As in many African countries, Cameroon’s borders do not show the true ethnic borders of the region, thus there is much conflict. In addition to being separated by many tribes who hold more regional power than the actual government, the country is essentially split down the middle between the francophone east and the anglophone west. At the moment, there has been much violence in the English-speaking west against it’s citizens. The separatists, an armed group of people who wish to split Cameroon on its linguistic border, have been attempting to create a new nation for the anglophone citizens and have used violence to make progress. The cameroonian military has countered these actions by indiscriminately attacking separatists as well as anglophone citizens
At the moment, the conflict has escalated to the point that anglophone cameroonians are fleeing their homes. It has become a very complicated conflict as a cause of the military capturing and punishing more than simply the armed separatists, but also anglophone civilians. The government of Cameroon has called for the separatists and those who have fled to turn in any weapons and return to their villages to end the conflict.
People flee their homes and leave all they have for one main reason: fear. The people who fled Cameroon and are hiding in the brush and in Nigeria left because they felt their lives were in danger. They will not return to their homes simply because the government requests it. They will still experience the threat that previously existed unless the government does something concrete to protect the anglophone citizens. As it stands, this action cannot be military related because of the distrust of the military by those who fled.
In order for the fleeing anglophones to voluntarily return to their homes in western Cameroon, a third party must intervene and offer protection (such as UN Peacekeepers) or the government must make a stand clearly supporting the western cameroonians and transparently inspect their military to prevent abuse of power.