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According to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), government forces in agitated English-speaking areas of Cameroon have killed at least 170 civilians in the last six months.
Civilians in the region were also attacked by armed separatists during the same period, at least two men were executed, said Thursday the researchers of the rights group based in the United States.
An armed conflict erupted in 2017 in the country's northwestern and southwestern parts of the country after the government violently repressed the peaceful protests that had begun the previous year against perceived marginalization of Anglophones.
Anglophones in Cameroon have long complained that they are treated as second-clbad citizens and receive less public funds.
In its report, HRW reported that soldiers, special army units and gendarmes used a blind force and set fire to hundreds of homes and public buildings in the northwestern and southwestern regions. between October and March.
HRW researchers said they interviewed 140 badault victims, family members and witnesses to substantiate their claims.
A witness told researchers that security forces attacked the village of Abuh in the north-west of the country in November, burning an entire neighborhood.
"When I got back to the village, my house was gone and everything was inside, all my clothes left," a mother of five told researchers after being hidden for three months. days in the bush after the attack.
The satellite images and photographs seen by HRW show the destruction of about 60 structures.
Due to persistent violence and the difficulty of accessing remote areas, the number of civilian deaths will likely be much higher than 170, according to Lewis Mudge, Director HRW Central Africa.
"The Cameroonian authorities have an obligation to legally respond and protect the rights of people during periods of violence," Mudge said.
The rights group also said the separatists had abducted more than 300 students since October. However, all were released, most after paying a ransom, he added.
HRW said it received a response from the Cameroonian government, which refutedSecurity forces in the country committed documented abuses in the group's report.
"The government added that its security forces were all undergoing human rights training prior to their deployment and that some 30 cases were pending before the military courts of Bamenda and Buea for crimes such as torture, destruction of property, violation of orders and theft, "HRW added. .
The ongoing troubles have displaced more than half a million people, according to HRW.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
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