10 Years of Tension: A Timeline of the Anglophone Crisis
From the lawyers' strikes of 2016 to today — a chronological account of how a legal dispute became a full-scale humanitarian crisis affecting millions.
The Anglophone crisis did not begin in 2016. Its roots stretch back decades — to colonial borders drawn without consent, to a federation dissolved by decree, to a generation of English-speaking Cameroonians who grew up feeling like second-class citizens in their own country.
But 2016 is when the world — and much of Cameroon — finally started paying attention.
Before 2016: The Long Grievance
1961 — British Southern Cameroons votes in a UN-supervised plebiscite to join the Republic of Cameroon, forming the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The federation is meant to protect Anglophone institutions: common law courts, English-medium schools, and a distinct administrative tradition.
1972 — President Ahmadou Ahidjo replaces the federation with a unitary state through a referendum widely criticised as manipulated. Anglophone autonomy begins to erode.
1984 — President Paul Biya renames the country the "Republic of Cameroon," dropping "United." For Anglophones, it is a symbolic erasure — the name of the pre-unification Francophone state, as if the 1961 union never happened.
1990s–2000s — Anglophone civil society groups, including the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), advocate for federalism or independence through largely peaceful means. Their demands are ignored. Some leaders are arrested.
2000s–2015 — Grievances accumulate: French-speaking magistrates posted to common-law courts, French-language instruction creeping into Anglophone schools, Francophone civil servants dominating regional administration. Complaints are filed. Nothing changes.
2016: The Breaking Point
October 2016 — Lawyers in Bamenda and Buea go on strike, demanding an end to the appointment of French-speaking magistrates to Anglophone courts and the use of French legal procedures in common-law jurisdictions.
November 2016 — Teachers join the strike, protesting the posting of Francophone teachers to Anglophone schools. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) coordinates the movement.
December 2016 — The government arrests consortium leaders, including Agbor Balla and Fontem Neba. The arrests inflame the situation. What began as professional strikes becomes a mass political movement.
2017: Escalation and Crackdown
January 2017 — The government cuts internet access in the Northwest and Southwest regions. The shutdown lasts 93 days — at the time, one of the longest in African history. International condemnation follows, but the blackout holds.
February 2017 — Security forces fire on demonstrators in Bamenda. Several people are killed.
May 2017 — Arrested consortium leaders are released following negotiations. But the movement has already radicalised. Moderate voices are losing ground to those calling for outright independence.
October 1, 2017 — Separatists declare the independence of "Ambazonia" on what they call "Restoration Day." Security forces crack down hard. Dozens are killed in clashes across the two regions.
Late 2017 — Armed separatist groups begin to emerge. The "Amba Boys" start attacking security forces. The conflict transitions from protest to insurgency.
2018: Full-Scale Conflict
2018 — Violence escalates dramatically. Villages are burned — by both security forces and separatist fighters. Schools are shuttered as separatists enforce boycotts. The UN begins documenting atrocities on both sides.
January 2018 — The Cameroonian military kills at least 17 civilians in Ngarbuh, Northwest Region. Human rights investigations later confirm it was a massacre of civilians, including women and children.
Mid-2018 — An estimated 160,000 people have been internally displaced. Hundreds of thousands more have fled to Nigeria.
2019: Dialogue and Disappointment
September 2019 — President Biya convenes a Major National Dialogue in Yaoundé. The dialogue produces recommendations including special status for the Northwest and Southwest regions.
October 2019 — The government announces the creation of a Special Status for the two Anglophone regions. Critics call it cosmetic. Armed groups reject it entirely.
Late 2019 — The UN estimates 1.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the two regions.
2020–2022: Stalemate and Atrocity
February 2020 — Gunmen attack a school in Kumba, killing at least seven children. The attack is condemned internationally.
2020–2021 — Switzerland facilitates pre-dialogue talks between the government and separatist groups. The process stalls repeatedly.
2021 — Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups become widespread, terrorising communities in both regions.
2022 — Human rights organisations document continued abuses: extrajudicial killings, forced displacement, and the systematic destruction of villages.
2023–2025: Grinding On
2023 — An estimated 700,000 people remain internally displaced. Hundreds of thousands of children have lost years of schooling.
2024 — Fragmented separatist factions continue to fight among themselves as much as against the government.
2025 — The Swiss-facilitated dialogue process makes limited progress. Some political prisoners are released. Armed violence continues. No comprehensive peace agreement is in sight.
What Comes Next
The Anglophone crisis has no easy resolution. The government in Yaoundé has shown little appetite for the structural changes that many Anglophones say are necessary for lasting peace. Separatist groups remain fragmented and, in some cases, have become predatory forces in the communities they claim to represent.
What is clear is that the status quo is not sustainable. The human cost is too high, the economic damage too deep, and the generational trauma too profound.
Situation237 will continue to cover this story — because it deserves to be told, and because the people living through it deserve to be heard.