After release of workers, Doctors Without Borders says anglophone regions still priority

By Nukapuh P

International medical humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders has announced that all their workers arrested in connection with the Anglophone crisis have been released.

In a press release dated 10 January 2023, the organization said all charges have been dropped and all five staff who were accused of complicity with secession, facing trial in Cameroon have been released.

“Four of the staff in question had to endure incarceration for many months,” a section of the release reads

The release furthered that on November 1, 2022, the Buea Military Tribunal ruled ‘no case to answer’ regarding the situation of a community worker who had spent 10 months in detention.

“Finally, on the 29th of December 2022, all remaining MSF staff members who had been detained were
acquitted, the last of whom was released the following day. A judgement of acquittal was also declared regarding an MSF project coordinator who had been tried in absentia,” another section of the release states

According to Sylvain Groulx, MSF coordinator in Central Africa, they are ready to return to work in the North West and South West regions if the government of Cameroon permits.

“Despite our attempts to open a channel of dialogue with the government, to ensure our teams can continue vital activities in South West region, the government has been unresponsive. This
has made it difficult to reach an agreement that ensures working conditions guarantee the safety of our teams and patients,” says Groulx.

In December 2020, the government of Cameroon suspended the medical humanitarian organization in the North West region for reasons that they were collaborating with separatist fighters

Many Cameroonians criticized the government for taking such a decision, as they believed that the organization was of great help to the population hit by the socio-political crisis.

Read also: Doctors Without Borders closes bases in Kumba and Mamfe