EFFORTPOST Cameroonian soldiers execute civilians in a village they regained control over (after it was taken over by Boko Haram). Skip to 1;20 for the executions. 2015 (the journalist investigation started in 2018) Longer version with subtitles in the post

Thanks to some users who are still butthurt about the character of my WPD activity, I will keep the winter holiday daily posting. Torture, executions, torture, executions, and tomorrow - torture again. Like a layer cake

Today's video was recorded in January 2015 in Achigachiya, in Cameroon's Far North region (map above). It's a border village, and the Cameroonian army at some point regained control over it after it was taken over by Boko Haram. According to the witness statement, on that day, around a dozen civilians were executed. IMO it's about the video only, as the victim statements given later mentioned anywhere from 30 to above 80 victims - mostly old people. This was formally an operation against Boko Haram members. Soldiers' behaviors tell more about their attitude:

One of them, in full combat gear — helmet, camouflage uniform, automatic weapon — clowns for the camera and sticks out his tongue. A sergeant next to him says, in French, “This is a kamikaze mission!”

The location was confirmed by the locals. Some of them precised that the video was recorded in Talla-Massali neighbourhood, which is in the east part of the village - the Cameroonian one.

This was a second video of Cameroonian soldiers committing war crimes that surfaced in the summer of 2018. The other one was also showing the executions, but of women and children - even more lame than killing old people

Two versions exist: the one in the attachment of this post, 3;54 mins long and 5;57 mins long. The latter, at least the one released by the activists, has English subtitles and a blur over the execution part. It doesn't matter, though, as this part is included in the shorter version. This one comes from The France Observers24 channel on YT, 'Achigachiya (Cameroon), January 2015'.

Observers24 provided a really detailed description of the video's content. I will just include the part with executions, as it's quite chaotic (for me, at least).

At 02:39, the recording cuts again, then starts anew. You can see a group of people along a wall. They appear to be lying down, but some of them have their backs propped up against the wall. An armed man wearing a bulletproof vests walks around them, agitated and yelling at them.

Shots ring out. The camera zooms inon the people lined up against the wall: there are about ten of them, all in civilian clothing. Then multiple shots ring out in quick succession and you can see smoke above the people on the ground, who are riddled with bullets. You can see a large red stain on one person's pants. An off-camera voice yells “Wait!” three times. Many other men yell and you can make out the words “the refugees that are arriving over there”.

A man in military uniform then fires five spaced-out shots, apparently to kill the people who aren't yet dead. A voice says: “Come out in front.” Another man with a helmet squats down and shoots at the people on the ground.

Village size on Google Maps:

There are at least three witness statements obtained by the journalists

The soldiers had warned that they didn't want to see anyone in the village when they got there, so almost everyone had fled, apart from elderly people who couldn't walk well. Myself, I had left for Mozogo [Editors' Note: about 66 kilometres away by road]. According to Achigachiya residents, the soldiers killed elderly people. They also set fire to the Talla-Massali neighbourhood. All this happened on the same day. The next day, I returned to Achigachia, like many other residents. Some of them started burying the dead: about 30 people were shot dead. Myself, I know someone whose father was killed.

This one's relative was killed:

My father, who was about 85, was killed. Witnesses told me what happened. The soldiers entered the village, torched houses and killed people, in particularly elderly people. Villagers saw this all take place. Other villagers who fled then came back the next day and saw the bodies – they said there were 82 or 83 of them. They then buried the bodies.

And the third person's statement overlaps with the previous:

Soldiers took people outside of their homes to kill them, while others were taken out in front of the mosque and killed there. One of my relatives told me that 88 people were killed.

Some indirect witnesses, who only talked to someone who was there, claimed the same. Soldiers mostly killed the elders. The number of the victims varies, though.

Cameroon's ambassador in Washington, Henri Etoundi Essomba, told The Washington Post that he was unaware of this video and was unable to comment on it. Then, he added that some people are willing to portray Cameroon as a hell on earth, and nobody should condemn Cameroon without making sure that what they're seeing matches reality. And that it should be no surprise that some people want to portray his country in the darkest way possible. Similar doubts were expressed after the release of another execution video, also in August 2018. But everything looked Cameroonian: the terrain, outfits, accents and weapons. An interesting detail about the Achigachiya video is that Zastava M21 S assault rifles are among the weapons. Brian Castner, a weapons specialist for Amnesty International, claimed that, to his knowledge, Cameroon is the only country in Africa using them.

The authorities also claimed that it's a made-up story. Amnesty International report from July 2016 mentioned a description of the matching event, though. It happened either on the 1st or 8th of January 2015.

On the afternoon of August 8, the FRANCE 24 Observers team contacted the spokesman of the Cameroonian army, Didier Badjeck, and the spokesman for the government, Issa Tchiroma Bakary.

The army spokesman called the video a “fake”. He added: “The Cameroonian army is professional and respects human rights. When abuses are committed, they are punished, because we in no way condone them.”

⠀SOURCES

https://observers.france24.com/en/20180810-video-cameroon-soldiers-executed-civilians

https://theintercept.com/2018/08/31/cameroon-video-execution-boko-haram

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/08/10/video-footage-appears-show-cameroonian-security-forces-executing-unarmed-people-amnesty-says