Cameroon: Death threats against rights defender Akem Kelvin Nkwain

The Observatory has been informed about the death threats against Akem Kelvin Nkwain and his family. Mr. Nkwain is a human rights officer at the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA).

On June 16, 2022, Akem Kelvin Nkwain received a series of phone calls and text and WhatsApp messages from two different phone numbers threatening him to death. The perpetrators sent Mr. Nkwain multiple photos, including photos of dead individuals, bullets, guns and a photo of the human rights defender himself with a red cross on it and a written death threat. Additionally, they sent Mr. Nkwain a photo in which some members of the Fako Mountain Lions, a non-state armed group operating in Northwest and Southwest Anglophone regions of Cameroon, appear. In the messages, the perpetrators labelled him as a “traitor” and an “enabler”, and stated that the Fako Mountain Lions know him “very well” and that they “will come for him” should he fail to “support the struggle”. The messages urged Mr. Nkwain “to buy them [the Fako Mountain Lions] rice and a gun” and to give them 1.200.000 CFA (approximately 787 Euros).

The Observatory stresses that the death threats against Akem Kelvin Nkwain started following a publication the human rights defender made on Twitter on June 14, 2022 announcing the launch of a CHRDA report entitled “Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon: A Report on Recent Incidents of Violence Committed by Elements of the Defence and Security Forces and Non-State Armed Groups”.

The Observatory strongly condemns the above-mentioned death threats and expresses its utmost concern over the physical integrity and security of Akem Kelvin Nkwain. The Observatory recalls that this is not the first time members of CHRDA are subjected to threats and attacks. Between October 29 and November 1, 2021, CHRDA’s President, Felix Agbor Nkongho, aka Agbor-Balla, received multiple death threats on social media and by a voice message on WhatsApp while he was attending a one-week Leadership Retreat in Toronto, Canada, organised by the NGO Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations with the aim to find a peaceful resolution to the Anglophone crisis ¹ .

The Observatory further condemns the increase in recent years of acts of intimidation and attacks against human rights defenders in Cameroon, particularly since the beginning of the socio-political crisis in the Anglophone regions at the end of 2016, and recalls that several defenders of the rights of the Anglophone minority have been subjected to attacks, harassment and arbitrary detention under the Anti-Terrorism Law, or enforced disappearance, including Messrs. Mancho Bibixy Tse, Franklin Mowha and Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, who died in military custody in August 2019.

The Observatory urges the authorities of Cameroon to immediately take the necessary measures to ensure Akem Kelvin Nkwain’s security and physical integrity, and to launch an immediate, independent and thorough investigation into the above-mentioned death threats. The Observatory further calls on the authorities to guarantee the physical integrity and psychological well-being of all CHRDA members, and of all human rights defenders in Cameroon.