{"id":3500,"date":"2019-03-29T23:18:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T23:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/?p=3500"},"modified":"2019-03-29T23:18:12","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T23:18:12","slug":"hrw-report-says-at-least-170-civilians-killed-in-anglophone-cameroon-since-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2019\/03\/29\/hrw-report-says-at-least-170-civilians-killed-in-anglophone-cameroon-since-october\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW report says at least 170 civilians killed in Anglophone Cameroon since October"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A global human rights organisation said on Thursday that at least 170 civilians have been killed since October in fighting in English-speaking western Cameroon between separatists and government forces.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGovernment forces in Cameroon\u2019s anglophone regions have killed scores of civilians, used indiscriminate force, and torched hundreds of homes over the past six months,\u201d Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group based its findings on interviews with 140 victims, family members and witnesses between December and March, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince October, at least 170 civilians have been killed in over 220 incidents\u2026 according to media reports and Human Rights Watch research,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security forces killed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another 31 members of the security forces were killed in operations between October and February, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven the ongoing clashes and the difficulty of collecting information from remote areas, the number of civilian deaths is most likely higher,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is to blame?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

HRW did not explicitly blame government forces for all 170 civilian deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said armed separatists assaulted and kidnapped dozens of people during the same period, executing at least two men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government sent a letter to HRW denying \u201cextortion\u201d by the army described in the report, the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Crisis Group has said the death toll since the start of the fighting has topped 500 for civilians and more than 200 for members of the security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anglophone crisis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The conflict broke out in October 2017 when the anglophone separatists launched an armed campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English speakers, who account for about a fifth of Cameroon\u2019s population of 24 million, have complained for years at perceived discrimination in education, law and economic opportunities at the hands of the francophone majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The anglophone movement radicalised in 2017 as the authorities refused demands for greater autonomy for the Northwest and Southwest Regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 1 that year, separatists declared the creation of the \u201cRepublic of Ambazonia\u201d in the two regions, named after the local Ambas Bay. The declaration has not been recognised internationally.\u2018We are Ambazonians:\u2019 Cameroon separatists tell military court<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCameroon\u2019s authorities have an obligation to respond lawfully and to protect people\u2019s rights during periods of violence,\u201d said Lewis Mudge, HRW\u2019s Central Africa director. \u201cThe government\u2019s heavy-handed response targeting civilians is counterproductive and risks igniting more violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 437,000 people have fled the fighting, according to the United Nations, which called Tuesday for\u00a0$184 million<\/a>\u00a0to help the displaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOURCE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A global human rights organisation said on Thursday that at least 170 civilians have been killed since October in fighting in English-speaking western Cameroon between separatists and government forces. \u201cGovernment forces in Cameroon\u2019s anglophone regions have killed scores of civilians, used indiscriminate force, and torched hundreds of homes over the past six months,\u201d Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,16,147,148],"class_list":["post-3500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-anglophone","tag-cameroon","tag-hrw","tag-human-rights-watch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3501,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500\/revisions\/3501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}