The French Cameroun government has finally accepted that more than a hundred Southern Cameroonians were killed during the October 1 Independence Day celebrations.  The revelations were made during a meeting that held on November 8^th, 2017 grouping members of the UN’s Anti-Torture Committee and the Permanent Representative of Cameroun to the United Nations in Geneva, Fabien Nkou Anatole.

The UN body reportedly told the predominantly Francophone delegation composed of representatives from the Ministries of External Relations, Justice, and the General Delegation for National Security including the National Gendarmerie that lawyers were not often present at police interrogations of Southern Cameroons detainees even though this is provided for by law.

The UN Committee of experts grilled the delegation from La Republique du Cameroun over allegations of summary executions and the existence of secret detention facilities and mass graves, particularly in the context of the Southern Cameroons crisis and the fight against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

The UN Anti-Torture Committee pointed out that the regime has over powered the Yaoundé Military Tribunal and legalized torture. The French Cameroun delegation was also informed that prison conditions in Cameroun were deplorable. The UN experts observed that “the trials of soldiers and police officers accused of torture gave rise to only light sanctions, or even suspended sentences, despite the heavy penalties provided for by the Penal Code.”

Fabien Nkou Anatole who retired as Minister Counselor at the Cameroon embassy in Bonn Germany a decade ago and was immediately appointed by his kinsman, Paul Biya to Geneva insisted that the corporatist demands that precipitated the Southern Cameroons crisis had given way to a real armed insurrection aimed at splitting the country and accompanied by violence against citizens and property.

The French Cameroun representatives begged the UN Committee not to give credit to the reports of some institutions such as the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International.

By Sama Ernest with files from Cameroon Info.Net