- Activists from #OnEstEnsemble, an organization working with the seasonal workers’ union in Cameroon’s sugar cane sector, have responded to a series of summonses from the police and the Ministry of Territorial Administration, some of which have been in violation of Cameroonian law.
- The interrogations began following the publication of Mongabay’s January 2024 investigation into the workplace accidents and allegations of environmental pollution occurring on plantations run by the Cameroon Sugar Corporation (SOSUCAM).
- Authorities accuse the activists of backing the seasonal workers’ union, whose efforts, according to Cameroonian authorities, are damaging to the agricultural company, which is a subsidiary of the French group SOMDIAA.
- A senior police official surreptitiously admitted the summons are in response to a complaint from SOSUCAM and suspicions regarding the civil society organization’s motivations.
Following the publication of a Mongabay article, police and authorities have harassed and summoned civil society activists in Cameroon for questioning five times. The Mongabay investigation, which reported and verified the working conditions at plantations operated by the leading Cameroonian sugar producer, the Cameroon Sugar Corporation (SOSUCAM), includes denunciations by the activists against the company. According to a police commissioner, the authorities’ interrogations are in response to a complaint filed by SOSUCAM and suspicions regarding the civil society organization’s motivations.
Mongabay contacted SOSUCAM to learn more about the company’s involvement in the repeated summonses, but the company did not respond to our requests for comment.
According to Adonis Febe, one of the activists from the Cameroonian organization #OnEstEnsemble, the interrogations have practically become routine. On April 22, 2024, he went to a special police precinct in Nkoteng, a Cameroonian town located 115 kilometers (71 miles) north of Yaoundé, the nation’s capital, to be questioned after receiving a summons signed by Police Commissioner Divine Forsi. This was his fifth trip to the precinct since Mongabay’s investigation was published last January, he said.
Both he and other activists from the organization have responded to other, similar summonses to appear before the General Delegation for National Security (DGSN) at Cameroonian police headquarters in Yaoundé as well as the Nkoteng Sub-Prefecture, an administrative department attached to the Ministry of Territorial Administration. Some of these summonses have not included formal notice.
According to Febe, these summonses were often simply calls from police officials, which violates the Cameroonian Criminal Procedure Code. Such was the case on April 3, 2024, when they were questioned for nearly an entire day at the DGSN’s General Intelligence Directorate in Yaoundé.
The leaders of #OnEstEnsemble did not know why they had been summoned until they arrived at police headquarters. They learnt that it was namely in response to a complaint made by SOSUCAM on the basis of the activists’ “actions, which are damaging to the company,” Febe said on a call with Mongabay.
“They questioned us on the record, and at the end, they demanded we stop working with seasonal workers and residents [of SOSUCAM’s plantations],” he said.
#OnEstEnsemble made it clear that it would never make any such commitment considering the existing agreement between the organization and seasonal workers, which aims to support the latter in effectively building their union. Moreover, the organization explained that SOSUCAM plantations’ residents are an integral part of #OnEstEnsemble, constituting a local branch of the organization based in Haute-Sanaga, the department where Nkoteng is located.
“That being the case, we cannot commit to unilaterally breaking a contract without first discussing it with the other parties involved,” Febe said.
The troublesome union
The organization #OnEstEnsemble, founded on June 2, 2017, has been accused of supporting the efforts of the seasonal workers’ union in the Haute-Sanaga sugar cane sector. In November 2023, the union had reported on the prevalence of workplace accidents on SOSUCAM’s plantations. SOSUCAM is a subsidiary of the French group SOMDIAA, which manufactures and markets food commodities and runs six sugar cane plantations across Africa.
Following the union’s report, Mongabay published its own investigation revealing SOSUCAM’s poor practices in workplace accident management as well as allegations of environmental crimes committed through the company’s operations. The police interrogations of the organization’s activists began thereafter.
Mongabay had sent SOSUCAM a request for comment as part of its initial investigation, but it went unanswered. Following the article’s publication, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a U.K.-based organization which tracks over 10,000 companies worldwide, contacted the general director of the company, Jean-Pierre Champeaux. In return, Champeaux sent out the company’s right of response; he did not, however, deny the facts shared in the article.
Nevertheless, Champeaux said that “SOSUCAM reserves the right to take legal action, following the content of certain testimonies.” The repeated summonses our source received from the police followed this announcement.
However, it should be noted that there are several ongoing initiatives by the seasonal workers’ union and civil society organization that have already upset the company, Febe said.
Police Commissioner Roland Tata Dogo, who works at the DGSN’s General Intelligence Directorate, led one of the interrogations of the organization’s leaders. On a call with Mongabay, he surreptitiously admitted that SOSUCAM is closely connected to the many police-issued summonses. He also confirmed the summonses began following a complaint made by the company.
“The organization #OnEstEnsemble told us that they saw seasonal workers [from SOSUCAM] suffering in the workplace, and they wanted to help them,” the officer said before launching into a series of solemn questions forming the basis of the interrogation. “The organization also has its own interests; otherwise, how is it financed? Do they only help suffering people? Is assisting these people their only motivation? Is their organization truly legal? Is it up to date in its obligations?” he continued.
Despite the company’s silence, SOSUCAM temporarily suspended the president of the seasonal workers’ union, Mahamat Zoulgue, following our initial story. Jean-Pierre Champeaux notified him of his disciplinary suspension without pay on April 9, 2024, and he was accused of “inciting revolt” on the company’s plantations in Nkoteng. However, he subsequently returned to the workforce.
Anonymous sources within the company have also informed Mongabay that local judicial authorities have opened an investigation following the workplace accident that resulted in Mballa Olomo’s death, a company employee. According to the sources, two executives in the production department, André Nang and Ambara Thabené, have been accused of the homicide. They were arrested and taken into custody before being released thereafter.
Banner image: A former employee of SOSUCAM. He now engages in subsistence farming and says he is a victim of the company’s pesticide spraying operations. Image by Mongabay.
This story was first published on Mongabay’s Africa French site on July 15, 2024. Read the French version here.
Labor abuse and work accidents on plantations of Cameroon’s largest sugar producer
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