The government of Cameroon has been in the business of gambling for a long time and it has been successful in many cases. In the 1990s, it played and won in the game of democracy that was supposed to reduce the president’s power, and this has given it the impression that it will always win. Its appetite for political victory is permanently on the rise and its weapon of choice has been manipulation and it has been effective over the last thirty-five years. Due to this growing confidence, it seems to have forgotten that its role is to settle issues facing the population and not winning arguments or wars against its own people. But this time around, the government’s charm is failing it. It is also suffering from senility and it is simply not producing the right impact. Anglophones both at home and abroad have united in their purpose and are giving the government a good run for its money. Schools have remained closed in many cities in the Anglophone region and ghost town operations in most cities and towns in the region have exceeded expectations.

Last week, Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, felt he would break the back of the Anglophone struggle by releasing Anglophone leaders and others who had been wrongfully arrested within the context of the Anglophone problem that has hurt the country’s economy and dealt a severe blow to the government’s reputation. The crisis has not only demonstrated that Anglophones are sick and tired of the mistreatment they have suffered for more than five decades, it has also illustrated that the government is out of touch with reality and it is too inefficient to deal with some of the tricky issues that a well-organized democracy can easily handle.

The president’s act of “magnanimity” hailed by many regime surrogates has not really cut ice with Anglophones and many,such as Barrister Harmony Bobga,hold that “Our Colleagues and Compatriots, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla and co. committed no offence to warrant abduction, incarceration and dehumanization for 195 days as of date.” He adds that “the discontinuance of proceedings before the military Tribunal of Yaoundé against them is of no legal moment, it is neither a Nolle Prosequi nor finding of not guilty. There is therefore no guarantee of their future pursuit so long as our nation is not restored.” He argues that “If it is a recognition of an error on the part of Mr. Paul Biya and his Government, it must be accompanied by an unqualified apology and due compensation.” Barrister Bobga further contends that “the avoidance of clear statistics of how many persons were arrested, detained, forced to disappear of purely and simply extra-judicially executed is a matter that raises concern. It is suggested that there must be a census from point of arrest or abduction to the point of release so as to ensure accountability.” This argument seems to be gaining traction among Anglophones who consider the release of their leaders as a well-orchestrated ploy to derail the struggle that has been playing out for more than ten months and whose objective is to compel the government to engage them in a discussion on the form of the State; an argument the government has vehemently refused to buy into. This is a government that is wont to manipulating and intimidating its people. Many of its members are frozen in time and the only language they understand is an iron fist.

As Anglophones and the government stick to their positions, the possibility of pulling the country out of the political quagmire looks really slim and this is no good news to the students who have unfortunately been caught in the fight that is likely to drag on for many months, except the government decides to come down from its Ivory Tower to understand that its first duty is to attend to the people and address their concerns in a democratic manner. The government needs to look for a way to retire this issue before it gets out of control. The problem has been a millstone around its neck for a long time, but from the look of things, it could spiral out of control, transforming the country into the continent’s newest hotspot.

Hopes of schools resuming today, September 4, 2017, had been very high last weekend following the release of Anglophone leaders, but the delay in releasing many others and the government’s refusal to propose a calendar for the discussion of the form of the state made many analysts to be skeptical about the resumption of schools and their fears have actually come through, leaving many students and parents heartbroken. The agony of the students is expected to continue and the consequences of the failure to find a long-lasting solution to this crisis will linger for a long time. Many girls are already pregnant and teachers are leaving the country in droves. Cameroon, the once-upon-a-time oasis of peace and stability, is gradually carving out a bad name for itself. Its reputation has been dented.

But it is the economy that is taking some of the most dangerous punches. Today, the economy of the Anglophone region has taken a nosedive and poverty is gradually taking root, especially in rural areas where agriculture is the mainstay. In cities, things are deteriorating at a very fast pace. Buea, the Southwest region’s capital is a ghost of its former self. Its popular Silicon Mountain has simply disappeared, and many locals are unemployed. This is causing many people to ask if the government and its leader actually understand the depth of the anger and frustration that inhabit the Anglophone mind.

A little strike that was supposed to have been dealt with in a democratic manner was allowed to escalate due to the government’s ill-advised decision to use brute force to cow Anglophones into silence. Anglophones have been nursing grudges for too long and the government has been behaving as if it was not aware of the long list of things that were gradually sapping the English-speaking minority of its love for the country. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse, the possibility of the government winning this war through military action is very slim. Civil disobedience seems to be working and many government officials are losing sleep over this mess created for them by Anglophones. Neither the Prime Minister nor his collaborators have been good enough to come up with solutions that can calm flaring tempers. Even ministers like Issa Tchiroma, Atanga Nji, Fame Ndongo and Laurent Esso who thought the problem would fizzle out, are today marveled at the unity of purpose Anglophone Cameroonians across the globe have displayed. Their determination is worthy of admiration and commendation, but many conflict management experts advise that Anglophones should be willing to meet the government half-way if the crisis has to be laid to rest. That is, if the government will walk away from the unitary state that has been spreading death and hardship across the country.

But the government has a long to-do list if Anglophones have to be part of a country they want to walk away from. The current elites of the region need to be retired. They have not only demonstrated their inefficiency, they have also proven that they lack the respect and credibility to bring their people behind them. Anglophone leadership needs to be renewed. The current leadership is ineffective. The elites, especially the ministers, have only worked hard to feather their personal nest. The people are angry and have clearly rejected them. If Mr. Biya wants a speedy resolution of this conflict, he has to retire some of the people who have been around him for too long, especially the hardliners, as they are no longer relevant. If he does not take actions that will help calm down tempers, Cameroon will continue to be in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons and the agony that is clearly visible in the country will continue for a long time.

From the Editorial Desk

Cameroon Concord News

In a bid to defuse tension in the country and ensure that schools effectively resume on Monday, September 4, 2017, in the country’s Anglophone region, Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, on Wednesday, August 30, 2017, ordered that legal proceedings against those arrested within the context of the Anglophone crisis be discontinued, thereby paving the way for their release. In a typical Biya approach, the decision was crafted to make the 85-year old ruler to appear as a magnanimous leader who has his country’s best interest at heart.

As Anglophone leaders and activists continue to analyze the release decree signed by the secretary-general of the country’s presidency, many regime surrogates and praise-singers are working very hard to portray the senile leader as an astute politician whose love for his fatherland is second to none. Many of these surrogates and spin doctors argue that with the release of those wrongfully arrested in the country’s English-speaking region, students in the region will therefore have an opportunity to return to school. The issue of school resumption has been a millstone around the government’s neck for a very long time and it is expected to enable the country’s leaders, especially the ministers in charge of education (Cameroon has several ministers of education), to have a good night’s sleep after more than nine months of political chaos. The decision comes after several futile attempts by the government to find probable cause to deliver long jail sentences to Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba, Lord Justice Paul Ayah Abine and Mr. Mancho Bibixy whose release is still pending due to the court’s outdated processes that were never designed to serve the country’s citizens.

Despite the government’s heavy deployment of troops across the Anglophone region to provide much-needed security to students, parents who had also joined the strike last year, have not been courageous enough to let their children to return to school, as members of cloak-and-dagger organisations have been threatening to burn down schools that dare to open their doors during this moment considered as the appropriate time to right the wrongs of the past. And they have actually delivered on their promise on many occasions. Many schools have had to face their wrath and their hit-and-run tactics have remained a puzzle to the ill-equipped and poorly paid Cameroon Defense Forces.

It should be recalled that schools and courts in Anglophone Cameroon have not been operating for ten months following a strike by Anglophone lawyers and teachers, calling for better working conditions, quality education for children of English expression, withdrawal of Francophone judges and magistrates from jurisdictions wherein common law is practised, among others. But it was the government’s ferocious and Kafkaesque brutality that ensued that made a bad situation worse. Students and members of other socio-professional groups promptly joined the strike as a protest against what they considered to be an oppressive move against the Anglophone minority and this unfortunate situation has put the country and its government in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

But can the release of these wrongfully imprisoned Anglophones douse the fire? While Anglophones across the globe hail the release of their leaders and fellow compatriots, many have been quick at giving the government the rough edge of their tongue. Social media has been awash with disparaging remarks indicating that the government is once more up to its old antics. The regime, many critics argue, is noted for having a reputation for distracting the population with decrees and activities that are not related to the main issues facing the country.

Anglophones hold that the release of their fellow compatriots has brought some relief, but it has not addressed the issues that had triggered the crisis pitting them against the country’s government. More than 95% of Anglophones hold that they have been victims of government marginalization and they want this to be addressed forthwith. While some see extensive federalism as the ideal solution that will grant the regions greater power to address their development issues, others feel that it is time to walk away from the pseudo-union that Foncha and his team entered into with “La Republique”. Proponents of restoration think that it will be hard to bring Francophones and their leaders to reason, as they erroneously think that the English-speaking minority does not deserve to hold any strategic positions in the country’s government. It should be recalled that Anglophones have never held portfolios such as defense, communication, internal security, territorial administration and finance since Southern Cameroons and East Cameroon agreed to merge to constitute a single political entity in 1972. To many Anglophones, this implies that Francophones do not consider them as citizens in their own right.

But the Biya regime is not buying into any of the governance ideas being sold by the various Anglophone groups. Despite his declining health and the impact of age, the country’s president is not backing down and is prepared to take the heat that Anglophones are turning on him. He is hell-bent on pursuing his unpopular decentralisation program that has stalled for twenty-one years. For Anglophones, they are no longer interested in the decentralisation program that is enshrined in the country’s 1996 constitution. They hold that the program is an ill-wind and it will not address any of the issues they have put forth to the government.

While the moderates are still calling for a federal system, the independentists are gradually winning hearts and minds, as many moderates are gradually thinking that it is hard to live in the same country with Francophones whose vision of life compels them to take their hardship and suffering in stride. They hold that their philosophies of life are, unfortunately, at variance and fifty-six years of a tumultuous cohabitation have not helped them to narrow their differences. The separatists point to the militarization of the Anglophone zone that has been characterized by the raping of women and molestation of innocent citizens by the country’s defense forces as testimony to the fact that the government is not repentant and regretful of its errors of the past.

With the government and Anglophones still locked in their different positions, it is clear that finding a common ground will be a distant tomorrow affair. The government’s intransigence is not helping matters and the refusal of many Anglophones to meet the government half-way is unfortunately complicating things for the students whose future looks very bleak. Schools will surely not resume on September 4 and this is bad news for many students who have been looking forward to going back to school after ten months at home. While Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho Balla and Dr. Fontem have been released, their refusal to hold a press conference in Yaounde on Thursday, August 31, 2017 to announce that schools will resume on Monday, September 4, 2017 is robbing government officials of the victory they thought they would score following the president’s decree to release Anglophones arrested within the context of the Anglophone crisis.

Barrister Agbor Balla holds that it is not incumbent upon him and his fellow leaders to announce the end of the school boycott, especially as the government has not yet implemented any of the measures it had taken to appease Anglophones. In his view, some of those measures are too cosmetic and Anglophones will not settle for such a ruse which has brought untold hardship to them. Messrs. Balla and Fontem hold that the wishes and aspirations of the people must be met and it is up to Anglophones to determine if the government has met its obligations vis-à-vis them. This explains why their trip to Buea was delayed, though they finally left Yaounde at 11 pm on Thursday. But the failure to release Mancho Bibixy and others will be a bitter pill for many Anglophones, especially North Westerners, who are noted for their mercurial temperament. This is surely going to further diminish confidence in a government whose credibility has been called into question on many occasions.

If the government wants to defuse the current tension, it must be prepared to bend over backwards to appease Anglophones. It must understand that its job is not to oppress its people or win arguments, but to serve and protect the people by listening to them and implementing mutually agreed decisions. It must understand that there cannot be a government if there are no people. As the government keeps on dilly-dallying, it should understand that the gospel of restoration is quietly gaining grounds and before long, all Anglophones will be looking forward to living in a country that will only be a neighbour to “La Republique”.

By the editorial desk

A Cameroon Intelligence Report Production

Wednesday’s announcement of the release of Anglophone leaders by the Cameroon government has been hailed by many as a major step in the right direction and many observers think that such a measure by the country’s head of state could pave the way for genuine and sincere dialogue about the country’s political future. Cameroon is central Africa’s major economic power, but over the last ten months, the country has been caught in a dangerous political storm following complaints by Anglophones about their marginalisation for close to sixty years. Many government praise-singers are already marketing the country’s leader as a visionary and a man of peace. Some hold that he is a leader who has the interest of his country at heart and will stop at nothing to promote peace and unity.

But critics have been fast at pointing out that for a man who has the country’s interest at heart, such a major decision could have been taken long before to spare the country the pain and pressure it has gone through following the arrest of innocent and responsible Anglophone leaders such as Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho Balla, Dr. Fontem Neba, Lord Justice Paul Ayah Abine and Mr. Mancho Bibixy. They argue that the threat to disrupt school resumption has been hanging over the government like the Sword of Damocles and this threat will continue to be on the table for as long as the government continues to treat Anglophones as second-class citizens. These critics, some of whom are legal experts, contend that the government of Cameroon should be dragged to court for illegally arresting and detaining its own citizens. They argue that the Anglophone struggle will continue to be a nightmare that will not go away anytime soon as long as the ruling elites continue to live on their Ivory Tower.

They posit that Anglophones could be a minority in Cameroon, but they constitute a nightmare to the government which has the nasty habit of not listening to the people they govern. Some elements of the Anglophone Diaspora hold that the release of their leaders is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. In their view, it is a major victory in a battle that will be for fought for many years, but they are sure they have the right stomach for a fight. They point out that the government has succeeded in doing one thing – unite Anglophones – and this unity will be leveraged to bring justice and equity to the people of West Cameroon.

They argue that releasing their leaders is a good decision, but it is too early for any sensible Anglophone to cry victory, adding that the arrest of their leaders was not the cause of the crisis, but rather an offshoot of a crisis that has been in the making for more than fifty years. The illegal arrest and detention of Anglophones was what caused the crisis to escalate and the government’s decision to do the right thing is just a step towards de-escalating the tensions, but the battle must continue until the government and Anglophones come to a conclusion that will be satisfactory to both parties.

They also contend that they must continue to mount pressure and keep a careful eye on the government. The government, they say, is like a leopard. It is not going to lose its stripes anytime soon as its bag of tricks is still full, adding that manipulation is its stock in trade, but Anglophones, especially those in the Diaspora, will not be buying into any illusion the government may want to sell. They insist that since violence is the only language the government understands, they will continue to disrupt government activities both abroad and in Cameroon. They point to the successful disruption of recent government missions in South Africa, Canada, England and Belgium, adding that the law is for everyone and if the custodian of the law – the government – is always quick at violating the law, they too will continue to deliver chaos to the government until a clear and definitive solution to the Anglophone problem is found.

Meanwhile, following yesterday’s announcement, Anglophone leaders and activists have been meeting to find an appropriate response to the decision. Meetings in Brussels, Washington DC and London which went into the early hours of Thursday have not yet produced the right response. Federalists and independentists have been disagreeing over the way forward. Differences on how to respond are still being settled behind the scenes and different factions are seeking to promote their perspectives. Proponents of total independence, who have been characterizing federalists as eternal optimists who think that they are capable of reforming eternal sinners, are simply not buying into the noise that is being made by the Yaounde government. To them, their objective is clear. They have had enough of a country that has marginalized its own people for close to six decades. They argue that the government is used to speaking from both sides of its mouth, adding that the government of “La Repulique”, a country they consider as their neighbour, will never act without ulterior motives. The interim leader of Southern Cameroons,  Sesekou Ayuk Julius Tabe, who is on a world tour to promote the recognition of his country, is gradually winning hearts and minds, and is being quoted as being indifferent to the Biya-staged dramain Yaounde, as his focus is to drum up support for Southern Cameroons which, in his view, will soon be the continent’s newest country.

For federalists, this could be an opportunity for the form of the state to be discussed. The government, they say, comes out of this situation bruised and fragile, adding that a little pressure will bring the reluctant and ageing government officials to the negotiating table where they will table their constitution for a federal system of government in Cameroon. While others hold that the children have already paid a huge price and should be allowed to go back to school, hardliners are still pushing for a boycott of schools so as to bring the struggling government to the negotiating table. They point to the dictatorial tendencies of the government, arguing that the country’s government is noted for its bad faith and can never be trusted. The decree to release the leaders, in their view, could be a distraction and they are simply not going to fall into this “honey trap” that the government is setting for the Diaspora.

However, there is hope in the future. Many Anglophones still think that something good can come out of yesterday’s decision to release Anglophone leaders. They are calling on the government to build on yesterday’s decision to bring different factions to the negotiating table. They argue that though lots of mistakes have been made, the country can still pull together to make the crisis a thing of the past. They, however, hold that the government should recognize errors of the past and should seek ways and means to calm flaring Anglophone tempers. They also want the government to ensure that future generations do not go through the pressure and chaos that have been playing out in the country for a long time. They think a good constitution as well as goodwill will go a long way in restoring peace in Cameroon. In their view, they are still watching the government very closely and are waiting to see what measures will follow yesterday’s decision.

The Editorial Desk

Cameroon Concord News Group

Nothing is as challenging as living in uncertainty. For some time now, Cameroon has been the land of uncertainty and this may not change anytime soon. September is just a few days away and the whole world is watching to see if schools will actually resume in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions. For almost a year, Cameroon has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Anglophones who have been victims of a French-backed and government-orchestrated marginalisation plan, last year decided that they were sick and tired of the second-class citizenship imposed on them by calling for political change in a country that has functioned over the last four decades like an absolute  monarchy. A strike triggered by teachers and lawyers was swiftly joined by students and other Anglophone socio-professional groups which have been waiting in the wings to make their voices heard. The government’s 15^th Century, tough and inefficient response caused things to escalate. Lawyers were beaten and treated like common criminals for calling for a peaceful resolution of issues that were hindering them from effectively performing their job.

In a related event, University of Buea students who were seeking to meet university authorities following an imposition of extra charges on them were made to drink raw sewage though they had clearly indicated that they wanted the matter to be addressed in a peaceful manner. The images of those students being asked to sleep in raw, dangerous sewage hit social media platforms and the entire world was shocked at the government’s ill-advised decision to send troops to an environment wherein there was no trouble. These images and those of armless young men being mowed down by government troops in the North West Region gave Anglophones the evidence to present to the world that they were no longer welcome in a country they had thought was theirs too. Initial calls for federalism were therefore transformed into calls for immediate and total independence from a country Anglophones now refer to as “La Republique”.  It should be recalled that the government has never arrested any soldiers for such inhuman acts and has never publicly apologized for the loss of human life.

Matters came to a head when negotiations between government officials and Anglophone leaders collapsed and Anglophone leaders were arrested and dumped in jails in Yaounde, far from where they had been arrested as if there were no jails wherever they had been arrested. This was immediately followed by the shutting down of Internet in the country’s two English-speaking regions. This Internet discrimination lasted for close to a hundred days and it drew condemnation from the entire world. This hit Anglophones like a ton of bricks. They  immediately interpreted that decision as the government’s ploy to unleash a reign of terror on them and this was confirmed by the government’s unjustified and “manu militari” arrests of Anglophones. Even innocent girls and women who just wanted to cross over to the French-speaking part of the country for business or personal reasons were arrested. Speaking English was immediately made a crime in Cameroon and this resulted in many Anglophones running away from the country as the government pursued its unannounced decision to purge the country of “trouble-making Anglophones”.

The government’s 56-year marginalization plan and the purge that followed the Anglophone uprising have resulted in more than two million Anglophones leaving the country and this Diaspora that comprises of some of the finest professionals the country can boast of, is clearly behind all attempts at frustrating a government they hold is responsible for all the problems they have faced from birth. It is even normal these days for Anglophones to blame the government for any attacks by mosquitoes. These days, an Anglophone who fails to effect an erection will not hesitate to hold the government responsible for his failure to perform his marital obligations. Poor government!

To be fair to the government, it has made some efforts at instilling a sense of citizenship and patriotism in Anglophones who are more intent on quitting a flawed and lopsided union that Foncha and Muna had signed to promote their personal interests. Recently, the government created a special section for Anglophones at the National School of Administration Magistracy (ENAM), the school that trains administrators and judges. It has also withdrawn judges and magistrates of French expression who do not have an inkling of the common law that is practiced in the English-speaking part of Cameroon. It has also created a common law section at the Supreme Court and English is today a language that is easily used in French Cameroon albeit in a strange and unrecognizable accent.

But the government is still living in its legendary contradiction. While it is withdrawing judges, it is also sending other Francophone officials to the Anglophone region. Many Francophone Senior Divisional Officers (SDOs) are still calling the shots in English-speaking regions, with many of them still treating the locals with arrogance and disdain. All senior military and police officials are still Francophones who have not yet understood that there are cultural differences between Francophones and Anglophones. The old issues are still there and many will linger for a very long time as the government has the nasty habit of thinking that pressing issues can only be addressed by time. For Anglophones, time is of the essence. Their pain is deep and failure to address those issues simply implies that the government is ignoring them, especially as the head of state has recoiled into his palace and is simply not paying attention to them. To make matters worse, those who had caused the crisis to escalate like Issa Tchiroma, Fame Ndongo, Laurent Esso and Atanga Nji have all disappeared from the stage. Anglophones hold that they deserve an apology from the government for the marginalization and insults heaped on them following their demands for a federal system, although today the majority of Anglophones are looking forward to the day they will be living in an independent Southern Cameroons. They want  Issa Tchiroma, Fame Ndongo, Laurent Esso and Atanga Nji to be fired from government as testimony to the fact that the government really regrets all what has happened to them. This is very unlikely as Mr. Biya, the country’s president, never acts based on any pressure or advice. Having ruled the country as a monarch for thirty-five years and with a heavy hand, it is unlikely that he will be mending his ways. Old habits die hard.

Regarding the resumption of schools in the English-speaking regions, while there was a lull during the holiday period, many observers thought the government would use that time to address a few issues, including the trial of Consortium leaders like Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho Balla, Dr. Fontem and Mr. Mancho Bibixy.  But true to its philosophy, this time was used to deal with trivial issues that have not helped to defuse tensions in the English-speaking parts of the country. On the contrary, the government has sent its surrogates to all the nooks and crannies of the two Anglophone regions for them to convince parents to send their kids to schools they do not trust. These surrogates are all over the region like a bad rash, hoping that students will go to school. But the lack of confidence in the government has led to a lack of security in the region and it is likely that schools will not resume as scheduled, as Anglophones insist that their leaders and brothers wrongfully arrested and detained in Yaounde must be released as a precondition for any meaningful dialogue. That is, if the country’s monarch is even thinking of dialogue.

To keep the government permanently under pressure, Anglophones have formed many cloak-and-dagger organizations and these organizations are spreading across the region like ragweed. They are today acting like boogey men, scaring children from going to school. The kids are scared and rightly so, as many schools have been burnt down and no real actions have been taken by the government. It should also be recalled that many of the issues that triggered the teachers’ strike have not been addressed, especially the teaching of kids by Francophones who neither understand English nor the Anglophone culture.

Regarding school resumption in universities, the story is no different. Buea University students are still scared to death. Their mates who had been arrested during the strike are still languishing in jail and hopes of them being released anytime soon are gradually fading. The former vice chancellor of the University of Buea may have been fired, but there are lots of issues to be dealt with. Students are still very concerned about the use of brute force in the resolution of issues with university authorities. The new vice chancellor has been very “frugal” when it comes to outlining confidence-building measuresthat may lead to the appeasement of students, maybe for fear of upsetting his Yaounde masters. However, he must understand that silence is not always golden.

Getting children back to school in the Anglophone regions is not a tough job. This can be achieved if the government shows a lot of flexibility and good faith when it comes to dealing with Anglophones. Anglophones have shown a lot of resilience and courage over the last five decades. They have resisted the government and its manipulation for more than ten months. This is a clear testimony that Anglophones are very united and have a developed sense of purpose. They are also demonstrating that the government may bring the country’s entire military to the two regions, but that will not get the kids back to school. Anglophones are aware of the importance of education and many of them have, over the last forty years, spent huge amounts of money to finance their children’s university education abroad and in private colleges in Cameroon. They also understand that they are dealing with a government that speaks from both sides of its mouth. If schools resume without Anglophone leaders being released, then these leaders, considered by many as political prisoners, might never know freedom again.

If the government wants schools to resume, it must release all Anglophones arrested following the outbreak of the current crisis. The resumption of school has nothing to do with the deployment of the country’s army in the Anglophone region. Confidence-building measures can perform miracles where brute force and manipulation have failed. A cabinet reshuffle is long overdue. The government must think of bringing moderates and some Anglophone leaders into the government to appease the Anglophone population. Sending the old and tired faces Anglophones have seen for more than two decades will not address the situation. Those faces do not have any respect. They have lost credibility and no Anglophone in his right mind will pay attention to them. Anglophones want new leaders and they know who they want. They are against those the government erroneously markets as elites. These so-called elites have betrayed their people and the people have made up their minds. They must be cut out of government if peace has to return to that country. It is time to change tactics. The old strategy has collapsed. Only new and fresh faces in government and other senior positions can help calm flaring tempers in Anglophone Cameroon. There is no point using a strategy that has overstayed its welcome. It’s time to bring Anglophones back to the fold by using appeasement and not military action.

By the editorial desk

The Anglophone crisis that burst into the global stage some ten months ago is still playing out in the two Anglophone regions of the country and there are no signs that it will be going away anytime soon. The situation has been a huge nightmare to the government which has been struggling to prove to the international community that it can really put a handle on this issue. But the last ten months have proven that Anglophones are not going to return to the status quo ante. Measures taken by the government have not met their expectations and the continuous arrest and detention of many Anglophones are diminishing any chances for a constructive and meaningful dialogue. The absence of such dialogue has unfortunately led to so many actions, some of which include the forming of an Anglophone interim government abroad, the frustration of government efforts both at home and abroad, the burning of schools, the intimidation of those who really want their kids to go to school, etc.

Provoked by decades of marginalization of the country’s English-speaking minority, the crisis is gradually crippling the country and exposing the government’s inability to put a handle on a situation that unfortunately escalated because students of the University of Buea were made to drink raw sewage following a peaceful demonstration staged by all the students of the country’s first Anglo-Saxon university. Things got to a head when many Anglophones in the country’s northwest region were killed and others arrested and taken to Yaounde as if there were no jails in the Anglophone regions.

After many months of contention between the country’s English-speaking minority and the government which seems to favor military action over appeasement, the country is gradually descending into total chaos, as even the Francophone majority is sympathizing with Anglophones who have worked hard to expose the inefficiencies and deficiencies of a government that clearly lacks a 21^st Century mindset to deal with modern issues. Anglophones who, in modern days, prefer to be called Southern Cameroonians, have made up their minds to walk away from a union that has brought them more pain and death from their government because of their constant demands for the protection of their culture and way of life.

The Majority of Anglophones have gradually walked away from their initial demand for federalism as the government delays to meet their demand. Many Anglophones hold that the government has been chasing shadows instead of the object and in the process has been delivering death and destruction to the country’s English-speaking minority that accounts for about 60% of the country’s wealth and in the event of a secession, French-speaking Cameroon, known by Anglophones as “La Republique”, will be losing a huge chunk of its wealth. It should be recalled that Cameroon’s oil is located in the country’s southwest region and the people of this region have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in the management of their oil wealth.

But currently, it is not oil that is causing the government to lose sleep.    Last year, schools in the Anglophone regions did not operate although the government hastily organized end-of-year exams just to demonstrate that the Anglophone education sub-system was working and the outcome of this hastily organized exams has been massive failure. Many students were unjustly awarded marks just to increase the number of successes, but this unfortunate action by the government did not produce the desired results and many of those students who have been successful in what Anglophones call “political GCE” are very concerned about their future as those certificate are simply not worth their weight in gold the world over.

One would have thought that the government would have used the holiday period to address some of those issues that have split the country. But faithful to its indifference and manipulation, the government simply went to sleep while at the switch. Dialogue that has been called for at various levels, including by the Pope, has been carefully ignored and the situation has continued to deteriorate, with the country’s economy taking a hit.

With schools scheduled to resume on September 4, 2017, the government has swung into action to ensure that students return to school, an action it holds will enable it to cry victory. Government surrogates have been dispatched to every nook and cranny of the Anglophone region to spread the gospel of education to parents who are, unfortunately, reluctant to let their children step out into the unknown. Going to school is the best thing that can happen to any child. Education is the key to a bright future and an uneducated person is condemned to live in “perpetual darkness” for the rest of his life.  Knowledge can only be well imparted if there is security – security for the students, security for the teachers and security for parents who are more than delighted to see their off-springs exude knowledge.

However, security does not imply the massive deployment of troops across a region that has genuine grievances against a government that has systematically taken actions that have fallen short of the people’s glory. Security implies the local people gleefully work with security agencies to ensure goods and people are safe. This implies the people have confidence, not only in the systems, but also in those who man those systems. Over the last year, that confidence has been caught in a downward spiral. Indeed, it has been in a free fall since the government unleashed a reign of terror on the same people it is supposed to protect. There is nowhere in the world where people are not supposed to complain and most civilized governments understand that complaining is an expression of concerns which should be addressed through dialogue and consultation. In Cameroon, complaining has been a crime. Anglophone were not supposed to complain. They have been brutalized and sent to jail. Their complaints only incurred the government’s wrath and the government’s violent and military reaction has sapped Anglophones of their patriotism and today, most do not want to be part of a country wherein the leaders are frozen in time and only understand one language – an iron fist.

The Anglophone crisis does not require military action. It requires dialogue, appeasement and a campaign to win hearts and minds. Anglophones have been hurt for more than five decades. Their grievances are known by all across the globe. If the government is sincerely sorry for the errors of the past, it should express its regrets and take appropriate actions. To err is human and to forgive is divine. Being silent in the face of a serious issue like the one tearing the country apart does not seem to be the right approach. Silence could be golden, but using it in this context is like treating cancer with Tylenol. The most appropriate actions will include, but not limited to,releasing all those who are in jail, especially Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho Balla, Dr. Neba Fontem and Macho Bibixy so that genuine and sincere dialogue can start. Old ways are not going to deliver the right results. The world has changed. The Internet has made it a lot easier to mobilize people and resources across the world. Anglophones have made the most of this technology to bring their sorry plight to the attention of the world.

Playing around the issue will also not help. Sending missions to many parts of the world to explain the government’s half measures will surely not cut it and the failure of recent missions to Washington, Ottawa, London and Brussels simply underscores the determination of Anglophones abroad to give the government a very bad name. The government has taken many punches to the liver. It has a black eye and deploying troops across the Anglophone region to oblige students to go to school is simply a game that will further rob the country of scarce development resources. Anglophones may be angry, but they are also willing to meet the government half-way. But for the journey to start, the government must display a lot of goodwill and honesty. It must engage Anglophones and their leaders to ensure that differences and disagreements do not become tough situations that can have long-lasting effects on the country, especially on children, like in the present situation. The current situation does not require a huge deployment of troops. It requires appeasement and dialogue. Using the stick instead of the carrot in this situation will only further radicalize Anglophones. Cameroon can spare itself the agony that other countries have gone through if its leaders understand that its army should not be intimidating the very people it is supposed to protect. The Anglophone crisis is a clash of ideas and cultures. It can easily be resolved at a negotiating table if the government takes the right steps in the right direction. Dialogue is the key. It is the ideal medication. Once there is dialogue, the huge massing of troops across the Mongo will not be necessary and schools will resume. But Anglophone leaders should be freed to give dialogue a huge chance.

Cameroon Concord News Group

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime, French Cameroun political elites, and Southern Cameroons CPDM surrogates are leading a vicious campaign against the democratic forces directing the Southern Cameroons peoples revolution. The Yaoundé regime suspended all direct and indirect talks with the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, arrested its leaders including several hundreds of its followers and sympathisers and told the world that it had opened dialogue with Southern Cameroons community leaders.

Further, the Yaoundé Francophone regime outlawed the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the Southern Cameroons National Council leaving the Biya regime with no genuine Anglophone partner to hold talks with. The successive US governments, the EU including France and Britain have all maintained a kind of deliberate silence ever since the revolution started some 11 months ago.

The Biya Francophone regime decided to freeze all bank accounts belonging to prominent members of the Consortium including lawyers and journalists who are all involved in the battle for Southern Cameroons independence. And prior to that, the French Cameroun occupation authority headed by the 85 year old dictator, decided to shut down internet services in Southern Cameroons.

But why this fierce assault?

The interim leader of the Southern Cameroons Governing Council was elected on a pro-independence platform. In addition, Southern Cameroonians have lost faith in Biya and are highly critical of the so-called commission for bilingualism and multiculturalism which recently celebrated its obituary following the resignation of its Chairman, Peter Mafany Musonge from the Senate.

The Southern Cameroons governing body and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium have been labelled “terrorist” organisations even though none of them are on the US and EU terror watch list. But in the context of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government, the term “terrorist organisation” is used exclusively against genuine Anglophone groups, but not against other Southern Cameroons factions and political parties such as the SDF with ties with the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group think that any form of agreement between Anglophones and French Cameroonians with Paul Biya as President of La Republique du Cameroun will not be respected in West Cameroon. Biya has undermined Southern Cameroonian leaders, elites, traditional and religious authorities and peoples alike for over three decades coupled with extensive covert and Francophone public action to force the collapse of our Common Law heritage.

In his ill-disguised attempt at deceiving some weak and power-hungry Southern Cameroonians, the Southern Cameroons revolution issue has now been condensed in “Children going back to school.” Forgotten were the facts that the Francophone occupation and Biya’s failure in governance including Southern Cameroons joblessness preceded the establishment of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium. In addition, constitutional amendments recognizing Southern Cameroons rights, and calling for an end to the French Cameroun occupation via the unitary state was pushed under the rug. The continues appointment of French Cameroun civil administrators to head Southern Cameroons counties and the daily arrest of hundreds of Southern Cameroonians are all issues that have put a spanner in the works and are yet to register on the screens of the powers undermining the people of Ambazonia.

The assessment of the situation made by the Roman Catholic Bishops of Southern Cameroons was also hushed. Southern Cameroons pro Yaoundé groups, namely; SWELA, NOWELA, South West Chiefs Conference, North West Fons Conference, PAP, SDF, LDP, CRP etc for over the last 35 years had fulfilled all the demands for a one and indivisible Cameroon. Yet Southern Cameroons did not get the 10 federated states or the decentralisation that was promised by Biya and his French Cameroun political elites. If 35 years of negotiations bore no fruit for Southern Cameroonians while achieving great economic gains for French Cameroonians, why should the Southern Cameroons Governing Council and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium be eager to negotiate with Biya and his gang of Francophone political elites?

But at the end of the day, the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime, French Cameroun political elites, and Southern Cameroons CPDM surrogates are saving no effort in trying to stifle the Southern Cameroons revolution. For Biya, Anglophones are an endangered species; since his crusade is against them. For the French Cameroun political elites, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the Southern Cameroons Governing Council are anti Francophone and will not capitulate under pressure like the 1961 KNDP stalwarts. And for the Southern Cameroons CPDM surrogates, they continue to be tied down by sinecures from French Cameroun, and are not free to make an independent choice.

What makes such decisions more obscure is the fact that Southern Cameroonians are killed and maimed on a daily basis by troops and security agents from French Cameroun. Furthermore, Ambazonians continue to be detained and tortured in French Cameroun prisons. Southern Cameroons land in Fako, Akwaya, Ndian counties are being confiscated by French Cameroun political elites. All of these war crimes have now been branded “Children should go back to school.”

Southern Cameroonians have voted for the struggle and no force can deprive them of their right to defend themselves and their land against an oppressive, expansionist, discriminatory occupation. Instead of siding with the victim, the UN and the AU including some ill-informed Anglophones have sided with the occupier.

To this I put my name
Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

“Driving through Southern Cameroons towns and villages you will see satellite dishes, sprouting mushroom-like from roofs, gardens and balconies. Southern Cameroonians have roofs to repair, but they are buying satellite dishes instead. Wherever you go now in Southern Cameroons, it is the satellite dish that comes first.” This is an extract from an intelligence report sent to the presidency of La Republique du Cameroun stating that the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation or Ambazonia TV is threatening state control of West Cameroonians.

The report also noted that despite the arrest of several cable companies, the chain’s interest has increased tenfold. Several households have installed private satellite dishes to watch Ambazonia TV whose broadcast center remains unknown to the Francophone regime. The proliferation of these dishes in Southern Cameroons symbolizes the frustration that Southern Cameroonian citizens feel with the Francophone dominated state-owned Cameroon Radio and Television. But after years of hankering for a choice in what they can watch, Southern Cameroonians are fast becoming spoilt for one.

Ambazonia TV has been broadcasting for three months and is essentially engaged in helping Southern Cameroonians to understand the urgent need for secession. The Francophone regime in Yaoundé earlier announced that the chain had its technical facilities at Ngoketunjia in the Bamenda province. Yaounde ordered the arrest of some innocent Southern Cameroonians in the Ngoketunjia County and charged them for distributing the channel.

According to the Francophone regional delegate of communications for the defunct North-West region, Louis Marie Beignet, a cable company registered in Bamenda took responsibility for introducing into its package images that were animated by the Southern Cameroons Broadcasting Corporation. Francophone political elites have opined that Ambazonia TV is hostile to the regime in Yaoundé and has no place in their so-called one and indivisible Cameroon.

Southern Cameroonians have long been denied vibrant local media. Internet penetration in the territory is among the lowest on the African continent, and since the Biya Francophone government declared a state of war against Southern Cameroonians, following civil unrest orchestrated by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, mobile internet services were stopped throughout all the Southern Cameroons counties.

The Biya Francophone regime also has a fearsome reputation for jailing Anglophone journalists. There are a handful of independent Southern Cameroons newspapers, which can on occasion be critical of the Francophone colonial government, but they are few in number. Ever since the Southern Cameroons revolution started, many English newspaper tabloids have announced they were suspending print operations, citing censorship.

Until three months ago, switching on the TV in Cameroon meant watching President Biya and wife on the state-owned channel or a chartered member of the ruling CPDM crime syndicate passing for a cabinet minister on a meet-the-people tour. There is a recognition inside the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM that squeezing Southern Cameroonians was a costly mistake. “Opening up should have happened earlier,” a baron of the regime admits. The lack of credible independent news source in West Cameroon has now been filled by the Ambazonia TV.

Producing alternative news will be difficult inside the territory since CRTV enjoys a near-monopoly on information and access to ministers and prominent political figures in La Republique du Cameroun. But the signs are positive for Southern Cameroonians in that so long as West Cameroonians stock up on satellite dishes and mobile internet facilities, controlling what they watch will be harder by the evil forces in Yaoundé.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Group

Fellow Southern Cameroonians, fellow Ambazonians:

Accept warm greetings from the Governing Council. This journey to the restoration of the independence of our nation is in full gear and we want to thank you all for your messages from all corners of the world. We have heard your voices from Australia, China, Europe, Americas and Africa. We are very encouraged by the enormous show of support and solidarity from our people back home. We want you all to be reassured that we are in this journey together until we get to Buea, in a country that we will call our own.

Let me start by addressing the three categories of Southern Cameroonians / Ambazonians in the face of what has become known as the Anglophone problem. There are three categories :- Unionist, Federalist and my camp the Nationalist.

The Unionists (Status quo in Government)
Political groups part of the System: No allegiance to their people, No concern for the future.
Civil Servants income from government Contractor and agents of these system: Their financial security is threatened; main income is grossly from their government jobs.
No interest but migrated simply by fear: Mothers with children who have mastered Francophone.

The Federalists
They may be motivated by other motives but some are afraid of a war and the massacre of SCians
The landscape here shows people for the most part of an older generation.

The Nationalists – Restoration of our glory land
The future of SC does not lie in the hands of the older generation.
They deserve to know a commitment that the younger generations have demonstrated in obtaining their freedom. This particular group of SC are clamouring for the restoration and they believe that the job must be completed

No matter your group
You have the right to belong to your group and nobody should force you to belong to our group. The fight for freedom must be desired from within and cannot be imposed by everyone else. Consequently, if people want to give in the status quo, God bless them, they have the right to stay where they are. You make your choices and your choices will eventually make you.

Federalists
Free to make their choice
What benefit have you derived in this union for the past 56 years?
Have you not been told to speak in French
Have you not been considered as Second-class citizen when you interact with people of LRC??
Have your children not been passed over or discriminated in admission into National Institutions, jobs, pay, promotions.
Is that what you want to continue to live under?
What exactly do you benefit from the system other than your daily bread and something to cater for your children?
Do you believe this system would ever change and if it does, will it not change for the worse?
Why do you now believe that this bond and will is going to cure they terminal illness that the regime has inflicted for all these 56 years?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Our people should not be lured into insanity and our youths are clearly aware of that. It should be known that we are tired and we have to set ourselves free.

FEDERALISM: Who believes and advocate that we can gain the restoration of our independence only through war- by implication, what groups are actually selling is that the Biya regime will continue to carry out the brutal restoration of our people who are claiming independence. If they are right and God forbid, what then does it say of a system that would exterminate people without arms because they are fighting for their rights? How can anyone believe that they can remain in such an oppressive system and enjoy their God-given right of freedom and Liberty?

On the other hand, others have said that we cannot achieve restoration of our independence by making our case to the outside world. These groups of SC elites believe that since they tried earlier and failed, we should fold our hands and not try again. It is surprising and shocking that these are the same people advocating dialogue with LRC as if there have not been dialogue in the past 56 years. What makes them believe therefore that another round of dialogue this time will yield any fruit, when the actors with whom you have to dialogue have been in power for over 35 years? If these SCian elites believe that they can dialogue with this regime that has subjugated us for this long with that principal leader who has been in power for 35 years and counting, they are free to go ahead.

Why do they not believe that another try at the UN, AU, ICC, and ICJ could achieve results? The passage of time, the evolution of the world’s human right election and influence, and the fire in our youths of today give me the confidence to say that this is the time for action.
The idea of Federalism, no matter the form it takes, will result in a centralized government that will continue to oppress the inalienable rights of the minority people of SC.

Now, let me talk about the case for the restoration and our independence. This Struggle:

Our dreams of independence come with UN resolution 1608. At that point, we were independent. Let me take that again; after the passage of UN article 1608 our nation of British Southern Cameroons was independent. Later in 1961, we were given two options to complete our sovereignty by joining with another independent country (either Nigeria or the Republic of Cameroun). The third option which would have saved us the servitude of the last 56 years:- that of forming our nation on our own, building on the institutions that were already in the works from 1954, was selfishly ignored.

Our fore fathers believed in the sincerity of the leaders of LRC and therefore believed that the union, which was based on two separate independent States, would be a stronger national union, a win-win for both nations. We have come to see that the course of events has proven them wrong. Different dates, promises and bad faith have been the order of business from the two successive governments of LRC.
Given that all of these things never materialized what non-revocable guarantees can this government give you to ensure that your children and your children’s children will be given their full rights as human beings?

Now please indulge me to address President Paul Biya at this point.
Mr. President, notwithstanding the above mentioned failures of your stewardship on the notion of the people of SC; you are once again given an opportunity to show your leadership as a father. This occurred when lawyers and teachers expressed their rights to be granted. This requests were made because of the way and inefficient government that you have led over all these years.
You failed to listen to the cries of the people. 8 months have passed and the situation festered and has degenerated to where we are today. Instead of attending to the demands of the civil society groups, your government banned them, incarcerated their leaders, jailed other advocates, imprisoned other people, raped our daughters and militarized our towns and village. Your government’s lack of response led to the manifestations on the streets. Mr. President, it is only when there was successful ghost town on Monday 9th January 2017 that your government agreed to dialogue. This has been and continues to be the people’s protest. The people of SC are speaking clearly and loudly by their actions. You better listen to them. No one can lead a people without their consent. The people of SC are making their voices heard by their actions (actions speaks louder than words).

Mr. President, I almost certain that had you shown a depth of leadership at the start of this disruption in Oct/Nov2016 by coming out and addressing the people of SC with respect and genuine concern, you may have pulled off some groundwork from these people. However, you ignored them with disdain and sent your troops to betroth them, killing, torturing, raping, arresting leaders, abducting people to be tried in military courts. Abducting a justice of the Supreme Court.

If a justice of the supreme court can be treated like Justice Ayah Paul Abine has been treated, if a lawyer like Barrister Nkongho Agbor Balla has been treated, if a renown academic can be treated like Dr. Fontem Niba has been treated, if a journalist and a popular talk-show host can be treated like Mancho Bibixy has been treated, what treatment should we expect for the ordinary man/woman in SC?

A people whose backs have been pushed against the wall, have no other option than to push back with the last energy in their body and when they fight back, they will not be fighting to stay in the Satus quo, they will fight to go to a new place, saying that any place is better than here. Therefore Mr. President, you and your government have forced the people of SC to leave and go for good.

Mr. President, we are aware of all the manipulative plans that your government has been taking to manipulate and deceive and appease the people of SC. We know that there is currently a plan in the works by the French government to the LRC to invest $35 Billion in the NW region, in addition to the 18 km of tarred roads in the city of Bamenda, as well as the ridiculous re-opening of the Bamenda airport. We are also aware of discussions in the pipeline for large investments in the SW region. Allow me to say, Mr. President that these ridiculous investments, coming at this time, are a disdain to our people. These investments, if they become real, are a right and should have come many years ago.

Mr. President, you can kill every Southern Cameroonian who wants to be free but you cannot kill the spirit of freedom in the Southern Cameroonian. In addition to all the intrigues, your government has repeatedly tried to divide the people of SC with the usual NW/SW slogans. People have been offered bribes, positions and large amounts of money. This time however, due to the spirit of Southern Cameroons that is sweeping our territory, your offer was turned down. You have failed to recognize a basic lesson of life; that no one can trade their freedom for 30 pieces of silver.

Now, let me address my people, People of SC, As I said earlier, our struggle for the restoration of the independence of SC is not imposed on anyone but derived from the determined spirit of each and every Southern Cameroonian who desires to be free.

What does it mean to be free? The people of Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia want to be free to:-
send their children to schools where they are taught in English, except when they are studying another language.
Go to the courts and practice the Common Law to common law magistrates and counsel.
Go to hospitals and be consulted by physicians who do not need interpreters.
Go to the police and speak to their commissioners in English
Talk to their administrators in English
Know the allocation of resources to their respective Counties
Hold their leaders accountable
Elect their Governors and State legislators
Given the choices that I have outlined for the unionist, federalism and the nationalist (freedom fighter), it is important for all SCians to know that there is no need for infighting amongst our people in spite of their different opinions. It is equally important to know that there are traitors and spies among you, who come with the sole goal to disrupt and weaken our resolve. Do not be deceived by such infiltrators. However, we must fight our enemies of this struggle. They will use all kind of means and force of argument to splinter our freedom movement. Some of them would seek to discredit your leaders at every opportunity, to source for financial assistance and impose their leadership. Many things are happening that you may not be aware of. We have to be very watchful as we carry out our mission for our enemies will spend all the resources at their disposal, to sabotage our efforts. Therefore, we shall keep our plans confidential until we find the moment appropriate for us to do so. We are fortunate that our heavy contributors are the silent majority.

The sacrifices of our people back home are too enormous to count. To our mothers and fathers back in our homeland, to our brother and sister, to our children: – we owe you a great deal of gratitude for the effort you are making to keep the struggle alive. The Lord will reward you not only with a new nation that you can call your own, your children’s children will live free to realise their true potential in this land.
Some people are asking us, where we get the courage and energy to lead this struggle. We are strengthened by the echo of late Chief Ayamba, the clarity of delivery of Mola Njoh Litumbe, the tone of appreciation of Fon Gorgi Dinka, the dedication and commitment of our people back home and the army of youths on Social Media who have realized that they want their freedom and the time for that freedom is now.
I am further reenergised by news from back home like that of the grandmother in Bamenda who with her friends were going to pray at 5:30am. When she looked back and noticed her friend further back, she called out loudly “… waka quick, come make we go pray for Sisiku”. Grandma and friends, thank you for your prayers – please know that I will never let you down. The Governing Council will not let you down. This new generation of Southern Cameroonians will not let you down. We may not all get there, but be rest assured that the question of going to Buea is a question of When and not if. When will we get to Buea? We are working very hard to make sure that this happens as soon as possible, so that we will sing songs of victory and carry our grandmother and grandfathers on our shoulders as we enter Buea in triumph.

Let me now address the pressing issue that confronts us today: – that of school assumption in SC. Permit me to first express my dissatisfaction with those who have treated our clergy and the proprietors of private school with disrespect and disregard. The dilemma that our clergy and proprietors find themselves today, in the face of a lawless system of government whereby anyone’s security is at risk, is something that we should all appreciate. The episcopal letter, by the Bishops of the Bamenda episcopal diocese, to the government of LRC remains one of the best written documents that addresses the Anglophone problem in our two nations. It still holds true today as it did when it was written. We must continue to show gratitude for all that our clergy have done so far. The decision-making process of these leaders in the current circumstances can be compared to walking on a mine-field. They must tread very cautiously. We might not agree with some utterances that they are making now but we remain respectful of the church in the hope that throughout history, the church and people of good conscience have always stood for the presumption of human right and the protection of the weak.

Let me also address the students, teachers and parents.
Dear Students, losing a year or two or even more in anyone’s life is like asking the person to start the race all over, when others are ahead and finishing. Throughout this struggle, you have been the most resilient, because you know what we adults do not know; that you are fighting to have a better future for yourself. And just like anywhere in the world, where freedom has been gained, such freedom has been led by the young and the fearless. Your destiny is in your hands. We ask you to stay focus and never to lose sight of your goal.
Dear Teachers, like lawyers, you bare the brunt of the current struggle. Some of you have flown into neighbouring lands as refugees, some of you have become farmers, some of you are doing other jobs to put food on the tables in your families. We owe you a huge debt that will be repaid. The future of our children is at stake. It is this stake that made you to go out on the streets in November 2016. Anytime you feel tired, ask yourself if anything has changed in the schools that you deserted 8 months ago. If not, why should you go back there now?

Dear Parents, the final decision on school resumption might rest in your hands. You made the wise decision in November 2016 to withdraw your children from the third-class education that they were receiving. Your hope is that in the 21st century, your children should receive education that makes them globally competitive. This was not the case in November 2016 and it is still not the case today.
Some might ask if anything has changed since November 2016, in the education sector in Southern Cameroons. Naively, many would say that nothing has changed. The same French-speaking teacher is still due to teach Geography in our land. On the contrary, I can tell you that so much has changed since then: – Dear parents, since you withdrew your children from school, their sisters have been raped, many have been beaten, tortured and jailed, our leaders have been locked up and remain in Kondengui, our Chief justice of the supreme court, Justice Ayah Paul Abine, is languishing at the Gendarmerie cell in Yaoundé, and many have died. Would you resume school, knowing that these people paid these prices for your child to have a better education, while some have death penalties hanging over their heads? If your child goes to school, what happens to the child of your neighbour who is in prison because he/she was fighting this course?

Fellow Southern Cameroonians:
Few have borne a heavier sacrifice than teachers without pay, lawyers without court appearances, traders whose shops are locked, mothers whose children have become prays to people without conscience. Some have been put in different terrible conditions that we deploy. We denounce any crimes committed by people who take advantage of young people.

To conclude on this issue, there will be no school resumption in September 2017. On the fist day of school resumption in LRC in September 2017, all our people will have white handkerchiefs tied on young tree branches. This will be a sign of the Passover of the moribund education that we will never again be our portion. Please tie the handkerchiefs and tree branches around your houses, on doors, gates and fences. This is a sign of your support to our struggle. We will observe ghost town on that day from dawn to 5:00pm. At the end of the ghost town, people should pour out into the streets with whistles blowing in the air, singing songs of praise to God in celebration to show the world that they have refused to be enslave again. That we will set the agenda for the education of our children. Our children will remain at home until October 1st, the day of our lost independence. On or before Oct 1st we will make a further announcement on the way forward. Be rest assured that our team is working tirelessly on an education platform that will transform the sector and prepare our children for the 21st century workplace.
To the Southern Cameroonian in the Diaspora. You have been the engine of this struggle. Your moral and financial support has been very complementary to keeping this struggle alive. The urgency of the moment calls on each person to double our efforts. One of the big mistakes of Mr Biya’s government is in undermining our resolve to participate in the change that will bring us all back to the place of our birth. Almost all of us will rather be back home than wherever we find ourselves today. If the Divinity of our birth cannot be questioned, then our true legacy must be to the people of our land. You may own an American passport. Some may call you British, German, Canadian, Nigerian or South African but the location of your origin is Divine. You cannot and should not forget this.

Our nation will be rebuilt by experts who are originally Southern Cameroonians / Ambazonians. The curse of the last 56 years that has seen us thrown into all countries on the planet will become a blessing when we bring back our experiences, expertise, skills and money to rebuild our true home. We were scattered as seeds across other lands. Through hard work and commitment, we are now mature trees ready to recapture the forest. I urge you all to contribute to this struggle, financially and otherwise. Wait not for the struggle to be over then you join the bandwagon to Buea. Ask yourself, what can you do to move us one giant step closer to Buea? I encourage you to start preparing to come back home, come back to Buea to celebrate the restoration of our nation but importantly start planning to come and resettle in Southern Cameroons. Of course your dual-citizenship will be assured in Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia. Come and rebuild your nation. Think of the great opportunity that has been bestowed on your generation to rebuild your nation from scratch. With time, effort and imagination, we would make our new nation, an investor’s paradise. With transparency, accountability and high performance governance, we will invite people to come and see what a good thing the Lord has done for us. In the days ahead, the Secretary General of the Governing council will present a blue print of the nation we dream.

Some are asking if the Governing Council is ready for dialogue with Mr Paul Biya’s government. While the chances him initiating this dialogue look slim by each passing day, we are ready and open for frank dialogue in a neutral country, mediated by representatives from the UN, AU, ECOWAS, France, England and Nigeria.

To conclude, a few may doubt the chances of our success but I have no doubt in my mind that our freedom and the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia is sacrosanct. We must achieve it now or forever regret. Our forefathers that we now blame for yesterdays errors were younger, less educated and less travelled when they made the costly decision in 1961. We will have no excusable reason to justify our children, if we let the opportunity of the moment slip pass without tangible positive results. I know that we will succeed because we are matching forward together.
God bless Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia.

Sisiku AyukTabe
Chairman
Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Governing Council

La Republique’s frustration at its failures despite engagement in numerous campaigns of aggression inside and outside the country has put the regime in a state of instability. This current state of confused identity has prompted the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime to again adjourn the case against the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium including 25 other Southern Cameroons detainees. Another hearing has been slated for the 31st of August 2017.

The Francophone regime’s recent escalation of crackdown on West Cameroon-populated counties such as Kumbo, Jakiri, Mamfe, Buea, Kumba, Menji and Bamenda is rooted in its failures in the war against the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram, the civil war in the Central African Republic, poor management of the Bakassi peninsula as well as the economic crisis that has rocked the CEMAC zone countries.

The crackdown on the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and its leadership and the continuous adjournments of the case against Dr. Barrister Agbor Nkongho Felix, Dr. Fontem Neba and radio host Bibixy Mancho is bearing witness to the fact that Paul Biya and his gang of Francophone political elites are losing the moral, ideological and political battle inside their own country- La Republique du Cameroun as they kill their own people including Bishop Jean Marie Beniot Bala of the Bafia Diocese.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group believe and fervently too that the Biya regime is at war with itself and consequently, ghost town operations should be intensified in Southern Cameroons and schools should remain closed.

The Francophone dominated army is slowly but surely losing faith in the commander-in-chief who is likely planning to die in office. Biya is no longer respected and is not liked by his own clan because he has put one tribe against the other in the Center and South regions.

So inside the ruling gang there is a lot of infighting. Now when a regime is not stable within its own ranks and fights its own people in the Far North and in the Southern Cameroons, then it is not at ease and peace with the African Union, the UN and other countries in the CEMAC region. The leadership of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, the Moderator of the PCC and the Baptist Church should read from the same script and come into an agreement that Biya and his men no longer have a place in Southern Cameroons.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai
Cameroon Concord News Group

Over the last eight months, Anglophones have clearly expressed their frustration with a political system that has poisoned their delight and made it hard for many of them to serve their country. Anglophone lawyers, teachers, engineers, political scientists and journalists have always complained about the system that has reduced them to second-class citizens in a country they hold is theirs too. Prior to 1993, Anglophone students could not cope in the country’s lone university. They were always cut out of professional schools as the competitive examination test papers were always in French, a language many of them never mastered. After many demonstrations in which many students were beaten and killed, the government finally thought it wise to set up an Anglo-Saxon university in Buea in 1993 to meet the educational needs of Cameroonians of English expression.

However, prior to the creation of the University of Buea in 1993, many Anglophone students had missed out on many opportunities in life just because they could not get the sound education they needed. The only salvation that was available was clearly designed for students from rich homes. The Cameroonian educational system had clearly rejected 20% of its population and going to America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Nigeria was the option that was out of reach for poor students. Poverty was robbing poor brilliant students of a bright future due to poor government educational policies. Many Anglophones have carried this pain in them for decades and the frustration has been unbearable. While many may not have had parents who could send them to rich countries for educational purposes, their courage and determination to reach those countries have enabled them to be there and that explains why there are two million Anglophone Cameroonians living abroad today and seeking to make their voices heard.

The Anglophone Diaspora is well educated, with many studying in some of the best American, Canadian and British universities and most of them have been working hard to help their siblings back home for them to study in the best possible conditions. The lack of good learning conditions in government schools was one of the many reasons why Anglophone teachers went on strike. Their objective has always been to impart knowledge to students in the best possible conditions. They want their junior brothers and children to have what they never had and this can only occur if the right conditions are in place. They deserve a pat on the back for this move that has caught the government’s attention. The international community is aware of the government’s failure to create those necessary conditions and the world is watching the government as it scrambles to prove its worth when it comes to making the Anglophone minority feel at home.

The failed 2016-2017 academic year should be considered by the government as a wake-up call. It must understand that if the disruption of the academic year by Anglophone activists has been successful, it is because it had abdicated its responsibilities vis-à-vis its citizens. While it gives the impression that education is highly subsidized in Cameroon, it has over the last decades failed to find out how parents actually finance their children’s education. Its creation of many government schools in Anglophone Cameroon is a laudable act, but most of these schools simply exist on paper with no real educational infrastructure. Many communities have worked hard to build shacks that can enable their children acquire knowledge and this has been very displeasing to so many Anglophones who clearly feel that their region is being neglected and marginalized.

With regard to the fees, members of the Diaspora have stepped in to help ensure their family members get the education that will give them the competitive edge in future. With two million Anglophones living out of the country, it is obvious that each one of them puts one or two children through school in Cameroon, be it in primary school or university. With their financial influence, the Diaspora easily holds sway over many children and parents in Cameroon and that explains why the Diaspora could easily disrupt the academic year. The government should understand that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Even when it was harassing mission schools for them to open their doors despite threats of destruction, the government simply did not understand that it was not the mission schools that were paying the fees, but members of the Diaspora who had clearly stated that there would be no school for a year in Cameroon. Private schools are for-profit institutions and when those who finance those schools declare that they will no longer pay the fees, those schools are bound to shut their doors and wait for the government to address its issues with the citizens who have clearly expressed their frustrations.

The whole notion of disrupting the academic year was thrown into the mix when pictures of Buea University students being molested by the police and militaryshowed up online and quickly went viral. This gave the Diaspora a huge propaganda tool and those pictures have come back to bite the government big time. The Diaspora which has been holding grudges against the government felt it was time to prove that it had the right muscles to challenge the government and it has indeed packed a punch. It threw the deadliest punches at the government, with many landing where it hurts the most. Students in schools across the Anglophone region were pulled out of school and made to understand that their future could not be guaranteed by a regime whose objective has always been to play to the gallery. Anglophone activists seized the moment to ensure a blank year would be declared in Cameroon. This has not been achieved, but their strategy of disrupting the academic has worked like a charm. Indeed, it has worked beyond expectation. The academic year has been totally messed up and the government of Cameroon has been portrayed around the world as an ineffective and corrupt dictatorship that passes off as a democracy.

The government has a crisis on its hands. No promotion exams have been written in Anglophone Cameroon since the crisis began and new students will be looking forward to joining the world of studies and formal learning in September. Nursery schools were also shut down during the demonstrations. With thousands of children looking forward to going to nursery school, it will be challenging for the government to handle this tricky situation, especially as there is no proper infrastructure to handle exceptional situations like the one that has given it a black eye.

While Anglophone activists have scored significant political goals, it is necessary to start looking at things differently after eight long months. An academic year has been lost. The government may say what it likes, but the world knows that all its actions only amount to a charade. However, Anglophones, especially the activists, must start doing an evaluation of their activities to ensure that today’s strengths do not become tomorrow’s weaknesses. Our children, sisters and brothers have paid a huge price. They have been at home since October 2016. This should be considered as their contribution to efforts at reshaping Cameroon, both politically and economically. It is now time to give them a chance for them to return to school.

While it could be argued that the government could only feel the pinch if students stayed out of school, it would also be necessary to understand that the school boycott could have a significant long-term adverse impact on the children whose life the struggle seeks to reshape. In the absence of school over the next academic year, many students may simply skip school forever and their destiny will be ruined by a struggle that was designed to help them have a better life. Two academic years could be a long time in a girl’s life. In the absence of school, our young sisters and daughters will surely become vulnerable and there will always be people around to exploit that vulnerability. Many of them might become prey to predators and this could spell danger to a region that is seeking to fix everything at the same time. Anglophones are right in their quest for political and economic redress, but the search for redress should not pushed them into shooting themselves in the foot. The students can still return to school while the activists continue to pile pressure on a government that is already collapsing under the weight of age and illnesses.

Anglophone activists are a bunch of intelligent people. They can come up with new and innovative ways to pin down the government until it agrees to give the people what they want. But keeping children at home is like spoiling the future Anglophones want to fix. The key to a bright future is an education. Education, no matter how bad it may be, is better than ignorance. Living in ignorance is like living in perpetual darkness and that is not what we want for future generations. It is time to keep children out of the struggle. They have paid their own price and it is time to let them walk freely and happily to school so that they can look forward to replacing us wherever we are. Without an education, especially for the girl child, our future as West Cameroonians will be bleak. We do not want to build a nation or a region of illiterates or people who will carry the spirit of war in them all the time just because they have been robbed of that promise that could have put them in the world of great opportunities. Let’s give them a chance. The struggle should continue and must continue, but our children should be left out of it. I know this not going to be music to many ears, but if we want a bright future for our region, the region we all love, then we must let our children go back to school. Sending children back to school will not be a weakness. Our activists have demonstrated that they are capable of rendering West Cameroon ungovernable. This message has gotten across and I think the government will strive as much as it can to ensure that such a sticky situation does not end up on its hands again.

There are no doubt as to how the government can be made to feel the pain, but this advocacy for our kids to return to school cannot be the right place to throw up new ways that can make the government understand that an entire region is mad at it. The Anglophone community has smart and intellectual activists who can come up with new and innovative ways that will force the government to the negotiating table. Let’s not sacrifice the future just because we want to achieve our common goal today. This request is also a call for Anglophone activists to come up with new ways to challenge government authority in West Cameroon. Let’s take our children’s education and future out of the equation. Let’s use the same means that were employed to keep them out of school for one academic year to send them back to school. Let those call centers that were set up in Toronto, Houston, Washington DC, to advise parents not to send their children to school be used today to advise parents to let their children go back to school come September. Sending our children to school is not synonymous with yielding to government pressure. It is just testimony to our ability to reassess our strategies and to reinvent ourselves so as to achieve the bigger goal – that of achieving federalism or an independent Southern Cameroons.

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.