At Least 32 Villagers Massacred in Ethnic Attack in Cameroon

A man walks past the entrance of the bilingual Lycee of Buea, capital of south west Cameroon, one of the two regions of the country in the grip of a violent crisis on September 24, 2019. Reinnier Kaze/AFP via Getty Images

Simmering tensions between two struggling communities in a remote area of southwestern Cameroon over the ownership of a fertile piece of land degenerated into a bloodbath on June 25, leaving at least 32 people dead.

In recent years, Bakinjaw and Mavas—two communities in the Akwaya district in Cameroon—have both claimed ownership of the disputed Ufambe fertile farmland. But the latest squabbles suddenly turned violent because of a war of secession raging in the area.