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Paper long abstract

The rapid growth of African cities has raised urban fragility and insecurity issues to which local communities try to adapt. Whether through law enforcement forces (Police and gendarmerie), private security companies or vigilante groups, each social class is trying to ensure its own safety through the means they can afford. With its buoyant economy and fast rising population, the city of Kumba in the South West region of Cameroon has long been known as a hotweb of insecurity. The advent of a separatist crisis which has been ongoing since 2016, critically increased insecurity in the city as armed groups both separatists or common robbers roamed the city. This paper studies how communities organise their resilience through the creation of vigilante groups in the neighborhoods of Kumba. Known in other cities as “Auto-Defence”, these groups are genuine community policing instruments for local populations. How they are created? How do they operate and interact with various stakeholders including local communities, administrative authorities and law enforcement forces? Eventually, how do these community-based solutions manage to cope with daily security challenges? These are some of the questions this paper will seek to address.