Video of Summary Killings of Women and Children:

Cameroon Army is Too Disciplined for Such Acts

         – Issa Tchiroma Bakary, MINCOM & Gov’t Spokesman

Fellow Journalists,

Gov’t Spokesman, Issa Tchiroma

The Head of State, His Excellency Paul Biya, the Government and the entire people of Cameroon, have been shocked and outraged by the atrocities pictured in that video, and have expressed their compassion with the victims, and their respective families.

            Certain national and international organizations, Amnesty International in particular, have pointed an accusing finger at the Cameroonian army.

            I wish in this regard to note that the investigations going on have not shown any proof implicating the Cameroonian army in the incriminating acts.

At this stage, i hereby make the following observations:

1.        There exists another video with the same images, in the same scene, accusing the military of a West African country. The government of that country has in a statement rejected the accusations. We have taken note.

2.        Meanwhile, the facts make one point clear: The existence of two videos with voice commentaries that incriminate two different countries implies that one of the videos was trafficked; two exactly similar events cannot take place in two different countries.

3.        In this context, you cannot rule out that in the future, the same video resurfaces, incriminating other countries. There is the need therefore to be careful in trying to accuse who ever.

4.        However, Amnesty International banked on the guns used in the video to incriminate the Cameroonian army. An analysis of the images, it emerges that the arms used are of the AK47 category, commonly called KALACHNIKOV, which are common in Africa, in the hands of regular armies as well as criminal bands.

5.        As for the nicknames Cobra and Tcho-Tcho that are used in the video, they do not depict anything about the Cameroonian army.

6.        As for the scene of the action which Amnesty equally uses to draw her conclusion that the crime took place in North Cameroon, it should be pointed out that such scenery do not exist exclusively in Cameroon; they are common to all Sahelo-Sahelian areas.

7.        Concerning the uniforms worn by the authors of the crimes, they are not the type used by the segment of the Cameroon army that Amnesty International attributes the crimes to. To start with, it appears that the said authors were not uniformly dressed. More so, the uniforms shown in the video are common among soldiers as well as among other individuals, and they are sold freely and just everywhere in the market.

            In all, the arguments used in accusing our military are baseless as they are hasty.

This pushes us to question the reason for the relentless attacks on our army by some NGOs, in spite of the widely known professionalism of our army.

            The Cameroonian army is disciplined, patriotic and republican, with her sole vocation being the defense of the integrity of our territory. And she does that with professionalism, and in respect for human rights.

            The Cameroon army fights terrorists. She does not go to war against women and children.

Ladie and gentlemen,

            We cannot at once exclude that like in other places the world over, there could exist misconducts during hot situations.

In this regard, the system in place in Cameroon warrants that such acts are systematically investigated, and where need be, appropriate sanctions are meted out.

            Reason why the Head of State, Head of the army, has prescribed a zero tolerance on this particular subject.

            Coming back to the video, and to the gravity and the intolerable character of the acts shown, the Head of State has ordered the opening of thorough investigations, to shed more light on the matter. In the event of facts duly established, the culprits would be arrested, put before the justice and punished accordingly.

            In application of these very high instructions of the head of state, the minister delegate at the presidency in charge of defense has put in place a commission of inquiry.

            All persons having any information that can help to establish the truth and identify the authors should contact the commission through the numbers: 222 23 43 84 or 222 22 64 97.

            Thank you for your kind attention.