Anglophone crisis in Cameroon: Grave Human Rights Violations by Cameroonian Military and Armed Separatists between June and July 2021/ Human Rights Watch Report
7 min readHuman Rights Watch has documented new cases of grave human rights violations in the Anglophone regions committed by the Cameroonian Military and Separatist Fighters in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. “abuses in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions by both government security forces and armed separatists highlight the urgent need to protect communities at risk and to hold those responsible for abuses to account” HRW said in the report.
In the report which focuses mostly on the event between June and July 2021, HRW has encouraged that there is a need for the national and international community to step in and aid the civilian population caught in between the warring parties.
Since the Anglophone crisis began in late 2016, government forces have regularly committed serious human rights violations during security operations against the armed separatists fighting to create an independent Anglophone state of “Ambazonia.” 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.”
Between June 12 and 23 Human Rights Watch conducted telephone interviews with 10 victims and witnesses to human rights violations by security forces, as well as with 18 relatives of victims, journalists, and civil society activists. Human Rights Watch also interviewed a family member of the teacher killed by separatist fighters. Human Rights Watch corroborated victim and witness accounts with photographs the victims provided.
According to Human Rights Watch, “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 North-West region on June 8 and 9, 2021. Armed separatist fighters in the South-West region killed a 12-year-old boy on June 6, and a 51-year-old teacher on July 1. Further, on June 25, separatist fighters in the North-West region kidnapped four humanitarian workers and held them overnight.”
Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch said that “Cameroon’s security forces have an obligation to lawfully counter-attacks by armed separatist groups, and protect people’s rights during periods of violence,” ….“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.”
HRW in their report also captures what is described as desecration of tradition by the security forces mostly in the North West Region of the country. They highlighted the repeated attacks in Dzeen Fondom, in Kumbo Subdivision of the North West Region of Cameroon. Reporting the horrifying incidents in the locality, the HRW says they interviewed witnesses and victims of the horrific attacks
“They desecrated my palace, damaging traditional artifacts, including the ancient royal throne and an ancestral chair, and entered into the sacred and secret areas of the palace, where none have access to,” the fon said. “They ransacked and scattered the royal regalia. It is a shame.” BIR soldiers previously attacked and looted a world heritage site, the Royal Palace in Bafut, North-West region, in September 2019.
During the attack, there was rape, looting and killings in Ndzeen Fondom.
Human Rights Watch spoke to two Mbuluf residents who said that security forces stopped their group of six – a husband and wife, their two children, another man, and another woman – in the vicinity of the village. The wife said that the soldiers stopped the group as they were fleeing at around 1 or 2 a.m. The soldiers asked the couple where the separatist fighters were. “We said we didn’t know,” she said. “They said my husband had a gun. We said we had no gun. They said they would kill us, and then one of them raped me.” Other soldiers threatened and beat both men, the wife, and another member of the group. The soldiers then forced all six people to walk for about two hours to Ndzeen village. When the soldiers arrived in Ndzeen, they broke into, damaged, and looted at least 33 shops and homes, including the residence of the fon (a local traditional authority)………..
The rape survivor said that she did not go to a hospital for post-rape treatment because she lacked financial means, and she did not report the rape to the authorities. “I did not go to report the rape because I am afraid, and it could be used against me,” she said.
The man described his treatment by the soldiers on June 9:
They said, “Remove your clothes! If you don’t remove your clothes, we’ll rape your wife in front of you!” They asked me, “Where are the amba boys [separatist fighters]?” I answered, “I don’t know.” They kicked me five times and pushed me on the ground. Then they forced us to walk to Ndzeen … They were telling us to move quickly, to run. It was tough, especially for the children. The mother carried the youngest on her shoulders … At a certain point, the soldiers attempted talking to the older child, the girl. When they told her, “Don’t be afraid,” the girl started crying. She had seen the soldiers and their weapons, and she was frightened
The report also captures the unlawful killing of a woman in Gom Village, North West Region of the country
On June 8, at about 7 p.m., in Gom village, North-West region, two soldiers in civilian clothes, whom a witness recognized as regular army soldiers from the Gom military base, broke into the fon’s home, harassed the eight people there, including a 72-year-old man whom they beat. At about 7:30 p.m., they questioned and then shot Nwang Lydia, a 60-year-old woman, in the right leg after she failed to provide information about a separatist fighter.
Her neighbor, the 72-year-old man who had been beaten, said that the assailants forced him and his wife to carry Lydia in the direction of the Gom military base for questioning. They carried Lydia as far as a bridge about two kilometers from her house, when the soldiers told them to leave her there. The soldiers then killed Lydia with a gunshot to the chest. Lydia’s relatives recovered her body from the bridge the following morning.
The armed Separatists have also committed gross human rights violations in the North West and South West Regions regions
On July 1, at about 7:30 p.m., two suspected separatist fighters broke into the home of Fuh Max Dang, a 51-year-old physics teacher at the Government Bilingual High School in Kumba, southwest region and shot him dead in front of his two children, said a relative of Dang who was just outside the house when he was shot:
He had eaten his dinner and was in the living room with his two children. I was outside when I heard a gunshot. I rushed inside just to find him bleeding on the floor. He had been shot right in the heart. The killers had run away, leaving the door wide open. He died shortly after. He had been previously threatened by the amba boys [separatist fighters] because of his job as a teacher. The amba boys didn’t want him to teach, and he was forced to flee Kumba and move to Yaoundé for safety. He had just moved back to Kumba one year ago.
In 2019 Dang’s wife was attacked at their home in Kumba by separatist fighters looking for her husband. The separatist fighters attempted to kidnap her, but they let her go following a payment of 60,000 CFA [$ 1,080].
Given the level of suffering and the need for humanitarian response, the warring parties have also violated the international humanitarian law by restricting humanitarian agencies from certain localities in the Anglophone regions. This amount to gross human rights violations.
The violence by both security forces and armed separatists in the North-West and South-West regions has caused a major humanitarian crisis. Cameroon has 712,000 internally displaced people in the Anglophone regions, neighboring Littoral and West regions, and the nearby Centre region. At least 2.2 million people need humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.
Yet humanitarian access is severely restricted and humanitarian workers have been victims of attacks by both government forces and armed separatist groups.
In December 2020 the authorities suspended all activities of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) in the North-West region, accusing the organization of being too close to Anglophone separatists. MSF believes this suspension has deprived tens of thousands of people of access to vital health care.
In an apparent attempt to curb reports of security forces’ human rights violations and prevent international monitoring of the Anglophone crisis, the government has denied journalists and international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, access to the Anglophone regions.
Separatist fighters have also hindered aid agencies’ access in the areas under their control. A local aid group told Human Rights Watch that on June 25, Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF) separatist fighters stopped their vehicle in Guzang, North-West region, kidnapped the four staff members inside, and beat one, then released them the following day. An ADF spokesperson said that the organization had not been given approval to pass on the road, so they were treated as suspicious until their identity was verified. He denied that they were kidnapped.
Read the full report through the link below: Cameroon: New Abuses by Both Sides | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
