Cameroon: UN Calls for Independent, Impartial Investigation in Feb. 14 Massacre

The UN human rights office is calling for an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the massacre of 23 people, mostly women and children, during a military operation in a village in Cameroon’s Northwest Anglophone region on February 14.

More information has emerged since this shocking attack occurred. UN human rights monitors on the ground report 15 children, nine under the age of five were killed. They say two pregnant women also were among the victims. One has since died of her injuries in hospital.

Cameroonian opposition parties and several witnesses, interviewed by NGOs, have accused the military of perpetrating the massacre in Ntumbo locality in the Northwestern Anglophone region.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and clashes between security and defense forces and armed separatist groups have escalated since 2016, when a separatist insurgency erupted in northwest and southwest Cameroon against the dominant French-speaking government.

Both sides are accused of committing crimes against civilians.

In the aftermath of the Feb.14 massacre, the Cameroonian government has announced it would launch an investigation into the killings.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland also condemned strongly the killings of civilians, including women and children, on February 14 and urged the Government to conduct an impartial investigation into the incident as it announced, and to hold perpetrators accountable.

“The Commonwealth strongly condemns all forms of violence, and in particular, the loss of lives of innocent civilians including women and children,” the Commonwealth Secretary General said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations reports 2.3 million people in Cameroon urgently need food, shelter, non-food items, and protection because of the crisis in the Northwest and Southwest.

UN aid agencies are urgently appealing for $317 million so they can carry out their life-saving mission this year.