Fingers are being pointed at the Cameroon military for using French-made vehicles to wreak havoc on innocent civilians especially in the North West and South West regions of the country.
Mediapart and disclose NGO, have reported that, the vehicles contracted by the United States, reports say, were meant to be used for combatting terrorist sect, Boko Haram by the Rapid Intervention Battalion, BIR, but are instead being used against civilians. Similar consignments of the vehicles were also sent to other African nation’s with whom Cameroon was benefiting from the grant, despite pre-warnings reportedly received regarding human rights violations in the country.
“One video appears to show the armoured car in use in Menji” the report by Camille Baker of Disclose NGO states. According to an earlier report by the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA, hundreds of villages in the troubled Anglophone region had been burnt amongst several other rights violations, with most accusing fingers pointing to the much dreaded BIR.
Several videos have since emerged showing the BIR carrying out acts of torture, scenes government has always labelled as fake and untrue.
A similar accusation was made.months ago, with some members of US Congress calling for a reduction on military aid from their government to Cameroon’s BIR and requesting an inquiry into rights violations. The force they stated had also used resources meant to combat terrorism in the North to cause harm in the Anglophone regions of the country.
Other rights groups including Human Rights Watch have also called on the Cameroon government several times to end arbitrary arrests and detention among other rights violations.
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