I found an
article by the veteran journalist Victor Epie Ngome, which the legendary
journalist and clairvoyant political analyst Franklin Sone Bayen posted
on his facebook page entitled “BAMI CASH FOR "ANGLO"
BLOOD?”, https://www.facebook.com/sonebayen/posts/2462509083766571,
to be very mind-stirring. In it, Victor Epie Ngome talked of
efforts by the government to lure Bamilekes (some of their elites, I presume)
into funding and tacitly backing their struggle against the different groups in
Anglophone Cameroon(the former West Cameroon, the former Southern Cameroons and
before that Southwest German Kamerun) that have picked up arms to confront the
Biya regime and the French-imposed system at large for their cause for an
independent Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia.
I think it is
an issue worth dissecting because it comes on the heels of declarations by some
elements of the separation/secession/restoration movements calling
for the expulsion of Francophones from the lands West of the River
Mungo or what are today Northwest and Southwest (the former West Cameroon)
regions. It becomes obvious that both camps in the conflict (the heirs of those
who were/are against reunification of the lands of the former German Kamerun,
and the mercenaries and looters the French put in power in French Cameroon, who
basically are the people who did not contribute in any way, shape or form, whatsoever in the
cause for the independence and reunification of the lands of the
former German Kamerun) see scapegoating the Bamileke ethnic group as
their quick path to victory in a conflict that is dragging
Cameroon into the abyss. This leaves many wondering whether they are conscious of
the fact that the Bamileke ethnic group paid “perhaps” the highest
price for the cause to found the “New Cameroon” that is free, united,
progressive, democratic, developed, and federated. The New Cameroon is a project
that when realized will be the nucleus of a future Economic Union of
Africa that is politically integrated. My comment on that article on Facebook
was:
"Beautifully
written. Cameroon is extremely nuanced and it takes an insightful mind like yours
to expose the intricate threads of its complex nature. Hardly a decimal of
those lending a directing or explanatory voice to the different dimensions of
the cause for change in Cameroon are this balanced. I am not surprised that the
political establishment (the French-imposed system of the CPDM, the government, and elements of the so-called opposition---a small minority of the Cameroonian
population) would want to use the group that is perhaps the most nationalistic
(paid the biggest price for the realization of reunification and the
quasi-independence we have today) in going against a faction in Anglophone
Cameroon that wants separation(restoration), an Anglophone Cameroon that the
vast majority of Bamilekes empathize with, even though that majority does not
want the disintegration of Cameroon, since that contravenes the noble cause
most of their ancestors fought for and that many died for, a cause
most Cameroonians believed in back in the 1950s and 1960s.
I was
not surprised that restorationist (separatists) leaders equally want the
Bamilekes to be fully involved in their cause and/or to finance it.
So, it is understandable that the Bamilekes are in a quagmire. And it would not
be surprising that for personal reasons or personal benefits, some elements
from the Bamileke community would make gestures or carry out activities in
support of either the government or the separatists (restorationists). But in no
way should they be regarded as the representatives of the Bamileke people who
in their overwhelming majority are civic-nationalists, rational patriots, and
union-nationalists. I am talking here about the vast majority of
Bamilekes who loathe the French-imposed system and see the Biya regime(like the
Ahidjo regime before it) as the worst nightmare wrought on Cameroon, as the
biggest act of treason existing in the country and as the constant reminder of
their nightmare. The Bamileke ethnicity, which is also indigenous in the
Northwest and Southwest regions and has a large portion of its population from
East of the River Mungo that have made lands West of the River Mungo home for more
than a century, understands, feels, and agonizes over the pains wrought on
Anglophone Cameroon; and as a consequence, they want the dismantling of the
French-imposed system, However, the majority understand, like most
Cameroonians (Anglophones and Francophones alike) do, that the advocates of war in
Cameroon are not serving the interest of Cameroonians and humanity, and that
they are trying to take the people down an abyss, which future generations would
curse us for allowing.
Like Cassandra
in Greek mythology, I have been trying for close to three decades to alert
Cameroonians about the slip into that abyss and the way(s) forward to the
"New Cameroon". Franklin Bayen has been doing so too during those
decades. But who listens, especially if there is something to gain from beating
the drums of war. The truth of the matter is that the two sides of the armed conflict (the separatists/restorationists and the government which
though Beti-dominated is also loathed by the majority of the Beti-people, a
minority government that has collaborators from all the ethnic groups,
religions, and regions in the Cameroon) are making each other relevant---one as
the governing body of the state trying to keep Cameroon together, and the other
as the group committed to safeguarding Anglophone Cameroon (the former West
Cameroon, the former Southern Cameroons). The recent link below and the other
after it shed some light on this. http://viewsnewcameroon.blogspot.com/.../redeeming...
I am repeating this: "The
current government, the Biya regime, and the system or establishment
as a whole never cherished the civic-nationalist goals of
reunification and independence that the overwhelming majority of our forebears
fought and died for. That is why the French-imposed system pushed Anglophone
Cameroon to the wall, thereby giving the heirs of those who voted against
reunification the upper hand to stand as the champion of the cause for the
rights of the peoples of Anglophone Cameroon (the former West
Cameroon or the former British Southern Cameroons before that).
Today, these two forces
(the government/establishment/French-imposed system and the
separatists/secessionists) that have always been a minority in
Cameroon’s traumatic history are fighting each other, giving each other
relevance---one, falsely as the force trying to keep Cameroon together, while
the other sadly as the force to take Anglophone Cameroon
away to a future that in reality is Impossible. Meanwhile,
the overwhelming majority of Cameroonians who decry their activities are helpless
as they drag Cameroon into the abyss, making each other relevant in a fight that the
powers that be wish for Cameroon and Cameroonians, a people who defied the
stereotypes about Africans as a heavily divided race incapable of tapping into
their mutually compatible strengths and opportunities, so as to come together
and become a powerful, united, free, prosperous and defensible force. The
powers that be would like to say about the peoples of Cameroon: “Look,
they are not any different from other Africans. They too are self-destructive;
they too are incapable of advancing humanity…the process of their
social-engineering is complete; they are fully ready to serve the purpose we
had for them…”
Anybody who considers himself or herself as someone engaged in a cause
for freedom should know that getting oneself involved in the attack, massacre, or annihilation of people or groups based on their ethnicity, tribe, race or
religion is a crime against humanity or genocide that the International Court
of Justice in The Hague handles separately or in unison with the
government of the country it occurred in. So, no ethnic group, tribe, or
person(s) of a particular linguistic expression in Cameroon should be targeted,
threatened, or attacked by the elements supporting the evil establishment or by
those who oppose it whether as Southern Cameroons/"Ambazonian"
nationalists or even as civic-nationalists. You become an enemy of the
people once you engage in acts against humanity, of which ethnic cleansing is
one.
by Janvier Chouteu-Chando and Janvier Tchouteu
