Cameroon's two western regions saw a dramatic surge in political violence [7] ahead of parliamentary and municipal elections held Feb. 9. Amnesty International has accused the army [8] of dozens of killings, the burning of villages, and the displacement of thousands of people in operations over the past weeks against the separatist movement [9] in Northwest and Southwest regions. (See map [10]) The anglophone militants demanding independence from the rest of francophone Cameroon vowed to disrupt the polls [11] and also stepped up their attacks. They ordered the closure of schools and markets in the western regions, and told people to stay indoors between Feb. 7-12. The crisis has shuttered more than 40% of the health centers in the two regions, and more than 600,000 children [12] are out of school. At least 3,000 civilians have died since the conflict began in 2016, and 730,000 people [13] have been displaced.
From The New Humanitarian [14], Feb. 7.
