Anglophone Cameroonians are the people of various cultural backgrounds, most of who hail from the English-speaking regions of Cameroon ( Northwest and Southwest Regions). These regions were formerly known as the British Southern Cameroons , being part of the League of Nations mandate and United Nations Trust Territories administered by the United Kingdom . An anglophone Cameroonian is widely regarded as anyone who has lived in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon, who has received an education from institutions modeled on the British system of education and law.
9-515: The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) is an Anglophone Cameroonian federalist movement. CACSC consisted of lawyers and teacher trade unions in Southern Cameroons . They opposed what they saw as threats against the language and common law system in the Anglophone regions, particularly the use of French in schools and courtrooms. On October 6, 2016, the organization started
18-457: A sit-down strike, which was supported by peaceful protests in cities such as Limbe , Buea and Bamenda . This initiated the 2016–2017 Cameroonian protests . The government responded violently; within a week, more than 100 demonstrators and activists had been arrested, and six were reported dead. In January 2017, the Cameroonian government created a committee to enter a dialogue with members of
27-567: Is an Anglophone. In November 2016, after a law was not translated, Anglophone lawyers began a protest in Bamenda against the central government for failing to uphold the constitutional guarantee of a bilingual nation. They were joined by teachers, protesting central government appointees with lackluster English skills, and ordinary citizens. In December, security forces dispersed protests and at least two protesters were killed and others injured. Protesters have also been accused of violence, however,
36-608: The Southern Cameroons Peoples Organization (SCAPO), call for the separation of the two English-speaking regions from French-speaking Cameroun in response to the dismantling in May 1972 of the federation formed in 1961 and subsequent marginalization of the Anglophone minority by the Francophone majority and its political leadership. As of March 2017, only one of the 36 government ministers who control departmental budgets
45-559: The CACSC led by Tassang Tilfred. At the first meeting, the CACSC refused to talk until the government released all activists who had been arrested. This was followed by more arrests, drawing condemnation from Consortium members. CACSC presented a draft proposal for a federal state, with autonomy for the Anglophone regions. As a response, on January 17, CACSC and the Southern Cameroons National Council were branded as threats to
54-463: The Cameroonian government announced it was ready to discuss federalism. Anglophone Cameroonian The two English-speaking regions of Cameroon make up 17% of a population of 17 million (2005). The Social Democratic Front , the largest opposition political party in Cameroon's parliament, is headed by an Anglophone. Separatist movements, notably the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and
63-519: The government on 17 January 2017 and "any other related groups with similar objectives" were prohibited." Amnesty International has called for the release of Agbor-Balla and Neba. The central government shut down the internet in the Anglophone regions in mid January and was restored in April 2017, following a request for restoration by the United Nations . The NGO Internet Without Borders estimated that
72-498: The government's heavy-handed crackdown has revived calls for the restoration of Southern Cameroons' independence gained on the 1st of October 1961. Various protesters were arrested, including Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla , the president of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, and Fontem Neba, the group's secretary general. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium was declared illegal by
81-598: The unity of Cameroon and banned through a ministerial decree signed by minister René Sadi . A few days later, CACSC leaders Agbor Balla and Fontem Neba were arrested. In the end, members of CACSC spent months in detention, while others fled the country and came to support complete separation of the Anglophone regions from Cameroon. With the outbreak of the war known as the Anglophone Crisis in September 2017, federalism lost support among Anglophone activists. In May 2019,
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