further into violence26 Oct 2018 16:07
Cameroon is spiraling further into violence
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/10/26/cameroon-is-spiraling-further-into-violence/??noredirect=on
Cameroonian authorities announced this week that President Paul Biya had been reelected — again. Biya has ruled the country since 1982, making him the second-longest-serving president in Africa. At 85 years old, he’s also the continent’s oldest.
But this year’s election, held on Oct. 7, took place in unusual circumstances: Since 2016, the central African country, a key U.S. security partner, has been teetering dangerously on the brink of civil war between English-speaking separatists and its government, dominated by French speakers.
Elite circles in Cameroon are largely controlled by Francophones, while Anglophones are routinely overlooked for top ministerial jobs. There have been complaints about such marginalization for decades, but unrest broke out in late 2016 after Anglophone citizens complained that more and more Francophone teachers and judges were being sent to teach in their schools and preside in their courts.
The military responded violently to Anglophone protests, killing some demonstrators and rounding up others. The harsh reprisals only enraged Anglophones, who have given growing support to an armed movement trying to create an English-speaking breakaway state called Ambazonia.
In September, Amnesty International reported 160 members of Cameroon’s security forces had been killed by armed separatists since the conflict began. Around 400 civilians have been killed over the past year by armed groups on both sides of the conflict, and schools have become a common target.
That isn’t the only crisis Cameroon has on its hands. For years now, the country’s Far North region has struggled to contain the threat of Boko Haram, the Islamist group that has terrorized the area and displaced many Cameroonians. About 300 U.S. soldiers are on the ground there to aid Cameroon in its anti-extremist operations.
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