tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/paul-biya-49781/articlesPaul Biya – The Conversation2022-11-28T14:30:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1948562022-11-28T14:30:17Z2022-11-28T14:30:17ZPaul Biya has been Cameroon’s president for 40 years – and he might win office yet again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497897/original/file-20221129-20-mvzru9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroon's President Paul Biya </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At 89 years old, one of the oldest leaders in the world, <a href="https://www.prc.cm/en/the-president/biography">President Paul Biya</a> of Cameroon has marked <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20221106-cameroon-s-paul-biya-marks-40-years-as-president">40 years</a> as head of state. He assumed office in 1982.</p>
<p>He is the second longest serving leader in Africa. The longest is <a href="https://saharareporters.com/2022/09/24/80-year-old-equatorial-guinea-president-run-sixth-term-amid-human-rights-abuses">Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema</a>, in power since 1979.</p>
<p>Cameroon experienced a long spell of political stability under Biya’s iron hand. But this eventually unravelled when an <a href="https://theconversation.com/cameroon-how-language-plunged-a-country-into-deadly-conflict-with-no-end-in-sight-179027">Anglophone rebellion</a> broke out in the south-west and north-west and when <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/iswap-takes-aim-at-the-state-in-cameroon">radical Islamists</a> entered from Nigeria. <a href="https://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/publications/cameroon-a-transition-in-crisis.pdf">Domestic pressure</a> for Biya to accept a transition has also been persistent.</p>
<p>But Biya remains <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/02/for-the-sake-of-cameroon-life-president-paul-biya-must-be-forced-out">non-committal</a> about relinquishing power in 2025, which would be the end of his current seventh term of office.</p>
<p>What explains Biya’s longevity in office and why is Cameroon unable to marshal a transition?</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-old-mens-club-out-of-touch-with-continents-suave-burgeoning-youth-48618">scholar</a> of democratic studies and regime types in Africa and a commentator on African political developments. I’m interested in why the continent is saddled with ageing presidents who ought to be enjoying their retirement when it desperately needs young, agile and innovative leaders equal to its challenges. </p>
<h2>A bright start</h2>
<p>Biya succeeded <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahmadou-Ahidjo">Ahmadou Ahidjo</a>, Cameroon’s president from 1960 to 1982, after his surprise <a href="https://www.prc.cm/en/the-president/the-first-president">resignation</a>. Ahidjo had been struggling with an economic crisis and widespread corruption. He had superintended a one party state and an <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA02562804_435">exceptional centralisation</a> of power in the presidency. </p>
<p>When Biya became president in 1982, he <a href="https://theconversation.com/cameroons-biya-is-africas-oldest-president-assessing-his-38-years-in-power-156221">promised</a> political liberalisation, including democracy, civil and human rights and economic advancement in Cameroon. </p>
<p>For a while, he worked to achieve some of these goals. The country achieved political stability and unity, and relative economic transformation through his “<a href="https://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=112384137">new deal</a>”. There was even a momentary easing of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45193445?seq=11#metadata_info_tab_contents">draconian police state</a>. </p>
<p>But in the late 1990s, there was a gradual halt to political liberalisation, fiscal discipline and government accountability. This happened after the <a href="https://mimimefoinfos.com/april-06-1984-how-president-paul-biya-survived-cameroons-only-coup-attempt/">1984 bloody coup attempt</a> by the Republican Guards.</p>
<p>Biya became increasingly unyielding to political accommodation. First he purged Ahidjo’s faction within the ruling <a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Cameroon_People's_Democratic_Movement">party</a> and eventually he locked out any meaningful challenge to his leadership from within or outside the party. Ultimately though, under external pressure, he <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA02562804_435">agreed</a> to a multiparty dispensation in 1990.</p>
<p>This has gradually and systematically been hollowed out, creating a monolithic system that entrenched Biya in office for the last 40 years. </p>
<h2>Biya’s staying power</h2>
<p>Cameroon’s politics has long been dominated by Biya’s <a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Cameroon_People's_Democratic_Movement">Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounaise</a>, which rebranded from the <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50078477/">Cameroon National Union</a> in 1985. It had been the dominant party since 1966. After a formal opening up of the political space to <a href="https://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/the-anglophone-problem-in-cameroon-the-change-from-crisis-to-conflict-and-a-possible-way-forward-to-resolution/">multipartyism</a>, this has gradually been weakened. </p>
<p>There has been a failure of political party institutionalisation. Hundreds of small parties mushroomed - <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/rest-of-africa/political-parties-in-cameroon-3390930">300 to date</a>, many allegedly secretly bankrolled and controlled by Biya. They provide a façade of democratic competitiveness. In reality, they have weakened legitimate political opposition. </p>
<p>The absence of a united and consolidated opposition has enabled the entrenchment of a dominant party system. The ruling party has a <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2018/04/05/cameroon-ruling-party-wins-90-percent-of-elective-senate-seats//">dominant majority</a> in both the National Assembly and the Senate (63 seats of 70). This erodes any chance of genuine checks and balance. </p>
<p>The party has also used electoral mechanics like redrawing boundaries for electoral advantage and in places outright <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15238067">fraud</a> to expand victories and consolidate majorities. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-upcoming-polls-in-cameroon-wont-end-the-violence-131160">Why upcoming polls in Cameroon won't end the violence</a>
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<p>Elections have become little more than a procedural inconvenience, where Biya runs with no possibility of losing.</p>
<p>For instance, in 2004 Biya won with <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2004/10/25/biya-officially-declared-winner-presidential-election">70.9%</a> of the vote. After the 2008 <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-constitutionalism/article/unconstitutional-constitutional-amendment-or-constitutional-dismemberment-a-reappraisal-of-the-presidential-term-limit-amendment-in-cameroon/DE4EC3A5CE737200F5A93AA35A2E9F1B">constitutional revision</a> to remove term limits, he was re-elected with <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15574922">78%</a> of the vote in 2011. </p>
<p>In 2018, he got <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2018/10/22/paul-biya-wins-cameroon-presidential-election-with-7128-percent-official//">71.28%</a> against his challenger, opposition leader <a href="https://www.africanews.com/tag/maurice-kamto/">Maurice Kamto</a>.</p>
<p>Biya has created a rent seeking political class that not only does his bidding but keeps him in power with minimum resistance. Cameroon is a <a href="https://preferredbynature.org/sourcinghub/timber/timber-cameroon">leading exporter</a> of timber in Africa and <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/top-5-cocoa-producing-countries-in-africa/ywtkgdd#:%7E:text=4.-,Cameroon,and%20more%20in%20savannah%20areas">fifth largest</a> cocoa producer in the world. </p>
<p>The country should have enough resources to reduce extreme poverty and underdevelopment. Yet the proceeds are plundered through corruption and to maintain a clientelist network.</p>
<p>Politicians must show allegiance and loyalty to Biya. The alternative is being out in the cold or in jail. Biya has also filled senior positions in the administration, the military and security agencies and the civil service with people from his southern ethnic group. Most notably he has relied on the <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2020/06/making-a-killing-israeli-mercenaries-in-cameroon/">Rapid Intervention Battalion</a>, a highly trained military commando unit, to ensure the regular army is unable to move against him.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon">Anglophone conflict</a> has also enabled Biya to deflect attention from his misrule. The violent conflict has left <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon">thousands dead</a> in a civil war against the <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-explains-why-cameroon-is-at-war-with-itself-over-language-and-culture-85401">secessionist</a> English-speaking regions of the country. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/african-union-needs-a-more-robust-response-to-conflict-in-cameroon-132449">African Union needs a more robust response to conflict in Cameroon</a>
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<p>Biya, relying on <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/OXAN-DB271874/full/html">French</a> and recently <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/27/cameroon-russia-military-deal-biya-putin-france/">Russian</a> backers, used the conflict to strengthen his domestic hand and deflect international criticisms.</p>
<p>Another factor is the concentration of power in Cameroon. Nothing substantive gets done without the sign-off of the president. No arm of government or entity of the state has gone unpoliced, including the judiciary: judges are nominated directly by the president. </p>
<p>Simply put, there is no facet of public life untouched by the Biya regime. </p>
<h2>Contemplating a post Biya era</h2>
<p>The president’s mandate runs out in 2025, at which time he will be 92. While he has shown no signs of exiting the stage, talk of a post Biya era is rising. </p>
<p>Although the ruling party has not held a party congress since 2011, hence dampening the transition debate, there is periodical internal party reorganisation. The president has used it to reward and check potential threats to his supremacy.</p>
<p>Biya’s stewardship has long run its course. Its longevity relies on ruthlessness and political astuteness. </p>
<p>Sadly, the real cost is to the country’s democracy, which has long suffered fissures that can only be healed by political renewal through a change of guard. And this change is one that even Biya can do little to forestall.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David E Kiwuwa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After 40 years in office, Cameroon’s 89 year old Paul Biya is the second longest serving leader in Africa. He is already eyeing another contest in 2025.David E Kiwuwa, Associate Professor of International Studies, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1790272022-03-17T14:14:16Z2022-03-17T14:14:16ZCameroon: how language plunged a country into deadly conflict with no end in sight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/452205/original/file-20220315-27-16i0oss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroonian demonstrators in Belgium demand President Biya step down and release all political prisoners.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since <a href="https://www.nrc.no/news/2019/june/cameroon-tops-list-of-most-neglected-crises/">October 2017</a>, Cameroon has been engulfed by a deadly conflict. The conflict is rooted in the colonisation of Cameroon by both the French and British governments – and the two languages that came with it, French and English. </p>
<p>Today, the conflict is between Cameroon’s military and separatist forces from the two anglophone North-West and South-West regions. </p>
<p>Between 1919 and 1961, these two regions were under British colonial administration and were known as British Southern Cameroons. Following a UN plebiscite, or vote, on 11 February 1961, inhabitants voted to “<a href="https://www.persee.fr/doc/afdi_0066-3085_1961_num_7_1_1100">reunite</a>” with French Cameroun on 1 October 1961.</p>
<p>But all didn’t go well after the unification of the two regions. The two English-speaking regions, which make up <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/250-cameroons-anglophone-crisis-crossroads">about 20%</a> of the population, have repeatedly complained of discrimination and exclusion. A year-long protest in Cameroon’s anglophone regions in 2016 <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/separatism-in-cameroon-5-years-of-violent-civil-war/a-59369417">descended into</a> a civil war in 2017. </p>
<p>Almost five years later, the conflict continues to rage on. By <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/cameroon#">recent estimates</a>, the conflict has already led to the death of over 4,000 civilians and more than 712,000 internally displaced persons from the Anglophone regions. More than <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/cmr_hno_2020-revised_print.pdf">1.3 million people</a> are in need of humanitarian assistance.</p>
<p>President Paul Biya, Cameroon’s leader since 1982, is fixated on pursuing a failed path of war against the separatist groups, whom he calls “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Nationalism-Cameroun-Origins-Rebellion/dp/019822706X">terrorists</a>”.</p>
<p>Sadly, there is no clear and credible agenda for negotiations as yet – which makes peace and reconciliation elusive. What is clear is that anglophone grievances run deep and have remained unaddressed for a long time. </p>
<p>As a political anthropologist who has <a href="https://media.africaportal.org/documents/Policy-Insights-117-orock.pdf">studied</a> the situation of Cameroonian anglophones at length, I see the way that elite and marginalised groups are defined by language as a driver of this conflict.</p>
<h2>Anglophone grievances</h2>
<p>The immediate origins of the crisis can be traced to the government’s violent repression of protests by lawyer and teacher unions in 2016. </p>
<p>In October 2016, anglophone teachers’ and lawyers’ unions launched <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/cameroon-anglophone-conflict-five-years-on/a-59363797">peaceful protests</a> against the “neglect” and “marginalisation” of the two English-speaking regions. Large groups of people took part in the year-long protests. They <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/5/cameroon-teachers-lawyers-strike-in-battle-for-english">focused</a> on the appointment of francophone teachers, prosecutors and judges in anglophone areas. The union leadership denounced these appointments as part of the government’s gradual but steady process of “<a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/250-cameroons-anglophone-crisis-crossroads">francophonisation</a>” of the state.</p>
<p>In the francophone regions, such as Douala and Yaoundé, which host large communities of anglophones, French is often the only language that can be used to access vital public services. Disaffected anglophones are resentful of the chasm between the official claim that Cameroon is a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Democratization-Modernization-Multilingual-Cameroon-Asuagbor/dp/0773422218">bilingual state</a> and the reality of anglophones’ de facto <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28649856_Negotiating_an_Anglophone_Identity_A_Study_of_the_Politics_of_Recognition_and_Representation_in_Cameroon">second-class citizenship</a>. This is evidenced in the barriers they face due to language. </p>
<p>Anglophone Cameroonians have long complained about the almost total domination of public life by the francophone Cameroonians. The elites in this group are believed to have used their power to <a href="https://cameroonpostline.com/why-anglophones-continuously-feel-marginalised">marginalise</a> anglophone regions when allocating resources for economic development. </p>
<p>This historical marginalisation led to calls for a separatist movement.</p>
<h2>Republic of Ambazonia</h2>
<p>The separatists describe themselves as a movement for the “restoration” of the “<a href="https://ambagov.org/">Republic of Ambazonia</a>”. The name Ambazonia – derived from Ambas Bay, in the Gulf of Guinea – was <a href="https://ambazonia.org/en/?option=com_content&view=article&id=153&Itemid=8">coined</a> in the mid-1980s by an anglophone dissident lawyer, Fon Gorji Dinka. </p>
<p>A main reason for anglophone calls for separation is their resentment of the authoritarian rule by the country’s mostly francophone leadership. And, when anglophone Cameroonians protested, they were met with force. This happened first under <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45193813">Ahmadou Ahidjo’s administration</a> (1960–1982) and then under <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1910195/cameroon-s-biya-faces-protests-as-anglophone-carries-on/">Paul Biya</a> (from 1982 onwards). </p>
<p>Since 1990, protests in the anglophone regions have often been met with swift and deadly violence. The same happened in the 2016-2017 protests. Unarmed protesters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/cameroon-police-students-idUSL121148920071112">were shot and killed</a> by soldiers. Those detained also <a href="https://african.business/2022/01/apo-newsfeed/cameroon-more-than-a-hundred-detainees-from-anglophone-regions-and-opposition-party-languishing-in-jail-for-speaking-out/">face abuse</a>.</p>
<p>Another important grievance of anglophone separatists is what they claim to be the <a href="https://www.cameroonconcordnews.com/southern-cameroons-when-independence-is-worse-than-colonization/">“coloniality”</a> of their union with the French Cameroon state. </p>
<p>Anglophone nationalists <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4107332">question</a> the UN-imposed plebiscite of 11 February 1961. They argue that by compelling British Cameroonians to choose between Nigeria and French Cameroon as the route to their independence, the UN’s implementation of its own provisions for decolonisation in Article 76 (b) – regarding the attainment of independence for former trust territories – was flawed. The choices offered by the UN to decide between French Cameroun and Nigeria ignored the people’s desire and wishes for self-rule, which contravenes the very fundamental provisions of the UN’s decolonisation framework. </p>
<p>As a consequence, anglophone Cameroonians claim that the francophone majority views and treats the two anglophone regions as a colonial appendage. And that the region, and people who live there, are not an equal part of Cameroon.</p>
<h2>Hard road to peace</h2>
<p>The road to peace will be a hard one. </p>
<p>To achieve peace while maintaining unity in the country, some autonomists <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/cameroon/anglophone-dilemma-cameroon">advocate</a> a “return” to the initial 1961 agreement of a two-state federation. These federalists were in the majority among anglophones before the start of the 2016 conflict. However, after almost five years of violent fighting some of the federalists have become <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/02/25/cameroon-civilians-massacred-separatist-area">more alienated by the abuses</a> of the regime’s forces in the war zones. </p>
<p>Radical separatists – such as Chris Anu of the Ambazonian Interim Government and Ayaba Cho Lucas and Ivo Tapang of the Ambazonia Governing Council – are <a href="https://www.davispoliticalreview.com/article/cameroon-anglophones-independence">demanding</a> outright and total independence. They believe it’s the only way for anglophone Cameroonians to free themselves from francophone domination and to avoid future crises.</p>
<p>This split between federalists and separatists <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/272-crise-anglophone-au-cameroun-comment-arriver-aux-pourparlers">complicates</a> possible dialogue and peaceful negotiations. </p>
<p>This isn’t helped by the fact that Biya and his government <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2021/3/29/cameroons-elusive-peace-rivals-rifts-and-secret-talks">have spurned</a> discussions with Ambazonian separatists or federalists on changes that would imply a loss of power for the central government.</p>
<p>In addition, the violent suppression of the anglophone protests in 2016–2017 has had two important consequences. It has made the mainstream or establishment anglophone elite fearful of speaking out. And it has further radicalised anglophone youth and rallied support from anglophone Cameroonians in the diaspora. </p>
<p>I believe the only solution to the crisis is autonomy for the two Anglophone regions. The exact form of this autonomy would need a long and carefully negotiated settlement between the different forces at play. And, whatever the settlement, it would have to be subjected to the popular will of the people in these two regions of former Southern Cameroons. </p>
<p>But getting this autonomy won’t be easy given the considerable reluctance from Francophone elites in Yaounde to concede a change to the form of the state. Moreover, the deepening authoritarian posture of the regime in place instils fear of violent crackdowns among dissident voices within the country and political institutions, like the parliament, have little or no capacity to drive measures towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict. </p>
<p>For steps towards autonomy to be taken there would need to be pressure from outside. This includes pressure from the anglophone Cameroonian diaspora, international media, human rights organisations, and major Western powers <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/RC-8-2019-0245_EN.html">such as</a> the United States and the European Union.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rogers Orock received funding for this research from Bradlow Fellowship at the African Governance and Development Programme, the South African Institute of International Affairs </span></em></p>Anglophone grievances run deep and have remained unaddressed for a long time.Rogers Orock, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1562212021-03-09T14:41:15Z2021-03-09T14:41:15ZCameroon’s Biya is Africa’s oldest president: assessing his 38 years in power<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/387789/original/file-20210304-13-668eu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Paul Biya during a visit to China in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lintao Zhang Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cameroon’s President Paul Biya celebrated his 88th birthday recently, making him the <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/leaders/7-of-africas-oldest-presidents/wd9wgt9">oldest</a> president in Africa. He has been in power for 38 years. <a href="https://www.voanews.com/africa/cameroon-president-oldest-african-leader-celebrates-88th-birthday">Birthday celebrations</a> held across the country were met with protest by the opposition, demanding that he step down. So, how has he acquitted himself in office, and what has been his legacy for Cameroon?</p>
<p>Cameroonians welcomed Biya when he became president in <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498564649/Post-Colonial-Cameroon-Politics-Economy-and-Society">November 1982</a>. The peaceful transfer of power by his predecessor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahmadou-Ahidjo">Ahmadou Ahidjo</a> won Cameroon praise as an example to emulate in Africa, where leaders either held on to power for too long, through duplicity and violence, or were forced out. </p>
<p>Ahidjo was ruthless, authoritative, and vicious. He ruled by intimidation. Under him rivals were hunted down, tortured, killed, or forced into exile. He was the <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Gaullist-Africa-Cameroon-Under-Ah/dp/9781560045">“source of all power in the state”</a>. </p>
<p>Biya was seen as a breath of fresh air, and he stepped in saying the right things to different groups. He visited the nation’s Anglophone regions, spoke in English, and even referred to Bamenda, a major city in the Northwest region, as his “second home”. It was a marked difference from his predecessor, whose policies severely undermined English as a major part of the nation’s bilingualism. </p>
<p>Biya’s early actions were received with cheers. He pledged a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45193445?refreqid=excelsior%3Acc0af1fd07fb6080efa451dbb12e2de4&seq=1">“new deal”</a> to restore integrity and eliminate corruption. He also announced that although he was of the Beti/Bulu ethnic group, he was born a Cameroonian and would govern as such. </p>
<p>His policies extended elementary and secondary education to <a href="https://spearsmedia.com/shop/southern-cameroons/">rural areas</a>. He allowed press freedom. In his book <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Communal-liberalism-Paul-Biya/dp/0333453379">Communal Liberalism</a></em> he emphasised the importance of creating a </p>
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<p>But those promises and pronouncements were short-lived.</p>
<h2>Hopes dashed</h2>
<p>By the end of Biya’s first year in office, he had reverted to his predecessor’s tactics, a practice which intensified after the attempted coup <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/10/world/cameroon-reported-to-execute-plotters-after-trials-in-secret.html">in 1984</a>. </p>
<p>He remade the nation’s only political party, Cameroon National Union, in his image, renaming it the <a href="https://www.prc.cm/en/the-president/political-vision">Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement</a>. He packed his administration with people from his ethnic group and drove a solvent economy <a href="https://www.langaa-rpcig.net/?s=Cameroon%27s+predicaments">into insolvency</a>.</p>
<p>His policies targeted and undermined groups like <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498564632/Post-Colonial-Cameroon-Politics-Economy-and-Society">Bamilekes</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/250-cameroons-anglophone-crisis-crossroads">Anglophones</a> and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/contemporary-west-african-states/B90AB6DD0DD8F468F383737F1593FF89">Northerners</a>. </p>
<p>He changed the name of the country from the United Republic of Cameroon to the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/665344/pdf">Republic of Cameroon</a>, a clear indication that <a href="https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/12878">Anglophone concerns did not matter</a>. </p>
<p>He went to the World Bank and International Monitory Fund for help to revive an ailing economy. But, after <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498564632/Post-Colonial-Cameroon-Politics-Economy-and-Society">three decades of intervention</a> by these institutions, the economy remains on the brink of collapse. </p>
<p>The nation’s currency was devalued on his watch in 1994, bringing <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/i228968?refreqid=excelsior%3Aad8921a0aef1cdc531714369088d7ad9">misery to many</a>. </p>
<p>Corruption became endemic. Cameroon is often ranked as being among <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/cameroon">the most corrupt</a> countries in the world. </p>
<p>Biya circumvents the country’s multiparty political system at will. He has repeatedly amended the constitution to tighten <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236713349_Understanding_the_Protest_of_February_2008_in_Cameroon">his grip on power</a>. One amendment, in 2008, was to eliminate presidential term limits.</p>
<p>As a response to protests against excessive centralisation of decision making in Yaounde, Biya signed a decentralisation decree in 1996 to empower regional and local authorities. But 25 years later, that initiative has <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/books/public-economics-and-finance/decentralized-territorial-communities-and-implementation-of-public-policies-the-case-of-cameroon">not been realised</a>. Another failed initiative was the National Commission for the Promotion of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism created <a href="https://www.prc.cm/files/b1/00/4d/1f4edab0eb8fab5df54955177eff43d3.pdf">in 2017</a> in response to the Anglophone protest. After billions of francs CFA were squandered, the commission has achieved <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/62657/cameroon-can-musongues-committee-unite-the-country/">nothing substantive</a>. </p>
<p>Biya’s Achilles heel is the ongoing <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/cameroon#">Anglophone crisis</a>. He has overstayed his term in office, using underhand manoeuvres to cling to power.</p>
<p>His nearly four decades’ rule has robbed Cameroon of its credibility as a stable and peaceful country. Nations such as the US have repeatedly imposed <a href="https://cm.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-yaounde-cameroon-april-5-2018/">advisory travel bans on Cameroon</a>. </p>
<h2>The true test of leadership</h2>
<p>Four years ago, a peaceful protest against the marginalisation of English-speaking people turned violent as Biya’s military responded with arrests and torture. </p>
<p>Some responded with a call for secession of the Anglophone regions and created a virtual <a href="https://ambagov.org/">Ambazonia Republic</a>. They formed a military wing, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/13/cameroons-separatist-movement-is-going-international-ambazonia-military-forces-amf-anglophone-crisis/">Ambazonia Defence Force</a>, and used it to attack Biya’s military and disrupt economic and social services in the region.</p>
<p>My work in Cameroon brings me to the <a href="https://ecommons.udayton.edu/hst_fac_pub/149/">conclusion</a> that the Anglophone crisis degenerated into violence because of miscalculations by Biya’s regime. The resulting crisis has devastated entire communities. The region’s economy has also been crippled, resulting in a wave of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/14/horrific-video-shows-cameroon-killing">crime</a>, and burning of businesses and <a href="https://cm.usembassy.gov/burning-of-kumba-district-hospital/">public facilities</a>.</p>
<p>Cameroon is now a <a href="https://www.osac.gov/Country/Cameroon/Content/Detail/Report/5b1d78b0-241a-4d0e-baca-188e24fffb5f">no-go country</a> in many respects.</p>
<h2>Foreign policy success</h2>
<p>My research shows that Biya’s most enduring achievement has been in his <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/cameroons-relations-toward-nigeria-a-foreign-policy-of-pragmatism/5138B90C617DBA925EF4D22199FBCAFA">conduct of foreign policy</a>. He remains influential in the African Union, and maintains good relations with <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/sinocameroon-relations-a-foreign-policy-of-pragmatism/1371F463322610B315EF0A447C20FFD7">France, the US and China</a>. </p>
<p>Cameroon was part of the multinational joint task force which conducted military operations to contain <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-Boko-Haram-Terrorism-and-Insurgency-in-Africa/Hentz-Solomon/p/book/9780367076306">Boko Haram</a>. Biya was key in convincing major powers that Boko Haram <a href="https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=44190">posed a global threat</a>. </p>
<p>He settled Cameroon’s conflict with Nigeria over the Bakassi Peninsula and placed relations between the nations on a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/cameroons-relations-toward-nigeria-a-foreign-policy-of-pragmatism/5138B90C617DBA925EF4D22199FBCAFA">good footing</a>. </p>
<p>Biya also diversified foreign policy from a focus on France to expanding relations with China (though by 2007 he had begun to regret China’s <a href="https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10YAOUNDE83_a.html">economic domination</a> in Cameroon). He has encouraged American businesses in Cameroon too.</p>
<p>Even after Cameroon was excluded from the <a href="https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/trade-development/preference-programs/african-growth-and-opportunity-act-agoa">African Growth and Opportunity Act</a>, a programme that allows African nations to export their goods to the US duty free, for <a href="https://agoa.info/news/article/15691-cameroon-car-gambia-niger-see-us-agoa-status-changes.html">human rights violations</a>, US-Cameroon military collaboration <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2020/01/21/us-cameroonian-military-cooperation-broadens-and-matures/">continued</a>.</p>
<h2>Turning the tide</h2>
<p>Given Biya’s unwillingness to step down from power, the global community needs to exert pressure on him to solve the Anglophone crisis. </p>
<p>The crisis exposes the hypocrisy and weaknesses of the current global system. The major powers make noises about human rights, yet fail to stop abuses by Biya’s government.</p>
<p>What happens with the Anglophone crisis may turn out to be the most significant determinant of Biya’s legacy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julius A. Amin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Biya’s long rule has robbed Cameroon of its credibility as a stable and peaceful country.Julius A. Amin, Professor, Department of History, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1444342020-08-16T09:12:39Z2020-08-16T09:12:39ZAfrica’s attempts to abandon practice of presidents for life suffer another setback<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352911/original/file-20200814-18-lai2p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara attends a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the country's independence from France on August 7. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SIA KAMBOU/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara (78) has finally <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/ivory-coast-president-alassane-ouattara-run-term-200807044427384.html">confirmed</a> he’ll seek a third term in office in October. Within days of this, Guinea’s ruling party <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200806-guinea-s-ruling-party-asks-alpha-cond%C3%A9-to-run-for-third-presidential-term">asked</a> President Alpha Condé (82) to seek a third term.</p>
<p>The actions signal that Africa is a long way from burying the ugly <a href="https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1056&context=assr">era of presidents for life</a>. The period, which followed immediately after independence and lasted until the end of the 1990s, had a debilitating effect on stability, democracy and <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/term-limits-for-african-leaders-linked-to-stability/">socio-economic development on the continent</a>.</p>
<p>In the last two decades the continent, through the African Union (AU), has developed relatively effective ways of putting a halt to unconstitutional changes of government in the form of coups d'etat. This policy effectively protects incumbent leaders. But the AU has yet to successfully tackle the problem of imperial presidencies. </p>
<p>This lack of action has triggered criticism that the organisation is a private club of incumbent leaders. </p>
<p>Africa has more than its fair share of presidents who have stayed longer than they should have. Seven of the ten longest serving presidents in the world <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-02-28/factbox-africas-longest-ruling-leaders">are in Africa</a>. They include Cameroon’s Paul Biya, <a href="https://www.prc.cm/en/the-president/biography">in power since 1982</a>, and
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, in power <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-08-01-equatorial-guineas-president-to-mark-40-years-in-power/">since 1979</a>.</p>
<p>Their regimes are <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/term-limits-for-african-leaders-linked-to-stability/">often characterised</a> by instability, the absence of civil and political liberties as well as extensive patrimonialism and corruption.</p>
<h2>Where term limits persist</h2>
<p>Alpha Condé came to power in 2010 from the opposition ranks, following the first competitive elections in Guinean history after the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/time-african-union-put-stop-termism-190704090900437.html">death of Lansana Conté in 2008</a>. Conté had come to power in a coup 24 years earlier. </p>
<p>A transitional government was established <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/time-african-union-put-stop-termism-190704090900437.html">in 2010</a>. This was followed by the adoption of a new constitution <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Guinea_2010.pdf?lang=en">in 2010</a> and elections.</p>
<p>Condé had been an ardent opponent of Conté. Notably, he opposed a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/time-african-union-put-stop-termism-190704090900437.html">2003 constitutional amendment</a> that allowed Conté to run for a third term. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/popular-protests-pose-a-conundrum-for-the-aus-opposition-to-coups-116315">Popular protests pose a conundrum for the AU's opposition to coups</a>
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<p>After coming to power in 2010, Condé quickly consolidated his power through the hegemony of his party, <a href="http://www.rpg-arc-en-ciel.org.gn/index.php/en/">Rally of the Guinean People</a>, and won a second term in 2015. In 2019, his government <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/time-african-union-put-stop-termism-190704090900437.html">announced</a> that it would pursue the adoption of a new constitution. It deliberately aimed at bypassing a provision prohibiting amendments to the two term limit. </p>
<p>The opposition <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200806-guinea-s-ruling-party-asks-alpha-cond%C3%A9-to-run-for-third-presidential-term">criticised</a> the move as defying the spirit of the 2010 constitution against unlimited terms. Protests have been held in the capital, Conakry, and other parts of the country since October 2019. </p>
<p>They forced the postponement of the constitutional referendum, which was ultimately held on 31 March this year, and <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/guinea-ruling-party-wins-constitutional-referendum/1792029">approved</a> the new constitution. The constitution retains the two-term limit, but is silent on time already served before it came into force, enabling Condé to seek two more terms. He could potentially rule until 2032. </p>
<p>Protests <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200806-guinea-s-ruling-party-asks-alpha-cond%C3%A9-to-run-for-third-presidential-term">continue</a> despite COVID-19 restrictions, and several people have been killed by security forces.</p>
<p>Elections are due to <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/guinea-sets-presidential-october-18-election-date-01597182905">be held</a> on 18 October. Condé has yet to confirm if he’ll accept his nomination for a third term. Opposition groups are yet to present their candidates. </p>
<p>Considering Condé’s stranglehold over the electoral management body, state resources, bureaucracy and security forces, and limits on opposition groups, the elections are unlikely to be free and fair, almost assuring his victory. The opposition is likely to boycott the elections, as it did the referendum and legislative elections <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/guinea-hold-contested-polls-boycotted-opposition-200224080737553.html">in March</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s working and what more needs to be done</h2>
<p>There have been some notable examples of democratic changes in leadership in Africa due to term limit legislation. Most recent examples include in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2019), Sierra Leone (2018) and Liberia (2017). In all three countries, the elections were characterised by strong competition, and won by the opposition. </p>
<p>But many other presidents have tampered with their countries’ constitutions to <a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/term-limits-for-african-leaders-linked-to-stability/">extend their stay in power</a>. The list includes Togo (2002), Gabon (2003), and most recently Ivory Coast and Guinea.</p>
<p>The latest abuses should show that there’s still a way to go to stamp out this practice. A number of practical steps should be taken urgently.</p>
<p>Firstly, loopholes need to be plugged. One is to ensure that, when new constitutions are adopted, they are specific about the fact that terms already served in office still count. The Gambia’s <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Gambia_2019D.pdf?lang=en">draft constitution</a> sets a model for the continent. It not only establishes two term limits, but also specifically counts terms served prior to its adoption.</p>
<p>In addition, the African Union needs to revive efforts to impose a continent-wide two term limit on presidents on the continent. A proposed provision in the draft African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which aimed to do so in 2007, was <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-law/article/presidential-term-limits-and-the-african-union/1F134034E67D93524560D31A067779B7/core-reader">scrapped</a> after Uganda led opposition to its adoption. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni had already removed the two term limit from the country’s constitution <a href="http://constitutionnet.org/news/making-sense-ugandas-stalled-age-limit-bill">in 2005</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, an effort by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to establish a two-term limit was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32808685">shelved</a> in 2015 due to opposition from The Gambia, then under dictator Yahya Jammeh, and Togo, whose constitutions contained no term limits.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/repression-in-zimbabwe-exposes-south-africas-weakness-144309">Repression in Zimbabwe exposes South Africa's weakness</a>
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<p>The African Union, Ecowas and other sub-regional organisations need to reignite efforts to build a specific policy of two terms. Only such a continental ban could preclude domestic legal manoeuvres and bury the ghost of life presidents. Once approved, the African Union would be able to sanction, and even expel, countries that violate the term limits.</p>
<p>The organisations would be pushing at an open door. Only five countries with presidential systems on the continent do not have term limits. They are Eritrea, Somalia, Cameroon, South Sudan and Djibouti. Most of the countries that had removed term limits have since reinstated them. Examples include Uganda, whose parliament <a href="https://www.independent.co.ug/uganda-presidential-term-limits-reinstated-age-limit-lifted-7-years-mps/">reinstated presidential term limits</a> in 2017. But Museveni, who has been in power <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-museveni-has-twisted-ugandas-constitution-to-cling-to-power-118933">for 34 years</a>, can still run again. </p>
<p>Togo did so <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/togo-law-president-stand-terms-190509180859448.html">last year</a>, although the incumbent, President Faure Gnassingbe, who has been in power since 2005, is not precluded from contesting future elections. He could potentially be in power until 2030. </p>
<p>Without a concerted effort to establish a continental two-term policy, Africa may be bound to live with the spectre of presidents for life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adem K Abebe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>African countries need to make a concerted effort to establish a continental two-term policy.Adem K Abebe, Extraordinary Lecturer and editor of ConstitutionNet, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1324492020-03-02T14:18:34Z2020-03-02T14:18:34ZAfrican Union needs a more robust response to conflict in Cameroon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317115/original/file-20200225-24694-p154fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of Cameroonian President Paul Biya outside the French embassy in Yaounde.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images/AFP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The violent conflict that erupted in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-it-would-take-to-break-the-impasse-in-cameroons-deadly-crisis-122134">in 2016</a> continues unabated. It was triggered by the government’s repression of protests over the increasing influence of French in the English-speaking legal and educational institutions, and by the perceived marginalisation of the country’s Anglophone regions.</p>
<p>Some Anglophones are demanding increased decentralisation, while others are violently struggling for an independent state called <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/130-cameroon-worsening-anglophone-crisis-calls-strong-measures">“Ambazonia”</a>. </p>
<p>The conflict has had devastating consequences for the Anglophone regions. <a href="https://bit.ly/2uLy6Re">According to Crisis Group</a> around 3,000 people have died and half a million have been displaced. One in three people in the Anglophone regions are estimated to be in need of humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>Attempts have been made, including the involvement of other countries, to resolve the crisis. For example, Switzerland led a <a href="https://bit.ly/2Rzsd2K">mediation initiative in 2019</a>. But, for its part, the African Union, has been <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/au-silent-over-cameroon-separatist-crisis/a-40820693">largely silent on the conflict</a>.</p>
<p>It supported the Swiss-led initiative. It was also party to a joint statement <a href="https://bit.ly/3aUCMow">on a tripartite commitment to supporting</a> Cameroon’s ongoing peace and reconciliation process. And the African Union head, Moussa Faki Mahamat, visited Cameroonian President Paul Biya in <a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20180716/readout-visit-chairperson-african-union-commission-cameroon">July 2018</a> and discussed the need for a national dialogue to resolve the conflict. He visited again in <a href="https://au.int/ar/node/37799">November 2019</a>. </p>
<p>But the conflict is conspicuously absent from the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, its decision-making body on the “prevention, management and resolution of conflicts”. This, despite the council being mandated to “facilitate timely and efficient response to conflict and crisis situations in Africa”. </p>
<p>The reason for this, we believe, is that a major part of the struggle in Cameroon is separatist in character. Cameroon’s territorial integrity is therefore at stake. In 1963, the Organisation of African Unity, predecessor to the African Union, adopted the principle of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20007111?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">inviolability of borders</a> inherited from colonisation. </p>
<p>Since then there has been little support for secessionist movements in Africa. Eritrea and South Sudan were able to become independent states and many African countries support Western Sahara’s quest for self-determination. But a host of others – including Biafra, Katanga, Bioko, Zanzibar, Darfur, Casamance, Somaliland – have not seen much support. </p>
<p>Many of Cameroon’s neighbours, and a few on the Peace and Security Council, face similar challenges and are, therefore, not sympathetic to this cause. Indeed the African Union chairperson, during his visit to President Biya in 2018 <a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20180716/readout-visit-chairperson-african-union-commission-cameroon">had reconfirmed</a> the African Union’s “unwavering commitment to the unity and territorial integrity of Cameroon”.</p>
<p>But the African Union is vital to finding a sustainable solution to the conflict in Cameroon. It needs to overcome this difficulty, and step up its lacklustre conflict management response. </p>
<h2>Who should be doing what</h2>
<p>The United Nations (UN) is tasked with the responsibility of preventing and managing conflict globally. In 2017, it and African Union signed a joint <a href="https://unoau.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/signed_joint_framework.pdf">“framework for enhanced partnership in peace and security”</a>. It emphasised collaboration and predictability in dealing with conflict in Africa. </p>
<p>Regional organisations are tasked, where appropriate, to respond to conflicts in their respective regions. There are many positives about this division of labour. But, there can also be challenges when there is a lack of capacity or unwillingness to respond to conflicts. </p>
<p>The UN Security Council attempted to discuss Cameroon in May 2019, but had to be content with an informal discussion after African members <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/will-the-au-peace-and-security-council-do-better-in-2020">blocked a formal tabling of the matter</a>.</p>
<p>For its part, the African Union has established a robust peace and security architecture. Besides the Peace and Security Council, it also has the</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/is-the-african-standby-force-any-closer-to-being-deployed">African Standby Force</a>, for peace enforcement and peacekeeping;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://africacenter.org/spotlight/african-union-panel-wise-conflict-prevention/">Panel of the Wise</a>, for preventative diplomacy;</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13533312.2013.838393">Continental Early Warning System</a>, which monitors, analyses and provides warnings of impending conflict situations in Africa; and </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://au.int/en/aureforms/peacefund">Africa Peace Fund</a>, established in 1993 to be the main funder of peace and security activities.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The African Union also has a mediation unit and, more recently, established a post conflict reconstruction centre. </p>
<p>The African Union has used these various avenues to resolve conflicts in a number of countries. These have included the Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia, Gambia and Sudan. </p>
<p>Its track record in conflicts mixed. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aus-role-in-brokering-sudan-deal-offers-lessons-for-the-future-121822">It did well in managing the conflict in Sudan</a>, but not so well in Libya or South Sudan. The reasons often cited for the failures include <a href="https://journals.co.za/content/journal/10520/EJC-1371834a43?crawler=redirect&mimetype=application/pdf">the near absence of</a> regional leadership, reliance on external funding, problems of harmonisation with the regional economic communities and a <a href="https://kroc.nd.edu/assets/237284/rigos_and_peacebuilding_the_role_of_civil_society.pdf">lack of capacity</a>.</p>
<p>There is also a lack of political will on the part of the African Union’s peace and security council to get involved in a conflict deemed largely as an internal matter. </p>
<p>The fact that an African Union head has visited the country could point to some “quiet diplomacy” taking place in the background. But, that is not enough.</p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>If the African Union does not become more proactive in resolving the conflict in Cameroon, it risks seeing it escalate, and possibly fuelling instability in the region. </p>
<p>For many years Cameroon was considered a haven of peace in Central Africa, one of the more unstable regions on the continent with conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Burundi and Chad. The region does <a href="https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/the-global-state-of-democracy-2019.pdf">not have a single democratic state</a>.</p>
<p>There are a number of different issues that need to be simultaneously addressed in the management of the conflict in Cameroon. </p>
<p>Firstly, the African Union and UN need to coordinate their efforts in addressing the humanitarian needs of the refugees and displaced persons. And the African Union <a href="https://www.achpr.org/">Commission on Human and Peoples Rights</a> must investigate the many complaints of human rights abuses in Cameroon, and to take appropriate action. </p>
<p>Secondly, the continental body needs to deploy its “Panel of the Wise” to determine how best to manage the conflict. Thirdly, it must also send a special envoy to the Anglophone region to implement a conflict management strategy that will lead to a sustainable peace agreement.</p>
<p>Fourthly, it must settle the disputes over the right to self determination through the appropriate UN structures. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cameroon-must-move-beyond-dialogue-to-solve-its-anglophone-crisis-125241">Why Cameroon must move beyond dialogue to solve its Anglophone crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132449/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheryl Hendricks is the Executive Director of the Africa Institute of South Africa at the Human Science Research Council which receives funding from multiple sources.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Ngah Kiven does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The African Union’s intervention track record in conflict situations is mixed.Cheryl Hendricks, Executive director, Africa Institute of South Africa, Human Sciences Research CouncilGabriel Ngah Kiven, PhD candidate in Political Studies at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1221342019-08-25T08:42:08Z2019-08-25T08:42:08ZWhat it would take to break the impasse in Cameroon’s deadly crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289090/original/file-20190822-170935-fr0jbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government of President Paul Biya is accused of committing atrocities against opponents. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Felix Agbor Balla Nkongho is a leading Cameroonian lawyer and award-winning human rights advocate. Nkongho was detained for nine months for taking part in protests against the marginalisation of the legal and education systems in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. The Francophone government responded with deadly violence marked by gross human rights violations. Nkongho (49) visited South Africa earlier this month to create awareness about the crisis in his country. He fielded questions from Cheryl Hendricks and Gabriel Ngah.</em></p>
<p><strong>What is the nature and the causes of the conflict in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon?</strong></p>
<p>The main cause is dissatisfaction among the English-speaking people of the south west and north west regions with the state of the Union between La Republique du Cameroun (Republic of Cameroon) and British Southern Cameroons. That Union came into being <a href="https://www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/IMG/pdf/jobmarket-paper-dupraz-pse.pdf">in 1961</a> when British Southern Cameroons opted to join La Republique du Cameroun, rather than the Federal Republic of Nigeria.</p>
<p>In the course of this Union, the English-speaking people have suffered gross marginalisation in all spheres of life. They have been treated as second-class citizens by the Francophone government in Yaoundé.</p>
<p>In 2016, the disgruntlement escalated into a <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-explains-why-cameroon-is-at-war-with-itself-over-language-and-culture-85401">full-blown conflict</a>. This came after the government ignored Anglophone lawyers’ and teachers grievances about the erosion of the Anglophone education and legal systems in favour of Francophone systems and practices.</p>
<p>Over the years, there has been a deliberate effort by the Francophone administration to erase the federal structure of the state and assimilate - or annihilate - the English-speaking parts.</p>
<p>The arrest of the leaders of the civil society organisation, Anglophone Consortium <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201701200502.html">in 2017</a>, worsened the situation. People in Anglophone regions rose in protest, demanding their release, and an end to Anglophone marginalisation.</p>
<p>The response by the government of President Paul Biya was brutal, marked by massive killings and arbitrary arrests. Civilians responded by creating self-defence armed groups. These later morphed into the <a href="https://bbc.in/2P8FDCy">Ambazonia Restoration Forces</a> that are today clamouring for outright independence or separation from Cameroon.</p>
<p><strong>What are the key demands and government responses?</strong></p>
<p>The key demands of Southern Cameroonian activists are either a return to the two state federation of 1961, or to be granted outright independence. The United Nations (UN) denied their quest for autonomy in 1961. Instead, it granted them <a href="https://www.postnewsline.com/2017/10/un-secretary-general-urges-correction-of-southern-cameroons-problems.html">conditional independence</a> by joining either La Republique du Cameroun or the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This was contrary to <a href="https://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/trusteeship-council/">UN Trusteeship law</a>.</p>
<p>The birth of the Southern Cameroon National Council <a href="https://thescnc.org/">in the 1990s</a> kept the quest for an independent Southern Cameroons alive, in line with its status in 1961.</p>
<p>The government rejects calls for separation and maintains that decentralisation is the best option in a one and indivisible Cameroon.</p>
<p>The government reacted to teachers’ and lawyers’ demands by creating the common law section at the National School of Magistracy, and transferred some French-speaking teachers from English schools. It also announced the employment of 1000 bilingual teachers, implemented a timid transfer of French-speaking magistrates from English courts, and created a Bilingualism Commission to </p>
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<p>[promote the] respect of bilingualism and multiculturalism principles as well as provisions of government services <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201804110625.html">relating to language</a>.</p>
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<p>These measures have failed to address the root causes of the crisis and remain unsatisfactory.</p>
<p><strong>What is the international response?</strong></p>
<p>There have not been any significant measures to address gross human rights violations from regional or international powers. As a result, people continue to be killed and their property and homes destroyed with impunity by state security forces. Population displacements continue on a massive scale.</p>
<p>The Anglophone crisis remains one of the most neglected crises in the 21st century, with more than 2 000 people killed and hundreds of homes burnt. More than 50 000 Cameroonian refugees are expected to be registered <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/cameroonian-refugees-in-daily-struggle-for-survival-in-nigeria-26106">in Nigeria</a> by the end of the year. Schools have been shut down for <a href="https://www.cameroonintelligencereport.com/category/life/education-life/">three years now</a>.</p>
<p>Thankfully, humanitarian organisations, including UN agencies, are providing life-saving assistance to displaced people and others in need. But humanitarian assistance has not addressed the causes of the crises.</p>
<p>Recently, the European Union took the lead <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/RC-8-2019-0245_EN.html">with a resolution</a> encouraging the parties to initiate dialogue.</p>
<p>Also, the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights visited Cameroon <a href="https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-what-kah-walla-told-visiting-un-human-rights-chief/">in May 2019</a> and called for an investigation into the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24265&LangID=E">violation of human rights</a>. She too urged inclusive dialogue that takes the root causes of the conflict into account. Additionally, the United States Congress has passed a resolution expressly calling for a <a href="https://www.cardin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Cameroon%20res_final.pdf">return to a federal system of government in Cameroon</a>.</p>
<p>The US and Germany have withdrawn their military cooperation with Cameroon <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/end-of-a-secret-german-military-mission-in-cameroon/a-49610889">in protest</a> at the human rights violations.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, a <a href="https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-switzerland-to-facilitate-talks-to-end-anglophone-crisis/">mediation initiative</a> led by a Swiss humanitarian organisation between the government and the separatists appears to have failed to deescalate the crisis. On the whole, calls for an all-inclusive dialogue without preconditions have fallen on deaf ears.</p>
<p><strong>What should be done to achieve a peaceful resolution of the conflict?</strong></p>
<p>First, the government should withdraw its soldiers to their barracks and stop acts of violence. This could be followed by declaring a ceasefire and urging separatist fighters to stop attacks on military positions in Anglophone regions. The government should also release all people it has detained.</p>
<p>Second, regional and international players should pressure the Biya government to create an environment for dialogue through diplomatic channels. If this fails, economic and other sanctions should be imposed against the government.</p>
<p>Finally, the UN needs to set up a political mission in Cameroon with a mandate to resolve the Anglophone crisis.</p>
<p><strong>What role can South Africa – as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council – play?</strong></p>
<p>South Africa can contribute by championing a resolution for the Security Council to trigger direct UN intervention under its <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mandates-and-legal-basis-peacekeeping">charter</a>.</p>
<p>South Africa could also ask the International Court of Justice to determine whether the conditional granting of independence to Southern Cameroons complied with the UN Trusteeship law, and to remedy any lapses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheryl Hendricks is the Executive Director of the Africa Institute of South Africa at the Human Science Research Council which receives funding from multiple funding sources.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Ngah Kiven is a University of Johannesburg (UJ) GES Scholar. I am currently a full time student at UJ, studying for a PhD in Political Studies.</span></em></p>Cameroon’s English speaking people suffer gross marginalisation and are treated as second-class citizens by the Francophone government.Cheryl Hendricks, Executive director, Africa Institute of South Africa, Human Sciences Research CouncilGabriel Ngah Kiven, PhD candidate in Political Studies at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1086102018-12-11T12:17:06Z2018-12-11T12:17:06ZWhy losing the African Cup of Nations is a heavy blow for Cameroon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249923/original/file-20181211-76968-1danbue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroonian legend Roger Milla (C) in action against England in the 1990 World Cup.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The proud footballing nation of Cameroon is under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. This follows the announcement that they have been <a href="https://www.supersport.com/football/africa-cup-of-nations/news/181210_Afcon_2019_hosts_to_be_decided_on_January_9">stripped</a> of the hosting rights for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2019 <a href="http://www.cafonline.com/en-US/NewsCenter/News/NewsDetails?id=wSvy6GZWpzLfIv5t9y32%2fw%3d%3d">because of</a> delays with preparations as well as security concerns. </p>
<p>The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced the decision after a meeting of its executive committee, saying that “a number of compliance conditions have not been met” and that it did not want to <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-za/sport/other/chaotic-cameroon-still-reeling-from-afcon-snub/ar-BBQAVqF">expose</a> the Africa Cup of Nations to</p>
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<p>any issues that could impact on the success of the most prestigious African competition. </p>
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<p>The competition is due to start in June 2019. </p>
<p>There’s no denying that hosting a large scale sporting event comes at a cost. There are years of planning and investment to ensure that the necessary infrastructural work gets done. This kind of financial commitment is daunting for any nation, but particularly for Cameroon which is ranked 93rd out of 190 nations in terms of its <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2018/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=74&pr.y=11&sy=2017&ey=2017&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=998&s=PPPGDP&grp=1&a=1#download">wealth</a>. </p>
<p>But countries opt to host events like this because they believe that there will be positive economic and social spin offs. Cameroon is no longer in a position to benefit in this way. And the decision is also a blow to its reputation, particularly given its reputation as a great footballing nation.</p>
<h2>The importance of football</h2>
<p>Football is known as the “king” sport in Cameroon. Ever since its introduction in the 1920s it’s been the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19406940.2015.1102757">number one sport</a> in the country. When the national team plays, the streets are empty and the bars are full of people. Even the local football leagues, are a favourite topic of conversation even though most matches aren’t broadcast on television.</p>
<p>The growth and popularity of football in Cameroon is largely attributed to the success of the national men’s team <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/teams/cameroon">“The Indomitable Lions”</a> and more recently the emergence of the national women’s team “The Lionesses”. The men’s national team has played in seven FIFA World Cup competitions, more than any other African team. The women’s team <a href="https://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/archive/canada2015/teams/team=1885020/profile.html">competed</a> in their first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015 making the last 16. </p>
<p>Even today, football fans reminisce the triumphant emergence of the men’s national team in the <a href="https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=751/match=103/classic-match/index.html">1990 World Cup</a> and forward <a href="https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/roger-milla-a-player-so-remarkable-a-lie-sat-unchanged-on-wiki-for-two-months/">Roger Milla’s</a> trademark dance by the corner flag, and the men’s victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games which secured Cameroon’s first ever <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/olympicsvideo/great-olympic-moments/9365952/Cameroon-unexpectedly-win-Olympic-football-tournament-Sydney-2000.html">Olympic gold medal</a>. </p>
<h2>Politics and the people’s game</h2>
<p>But football has become more than a sport in Cameroon, with many people arguing that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/19406940.2015.1102757?needAccess=true">football is politics</a>. For instance, political interest began in the early part of 1990 after protests and calls for political reform. Luckily for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43469758">President Paul Biya</a>, who has been ruling the West African country for <a href="https://theconversation.com/cameroon-presidential-poll-underscores-the-need-for-term-limits-104583">36 years</a>, the national team’s performances at the 1990 World Cup in Italy diverted attention from political issues.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1754-9469.2011.01105.x">Research studies</a> have shown that football plays a very prominent role with building a sense of nationalism and unity for Cameroonians. It’s therefore no surprise that the government has used football as bait to gain some form of stability when its power has been at stake. For example, Biya <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19406940.2015.1102757">declared</a> a national holiday as a result of the successful performance of the national team in the 1990s. </p>
<p>More recently he has taken to several news outlets and forums <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45730911">personally to defend</a> his country and argue that Cameroon is fit to host the African Cup on Nations in 2019.</p>
<h2>Likely economic and social fallout</h2>
<p>So what is the likely impact on Cameroon after losing the event?</p>
<p>Firstly, it will lose a great deal of good publicity. Hosting major sports events often helps to increase the positive profile of the host nation. In Cameroon’s case, its currently in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons. </p>
<p>CAF’s decision is also likely to tarnish the Cameroon’s international reputation. And it’s likely to affect the country’s economy. The short term economic boost which is typically associated with big events is a surge in visitors, athletes and media who spend and inject money into the local economy has also been lost. </p>
<p>In the longer term, a significant benefit of hosting a prestigious competition is investment which inevitably leaves a legacy of improved sporting venues and the creation of local jobs. </p>
<p>This investment hadn’t yet got off the ground in Cameroon. Only four of the planned six stadiums have been built while three out of five cities still have <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/09/29/is-cameroon-ready-to-host-afcon-2019/">no accommodation</a> infrastructure. </p>
<h2>Wider instability</h2>
<p>In addition to the infrastructural delays, the CAF Security Inspection Team also noted <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/africaSoccerNews/idAFL8N1Y55VY">wider issues</a> during its most recent visit to Cameroon. The team noted that “wider issues” could affect the success of the competition. This was a reference to the political instability in the country which has extended to some fearing that Cameroon is on the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/world/africa/cameroon-election-biya-ambazonia.html">brink of civil war</a>. </p>
<p>Cameroon’s ruthless military crackdown on a separatist movement in Anglophone regions has led to claims of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/may/30/cameroon-killings-escalate-anglophone-crisis">genocide</a>. Cameroon also continues to contend with the enduring <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/263-extreme-nord-du-cameroun-nouveau-chapitre-dans-la-lutte-contre-boko-haram">terrorist threat</a> of Boko Haram attacks as the terrorist sect remains operative in the country’s far north.</p>
<p>CAF’s decision means that an urgent call is now out for new host country bids to ensure that AFCON 2019 takes place as planned. The plan is to announce the new host in early 2019.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Clarke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cameroon being stripped off hosting the Africa Cup of Nations affects its international reputation and is likely to impact the economy.Jo Clarke, Lecturer in Sport Business Management, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1085142018-12-11T12:17:05Z2018-12-11T12:17:05ZConflict in Cameroon is extracting a heavy toll on ordinary people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249637/original/file-20181210-76986-1u81riy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroon's President Paul Biya being sworn in for a seventh consecutive term on the 6th November 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Etienne MainimoO</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has let Cameroon’s President Paul Biya <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201812070518.html">know</a> that his nation will no longer host the 2019 African Nations Cup competition. The decision is a humiliation. Once a powerhouse of Africa’s football, Cameroon’s reputation had dropped significantly. </p>
<p>CAF’s decision serves as a reminder that the country is sinking, and something must be done. </p>
<p>Until a few years ago Cameroon was a nation on the move. Despite its many political, economic and social problems, the country was peaceful, attracted people from all over for tourism, business, and education.</p>
<p>For example the University of Dayton had, over two decades, run immersion programmes in the country, and so did many other <a href="https://www.amazon.com/African-Immersion-American-Students-Cameroon/dp/1498502377/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544384992&sr=1-1&keywords=african+immersion">American universities</a>. Cameroon was also an international centre where major conferences, symposia, and cultural activities <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yaounde.business/photos/a.1123314361034640/1218116334887775/?type=1&theater">took place</a>. </p>
<p>The nation was a major banking centre, as well as host to Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote’s many activities, and more recently the proposed site of <a href="https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/cameroon-agrees-158-mn-car-manufacturing-deal-with-india-and-china/47651785">car assembly plants</a> to be constructed by Indian and Chinese businesses. And the list goes on.</p>
<p>But the Anglophone conflict has taken its toll. A peaceful protest which began three years ago against the marginalisation of Anglophone Cameroon quickly turned violent as some <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-explains-why-cameroon-is-at-war-with-itself-over-language-and-culture-85401">called for the region’s complete secession</a> from Cameroon to form the Ambazonia Republic. As a result Cameroon’s military force and the Ambazonia Defence force have been locked in a deadly embrace with no end in sight. </p>
<p>Already in the 7th term of office as president, Biya’s obsession with <a href="https://theconversation.com/biya-needs-to-devise-a-monumental-shift-if-cameroon-is-to-turn-the-corner-106254">a military solution</a> to the crisis has exacerbated tensions, as well as the misery of ordinary people. </p>
<p>Beneath CAF’s rationale that Cameroon was ill-ready, ill-equipped and ill-prepared to host the games was a sense that the country is deeply insecure. The cities of Limbe and Buea in the heartland of Anglophone Cameroon were going to host the games. But <a href="https://cameroondailyjournal.com/anglophone-crisis-in-cameroonkumba-buea-bambili-the-macabre-results-of-clashes-on-monday">routine</a> kidnappings, attacks, road closings, and killings in the region would have undermined the essence of the games.</p>
<p>CAF’s announcement coincided with the failure of a last-ditch effort by His Eminence Cardinal Christian Tumi to broker peace and convene an All Anglophone Conference. But the <a href="https://cameroondailyjournal.com/ambazonia-war-cameroon-misses-a-golden-opportunity-to-pull-out-of-the-anglophone-crisis/">culture of threats</a>, and Cameroon government’s failure to grant a permit for the conference to take place meant that it was doomed.</p>
<p>Ordinary people have called on Cardinal Tumi not to give up. The conference, they note, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxgOVFwEL6Q">must go on</a>. Many Cameroonians are desperate for a <a href="https://www.afrinik.com/women-call-for-dialogue-and-demand-peace-in-cameroon">peaceful solution to the conflict</a>.</p>
<p>As the brickbats fell, conditions for communities in the Anglophone region continue to deteriorate. And while debates continue to rage about the rights and wrongs of widely publicised suggested solutions such as federalism, decentralisation, and secession, ordinary people continue to chafe in their daily lives. </p>
<h2>What’s being lost</h2>
<p>As the warring factions stand eyeball to eyeball waiting to see who will blink first, few are asking how the outcome of the struggle will change the lives of ordinary people in the region.</p>
<p>Yet the impact has been enormous. There are immense economic and social consequences which have transformed communities and their way of life. </p>
<p>Cameroonians who would go home for Christmas holidays and other festivities no longer do so. Their spending stimulated the economy. In email correspondences and responses to questionnaires with people in Kumba and Buea, local people are noting that Cameroonians living in other countries are no longer coming home for their holidays. As a result businesses, such as hotels, are barely holding on. </p>
<p>There has been more profound economic consequences. The region’s main agrobusiness facility, the Cameroon Development Corporation, the heart of the region’s economy, <a href="http://www.cameroonconcordnews.com/southern-cameroons-crisis-cdc-shuts-down-key-estates">is in ruins</a>. Plantations which produce palm oil are no longer operational. Workers at banana plantations are <a href="https://observers.france24.com/en/20180829-banana-plantation-anglophone-cameroon-attack">brutalised</a> and rubber processors have been repeatedly <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/armed-groups-attack-cameroon-plantation-workers/4643961.html">attacked</a>. Families that depended on cocoa for livelihood now face a <a href="http://www.cameroonintelligencereport.com/southern-cameroons-crisis-hits-palm-oil-cocoa-production/">life of destitution</a>.</p>
<p>Another disturbing aspect of the conflict is the gradual erosion of key parts of people’s culture. Funeral celebrations are a significant aspect of Cameroonian culture. But in conversations with people, it appears these festivities are disappearing. Irrespective of where people reside, Cameroonians typically prefer their burial sites to be in their village of origin. But not anymore. Increasingly, people are buried anywhere possible. </p>
<p>Visits to burial sites of friends and family members have turned into a deadly experience. For example, going to Lewoh in Lebialem, <a href="http://www.cameroonintelligencereport.com/battle-for-lebialem-huge-explosion-rocks-lewoh-near-a-catholic-school/">is unthinkable</a> because of the violence.</p>
<p>And there is more. In communities in Anglophone Cameroon, basic services such as trash collection <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxgOVFwEL6Q">no longer exist</a>. Trash is piling up in the cities. And corpses can be seen on roadways. Businesses that traditionally operated in the evenings have been bankrupted. </p>
<p>The list of hardship goes on. School buildings remain empty. And both refugees and internally displaced people are nowhere close to returning to their homes. </p>
<h2>Time to re-assess</h2>
<p>The recurring accusation is <em>La Republique</em> has <a href="https://www.bareta.news/cameroun-army-chief-admits-atrocities-civilians/">caused these problems</a>. But it’s not all the fault of <em>La Republique</em>. Given that some of the attacks are undertaken by Anglophones, they have become accomplices to the violence. No wonder ordinary people are increasingly asking more direct questions about the benefits of the revolt they were promised.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julius A. Amin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ordinary people are being deeply affected by the continued violence tearing apart Cameroon.Julius A. Amin, Professor, Department of History, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1062542018-11-07T11:24:57Z2018-11-07T11:24:57ZBiya needs to devise a monumental shift if Cameroon is to turn the corner<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244059/original/file-20181106-74754-1wbh0z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroon President Paul Biya during the presidential elections in October. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Nic Bothma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cameroon’s Constitutional Council has declared Paul Biya the <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/10/22/paul-biya-wins-cameroon-presidential-election-with-7128-percent-official/">winner</a> of the October 7 presidential election. Even though observers from organisations such as the African Union pointed to severe <a href="https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/10/286815.htm">irregularities</a>, the <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/10/22/paul-biya-wins-cameroon-presidential-election-with-7128-percent-official">results were affirmed</a> – 71% of the votes for Biya and 14% for his main competitor Maurice Kamto.</p>
<p>What’s most alarming has been an intense militarisation of parts of the country since the results were proclaimed. In Douala, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/22/paul-biya-cameroon-85-year-old-president-wins-re-election-landslide">protest activities were blocked</a>. Opposition leaders and followers were <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/cameroon-police-arrest-50-opposition-demonstrators-180221244.html">harassed</a>. And the terror in Anglophone cities which predated the elections multiplied. The latest of these is the <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2018/11/07/cameroon-govt-separatists-blame-each-other-for-kidnapping">kidnapping</a> of 79 pupils, the headmaster, a teacher and driver from a Presbyterian boarding school in Bamenda in the Northwest Region.</p>
<p>Consistent with past practice, Biya has resorted to strongman tactics rather than working with different ethnic and regional groups to find solutions to urgent problems. </p>
<p>Decades ago, when Biya took office there was much hope and promise, but within a few years things began to fall apart. In his book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Communal-liberalism-Paul-Biya/dp/0333453379/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541094054&sr=1-1&keywords=biya%2C+communal+liberalism">Communal Liberalism</a>, written in the tradition of the enlightenment, Biya emphasised the importance of democratic principles and social justice. His actions, however, have been the reverse. </p>
<p>The time has come for him to turn the tide. He can do this by taking specific action. First, he needs to go on television, tell the people that he has heard their voices, cries, and frustrations. He needs to declare his commitment to work towards addressing the problems. </p>
<p>Then he needs to get to work. Biya must figure out how to gain the people’s confidence. One way to do this would be to open the door for fresh ideas to flow in by creating a “brains trust” made up of intellectuals, policymakers and ordinary citizens. Its job would be to deliver – within one month – a document identifying solutions to the nation’s most urgent problems and suggesting ways of implementing them. The brain trust must have gender, ethnic and regional balance. </p>
<p>The problems of the country are monumental, and the response must be equally monumental. </p>
<h2>Early years</h2>
<p>When Biya took office 36 years ago in a peaceful transfer of power, Cameroonians hailed him as a breath of fresh air. Many had grown weary of his predecessor, Ahmadou Ahidjo, who had run the country with an iron fist.</p>
<p>Biya, many believed, heralded a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Post-Colonial-Cameroon-Politics-Economy-Society/dp/1498564631/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541094254&sr=1-1&keywords=postcolonial+cameroon&dpID=51e3lSPSEEL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch">new era</a>. And for a brief period, there was progress.</p>
<p>Once in power, Biya promised the Cameroonian people a New Deal, stating that it would restore prosperity and efficiency. He visited the ten regions in the country. Press freedom was restored. Education was improved as more institutions including university centres were created. The rising crime rate was curbed.</p>
<p>He visited the Anglophone region and even spoke in English, signalled to his Yaoundé ethnic group that he was president of all Cameroon and not just of the Beti ethnic group. He also sought ways to manage the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-West-African-States-Studies/dp/0521368936/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541094408&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=o.brien%2C+dunn%2C+rathbone">complicated ethnic and regional problems of the country</a>.</p>
<p>But within a few years Biya began to resort to his predecessor’s tactics. He packed his administration with people from his ethnic group, dismissed the Bamilikes (a major and significant ethnic group), as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02589009808729630">“les enemies dans la maison,”</a>, reduced Anglophones to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Negotiating-Anglophone-Identity-Representation-Afrika-Studiecentrum/dp/9004132953/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541097657&sr=1-1&keywords=negotiating+an+anglophone+identity&dpID=41Pn4umrUKL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch">second class citizens</a>, and allowed the nation’s treasury to be controlled by an oligarchy of Yaoundé origin. </p>
<p>Corruption, unemployment, and social decay became endemic. Repeatedly, he <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/cameroon-dangers-fracturing-regime">used the military to brutalise peaceful demonstrators</a>. Elections were often rigged, and political <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cameroon-Politics-Society-Critical-Perspectives/dp/0761825908/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541097734&sr=1-1&keywords=gros%2C+cameroon&dpID=110fkrkCQ7L&preST=_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch">opponents marginalised </a>. </p>
<p>But complaints and criticisms changed little, as the country experienced more setbacks and bloodshed. Nor did countries such as the US, France, China and Britain help. Although they complained about the conduct of elections they continued to pursue policies of non-intervention. As long as their interests were safeguarded, they saw no reason to alter the <em>status quo.</em> </p>
<h2>Anglophone crisis</h2>
<p>The Anglophone crisis must be addressed within the first 100 days. Biya should embark on a process of inclusive dialogue coordinated from his office. </p>
<p>The policy of restricting Anglophones to certain cabinet level positions needs to be shelved. Senior level appointments should be based on merit and a can-do spirit, and not on clientelism. The government must institute an “affirmative action” <a href="http://diversity.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/annurev.psych_.57.102904.pdf">programme</a> to bring previously underrepresented groups such as Anglophones into management positions. </p>
<p>There must be a concerted effort to recruit, admit, and retain Anglophones into the nation’s elite professional schools. This is particularly important because graduates from those schools create, shape and implement policies in the nation. </p>
<p>Those initiatives will increase Anglophone representation in professions such as engineering, teaching, magistracy and finance. It is unacceptable that of the over 150 general managers of the nation’s top parastatal companies, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Post-Colonial-Cameroon-Politics-Economy-Society/dp/1498564631/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541098181&sr=1-1&keywords=postcolonial+cameroon&dpID=51e3lSPSEEL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch">only two are Anglophones</a>.</p>
<p>And a genuine system of accountability needs to be put in place. Military offices – especially those in the Anglophone region who committed atrocities – should be brought to justice. This policy should also apply to residents in the region who engaged in similar practices. The population must be convinced that they can trust the country’s judicial system. </p>
<p>Policies must be put in place to ensure that education is a “sacred obligation” that can never again be hijacked by outside forces. There must be a swift response against those who threaten school children. </p>
<p>And Cameroonians in and out of the country must use their energy and know-how to promote peace. Constructive dialogue must replace the culture of intimidation and threats.</p>
<p>Finally, Biya should commit to visiting different regions of the country. Biya is president of all of Cameroon and not just of the City of Yaoundé, and specifically the community of Etoudi where his residence is located. It’s important for the people to regularly see their leader at work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julius A. Amin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis must be addressed by the president within the first hundred days.Julius A. Amin, Professor, Department of History, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1045832018-10-08T15:19:36Z2018-10-08T15:19:36ZCameroon presidential poll underscores the need for term limits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239730/original/file-20181008-72113-1boj9nv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroonian President Paul Biya votes in the presidential elections in the capital Yaounde. He has been in power for 36 years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE/EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The official results of Cameroon’s October 7, 2018 presidential election are due <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/cameroon-votes-as-separatists-pose-a-threat-biya-win-likely/2018/10/07/e11be120-ca01-11e8-9c0f-2ffaf6d422aa_story.html?amp;utm_term=.4cc85477087a&noredirect=on&utm_term=.28d02b799133">in two weeks</a>. But they’re not expected to yield any surprises. Paul Biya (85), who became president in 1982, is almost certain to retain power for a <a href="https://fr.euronews.com/2018/10/05/cameroun-paul-biya-brigue-un-septieme-mandat">seventh term</a>. If he wins and stays in power until 2025 – the end of his next term – he would have run the country for a whopping 43 years. His overextended rule has been marked by <a href="https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/cameroon/">corruption</a>, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/cameroons-presidential-election-will-the-votes-count/">patronage politics</a>, and a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43469758">largely absent president</a>.</p>
<p>The election has taken place amid a great deal of uncertainty and insecurity. Municipal and legislative elections were postponed by a year because of <a href="https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-postpones-legislative-municipal-elections/">too volatile a space</a>, though government cited more technical reasons. Only senatorial elections were held in <a href="https://democracychronicles.org/presidential-elections-in-cameroon/">March 2018</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cameroon-separatists/anglophone-cameroons-separatist-conflict-gets-bloodier-idUSKCN1IX4RS">biggest tensions</a> have been between the English-speaking – which represent <a href="http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/cameroon-population/">20% of the population</a> – and French-speaking parts of the country. After the presidential polls opened on Sunday, <a href="https://www.whig.com/article/20181007/AP/310079953">violent confrontations</a> broke out in English speaking regions of the North West and the South West. Almost no polling took place in these regions following calls by separatists for a lockdown (stay at home), which would mean in effect that no people would leave their houses to vote.</p>
<p>Biya is almost certain to return to power given the government’s well-oiled election machine and its use of the security sector to manage dissent. Elections over the past 10 years have been <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/10/world/africa/cameroon-elections/index.html">marred by accusations of fraud</a>. These elections will be no different.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Biya’s credibility and legitimacy are increasingly being tarnished. And there is growing support for alternative candidates.</p>
<p>The election is a reminder of the importance of defined term limits for presidents. Although Cameroon’s <a href="http://confinder.richmond.edu/admin/docs/Cameroon.pdf">1996 Constitution</a> limited presidential mandates to two seven-year terms, Biya’s party repealed the term limits in 2008 so that he could extend his stay.</p>
<h2>The main contenders</h2>
<p>This year’s election has pitted Biya against <a href="http://www.crtv.cm/2018/08/liste-des-candidats-a-lelection-presidentielle-2018/">eight opposition candidates</a>. The major contenders are Joshua Osih of the <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/02/24/cameroon-s-main-opposition-sdf-elects-49-year-old-candidate-to-face-biya/">Social Democratic Front</a>; Maurice Kamto of the <a href="https://www.mrcparty.org/">Cameroon Renaissance Movement</a>; Cabral Libii Li Ngue candidate for <a href="https://www.lebledparle.com/actu/politique/1104138-cameroun-le-parti-univers-de-nkou-mvondo-investi-cabral-libii-comme-son-candidat-a-l-election-presidentielle">Univers party</a>, and <a href="https://akeremuna2018.com/profile/">Akere Tabeng Muna</a> of the <a href="https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/2018-presidential-election-akere-muna-kicks-off-campaign-with-convention-in-yaounde/">Popular Front for Development</a>.</p>
<p>The Social Democratic Front has become a household name in Cameroon since its inception in 1990 and its candidate, Osih, is popular.</p>
<p>For his part, Kamto who heads up the Cameroon Renaissance Movement was a former minister in Biya’s regime. He <a href="http://www.crtv.cm/2018/09/maurice-kamto-presidential-candidate-for-mrc-party/">resigned from government</a> in 2011 to form his own political party. He draws his support from the western region and the urban middle class.</p>
<p>Cabral is a young university lecturer who has been outspoken in his criticism of the regime and has captured the imagination of young Cameroonians. Muna is the son of the former vice president and an international jurist. He aligned with Kamto two days before the election.</p>
<p>Kamto and Cabral attracted large crowds at their rallies. But they are unlikely to gain a majority of votes given that the state’s machinery is stacked against them.</p>
<h2>The issues</h2>
<p>Three major issues dominated the run up to the elections: political transition, the economy, and security.</p>
<p>After 36 years as president, the opposition and other observers view Biya’s exit as long overdue. But he is unlikely to step down as has been the case of other African leaders who have overstayed their terms. And the opposition forces are not yet strong enough to force a change in leadership.</p>
<p>Cameroon is central Africa’s largest economy, producing oil, gas, timber, and cocoa. Nevertheless, it faces a range of major economic challenges. These include <a href="https://theodora.com/wfbcurrent/cameroon/cameroon_economy.html">stagnant per capita income, inequitable distribution of income</a>, <a href="https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/cameroon/">corruption</a>, nepotism and a <a href="https://www.businessincameroon.com/companies/1307-7263-in-cameroon-the-informal-sector-weighs-as-much-in-gdp-as-in-south-africa-and-mauritius-but-less-than-in-nigeria">large informal economy</a>. It also has substantial debt, constituting<a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/cameroon/government-debt-to-gdp"> 35% of its GDP</a>.</p>
<p>Of all the issues affecting the election, security is the biggest. For nearly two years there have been protests in the North West and South West against what Anglophones describe as general marginalisation as well as the “Frenchification” of their courts and schools. The protests have been met with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/biya-must-stop-the-killings-in-cameroon-and-lead-the-search-for-peace-100026">brutal crackdown</a> which in turn triggered an armed pro-independence insurgency.</p>
<p>On top of this <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/anglophone-crisis-looms-cameroon-presidential-election-181004081327023.html">Cameroon has been challenged</a> by the violence of Boko-Haram in the North, the instability of the Central Africa Republic in the East and the separatist movement in the South. Clashes with the separatists have already left <a href="http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/africa/Amnesty-says-scores-killed-in-Cameroon-violence/4552902-4767086-f6kq23z/index.html">400 people dead</a> and 20 000 displaced as refugees in neighbouring Nigeria.</p>
<h2>Implications for African politics</h2>
<p>Some commentators have pointed to the problem of <a href="http://democracyinafrica.org/choiceless-democracy/">“choiceless democracies”</a> in Africa. Leading economist <a href="https://prabook.com/web/thandika.mkandawire/497006">Thandika Mkandawire</a> <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/200804171247.html">has noted that</a> “African leaders exhibit a wide array of unethical ways when it comes to capturing, retention, and exercising of political power, the long-term result being the tendency by a people denied the right to a free choice of their leaders to write electoral lists in blood.”</p>
<p>This is once again playing out in Cameroon. The country has a president who has captured the state to the detriment of many of his people. And people increasingly see violence as the only means through which they can have their voices heard and their needs taken into account.</p>
<p>Across Africa pessimism is replacing the mood of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/democracy-in-africa-the-ebbs-and-flows-over-six-decades-42011">1990s</a> when multi-party democracy was on the rise. Old tendencies of authoritarian leaders remaining in power beyond their term, corruption and the pillaging of public resources persist. These in turn is leading to a rise in conflict.</p>
<p>The African Union (AU) and regional intergovernmental institutions seem unable to hold leaders like Biya to account. This despite the AU’s proclamations of <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/silencing-the-guns-by-2020-ambitious-but-essential">“silencing the guns”</a> in Africa by 2020, and creating an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law <a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063">by 2063</a>. All Africans need to take a principled stand on presidential term limits as it is impacting on the development, peace and security of the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104583/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Ngah Kiven is a University of Johannesburg GES Scholar</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheryl Hendricks does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>President Paul Biya’s credibility and legitimacy are increasingly being tarnished, amid growing support for opposition candidates.Cheryl Hendricks, Executive director, Africa Institute of South Africa, Human Sciences Research CouncilGabriel Ngah Kiven, PhD candidate in Political Studies at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1000262018-07-18T12:58:44Z2018-07-18T12:58:44ZBiya must stop the killings in Cameroon and lead the search for peace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227827/original/file-20180716-44085-1dt7uh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroon's Paul Biya, president since 1982 is seeking another term in October. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Ian Langsdon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I spent part of last month in Cameroon travelling to various communities and listening to ordinary voices about the ongoing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jun/07/cameroon-refugees-flee-ruthless-violence-nigeria">Anglophone crisis</a>. I witnessed the devastating impact of the conflict on people and their community. In city after city, businesses have shut down, night life is almost absent and kids gallivanted the streets instead of going to school.</p>
<p>In some places, things had deteriorated to a point that residents sleep on the floor in their homes for fear of stray bullets. Homelessness, previously a rarity, is now a fixture on the urban landscape. And there is an increasing number of “internally displaced persons” – those <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/130-cameroon-worsening-anglophone-crisis-calls-strong-measures">who abandoned their homes and communities for safer places</a>. Given the absence of reliable figures, it’s impossible to tell the number of people displaced or killed. </p>
<p>Armoured vehicles escorted public transportation vehicles between the different cities in the region. Significant parts of the Southwest Region, a vital Anglophone territory, looked deserted. </p>
<p>The situation is the result of a peaceful protest started two years ago by teachers and lawyers that turned into a brutal conflict between government forces and those fighting for secession over the marginalisation of Anglophone regions. </p>
<p>After two years of brutal conflict, the crisis needs urgent attention. One useful option would be to reschedule the presidential elections recently <a href="https://www.bellanaija.com/2018/07/cameroon-paul-biya-7th-president/">announced for October 7</a>. Even if that doesn’t happen, the Anglophone region needs help now. </p>
<p>There will be debates about restoring federalism, and constitutional amendments but immediate relief cannot wait until those issues are all resolved. The killing, displacement, destruction of property and businesses, and capital flight need to stop immediately. </p>
<h2>Historical sources</h2>
<p>Annexed by Germany in 1884, Cameroon remained a German colony until 1916 when Germany was pushed out of the colony. Three years later it was split into two unequal halves and handed to Britain and France after Germany lost the war. </p>
<p>In that division, Britain received one-fifth of the former German Kamerun, which was a narrow strip of territory stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad. Britain sought to use the Cameroonian territory as a buffer to protect its <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Reunification-Southern-Cameroons-Cameroon-Immigrants/dp/9956791679/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1531691787&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=nfi+joseph+fon">larger Nigerian colony</a>. </p>
<p>The administration of British Southern Cameroons became a “colony” of Eastern Nigeria. The people were exploited, brutalised, and turned into second class citizens. The Igbos, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Age-Southern-Cameroons-2016-11-05/dp/B01MZ4D0VD/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1531691904&sr=1-5&keywords=anthony+ndi">then labelled as</a> “Black imperialists,” were the de facto colonialists of British Southern Cameroons. Their behaviour turned English speaking Cameroonians against any illusion of joining Nigeria when the 1961 plebiscite was organised.</p>
<p>On the other side, Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon’s first president, launched a pro-reunification campaign in towns in the British Southern Cameroons region. He promised Anglophones equality and respect, insisting that Anglophone Cameroon’s political, economic, and social institutions would thrive in a new federal system. In the plebiscite, the people of British Southern Cameroons voted in support of reunification with East Cameroon. The decision was approved by the UN General Assembly.</p>
<p>Soon after reunification, Ahidjo began to renege on promises he’d made and systematically ignored agreements that had been reached. He finally dealt a crushing blow to the federal system in 1972 when, in a hurriedly organised referendum, he replaced it with a united republic. </p>
<p>Over the past nearly 50 years <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Post-Colonial-Cameroon-Politics-Economy-Society/dp/1498564631/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1531749230&sr=1-3&keywords=the+anglophone+problem">voices of protest</a> have kept reminding the government to keep to its promises to Anglophone Cameroon. Each time the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236713349_Understanding_the_Protest_of_February_2008_in_Cameroon">response</a> from the men in Yaoundé was either intimidation, bribery, jail, or sometimes death.</p>
<p>Unaware of changing times, a similar approach was taken to the current crisis when teachers and lawyers went on strike two years ago. They were demanding changes to government policy which increasingly undermined the use of English and Anglophone values in schools and the judicial system. </p>
<h2>A different time</h2>
<p>Government <a href="http://www.cameroon-concord.com/headlines/cameroon-agbor-balla-condemns-killings-violence">responses</a> included arrest, jail, beatings, and intimidation. Disconnection of the internet in the Anglophone region changed little as images of police brutality and killings shown on social media became an embarrassment for the Paul Biya regime, and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/cameroon-anglophone-areas-suffer-internet-blackout-170125174215077.html">garnered sympathy</a> for the push for a return to the pre-1972 federal system. </p>
<p>The Biya team failed to read the signs of the times. What changed the dynamics of the current protest was social media and the resilience of the young people.</p>
<p>Simultaneously, another faction intensified demand for Anglophone Cameroon’s complete secession. Leaders of that group formed the Ambazonia Republic, created the Ambazonia Defence Force, and used it to hit back at government forces. A year into the crisis, Biya, reacting to the killing of six military officers in the Anglophone region, declared war on those he termed “separatists,” vowing that they would be <a href="http://thesuncameroon.cm/index.php/2017/12/05/biya-declares-war-anglophone-separatists/">“eliminated” </a>. The Ambazonia Defence Force responded that war was made on them by Biya, and raised the stakes <a href="https://www.enca.com/africa/separatists-declare-war-in-cameroon">promising to fight to the end</a>. </p>
<p>Both sides were now on a collision course, and increasingly the population felt trapped between the two. Massive casualties have been reported on both sides. Poverty, crime, and despair have reached a new level in the country, and there is <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/130-cameroon-worsening-anglophone-crisis-calls-strong-measures">no end in sight</a>.</p>
<p>Major powers such as the US, China, France and the UK have done little. Cameroonians need to stop looking to these major powers for solutions to the problems. They must realise that only they can solve their problems.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>The president needs to go on nationwide television to assure the people that he heard the grievances, call for an immediate ceasefire, and implement immediate relief and recovery programmes. He must also commit to releasing those arrested for exercising their political and freedom of speech rights.</p>
<p>The problems are daunting, and the president and his team must mobilise the country to be involved in finding solutions. There should be a public debate on the restoration of a federal system in the country. Leadership alone cannot solve the problems. Each one should be asked to do their part.</p>
<p>As I was repeatedly told, “Enough is enough.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julius A. Amin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cameroon is facing daunting challenges and the president and his team must mobilise the country to find solutions.Julius A. Amin, Professor, Department of History, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/982482018-06-24T07:21:37Z2018-06-24T07:21:37ZCameroon’s Anglophone crisis threatens national unity. The time for change is now<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224195/original/file-20180621-137717-1xr78ht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameroon's President Paul Biya has been in charge for nearly 40 years. His people want change.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/LINTAO ZHANG</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cameroon’s governance and security problems have historically attracted little outside attention. But this seems likely to change, for two reasons. The first is the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/cameroon-electoral-uncertainty-amid-multiple-security-threats">growing political crisis</a> in the Central African nation’s English-speaking region. The second is a <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/cameroon-opposition-party-picks-presidential-candidate-20180224">presidential election</a> scheduled for October 2018.</p>
<p>Roughly <a href="https://qz.com/1097892/cameroons-anglophone-crisis-is-danger-of-becoming-a-full-blown-conflict/">20% of the country’s population</a> of 24.6 million people are Anglophone. The majority are Francophone. The unfair domination of French-speaking politicians in government has long been the source of conflict.</p>
<p>Activists in the country’s Anglophone western regions are protesting their forced assimilation into the dominant Francophone society. They argue that this process violates their minority rights, which are <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-explains-why-cameroon-is-at-war-with-itself-over-language-and-culture-85401">protected under agreements that date back to the 1960s</a>. Anglophone political representation and involvement at many levels of society has dwindled since the Federal Republic of Cameroon became the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972. There are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/06/12/world/africa/ap-af-cameroon-deadly-violence.html">growing calls</a> for the Anglophone region to secede from Cameroon. </p>
<p>This festering conflict represents <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/cameroon-electoral-uncertainty-amid-multiple-security-threats">a major test</a> as Cameroonians prepare for the October elections.</p>
<p>Three things are urgently needed now in Cameroon. The first is to understand the origins of the crisis. The second is to support an inclusive national dialogue. And the third is to ensure that the 2018 elections are free and fair for all.</p>
<h2>Growing crisis</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgBBzrjMUI">Before 1961</a>, the Southern Cameroons were a British administered territory from Nigeria. They elected to join the Republic of Cameroon by UN plebiscite in 1961 around the time of decolonisation. </p>
<p>A power-sharing agreement was reached: the executive branch of government was meant to be shared by Francophones and Anglophones. But that agreement has not been upheld and, over the years, Anglophone political representation has been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgBBzrjMUI">steadily eroded</a>.</p>
<p>The crisis came to a head in late 2016 when lawyers, joined by teachers and others with similar grievances, led protests in major western cities demanding that the integrity of their professional institutions be protected and their minority rights respected. </p>
<p>President Paul Biya responded by deploying troops to the region and blocking internet access. When peaceful demonstrations were met with violent repression it exacerbated tensions and escalated the conflict to a national political crisis. </p>
<p>On 12 June 12 2018, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/06/12/world/africa/ap-af-cameroon-deadly-violence.html">Amnesty International issued a report</a> documenting human rights violations in Cameroon. <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/cameroon-electoral-uncertainty-amid-multiple-security-threats">The International Crisis Group says</a> that at least 120 civilians and 43 members of security forces <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/un-says-160-000-anglophone-cameroonians-fled-violence-145916871.html">have been killed</a> in the most recent waves of violence. </p>
<p>More than 20,000 people have fled to neighbouring Nigeria, and an estimated 160,000 are displaced within Cameroon. </p>
<p>Some human rights activists <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/30/africas-next-civil-war-could-be-in-cameroon/?utm_term=.0880fcf57106">worry</a> that Cameroon could be the site of Africa’s next civil war.</p>
<p>Agbor Nkongho, an Anglophone human rights lawyer and director of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, told the <em>Washington Post</em>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are gradually, gradually getting there (civil war). I’m not seeing the willingness of the government to try to find and address the issue in a way that we will not get there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another issue is that there are diverse views even within the Anglophone and Francophone communities about what would be best for Cameroon going forward.</p>
<h2>Obstacles to national unity</h2>
<p>In October 2017 the separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe declared the independence of the <a href="https://www.ambazonia.org/">Republic of Ambazonia</a>. His interim government laid claim to a territory whose borders are the same as the UN Trust Territory of Southern Cameroons under British rule (1922-1961). </p>
<p>The interim government’s spokesman, Nso Foncha Nkem, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL7HM47aqA8">invited</a> Francophones to leave the region and called on Anglophones in Biya’s “rubber-stamp” government to return to Ambazonia and support the movement. He also pleaded for unity, asking that Anglophones speak in one voice. </p>
<p>However, that call has not overcome the challenges posed by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgBBzrjMUI">diverse viewpoints</a> within the Anglophone population itself. Some favour secession. Others want to return to the 1961 federation and the power-sharing agreement. There are those who prefer decentralisation that would devolve power to regional leaders, and some who simply want an administrative solution that would leave the Republic of Cameroon as it stands. </p>
<p>And among the Francophone population, there is some support for the radical separatists, while some see the Anglophone situation as a general crisis of governance and others deny any problem exists. </p>
<p>Mongo Beti, a Francophone novelist and activist who spent 30 years in exile, observed after <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3820363?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">returning home</a> in the 1990s that a general absence of identification with a viable, unified nation due to various divisions had frayed Cameroon’s social fabric and was a significant impediment to progress. </p>
<p>It is unclear whether Biya, who is 85 and in power since 1982, will run for re-election. His 38 years in office as a corrupt, absent leader have left <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/cameroon-electoral-uncertainty-amid-multiple-security-threats">the nation in tatters</a>. The vast majority of Cameroonians, whether Anglophone or Francophone, are hungry for change. </p>
<h2>The way forward?</h2>
<p>There is an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAgBBzrjMUI">urgent need for an inclusive national dialogue</a> to harness this desire for change. </p>
<p>The government must recognise that it faces a substantive national crisis and take extraordinary steps. A general conversation about governance in all its regions is also necessary. Given the depth and severity of people’s grievances, a holistic approach is needed that would address issues of governance, security, and civic engagement to mend the bonds that have been broken. </p>
<p>This is necessary if the current crisis it to become an opportunity to develop a new road map for the future that could empower citizens.</p>
<p><em>Phyllis Taoua is the author of African Freedom: How Africa Responded to Independence (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and was a Tucson Public Voices Fellow with the Op-Ed Project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98248/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phyllis Taoua does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some human rights activists worry that Cameroon could be the site of Africa’s next civil war.Phyllis Taoua, Professor of Francophone Studies (Africa, Caribbean), Faculty Affiliate with Africana Studies, World Literature Program and Human Rights Pracice, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/916902018-02-13T13:16:18Z2018-02-13T13:16:18ZWith a busy election schedule, Africa needs a reversal of the old order<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/206165/original/file-20180213-44660-yvjtjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila. Time to step aside.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Kenny Katombe</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The winds of change may blow in several directions across Africa this year as a host of countries prepare for elections. But a change in power isn’t always synonymous with change in governance. In Africa, very often, a new face in power doesn’t signal change of the system of governance.</p>
<p>The continent is set for a busy 2018 electoral year. In the past presidential, legislative, or local elections, or a combination, have had a destabilising if not devastating effect due to pre and post-election transparency issues and accompanying protests, violence and political instability. But when conducted well, elections have also brought hope for a better future. Ghana and Benin are good examples. </p>
<p>The year ahead won’t be any different. On the one hand the expected end of Joseph Kabila’s tenure in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) might bring momentous change to the country. On the other it’s more difficult to foresee better days for South Sudan. Others might also depart before elections. </p>
<h2>Early departures?</h2>
<p>In Pretoria President Jacob Zuma <a href="https://theconversation.com/zuma-finally-falls-on-his-sword-but-not-before-threatening-to-take-the-house-down-with-him-91910">resigned</a> on February 14. He had come under increasing pressure to do so following the December election of Cyril Ramaphosa <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f727f130-e3e7-11e7-97e2-916d4fbac0da">as president of the African National Congress</a>, and the future president of the country. </p>
<p>And seven years after the Jasmine Revolution that <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/01/2011126121815985483.html">ousted the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali</a>, Tunisians are back on the streets. The wave that took away Ben Ali now threatens to sweep the government of Beji Caid Essebsi.</p>
<h2>Presidential seats at stake</h2>
<p>The DRC has added more instability to its already complex situation. The country has been embroiled in a political and institutional crisis since Joseph Kabila extended his term in office, after failing to amend the constitution <a href="https://www.enca.com/africa/dr-congo-president-can-remain-in-office-without-a-vote-court">to remove the disposition preventing him from running for a third term</a>. He has twice postponed presidential elections, despite signing the December 2016 agreement whose main clause was <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/deal-finalised-peaceful-political-transition-drc-161231182050153.html">to have presidential and legislative elections held by December 2017</a>.</p>
<p>Kabila’s failure to hold elections by the December 2017 deadline has led to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/31/congo-security-forces-shoot-two-dead-during-protest-against-president">mounting national protests</a>, which <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/drc-protesters-killed-anti-kabila-protests-180121105558348.html">the regime has crushed</a>. Increasing national and international pressure might see Kabila out in 2018 unless he amends the constitution.</p>
<p>In Cameroon, Paul Biya, 85, in power since 1982, should be up for <a href="https://www.eisa.org.za/calendar2018.php">reelection in October</a>. Although there is no indication that he will relinquish power, he has <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20171003-eye-africa-cameroon-anglophone-unrest-kenya-election-protest-oromo-festival-ethiopia">faced dissensions and separatist claims from so-called anglophone Cameroon</a> and is believed to have ill-health. The current lack of succession plans if Biya does not run, <a href="https://www.proshareng.com/news/Reviews%20&%20Outlooks/Cameroon---Risks-Will-Rise-On-Upcoming-Election/36227">leaves room for speculation and uncertainty</a>. </p>
<p>In Madagascar, concern reigns in the run-up to the presidential <a href="https://www.eisa.org.za/calendar2018.php">election at the end of this year</a>, which should see incumbent Hery Rajaonarimampianina face up his two predecessors Marc Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina. The island, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13861843">with a tumultuous history, has been prey to institutional instability since 2001</a>. There are fears this will happen again.</p>
<p>Three countries, South Sudan, Libya and Mali, plagued by instability for some years, <a href="https://www.eisa.org.za/calendar2018.php">are expected to hold presidential elections this year</a>. Strong uncertainties prevail in South Sudan and Libya where negotiations for peaceful settlements have yielded little tangible results. In Mali the government doesn’t control large parts of its territory and <a href="https://minusma.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/170928_sg_report_on_mali_september_eng.pdf">is not immune to terrorist attacks</a>.</p>
<p>No surprise will come from Cairo where, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/24/egypt-heading-towards-elections-president-sisis-name-ballot/">will certainly be reelected president of a country</a> he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/23/former-egyptian-general-arrested-by-military-after-announcing-presidential-bid-sami-anan">now controls unchallenged</a>.</p>
<h2>Longevity and power sharing dilemmas</h2>
<p>In West Africa, Togolese Faure Gnassingbé appears as a poor student in the field of democracy. He came to power in 2005 in a quasi-dynastic political ‘transition’, replacing his father, General Gnassingbe Eyadema, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/togo-protests-crisis-171019163543710.html">who had been in power for 38 years</a>. Reelected in 2015, he has, since August 2017, faced massive and sustained popular <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/togo-protests-crisis-171019163543710.html">protests</a> demanding institutional reforms and the end of his family’s 50-year rule.</p>
<p>The Economic Community of West African States is trying, through negotiations, <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/nigerias-president-warns-togo-about-political-instability-20180208">to restore calm</a>. An uneasy situation is emerging given that Faure is the current chairman of <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2017/06/04/togolese-president-faure-gnassingbe-is-new-ecowas-chairperson/">the organization until June 2018</a>. But if he completely loses the support of his peers, he might be on his way out. Legislative elections are scheduled to take place by July.</p>
<p>Like Togo, Gabon experienced a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jun/08/gabon-omar-bongo-death-reports">similar ‘transition’</a> from father Omar Bongo, who died in power in 2009 after 42 years of rule, to his son Ali Bongo, who replaced him that year. Once a haven of peace in an unstable Central African region, Gabon has tumbled into a serious crisis since the highly contested presidential election in 2016 which was <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/gabon-mulls-amnesty-for-post-election-violence-20170914">marred by widespread fraud and deadly repression</a>. Jean Ping, leader of the opposition and former chairperson of the African Union Commission, continues to claim victory.</p>
<p>The hardening of the Libreville regime has recently resulted in a constitutional amendment that the opposition characterises as a <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/gabon-president-defends-constitutional-change-after-parliament-gives-okay-20180111">‘monarchisation’ of power</a>. Legislative elections planned this year will certainly be a turning point for the country.</p>
<p>In Guinea Bissau, the power of José Mario Vaz is in troubled waters, with the appointment of a seventh prime minister <a href="https://www.enca.com/africa/guinea-bissau-president-names-new-prime-minister-0">since 2014</a>. The opposition has decried the president for overstepping his constitutional prerogatives by monopolising power, in violation of the Conakry agreement signed in 2016, <a href="http://www.ecowas.int/ecowas-mission-to-guinea-bissau-to-assess-the-implementation-of-conakry-and-bissau-agreements/">under the aegis of the regional west African body</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/ecowas-threatens-guinea-bissau-sanctions-as-crisis-drags-20171217">Vaz runs the risk of sanctions</a>, in which case he would definitively lose the support of the organisation and the protection of <a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/int/ecomib.htm">the regional troop deployment</a>. This would precipitate his departure and could plunge the country into chaos, in a state that has <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/2012414125957785808.html">mostly known military coups and instability</a>. Legislative elections are expected to take place this year.</p>
<p>In Chad, the crisis that has affected resource-dependent countries has <a href="http://www.africanews.com/2018/02/08/chad-suspends-10-parties-for-disturbing-public-order/">plagued the economy</a>. This is coupled with Idris Deby’s stronghold on power and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr20/7045/2017/en/">his repressive methods</a>. Despite facing civil unrest, he is unlikely to be shaken even though the country <a href="https://globalriskinsights.com/2018/01/civil-unrest-chad-idriss-deby/">is expected to hold legislative elections this year</a>.</p>
<h2>Ghana setting the pace</h2>
<p>Over the past 20 years, since the John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor presidency, Ghana has epitomised democracy south of the Sahara (aside from South Africa). Its institutional stability and peaceful transitions of power are commendable.</p>
<p>What the continent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/world/africa/12prexy.html">needs most are strong institutions</a>, which will only come about with a regeneration of its leadership as well as its political class. This renewal must be rooted in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTNk4q6zRw8">paradigm shift</a> as embodied with determination, class and panache by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PNJjpw-Qb4">Ghanaian president Nana Akufo Addo</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91690/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohamed M Diatta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Africa needs strong institutions. But they can only be built if there’s a change in leadership.Mohamed M Diatta, Ph.D. Candidate & Lecturer in Political Science-International Relations, Sciences Po Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.