Escalating pro-independence movements by Anglophone Cameroonians and Biafrans are igniting ethnic tensions and could threaten regional stability.
For the past five years, factions of a secessionist movement in southeastern Nigeria and a pro-independence movement in western Cameroon have been gathering momentum, mobilizing supporters through social media, and clashing with government security forces in both countries.
In Nigeria, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is a secessionist group that advocates for the creation of the independent country of Biafra. And just over the border, armed separatist groups fight to carve out Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions into a breakaway state called Ambazonia.
Some months ago, leaders from both movements announced a formal alliance, which could ignite violence and instability in the two countries and across the West and Central African regions where violent extremist organizations affiliated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda are establishing a solid foothold.
Can they really force a breakaway? A high-profile Biafran leader is behind bars in Nigeria. What now? And we hear about the ‘wickedness of war’ from a man who saw it first-hand. Plus, the Ugandan weightlifter who reached Toyko but had not qualified for the Olympic Games leading to his deportation. We try to get to the bottom of the mystery.
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