causes of the anglophone crisis in cameroon pdf

They are present in both Francophone and Anglophone zones. [fn]Most of the Anglophone elites in government advocated a hard line, hoping to please the president of the Republic. 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. Crisis Group interviews, diplomats, Consortium members, government officials, Northwest and Southwest, 2017. The current crisis has increased support to federalism among the Anglophones population which most probably was already high and reinforced support for secessionism. On 7 January 2020, fighters from the Ambazonian separatist group burned down the Elections ), Citoyennet et pouvoir politique en Afrique centrale: tat des lieux (Paris, 2016), pp. [fn]The commissions president and members who are close to the ruling party and hold several posts should be replaced by a younger team with greater legitimacy and composed of an equal number of Francophones and Anglophones, including Consortium members, as well as broadening its remit to include powers to impose sanctions on ministerial departments and government bodies that do not respect bilingualism and that discriminate against Anglophones. This page was processed by aws-apollo-l100 in. Similarly, several ethnic groups from the Anglophone Northwest are effectively the same as the Bamilk of Western Francophone regions, and all form part of the Grassfield group.Hide Footnote Most Anglophones in the Northwest favour a two-state federation, as in 1961. The Anglophone regions of Cameroon have since late 2016 witnessed a sociopolitical crisis which has deteriorated overtime and led to violent clashes between armed forces, loss of lives and Threats are sometimes carried out. The security forces worked with telephone companies and money transfer agencies to identify and arrest the local contacts of secessionists in exile and block the transfer of funds from abroad to the Anglophone regions. [fn]Crisis Group interviews, members of the Commission for Bilingualism, Yaound, Douala, Buea, 2017.Hide Footnote, The government announced other measures on 30 March, including the creation of new benches for Common Law at the Supreme Court and new departments at the National School of Administration and Magistracy (Ecole nationale dadministration et de magistrature, ENAM), an increase in the number of English language teachers at ENAM, the recruitment of Anglophone magistrates, the creation of a Common Law department at Francophone universities and provisional authorisation for Anglophone lawyers to act as notaries in the Northwest and the Southwest regions. Only West Cameroon represented a serious obstacle to his hegemonic ambitions. It will not be resolved by denying it exists or by repression, but by dialogue and institutional reform. These regions of Cameroon have been restive since 2016 in what is popularly referred to as the Anglophone crisis. Some of its members have recognised this weakness. Most of these messages are public and accessible on Facebook and YouTube. But at least weve now got the message and we know what we need to do in the future. 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. A striking feature of the Cameroon conflict is the lack of attention afforded by international actors. For many years, Ndeh Ntumazah attempted to make the international community open its eyes to the plight of anglophone Cameroonians. 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. 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. Between January and June 2017, dozens of shops in markets at Bamenda, Buea and Limb, about fifteen government buildings and vehicles and a dozen schools were set on fire for not observing Country Sundays. The entry provides recommendations encouraging swift action to address the deep-rooted grievances, proactive measures to avert a possible crisis in the future, and involvement of regional or international actors to pool resources needed to promote sustainable peace. Crisis Group has had access to this unpublished report, sent to the presidency of the Republic on 30 November 2016. The role of Mr. Mark Bareta, a Belgian resident, in ongoing destabilization of Cameroon, email from Benjamin Akih to the Belgian deputy prime minister and security and interior minister, consulted by Crisis Group, 24 May 2017. From uprisings against slave traders on the ships, to rebellions in the fields, and full-scale revolution. Within the secessionist movement, although the official objective remains independence through non-violence, there are growing calls for violence. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. If a lasting solution is not found, the next resurgence of the Anglophone problem could be violent. On social networks, they circulate contact details of people and organisations failing to observe Ghost Town operations, as well as those of local authorities and senior Anglophone officials hostile to the strike. Cameroun: des parlementaires du parti au pouvoir appellent Paul Biya envisager la libration des leaders Anglophones. For context, professional jobs are hard to access in Cameroon, and many suggest that they are denied opportunities because of their anglophone background. Without firm, persistent and coordinated pressure from its international partners, it is unlikely that the government will seek lasting solutions. Endeley, the leader of the Kamerun National Congress (KNC), campaigned in favour of joining Nigeria. Trust between Anglophone activists and the government has been undermined by the arrest of the movements leading figures and the cutting of the internet, both in January. The other four covered issues such as the release of people arrested during the demonstrations, the adoption of an equitable five-year development plan and federalism. At the CNU National Congress in 1972, Bernard Fonlon publicly criticised the creation of the unitary republic. lead to a full scale civil war in Cameroon and within the central African sub region. It also leads people to believe it can monitor WhatsApp communications. Only the Anglophone government elite distances itself from the movement, yet it stands accused of hypocrisy and double standards by Francophone ministers. Anything seems possible at the moment: a boycott, support for the SDF or the emergence of new movements. Small secessionist groups have emerged since January. Francophones are generally unaware of the reasons for the Anglophone problem and view Anglophones who are calling for federalism or secession with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion and even make fun of them. Crisis Group interviews, senior officials, Yaound, 2017; prefects and deputy prefects, North Cameroon and Yaound, 2016-2017. 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. Konings, Nyamnjoh. Download Free PDF The Socio-economic Consequences of the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon (November 2016-August 2019), A Cause for an Indispensable Concern ALAH BERTRAND 2020, Global Scientific Journal (GSJ) The Anglophone problem is not a novelty in Cameroon's political landscape. Although most Anglophones want federalism, there is no consensus about the number of states in a future federation. Unlike previous research works that link the unfolding of the crisis to Anglophone marginalization, historical and cultural difference, the findings from this paper reveals that the strategic location of No-So, the presence of resources, demographic considerations and other geopolitical parameters are proving to be responsible for the heightening of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon and in favour of the quest for an independent Ambazonia. Although these arrests took place mainly in the Francophone part of the country, Anglophone leaders became concerned about the repressive direction that the federal executive was taking. Demonstrators set fire to a police station, government buildings and vehicles. 2019 Maxwell N . This is apparent on a daily basis in the form of irreverent remarks by ministers to the prime minister. The Impact of The Anglophone Crisis on The Economic Development of Cameroon Mufor Atanga. Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant of 28 June 1919 states that the international mandate status applied to colonies and territories that, as a consequence of the war, had ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and that are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves. This inflamed opinion in the region, making the prime ministers mission impossible and, especially, confirming the Anglophone belief that the prime minister, a post occupied since 1996 by an Anglophone, had no real power. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. It is a socio- political issue which intermittently pits residents of the country's Northwest and Southwest 2020, In: Richmond O., Visoka G. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Relationships between anglophone civilians, the Cameroon state, and international state actors have largely been exploitative and infused with power imbalance. Crisis Group interviews, Anglophone population, Northwest and Southwest, 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. Paul Biya received 78 per cent of votes in the 2011 presidential elections. The militant minority says that decentralisation should mean the drastic reduction of the central governments presence in the regions and more administrative and financial powers for local elected bodies. We did not prepare our escape to Nigeria. We advocate for effective and principled humanitarian action by all, for all. Crisis Group interviews, Anglophone militants, students and Consortium members, Bamenda, Buea and Yaound prison, April, May 2017; Crisis Group email correspondence, militant in the diaspora, June 2017. The Anglophones believe that they are under-represented in the government administration and the security forces, because the entry examinations for the major schools and the police force are weighted in favour of Francophones. We did not try to identify rearbases outside the country, because all we wanted to do was to discuss the situation. Nationalism, Grassfields Tradition, and State Building in Cameroon (Athens, 2013).Hide Footnote. [fn]One of the most virulent criticisms of the Francophones is against the tribal attitude of Anglophones in the Northwest and Southwest.Hide Footnote Francophone teachers in the Anglophone zone complain about discrimination in the universities, while Francophone citizens complain about their stigmatisation and the calls for violence against them issued since January 2017. 27-37.Hide Footnote. According to a Consortium leader, repression by the regime has opened a Pandoras box and the public has forced us to put the Southern Cameroons issue on the table. Since March, several small violent groups have been formed. 11 March 2021 Time to read 4 Minutes "I'm Dr Roxana Willis, a researcher at the University of Oxford, and Principal Investigator of the Cameroon Conflict Research Group. The public, elected representatives, parliamentarians and religious leaders regularly receive text messages and calls from Cameroon and abroad, informing them of Ghost Town days, now called Country Sundays. Crisis Group interviews, CPDM and SDF mayors, Yaound, Douala, Kumba, May 2017. This lucrative contract sees money going directly to the state-owned company SNH, which reportedly funds the elite armed forces of the Cameroon state. But the UK and some developing countries were against it on the grounds that Southern Cameroons would not be economically viable and that it was best to avoid the creation of micro-states. Meanwhile, the government claimed that Ayah Paul Abine had been arrested at the Nigerian border in possession of a large sum of money. Although limited, the gains made by discreet pressure confirm them in their opinion that private diplomacy is the best strategy. Cookie Settings. Crisis Group interview, Bishop of Buea, May 2017; Memorandum presented to the head of State on the current situation of unrest in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, Bamenda Provincial Episcopal Conference, 22 December 2017. The purpose of the study is to illuminate the geopolitical perspective of the conflict which has been evaded by many scholars. 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.Hide Footnote, The federated states did not have financial autonomy and depended on grants from the federal state. During the second phase of colonialism, the French and British forces haphazardly divided Cameroon, with France taking control of a larger share. In February, some European countries wanted the European Union to issue a joint statement on the Anglophone question, but the initiative was blocked by other member states anxious to avoid criticising Cameroon too openly because of its role in the fight against Boko Haram. Cameroon hosts more than 350,000 refugees and asylum seekers, including 260,000 from the Central African Republic and at least 90,000 from Nigeria. The authorities send text messages regularly to the public to warn them of the penalties for publishing fake news and advocating federalism. The angry crowd prevented the rally from taking place. Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis at the Crossroads | Crisis Group [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. A minority favours secession. Unfortunately, these relationships continue into the present. [fn]See Crisis Group Africa Report N160, Cameroon: Fragile State?, 25 May 2010; Piet Konings, Francis Bernard Nyamnjoh, Negotiating an Anglophone Identity (Leiden, 2003).Hide Footnote, The Anglophone area consists of two of the countrys ten regions, the Northwest and the Southwest. Crisis Group interviews, academics, Buea, March 2017. In 2017, there was only one Anglophone among 36 ministers with portfolio. During the period of the mandate and the trusteeship, each colonial power shaped their territories in their own image. One of the causes of conflict around the world is lack of peace learning. There have also been meetings in February and April between European ambassadors and Cameroonian authorities. [fn]Crisis Group interviews, members of the elite and local population, Yaound, Douala, Bamenda, December 2016 and April 2017.Hide Footnote The current crisis represents an especially worrying resurgence of this old problem. Crisis Group interviews, police officers, Buea, March-May 2017. Anti-government demonstrators block a road in Bamenda, Cameroon, on 8 December 2016. They have not always been able to present a common front to defend an increasingly heterogeneous Anglophone cause. Most scholarly write-ups have rather focused on the causes, course, consequences and international interventions in the crisis, with little attention to the geopolitical undertones. These exploitative relationships began in the seventeenth century, when millions of African people were forcibly relocated during the repugnant trans Atlantic slave trade. Analysing Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis on JSTOR [fn]Crisis Group interviews, priests, girls and young women, Buea and Bamenda, March-June 2017.Hide Footnote. The National Commission on Bilingualism and multiculturalism should be restructured to include an equal number of Anglophones as Francophones, to guarantee the independence of its members and to give it powers to impose sanctions. But the leaders of the Anglophone movement have seen these measures as too little too late. Nicodemus Fru Awasom, Caught Between Scylla and Charybdis? Crisis Group interviews, Consortium members, Buea and Yaound prison, May 2017.Hide Footnote, On 25-26 November, the prime minister unsuccessfully conducted a first mission to Bamenda to open negotiations. The collapse of bilingualism might trigger further political instability in the country as it may be used as leverage for secession, especially with the Anglophone minority which has for long lamented their marginalization. Une guerre cache aux origines de la Franafrique, 1948-1971 (Paris, 2011); Meredith Teretta, Nation of Outlaws, State of Violence. Crise Anglophone: le SNJC demande aux journalistes dignorer les injonctions du CNC, camerpost.net, 22 January 2017. 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. Keywords: Geopolitics, Territoriality, Anglophone Crisis, Ambazonia, The Republic Of Cameroon, Separatists/Secessionists, Suggested Citation: In the 2013 general elections, the CPDM obtained 148 out of 180 deputies, 82 of 100 senators and 303 of 360 mayors. In order to reply to these questions, Crisis Group has relied on documentary research and conducted around a hundred interviews during several visits to the Anglophone regions, Yaound and Douala, between December 2016 and May 2017. However, though the latter back the Anglophone cause, the fear of reprisals from the instigators of Operation Ghost Town rather than support for the strike explains the decision of Catholic and Protestant institutions to not resume their courses. Their demands, ignored until then by the justice ministry, were related to the justice systems failure to use the Common Law in the two regions. 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. In 1965, in order to further weaken Foncha, who he believed to be less accommodating on the Anglophone question, Ahidjo tried to use his constitutional powers to appoint Muna as prime minister rather than Ngom Jua, Fonchas heir apparent in the KNDP, the majority party in the West Cameroon parliament. 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. Finally, it should apply the measures it has announced or that were decided with the Consortium and take additional measures to strengthen the semi-autonomous character of Anglophone educational and legal systems. A government-backed decentralisation could provide a more consensual and peaceable future. 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. Crisis Group interview, senior official at the presidency, Yaound, December 2016. David Abouem Atchoyi, Le problme Anglophone pourrait devenir le nouveau Boko Haram, Le Jour, 10 January 2017.Hide Footnote, However, the crisis has also raised awareness. [fn]Crisis Group interviews, senior police officers, Buea, March-May 2017; WhatsApp discussions, secessionist militants, March-July 2017; and SCDF, Southern Cameroons Defense Forces updates, YouTube, 28 March 2017; and Resistance Speech by the FAGC Leader Ayaba Cho Lucas, YouTube, 22 June 2016.Hide Footnote, Partisans of armed violence have not yet put their ideas into practice because they do not have either the resources or enough support from abroad. To understand what caused the Anglophone crisis and to gauge its impact on language education and policy in Cameroon in general, and in the two Anglophone regions in particular, I undertook a qualitative and quantitative investigation during the 2017-2018 school year, using documentary techniques, questionnaires, and classroom observations of English and French language lessons. [fn]Crisis Group interviews, academics, Buea and Bamenda, March-April 2017.Hide Footnote, In particular, unification left the impression of a democratic setback, cultural assimilation and a downgrading of political status. World Report 2022: Cameroon | Human Rights Watch [fn]To the question as to whether a more public reaction would be appropriate, one ambassador in Yaound replied I dont know, but this is a question we ask ourselves every day. In 1999, some secessionist militants replaced the name of Southern Cameroons with Ambazonia Republic, derived from the name given by the Portuguese to the regions coast, Ambas Bay, in order to get rid of any reference to Cameroon. The Francophone government has a complex and tough procedure that organizations must go through in order to receive approval. 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. . As the government perceives the crisis as a threat to its survival, it considers intimidation, violent repression and the internet shutdown as a risk worth taking, despite possible pressure from the international community.

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