Yaoundé, CAMEROON
Human
Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Cameroon's armed forces of taking part in the
killing of at least 21 civilians this month in a region where troops are
battling anglophone separatists.
"Government
forces and armed ethnic Fulani" carried out the slaughter in Ngarbuh,
whose victims included 13 children and a pregnant woman, HRW said.
In
its statement, HRW said: "Government forces and armed ethnic Fulani"
carried out the slaughter in Ngarbuh, whose victims included 13 children and a
pregnant woman.
The
Fulani are an ethnic group also called Peuls.
"The
gruesome killings of civilians, including children, are egregious crimes that
should be effectively and independently investigated, and those responsible
should be brought to justice," said Ilaria Allegrozzi, HRW's senior Africa
researcher.
"Denying
that these crimes have occurred adds another layer of trauma to survivors and
will only embolden government troops to commit more atrocities."
The
army says there were only five civilian deaths, which it said happened when
fuel containers exploded in a firefight.
The
incident occurred on February 14 in a remote part of the Northwest Region --
one of two English-speaking regions gripped by conflict sparked by demands for
independence from majority French-speaking Cameroon.
In
a separate development on Tuesday, Cameroon's constitutional council announced
it had annulled the results legislative elections held on February 9 in parts
of the two separatist regions.
HRW on Tuesday said it
drew its conclusions after interviewing 25 people, including three witnesses to
killings and seven relatives of victims. It also reviewed satellite imagery
taken before and after the attack.
Between
10 and 15 soldiers, including members of the elite Rapid Intervention
Battalion, along with at least 30 armed Fulani, entered Ngarbuh, a district of
the Ntumbo village, at around 11:00 pm (2200 GMT) on February 13, it said in a
statement.
After
hours of looting homes and beating civilians, some of these men attacked the
so-called Ngarbuh 3 district, "killing 21 civilians in four homes, then
burning the houses", it said.
The
military told the residents "the attack was to punish civilians suspected
of harbouring separatist fighters", HRW said, quoting 12 witnesses.
Opposition
figures in Cameroon swiftly accused the armed forces of having played a role.
But
on February 17, army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack Guemo said the deaths
had resulted from an "unfortunate accident" when fuel was set ablaze
during a gunfight between troops and separatists after a patrol came under
heavy fire.
Five
civilians -- a woman and four children -- had died, and "seven
terrorists" were "neutralised," Atonfack told AFP.
The
following day, the UN rights office in Geneva said 23 had died in the
"shocking episode" and urged Cameroon to carry out an
"independent, impartial and thorough" inquiry.
The violence came less
than a week after the February 9 legislative election.
On
Tuesday, Cameroon's constitutional council announced it was annulling that
election in the South West region's Lebialem constituency and in 10
constituencies in the North West region.
The
council said the elections would have to be rerun, state television reported.
The
authorities have so far released no figures on either the election results or
the turnout, but the African Union has said that turnout was low across the
country, particularly in the two English-speaking regions.
English-speakers
account for nearly a fifth of Cameroon's population of 24 million, who are
majority French-speaking.
Years
of grievances at perceived discrimination against English-speakers snowballed
into a declaration of independence in the anglophone regions in October 2017,
which was followed by a government crackdown.
The
declaration has not been recognised internationally and President Paul Biya, in
power for 37 of his 87 years, has refused demands to return to a federal
system.
However,
the government has lately decentralised some of its powers after a
"national dialogue" on the anglophone crisis which was boycotted by
the separatists.
More
than 3,000 people have died and at least 700,000 have fled their homes in the
nearly 29-month-old unrest. Rights monitors say abuses have been committed by
both sides.
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