Washington, DC — A change at the top and "institutions that decentralize the functions of government" are the keys to preventing Cameroon's crisis from worsening, says Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in Washington, DC.
"For example," says Fomunyoh, the NDI's Director for East, Central and West Africa, "why should one individual appoint all of the justices, all of the judges including county clerks, in all of Cameroon?"
Mounting dissent exploded last week when secessionist advocates belonging to Cameroon's English-speaking minority defied a government ban on protest and organized marches in Kumbo, Northwestern province to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the independence of the former Southern Cameroons from Britain in 1961.
Police opened fire on the crowds, killing three. Another 140 persons were reported arrested.
The protestors were supporters of the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) which has long advocated autonomy for the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest Provinces.
"The grievances are real," says Fomunyoh, himself from English-speaking Cameroon. Simple demands have grown into serious issues, he says. Petitions have been ignored. By "its inaction and unwillingness to engage in a genuine debate the government has allowed the situation to continue to deteriorate and the tensions to be exacerbated."
Also adding to the tension is a Cameroonian troop build-up in the Bakassi Peninsula where Nigeria and Cameroon have long disputed who owns the oil-rich waters. Nigerian officials say the troops are not a threat but at least one military official - Chief of Air Staff Marshal Jonah Wuyep - has reportedly suggested that the build-up might not be unconnected with the pressures from the English-speaking areas of Cameroon.
English and French-speaking Cameroon were brought together in 1961 as the Federal Republic of Cameroon. In 1972 the country's name was changed to the United Republic of Cameroon. And in 1984 it was changed again by the current President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, to The Republic of Cameroon.
But English-speakers charge that the promise of unity has been betrayed by Biya and that their section of the country has suffered from years of almost total neglect. "The road infrastructure, the academic institutions... there has been an effort to erase every practice that was of the anglophone tradition," says Fomunyoh. "Take the military: Cameroon has 25 generals. Only two of them are anglophone. Public administration, the same thing. In key departments of government, an anglophone has never been Foreign Minister, Minister of Defense, Finance Minister. People see that and feel that they are being marginalized and that they will never be able to feel like they belong."
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Yet this is bigger than an anglophone/francophone issue, in Fomunyoh's view: "It has to do with the way Cameroon is being governed... a lot of people are for decentralization. "Northerners, Southerners, English speakers, French speakers. It's the government that doesn't want to do that.[President] Biya has been there forever and is looking to stay in power as long as possible."
Meanwhile, Cameroonians of all backgrounds are mourning the death of Mongo Beti, announced Tuesday. One of Africa's best known authors, the 69-year-old Beti died of an undisclosed illness at the General Hospital in the Cameroonian port city of Douala.
One of Beti's best-known novels, published in 1956, "The Poor of Bomba" was a scathing, satrical portrait of a French missionary's effort to convert a small African village. He spent years in exile, refusing to live under Cameroon's first President, Ahmadou Ahidjo, who he considered a flunky of the French. Beti was also a fierce critic of President Biya. "I am an intellectual of the weak and oppressed," he once commented. "I am of the opposition and will continue to fight, even if my friends come to power."
