Southern Cameroons Crisis: HRW Indicts Yaounde Government in its Report
Human Rights Watch (HRW), a global rights monitoring organization has slammed the Yaounde government in a report (https://www.hrw.org/news/
The Group noted for its objective reports points a finger of accusation to army soldiers for their cruelty in the two regions in this report released in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. HRW has not minced its word in this new report that clearly indicts the government and its forces.
“Government forces in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have killed scores of civilians, used indiscriminate force, and torched hundreds of homes over the past six months, Human Rights Watch said today. Armed separatists have assaulted and kidnapped dozens of people during the same period, executing at least two men, amid intensifying violence and growing calls for secession of the North-West and South-West regions,” the report says.
The report speaks of the inhuman violence perpetrated by government forces. It indicates that violence has intensified since October 2018 as government forces have conducted large-scale security operations and separatists have carried out attacks. The report calls on the government of Cameroon to investigate allegations of human rights violations and ensure that civilians are protected during security operations. The report also urges separatist leaders to immediately direct their fighters and followers to halt all human rights abuses and to stop interfering with children’s education.
“Cameroon’s authorities have an obligation to respond lawfully and to protect people’s rights during periods of violence,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government’s heavy-handed response targeting civilians is counterproductive and risks igniting more violence,” the report says.
Human Rights Watch research shows that since October, security forces, including soldiers, members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), and gendarmes, killed civilians, used force indiscriminately, and destroyed and looted private and public property.
In one case, witnesses said, Cameroonian security forces attacked the village of Abuh, North-West region, in November and burned an entire neighborhood to the ground. Satellite images and photographic evidence obtained by Human Rights Watch show the destruction of up to 60 structures.
A woman in her 40s said she spent three days hiding in the surrounding countryside with her five children after the attack: “When I came back to the village, my house was gone, with everything inside. I am left with nothing but my clothes.”
The government’s near-total lack of prosecutions for crimes by security forces in the Anglophone regions has protected those responsible and fueled abuses.
The government’s near-total lack of prosecutions for crimes by security forces in the Anglophone regions has protected those responsible and fueled abuses.
At least 31 members of the security forces were killed in operations between October and February, in both the North-West and South-West regions, according to credible media reports and information collected by Human Rights Watch.
Witnesses said that separatists assaulted government workers, teachers, and students, preventing them from going to work or to school.
Kidnappings by separatists have also surged, including more than 300 students under age 18 kidnapped in at least 12 incidents. All were released, most after a ransom was paid.
In one case, a man in his 50s said separatists kidnapped and held him for ransom days after the October presidential election – an exercise the separatists opposed – as he drove between Kumba and Buea in the South-West region. He was taken to a remote base operated by the Ambazonia Restoration Forces – one of the armed separatist groups operating in the Anglophone regions and affiliated with the Ambazonia Interim Government – where he said he saw fighters execute two young men. “They were accused of voting,” he said. “They were beaten to death.”
The report also urges Cameroon’s partners, France in particular, to step up pressure on the government to hold those responsible for abuse to account, and ensure that any support to Cameroonian security forces does not contribute to or facilitate human rights violations.
It also calls on the UN Human Rights Council to ask the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or relevant UN experts to conduct a fact-finding mission into allegations of human rights abuses in Cameroon. Members of the UN Security Council should formally add Cameroon to the Council’s agenda, request a briefing on the situation from the UN Secretary General, and make clear that individuals responsible for serious human rights violations could face sanctions.
“It is absolutely essential for the Cameroon government to restore the rule of law in the Anglophone regions and to hold those who target civilians to account,” Mudge said, adding that “Leaders of the separatist groups should stop abusing civilians and show they are willing to resolve this crisis.”
The rights group says that on February 12, it sent a letter with its findings to Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, secretary general at the presidency requesting a response to specific questions. The government’s March 22 response denies state security forces carried out abuse documented in this report. The government added that its security forces all undergo human rights training prior to deployment and that about 30 cases are pending before the Military Courts in Bamenda and Buea for crimes including torture, destruction of property, violation of orders, and theft.
Both the separatist leaders and government authorities are not accepting responsibility for their atrocities despite evidence proving that there a lot of inhuman atrocities being committed in the two regions. The Yaounde government has consistently denied any allegations of atrocities despite evidence to the contrary.
Fuler Ayamba, the Secretary General of the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), said in a March 14 letter to Human Rights Watch that the ADF “impresses strict discipline on the fighters” under its control. With regard to allegations of large-scale kidnappings by the armed separatists, Ayamba said that these were carried out by the government to tarnish the image of ADF and other armed separatist groups or by opportunists seeking to exploit the crisis for their own gain. The ADF denies it was involved in any kidnappings around Teke. Human Rights Watch cannot confirm that ADF has command control over all fighters in their zones.
Sako Samuel Ikome, acting president of the Ambazonia Interim Government, a separatist group, said in a March 19 email that some members of the Ambazonia Restoration Forces have committed abuse and have been sanctioned by the Interim Government. Ikome denied that the group was involved in any kidnapping of students in Nkwen. He blamed violence in the regions on bandits and government-sponsored groups.
But it is sexual atrocities by the government that are keeping many analysts around the world awake all night. Human Rights Watch documented three cases of sexual violence by security force members. Two women and one girl from a locality (name withheld) in the North-West each said that BIR soldiers raped them in January. Aid workers in the North-West and South-West regions expressed concerns that similar cases go unreported.
“Sarah,” a 22-year-old mother, said that two BIR soldiers raped her at home in early January: “I was in the kitchen with my baby and a neighbor, [when] two military with BIR uniforms entered my home.” When she couldn’t provide information on the whereabouts of the separatists, one soldier threatened to kill her: “He put me on the ground while the other was holding my hands. He raped me. Then, the other raped me too. After that, one asked me whether he should be giving me money, around 5,000 or 10,000 CFA (US$8 or 16). The other said: ‘We should just go, go fast.’ So, they left.”
Sarah went to a medical facility for post-rape treatment the same day. However, she said that she did not report the sexual assault to the authorities out of fear and shame of stigma. She said she has experienced anxiety and insomnia since the rape and has sought support from a religious organization.
In another case, also from January, three BIR soldiers raped a 23-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl in the same home. The victims, who were neighbors, said that the soldiers arrived around 8:30 p.m. and accused them of hiding separatists. The soldiers then raped them in front of two children. The soldiers also attempted to rape another woman in the same home. She said the soldiers were dressed in the BIR uniform. One took me outside and asked me to undress. I begged him to let me go. He said he will kill me if I don’t take off my clothes. He put his gun between my legs and tried to force his way into me. I resisted. My baby was crying loud. I asked the BIR to let me check on the baby. He accepted. That’s how I was spared. The baby saved me, but when I entered, I saw my sister and my neighbor on the floor. They had been raped by the other two soldiers. When [the soldiers] left, we cried.
Though the government is rejecting all these allegations, it is clear to everybody around the world that the crime syndicate ruling the country for more than three decades will never be repentant. The country’s president, Paul Biya, has never acknowledged that mistakes have been made under him even when the economy and the civil service are collapsing. Corruption and inefficiencies are gradually killing the country and this puts Cameroon on the path to self-destruction. If the world does not step in, Cameroon will join other countries that are in the club of countries plunged into poverty and conflict by sit-tight dictators.
By Kingsley Betek and Linda Embi in Yaounde
