Human Rights Watch has again accused the Cameroonian army of executing civilians during an attack on a separatist base at Mautu in Southern Cameroons.

The attack by the Cameroonian army against the Ambazonia Restoration base occurred on 10 January 2021.

According to Human Rights Watch, 9 civilians were killed in the attack, including a woman and a child and four others were injured.

“Witnesses said the soldiers killed 9 people including a 50-year-old woman and a 6-year-old child. And, that they went from one house to another in search of separatist fighters and weapons, threatening residents and looting their property,” Human Rights Watch said.

On 11 January 2021, Colonel Cyrille Serge Atonfack, a French Cameroonian army spokesman, said that “terrorists” had fabricated a “jumble of images” to accuse the Cameroonian army of murdering civilians.

According to Colonel Cyrille Serge Atonfack, the terrorists attacked the soldiers of the 21st Mechanized Infantry Battalion (BIM) while they were conducting a “preventive raid”. The latter retaliated by killing several “terrorists” and seizing their weapons.

This is not the first time that the army is taken to task by the respectable Human Rights Watch.

The NGO whose main task is the defense of human rights regularly accuses the Cameroonian army of abuses against Southern Cameroons civilians.

By Isong Asu