By Nfor Hanson Nchanji
The publisher and editor-in-chief of one of Cameroon’s leading English-language newspapers issued a rare and emotional open letter to separatist leaders, calling for an immediate end to the nine-year armed conflict that has devastated the country’s Anglophone regions( North West and South West regions)
Kristian Ngah Christian, head of The Guardian Post, described himself in the letter as “one who also wears your shoe,” appealing to the consciences of “Amba” fighters and their leaders to review the “abyss” into which the North West and South West regions have fallen.
A “Balance Sheet” of Loss
Nine years after the crisis erupted in 2016, Christian argued that the movement’s “balance sheet” shows a community on the brink of collapse. He highlighted the severe educational and economic decay, noting that the regions’ most prestigious institutions have become “shadows of themselves.”
“It is unimaginable that we, the once proud, respected, and civilized Anglophones, are the ones destroying ourselves,” Christian wrote. He specifically named renowned schools like Sacred Heart College, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Sasse College as victims of the conflict, noting that top educators have fled to Francophone regions for safety and better pay.
The Toll on Civilians
The letter detailed a grim reality for those living in the conflict zones:
- Forced Poverty: Christian noted that the very people the struggle set out to protect are now “poorer, hungrier, more traumatized and lost.”
- Abuses by Fighters: He accused separatists of “milking the people,” citing the imposition of “Monday ghost towns” and “funeral taxes” that families must pay to bury loved ones killed in the violence.
- Referendum Claims: In a statement which Ambazonia Activists said was provocative, the publisher claimed that given the current suffering, “99.9% of Anglophones would vote to stay in a one and indivisible Cameroon” if a referendum were held today.
A Call for Peaceful Methods
Invoking the words of Mahatma Gandhi, Christian urged the armed groups to abandon “anti-people undertakings” and pursue change through non-violent means.
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent,” Christian quoted. He concluded by begging the leaders to “allow our people to breathe and thrive again” before an entire generation is permanently lost to school boycotts and bloodshed.
The letter comes at a time of increased international pressure for a mediated settlement to the conflict, which has reduced.
In a response, one of the activists, Ako Aya, said, “Kristian Ngah Christian’s so-called “open letter to separatist leaders and Amba fighters” is not a cry for peace; it is a carefully packaged act of victim-blaming, wrapped in selective compassion and delivered from the comfort of regime protection. It is less a plea on “bended knees” and more a demand for surrender—one that asks the oppressed to absolve the oppressor by laying down their rights. Let us be clear from the outset: this letter is not neutral, not honest, and not courageous. It is a political brief written to sanitize occupation, delegitimize resistance, and shift responsibility for suffering away from its true cause.”
