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Barely a month after leaders of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Cameroon’s separatist group, Ambazonia formed an alliance, internal crisis in both camps is threatening the union.
The Biafran and Ambazonian movements are both fractured, and not all factions support the alliance and rising violence.
Spokespeople from the self-proclaimed Interim Government of Ambazonia, the other major Anglophone separatist group, and the Customary Government of IPOB have denounced the alliance and proclaimed that the leaders involved are “impostors.”
The alliance which experts say could ignite more violence and instability in Nigeria, Cameroon and across the West and Central African regions, was formed last month, United States-based Foreign Policy reported.
The move is coming just as violent extremist organisations affiliated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda are establishing a strong foothold in the regions. Cameroon armed separatist groups are fighting to carve out Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions into a breakaway state called Ambazonia, while IPOB is fighting to create Biafra Republic from Nigeria. Grievances of Anglophone Cameroonians date back to 1961, when the region was granted independence from Britain.
