Editorial: International Day of Peace: What Way Forward for the Anglophone Crisis 6 Years On?
1st October 2022 is in two weeks’ time and will officially mark six years since the start of the current phase of the Anglophone Crisis when lawyers (later joined by teachers and other civil society groups) protested the imposition of French-speaking judges and teachers in Anglophone courtrooms and classrooms respectively.
Government started talks with the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) but the talks collapsed when the Consortium made an unwavering demand for a return to the erstwhile two-state federation on which present day Cameroon was founded.
More than 5,000 people have lost their lives according to some estimates and more than 1 million others have been displaced internally and internationaly in what some observers have described as President Paul Biya’s greatest challenge since taking office 40 years ago.
As the world observes the United Nations-sanctioned International Day of Peace today, it is helpful to take stock of how far Cameroon has come as a nation since the sectoral demands by lawyers and teachers turned into a full scale insurgency that threatened the very fabric of Cameroonian society as we know it.
UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutterres paid a visit to Cameroon in 2017 and expectations were high that he would visit the embatteled regions, but he ended his visit in far-off Yaounde where he didn’t pressurize Mr. Biya to call off his trigger-happy soldiers and get into dialogue with separatist leaders, instead, photos showed both men at Cameroon’s Presidential villa – dubbed ‘The Unity Palace’- a name that clearly indicates the coming together of the Southern Cameroons and French Cameroon – and Mr. Gutterres was seen holding a sculpture gifted him by Mr. Biya. It was a moment of irony that the chief executive of the United Nations were seen in jolly mood while Mr. Biya’s forces were unleashing deadly bullets in the Anglophone regions on civilians-turned fighters and on plane civilians deemed to be separatist sympathizers.
While International Day of Peace is being observed this year under the theme “End Racism. Build Peace’, we still see a lot of discrimination towards those fleeing various forms of crises.
Cameroonians are being detained at the US border with Mexico as they flee the crisis in their country and even some host communities in Nigeria have been complaining of the swarm of refugees from Cameroon putting added strain on their own already-limited resources.
While no major power in the world has shown any interest in helping mediate the conflict, the Swiss government has shown a willingness to do so. However, President Biya declined participating in the Swiss-led talks as recently as last week, opting instead for a military solution .
International Day of Peace calls on us – all of us- to put our hands on deck and try to be promoters of peace in our own little ways.
Avoid inflammatory language.
Just because you don’t agree with Anglophones, don’t call them ‘Anglo-fools’, nor should you refer to those who believe in a parting of ways as ‘secessionists’ or ‘terrorists’. It also means being conscious not to post gruesome images of soldiers, civilians or separatist fighters who have been killed.
International Day of Peace begins not just with the United Nations or government, but with you and I.
THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY DECLARED THE THIRD TUESDAY OF SEPTEMBER AS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE in 1981. THIS DAY COINCIDED WITH THE OPENING DAY OF THE ANNUAL SESSIONS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. THE PURPOSE OF THE DAY WAS AND STILL REMAINS, TO STRENGTHEN THE IDEALS OF PEACE AROUND THE WORLD.
