[Free Beacon] The House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations met on Wednesday to discuss challenges in the Republic of Cameroon. Over the past year, the relationship between Cameroon's government and the country's minority Anglophone community has become increasingly violent, accelerating into armed conflict.Hans De Marie Heungoup, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, called conflict in the Anglophone regions "the biggest security threat to Cameroon stability, which if left unaddressed could turn into civil war as has occurred in other African countries," in a statement issued to the subcommittee.
The roots of the current conflict go back to Cameroon's achieving independence almost 60 years ago.
Prior to independence, France and the United Kingdom colonized the territory. French Cameroon became independent in 1960, and one year later part of British-controlled Cameroon joined in a referendum overseen by the United Nations.