YAOUNDE, May 5, 2019 -- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is in Cameroon to evaluate progress made in the protection and promotion of human rights as an armed conflict ravages the two English-speaking regions of the country.

 

On Thursday, Bachelet, who is invited by the Cameroonian government, met with top government officials including foreign minister, interior minister and minister of secondary education.

 

Security challenges and human rights violations in the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest dominated her talks with the government ministers, according to officials of the Ministry of External Relations. The talks were held behind closed doors.

 

Bachelet is expected to meet with President Paul Biya during her stay in the central African country.

 

It is unclear if she will visit the troubled Anglophone regions where armed separatists demanding the creation of a new nation have been clashing with government forces since 2017.

 

Prior to her official visit to Cameroon, Bachelet said that the situation in the regions required "urgent attention and solution."