For over seven months, Anglophone Cameroonians have been staging a rebellion that has shaken the country’s government to the core. One would have thought that after such a long period, Anglophones would be tired of the strikes that have disrupted an entire academic year and put courts out of business. Many businesses have collapsed and Silicon Mountain, a software development hub in the South-West regional capital of Buea, is struggling to find its feet after months of government shut down of the Internet and rigorous ghost town operations called by the now outlawed Consortium. Faced with a huge challenge, the government has been helpless. Instead of coming up with effective and reliable policy measures, the government has opted to count on time as a key ally in its bid to make mincemeat of the Anglophone struggle.

The government has miscalculated on many scores. From the beginning, it did not understand that Anglophones were unanimous in their decision to challenge a government whose political decisions have brought a lot of hardship onto many Anglophones. Anglophones have a developed sense of purpose and their sense of unity has established a strong and unbreakable bond among them. Tough times have transformed them into tough people. This resilient people have remained united and steadfast to their principle and their demands have continued to expand over time. Though their initial demands for a federal system of government had been met with ferocious brutality by the government, their will to right the wrongs of the past remains very strong. And this is giving secessionists a field day. Many of them are working hard to win hearts and minds among moderate Anglophones who, right from the beginning, stood for a federal system that will give the regions greater autonomy and authority over their lives.

Secessionists are winning bigly.  The brutality of the military as well as the arrest and detention of many Anglophones and their leaders have made Anglophone Cameroonians to think that an independent Southern Cameroons will be the appropriate answer to their problem. Over the last couple of months, the drums for a federal system of government have become silent while the call for a return to statehood has gained a lot of traction. The radicals, for their part, are calling for outright secession, as they think that the Yaounde government will never be as good as its words, although it has promised to undertake reforms that will address some of the issues that have been raised by the country’s English-speaking minority.

Though not many Anglophones will agree that the government has done a lot to appease Anglophones, it is fair to point out that the government has, over the last months, taken many steps to manifest its genuine intention to address some of the issues that caused the political crisis that has cast it in very bad light. The government’s mismanagement of the crisis has given it a bad name. The ferocious brutality that followed the protests has placed the government on the same stratum as Hitler’s Germany. The arrest and detention of journalists, as well as the media censorship that followed the protests for a federal system have left the government with a blood-shot eye. The government has a lot to do to regain its lost reputation.From the beginning, Cameroonian authorities got it all wrong. The decisions they took to fight Anglophones only turned out to be counter-productive. Their actions have proven that they are frozen in time. They failed to understand that ICTs had connected the world and a little action in one part of the world could be seen in less than no time in other parts of the globe. The Internet has simply revealed that Cameroon is still that bastion of brutality that many people around the world did not know about prior to the neatly planned Anglophone rebellion. Cameroon was only famous for its football and phony peace. But this has now changed. The government is today among the greatest abusers of human rights. Many human rights reports have called the country’s human rights records into question.

On the democratic front, the government has been erroneously priding itself on its bogus democratic credentials, while ordinary citizens continue to deal with abuses. Anglophones have been complaining about marginalization in many spheres of life and the government has recently gone into a charm offensive and it is today bending over backwards to prove that Anglophones are key members of the country. A special section has been created for English-speaking Cameroonians at the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), the school that trains magistrates and administrators. The entrance examination into the school has been launched and the government is doing all it can to prove that the errors of the past could be addressed and that the country could be one and indivisible. Similarly, some Francophone Senior Divisional Officers have been withdrawn from the English-speaking part of the country and they have been replaced by Anglophones who understand the culture and thinking of the country’s English-speaking minority. There is a special section for the practice of the Common Law in the country’s the Supreme Court. These steps, though few, are still laudable.

But for many Anglophones, there is no love lost between the people of former Southern Cameroons and the Yaounde government that had signed an unholy alliance with the French to rob Anglophone Cameroonians of their dignity and culture. Many Anglophones hold that the government is unfortunately shutting the barn after the horse has bolted. Years of marginalization have left their mark on the Anglophone psyche, with almost two million Anglophones fleeing the country and residing in countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Canada, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. From the look of things, it will take a lot of negotiations and appeasement for Anglophones to forgive and forget. Many have lost their loved ones due to government brutality and marginalization. Their country has neglected them for more than five decades. Anglophones hold that the government has been more interested in their region’s wealth than in the people who inhabit that region of the country.

It should be recalled that Cameroon’s oil fields are located in the South-West region of the country and this region alone accounts for more than 30% of the country’s wealth. The entire Anglophone region is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits to the country. For almost 50 years, the Rio Del Rey estuary has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil.In 2014, Cameroon exported US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, was from crude oil. Though global oil prices have, in recent times, taken a nosedive, Cameroon still makes a significant amount of money from oil sales, as production has increased over the last years. The government stands to gain if it heads to the negotiating table with Anglophone leaders, many of whom are either in jail or in exile. And the more Anglophones you have out of the country, the more chaos they can create for the country. Many are mad at the government for not granting them a chance to also serve their own country. Over the last thirty years, not many Anglophones have occupied ministerial positions in Cameroon and certain strategic ministries are out of reach to Anglophones. For more than five decades, no Anglophone has ever headed the ministry of defense. The ministry of finance is a preserve of Francophones, while the ministry of foreign affairs is a no-go-area for Anglophones. This is the kind of injustice and marginalization that have transformed Cameroon into a land of chaos.

Today, schools in the Anglophone region are in total chaos. While the government is giving the impression that all is well, the people in the English-speaking region know that things have really fallen apart. Many Anglophone children are not writing end-of-course exams. After more than six months at home, it will be preposterous for any reasonable person to take such exams. However, there is still a glimmer of hope. The government has till August to address some of those issues that have antagonized the English-speaking minority. If the right policy decisions are taken, the next academic year could take off without hitches. But if the government is still leaving everything to time and luck, then the country will go through a long period of political turbulence, as the next academic years will face the same challenges that have made it hard for young Anglophones to go to school this year.

While anger may have increased the love for statehood among Anglophones, there is still room for Cameroon to become that oasis of peace. The people of West Cameroon may be having a huge appetite for statehood, but there are many Anglophones who think that if granted a federal structure, they could live in harmony with their Francophone brothers in a united and indivisible Cameroon. But the content of such federalism will constitute the next bone of contention. Will the government be prepared to yield much ground just to make Anglophones feel at home in their country? Will the president give up some of his powers just to restore peace and unity in this country that is already going the way of other African countries? What is known, for sure, is that Anglophones will not settle for a system wherein the president will be appointing governors and government delegates. Anglophones are more participatory in their approach to governance, while Francophones have strong faith in centralization. This has been the apple of discord for many years. Anglophones will not settle for a system that will be determined by one individual. They want a system that will have very strong checks and balances. A system wherein the judiciary, the executive and the legislative branch of government are independent of each other. A system that will enable them have full control of their lives and culture.

The government needs to be proactive. It needs to take prompt actions to avert a situation where chaos will replace peace. The longer the crisis lasts, the greater the chances for it to escalate. As the situation in neighboring Nigeria gets worse by the day, the chances are that Cameroon could implode. Biafra is also seeking to secede from Nigeria and this does not augur well for Cameroon. Biafrans have the experience of fighting their government and they know how to get weapons into their part of the country. The government of Cameroon needs to take a look at the situation in Nigeria to fully understand the risk it runs by being indifferent and reactive when it comes the Anglophone problem. If it lets Anglophone secessionists to weave an alliance with Biafrans, then Cameroon will become a boiling pot for a long time. Many Anglophones have been beating the drums of war. What they have not been successful at has been the importation of arms into the country. But with Biafra seeking to walk away from Nigeria, Anglophone secessionists may find good allies in Biafrans and this could spell disaster to Cameroon that has always cut the image of a peaceful country in a rough neighborhood.

To avert such a disaster, the government should make more concessions. It should release all Anglophones held in Francophone jails in Yaounde. With such a gesture, it will be a lot easier to have people with whom to discuss the country’s future. Anglophones have chosen their leaders. They are the people who must negotiate the country’s political future for them. The government should understand that for as long as Dr. Agbor Felix Nkongho, Dr. Neba Fontem, Justice Paul Ayah and Mr. Mancho Bibixy are still in jail, there will be no meaningful discussions on the country’s future. Dialogue is an idea whose time has come. It will be a smart decision to use the negotiating table to achieve peace in Cameroon. Time is of the essence. Letting things drag on is dangerous for everybody. With neighboring Nigeria currently boiling, Cameroonian authorities could be shooting themselves in the foot by displaying such inexplicable indifference and arrogance. It is time to talk and it is only by talking that Cameroon will emerge as a winner in this conflict that has changed the country forever. Cameroon can only be one and indivisible if dialogue replaces dictatorship.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Contributing Editor

Cameroon Concord News Group

About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

Over the last seven months, the world has been watching Cameroon as it sinks into the abyss of despair as the country’s leaders dilly-dally over the issue of federalism which was among the grievances tabled by Anglophone lawyers. As the rebellion started spreading from the epicenters – Buea and Bamenda –to the other cities, government ministers argued that there was no Anglophone problem and the country’s president hastily declared that the form of the state was unalterable and could not be discussed.Such statements did not help matters. They only made it possible for the issue to escalate, as Anglophones poured into the streets of Cameroon. The Diaspora, for its part, thought it was time for it to cut the country’s authorities to normal human proportions. Fame Ndongo, Issa Tchiroma, Paul Atanga Nji and Peter Mafany Musonge became targets because of their unflinching support for a system that has enslaved its own people for more than half a century.

Today, the country’s president has to deal with a huge humble pie as Anglophones threaten to walk away from the country with huge oil and gold deposits. Currently, the government is bending over backwards to address some of the issues raised by Cameroon’s English-speaking minority. Anglophone Senior Divisional Officials have recently been posted to West Cameroon as a confidence building measure. A special entrance examination to the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) has just been launched for the admission of Cameroonians of English expression. These are some baby steps in the right direction. But the sticking point is the discussion of the form of the state; an idea the government is staunchly against and this is causing the conflict to drag on and even escalate in certain circumstances. Schools, police stations and government offices are being burnt down by unknown groups in West Cameroon which are calling for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons. This does not augur well for Cameroon; a country that has always been touted as an oasis of peace in a tough neighborhood. The government’s indifference to some of this violence has created the type of calm that looks like the calm before the storm. Many people across the globe are worried about such unsettling calm as it could spell danger for a country that is surrounded by many fragile states.

However, Anglophones are not worried by the government’s calm. They understand it is wont to sinking into such inexplicable indifference. The government, in their view, lacks the killer punches that can derail the English-speaking minority off its course. This was experienced during the initial phase of the revolution. Despite the government’s intimidation during the initial phase of the conflict, Anglophones haveproven that they are a political force to reckon with. Their will and determination to get what they want remains intact despite the government’s attempts and tricks at puncturing their strategy so as to upset their apple cart. Not even the government’s ferocious brutality in the early days of the revolution was strong enough to strike fear in this people who have put up with marginalization and injustice for more than five decades. They have clearly told the government that they will not be deterred by state terror even as their fellow citizens get kidnapped and ferried to Yaounde where they are being tortured and abused by Francophone torture squads that are inimical to the idea of a federation that will erode the central government’s power and reduce the financial power that government officials wield.

The Anglophone problem has bred a new political philosophy in Anglophones. They have understood that unity is strength. With the experience of the past seven months, they have developed a new political creed – one for all and all for one – and this, in their view, is going to be the new way of doing things in a country that has always considered them as second class citizens. They have understood that the government, through its system of so-called elites, has been using divide-and-rule tactics to keep the majority in abject poverty and ignorance, while an incompetent and visionless minority implements its policy of self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement with impunity. Anglophones are determined to put an end to such outdated thinking and they are not going to yield to any form of pressure or fake promises. They hold that if the government wants to talk to them, it must do so through their own chosen leaders and, in the current context, those leaders are Justice Paul Ayah Abine, Dr. Agbor Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba and many others currently living in exile. Anybody who dares to represent them,without their permission, will be doing so at his own risk.

Cameroon has changed and it will be impossible to return to the status quo ante. The country’s authorities have to be aware of these changes and they should take steps that will help the country heal. Resisting change only gives the country a bad name and reduces the country’s potential to attract foreign investments. The Anglophone minority has proven that the ability of a few to change a system should never be underestimated. With the unwavering support of the Anglophone Diaspora, home-based Anglophones are silently redesigning the political map of a country that was once thought to be unchangeable. The Anglophone Diaspora has transformed itself into a formidable political force that cannot be ignored.Its ability to destabilize Cameroon has been proven. If the government needs peace, it must reach out to this Diaspora that has a huge war chest and an encyclopedic mind that can help development efforts in the country. The Anglophone Diaspora still has a huge stomach for a fight and with a lot of gasoline in its tank; it can help home-based Anglophones to stay the course of this revolution that is threatening to spread to East Cameroon. If the government is counting on time as a partner who can wear out the determination of the Anglophone minority, then it has to think again. Anglophones are a resilient people. They have borne five decades of political and economic marginalization with philosophical calm and they have taken the government’s injustice in stride for half a century. But today, they are sick and tired and are taking on the government with Herculean determination.

Anglophones know that they have to make common cause in order to achieve their goals and driven by their new political creed, they are fully behind those who are in jail. The Anglophones currently languishing in jail are aware that the people of West Cameroon are with them and their morale is up. Justice Paul Ayah Abine, Dr. Agbor Nkongho Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba and Mr. Mancho Bibixy are confident that the odds are in their favour. No military in the world has ever defeated its people when they are united. The government of Cameroon should look into the mirror of history to understand this. The cases of Poland, Tunisia and Egypt are recent situations that should be ringing a bell and should enable the government and the country’s president to revisit their stance on the issue of federalism.

Anglophones are aware of this and those in jail clearly understand that all government actions will come to nought as West Cameroonians are determined to break the chains of bondage and marginalization. Ghost town operations are still in effect as decreed by the now outlawed consortium and the entire academic year has been disrupted. These two actions speak to the Anglophone minority’s ability to throw deadly punches at a government that is trying to flex muscles it does not have. This is causing the government to lose sleep, although the leaders are trying to put up a brave face. Anglophones will never return to the status quo ante, no matter what. They are sick and tired of vain promises. They need concrete actions and, more importantly, they do not trust the government’s so-called elites. They want all of them to be cut out of the cabinet, as they do not represent them. They have done a great job at feathering their own nests and helping their children and family members at the expense of those they are supposed to be representing. Anglophones argue that political change must take place for real peace to return to Cameroon. The old guard has been wasteful and ineffective at holding the country together.  Since the president had declared federalism anathema, Anglophones have upgraded their demand to statehood and this is gradually pushing many moderate Anglophones into the hands of hardcore secessionists who are traveling the world to sell their gospel of secession and they are gradually winning lots of hearts and minds; something that will surely complicate things when time comes for a broad-based national debate on the country’s future.

Breaking the stalemate will require tough negotiations. The economic and political situation in the two Anglophone regions is deteriorating on a daily basis. The situation is compounded by the continuous postponement of the sentencing of Anglophone leaders who have been in jail in Yaounde for more than four months just for complaining about a political dispensation that has been spreading pain and suffering in the country. Anglophones, especially those whose relatives have been killed or arrested are hell-bent on sowing chaos until their loved ones are released or accounted for. They need closure.  The chaos in West Cameroon is reminiscent of what has played out in other African countries that are, today, dealing with many extremist groups that are making life hard for ordinary citizens. While the world may think that the Anglophone problem is confined to the country’s English-speaking region, what it does not understand is that the situation has the potential to spread across the entire country, as Cameroonians across the political spectrum are sick and tired of a system that has brought untold hardship to its own people. While Anglophones have problems that are specific to them, Cameroonians in general have unemployment, poor governance and corruption to deal with. These phenomena have become nightmares that will not go away anytime soon if the current crop of politicians remains in power. These problems constitute a deadly mix which, if not well addressed,might cause the country to implode, especially as the current government is suffering from senile decay and acute indifference to the plight of the suffering masses.

Cameroon needs help. For seven months, the country has been caught in a downward political spiral and this unfortunate situation is gradually tearing the country apart. Cameroonians have to go to the negotiating table to redesign their political system. The old one has been fraught with weaknesses which are hurting the country’s English-speaking minority. These issues can be addressed easily through dialogue. Dialogue is an idea whose time has come. Ignoring it will continue to hurt the country. Anglophones have real issues. The unitary state has not served their interest. The form of the state should be discussed for all to agree on the way forward. Refusing to revisit the form of the state will only inflame and radicalize Anglophones. Cameroon is Central Africa’s engine. If the engine is facing issues, then the entire sub-region is very likely to go through a rough patch. Cameroonians have to talk. Silence is not the answer. On the contrary, silence could be easily misconstrued as indifference and disrespect. This could cause both factions to engage in actions that will stand in the way of negotiations. Silence is not always golden. It could be seen as the calm before the storm that has the potential to shatter any chances for peaceful negotiations. The ball is in the government’s court. It must be proactive. It should reach out to the various stakeholders so that the peace process can begin. Cameroon has all what it takes to emerge from its own ashes as the proverbial phoenix, but it needs a selfless government with a modern mind and great conflict management skills. If these elements are missing, then the country will be stuck in the quagmire of conflict for a very long time. And this is very unsettling to the international community and investors who look forward to participating in the country’s development efforts.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Contributing Editor

Cameroon Concord News Group

 About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

The Military Tribunal of La Republique du Cameroun May 24, 2017, adjourned the case against Southern Cameroons Consortium leaders and twenty-five Southern Cameroons hostages among hundreds or thousands held in Detention and Concentration Camps in unspecified militarized locations in La Republique du Cameroun to June 7, 2017. The reason provided for the adjournment is to enable the Court-martial to deliver a decision on the motions for bail submitted by the defense.

It is significant to recall that the cases brought by La Republique du Cameroun through its proxies against Southern Cameroons Christian Church leaders in Bamenda and Buea were adjourned June 5, 2017. Similarly, the Higher Judicial Council called ostensibly to provide cosmetic palliatives to the grievances presented by Southern Cameroons lawyers will be held on June 7, 2017.

 Maxwell Oben a Southern Cameroonian SCNC activists has remained in jail for over two years above the maximum allowed by the Penal Code was he tried and found guilty for the offence he was charged. Four other Southern Cameroonians, Mr Numnvi, Mr Kongso, Mr Clovis and one other were invited to appear before another Court-martial in Bamenda on June 5, 2017 to answer alleged charges of terrorism.

The cases against the clergy and the main Christian Churches is pending before the Courts of First Instance in Bamenda and Buea. They were adjourned to the June 5, 2017 the same date as the Bamenda Court-martial.  The dates to which these cases were adjourned or fixed for hearing in June 2017 provide evidence of a pre-co-ordination rather than co-incidental scheduling by supposed independent judicial actors.  The June 7, 2017 date of adjournment at the Yaoundé Court-martial intended to deliver a bail application decision and the Higher Judicial Council meeting scheduled for the same date are not independent decisions taken without prior co-ordination.  It is now obvious that none of the cases will be heard on the merit on the adjournment dates. This confirms our opinion that the cases are nothing more but political swords of Damocles held over Southern Cameroons to harass, intimidate and complement other high handed acts of terror, torture and criminality relied upon by La Republique du Cameroun to subdue and control the Southern Cameroons.

The co-coordinating authorities of La Republique through the close scheduling of these matters in different jurisdictions intend to disorient Southern Cameroonians, deprive them an opportunity to mobilize to protest judicial terror against Southern Cameroons civilians, civilian leaders and religious leaders.  The adjournment of the bail decision to June 7, the very day the Judicial Council is meeting is scheduled is intended to serve calculated political and propaganda goals. La Republique knows that the Court-martial may play a balancing act by granting bail under very stringent conditions to the Consortium leaders while keeping Mancho Bibixy and the more than 25 Southern civilians in their dungeon. Similarly, its prized hostage Hon Chief Paul Ayah will remain detained under inhuman military and paramilitary detention although his uncertain professional fate will be determined on June 7, 2017 Higher Judicial Council meeting.

Mr Kongso and others who are in military detention in Bamenda are without lawyers, their lawyers Barrister Bobga and Shufai Blaise Berenyuy haven been forced into exile.  Mr Maxwell Oben remains in Buea Prison haven been charged at the Military Tribunal, then charged again at the Magistrate Court in Buea since Paul Biya’s supposed anniversary celebration of the occupation of the Southern Cameroon more than four years ago.  Several thousands of other Southern Cameroonians are in unspecified concentration Camps in La Republique du Cameroun.

The scheduling of some of these cases in proximate or the same dates in June 2017, will provide its genocide apologist-in-chief Isa Tchiroma the ammunition to tell the world that the judicial system in La Republique works after all. Together with the potential Judicial Council decision lightening the pressure of La Republique’s Francophone judicial imperialism through posting some of their judges back to their territory, it is hoped that La Republique will attempt to persuade the free world that at long last, it had embarked on a mission to resolve some of the grievances underpinning the revolt of Ambazonia.

La Republique hopes that this smokescreen will provide a fig leaf of manipulation for gullible traditional rulers, CPDM gas bags, corrupt journalists Iscariots and academic merchants to send motions of support thanking President Paul Biya for taking critical steps towards resolving the Southern Cameroons problem and then calling for a resumption of schools and courts in the Southern Cameroons.  This reaction will be inimical to the overwhelming interest of Southern Cameroonians.

The fear and pain in the eyes of raped and violated University of Buea female students in military trucks and the lifeless bodies of young Southern Cameroonians cut short by arms procured with money from the rape of the natural resources in their ancestral lands, are good reasons for all Southern Cameroons traditional rulers, political leaders, all and sundry to rally to the battle cry against La Republique’s vampire predators.   The crimes perpetrated by La Republique in the Southern Cameroons have violated the permitted limits of the sacred bonds of spiritual and temporal powers of our Kings and guarantors of our culture and traditions.

Any traditional ruler, political leader or community leader whose conscience did not revolt against the bestiality inflicted on the Southern Cameroons’ civilian population, the militarization of the territory and the collective punishment inflicted on women, men and children in the privacy of their homes and in public places and has instead chosen to side with the criminal occupier has chosen a date with the culture of shame and humiliation. These victims could indeed have been their own children. Indeed, as custodians of our traditions, these victims are their children.  If sending motions supporting the oppression of their own people, is what makes them truly great, then the timeless God of Justice will grant them their wish of eternally sending motions of support until the ends of time, even when the tyrant god they are worshiping and supporting will no longer be there to feed them with the blood of innocent victims.

The plans and plots of the oppressor, La Republique du Cameroun described above will not dampen the liberating spirit of the freedom seeking Southern Cameroonians. That spirit of freedom is loosed and unstoppable. The events of June and thence on, will escalate and not dampen this spirit of freedom.  The free world and Southern Cameroonians know so well that since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons conflict, La Republique has been using outdated models to confront a problem that is no longer entirely within its control, that of the victims of political military justice and that of any single Southern Cameroons leader no matter whosoever. The suffering peoples of the   Southern Cameroons under colonial occupation have finally rediscovered their power and their destiny.  They have finally realized that no weapon, no matter how lethal can kill a liberation ideology. They are indeed unstoppable in their resolve to reclaim their freedom.  Nothing, not even political military justice will stifle the will of the people to be free.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

The Anglophone problem that started in October 2016 is still playing out in earnest and the consequences are mounting on a daily basis. Students have already lost a whole year and courts have been out of service for months. While the government has been flexing its atrophied muscles to strike fear into the minds of determined West Cameroonians, many from the marginalized regions have opted to take the bull by the horn. They hold that the aging government is gradually falling apart and with a little determination, they can attain their objectives. Many groups have emerged and they are sowing terror in the region. West Cameroon, a region noted for peace and tranquility, is gradually metamorphosing into a land of violence as the government watches helplessly and sinks further into the indifference that gave birth to this unfortunate situation. It should be recalled that this situation began with a peaceful demonstration by West Cameroonian lawyers and teachers who were simply calling for better working conditions and an end to the marginalization English-speaking Cameroonians have faced for more than five decades.

The chaos in West Cameroon is reminiscent of what has been playing out in other African countries that are today dealing many extremist groups that are making life hard for ordinary citizens. While the international community may think that the Anglophone problem is confined to the country’s English-speaking region, what it does understand is that the situation has the potential to spread across the entire country as Cameroonians – both Anglophones and Francophones – are sick and tired of a system that has brought untold hardship onto its own people. While Anglophones have problems that are specific to them, Cameroonians in general have unemployment, bad governance and corruption to deal with. These phenomena have become nightmares that will not go away anytime soon if the current crop of politicians remains in power.

The government is really at its wit’s end and over the last thirty years, Cameroonians seem to have been put on a diet by their own government. Cameroonians are losing weight at a very fast pace and many more are losing sleep as they watch their lives go down the drain. The lack of jobs has robbed many young Cameroonians of their dreams and confidence and they blame all of this on policy failure. The government, they say, has simply not lived up to their expectations and they simply do not know how to rid themselves of this system that is unrepentant and determined to push the country to the brink.

But Anglophones have stated very clearly that they are no longer going to be on that diet that is pushing them to their graves. Their initial call for federalism has been upgraded to the restoration of statehood and recent incidents in many parts of the Anglophone region serve as testament to the people’s determination to stand up to the Yaounde government. Anglophones no longer respect national days and events, and this is causing the frustrated government to lose sleep. The Youth Day, a political creation of the government, was a catastrophe, although the government brought in some prisoners and unemployed Francophones to march in Buea and Bamenda just to prove to the international community that things were returning to normal. But the international community is aware of those old tricks and they are simply not producing the desired results. For now, the focus is on 20 May, which in the minds of Francophones, is the national day. But Anglophones are clearly indicating that they are not part of it and are calling for a total boycott of the event.

Government surrogates are in the Anglophone region trying to see how they can out-maneuver the striking West Cameroonians. These surrogates are seeking ways to bring in non-Anglophones to march on that day, but threats proffered by unknown Anglophones groups against anybody caught marching on that day are deterring so many Francophones who just want to receive the little money the government is promising. Life is hard in Cameroon and many Francophones are contemplating putting their lives on the line just to earn the stipend the government will reward them with after the event. They must, however, understand that what they are hearing is not necessarily what they will get. The government is wont to speaking from both sides of its mouth. It hardly fulfills its promises. Those who have doubts should check with the young recruits of the Mutengene Police School. It had been reported that those young men had been promised FCFA 25,000 each if they marched on 11 February, but after the event, they only had FCFA 2,500. That was a huge risk for a small reward.

Also, some of the prisoners who had been used on that day, used the occasion to skip town, with many holding that the real prisoners are the politicians who are robbing the country blind. They argue that they are just victims of a system whose corruption has baffled all economic policies and analyses. The prisoners who are still at large contend that the government is obsessed with the idea of proving that it is winning this fight against Anglophones and this bee in its bonnet is tearing its reputation apart. You never win a war against your own people. You listen to your people and come up with solutions that will restore peace and make the country one and indivisible in the true sense of the expression. The country’s leaders are stuck in an old mentality and this mentality is destroying a country that was once touted across the world as Africa in miniature.

The old thinking that brute force and intimidation will tranquilize a people clearly belongs to the past. The Anglophone issue has clearly proven that. Attempts to intimidate Anglophones in 2016 have only radicalized an entire people. Anglophones are willing to go to jail. They are no longer scared. To them, the wall of fear has come down and the government needs to understand this. It needs to see the negotiating table as that place where long-term solutions to the issues can be found. Deploying troops in two cities will not bring back the lost peace to West Cameroon. The government has deployed troops in West Cameroon’s major cities of Bamenda and Buea, but the other cities are still being used by the striking West Cameroonians and even criminals as their playground. The remoteness of these areas implies that the government cannot really deploy many troops there, and even those deployed there, do not know the region very well. This has been compounded by the fact that the entire population is against anything Francophone and it is doing all it can to make life hard for those they consider as an “army of occupation.”

One would think that after almost seven months of unrest, the government would be all over the place trying to restore its authority and peace in the English-speaking part of the country. From the look of things, the situation is deteriorating on a daily basis with radicals and loose cannons burning schools and police stations in many parts of West Cameroon. Despite all these unfortunate situations, the Yaounde government seems to be frozen in its position. Things are spiraling out of control. Schools have not yet resumed and end-of-year exams, scheduled for May, are gradually hitting roadblocks, as irate West Cameroonians are working day and night to maintain the pressure on a government that is apparently suffering from senile decay and amnesia. Its indifference is legendary and this is costing the country its peace and reputation. The Anglophone educational system has been called into question, and today, the United Nations is investigating to see if certificates that will be hastily issued to students will be good enough for UNESCO to recognize. Even the economy is hemorrhaging jobs and business opportunities, as investors seek safe havens where they can hastily relocate their businesses.

While things are currently looking south in Cameroon, there are still avenues and opportunities for the government to work for lasting peace in Cameroon. Cameroon needs peace. It is a fractured country and the government’s legendary indifference is not helping things. Instead of locking itself up in an old mentality, the government should come down its ivory tower and engage Anglophones in genuine and meaningful discussions. The country is going down the drain and if care is not taken, chaos, that which is tearing apart many countries, could take hold and this will be more challenging to address. Times have changed and intimidation and dictates belong to the past.

Cameroonians are not very dependent on the government economically and financially as they used to some thirty years ago. The crisis that led to the devaluation of the CFA Franc and the reduction of civil service salaries that followed informed Anglophones that if they had to survive, then they had to come up with new and innovative ways of living.  Due to marginalization, many families have sent their children abroad and those children are those who are calling the shots today. After more than thirty years in exile, those children do believe they too must have a say in the running of the country. They are those helping their parents, as the government has simply abdicated its social responsibilities. The social contract between the people and their government has simply been shredded by the government. Today, the guiding principle in Cameroon is “everybody for himself and God for us all”, and this has caused public servants to engage in the looting of state funds. The poor and weak have no place in a country that is gradually becoming a jungle.

Cameroon does not have universal health coverage and this health sector failure is rushing many Cameroonians to their graves. Education,just like health,is still expensive for many Cameroonians. It is the Diaspora that is helping to play the role the government has abandoned due to corruption and mismanagement. If the Anglophone Diaspora has been paying the piper, it also sincerely thinks it should be calling the tune. The government must understand this and it should consider making the Anglophone Diaspora a key partner in its development effort and political decisions. If it fails to incorporate the Anglophone Diaspora into its future plans, then it has planned to fail, as the Diaspora will continue to destabilize the country as it has done over the last seven months. It is time to sit up and accept that times have changed. Sinking into indifference will not take the country out of its predicament. Indifference comes with a huge price tag and Cameroonians are already paying the price for such appalling indifference.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Contributing Editor

Cameroon Concord News Group

About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

Writing about the collapse of the democratic republic in answer to the challenges and perceived injustices of globalisation that gave rise to Fascism, Nazism, Communism and Tyranny, Professor Timothy Snyder in his book ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY” The Bodley Head London 2017 asserts that “history does not repeat itself, it instructs”.

The relevant lessons I have chosen from the 21 lessons that the twentieth century must instruct and inspire our resolve to confront the tyranny that has held our people under bondage and state of slavery for the past fifty-six years are:

1) Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead of what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do. The learned author states that anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy. History records that anticipatory obedience produced Adolf Hitler. Anticipatory obedience produced both Babatoura Ahidjo and Paul Biya. Lately some traditional rulers and political gamblers are known for providing the anticipatory obedience which have encouraged President Biya to pursue the policy of systemic repression and criminality that has been ongoing in the Southern Cameroons for the past fifty-six years.

2) The defence of institutions. Do not speak of our institutions unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after another unless each is defended from the beginning. “Some German Jews voted as the Nazi leaders wanted them in the hope that the gesture of loyalty will bind the new system to them. That was a vain hope”. Are some of our people different from this category of German Jews who supported and sustained their own genocide?

3) Beware the one-party state. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents.

4) Take responsibility for the face of the world. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the Swastika and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.

5) Remember Professional ethics. When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camps directors and businessmen interested in cheap labour.

6) Be wary of paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come. When a purported government opponent and former political prisoner becomes the mouth piece for genocide apology against Southern Cameroonians, and this includes open appeals for the formation of purported vigilantes that have preceded cases of arson, disappearances and other forms of criminality on the watch of marauding police and army, there is need for profound worry.

7) Be reflective if you are armed. But say no to orders to shoot and kill people you swore to protect. The tyrant may already have deployed you to rape, maim and kill. Be sure that doing so has consequences.

8) Believe in the truth: To abandon facts is to abandon freedom.

9) Contribute to good causes: Be active in organizations, political or not that express your own view of life.

10) Learn from peers in other countries.

11) Be calm when the unthinkable arrives: Modern tyranny is terror management. When a terrorist attack occurs, the tyrant exploits it to consolidate power. At times the tyrant organizes the terrorist attack to justify violence and criminality.

12) Be as courageous as you. You must conquer fear and know that victory belongs to the just.

By Chief Charles A. Taku

The Anglophone problem that burst into the global arena in October 2016 remains a major concern for many people around the world, especially as the government is more reactive than proactive. Cameroonians as well as the international community have been caught in a web of thoughts that is gradually eroding their confidence in the Yaounde government that is more intent on papering over cracks than taking concrete measures that will appease the English-speaking minority that really feels marginalized. The crisis that has been playing out for close to eight months will surely not come to an end anytime soon as both parties continue to stick to their guns. The government wants to restore its authority in West Cameroon by hook or by crook, while West Cameroonians who had initially called for a federal system are now stressing that anything short of statehood will not be welcome.

They point to government abuses and the mishandling of the civil disobedience, arguing that the Francophone dominated government in Yaounde will never agree to a system of government that will guarantee civil liberties, good governance and transparent management of state affairs. They are buttressing their argument with the nasty experiences they have lived over the last fifty years, contending that old habits die hard.  The government, they argue, is wont to crooked ways and it will be hard to get the same members of government to start thinking in a way that will bring prosperity to the entire nation and not just to a few who have embraced the ruling party’s devilish philosophy of self-destruction. It should be recalled that what started like a lawyers’ demonstration towards the end of last year has unfortunately spiraled out of control and instead of seeking genuine ways to address the issues, the government has opted to play a cat and mouse game with striking West Cameroonians. West Cameroonians contend that government solutions are, at best, ineffective as the government sometimes resorts to its old ways which are characterized by intimidation and trickery.

In a move to prove that it is really ready for dialogue, the government has created a common law section in the School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), the school that trains civil administrators and magistrates in Cameroon. In the same vein, common law will be applied in West Cameroon and Francophone judges and magistrates will no longer be posted to West Cameroon, except they have a good understanding of common law. Similarly, Francophone teachers will stop plying their trade in the English-speaking part of the country. These promises could address some of the grievances that the striking common law lawyers and teachers had submitted to the government in 2016 if properly implemented. Unfortunately, their strike action was considered by the government as a bluff that needed to be called off to prove that nobody could dictate to a government that has ruled the country for almost 35 years by gossip and intimidation.

Also, the creation of the bilingualism commission is one of the measures the government has taken to address some of the issues raised by the striking and uncompromising West Cameroonians. Its creation did not generate much excitement among West Cameroonians. Members of the commission have recently been appointed by the country’s president and the commission is expected to tour West Cameroon in order to gain a better understanding of the people’s grievances. However, it must be pointed out that the commission’s work has been clearly cut out. It is in charge of bilingualism and multiculturalism in Cameroon. The people’s grievances have nothing to do with the commission’s work. West Cameroonians understand the importance of bilingualism, but they hold that Cameroon, and not the Cameroonian, should be bilingual. West Cameroonians had initially called for a federal system, but they have recently upgraded their demand to the restoration of statehood. This is a political demand that cannot be met by the emasculated Musonge bilingualism commission that is naturally doomed to failure, as it must stick to party ideology and not what West Cameroonians want.

In line with its appeasement strategy, the government recently restored Internet in West Cameroon, a move hailed abroad as a right step in the right direction. However, West Cameroonians are not throwing any flowers at the government, as they consider the Internet as a right and not a favor the government is doing to them. It must be recalled that the disconnection of the Internet for almost a hundred days did hurt the West Cameroonian economy. It did not only roll the region into dark ages, it also hurt the people’s sources of livelihood. The Internet blackout in West Cameroon will go down as the longest in modern history and it was followed by unprecedented brutality on the government’s part with a view to muzzling up the West Cameroonian. Unfortunately, it turned out to be counter-productive as it has gone a long way in radicalizing the entire region and emboldening the “free radicals”, most of whom are loose cannons and can hardly be identified with any structured group.

The internet blackout pushed West Cameroonians to be very creative. They moved their communication systems abroad and the Diaspora took up the fight and placed it at the centre of the world. Demonstrations by West Cameroonians became normal occurrences in many major cities across the world with Washington DC, New York, Toronto, Ottawa, London, Paris, Stockholm and Johannesburg having a feel of the angst inhabiting West Cameroonians who have become the “roving Jews” of Africa. Years of marginalization have pushed almost one and half million West Cameroonians out of their homeland and the majority of this Diaspora that has been hurt by the Yaounde regime will not settle for anything less than statehood. Today, the Diaspora has set up a TV channel, the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation (SCBC), which is beaming images into many homes in West Cameroon where the gospel of statehood is gradually replacing the initial call for federalism. Modern technology has eroded the government’s ability to stop a people from spreading their political gospel across the world. This is indeed hurting the government which is seeing its influence in West Cameroon being washed away through effective communication and politics of persuasion.

After having proposed a few reforms aimed at hoodwinking the people into turning their backs on their leaders and returning to the status quo ante, the government has quietly sunk into silence that many observers consider to be pregnant. Many observers are asking many questions. What could be the reason behind the deafening silence? Could the government be concocting something that will break the back of the revolution? Some analysts hold that while the president has said the form of the state is not up for discussion, the government might be quietly designing mechanisms that will lead to a ten-state federation that some West Cameroonians want. West Cameroonians may be united in their recognition that the Yaounde government has marginalized them, but they also differ with regard to the form the state should take. While others call for statehood, others are still clamoring for a federal system. Even among those calling for federalism, there are heated arguments as to the form the federal structure should take. Admirers of the sixties and early seventies are calling for a two-state federation, while others are calling for a rapid conversion of the ten-region arrangement into a ten-state federal dispensation that will give each region the right to run its own affairs, with the federal government focusing on foreign affairs, defense and natural resources. But there is a common denominator in this struggle. All West Cameroonians are sick and tired of the decentralized structure proposed in 1996, but has never been implemented. The unitary system has shown its limits too. It has spread death and pain across the entire nation. It has not worked for Cameroonians. It has worked for the ruling party as it enables it to hang on to power while the ordinary Cameroonian continues to scrape by and watch politicians loot the national treasury.

The government is still dragging its feet on this issue. It has not yet realized that West Cameroonians will never return to the status quo ante. The burning of schools and intimidation by some cloak-and-dagger organizations should tell the government that something must be done and very fast too. Government authority has simply vanished in many parts of West Cameroon. Police officers, divisional officers and other state authorities are simply at the mercy of the population. In Akwaya, for example, the locals are hoisting the Nigerian flag in defiance of the Yaounde government that has neglected them for more than five decades. The arrest of Paul Ayah has made things more challenging for all government representatives in Akwaya. Paul Ayah is a prominent son of the sub-division and his arrest is highly contested by the people of Akwaya who have always seen him as their hero.  Keeping Judge Paul Ayah, Barrister Agbor Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba in jail is not helping matters. The people are angry and the government which is supposed to serve the people’s interest should seek to appease them. Modern governance dictates that leaders listen to their people. If the government of Cameroon is still not seeing the writing on the wall, then it must be blind. West Cameroonians are moving on and they have crossed the Rubicon. They are simply not worried about the government’s intimidation and trickery. They are focused on getting their demands met and the international community is helping by breathing down the government’s throat. Instead of sinking into a pregnant silence, the government should go to the negotiating table to have a genuine and sincere discussion with the different stakeholders. The issue is more complicated than it seems. The Diaspora is involved and members of the Anglophone Diaspora are wealthy and intellectually sound. Excluding this influential group from any negotiations will be like declaring a war. The Anglophone Diaspora has the wherewithal to influence the course of events in Cameroon. The wisest thing will be to identify those influential West Cameroonians in the Diaspora and include them in the negotiations. If not, the country will continue to go through a rough patch. Political turbulence is not good for a country that is still struggling to gain economic momentum. Sinking into silence will also not cut it.

The government’s silence is hanging over the country like the Sword of Damocles. Every blessed day, Cameroonians believe that a silver lining might appear on this thick dark cloud that has been hanging over the nation for months. West Cameroonians have clear demands. They have been victims of marginalization for over five decades. They want the government to stop dealing with issues in a cavalierly manner. They want a system of governance that will guarantee their rights and protect their culture. While many of them could be bilingual, they still see French as the oppressor’s language and would like to reduce contact with a language that reminds them of their economic and political woes. The Anglophone problem has made its way to the international community. Many people around the world believe that federalism holds out a lot of hope for a country that is struggling to hold together a diverse group of people who are culturally different. If Cameroonians have to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the government must engage West Cameroonians in a frank and sincere dialogue. The old political dispensation has failed West Cameroonians. It has brought them untold pain and suffering. They want the government to act immediately. The government should adopt new ways and it should see dialogue as the way forward. True leaders dialogue and seek solutions to issues. Silence cannot be the answer. If the government fails to embrace dialogue as the way forward, then Cameroon will, forever, be stuck in political turbulence.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Cameroon Concord News Group

About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

Over the last weeks, the government has been talking about dialogue and how the grievances of the Anglophone minority are being addressed in order to restore the country’s shaky peace. Current efforts by Anglophone Cameroonians to ensure an end to the marginalization it has suffered for fifty-six years have really hit the target and are serving as a bitter pill for the government to swallow. Though the government has been bending over backwards to address some of the issues the country’s English-speaking minority has complained about, it sometimes still resorts to its old tricks to find out if some of those outdated pranks can actually produce the desired results. Instead of doing the right thing, it has been urging its surrogates to engage in operations which the population considers as provocative and meaningless.

Over the last months,it has organized several sporting events in Buea and Bamenda, as well as ferrying criminals and unemployed Francophones to the English-speaking region for them to march during national events such as the Youth Day which took place on February 11 and Labor Day on May 1, believing that such activities will help dissolve the will and determination of a people whose resolve is unbreakable. West Cameroonians know that there is something in the offing regarding the upcoming National Day on May 20, which is highly contested by the English-speaking minority. By engaging in such disgraceful activities, it is clear that the government is still finding it hard to swallow the bitter pill the English-speaking minority has administered to it. Its underhand operations aimed at stifling the civil disobedience are simply giving the country a bad name and eroding Cameroon’s image as an oasis of peace in a sea of turbulence. The world is watching Cameroon in bewilderment and disgust as the country slides down the slippery slope of chaos. The inability of the government to find appropriate solutions to this issue has brought it down in everybody’s estimation.

Wont to imposing its will on the peace-loving people of Cameroon, the Cameroonian government initially felt its authority had been called into question by the English-speaking minority and it was time for it to display its muscles. The government of Cameroon, that has always thrown dust into the eyes of the international community by brandishing its pseudo-democratic credentials, lost control of itself and unleashed a reign of terror on students and lawyers who were simply demonstrating their frustration with a political system that has never really taken their plight into consideration when it comes to planning the country’s development. The government’s iron-fist approach has caused peaceful demonstrations to become a months-long civil disobedience, with courts and schools in the English-speaking part of the country remaining closed for over seven months.

However, despite the ferocious brutality, the English-speaking minority has made up its mind and is very determined to stand its ground. With their leaders languishing in jail and after more than five decades of marginalization, with thousands of lives destroyed and about 30% of the region’s population living in exile, it will be hard to placate West Cameroonians into being part of this union that has brought more pain than pleasure to them.

Today, the government has figured out that intimation will not cut it. It is seeking ways to engage the English-speaking minority in a dialogue that will appease them and rebuild confidence in a country that has neglected 20% of its population for more than five decades. In a bid to convince the rebelling West Cameroonians, the government is acknowledging some of its mistakes and it is trying to yield some grounds vis-à-vis the demands of the English-speaking minority. Its surrogates are currently speaking a different language and all those who tried to argue that there was no Anglophone problem, have all eaten their words. Issa Tchiroma, Fame Ndongo, Atanga Nji and Laurent Esso are all keeping a very low profile to ensure that they do not make a bad situation worse. Their arrogance and lack of sound understanding of the current breed of Anglophones is responsible for the escalation of the conflict in Cameroon. They simply did not understand that after five decades of marginalization, West Cameroonians had left the country in droves and after many years abroad, they have become a formidable political force that cannot be overlooked. They even failed to understand that a monkey does not provoke a lion where there are no trees. Home-based Cameroonians know the source of their strength, especially their financial power. The government has taken a blow to the liver and West Cameroonians are simply not scared of it. It must look for new and innovative ways to engage with an intellectually-sound and financially rich Anglophone Diaspora if it really wants to lay this issue to rest. But it must first of all release all those kidnapped and taken to Yaounde.

The government is calling for peace, but West Cameroonians are not buying into whatever peace it is selling. The government seems to be talking to a wall and the proof of its failing efforts is the boycott by West Cameroonians of all the events it has been organizing in the English-speaking part of the country ever since its stand-off with the English-speaking minority started. It will be preposterous for the government to think that it can deceive West Cameroonian into forgetting the Kafkaesque brutality that was unleashed on them by their own government. If there has to be any dialogue, then there must be some confidence building measures. The government has to swallow its pride and accept that things have changed and that Cameroon will never be the same again. The Anglophone minority has changed Cameroon for good. No dialogue can take place when Agbor Balla, Paul Ayah, FontemNeba and Mancho Bibixy are still in jail, with many others still on the run. It is hard to talk about peace when many have been killed and hundreds are still fleeing for their lives. If the government is serious about restoring peace, it must start by releasing all those who have been jailed and granting amnesty to all those who have fled the country. It should also be prepared to account for all those who have been killed. A lot of things can be forgiven, but they will never be forgotten. West Cameroonians will be happy to bury their heroes on their own land and they will want to make sure that they have not lost their lives in vain.

The government has gradually been displaying its “olive branch” though West Cameroonians hold that its intentions may not be genuine. It has, on several occasions, spoken from both sides of its mouth and this is not inspiring confidence. It has promised that West Cameroonians will have a section at the School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), the school that trains civil administrators and magistrates in Cameroon. Common law will be used in English-speaking parts of Cameroon and Francophone judges and magistrates will no longer be posted to West Cameroon, except they have a good understanding of Common Law. In the same vein, Francophone teachers will stop plying their trade in the English-speaking part of the country given that their rudimentary knowledge of English is hurting many West Cameroonian kids.

Its restoration of the Internet in West Cameroon is a step in the right direction, but the disconnection of the Internet for almost a hundred days is one thing that has hurt many Anglophones. It did not only roll them into the dark ages, it also hurt the sources of their livelihood. The Internet blackout has brought untold hardship and pain to firms and citizens of the affected regions. The South-west region’s Silicon Mountain is today struggling. While some of the start-ups are returning, West Cameroonians are still not sure that all of them will return to the Southwest regional capital of Buea. Banks, micro-finance institutions and money transfer agencies are gradually picking up. The Internet blackout has been a disaster to the English-speaking region’s economy and the ghost towns designed to draw the government’s attention to the people’s plight is sapping the economy of its vitality. But West Cameroonians understand that to eat an omelet, you must break eggs. If the ghost towns can help West Cameroonians have a better destiny at the end of the process, then they are prepared to follow the instructions of their leaders. They hold that fifty-five years of sheepish subservience to the Yaoundé government have ruined the destinies of their children, with many living in exile.

Also, the creation of the bilingualism commission is one of the measures the government has taken to address some of the issues raised by Anglophones. Its creation did not generate any excitement among West Cameroonians. Members of the commission have recently been appointed by the country’s president and while it is too early to judge the commission’s work, it is clear from the appointments that the government is not ready to walk away from its old ways. The commission is being chaired by Peter Mafany Musonge, a former prime minister, who drew a lot of flak following a hate speech delivered in Buea, the south west regional capital, against North westerners. The commission’s decision to tour West Cameroon has come in for castigation as many see the tour as a waste of taxpayers’ money. The commission’s work has been clearly cut out and touring the English-speaking region of the country will not change a lot as many on the commission belong to the ruling party which is wont to doing things for political expediency. Mr. Musonge, himself an Anglophone, has been a magnet for controversy. His knowledge of bilingualism and multiculturalism leaves much to be desired. He is being castigated for using his political office to feather his nest. Many West Cameroonians, especially those in the Diaspora, question the rationale behind the appointment of a man who is struggling with age and health issues to lead a commission that is supposed to foster mutual co-existence in the country. Many, especially among the Anglophone Diaspora, argue that such an important commission should have been the subject of wide consultations with opposition parties and the Diaspora that has become a formidable political and economic force in Cameroon. The Diaspora contends that the government is still ignoring Anglophones and their problems though there are four West Cameroonians on the twelve-member commission.

If the government of Cameroon needs genuine peace, then it must start practicing justice. Instead of considering the West Cameroonian as an enemy, it should see him as a resource,a fellow citizen in his own right, who if well utilized, could make significant contributions to efforts at lifting the country out of poverty. It must also consider West Cameroon, not just in terms of its resources, but also as a region that is in dire need of development. It should be pointed out that West Cameroon accounts for about 60% of the country’s wealth. It is blessed with many resources, including oil, gas, diamond and timber. Its rich sub-soil has brought lots of economic benefits to the country. For four decades, the Rio Del Rey estuary,located in the southwest region, has been the source of more than 90% and at times 100% of all the country’s hydrocarbons, specifically oil.In 2014, Cameroon exported US$5.88 billion worth of products, of which US$2.65 billion, about CFAF 1,650 billion, was from crude oil. This is a significant amount of money and some of this money should be reinvested in the region, especially in Ndian Division where the oil fields are located.

The government’s failure to equitably share the country’s oil wealth is one of the issues that is hurting many West Cameroonians. Instead of viewing demands by West Cameroonians as a display of arrogance and a bitter bill, the government should see the current situation as a wake-up call. After fifty-six years of marginalization, West Cameroonians feel it is time to try other things. The unity they had sought with East Cameroon has only brought them untold hardship and pain. They want a real evaluation of the situation and they are brandishing federalism and secession as possible options. The government has to listen to them if it really wants to come up with a lasting solution. Injustice has caused West Cameroonians to see rebellion as a means of liberation. The government must now come to the table with good policies that will ensure that Cameroon remains one and indivisible. It must shun manipulation and it must embrace political transparency, social justice and genuine unity through a system the people will choose. Cameroon can still be indivisible within a federal structure. The United States, Canada and Germany are all united countries within a federal structure. It is time for the government to take the right measures for Cameroon to be spared the scourge of conflict that has affected many of its neighbors. Cameroon stands to gain if its leaders listen to those who feel marginalized. The Anglophone problem may be a bitter pill, but it should also be seen as the pill that sometimes cures many diseases. If the government can swallow its pride, then it will stop seeing the Anglophone problem as a bitter pill. It will instead view it as an opportunity to redesign the country’s fate and future.

 By Dr. Joachim Arrey

Cameroon Concord News Group

About the Author: The author of this piece is a keen observer of Cameroon’s political and economic landscape. He has published extensively on the country’s political and economic development, especially in the early 90s when the wind of change was blowing across the continent. He has served as a translator, technical writer, journalist and editor for several international organizations and corporations across the globe. He studied communication at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and technical writing in George Brown College, Toronto, Canada. He is also a trained translator and holds a Ph.D.

There is a letter in circulation from the Catholic Bishops of Cameroon signed by the Arch Bishop of Douala. This is a second letter written by the Bishops of Cameroon. Like the first letter, this letter fails to clearly identify the problem the writers purport to be concerned about. I find the use of contentious slogans like safeguard of “unite nationale” and similar language which Isa Tchiroma has consistently used in relation to the subject matter of the Bishop’s letter troubling.

The good news is that the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda came out with a comprehensive letter that dispassionately identified the profound causes of the crisis and made attainable reasonable proposals for comprehensive dialogue for the resolution to the crisis. Significant national and international actors have since endorsed the proposal of a comprehensive dialogue to resolve the crisis made by the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda. From the late palliatives announced by the government, it is obvious that some of the proposals made by the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda might have influenced governmental action; at least too little, too late. It is discernible from an anxious reading of the first letter of the Bishops of Cameroon that of the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda and the present letter of the Bishops of Cameroon that the latest letter of the Bishops of Cameroon is actuated by political rather than Christian motivations.

The Christian value of their letters is mitigated by the vacuous content on details and rigour in confronting the truth that the Gospel of the Cross teaches. Their peers in the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province and a significant number of clerics from many denominations have contemporaneously denounced the ongoing egregious violations on armless citizens, the politicization of military justice, the genocide, the cultural genocide and several international crimes that have shocked the conscience of humanity in the territory of the Southern Cameroons. These late and timid reactions expose these prelates as shepherds that abandoned the flock in time of need. I find their timid condemnation of the frivolous and vexatious cases against the Bishop and Church of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda and the religious leaders of other Christian Churches surprising and unjustified. There are discernible attempts made by the Bishops of Cameroon in their two letters to impute some form of blame on Southern Cameroons civilian victims for articulating their grievances through peaceful and legal means guaranteed by multilateral treaties which Cameroon is state party. By omission or by practicing the gospel of Pontius Pilate, they may by default be emboldening and strengthening the hand of tyranny.

Their unfortunate ploy to balance their cursory concerns of the legally and morally unjustified use of excessive force by state actors who are bound by the Geneva Conventions (1949) to respect the sanctity of civilian lives, avoid actions in their deployments that will harm civilians and civilian targets is regrettable. If the actions of these prelates are intended to secure a place for them in a future comprehensive dialogue to resolve the crisis, I am afraid, they have overplayed their relevance. The crisis concerns the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda. The Bishops of this Ecclesiastical Province have spoken and we have taken note. Along with the Church, they are presently persecuted by proxy using senior members of the military who by military discipline will not form or be members of activist civil society associations. The bastardisation of the educational system harms Catholic education and the social teachings of the Church. The question, I must ask, who stands to gain from these crimes? And who stands to gain from the persecution of the prelates and church leaders? The spiritual underpinnings of these actions and the ruthless attempts to control, dominate and terrorize every person and institution that stand on the path of those who hope to eternalize power by mystical spiritual means are in the public domain. Some call it spiritual warfare. We Christians are ready and prepared for this phase of the battle as well. This is therefore a time for a profound critical re-commitment to our Christian faith and to the tenets of freedom and justice.

As a Catholic Christian, I strongly urge the Bishops of Cameroon to advice the government of Cameroon to critically read the letter of the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda in which they confronted the truth with biblical inspiration and the faith in the Christian values.

For this reason, the letters are unnecessary and unwarranted.

Chief Charles A. Taku

The ILA (Nigeria) Committee on Justice and Human Rights, acting under the protective mandate of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, is concerned over the ongoing events in the Republic of Cameroon and has considered it imperative to add its voice to the variously expressed opposition to the wanton violation of the rights of the people of  English speaking Provinces of Cameroon by the Government of the Republic of Cameroon.

The facts upon which the intervention of the Committee is established, as verified by CNN, Amnesty International and the African Bar Association, are as follow:

1. That residents of Cameroon’s two English-speaking provinces have longstanding grievances against the largely-francophone central government, complaining of economic marginalization and the imposition of French legal and education systems upon them;
2. That in November and December 2016, Anglophone lawyers led protests against the use of French in courts, resulting in clashes with police in which protesters were killed;

III.         That the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) and Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), responded with series of strikes and “Operation Ghost Town” – a form of nonviolent resistance that requiring all supporters to stay at home;

1. That following the strikes, schools and courts in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon have been shut since November 2016;
2. That on January 17, the government banned the CACSC and the SCNC, holding them responsible for the protests. The CACSC President Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla and Secretary General Dr. Fontem Neba were arrested on charges relating to terrorism, and are yet to regain their freedom and have not been offered all the necessary facilities for fair and impartial trial.

Being aware that the issues leading to the current impasse are not new, the Committee takes cognisance of the following:

(a)  that the current situation is intimately linked to the events that occurred in British Southern Cameroon in the context of decolonisation having its root in the League of Nations Mandate System that partitioned Cameroon between Great Britain and France and which culminated in the plebiscite of the United Nations on Southern and Northern Cameroon independence question;

(b) That matters arising from the plebiscite have been a subject of litigation and discussion at several international forums, particularly, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples;

(c) That the Committee is aware that the facts presented to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights on the Southern Cameroon (‘Ambazonia’) in the case of Gorji-Dinka v Cameroon (2005) AHRLR 18 (HRC 2005), particularly, paragraphs 2.1 to 3.2, were unchallenged by the government of Cameroon;

(d) The Committee also takes cognisance of Kevin Mgwanga Gunme et al v Cameroon (communication 266/03) in which, after it had painstakingly considered the position of both parties, the African Commission made the following findings:

• On the facts presented that Cameroon’s law enforcement officers were employing torture, amputations and denial of medical treatment to suppress the Southern Cameroon question, against the claim of government of Cameroon that the agitators had perpetrated terrorist acts in the country, the Commission found Cameroon liable, emphasising that the methods employed by Cameroon were unjustified;
• On the imposition of French on the Anglophone regions, the Commission found that it was wrong for institutions, such as banks to force Southern Cameroon based companies to change their basic documents into French in violation of Article 2 of the African Charter;
• On the failure of Cameroon to guarantee fair trial to the Anglophone activists, the Commission found Cameroon in violation, for:

–       transferring individuals from Southern Cameroon to Francophone Cameroon for trial by military tribunals,

–      denying interpreters to those  tried in civil law courts;

• The Commission found (concerning the individuals that were tried in French without the help of interpreters) that, having denied them the opportunity to adequately prepare their defence, Cameroon violated articles 7.1.b, 7.1.c and 7.1.d of the Charter.
• The Commission was categorical in finding that the tendency of military tribunals is to act as an extension of the executive, rather than the judiciary, and that they are not intended to try civilians but to try military personnel under laws and regulations which govern the military. The Commission finds that trying civilians by the Yaoundé and the Bafoussam Military Tribunals was a violation of the right to fair hearing;
• The facts before the Commission showed cases of suppression of demonstrations with excessive force as well as the unlawful arrest and detention of protesters, peaceably exercising their right to freedom of assembly. The Commission found that some of the detained persons were acquitted while some died at the hands of security forces or in detention. The Commission found Cameroon in violation of article 11 of the African Charter.
• The Commission also condemned the relocation of business enterprises and location of economic projects to Francophone Cameroon, which generated negative effects on the economic life of Southern Cameroon as a violation of article 19 of the Charter.

(e) Having carefully considered the similarities of behaviour of the government of Cameroon that gave rise to the aforementioned cases to those now being employed by the government (and which show that Cameroon failed to implement the recommendations of the Commission), it is the view of this Committee that for their currency and relevance to the presence situation, fitting to adopt and reiterate the recommendations and to strongly urge the Cameroonian government to take all necessary steps to implement the findings as an important step towards the resolution of the historic Southern Cameroon question.

(f)   Accordingly, we call on the government of Cameroon to, among others:

• release forthwith all those who are currently detained or are being tried for and in respect of matters arising from the southern Cameroon question;
• commence a process of national dialogue and payment of compensation to all individuals whose rights have been violated by the unwarranted use of force by the government of Cameroon against the people of Anglophone regions of Cameroon.
• address the grievances expressed by the English speaking Provinces of Cameroon through its democratic institutions. The 1993 Buea and 1994 Bamenda Anglophone conferences raised constitutional and human rights issues which have been a matter of concern to a sizable section of the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon for quite a long time;
• immediately begin sincere, inclusive and purposive process of consultations towards the amendment of 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon to address the demands of the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon, particularly since it did not accommodate the concerns expressed through the 1993 Buea Declaration and 1994 Bamenda Proclamation;
• abolish all discriminatory practices against people of Southern Cameroon, including equal usage of the English language in business transactions;
• stop the transfer of accused persons from the Anglophone provinces for trial in the Francophone provinces;
• ensure that every person facing criminal charges be tried under the language he/she understands;
• locate national projects, equitably throughout the country in accordance with economic viability as well as regional balance;
• enter into constructive dialogue with the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon, and in particular, CACSC and the SCNC, to resolve the constitutional issues, as well as grievances which could threaten national unity; and
• to carry out judicial reform towards guaranteeing the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
• That the Southern Cameroonians’ should cooperate with sincere and meaningful attempts by the government to resolve their grievances by constitutional means.

Dr Amos O Enabulele,

Chairman

ILA (Nig) Committee on Justice & Human Rights