Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has announced an agreement in principle between the Cameroonian government and the country’s English-speaking separatists to begin a peace process in which her country will play the role of mediator.

The process will attempt to end a bloody conflict that has claimed thousands of lives since its outbreak in 2017, when separatist movements in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions –North West and South West– declared under the form of a self-proclamation, in October of that year, of the independence of so-called Ambazonia.

“Canada welcomes the agreement of the parties to initiate a process aimed at achieving a comprehensive, peaceful and political solution to the conflict,” announced Minister Joly in a press release confirming that her country “has accepted the mandate to facilitate this process, as part of our commitment to promote peace and security and promote support for democracy and human rights”.

The Minister recalled that the conflict has claimed the lives of more than 6,000 people and the forced displacement of 800,000. The impact on education has been terrible, since some 600,000 children have been left without the benefit of a system fully functional educational.

The initial phase of this peace process will include the formation of technical committees that will begin working to develop “confidence-building measures among the participants”, starting with the Cameroonian government and continuing with the separatist groups.

Among these participants, the Canadian government statement mentions the so-called Ambazonia Governing Council, the Ambazonia Defense Force, the African People’s Liberation Movement and the Southern Cameroons Defense Force, the so-called interim government and the coalition team of Ambazonia.