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Decades after independence, Cameroon, once divided between the British and the French during the colonial period, continues to experience sustained conflicts between its Francophone and Anglophone citizens. The government has failed to reconcile the sharp differences coined around linguistic identities inherited from the former colonial powers. While this crisis threatens to split the country, it has received little attention from scholars and peace advocates. This entry traces the historical roots of the conflict and discusses the role of social media in spreading identity consciousness, and how slow response by international actors has prolonged the crisis. The entry identifies government failure in postindependence state/nation building as being a catalyst to the protracted conflict. The entry provides recommendations encouraging swift action to address the deep-rooted grievances, proactive...
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Agwanda, B., Nyadera, I.N., Asal, U.Y. (2020). Cameroon and the Anglophone Crisis. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_115-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_115-1
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