The Second Year of Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis May Be Deadlier Than the First

It’s been more than a year since large-scale protests, followed by a harsh government crackdown, began disrupting life in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, where the population has long complained of marginalization at the hands of the government and Francophone majority. Yet with actors on both sides embracing increasingly extremist rhetoric and tactics, there’s every reason to believe the crisis will continue—and several signs that its attendant violence will worsen.

Within a span of 24 hours this week, five soldiers and five policemen were killed in the country’s two English-speaking regions, according to Voice of America. An attack on a military convoy Wednesday morning claimed the lives of four soldiers, while a second attack Thursday morning left five policemen and a soldier dead. Speaking Thursday night, President Paul Biya put the death toll at six: four soldiers and two police officers.