MSF Halts Operations In Cameroon’s Anglophone Region

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has announced the suspension of its humanitarian activities in an English-speaking area of Cameroon due to the detention four local employees accused by local authorities of “complicity” with separatists.

In a statement on Tuesday the NGO said the organisation decided to stop its work in one of the two English-speaking regions three months after the arrest and detention of four members of its staff in connection with the organization’s “medical work.

Scheherazade Bouabid, MSF’s head of communications for Central and West Africa said MSF said it had ceased its activities “as of March 29, in order to focus on securing the safe release of its staff”. This is the first time MSF has publicly mentioned the arrests.

At the end of 2020, the Cameroonian government suspended MSF operations in the northwest, the country’s second largest English-speaking region, accusing its medical teams of “collusion” with armed separatist groups.

In these two regions, where most of the English-speaking minority lives in a predominantly French-speaking country ruled with an iron fist for nearly 40 years by 89-year-old Paul Biya, the army and separatist groups have been clashing almost daily for five years.

Civilians are caught in the middle and are victims of abuses committed by both sides, according to international NGOs and the UN. The conflict has left more than 6,000 people dead and forced more than a million to flee their homes.

Sylvain Groulx, MSF’s head of programs in Central Africa, said conditions need to be in place to allow them carry out their activities in a safe and secure environment, so they can fulfill their obligations to patients.