Probe using satellite images uncovers Cameroon soldiers who executed blindfolded women and children

An investigation has uncovered the Cameroon soldiers who executed women and children in a video – after the government dismissed the clip as ‘fake news’.

Horrific footage that sparked international outrage showed victims being led to a clearing and ordered to kneel before being gunned down by men dressed in military outfits.

Cameroon initially denied its soldiers were involved but has since said seven men have been arrested and being held over the video, which emerged in July.

An investigation now claims to provide clear evidence of where and when the incident happened in the country and, crucially, who was involved.

An investigation has uncovered the Cameroon soldiers who executed women and children in a video – after the government dismissed the clip as ‘fake news’. An investigation has named one of the men seen firing in the video as ‘Tchotcho’ Cyrique Bityala

Horrific footage that sparked international outrage showed victims being led to a clearing and ordered to kneel before being gunned down by men dressed in military outfits. A man seen blindfolding the women just before the shooting starts has been identified by a military source as Barnabas ¿Gonorso'

Horrific footage that sparked international outrage showed victims being led to a clearing and ordered to kneel before being gunned down by men dressed in military outfits. A man seen blindfolding the women just before the shooting starts has been identified by a military source as Barnabas ‘Gonorso’

The BBC located a mountain range with a distinctive profile in the video and, following a tip off found the same ridge line on Google Earth.

Using satellite images, they were able to pinpoint the scene of the atrocity to a dirt road outside Zelevet, in northern Cameroon – a region where the country’s forces are battling Boko Haram near the Nigeria border.

The exact site was pinpointed using tracks, trees and buildings seen in the footage which could be matched to satellite images of the area. 

The probe narrowed down the date of the killings to between March 20 and April 5 2015.

Footage showed a building that, according to satellite images, was not yet built in November 2014. By February 2015, overhead shots showed, the same building had been demolished.

A Facebook profile (pictured) links the nickname 'Tchotcho' to a soldier called Cyriaque Bityala. The same name appears in a list of soldiers held over the killing

A Facebook profile (pictured) links the nickname ‘Tchotcho’ to a soldier called Cyriaque Bityala. The same name appears in a list of soldiers held over the killing

Further evidence was provided by the appearance of a track that is only visible on satellite imagery between January and April, the investigation found. Experts then looked at the angle of the sun to narrow the window further.

The investigation also claimed that one of the men seen firing in the video is ‘Tchotcho’ Cyrique Bityala. The name Sergeant Cyriaque Hilaire Bityala appears on the list of men Cameroon has arrested.

Another man seen blindfolding the women just before the shooting starts has been named by a military source as Barnabas ‘Gonorso’.

A man with a similar name, Barnabas Donossou, also appears on the list of men now under investigation.

A third is named as ‘Cobra’. He is said to appear at the end of the video. 

On August 10, Cameroon’s Ministry of Communication arrested seven men over the video. They were named as  Lieutenant Etienne Fobassou, Sergeant Cyriaque Hilaire Bityala, Lance Corporal Didier Jeanot Godwe Mana, Lance Corporal Tsanga, Private 2nd Class Barnabas Donossou, Private 2nd Class Jacobai Jonathan and Private 1st Class Ghislain Ntieche Fewou. 

The shaky video shows two women, one with an infant strapped to her back, being led by a group of men in military uniform across a patch of dusty scrubland.

‘You are BH, you are going to die,’ said one French-speaking man in aviator sunglasses and khaki attire, hitting a woman across the face. 

The exact site of the killings was pinpointed using tracks, trees and buildings seen in the footage which could be matched to satellite images of the area

The exact site of the killings was pinpointed using tracks, trees and buildings seen in the footage which could be matched to satellite images of the area

A mountain range with a distinctive profile can be seen in the video and, the same ridge line was found on Google Earth

A mountain range with a distinctive profile can be seen in the video and, the same ridge line was found on Google Earth

Using satellite images,  pinpoint the scene of the atrocity to a dirt road outside Zelevet, in northern Cameroon - a region where the country's forces are battling Boko Haram near the Nigeria border

Using satellite images, they were able to pinpoint the scene of the atrocity to a dirt road outside Zelevet, in northern Cameroon – a region where the country’s forces are battling Boko Haram near the Nigeria border

BH is short for Boko Haram, which for nine years has been fighting to carve out an Islamic caliphate centered in northern Nigeria.

The women are blindfolded and told to sit down alongside their children. Moments later, two men step back, level their rifles and fire a series of rounds.

The graphic video circulating on social media caused an outcry and condemnation by groups including Amnesty International.

It again raised concerns about alleged military abuses as Cameroon combats Boko Haram extremists in the north along the Nigerian border and Anglophone separatists in parts of the west.

At the time Cameroon’s president Paul Biya ordered an investigation. But government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the men in the footage appeared not to be Cameroonian army soldiers.

Bakary called the Central African nation’s military professional and said the camouflage uniforms in the video were fabricated with the intention of destroying its reputation.  

‘The video … is nothing but an unfortunate attempt to distort actual facts and intoxicate the public. Its sincerity can be easily questioned,’ Bakary told journalists at the time it emerged, describing the clip as ‘fake news’ and an act of ‘gross misinformation’.

He added ‘The combat uniforms used by the Cameroonian army in such circumstances are standard combat suits, namely heavy helmets, bulletproof vests and rangers’ boots. This is obviously not the case in the video.

‘The weapons displayed by the alleged soldiers presented in the video are not those used by the Cameroonian army in this area of operation.’

The shaky video shows men in military uniform shooting dead two women and two children for being suspected members of the Islamist group Boko Haram

The shaky video shows men in military uniform shooting dead two women and two children for being suspected members of the Islamist group Boko Haram

 'You are BH, you are going to die,' said one French-speaking man in aviator sunglasses and khaki attire, hitting a woman across the face

 ‘You are BH, you are going to die,’ said one French-speaking man in aviator sunglasses and khaki attire, hitting a woman across the face

Military spokesman Didier Badjeck also disavowed the video in July

‘It indicates how much our enemies are at work to distract the attention of the soldiers,’ Badjeck said. 

‘Cameroon is signatory to international treaties and conventions and knows what it means to respect human dignity at war.’

Amnesty International, however, said its own investigation has ‘gathered credible evidence that it was Cameroonian soldiers depicted in a video carrying out the horrific extrajudicial executions of two women and two young children.’   

The human rights group said analysis of the weapons, dialogue and uniforms, along with witness testimonies, ‘all strongly suggest that the perpetrators of the executions are Cameroonian soldiers.’ 

The government’s denial ‘simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,’ it said.

‘Given the gravity of these horrific acts – the cold-blooded and calculated slaughter of women and young children – these hasty and dismissive denials cast serious doubt over whether any investigation will be genuine,’ said Samira Daoud, deputy director of Amnesty International’s West Africa office. 

Two women, one with an infant strapped to her back, are seen being led by a group of uniformed men across a patch of dusty scrubland

Two women, one with an infant strapped to her back, are seen being led by a group of uniformed men across a patch of dusty scrubland

Moments later, two men step back, level their rifles and fire a series of rounds at the victims

Moments later, two men step back, level their rifles and fire a series of rounds at the victims

‘It is imperative that a proper, impartial investigation is undertaken and those responsible for these abhorrent acts are brought to justice.’

Amnesty International in a report last year said the military brutally tortured Boko Haram suspects and held them incommunicado in illegal detention facilities.  

A separate Amnesty report this year accused both Cameroon’s military and armed separatists fighting for the independence of English-speaking regions of using unnecessary and excessive force.

The Cameroonian army is fighting insurgencies on two fronts: against Anglophone separatists in the heavily forested west and Boko Haram in the arid north.

Rights groups have accused the army of mistreating civilians and opposition fighters, charges the army and the government deny. 

Last year, Amnesty International said the army tortured suspected Boko Haram fighters.

In the English-speaking western regions, soldiers have burned villages and killed civilians as they try to quell a growing secessionist movement, according to local residents contacted by Reuters earlier this year. 

The army rejected those accusations and said it respected human rights.

The conflicts have been destabilizing factors in the cocoa- and oil-producing country which has been run by Biya for 36 years.  



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