The United Nations Security Council has been urged by Human Rights Watch to condemn the atrocities of Cameroon’s defence and security forces and demand reforms as a way out of the crisis in the North West and South West regions.

The United Nations Security Council will informally discuss the crisis in Cameroon for the first time on May 13 and Human Rights Watch has started uping the ante on the body to put pressure on the Cameroon government.

Human Rights Watch in a latest report accused Cameroonian authorities of torturing and holding incommunicado in Yaounde.

“Gendarmes and other security forces at the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’Etat à la défense, SED) have severely beaten and used near-drowning to extract confessions from detainees suspected of ties to armed separatist groups.

Human Rights Watch called on the UN Security Council to hold the government of Cameroon to account and call for an end to such practices.

“Over the past year the security forces in Cameroon have used torture without fear of repercussion,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The UN Security Council should send a clear message that ending torture in detention is critical to addressing the crisis in the Anglophone regions.”

The body also condemned abuses by suspected separatist fighters on the local population and urged the UN Security Council to take measures to end hostilities in Cameroon.