Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Anglophone Prisoners Riot in Cameroon Amid Separatist Crisis

Reuters

   YAOUNDE - Cameroonian security forces moved Tuesday to quell uprisings
   in two prisons by inmates protesting the government's crackdown on the
   Anglophone separatist movement and poor conditions of incarceration.

   Scores of people from English-speaking regions of the central African
   country have been arrested over the last two years during a conflict
   between the mostly French-speaking government and separatist rebels
   seeking to form an independent state called Ambazonia.

   The United Nations estimates the conflict in the English-speaking
   Northwest and Southwest regions has killed about 1,800 people and
   displaced over 500,000 since late 2017.

   A Cameroonian security source confirmed that a riot took place in the
   central prison of the capital Yaounde and said several people were
   injured. Government spokespeople did not immediately respond to
   requests for comment.

   Videos filmed by inmates and uploaded to Facebook showed protesters
   there crying "Ambazonia rising!" as they hurled debris at security
   forces inside the Kondengui prison in Yaounde.

   Loud crackles that sounded like gunfire could be heard in the
   background and fires could be seen burning in parts of the prison,
   sending thick plumes of smoke billowing into the air.

   "Our brothers are slaughtered, children killed," said one unidentified
   man, speaking in English. "We are tired of being in prison. We want to
   go home," said another.

.