III 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 684 

Calling on the Government of Cameroon and separatist armed groups from 

the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions to end all violence, respect the human rights of all Cameroonians, and pursue a 

genuinely inclusive dialogue toward resolving the ongoing civil conflict 

in Anglophone Cameroon. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 

Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. 

RUBIO, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. COONS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 

DURBIN, Mr. WARNER, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. KAINE) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Calling on the Government of Cameroon and separatist 

armed groups from the English-speaking Northwest and 

Southwest regions to end all violence, respect the human 

rights of all Cameroonians, and pursue a genuinely inclusive dialogue toward resolving the ongoing civil conflict 

in Anglophone Cameroon. 

Whereas Cameroon is beset with multiple security challenges, 

including a Boko Haram insurgency in the Far North region, cross-border conflict and criminality by Central African militia groups to the east, and a civil war involving 


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the Government of Cameroon and Anglophone separatist 

armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest regions; 

Whereas the official actions and policies of the Francophonedominated Government of Cameroon have repressed 

English-speaking Cameroonians politically and economically throughout the history of Cameroon, dating back to 

the reunification of British-administered Southern Cameroons and French Cameroun under a federal system in 

October 1961; 

Whereas Paul Biya, the oldest head of state in Africa, has 

been the President of Cameroon since 1982, maintaining 

his grip on power by centralizing authority in the executive, undermining the Constitution of Cameroon, impeding democratic governance through corrupt practices, 

using security services to repress the opposition, and conducting elections marred by widespread irregularities and 

allegations of fraud; 

Whereas key decentralization reforms enacted in the Constitution of Cameroon in 1996, which mandated the establishment of a decentralized unitary state, ‘‘equality of 

all citizens before the law’’, the equal status of French 

and English as official languages, and the establishment 

of local authorities with ‘‘administrative and financial autonomy’’, remain largely unrealized, though an enabling 

law was adopted in December 2019; 

Whereas, throughout his tenure, President Biya has spent extended periods in Europe, pursued government policies 

exclusively benefitting the Francophone majority in Cameroon, and crippled many parastatals and private enterprises in the Northwest and Southwest regions, further 

marginalizing English-speaking Cameroonians; 


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Whereas, in October 2016, English-speaking lawyers, students, and teachers in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon took to the streets to peacefully protest marginalization of English-speaking Cameroonians 

by the Government of Cameroon in the legal and education systems, as exemplified by the appointment of 

French-speaking judges and teachers in the Northwest 

and Southwest regions and the publishing of important 

legislation solely in the French language; 

Whereas those peaceful protests by English-speaking lawyers, 

students, and teachers were met with excessive force by 

the police and gendarmerie of Cameroon, which led to 

gross human rights violations, the arrest of lawyers, 

teachers, and Anglophone civic leaders, and their detention in the notorious Kondengui prison in Yaounde ́; 

Whereas, amid broader protests across the Northwest and 

Southwest regions demanding greater autonomy from the 

central government of Cameroon, on October 1, 2017, the 

56th anniversary of the end of British trusteeship over 

Southern Cameroons, the Anglophone crisis escalated as 

separatist armed groups declared independence from 

Cameroon; 

Whereas, in late 2017, Anglophone separatist armed groups 

escalated attacks, targeting government officials and facilities as well as civilians and traditional leaders seen as 

sympathetic to the Government of Cameroon and brutally 

enforcing ‘‘ghost town operations’’ (general strikes) and 

school boycotts in the Northwest and Southwest regions; 

Whereas lengthy government-imposed shutdowns of the internet and social media in the Northwest and Southwest regions, totaling 240 days between 2017 and 2018, had a 

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stitutions in the regions, undermined freedom of expression, prevented the free flow of information related to the 

conflict, and restricted the ability of local communities to 

interact and communicate; 

Whereas the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions 

of Cameroon has caused considerable instability and 

human suffering, with more than 3,000 deaths linked to 

the conflict, and according to United Nations agencies, 

approximately 3,000,000 people are in need of humanitarian assistance, approximately 60,000 Cameroonian refugees have fled to Nigeria, and approximately 700,000 

persons are internally displaced; 

Whereas the Department of State 2019 Country Report on 

Human Rights Practices for Cameroon cited ‘‘significant’’ human rights abuses by security forces and separatist armed groups in Cameroon, including unlawful or 

arbitrary killings, forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, repression of fundamental rights, and violence against women and children; 

Whereas the United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that 

more than 855,000 children are out of school due to the 

conflict, and the Department of State added Cameroon to 

the Child Soldiers Prevention Act List in the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report as a foreign government ‘‘identified during the previous year as having governmental 

armed forces, police, or other security forces, or government-supported armed groups that recruit or use child 

soldiers’’; 

Whereas United States citizen Charles Wesco was shot and 

killed near the town of Bamenda, Cameroon, on October 

30, 2018, and, in November 2018, the Department of 

State stated, ‘‘In memory of American missionary 


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Charles Wesco and all others who have lost their lives in 

the Anglophone Crisis, we urge all sides to end the violence and enter into broad-based reconciliatory dialogue 

without preconditions.’’; 

Whereas, in June 2019, the Government of Switzerland announced that, together with the Centre for Humanitarian 

Dialogue, it was facilitating a dialogue between the Government of Cameroon and armed opposition groups to 

support a resolution of the Anglophone crisis; 

Whereas, in September 2019, President Biya hastily announced a Major National Dialogue, chaired by Prime 

Minister Ngute from September 30 to October 4, 2019, 

in Yaounde ́, ‘‘to examine the ways and means to respond 

to the deeply-held aspirations of the populations in the 

Northwest and Southwest’’; 

Whereas, though the Major National Dialogue led to some 

concessions by the Government of Cameroon on broader 

democratization issues, including the release of some political prisoners, including the leader of the Cameroon 

Renaissance Movement, Maurice Kamto, and some of his 

associates after nine months of detention, attempts at 

conflict resolution have failed to bring all parties to the 

table, as high levels of deaths, brutality, and suffering 

continue; 

Whereas national and international outrage followed the massacre of at least 23 people, including 15 children and 2 

pregnant women, by government security forces and allied militia on February 14, 2020, in Ngarbuh, Donga 

Mantung division, in the Northwest region, and a commission of inquiry established by Cameroonian authorities 

ultimately led to the arrest and charging of 3 soldiers for 

murder; 


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Whereas, on June 5, 2020, amidst increasing concern over 

attacks on freedom of the press and detention of journalists on politically motivated charges in recent years, Cameroon authorities confirmed that an Anglophone journalist covering the conflict, Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, 

known as Wazizi, who was arrested in August 2019 and 

transferred to a military facility, died in custody shortly 

after his arrest, an acknowledgment that led to widespread condemnation and calls for an independent inquiry; 

Whereas the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) of the Government of Cameroon, which has been accused of torture 

and extrajudicial killings and implicated in massacres like 

that of February 14, 2020, has received training and 

support from the United States, potentially in contravention of legal requirements that ‘‘no assistance shall be 

furnished . . . to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of 

human rights’’; 

Whereas, in February 2019, the Department of State announced that it would withhold some security assistance 

to Cameroon, including equipment and training, citing 

credible allegations of human rights violations by state 

security forces and a lack of investigation, accountability, 

and transparency by the Government of Cameroon in response; 

Whereas, on December 26, 2019, the United States terminated the designation of Cameroon as a beneficiary under 

the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 

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rently engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights’’; 

Whereas a European Parliament resolution, passed on April 

18, 2019, urged inclusive political dialogue to resolve the 

Anglophone crisis, called for the conflict to be considered 

by the United Nations Security Council, and urged the 

European Union to ‘‘use the political leverage provided 

by development aid and other bilateral programmes to 

enhance the defense of human rights in Cameroon’’; 

Whereas France maintains considerable interests in Cameroon, including significant economic and security cooperation, but has not adequately used its influence to 

stem atrocities committed in the Anglophone regions or 

support stronger international action to seek resolution to 

the conflict; 

Whereas the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Cameroon stated on January 24, 2019, that 

‘‘Cameroon can no longer be a forgotten crisis; it needs 

to be high on our agenda’’, and, on June 22, 2020, a 

group of former world leaders and 5 Nobel Peace Laureates called on the United Nations Security Council and 

the United Nations Secretary-General, the African 

Union, the Commonwealth of Nations, and La 

Francophonie to ‘‘ensure that Cameroon’s Anglophone 

conflict is on the agenda of the forthcoming UN Security 

Council meeting and all UNOCA sessions before the 

UNSC’’; 

Whereas, on May 13, 2019, an Arria-formula meeting on the 

humanitarian crisis in Cameroon was held for the United 

Nations Security Council, but a formal meeting on the 

situation in Cameroon has not yet been placed on the 

United Nations Security Council agenda; 


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Whereas, on July 1, 2020, in Resolution 2532 (2020), the 

United Nations Security Council unanimously underlined 

its support of the appeal of the United Nations Secretary-General for a global ceasefire in all conflicts as the 

world battles the COVID–19 pandemic; and 

Whereas there is a significant Cameroonian diaspora in the 

United States, and Cameroon is a longstanding security 

partner and aid recipient of the United States, participating in the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) led by the Department of State and in 

United States-supported efforts to counter Boko Haram 

and the Islamic State–West Africa, both of which have 

mounted terrorist operations in the Far North region of 

Cameroon since 2014: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) strongly condemns abuses committed by 

3 state security forces and armed groups in the North4 west and Southwest regions of Cameroon, including 

5 extrajudicial killings and detentions, the use of force 

6 against civilians and nonviolent protestors, torture, 

7 rape, kidnappings, and other forms of violence 

8 against women, and violations of the freedoms of 

9 press, expression, and assembly; 

10 (2) urges all parties to the Anglophone conflict 

11 in Cameroon, including political opposition groups, 

12 to— 

13 (A) conclude and uphold an immediate 

14 ceasefire; 


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1 (B) guarantee unfettered humanitarian ac2 cess and assistance to the Northwest and 

3 Southwest regions; 

4 (C) exercise restraint and ensure that po5 litical protests are peaceful; and 

6 (D) establish a credible process for an in7 clusive dialogue that includes all relevant stake8 holders, including from civil society, to achieve 

9 a sustainable political solution that respects the 

10 rights and freedoms of all of the people of Cam11 eroon; 

12 (3) affirms that the United States Government 

13 continues to hold the Government of Cameroon re14 sponsible for safeguarding the safety, security, and 

15 constitutional rights of all citizens, regardless of 

16 their region of origin or the regions in which they 

17 reside, or their religious beliefs or political views; 

18 (4) urges the Government of Cameroon to— 

19 (A) initiate a credible, inclusive, good-faith 

20 effort to end the armed conflict in the North21 west and Southwest regions of Cameroon by ad22 dressing the root causes of the crisis and griev23 ances and seeking nonviolent solutions to re24 solve the conflict, including possibly involving 

25 an independent mediator in negotiations; 


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1 (B) follow through on initiatives developed 

2 to address the grievances that sparked the con3 flict, including the National Commission for the 

4 Promotion of Bilingualism and 

5 Multiculturalism, the Ministry of Decentraliza6 tion and Local Development, and the National 

7 Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegra8 tion Committee; 

9 (C) fully implement recommendations of 

10 the Major National Dialogue held in late 2019; 

11 (D) respect the rule of law and the con12 stitutional rights of all Cameroonians, including 

13 members of the political opposition, civil society 

14 activists, and journalists; 

15 (E) allow for credible, independent, and 

16 transparent investigations of all allegations of 

17 human rights abuses committed in the North18 west and Southwest regions; 

19 (F) release all political prisoners and jour20 nalists currently detained and immediately stop 

21 all arbitrary detention, torture, forced dis22 appearances, deaths in custody, and inhumane 

23 prison conditions; and 

24 (G) work with United States law enforce25 ment to thoroughly investigate and prosecute 


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1 those responsible for the murder of Charles 

2 Wesco; 

3 (5) urges the Anglophone armed separatist 

4 groups to— 

5 (A) engage peacefully with government of6 ficials to express grievances and engage in non7 violent efforts to resolve the conflict, including 

8 participation in a credible and inclusive dia9 logue, possibly involving an independent medi10 ator; 

11 (B) immediately cease human rights 

12 abuses, including killings of civilians, torture, 

13 kidnapping, and extortion; 

14 (C) immediately end the school boycott in 

15 the Northwest and Southwest regions and at16 tacks on schools, teachers, and education offi17 cials, and allow for the safe return of all stu18 dents to class; and 

19 (D) immediately release all kidnapped and 

20 detained civilians; 

21 (6) urges the Department of State, Department 

22 of the Treasury, and United States Agency for 

23 International Development, in coordination with 

24 other relevant Federal departments and agencies, 

25 to— 


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1 (A) consider imposing targeted sanctions 

2 on individual government and separatist leaders 

3 ‘‘responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, 

4 or other gross violations of internationally rec5 ognized human rights’’; 

6 (B) press the Government of Cameroon to 

7 provide unfettered humanitarian access to vul8 nerable populations in the Northwest and 

9 Southwest regions of Cameroon; 

10 (C) support credible efforts to address the 

11 root causes of the conflict and to achieve sus12 tainable peace and reconciliation and efforts to 

13 aid the economic recovery of and fight 

14 coronavirus in the Northwest and Southwest re15 gions; 

16 (D) support humanitarian and develop17 ment programming, including to meet imme18 diate needs, advance nonviolent conflict resolu19 tion and reconciliation, promote economic recov20 ery and development, support primary and sec21 ondary education, and strengthen democratic 

22 processes, including political decentralization, 

23 enshrined as a fundamental principle of state 

24 governance in the Constitution of Cameroon; 


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1 (E) continue to limit security assistance to 

2 Cameroon and ensure that United States train3 ing and equipment is not being used to facili4 tate human rights abuses in the Northwest and 

5 Southwest regions; 

6 (F) prioritize efforts to help develop and 

7 sustain effective, professional civilian oversight 

8 of law enforcement and security services in 

9 Cameroon to ensure they are held accountable 

10 for abuses; and 

11 (G) engage in an ongoing effort to ensure 

12 that the crisis in the Anglophone regions is dis13 cussed in international fora, including the 

14 United Nations Security Council, that focus on 

15 urgent international diplomatic engagement and 

16 response; and 

17 (7) urges members of the international commu18 nity to— 

19 (A) join in a strategic collective effort to 

20 pressure the Government of Cameroon and sep21 aratist armed groups, including through the use 

22 of available diplomatic and punitive tools, to im23 mediately conclude and uphold a ceasefire, par24 ticipate in an inclusive and meaningful dialogue 

25 to address the root causes of the conflict and 


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1 pending grievances, and seek nonviolent solu2 tions to the conflict, including by possibly in3 volving an independent and credible mediator; 

4 (B) mobilize and coordinate funding for 

5 local and international organizations to provide 

6 humanitarian and development assistance, in7 cluding to fight coronavirus, to communities af8 fected by the crisis in the Northwest and South9 west regions of Cameroon; 

10 (C) leverage bilateral relationships to en11 courage key partners of Cameroon, particularly 

12 France, to help foster a peaceful resolution to 

13 the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest re14 gions of Cameroon and implement a mutually 

15 agreed-upon program to address longstanding 

16 grievances and marginalization; and 

17 (D) use regional and international fora, in18 cluding the African Union, the Economic Com19 munity of Central African States, and the 

20 United Nations Security Council to discuss the 

21 ongoing crisis in the Northwest and Southwest 

22 regions of Cameroon and push for a cessation 

23 of violence, an expedient resolution, the imple24 mentation of a mutually agreed-upon program 

25 for addressing the root causes and pending 


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1 grievances, and the investigation and prosecu2 tion of human rights abuses and crimes com3 mitted against civilians. 

Æ 


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