Nice to meet you.
Inner City Press: it’s something that I haven’t seen the Department comment on. Maybe you’ll have – maybe it’s in your binder, or maybe it isn’t. But there’s been 47 Cameroonians were in Nigeria and they were picked up and sort of illegally returned, or refouled, back to Cameroon. And it’s been – it’s been months that people haven’t seen them. And I’m wondering: Is the U.S. aware of this? Are they aware of this conflict, the conflict or tensions in the Anglophone zones of Cameroon, and what do they intend to do about it?
MS NAUERT: I’ll have to take your question on that and get back with you. And there are things that are not contained in the binder that we are aware of as well.
At least some response, hopefully with more to come - on the same day, the UN refused to answer a single one of Inner City Press' three questions, after having evicted and still restricting Inner City Press. We will continue to cover this. For now, this Periscope video just after the State Department briefing. Watch this site.
