Cameroonian separatists have sworn to keep fighting until they are “free”, despite a “National Dialogue” hosted last week to propose measures to reunite the country.

Under new proposals, the country would be renamed the “United Republic of Cameroon”, reunifying Anglophone and Francophone areas, after decades of postcolonial tensions.

Following the dialogue, President Paul Biya ordered the release of prominent opposition leader, Maurice Kamto, from detention. Members and supporters of Kamto’s party, the Cameroonian Renaissance Movement (CRM) were also released.

Kamto, and 200 of his CRM members and supporters were arrested in January during peaceful nationwide protests against the Francophone-majority Cameroonian government. The Anglophone regions in the Northwest and Southwest regions have alleged discrimination from the Francophone government, to the detriment of their region. In June, vice president of the CRM, Mamadou Mota, along with another 350 party members and support members were also arrested during countrywide demonstrations.

“The release of Kamto and other opponents is excellent news,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “But Kamto, his allies, and supporters should never have been arrested and prosecuted in the first place for simply organizing peaceful protests.”

Kamto was charged with crimes that could carry the death penalty, including, insurrection, inciting insurrection, hostility against the homeland, criminal association, threats to public order, and rebellion. He was released on the last day of the “National Dialogue”, and all charges were dropped.

The three-year ongoing conflict in the nation has brought the country to a standstill. 3,000 people have been killed, and 500,000 have lost their homes. In 2006, teachers, layers and students in the Anglophone region began protests again the prevalent use of French in Cameroonian schools and courts. Large scale protests symbolised the proclamation of a new independent state, “Ambazonia”, against what they termed the discrimination of Francophone-Cameroon against Anglophone-Cameroonians.

Protesters were met with lethal force.

Samira Daoud, Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns at Amnesty International West and Central Africa said: “People in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions are in the grip of a deadly cycle of violence. Security forces have indiscriminately killed, arrested and tortured people during military operations which have also displaced thousands of civilians.”

In 2018, Amnesty International published a report that declared: “Armed separatists in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions have stabbed to death and shot military personnel, burned down schools and attacked teachers [who did not enforce the teaching boycott], while security forces have tortured people, fired on crowds and destroyed villages, in a spiral of violence that keeps getting more deadly.”

Unlawful detention of people thought to be pro-Ambazonian were carried out under charges related to “terrorism” and “national security”

One man, tortured by security forces, recounted that: “They tied our hands behind our backs, gagged us and tied our faces with our towels and shorts, which they tore. They, then made us lie in the water, face down for about 45 minutes,” stating that “during three days, they beat us with shovels, hammers, planks, and cables, kicked us with their boots and poured hot water on us… when I tried to move and shouted, one of them used the cigarette he was smoking to burn me.”

Despite Kamto’s release, thousands of detainees have not been released following the National Dialogue. The new proposals have also not reached an acceptable resolution for Anglophone-separatists.

“Ambazonians” want to return to a post-independence federal system that gave Anglophone regions more self-governing autonomy. Under new proposals, the Republic of Cameroon will become “the United Republic of Cameroon”, under leadership of a President and local governors.

Jean Emmanuel Pondi, a professor of political science who championed the new proposals, said: “for Anglophones, it is a return to normalcy.

“It used to be an administration of proximity where things are done by the people, for the people, and in the right moment.

“The problem with the centralisation of power is precisely that things are done miles and miles away, by people who have no idea of the consequences of the decisions they are taking.”

Opinions to these proposals, however, were divided. Akere Muna, a political leader and former Cameroon representative of Transparency International, said: “Speakers were pre-arranged. You couldn’t even ask a question. It was stage-managed. So they were actually looking for spectators, not participants.”

Separatists have vowed to keep fighting until “Ambazonia is freed”. Ivo Tapang, a spokesman for 13 armed groups called the Contender Forces of Ambazonia announced: “We will not accept an olive branch from someone whose troops are still in our territory.”

“We will intensify our struggle with guns and bullets.”

The Ambazonian fight for freedom mirrors Biafra’s fight for independence in neighbouring Nigeria. Deep colonial wounds left behind by Europeans, ignorant of the customs of African civilisations, cannot be simplified into a war-cry for freedom.

Biafra’s failure would be repeated in South Sudan in 2011. Where South Sudan gained its freedom, Biafra did not.

Today, cooperation between all three regions of this amalgamated nation promoted Nigeria to Africa’s giant. Tribal violence and tension is a global story. Freedom is an easy fix in deference to the long, arduous labour of unification and cooperation.

Freedom will only begin a new cycle of violence for Anglophone-separatists.

L'articolo Cameroonian Separatists Demand Freedom not Unification proviene da InsideOver.

Cameroon has discovered 300 new mineral mines, in a project sponsored by the World Bank. The Mining Sector Capacity Building Project funded the discovery of rich minerals, including gold, sapphire, zinc, rare earth minerals, uranium, nickel and manganese, across ten regions in the country.

Previously, only 40% of the country has been explored. The five-year exploration project, which began in 2014, aimed to expand the amount of territory in the country that had been checked for mining resources. An IDA credit of $26.9 million was loaned to Cameroon to conduct this project. A part of the World Bank, the International Development Association (IDA) aims to help “the world’s poorest countries.”

Cameroon’s Secretary of State in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, Dr Fuh Calistus Gentry, complained in 2013 about the “infancy” of Cameroon’s mining sector in the face of a huge reserve of minerals resources.

“Cameron is fast becoming a leader on the African mining scene,” he stipulated. “We are trying to make Cameroon a centre of excellence for negotiation mining business in Africa. What has delayed the maturity of our projects is the lack of relevant industries associated with mining, such as laboratories and drilling companies.”

The World Bank’s goal is for the project to “improve Cameroon’s efficiency and transparency of mining sector management and Cameroon’s frameworks for sustainable mining development.”

It “aims to reduce poverty by providing loans with zero to low-interest charges (called “credits”) and grants for programs that boost economic growth, reduce inequalities, and improve people’s living conditions.” Although it claims that “repayments are stretched over 30 to 38 years”, Cameroon’s loan repayment is stretched over 25 years.

Unlike the 1980s, the World Bank claims it no longer loans money to lower-middle-income countries by forcing them to dismantle state involvement, and implement a free market under private investors. This was known as “The Washington Consensus”, a neoliberal economic policy that would further plunge Africa into poverty, as Western private companies began to exploit the continent’s resources for enormous profit. Nevertheless, despite claims to the contrary, the Washington Consensus is still alive, and has been used by the IMF in Portugal, Greece and Venezuela.

As it was funded by the World Bank, Cameroon’s mineral resources are not solely under the control of the Cameroonian government. It is highly feasible that the discovery of new mineral resources will remain exploited for the wealth of a few.

The Democratic Republic of Congo: A Case Study

As one of the world’s wealthiest nations, in natural resource terms, the Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered under Western rule, beginning in 1885 when Belgian King Leopold established the nation, Congo, determined to extract all of the region’s wealth for both himself and Belgium.

Called “one of the worst man-made humanitarian disasters of the turn of the 20th century”, Leopold’s governorship was tyrannically brutal. Genocidal, torturous and exploitative for Congolese natives, his leadership has often been compared to Hitler’s and Stalin’s.

In 1960, when the DRC gained independence from Belgium, the United States of America swiftly engrossed itself in the nation’s politics, aiming for imperial control. Patrice Lumumba, Congo’s socialist, democratically-elected Prime Minister, would be assassinated in 1961 by the CIA. Backed by the US, France and Belgium, Mobutu Sese Seko would then become another tyrannical, kleptocratic dictator for the next 30 years.

Under Mobutu, the international community would have unlimited access to the country’s resources (worth $24 trillion today), including 3.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, large deposits of iron ore, platinum diamonds, gold and uranium. The control over the county’s resources would plunge the country into war and violence, violence which continues today.

Like the DRC, Cameroon is rich in mineral resources. More than 60% of the world’s cobalt, a main component used in our technological products, from drones to mobile phones, is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Like the DRC, Cameroon is in the midst of its violent uprising, where, the US has been accused of meddling in its democratic elections.

A Francophone Cameroonian, President Paul Biya has ruled the nation for 37 years, abusing public funds for his private use. Accused numerous times of corruption, he has developed his Francophone region of Cameroon, to the detriment of the Anglophone region. This has presently led to Anglophone “Amba” soldiers demanding a secession of the Anglophone region, in the Ambazonia War.

As the political similarities between the DRC and Cameroon forecast, Cameroon’s recent mining discoveries will prove the opposite of developmental for a country already on the brink of implosion

L'articolo Cameroon’s Mineral Discovery Could Worsen its Political Climate proviene da InsideOver.

The usually bustling streets of Bamenda, capital of Cameroon’s North West region, are deserted. It’s a Monday, and local separatist forces have enforced their weekly closure of schools, businesses and public offices. Any breaching the ban face retribution from militia gangs roving the desolate city. A few hundred miles away in the country’s South West region, the scene is quite different. A woman’s anguished wails pierce the air: “Let them come and kill me too”. Nearby a four-month-old baby lies dead and, from behind the camera, a man lambasts government troops.

These disparate pictures are borne of the same desperate situation – Cameroon’s so-called “anglophone crisis”. Violence first flared in 2016 when teachers and lawyers in the country’s English-speaking regions began protesting alleged ethnolinguistic discrimination. French-speakers – who account for around 80% of Cameroon’s population – were being drafted into anglophone courts and schools, demonstrators argued. Their movement caught the imagination of English-speakers nationwide who felt marginalised by the primarily francophone authorities.

Interpreting the strikes as a first step toward civil revolt, the Government cracked down. Anglophone leaders were arrested, internet in the North West and South West (NWSW) regions was blocked and a curfew instigated. Then, in September 2017, the Government measures went from repressive to deadly with the killing of at least 40 protestors. This bloodshed incited rebellion and secessionist militia groups sprung up across the anglophone territories.

In the 20 months that have followed, the conflict has deteriorated rapidly. Some 1,850 deaths have been recorded and amid the killing, kidnapping, rape and building burning over half a million NWSW residents have been uprooted. And now aid workers have sent a stark message: the catastrophe in Cameroon is the world’s most neglected displacement crisis.

That’s according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which this week published its annual displacement rankings. Jan Egeland, the group’s secretary general who has recently returned from Cameroon warned that “every day the conflict is allowed to continue, bitterness is building and the region edges closer towards full-blown war”.

With up to a thousand secessionist fighters active in the country, that’s a fear that could soon become reality. They belong to a whole host of different groups – the Red Dragons, Tigers and Ambazonia Defence Forces, to name a few – and what they lack in centralisation they’ve made up for in local support. NWSW natives are proud of their anglophone heritage, says Nigeria-based Cameroon analyst Nna-Emeka Okereke, and will often aid the guerrillas in their struggle.

“But there are now criminal gangs that have emerged terrorising the population. There are also government sponsored militias established to penetrate the [separatist groups] who are also involved in anti-people criminalities,” he added, speaking with InsideOver.

Cameroon’s bilingual makeup is product of another ugly chapter in the restive state’s history. Initially a German colony after the 19th century ‘scramble for Africa’, it was carved up by the French and British post-World War One. In 1961, following independence, the anglophone minority was given the choice of joining either Nigeria or French-speaking Cameroon. With no option to form an independent state, they opted for a federal republic with their francophone neighbours.

And while both French and English are official languages in the central African country, the anglophone minority has long complained of discrimination. English-speakers point to infrastructure spending to demonstrate this. Much of Cameroon’s lucrative cocoa-growing industry is located in the South West, as is the country’s offshore oil production. Despite this, 2018 saw President Paul Biya’s French-speaking home region allocated almost twice the funding of the anglophone regions combined, public investment budgets show.

With this alleged discrimination entrenched at the highest levels of government, it’s little wonder the crisis has spiralled into violence. The scale of atrocities has shocked observers, however. Just last month Cameroonian soldiers operating in the North West of the country were accused of burning down 70 houses before dragging a man from his home and executing him in the street. It appeared to be a reprisal attack on residents thought to have secessionist sympathies, said Human Rights Watch, a conflict monitoring group.

“When the soldiers came, I ran, and they chased me. I managed to hide in the Baptist church,” recounted a local teacher, adding: “When I came out, I found that my house was completely burned and now I have nothing left.”

There is evidence of serious human rights abuses on the part of the separatists, too. Armed anglophone militants have burned dozens of schools and attacked teachers refusing to support their cause, aid agencies have reported. One teacher said he had been shot in the legs by seperatist gunmen.

“The assailant told me that I was still coming to school in defiance of calls for a schools boycott. He then asked me to raise my hands, but before I could do so, he shot me. I fell to the ground,” he said.

But despite the conflict’s ever intensifying nature, the crisis is not receiving the international attention it demands, experts have warned. And while some have accused the Cameroonian authorities of worsening the situation by restricting foreign aid, Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council puts the blame squarely on the international community’s “culture of paralysis”. This is echoed by the U.N., whose humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said recently that the number of those needing assistance in the NWSW regions has increased eight-fold since last year, and now tops 1.3 million.

But with both parties wedded to their irreconcilable positions, there’s little hope of a breakthrough. Separatists continue to dream of independence and the government is committed to a military solution – and in between moderates are unable to rally. The idea of an international mediator has been floated, but Cameroonian authorities seem wary of foreign involvement.

Addressing a public meeting in Buea, capital of the South West region, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute last month insisted that the state is open to dialogue on all grievances, bar secession. “There is too much suffering, we cannot continue like this,” he said. Amid the wrongful actions of both his government and their opponents, it is a sentiment all can surely agree with.

L'articolo International Paralysis as Cameroon Edges Towards “Full-Blown War” proviene da InsideOver.