In the Asia Pacific and Africa political conflict this year has significantly impacted micro hydro regions. We have been tracking situations in Myanmar, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, in order to understand the impact of conflict on rural development efforts and vice versa.
Read more: Hindsight: Micro Hydro in Regions of Conflict
In Cameroon, located on the Gulf of Guinea in Central Africa, local pico and micro hydro practitioners had been making steady progress. Unfortunately, the devastating conflict has brought the progress to a complete halt. The region has become inaccessible without severe risk of safety.
Two violent conflicts are plaguing the country. In addition to a reinvigorated Boko Haram insurgency, the ‘Anglophone Crisis’ has been ongoing since 2016, when peaceful protests were met with brutal government suppression that escalated into armed conflict. Initially, Anglophone protestors demanded reforms related to the use of French in schools and courtrooms in English-speaking regions. By September of 2017, freedom fighters were demanding full independence. Since the 2018 Presidential election, the 2020 Parliamentary election, and through 2021, ethno-political tensions have been further heightened and amplified on social media.
Internally displaced people from the Anglophone crisis in Douala.
Because the situation has received sparse media attention, we would like to highlight key points voiced by the diaspora.
- The situation is increasingly dire, resulting in catastrophic loss of life, displacement, sexual and gender-based violence, and other rights abuses. The conflict has killed over 4,000 people and displaced 765,000, of whom 60,000 have fled to neighbouring Nigeria, though these numbers are much higher by some civilian accounts.
- The true scale and details of the crisis are unknown to the international community due to government suppression of information and misinformation. The government has utilized internet blockades as well as more insidious means to track down those who discuss the conflict on social media, with extrajudicial killings continuing to take place.
- Rural economies have been devastated and community development efforts have been stifled. There remains an urgent and heightened need to push forward development initiatives, despite, and in light of, the humanitarian crisis.
- Since separatists often utilized school boycotts, government forces have targeted and forcibly shut down schools. In many affected areas, children have been unable to attend school since 2017. Health care facilities have also been targeted and many hospitals have been burned down in Anglophone regions. In December 2020 authorities suspended all activities of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the North-West region, potentially depriving tens of thousands of people of access to vital medical services.
