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Cameroon’s separatist leader Ayuk Tabe sentenced to life

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Sisiku Ayuk Tabe

YAOUNDE-(MaraviPost)-A leader of Cameroon’s separatist movement, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, and nine of his followers have been given life sentences by a military court in the capital, Yaoundé.

The 10 had been arrested in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, in January 2018 and were sent to Cameroon to face trial.

BBC understands that they have been convicted of various charges, including rebellion.

Tabe and his followers have been campaigning for the creation of an independent state called Ambazonia, made up of Cameroon’s English-speaking North-West and South-West regions.

Cameroon’s English-speaking minority say they have been marginalised for decades by the central government and the French-speaking majority.

The Anglophone crisis started in 2016 when lawyers and teachers went on strike over attempts to impose French in schools and courts in the North-West and South-West.

Some took up arms in 2017 and the crisis has forced more than 500,000 people from their homes.

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Lloyd M’bwana

I’m a Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resource (LUANAR)’s Environmental Science graduate (Malawi) and UK’s ICM Journalism and Media studies scholar. Also University of Malawi (UNIMA) Library Science Scholar. I have been The Malawi Country Manager and duty editor for the Maravi Post since 2019. My duty editor’s job is to ensure that the news is covered properly, that it is delivered on time, and that it is created to the standards set out in the editorial guidelines of the Maravi Post.