Separatist groups in Cameroon recently took to social media to speak against the selection of Njie Clinton, a 30-year-old English-speaking player, to the nation’s team that played at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, tournament that is being held in Ivory Coast.
Clinton’s selection gave the impression that there is harmony between English and French speakers in Cameroon, the rebels said, adding that anyone who supported the Indomitable Lions would be an enemy of the struggle for independence.
FILE — Cameroonian forward Clinton Njie takes part in a training session on the eve of the AFCON match against Gambia, Bouake, Ivory Coast, Jan. 22, 2024,
Cameroon on Saturday was knocked out of AFCON after losing 2-0 to Nigeria in the round of 16. Prior to losing to the West African football giants, the Central African nation qualified out of the group stages of the tournament in second place and with four points.
While the Indomitable Lions played in Ivory Coast, three supporters were killed, and others abducted, Cameroon authorities from the nation’s English-speaking regions said.
The rebels also destroyed or stole televisions and radios, authorities added.
“I wish to use the last energy to condemn the attack on football lovers who were supporting the Lions,” said Ndi Tsembom Elvis, the secretary general of Cameroon’s Football Federation in the Northwest region.
“It is the same thing like you support a club in the Premier League, and you are not based in England. So, I find these acts of killing people, attacking people who were supporting the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon as totally unacceptable," he added.
FILE — Cameroon supporters react in the Fan Zone in Doula, during the African Cup of Nations Group A match, Jan. 13, 2022.
Tsembom said despite the attacks, fans came out in large numbers to cheer the Indomitable Lions in zones that were considered safe.
Separatists also attacked several road construction workers and chased them away from sites in Donga Mantung, an administrative unit near the border with Nigeria, Rogers Nforgwei, the president of the Wimbum Cultural and Development Association said.
Speaking to VOA via a messaging application from Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s Northwest region, Nforgwei said "it is very regrettable that such acts are being perpetrated against a project which will permit people to travel conveniently and cost effectively to do business and move their sick to hospitals.”
“We condemn these acts of evil and we call on the community to be vigilant," he said.
In response to authorities, separatists claimed the attack on the workers. They said the attack happened because the workers did not obey their instructions but gave no further details.
Deben Tchoffo, the governor of Cameroon’s Northwest region, said troops were deployed to stop the attacks.
Fighters who surrender will be pardoned, but troops will kill those who continue fighting, Tchoffo said.
The separatist conflict broke out in 2016 when Anglophone Cameroonians protested discrimination by the nation's Francophone majority.