Historically, the British and the French governed Cameroon. They were gradually released through the rest of the year.50 members of the SCNC are arrested for purportedly holding an illegal meeting.Student-led protest for better opportunities in education for Anglophones turns violent.23 SCNC members are arrested by police. Whereas the separatist will likely attempt to push for secession, they should also be willing to listen to other suggestions such as the option to abandon the claim for secession in exchange for more autonomy. All Anglophone Conference Standing Committee 1993. In 2016, valid grievances by the lawyers and teachers trade unions in Cameroons Anglophone regions urging the government to revamp the Anglophone legal and education systems quickly degenerated into an armed political crisis due to governments intransigence. Case studies elicit knowledge and understanding of complex social and economic issues (Bowen 2009). https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2019/11/08/pr19406-cameroon-imf-staff-completes-review-mission. Consequently, primary school to university attendance dropped drastically with implications for enrolment to write the General Certificate of Education Ordinary and Advanced Levels.Footnote 19 In 2017, enrolment for the General Certificate of Education Ordinary and Advanced Levels dropped by 28% increasing to 75% in 2019some students have relocated to study in the crisis-free regions. Accessed 24 Oct 2019, Kindzeka E (2019) Cameroons second largest employer crippled by separatist conflict. 13461366. The 2000 eruption was considered a continuation of the 1999 eruption. A number of recommendations have been suggested to that effect. https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-restive-anglophone-regions-top-gce-performance-chart-due-to-drop-in-enrolment/. 167. Wanie, Clarkson Mvo, and F.O. This figure is probably underreported since COVID-19 testing and data collation has not fully included insecure areas due to the Anglophone crisis and the Boko Haram insurgency. The long-term consequences on education will also be far reaching. Despite these efforts and casualties suffered by the militias, they still control vast rural areas and main roads in the conflict region. The Ordinary (O) Level and Advanced (A) Level are public examinations in Cameroons Anglophone region at the end of secondary and high school respectively set and marked by the Cameroon General Certificate of Education (GCE) Board. Accessed 19 June 2019, Macias L (2013) Complex emergencies-Research Brief No.16. Businesses and transport vehicles that refuse to respect ghost town days have been threatened and targeted. https://www.unhcr.org/uk/central-african-republic-situation.html. Complex emergencies are acute situational crises associated with war and strife resulting to significant fatalities, large population displacement, and shortages of basic human needs (Salama et al. The introduction of multipartyism in Cameroon during the 1990s led to an increase in the degree of freedom of communication and association. The political evolution of Cameroon, 1884-1961. What is the Anglophone Problem, who is Anglophone in Cameroon? The assessment shows that the Anglophone crisis is a complex emergency because 72.5% of the variables in all the types of complex emergency fall within the relevant to extremely relevant ranking criteria. When interviewed on the famous radio programme Cameroon Calling on August 5, 2018, the general manager of the Cameroon Development Corporation said none of the 11 estates of the company was fully operational, adding that 4500, 5000, and 7000 jobs in the palm, banana, and rubber estates respectively were lost. Awasom, Nico F. 2007. [1]The demand for lawyers to also file court cases in French in these courts sparked widespread protests from lawyers demanding the immediate reversal of such policies (JulesRoger 2018:23). Conflict studies quarterly. In 2021, the discussion we should be having is about reparations and apologies for centuries of wrongdoing. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X97002401, Krippendorff K (2004) Content analysis. World Population Dashboard: Ethiopia. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027, Buchanan-Smith M, Christoplos I (2004) Natural disasters amid complex political emergencies. Many hospitals and health centres (especially in the rural areas) have been attacked and torched. While acknowledging this analysis is subjective, it paints an incredibly good overall picture of the Anglophone crisis, as seen through the lens of the Robert Strauss Centres complex emergency framework. Preventing violent extremism through education: A Guide for Policy-Makers. Accessed 29 Nov 2018, UNOCHA (2018) Emergency response plan-Cameroon North-West and South-West-Summary (May 2018). Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia conflict: A political economy. The national dialogue held in October 2019 to end the crisis has not yielded much fruits. But the government has reacted furiously when cautioned against the excessive use of force on innocent civilians and threatened to ostracise non-governmental organisations that speak against such activities. While the economic effects are gloomy for Cameroon, some individuals, interest groups, and a few institutions have benefited. Accessed 18 Oct 2019, WHO (2020) Complex emergencies. https://reliefweb.int/report/cameroon/emergency-response-plan-cameroon-north-west-and-south-west-summary-may-2018. Available from: [Accessed 3 June 2020]. Such a framework ought to be established with provision for equitable revenue allocation, clear separation of powers between the federal states and the national government, as well as a guarantee of a free political ecosystem where grievances can be raised and rights to peaceful dissent are respected. Springer Nature. https://reporting.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/UNHCR%20Cameroon%202019%20Supplementary%20Appeal%20%28March%202019%29.pdf. University of Auckland. Basic statistical analysis reveals an average of around 18-year interval between eruptions. Separatists do not recognise the legitimacy of the national government while the state does not tolerate any discussions short of a unified state. Paris, UNESCO. Since the dissolution of the federal system in 1972, Cameroon has been entangled in an internal crisis between the Anglophone region and the government. As we write (December 2022), there is little prospect of its resolution, nor of a political solution that addresses the longstanding grievances of the minority Anglophone population. Cameroons Social Democratic Front: Its history and prospects as an opposition political party (1990-2011). These appointments and new institutions were in a bit to diffuse the crisis. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.1994.mp25004006.x, Egeland J (2019) OPINION: Africas next full-blown war can still be averted. Volcanic risk assessment/analysis has three components: hazards, vulnerability, and elements-at-risk characterised by both spatialFootnote 10 and temporal attributesFootnote 11 (Bartolini et al. (2012). Armed Conflict and Location Event Data 2019. African state and society in the 1990s: Cameroons political crossroads. Arguably, the increase of complex emergencies in developing countries can be attributed to resource wars that are driven by social, economic, and ethnic grievances (Duffield 1994), in association with other multi-causal factors such as lingering poverty, climate change effects, changing demographic trends, reversal of development aspirations, and challenges in post-conflict recovery (Macias 2013). 2012; Tsafack et al. Such concurrent events would overwhelm the humanitarian response requiring even more humanitarian assistance. Government bans Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) which was the largest grouping pushing for Anglophone region secession. Amsterdam, Elsevier. This is a case study research that is qualitative, exploratory, analytical, and descriptive. All Anglophone Lawyers Conference themed around preserving Anglophone identity. 2000). Princeton University Press. Spatial analysis is based on knowledge and characterisation of products of previous eruptions. trending averagely N30E through the country. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 10 (1), pp. Forcefully released poisonous gasses from Lake Nyos killed 1746 people and 8500 livestock, caused 4500 internally displaced persons, and affected more than 20,000 people (Bang 2012). Baye, Francis 2010. Mt. In the past two . The Lake Nyos Disaster that occurred on August 21, 1986, in Menchum Division (currently a hotspot of the Anglophone crisis) in the North West Region is the worst natural hazard-induced disaster in Cameroon in terms of fatalities. Consequently, the crisis has been exacerbating poverty and hardship in the region. McGill-Queens Press. Journal of Eastern African Studies,9 (1), pp. This has forced many students from Anglophone areas to travel abroad and seek education consistent with their earlier training while a majority of others fail to complete their studies in higher education. Against this background, the article provides recommendations that may encourage a recourse to peace and stability for a nation previously lauded as one of the (few) stable countries in the Central Africa region. Seven major eruptions have occurred in the last 120 years1909, 1922, 1954, 1959, 1982, 1989, and 1999. Getting to talk may therefore prove to be a cumbersome task. Blog - The so called Anglophone problem in Cameroon is proving to be the biggest challenge to President Paul Biya's 34 years in power. The most probable type of complex emergency is the acute complex emergency since this has the highest score (36) compared to the other types of complex emergencies. The response was the insurgence of armed secessionist groups since January 2018, who have been demanding the independence of the Anglophone regions aka the Ambazonia Republic. United Nations 2017. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 110, APF (2018) Cameroon economy hard hit by anglophone unrest, jihadist attacks. Sixth, like funding, issues with interagency coordination/cooperation have been undermining the effective performance of Cameroons DM system (Bang et al. Content analysis was underpinned by systematically searching, finding, reviewing, appraising, evaluating, synthesising, and triangulating primary and secondary information contained in documents (Krippendorff 2004). Our Francophone brothers believe in brutalising, torturing, maiming and assassinating dissenters. The current armed conflict in Anglophone Cameroon is now in its sixth year, with devastating effects for Anglophone citizens. Even though the contemporary aspects of the conflict can be traced to the shortcomings of the Amadou regime, its foundation is deeply rooted in the 1961 UN plebiscite. There is often a direct correlation between economic and political power (Gilens 2012:24) and control of economic resources is often subject to competition not only at the individual level, but also between various levels of government. Between 2000 and 2015, a series of events increased the fragility of the situation, leading from a crisis to a more direct conflict from 2016. This can rapidly be achieved through rational, sensible, reasonable, and inclusive political dialogue with the secessionist leaders, mediated by agreed-upon third parties. Consequently, hundreds of businesses have been paralysed in the region. Analysing Cameroons Anglophone crisis. Cameroons Employers Association estimated that the formal economy of the region had lost around 6434 jobs by July 2018 and a further 8000 jobs were at risk. Those actually benefiting are probably the private for-profit organisations supplying arms to the belligerent forces. Cameroon that could dramatically escalate the Anglophone crisis (established in this article as an acute complex emergency), into a CDE. Inst Dev Stud Bull 25(4). Towards a Sustainable Solution to the Anglophone Problem in Cameroon By Ludovic Lado on January 3, 2018 Africa Program Tagged Southern Voices High school students in Mankon, Bamenda, Cameroon, an Anglophone speaking region that has protested against the Francophone majority. Mobilisation techniques have also transformed and have become a critical component of the conflict. Despite gross inequalities, and centuries of being ignored, the anglophone peoples of Cameroon continue to resist and strive for a long overdue freedom. Resolving the Anglophone conflict in a sustainable manner will first and foremost require building trust between secessionists, government, and federalists and all the parties expressing a genuine desire to communicate through talking and listening. The British administered the territories through indirect rule, allowing native authorities to administer the population according to their own traditions. Le Vine, Victor T. 1975. Map of the North West Region and South West Region showing areas most affected by population displacement. Map of the Anglophone region showing pockets of territory allegedly controlled by the separatists. 2017). Economic marginalisation. Road contractors have been attacked and threatened and their equipment vandalised/destroyed causing many to stop/abandon projects. Cameroons Anglophone Crisis: How to Get to Talks?. The root of the 'anglophone problem' in Cameroon may be traced back to 1961, when the political elites of two territories with different colonial legacies - one French and the other British -. 2003). Often, foreign humanitarian actors are involved only in complex emergencies. Conflict Studies Quarterly, 1, pp. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-022-00114-1, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-022-00114-1. With over 20,000 health indicators, CE-DAT aims to share operational health data collected for planning, monitoring, and evaluation of humanitarian aid. Figure 5 is a flow diagram showing this process. Howe, Stephen 2002. For many of the initial post-colonial leaders, replacing colonial languages with indigenous languages proved to be a pipe dream. For over 4 years now, violence has become an indispensable adjunct of socio-economic, cultural, and political endurance creating a tense living environment where insecurity thrives. The exact form of this autonomy would need a long and carefully negotiated settlement between the different . In the North West Region, women have carried out burial rites in some of the crisis hotspotsa role traditionally reserved for men. Equally, we discourage a secessionist agenda because it will not only attract strong opposition from the state, but also because it would set a dangerous precedent, especially for regions already challenged by other secessionist groups, such as Biafra. Accessed 27 Dec 2019, JournalduCameroun (2020) Cameroon: Ambazonia general no pity killed in restive North West region. All the seven legalised Anglophone teachers trade unionsFootnote 18 launched a campaign to abolish the unfair treatment of the English/Anglo-Saxon education sub-system in Cameroon. As such, while internal colonisation and ethnonationalism provide bases for understanding the conflict, they fail to explain why 1) there has been a significant shift from a crisis situation to conflict since 2016; 2) only Anglophone regions are fighting for independence as opposed to Francophone regions that are also underdeveloped and marginalised. Several students were also kidnapped by separatist groups for failing to adhere to a school boycott order (Fazal 2018:161). This led to his immediate arrest and detention by the government. Post-Colonial Cameroon: Politics, Economy, and Society. The Anglophone crisis has caused over 900,000 internally displaced persons and 60,000 refugees (Craig 2020; ICG 2019). Carnegie Corporation of New York, New York, Suh C, Sparks J, Fitton J, Ayonghe S, Annen C, Nana L (2003) The 1999 and 2000 eruptions of Mount Cameroon: eruption behaviour and petrochemistry of lava. Like the majority of African states, Cameroon is a creation of the European colonial discourse. Takougang, Joseph 2019. The various interactions between communities in the Anglophone regions with the police have resulted in several allegations that security forces have demonstrated total disregard of human rights and freedoms and have been involved in the death of several civilians. Arguably, the Anglophone crisis was inevitable due to the incumbent governments negligence in adequately identifying, monitoring, managing, or responding to emerging socio-economic and political risks for several decades. 200 fighters); Swords of Ambazonia and Ambaland Quifor (approx. https://www.prc.cm/files/b1/00/4d/1f4edab0eb8fab5df54955177eff43d3.pdf. T HE political agenda in Cameroon has become increasingly dominated by what is known as the 'anglophone problem', which poses a major challenge to the efforts of the post-colonial state to forge national unity and integration, and has led to the reintroduction of forceful arguments and actions in favour of 'federalism' or even . This is because the presence of diverse cultural, linguistic, geographical, historical, and natural resources in the continent do not concur with the socio-political and economic conditions. Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, AFP (2018) Who are Cameroons English-speaking separatists? As a sign of good faith, Anglophone political activists who have been jailed should also be released. In the context of the Anglophone crisis, changes in the international system influenced preference for diplomatic domestic discourse in pursuing the Anglophone agenda. University of San Fransisco. The Anglophone Crisis is an ongoing armed conflict in the Republic of Cameroon in Central Africa, where historically English-speaking Ambazonian separatists are seeking the independence of the former British trust territory of Southern Cameroons, which was unified with . Cameroon eruption overlaps with the established acute complex emergency. A single country engulfed in different conflicts or have different conflict levels in its different regions. Another civil war in South Sudan: The failure of guerrilla government? The government, therefore, has the obligation to protect the Bafut Royal Palace and preserve its artefacts, since the palace is one of the most significant historical and cultural heritage sites in the country. Your US state privacy rights, statement and The gruesome killing comprising 13 children and one pregnant woman led to international condemnation and several calls for the Government to respect and uphold human rights amidst the escalating conflict. Whereas the comparatively underachieving status of the continent can be attributed to several factors, colonial intervention with its concomitant slave trade, is one of the most significant experiences in the history of Africa (Agwanda and Ozoral 2020:57). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-017-0135-8, Dominguez G (2015) How political instability affected Nepals disaster preparedness. Available from: [Accessed 29 November 2019]. 2019b). The rich Anglophone culture has not been left unaffected. Africa south of the Sahara 2004. However, in 1972, Cameroons pioneer president (Ahmadu Ahidjo) changed the federal structure of the country in favour of a unitary state called United Republic of Cameroon. 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. Available from: [Accessed 15 June 2020]. 75% of Cameroons arabica coffee comes from the North West Region. Cookies policy. The UK and the UN are historical actors in this conflict; France has sway over the central government while the US is a significant security partner for Cameroon in the war against Boko Haram. For Anglophone Cameroonians, there was a violation of the trusteeship agreement that was supposed to establish selfgovernment or lead to independence as had been stipulated in Article 76(b) of the UN Charter Article that called for independence of former colonies in 1960. The dissolution of the federal union, the elusive unity, and the government crackdown in Anglophone regions deterred open dissent against Francophone domination until 1982 when Paul Biya assumed power.
Barranca Elementary Staff,
Is Cusm A Good Medical School,
Articles S
