Anglophone Crisis:

No Longer a Crisis but a Civil War

An analysis by the Anglophone Action Group

Images of the brutal encounters between the police, on the one hand; and

students and lawyers; on the other, made the rounds on social media.

The Government of Cameroon has succeeded in transforming what started as a a legitimate cry for ‘Justice and Fairness’ by a minority group, into a full blown crisis then into a full-blown civil war.

            Historians and Political Scientists should study what is happening in Cameroon as an example of Bad Governance. In fact, Paul Biya should be given a prize on “The Art of Bad Leadership”.

            Let us summarize what has happened so far in Cameroon in the last 24 months and trace the path from spark to fire.

Anatomy of failed leadership

            Around this time in 2016, lawyers in the two Anglophone regions organized themselves into what was at best a simple pressure group. Their grievance was simple and direct-they wanted to practice what they studied in School-Common Law; and they wanted to do it in a language they understand best-English. They complained that French-speaking Civil Law judges and prosecutors should not be practicing in the English Speaking regions. It makes sense.

            At the same time, teachers in the same regions were organizing themselves into similar pressure groups to protest against the deployment of French-speaking teachers to teach non language courses in their regions. These were legitimate, common sense concerns that you would expect from people who care about their country. Bear in mind, at this point nobody was talking about change of the political structure of country. Nobody was talking about Separation, federation or even decentralization.  All they were calling for was for Justice and Fairness to reign.

            Any normal Government would have quickly looked into the matter and solve it pronto. Not the Cameroon Government.

            Behaving like an outlawed criminal organization and doing what they do best, the Cameroon Government sent its troops to harass the striking lawyers and teachers. Some of them were arrested, beaten and humiliated in public. Police officers were allowed into student grounds to intimidate and beat students. The Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea, who brought in police officers into her campus was later promoted to a cabinet position (more on that later).

            Emboldened by this exposure, labor union representatives formed a consortium alongside transportation workers to better coordinate their actions.

            True to its criminal instincts, the Government of Cameroon, first tried to intimidate the members of the newly formed consortium, and when that did not work they outright banned it and arrested its leaders.

Things spiral out of control

            Anglophones in the diaspora became organized and it rapidly became clear things had moved on from simple labor union issues to the generalized civil rights arena.          The fight became political and two camps emerged-the one for a return to the pre 1972 federal structure of West Cameroon and the other for an outright return to the pre 1961 Southern Cameroons.

            Again, instead of realizing their mistake and moving to right the wrongs, the Government cut off internet access in the regions in what amounted to billions of CFA in economic loss to the regions.

            As would be expected, this was like pouring gasoline on fire. The movement for separation gained grounds amidst calls for the Declaration of Independence on October 1.

            Again, rather than dealing with the core issues, the Government instead played into the hands of the separatists. Elite fighting units in the military were called in to crack down on unarmed protesters. It was a public relations nightmare.

            Hundreds of civilians were killed, hundreds more injured, entire villages were erased from the map. Widespread intimidation of the Anglophone population by French-speaking troops ensued.

            State media reported that the President of the Republic was to address the nation. Instead of using the opportunity to come clean and to take concrete actions to address the legitimate concerns of his constituents, the President instead called civil rights activists *terrorists* and declared a war.

            It was a missed opportunity. A line had been crossed

To most students of this recent Cameroon history and certainly to this writer, this was a turning point in the crisis. To most Anglophones, this airport declaration of war against them by someone who they still considered their President was the last straw. The little legitimacy the President enjoyed in the two Anglophone regions evaporated, almost instantly.

            As expected, with the declaration of war by the Government, more resources were placed at the disposal of the military, which engaged in a brutal campaign to eliminate scores of perceived *terrorists*.

            Separatist leaders were arrested in Nigeria and brought back to Cameroon in what appeared to be a game changer.

            Instead of using the arrests of the separatist leaders as a learning opportunity to finally do the right thing, the Government behaving like it was under a spell, failed to manage the crisis, again.

            The President, in his usual arrogant manner, appointed two of the most hated Anglophones in the land to cabinet positions. He elevated the former VC of the University of Buea, the one who brought in riot police to beat her students, yeah, that one.  He made her minister of Secondary Education.

            The second appointment was for a man so unpopular that if he ran for *dog catcher* in Bamenda, he would lose. He made this guy minister of Territorial Administration.

            This was the President’s own way of *sticking it to the Anglophones*

            Paradoxically, the more he thought he was winning, the more the resistance seemed to build in energy.  By this time armed separatist groups were acting with impunity throughout the regions. Kidnapping, beheadings, and killing of troops were now becoming rampant.

            The international community became involved notably with the US ambassador to Yaounde calling on the President to not run for re-election.

            Also, by this time, the war was beginning to take a toll on the finances of the state. Municipal and legislative elections were postponed for financial reasons.

            Even with all the evidence of a full blown war. Even with all evidence that what he has done so far has not worked, there is no evidence the President is ready to face reality.

My advice to the President is simple.

            Mr. President, stop running away from your shadow. The reason your Government is not winning this war is not because the separatists are stronger than your military. The reason you are losing is because you have lost the support of the Anglophone population. Those Anglophones you have around you are not liked by their people.

            I don’t know if you can still turn things around but you can surely try. Please start by doing two things:

            1. Announce that you would not stand for the upcoming elections. Immediately dissolve your government and appoint a broad based transition government with people who actually represent the population.

            2. Immediately hold a reconciliation conference where a return to federation would be on the table.

If you fail to do either of these things, history will be most unkind to you.

Wilson Eseme, MD.

Coordinator, Anglophone Action Group, Inc.