New Cameroon Views Blog: My take on the article "BAMI CASH FOR "ANGLO" BLOOD?" by Victor Epie Ngome

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...

http://viewsnewcameroon.blogspot.com/.../cameroons-unity..."

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.