Slim Hope for an End to Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis
A Modern Conflict Rooted in a Colonial ‘Problem’.
Since 2016, Cameroonian military forces have been attempting to stamp out a violent secessionist movement in two of its western regions, at significant human and social cost to the civilians caught in between. This modern-day guerrilla war derives from a colonial past, where linguistic divides have developed into tangible experiences of cultural and economic suppression. Possibility for a resolution is difficult to discern and will rely on greater efforts from foreign and diplomatic parties.
“My daughter is seven and she can tell whether the sounds are from machine guns of the army or the AK-47 rifles of ‘The Boys’.” This testimony is from a woman in Bamenda, a once-thriving city in the west of Cameroon devastated by what some call the ‘Ambazonia War,’ one in which militant groups (‘The Boys’) from English-speaking areas are fighting for independence from the francophone majority country. Over eight years of widespread violence and disruption, critical facets of society and infrastructure have broken down, while families have been torn apart.
Accusations of human rights violations have been made against both government troops and members of the separatist Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF). Caught in between are the civilian men, women and children who continue to suffer most of all. Reports from the UN estimate over 500,000 internally displaced persons, meanwhile Amnesty International have investigated numerous accounts of rape and sexual assault. Many Anglophones just wish to see their children go to school again. Education is a matter at the heart of this conflict, but it is deeply entangled in linguistic and postcolonial divisions.
Situated between West and Central Africa on the coast of the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea, the Republic of Cameroon is a diverse country with more than 250 ethnic groups spread across its 31 million population. There are eight francophone administrative divisions, while English-speakers are primarily located in the North-West and South-West regions.
Map of Cameroon and its English-speaking regions. Image courtesy of voanews.com via Wikimedia, ©2023. Some rights reserved.
Cameroon has a complicated colonial history, with influences from various European powers. The Treaty of Versailles brought an end to a German protectorate in the region, dividing the territory between French and British control. Accordingly, French and English were imposed as the unifying languages in each respective colony, accompanied by their cultural and religious practices. In 1960, independence movements eventually succeeded in French Cameroon, and British Nigeria to the north, leaving the English-speaking colony of the British Cameroons between the two. With a predominantly Muslim population and shared official language, the territory’s northern district elected to join Nigeria in a 1961 UN plebiscite, whereas the large Christian demographic in the adjacent Southern Cameroons voted to merge with neighbouring French Cameroon. In so doing, the Federal Republic of Cameroon was established.
Since then, Cameroonians have witnessed a succession of unchallenged elections, one-party rule, and widespread corruption. This has led to Freedom House rating Cameroon as ‘Not Free,’ with a 15/100 rating on their freedom index. The current president Paul Biya has ruled for over 40 years and governs through selective patronage of key tribes, consolidating power within a small political elite. For many Anglophones, dissatisfaction at the highly centralised regime in Yaoundé began in 1972, when constitutional amendments removed the federal system and the autonomous status of anglophone regions. Persistent cultural and linguistic exclusion within educational, economic, political and legislative systems has only escalated these feelings of marginalisation.
A concept flag of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, a political entity claimed by anglophone secessionists. Image courtesy of Washiucho via Wikimedia, ©2014. Some rights reserved.
Tensions finally boiled over in late 2016, when schooling boycotts and protests for independence in the anglophone North-West and South-West regions sparked violent crackdowns by the Cameroonian military. This crisis soon developed into a guerrilla style civil war. The secessionist movement primarily consisted of a variety of militias and small armed groups, though the Ambazonia Governing Council – which advocates for an independent Federal Republic of Ambazonia – has more recently expanded its influence as the most prominent and organised independence movement. The AgovC, through its armed wing the ADF, exercises greater control of rural areas, where they have more local support, terrain knowledge and have greater agility than the centralised forces.
The guerrilla warfare has come about due to several factors. Firstly, the secessionist movement is not one united front with centralised leadership, but a piecemeal mix of local militias and armed political factions, so combat tends to be sporadic and irregular – leaving unclear lines between areas of government and separatist control. The weaponry utilised by anglophone soldiers also better suits an unordered style of conflict. Lightly equipped soldiers use hunting rifles, pistols, knives, and machetes to conduct hit-and-run attacks on the Cameroonian military, as well as on civilians in government-controlled territory. Improvised explosive devices have been increasingly used by the rebel groups, to deadly effect. Lastly, the ADF commander-in-chief Lucas Ayaba Cho, has stated his aim to ‘make Ambazonia ungovernable,’ destroying schools, homes and vehicles in a brutal scorched-earth strategy.
The Cameroonian armed forces are far-better resourced, receiving military and technological support from a wide array of global allies. Despite granting an autonomous status to the anglophone region in 2019, a result of a ‘major national dialogue,’President Biya has played down the significance and severity of this conflict. The abundance of natural resources available in this part of Cameroon makes it sorely valuable to Biya’s regime. Having generally retained control of urban areas, economic activities, and main roads, sources in the government believe they can outlast the insurgents on the other side of this conflict.
This may be a miscalculation, especially in consideration of the funding and organisational structures of separatist groups. The ADF does not have any financial backing by sovereign states, instead it relies primarily on funding from members of the external Cameroonian diaspora. Advertised through various social media channels and online fundraisers, these donations are difficult to track or restrict. There are reports of a ‘liberation tax’ being extracted from local anglophones to support separatist activities, which is unlikely to encourage support in the region. Indeed, the anglophone crisis is both modern and global, yet hyper-localised in many ways, making a pathway to peace a complicated task.
The arrest of Ayaba Cho in Norway for incitement of crimes against humanity, as well as raids on the homes of ADF affiliates in the U.S., has been a cause for optimism for some observers and anglophone Cameroonians. They hope that a greater effort from foreign parties to hold separatist leaders to account will pave a way to a solution to this lasting conflict. Various women and religious leaders in anglophone communities have voiced their opposition to AgovC violence and school boycotts, while demanding that the international community further actions to detain complicit members of the Cameroonian diaspora.
In 2022, negotiations between seemingly united separatist factions and the Cameroonian government fell through, and further peace talks are yet to succeed. Neither side appear willing to break the diplomatic deadlock: secessionists appear intent on a continued conflict; 91-year-old Biya and his centralised regime have given no sign of their change in strategy, ahead of next year’s national elections. Commentary on the situation from international parties has not been widespread, with an SAIS review critiquing efforts of Western powers and stating that the African Union ‘has not engaged in any meaningful efforts to improve the situation.’ The effect of a Trump presidency on the conflict remains uncertain. While he tends to favour strongman, populist leaders – Biya certainly fulfils this archetype – Trump may look to withdraw military and economic support to the continent as part of his ‘America First’ campaign, which would force Cameroon to look elsewhere for security partnerships.
Meanwhile, more than 1.1 million Cameroonian children remain out of school. This figure only looks likely to increase as the conflict drags on. Atrocities are committed by both sides without restrictions or coverage. At the same time, charitable and aid initiatives are left to mitigate this humanitarian crisis, while global diplomatic efforts continue to appear ponderous and inadequate.
Cover image generated using ImageFX with the prompt: ‘diagonal fusion of the Ambazonia flag (light blue and white horizontal thin stripes with a dove in the top left corner) and the Cameroonian flag (green, red, and gold vertical bars with a central gold star)’.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
