As Cameroon prepares to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Unity Day, this May 20, 2022, secessionist groups are announcing “ghost towns” from this Sunday, May 15, 2022.
Secessionist armed groups have decreed an operation called “ghost towns”, in the English-speaking area of Cameroon, starting this Sunday, May 15 and threatening reprisals to the inhabitants who will not stay at home, in order to prevent the celebration the 50th edition of the National Unity Day which will take place on May 20. In a video posted on social networks on Sunday, the separatists announced that the main roads in the English-speaking area will be closed immediately.
The groups also threaten the populations who will try to go out to participate in the festivities marking the National Day of Unity with reprisals. “Shops will keep their shutters closed all day. Travel agencies will remain closed. Schools and markets closed too. Taxis should not work either, all will have remained parked all day from May 15, “they said without specifying the expiry date of this ghost town operation.
Since the start of the crisis in the North-West and South-West of Cameroon in 2016, the separatists have imposed “ghost towns” operations, particularly during the National Unity Day.
Cameroon will celebrate with great fanfare, on May 20, the fiftieth anniversary of the National Day of Unity. The chosen theme is “May 20, 1972 – May 20, 2022: Fiftieth anniversary of the Unitary State “Defence and security forces at the service of the people, for the preservation of social peace and national cohesion”.