Yaounde (Cameroon), August 4: Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organization, said Tuesday that it has suspended work and withdrawn its teams from Cameroon's Northwest region, an English-speaking area badly affected by years of armed violence between security forces and armed separatist groups.
The decision came after local authorities suspended MSF activities in the region following allegations that MSF meddled in separatists' activities.
"We cannot stay any longer in a region where we are not allowed to provide care to people here," said Emmanuel Lampaert, MSF's operations coordinator for Central Africa, in a statement released by MSF. "Unfortunately, we cannot keep our staff on standby any longer, so we have no choice but to withdraw our teams."
If the authorities decide to lift the suspension, MSF will resume its medical activities "as soon as possible," Lampaert added.
In July, MSF rejected claims that it was providing support for separatist fighters in the region.
Since 2018, MSF had provided free emergency medical care and ambulance services in Cameroon's Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest, where armed separatists want to create an independent nation, until December 2020 when authorities in the Northwest region suspended its activities.
Source: Xinhua
