The game between Tunisia and Mali is scheduled for this afternoon (2 p.m.) in the Africa Cup. That match will be played in the Cameroonian Limbe, a city where the civil war is never far away.
Not everyone agrees that it is Cameroonian territory. Separatists in the Anglophone southwest of the country see Limbe as part of the independent state they declared in October 2017.
The source of the conflict lies, among other things, in the official language in the area; the civil war is known as the ‘Anglophone Crisis’. That term refers to the direct cause of the crisis, but there is much more to the dissatisfaction. The English minority in the west of the country feels culturally, politically and economically disadvantaged.
After the simmering dissatisfaction about this had resulted in major strikes and protests in 2016, President Paul Biya’s army intervened strongly. A spiral of violence followed. The conflict cost thousands of lives. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people fled.
Done with violence
Eyong Enoh, former player of Ajax and Willem II, among others, is currently in his home country of Cameroon and closely follows the Africa Cup there. The 55-time international hopes that the tournament will contribute to change.
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