Uncertainty forces Cameroonians to flee over impending lockdown

Mass exodus of people in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon continues.

For the past several days, thousands of people besiege transport terminals to reach the nearest cities.

According to the United Nations, residents fear further escalation of violence that may result from a call for a lockdown by separatists.

“What is causing me out is about lockdown that is coming up. We know the city won’t be so cool. So I am going to Bafoussam to stay for a while before maybe I come back”, said Ernest Okoche Bui, a scrap metal worker in Bamenda.

For Elisabeth Nkwen, a teacher “as I am standing here, I don’t even know where I’m going to pass the night. I’m going to Yaoundé to see my brother. I will leave my children with my brother.”

“Due to the Anglohphone crisis, our children cannot go to school. So we have to go to Douala or Yaoundé to send them to school. This is the challenge we face in the two Anglophone regions”, Bakua Yvonne, a civil servant in Bengui lamented.

Separatists have been fighting for the creation of an independent state for more than two years in this part of the country. The conflict has forced over 500,000 people to flee their homes.

AFP