Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
It Was The Long Unresolved Anglophone Problem That, In 2016 Degenerated Into The Anglophone Crisis, And Unfortunately Escalated Into An Armed Conflict In Late 2017. The Anglophone Crisis Is Thus A National Political Issue. PM Dion Ngute Knows That So Well. The Problem Is That President Biya Has Been Unwilling To Have An Inclusive Dialogue To Resolve The Matter, And That Has Left The PM, Who Has No Power To Change Anything, To Keep Struggling To See What To Do.
After the failed monologue which held in Yaounde from September 30 – October 4, 2019, which the regime called “Major National Dialogue”, and that was purportedly organized to resolve the Anglophone Crisis, which was a degeneration of the long unresolved Anglophone Problem, Prime Minister Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute, and some of his fellow CPDM elites from Ndian Division, organized the Ndian Peace Conference in Mundemba.
Ndian Peace Conference
There were lots of talk on how the conference would end the armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters operating in Ndian Division. On the day of the Ndian Peace Conference, many Ndian elites from the nation’s capital, Yaounde, and other parts of the country, zoomed into Mundemba, the Divisional headquarters, under security escort. The media was heavily mobilized by the organizing committee, to travel to Mundemba to cover the event.
The event was predominantly a CPDM affair. Prime Minister Dion Ngute who hails from Ndian Division, was represented at the conference by his Director of Cabinet, Balungeli Confiance Ebune. Conspicuously absent from the Ndian Peace Conference, were representatives of the separatist fighters. Instead, Ndain CPDM elites at the conference were referring to the separatist fighters (Amba boys) in the Division, as the “bad boys in the forests”. It was difficult to understand how the Ndian elites expected peace to return to the Division after the Ndian Peace Conference, without dialoguing with the “bad boys in the forests”, and their leaders in the diaspora. Of course nothing changed on the ground in Ndian Division, after the ‘Ndian Peace Conference, which was non – inclusive.
Mezam Peace And Development Conference
Meanwhile, the same ‘cinema’ that was staged in Mundemba, was staged in Bamenda in April 2023, with the organization of the Mezam Peace and Development Initiative by the Northwest Regional Assembly. Most of the participants were CPDM external elites, who zoomed in from Yaounde under military escort from Matazem to Bamenda, It was in fact a CPDM affair. Even the civil society, was sidelined. Of course the separatist fighters or Amba boys that the CPDM elites call terrorists were not invited to the conference. Papers were presented at the conference by mostly CPDM elites like Cletus Anye Matoya, CPDM Section President and General Manager of MIDENO, and Senator Regina Mundi (member of the CPDM Political Bureau). Of course despite all the noise, nothing changed in the situation on the ground after the non -inclusive Mezam Peace and Development Conference.
Southwest Peace And Development Forum
Meanwhile, the Southwest Peace and Development Forum that took place in Buea from Friday, May 12 – Saturday, May 13, 2023 was, organized by the Southwest Regional Assembly. It was said to be part of efforts to seek a return to peace in the region, or better still, to seek an end to the armed conflict in the region. The Prime Minister, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, was represented at the Forum by his Director of Cabinet, Balungeli Confiance Ebune.
The forum had the opportunity to bring to the forefront, one of Cameroon’s fine minds and brain in conflict resolution, in the person of Dr Namanga Ngongi, who has been very quiet in his native Buea, since he returned home on retirement. Dr Namanga Ngongi, who prefers to simply refer to himself as “a retired Cameroonian and United Nations Civil Servant”, served among other things as Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, and later as Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to the Democratic Republic of Congo (a crisis ridden African country)
Conflict Resolution, Culture, Tradition And Development
Dr Namanga Ngongi presented a great paper on, “Conflict Resolution, Culture, Tradition And Development”, at the Southwest Peace and Development Forum, in which he clearly laid down the internationally recommended process in conflict resolution, that can best get this beloved country called Cameroon, out of the mess into which it has been plunged, by the devastating Anglophone Conflict or Crisis, for some years now. He explained that all conflicts are not the result of same issues. “The principal causes of any particular conflict have to be identified. Each party to the conflict needs to be listened to, as it will have its own list of the key issues that lured them into a conflict and which they would like to see resolved”.
As for the “Major National Dialogue” that was organized by the Cameroon Government from September 30 – October 4, 2019, with the announced purpose being to end the armed conflict in the two Anglophone Regions (Northwest and Southwest), the conflict resolution expert, Dr Namanga Ngongi, pointed out that despite the organization of the “Major National Dialogue”, the war in the two regions ranges on. “THAT IS A CLEAR DEMONSTRATION THAT THE UNDERLYING ISSUES THAT LED TO THE CRISIS, WERE EITHER NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD OR ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED”, he frankly stated.
A Message CPDM Elites Did Not Want To Hear
Unfortunately, that was not the type of things that many Southwest CPDM elites wanted to hear, as they know the position of their party’s National President, Paul Biya, who doubles as President of the Republic, on the Anglophone Crisis – Non Inclusive Dialogue With ‘Terrorists’. CPDM Senator, Charles Mbela Moki, as a distraction, diverted attention from Dr Namanga Ngongi’s presentation, by trying to transform the Southwest Peace and Development Forum, into a Form to sow discords between the people of Northwest and Southwest Regions, with his hate speech – story of, “Enemies In Our Homes”.
Unfortunately as well, the media that could have propagated the important message in the presentation that was made by Dr Namanga Ngongi, was instead carried away by what was rather a distraction by Senator Charles Mbella Moki, about the purported “Enemies In Our Homes”.
It was really a missed opportunity for Cameroon or Cameroonians to embrace a guaranteed solution to the armed conflict in the two Anglophone Regions (Northwest and Southwest Regions), as contained in the paper that was presented by Dr Namanga Ngongi, a Conflict Resolution Expert, and retired senior official of the United Nations, with wealth of experience.
Community Dialogue
Meanwhile, after the failure of the ‘Major National Dialogue”, the Ndian Peace Conference, the Mezam Peace and Development Conference, and the Southwest Peace and Development Forum, here comes what Prime Minister Dion Ngute calls Community Dialogue, to resolve the Anglophone Conflict (a national issue), and thus bring back peace to the two Anglophone Regions (the Northwest and Southwest Regions).
The Prime Minister recently travelled to Buea and Bamenda to launch the Community Dialogue in the Southwest and Northwest Regions, respectively. As usual, the central stage at the two separate events were occupied by members of Government, local civil administrators, a as well as Southwest and Northwest elites of the ruling CPDM party, that zoomed in from Yaounde, and other cities where they are based. It is unfortunate when the same people keep doing the same thing, and expecting different results.
Prime Minister Dion Ngute
Meanwhile, it is not as if Prime Minister Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, who is himself an Anglophone, does not know what can be rightly done to end the Anglophone Crisis of Conflict. The Prime Minister knows it well, and the Government also knows it well. The problem is President Biya. Not that the President will not like to see the Anglophone Crisis end, or that he hates Anglophones. NO. The problem is with President Biya’s controversial way of managing a conflict, or a crisis. That is, things must be done in the way the President decides or wants, and not in the way he is asked to do, even if he knows that what the people are saying is the right way to do it.
It is just like in the early 90s, precisely in 1991, when the opposition and civil society organizations insisted that there should be a Sovereign National Conference. President Biya declared that the Sovereign National Conference was not necessary (‘Sans objet’), and stood his ground, even when the then powerful opposition parties and civil society organizations grounded the country for months through ‘Operation Ghost Town’, and ‘Civil Disobedience’. President Biya ended up imposing his own decision, which was holding of the Tripartite Talks instead of the Sovereign National Conference.
Prime Minister Dion Ngute’s Maiden Official Visit To NW / SW In 2019
President Biya and his regime knows so well that what a majority of Anglophones want is a return to Federation or Federalism, no matter whether it is a two State, four State, seven States, or ten State Federation. This was seen for example at the height of the crisis in 2019, when Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute made his maiden official visit as Prime Minister, to the two Anglophone Regions, with a message that “Papa Paul Biya” had said he was prepared to sit down and dialogue with the people on all subjects, except secession. There was ecstasy in the two regions. Despite the crisis, the Prime Minister was given a hero’s welcome in Bamenda, as the messenger with good news. Prime Minister Dion Ngute, even made stops in very risky areas like Total Nkwen and the Bamenda Food Market, where despite the ghost town or lockdown order that was announced by the separatists, people daring came out in their numbers to salute the good news , and openly expressed their joy.
But unfortunately when Prime Minister Dion Ngute returned to Yaounde, things changed, as President Biya instead instructed him that the Government should organize the national dialogue, but that there should be no discussion on form of State. Some people blame Minister Paul Atanga Nji, that he was the one who declared over France 24 that there would be no discussion on the form of State at the national dialogue. What is very certain is that Minister Atanga Nji has no power to take such a decision, and he has never claimed to have such a power. It was President Biya who decided so. What Minister Atanga Nji said, was that based on the information he had, and it came to pass.
Non Inclusive Dialogue
It should also be noted that the ‘Major National Dialogue’ was not inclusive, certainly because President Biya wanted it that way. It was clearly explained, that if the Government wanted the separatist leaders in the diaspora, to attend the ‘Major National Dialogue’ in Yaounde, the first thing was for President Biya to sign a general amnesty that would have given a guarantee, that they would not be arrested if they came to the country. President Biya did not do that.
In the face of such a situation, Prime Minister Dion Ngute , together with other Anglophone CPDM elites in the regime, have been struggling every now and then, to come up with projects on calming down the Anglophone Crisis, that the PM can handle at his own level. There Prime Minister has very limited power, and so there is not much he can do. The long and short of what the Prime Minister and the other ‘big’ Anglophone CPDM elites are trying to do in the so called Community Dialogue, is that the separatist fighters (Amba boys) be persuaded to drop their guns and return home, in exchange probably for some small thing.
Every now and then, there is a public show in the two Anglophone Regions, of alleged separatist fighters, that have dropped their guns. But the fact is that the Government and, even the separatist leaders at home and in the diaspora, do not know how many Amba boys are in the bushes and forests, how many new fighters join the separatist rang each month, and so on.
