Separatist forces getting away with serious abuses in anglophone Cameroon – Human Rights Watch

There are concerns that separatist leaders in English-speaking areas of Cameroon might be losing control of their forces, as grave human rights violations are on the rise, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its latest report.

The separatists, according to the report, also don’t fear the possibility of being held accountable by Cameroon’s security forces.

Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior central Africa researcher at HRW, said:
Armed separatist groups are kidnapping, terrorising, and killing civilians across the English-speaking regions with no apparent fear of being held to account by either their leaders or Cameroonian law enforcement.

After compiling its report, HRW shared its findings with key separatist groups operating in anglophone Cameroon provinces, but most didn’t bother to respond.

The organisation contacted three leaders of the major separatist groups: the spokesperson and vice-president of the Ambazonia Interim Government (Sako), Christopher Anu and Dabney Yerima; the defence chief of the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), Capo Daniel; and the chairperson of the African People’s Liberation Movement (APLM), Ebenezer Derek Mbongo Akwanga. Only Daniel is said to have responded.

“Leaders of separatist groups should immediately instruct their fighters to stop abusing civilians and hand over abusive fighters for prosecution,” said Allegrozzi.

Grave violations

According to the United Nations, the six major grave violations are: killing and maiming of children; recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups; sexual violence against children; attacks against schools or hospitals; abduction of children; and denial of humanitarian access for children.

The HRW report highlights that, since January this year, “armed separatist fighters have killed at least seven people, injured six others, raped a girl”.

The report added that:
In an uptick of violence, the separatists have also burned at least two schools, attacked a university, kidnapped up to 82 people, including 33 students and five teachers, and threatened and beat 11 students.

In over two months, stretching from 1 April to 15 June, HRW spoke to 38 people by telephone. These included 27 victims and witnesses to separatist abuses, three relatives of victims, four Cameroonian journalists, and four members of Cameroonian human rights organisations.

HRW also analysed medical records, 13 videos and 56 photographs, some of them which had been shared on social media showing evidence of separatist abuses.

Attack on education

Since 2016, students and teachers in Cameroon’s north-west and south-west regions have been victims of separatist attacks.

The trend has somewhat increased this year as separatists put in place a “stay at home” policy to deny people a right to an education.

“On April 5, separatists stormed the campus of the Bamenda University, in Bambili, North-West region, shooting in the air, causing panic among students and teachers, and leading to a stampede that injured at least five people. The fighters attacked the university for not observing a ‘lockdown’, or stay-at-home order, that they had declared across the area,” HRW said.

A witness interviewed by HRW said:
I saw three separatist fighters shooting from the campus football field. I was less than 50 metres from them. They kept firing for 20 minutes.

It was not the first time that separatist fighters have attacked the university. Human Rights Watch documented that they stormed a campus dormitory sometime in May 2020, kidnapping nine students.

The separatists took the students to their camp, beat them, and held them for five days until a ransom was paid.