Ambazonia
Since 2017, Ambazonian rebels have engaged in armed conflict with the Cameroonian military, in what is known as the Anglophone Crisis, and have attempted to set up governments-in-exile, and supportive militias have exerted control over parts of the claimed territory.
[4][5] In 2016 and 2017, a widespread protest movement was met with a violent government crackdown, which led to rioting and violence against security forces and, in 2017, a unilateral declaration of independence by Ambazonian leaders.
[8] Ambazonian forces have struggled to form a united front, and internecine conflicts have hampered efforts to negotiate with Cameroon or establish control over the various militia groups engaged in the fighting.
[9] Ongoing violence has led to widely reported human rights abuses by both sides, including indiscriminate killing of civilians, torture, rape and other gender-based crimes, unjustified detentions, and kidnappings.
[13] To refer to the French-speaking parts of Cameroon, Ambazonian separatists have used the term "la République"[16] and more derogatory descriptors like "banana republic" or "colonial Cameroun".
[17] The area around the mouth of the Wouri River is where the English language was permanently established for the first time in Southern Cameroons, when missionary Alfred Saker founded a settlement of freed slaves by Ambas Bay in 1858, which was later renamed Victoria (present-day Limbe).
[27] Shortly afterwards, French Cameroun's political leadership changed the constitution again, appointed French-speaking Paul Biya as Prime Minister and successor to Ahmadou Ahidjo.
[33] In response to this, in April 1998 a small faction elected Esoka Ndoki Mukete, a high-ranking member of the Social Democratic Front, as the new chair of the SCNC.
[39] Although the government established a Commission to focus on Anglophone grievances and took steps to address issues of language equity in courts and schools, continued distrust and harsh responses to protests prevented significant deescalation.
[41] The Cameroonian government stated that the declaration had no legal weight[42] and on 30 November 2017, the President of Cameroon signaled a harder line on separatist attacks on police and soldiers.
Several different armed factions have emerged such as the Red Dragons, Tigers, ARA, Seven Kata, ABL, with varying levels of coordination with and loyalty to Ambazonian political leaders.
[47] On 4 February 2018, it was announced that US-based preacher Dr. Samuel Ikome Sako would become the Interim President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, temporarily succeeding Ayuk Tabe.
[51][52] Peace talks mediated by the Swiss government have fallen apart multiple times, primarily due to factional divisions and lack of actual control over militias by separatist leaders making even preliminary steps difficult.
Meanwhile, government forces have torched entire villages suspected of harboring separatists, disappeared and executed civilians without due process, and tortured detainees.
[54][39][55] The governments of the United States and Germany have expressed concern over the human rights violations and scaled back or cancelled military cooperation with Cameroon over reported abuses.
[59] Despite the Interim Government's internal disputes, its members and other exile activists have maintained some influence over the separatist militias operating in Cameroon itself.
For instance, separatist exiles have organized fundraising campaigns which included the introduction of their own cryptocurrency, the AmbaCoin; the resulting money is then used to buy weaponry for the militias on the ground.
[58][61] In order to provide the separatist movement with some cohesion and strengthen the idea of an Ambazonian nation state, exile activists have also set up a variety of other organizations to support the Interim Government.
[69] The separatist insurgents involved in the Anglophone Crisis consider themselves loyal to Ambazonia and use the Ambazonian national symbols, but they are split into dozens of often competing militias of changing political allegiances.
[58][60][71][72] The rebel militias are mainly recruited from Anglophone youths who have either lost family members to Cameroonian security forces or believe that they have no future on the labour market of a Francophone Cameroon.
[16] The insurgent groups differ considerably in their aims and methods, though they generally enjoy some level of grassroots support among the rural population.
[73] However, civilian support suffered over the rebellion's course, as a growing number of locals became dissatisfied with the separatists' conduct, rebel infighting, and the conflict's extended duration.
[74] Most rebel groups engage to some level in criminal activities such as kidnapping for ransom[70][74] and illegally taxing the local cocoa industry to sustain themselves.
[75] For instance, rebels call their camps "churches",[76] conveying deeper spiritual meaning to these important places where insurgents can organize and hide.
Researcher Roderick Lando also speculated that the term "church" was connected to the rebels conducting rituals invoking protective magic at their camps.
[77] Similarly, some rebels refer to their guns as "bibles" and their attacks as "crusades", whereas others use the terms "sugarcane" or "stick" for weapons and "groundnuts" for cartridges.
Those who had suffered amputations, often as a result of torture by rebel militias, are described as "short-sleeved",[81] while the act of cutting off someone's fingers is termed "garri".
