Cameroon troops kill, torture Boko Haram suspects: Amnesty

 Mariamu Abubakar, a farmer reacts during an interview with The Associated Press, as he describes that Cameroonian soldiers on Nov. 30 killed about 150 people in his village near Nigeria's Banki border post, stole their livestock and set their huts ablaze, as he sits at Furore camp in Yola, Nigeria, Amnesty International says Cameroonian security forces have unlawfully killed dozens of civilians and tortured and forced the disappearances of others in mass arrests of suspects in fighting the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency. A report published Wednesday July 13, 2016 accuses forces operating in Cameroon's Far North province, bordering northeast Nigeria, of crimes under international law. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

Cameroonian security forces have unlawfully killed dozens of civilians and tortured and forced the disappearances of others in mass arrests of suspects in fighting the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency, Amnesty International reported Thursday.


The London-based organization accused forces operating in Cameroon's Far North province, bordering northeast Nigeria, of crimes under international law.

Cameroon's government and security chiefs have not responded to requests for information about the allegations, Amnesty said.
The Associated Press has quoted refugees who fled into Nigeria as saying that Cameroonian troops were indiscriminately killing civilians and looting and destroying property.

"Two prisoners were beaten up so badly that they died in front of us ... That night, we slept in the cell with two dead bodies," the report quoted a 70-year old detainee as saying.

Secret service agents also have tortured suspects in Yaounde, Cameroon's capital, including journalist Ahmed Abba of Radio France International, the report said.

Arrests based on little information, arbitrary criteria and often targeting whole groups have led to horrific prison conditions, Amnesty said, with nearly 1,500 people held in a building designed for 350 in the town of Kossa in February 2015.

More than 1,000 people have been detained and between six and eight die each month from malnutrition, disease and torture in the prison of Maroua city, the report said.

Amnesty International said it interviewed more than 160 people including victims, witnesses and a senior military officer during three trips to Cameroon in 2015.

The organization has documented similar abuses by security forces in Nigeria.

The Boko Haram uprising has killed more than 20,000 people over seven years. Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group last year and has responded to an offensive by multinational forces from Nigeria and neighboring countries by spreading its attacks across Nigeria's borders.


Cameroonian security forces have unlawfully killed dozens of civilians and tortured and forced the disappearances of others in mass arrests of suspects in fighting the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency, Amnesty International reported Thursday.

The London-based organization accused forces operating in Cameroon's Far North province, bordering northeast Nigeria, of crimes under international law.

Cameroon's government and security chiefs have not responded to requests for information about the allegations, Amnesty said.