Ngarbuh Massacre in Donga and Mantung Division , British former Southern Cameroon
On the 14th of February 2020 in Ngarbuh , Ntumbaw, Donga Mantung Division , North West Region of Cameroon , a Massacre took place by the Cameroon military with the help of Fulani extremists which resulted to at least the death of 22 innocent civilians . 15 of the victims were Children and at least 9 of them were under the age of 5 . The attack was part of the Anglophone Crisis between freedom fighters of Ambazonia ( Former British Southern Cameroon) and Cameroon military.
Initially no one claimed responsibility for the attack, while the separatists blamed Cameroon.The Cameroonian government admitted that the Cameroonian Army had been responsible for the deaths, and claimed civilians were killed by an accidental explosion that had been triggered when stray bullets had hit a fuel tank during a firefight with separatists. The Cameroon Army claimed to have killed seven separatists during the incident
Opposition parties and human rights groups rejected this explanation, accusing the army of carrying out a massacre of civilians
Local residents said that 35 people were killed by the Army, who broke into residents houses, where they shot civilians and burned their houses. The Cameroon government (Biya regime) continued to insist that only five civilians had been killed, although independent sources were able to verify the names of 25 dead civilians already the day after the attack. Attempting to cover up the details of the incident, on 24 February, soldiers arrested a man who had given information about the Ngarbuh massacre to the media. An alleged eye witness to the massacre was murdered on February 29.
Human rights group carried out an investigation, interviewing more than 20 people, some of whom witnessed the attack. The investigation debunked the claims made by the government and established that Cameroon soldiers and armed Fulani had carried out a massacre of civilians. Human Rights Watch also confirmed that there had been no separatist fighters present during the massacre. The Cameroon government responded to the report by accusing the author of conspiring with the separatists to create false stories.
The United Nations condemned the attack, and encouraged Cameroon to carry out proper investigation and prosecute the perpetrators which was back by United states of America . One of the key opposition politicians in Cameroon Maurice Kamto called for a national day of mourning.
In early March, it was reported that the Cameroon Army had arrested and questioned nine soldiers about the massacre, including two colonels. After running its own investigation, the government concluded that three soldiers and a local vigilante group had accidentally killed 13 civilians during a fire fight with separatist fighters. After realizing their mistake, the report claimed, the soldiers and the militiamen set fire to buildings in order to erase any evidence. Three soldiers were subsequently arrested.
