Washington has announced it is scaling back its military aid to Cameroon, over allegations of human rights abuses by government troops, diplomatic sources in Yaoundé told APA on Thursday.The announcement, already made by leading American media, was confirmed, under condition of anonymity to APA, by a US diplomatic representative in Cameroon, estimating the compromised military support stood at some CFA97 billion.

This suspension, which will be further slashed if the situation so requires, concerns in particular security assistance, observation through radars, patrol boats and aircraft, armoured vehicles, peacekeeping, counter-terrorism and training programmes.

At the same time, the State Department continues to urge the Cameroonian government to take seriously all allegations of gross human rights violations by the army, particularly in the English-speaking regions of the North-West and South-West, where a secessionist conflict has been raging since October 2016, but also in the Far North, where the defence and security forces are engaged in the fight against Boko Haram militants.