By YUSINYU OMER in Yaoundé
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the military has executed at least 10 people while fighting separatists this year in the North West and South West regions. The rights group says troops committed other abuses, including forced disappearances, burning homes and destroying health facilities.
In its report, Human Rights Watch said between April 24 and June 12 of this year, the military burned 12 homes, arbitrarily detained at least 26 people, and are presumed to have forcibly disappeared up to 17 others.
Says on July 28, Human Rights Watch sent an email to the army spokesperson, Colonel Cyrille Serge AtonfackGuemo, detailing the alleged abuses and requesting answers to specific questions but Atonfack did not reply.
According to the report, the military on April 24 stopped, severely beat, and detained over 30 motorbike riders who were part of a funeral convoy, allegedly because they were suspected as being separatist fighters. Human Right Watch said about 17 riders are presumed forcibly disappeared, as their whereabouts are unknown, but they were last seen in military custody.
Ilaria Allegrozzi, Human Rights Watch’s central Africa researcher, said the abuses are causing untold suffering among civilians. “We are facing a situation where the army, which is supposed to be protecting the civilian population from the threats posed by the separatist fighters is committing serious human rights violations against civilians, causing frustrations and also more sufferings and leading to displacements,”
Human Rights Watch also said serious abuses have been committed by separatist fighters, including killing and kidnapping of civilians. Attacks on students, teachers, and schools were also documented during the same period. NgongCyprain, a 27-year-old sports teacher, said he fled from Belo after the military torched his house in June. “I, just like many other people would want to go back to Belo, but how can us when both the military and the separatists torture us,” he said. “My house was burnt by the military; I saw them burn my house. Before then, my wife who is a teacher was abducted by the fighters.”
On June 19, during the installation of the new military commander in Bamenda, defence minister Beti Assomo acknowledged that troops committed grave rights abuses against civilians and ordered such violations to stop. In that same June, the military said it arrested four uniform men for killing nine civilians, including four women and a baby in Missong village, describing the act as reckless.
Human Rights Watchhas described the armed conflict one of the most neglected crises in the world.
The crisis degenerated into an armed conflict in 2016 after teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of French-speakers in the officially bilingual country. The military responded with a crackdown but equally received an opposite reaction from the Anglophones who vowed to defend the minority