Cameroonian forces have been torturing suspects in their campaign against the militant Muslim group Boko Haram, with much of the torture happening at a base that has also been used by US and French troops, Amnesty International said yesterday.
Amnesty’s report documented 101 cases of arbitrary arrest and torture by Cameroonian troops charged with fighting the insurgents between 2013 and this year. Some of the victims were tortured to death, it said.
The Nigerian militant group has been fighting for the past eight years to create a medieval Muslim caliphate around Lake Chad, where Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad meet.
Boko Haram attacks have killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 2.7 million in the region, according to aid agency figures.
Atrocities such as the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the Nigerian village of Chibok in 2014 persuaded Western countries, especially the US and France, to provide counterinsurgency assistance to some of the countries affected, including intelligence and training.
The US Africa Command said it had not received any reports of human rights abuses by Cameroonian forces at the base mentioned.
French Ministry of Defense officials did not immediately comment.
A Cameroonian Ministry of Defense spokesman accused Amnesty of “bad faith” and of trying “to transform killers into victims.”
The torture techniques, which Amnesty described as “chilling,” include a “stress position described as ‘the goat’: the detainee’s arms and legs are tied together behind his back and he is left on the ground and beaten.”
“In a common suspension technique known as ‘the swing,’ the victim’s arms and legs are again tied behind his back, before he is lifted and suspended on a bar fitted between two poles ... and further beaten,” Amnesty said.
Other torture documented included being tied standing up in stress positions for 24 hours, being subject to simulated drowning, being deprived of food, forced to drink urine, given electric shocks and burned.
Victims included women, the disabled and the mentally ill, the report said.
“Our army is professional and disciplined,” Cameroonian Army spokesman Colonel Didier Badjeck said, reacting to questions from reporters. “It has better things to do than to spend time justifying itself against people who have preconceived ideas.”
Eighty of the 101 cases of torture took place at the elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) headquarters at Salak, in Cameroon’s Far North Region, the heart of the insurgency, Amnesty reported.
Amnesty said its delegates had observed French troops at the base in May 2015. It also said it had still and video images “clearly showing the regular presence of US personnel in numerous locations across the base, including making use of a makeshift gym and a trailer converted into an office.
It urged the US and France to investigate whether their military personnel knew that torture was taking place on the site, and whether or not their assistance “has contributed to the commission of these crimes and violations.”
“To date, US Africa Command has not received any reports of human rights abuses by Cameroonian forces at either of these locations,” Robyn Mack, a spokeswoman at the US military’s Africa Command, said in a statement. “Any foreign military unit that receives security assistance receives training on the law of armed conflict and human rights law.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number