The arrest of separatist leader Ayabacho Lucas in Norway in September 2024 barely registered in international news. Yet, for hundreds of thousands, 6,000 kilometers away in Cameroon, this event touches the nerve of a brutal, largely ignored civil conflict. Once called “Africa’s peace heaven,” Cameroon is now a country torn apart by a separatist war in its Anglophone regions, a crisis rooted in six decades of denied identity and broken promises.
This is the story of how a stable nation descended into chaos, starting with a fundamental flaw at its creation.
1. The Genesis: Two Cultures, One Forced Union
The seeds of the current conflict were sown after World War I, when the German colony of Kamerun was divided between Britain and France.
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French Cameroon (80%): Developed with French as the official language, the French Civil Law system, and the French Baccalauréat education system.
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British Southern Cameroons (20%): Administered as part of Nigeria, it developed with English as the language of government, the British Common Law system, and the O-Level/A-Level examination system.
By 1961, these two populations, though living side-by-side, had entirely distinct institutional identities.
The Flawed Choice of 1961
When France granted independence to its portion in 1960, the future of the British Southern Cameroons was put to a UN-mandated plebiscite on February 11, 1961. The choices offered were critically limited:
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Join the independent federation of Nigeria.
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Join the independent Republic of Cameroon.
Crucially, the option for full independence was denied. The official rationale was that Southern Cameroons was too small and economically weak to survive alone.
The vote saw:
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233,571 (Approx. 70%) voted to join Cameroon.
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97,741 voted to join Nigeria.
This result, though favoring reunification, masked an early geographic split, confirming a divided population from the start.
The Foumban Betrayal
In July 1961, the Foumban Constitutional Conference was meant to negotiate the terms of a federal union between equals, as mandated by the UN. However, President Ahmadou Ahidjo of the Republic of Cameroon presented an already-drafted federal constitution, a fait accompli.
The resulting Federal Constitution granted West Cameroon (the former Southern Cameroons) limited autonomy. It contained a critical, ironclad guarantee: Article 47 stated that the federal form of the state shall not be subject to any amendment. This was the legal protection for Anglophone institutions.
However, no formal treaty of union was ever filed with the United Nations, creating a legal vacuum that would be exploited later.
2. The Systematic Erosion of Identity (1972-2016)
The hope of equal partnership lasted exactly 11 years. On May 28, 1972, President Ahidjo announced a referendum to abolish the federal structure entirely.
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Result (Official): 99.9% approval for a unitary state, the United Republic of Cameroon.
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Reality: This was a constitutional coup, dissolving the protection offered by the federation. West Cameroon was divided into two provinces (Northwest and Southwest), governed by presidential appointees from Yaoundé.
Over the next four decades, the government systematically dismantled every distinct Anglophone institution:
| Area of Marginalization | Impact and Concrete Examples |
| Legal System | Civil Law (Francophone) judges, often non-English speaking, were deployed to preside over Common Law (Anglophone) courts. Anglophone lawyers found their legal tradition incomprehensible to the judges. Cases in the Supreme Court languished for years (e.g., one alleged instance of a 34-year wait). |
| Education | Francophone teachers who couldn’t speak fluent English were deployed to Anglophone schools. The curriculum was shifted away from the British system. University teaching and administration became predominantly Francophone. |
| Civil Service | Anglophones (roughly 20% of the population) were consistently underrepresented in senior roles, especially in key ministries like Justice, Defense, and Territorial Administration, hitting a de facto “glass ceiling.” |
| Resource Distribution | A large share of Cameroon’s offshore oil is located off the Anglophone coast (especially the Bakassi Peninsula), but revenues were transferred to the federal treasury in Yaoundé, resulting in minimal reinvestment in the communities bearing the environmental cost. |
This systematic process created a sense of institutional “second-class citizenship” for the Anglophone population.
3. The Spark: Professional Grievances Explode into War
The mounting pressure finally ignited in 2016.
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October 2016: Anglophone Common Law lawyers go on strike, demanding the removal of Civil Law judges and the creation of an autonomous Common Law bench.
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November 2016: Anglophone teachers join the strike, demanding the removal of non-fluent Francophone teachers and the restoration of the A-Level curriculum.
The demands were professional, asking the government to honor its own constitutional promise of legal pluralism. The government’s response, however, was transformative:
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Late 2016/Early 2017: Security forces fired on protesters, leading to the killing of several civilians.
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January 17, 2017: The government arrested leading civil society figures and transferred them to Yaoundé on terrorism charges (carrying a potential death penalty).
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January 2017: The government enforced an internet blackout throughout the entire Anglophone region for approximately three months, collectively punishing the entire population.
This crackdown—arrests, killings, and collective punishment—transformed a professional strike into an armed independence movement, the very separatism the government now fights.
4. The Catastrophe: War, Atrocities, and Collapse
By mid-2017, armed groups, such as the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) led by Ayabacho Lucas and various autonomous militias, had emerged, fighting for the independence of the self-declared Republic of Ambazonia.
The war is characterized by chaos and horrific violence from all sides:
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Separatist Infighting: The political wing, the Interim Government of Ambazonia, fractured into multiple rival factions (including Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, Sam Sako, and Marianta Chia), making peace negotiations nearly impossible due to the lack of a unified voice.
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Atrocities by State Forces: Villages suspected of harboring separatists are burned. Detainees report systematic torture. In one documented incident, government forces and armed Fulani militia attacked the village of Ngarbuh on February 14, 2020, killing 21 civilians, including 13 children and a pregnant woman.
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Atrocities by Separatists: Separatists enforce “Ghost Town Mondays” and school boycotts. On October 24, 2020, gunmen attacked Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, killing seven children (aged 12-14) with machetes and guns.
The Humanitarian and Economic Toll
By 2024, the statistics reveal a profound humanitarian disaster:
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Casualties: At least 6,000 civilians have been killed, with some estimates being much higher.
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Displacement: Around 700,000 people have been displaced internally within Cameroon, and over 100,000 refugees are hosted in Nigeria.
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Economic Collapse: The Cameroon Development Corporation (the largest private employer) saw its banana production drop 95% and rubber production fall 83% between 2016 and 2020.
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Education Crisis: Over 600,000 children have been out of school for years. Schools have been burned by both sides, and separatists enforce boycotts, effectively dooming an entire generation’s prospects.
The core question remains: Can a union built on broken promises survive? For the government, territorial integrity is sacred. For Ambazonian advocates, this is a fight for the restoration of sovereignty after 60 years of oppression proven that meaningful equality is impossible. Caught between these two uncompromising narratives are the millions of ordinary citizens whose only demand is the right to live and work in peace.