On Saturday, October 24 2020, unknown gunmen stormed the Mother Francisca School around midday, after arriving on motorbikes popularly known in the regions as Okada. These men perpetrated a mass shooting on innocent children in their classroom at the time who only wanted to acquire knowledge with their pens and books. This act which has no doubt and unsurprisingly been condemned in the strongest terms by virtually nearly all national and international organisations including the United Nations and the European Union, not forgetting Human Rights Watch and the Cameroonian government itself through its minister of communication Rene Emmanuel Sadi.
However, and curiously so, the Cameroon government in her condemnation statement, seem to have finished an investigation as it accused the separatist of being the perpetrators of the heinous act. In the government communique, they have apportioned all the blame to the “Amba Boys” and this with no evidence whatsoever to buttress their allegation. Many still remember vividly how the same government accused armed groups of committed the 14th February Massacre in Ngarburh before an investigation revealed otherwise weeks later. Assuming that we agree with the regime that separatist committed this crime, is it not clear that the regime has also failed in its responsibility to protect its civilians during situations like this especially women and children? The Cameroon government is by this act of early accusations without evidence trying to evade once again the fact that it has failed to protect its citizens given that we all saw government officials in these regions campaigning and reassuring parents and teachers that all was well. They even went as far as promising them protection and asked them to resume school.
The Responsibility To Protect R2P is the political commitment to stop all forms of violence and persecutions. It seeks to bridge the gap between member states pre-existing obligations under international humanitarian law and Human Rights law, and the reality faced by populations at risk of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity just like what we are seeing today in the Former British Southern Cameroons.
Koffi Annan in his September 1999 annual report to the United Nations General Assembly had said “member states must find a common ground in upholding the principles of the Charter and acting in defence of common humanity”. Annan repeated this challenge in his 2000 Milenuim report when he insisted that “If Humanitarian Intervention is indeed, an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to Rwanda, to gross systemic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity”
Going by the above, the Cameroonian government can therefore not invoke the notion of sovereignty to evade a possible and imminent International Humanitarian intervention in the country to stop the war before it turns to another Rwanda. This writer believes that if the Cameroon government is failing in its responsibility to protect, the United Nations should not fail in ordering a Humanitarian Intervention to stop the atrocities as doing so will constitute a betrayal by the United Nations to the people of Former British Southern Cameroon.
The Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols lay down the rules on how soldiers and civilians should be treated during armed conflicts like the case in hand. These conventions were adopted in 1949, considering the sad experiences of the Second World War, and these conventions still apply in today’s armed conflicts.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) advocates the protection of victims of armed conflicts and this includes civilians and combatants who have been injured or captured. All parties concerned in such conflicts whether states or organised Non- States actors are therefore bound by the IHL in matters of this nature.
If after proper investigation, it is established that the Separatist committed the massacre in Kumba, this will deal a deadly blow to the reputation of the separatist who for some time have enjoyed the sympathy of the International community especially the United States, the European Union and other powers that be. The legitimacy of their struggle for independence will have suffered there, a major set back because they will be seen as committing the same crimes they have been accusing the State of Cameroon of for the last close to four years now.
On the other hand, if the investigations come out with evidence to suggest that there has been a repeat of the 14th February 2020 Ngarburh crime, the state of Cameroon to my opinion, would have been caught hands in the bag, violating its constitution, International Humanitarian Law, the Geneva Convention and the responsibility to protect. Sanctions must therefore be called on the country for such violations.
While we condemn these crimes, no matter who has committed them, it is important to note that the time is now for the United Nations to order an international Humanitarian intervention in Cameroon to stop further bloodshed.
Nelson A. Agbor
LLB, LLM (Hons), Int. Human Rights Law, Hertfordshire Law School.
Doctoral (PhD) Research Student in Int. Human Rights Law @ The University Of Plymouth, UK.
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