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Human Rights Watch | Earlier this week, Norwegian police confirmed the arrest of a man on suspicion of incitement to commit crimes against humanity in Cameroon. AFP confirmed the man was Lucas Cho Ayaba, a Cameroonian separatist leader. His arrest could be a step toward justice for the victims of serious crimes in Cameroon’s embattled Anglophone regions.
Ayaba is the leader of the Ambazonia Governing Council, a major separatist group involved in the ongoing conflict in Cameroon’s Anglophone region. Ayaba is alleged to have coordinated its armed wing, the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), remotely from Norway. The Ambazonia Governing Council’s aim is to carve out an independent state for Cameroon’s minority Anglophones. To accomplish this aim, the group punished anyone it perceived as collaborating with the government. It targeted civilians, kidnapped humanitarian workers, and killed perceived opponents while using intimidation and violence to keep children and their teachers out of school.
The prosecutor has indicated that the investigation is at an early phase, but given Ayaba is accused of inciting these crimes from Norway, prosecutors may have a number of grounds on which to pursue the case. It is the first time Norwegian judicial authorities have charged an individual for incitement to crimes against humanity.
As armed separatists like the ADF continue to clash with government forces, the welfare of civilians has become a secondary concern to the parties involved. Ayaba’s arrest is a warning to others implicated in grave crimes that the reign of impunity may be ending.
Separatists are not the only ones committing serious human rights abuses in the Anglophone regions. Serious crimes by government forces have been rife since the crisis began and security forces have also killed civilians, burned dozens of villages, and arbitrarily arrested and tortured hundreds of alleged armed separatists.
The Cameroonian government has the responsibility to ensure justice for the most serious crimes but has made scant progress in investigating, much less prosecuting, those responsible for grave offenses committed as part of the Anglophone crisis, particularly by Cameroon’s security forces.
While Ayaba’s arrest is to be welcomed, justice cannot be one-sided. All perpetrators of grave abuses, including government forces, should be held to account.
