Scores of students arrested ahead of Unity Day celebrations

Dozens of students were arrested and detained at the University of Bamenda in the north-west of Cameroon on 15 May ahead of the country’s celebration of its 53rd National Day (Unity Day) on 20 May.

University students in the residential area of Bambili were apparently targeted in an operation that the government says was aimed at ensuring peace in the crisis-prone Bamenda region. About 70 were arrested.

“The arrest of crime suspects in Bamenda, including the university residential area, is a drive to ensure peace and stability before, during and after the celebration of the country’s National Day on 20 May.

“Following reports that we received of a mounting crime wave around the students’ residential area, security authorities had to intensify operations to restore order,” Adolphe Lele L’Afrique, the governor of the North-west Region, said on state radio after the arrests. He added that security measures are traditionally intensified in the run-up to National Day celebrations.

Cameroon’s National Day, also known as Unity Day, is celebrated annually on 20 May and commemorates the adoption of a unitary state in 1972 when Cameroonians voted for a unitary state and rejected the old federal structure.

The university town of Bambili-Bamenda, an academic hub in the region, has been plagued by weeks of violent attacks, including killings and kidnappings, allegedly by separatist fighters in the ongoing anglophone crisis ahead of the National Day celebrations.

The town hosts more than 34,000 students and lecturers at the state-run University of Bamenda and the Higher Teachers Training College Bambili, as well as private higher education institutions.

While reports cited criminal activity as a cause of concern, some students say the brutality of last week’s crackdown has only aggravated the fear and disillusionment among the university community.

Eyewitnesses reported incidents in which students who resisted arrest were forcefully thrown into police trucks and taken to detention camps. One of them, third-year law student Ngum Junior, said on state radio: “They came around 5am, kicked our door open, and dragged my roommate out. He didn’t even have time to put on shoes.”

Simon Ngang of the Higher Teachers Training College told University World News: “They didn’t ask questions. They just took whoever they saw and any attempt to resist was met with brutality. Many students have fled from their homes and may only return to write their exams that begin in June.”

Activists condemn arrests

University authorities, human rights activists and academics have condemned the arrest of students under the pretext of maintaining law and order ahead of National Day celebrations. They point out that, instead of apprehending the separatist fighters suspected to be behind the crimes, the security forces raided students’ homes.

Professor Theresia Nkuo-Akenji, the vice chancellor of the University of Bamenda, told state radio that the arrest of students with valid identification was regrettable and that the university was pushing for their speedy release.

Felix Agbor Nkongho, renowned anglophone Cameroon human rights lawyer and founder of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, has condemned the indiscriminate arrest of university students. “Cameroon is a state of law, and arresting students indiscriminately with no proof of a crime is an abuse of their rights,” Nkongho, also known as Balla, told University World News.

Caught in the middle

Dr Nick Ngwanyam, president of Cameroon’s St Louis University Institute, said the arrest of students, especially when they are preparing for exams, is “really disturbing”: “The trauma of such brutal mass arrests will always impact on the students even if they were released later.”

He said it was regrettable that universities in two anglophone crisis zones have been victims of the ongoing conflict between the armed and separatist fighters seeking independence for the English-speaking region.

Governor L’Afrique has since vowed that students arrested in the raids will be released if they are not connected to any crime after proper investigations have been carried out.

“The target of this security raid in Bambili was not university students, but it could be that some of them are harbouring criminals or are connected to crimes. The security [force] is carrying out its investigations, and those not guilty of any crime will be released,” he told state radio.