Weird that this is characterized as an Anglophone/Francophone split. I'm not familiar enough to speak to this situation, but it strikes me as unlikely that this is a fight over which European language gets used.
I'd previously begun reading the BBC story and thought it was an excellent example of investigative journalism. While the reprehensible soldiers aren't officially being tied to their crimes, it sounded like they're being punished.
French is just really hard. Even if you learn it, you have a stupid accent.
Isn't Anglophone Cameroon the former German colony that was awkwardly melded with the former French one to form what is now Cameroon? Not surprising that there'd be some lingering tensions.
Further investigation indicates that the German colony was the whole thing, and it was divided between Britain and France after WWI.
It looks like it was originally colonized by Germany in whole, then partitioned between Britain and France after WWI, but the (larger) French portion became independent 1960, and by plebiscite next year, part of the British portion ended up joining Nigeria, the other portion Cameroon.
You can see the Scottish influence because the national church is Kirk Cameroon.
I would imagine that the English/French separation falls upon ethnic lines that were in place well before the colonizers showed up.
Cameroon is extremely ethnically diverse, so I'm sure 8 is true in some sense, but the colonial carving up of Africa was also notoriously arbitrary with respect to ethnic divisions. In any case the current dispute really does seem to be largely about the English/French language divide.
The current crisis kicked off with a strike by Anglophone lawyers and teachers, relatively elite. I expect that English or French are their primary languages, possibly first languages, and that anti-Anglo/pro-Franco policies are materially bad for their prospects. The revolt has since gone a lot wider, so presumably there are more basic grievances, as one would expect in a country ruled for 35 years by one man via rigged elections.
For comparison, the 1976 Soweto riots were triggered by the use of Afrikaans rather than English as the language of instruction. IIRC one of the issues in the Angolan wars was the MPLA's preference for Portuguese (its leadership being mostly elite mesticos). In Rwanda the RPF seems to have adopted English and Anglicization as part of some kind of state-building project.
8: Skimming this book, no:
Most of the peoples in the coastal area of the Anglophone South West Province are, in terms of indigenous traditions and customs, closely related to the peoples in the coastal area of the Francophone Littoral Province, while most of those in the Anglophone part of the Grassfields (the North West Province) are closely related to peoples in the Francophone part of the Grassfields (the West Province)And the whole thing does run quite deep. In 1961 Anglos were offered a choice of Nigeria or Cameroon, but it seems that most would have preferred independence, and those that voted for Cameroon did so on the promise of a degree of federalism which was never delivered and has steadily been reduced. The education thing also goes back to the 1980s and 1990s, the government gradually destroying the Anglo GCE system. The GCE is or was ultimately tied to University of London exams, so loss of that system is presumably bad for emigration prospects. Inside Cameroon Anglo qualifications are also discounted against Franco equivalents. A quote from 1998:
No matter how bilingual you are, if you enter an office and demand something in French, because of your accent, the messenger may announce your arrival simply as 'une Anglo' or respond in a manner intended to mock. You know that stereotypes are a normal part of life in Cameroon and the world over. But the constant reminder that as an Anglophone you are different creates the impression that we are second-class citizens. This is what irritates Anglophone elites. You can imagine the frustrations of older and less educated Anglophones who have to deal with a bureaucracy which operates mostly in French and state officials who are so rude to the people they are supposed to serve.
I think that's pretty much how the Hundred Years War started also.
WE WANTED A THIRD OPTION
Well that's interesting. I guess to me it seems like 50-100 years is rather young for an ongoing ethnic conflict.