When Cameroon obtains the withdrawal of Nigerian troops from the Bakassi peninsula before August 14, 2018, after a lengthy judicial procedure, expertly led by Professor Maurice Kamto, Cameroon can finally blow after more than 14 years of clashes that led to the death of many Cameroonian soldiers.
In 2013, the inter-communities civil war in the Central African Republic led to unrest in the eastern region of Cameroon. Indeed, several rebels flee to take refuge in this neighbouring region of the Central African Republic. The Cameroonian government is trying hard to neutralise the situation and the negative consequences on the lives of the population. Even today, incursions into the region are recorded from time to time with crimes like theft, destruction of property, violence on the community.
In 2014, Cameroon officially went to war against Boko Haram, an Islamic movement that committed numerous massacres such as attacks, kidnappings civilians of any confession against ransom, destruction of property and killings. Cameroon gets material, financial and logistical support from several allies in this war to effectively fight Boko Haram.
In late 2016, the Anglophone crisis began with peaceful demonstrations of teachers and lawyers in the South West and North-West regions of Cameroon (mainly in Bamenda and Buea). They were protesting working conditions that were not suited to their linguistics (English) and legal (common law) cultures. Laws applied in these regions are not systematically translated into English and that English-speaking schools are assigned to French-speaking teachers who cannot speak English. The government’s response has been violent repression, with mass arrests of leaders and members of the consortium set up for dialogue, rapes and violence against students by law enforcement agents are criticised: This led to the radicalisation of the movement, and separatist groups seized the opportunity to emerge. The most extremists among those groups demand secession under the Ambazonia label, and the more moderate of the anglophones require the federation, but all are unanimous in rejecting the state in its current form.
In early 2019, some allies in the fight against Boko Haram considered that Cameroon is not willing enough to find solutions for the resolution of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. For this reason, they decided to partially or withdraw their support to the country in this fight. According to the International Crisis Group report of May 2, 2019, the crisis in the English-speaking part of Cameroon is responsible for the deaths of more than 1850 people, 530,000 displaced people, of whom about 35,000 are in Nigeria. Many children have not been schooling for two to three years because many schools have been burned and the population threatened with abuse by separatist groups if they go to schools. From an economic point of view, losses in July 2018 amounted to nearly 410 million euros, 6434 formal jobs and about 8,000 jobs at risk, and this is getting worst.
The Anglophone crisis is becoming bogged down and taking shape as a civil war against the obsession of the ruling power not to hold an inclusive national dialogue as recommended by the United Nations, the African Union and the international community. The situation of refugees in Nigeria is very worrying; most of them, mostly women and children, live on very little income. Women and girls are the most vulnerable. Many of them are victims of sexual abuse exposing them to unwanted pregnancies and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In his communique published on July 25, 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein says that the Cameroonian government has refused to give access to investigators of the United Nations to investigate the regions North West and South West Cameroon. In May 2019, during her stay in Cameroon Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner reiterated the request to send investigators to the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon and the Cameroonian government did not respond favourably.
In 2018, the presidential elections were held under conditions of strong social and security tensions. The vote was spoiled with irregularities that were the subject of electoral disputes for three days. After the announcement of the results, Professor Maurice Kamto, ranked 2nd, contests the results and launches a national resistance plan. Part of this plan is to peacefully protest against what he calls the “Electoral Hold Up”, the civil war in the northwest and southwest regions, the misappropriation of public funds, particularly the budget of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON TOTAL 2019), whose organization was finally withdrawn from Cameroon because the infrastructures were not delivered within the agreed timelines and could not be ready for the event.
At the end of the peaceful marches of January 26, 2019, Professor Maurice Kamto, his supporters and more than 250 members of his political party, the Cameroonian Renaissance Movement (CRM) are arrested and imprisoned. Other arrests will take place during the peaceful marches of June 1, 2019, as well as in the streets, cafes and bars of Yaounde on June 8, 2019. There are nearly 500 political prisoners, supporters of Professor Maurice Kamto, who are currently detained in the main prison and Kondengui central prison in Yaoundé, most of them without any judgement.
6 out of 10 regions are currently insecure in Cameroon, plunging the country into a situation of unprecedented social, political and economic tension.
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