attacking force retired, Mankon warriors, assisted now by their allies from Bafut, counter-attacked and inflicted heavy losses on their enemies. Ten years later the Germans, under Pavel, returned in full force. Bafut suffered a series of punitive raids in 1901, 1904–05 and 1907, at the end of which the Fon was arrested and exiled to Douala for a year. In the meantime a military station had been established at Bamenda which served as the administrative headquarters of the district until the Germans were expelled during the World War of 1914–1918. The Bamenda garrison fell in October 1915. British and French colonisation After a brief period of joint administration Britain and France provisionally partitioned the territory and this, with only minor adjustments, was confirmed by the Milner–Simon agreement of July 1919. Bafut fell into the British sector which was constituted into the Cameroons Province and attached to the Southern Provinces of British Nigeria for administrative purposes. At least one Fon of Bafut, Achirimbi II maintained friendly ties with the British. When the British left part of Cameroon in 1961, the region had a choice of joining either the newly formed Cameroon or Nigeria. The Fon Achirimbi II is famously said to have remarked that it was a choice between the "Fire and the Deep Sea". Post-colonial history On 1 January 1960, French Cameroun gained independence from France, and on 1 October 1961, the formerly British Southern Cameroons (including Bafut) united with French Cameroun to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The Bafut Council was created by a presidential decree on 23 November 1993 to promote local development and improve the living conditions of the region's inhabitants. The local government began operation in 1996, following municipal elections. Since 2017, Bafut has become of battleground of the Anglophone Crisis, with an Ambazonian separatist militia known as Seven Karta setting up bases in the area. Operation Free Bafut in April 2020 saw heavy fighting in and around the village. Geography and demographics Bafut had a population of 80,305 in 2005, but is now estimated to have over 100,000 inhabitants. It is primarily an agrarian region. Bafut is situated about northwest of Bamenda, in the Mezam Division, and covers an area of roughly 340 km2. It is located in the Western Grassfields geographic region, which includes Cameroon's Northwest Province and surrounding grassland areas. Bafut is the most powerful of the traditional kingdoms of the Grassfields,