Ambazonia, alternatively the Federal Republic of Ambazonia or the State of Ambazonia, is a political entity proclaimed by Anglophone separatists seeking independence from Cameroon. The separatists claim that Ambazonia should consist of the Northwest Region and Southwest Region of Cameroon. Since 2017, Ambazonian rebels have engaged in armed conflict with the Cameroonian military, in what is known as the Anglophone Crisis, and have attempted to set up governments-in-exile, and supportive militias have exerted control over parts of the claimed territory. No country has recognized Ambazonia's existence as of 2026.
Until 1961, the territory of these regions was the southern part of a British trust territory, British Cameroon while the rest of Cameroon was a French trust territory, French Cameroon. At independence, a plebiscite was held, and voters in Southern Cameroons opted to join Cameroon as a constituent state of a federal republic.Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p177 Over time, the power of the central government, dominated by Francophones, expanded at the expense of the region's autonomy. Many inhabitants identify as Anglophones and resent what they perceive as discrimination and efforts to eliminate Anglophone legal, administrative, educational, and cultural institutions by the Cameroonian government.
In 2016 and 2017, a widespread protest movement was met with a violent government crackdown, which led to rioting and violence against security forces and, in 2017, a unilateral declaration of independence by Ambazonian leaders. The violence developed into a guerrilla war, and , clashes continue, with population centers and strategic locations largely controlled by the government engaged in counterinsurgency actions, with swathes of more remote, rural areas controlled by separatist militias and used to launch guerrilla attacks.Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis: How to Get to Talks?, Crisis Group, 2 May 2019. Accessed 2 May 2019. Ambazonian forces have struggled to form a united front, and internecine conflicts have hampered efforts to negotiate with Cameroon or establish control over the various militia groups engaged in the fighting.Briefing: Cameroon's intensifying conflict and what it means for civilians, The New Humanitarian, 6 February 2020. Accessed 18 August 2021. Ongoing violence has led to widely reported human rights abuses by both sides, including indiscriminate killing of civilians, torture, rape and other gender-based crimes, unjustified detentions, and kidnappings.
Etymology and terminology
The term "Ambazonia" is derived from the word Ambozes, the local name for the bay at the mouth of the Wouri River, known in English as Ambas Bay. The name was coined by Fon Gorji Dinka in 1984 as part of a campaign for the restoration of autonomy and preservation of Anglophone institutions in the region.
The term Ambazonia is more usually associated with the separatist or independence-seeking faction, while the Cameroonian government and other official sources, such as the UN, continue to refer to the "Northwest Region" and "Southwest Region" (or sometimes the "NoSo" regions), the official names of the two administrative provinces since 1972. As an alternative to "Ambazonia", separatists have also used "Ambaland". Other sources may also refer to "Southern Cameroons", "Anglophone Cameroon" or "Cameroon's Anglophone regions".
To refer to the French-speaking parts of Cameroon, Ambazonian separatists have used the term "la République" and more derogatory descriptors like "banana republic" or "colonial Cameroun". "Banana republic" is used as a criticism of the Cameroonian institutions, whereas "colonial Cameroun" is used to criticize the Francophone dominance. The Ambazonian activists call the war zone of the Anglophone Crisis "Ground Zero", a reference to the destruction caused by the civil war.
Origins
Colonial contest in the region
The area around the mouth of the Wouri River is where the English language was permanently established for the first time in Southern Cameroons, when missionary Alfred Saker founded a settlement of freed slaves by Ambas Bay in 1858, which was later renamed Victoria (present-day Limbe). In 1884, the area became the British Ambas Bay Protectorate, with Victoria as its capital. Britain ceded the area to the German territory of Kamerun in 1887. Germany had some trouble establishing control over the hinterlands of Victoria, and fought the Bafut Wars against local fondoms until 1907.The Cameroon Tribune, No. 600, p. 2, 26 December 1996
Following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, Kamerun was divided between a French and a British League of Nations Mandate. The French mandate was known as Cameroun, and comprised most of the former German territory. The British mandate was an elongated strip of land along the border of Colonial Nigeria, consisting of Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons, including the historical Ambas Bay Protectorate. This territory was organized as British Cameroons.Lee, Alexander, and Kenneth A. Schultz. Comparing British and French colonial legacies: A discontinuity analysis of Cameroon, p. 10 APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper. 2011.
The British administered the territories through indirect rule, allowing native authorities to administer the population according to their own traditions. In 1953, the Southern Cameroons delegation at a conference in London asked for a separate region. The British agreed, and Southern Cameroons became an autonomous region with its capital still at Buea. Elections were held in 1954 and the parliament met on 1 October 1954, with E. M. L. Endeley as Premier.DeLancey, Mark W., and Mark Dike DeLancey (2000): Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press.
1961 referendum
The United Nations organised a plebiscite in the region on 11 February 1961 which put two alternatives to the people: union with Nigeria or union with Cameroon. The third option, independence, was opposed by the British representative to the UN Trusteeship Council, Sir Andrew Cohen, and as a result was not listed. In the plebiscite, 60% of voters in the Northern Cameroons voted for union with Nigeria, while 70% of voters in the Southern Cameroons opted for union with Cameroon.Nohlen, D, Krennerich, M & Thibaut, B (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p177 The results owed partly to a fear of domination by much larger Nigeria.Amaazee, Victor Bong. The 'Igbo scare' in the British Cameroons, c. 1945–61. The Journal of African History 31.2 (1990): 281–293. Endeley was defeated in elections on 1 February 1959 by John Ngu Foncha.
Southern Cameroons federated with Cameroon on 1 October 1961 as "West Cameroon", with its own prime minister. However, the English-speaking peoples of the Southern Cameroons did not believe that they were fairly treated by the 80% majority French-speaking government of the country. Then-president Ahmadou Ahidjo feared that Southern Cameroons would secede from the union, taking its natural resources with it. Following a French Cameroon unilateral referendum on 20 May 1972, a new constitution was adopted in Cameroon which replaced the federal state with a unitary state, and also gave more power to the president.Elections in Cameroon African Elections Database Southern Cameroons lost its autonomous status and became the Northwest Region and the Southwest Region of the Republic of Cameroon. Pro-independence groups claimed that this violated the constitution, as the majority of deputies from West Cameroon had not consented to legitimize the constitutional changes.Roger, Jules, and Sombaye Eyango. Inside the Virtual Ambazonia: Separatism, Hate Speech, Disinformation and Diaspora in the Cameroonian Anglophone Crisis, p. 28 (2018). They argued that Southern Cameroons had effectively been annexed by Cameroon.Anyangwe, Carlson. Betrayal of Too Trusting a People. The UN, the UK and the Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons: The UN, the UK and the Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons, pp. 108–111. African Books Collective, 2009. Shortly afterwards, French Cameroun's political leadership changed the constitution again, appointed French-speaking Paul Biya as Prime Minister and successor to Ahmadou Ahidjo.
In a memorandum dated 20 March 1985, Anglophone lawyer and President of the Cameroon Bar Association Fongum Gorji Dinka wrote that the Cameroonian government led by Paul Biya was unconstitutional and announced the former Southern Cameroons should become independent as the Republic of Ambazonia. Dinka was incarcerated the following January without trial.Nkwi; Nchoji, Paul (2015). The Anthropology of Africa: Challenges for the 21st Century (illustrated, reprint ed.), p. 478. Langaa RPCIG. . Three years later, he escaped to Nigeria.Cameroon's anglophone war, Part 1: A rifle as the only way out , IPP Media, 9 July 2018. Accessed 9 July 2018.
Southern Cameroons National Council
In 1993, representatives of Anglophone groups convened the first All Anglophone Conference (AAC1) in Buea. The conference issued the "Buea Declaration", which called for constitutional amendments to restore the 1961 federation. This was followed by the second All Anglophone Conference (AAC2) in Bamenda in 1994. This conference issued the "Bamenda Declaration", which stated that if the federal state was not restored within a reasonable time, Southern Cameroons would declare its independence. The AAC was renamed the Southern Cameroons Peoples Conference (SCPC), and later the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO), with the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) as the executive governing body. Younger activists formed the Southern Cameroons Youth League (SCYL) in Buea on 28 May 1995. The SCNC sent a delegation, led by John Foncha, to the United Nations, which was received on 1 June 1995 and presented a petition against the 'annexation' of the Southern Cameroons by French Cameroon. This was followed by a signature referendum the same year, which the organisers claim produced a 99% vote in favour of independence with 315,000 people voting.Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation website
SCNC activities were routinely disrupted by police. On 23 March 1997, about ten people were killed in a raid on a gendarme camp in Bamenda. The police arrested between 200 and 300 people, mostly SCNC supporters, but also members of the Social Democratic Front, an opposition party with significant support in the Anglophone regions.March 1997 incidents in the north-west province CMR36066.E', Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 31 January 2001. Accessed 10 May 2019. In the subsequent trials, Amnesty International and the SCNC found substantive evidence of admissions through torture and force. The raid and trial resulted in a shutdown of SCNC activities. In response to this, in April 1998 a small faction elected Esoka Ndoki Mukete, a high-ranking member of the Social Democratic Front, as the new chair of the SCNC. In October 1999, when many of the accused were found guilty in the 1997 trial, the faction led by Mukete became more assertive. On 1 October 1999, militants took over Radio Buea to proclaim the independence of Southern Cameroons, but failed to do so before security forces intervened.Elong, Eric Ebolo. Sovereignty in the Making: The Case of Anglophone Cameroon. 2, p. 24 The leadership and many members of the SCNC were subsequently arrested. After clashes with the police, the SCNC was officially declared illegal by the Cameroonian authorities in 2001.Secessionist minority Anglophone group silenced, The New Humanitarian, 19 February 2007. Accessed 27 October 2019. In 2006, a faction of SCNC once again declared the independence of Ambazonia.
Protests and Anglophone Crisis