Bloody Anglophone Uprising:

How Many More Cameroonians Must Die for the War to End?

Courtesy: The Colbert Factor

This reflection is provoked by the fact that although everybody seems to be calling for dialogue as the surest way to end the now bloody Anglophone crisis, the situation on the ground seems to be moving from bad to worse. The cliff hanger situation has reached a level where whole neighborhoods and streets of our villagers and semi urban areas are all painted with blood, pain and wailing. No one family seems to be spared.

            The reflection is also inspired by the fact even a once little known locality like Sowi, situated off the jaws of Anyajua in Belo Sub Division, has only in the last few weeks, become a veritable symbol of Anglophone Far-Right extremists resistance. It is the more informed by the fact that although all of humanity is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the death and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., the father of non violent resistance, Cameroonians who have hitherto been reputed for being gentlemanly, have rather indulged themselves in the worst form of bestiality that rubbishes the sacrosanct principle of the sanctity of human blood.

            This reflection, to say the least, is a cry for our beloved nation. If after the passion, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ, Cameroonians are fighting and spilling human blood, it means they are re-nailing Christ on the cross.

            Truth is those who are standing on the shadows of Martin Luther King and spilling human blood are to say the least, anathema. In the same light, all those trigger happy security operatives spilling innocent blood are also anathema. No responsible government can pride itself, the way Cameroon government is doing, of successfully and professionally killing its citizens, however extremists they have become.

            The President of the Republic and all the government officials may send as many congratulatory messages to Forces of Law and Order for what it calls their professionalism.  When the chips are down and the costs are counted, it would be known who was professional and who was not. When the military shoots and wounds innocent civilians in Belo and Anyajua and block their being transported to hospital so they die of gun wounds, it is easy to know who is professional and who is not. Never in the history of war-faring have the wounded been denied access to hospitals.

             In the South west, news abound to the effect that the wounded, even when they succeed to access a medical facility, are sometimes pulled out from hospital by rampaging soldiers and allowed to bleed to death. Oh, the sanctity of human blood. As Belo came under siege, eyewitnesses reported of the military shooting at close range at a bike transporting a patient and caregiver to Mbingo hospital. The patient and caregiver later died. Call it collateral damage and you would have to explain why Amba boys are lodged at distant Sowi but Belo is paying the price.

            As we celebrate the 50th anniversary the assassination of Martin Luther King, the father of non violent direct action, we are naturally tempted to ask why this sudden rise in extreme radicalism in Anglophone Cameroon. We are all agreed to the fact that injustices that have been meted on Anglophones since independence are to say the least, heartrending.

            Facts and figures to support the point have been demonstrated in triumphant detail. But if we were truly walking on the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr, we would have known as he put it that: 'When you are right you cannot be too radical, when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative'.

            According to Martin Luther, the man on whose shadow the suffering and marginalised Anglophones work today, '...darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that'. He was also of the opinion that 'hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that'. One of his most quotable quotes: 'Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it'. Some of the speeches and reflections of Martin Luther, as reproduced in last Thursday's edition of The Guardian Post, directly address themselves to the current situation in Anglophone Cameroon. Hear him: ' Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love'. And for him to enthuse that 'wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows'.

            So, how many more people would have to die for this war to end? Both the government in Yaoundé and the Ambazonian interim governing council would have to provide answers. The highest I can do at my level is to ask the tough questions on purpose. I belong to the tiny minority that believes that there is nothing wrong with Cameroon that cannot be corrected by what is right with Cameroon and that the starting point could be a return to the 1961 arrangement. For those who bask in their ignorance by claiming that leads to secession,

            I urge them to read emerging literature pointing to the fact that federalism did not lead to secession in Cameroon. It was rather the abolishment of federalism that led to the nursing of the germs of secession.           That's one of the messages that the Northwest clergy, trade unions and civil society handed down to the visiting French diplomat the other week in Bamenda. We have heard and seen government ministers file past here in Bamenda claiming and/ or shouting about how government is out for peace and dialogue. But they ignore the reasoned advice of Martin Luther King to the effect that ' It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it'.

            I ask again: How many more people must die for this war to end? Killing, either by Far Right extremist Amba Forces or by regular government forces, is evil. It is but tampering with the sanctity of human blood. It is evil and should be condemned by all right thinking people. Martin Luther King whom this reflection is dedicated to, once declared that: 'He who passively accepts evil is as much involved as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it'.

            For the past two years,Anglophones have been so restless in their attempt to drink from the riverof freedom and liberty that they, like the two men in the Easter story of the journey to Emmaus who were unable to recognize the risen Jesus, are unable to realize that God has been journeying with them. Like Jesus who refused to reveal himself to Claupas and his companion on that journey, God may be refusing the quick solutions we propose to the Anglophone crisis because he has a better plan for Cameroonian. A plan which  maybe that in trying to free themselves, they also open the eyes of francophones and free them from the bondage of always thinking that government is always right and the giver of freedoms.

            Once again, how many more people must die for this war to end?

            As you put in your effort at your level to genuinely answer the question in memory of Martin Luther King's legacy, I, on my part, propose a March for Peace with placards carrying the names of those who have been killed, both civilian and military that we know, as well as chain prayers for Cameroon.