War Crimes:

Soldiers Aren’t Responsible for Fire Attacks in Kumbo

                        -Rene Sadi, Gov’t Spokesman 

By Njodzefe Nestor in B’da

Houses in Kumbo’s city centre are now in rubble due to arson

Few weeks to the beginning of the rainy season, not fewer than 42 houses have allegedly been reduced to ashes in Kumbo, Bui division of the North West region. The height of the burning spree took place on the 16, 17 and 18th of February 2019 with so many houses and property burnt.

                 Human Rights Watch in a statement published on their website on Feb. 21, 2019 said the gruesome burnings were committed by the Cameroon military.

                Human Rights Watch is an international Non-governmental Organization that monitors and reports human rights abuses over the world.

                “Over the weekend, in what appears to be an act of retaliation against residents perceived as sympathetic to the separatists, security forces burnt down scores of private homes and shops across Kumbo. Destruction of private property by the Cameroonian security forces has been rife since the crisis started” denounced Lewis Mudge, researcher at the  Africa Division of Human Rights Watch.

                In Lewis Mudge regretted that “destruction of private property by the Cameroonian security forces has been rife since the crisis started” noting that “Human Rights Watch has documented the burning of more than 20 villages by members of the security forces between 2017 and 2018 in both the North and South West regions”.

                He added that “soldiers looking for wounded separatists broke into the Shisong hospital and fired several shots in the air and “also threatened to kill a man in front of hospital staff”.

                In response to these accusations, the government of Cameroon through the Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi has formally debunked these allegations against the Cameroonian soldiers.

                In a communiqué signed on Feb. 21, 2019, Minister Rene Sadi insisted that soldiers in the area were rather protecting the population against the separatist fighters who have been causing havoc in the division.

                The Minister said soldiers were rather alerted on the night of February 16-17 of the presence of separatist fighters in Kumbo who were terrorizing the population and that they immediately intervened, chasing away the attackers before targeting and destroying their hideouts and other places that served as refuge for them.

                Kumbo remains almost completely shut down due to ongoing violence between separatists and security forces. Thousands of people have fled the area since violence escalated.

Population Decry “Amba” and Military Atrocities

                The populations of Kumbo have decried what many have termed the excesses of the military and the separatist fighters.

                The separatist fighters stand accused of blocking roads and making moving of people and goods in and out of the sub division difficult. Many people are reported to have died because they could not reach the hospital in time because roads were blocked and also, the prices of every single commodity have soared because they cannot get supplies.

                They also stand accused of impoverishing an already poor population who have not been able to do any business activity for some time now by constantly kidnapping most of them and asking for ransom. They are also complains that many separatist fighters are using the ongoing crisis to settle personal scores.

                The military on the other hand stand accused of killing innocent civilians, looting of property and indiscriminately burning houses.