Prosecute, Sanction Fighters for Crimes Against Civilians
Armed
separatist fighters have killed at least seven people, injured six others,
raped a girl, and committed other grave human rights abuses across Cameroon’s
Anglophone regions since January 2022, Human Rights Watch said today. In an
uptick of violence, the separatists have also burned at least 2 schools,
attacked a university, kidnapped up to 82 people, including 33 students and 5
teachers, and threatened and beat 11 students.
“Armed separatist groups are kidnapping, terrorizing, and killing civilians
across the English-speaking regions with no apparent fear of being held to
account by either their own leaders or Cameroonian law enforcement” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior central Africa researcher at
Human Rights Watch. “Leaders of separatist groups should immediately instruct
their fighters to stop abusing civilians and hand over abusive fighters for
prosecution.”
Between April 1 and June 15, Human Rights Watch interviewed 38 people by
telephone, including 27 victims and witnesses to separatist abuses, 3 relatives
of victims, 4 Cameroonian journalists, and 4 members of Cameroonian human
rights organizations. Human Rights Watch also reviewed medical records, 13
videos, and 56 photographs shared directly with Human Rights Watch researchers
or posted on social media showing evidence of separatist abuses.
Between May 1 and 10, Human Rights Watch shared its findings with
representatives of three major separatist groups: the spokesperson as well as
the vice-president of the Ambazonia Interim Government (Sako), Christopher Anu
and Dabney Yerima; the defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF),
Capo Daniel; and the chairman of the African People’s Liberation Movement
(APLM), Ebenezer Derek Mbongo Akwanga. Only Daniel responded.
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. Fighting to create
an independent Anglophone state of “Ambazonia” since 2016, separatists target
civilians who do not observe their calls for school boycotts or general
lockdowns. These
abusive calls trample the basic rights of an already terrorized civilian
population, and separatist fighters and their leaders should be held
accountable and punished for their violent enforcement, Human Rights Watch
said.
Human Rights Watch spoke to five witnesses of the attack against the Bamenda
university, consulted local media reports on the incident, and
reviewed a 15-second video filmed at the campus on the day of the attack that
showed students fleeing after hearing gunshots.
“I saw three separatist fighters shooting from the campus football field,” a
28-year-old student told Human Rights Watch. “I was less than 50 meters from
them. They kept firing for 20 minutes.”
Witnesses said that there was sustained gunfire for about 25 minutes as
gendarmes responded. Residents of Bambili said fighters belonging to the
separatist group Restoration Forces have their camp in Fonyah, less than 6
kilometers away from the campus.
It is not the first time that separatist fighters attack the Bamenda
university. Human Rights Watch documented separatists storming a
campus dormitory on May 20, 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.
On February 26, at about 3 p.m., separatist fighters stopped two vehicles from
the Cameroon Baptist Convention
Health Services (CBCHS),
a nonprofit medical organization, at a checkpoint in Mile 90, North-West
region. They fired at one vehicle, killing Jenette Sweyah Shey, a 46-year-old
female nurse, and injuring another female nurse and a male doctor. The medical
workers were returning from Ashong and Nyonga, two localities where CBCHS had
provided health assistance to people in need.
Human Rights Watch spoke to four people, including two CBCHS staff, a female
nurse who witnessed the killing, and a man who saw Shey’s body. “They
[separatist fighters] shot at the windscreen of the first vehicle,” the nurse
said. “The bullet went through and hit Jenette in the forehead. She died as we
rushed her to the hospital.”
Daniel, the deputy defense chief of the ADF, said that ADF fighters and
fighters from another group, The Buffaloes of Bali, were at the checkpoint at
the time, that “it was a case of mistaken identity,” and that “we have
apologized with CBCHS” for the incident.
On February 28, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Cameroon
released a statement which condemned the killing
of the nurse and called on the killers “to refrain from hindering access to
medical services.” In a March 18 statement, the CBCHS provided information
on the incident and said that “Shey lost her life in the process of saving
lives.”
Burned remains of the
district hospital in Mamfe, South-West region of Cameroon which was attacked by
suspected separatist fighters on June 10, 2022. © Private, June 11, 2022, Mamfe, South-West
region, Cameroon.
Security forces and armed separatists have both attacked hospitals and medical staff
across the Anglophone regions since 2017. On July 6, 2020, separatists killed a
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors without Borders) community
health worker in the South-West region, after accusing him of collaborating
with the military. On June 10, suspected separatist fighters burned down the district hospital in
Mamfe, South-West region, depriving 85,000 people of access to health care, the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in
Cameroon reported.
During an attack on May 16 on a residential area in Idenau, North-West region,
where workers of the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), a public
agribusiness company, live, separatist fighters abducted 30 people, and one
fighter raped a girl in her early teens.
On April 7, armed separatists kidnapped 33 seminary students for ransom in
Bachuo-Ntai, South-West region. Catholic church authorities told the media that the students were
released the following day. It is unclear whether a ransom was paid.
On May 30, local media reported that the body of Lukong
Francis, a retired teacher at the government high school in Jakiri, North-West
region, and a member of the ruling party, was found on May 23 on the road
between Mantum and Jakiri with signs of torture. Local teachers and Francis’s
former colleagues confirmed to Human Rights Watch that Francis had been
kidnapped by suspected separatist fighters in retaliation for participating in
the May 20 public celebrations for Cameroon’s Unity Day, which separatist
groups oppose.
Since 2017, armed separatists have kidnapped hundreds
of people,
including students, teachers, medical staff, humanitarian workers, clergy, and government officials. They have also killed and tortured civilians, and carried
out widespread attacks on
education. They
have also intimidated human rights
defenders,
including Akem Kelvin Nkwain, member of prominent human rights
group Centre for Human Rights and
Democracy in Africa.
Government troops have also committed human rights violations, including extensive burning of
villages, homes, and shops, killings, torture, mistreatment,
incommunicado detention,
and rape of civilians.
“Cameroon’s regional and international partners should intensify calls on the
Cameroonian government for accountability, and better protection of civilians,”
Allegrozzi said. “They should also impose targeted sanctions, such as travel
bans and asset freezes, on separatist leaders who bear responsibility for
committing abuses.”
For more details on recent
abuses and accounts from victims and witnesses, please see below.
Multiple Attacks, Buea,
South-West Region
Separatist fighters, vowing to disrupt Africa' s
soccer tournament,
the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which was held in Cameroon between
January 9 and February 6, carried out a series of attacks in the town of Buea
on January 12, when national soccer teams were training in the town. The
separatists declared a lockdown and apparently punished people who did not
observe it, as the following three incidents that all took place on January 12
suggest.
Assault, Threats, Injury of
Students
Separatist fighters physically assaulted, threatened, and humiliated a group of
11 students, including at least 4 girls, aged from 14 to 18, who were on their
way to the Bokova high school on January 12. They shot one of the students in
the right leg and seized or destroyed the students’ school material.
Human Rights Watch spoke to an official of the victims’ school and two victims
and reviewed a video showing at least one fighter with a gun beating two
students, one male and one female, and the eleven students being ordered to
strip naked. In the video, which the school official and students confirmed was
genuine and which also circulated on social media, the separatist fighters can
be heard threatening to kill any student who disobeys their orders.
A 16-year-old female student who was among the victims said:
They were
about 15 separatists, they ordered us to remove our school uniforms. As we were
all naked, they beat us, kicked us, and threatened to kill us. They said
schools should be shut down. They shot my friend in his leg from close range. I
was terrified.
The school official said that
following the incident, the students were traumatized and did not come to
school for over a week.
In a January 13 radio statement, an army spokesperson, Cyrille Serge Atonfack
Guemo, blamed separatist fighters for the
attack. In a January 14 video shared on YouTube, Daniel,
the ADF deputy defense chief, congratulated fighters from the group known as
The Mountain Lions for the attack against students but said students should
have not been stripped naked.
Killing of Civilians
Aftermath of the taxi in
which separatist fighters killed the driver and a passenger on January 12, 2022
in Buea, South-West Cameroon. © Private, Buea, South-West region, Cameroon, January 12, 2022.
Separatist fighters shot and
killed a 30-year-old male taxi driver and another man at Bwitingi market area
on January 12.
Human Rights Watch spoke to a
witness of the killing and three people who saw the bodies, including a
relative of one of the victims. Human Rights Watch also reviewed six
photographs showing the taxi driver’s body at the Buea hospital mortuary and
five photographs showing the taxi after the attack.
A witness said:
I was hiding behind a building. I
saw how separatist fighters stopped a taxi and fired at it several times. I
don’t know what happened. That day was a “ghost-town day” because of AFCON.
When the situation calmed down, I rushed to the scene only to find the bodies
of the driver and his passenger drilled by bullets.
A taxi driver who was
brutally killed by armed separatist fighters in Buea, South-West Cameroon, on
January 12, 2022, is buried in his home village, Wowo, North-West region. © rivate, January 19, 2022, Wowo, North-West
region, Cameroon.
The family of the taxi driver did
not file any complaint with state authorities out of fear of retaliation.
Shooting of a Lawyer
Armed separatist fighters shot a lawyer in both his legs and stomach at the
checkpoint area near Bwitingi market on January 12. The fighters stopped his
car, ordered him out of the car and shot him at close range. “I saw amba
[separatist fighters] stopping his car,” a witness said. “As he got out, they
shot him at least five times. It was brutal.”
Human Rights Watch also spoke with a friend of the lawyer who visited him at
the Buea general hospital and reviewed a report by a local human rights
organization that documented the incident, three photographs depicting the
injuries suffered by the barrister, and a video filmed in the aftermath of the
incident showing him covered in blood.
The lawyer is still undergoing medical treatment for his injuries.
Kidnapping of Workers in
Tiko and Idenau, South-West Region, and Rape of a Girl
On January 13, separatist fighters attacked a rubber estate plantation of the
CDC in Tiko, abducted nine workers, including six women, and set a tractor
ablaze. “They had guns, invaded the plantation and took us away,” one of the
abductees, a man, said. “They threatened to kill us if we kept working for the
CDC and said we should instead join their struggle.” The workers were all
released on January 25 following a ransom payment.
On May 16, separatist fighters from the group known as “Ten
Cobo” attacked
a CDC residential area in Idenau, went house-to-house and abducted thirty
people, including five women and an old man. Nine workers eventually escaped.
Separatists beat and threatened the remaining captives with harm, then
abandoned them two days later. During the attack at the residential area, a
separatist fighter also raped a girl in her early teens.
Human Rights Watch reviewed international and local media reports on the
incident, spoke with two of the abductees, a relative of the rape survivor, and
a journalist who covered the case.
A 37-year-old woman who was among the abductees said:
We had to
walk all night before reaching their camp. Some of us, especially the elderly,
were exhausted. They beat us on the soles of our feet with machetes. They
shaved my hair as a punishment. They said we should not go back to work and CDC
should be shut down.
A relative of the rape survivor
said: “I found her in a lot of pain. I took her to the CDC clinic, where she
was treated. She’s traumatized.”
Since 2018, separatist groups have attacked and kidnapped scores of CDC workers
in efforts to paralyze the country’s economy. CDC is the second largest
employer in Cameroon and runs banana, palm oil, and rubber plantations in the
South-West region. Human Rights Watch has documented at least three incidents
involving CDC workers who were beaten or maimed, and in one case, shot by
separatist fighters in 2018.
Kidnapping of Lawyers For Ransom,
North-West Region
On January 16, separatist fighters kidnapped a lawyer from his home in Bamenda
in the presence of his family. They blindfolded him, took him to their camp,
and threatened him with death. They released him four hours later following a
ransom payment of 2.3 million CFA (US$3,700). The lawyer said:
Two
separatist fighters with rifles broke into my home. ‘On the floor or I’ll shoot
you’, one shouted. My wife and kids were present and terrified. They told me
lawyers are traitors … They said I better pay the ransom if I don’t want to end
up like barrister Kemende.
The lawyer said that his
abductors alleged that they had kidnapped an opposition senator and barrister,
Henry Kemende, and killed him because he did not pay the ransom. The
lawyer also said he saw Kemende’s car at the separatists’ camp where he was
held. Human Rights Watch was unable to verify this information.
The kidnapping and killing of Kemende, a member from the opposition party
Social Democratic Front (SDF), prompted a national and international outcry.
Human Rights Watch has documented how separatist fighters repeatedly targeted SDF members and supporters
since 2019, including his leader John Fru Ndi, accusing them of not supporting
their struggle for independence.
The kidnapped lawyer said he filed a complaint at the Bamenda police on January
18, but as of early June there has been no progress in an investigation.
On May 29, separatist fighters kidnapped Valentine Velieh Yenshia, a
54-year-old male lawyer, from his farm in Babanki. They kept him in isolation
in a container for three days without food and threatened him with harm, then
released him on June 2 following a ransom payment of 1.1 million CFA ($1,700).
The lawyer said that on June 2, he filed a complaint at Bamenda senior state
counsel. He also said that he continues to receive threats of harm from
separatist fighters.
Kidnapping of Teachers,
Injuring of Students, Weh, North-West Region
On January 19, a group of seven separatist fighters attacked the government
high school, in Weh at about 8:30 am, abducting five teachers,
including two women, and injuring two students, one of whom was 14.
Human Rights Watch spoke with two of the kidnapped teachers and one of the
injured students. Human Rights Watch also reviewed three photographs of the
students’ wounds and their medical records.
The two teachers said that the separatist fighters, some of whom they
recognized as their former students, told them that they were being kidnapped
for not complying with the separatist-ordered school boycott and for not
contributing financially to their struggle for independence. One said:
I was in
class with twenty-seven students when separatist fighters broke in. They forced
us out at gunpoint. Students panicked and ran away. I was taken away with four
other teachers. We had to walk for an entire day in the bush until we reached
their camp. The female teacher and an elderly teacher were exhausted and
struggled to keep walking. But the fighters threatened them with death if they
didn’t continue. They said government schools should be shut down.
One of the injured students said:
“They wanted to kidnap me, but I resisted, so one of the fighters cut off a
finger with a machete. I screamed in pain. He let me go. I went to the hospital
where I underwent surgery, but my finger was finally amputated.”
The teachers were released on January 24 following a ransom payment. The incident,
teachers said, caused the closure of all schools in Weh for one week.
Witnesses said that no security forces were near the school at the time of the
attack. Teachers and Weh residents said that there is a military base in Weh,
about 2 kilometers from the school, but that soldiers and gendarmes based there
have no means of transportation, limiting their ability to patrol and secure
the area.
Arson Attacks on Primary
School, Buea, South-West Region
In the early morning of February 7, suspected separatist fighters burned a
classroom of a government primary school in Molyko group 1.
A burned-out classroom in
the government primary school in Molyko, Buea, South-West Cameroon, destroyed
by suspected separatist fighters on February 7, 2022. © Private, February 8, 2022, Buea,
South-West region, Cameroon.
Human Rights Watch reviewed
credible media reports about the incident,
interviewed two people who went to the school the following morning, and
examined 10 photographs showing damages caused by the fire. “I saw an entire
classroom burned with everything inside,” a journalist said. “Gendarmes outside
the school said they intervened to chase the separatists away but did not catch
them. Teachers said it was not the first time the school had been targeted and
they had received threats by separatists to shut down the school.”
On April 5, another classroom of the school was burned. Human Rights Watch
spoke to a man who saw the classroom on fire, to a journalist who visited the
school on April 6, and reviewed three photographs showing damages caused by the
fire.
Arson Attack on Queen of the
Rosary College, Okoyong, South-West Region
Screenshot from a video of
the ‘Queen of the Rosary College’, in Okoyong, in South-West Cameroon, on fire
after an arson attack by separatist fighters on February 11, 2022. © Private, February 11, Okoyong, South-West
region, Cameroon
On February 11, between 2 and 2:30
a.m., separatist fighters set fire to three dormitories of an all-girls
boarding secondary school. Human Rights Watch reviewed media and reports by
nongovernmental groups on the incident, spoke to a school official and a
student who witnessed the attack, reviewed three videos showing the dormitories
on fire, and five photographs depicting the aftermath of the arson attack. In
the videos, which the school official confirmed was authentic, students can be
heard screaming as fighters threaten students not to march on February 11,
observed as a national youth day in Cameroon with traditional students’
parades. The school official said:
The attack unfolded as the kids
were asleep. There were 120 girls in the dormitories. We heard screaming and
saw smoke and flames. Girls ran away as arsonists burned down their beds and
personal belongings. Some students sustained light injuries.
One of the three dormitories
of the Queen of the Rosary College, in Okoyong, South-West Cameroon, burned by
separatist fighters on February 11, 2022. © Private, February 11, Okoyong, South-West
region, Cameroon.
The school official said that
soldiers and the Okoyong mayor visited the college the morning following the
attack promising an investigation. However, it is unclear whether an
investigation was opened.
The arson attack was
condemned nationally and internationally. On
February 14, diplomats in Cameroon, including from Canada, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued
a joint statement calling on all stakeholders
to the Anglophone crisis to respect the right to education, and stop attacking
schools.
In a February 11 statement, Dabney Yerima, the vice
president of separatist group Sako, acknowledged separatist responsibility for
the attack and said his group will “take steps to disarm rogue gangs operating
within Ambazonia.”
Attack in Mamfe, South-West
Region
Armed separatist fighters
set fire to at least five cars during an attack on the taxi and bus station in
Mamfe, South-West Cameroon, on April 28, 2022. © Private, April 29, 2022, Mamfe,
South-West region, Cameroon.
On April 28, separatist fighters
attacked the taxi and bus station known as “moto-park” at about 1 a.m. They
burned at least five cars and allegedly killed three men, including a teacher,
a driver, and a porter, accusing station workers of operating during their
declared lockdown. Human Rights Watch reviewed local media reports on
the incident and spoke to three people, including a witness to the attack and
two family members of two of the victims. Human Rights Watch also reviewed a
photograph showing one of the burned cars and a photograph showing the body of
one of the three men. A 24-year-old student said:
I was in a
taxi waiting to leave when I heard gunshots. I got out the car and saw a group
of amba [separatist fighters]. I hid behind a bush. I saw them burning the taxi
and four other cars. They accused people of not respecting their orders to stay
home on Mondays. I saw them shooting randomly. When they left, I saw the body
of a man who had been killed, a loader [porter]
The brother of the driver who was
killed said: “I saw the body of my brother at the mortuary. He had three
gunshot wounds. He was shot from behind and the bullets came out from the
chest.”
Kidnapping of Senator and
Her Driver, Bamenda, North-West Region
On April 30, ADF fighters kidnapped a ruling party senator, Regina Mundi, along
with her driver in Bamenda. Human Rights Watch reviewed local and international media reports on the
incident and a May 1 video which circulated on social
media showing the senator in an unknown location with ADF paraphernalia behind
her, making a pro-separatist statement.
Daniel, the ADF deputy defense chief, confirmed the authenticity of the video
and said that the ADF “arrested the senator for high treason” adding that she
will be used for an exchange of prisoners.
In a May 11 YouTube video, Daniel said ADF were preparing
to execute Mundi if President Biya did not release Anglophone prisoners. In a
May 31 release, the army spokesperson Atonfack
announced that on May 30, soldiers freed Mundi and “several” other hostages in
Ashong, North-West region.
Attempted Kidnapping of
Journalist, Bamenda, North-West Region
On May 26, at about 6 p.m., at least six heavily armed separatist fighters
robbed and attempted to kidnap Frédéric Takang, BBC’s Cameroon correspondent,
from the streets in Bamenda. Human Rights Watch spoke to the journalist who
said:
They fired
in the air to scare people around. They robbed me of everything. They took my
car, my computer, my microphone, my money and telephone. They also stole money
and other items from at least 10 other people who were there. They said they
were going to kidnap me, take me to their camp because they wanted me to deliver
a message. They didn’t say which message. Then, one of them took me away on his
motorbike. On the way, I managed to push him off the motorbike and escape.
On May 26, Takang filed a
criminal complaint with the gendarmerie in Bamenda, but as of mid-June he had
not been informed of any progress in the investigation.
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