CRISIS talks

Cameroon: The secret history of Canada’s role in negotiations with Anglophone secessionists

By Jeune Afrique

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Posted on February 13, 2023 16:38

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya in Yaoundé, 26 July 2022 ©Ludovic Marin/AFP

Ottawa has confirmed that Yaoundé opened confidential talks with secessionist factions, asking Canada to facilitate. Here is our account of this intense diplomatic phase.

On 20 January, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly revealed that her government had been mandated to play the role of facilitator in the conflict that has been bloodying Cameroon’s North West and South West – two regions with an Anglophone majority – since 2017. Four days later, however, the Cameroonian authorities denied having entrusted this role to any country. What really happened?

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