Cameroon’s army said Wednesday that three soldiers accused in the massacre of civilians in a troubled anglophone region, a case that triggered an international outcry, would go on trial on December 17.

The killing took place on February 14 in the village of Ntumbaw, in the Northwest Region, where anglophone separatists and security forces are embroiled in a bloody three-year-old conflict.

According to the government, 10 children and three women died, while the UN has put the toll at more than 23 dead, including nine children aged under five and two pregnant women.

“Three soldiers will appear in Yaounde military court for murder, arson and destruction of property, violence against a pregnant woman and disregard for orders,” army spokesman Colonel Cyrille Atonfack told AFP.

The trial will start on December 17, he confirmed.

The Cameroon authorities denied for two months that its security forces were to blame for any deaths at Ntumbaw.

It said the fatalities had resulted from an “unfortunate accident” when fuel was set ablaze during a gunfight between troops and separatists after a patrol came under fire.

But Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its own investigation, said civilians had been slaughtered by government forces and an auxiliary militia drawn from the ethnic Fulani community.

It based this on interviews with 25 people, including three witnesses to killings and seven relatives of victims, and on satellite imagery taken before and after the attack.

In April, as international pressure mounted, President Paul Biya’s office acknowledged responsibility by the security forces, saying three soldiers and a self-defence group had “attacked” a separatist base.

“After exchanges of fire in which five terrorists were shot dead,” they “discovered that three women and 10 children had died as a result of their actions,” it said.

HRW’s Cameroon specialist, Ilaria Allegrozzi, said the watchdog group was “pleased” that a date had been set for the trial.

“We have gone from complete denial to investigation, a presidential statement and now a trial,” she said, but cautioned that “senior individuals in the chain of command” also had to be prosecuted.

English speakers account for nearly a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 24 million, who are majority French-speaking.

Most of this minority live in two western regions called the Northwest and Southwest, which were once part of British colonies in West Africa.

Decades of grievances at perceived discrimination brewed into a declaration of independence in October 2017, which was followed by a government crackdown.

More than 3,000 people have died and at least 700,000 have fled their homes. Rights monitors say abuses have been committed by both sides.

Source: AFP

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard Fabrece Nguegoub was spotted masturbating as he walked through a housing estate on the outskirts of the city.

The 26-year-old Cameroonian national, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent behaviour.

He was arrested after police were alerted on October 15 this year.

The court was told a member of the public reported seeing a man matching his description walking through Merville Garden Village in Newtownabbey.

He was said to be masturbating with his trousers around his ankles. A photograph was taken of the suspect and the authorities notified.

Nguegoub was detained on the Antrim Road in Newtownabbey later that day. Defence solicitor Stewart Ballentine stressed his client made an immediate admission.

“He accepts his behaviour was totally unacceptable and may have caused offence, but that wasn’t his intention ,” the lawyer said.

“He suffers from mental health problems, he said he had started to urinate and then followed on from that.”

Mr Ballentine disclosed that Nguegoub had travelled from his native Cameroon to stay with his sister in the Republic of Ireland.

“He then made his way north to Belfast on this particular day,” he added.

District Judge Fiona Bagnall imposed a £150 fine, with the defendant to serve three days in custody for any non-payment.

Source: News Letter

Cameroon has begun the campaign season for its December 6 regional council elections amid threats and attacks from separatists fighting to create an English-speaking state in the French-majority country. The separatists, who have vowed to disrupt the polls, attacked several military convoys dispatched to protect voters. The government is pleading with citizens to help recently deployed troops by denouncing suspects.

Councilor Emile Ngalla, 47, said he fled from Bui to Mezam, both administrative areas in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region on Saturday. He said separatist fighters came to his home and threatened to kill him if he takes part in Cameroon’s December 6 regional council elections.

“I am not sure taking [I will take] part in the elections, but all I want to beg is that the government should enforce security for those who have the courage to do it [participate]. The issue of elections is bringing a lot of fear,” he said.

Ngalla said he will stay in the English-speaking northwestern town of Bamenda, which he said is safer, until the elections are held.

Government officials in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions say councilors and traditional rulers who constitute the electoral college are increasingly receiving death threats from fighters.

A video shared on social media appears to show an armed man in his 30s threatening to kill candidates if they do not stop campaigning and resign.

“I am coming out today to make it clear to the international community that there will be no elections come December 6, 2020. I want to advise all our people. you must stay vigilant. There will be no elections,” he said.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the Northwest region said besides the audios and videos shared on social media, separatists have been making anonymous phone calls threatening candidates and voters.

Speaking via telephone from Bamenda, Tchoffo said troops have been deployed to protect voters, candidates and election materials. He said separatist fighters who have intensified attacks and threats to disrupt the polls should know that they will be killed by the military if they do not surrender. He said the elections will offer special status to the English-speaking regions, as requested by residents.

Tchoffo said on Friday and Saturday there were several attacks on military convoys. He did not say if there were any deaths, but civilians said at least four troops were wounded and five military vehicles damaged in the northwestern town of Kumbo.

Friday, President Paul Biya dispatched his defense minister, police boss and defense chief of staff to the English-speaking regions to make sure the elections take place.

Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said the population should cooperate with the military by denouncing separatist suspects in their community.

“I wish to highlight unequivocally that our presence here attests the government’s resolve to provide an effective and definite solution to this crisis which keeps tormenting our people. A people who are only asking for a peaceful life, that is to live in a safe stable and prosperous environment,” he said.

Assomo called on voters and candidates to brave the threats and asked those who had left the region to return.

The government says the December 6 regional election will put in place the special status for the English-speaking regions as decided during the grand national dialogue called by Biya last September 30 through October 4.

The dialogue was to propose solutions to the crisis in the country’s English-speaking regions. Separatist leaders invited to the national dialogue refused to take part and called the special status a nonevent, stating that they want nothing but total independence for the English-speaking regions.

Cameroon’s English-speaking regions descended into violence in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

The government responded with a crackdown and separatists took up OK? Weapons, claiming that they were defending civilians. The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced over 500,000, according to the United Nations.

Source: VOA