More than 350 of them have been arrested while demonstrating for the release of opposition leader Maurice Kamto.

Octogenarian President Paul Biya has his hands full dealing with the disaffected Anglophone majority in his country.

Last week his police killed a four-month-old baby among protestors in the English-speaking west of Cameroon.

Now the police have turned on Francophone opponents of Biya, who has been in power for 35 years.

Maurice Kamto and scores of his supporters were arrested after he claimed victory in last October’s presidential election.

Those supporters are defying police, and risking death and injury, by taking to the streets of the capital Yaoundè demanding his release.

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The government in Yaounde is blaming Anglophone separatists.

The separatists, however, say the government is behind the abduction trying to discredit their cause.

The kidnappers of 79 pupils, the headmaster, a teacher and driver from the Presbyterian boarding school in Bamenda call themselves the Amba Boys.

Ambazonia is the name of the independent state that English-speaking Cameroonian separatists want to establish in the northwest and southwest of the country.

Film footage released of the abduction shows the leader speaking French.

Who ever is behind it, the anxious parents are urging the authorities to find their children and return them safely.

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The schools headmaster, teacher and and a driver were taken along with the children.

The army is scouring the north west of Cameroon as anxious parents wait for news of their children.

A group calling themselves the Amba Boys, who broke into the Presbyterian school in the regional capital Bamenda to perform their kidnapping, say they’ll hold their hostages until the Anglophone areas of Cameroon are allowed to form an independent state called Ambazonia.

The Anglophone separatists maintain they are being marginalized and dominated by the Francophone majority.

Their battle for independence has become increasingly militant these past two years. 

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Three people died when police fired on protestors in the  Anglophone northwest  of the country.

Cameroon’s 85-year-old President Paul Biya is a racing certainty to beat off his eight challengers and win a seventh term at the helm.

It will make the man who has already been in power for 36 years Africa’s second-longest-serving president.

Anglophone areas of the country boycotted the poll. They claim they have been marginalised and  seeking to break with the French-speaking majority to form an independent state.

Authorities have responded violently to their protests.

More than 400 people have died in clashes and 200 000 have fled to Francophone parts of the country or to neighboring  Nigeria. 

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English-speaking Cameroonians are threatening to boycott the poll, after government’s violent response to their protests about being marginalized.

Paul Biya, who spent 60 days abroad on private visits last year, faces severe security issues as he seeks another seven year mandate as president of Cameroon.

He faces eight other candidates, none of whom have a chance of beating him.

But the restive Anglophone minority – who comprise a fifth of Cameroon’s 23-million population – are calling for secession.

Hundreds have died in clashes                                                                                                                       since 2016 and a quarter-of-a-million people are displaced.

His security forces are at full stretch dealing with a Boko Haram insurgency in the north of Cameroon. 

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There are fears the violence between English and French speakers in the central African country could impact on Sunday’s presidential election.

UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide Adama Deng says the probe into killings in Cameroon must cover both sides of the conflict to show no-one is above the law.

Anglophone Cameroonians, who make up a fifth of the 23-million population, feel marginalized and forced to be educated and do business in French.

A year ago they declared so-called independence to the anger of the government.

President Paul Biya, planning to extend his grip on the power  he has held for 36 years, has cracked down on the separatists.

More than 400 people have died in clashes and 200 000 have been displaced.

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They say soldiers manning checkpoints on their road to safety are like hungry lions on the loose.

The tougher action against Anglophone activists in Cameroon  – some of whom call for establishment of separate state  –  follows President Paul Biya declaring war on secessionists.

English speaking people make up less than a fifth of the more than 23-million Cameroonians.

Their grievances speak to marginalization and domination by  the French-speaking authorities.

The Kumba-Mamfwe road that carries trade between Cameroon and Nigeria is almost emptied by the unrest.

Anglophone residents in the northwest and southwest of Cameroon say they’re not prepared to risk their lives traveling along it.

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