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Amnesty International has expressed concern about a mass grave with more than 36 bodies found at the start of November close to the Douala international airport in Cameroon.
“The discovery of this mass grave heightens the fears about the fate of large numbers of people who have ‘disappeared’ during the last eight months after being detained by security forces,” Amnesty International said on Monday.
Nine other bodies were discovered in early May close to the village of Petit Dimbaba, south of Douala, the economic capital of the country.
According to Amnesty, the Cameroonian branch of the non-governmental organization Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture (ACAT - Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture) listed 29 victims in late August and reported a still greater number of unidentified persons killed.
Civil society groups, religious leaders and the media in Cameroon have repeatedly criticized the inconsistency of the government response to allegations of summary killings by the special security force, the Commandement opérationnel, particularly in Douala, Amnesty said.
No independent and open investigation has so far been undertaken into individual allegations or the general behaviour of members of the Commandement opérationnel.
“There must be an immediate investigation into all allegations of killings and torture by the security forces in order to bring those responsible to justice,” Amnesty International said.
[For the full Amnesty release see
http://www.amnesty.org/news/]
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
