Trump government’s move to scrap trade ties with Cameroon is a signal – US Diplomat

US Diplomat Herman Cohen has said, recent move by Trump government to strip Cameroon of trade deals is a signal.

Herman Cohen adds, the Biya government must apply what he calls “negotiated settlement to end Anglophone crisis soonest”.

“By removing Cameroon’s duty-free access to U.S. markets under AGOA, President Trump has sent a signal to the Biya regime that increased pressure will be applied if a negotiated settlement to the insurgency in the Anglophone regions is not reached soon,” Herman Cohen wrote on Twitter.

The vocal US diplomat who played a huge role in negotiating an end to the Eritrean-Ethiopian war has insists Cameroon must stop rights abuses and extrajudicial killings in the restive North West and South West regions where kids have not been to school for three years.

“There is no military solution to the conflict between Paul Biya’s regime in Cameroon, and the Anglophone separatists at war with it since 2017,” he said. He added that, “The overwhelming, brutal, and repressive response of Biya’s security forces has resulted in countless killings, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a total denial of basic services in the Anglophone regions”.

In Thursday October 31st, 2019, US stopped trade relations with Cameroon over gross human rights violations.

The government of the United States of America removed Cameroon on the list of sub Sahara African countries benefiting from The Growth and development Act (AGOA). In a document signed by Donald Trump US president, he sites exaggerated cases of “human rights violation committed by the military”. It is believed to be government’s handling crisis in Cameroon.

United States of America says implementation phase of the decision starts January 1st 2020.