By Joseph FritzMcBobe with investigative reports
Ndikinemeki, Centre Region Cameroon– June 2025
What began as peaceful coexistence has erupted into flames—literally.
English-speaking Cameroonians, originally from the Northwest and Southwest regions but resident in Ndikinemeki for nearly two decades, have become the latest victims of violent and calculated xenophobic attacks. Over the weekend, dozens of Anglophone families were driven from their homes, their belongings looted, and their residences set ablaze in what appears to be a coordinated campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Eyewitnesses say the wave of terror was orchestrated by several traditional chiefs in the area, who reportedly mobilized a network of armed militias—estimated at more than 400 men. These militias, equipped with machetes, petrol, and clubs, descended on Anglophone households with a singular goal: expel them by any means necessary.
The attacks escalated through Sunday night, as entire blocks of homes in Anglophone quarters of Ndikinemeki were reduced to ash. Some families were forced to flee barefoot into nearby forests, abandoning every possession they had built up over the years. No prior warning was given. No attempt was made to mediate. No protection was offered by local authorities.
On Monday morning, a group of surviving victims—men, women, and children—made their way to the Bafia prefecture to demand justice. Holding placards and bearing visible scars of trauma, they pleaded with state officials to investigate the traditional rulers believed to have masterminded the pogrom and to hold them accountable.
“We have lived here for 20 years. We built homes, raised our children, paid our taxes,” one displaced teacher told The Independentist. “Now, we are treated like animals—burned out of our homes by people who once called us neighbors.”
This latest episode of anti-Anglophone hostility underscores a deeper, longstanding pattern of discrimination, stigmatization, and violence against English-speaking Cameroonians. In the wake of the ongoing armed conflict in the Anglophone regions, many displaced persons had sought refuge in Francophone regions like Ndikinemeki, hoping for peace and integration. Instead, they have found rejection, hatred, and violence.
Legal experts and human rights advocates warn that the failure of authorities to act decisively against such acts constitutes a breach of Cameroon’s domestic and international obligations. The state’s silence could be interpreted as tacit approval or, worse, complicity.
Already, calls are mounting for international observers, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to intervene.
“How many times must Anglophones be burned before the world calls it by its name?” asked a local rights defender. “This is not mere xenophobia—it’s systematic ethnic cleansing.”
As the charred ruins of Anglophone homes still smoulder in Ndikinemeki, the country stands once again at the crossroads of division and impunity. The question remains: Will justice come, or will the ashes of these homes become just another forgotten page in Cameroon’s brutal tale of marginalisation?
Joseph FitzMcBobe,
