The United States of America has suspended all military aid to the Cameroonian army, according to information reaching Alafnet.com news desk.
In a correspondence addressed to Amnesty International on July 11, the US ambassador to Cameroon said his country had suspended all its assistance to Cameroonian soldiers engaged in the fight against Boko Haram in the Far North for violations of human rights.
In October 2015, Under the Obama administration 300 US soldiers landed in the Central African State . The US soldiers were stationed in Garoua the capital of the north region with main objective to assist Cameroon in the fight against the Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram which has been raging the Far North of the country.This suspension of military aid is expected to have a severe impact on the drive in Cameroon’s fight against Boko Haram .
In response to the correspondence addressed to him by Amnesty International’s Central and West Africa representative Alioune Tine last June 23, 2017, Out going United States Ambassador to Cameroon Michael Stephen Hoza indicated that the United States had suspended its collaboration with the Cameroon Defense Forces with immediate effect .
The diplomat cited in his letter the units of the BIR (Rapid Intervention Battalion) stationed in Maroua Salak, Mora and in the Adamaoua region which, according to him, will no longer benefit from American assistance .
Michael S.Hoza explained in his detailed correspondence that the United States wants to remain in compliance with the Leahy Law, which prohibits America from providing military assistance to any foreign army accused of human rights violations.
Early this year military vehicles donated by the Obama administration for the fight against Boko were reportedly used in the English-speaking Regions of Cameroon to track down on Anglophones protesters.
In a report released last March on the state of human rights in Cameroon, The United States accused the Cameroonian military elite (Rapid Intervention Battalion-BIR), the Motorized Infantry Battalion, the Gendarmerie and Cameroon secret services of human rights violations in the context of the fight Against Boko Haram.
source:alafnet.com
