Ex-soldier reveals: “Human rights abuses forced me to quit the army”

A Dubai based Cameroonian named Louis was shot and killed yesterday after he returned home to visit his family in Fundong in the North West Region.

Friends say the security guard was accused of working with separatist fighters before he was killed.

Commenting on the incident, an ex-soldier, Joel (not real name) says Louis “came back home last year and was planning to return to Dubai after his marriage ceremony but on Wednesday, he was being held by the military (51ème battalion de Bamenda), which later saw a picture in his phone and was forcefully accused of being an Ambazonia fighter claiming the picture was taken in Cameroon and they shot him to death.”

“I know this guy from Fundong, we schooled together and after i joined the military he travelled out. He is a peaceful guy” Joel says.

“The military has taken it as a habit to shoot at anybody in the street claiming they are suspected Ambazonian fighters which is not good. It’s called lack of professionalism” he stresses.

In not wanting to live such a life Joel says that pushed him out of the army. “These are acts committed by my colleagues which have pushed me to abandon the work due to total abuse of human rights and a crime against humanity.”

“I was later accused of working with them and was almost killed by my colleagues so i had to escape to seek international protection out of Cameroon,” he says.

Joel is one of several Anglophones that has had to flee the country after leaving the army for fear of their lives.

Despite several accusations, if rights abuses in the North West and South West regions where the army is combatting separatist fighters, the government has always maintained that its forces remain professional.

MMI