The United States government decided to slash millions in military and security aid to Cameroon due to the government's human rights record, according to CNN.
Officials told CNN on Wednesday Washington will "terminate" more than $17 million in security aid that includes radar, four defender-class patrol boats, nine armored vehicles, training programs for C-130 airplanes and helicopters, and withdrawing an offer for the country to be a candidate for the State Partnership Program.
Officials will also cancel an agreement to upgrade a Cessna aircraft belonging to Cameroon's elite Rapid Intervention Battalion, which was previously advised by U.S. troops. but is now accused of participating in human rights abuse.
Some of the security assistance money was already on hold by Congress over those concerns.
"We continue to urge the Cameroonian government to take all credible allegations of gross violations of human rights seriously, investigate those allegations thoroughly, hold accountable the perpetrators of such abuses, and disclose the outcome of the investigations to the people of Cameroon," a State Department official told CNN when asked about the termination of security assistance.
"We have informed the Cameroonian government that lack of progress and clarity about actions undertaken by the government in response to credible allegations of gross violations of human rights could result in a broader suspension of US assistance," the State Department official said, adding that the US has "been assured by the government of Cameroon at the highest levels that US security assistance will not be diverted from other than its intended purpose."
The U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon Peter Henry Barlerin delivered a speech last year which accused the security forces in Cameroon of conducting "targeted killings, detentions without access to legal support, family, or the Red Cross, and burning and looting of villages."
He also accused them of kidnapping other government officials, burning schools, and murders of gendarmes.
The government is led by French speakers which have been fighting with the English-speaking regions of the country.
Another State Department official said it was important for Cameroon "to show greater transparency in investigating credible allegations of gross violations of human rights abuses by security forces, particularly in the Northwest, Southwest, and Far North Regions."
"For the time being, other programs will continue. We do not take these measures lightly, but we will not shirk from reducing assistance further if evolving conditions require it," the official continued said.
That includes education programs for officers focusing on peacekeeping and professionalization.
Other programs not being cut would consist of "select counterterrorism and maritime security programs that have been evaluated to have a low risk of diversion to the Anglophone region."
The Pentagon has hundreds of troops in Cameroon who help train, advise, and assist local forces in fighting ISIS West Africa, Boko Haram, and other extremist organizations in the Lake Chad Basin region of Africa.
US Africa Command issued an investigation last year to determine if American personnel were aware of the allegations of torture surrounding U.S.-trained Cameroonian troops.
One U.S. Defense official told CNN the investigation "found that US military forces in Cameroon were not involved in or aware of human rights violations committed by Cameroonian forces."
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Edwin Kindzeka Moki
