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| A Fellata Mboror Woman, Sudan
© Rachel Morton/Survival |
Three men from the Mbororo herding people of northwest Cameroon, imprisoned
by a military tribunal, were freed on March 23 2004 by the Court of Appeal in
North-West Cameroon, which found them not guilty of possessing and using
firearms during a protest, and quashed their sentence of ten years'
imprisonment.
When Ousman Haman, Isa Adamou and Yunusa Mbaghoji, were arrested in April
2002, they were trying to defend communal grazing lands belonging to the Mbororo
community in the North-West Province of Cameroon. Behind the arrests was Alhadji
Baba Ahmadou Danpullo, multi-millionaire rancher and international businessman
with connections to the highest levels of power. He has been harassing the
Mbororo for 16 years, determined to control them and their land. Ousman Haman
was arrested while filming a disputed area of land, and witnesses said he was
taken to one of Baba Ahmadou's ranches, where he was flogged as Baba Ahmadou
watched.
The judge ruled that the land in question belongs to the Mbororo, and that
Baba Ahmadou was trespassing. This defeat suggests that his power is beginning
to fail.
Survival had lobbied the Cameroon authorities, the Commonwealth and the
British government on the prisoners' behalf. The Mbororo organisation MBOSCUDA
said after the verdict, We send our special thanks to Survival for your
wonderful and tireless efforts'
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