The NGO calls on the authorities to investigate the accusations and to hold those responsible for these crimes accountable
July 4 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The non-governmental organization Amnesty International has denounced on Tuesday the “unbridled” atrocities against the civilian population in the Anglophone-majority regions of Cameroon, mired in conflict since 2017, and has called on the authorities to act to put an end to the situation and investigate these abuses, among which there are murders, torture and rape.
The report, ‘With or against us: the population caught between the Army, armed separatists and militias in northwest Cameroon’, exposes crimes committed by all parties in these regions –Northwest and Southwest–, mainly since 2020 and stresses the “urgent” need to provide protection to those who denounce these atrocities.
“We call on the Cameroonian authorities to investigate allegations of human rights violations and other crimes under Cameroonian law committed in the context of armed violence in English-speaking regions and prosecute and punish those responsible for these violations in fair trials before courts. independent, impartial and competent,” said Amnesty International’s Director for West and Central Africa, Samira Daoud.
Thus, he has emphasized that “the victims of these crimes and violations have the right to justice and reparation” for the abuses in these regions as a result of the crisis unleashed due to the violent repression by the security forces of demonstrations against the marginalization of the Anglophone minority.
The investigation has been carried out by the NGO through two visits to the country between November 2022 and March 2023, in which more than one hundred victims, representatives of non-governmental organizations, journalists and commissioners of the Commission were interviewed. of Human Rights of Cameroon (CHRC).
A man has recounted that armed separatists attacked members of the Fulani community in the village of Mobokop-Tanyi in March 2022, burning down his house with two of his children and his wife inside. “They shot my wife and, when she was on the ground, they burned her along with my two children, seven years old and six months old, who were sleeping in the house,” he lamented.
Amnesty International has pointed out that discriminatory and inflammatory rhetoric against members of the Fulani Mbororo community has been published on social networks, while a separatist leader described the members of this group as “aggressors”.
“They moved to Ambazonia – the name given by the separatists to this area of Cameroon – from another country, into our territory. They attack our people. We kill them, burn their houses and destroy their farmland. If we are able to kill them everyone, we will kill them all and there will be no regrets,” he said during an interview broadcast on Facebook.
Fulani Mbororo militias have similarly been involved in killings and destroying homes in the North West Region, on some occasions with the help or accomodation of Cameroonian troops. Thus, some 45 armed men described as Fulani, Haousssa and Aku, accompanied by Cameroonian soldiers, killed five people in Gheidze on October 18, 2021.
ABUSES BY THE ARMED FORCES
The report also points to serious Human Rights violations by security forces in Bui, in the North West Region, including extrajudicial executions, rape and sexual violence against women, according to testimonies from displaced victims in Bafoussam and Douala.
One of the victims has said that the military “committed atrocities” after breaking into her village on September 3, 2021. “When I saw them, I quickly grabbed my daughter and we went into the house. We closed the door, but they broke it down. They started to They searched the house and asked my husband to lie down on the floor. A soldier raped me,” she said.
“Then they took me and my daughter. They put us in a military vehicle and set fire to the house. They took us to their base. There were six other women there. The youngest was twelve years old. We were there for two months and two weeks. Every day (the military) raped us, one after the other,” he said.
Amnesty International has indicated that the report also examines military cooperation between Cameroon and its international partners, with a focus on the origin and diversion of weapons. Videos on social networks published by separatist groups suggest that some of the weapons used in these crimes were stolen from the Army, which obtained them with foreign support.
“We call on Cameroon’s international partners, including the governments of France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Croatia, Israel, Russia, Serbia and the United States, to carry out rigorous human rights risk assessments before sending more weapons and to monitor end use to ensure that military aid does not contribute to further human rights abuses,” Daoud said.
“Where there is credible evidence that weapons are being diverted to armed groups accused of committing serious crimes, the delivery of this military aid must be suspended until steps are taken to ensure that all deliveries and that the weapons are used in a proper manner. responsible and by authorized users”, he explained.
FAILURE TO RESPONSE TO ABUSES
On the other hand, Amnesty International has regretted that the response to the crisis by the political and judicial authorities has implied, up to now, more violations of Human Rights, since instead of really investigating the crimes committed by armed separatists, the Authorities have accused certain people who denounce the atrocities of being separatists or sympathizers.
Added to this is the lack of transparency in the investigations of crimes committed by the Armed Forces, which raises concerns about impunity for these abuses, while the authorities’ attempts to restrict freedom of expression and the right to information They have made the situation worse.
In this context, activists, lawyers and journalists who have denounced atrocities committed by the security forces have been subjected to legal proceedings, arbitrary arrests and threats, with some of them being tried before military courts.
Therefore, the report raises deep concerns about the lack of cooperation of the Cameroonian authorities with international and regional human rights institutions. Repeated requests for fact-finding missions have gone unanswered, hampering efforts to assess the situation and advocate for justice.
“The authorities must guarantee that arrests and detentions are carried out in accordance with international human rights law and standards, and must provide protection to journalists, human rights defenders and activists who face threats,” it has settled. Daoud.
