Cameroon has announced that the country's first regional elections will hold in December in two western regions in the grip of a revolt by the anglophone minority.

The announcement was made by Cameroon’s veteran leader, Paul Biya on Monday.

The indirect elections on December 6 in the country’s 10 regions is meant to put in place councils provided for in a 1996 constitution in a move towards decentralization yet to be implemented and the councils will be elected in the two western regions where an unrest of nearly three years has claimed over 3,000 lives.

The two restive anglophone regions are home to a large minority of English speakers in a country where French speakers are the overwhelming majority — a situation that is the legacy of the decolonisation of western Africa by France and Britain more than six decades ago.

Following several years of bitterness at a perceived discrimination against Anglophones, there was a declaration on October 1, 2017, of the self-described Republic of Ambazonia in the two regions, triggering a crackdown by the authorities.

Eighty-seven year old Biya has been in power for nearly four decades and has promised these two regions a special status in a bid to subdue the unrest.

The regions will elect 90 councillors, who will have limited powers on local issues and twenty of them will be representatives of traditional chieftains.

Leader of a key opposition party, John Fru Ndi has said he will boycott the election unless there is a ceasefire first in the English-speaking regions.