The United States has announced visa restrictions against “leaders” and “accomplices” of violence in western Cameroon, which has seen a four-year bloody conflict between armed Anglophone groups and the army.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement, without naming those targeted by the ban said the sanctions are aimed at those who undermine the peaceful resolution of the crisis.
The statement condemned those who undermine the peace by provoking or inciting violence, human rights violations and threats to peacekeepers and humanitarian workers.
The statement further read that Washington is deeply concerned about the continuing violence and continues to call on the Cameroonian government and armed separatist groups to end the violence and engage in dialogue without preconditions to peacefully resolve the crisis.
The English-speaking minority in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest regions blame the French-speaking majority for marginalizing them.
In 2017, protests by teachers and lawyers in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions over marginalization quickly morphed into armed conflict.
Separatist rebels calling themselves ‘Amba boys’ have said they seek to create an independent state named Ambazonia. Many people have been killed in the conflict which has also driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.
International NGOs and the UN regularly accuse both sides of abuses and crimes against humanity in the violence, which has left more than 3,500 people dead and forced more than 700,000 to flee their homes.
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