Cameroon voted on Sunday in a presidential election marked by deadly violence in the country’s English-speaking regions and the cancellation of voting in at least one affected area over security fears.
Cameroon has been rocked by a separatist insurgency from within its anglophone minority, who number around five million, since last October. They accuse likely election winner President Paul Biya, 85, of oppression and are concentrated in the northwest and southwest of the majority-francophone country. Poll closed at 1700 GMT with the law stating that final results must be announced within 15 days. After voting got under way Sunday, security forces shot dead three suspected separatists who had allegedly fired at passersby from a motorcycle in Bamenda, the main city in the northwest region, a local official said.
In Buea, capital of the southwest, three separatists of the so-called Ambazonia Republic separatist movement were gunned down on Friday and a priest was executed by soldiers on Thursday, according to witnesses.
Gunfire was heard in the town throughout the day and a car belonging to the state-run Cameroon Tribune newspaper came under fire.
The army confirmed that voting could not be held in at least one district of the southwest, Lysoka village.
Full Article: Cameroon presidential poll marked by deadly separatist violence – France 24.
