International medical charity Doctors Without Borders has condemned frequent attacks on aid workers and health facilities in the troubled English-speaking regions of Cameroon.
“We categorically condemn in the most severe terms the use of arms in, around or against health facilities,” Emmanuel Lampaert, the organization’s operations coordinator for Cameroon said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Cameroon Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said the army has arrested a soldier who shot dead a fleeing civilian in a hospital in Bamenda, the largest city of the country’s restive English-speaking region of Northwest where armed separatists have been clashing with government forces since 2017.
For the doctors’ association, the incident “endangered” patients and hospital staff, Lampaert said.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that staff and patients have faced security incidents in this region. In recent weeks and months, our medical teams have been threatened a number of times by different parties involved in the crisis, including intimidation at gunpoint,” Lampaert added.
The coordinator urged that all parties in the armed conflict should respect the safety and security of medical facilities, ambulances, staff and patients.
