The Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon is one of the most serious conflicts in Africa.
As well as thousands of lives lost, it has forced
hundreds of thousands from their homes and has directly affected the lives of millions more.
So, how did the conflict emerge? What is it about? And is there any hope for a settlement?
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Hello and welcome. If you're new to the channel, my name is James Ker-Lindsay and here I take an
informed look at international relations, conflict and the origins of countries.
One of the recurring themes of this channel is how borders drawn during colonial times, and decisions
taken at the point of decolonization, have had lasting effects in many parts of the world.
Nowhere is this more the case than in Africa.
Some notable examples I've already covered include Somaliland, Western Togoland, Eritrea and Biafra.
However, one of the most significant current examples of a conflict that
emanates from the legacy of colonialism
is the Anglophone Crisis - or the Anglophone Problem as it's sometimes called - in Cameroon.
Since 2017, fighting between English-speaking pro-independence armed groups in the west of
the country and the French-speaking central government has become steadily more violent.
So, what is the anglophone crisis in Cameroon?
Cameroon lies in West Africa.
At 475,000 square kilometers, or 180,000 square
miles, it is the 53rd largest of the 193 members of the United Nations.
According to latest estimates, its population currently stands at around 26 million.
This is made up of a number of different ethnic groups,
with an estimated 24 languages spoken in the country.
However, the two official languages are French and English.
And this is where the main divide has emerged.
While the vast majority speak French as their main language,
it's estimated that around 20 percent of the population are primarily English speakers.
The story really starts in the 19th century and the scramble for Africa.
Alongside French, British and Belgian colonial expansion,
Germany also sought to carve out its own imperial holdings.
The most significant of these was the territory of Kamerun, an area that comprised what is now
Cameroon as well as parts of the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon and Nigeria.
In 1884, German control over the area was confirmed at the Berlin Conference,
which formally demarcated the boundaries of European colonial influence in Africa.
However, Germany's control over Kamerun came to an end 30 years later during the First
World War when Britain and France seized and divided the territory.
While France took control of around 80 percent of the territory,
Britain took control of the remaining 20 percent, which bordered the Colony
and Protectorate of Nigeria, the largest British colonial holding in West Africa.
In 1922, Britain's control over the British Cameroons was confirmed by the League of Nations.
Administered from neighboring Nigeria, the British Cameroons
were in turn divided into two separate parts: the Northern and Southern Cameroons.
As the process of decolonization got underway at the end of the Second World War,
the British and French Cameroons formally became UN Trust Territories and on the 1
January 1960 the French Cameroons became independent as the Republic of Cameroon.
This now left the question of what to do with the British Cameroons.
Following several UN missions to the territory, the two parts were separately offered
two options: join neighbouring Nigeria, which was preparing for independence,
or unite with the Republic of Cameroon.
Independence was not on the table.
The referendums were held on 11 February 1960.
The Northern Cameroons, which were predominantly Muslim,
opted by 60 per cent to join neighbouring Nigeria.
Despite objections from the Republic of Cameroon,
which unsuccessfully referred the matter to the International Court of Justice,
this took place on 31 May 1961, four months before Nigeria became independent.
Meanwhile, in the south, 70 per cent of voters opted to join the Republic of Cameroon.
On 21 April 1961, the UN formally endorsed the result and called for talks between the sides.
Following a process that's now contested by Anglophone Cameroonians who argued results were
never formally confirmed, it was determined the two parts would unite as a federation.
On 1 October 1961,
the Southern Cameroons officially joined what now became the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
As so often happens in similar cases, the relationship soon soured.
While some Anglophones held senior office - such as John Foncha, the pro-unification premier of the
Southern Cameroons, who became the country's prime minister and vice president - most soon
felt overpowered by the French-speaking majority, which had constructed a highly
centralised federation under Ahmadou Ahidjo, the autocratic first president of the country.
Just a decade later, on 20 may 1972,
a referendum was held to abolish the federation and grant more powers to the president.
At the same time, the country was also renamed the United Republic of Cameroon.
In the years that followed, the Anglophone region - now divided into two parts,
the North West and South West provinces - continue to see its powers decline.
In 1982, Ahidjo was replaced by Paul Biya, the country's second and current president.
As well as steadily eroding the region's autonomy,
he changed the country's name back to the original Republic of Cameroon.
It was against this backdrop that various groups from the English-speaking regions
of Cameroon came together in 1993 for the first All Anglophone Conference.
There they issued a declaration calling for the restoration of the 1961 federal constitution.
At the same time, Anglophones began to campaign internationally for their cause.
Former prime minister Foncha, who had led the Southern Cameroons
into the union, now made the case for a return of the region's autonomy.
But with no results.
The following year, the Conference repeated its demands, but this time insisted that if
they weren't met they would proceed with a declaration of independence.
But rather than address the concerns, the government changed the constitution again,
essentially erasing the last vestiges of decentralisation,
and launched a crackdown on what it regarded as separatism.
This led to significant numbers of arrests and sporadic violence.
However, by around 2000, it seemed that political unrest had largely been quelled;
although pro-independence political activity continued for much of the decade.
The current phase of the crisis began in late 2016.
As protests erupted over the increasing number of French speakers being posted
to the region's schools and courts, the government again launched a crackdown.
This rapidly descended into violence as armed groups fought back.
On 1 October 2017, the anniversary of the incorporation of the Southern
Cameroons into Cameroon, a number of groups announced the creation of an independent
Federal Republic of Ambazonia - a name derived from the Ambas Bay, where a short-lived British
protectorate had emerged in the 19th century around a missionary settlement of freed slaves.
While many of the pro-independence organizations favored a peaceful process, in November 2017 the
Cameroon government launched a major armed campaign against dissent in the region.
This in turn led to a growing militancy among a number of groups.
By the middle of 2019, the situation was becoming increasingly unstable.
As well as clashes between government forces and separatists,
civilians were increasingly being targeted as well.
On top of the several thousands who'd already been killed,
it was estimated that over half a million people had been displaced by the fighting,
with tens of thousands fleeing across the border into neighbouring Nigeria.
In addition, Anglophone militias also targeted schools,
which were seen as a way for the government to impose French on the local population.
Indeed, estimates suggested that 80 percent of the schools in Anglophone regions were closed.
In 2019, as fighting began to spill over into neighbouring Francophone areas, threatening the
possibility of civil war, President Biya announced the launch of a 'Major National Dialogue'.
Although the move was widely dismissed by many Anglophone groups,
which saw it as a stage managed propaganda effort, a number of measures were proposed.
These included a special status for the two anglophone regions;
the election of local governors, the reintegration of fighters;
a restoration of the country to its former name, the United Republic of Cameroon;
and the re-launch of major infrastructure projects in the English-speaking regions.
While the proposals made some moves towards increased autonomy, they fell far
short of a restoration of federalism, let alone demands for full independence,
that many Anglophones now wanted.
Indeed, even many international observers argued that the proposals were insufficient.
As the situation continued to deteriorate,
in 2020 it appeared that the government was starting to consider a political settlement.
Although later denied by the government, reports emerged that secret ceasefire talks
have been held in July with some of the most prominent jailed pro-independence figures.
These included Julius AyukTabe,
who had been proclaimed as the first president of Ambazonia, before being
arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court for terrorism and secession.
Since then, and despite growing international calls for dialogue, and pressure from internal
opposition groups for a peaceful settlement, there's been no let up in the fighting.
On 24 October 2020, armed fighters attacked a school,
killing a number of children - an attack that was strongly condemned by the UN Secretary General.
More generally, there have also been growing claims of serious and
systematic human rights abuses by both sides of the conflict.
This includes kidnapping and the use of child soldiers by pro-independence militias,
and extrajudicial killings, torture and cruel and human punishment by government forces.
Meanwhile, the death toll, as well as the number of those displaced
and more generally affected by the conflict, continues to grow.
The Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon is one of the most serious conflicts in Africa.
Since 2017, it's led to many thousands of deaths, seen hundreds of thousands displaced,
and led to severe disruption to the lives of millions of people.
And yet, behind it lies an all too familiar story of colonisation
and decolonisation that saw peoples with very different historical experience - and
subsequently imprinted with very different European cultural traditions - shoehorned
within a single state that soon starts to break down as one group asserts its
authority over another and abandons the political system created at independence.
What makes this situation particularly tragic is that there does - or at least
did - appear to be an acceptable option to resolve the resentment that led to conflict.
A federal settlement guaranteeing extensive autonomy to the Anglophone community
was the obvious solution; and a solution that many Anglophones seemed willing to accept.
However, as is so often the case in such situations, positions have now become polarised.
Fundamentally mistrusting the central government,
and now committed to the idea of independence, many within the Anglophone community
seem determined to press ahead with the hopes of realising an independent Ambazonia.
Meanwhile, the central government seems determined to hold on to the territory
for no other reason that it sees it as its own - regardless of the fact that after decades of
repression and efforts to rid the Anglophone areas of their political and cultural autonomy
many ordinary English-speaking Cameroonians have no wish to continue to be a part of the state.
I hope you found that interesting. If so here are some more videos that you might find useful.
Thanks so much for watching and see you in the next video.