21 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has announced an agreement in principle between the Cameroonian government and the country’s Anglophone separatists to begin a peace process in which her country will act as mediator.
The process will try to put an end to a bloody conflict that has cost the lives of thousands of people since its outbreak in 2017, when the separatist movements of the English-speaking regions of Cameroon –Northwest and Southwest– declared in the form of a self-proclamation, on October of that year, the independence of the so-called Ambazonia.
“Canada welcomes the agreement of the parties to initiate a process to reach a comprehensive, peaceful and political solution to the conflict,” Minister Joly announced in a statement confirming that her country “has accepted the mandate to facilitate this process, as part of our commitment to promote peace and security and promote support for democracy and Human Rights”.
The minister recalled that the conflict has cost the lives of more than 6,000 people and the forced displacement of 800,000. The impact on education has been terrible, since some 600,000 children have been left without enjoying a fully functioning educational system.
The initial phase of this peace process will include the formation of technical committees that will begin work to develop “confidence-building measures between the participants”, starting with the Cameroonian government and continuing with the separatist groups.
Among these participants, the Canadian Government’s statement mentions the so-called Ambazonia Governing Council, the Ambazonia Defense Force, the African People’s Liberation Movement and the South Cameroon Defense Force, the so-called Acting Government and the Coalition Team of Ambazonia.
“The parties express their hope that other groups will join this process,” the note, published on the website of the Canadian Foreign Ministry, clinches.
Thus begins a new attempt to stabilize the English-speaking region after the failure of a negotiation attempt to grant a “special status” for both areas in 2019, two years after the outbreak of fighting after the failure of peaceful claims. of separatist movements in an area that was once part of British colonies in Africa but which decided to join French Cameroon.
Since then, armed groups began to proliferate and support for the separatists, initially quite marginal, began to grow. The Cameroonian government responded with a harsh repression, during which Human Rights organizations accused the security forces of committing atrocities, until the start of firm combat against the armed movements.
