ICG Executive
Summary of Crisis and Proposed Solutions
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| Jean Marie Guehenno: ICG President and CEO |
The
Anglophones of Cameroon, 20 per cent of the population, feel marginalised.
Their frustrations surfaced dramatically at the end of 2016 when a series of
sectoral grievances morphed into political demands, leading to strikes and
riots.
The movement grew to the point where the government’s repressive
approach was no longer sufficient to calm the situation, forcing it to
negotiate with Anglophone trade unions and make some concessions. Popular
mobilisation is now weakening, but the majority of Anglophones are far from
happy.
One School Year Lost
Having lived through three months with no internet, six months of
general strikes and one school year lost, many are now demanding federalism or
secession. Ahead of presidential elections next year, the resurgence of the
Anglophone problem could bring instability. The government, with the support of
the international community, should quickly take measures to calm the
situation, with the aim of rebuilding trust and getting back to dialogue.
Generally
little understood by Francophones, the Anglophone problem dates back to the
independence period. A poorly conducted re-unification, based on centralisation
and assimilation, has led the Anglophone minority to feel politically and
economically marginalised, and that their cultural difference are ignored.
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| Forces confront Lawyers |
Never before has
tension around the Anglophone issue been so acute.
The
current crisis is a particularly worrying resurgence of an old problem. Never
before has tension around the Anglophone issue been so acute. The mobilisation
of lawyers, teachers and students starting in October 2016, ignored then put
down by the government, has revived identity-based movements which date back to
the 1970s. These movements are demanding a return to the federal model that
existed from 1961 to 1972. Trust between Anglophone activists and the
government has been undermined by the arrest of the movement’s leading figures
and the cutting of the internet, both in January. Since then, the two
Anglophone regions have lived through general strikes, school boycotts and
sporadic violence.
Risk of a resurgence of the problem in the form of armed violence is high
Small
secessionist groups have emerged since January. They are taking advantage of
the situation to radicalise the population with support from part of the
Anglophone diaspora. While the risk of partition of the country is low, the
risk of a resurgence of the problem in the form of armed violence is high, as
some groups are now advocating that approach.
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| Killed Demonstrator in Bamenda |
The
government has taken several measures since March – creating a National
Commission for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism; creating new benches for
Common Law at the Supreme Court and new departments at the National School of
Administration and Magistracy; recruiting Anglophone magistrates and 1,000
bilingual teachers; and turning the internet back on after a 92-day cut. But
the leaders of the Anglophone movement have seen these measures as too little
too late.
International
reaction has been muted, but has nevertheless pushed the government to adopt
the measures described above. The regime in Yaoundé seems more sensitive to
international than to national pressure. Without firm, persistent and
coordinated pressure from its international partners, it is unlikely that the
government will seek lasting solutions.
The
Anglophone crisis is in part a classic problem of a minority, which has swung
between a desire for integration and a desire for autonomy, and in part a more
structural governance problem. It shows the limits of centralised national
power and the ineffectiveness of the decentralisation program started in 1996.
The weak legitimacy of most of the Anglophone elites in their region,
under-development, tensions between generations, and patrimonialism are ills common
to the whole country. But the combination of bad governance and an identity
issue could be particularly tough to resolve.
Dealing
with the Anglophone problem requires a firmer international reaction and to
rebuild trust through coherent measures that respond to the sectoral demands of
striking teachers and lawyers. There is some urgency: the crisis risks
undermining the approaching elections. In that context, several steps should be
taken without delay:
- The president of the republic should publicly recognise the problem and speak out to calm tensions.
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| All Must be freed |
- The leaders of the Anglophone movement should be provisionally released.
- Members of the security forces who have committed abuses should be sanctioned.
- The government should quickly put in place the measures announced in March 2017, and the 21 points agreed on with unions in January.
- The government and senior administration should be re-organised to better reflect the demographic, political and historical importance of the Anglophones, and to include younger and more legitimate members of the Anglophones community.
- The National Commission on Bilingualism and multiculturalism should be restructured to include an equal number of Anglophones as Francophones, to guarantee the independence of its members and to give it powers to impose sanctions.
- The
government should desist from criminalising the political debate on
Anglophone Cameroon, including on federalism, in particular by ceasing to
use the anti-terrorism law for political ends and by considering recourse
to a third party (the church or international partner) as a mediator
between the government and Anglophone organisations.
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| Sisiku AyukTabe: Southern Cameroons Chair of Executive C |
In
the longer term, Cameroon must undertake institutional reforms to remedy the
deeper problems of which the Anglophone issue is the symptom. In particular,
decentralisation laws should be rigorously applied, and improved, to reduce the
powers of officials nominated by Yaoundé, create regional councils, and better
distribute financial resources and powers. Finally, it is important to take
legal measures specific to Anglophone regions in the areas of education,
justice and culture.
Cameroon,
facing Boko Haram in the Far North and militia from the Central African
Republic in the East, needs to avoid another potentially destabilising front
opening up. If the Anglophone problem got worse it would disrupt the
presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2018. Above all, it
could spark off further demands throughout the country and lead to a wider
political crisis.
Nairobi/Brussels,
2 August 2017
For full report from ICG on Anglophone Crisis please follow the link...
https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/250-cameroons-anglophone-crisis-crossroads
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