The situation of human rights in Africa is deteriorating, says Chief Charles Taku
Africans should free the continent from the impunity of criminality, corruption, dictatorship, economic despoliation and embark on genuine inter-Africa economic cooperation, says foremost human rights crusader and former President of the International Criminal Court Bar Association- ICCBA, Chief Charles Taku.
“This new year 2024 must be a year of best efforts towards a recommitment towards the fulfillment of the founding objectives of the African Union –OAU. It must be a year for a genuine enthronement of peace, justice, and development. It should be a year of making the African first commitment to the continent, the people of Africa and of people of African origin world-wide, says Chief Taku in an interview to discuss seminal issues across Africa.
Out with a new book titled book “In search of the Elusive Soul of Justice,” Chief Charles Taku says the situation of human rights in Africa has deteriorated. Many African countries have not ratified the protocol to the African Court on Human and People’s Rights granting access to their citizens to the court, while Rwanda, Benin Republic, and Tanzania withdrew from the protocol after judgments in the court went against them in favour of their citizens, says Chief Taku
Fielding questions on the crisis in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, Chief Charles Taku says the way forward in resolving the conflict lies in internationally mandated mediation to address the root causes of the conflict.
Chief Charles Taku is the out with a new book “In search of the Elusive Soul of Justice,” could you shed some light on it?
Chief Charles Taku:Readers may characterize this book as an account of my worldwide struggle for justice for the poor, the weak and the vulnerable in society. The soul of humanity is held in bondage by a predatory power elite which is superintended by a corrupt vampire power architecture. The vampire power architecture is nurtured and sustained on the blood of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable in the human society. This book comes from the trenches of the war against impunity and international lawlessness. Through the accounts recorded in this book, I have provided humanity with a platform from which to launch the struggle to free itself from vampires of impunity and the organizational architecture sustaining them. This book highlights the efforts I have deployed over several years and the journey I embarked on, in the search for the elusive soul of justice; from the humble but determined resistance to guinea-pig experimental neocolonial criminal proclivities in Cameroon, to the corridors of international justice, the boardrooms of international organizations and diplomatic missions; the battlefields of the world bearing the hallmarks of impunity, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Human rights have been a big crusade of yours for decades, how did Africa fare on that in 2023?
Chief Charles Taku: The situation of human rights in Africa has deteriorated. Many African countries have not ratified the protocol to the African Court on Human and People’s Rights granting access to their citizens to the court. Rwanda, Benin Republic and Tanzania withdrew from the protocol after judgments in the court went against them in favour of their citizens. The Malabo protocol given the African court criminal jurisdiction requires 28 signatory states to be functional. So far only 15 countries have ratified it. The continent lacks an effective human rights tradition and human rights treaty compliance mechanisms. The culture of unconstitutional change of governments through military takeovers, remaining in power through constitution manipulation, fraudulent elections, the militarization of justice and impunity increased throughout the year 2003.
May we know the importance of the ICC in the present-day African context, how has the continent benefitted for its existence?
Chief Charles Taku: The Rome Statute which established the ICC is one of the multilateral treaties which a majority of African countries participated in at as subjects of international law. The international legal order which created the United Nations and its elaborate international human rights regime, was not for Africa and Africans. Indeed, colonialism and other atrocity crimes against Africa and people of African origin continued on its watch. Therefore, being on the table when the Rome Statute was created, was greeted with satisfaction in Africa. Unfortunately, the exclusive focus on Africa by the ICC in its two decades of existence portrayed the court as a Trojan horse for the recolonization of Africa. The situation has changed with the appointment of Karim Khan KC as the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC. A cornerstone of his prosecutorial policy is complementarity which makes the court to intervene only when the judiciary of a state party refuses to effectively investigate and prosecute. Currently most of the resources of the ICC have been directed at the investigations in Ukraine and Palestine. The new Prosecutor Karim Khan, KC, through the principle of complementarity entered agreements with some members of the EU for a robust investigation of crimes against African trans-Sahara migrants. The relationship of Africa and the new Prosecutor has improved. It is hard to state whether Africa has gained from the ICC because despite the intervention of the ICC, impunity and atrocity crimes in the continent have not ended.
Chief Charles Taku maintains that only an internationally mandated mediation to address root causes can resolve the crisis in the English speaking regions of Cameroon.
What is your assessment on the conflict resolution efforts of the AU?
Chief Charles Taku: The AU conflict resolution system is ineffective. The AU conflict resolution system has failed to intervene in the seven years genocidal war in the Southern Cameroons. Its campaign of ‘silencing the guns’ by 2020’ became a mere slogan.
Apart from occasional declarations, it has failed to carry out robust interventions in African conflict situations. Where it has made a mark is in its peace keeping missions in Somalia and Central Africa Republic. But those missions are funded largely by the European Union.
What is your reading of the current state of the crisis in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon?
Chief Charles Taku: The Southern Cameroons Restoration Fighters have risen from the use of rustic weapons to hold down a conventional army of the Republic of Cameroon for seven years and continuing. They have forced the Cameroon military to rely on militias and armed civilian allied forces in combat. Cameroon government civilian and military commanders have publicly recruited proxy forces and militias and distributed combat arsenal to them to carry out military operations against Southern Cameroons Restoration fighters. This is not a demonstration of strength for which Cameroon may claim victory. It is a crime against humanity and war crimes. Many end of the year international human rights reports have stated that the intensity of the war has increased and that alleged crimes are committed by both sides to the conflict.
As things stand now, what do you see as a way out or way forward in resolving the conflict?
Chief Charles Taku: The way forward in resolving the conflict lies in internationally mandated mediation to address the root causes of the conflict. The international community was unanimous in making this recommendation. The recommendation is founded in international law, particularly articles 33 and 52 of the UN Charter.
The Republic of Cameroon first saw merit in the recommendation by engaging Switzerland to facilitate the mediation process before pulling out of it after three years of foot-dragging. During the period and continuing, the situation got worse. The protracted nature of the war and the impunity of atrocity crimes, has made a future together elusive. Indeed, a military solution to the conflict is not possible. Even if active hostilities abate, it will be deferring the war to another day and to another generation. The policy of delay in resolving the conflict by the government of Cameroon cannot be in its best interest and that of international legality.
So far, the Southern Cameroons has obtained a clear advantage which President Paul Biya himself articulated in answer to a question by Mo Mohamed in Paris. He answered that he initially hoped to completely integrate the Southern Cameroons in the Republic of Cameroon, but the war has proved the failure of his policy in that regard. That answer by President Biya goes to the root cause of the conflict and this may be demonstrated by the evolution of Cameroons constitutional arrangements.
The constitutional roadmap towards a complete evisceration of the distinctive identity of the Southern Cameroons began with Ahidjo’s policy of national unity which Paul Biya although in the shadows was a key ideologue. Pursuant to that policy, the Southern Cameroons was partitioned and renamed with mere geographic expressions, South-West, North-West, without a specific relevance to a congruent territory to which the geographic expressions related. The progression towards the total evisceration of the Southern Cameroons international identity and international character acquired on October 1, 1961, saw Paul Biya revert to the name of the Republic of Cameroon at independence pursuant to the policy of national integration which aimed at pulling the feet of clay under the geographic expressions through creating new administrative units with an amalgamation of regions in a manner which the Southern Cameroons would cease to exist. This was the rationale for Articles 61(2) of the Constitution amendment of 18 February 1996 which states:” 61 (2) The President of the Republic may, as and when necessary: (a) change the names and modify the geographical boundaries of the Regions listed in paragraph (1) above; (b) create other Regions. In this case, he shall give them names and fix their geographical boundaries”. In this proposed arrangement, ‘special status’ envisaged in Article 62(2) was to be stopgap towards complete annexation. “Section 62 (2) states, “ Without prejudice to the provisions of this Part, the law may take into consideration the specificities of certain Regions with regard to their organization and functioning.”
This is the intended political arrangement which President Biya told Mo Mohamed, had crashed with the resistance, the war and the proclamation of the independence of the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia. It was therefore a matter of surprise that supposed educated and informed persons celebrated the so-called special status as if it was a new venture. Paul Biya did not need a Grand National Dialogue in order to activate a constitutional provision which was in abeyance for over two decades. The Major National Dialogue had one purpose only. It was intended to provide an opportunity for Biya to walk away from the internationally endorsed Swiss process by falsely demonstrating to the international community that an internal alternative had provided a solution to the conflict. Special Status was not a creation of that conference. The international community was not persuaded and continues to call for an internationally mandated mediation to address the root causes. On this, there is little controversy.
Why has there been this seeming apathy from the international community in making stronger efforts to help resolve the conflict?
Chief Charles Taku: The reasons for the seeming apathy from the international community is due to several factors. I will name one. A key factor is that the conduct of the international community is consistent with its policy of prejudice towards African conflicts. The case of the conflicts in Rwanda, Eretria, Sudan. South Africa under apartheid, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Central Africa Republic illustrate this point. These were a mixture of protracted intense warfare, effusion of blood, diplomacy and geopolitical interests which pushed the hand of the international community to intervene. The Southern Cameroons case is a case which is simple to resolve by diplomatic means, although there will still be accountability for the atrocity crimes which have been committed. Like Eretria, an internationally organized referendum will meet the erga omnes obligations of the international community and comply with the right to external self-determination under Article 76 of the UN Charter.
African governments must respect people-oriented constitutional governance, free and fair elections, and put people at the centre of policies to avert coups, says Chief Taku
Across Africa last year, we saw a resurgence of military coups, with some strongly embraced by Africans, are you worried about the trend and what should African leaders do to stem the tide?
Chief Charles Taku: The resurgence of military coups in Africa arises from the use to which supposed African governments use the military to sustain and even attempt to eternalize political power. The military take overs are therefore implosions within the dictatorial power architecture of the countries where they have occurred. That is the reason for the jubilation by a sizeable number of people. A careful examination of the popular declarations of the military in those countries leads to this conclusion. The only way of stemming the tide is for African governments to respect people-oriented constitutional governance, organize free and fair elections, and to place their people and them alone at the centre of their political actions and policies.
Based on your experiences in handling cases on the Rwandan genocide, what are some lessons that Africa may have missed
Chief Charles Taku: Africa has learnt nothing from the human calamity which befell Rwanda. Had Africa learnt any lessons, the government of Cameroon will not be pursuing the military option in attempting to impose a solution on the Southern Cameroons conflict. If Africa had learnt anything, the ongoing carnage in Darfur would not be going on.
African civilian and military commanders would have known that apart from the ICC, many countries world-wide, including the United States of America now has universal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute international atrocity crimes and that the impunity of international criminality will come to haunt them no matter when. Universal jurisdiction has come forcefully in time to cover some of the limitations and inadequacies of the ICC and the UN system.
Any special wish for the continent as we start 2024?
Chief Charles Taku: Africans should free the continent from the impunity of criminality, corruption, dictatorship, economic despoliation and embark on genuine inter-Africa economic cooperation. African Union has the highest number of multilateral treaties which are in abeyance. The underdevelopment of Africa is not for the lack of enabling laws and treaties. It is the lack of the political will by African leaders. This new year 2024 must be a year of best efforts towards a recommitment towards the fulfillment of the founding objectives of the African Union –OAU. It must be a year for a genuine enthronement of peace, justice and development. It should be a year of making the African first commitment to the continent, the people of Africa and of people of African origin world-wide.
