Army Accused of Killings, Disappearances In North-West Cameroon

Human Rights Watch has accused soldiers of summarily killing at least 10 people and carrying out a series of other abuses between April 24 and June 12, 2022, during counter-insurgency operations in the North-West region.

The organisation says that the troops also razed 12 homes, looted and destroyed health facilities, arbitrarily detained at least 26 people, and are presumed to have forcibly disappeared up to 17 other people.

Both Cameroonian security forces and armed separatist groups have committed serious human rights abuses but have faced limited or no consequences. Impunity remains a key driver of the crisis, emboldening abusers, and fuelling further harm and violence, HRW said.

Since 2016, Cameroon's English-speaking regions have been in the throes of a political and security crisis between armed separatist groups seeking independence for their self-proclaimed state of Ambazonia, comprising the North-West and South-West regions, and the Cameroonian security forces.

The violence has caused approximately 6,000 deaths and a major humanitarian crisis, with almost 600,000 people internally displaced within the Anglophone and neighbouring regions, and over 77,000 forced to become refugees in Nigeria.