The United States has reiterated a call for Cameroon to fish out and
prosecute soldiers complicit in extrajudicial killings in the country’s
Far North region.
A Voice of America report on Friday said the Pentagon had confirmed
demanding accountability from Cameroon over the gruesome killings.
“The Cameroonian government has taken recent steps to increase
transparency and address allegations of gross violations of human rights
seriously, but the government has not yet released information specific
to its investigations,” Pentagon spokeswoman Air Force Maj. Sheryll
Klinkel told the VOA in an email.
Klinkel also confirmed that the US military was working with the State
Department to “ensure the government of Cameroon holds accountable any
individuals found to be responsible.” The State Department had
previously called on Yaounde to act.
The BBC Africa Eye’s in a recent investigative piece dissected the
killing specifically of two women and their babies by police believed to
have been deployed in the fight against Boko Haram.
The piece employed technology – satellite imagery, available news
footage and matched it with the video of the shooting that drew
widespread condemnation when it surfaced on social media.
The government initially rejected it before later announcing the arrest
of soldiers in connection with the footage. The BBC work tracked when it
possibly happened – dating as far back as 2015 and two of the soldiers
involved.
The other gruesome killing was also shot in the same region and involved
soldiers opening fire on a dozen young men who were lying prostrate.
Cameroon is currently facing a security crisis in its English-speaking
regions where armed separatists are fighting government forces.
The situation has led to people fleeing the regions whiles others cross
the border into Nigeria. State actors and separatists have been accused
of killing, injuring and threatening citizens. The region is seen as a
major flash point as voters elect a new president on October 7, 2018.
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