In a new incriminating report, the NGO Human Rights Watch accused the Cameroonian army of murder in the English-speaking regions.
The Cameroonian army is once again on the grill of the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), which overwhelms it in a new report made public this thursday, August 11, 2022. The non-governmental organization accuses the Cameroonian security defense forces authorities for having carried out killings in the North-West and South-West regions during various operations carried out between April 24 and June 12, 2022.
Government forces are also accused of “burning 12 houses, destroying and looting health centres, arbitrarily detaining at least 26 people and allegedly forcibly removing some 17 others”. “Instead of protecting the population from threats posed by armed groups, Cameroonian security forces have committed serious violations against civilians, forcing many of them to flee their homes,” said researcher Ilaria Allegrozzi, Senior on Central Africa at Human Rights Watch. “Cameroonian authorities should carry out credible and impartial investigations into these serious abuses and hold their perpetrators accountable,” she urged.
Indeed, the humanitarian organization which says it is based on testimonies specifies that these incidents occurred in and around the towns and villages of Belo, Chomba, Missong and Ndop, in English-speaking regions during military operations against armed separatist groups.
It should be noted that the NGO regularly accuses the Cameroonian army of committing atrocities in these two warring regions and regularly calls for the intercession of Cameroon’s multilateral and bilateral partners so that they put pressure on the government so that these crimes do not go unpunished.
A little over two years ago, Cameroonian soldiers were in the hot seat for carrying out a similar operation in Ngarbuh, which claimed the lives of 21 civilians, including 14 children according to HRW figures.