Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Since The Armed Conflict Started In Late 2017, The Biya Gov’t And Separatists Have Never Sat Down For Peace Talks. Also, The Only Inter. Peace Initiative Which Biya Personally Endorsed, Was The Swiss –led Mediation, Supported By The Vatican And Many Other Countries. But Biya Later Backed Out, Claiming His MND Was Pathway To Peace. But As Pope Leo XIV Has Said, Peace Is Not Decreed.
It is a truism that there has so far been no real dialogue between the Cameroon Government, or better still, the Biya Government, and the separatists, since the Anglophone Crisis degenerated into an armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters in late 2017. In fact the only international peace initiative with the objective of ending the armed conflict, which President Biya personally endorsed initially, was the Swiss –Led Mediation, SLM.
It would be recalled that on June 28, 2019, the Swiss Government announced a peace initiative, with the objective being to end the armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters in the two Anglophone Regions in Cameroon (Northwest and Southwest Regions). Many separatist groups in the diaspora accepted the invitation of the Swiss Government, for the peace talks with the Cameroon Government. A civil society organization, the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Switzerland, was designated by the Swiss Government to do the practical work on its behalf. That is, organize and carryout the mediation.
The Swiss Initiative was supported by many countries, institutions and international organizations like the European Union, Canada, the United States, the Vatican, Britain, and the UN Secretary General among others. In fact so far, the Swiss –led peace initiative, is on record to have received the biggest support from the international community, as compared to other initiatives or peace proposals , that have so far come up, in connection to the armed conflict between government troops and separatist fighters, in the two Anglophone Regions in Cameroon.
A Delegation From Center For Humanitarian Dialogue Visits Cameroon
But the, even when the Camps of the Cameroon Government and the Separatists were still to meet for the first time under the canopy of the Swiss –Led Mediation, President Biya seemingly started dragging his feet on the Swiss Initiative that he initially endorsed. By the end of August (2019), a delegation from the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue in Switzerland, visited Cameroon, and was accompanied by the Swiss Ambassador to Cameroon, to visit the Prime Minister, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, who received them on behalf of the President of the Republic. But, while the visiting delegation from the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue made, a declaration to the media after the meeting with the Prime Minister, the Cameroon Government never made a statement on the visit of the Swiss organization. This was definitely an indication that President Biya’s position on the Swiss –led peace initiative, was changing.
Biya Instead Announced ‘Major National Dialogue’ In Yaounde
A few weeks later, President Biya instead announced the holding of what the Government termed, a Major National Dialogue, in Yaounde. But the event which held from September 30 to October 4, 2019 was everything, except a dialogue forum really aimed at ending the escalated Anglophone Crisis, or better still, the armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters, who were not even represented at the Government organized meeting. And so the Yaounde meeting which was flooded by elites of the ruling CPDM, and government officials was, more of a government organized monologue, and not a dialogue aimed at ending the armed conflict in the two Anglophone Regions.
Suffice to say that after the so called Major National Dialogue, the armed conflict between Government troops and the separatist fighters in two Anglophone Regions did not only continue, but actually intensified.
Swiss Gov’t Maintained Its Peace Initiative On The Table / Biya Formally Quit In 2022
The international community of course knew that what was organized by the Biya government in Yaounde from September 30 – October 4, 2019, could not end the armed conflict in the two Anglophone regions, as one of the two parties in the conflict was not represented at the meeting. That was why after the ‘Major National Dialogue’, the Government of Switzerland still maintained the Swiss – led Peace Initiative on the table. President Biya too did not inform the Swiss Government, that he was no longer interested in its peace initiative.
Things remained that way, until when President Biya finally called the President of the Swiss Federation. Ignazio Cassi s, in September 2022. He told the Swiss President that Switzerland should instead use its good office, to support the ‘Major National Dialogue’, which the Cameroon Government organized in Yaounde from September 30 – October 4, 2019, as the pathway to peace in the two Anglophone Regions.
Of course, neither Switzerland nor any other country, or an international organization or institution, could support the ‘Major National Dialogue’, for they knew it could not be a pathway to peace in the two Anglophone Regions in Cameroon, as the separatist fighters did not participate in the Yaounde meeting.
No Military Solution To The Crisis In Anglophone Cameroon
And so the fact of the matter is that since the Anglophone Crisis escalated into an armed conflict between Government troops and separatist fighters in late 2017, the Biya Government and the separatists have so far not sat down or engaged in a serious dialogue, to end the conflict. Yet, experts in conflict resolution in Cameroon and beyond are unanimous, that there can be no military solution to the over eight year armed conflict in Anglophone Cameroon. The experts are all unanimous that only dialogue, that is peace talks, is the real pathway to peace in the war torn Anglophone Cameroon.
“Peace Cannot Be Decreed”
As Pope Leo XIV bluntly told President Biya and his men , in a speech at Cameroon’s Presidential Palace on April 15, 2026: “Peace , in fact, cannot be decreed. It must be welcomed and lived. It is a gift from God that develops through patient and collective work. It is everyone’s responsibility, first and foremost that of civil authority”.
In a crisis –ridden country like Cameroon, the authorities and elites of the ruling CPDM Party, everyday sing propaganda songs, of how Cameroon under President Paul Biya is a land of peace, and that Biya himself is an apostle of peace, though the escalated Anglophone Crisis remain unresolved. Pope Leo XIV shut them up that: “Peace cannot be reduced to a slogan. It must be embodied in the personal and institutional style that rejects all forms of violence. That is why I repeat it forcefully: ‘The world thirst for peace’. Enough of wars with their painful toll of death, destruction, and exile”. The Pope said the cry “is intended as a call to action for genuine peace, placing it above all partisan interest”.
Lobby For Vatican To Mediate
Meanwhile, from the look of things, the Pope is one of the very few personalities in the world that can possibly get President Biya to listen, or get him to possibly review his position on a controversial decision he took.
That is why instead of only fighting for Pope Leo XIV to visit Bamenda and pray for peace, The Mentor News thinks that the Archbishop of Bamenda, Mgr Andrew Nkea, and the other Bishops of the Bamenda Ecclesiastical Province (Northwest and Southwest Regions) in particular, with the possible support of the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon, of which Mgr Nkea is the current President, would have gone beyond just lobbying the Pope to come to and pray in Bamenda. They would have done well to strongly lobby Pope Leo XIV, to propose to President Biya, or to even mount pressure on the President, to accept a mediation of the Vatican, to end the armed conflict in the two Anglophone Regions of Cameroon. That would practically have been much better for the suffering people of the two Anglophone Regions, than the Pope coming to Bamenda, only to pray for peace.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that when The Men tor News talk of Vatican’s mediation, it does not mean that, it is the Pope and his collaborators at the Vatican that will practically do the mediation. Just like Switzerland has the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, in the Catholic Church, there is an organization that is specialized in peace building and conflict resolution at the international level. In fact the organization is known to have successfully mediated to resolve conflicts in some countries. So to talk of Vatican mediation, means that the Vatican engages this organization to mediate in the armed conflict in the two Anglophone Regions in Cameroon, while the Vatican supervises the work.
