Slaughtered Because They Spoke English

CALABAR, Nigeria—At the beginning of last month, in the largely Francophone country of Cameroon, a separatist movement decided to make a bid for independence. English-speaking Cameroonians in two western regions of the country close to English-speaking Nigeria took to the streets to proclaim the Republic of Ambazonia.


Unlike Kurdish separatists in Iraq or Catalan separatists in Spain, they attracted little attention from the outside world, but they were met with extraordinary violence. Cameroonian troops and attack helicopters opened fire on the protesters. These were not rubber bullets. These were live rounds, and many lost their lives.
Amnesty International immediately reported that 17 people were confirmed killed during the protests, but some other reports suggested as many as 100 lost their lives. The killings happened in multiple towns in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon and they appear to have continued, driving tens of thousands of refugees across the border into Nigeria.
According to a Reuters report, soldiers first fired tear gas on protesters in the Southwest Region town of Tombel before opening fire on them. In Buea, capital of the region, police on the ground and a helicopter opened fire on protesters who had run into the bush to bypass a military checkpoint. In Kumba, also in the Southwest, soldiers “broke into homes and carried boys away,” a resident said. One woman said her son was killed outside his home in Kumba despite not being involved in the protests.
In Akwaya, another Southwest town, Cameroonian forces allegedly moved from one home to another, rounding up young men and women. In one particular incident, as narrated by a former parliamentarian, soldiers stormed a house inside the popular Bamenda Quarters and asked the woman they met there about her husband. When she had no answers for them, they threw her outside the building and shattered her legs with bullets. They then found a young man next door and shot him dead.