Conflict in the Southern Cameroons

By

Mbah Vitalis

SCNC-UK

• 

  Cameroon has its roots in colonial history just like any other

  African country. During the 19th century, the territory of

  Cameroon was ruled by many local kingdoms. In the 1880s,

  the Germans in their quest for colonisation took control of

  Cameroon, making it their colony in 1884. After World War I,

  when Germany was defeated the League of Nations handed

  control over the territory to Britain and France who divided it

  and established separate administrative systems. Both

  countries assumed responsibilities over the territory until after

  the second world war when many African countries started

  demanding their independence.

  During this period, Britain did not grant independence to

  Southern Cameroon, saying that they were not economically

  viable and could only survive by uniting with Francophone

  Cameroon or Nigeria. In a plebiscite organised in the British

  Administrative part of Cameroon on the 11 of Feb 1961, the

  northern part of Anglophone Cameroon voted to join Nigeria.

  Neither option was as popular in the southern part which, in

  the absence of a much-preferred option for separate statehood,

  ultimately joined with French Cameroon.

  When the two territories reunited in 1961, a new constitution

  was drafted to define the new union as a federal entity in

  which the autonomy of the English-speaking minority would

  be protected. However, in 1972, a controversial referendum

  transformed the federation into a unitary state, effectively

  ending the autonomy of the Anglophone regions. The fact that

  the will of the Anglophone population was overruled in 1961

• 

  2

  and the subsequent systemic discrimination and

  marginalization they suffered under successive governments

  dominated by Francophones planted the seeds of the current

  separatist conflict.

  The conflicts and crises in the Cameroon Anglophone region

  are between the part of the country that was once run by the

  British (1916-1961), today widely referred to as Ambazonia

  and the larger part once ruled by the French (1918-1960).

  These conflicts were foreseen in the decolonisation of colonial

  countries, peoples, and territories.

  The conflict began in October 2016

  with teachers and lawyers taking to

  the street protesting the infiltration

  of the French legal system into the

  Anglophone systems. By the end of

  2017 this turned into an armed

  struggle and has of date resulted in

  a civil war. It should be noted that

  in the conflict since September 2017 1,850 people have died;

  most schools have been closed for the past three years;

  than 170 villages have been destroyed; 530, 000 people have
• been internally displaced and 35,000 have sought refuge in

  neighbouring Nigeria. The conflict has also devasted the local

  economy which accounts for about one fifth of the country’s

  GDP.
• The conflict started when lawyers and teachers took to the

  streets protesting that the government should stop sending only lawyers and teachers who spoke French and not English to manage the affairs of the Judiciary and Educative sectors of
• the anglophone regions. Those who could not speak French

  were brutally handled by the forces of law and order.

  The civil society then joined the lawyers and teachers and

  they were equally brutally handled by the police. The interim

  Anglophone government of Southern Cameroon has declared

  that the cities become ‘Ghost Towns’ on Mondays, when no-

  one goes out, as a protest to the Francophone government.

  The majority of the protesters were also brutally treated by the

  police and many trade unions like the Consortium were

  banned. Many union members who were to dialogue with the

  government were arrested while others are still on the run.

  Those arrested were charged with Terrorism and an attempt to

  change the form of the state from a Unitary State to a Federal

  State what it has once been since the 70s. The government

  became aggressive in handling the crisis, even shutting down

  the internet in the two anglophone regions to stop people

  organising and passing information, or receiving orders from

  supporters in the diaspora.

  The president of French Cameroon who has been in power

  since 1982 failed to manage the conflict adequately and after

  criticism from the international community he restored

  internet connection into the regions and released some of the

  actors arrested at the beginning of the crisis.

  The move was seen by a majority of Anglophones as a sham

  by the government and on the 1

  st

  of October they tookto to the

  street and restored their independence and imposed their

  supremacy in the region by hoisting the Ambazonian Flag.
• 4

  The government, repressive as they have always been, killed

  about 3000 people, while about 600 000 were displaced.

  The conflict has been dragging for years now with Separatists

  on the one hand claiming that independence is just around the

  corner while President Paul Biya and his government still

  think a very quick and strong military intervention will give

  them victory.

  Ceasefire talks in #Cameroon reflect government finally understands that armed force cannot solve the underlying cultural conflict. Because of the suffering and bitterness of three years of war, Ambazonia must now be on the table.

  — Herman J. Cohen (@CohenOnAfrica) July 6, 2020

   The conflict has already left so many displaced persons and so

  many killed in the Anglophone regions that it is only the

  intervention of both local and international communities that

  is likely to bring it to an end.

Mbah Vitalis