The Possibility of Talks Gets More Remote
As the number of victims continues to pile up, the
possibility of holding talks to end the Anglophone crisis seems remote.
A united family
In the
foreground sits a gold and coral tiered cake which matches the first lady’s
dress. An immaculately dressed Paul Biya wears the hint of a smile.
For his
87th birthday, the head of state is surrounded by his loves ones: Franck, his
son, two of his granddaughters and, of course, his wife Chantal. On this day,
13 February, only the sound of the water streaming down into the fountains of
his home in Mvomeka’a seems capable of disturbing the calm of the Biya clan.
On 14
February, the din of bullets put an end to the tranquillity of the presidential
fountains in the south.
At 2 p.m., soldiers burst into the neighbourhood of Ngarbuh
in the North-West region. The death toll: 23, according to the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, including 15 children,
nine of whom were under the age of five. According to witness accounts, their
bodies were burned at the same time as homes.
As the
smoke subsides, indignation rises. Felix Agbor Mballa, lawyer and chairman of
the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA), condemned “the
horrible murder” of women and children “by the state defence forces,” with army
spokesperson Colonel Cyrille Atonfack Guemo tersely retorting that “the
Cameroonian defence and security forces were not involved in this massacre.”
Who can
be believed? A few hours later, the defence minister called the killings a
“regrettable incident.” The army is believed to have attacked a “fortified
camp” of Ambazonian separatists and “the explosion of several fuel containers”
killed “five victims, including a woman and four children, far from what is
reported in social networks.”
An
investigation has been opened by the national gendarmerie and military
security.
Mballa
tweeted that “an independent commission of inquiry should be set up to
investigate the killings” and “should include members of the civil society,
clergy and government.” Opposition figure Akere Muna lamented that “Suffering,
death and killing are now the new normal.” At the time of this writing,
President Biya had not publicly addressed the crisis, despite the growing
violence these past months.
On 15
January, a young man was killed and his father injured near Bamenda as they
tried to avoid the security checkpoints manned by separatists. On 23 January,
soldiers attacked the village of Ndoh in the South-West region, killing 14. An
endless litany of such acts has been perpetrated since 2017.
At least
8,000 Cameroonians have fled to Nigeria in the past three weeks, taking the
number of refugees up to more than 60,000. In addition, some 680,000 people
have been displaced by the conflict. In three years, the violence has killed at
least 3,000 people.
