This archive report was first published on 19 December 2019.
On December 18, 2019, lawmakers in Cameroon passed a bill granting special status to the country's two anglophone regions, a move aimed at easing two years of violent conflict.
The devolution law, if approved by the Senate and implemented, will allow the western regions of Northwest and Southwest to develop their own education and justice policies.
These regions are home to most of Cameroon's English speakers, who make up about a fifth of the country's population, which is predominantly French-speaking.
Decades of resentment over perceived discrimination have boiled over into an armed campaign for independence, met with a brutal crackdown by the government.
According to the International Crisis Group, more than 3,000 people have been killed in the violence, and around 600,000 have fled their homes.
Earlier in 2019, President Paul Biya's regime held a national dialogue to settle the anglophone crisis, but the main separatist movements boycotted the forum.
One of the key recommendations of the talks was to grant more autonomy to the English-speaking regions, a proposal that has been backed by the United States.
Cameroon has scheduled parliamentary and municipal polls for February 2020, two years after Biya's disputed re-election triggered a major crisis.
