Armed conflict in NW, SW: Youths dying, fleeing as crisis deepens

BY ERNESTINE NGUM The trouble in the North West and South West Regions began in October 2016, when Lawyers and Teachers led protests calling for a  two- state federation to preserve the Anglophone legal and education systems. They felt these were being encroached upon by the francophone- led central government. The military’s heavy- handed response to peaceful calls for greater autonomy prompted Anglophones to form militias popularly known as Ambazonia Defense Forces, leading to armed conflict the following year. Since  2017, the fighting has claimed over 6,000 lives in the Anglophone regions and displaced nearly 800,000 people, majority of whom…