A suspected separatist attack has killed four police and wounded six in Cameroon’s English speaking region.
The attack follows another attack in the south-west district of Eyumojock on Saturday. No group has claimed responsibility for the most recent attack. The most recent attack marks the first deadly strike using a bomb.
The government released a statement which stated:
“The government condemns in the strongest terms this criminal act, perpetrated by armed bandits and terrorists with no faith or law,”
These recent attacks put at risk peace negotiations which the opposing sides had claimed to be open to. Last month, eleven movements representing Anglophone Cameroon, including the main armed factions, said they would be willing to enter mediated discussions with the state. Prime Minister Joseph Ngute in return stated that the government would be willing to talk to the rebels but would not consider demands for secession.
Cameroon’s southwestern Anglophone region began to experience violence after peaceful protests in 2017. The region is currently plagued daily violence between Cameroon’s mostly French-speaking government and several separatist groups.
The Anglophone Cameroons speakers have complained of long being marginalised by the French-speaking majority. The linguistic divide has existed since the end of the First World War, when the League of Nations divided the former German colony of Kamerun, in central Africa, between allied victors, leaving most of Cameroon French-administered but a small part run by Britain.
Since 2017, the United Nations estimated that approximately 1,800 people have been killed and more than 530,000 displaced with 1.3 million in need in the region.
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