The Cameroonian government has banned two Anglophone organisations amid ongoing tensions in its English-speaking areas. Now a security analyst has warned IBTimes UK that this action could send the English-speaking regions into a cycle of guerilla attacks by protesters against security forces.
In a letter dated 17 January made available to local media, the Cameroonian government banned all activities by CACSC and the the Southern Cameroons National Council. Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla, president of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), and the group's secretary general, Dr Fontem Neba, were also arrested.
"Any other related groups with similar objectives or by anyone partisan to these groups, are hereby prohibited all over the national territory," the letter said, according to independent online news site Africa Times.
The ban and arrests occurred on the second day of this week's so-called 'ghost town' strike in Buea and Bamenda, capitals of the south-west and north-west provinces, the country's only Anglophone areas.
Lawyers, teachers and students have been striking and protesting since October 2016 against perceived marginalisation and the use of French in courts and schools in the provinces. It is also believed internet was blocked in the two provinces.
The Cameroonian High Commisison in London has not responded to a request for comments.
Since last October, protests have resulted in the death of at least four protesters in Bamenda, according to police sources. Dozens have been arrested, with right groups calling on authorities to investigate on the deaths.
The Cameroonian government, which denied allegations of excessive force by military and police to quell protests, is engaging with the organisers of the strike. However, it has rejected calls for a referendum on a possible return to a federal system.
Some groups have also taken to the streets demanding a return to a federal state system and the breakaway of the north-west and south-west provinces and the restoration of 'Southern Cameroons', or the Republic of Ambazonia, a British mandate during colonisation.