Cameroon's government and nine leaders of separatists fighting for the country's English-speaking regions have started ceasefire negotiations over their nearly three-year conflict, rebels and a UN source said on Friday. "Nine of us met with a team from the Republic of Cameroon to initiate a ceasefire following the appeal of the United Nations," the main separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe said in a message. The Cameroonian government neither confirmed nor denied the meeting had been held, but a senior UN official told AFP it took place. The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people since it erupted after a declaration of independence in October 2017 by anglophone provinces over decades of grievances at perceived discrimination by the francophone majority. rek-cma/js/pm/dl