"The attack pulls into focus the brutality of the wider conflict that has plagued Cameroon's Anglophone region. Since 2017, by conservative estimates, some 6,500 people have been killed, and over a million have be displaced, according to the International Crisis Group. After teachers and lawyers from Cameroon's two English-speaking regions went on strike over the use of French in Anglophone schools and courts, the Yaounde-based government took a hardline."
"The peaceful strikes deteriorated into violent confrontation. Demonstrators in Bamenda march during a protest against perceived discrimination in favor of the country's Francophone majority on in September 2017 Image: Getty Images/AFP Observers say the turmoil provided fertile ground for a separatist faction to grow in both size and significance, with more English speakers demanding independence, and the creation of a separate nation to be called Ambazonia."
Saidu Afiyatu returned to his village of Gidado on January 14 to find his house burnt and two brothers murdered. Suspected separatist fighters swept through the community before dawn, killing 14 people, including eight children, and wounding about twenty others who are receiving hospital treatment. Several homes were razed. Regional governor Adolphe Lele L'Afrique described the attack as "barbaric." Since 2017, conservative estimates put around 6,500 dead and over a million displaced in the Anglophone conflict. The unrest began after teachers and lawyers struck over use of French in Anglophone schools and courts, and the government's hardline response escalated violence and fostered separatist growth demanding an Ambazonia state.
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