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[fn]Crise anglophone: la libration des prisonniers divise, Mutations, 17 February 2017; At South West elite forum in Buea: speakers launch xenophobic attacks on North Westerners, The Guardian Post, 3 February 2017.Hide Footnote However, the public has not shown itself to be very divided. A minority favours secession. Rivalries between the two regions go back a long way. http://www.hts.org.zaOpen AccessHTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies. On the one hand, the separatist activists through their Facebook posts discourse to repudiate the pan-Cameroonian identity which they associate to Francophonisation and cultural assimilation, and promote a separate Anglophone nationalism. The southern elites and indigenous groups have always denounced the demographic, political and economic domination and monopolisation of their lands by Northern migrants, and therefore tend to prefer a ten-state federation in order to preserve their autonomy. The Cameroon government does listen to the U.S., Cameroons most important security partner and home of the largest part of the Anglophone Cameroon diaspora. The opening of a front in the West could prove to be dramatic for Cameroon, which already faces Boko Haram in the Far North and militias from the Central African Republic to the East. The root of this problem may be traced back to i96i when the political elites of two territories with different colonial legacies-one French and the other British-agreed on the formation of a federal state. Over the last 10 years, the US has channelled hundreds of millions of dollars into state military forces. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Achu. Du Bois, W. E. B., (2014) [first published in 1896], The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America, Oxford University Press. The Francophone government has a complex and tough procedure that organizations must go through in order to receive approval. France is a strategic partner for Cameroon, and the biggest aid donor in Anglophone Cameroon. International involvement and economic dependency on the peoples of Cameroon is long running. After reunification on 1 October 1961, Cameroon became a federal republic, but in practice inherited a shaky federalism with an unequal distribution of power between the two federated states in the federal assembly and in the government. Anyone not adhering to the movement faces harassment and threats. The process leading to the reunification of the two Cameroons is at the heart of the Anglophone problem. Bilateral responses and the European Union (EU)s response has been the weakest. The first and main ideologues of the Anglophone movement come from the Southwest and it was there that the first All Anglophone Conference was held.Hide Footnote However, when, at the end of January, the traditional chiefs of the Northwest wrote to the president of the republic to ask him to release prisoners as a goodwill gesture, the traditional chiefs of the Southwest responded by sending a motion of support to the government and calling on the youth of the Southwest to break with the disorder caused by northerners. [fn]Crisis Group has had access to this unpublished report, sent to the presidency of the Republic on 30 November 2016.Hide Footnote Several other incidents took place in Bamenda at the end of November, leading to riots, On 28 November, the crisis, which had until then been limited to the Northwest, spread to the Southwest. The government is wrong to bet on the crisis running out of steam. The German government and the traditional Douala chiefs signed a treaty in July 1884, establishing a protectorate called Kamerun. The Anglophone armed conflict which is a transformation from Anglophone Identity problem escalated in 2016, but can be traced back to the colonial time. In terms of methodology, the paper makes use of qualitative data analysis. Crisis Group interviews, members of the Commission for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism, Yaound and Buea, March 2017; confidential letter from Foncha to Ahidjo, 14 September 1963, seen by Crisis Group. After sacrificing an academic year and resisting pressure from the government and secessionist militants, the risk is that they will become increasingly bitter if no reasonable progress is made, especially on educational reform and governance. But at least weve now got the message and we know what we need to do in the future. On 28 November 2016, the U.S. State Department published a communiqu calling for dialogue in the Anglophone regions and calling on the government of Cameroon to respect fundamental freedoms. . We did not prepare our escape to Nigeria. But at least weve now got the message and we know what we need to do in the future. This lucrative contract sees money going directly to the state-owned company SNH, which reportedly funds the elite armed forces of the Cameroon state. Available at SSRN: If you need immediate assistance, call 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States, or +1 212 448 2500 outside of the United States, 8:30AM to 6:00PM U.S. Eastern, Monday - Friday. It also leads people to believe it can monitor WhatsApp communications. Even today, the failure to keep the promises made at the Foumban conference, which did not produce a written agreement, is among the grievances of Anglophone militants. [fn]Most of these messages are public and accessible on Facebook and YouTube. The 2009 judgement by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights anticipates the current conflict. In 2017, there was only one Anglophone among 36 ministers with portfolio. While the risk of partition of the country is low, the risk of a resurgence of the problem in the form of armed violence is high, as some groups are now advocating that approach. Crisis Group interview, May 2017.Hide Footnote More generally, Western countries have tended to deal with Cameroon in the context of its relative stability compared to other Central African countries and the low risk that the Anglophone crisis will lead to partition of the country. Foncha, Jua and Bernard Fonlon (assistant general secretary at the presidency) were initially opposed but changed their views for fear of losing their positions in the federal government. (PDF) Cameroon and the Anglophone Crisis - Academia.edu [fn]Crisis Group interviews, presidents of Francophone NGOs and political parties, Yaound and Douala, 2016-2017.Hide Footnote Some Francophones also criticise Anglophones for tribalising issues and making it sound like they are the only ones affected by problems that are, in fact, national. In January, the posts and telecoms minister signed an order imposing fines and prison sentences on anyone advocating federalism in the media and social networks. Cameroon is a complex nation composed of two colonial politiesBritish West Cameroons and French East Camerounwhose questionable birth by way of UN plebiscites has resulted in linguistic, cultural, and economic cleavages. Influenced by these prominent political leaders and by a certain fear of being absorbed by the Nigerian giant, the vote went in favour of reunification. [fn]Decree 2017/013 of 23 January 2017 on the creation of the National Commission for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism.Hide Footnote But Anglophone militants criticised this as too little too late and regretted that nine of the commissions fifteen members were Francophones, that most of them belonged to the older generation and that several were members of the CPDM. That includes the creation of an autonomous Anglophone Bar, the appointment of magistrates in the Anglophone zone by a federal parliament and the adoption of English as the only language in Common Law jurisdictions. Tendances, profils et dterminants de la pauvret au Cameroun entre 2001 et 2014, INS (Yaound, 2015). Crisis Group interviews, university academics and researchers, Buea and Limb, March 2017. Crisis Group interviews, bishops, priests, teachers and the university chancellor, 2017. This is a significant and timely book on the politics of belonging. [fn]These concerns were partly justified, because the executive is centred on the presidency and the general secretary of the presidency de facto occupies the role of prime minister. Crisis Group interviews, academics and trade unionists, Bamenda, April 2017. The system of indirect rule allowed traditional chiefdoms to remain in place and promoted the emergence of a form of self-government to the extent that freedom of the press, political pluralism and democratic change in power existed in Anglophone Cameroon prior to independence. The ad hoc committee did not inspire much confidence, because most of its members were Francophones. Crisis Group interviews, Anglophone and Francophone academics, Yaound and Buea, December 2016, March 2017.Hide Footnote. There have also been meetings in February and April between European ambassadors and Cameroonian authorities. [fn]Anthony Ndi, Southern West Cameroon Revisited 1950-1972 (Buea, 2014).Hide Footnote, Representatives of Southern Cameroons and the president of the Republic of Cameroon, Amadou Ahidjo, met at Foumban in the west of Francophone territory from 17 until 21 July 1961 to negotiate the terms of reunification. PDF Baseline Research: Education in Crisis in the Anglophone - ReliefWeb These constructed and politicized identities have engaged Cameroonians in cognitive falsities distracting them from the social and economic erosion occurring right before their eyes. PDF Cameroon - Acaps [fn]Crisis Group interviews, priests, girls and young women, Buea and Bamenda, March-June 2017.Hide Footnote. Crisis Group interviews, academics, Buea, March 2017. However, providing aid to the region is extremely difficult. James, C. L. R. (2001), The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, Penguin UK. See decree 75/496 of 3 July 1975, decree 82/407 of 7 September 1982 and decree 2000/696/PM of 13 September 2000, which institutionalised the policy of regional balance. From Sectoral Mobilisations to the Resurgence of the Anglophone Problem. On 14 January, the Consortium cancelled a meeting with the committee, condemned the violence perpetrated by the security forces and declared a two-day Operation Ghost Town in the Northwest and the Southwest. Yonatan Morse, Cameroon has been in crisis for six months. This article however upholds that the No-So is still part of Cameroons territorial space, considering the fact that Ambazonia is not internationally recognized as a sovereign state. On 22 August 1983, he divided the Anglophone region into two provinces: Northwest and Southwest. He has since remained behind bars. Crisis Group observations, Anglophone groups, WhatsApps and Facebook, 2016-2017. The authorities send text messages regularly to the public to warn them of the penalties for publishing fake news and advocating federalism. With the war against the UPC still at its height in East Cameroon, the arbitrary arrest and detention of opponents and trade unionists accused of subversion became common. In 1992, the CPDM obtained 39 per cent, the SDF 37 per cent, the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) 19 per cent and the Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU) 3.6 per cent. For example, the Anglophone movement claimed the UN was on the point of conceding independence to Southern Cameroons, and that the Southern Cameroons Defence Forces were in the process of liberating the region. Abiem a Tchoyi identified the causes of the . BACKGROUND [fn]Crisis Group interview, Consortium member, Buea, May 2017.Hide Footnote, Negotiations were difficult because of the deep distrust between the government and representatives of the Anglophone community. [fn]From 1955 to 1971, between 30,000 and 150,000 were killed in the war of independence in Cameroon and the insurrection that followed and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Official Bilingualism in Cameroon: An Endangered Policy? Most of Cameroons oil, which accounts for one twelfth of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP), is located off the coast of the Anglophone region. Crisis Group interviews, senior justice ministry officials, mayors, Yaound, Buea and Bamenda, 2017. Anglophone Cameroon is the present-day North West and South West (English Speaking) regions of Cameroon herein referred to as No-So. Crisis Group interviews, Anglophone lawyers and local population, Bamenda, April 2017.Hide Footnote While the march was taking place peacefully, gendarmes violently dispersed the crowd, manhandled some lawyers and arrested some motorbike taxi drivers (Okada boys). The current crisis heated up in 2016 when activists in Cameroon's western provinces protested the official use of the French language in these predominantly anglophone regions. They criticised the francophonisation of Common Law jurisdictions, with the appointment to the Anglophone zone of Francophone magistrates who did not understand English or the Common Law, and the appointment of notaries, to do work done by lawyers under the Common Law system. Crisis Group interviews, senior officials, Anglophone diplomats and elites, Yaound, March-May 2017. Although these measures were a significant first step, they did not meet the concerns of the trade unions or resolve the political component of the Anglophone question. The Bamilk and the Sawa are two important ethnic groups in Cameroon. Crisis Group has seen these messages. The UN therefore excluded the independence option and limited the referendum to a choice between joining Nigeria and reunification with the Republic of Cameroon. Relationships between anglophone civilians, the Cameroon state, and international state actors have largely been exploitative and infused with power imbalance. Nevertheless, some inhabitants of south-eastern Nigeria sympathise with Cameroonian Anglophone activists, although this probably does not amount to any substantial support. A genuine decentralisation could even encourage a healthy process of renewal within the CPDM. 27-37.Hide Footnote. Here is what you need to know, The Washington Post, 2 June 2017.Hide Footnote, The crisis has revealed the divisions between Francophones and Anglophones in Cameroon. The Cameroon National Union (CNU) was formed in 1966 and the other parties were dissolved. Construction and deconstruction: anglophones or autochtones? Transfer of decision-making centres to Yaound, far from the Anglophone population and their problems. The SDF believes it was robbed of victory and many observers said that the votes for the CPDM and the SDF were inverted. In 1961, he set about bringing West Cameroon under control through a mixture of repression and exploitation of divisions among Anglophones. This is apparent on a daily basis in the form of irreverent remarks by ministers to the prime minister. However, in the Anglophone part, until 1968, this appointment only validated the prior election of the prime minister by the parliament of West Cameroon.Hide Footnote The Anglophones, who were in a weak position, accepted Ahidjos constitution and only obtained a blocking minority by way of concession. These exploitative relationships began in the seventeenth century, when millions of African people were forcibly relocated during the repugnant trans Atlantic slave trade. Popular mobilisation is now weakening, but the majority of Anglophones are far from happy. Cameroon Crisis Response Plan 2021 - 2022 - ReliefWeb [fn]That includes the creation of an autonomous Anglophone Bar, the appointment of magistrates in the Anglophone zone by a federal parliament and the adoption of English as the only language in Common Law jurisdictions. US Senate Resolution 684 marks an important turning point. Crisis Group has gathered many witness statements, some contradictory, of the 13 January 2017 events, which marked a decisive break in attempts at dialogue. There is some urgency: the crisis risks undermining the approaching elections. After some attempts to create and platform for dialog with the protesting parties, and due to continuing civil disobedience in the North West and South West Regions in Cameroon, the Government of Cameroon decided to disconnect the internet between January and April 2017 in the two regions. Mufor Atanga. Some Consortium leaders, such as Wilfred Tassangand Harmony Bobga, respectively in exile in Nigeria and the U.S., broke with the official federalist line and formed the Southern Cameroons Ambazonia Consortium United Front (SCACUF), which advocates secession. A two-state federation, as before unification, or a four or six-state federation to better reflect the sociological composition of the country and make the idea of federalism acceptable to Francophones, or ten states to copy the current pattern of Cameroons ten regions? [fn]Crisis Group interview, senior official at the presidency, Yaound, December 2016.Hide Footnote What can the Anglophones do? Take Conciliatory Measures, Rebuild Trust and Launch a Genuine Dialogue before the Elections. Crisis Group interviews, Anglophone population, Northwest and Southwest, April-May 2017. However, in the Anglophone part, until 1968, this appointment only validated the prior election of the prime minister by the parliament of West Cameroon. PDF RISK OF MASS ATROCITIES IN CAMEROON - United States Holocaust Memorial Compilation by Crisis Group on the basis of interviews with Anglophone militants and government officials and monitoring of publications by leaders of the movement on social networks from October 2016 to June 2017. Anglophones formed movements and associations to resist their assimilation. Crisis Group interviews, journalists, Yaound, December 2016, March 2017. These teachers understand Anglo-Saxon universities to mean universities where English is the only teaching language, that encourage the presence of student associations and teachers unions and that respect and value university independence from central government, the election of rectors and faculty deans and the autonomy of faculties to recruit teachers. The lack of legitimacy of Anglophone leaders is also true, to a lesser degree, of opposition leaders. Deputy Wirba has resolutely supported the Anglophone cause and made a speech in parliament, criticising the government. Dealing with the Anglophone problem requires a firmer international reaction and to rebuild trust through coherent measures that respond to the sectoral demands of striking teachers and lawyers. The Anglophone territory was called West Cameroon and the Francophone territory was called East Cameroon. [fn]Crisis Group interviews, political party president and political militants, Douala, March and May 2017.Hide Footnote However, it has also caused social problems that were not anticipated by the strikers: for example, the boycott of schools has entailed extra childcare demands, which falls mainly on women, and increases in juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancies and school dropout. Anglophones are critical of Francophones for their lack of solidarity. Crisis Group interviews, teachers at the Catholic University of Central Africa and researchers at the Paul Ango Ela Foundation, Yaound, December 2016. Crisis Group interviews, police inspector and technical advisor to the presidency, Yaound, Douala, Buea, 2017. Background of The Anglophone War Crisis in Cameroon You can download the paper by clicking the button above. The current crisis is a particularly worrying resurgence of an old problem. The regime in Yaound seems more sensitive to international than to national pressure. The crisis could have an impact on the 2018 elections and even on the African Cup of Nations football competition in 2019. How is it perceived by Francophones? The elevation of Prime Minister Paul Biya to President of Cameroon on November 6, 1982 roused high expectations of political change in the country. Since November 2016, the Anglophone populations have embarked in civil disobedience against the Government of Cameroon over the latter's alleged slowness or refusal to address their grievances. The Sawa are originally from Francophone and Anglophone coastal regions, including the Francophone city of Douala and the Anglophone towns of the Southwest, such as Limb and Buea. In view of this escalating crisis, this article will investigate how the Anglophone problem in Cameroon might be brought to bear upon the African theological debate by examining issues of violence, marginalisation and fragmentation within the two English-speaking areas of Cameroon. There are also differences about whether to use violence, which are intensified by rivalries and the struggle for power. The British territory comprised Southern Cameroons and Northern Cameroon. Common Law lawyers had asserted the same demands to the justice ministry in the past without obtaining any concessions; for example in May 2015, 700 Anglophone lawyers called for federalism and the creation of an autonomous Anglophone Bar. Crisis Group interviews, academics, Buea and Bamenda, March-April 2017. Cameroon Anglophone Crisis: Database of Atrocities [fn]These 21 demands were exclusively linked to the education sector. This has formed the basis of relationships in modern day Cameroon. These territories were handed to the British and the French to administer and guide towards independence. We did not prepare our escape to Nigeria. Crisis Group interviews, magistrate, Anglophone and Francophone lawyers, Douala, Buea and Bamenda, March-May 2017; and email correspondence, president of the Northwest Lawyer's Association (NOWELA), 29 May 2017.Hide Footnote A lack of trust in the government and the brutality of the security forces aggravated the problem and radicalised the public. The purpose of the study is to illuminate the geopolitical perspective of the conflict which has been evaded by many scholars. [fn]Contrary to widespread belief, the Anglophone movement is not limited to the Northwest. Keywords: Geopolitics, Territoriality, Anglophone Crisis, Ambazonia, The Republic Of Cameroon, Separatists/Secessionists, Suggested Citation: Crise Anglophone: le SNJC demande aux journalistes dignorer les injonctions du CNC, camerpost.net, 22 January 2017. Their frustrations surfaced dramatically at the end of 2016 when a series of sectoral grievances morphed into political demands, leading to strikes and riots. [fn]Gendarmes under the authority of the federal inspector often set up road checks or summoned members of the West Cameroon government and parliament simply to affirm their power. Cameroon, facing Boko Haram in the Far North and militia from the Central African Republic in the East, needs to avoid another potentially destabilising front opening up. Despite gross inequalities, and centuries of being ignored, the anglophone peoples of Cameroon continue to resist and strive for a long overdue freedom. Despite its long history of hosting refugees . On the SDFs position, Crisis Group interviews, SDF militants, population, academics and European diplomats, Yaound, Douala, Buea and Bamenda, March-May 2017.Hide Footnote To better reflect opinion in its electoral base, the SDF strengthened its commitment to a four-state federation in 2017, while also taking symbolic steps such as not attending the 20 May march in solidarity with Anglophone detainees. Between January and April, the chancellor of a Catholic University received an average of one hundred text messages every day, telling him not to open the university; a bishop received about fifty calls and one teacher received text messages and calls describing her home and telling her not to teach courses. The UN Special Representative for Central Africa visited Yaound in February and April. Anglophone Cameroon is the present-day NorthWest and SouthWest (English Speaking) regions of Cameroon herein referred to as No-So. Strengthened by the support of some Anglophone leaders, such as Endeley and Muna, who saw an opportunity to dethrone Foncha, he succeeded in his objective. In April, a fictitious association of parents lodged a complaint against the bishops and ministers, making the government more unpopular in this zone where religious leaders are respected.