For four long years, the Yaoundé government should have understood that violence only begets violence, but the authorities of this collapsing country seem to be on a diet of power and nothing, except a robust intervention of the international community can instil some sanity in the minds of those who rule Cameroon.

Violence seems to be the cornerstone of the government’s territorial administration strategy to the extent where the soldiers sent to the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon think that they have been given carte blanche to kill any and everybody.

These soldiers should have been properly trained to make the population their ally in their effort to end the insurgency that is really tearing the country apart.

The injustices that have triggered the discontent among the country’s English-speaking minority have been left unaddressed despite the loss of life, but new despicable situations are being generated everyday by the soldiers who think it is their divine right to treat the local population in the North West and South west regions as animals.

The Southern Cameroonian insurgency is a challenging and massive problem that requires a huge tool box, but the morally and ideologically bankrupt Yaoundé government has demonstrated that the only tool in its small tool box is brutality; a tool that has only made matters worse.

This government has no regard for human life and the manner with which army soldiers treat suspects in Southern Cameroons clearly underscores that winning hearts and minds is not a key thrust of the government’s conflict resolution strategy, that is, if it has a strategy.

The obvious abuse in a recent video wherein army soldiers are molesting an innocent civilian speaks to the government’s penchant for human rights violations. The fact that abusive government forces are never punished only encourages them to commit more atrocities.

What is more interesting is the happiness with which the soldiers themselves document their own atrocities. They are happy, relaxed and enthusiastic to commit murder with impunity.

Such images do not make room for reconciliation as both camps will be retaliating and even seeking to outdo each other.

However, while the ragtag military groups fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons can be forgiven because of their ignorance and irresponsibility, government troops which engage in such gross human rights violations fail to understand that they belong to a state military which has responsibilities under the Geneva Convention.

The government which sends its troops to Southern Cameroons has a huge responsibility to ensure that Southern Cameroonian fighters who are caught are treated based on the requirements of the Geneva Convention.

The world is not without rules. There could be some chaos especially that caused by Donald Trump’s Administration as former president Donald Trump sought to withdraw the United States from many international organizations, but the Biden Administration has clearly stated that it will be filling its leadership role and human rights will be given pride of place on its agenda.

While the Yaoundé government might be protecting those who have committed atrocities in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, Southern Cameroonians must make it their duty to expose those human rights violations.

Southern Cameroonians living in exile in any part of the world must sink their differences if they really want to achieve something. They must alert the authorities of their host countries to the government- orchestrated massacre that is playing out in Southern Cameroons.

Instead of fighting each other, the various Southern Cameroonian groups must understand that unity is strength and that if they fail to make common cause, those on the ground will continue to pay a huge price.

The internecine conflicts within the various groups and the internal disagreements between the different factions have clearly robbed the insurgency of its vitality and this is giving the Yaoundé government the possibility of thinking that it can obtain a clear military victory in Southern Cameroons.

Today, there are many Southern Cameroonian groups abroad and most of these groups do not even collaborate to ensure that the Yaoundé government is given a good run for its money.

Each group now lays claim to legitimacy and recognition by the people of Southern Cameroons, but the truth is totally different.

No group is legitimate. No group is without its supporters. No group will represent the entire Southern Cameroons in the event of any negotiations. No group will fight alone to achieve the total liberation of Southern Cameroons and no group has the resources to prosecute this war.

The truth is that, as Southern Cameroonians continue to fight each other, they are unknowingly letting the Yaoundé government off the hook.

If the government has to feel any pressure, the different factions must bury their pride and ego to reach out to the other groups so that a new and formidable force, capable of becoming a nightmare to the government, can be created.

This struggle is far from over and if Southern Cameroonian groups do not make common cause, the Yaoundé government will continue to have an upper hand and its soldiers will continue to treat innocent civilians better than cattle.

All hopes are, however, not lost. Despite the numerous factions which have helped to weaken the unity of purpose that held Southern Cameroonians together, one fact remains.

Julius Ayuk Tabe is the poster boy of this struggle and many Southern Cameroonians still long for the days when he was a clear symbol of unity and determination.

Southern Cameroonians must come together. They have a common interest. The enemy is still strong and he is doing all he can to roll back the gains the insurgency has made over the last four years.

The disunity among Southern Cameroonians that is killing the insurgency needs to be brought to an end if the enemy must be brought to the negotiating table.

The violence which has become the government’s hallmark needs to be made known around the world and this must be done through concerted efforts. Going it alone will not deter the government from killing and maiming innocent individuals and children.

If the burning of a baby by government forces and the beating of an innocent man by BIR officials for no crime committed and the numerous atrocities that have shocked the world cannot speak to the leaders of the various factions, what then will speak to them for them to understand that making common cause is central to making the Yaoundé government to come to the negotiating table?

Time is of the essence. The government has ratcheted up its violence and brutality against the people of Southern Cameroons and this will not end if all the leaders of these factions do not come together to act as a single group.

The IG must immediately undertake diplomatic initiatives that will enable the world brand the Yaoundé government as a massive and merciless abuser.

The world has been caught in multiple crises and for it to pay attention to what is happening in Southern Cameroons, the various factions involved in this struggle must start working together. There is power in numbers and the world needs to know that Southern Cameroons has the right men and women who are capable of making a difference.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

The roasting of a baby on February 11, 2021 in Batibo in the North West region of Cameroon seems to be shocking to millions around the world, but very few people remember that the burning of homes during an insurrection or insurgency in Cameroon is a government policy which dates back to the days of the marquisard movement in East Cameroon.

The burning of a baby in Batibo on the country’s Youth Day by government army soldiers is a clear reminder that peace and stability are still illusory in Cameroon though the government is giving the impression that things are stabilizing in Southern Cameroons.

The roasting of vulnerable people is nothing new during this conflict that has already sent more than 7,000 Cameroonians to an early grave.

Kwakwa and Ngarbuh are still fresh in many minds. In Kwakwa, an old woman and a sick old man were roasted alive by army soldiers who are supposed to protect innocent civilians.

In Ngarbuh, government troops gunned down scores of people and set homes ablaze, leaving many calcinated in their homes. These were young children and pregnant women who had nothing to do with the insurgency that has been playing out in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon for over four years.

The government clearly holds that burning the homes of the poor and innocent people will cause the population to discontinue its support to the insurgents even when it has not been really proven that the population is supporting the fighters.

From every indication, it is also clear that the population has been caught between the devil and deep blue sea. The same population is being threatened by the Southern Cameroonian fighters when the fighters feel that they have been betrayed by somebody.

The population is confused and does not know who to turn to. The government is supposed to support these people who have lost their source of livelihood due to the fighting that is playing out in the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country.

The government of Cameroon has no pity for anybody. The death of children and pregnant women during this fighting does not arouse any pity in government officials. The government has one objective – proving that it can win a war – and the generals leading the troops clearly hold that the insurgency is an opportunity for them to enrich themselves.

The same government has been unleashing its army soldiers on the population just to demonstrate its strength. In Santa in the Northwest region, government forces mowed down some 20 young men in a hotel and the country’s territorial administration minister, Atanga Nji Paul, argued that the boys were fighters even when it was proven that it was the same government that had invited those boys to that hotel for reasons only known to Atanga Nji.

In Muyengue, the government was caught with its pants down with its soldiers setting homes ablaze though the soldiers were wearing blue helmets just to implicate the United Nations.

Government atrocities during this conflict have been carefully documented and whenever the war ends, those who committed these acts or commandeered these acts of extreme violence will be brought to book.

A government has the duty and responsibility of protecting its population but in Southern Cameroons, the Yaounde government is instead working hard to demonstrate that it is more devilish than the ragtag military that is fighting for the total liberation of Southern Cameroons.

Instead of seeking ways of ending the violence and engineering peace in the two English-speaking regions of the country, the Yaounde government is doing its best to prove a point that has no raison d’etre.

This is a war that could have been clearly avoided if the government had used known instruments of conflict management and resolution. Genuine dialogue, a key thrust of conflict resolution, was clearly ignored and to deceive the people of Southern Cameroons and the international community, the despicable Yaoundé government organized a semblance of dialogue wherein it chose who had to participate in it, which issues had to be discussed and what resolutions and conclusions had to be reached by the participants; an idea which only caused the conflict to escalate by multiple notches.

The roasting of a baby in Batibo is no accident and let nobody be deceived by whatever the government would say.

The Yaounde government is in the business of winning an argument and it will stop at nothing to prove its point. As usual, it will order an investigation, the findings of which will remain a dead letter like most of the other investigations conducted over the last 39 years by a government that has been conducting itself like a crime syndicate made in the same mould as the Sicilian Mafia.

Despite its efforts, the Yaounde government must understand that regardless of the ferocious brutality it is inflicting on the population, a clear military victory is a clear impossibility.

The more atrocities the government commits in Southern Cameroons, the more it creates more determined and angry fighters whose cardinal objective is to avenge the death of their loved ones.

The only way out of the quagmire the government has created will be sincere dialogue held with key Southern Cameroonian factions in a neutral place in the presence of a neutral third party.

But such dialogue cannot take place when the poster boy of the rebellion, Julius Ayuk Tabe, and other key elements of the Southern Cameroons struggle are still being held in the dungeons of East Cameroon.

A good first step will be releasing all those who have been arrested within the framework of the struggle and granting a general amnesty to all those who have directly or indirectly played a role in this struggle!

The burning of homes, babies and the old will never bring peace to Cameroon. On the contrary, it will only sow bitterness, revenge, death and destruction. The government must learn from history and it must acknowledge that times have changed.

If it defeated the marquisard movement in the 60s, it must understand that there was no internet and those involved in the marquisard movement were not many.

Today, there are some four million Southern Cameroonians out of their country and each one of them has been affected by the senseless fighting. And this is causing many of them to contribute money, ideas and time to ensure that the government stews in its own juice in Southern Cameroons by killing army soldiers and police officers who are collaborating with the corrupt Yaounde regime.

Despite the death and destruction that have already played out in Southern Cameroons, there is still room for genuine and sustainable reconciliation; an opportunity the government needs to seize if it is really looking forward to making Cameroon one and indivisible.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman, Editor-In-Chief

Concord News Group