Stalemate

ADF STAFF

Every February 14 in a remote part of northwestern Cameroon, the people of Ngarbuh village gather to pray around the graves of the 21 civilians killed in 2020 by a group of soldiers and militiamen in one of the worst atrocities of the still-simmering civil war.

After initially denying responsibility, the army investigated and released a statement calling it “an unfortunate accident, the collateral result of security operations in the region.”

Ma-Shey Margaret survived, but all of her neighbors were killed, including an uncle and his entire family. A row of five burned-out homes stands nearby as a haunting reminder of the massacre.

“I weep each time I set eyes on the mass graves of the innocent people,” the 49-year-old told HumAngle Media for a September 2024 article. “Right now, we are still not safe. The military wants us to report the presence of the separatist fighters to them, which is a risky thing to do. We live in constant fear.”

The roots of the conflict trace back more than 100 years, to the aftermath of World War I, when the country was split into British and French colonial control. Today, English-speakers account for nearly a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 24 million, the majority of whom speak French.

What began in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions as a series of peaceful protests against marginalization in 2016 has escalated into a devastating civil war. In the Northwest and Southwest regions, years of grievances at perceived discrimination coalesced into a 2017 declaration of independence and resulted in a military crackdown.

After eight years of fighting, Cameroon is stuck in a festering conflict, unable to quell the tension and violence between its French- and English-speaking people. More than 6,000 have died at the hands of separatist and government forces, and at least a million people are homeless.

“Violence in the entire Anglophone region has been building in 2024,” Dr. Ladd Serwat of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project (ACLED) said during a September 10 webinar. “The second quarter of 2024 was actually the most violent of the conflict so far.”

Reporting for the Nigerian media site HumAngle, Nalova Akua visited both Anglophone regions and said reprisal killings between separatists and security forces are a regular occurrence.

“The government has intensified its pursuit of a military solution to the conflict, hoping to take advantage of widening fragmentation between the armed separatist groups,” she wrote.

Serwat said ACLED data shows a rise in infighting between separatist groups often trying to control small areas. Coupled with their increased illicit economic activity, kidnapping for ransom and targeting of civilians, the separatists appear to be moving further from the goal of independence and closer towards self-preservation, he believes.

“We certainly have seen the interests of armed groups become more and more localized,” he said. “I think there’s less and less espoused interest in creating an entire separate country. The fragmentation of this conflict is increasing the levels of violence, but it’s also weakening the bargaining position of the separatist movement, which I think makes peace negotiations more difficult. There are more groups with more competing interests, so bringing those groups to the table can be quite challenging.”

Simon Munzu, retired chair of the Coalition of Cameroon Federalist Groups and Activists steering committee and a former United Nations assistant secretary-general, has criticized Cameroon’s attempts at dialogue and peace-making, which have fizzled in recent years.

“All those measures have failed because the government is acting in bad faith,” he told HumAngle. “It refuses to acknowledge the exact nature of the Anglophone problem. It therefore refuses to adopt real solutions that could resolve the problem and end the crisis. The measures it has taken so far are purely cosmetic.”

ADF STAFF

Every February 14 in a remote part of northwestern Cameroon, the people of Ngarbuh village gather to pray around the graves of the 21 civilians killed in 2020 by a group of soldiers and militiamen in one of the worst atrocities of the still-simmering civil war.

After initially denying responsibility, the army investigated and released a statement calling it “an unfortunate accident, the collateral result of security operations in the region.”

Ma-Shey Margaret survived, but all of her neighbors were killed, including an uncle and his entire family. A row of five burned-out homes stands nearby as a haunting reminder of the massacre.

“I weep each time I set eyes on the mass graves of the innocent people,” the 49-year-old told HumAngle Media for a September 2024 article. “Right now, we are still not safe. The military wants us to report the presence of the separatist fighters to them, which is a risky thing to do. We live in constant fear.”

The roots of the conflict trace back more than 100 years, to the aftermath of World War I, when the country was split into British and French colonial control. Today, English-speakers account for nearly a fifth of Cameroon’s population of 24 million, the majority of whom speak French.

What began in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions as a series of peaceful protests against marginalization in 2016 has escalated into a devastating civil war. In the Northwest and Southwest regions, years of grievances at perceived discrimination coalesced into a 2017 declaration of independence and resulted in a military crackdown.

After eight years of fighting, Cameroon is stuck in a festering conflict, unable to quell the tension and violence between its French- and English-speaking people. More than 6,000 have died at the hands of separatist and government forces, and at least a million people are homeless.

“Violence in the entire Anglophone region has been building in 2024,” Dr. Ladd Serwat of the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project (ACLED) said during a September 10 webinar. “The second quarter of 2024 was actually the most violent of the conflict so far.”

Reporting for the Nigerian media site HumAngle, Nalova Akua visited both Anglophone regions and said reprisal killings between separatists and security forces are a regular occurrence.

“The government has intensified its pursuit of a military solution to the conflict, hoping to take advantage of widening fragmentation between the armed separatist groups,” she wrote.

Serwat said ACLED data shows a rise in infighting between separatist groups often trying to control small areas. Coupled with their increased illicit economic activity, kidnapping for ransom and targeting of civilians, the separatists appear to be moving further from the goal of independence and closer towards self-preservation, he believes.

“We certainly have seen the interests of armed groups become more and more localized,” he said. “I think there’s less and less espoused interest in creating an entire separate country. The fragmentation of this conflict is increasing the levels of violence, but it’s also weakening the bargaining position of the separatist movement, which I think makes peace negotiations more difficult. There are more groups with more competing interests, so bringing those groups to the table can be quite challenging.”

Simon Munzu, retired chair of the Coalition of Cameroon Federalist Groups and Activists steering committee and a former United Nations assistant secretary-general, has criticized Cameroon’s attempts at dialogue and peace-making, which have fizzled in recent years.

“All those measures have failed because the government is acting in bad faith,” he told HumAngle. “It refuses to acknowledge the exact nature of the Anglophone problem. It therefore refuses to adopt real solutions that could resolve the problem and end the crisis. The measures it has taken so far are purely cosmetic.”