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Friends of Bruno Medjiako Tcheuleu

John O | 12.03.2008 07:17 | Migration | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements

Bruno from Cameroon is currently detained at Dover Immigration Removal Centre and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Monday 17th March 2008 at 21:00 on Ethiopian Airways flight ET701 to Bole/Addis Ababa and ET915 onward to Douala Cameroon.

If removed he will leave behind his partner Tchameni and their children Gloria and Tcheuleu.

Bruno fled Cameroon to the UK to claim asylum because the Cameroonian authorities arrested him as they wanted to know where his brother, Andre Medjiako, was hiding. His brother was a member of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) the main political party in Cameroon and had brother fled Cameroon in 1997 to seek protection in the UK where he was granted refugees status.

Police in Cameroon arrested Bruno and tortured him for a week in police cells. Bruno was only 17 at the time of these incidents. He was released on the agreement that he must report to the police every week. He tried to follow these instructions but on the first reporting day he was asked again about his brother, beaten, tortured and then released. He felt that he could not carry on with the reporting and sought help from his church to leave Cameroon and joined his brother in the UK on the 29 October 2001.

Bruno claimed asylum on the 2nd November 2001. The home office refused his application on 11th December 2001 but granted him limited live to remain in the UK until 28 October 2002 on a discretionary basis. Bruno met his partner, Tchameni Mboda Josiane Dorege, a refused asylum seeker also from Cameroon. They have been having a happy life until the 6th September 2007 when Bruno was arrested and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment for working with out permission. He was just trying to support his family.

Bruno and his partner had their first daughter, Gloria Joanne Tcheuleu Medjiako, on the 4th September 2006. He has now served his sentence and is currently detained at Dover IRC pending removal to Cameroon on Monday 17 March 2008. He will not have the chance to see his second daughter, Tcheuleu Hakoue Arielle Divine, born on the 2nd January 2008 as he was arrested when his partner was five months pregnant. Bruno and his family are well known to their North London community and members of St Mary Mother of God Catholic Church where they attend every Sunday to confirm their faith. Bruno is a hard working man, despite the fact that they were living in destitution with no right to work; he has managed to complete his HND in Electrical/Electronic Engineering at the College of North West London in 2006.

In the light of the current situation in Cameroon, it will be very dangerous to deport Bruno to the brutal regime of Paul Biya who has ruled the country for 25 years and who is now preparing to change the constitution to allow himself to continue in power after the presidential election in 2011.

Protests in Cameroon these last three weeks have resulted in clashes between the government's armed forces and the public ; deaths have been put as in excess of 100. The Minsiter of Defence, Mr. Amadou Ali, has officially announced on state television that more than 1,671 Cameroonians were arrested last week during demonstrations and many people are still reported missing.

No Peace Without Justice: "Those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable" -  http://allafrica.com/stories/200803070951.html

Bruno's local community and faith group are campaigning to stop the Home Office splitting this family up.


What you can do to help!
1. Fax/Phone/Email Wolde Abza, Area Manager Ethiopean Airways UK & Ireland and urge him not to carry out the forced removal of Bruno Medjiako Tcheuleu. You can use the attached Model letter "BrunoletterET.doc" which you can copy/amend, or write own version (in which case, please remember to include the following information: Forced Removal of Bruno Medjiako Tcheuleu on Monday 17th March 2008 at 21:00 on Ethiopian Airways flight ET701 to Bole/Addis Ababa and ET915 onward to Douala Cameroon).

Fax: 020 8747 9339 - from outside the UK + 44 20 8747 9339

Phone: 020 8987 7000 (9:00am to 5:30pm)

2. Fax the Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, MP, Secretary of State for the Home Office asking that Bruno Medjiako Tcheuleu is allowed to stay in the UK with his family. Model letter "BrunoletterJS.doc" is attached which you can copy/amend/write your own version (in which case, please remember to include Bruno's Home Office Reference Number T1053805.)

Fax: 020 8760 3132/ from outside UK+ 44 020 8760 3132

Please notify the Campaign of any faxes sent:
 camsupnet@yahoo.co.uk

Cameroon Support Network (CSN)
C/o NCADC
110 Hamstead Road
Birmingham
B20 2QS

End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
Friends of Bruno Medjiako Tcheuleu

John O
- e-mail: JohnO@ncadc.org.uk
- Homepage: http://www.ncadc.org.uk