Why the US Holocaust Museum’s Genocide Prevention Center is Concerned About Cameroon

A neglected crisis is getting worse. New research suggests a way out.

By Tallan Donine, Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide

The crisis in Cameroon’s Anglophone North West and South West regions is deteriorating with few signs of abating.  

The origins of the crisis are rooted in a history of colonization and long-standing grievances among Anglophone citizens in the predominantly Francophone country. In 2016, Anglophone teachers and lawyers launched protests over the imposition of French-speaking systems that they claimed marginalized Anglophone communities. By 2017, violent clashes between armed Anglophone separatists and state security forces began to spiral and the North West and South West regions were plunged into a deep humanitarian crisis and human rights catastrophe. 

Five years on from its start, the conflict between Anglophone separatists and state security forces has killed over 6,000 people and displaced over 700,000. As of early 2023, more than half of schools in the Anglophone regions remain closed, and nearly five million peopl…