Monthly News Updates: Southern Cameroons – May 2021
By: Fabiana Nuñez del Prado Nieto, Junior Research Associate, PILPG-NL
This post collects updates from the past month concerning recent developments in Southern Cameroons. The information is drawn from local and international online sources.
VIOLENCE IN ANGLOPHONE REGIONS
Separatist Violence | Clashes between separatists and official troops
On May 20, 2021, Cameroon celebrated its Unity Day, commemorating the decision to constitute Cameroon as a unitary state instead of the previously existing federal system. However, clashes between separatists and official troops tarnished the usual celebratory activities in the state’s English-speaking towns and villages. The violence left at least 16 people dead and 60 houses burned. [May 20, 2021]
OTHER REGIONAL VIOLENCE
Nigeria/Cameroon | Newly formed alliance ignites ethnic tensions
In April 2021, the leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a Nigerian secessionist group that advocates for the creation of the independent state of Biafra, and the Ambazonia Governing Council, one of two major Anglophone separatist groups, announced a formal military and strategic alliance. The alliance threatens to ignite violence and instability in the two states and across West and Central Africa. [May 20, 2021]
HUMAN RIGHTS
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence | Escalation of cases in Anglophone regions
United Nations (UN) data shows more than 500 cases of gender-based violence, including forced marriage, denial of economic resources, and emotional abuse between January and March 2021. In 2020 alone, the UN documented 4,300 sexual and gender-based violence incidents across the two regions between February and December. Almost half of these cases involved sexual or physical assault, and in more than 30 percent of cases, the victims were children. In 2019, 289 out of the 1,065 documented cases involved sexual assault or rape.
According to Reach Out Cameroon, a non-governmental organization, sexual violence in Cameroon is growing in large proportions. The conflict has aggravated sexual violence in the affected communities, particularly for those most vulnerable, such as girls and women. [April 29, 2021]
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence | Hunger strike to draw global attention to sexual violence
On May 14, 2021, around one thousand women embarked on a hunger strike to draw global attention to the rise of sexual and gender-based violence in the Anglophone crisis. The objective was to pressure US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to step in and help restore peace in Cameroon. [May 19, 2021]
LGBTQ+ Rights | Escalation of arrests of LGTBQ+ people for “Practicing Homosexuality"
On February 8, 2021, two Cameroonian transgender women were arrested in Douala for wearing typically female clothing. The prosecutors charged them with attempted homosexual conduct, public indecency, and non-possession of their national identity cards. On May 11, a court sentenced the two women to five years imprisonment and a USD 350 fine under a law prohibiting homosexuality. According to the lawyer representing both women, the prosecution is trying to send the political message that LGTBQ+ people are not wanted in Cameroon.
Recently, the security forces in Cameroon have increasingly targeted people for arbitrary arrest based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. [May 12, 2021]