Cameroonians flee to Nigeria ahead of anticipated election violence

Residents in Cameroon’s unstable northwest region are fleeing to neighbouring Nigeria ahead of February’s local and parliamentary elections, where separatist violence is expected to break out. 

Rebels in the majority English-speaking region have vowed to stop the elections, clashing with the military in guerrilla skirmishes that have left civilians caught in the crossfire. 

President Paul Biya has said the elections will go ahead regardless and has instructed the military to kill any rebels who refuse to surrender.

Innocent Okoli, a pastor in the Nigerian border village of Atta, has said that more than 70 Cameroonians have fled to his village for protection in the last two weeks.

“These are Christians with very different experiences.  You have Christians who are yet to trace their loved ones, you have many separated children in church," he said. "You have so many unaccompanied children.  You know, you cannot just minister to them without helping them to get food to eat and then find something to do.”

An aid worker for Positive Youth Africa, Franka Ma-ih Sulem Yong, says it is difficult to estimate just how many people are crossing from Cameroon into Nigeria because the border villages are hard to access. However, one local community leader has put the number as high as 300 refugees in the past two weeks.

Unrest has persisted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions since 2016, when teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of the French language and French-speaking officials. 

In 2017, rebels took up arms to demand a separate English-speaking state called Ambazonia. 

The resulting conflict has killed about 3,000 people, many of them civilians. The United Nations estimates that at least 50,000 Cameroonians have fled their homes since the fighting started. 

Photo credit: File | Reuters