YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Cameroon's leader has ordered the country's military tribunal to stop legal proceedings against 289 people accused of taking part in the country's separatist movement in its English-speaking regions.

Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, secretary general at the presidency, did not say who would be freed in making the announcement late Thursday. He said President Paul Biya had "listened to the people" in making his decision to "maintain the country as a peace heaven."

More than 950 English-speaking Cameroonians have been detained in the country's French-speaking regions for allegedly supporting separatists in the central African nation.

The conflict began in 2016, when teachers and lawyers in the country's English-speaking region complained of discrimination from the French-speaking majority in education and the justice system. The government responded with a crackdown, creating some separatists who responded with violence.