As the UN Security Council examines Central Africa on Wednesday 9 December and Thursday is Human Rights Day, the database on the atrocities in Cameroon publishes a series of eight reports on the atrocities committed in the two English-speaking regions of the north-west and south-west.
This is a group of researchers from the Edinburgh International Justice Initiative, Leiden University and the University of Toronto, who did a lot of checking photos or videos to determine the date, the exact time and the geolocation of these atrocities. For this, they were based in particular on geolocation techniques, the use of maps or even weather data. To get the most out of resources, a database has been created so that citizens can anonymously provide photos, videos or other documents.
These atrocities were documented in eight reports analyze as many tragedies that have taken place since 2016 carried out by the Cameroonian defense and security forces and armed separatist groups. “It is very serious, very detailed work that can serve as a basis for possible legal proceedings,” explains an expert on the Anglophone crisis.
“A deterioration of lethal methods as the conflict escalates”
Among them we find brutality against students who demonstrated in Buea in November 2016, the burning of three villages in 2018 and 2019, the fires in Bali Nyonga market and Mbufung church at the beginning of the year or even the explosion of a craft device in a Tiko market in September.
Finally, researchers can confirm the Ngarbuh massacre, which according to the UN killed at least 23 civilians, including fifteen children and two pregnant women. The Cameroonian army has also stopped acknowledging its responsibility in this tragedy. The researchers even identified the place where the victims were buried.
Of these eight incidents, five are alleged to have been committed by the Cameroonian defense or security forces and two by armed separatist groups. The responsibility for the latter is not determined.
For the authors of these reports, these “verified events indicate a deterioration in lethal practices as the conflict escalates.”
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