Cameroon: soldiers accused of extra- judicial killings to be given private trial

Some members of the Cameroon armed forces accused of killing two ladies and their kids, officials have said will not be given a public trial.

Following a BBC Africa Eye investigation, the soldiers were pictured leading away and eventually shooting the women and kids from the back.

The footage began trending online in 2018, with government at one point claiming it was neither Cameroon soldiers nor did it even happen on Cameroon soil.

Government later said it had opened an inquiry, eventually producing a list of suspects.

With the hearings set to commence in January, the lawyer defending the seven soldiers on trial, Sylvestre Mbeng, according to the BBC said he believes the trial has been made private because the authorities fear there could be damaging revelations.

Several rights groups have since denounced the act, demanding that the murdered ladies and kids get justice.

Cameroon soldiers have not only been accused of grave atrocities in the Far North region where they combat the Boko Haram terrorist sect, but also in the Anglophone regions of the country in their fight against Amba boys calling for a separate state, Ambazonia.