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How Common Law Brings Hope to Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis

Six years on, the crisis in the Anglophone (English-speaking) regions of Cameroon continues. Recent reports indicate that over 6,000 people have been killed, writes Laura-Stella Enonchong for The Conversation.

Cameroon was colonised by Britain and France - occupying 20% and 80% of the territory respectively. They introduced both their language and their legal traditions in their respective spheres of influence.

The conflict's origins lie partly in the fact that Cameroon applies two different systems of law. Anglophone lawyers say the system marginalises the common law. So, the Anglophone regions apply the common law. The Francophone regions apply the civil law.

In Cameroon, the common law and the English language have been systemically undermined by the predominantly Francophone government. At the level of the Supreme Court, the predominant application of the civil law often left common law litigants without justice, writes Enonchong.

InFocus

Albert Masias/MSF

A patient leaves Saint Mary Soledad’s outpatient consultation corridor in Bamenda - each year, thousands of patients benefited from MSF support in a region where access to care has been reduced by armed violence. North-West region, Cameroon, March 2020.

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