Cameroon prisoners freed after leader halts cases
238 views · Published 19 December 2018 · 4:09 · Indexed 12 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(14 Dec 2018) Almost 300 English-speaking detainees were released from prisons in Cameroon on Friday, a day after the country's president, Paul Biya, ordered their release in an attempt to bring peace to his devided country. Cameroon's leader late on Thursday has ordered the country's military tribunal to stop legal proceedings against 289 people accused of taking part in the country's separatist movement in its English-speaking regions. More than 950 English-speaking Cameroonians have been detained in the country's French-speaking regions for allegedly supporting separatists in the central African nation. Speaking in Yaounde on Friday following the release of some of the prisoners, Emmanuel Simh, a lawyer of an Anglophone detainee, expressed hope that all of the detainees be freed soon. "We got 289 (people freed), that's a start. We hope it is a first step because the ultimate solution will be for everyone to be freed, to give a chance for peace and dialogue," he said. The conflict began in 2016, when teachers and lawyers in the country's English-speaking region complained of discrimination from the French-speaking majority in education and the justice system. Hundreds have been killed in Cameroon's English-speaking regions in months of fighting between the military and separatists who claim they are marginalised in the largely French-speaking country. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/57351a767e5336b2b8a43ecf848a53ad
