A Country Divided
Since 2016, the English-speaking minority of Cameroon have faced different acts of violence which has left more than a hundred people dead and about 200,000 displaced. Amid rising concerns for election safety and in spite of mounting bloodshed in the central African country’s Anglophone region, government officials have insisted they will go ahead with the Presidential election scheduled for October 2018.
The English-speaking people make up about 20% of the country’s 23 million population and reports suggest that they have been marginalised, over time, by the Francophone government in various socio-cultural, political and economic spheres. Most notably, there is a significant disparity in the allocation of investment projects by the State to the two English-speaking regions, compared with the other eight French-speaking regions. This has been the root of the violence in the country, specifically in the anglophone parts.
The gap between the north and south
In Cameroon’s 2017 public investment budget, the President’s home region was allocated far more resources than the North West and South West regions put together. Going by the country’s government project logbook for the year, the South region was awarded over 570 projects at a sum of over $225 million (FCFA 126 billion).
For its part, the North West region had no more than 500 projects to be executed with over $76 million (FCFA 42 billion), while the South West region had slightly over $77 million (FCFA 43 billion) for more than 500 projects.
The projects allocated to the English-speaking regions for 2017 pay little attention to crucial areas like road construction and rehabilitation, which are major concerns in these parts. To put this in context of population size, based on the 2008 census the South region had about 761,000 people, while the South West had 1.4 million and North West had 1.7 million.
Politically, few English speakers hold ministerial and other key positions in Biya’s arguably bloated government. The country’s Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang (an Anglophone) occupies an insignificant fourth position in state protocol, after the Head of State, President of the Senate and Speaker of the National Assembly, who all come from the French-speaking parts of Cameroon.
The fight for freedom
Following the resentment, perceived marginalisation and discrimination at the hands of Cameroon’s majority French government, Anglophone militants in the country were driven to declare their independence. In October 2017, separatists issued a symbolic declaration of independence, prompting a crackdown by a government firmly opposed to secession. Since the start of the crisis, a total of 109 members of the police and security forces have been killed, according to government figures. The start of the school year was marred by violence earlier this month, with the separatists calling for a boycott. Several teachers and students were abducted and one teacher was killed in Bamali in the North-West.
The Anglophone separatists have announced that voting will not take place in the two concerned regions next month and the resulting violence has prompted an estimated 30,000 Cameroonians to flee to neighbouring Nigeria. However, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has instructed governors of the country to take the necessary measures to ensure that the election goes ahead in all of Cameroon’s 360 districts.
In the October poll, eight candidates will run against the 85-year-old incumbent Biya, who has ruled the country for 35 years and is seeking a seventh straight term in office.
There are credible fears that President Biya’s insistence that elections must happen in the southern part of Cameroon might lead to more violence and these fears are rooted in recent events within the country. Following the death of innocent civilians by security forces under the instruction of Biya, Amnesty International has declared that the crisis has reached a boiling point. As the election day draws closer, the world is watching to see if Paul Biya will put Cameroon on the path of destruction or allow the southern part to secede peacefully.
