Tens of thousands of Cameroonians have deserted the English-speaking hot zone regions after a bloody weekend that saw an altercation between the military and the separatists. The fighting lefts at least 40 people dead and a prominent Catholic bishop abducted in the English-speaking towns of Ndop, Bafut, Kumbo, Bamenda, Mamfe and Kumba.
The renewed fighting comes after a military tribunal ordered separatist leaders imprisoned for life. The separatists ordered the closure of business and attacked people that defied the decree prompting residents to flee and seek refuge in French-speaking towns.
The recent attacks began after a Yaoundé military tribunal said it had found separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe and his nine supporters guilty of secession, terrorism, and hostility against the state. The tribunal handed down life prison sentences.
Violence erupted in the English-speaking regions in 2016 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.
