Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, Image: Reuters.
Canada's foreign ministry has said that
The Cameroon government and some factions of pro-self-determination groups in the English-speaking regions of the country have agreed to enter into a process aimed at resolving a conflict that has killed over 6,000 people.
In a statement, foreign minister Mélanie Joly, said, "Canada welcomes the agreement by the parties to enter a process to reach a comprehensive, peaceful and political resolution of the conflict," according to a Reuters report.
The statement said Canada had accepted a mandate to facilitate the process and the sides have agreed to establish technical committees to start working on confidence-building measures.
The armed conflict began in 2017 and was caused by a perceived marginalization of Cameroon's English-speaking community by the majority French-speaking population in the central African state.
Since then, factions of pro-self-determination militias in the two English-speaking regions have been battling government troops in an attempt to form an independent state called Ambazonia.
In 2019 a national dialogue granted special status to the two Anglophone regions, but that has failed to resolve the conflict.
Almost 800,000 people have been displaced, and 600,000 children do not have full access to education, due to the escalated conflict, Canada said.
"The parties to this agreement are the Republic of Cameroon, the Ambazonia Governing Council, the Ambazonia Defence Force, the African People's Liberation Movement and the Southern Cameroons Defence Force, the Interim Government, and the Ambazonia Coalition Team.
"The parties further express the hope that other groups will join the process," the statement said.
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