Untitled - Now Then

I am a French teacher from Cameroon
in central Africa. It’s a beautiful country
of lakes and forests, many Westerners
go there to holiday.
My home was in Douala, the capital.
I would like to go back and see my family
but if I return I know I will be imprisoned
or killed. I know this because they
tried to kill me before. By they, I mean
the police. It is not a good government
there.
In January 2001 the Douala Operational
Command arrested my cousin,
Kouatou Charles, who was twelve, his
younger brother, Kouatou Elysee, and
seven of their friends, accusing them of
stealing a gas canister in the Bepanda
District. Families of the ‘Bepanda 9’ were
permitted to visit them in prison, but
after three weeks we were told we could
not see them anymore.
LYNS
This case was being reported both
nationally and internationally because
the boys were so young, but we now
suspected that the DOC had executed
them. Douala authorities denied any
executions but refused to produce
evidence of the youths’ continued wellbeing.
We, the victims’ families, formed
another group, the Committee for the
Defence of the Nine (or C9 as we were
known).
My elder cousin, Bethuel Kouatou, and
I organised the first meeting of C9. We
held weekly demonstrations to demand
freedom for the boys. When it was
discovered that the youths had been
killed in custody, the demonstrations got
bigger.
People were angry and came to support
us. The eighth demonstration, which
took place on 15th April 2001, was also
supported by the opposition party to
the dictatorship. The security forces
came out with water cannons and tear
gas and arrested around 50 of us. These
events had national press coverage.
I was arrested and detained. I was
beaten on every part of my body, even
my feet. There were maybe ten or fifteen
men in my cell with a bucket in the
corner which was not often emptied.
The security forces would take me to
another room for interrogation. They cut
my right ear and burned cigarettes on
my back. The guards forced us to make
love with the wall. They did this two or
three times a week. I was imprisoned
there for eight months.
They took some of us from the cell at
night and told us to get into the truck.
I was very afraid. I believed that they
were taking us to kill us. We were all
afraid. One of the other prisoners tried
to get free. He jumped from the truck.
The soldiers stopped and tried to shoot
him in the dark. They killed him. But I
tried to get free too, and I escaped. My
hands were tied but I ran, I ran into the
forest.
I was blessed, a man in a village
agreed to hide me. He helped me
because he had heard of C9 and of the
Bepanda 9. He contacted my brother,
David Engeng, who arranged to smuggle
me out of the country. I didn’t know
where I was going to, my family wanted
me to leave the country for another
where I would be safe. So the person
who helped me decided to take me to
Britain.
I was granted asylum here in the UK by
the High Court three years ago, they
told me I could live here and not have
to return to Cameroon. But the Home
Office overturned the ruling. They said in
my refusal letter that yes, they believe I
was tortured, I was imprisoned, but that
I must go back. I am afraid to sleep at
home in case the immigration police
come again. They have already raided
my home twice.
My wife, Maiolie Ther, was also imprisoned,
but for two and a half years. They
took her because she is married to
me. She was freed after a humanitarian
pressure group demanded release
of some women prisoners. My first wife
died in jail, and that was also because
she was my wife and they wanted to
punish me. Maiolie and I now have
three children, two of them have sickle
cell disease and we are afraid for their
lives if we are forced to return to our
country.
Cameroon is a dictatorship.
Nothing has changed since I left.
The president, Paul Biya, has been in
power for three decades and has now
changed the law again so he will rule, I
think, until his death. The security forces
will still know my name.
To help with Claude’s campaign
against deportation, email your contact
details to claude.campaign@activist.
com
joanna sutherland.
CLAUDE.
PAGE ELEVEN.
an unreported truth.
joanna sutherland.