New councils will not end Cameroon's anglophone crisis

Abstract

Significance Regional councils are one of the last institutions provided for in the 1996 constitution yet to be realised and are also meant to give life to the ‘special status’ granted last year to the predominantly anglophone Northwest and Southwest regions. Although President Paul Biya’s government hopes this will help placate long-standing anglophone grievances, a regional crisis risks morphing into a national one. Impacts The reported acquirement of more sophisticated weaponry by armed separatist groups could see an escalation in fighting over the short term. The anglophone crisis, coupled with political protests and Boko Haram attacks in the north, will stretch the security forces' capacities. With rival separatist ‘governments’, achieving a meaningful settlement will be complicated by determining which group is representative.