The Human Rights NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW), condemns the violence perpetrated by separatists in the English-speaking zone of Cameroon in a report released on Friday 12 March. These separatists have mostly abandoned their ideological claims and have become criminals organized into several armed groups, the organization believes.
While the army is often accused of abuse, the authorities have made a real effort, notes HRW researcher Ilaria AllegrozziI. On the other hand, the rebels are increasing the violence, especially in the last two months, against the authorities but also against civilians.
Criminalization
“These militias, these small groups,” she said, “are increasingly criminalizing themselves, and they are choosing a system of e.g. Self-financing through dismissal and kidnappings to ransom. But there is also torture, murder, destruction of property and especially repeated attacks on schools because the separatists have imposed a boycott of schools in the English-speaking regions and they have created roadblocks that hamper the lives of the people and which also hamper, for example, the provision of humanitarian help. “
“Alarm clocks”
“These recent attacks from separatist groups should really ring alarm bells both nationally and internationally. I think it is really time for the UN Security Council for Cameroon’s international partners such as France, the United States and the United Kingdom to take stronger, more concrete measures by e.g. To impose targeted sanctions on these separatist leaders who operate from everywhere and with complete impunity, ”concludes the HRW researcher.
Also read: Cameroon: what is the reality of the discussions between the government and the separatists?
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