The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the protection of communities at risk as government security forces and armed separatists face off in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions.
Clashes between the country’s military and separatist fighters have led to more than 3,000 deaths and many displaced persons.
According to the HRW findings, Cameroonian security forces killed two civilians, raped a 53-year-old woman, destroyed and looted at least 33 homes, shops, as well as a traditional leader’s palace in the northwest region on 08 and 09 June, 2021.
It also noted that armed separatist fighters in the southwest region killed a 12-year-old boy on 06 June, and a 51-year-old teacher on 01 July; with separatist fighters in the northwest region kidnapping four humanitarian workers and holding them overnight on 25 June.
‘Cameroon’s security forces have an obligation to lawfully counter attacks by armed separatist groups, and protect people’s rights during periods of violence’, Senior Researcher at HRW, Ilaria Allegrozzi, said in a statement.
‘But yet again, we learn that they have responded to the threat from separatist groups with attacks on civilians and serious human rights violations of their own’.
Since late 2016, Cameroon’s northwest and southwest regions have been rocked by violence after separatists declared the independence of ‘Ambazonia’.
The crisis in the regions started when lawyers and teachers took to the streets of Buea and Bamenda to protest the domination of French in Anglophone courts and schools.
The recent uptick in violations came amid renewed clashes, with the army spokesperson reporting that security forces were involved ‘in at least 30 heavy gun battles with separatists in June’.
HRW said that it conducted telephone interviews with ten victims and witnesses between June 12 and 23, as well as with 18 relatives of victims, journalists, and civil society activists.
‘Victims and witnesses said that in the very early hours of [09 June], about 150 security force members from both the regular army and elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bataillon d’Intervention Rapide – BIR) conducted a security operation in and around Mbuluf village, northwest region. As the forces approached the village on foot, fearful residents fled to the nearby bush’, HRW noted.
The organisation has previously documented widespread separatist attacks on education, including against teachers, students, and schools.
Source: HRW
Photo source: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
