Monthly Archives: March 2021

26, March 2021

Surging COVID-19 Infections: Biya regime bans festive events in Yaounde ⁰

All festive events in Cameroon’s Centre region that hosts the capital city Yaounde have been banned, the region’s governor Naseri Paul Bea said in a statement Thursday evening.

He said the decision was taken following an upsurge in COVID-19 infections and deaths in the region.

The decision came after Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute told a COVID-19 task force meeting on Thursday to intensify sensitization campaigns as infections continue to increase in the Central African nation.

As of Friday, Cameroon had registered 47,669 COVID-19 cases, 38,820 recoveries and 721 deaths, according to data released by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: UrduPoint

26, March 2021

Suez blockage halting $9.6 billion a day of maritime traffic ⁰

Lloyd’s List, a shipping industry journal, says its “rough calculations” suggest that the massive container vessel Ever Given, which has blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal since Tuesday, is halting about $9.6 billion worth of daily marine traffic.

Lloyd’s List puts westbound traffic at around $5.1 billion a day and eastbound traffic at approximately $4.5 billion.

Satellite pictures released by Planet Labs Inc show the 400-meter long vessel wedged diagonally across the entire canal, one of the busiest trade routes in the world.

Lloyd’s estimates that about 165 vessels are waiting to transit the waterway, while data compiled by Bloomberg show that the figure is 185.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on Thursday announced it was “temporarily suspending navigation” along the waterway, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and drastically shortens travel between Asia and Europe, as efforts by tugs and diggers to dislodge the vessel have failed.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s advisor on seaports, Mohab Mamish, told AFP late Thursday that “maritime navigation will resume again within 48-72 hours, maximum”.

“I have experience with several rescue operations of this kind and as the former chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, I know every centimeter of the canal,” Mamish added.

However, salvage experts had warned earlier on Thursday the Suez blockage could last days or even weeks.

Vortexa senior freight analyst, Arthur Richier, said about 13 million barrels of crude oil on 10 tankers could be affected by the disruption, adding nine vessels carrying clean petroleum products, along with biodiesel, sitting outside Suez, were awaiting the resumption of northbound convoys.

How long it takes to refloat the grounded megaship will dictate further impact on markets.

According to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg, around 300 vessels globally are either stuck in the Suez Canal, waiting to transit the waterway or signaling it as their next destination.

Amid the continued closure of the waterway, shiping giants are looking into re-routing cargo ships around the southern tip of Africa.

Japanese ship-leasing firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the owner of the giant vessel, said it was facing “extreme difficulty” trying to refloat it.

“We sincerely apologize for causing a great deal of worry to ships in the Suez Canal and those planning to go through the canal,” it said in a statement.

On Wednesday, historic sections of the canal were reopened in a bid to ease the congestion.

In 2018, the canal was temporarily shut after a Greek-owned bulk carrier suffered engine failure that led to a five-ship collision.

Source: Presstv

26, March 2021

African Cup of Nations 2022: Egypt, Ghana qualify; Gambia, Comoros to debut ⁰

Egypt and Ghana qualified for the African Cup of Nations on Thursday and were joined by Comoros and Gambia, who will make surprising debuts at next year’s tournament.

Egypt drew 1-1 in Kenya, enough to see the record seven-time champion clinch one of the two qualifying places in Group G.

That result also helped Comoros take the other spot. Comoros had earlier drawn 0-0 at home against Togo but Kenya needed to win in order to maintain its hopes of qualifying in the last round of matches next week.

Comoros, an archipelago of volcanic islands off the east coast of Africa, is one of the continent’s smallest countries and has a population of less than a million. But it had some memorable results in the qualifying campaign, including victories over Togo and Kenya and a 1-1 draw at home against Egypt.

While Comoros will make its debut, Egypt will play in its 25th African Cup next year in Cameroon. Egypt took the lead after two minutes through Mohamed Magdi but Abdallah Hassan equalized early in the second half for the Kenyans after a scramble in front of goal.

The momentum was with Kenya until it had defender Johnstone Omurwa sent off for an elbow on Motsafa Mohamed, allowing Egypt to regain control.

Ghana qualified after drawing 1-1 away against South Africa in Group C. Mohammed Kudus put Ghana ahead just after halftime with a low shot that went in off the post.

South Africa took two minutes to level through in-form striker Percy Tau. But the draw means Bafana Bafana travel to Sudan for a crunch meeting on Sunday, when Sudan can take the second qualifying place from the group with a victory. South Africa needs at least a draw.

Gambia secured its debut appearance when Assan Cessay’s goal in the 62nd minute sealed a 1-0 win over Angola.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Gabon also went through from Group D with Gambia after beating Congo 3-0. Aubameyang rounded off the victory with the third goal four minutes from the end.

Twelve of 24 teams have now qualified for the tournament next January and February, including defending champion Algeria and Sadio Mane’s Senegal. Both those countries booked their places in November.

The African Cup was due to be played in January and February this year but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

(AP)

26, March 2021

Cameroon: Mendo Ze goes home to die ⁰

Over the last couple of weeks, Professor Gervais Mendo Ze, the former CRTV General Manager, has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

A video of the former pot-belly supporter of the Yaoundé-based crime syndicate has been trending, portraying him as a bag of bones that is a victim of a vile system he served and propped whole-heartedly for many years.

Mendo Ze has been brought down by the system in which he had unwavering faith and trust.

The most painful part of it is that the “God of Etoudi” that he served and applauded for decades is the one who orchestrated his downfall and possible demise.

Though Mendo Ze had been accused of embezzlement and sentenced to 20 years in the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison, many actually wonder if his destruction is not the outcome of personal issues he had with his “god”. Could Mendo Ze have challenged his god after he had eaten to his fill?

This question will never be answered as nobody who is in the know of the truth really wants to talk. Many of those who know the truth have eaten, drunk and danced with the evil “God of Etoudi” who is known to be vindictive and they simply want to stay away from trouble. Cameroonians might only know the truth of all the arrests and killings in Cameroon when the “God of Etoudi” bows out.

But while it is appropriate to sympathise, Cameroonians should learn to keep things in their right context. This regime was never bad to Mendo Ze when he enjoyed all the fame and perks that came with the high offices he occupied. This regime was like his oxygen and anybody who held contrary views automatically became Mendo Ze’s enemy.

Today, he has been made to have a taste of the medication he helped the ruling crime syndicate to manufacture for Cameroonians. The best thing would have been to let him stew in his own juice, but human beings will always be human beings and their minds will always be full of human kindness. It is therefore normal to show sympathy even to a man who clearly deserves his unfortunate fate.

After the outrage expressed by Cameroonians across the world and human rights groups after videos of a dying Professor Mendo Ze emerged, his “God of Evil”, Paul Biya, finally accepted to grant him clemency.

The fat and bulky Mendo Ze has been reduced to a bag of bones and he has been let off the hook just for him to go and die at home.

The country’s president, Paul Biya, does not want him to soil the Yaoundé Maximum Security Prison if he dies there. He is not even worth the prison’s jumpsuit in which he will be wrapped if he dies in jail.

He does not want him to extend the list of people who have died because of his cruelty. Biya, a man who was thought to be the savior of Cameroon, has become an ill wind that blows no good to anybody.

Many Cameroonians have died in Cameroon’s jails because of their political beliefs and many are still very sick because of their conditions in jail. Mr. Biya, the Cameroon monarch, seems to enjoy seeing his own people die just because they have political views that do not tie in well with his.

Mendo Ze has been spared because of his illness, but he has very limited time to live. He has been sent home to die surrounded by his loved ones who have seen him melt like snow under very high temperatures.

Mendo Ze was a huge and fat person. Today, he is simply a shadow of his former self. His case simply points to the fact that anybody can lose weight. Those who claim weight runs in their family should hurry up to check with Mendo Ze whose days on earth are numbered.

For those who still trust the ruling crime syndicate and hold that they can only prosper by joining this devilish party, they must know that if a crocodile can eat its own eggs, then it will surely relish the flesh of a frog.

There are huge lessons to be learned here and only those blinded by greed will still not see anything bad in the story of Mendo Ze; a man who had risen to the top, but came down crashing because of the vindictiveness of his own architect.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

25, March 2021

Yaounde: Mendo Ze freed by Biya after being detained since 2014 ⁰

The former General Manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television, CRTV, extremely weakened by stress and illness has been told to go home from the notorious Yaoundé Central Prison in Kondengui.

However, credible sources have hinted Cameroon Intelligence Report that the President of the Republic, Paul Biya, ordered the release of the man who headed Cameroon Radio and Television for seventeen years, to allow him travel abroad for treatment.

Gervais Mendo Ze former general manager of the Cameroon Radio and Television (Crtv) from 1988 to 2005), was sentenced by the Special Criminal Court to 20 years in prison.

Arrested in November 2014 after he was sacked from the cabinet as Minister Delegate to the Minister of Communication), Gervais Mendo Ze was prosecuted for several issues which inter alia included fraudulent transport allowances amounting to 39 million FCFA and television tax money.

The Beti Ewondo French Cameroun political elite was also accused of having received a monthly representation bonus of more than 15 million FCFA, 116 million FCFA as home maintenance allowance, 205 million FCFA as car allowance and 20 million from Cameroon’s audiovisual fee.

Justice also reproached him for misappropriation of 360 million FCFA, constituting part of the GM’s running cost of the state owned radio and television.

Gervais Mendo Ze was prosecuted with fourteen other people (some fleeing and others dead in custody), among them Crtv’s financial service staff and Cameroon’s treasury administration represented by the renowned former Minister of Finance Polycarpe Abah Abah, former mayor Akono Ze Jean Marie and Jean Paul Amang Bitegni all implicated in the 15 billion FCFA television tax scandal

The Mendo Ze acolytes were all sentenced to 18 years in prison and must also pay 15 billion FCFA representing the damage caused to the state and pay a fine of 962 million FCFA.

The Special Criminal Court: President Biya’s Court

Depicting the Special Criminal Court established to prosecute alleged corrupt government officials and the several Alibabas responsible for pilfering from the public treasury as the President’s court is no misnomer. Cameroon Concord News Group calls it President Biya’s court because it is one instrument of power through which the President is reining in on perceived opponents from within his CPDM power conduit.

An attribute of a genuine court is the fairness of the trial proceedings in cases which are brought before the court for trial. It is not the number of convictions entered against accused. A court is legitimate and recognized as such because of its exercise of judicial, executive, legislative and administrative independence. A court that is independent must be accessible to all citizens after all, is equality before the law, not a constitutionally protected value? The Special Criminal Court is lacking in these attributes of impartiality, judicial independence and accessibility. It is perceived more as the President’s Court than a Court of Justice.

Establishing this court was President Biya’s way of saving himself the embarrassment of being humiliated during his perennial trips abroad as the President of the most corrupt countries in the world. This ranking of the country as the most corrupt or one of the most corrupt countries had a potential to hamper President Biya’s personal pecuniary interests far from the borders of Cameroon. There was therefore a personal interest need to establish the court. Another personal interest need was to avail himself of a legal tool under his direct control to consolidate absolute power, blackmail potential rebels and competitors within the system and to stifle any form of institutional opposition. He perceived the court as a tool with which to whitewash his more than thirty years of corrupt governance and the rape of the economy.

With the war against Boko Haram, the fight against corruption using the Special Criminal Court has afforded Paul Biya justification contest in the next institutionally flawed elections in order to eternalize power purportedly to direct the war against terror and the war against corruption. True to the name the President’s Court, the President has exclusive preserve in referring cases to the Special Court and the power to terminate them. He decides who will be arrested, who will be investigated and who will serve time and who will not.

In one instance, he ordered a detained late Minister Bapes Bapes released from remand custody at Kondengui when a warrant was issued for his arrest without the presidential fiat. Prof Titus Edzoa a former Secretary-General at the Presidency of the Republic benefitted from a purported Presidential pardon whose primary purpose was the release of a French citizen Thiery Atangana from jail.

The fear of a presidential referral to the Special Criminal Court on additional charges of corruption under a practice devolved under the supervision of Paul Biya called “rouleur compresseur” pushed Titus Edzoa to rejoin the CPDM Party without a public resignation or repudiation of his membership of the party on which he intended to contest presidential elections prior to his incarceration. Edzoa was a victim of this system of presidential justice when new charges were brought against him when his first imprisonment was about to end in order to maintain him in prison.

Cameroonians want the rule of law to be the guarding principle on which justice is administered in the name of the people.

By Rita Akana, Isong Asu and Soter Agbaw-Ebai

25, March 2021

European leaders hold virtual summit focused on sharing Covid vaccine supplies ⁰

The looming third wave of coronavirus infections and Europe’s struggle to mount a vaccination drive will dominate Thursday’s EU video summit, despite a welcome guest appearance by Joe Biden.

The new US president will address the 27 EU leaders by video link in the evening as Washington and Brussels put on a show of mending ties after the dramatic diplomatic battles of the Donald Trump years.

But his intervention will only be a brief respite from the main matter at hand: How to outpace the resurgent epidemic when drug deliveries came up short and vaccination campaigns started slowly?

Host Charles Michel, the president of the leaders’ European Council, had hoped to hold a substantive face-to-face summit, but was forced to accept a stripped down video conference as EU members reinstated lockdown measures.

The Europeans are angry that UK-based pharma giant AstraZeneca has failed to meet its vaccine delivery promises to the EU while ensuring smoother supplies to former member Britain.

But they are also squabbling among themselves over how to share the vaccines they have received, and not all are happy with the European Commission’s threat to block some vaccine exports.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen’s executive updated its month-old control mechanism on Wednesday, giving the bloc more power to block vaccine shipments to countries like Britain that produce jabs but do not export them.

The leaders will not be asked to vote on the measure, already provisionally applied, at Thursday’s summit, and most would back it if it helps pressure AstraZeneca to boost its deliveries.

But some — like UK neighbour Ireland, and vaccine producers Belgium and the Netherlands — are wary of any move to block exports from operations like Pfizer/BioNTech, which supplies both the EU and UK.

If the pharmaceutical industry’s global supply chains are disrupted, many countries could lose out, as both British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government and von der Leyen’s commission accepted.

‘Win-win situation’

“We are all facing the same pandemic and the third wave makes cooperation between the EU and UK even more important,” they said, in a joint statement released to calm nerves after the EU tightened its rules.

The cross-Channel rivals are in discussions about how “to create a win-win situation and expand vaccine supply for all our citizens” but have yet to come to agreement on how to share AstraZeneca doses.

The firm has delivered the EU only 19 million of the 30 million it had promised in the first quarter — and that pledge was itself a dramatic reduction from the 120 million it contracted for.

With some EU countries more reliant on the cheaper UK-designed vaccine than others, Brussels’ focus has turned to a plant in the Netherlands which the UK had planned to use for its own supplies.

Johnson is holding out, insisting that the UK contract with AstraZeneca must be honoured, but he is worried that Brussels could use the toughened export mechanism to cut Britain off from other EU-made vaccines.

A European diplomat told reporters that the UK and the Commission are negotiating how to better share AstraZeneca doses, and that the EU must not shoulder the shortfall alone.

Another sensitive issue is sharing out the vaccines Europe has received under the Commission’s joint buying strategy.

A group of smaller states, led by Austria, is demanding a revision in the distribution method after they came up short in the first quarter.

There is little sympathy in other capitals for their plight, however, as decisions were made on a joint steering committee where Austria and others failed to make use of opportunities to secure more batches.

Discussions are underway on a compromise, but some countries relied more heavily on AstraZeneca compared to more expensive — but in the end more successful — suppliers.

And, as one diplomat said: “Some countries just decided to buy fewer vaccines, it’s a tactic that can’t be blamed on the EU or other member states.”

Top envoy

Against this backdrop, Biden’s appearance, albeit by video from Washington, may prove a respite. European officials have been delighted with the new US administration’s warmer tone.

On the eve of the summit, Biden’s top diplomat Antony Blinken wrapped up a two-day visit to Brussels after talks with NATO ministers and top EU officials, promising close coordination.

But fearing leaks from a less than secure videoconference, the leaders do not expect to be able to make decisions on many sensitive topics, and talks initially planned for two days will instead end late Thursday.

(AFP)

25, March 2021

How to stay in power forever: A handy guide for President Biya and his other African leaders ⁰

1. Enrich yourself, your family and your allies. Don’t listen to those who tell you that amassing a personal fortune is the old-fashioned way. Just as you need a monopoly on violence, you need a monopoly on wealth creation. You and your family must live in the style commensurate with a sovereign national leader: the mansion and private jet are de rigueur if you are to be taken seriously as the power in the land. You need to sustain an expansive patronage network, and you need the cash to ensure your allies are well rewarded and your enemies are … well neutralised.

2. Build a complex and ruthless security system with competing spy agencies over which you have total control. Your system has two goals: to ensure that your subjects know that any attempt to organise against you would be met with stern measures, including extreme violence; and to keep you fully informed of what allies and rivals are doing at all times. Only a multiplicity of agencies – some spying on each other, but all reporting to you directly – will provide the actionable intelligence essential to your survival.

3. Adopt an overarching ideology that combines a sense of hope and nationalism, such as ‘African developmentalism’. This gives your regime the legitimacy it needs. You are a populist leader – never a dictator. The late lamented Mobutu Sese Seko stole and repackaged the ideas of anti-imperialist Patrice Lumumba, which enabled him to posture as a doughty nationalist. You must freely distribute – in the style of Mao and Stalin – millions of books of your deeply held beliefs. Organise mass rallies where people chant your slogans. Ensure that you bring musicians and singers. Remember: ideology plus bread and circuses.

4. Your role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces is your most important job. Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, said Mao. Organise military parades regularly and allow public holidays for the purpose. Attendance by civil servants should be compulsory. Make sure you wear a full dress uniform bedecked with medals. Boost military spending massively and display your latest tanks and missiles at the parades. Ensure your generals fear and respect you. Reward loyalty with extreme generosity and repay any sign of treachery with extreme violence.

5. Buy the business elite and bribe their foreign friends. Win over top business people with contracts and concessions as long as they pay off your family and allies. You need friends of convenience in the business world to create a class that has a vested interest in your regime. Offer them monopolies in key sectors and make them pay you a percentage of their earnings. Did you say Cosa Nostra? Big foreign companies are even easier. Promise them legal protection and discretion, and they will aid and abet any business malfeasance as long as its lucrative.

6. Get smart about information. Invest heavily in fake news and propaganda against your enemies, and ensure the national story is your story. The internet can be your friend if you are canny. Pay your supporters to defend you and trash your enemies online. Play down accusations of censorship and paternalism. Instead be selective and just block specific publications and programmes that could threaten you. Filter the internet and pay hackers to attack opposition websites. Bribe journalists. If they won’t accept, find friendly businesses to take over the media companies. And if you really have to, occasionally shut down the internet.

7. Co-option is better than repression. Most opponents have a price, so find out what it is and make them an offer. Pick off your opponents one by one. Send in your bad cops, then be the good cop with an offer of a job – maybe to set up a committee to consider the reforms they are demanding. Show them how much more comfortable life can be inside the tent. Your goal is to divide their organisations and attack their credibility. There is nothing more demoralising for an opposition movement than to see one of its key leaders consorting with the president-for-life.

8. Blame the outsiders. Unite your people against the hidden hand of the enemies who threaten your dear country. When the power goes off or the harvest fails, go on state television and announce a search for the foreign saboteurs. If problems continue, nationalise a few foreign companies or seize their assets and hand them to your local allies, all patriots to the core. Organise a few show trials of selected saboteurs. Step up immigration controls.

9. Lie about the economy. Make sweeping announcements of change and promise everyone a brighter future. In the short-term, explain that we will all have to make sacrifices for the common good. Baffle people with lies, damned lies and statistics. Commission state television documentaries on the phenomenal increase in farm and industrial production. Blame at least some of the shortages on the diversion of resources towards our redoubtable national defence industry. Accuse the whining complainants of lacking patriotism.

10. Incumbency and patience are everything. You have the power. Stay on the throne and wait out your opponents. With the accumulation of power over a long period comes a sense of inviolability. This disturbs those around you, especially the ones foolish enough to harbour thoughts of succeeding you. Once in a while, sit them down and explain the realities of power. You have seen off all the most determined opponents for the betterment of your country … and of course for the defeat of its sworn enemies.

Culled from The Africa Report

25, March 2021

Coronavirus crisis getting worse in Cameroon ⁰

The pandemic is getting worse in many parts of the two Cameroons, with the numbers of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise, Cameroon Concord News gathered from a highly placed health official in Yaoundé who sued for anonymity.

The Biya regime medic also pointed out that nothing is being done by the political leadership to help combat the situation.

The Cameroon Covid-19 crisis was raised during an important zoom meeting in the Federal Republic of Germany attended by the much respected member of the German parliament Hon. Christoph Hoffmann.

Last week, the exiled leader of the Southern Cameroons Interim Government Vice President Dabney Yerima said the virus is now in Southern Cameroons. Yerima added that if the Bishops and leaders of other Christian communities including the Muslim Imams fail to act fast, they will be blessing coffins every five minutes.

The war in Southern Cameroons has prevented aid groups from implementing systematic testing, and the so-called regional and divisional hospitals continue to test only the most seriously ill.

Both La Republique du Cameroun and Southern Cameroons are now not only reporting increases in the number of cases but also an increase in the number of deaths.

The situation is concerning noted our source in Yaoundé.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

24, March 2021

Should Biya worry about US President Biden’s Africa policy? ⁰

Will new US President Joe Biden change the situation in Yaoundé? Opposition leader Maurice Kamto certainly hopes so. However, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, who intends to maintain his relationship with the US, hopes that it will not interfere in Cameroonian affairs.

On 19 January – in front of US senators – Antony Blinken was sworn in as US secretary of state. Delaware Democrat Chris Coons asked him about Africa. Blinken replied, saying that “I share your concerns about the recent elections held in Uganda and Cameroon, especially the violence directed against the English-speaking population.”

President Paul Biya’s balancing act

He added that “there are a whole series of places where I think the United States can help make a difference.” Blinken – who is already familiar with Morocco, Djibouti, Nigeria and South Africa – has for years been in favour of a stronger partnership between the US and Africa.

In a speech broadcast on 7 February at the 34th African Union summit, US President Joe Biden echoed this sentiment saying that “America is back. [We will work] to renew our role in international institutions and regain our credibility and moral authority.”

But what form will this turn of events take? As soon as Biden was elected, Cameroonian opposition leader Maurice Kamto welcomed the news. Congratulating the Democrat, he wrote that “The United States is proving that democracy and democratic institutions matter. So does political change. I look forward to working with the Biden administration on a new path for Cameroon.”

A diplomat in Yaoundé adds that “the opposition’s future is also at stake in Washington. Due to the crisis in the English-speaking regions and the fact that opponents are being incarcerated, Paul Biya does not have good press there.”

The fight against Boko Haram as an asset

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya knows that the Anglophone crisis is a subject of concern for Washington, which advocates dialogue to resolve the conflict, while Yaoundé favours the security approach.

“For the moment, the United States has not gone further than the stage of declarations, notably at the instigation of the Senate, but the Biden presidency could go a step further,” continues the diplomat. One of Yaoundé’s fears is that the new US administration will bring up the Anglophone crisis more regularly during UN Security Council meetings, through their ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Thomas-Greenfield, who is an African-American and a seasoned diplomat who was former President Barack Obama’s Africa adviser, knows the continent well and met with Biya at a UN General Assembly in 2016. She has already set up a team to work specifically on African issues in New York.

“However, Paul Biya does not lack assets, such as his army’s fight against Boko Haram, which is important to the Americans,” says an analyst.

To conclude: “On the one hand, he does not want to cede anything to the Americans or the opposition regarding the Anglophone crisis. On the other hand, he does not want Cameroon to be blacklisted or for some of its officials to be targeted by sanctions. He has to find a balance between firmness and tact.”

Culled from The Africa Report

24, March 2021

Southern Cameroons Crisis: Recent military victories are no reason for complacency in the absence of a broad-based, inclusive political settlement ⁰

From 16 January to 7 February, Cameroon hosted the African Nations Championship. Some games were played in the town of Limbe in the South-West region, which is in the grip of an armed conflict between government forces and secessionist militias.

The absence of secessionist violence during the championship may have given the impression that the Anglophone crisis had been resolved – but that isn’t true.

After four years of conflict, the figures are telling: refugees rose from 20 485 in January 2018 to 63 235 in January 2021. In November 2020, the number of internally displaced people stood at 705 000 compared to 679 000 a year earlier. This is paradoxical as secessionist armed groups have struggled to exert military control over the North-West and South-West regions, even if their social hold is real.

Cameroon and neighbouring countries

Defense and security forces have managed to contain secessionist groups’ territorial footprint, particularly in urban centres. National forces are using people’s fear of the separatists’ criminal activities against these groups.

Despite these favourable developments, the growing number of refugees and displaced people indicates a volatile security situation in the regions. Moreover, Cameroon’s partners are increasing the pressure on the government to find a political solution. Local political actors and activists seeking to embarrass the government have echoed these calls.

Cameroon’s approach to the crisis has always encompassed both political and military dimensions.

At stake here is the quality of the political agreement on offer and the impact of solutions favoured by the Cameroonian government to date. Although the military has achieved results, abuses against alleged separatists by security forces have tarnished Cameroon’s reputation internationally. The government’s prioritisation of military responses has probably swollen the ranks of secessionists to the detriment of those actors advocating for a federal state as the solution.

Any political solution must prioritise the active minorities who are preventing the return of stability

Up to 2016, most English-speaking citizens favoured a Cameroonian nation, regardless of the political regime. Today it’s clear that prioritising military action won’t resuscitate the fragile sense of national belonging of many English-speaking Cameroonians. Instead, the military response has likely crystallised the ‘imagined English-speaking community,’ which will undermine any recent gains in the future.

Cameroon’s efforts at finding a political solution haven’t been fruitful. Separatist fever persists despite various efforts such as commissions to promote bilingualism and multiculturalism, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, the establishment of a special status for English-speaking regions, and sentencing separatist leaders.

Both the method and scope of these measures are to blame. Rather than holding talks with the insurgents, the government came up with the steps unilaterally. The national dialogue organised in October 2019 also suffered from a lack of prior consultation. Any political agreement will need the support of a majority of stakeholders to be sustainable.

A lasting solution to the Anglophone crisis requires a change in Cameroonian political practice, which is based on the myth that the government and civil service are infallibile. Government officials see themselves as above the people, who they consider as subjects to be ‘administered’ rather than citizens who can manage their own affairs.

Few secessions have resulted from military victories, but rather a shift in external political dynamics

In terms of scope, the political handling of the Anglophone crisis has mostly followed the ‘administrative’ path that characterises Yaoundé’s political culture. Indeed, the symbolic provisions of the English-speaking regions’ special status were considered inadequate because they benefited only the administrative elites concerned.

The conflict in the North-West and South-West isn’t driven by these elites but by poor and relatively educated young men. These youth are determined to fight with rudimentary weapons against well-armed and trained defense forces. They also clash with elites who they accuse of having little concern for their fate. Any viable political solution must prioritise these active minorities who prevent the return of stability in the former Southern Cameroons.

Military successes shouldn’t lead Cameroon into complacency. South Sudan’s experience indicates that few secessions in Africa have resulted from military victories but rather a shift in external political dynamics. Cameroon faces a situation in which military gains are nullified by mounting pressures for political negotiations from outside the country.

To date, Cameroon’s fight against separatist forces has benefited from the leniency and even cooperation of the Nigerian government leadership. There is no guarantee that this situation will endure, particularly as the new United States administration could take a tougher stance on human rights.

Recent military gains are likely to be nullified by external pressure for political negotiations

To revive national cohesion, Cameroon’s government needs a political solution that encourages active minorities to lay down their arms and turn away from secession. For this to happen, the administrative half-measures put in place must end, and the problem treated with more than lip-service and slogans. Rejecting a return to federalism in the name of territorial integrity is one such slogan often used by civil servants and government representatives.

More than ever, dialogue with all sectors of the English-speaking minority and even the option of federalism must be on the table. Cameroon must avoid sacrificing national cohesion for the obsession with formal territorial integrity. Instead, the country needs innovative ways to forge unity and celebrate its cultural diversity. Cameroonians themselves must reinvent this new form of living together.

Culled from IssAfrica.org