Press releases
Cameroon: authorities must come clean over fate of 130 people 'disappeared' a year ago
‘The fight against Boko Haram should not serve as a pretext for enforced disappearances’ - Illaria Allegrozzi
The authorities in Cameroon must come clean over the fate of 130 people rounded up and detained by Cameroonian forces a year ago following security operations against Boko Haram, said Amnesty International on the anniversary of their enforced disappearance.
On 27 December 2014, more than 200 boys and men were arrested by security forces in the villages of Magdeme and Doublé. The government claims that 70 suspected Boko Haram members were arrested and that 25 of them had died that night in custody. However, the whereabouts of at least 130 remaining people are still unknown
In the same operation, at least eight people, including a child, were killed, more than 70 buildings were burnt down and many possessions were stolen or destroyed by security forces. A 51-year-old woman, whose house was looted and burned down by security, told Amnesty that seven of her family members were arrested and driven away in trucks:
“Since that day, I have not seen or heard from my husband, my two sons, my two brothers and my two sons-in-law despite all my efforts to find them. I really need to know whether they are alive. I want them to come back.’’
Amnesty has written to Cameroon’s Minister of Defence, Minister of Justice and the Chief of Gendarmerie, among others, providing a list of 130 names of people who were arrested in Magdeme and Doublé, requesting that they confirm their whereabouts and inform their families. So far there has been no response.
Amnesty is calling on the authorities to conduct prompt, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of crimes under international law and other human rights violations by members of the security forces, and to disclose the identities as well as the place of burial of at least 25 people who died in custody in Maroua.
In a report published in September, Amnesty documented how Boko Haram has slaughtered more than 400 civilians in northern Cameroon. As a response the security forces raided villages, destroying homes, killing civilians and detaining more than 1,000 suspects. Cameroon’s President has deployed at least 2,000 troops of the Rapid Intervention Battalion alongside forces from the Mobile Intervention Battalion to combat Boko Haram’s violence.
Amnesty International’s Central Africa researcher Illaria Allegrozzi said:
“One year after they went missing, the families of these boys and men are still waiting to discover their fate.“The families of those who died and those whose fate is still unknown must be informed. Those in secret detention must be given access to their relatives and lawyers and be treated in a humane manner. The incident must be urgently and impartially investigated.“The fight against Boko Haram should not serve as a pretext for enforced disappearances.”