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The US ambbadador to Cameroon said Thursday that despite the announcement of the reduction of military aid to Cameroon by the United States, relations between the two countries remain excellent.
Ambbadador Peter Henry Barlerin met with Cameroonian government spokesman René Emmanuel Sadi a day after the United States announced that it was cutting military aid to Cameroon for related reasons. to human rights, as a result of increasing allegations of abuse by security forces.
"We will not stop security cooperation with Cameroon, we have our differences, Cameroon is a sovereign country and the United States is a sovereign country," said Minister Barlerin. "The relations between Cameroon and the United States are excellent and long-standing and we want to continue them."
Cameroon is a key partner of US security. Some 300 American soldiers are based in the northern city of Garoua to train and badist the Cameroonian army, particularly in its fight against extremism in the far north of the country.
The Cameroonian government has not commented on the US approach.
The Pentagon and the State Department said the reduced US support involved armored vehicles, boats, aircraft maintenance and spare parts, helicopter training and the invitation to a program partnership.
The US decision comes after online video broadcasting last year showing Cameroonian security forces shooting and killing civilians, including women with infants tied to their backs. The videos have been verified by Amnesty International and other international media outlets.
The leading US diplomat for Africa said in December that he feared that a separatist crisis in the country of Central Africa would become "a lot, well" "worse" and warned against a "brutal response" to extremism. Cameroon is also facing the threat of Boko Haram fighters based in neighboring Nigeria.
The businessman Eric Njowir welcomed the decision of the United States to hope that other countries will take similar measures.
"What the army did goes against human rights and human freedoms," Njowir said. "I would like other countries to step in and do the same (like the United States) to make the government understand that its actions are against our rights and our freedom."
In addition to the United States, Israel, France, Germany and China are among the countries that help Cameroon militarily.
According to the United Nations, some 430,000 people in southwestern and northwestern Cameroon have fled fighting between security forces and English-speaking separatists seeking independence for the country. largely francophone.
Growing concerns have posed a challenge to President Paul Biya, 85, who is one of Africa's oldest leaders. He became president in 1982 and won another term in the October elections. After which, the army launched new offensives against the separatists.
Biya has ordered investigations into the shots shown in the videos and some people have been arrested, said government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary.
In the past, the Cameroonian government has denied such killings by security forces as they were fighting Boko Haram, whose fighters have spread throughout the Far North region and carried out terrorist attacks. to the bomb.
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