Cameroon president threatens separatists with military action

Cameroonian President Paul Biya has threatened the possibility of a violent military response against armed separatists in the country’s Anglophone regions.

Speaking in a televised New Year’s message on Tuesday, Mr Biya announced that the security of Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions had now become an urgent problem. He explained that separatists in the region risked forcing the government’s hand.

“For those who persist in going down the wrong road and continue to use violence, we will have no other choice than to combat them in order to protect all our fellow citizens”, he said. 

The conflict between English-speaking South Cameroonians and French-speaking government forces has been on-going for three years and claimed over 3,000 lives. Half a million people are believed to have been displaced from their homes.

In his televised message, President Biya said that measures had been taken in recent months to encourage separatists to lay down their weapons. In October Mr Biya called for a meeting to resolve the conflict but key separatist leaders were not invited. 

Following this meeting, the Cameroonian parliament adopted two bills: one to promote bilingualism in the country, and another to grant special autonomous status to the troubled Anglophone regions. Mr Biya’s speech praised this arrangement as an effective way of taking into account the country’s two different education and legal systems. 

The president concluded that he had confidence for 2020 in "a Cameroon that is adapted to present times and looks to the future”. 

Photo credit: Reuters