On 1 June 2022, Cameroonian soldiers of the 53rd Motorized Infantry Battalion killed nine civilians in the village of Missong [fr], Northwest Region during the Anglophone Crisis.

Killings in Missong
Part of the Anglophone Crisis
LocationMissong, Cameroon
DateJune 1, 2022 (2022-June-01)
Deaths9
Injured1
PerpetratorsSoldiers of the 53rd Motorized Infantry Battalion

A Human Rights Watch report after the killings found that nine civilians in Missong (a settlement in Zhoa, Fungom District [fr]) had been killed by the military, relying on testimony from five eyewitnesses and a village elder,[1] describing it as "a reprisal operation against a community suspected of harboring separatist fighters."[2]

A few days after the HRW report was published, military spokesman Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo published a federal enquiry into the action.[2] The statement found that the soldiers were conducting a search for a missing soldier when they were confronted by a group of angry residents. According to a government enquiry the soldiers responded in a "inappropriate" and "manifestly disproportionate" manner by murdering four men, four women and an 18-month-old girl. A one-year-old child was lightly wounded and transferred to the hospital.[3]

The federal enquiry and admission by the army was among the first of its kind by the army during the Anglophone Crisis,[4][5] and welcomed as "a positive step" by Human Rights Watch.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Cameroon: Military Killings Inquiry A Positive Step". Human Rights Watch. 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  2. ^ a b c "Cameroon: Army Killings, Disappearances, in North-West Region". Human Rights Watch. 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  3. ^ "Cameroun-Crise anglophone : neuf villageois tués par des éléments des forces de défense". Journal du Cameroun (in French). 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  4. ^ "Cameroon says soldiers killed nine villagers in "disproportionate" use of force". Reuters. 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  5. ^ "Cameroon Troops Kill 9 Civilians in Separatist Region". VOA. Retrieved 2022-10-12.