[22] This 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).

[32] Shortly afterwards, French Cameroun's political leadership changed the constitution again, appointed French-speaking Paul Biya as Prime Minister and successor to Ahmadou Ahidjo.

[126] The month also saw the first major spillover into other parts of Cameroon; On 29 November, at least 30 people were kidnapped by ten unidentified gunmen in Bangourain, West Region, and transported with canoes across the Lake Bamendjing reservoir.

[134] Interim President Sako of Ambazonia said that the separatists would switch from a defensive to an offensive strategy in the war, and announced that a Mobile Wing Police would be created to capture territory and defeat government militias.

The celebrations were boycotted in most major cities in the Anglophone regions, including Buea, Kumbo, Belo, Ndop, Ndu, Wum, Muyuka, Mamfe, Tombem, Mundemba and Lebialem, while there was a comparatively significant turnout in Nkambe.

Nine people were killed in clashes all across the Anglophone regions that day,[194] while "Field Marshall" Lekeaka Oliver of the Red Dragon militia used the occasion to declare himself Paramount Ruler of Lebialem.

[203] Separatist forces started the new year by declaring a five-day lockdown for February, intended to prevent the upcoming parliamentary election from taking place in the Anglophone regions.

[211] Less than a week after the February election, Cameroonian soldiers and armed Fulani carried out the Ngarbuh massacre, killing at least 23 civilians in Ntumbo, Northwest Region and drawing international condemnation.

[220] However, the danger posed by COVID-19 did not bring about an immediate end of hostilities on the ground; just the day before Sako's declaration, separatists attacked an armored car, killing a soldier and 11 officials, including two deputy mayors.

[221] On 8 April, responding to claims by the Cameroonian government that the war was nearing an end, separatists attacked military bases and destroyed infrastructure in villages all across the Anglophone regions.

[222] While SOCADEF extended its unilateral ceasefire,[223] separatists carried out coordinated attacks on several villages,[224] assassinated members of a traditional council[225] and abducted three government officials.

[242] The next day, it was reported that Pidgin journalist Samuel Wazizi, who had been arrested on 3 August 2019 over alleged ties with separatists, had died at a military hospital after being tortured by Cameroonian soldiers.

Separatist militias in Northwest Region suffered heavy losses during operations in June, and a source in the Cameroonian military claimed that Cameroon was close to winning the war.

[20] Around the same time, separatists imposed a three-day lockdown in response to Cameroonian plans to begin rebuilding the Anglophone regions with the support of the UNDP, titled "Presidential Programme for the Reconstruction and Development" (PPRD).

[317] The next day, five Cameroonian soldiers, including a brigade commander,[318] were killed when separatist militia the Bambalang Marine Forces attacked an army outpost in Noni in Bui.

[320] On January 3, separatists detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in the town of Limbe, Southwest Region, which was set to host matches of the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

[322] On January 12, The Mali national football team suspended training before the AFCON game against Tunisia following clashes between separatists and the Cameroon Armed Forces in Buea, killing two.

[353][354] On January 1–2, following President Paul Biya's announcement in his New Years' speech that the Cameroonian military was crushing the Ambazonian rebellion, separatists moved to enforce local lockdowns.

[370] On December 5, Ambazonian separatists reportedly took control of the Belegete community inside Nigeria (in Obanliku), and abducted some 30 people including traditional leader Chief Francis Ogweshi.

[373] On January 1, writing from the Kondengui Central Prison, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe (the first president of Ambazonia) called for an end of the Ambazonian leadership crisis and unity among separatist factions.

Afterward, Cameroonian forces organized revenge raids in the area, set ablaze houses in three villages of the Bui Division, and killed three civilians and one separatist fighter in Bamfem.

[484] On October 26, following a public screening of a documentary on President Paul Biya organized by the ruling party, two residents were shot dead and a municipal official was abducted and murdered by unidentified gunmen in Bamenda II.

[488] On November 2, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) opened two new bases in Nguti and Alou, with the aim of combating ghost towns and increasing security along the Kumba-Mamfe road.

[518] In September 2021, following an ambush in which 15 soldiers were killed and two armored vehicles destroyed, Cameroon's Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo announced a "paradigm shift" in the war.

[509] Journalist Emmanuel Freudenthal, who spent a week with ADF rebels in 2018, stated that the separatists controlled much of the countryside because the infrastructure in Southern Cameroons is so poorly developed, making it hard for the Cameroonian government to access those areas.

Drawing parallels to the Eritrean War of Independence, he has claimed that the growing bitterness resulting from prolonged warfare will only serve to close the window of opportunity where reconciliation and territorial integrity is still an option, thereby – ironically – increasing the likelihood of Ambazonian secession.

[554] Armed separatist groups are kidnapping, terrorizing, and killing civilians across the English-speaking regions with no apparent fear of being held to account by either their own leaders or Cameroonian law enforcement".

The party supports a negotiated solution to the conflict, and has demanded a ceasefire, the opening of a dialogue, amnesty for everyone jailed because of the crisis, the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission, and decentralization of the country.

[565] In August 2020, MRC leader Maurice Kamto threatened to start a "gigantic national campaign" to overthrow President Biya if the latter convened the electorate without first solving the Anglophone Crisis.

[574] The United States has been particularly vocal in its criticism; In July 2019, following a fact-finding mission by some of its members to the country, the House of Representatives called for a reintroduction of a federal system in Cameroon.