YAOUNDE, CAMEROON – An armed tribunal in Yaounde on Thursday had a few civilians to testify on the trial of three soldiers accused of the February 14 murder of women and children in Gar-buh.
Gabriel Foyong said he lost two of his family and wanted justice to be served.
“We don’t want something much from the Cameroonian government,” he said. “What we just want is justice, that justice should take its right course so that such incidents are avoided. Honestly, the government has to sit up, because most people who die the innocent. Ngarr-buh is a perfect example… “
Defendants pleaded not guilty before the session was adjourned. The ruling judge, Yvonne Leopoldine Akoa, did not say when the proceedings would begin.
The Human Rights Guard described the killing of Ngarr-buh as one of the worst incidents of abuse by security forces in Cameroon’s separatist crisis history. The rights group said 17 members of a vigilante and separatist fighter group have been charged and are generally resident.
Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Central African researcher for the Human Rights Guard, said the lawsuit was expected to be an important step towards tackling prevention.
“We want a public lawsuit where all participants can feel safe and comfortable that their security will be guaranteed, and this will be crucial to ending the cycles of violence and impartiality. births that have affected Anglophone regions for the past four years, “Allegrozzi said.
21 deaths
The Human Rights Guard said 21 civilians, including 13 children and a pregnant woman, were killed. Five houses were set on fire, buildings were lost and some residents were beaten.
Allegrozzi said the killings and tortures were not isolated cases but part of a long history of armed abuse in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon.
In a press release, government spokesman Rene Emmanuel Sadi said the central African state would ensure that the trial was fair and that those found guilty would be punished.
Authorities initially denied that soldiers were responsible for the massacre, describing the accusation as propaganda from separatists to dishonor government forces. But following international pressure, Cameroonian President Paul Biya ordered investigations. The central African state later recognized that soldiers were to blame.
The government promised to provide a proper burial for the dead and to compensate the bereaved families.
But Edward Nfor, a member of Donga Matung’s administrative unit where Ngarr-buh is located, said the government had not honored his promise.
“I think a commission, a special commission should be created by legislation to look into this Ngarr-buh event,” Nfor said. “The international community is watching. Those of us from the area are watching and listening. Setting up an arms base in Gar-buh does not solve the situation.”
Armed groups have been fighting to create an independent state in the English-speaking regions of the Northwest and Southwest, separate from the rest of Cameroon and mostly French-speaking.
Violence in the English-speaking areas since 2016 has claimed more than 3,000 lives and displaced more than 430,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.