Amnesty indicts BIR for unjustified killings

Amnesty International has indicted the Rapid Intervention Unit of the Cameroon armed forces, commonly known by its French acronym, BIR, for wrongful killing individuals suspected to have links with Boko Haram in the Far North region of Cameroon.

Amnesty made the allegation in its 2014/2015 report on the situation of human rights in 160 countries and territories across the world. The report was published on February 23 with four pages on Cameroon.

Among the victims cited by Amnesty International was Nzouane Claire Rene, a nurse who was reportedly killed by the BIR on June 1, 2014 near Mora. She had been arrested by the elite unit of the armed forces.

BIR is said to have also killed two other victims, Ousmane Djibrine and Grema Abakar on the same day they executed Nzouane. Both suspects were murdered along the border with Nigeria in Zigague, a locality in Waza subdivision, Logone and Chari division. Amnesty also accused BIR of killing a certain Molloum Abba on June 15, 2014 in Tolomari.

The BIR is also faulted for maltreating refugees from Nigeria and the Central African Republic. The NGO’s report states that refugees are being held in overpopulated camps in border villages in Cameroon.

On top of the killings reported by Amnesty International are cases of arbitrary arrests and detention carried out by BIR in its fight against Boko Haram insurgency in the northern regions of Cameroon. Amnesty says it uncovered many undeclared imprisonment cases where victims had no access to medical attention or lawyers. Family members were not allowed to visit such suspects in detention.

It was equally stated in the report that the Cameroon government violated citizens’ right of association, forbidding leaders of association and political parties from carrying out public demonstrations.