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Although Cameroon has received praise for its military action to push Boko Haram out of the northern part of the country and neighboring Nigeria, Amnesty International is criticizing the Cameroonian security forces for crimes including extrajudicial killings, torture and holding prisoners in inhumane conditions.
In a report titled "Right Cause, Wrong Means," published late last week, Amnesty International said more than 1,000 people accused of supporting Boko Haram are being detained in terrible conditions, many in a prison called Maroua in the northern part of the country. Built to house 350 people, it is holding more than 1,500. Amnesty said up to eight people are dying each month in the prison due to poor conditions.
"There's lot of illnesses, there's malnutrition and it's dirty conditions and, as a result, in the prison between six and eight people are dying every month because of diseases linked to those conditions," said Stephen Cockburn, the deputy regional director for Amnesty International West and Central Africa. "And there are also some people, not everyone, but some people who are subjected to torture, as well."
Cockburn said most of those who are picked up after allegations of supporting Boko Haram are tried before a military court, where they're offered few legal protections and there is a lower threshold for evidence than in civilian courts. In addition, prosecutors are able to submit accounts from anonymous witnesses who cannot be cross-examined. More than 100 people, including women, have been sentenced to death by military courts in the last year, he said.
Amnesty also references the case of a 27-year-old man, who has been detained over messages sent to his friends joking about Boko Haram's methods to recruit young graduates. The organization calls for the nation's anti-terror law to be revised so that it clearly defines an act of terror in order to avoid people being arrested for making jokes in text messages.
In addition the report states that suspects detained in 2014 and 2015 by Cameroon's elite anti-terror unit, the Bataillon d'Intervention Rapide, were beaten with sticks, whips and machetes. Some died in custody.
Government rejects report
Government officials have rejected the report, saying that human rights groups were not nearly as vocal when Boko Haram killed about 2,000 Cameroonian civilians, according to the government spokesperson. The military spokesperson, Col. Didier Badjeck, also downplayed the report, saying troops did not commit the alleged abuses and had received specific training in the protection of civilians.
"You tell us that you have gone in our prisons and that certain people are innocent. Where is the proof?" Cameroon's Minister of Information Issa Tchiroma Bakary told reporters.
Badjeck added that the report relies heavily on non-credible witnesses.
Additional attempts by VOA to speak to Bakary and the embassy in Washington were not successful.
Amnesty met with officials and wrote a letter to the government in May requesting input prior to releasing the report. However, Cockburn said, no responses have been received so far, but there is some work being done to alleviate prison overcrowding.
"There have been some efforts to improve or to build new parts of the prison in Maroua," he said.
Amnesty goes out of its way to emphasize that the threat posed by Boko Haram is real and the fight against them is necessary, but it believes security forces have crossed a line in terms of respecting human rights.
"What we found in our research has been — although the security forces have been trying to pursue the right goals — they've been using the wrong means," Cockburn said. "They have committed very serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, torture, disappearances and subjecting people to unfair trials in military courts."
Potential for government action
Despite immediate rejections, the pressure to improve prison conditions and create better conditions for prisoners is mounting and the Cameroonian government seems ready to take steps to address these issues.
"There is a promise, just a few days ago, to open a commission of inquiry on human rights violations during the conflict," Cockburn said. "We have not seen the scope of that inquiry, we've not seen the terms of reference and we don't know how open and independent that would be, but that could be something."
If done properly, Amnesty says, the government can take this opportunity to turn things around. The organization called on the government to free those held with little or no evidence against them, and that "would also reduce the pressure on the prison system," Cockburn said.
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Amnesty International accuse Cameroonian security forces for unlawfully killing dozens of civilians, torturing others and accountable for forced disappearances of others in mass arrests of suspects in the fight against the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
A report published Thursday accuses forces operating in Cameroon's Far North region, bordering north-east Nigeria, of crimes under international law.
The London-based group says Cameroon's government and security chiefs have not responded to its requests for information about the allegations and missing people and its calls for investigations.
The Associated Press has quoted refugees who fled across the border into Nigeria as saying that Cameroonian troops were indiscriminately killing civilians and looting and destroying property.
Amnesty says it interviewed more than 160 people including victims, witnesses and a senior military officer during three trips to Cameroon in 2015.
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Six suspected Boko Haram members, including a senior leader, were arrested after a local vigilante group found them in Lagos, Nigeria.
They were rounded up in various parts of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, after leaving Maiduguri in Borno state, headquarters of the militant Islamist movement that has terrorized Nigeria since 2009. Alhaji Mustapha Mohammed, leader of the Lagos Civilian Joint Task Force, said the suspects were turned over Monday to Nigeria's Department of State Services after their capture Friday. He added that the alleged Boko Haram members were found in different places around Lagos, looking unkempt and showing signs of starvation.
The group of six fled to Lagos to avoid arrest in Borno. Their identities allegedly match those on a list, distributed by the military, of Nigeria's 100 most wanted terrorists, the Nigerian newspaper the Guardian said.
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ameroon says Boko Haram fighters attacked a command post on its northern border with Nigeria. The attack followed a series of targeted military operations in the area that the government says destroyed at least 10 bomb-making laboratories.
Cameroon government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary says more than 100 suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked the Homeka border village command post of the multinational joint task force Monday.
He told VOA the insurgents ransacked several villages after they were pushed back by the military. He said one soldier was wounded.
He says the attack on the command post is an indication that even though the enemy is in agony, it is still capable of incessantly creating trouble. He says he wants to inform them that the military will continue to defend the country's territorial integrity.
Cameroon is one of five countries contributing to the multinational joint task force.
Cameroon sent more soldiers to the far northern border area last week after two suicide bombings in the town of Limani killed 13 people.
Tchiroma says troops have since raided eight villages on both sides of the border, killing and arresting large numbers of militants and freeing captives. He says at least 10 laboratories for the manufacture of explosive devices were destroyed.
"Arrow' offensive
He says some fighters have managed to escape. He says they believe the ongoing Nigerian and Cameroonian offensive called “Arrow” has pushed Boko Haram toward Nigeria’s northern border with Niger.
Landmines and suicide bombings have been a top challenge in northern Cameroon.
Cameroon sealed trouble spots along its border with Nigeria and prohibited gatherings outside mosques during Ramadan to try to mitigate the threat.
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At least ten people were killed in a suicide bomb attack Wednesday night in a town in the Far North region of Cameroon close to the Nigerian border.
“A Boko Haram suicide bomber detonated himself in the night at Djakana close to the Nigerian border, killing ten people,” a secured source speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP. The information was confirmed by another source close to the authorities of the region.
“At the time, seven people died, including the bomber. Four wounded people died later. The other injured people are at the hospital. We fear a rise in the number of victims,” the source said.
She added that most of the victims were members of the vigilante committee tasked to track down Boko Haram fighters.
“They were gathered in a video room when the suicide bomber infiltrated and detonated his explosive device,” the source said.
No suicide bomb attack has been recorded in the Far North region in recent weeks. According to Cameroonian authorities, close to 1200 people have been killed ever since Boko Haram started attacking the Far North region in 2013.
The Boko Haram insurgency since 2009 has left 20,000 people dead and 2.3 million displaced.
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The United Nations humanitarian chief, Stephen O’Brien has announced the release of $13 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide life-saving assistance for victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s north-east.
According to the UN, an estimated 250,000 people are in need of help because of the loss of property due to the insurgency. The UN also stated that over 50,000 people were in need of tools for the upcoming planting season, hence the CERF funding.
“People have experienced unspeakable suffering due to the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram. We now have better access finally, and a chance to help them,” the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said.
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