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 is an indication that you saw the light and now abhor ethnic,
racial ...etc discrimination. Good!
Countless times have I interceded against words by Amba leaders and
others supporting the Anglophone Cameroonian (SCNC) cause, calling for doom to
befall Francophones and certain ethnicities, especially those that are ancestrally from 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 Social Democratic Front (SDF) of Cameroon in the Southwest (SW) region in the early 1990s--- a deep participation I should add. And it was a Herculean
task convincing many Southwesterners(indigenous especially) that the SDF was not a “Bamenda Affair” (Northwest province 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 (Anglophone Bamilekes) played a disproportionate role
in the implantation, passing the mantle of leadership over to mostly indigenous Southwesterners (Ndoki Mukete and co) in July 1993. The fact that the 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 an affair of “Wia Party” (meaning the SDF was a Northwest Party), 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 or platform 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 frontman 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 political 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 in particular 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 in its fight against the UPC liberation fighters, a
disaster that saw some less than 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 with origins from the Northwest,
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 presence 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”…coming
across as dismissive… Even you Rex said half a year ago that indigenous Mboh
people of the Southwest are complaining that Amba fighters are targeting them
on false grounds that they are of East of the Mungo. Where 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 it should be
addressed fast 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
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