By OJONG ISAAC (UB JMC Intern)
A good number of people, who left the North West and South West regions to other safer parts of Cameroonfollowing the three-week lockdown announced by separatist leaders to thwart back-to-school, have begun coming back to the regions after the recent call for dialogue by President Paul Biya and the end of the lockdown.
It has been observed that most parks in Douala and Yaounde have been crowded with people, who are coming back into these regions. Many have them said they faced lots of challenges and hardship in the Francophone regions where they sought refuge.
Speaking to a South West resident, who travelled to Yaounde prior to the lockdown for fear of the unknown, he complained of difficulties getting a bus to come back to Buea. According to him, many people crowd bus stations on a daily basis struggling to find their way back to the two English speaking regions, since the President’s address calling for a national dialogue, September 10, 2019, and the end of the lockdown, September 13, 2019.
In order to water down any back-to-school efforts in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon, separatist leaders called for a complete lockdown of the regions; a faction announced the lockdown from August 26, 2019 to September 13, while another announced it to run from September 2 to 11, 2019. This left the population of these regions confused and many opted to move across to the safer regions amidst skyrocketed transport fares.