On November 16, 2020, a compatriot whom I respect despite the fact that we sometimes share opposing political views, wrote on Facebook that:
“In the last few weeks, I have read a series of Xenophobic posts written by CPDM surrogates of both SW and NW origin using nuances to abuse, disrespect and sometimes express hatred against people from NW origin living in the SW... “
The compatriot was accused by his friend of making biased statements against others in the past. The compatriots past faux pas could be considered flukes. All the same, I dwelled on the subject by sharing my views below:
“He is right for accusing you of spewing hatred against other peoples in the past. All the same, I applaud your words above because it shows that you saw the light and now abhor ethnic, racial ...etc discrimination. Good!”
Countless times have I interceded against words by some Amba leaders and others supporting the Anglophone Cameroonian (SCNC) cause, calling for doom to befall Francophones and certain ethnicities, especially those east of the Mungo, and more especially the Bamilekes.
Something I can claim which none, or perhaps few can, is the experience of having participated in the team that implanted the SDF in the Southwest (SW) in the early 1990s--- a deep participation I should add. And it was a Herculean task convincing many Southwesterners(indigenous especially) that it was not a “Bamenda Affair” and that it would not be a repeat of the Muna/Foncha etc. or Northwestern domination of yesteryears.
Southwest (SW)-born and bred Bami Anglos played a disproportionate role in the implantation, passing the leadership mantle over to Ndoki Mukete and co in July 1993. The fact that SDF became the dominant political party in the lives of indigenous Southwesterners was a big achievement; and that was done confronting many of our Northwest (NW) brothers in the SW who thought it was “Wia Party” affair, and held some of “US” responsible for preventing them from controlling the party. Even in Limbe, my base, uplifting Jarvis Muambo who later became the mayor in 1997, was a case in point, against the interest of the NW pal I spent time in jail with as a political prisoner. I did not consider taking my interest into account in that particular indigenization process. The Bami Anglo factor also played an outsized role in convincing Francophones (West and Littoral regions in particular) to join the SDF.
The Truth is bitter, but it must be spoken. The successful indigenization of the SDF in the SW formed the base of the Anglophone Movement and greater cooperation between the NW and SW in the SCNC, and later Ambazonia. Oben Peter Ashu acknowledged that during one of his soul-revealing encounters in 1999 with Dr. Samuel Tchwenko (head of the SDF implantation team in the SW from 1990-1993, and front man in luring Littoral and West regions into the SDF). Alexander Ngomba Motanga, the former Governor of the Northwest Province’s revelation to me in 2000, explaining his decade estrangement from his good friend Dr. Samuel Tchwenko, partly touched on that.
But then, I started observing a phenomenon which I initially ignored in 1994, downplayed later, was perturbed by in 2000 during an encounter with Dutch Professor Koning and Professor Paul Nchoji Nkwi in Amsterdam in December 2000, and was crushed by it in 2002. The elites (Nfor Nfor, Nkwi, Professor Anyangwe, Susungi, Ngwasiri, etc) of the pro-secession or SCNC (today Ambazonia) faction in the SDF, overwhelmingly from the Northwest, were cultivating a narrative blaming Bamilekes and Francophones in general as the ones sabotaging the SDF and Anglophone Cameroonians from realizing their goals. They made Bamilekes in particular the scapegoat. It moved to tagging Foncha completely as a Bamileke man. I warned in 2011 that these bigots with the “Native Mindset” will create another narrative tomorrow that Fru Ndi is Bamileke. But they even beat my expectations with a thesis by one young man supposedly with the backing of pro-Ambazonia professors from the NW claiming that Bamilekes formed the SDF and that they hoodwinked Northwesterners and Southwesters into voting for reunification in 1961, even though the Founding Fathers of the SDF were all from the Northwest region, and even though results of the plebiscite showed that those districts where most Bamilekes were living in at the time (Victoria and Kumba) voted for Endeley/unification with Nigeria. And we all know that the reunification vote was before the 1962-1964 sweep and destruction of the Bamilekeland by the French army and the Cameroonian army under Ahidjo that France created, a disaster that saw some 10% of the internally displaced (IDPs) moving to West Cameroon, mostly to the Southwest.
In one of our exchanges on Camnet some seven (7) years ago, I warned that the Bamileke baiting was coming mostly from a fringe of Northwest origin, and that it would dawn on some that these knuckleheads promoting hate or ostracizing their Graffi relatives (Bamilekes) --- something Southwesterners do not do to the related peoples of the Littoral province --- would turn their attention to Southwesterners too, or that the Southwest people would wise up one day, understanding that after these knuckleheads of NW origin succeed in eliminating Bamileke/Bassa and Francophone influence with their acquiescence, they would turn to dominating Southwesterners again.
The CPDM, the Biya regime, and the French-imposed system as a whole are exploiting that growing realization of fringe elements of Northwest origin holding chauvinistic views on domination. After all, one Amba spokesperson of Northwest origin said “the population of the Northwest province is four to five times that of the Southwest ”. He thus came across as dismissive… A long time vocal vanguard of the Southern Cameroons (SCNC) cause said half a year ago that;
“…indigenous Mboh people of the Southwest region are complaining that Amba fighters are targeting them on false grounds that they are of East of the Mungo.”
Were those Amba fighters of Northwest origin? The feeling of being targeted by fighters from another province prevails not only in Kupe Manenguba Division. People in Ndian, Fako, Meme, Lebialem, and even Manyu feel that way too. That is why the concern should be addressed fast before it gets out of hand, before it degenerates.
I hate to see the harmony in the Southwest that I was also involved in building, being trashed by people with the “NATIVE MINDSET”. There should never be any inter-ethnic conflict in the Southwest region or any other region of Cameroon. Those inflaming ethnic hatred should be discouraged and the forces sowing resentment among the different indigenous people should respect their hosts and stop their activities that are hurting the people in the villages and towns.
Janvier Tchouteu November 18, 2020
Janvier Tchouteu is the author of Triple Agent, Double Cross
by Janvier Tchouteu and Janvier T. Chando
