Claims
A Facebook post claims to show four “terrorists” arrested by the Cameroonian army. They are said to be the perpetrators of an attack that took place on the night of March 7-8 near the English-speaking North West region, the scene of deadly clashes between the army and separatist fighters.
The image shows four young men in handcuffs, hands behind their backs, and swollen faces. They appear to have been severely beaten.
“Congratulations to the Cameroonian army who got their hands on some Galim terrorists”, rejoices the author of this post published on March 12 and widely relayed on Facebook in Cameroon. Another publication, in English, mentions that they were arrested at the border between Cameroon and
Nigeria March 8, 2020.
Galim is a Cameroonian locality located in the West Province, with a French-speaking majority, and which adjoins the English-speaking one of the North-West, in the grip since 2017 in bloody fighting between government troops and
separatists.
On the night of March 7-8, around fifty “heavily armed secessionist terrorists” attacked a gendarmerie and a police station, according to the government, which said five soldiers and police and four civilians were killed.
The next morning, during a deliberation on the occasion of the World Women’s Day in Bamenda, capital of the North-West, the secessionists activated an explosive device killing one and wounding seven, according to the government.
Contacted on March 16 to find out whether any arrests had taken place in connection with these attacks, the Cameroonian army did not follow up on AFP’s requests.
In any case, it appears that the photo posted on Facebook has nothing to do with the Galim attack.
Verdict: This photo is from 2019 and shows four men accused of armed robbery in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Among the comments of the publication, a net surfer believes to know, screenshot in support, that this image was taken on a page named “Radio Ebala 101.5fm”, and that it comes rather from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
AFP found the publication of “Radio Ebala 101.5fm”, dated October 23, 2019 and illustrated with a series of three photos, including the one that is the subject of our research (click on the photos to enlarge).
The caption of this publication is written in Swahili, “a language widely spoken in eastern DRC,” said Ange Kasongo, AFP news-verifying journalist in Kinshasa.
According to its translation, it is written: “Putting an end to armed robberies in the territory of Misisi becomes a real headache, an impossible dream in the middle of the day, because almost every day, bandits operate in peace. No solution yet, despite the meetings. What are they ultimately used for? ”.
AFP contacted Ebala radio editor-in-chief Gabriel Yamumba, who said he was the author of the photo.
He said this photo shows four people suspected of armed robbery and arrested on October 21, 2019 in Kachemba, a locality near the mining quarry of the Akanga site of Misisi, in the province of South Kivu, in the DRC.
“They were taken the next day to the Casa multipurpose hall, named after the Casa Mining company, in the DRC”, where the photos were taken, adds Mr. Yamumba.
He told the same story in an article published on October 22, 2019 with images of the four alleged criminals, on Fizimedia, a site specializing in South Kivu news.