The purpose of this report is to provide analysis and recommendations to national, regional and continental decision makers in the implementation of peace and security-related instruments. Sitting at the cross roads of West and Central Africa, Cameroon is one of the most diverse and resource rich countries in Africa. It is home to about 250 ethnic groups from the ancient tribal kingdoms in the West and the Pygmies in the South to the pastoral Muslims in the North. Besides its rich indigenous cultures, ethnic diversity and geography, Cameroon has also had a checkered colonial history. The failed attempt to jointly and effectively administer “Kamerun”, a former German Protectorate, resulted in the partitioning of the territory between Britain and France in 1919. The French mandate comprised most of the former German territory (over 67,000 square miles) while the British mandate was an elongated strip of land along the border of colonial Nigeria. It consisted of Northern Cameroon (about 17,500 square miles) and Southern Cameroons (about 16,580 square miles), including the historical Ambas Bay Protectorate. This report will, therefore, focus on the Anglophone crisis and terrorist insecurity in the Far North as they are currently the country’s most challenging conflicts with implications for national and regional stability. But how did such upheaval come to affect a country that has prided itself for decades as a beacon of stability in a conflict prone region? And why has it escalated so quickly instigating peace and security challenges for the country and the entire Lake Chad Basin area?
