Cameroon: President Biya orders release of 333 prisoners, separatists demand

 Cameroon: President Biya orders release of 333 prisoners, separatists demand

President Paul Biya has decided to abandon the charges against 333 prisoners arrested for their alleged role in the crisis that served in the two English-speaking regions of the country. But the separatists are not satisfied and say it's a political coup.

The announcement of the release of the English-speaking prisoners is part of the great national dialogue convened by the Head of State to end the fighting between the North West and South West regions. Clashes between the army and the separatists since the beginning of the crisis in 2016 have left more than 1,800 dead and more than 500,000 displaced.
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"I have ordered the discontinuation of proceedings pending in military courts against 333 people arrested for misdemeanors, as part of the crisis in the northwestern and southwestern regions," President Biya announced on Twitter.

English-speaking secessionists, who are trying to form a separatist state called Ambazonia, said Thursday that amnesty is not enough.

They demand the release of more than 5,000 people imprisoned since 2016, including 10 leaders sentenced in August to life imprisonment for terrorism and the withdrawal of Cameroonian soldiers from the North-West and South-West regions.

"We will not accept an olive branch of a person whose troops are still on our territory," said Ivo Tapang, spokesman for 13 armed groups called the Contender Forces of Ambazonia, in Reuters' comments. . "We will intensify our struggle with weapons and bullets," he added.

The Anglophone crisis began after the government crackdown on peaceful demonstrations in late 2016 in the North West and South West regions by lawyers and teachers denouncing marginalization.

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