In July, jailed separatist leaders in Cameroon fighting for the creation of an independent state held their first formal talks with the government about ending the violence plaguing the country’s two Anglophone regions. While the origins of the conflict are in colonial-era divisions of territory, its proximate cause was protests in 2016 against the marginalization of Cameroon’s Anglophone minority, which makes up roughly 20 percent of the population in the majority French-speaking country. In the years since, the conflict has killed several thousand people and displaced nearly a million more.

The recent talks with the government were led by the most prominent separatist leader, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, who leads a self-declared English-speaking state that the separatists call Ambazonia, and has been imprisoned since 2018. They follow on earlier attempts at negotiations last year, facilitated by the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, which failed to gain traction due to a lack of trust on both sides.

Part of the reason those talks fizzled was the Cameroonian government’s insistence that the ongoing crisis is an issue of terrorism, to be addressed militarily. In 2019, President Paul Biya announced a “Grand National Dialogue” that didn’t even include any separatists and didn’t address key issues, such as whether to revert to a federal form of government that existed prior to 1972.

Subsequently, in January, the government announced a new “Special Status” for the Anglophone regions, which created more regional legislative bodies, among other measures. But this new status did little to change the reality on the ground, and the following months saw widespread violence. Essentially, the Cameroonian government made clear that it was not interested in the separatists’ offers to engage in dialogue and would instead continue with its militaristic approach.

This is why the recent talks between imprisoned separatists and Biya’s government are so noteworthy. The government was represented by officials from the presidency and the office of Prime Minister Joseph Ngute. The separatists were represented by several imprisoned leaders, including Sisiku. Negotiators held two meetings outside the Kondengui Central Prison in Yaounde, the capital, where Sisiku and other political prisoners are being held.

The agenda for the talks centered on what separatists refer to as four action items that would create an enabling environment for further negotiations toward a lasting solution to the conflict. The action items include the demilitarization of the Anglophone regions, with the Cameroonian military being confined to barracks; an amnesty to allow separatists living overseas to return; the release of political prisoners; and a cease-fire that will last until the two sides convene for talks mediated by a third party. The most contentious of these is the release of prisoners, as Sisiku has insisted on a comprehensive release of political prisoners, not an arrangement where the government releases a select group of detainees. Sisiku has also said that if a release occurs in phases, he must be among the last to be released. During the talks, the two sides reached an understanding of the action items.

The talks were initially held in secret, and Sisiku only confirmed them after the second round had concluded. The news was welcomed by multiple separatist leaders and was applauded by civil society groups in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions, which have long been advocating for a cease-fire. The government, however, did not comment for several days, and even then, its statement downplayed the talks, saying information that government representatives had met with “secessionists awaiting trial is not consistent with reality.”

If hard-liners in the Cameroonian government successfully sabotage the peace process, the costs would be horrific.

To many, this seemed as though the government was denying that the talks had taken place. But in reality, the statement was an indication that not all members of the Cameroonian government are sincere about ending the conflict. In fact, the government is divided into two camps: those advocating for overtures toward separatist leaders, and those seeking to obstruct any negotiated settlement. The first camp consists of Prime Minister Ngute, whose office has spearheaded the talks along with the intelligence chief, Maxime Eko-Eko, who has met with separatist leaders. Gregoire Owona, the minister of labor, and Achille Bassilekin, who is the minister of small and medium sized enterprises, are also in favor of the talks.

On the other side, one of the chief opponents of the talks is Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the powerful secretary-general of the presidency. Other hard-liners in the government include Jacques Fame Ndongo, the minister of higher education, and Paul Atanga Nji, the minister of territorial administration. Notably, the divide does not break down along linguistic lines, as there are Anglophones and Francophones in both camps. Since the talks in July, the latter group appears to have seen success, as there have been no follow-up conversations with the separatists.

Clearly, certain prominent members of Cameroon’s Cabinet are not committed to reaching a lasting political solution to the war that has ravaged the country for nearly four years, with economic and humanitarian implications far beyond its two Anglophone regions. This internal division within the government has only been compounded by tensions about who might succeed the 87-year-old Biya, with both Ngoh Ngoh and Ngute angling for the position. While tensions over succession in Cameroon are not new, in the current environment, they could stymie a real chance to end a needless war.

There are also divisions on the separatist side, with the movement split between two main factions—one led by Sisiku and the other led by Samuel Sako, a former pastor based in the United States, in Maryland. Sisiku is the most influential, with the overwhelming majority of fighters seeing him as the leader of the movement. Even some separatist leaders who do not necessarily support Sisiku’s leadership have indicated that they support his initiative to negotiate with the government.

However, infighting within Biya’s Cabinet and jostling over who will succeed him may prevent the process from advancing. If hard-liners in the Cameroonian government successfully sabotage the peace process, the costs would be horrific: Residents of the Anglophone regions would continue to suffer from violence and human rights violations, as a country that was once known as a beacon of stability in a troubled region will continue to destabilize.

Events in recent weeks have shown that the government is continuing a hard-line approach. In response to the killing of a police officer in the Northwest region, the military banned motorbikes in the provincial capital of Bamenda and launched a military operation to sweep the city. Moreover, on Sept. 17, an appellate court in Yaounde upheld Sisiku’s life sentence on charges of terrorism and secession.

As the Cameroon authorities’ violent response to the peaceful protests that emerged in 2016 showed, the government is capable of starting a war by ignoring legitimate grievances. However, that same government now has the ability to seek an end to it. The only question is whether the hard-liners who have historically had the most influence in the Cabinet will prevent meaningful talks with separatists from advancing.

Culled from World Politics Review

‘We Feel safe If we trust our institutions, and we trust our institutions if we see them acting effectively in crises’ (Mary Kaldor “Old War, New Wars: organized Violence in a Globalized Era” 1998).

Generally, we all feel safe when threats are alleviated from our cherished values, which if left unmanaged threaten our survival or that of a referent object in the near future. Security is important and forms the basis of our existence and expression in society. Imagine what life will be without any form of threat, where security is normal, passive and not priorities and politically demanding issues? Absence of threat to a certain level is a prerequisite for growth and development of any society. Increase threats level drive down local production and inflow of foreign investments.

Security matters and absence of threats in our society remained a major illusion in our highly politicized society. Globalization and advent of technological development has continued to expose our societies to different forms of threats. Politics has continued to be instrumental to endangering security. While positive political environment allows for integration and development of peaceful co-existence, several political actors privy to command resources for eliminating threats have resolved to make politics a major issue in threat escalation.

Political nature of security has made the definition of the term security an object of argument based on the perspective of analysts and writers on the topic. Traditional understanding of security emphasizes the physical accumulation of military power to defend the state from external and internal aggression. African states at independence were incorporated into the geopolitical East – West polarization. The need for expression of influence by super powers was reflected in the strength of allied states armies.  Big armies were used to prop up and maintain loyal stooges as powerful rulers in states without proper understanding of principle and operation of statehood.

The period between 1956 and 1989 when the Cold War ended, dictators like Idi Ami in Uganda (1971 -79), Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt (1954-1970), Ahmed Sekou Toure in Guinea (1958-84) and Mengitsu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia (1974-1991) ruled with iron fists in defense of their countries territorial integrity and redefined state security as security for the few ruling elites at the expense of the masses. The states employed the “Kill and go” mentality in elite securitization to defend their territory and unleash terror on dissenting public. The armies and the police in African states now become instrument of public oppressions, as there were no external aggressions to address.

 The end of the Cold War brought new realities in international relations understanding of security. Emergence of “new wars” –intra-state wars- in Africa and Eastern Europe led to new thinking about the effects of globalization on security planning. Buzan Barry in 1983 introduced the theory of a shift from physical or critical security thinking towards a focus on human security. Mary Kaldor also emphasized the need for new directions for security in her work “Old War, New Wars: organized Violence in a Globalized Era” (1998). They both postulated the need for newer roles for states armies as numbers of inter-states wars have continued to reduce in the world while organized violence from non-state actors emerged as new threats to developing states in Africa and Europe at the turn of the century.

Emergence of organized insurgent groups and terrorists that targets civilians and non-combatants has been blamed on the lack of a shift in the roles of states security operations from elite centered towards public supports. The need to defend states sovereignty with the security forces at the expense of securing the people while crime and threats to lives grow due to lack of resources to achieve basic human development have ennobled the need for the shift of focus of citizens security to Private Security Companies (PSC) and ethnic militias in most areas of Africa.   Initial goals of the public supports for these militias; remain in achieving security towards protection of cherished values in most states.

Regrettably, lack of states’ control and management of the growth and development of militia groups, expanding influence of militias has resulted in abuse of power and such influences. Most militia has turned from their roles as defenders of the people to direct anti-state organization. Thereby increasing people’s exposure to more threats.

Security is a relative and controversial term which relevance can only be surmised by the presence of object for security. People was traditionally ascribed the object of security in developing world however within international relation, the UN and other developed nations states empanelled the state as reverent object of all security discourse before the turn of the millennium.

The United Nations through the UNDP at the end of the Cold War, introduced in 1993 “Human Security” as the main focus of state security. The UN maintained that states duties to their citizens should include the assurance of their survival and securing their access to humane living conditions. States have to provide all basic amenities to secure citizens needs and aspirations. Human Security Index was introduced as the measure of legitimacy of states. 

African states that have hitherto experienced patronage from international superpowers to maintain strong armed forces and equipment based on mere east/west alignments at the end of the cold war were unceremoniously left to dry. Low revenue for most states led to high inflation, unemployment, poverty and low capital formation. With huge and unmanageable security bills to supports and growing hunger, many states fell under the gun to coups and counter coups by the same armies that had helped in wasting the national fund.

The harsh military rules of the late eighties and nineties in Africa helped in building a new form of public resistance and anti-state movements. The growing need for re-organisation of condition for statehood in most states was blocked under the need to defend states’ territorial integrity. This challenge continued to form basis for ethnic strengthening instead of nation building. Challenging the traditional roles of states as sole controller of violence became more rampant as ethic armies demands emancipation and control of their territories in several states like Somalia, Nigeria, Chad, Mali, Niger and Sudan from the late eighties.

Lack of trust in weakening states institutions due to years of oppressions and high level of official corruption continued to contribute to stress of the political landscape. The failure of states to empanel proper conflict management and internal law enforcement mechanism to ensure justice, accountability and equity, finally sounded the knell on the popularity of the states in Africa. Public supports for the institutions of states waned and growth of radical thought escalated unbridled.

The growth of terror organisation in Africa becomes inevitable as poverty expanded. Lack of proper planning and finance for states’ internal security and inequalities in the sharing of resources of state has made radicals out of the youth with low life expectancy. Growth of illicit economies with huge rewards for participants in an environment with high incidence of poverty, have resulted in the development of a new class of African youth; ready to make it by every means necessary.

The Al-Shabab, Boko Haram, MEND, OPC, Bakassi Boys, MAJOC, AQIM, and others are the products of a system of elite security that have complete answer to all issues. The apparent lack of dialogue in African state is so appalling.  The states are being run by an elites who are used to decrees and pronouncement without consultations. The elites have shown the public that security can only be achieved through the use of violence. State policies in most African states have always favoured ex-militants and violent individuals. The youth in Nigeria look at ex-Niger Delta militants that have become leaders in political discussions and businesses and choses their heroes and Kenyan youths’ hero is President Kenyatta himself, the President with cases of human rights abuse in the ICC.

There is urgent need for complete reformation of the African state focus of security, the people should be the focus of national security while the people in turn through their trust in national institutions support and uphold the sovereignty of the state. How we lose our African heritage of love, peace, equity and justice to these common criminals remain an issue. If we don’t address the issues of leadership and equity in Africa, here will always be another violent struggle to further endanger the peace of our people.

The author Don Michael ADENIJI is the Executive Director African Initiative for Peace and Human Development, Ibadan and also moonlights as Contributing Editor of the Cameroon Concord News Group

For close to a decade, Cameroon has been going through many crises and for many Cameroonians, it is almost impossible to flush out the corrupt Yaounde government led by its old and sick president, Paul Biya, who has been in power for 38 years with no results to justify such a long stay.

Corruption has become the regime’s hallmark and it has sent millions of Cameroonians to an early grave. The country’s economy has collapsed, and unemployment is at its highest level as the senile president has been switched off by ill-health and incompetence.

For years, East Cameroonians who constitute the majority felt that real democratic change would come through the ballot box and this has pushed them into the type of indifference and docility which have made the government to make intimidation a national policy and a tool of choice when it comes to dealing with issues that are blighting the people’s lives.

Each time the people expressed disagreement with a government policy or questioned a government decision and wanted to make their disagreement known even through peaceful means, the government simply rolled out its military equipment and deployed its military across the country as if there was an external aggressor threatening to invade the country.

This strategy has worked for more than three decades, but it has failed to produce the fear that is it is intended to generate in Southern Cameroons where the country’s English-speaking minority has brought down the fake wall of fear that the government had erected. 

Following peaceful demonstrations in October 2016 by English-speaking lawyers and teachers against systemic and institutionalized marginalization and discrimination, the Yaounde government rolled out its armada with the objective of intimidating the English-speaking minority. The violence that ensued turned out to be counter-productive, as the people of Southern Cameroons came out with their clubs and hunting rifles to defend themselves against government brutality.

Today, the government understands that it could be challenged and that the wall of fear is gone for good. The challenge has come today from a different source. The country’s opposition parties have made common cause and they want to dig Mr. Biya and his useless government out of their hiding places. Their incompetence and corruption have hurt so many Cameroonians and the country’s citizens know that they can no longer wait for the ballot box to change their fate.

The current government is unreliable and will stop at nothing to change the verdict of the ballot boxes in the event of an election. The government cannot be trusted. It has transformed the country’s treasury into the ruling party’s ATM. Jobs only get given to those who are loyal to the party and public contracts only get awarded to supporters of the president’s party. 

This is very revolting and the country’s opposition parties are tapping into this frustration and bitterness to take Mr. Biya out. This is not a coup d’état. The sovereign people of Cameroon can bring whoever they want to power and can also recall such a person in the event of incompetence or corruption. It is the prerogative of the people of Cameroon to change their minds when things are not working. Mr. Biya and his government have triggered that change of mind after more than three decades of incompetence and corruption. The people are not ready to wait. In their view, the wait is over. It is time to for them to act and now is the time.

The Biya regime has been rattled ever since the opposition leader, Prof. Maurice Kamto, called on East Cameroonians to take to the streets on September 22, 2020, to demonstrate against the government with the long-term objective of ousting the corrupt Biya regime.

The population seems to be prepared for the show and the government is struggling to preempt such an event. People power revolutions seem to be working in Africa and many African dictators have been either chased out of the country or sent to jail as the people take control of things. The collapsing Biya regime is aware of this phenomenon and it is not taking any chances.

More brutal dictators have been brought down by such means and tomorrow’s demonstrations could mark the end of a regime that entirely relies on the military which has also called on the people to come out to challenge the status quo. Egypt, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Mali have all chased their dictators through people power revolutions and this spirit seems to be spreading across the continent like wildfire.

Currently, the Yaounde government is vulnerable. The government is clearly fighting a war on many fronts. The English-speaking minority has left the regime with a sticky situation and the Southern Cameroonian crisis has left the government with a bloodshot eye. 

The government is out of money and the military which has spent the better part of the last four years battling an insurgency in Southern Cameroons is tired and is reluctant to engage in another battle with the majority Francophone. The disaster that Boko Haram, the deadly religious sect, has unleashed in the country’s far north region is robbing the regime of much-needed financial resources. These conflicts have become permanent nightmares to the regime. The mere thought of having to take on another fight is leaving regime supporters with a bitter taste in their mouths. 

While Southern Cameroonians are in support of the tragicomedy that is about to play out in East Cameroon, they have however clearly indicated that they will not be involved in the internal affairs of their neighbors. For now, their concern is to get the army of occupation out of their territory as independence from East Cameroon is their objective. 

September 22, 2020 is therefore an important day in Cameroon. It will either see Biya out of the national palace he has occupied for 38 years or demonstrate that French-speaking Cameroonians are not courageous enough to take care of business. The Francophone Cameroonian must step out of his comfort zone to change his destiny. 

Those living abroad have been protesting for a long time and they have been calling on those back home to join the fray. What should be obvious is that the military that is all over the country will not kill everybody just because it wants to keep Biya in power. If all Cameroonians come out, the military will stop protecting Mr. Biya who has failed to meet the glorious expectations of his people. The time has come, and the Francophone Cameroonian must act now. The ball is in his court!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

For many decades, many people around the world have been doubting why French-speaking Cameroonians have been indifferent to their own suffering. Many have been seeking to know if the French-speaking Cameroonian is a sado-masochist who is enjoying his excruciating pain.

Experts around the world have put the indifference down to alcohol and the government’s high-handed approach to life.

The typical French-speaking Cameroonian loves food and drinks and has a diminished view of the future because he has been made to think that the short term is more important than the long-term.

But the last two decades have ushered in a new mentality and the scales are gradually falling off. French-speaking Cameroonians are now traveling to English-speaking countries and they are noticing the difference.

 Even on the African continent, English-speaking countries are making giant economic strides while their French-speaking counterparts are turning in circles, hoping that France will come to clean up their political, economic and financial mess.

Besides, the country’s English-speaking minority has brought down the wall of fear and over the last four years, the country’s government has been battling an insurgency that will not be rolled back anytime soon.

Despite repressive measures taken by the government, the fighters in the country’s two English-speaking regions have stood their ground and they will not yield to anything short of total independence, though some English-speaking Cameroonians hold that a well-designed federation might calm down tempers and lay a solid foundation for a peaceful coexistence between the two linguistic blocs.

Besides the armed conflict, the country is also dealing with terrorism in its northern regions where Islam is predominant. Soldiers and civilians are being blown up everyday by suicide bombers affiliated to Boko Haram, a feared religious sect that has its tentacles in Niger, Nigeria and Chad.

Boko Haram has become a real nightmare to the Yaoundé government that lacks the resources to deal with such a man-made catastrophe.

The Yaoundé government is corrupt and its legendary arrogance has made it hard for ordinary citizens to live a normal life. Unemployment is at its highest level while the number of young unemployed graduates is growing exponentially.

Corruption that has become the government’s hallmark has paralyzed government services and sent many to an early grave. The country’s hospitals have been reduced to consultation clinics while government offices have become places where bribery has taken up residence.

Senior government officials, soldiers, police officers, medical doctors, nurses, court clerks, university professors, high school teachers and other civil servants have simply transformed their offices into money-making endeavors.

The most disturbing thing is that French-speaking Cameroonians have always felt that genuine change will come through the ballot box.

 Strangely, the ruling party, which considers itself as the state, has won every election since 1992 when the country’s so-called advanced democracy started, with the country’s president, Paul Biya, ruling for 38 years without campaigning and with nothing to show for his long stay in power.

With the system finally falling apart, the docile French-speaking Cameroonian understands that change will not come through the ballot box.

Biya and his collaborators have held the country hostage and they are determined to hang on to power even if all Cameroonians have to die.

All attempts to let the government see beyond its nose have failed. The country is disintegrating and Mr. Biya, who is bed-ridden due to age and poor health, has held onto old strategies which have outlived their usefulness.

But the hour of change is around the corner and East Cameroonians are pumped up and are determined to flush the regime out on September 22, 2020.

The regime is the worst disaster that has ever befallen the country. The regime is worse than the Coronavirus and it has consumed millions of its own citizens.

Support for the government has been crumbling for years, but it is the eroding military support that is causing the ailing regime to lose sleep.

Many army soldiers have been deserting, with hundreds calling on their fellow soldiers to understand that the real enemy is the regime which has looted state coffers, fostered corruption and ruined the country’s economy, and not the population which is crumbling under the weight of mismanagement and arrogance.

Burkina Faso, Algeria, Mali, Sudan, Tunisia and Egypt have all chased their dictators away from power and this seems to be the road to peace, stability and economic prosperity that the French-speaking Cameroonian is prepared to walk.

The hour has come and every Cameroonian must join in to ensure Mr. Biya and his regime becomes a distant memory.

The Cameroon Concord News Group shareholders and staff endorse Prof. Kamto’s call for a national demonstration that must lead to the departure of the incompetent and corrupt Yaoundé regime that has brought untold hardship to the hardworking and peace-loving people of Cameroon.

The military is on the people’s side and all Cameroonians, especially those in Yaoundé and Douala, must come out on September 22, 2020, to see off Biya and his corrupt collaborators.

Bye bye, Biya!

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai in Germany

After months of diligent work by U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffers, the Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations welcomes this very strong draft Senate Resolution calling on the United States Government (USG) and the international community to leverage their influence on Cameroon to bring a negotiated end to the escalating civil war between Cameroonian Government forces and armed separatists(restorationists) groups.

The Coalition applauds all thirteen Senators for introducing this carefully worded bipartisan Resolution. Special thanks go to Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), for their extraordinary leadership and commitment towards ending the ongoing armed conflict.

The Coalition appeals to many more members of the U.S. Senate, across the political spectrum, to sponsor and support this milestone Resolution. We equally call on the Senate membership to pass the resolution overwhelmingly as a demonstration of the Senate’s commitment to uphold international human rights, including that of children and women; to hold perpetrators of international human rights abuse accountable, and to reaffirm Congress’s legislative role in directing the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

This resolution complements H.R. 358 and S.R. 292 introduced in the House and Senate in July 2019 and further highlights the ongoing and escalating situation on the ground, including the international human rights abuses, putting millions of lives at risk.

We are particularly thankful this resolution addresses the major stakeholders of this civil war, denounces France’s limited response, joins the European Union Parliament’s call for the conflict to be brought before the United Nations Security Council, calls for an immediate ceasefire, and enjoins parties to negotiate through an independent mediator.

The Coalition for Dialogue and Negotiations will continue to work with the United States Congress to further strengthen this Resolution and other endeavors, and is committed to continue its engagement with relevant international stakeholders to ensure the achievement of a durable, mediated, and negotiated end to the war.

The conflict, since 2017 has reportedly resulted in more than 12,000 Southern Cameroonians arbitrarily arrested, detained, imprisoned, summarily executed, massacred, and killed. The Government of Cameroon reported the killing of at least 700 of its security forces and administrative personnel. Over 300 villages have been razed by Government forces, forcing the displacement of more than 900,000 and over 70,000 seeking refuge in other countries including Nigeria and the United States. An estimated one million children have been unable to attend school for the past three years, and approximately 1.9 million face severe hunger.

STATEMENT FROM INTERIM GOVERNMENT OF AMBAZONIA ON APPEAL COURT DECISION ON OUR LEADERS

The Interim Government of Ambazonia is by this statement informing the world that today, 17 September 2020, the Court of Appeal of the Centre Region of La Republique du Cameroun, chaired by Mr Mindjimba Mindjimba and flanked by Mr. Njola Crispin and Colonel Mekouabouth, have delivered one of the most scandalous judgments in legal history.

Without listening to any legal arguments from defendants and their legal representatives, the kangaroo court has upheld the sham judgment of the military tribunal that slammed life sentences upon our leaders in Yaoundé on Black Tuesday 20 August 2019.

The Nigeria Abuja High Court Judgement of 1 March 2019 declared the abduction of President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and his leadership team illegal. The transfer and continuous detention of our leaders in Yaoundé remains unlawful and their trial and life sentence is a legal travesty.

As a nation, we shall respond appropriately and forcefully. The cabinet of the Interim Government of Ambazonia shall be meeting over the next few hours to consider a firm response befitting of the recent charade.

Thank You

Dabney Yerima

Vice President

Federal Republic of Ambazonia

Four years of unceasing conflict have overwhelmed any attempts to separate civilians from Ambazonia Restoration Forces and made the concept of a normal, quiet life a seemingly unachievable goal in Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

While the Southern Cameroons Interim Government, the French Cameroun military,  weapons and goals of both President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe and President Paul Biya have shifted shape and character, the average Southern Cameroonian has borne the brunt of a conflict that is hard to fathom but too easy to feel.

Yesterday’s attack on civilians in Bamenda by soldiers loyal to the regime in Yaoundé despite calls for a ceasefire by the UN Security Council  is a willful act from a determined French Cameroun political structure backed by French President Emmanuel Macron that does not  care about international laws but it is only interested to win at any cost.

Evidently speaking, the attacks on civilians in Bamenda have finally revealed how French Camerounians hate the people of Southern Cameroons. Cameroon Intelligence Report gathered from a well placed source that the soldiers were under the influence of alcohol and drugs provided by the administrative hierarchy headed by Governor Lele Afrique.

The chaotic nature of the Southern Cameroons crisis and the immaturity and ignorance of many in the Cameroon government and military is helping to ensure that attacks on Southern Cameroons civilians are constant and unrestrained.

Why Cameroon government army soldiers attack civilians

The four years of the Southern Cameroons crisis can best be defined as a “war against Southern Cameroons civilians”.  The success of the Biya led-war can be measured only in the sea of dead bodies and thousands of broken families in both the North West and the South West constituencies of Southern Cameroons. To be accurate, the idea of civilians coming under attack and being subjected to torture and other vicious forms of treatment once reserved for captured Ambazonian fighters is now a legal part of the Cameroon government army.

The international community is being fed stories of crimes committed by Ambazonia fighters with the support of Barrister Agbor-Balla the founder of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, an organization that is claiming to be documenting human rights violations in the ongoing crisis and representing victims of the violence.

However, what the human rights lawyer did not mention in his recent report is that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Cameroon government troops have not halt their attacks on Southern Cameroons towns and villages because they are having trouble deciding who is an Amba fighter and who is a town or village resident but have simply replaced the United Nations policy of treating civilians well with a scorched earth approach where Francophone army soldiers are being ordered to burn the people’s property.

When I met Barrister Agbor Balla some months ago in the city of Essen in Germany, he pointed out that “Burning 1 or 2 villages may be a mistake but burning 300 is definitely a government policy.”  Of course destroying all, burning into ash is the objective of fighting the Southern Cameroons enemy.

Cameroon government soldiers are destroying the Southern Cameroons economy! To be sure, the Biya regime in Yaoundé backed by the French is destroying everything Southern Cameroonian. Soldiers are burning houses, warehouses, cutting off roads; electricity and water supply in order that Southern Cameroonians lack supplies to even combat the Covid-19 so that the population would compromise.

The Bamenda attacks witnessed civilians running in front of bullets. It was indeed the Francophone soldiers’ intention to shoot them as their bullets have no eyes. The Bamenda attack was shameful, disgusting and disgraceful. It may as well be a birthday gift from the Biya regime to Barrister Agbor Balla who celebrated his 50^th recently.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Group Chairman/Editor-In-Chief

La Republique du Cameroun is evidently on the verge of a civil war, more likely a tribal war, instigated by the Beti, Bulu and Ewondo tribes of the Central and South Regions. The President of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon Prof Maurice Kamto has invited all political entities including the diaspora to pool their efforts to oust the 87 year old President Paul Biya.

Beti Ewondo servicemen and women, armed Bulu militias’ including senior army officers all backing President Biya are ready to stage attacks against the Bamilekes who are pushing for change in Etoudi.

Yaoundé inhabitants are reportedly preparing for a nightmare scenario as they believe there is the prospect that Biya loyalists will fight to hold on to power and will refuse to accept any outcome that will keep the ruling CPDM party out of government.

Biya and his kinsmen are also preparing for the anticipated fight and the regime is doing everything to intimidate the population of the capital city with regular fake bomb alerts.

Prof Maurice Kamto has blamed the fighting in Southern Cameroons on the Biya regime and he is also pressing the government to reform the electoral law that has legalized electoral fraud, voter suppression, irregularities, late ballots and long lines at the polls which are problems often manufactured by ELECAM the French Cameroun body responsible for organizing elections run by persons appointed by President Biya.

Ever since the 1988 Kaki and Green parliamentary elections, the ruling CPDM crime syndicate has excelled at rigging their own internal elections for the party’s favorites and National Chairman Paul Biya by suppressing and targeting potential challengers. The late Ayissi Mvodo, Prof Titus Edzoa and Albert Nzongang have all been victims.

The situation in French Cameroun has become very complicated. To be sure, what is different in this recent appeal by Prof Kamto is that the Beti Bulu Ewondo political and military elites, who usually work overtime to suppress citizens from other ethnic extraction on election days, now have a president whose end is looming!

 A likely outcome is that there might be a major split in the French Cameroun army if someone from the Biya family is chosen to succeed the 87 year old dictator.  Both sides of the French Cameroun divide are “Frenching” up in Paris for an epic fight.

Conditions in French Cameroun are dire now. La Republique du Cameroun is on the verge of a civil war, more likely a tribal war. Even if Biya agrees to step outside, such a war might still be in the offing, as some CPDM hardliners have been hungering for such a war against the Bamilekes for decades and the emergence of Prof Kamto and Biya’s imminent departure has green lighted the plan.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

“Mr. Tassang had crossed the reddest of the red lines. He should have understood that while in prison with other people, he is supposed to work for the group’s solidarity and not to tear the group apart. He might think he is raising issues that need to be addressed, but he is also failing to understand that he is shooting the group in the foot. As a teacher, he should have understood that in the circumstances in which he finds himself, unity of purpose is a fortune in affliction,” says Dr. Joachim Arrey, a Canada-based translator and technical writer in this soul searching interview with Chi Prudence Asong 

Cameroon Concord News: You recently sent a message to Mr. Wilfred Tassang which many people truly appreciated. What really prompted you to write to him?

Dr Joachim Arrey: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain a few things about my response to Mr. Tassang, who through his letters has been arrogating to himself the status of a saint and a speaker of the truth. His last letter to the President of Southern Cameroons, Sisisku Julius Ayuk Tabe, wherein he raised a number of issues which I found to be so trivial was one letter too many, especially in the context in which the country finds itself. I understand that when people are working together, there are bound to be differences, especially differences of opinion, but I hold that when I work with other people, there are differences that could be overlooked in the interest of the group’s unity and interest. It is hard to find a very united and well-oiled team, but that does not imply that the group’s dirty linen must be washed in public. In my view, Mr. Tassang had crossed the reddest of the red lines. He should have understood that while in prison with other people, he is supposed to work for the group’s solidarity and not to tear the group apart. He might think he is raising issues that need to be addressed, but he is also failing to understand that he is shooting the group in the foot. As a teacher, he should have understood that in the circumstances in which he finds himself, unity of purpose is a fortune in affliction. His failure to understand this simple philosophy was actually what prompted me to respond to one of his many write-ups that do not really make a lot of sense to me.

Cameroon Concord News: But some people hold that your disagreement is more ideological? 

Dr Joachim Arrey: Mr. Tassang believes in the total independence of Southern Cameroons. He has a right to his opinion and there are many Southern Cameroonians who think like him and will not bulge an inch. Like the government, they are frozen in their positions and this attitude is what is feeding the rebellion and carnage that are taking place in the country’s two English-speaking regions. I respect Mr. Tassang and his view, but this does not imply that he is beyond reproach. I hold that the parties involved in the fighting back home could meet each other halfway through constructive and purposeful dialogue. I clearly stand for federalism and I think this system of government could help the country address those issues that triggered the disagreement and fighting. 

What all Southern Cameroonians agree on is the fact that they have faced marginalization for more than five decades and they want it to stop so that future generations do not face the same issues. I must recall here and now that if there are more than three million Southern Cameroonians out of the country, it is because of the systemic and institutional marginalization that has robbed the people of Southern Cameroons of so many opportunities. However, this can be addressed if the government and those who are calling for total independence demonstrate exceptional flexibility. But with people like Mr. Tassang frozen in their positions, it will be hard for genuine peace to return to our own part of the country. 

In his letter to President  Julius Ayuk Tabe, he clearly stated that Barristers Paul Ayah and Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla were not fit to negotiate for the people of Southern Cameroons because of their moderate stance, but he fails to understand that those two barristers have much to offer because of their sound knowledge of legal justice and their involvement in the struggle. There won’t be a better negotiator than a lawyer. Furthermore, Mr. Tassang like the Yaounde government holds that victory will be obtained in the battlefield. I think he is simply oblivious of the reality on the ground. His knowledge of history is either inadequate or it is failing him. No war has ever ended without talks and negotiations. The Treaty of Versailles sanctioned the end of the First World War while the Yalta and Potsdam agreements remain in history as those negotiations that ended the Second World war. 

Talking and negotiating to end a conflict are as old as man. Mandela negotiated to bring about racial parity in South Africa. Colonial Africa had to negotiate to end colonialism. Why does Mr. Tassang hold that talking with the Yaounde government is tantamount to treason? Why would he chide those who had accepted an invitation for talks with the government when he knows that without talks, the current situation in Southern Cameroons which is close to an apocalypse will linger for a long time? When a man invites you, go and listen to him. You will surely have your turn to talk and you will tell him how you feel and why you do not buy their perspective of things. If you turn down the invitation due to anger or inflexibility, then your point of view will never be known and that could be used against you. A reasonable person will not want to go down in history like someone who lacked foresight and a vision. That is where I disagree with Mr. Tassang, but we agree that we are all victims of the government’s marginalization policy. 

Cameroon Concord News: But even after the informal meeting and the international community’s pressure, the killing has continued, and many people are still fleeing the region.

Dr Joachim Arrey: I am indeed unhappy about the way things are playing out in the two English-speaking regions of the country. Right from the beginning, I was against any armed conflict because such conflicts easily start but linger for a long time. The government had an opportunity to avoid such a catastrophe in our country, but it opted for violence. Southern Cameroonian fighters, for their part, felt they had a right to self-defense, and this has left the country in the grip of Kafkaesque violence that has already consumed more than 5,000 lives and reduced many villages to ashes. What the government and Southern Cameroonian fighters thought would be a walk in the park has turned out to be Sisyphean task.  There is no end in sight, especially as both parties are stuck in their positions. The mindset must change, and all Cameroonians have to work and pray to bring about sustainable peace in our country. I have been seeing pictures of Southern Cameroonian fighters killing soldiers and there are also pictures of soldiers killing innocent civilians. It is even alleged that soldiers now arrest civilians just to make a fortune out of them, especially after the ministerial order banning the purchase of machetes without authorization from a senior divisional officer. I do not know how residents of those two regions will be going about life, especially as 80% of them are farmer and machetes are part and parcel of their lives. I believe that there is a better way to do things. Both parties should be open to dialogue so that the local population can go about its business without fear.

Cameroon Concord News: You have written a lot about this conflict, but we are not seeing an improvement. Do you think your writing is having any impact on the parties involved?

Dr Joachim Arrey: Thanks for acknowledging my peaceful role in efforts at seeking a lasting solution to the Southern Cameroons conflict. As a writer, my primary role is to make both parties see the mess they are creating in their country. I have always stated that fighting and destruction will not address any issues. I believe in talks and if we can talk, we will spare so many lives. This is not the time to demonstrate that we are tough. History has no respect for people who believe in destroying the lives of others. History has a good place for people who turn to seek solutions and that is why people like Mandela, Koffi Attah Annan, Bishop Desmond Tutu, etc will always be remembered. While they oppose oppression in any form, they hold that oppression, no matter how hard, could be defeated at the negotiating table. Apartheid was defeated at the negotiating table and not in the battlefield. South Sudan gained its independence at the negotiating table and not necessarily in the battlefield. Canada addressed its issues with Quebec at the negotiating table and not on the streets. Southern Cameroonians can learn from Quebecers and the Canadian government. Like Canada, we can have one country, two systems where each linguistic group uses its culture to address its problems. Federalism has never threatened Canadian unity. It has only made Canada the envy of the world. The Yaounde government and Southern Cameroonian fighters should use the Canadian example to bring peace to Cameroon.

Cameroon Concord News: I have always asked you this question and you have always been evasive. When will you return to Cameroon to put your vast experience at the service of your people?

Dr Joachim Arrey: Thanks for asking this question. As I have always said, when it comes to human resources, Cameroon has more than enough. I might be experienced, but I hold that my place is in my native Ossing where I can positively impact many lives. I would let others do the politics while I watch them from the sidelines. I could carry out an analysis of their actions and publish for the public to gain a better understanding and maybe draw its conclusion.  Spectators could also influence players and I want to be that spectator who holds sway over players through writing. That is my role as a writer, and I love it. Thanks indeed for recognizing that I have the experience that can help others. I will however take it to my native Ossing where I can help the farmers to be better and encourage kids to go to school. I will certainly go back, but that is if the fighting ends. 

Cameroon Concord News: Thank you for your time!