Military parades and civilian march pasts marked the 53rd edition of Cameroon’s National Day on May 20. It’s frequently framed as a day of national unity by the authorities, but that framing rings hollow with millions of citizens in Cameroon’s English-speaking North West and South West regions.

For many in the two regions which constitute 20 percent of Cameroon’s nearly 30 million inhabitants, it’s a stark reminder of betrayal, marginalization, and bloodshed – and that was on full display on Tuesday in several parts of the Anglophone regions.

Images of brute violence surfaced online showing suspected separatists beating up school children who had set out to March.

In Kumbo Diocese – a flashpoint of separatist violence, Bishop George Nkuo told Crux that the town woke up Tuesday to the sound of gunfire and explosions.

“We are celebrating national day in Cameroon today and this morning we got up in Kumbo to gunshots and a heavy explosion,” Nkuo said.

“This again is to announce that all is not well in Cameroon. While some people in Cameroon may be celebrating this morning, we got a strong reminder here that there is no peace and people are living in fear,” he told Crux.

This dates back to May 20, 1972. On that day, a controversial referendum organized by Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, scrapped the federal constitution that was the mainstay of a fragile union between La Republique du Cameroun – that gained independence from France in 1960 – and the British Cameroons, which gained independence from Britain a year later.

The resultant unitary state was seen by Anglophone Cameroonians as a violation of the federal constitution, and a step towards the assimilation of Anglophones. And so, what Ahidjo sold as a blueprint for national unity ended up as the seeds of today’s disunity.

For decades, Anglophones complained. They protested, asking for equal treatment under the law, but these complaints were either just ignored, or brutally suppressed.

The pent-up anger burst into the open in 2016 when teachers and lawyers in the two Anglophone regions took to the streets to protest the imposition of French in Anglo-Saxon schools and courts. Again, the government responded by imprisoning the leaders of the teachers and lawyers trade unions, and by using lethal force against protesters.

The door to dialogue was thus shut close, and a separatist uprising ensued, with many taking up arms to fight for the creation of a new state for Anglophone Cameroonians to be called Ambazonia.

Nearly a decade of fighting has left at least 60,500 people dead, and more than a million displaced. Entire villages have been burned down; schools and hospitals have been destroyed.

“Those of us who love this land want to see concrete measures taken to arrest this senseless war,” Nkuo told Crux.

“It’s a cry for peace, justice and reconciliation. Our people have suffered enough. There is no celebration here in Kumbo and there is a deadly silence,” the bishop said.

The government has made some efforts to bring about peace. In 2019, it initiated what it called a Major National Dialogue.

The National Dialogue made a series of proposals, including the adoption of a special status for the two Anglophone regions; the restoration of the House of Traditional Chiefs; the immediate relaunch of certain airport and seaport projects in the two regions; the rapid integration of ex-combatants into society; the deployment of Bilingual teachers to Anglophone schools, and the deployment of Anglophone lawyers to Common Law Courts.

Separatists have dismissed all these concessions as too little, too late, insisting they will continue to fight for the freedom of “Ambazonia.”

It seems like the option for independence resonates with most Anglophone Cameroonians, going by the results of a study carried out in 2019 by the late Cardinal Christian Tumi.

The prominent religious leader conducted a survey before the Grand National Dialogue which revealed that 69 percent of Anglophone respondents expressed a preference for secession rather than federation or decentralization. Interestingly, the questionnaire did not explicitly offer secession as an option, but many respondents wrote it in under “other options.”

President Paul Biya has made it clear that Cameroon will remain “one and indivisible.”

The celebration of the National Day is yet another emphatic statement to that effect.

Archbishop Andrew Nkea, who doesn’t believe that the solution to the Anglophone Problem lies in secession, told Crux that only love will help Cameroon overcome its many problems.

“As Cameroon celebrates its National Day, I have only one message to all Cameroonians, citizens and leaders: Love Cameroon,” Nkea told Crux.

“When I look at the way Cameroonians function, it is difficult to be convinced if we love our country. Love Cameroon and always work for the good of the country and not for individual benefit,” he said.

“Love Cameroon means dying to ourselves and sacrificing what we want for ourselves so that the country may live. Love Cameroon,” the archbishop said.

Source: Crux

Biya and his Francophone regime on Tuesday marked the 53rd anniversary of its National Day with military and civilian parades held across the country.

In the capital Yaoundé, President Paul Biya presided over a ceremony that featured hundreds of soldiers and civilians marching in front of national and international dignitaries.

A contingent of the Nigerian Armed Forces also participated in the parade, underscoring growing military cooperation between the two neighboring countries.

“Cameroon and Nigeria have excellent relations as neighbors. We collaborate in several military aspects to fight terrorism, especially terrorist group Boko Haram,” Cameroon Army spokesperson Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo told reporters. “The presence and participation of the Nigerian army during this very important day in Cameroon is a testament to the cordial relationship existing between both countries.”

Marches also took place in all 10 regions of the country, including the war-torn Anglophone areas, where separatist fighters had imposed a lockdown to disrupt the celebrations. Local authorities reported clashes in Bambili in the Northwest Region but said they did not affect the events.

May 20 is a key date in Cameroon’s national calendar. It commemorates the 1972 referendum in which Cameroonians voted to replace the federal system with a unitary state.

Source: Xinhuanet with additional editing

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Works (MINTP) announced progress on the Bangem-Nguti road project in the Kupe-Muanenguba department, despite ongoing security challenges in the region.

As of May 12, topographical and geotechnical studies have concluded on the first 10 kilometres of the 53-kilometre road. Laboratory analysis of soil samples is underway.

The Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), contracted for the project, continues laying the sub-base between kilometre points (KP) 0+900 and 4+250. Construction of a 3 x 2 x 19-metre culvert at KP 0+893 has begun. Living quarters at KP 4+000 are 80% complete, and earthworks proceed between KP 0+500 and KP 8+000.

Despite the security challenges,  local communities support the work, helping teams navigate security constraints linked to the regional crisis. The MINTP set up a task force to coordinate activities with the BIR.

Additional work includes depositing excavated material from KP 0+900 to KP 7+950, building masonry ditches, and creating drainage outlets between KP 0+893 and KP 4+000. Mintp plans to continue studies, open the full road length, and supply aggregates for the base course.

Challenges include difficulty in accessing some areas, compensation for affected plantations and dwellings, and delays caused by the absence of an on-site geotechnical laboratory.

The MINTP has allocated CFA10 billion to the project, which serves a landlocked area.

Source: Business in Cameroon

This month, the European Union marked 50 years of its delegation in Cameroon with a new book. Brussels calls Cameroon “a key player in European cooperation in Africa.” The statement highlights Yaoundé’s role in 1963, when it hosted the first free trade convention between the European Economic Community (EEC)-the EU’s predecessor–and 18 African states.

Walter Hallstein, the first President of the European Commission, praised this choice at the time. He said, “The fact that our friends from the Associated States have chosen Yaoundé is of symbolic value. In this city with its fraternal welcome, for which we too are deeply grateful, we understand and feel the difficult but peaceful and confident effort of an entire people to melt into the crucible of unity so many different races, religions and historical heritages – a fine symbol and fine example indeed for the whole of Africa”.

Hallstein’s words carry weight. Cameroon’s colonial past is complex. It was once a German protectorate and later governed by France and Great Britain. The country is often called “Africa in miniature” because it features all the continent’s geographical zones. It also hosts hundreds of tribes.

Beyond symbolism, Cameroon holds a strategic location. It sits at Africa’s center and the heart of the Gulf of Guinea. The book “50 years of the European Union delegation in Cameroon, a strategic partnership with Cameroon” explains: “Just independent since 1960, Cameroon was becoming a hub for trade and development in the region. Its location made it a natural link for cooperation between Europe and Africa.”

Source: Business in Cameroon