2019 Emmanuel Yenkong So

The Anglophone Crisis, Human Insecurity Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. III, No. 1, September 2020 The Anglophone Crisis, Human Insecurity and the Role of Anglophone Cameroonians in the Diaspora, 1961 - 2019 By Emmanuel Yenkong Sobseh, PhD The University of Bamenda, Cameroon Email: [email protected] Abstract This paper revisits the history of the Anglophone Crisis and the role of Anglophone Cameroonians in the Diaspora since 1961. Contrary to expectations at reunification in October 1961, most Anglophones eventually felt marginalized, exploited and above all, assimilated by the numerically majority Francophones. This problem inspired many disgruntled Anglophone Cameroonians to seek alternative ways of surviving through migration. Pushed out of their country due to frustration, more than one million members of the Cameroon Anglophone Diaspora with huge concentrations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Nigeria, have recently been recognized as a force that could spearhead political and economic changes. The Anglophone Diaspora has exploited what started in November 2016 as legitimate grievances by Common Law lawyers, teachers, students and civil society over the prolonged marginalization of Southern Cameroons, to return to federalism or fight for secession and independence by creating organisations, organizing internet-based campaigns, campaigning for diplomatic pressure, promoting fundraising and sponsoring armed groups against Government forces. The study argues that the role of the Anglophone Diaspora, and the lack of professionalization of the Ambazonia Defence Forces and Government military in the Anglophone Crisis has led to human insecurity and human rights violations. It further reveals that, the Anglophone Crisis has resulted in unbearable human insecurity in the North West and South West Regions, obliging individuals to escape to the bushes, other regions and countries as Internally Displaced Persons. However, Government’s delay and failure to call an inclusive and broad-based dialogue with Anglophone Diaspora without preconditions has prolonged the Crisis. This study has adopted the thematic and chronological approaches, using a wide range of primary and secondary sources. The study concludes that, for peace to reign, the Government of Cameroon must initiate a broad-based dialogue without preconditions, especially as the Anglophone Diaspora has become a formidable force in Anglophone’s politics. Keywords: Anglophone Crisis, Human Insecurity, Anglophone Diaspora, 1. Introduction Since independence, Cameroon has been viewed as a model of stability in a region fraught with crises. Recently, the political agenda in Cameroon has 130 The Anglophone Crisis, Human Insecurity Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. III, No. 1, September 2020 become increasingly dominated by what had been known as the “Anglophone problem”, which poses a major challenge to the efforts of the post-colonial state to forge national unity and integration (Konings & Nyamnjoh, 1997). Since reunification, Cameroon has been grappling with diverse security challenges that present a potent threat to its national stability and development. These challenges against Cameroon Armed Forces that had led to human insecurity include the fight against Nigeria Islamic sect Boko Haram (Sobseh, 2020), the maritime pirates along the Cameroon Nigeria Bakassi Peninsula, threats from sectarian rebels in the Central African Republic and above all, the Ambazonian separatist fighters patronized by Anglophone Cameroonians in the diaspora. The most immediate of these security challenges is the growing state violence against the rising separatist agitations in the Anglophone regions of the North West and South West. The context and root of this problem that has resulted in human insecurity may be traced back to 1961 when the political elites of British Southern Cameroons and independent Republic of Cameroon, with different colonial legacies, agreed to reunify and form the Federal Republic of Cameroon (Ndi, 2014, p. 14). Contrary to expectations, this did not provide for equal partnership for both parties, and as such, most Anglophones felt marginalized, exploited and above all, assimilated by the majority Francophones. The sustained repressive state policies and actions against the pro-separatist groups in the South West and North West Regions of Cameroon have within the past few years led to widespread humanitarian crises such as hunger, starvation and poverty and this has heightened the displacement of the vulnerable groups such as women and children both as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees (Ebune, 2016). The Anglophone crisis has evolved in different stages. The last and deadliest stage that escalated since 2016, was provoked by teachers and lawyers strikes. Both government and armed separatist fighters have been blamed for human insecurity in Anglophone Cameroon (Human Rights Watch, 2019). In late 2016, peaceful demonstrations gave way to violence when protests against the government’s imposition of Francophone teachers and lawyers in Anglophone schools and courts were met with military action. The government’s reaction to the protests resulted in the formation of several non-state armed groups and fueled existing separatist sentiments. Armed groups enforced school boycotts, and the subsequent violent confrontations have forced more than half a million people to flee their homes (International Crisis Group, 2019). The Anglophone diaspora that did not initiate the crisis, only played a dominant role after the 17 January 2017 arrest of Consortium leaders. Internet-based campaigns contributed to mounting public anger and increased the popularity of diasporan ideas. The diaspora helped to give the crisis a higher profile at the international level by organising demonstrations outside the parliaments of Western countries and through diplomatic initiatives, such as commissioning the American law firm Foley Hoag to advocate for the independence of 131 The Anglophone Crisis, Human Insecurity Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. III, No. 1, September 2020 Southern Cameroons. This crisis also marked a generational renewal within the Anglophone movement and in the diaspora. Irrespective of the spirit of renewal within the diaspora community, the diaspora movements are weakening because of internal divisions over ideology, strategy and actions. There are also differences - which are intensified by rivalries and the struggle for power - about whether to use violence (International Crisis Group, 2017). Also, majority of the diaspora movements have resorted to violence and this has contributed to the rise in the incidence of human insecurity in the Anglophone regions (Lunn & Brook-Holland, 2018). In addition, various confrontations involving Cameroon’s security forces with various armed separatist groups sponsored by different diaspora organisations, especially, the Ambazonian Defence Force (ADF) have also escalated the number of cases of killings, kidnapping, and vandalization of properties in the Anglophone regions. These aspects of human insecurity, clashes and confrontations have recorded unprecedented casualties in terms of the numbers of deaths from both Cameroon’s security forces and the separatist groups (United Nations, 2019). In fact, many issues about the Anglophone crisis and the role of Cameroonians in the diaspora remain unclear, contested and have dominated policy debates among academics and policy makers interested in Cameroon’s politics. The roots and exact reasons triggering the Anglophone crisis, the role of Cameroon’s Armed Forces and the armed Ambazonian separatist fighters in fostering human insecurity in the Anglophone regions, the contributions of Anglophone diaspora in triggering insecurity by sponsoring the crisis, and the prospect or future of the Anglophone crisis, are all within the scope of this discussion. 2. Conceptual Framework In this conceptual framework, we shall be dealing with key words such as Anglophone, Anglophone crisis, Anglophone Cameroonians, Anglophone separatist groups, Government armed forces, human insecurity, and Anglophone diaspora. The first term is Anglophone. In Cameroon, the use of the terms Anglophone and Francophone to distinguish between inhabitants of the former colonial states of British Cameroons and those of French Cameroun began to be common after the birth of the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The two states formed in 1961 was abrogated in 1972 by the United Republic that was, in turn, superseded in 1984 simply by Republic (Fanso, 2017, p. 386). Ngoh (2019, p. 380) adds that an Anglophone in the Cameroonian context is not necessarily a Cameroonian who speaks and writes English or who is imbibed with the Anglo- Saxon culture. To him, the two principal criteria in defining an Anglophone were the territory and ethnic groups. Fanso (2017) opines that, the term Anglophone, for the people who originates from the North West and South West Regions, in the first place, refers to any Cameroonian who lived his or her first experience for long in the former (colonial) British Southern Cameroons 132 The Anglophone Crisis, Human Insecurity Journal of Arts and Humanities Vol. III, No. 1, September 2020 (and Nigeria). In addition, this Cameroonian must had been naturally exposed or became accustomed to the Anglophone ways, that is colonial language, education, political philosophy, freedom of speech, an unarmed police and other innumerable influences that such exposure implanted in him

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