President Biya’s 42nd Anniversary: Why There Is No Longer Hope That The Anglophone Crisis Will End During Biya‘s Presidency.

A group of NW Fons met a heavy weight of the regime, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, to find out if President Biya has another plan on the Anglophone Crisis on the table.

The celebration on Wednesday, November 6, 2024 of President Biya’s 42^nd anniversary in power by militants, allies and friends of the ruling CPDM ,took place within the backdrop of the unresolved Anglophone Crisis,  which has taken away thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands in the two Anglophone Regions.

It would be recalled that  in  2016, the long unresolved Anglophone Problem in Cameroon sparked off the Anglophone Crisis, which in late 2017 degenerated an armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters also known as Amba boys. Today, the armed conflict or war continues to range on. As aforementioned, the escalated Anglophone Crisis has killed thousands of people who have been mostly civilians, hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced as IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons), and tens of thousands force to flee from the country especially to neighbouring Nigeria as refugees. The destruction of property by the crisis is immeasurable.

 ‘Civilians Are Bearing The Brunt”.

As the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly , rightly said in a statement she issued in January 2023, it is the civilian population in the two Anglophone Regions in Cameroon that are bearing the brunt of the armed conflict in the two regions.  Hear her: “Civilians are bearing the brunt, with more than 6000 people having lost their lives since 2017. In addition, nearly 800,000 people have been displaced as a result of the crisis, and 600,000 children do not have full access to education”.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who paid a visit to Cameroon in August 2024, said the same thing; “In the Northwest and Southwest Regions, what began as peaceful protest in 2016 has turned into a major crisis for the civilian population, with clashes between separatist groups, and security forces, including the military, leaving thousands killed, hundreds of thousands displaced , and the denial of right to education to more than 700,000 children. Reports continue to emerge of human rights violations and abuses, including unlawful killings, ill –treatment and torture, kidnappings for ransoms, and restriction on freedom of movement. The imposition of ‘lockdown days’ by separatists  groups, preventing children from going to school, people from accessing their livelihoods, at the risk of being shot – this  is unacceptable and should be roundly condemned”.

No Inclusive Dialogue So Far

There is no question that the main reason as to why the Anglophone Crisis has not been resolved so far, is because there has so far been no inclusive dialogue to resolve the crisis. The key participants to a dialogue meant to resolve or end a conflict, are supposed to be from the two sides in the conflict. As aforementioned, the Anglophone Crisis in late 2017 escalated into an armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters.  This means that any meaningful dialogue with the objective of ending the armed conflict in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, must, have the participation of the Government and the separatists.  The side that is more culpable that an inclusive dialogue has not held so far is of course the Government, and not the separatists, because it is the Government that has the power to either organize such an event, or authorize another country to organize it.

Unfortunately, President Biya has so far shied away from approving an inclusive dialogue between the Government and the separatists to end escalated Anglophone Crisis.  Government terms the separatists or secessionists as terrorists, because of the horrible atrocities they commit against the civilian population. However genuine dialogue on the Anglophone Crisis, is not supposed to be about liking or not liking the separatists.   As is commonly said, one does not dialogue with his friend, one rather dialogues with his enemy.

“Major National Dialogue’ Was Bound To Fail    

What was termed a Major National Dialogue was organized by the Biya Government in Yaounde, from September 30 – October 4, 2019, purportedly to resolve or end the Anglophone Crisis.   But it was not an inclusive dialogue, as the absence of the separatist side was conspicuous.  The Government left the separatist s out of what was supposed to be a national dialogue on the Anglophone Crisis.  In real sense of what a dialogue is all about, what held in Yaounde from September 30 – October 4, 2019, was not a dialogue to end the escalated Anglophone Crisis, and that is why it is not surprising to observers that the armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters in the two Anglophone Regions in Cameroon, has continued, five years after the ‘Major National Dialogue’.

There is thus no doubt that the ‘Major National Dialogue’ was bound to fail in resolving the Anglophone Crisis, given the fact that one of major actor in the crisis, that is, the separatists or secessionists, were not invited to the event.

Retired Senior UN Official, Dr  Namanga Ngongi, On  ‘Major National Dialogue’

This is what a great mind and a civil society personality, DR NAMANGA NGONJI, said about the  ‘Major National Dialogue, when he presented a very educative paper on  Conflict Resolution, Culture, Tradition and Development, at the Southwest Peace and Development Forum that was organized in Buea from May 12 – 13, 2023, by the Southwest Regional Assembly: “A Grand National Dialogue was organised from 30th September to 4^th October 2019 with an objective to respond to the Anglophone Crisis. The most important result of the Dialogue was the granting of the special status to the Northwest and Southwest Regions. The NW and SW Regional Assemblies are a result of that special status. We are here today thanks to the initiative of the Southwest Regional Assembly.

“However, despite the convening of the GND and the special status for the two English Speaking Regions, the war ranges on. That is clear demonstration that the underlying issues that led to the crisis were either not fully understood or adequately addressed”.

Dr Ngongi, a genuine expert on conflict resolution, said it all. In fact no one could have said it better, that if the war , or better still the armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters has continued after the ‘Major National Dialogue,  it is  “A CLEAR DEMONSTRATION THAT THE UNDERLYING ISSUES THAT LED TO THE CRISIS WERE NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD OR  ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED”. This is the crude fact.

NW Fons Meet Fame Ndongo

Meanwhile, after waiting for so long and seeing no concrete measures being taken to end the Anglophone Crisis, and with Northwest CPDM elites in government telling them nothing concrete or realistic  about Government’s plan to end the very bloody and destructive Anglophone Crisis , a group of concerned Northwest Fons resolved on doing something.  It should be noted that the Northwest Fons Union, which was the association of Northwest Fons or traditional rulers, has been in comatose for many years now, and so Northwest Fons currently have no active association.

The Mentor News garnered that  the group of concerned Northwest, resolved to   a few months ago, to quietly meet Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, a heavy weight of the regime from President Biya’s South Region, to express their concern, as well as find out if President Biya had any plan on the table that could resolve or end  the Anglophone Crisis..  The Mentor is holding back the names of the Fons that were in the group. But suffice to say that the delegation was led by a Fon from Mono Division, who is member of the Central Committee of the ruling CPDM Party.

Meanwhile Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo who is Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, and who in the domain of politics is the National Secretary for Communication of the CPDM, as well as the Regional Coordinator of the CPDM in President Biya’s South Region, had no good news for the Northwest Fons.  He talked much about the ‘Major National Dialogue’ which he said the Government organised on the high instruction of President Biya from September 30 – October 4, 2019, and the  granting by President Biya of a special status to Anglophones as was recommended by the ‘Major National Dialogue’. Fame Ndongo told the Fons that as much he knows, there is no plan on President Biy’s table for another dialogue on the Anglophone Crisis. He said he would not know if the Grand Patron (President Biya) has any other thing in mind, but that he has not told them anything again on the issue of the Anglophone Crisis.  The Fons thus left Minister Fame Ndongo’s office disappointed.

  “No Stone Should be Left Unturned To End The Crisis”, UN High Commissioner

Meanwhile it would be recalled that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, while concluding his official visit to Cameroon on August 7, 2024, urged the Government to spare no effort to seek ways to end the Anglophone Crisis or the armed conflict, through dialogue.  Hear him: “No stone should be left unturned in efforts to silence the guns and bring this untenable crisis to an end – through dialogue with those who have grievances and demands, through accountability for the perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses, and through reconciliation measures, including an evaluation of existing Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process for certain members of armed groups”.

But then from the look of things, President Biya is not willing to organize a real inclusive dialogue on the Anglophone Crisis, and so the war unfortunately ranges on in the two Anglophone regions, and many people, especially civilians, continue to die.  Many observers are today of the view that the Anglophone Crisis will only hopefully and effectively be resolved  through an inclusive dialogue, by the person who will succeed President Biya as President of the Republic. Meaning that there is in reality no longer any hope, that the Anglophone Crisis will be resolved by the Biya Government, as the President looks unprepared to accept an inclusive dialogue on the crisis. At over 91 years of age today, things have become more complicated with age that is weighing so much on him.

THE MENTOR NEWS WILL IN SERIES BEGINNING NEXT WEEK, REVISIT THE DIFFERENT ATTEMPTS THAT HAVE SINCE 2019 BEEN MADE AT THE INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS, TO SEEK WAYS TO END THE ANGLOPHONE CRISIS,  AND THOSE IN THE GOV’T AND SAPARATIST CAMPS THAT HAVE STOOD AS  OBSTACLES  AT DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.   

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