Abstract
Legal scholars and other social scientists agree that political violence comprising assaults on civil and political liberties may occur in the context of contentious politics. Unfortunately, there have been instances in history where such politics is marked by intermittent attacks against people's rights and freedoms. Such attacks occur when politics has gone sour, and there are times when the violence exceeds the bounds of what is acceptable. From the documented atrocities of Nazi Germany, the horrendous crimes of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia, the outrageous crimes perpetrated during the genocide in Rwanda, the shameful and despicable inhumanities inflicted on the people of Darfur in the Sudan, and the violence in post-electoral Kenya, to the bloodshed in areas like Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, etc, violent conflict has punctuated world history. Added to this list of countries is Cameroon, which in the last quarter of 2016 degenerated into a hotspot of political violence in the English-speaking regions. The perpetration of political violence in Cameroon has raised serious questions that may be relevant not only to the resolution of the political problem that gave rise to the violence but also to laying the foundations of a post-conflict Cameroon that is united and honours the principles of truth, justice and reconciliation.
 This paper describes some of the salient occurrences of political violence in Cameroon and argues that the presence of specific elements elevates this violence to the level of a serious crime in international law. It is argued herein that crimes against humanity may have been committed during the state action against the Anglophones in Cameroon. It is also argued that the political character of the violence, added to the scale of the victimisation and its systematic and protracted nature, qualify Cameroon as a transitional society engaged in conflict that is in need of transitional justice.
 Reflecting on the extent of the suffering of the victims of such political violence, this paper discusses the function of the justice system in establishing the truth and holding the perpetrators accountable. Past instances of political violence in Cameroon have been glossed over, but in our opinion, healing a fragmented and disunited Cameroon with its history of grave violations of human rights requires that the perpetrators be held accountable, and that truth and justice should prevail. Such considerations should be factored into the legal and political architecture of a post-conflict, transitional Cameroon.
 
Highlights
Legal scholars and other social scientists agree that political violence comprising assaults on civil and political liberties may occur in the context of contentious politics
From the documented atrocities of Nazi Germany, the horrendous crimes of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia, the outrageous crimes perpetrated during the genocide in Rwanda, the shameful and despicable inhumanities inflicted on the people of Darfur in the Sudan, and the violence in post-electoral Kenya, to the bloodshed in areas like Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, etc, violent conflict has punctuated world history
This paper describes some of the salient occurrences of political violence in Cameroon and argues that the presence of specific elements elevates this violence to the level of a serious crime in international law
Summary
Many scholars from different backgrounds share a consensus on what constitutes political violence and makes it sui generis different from other kinds of social violence. In the wake of demands for democratic reforms in Africa in the early 1990s, national dialogue was replaced by political violence, which quickly led to the use of force by dictatorial rulers to silence political dissent Some of these conflicts became protracted as the scale of the action increased. The paper commences with a glance at the notion of political violence, which discussion is followed by a brief history of political violence in Cameroon It describes the current ongoing political crisis in Cameroon, making mention of some of the atrocities that have been committed. As a tidal wave of democratisation swept across most of post-colonial Africa in the early 1990s, demands for political reform introduced a new dynamic of social violence within both urban and rural communities This was accompanied by the perpetration of political violence, a sui generis form of social violence of different forms and magnitudes. In the following paragraphs this paper addresses the notion of political violence and identifies its key attributes in order to be able to assess claims that what is transpiring in Cameroon is not just criminal but is a form of political violence
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