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Abstract
Since September 2017, the English-speaking peoples of the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon have been subjected to unprecedented repression of genocidal dimension by the Biya regime that needs to be unpacked. What precisely led to this ugly situation which has come to be known as “the Anglophone problem?” This article sets out to lucidly capture the Anglophone problem in such a way that it is seen as a legitimate, legal, authentic and concrete statehood problem deserving national and international attention. I therefore posit cogently that the Anglophone problem is a nationhood issue that emerged after unification with the Francophone Cameroun Republic in 1961. The problem is caused by the systematic and unilateral attempts by the hegemonic Francophone regime, within the Jacobin logic, to dismantle the statehood identity of Anglophone Cameroon since 1961. By steadily destroying the Anglophone state through multiple dubious mechanisms, Anglophone fell prey to Francophone colonization, militarization, marginalization and assimilation. The birth of the self-proclaimed Anglophone state of Ambazonia in 2017 is the apotheosis of the statehood crisis.
Notes
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Adapted from the Negro spiritual, “Go Down Moses” in Armstrong et al., Louis and the Good Book, Verve Music Group, pp. 1–3.
2 The English-speaking people of Cameroon, concentrated in and natives of the North West and South West regions, have been referred to by various names depending on the historical era and circumstance. During the period of British administration, they were referred to as the British Southern Cameroons, particularly after the Second World War. When British rule terminated in 1961 the British Southern Cameroons joined La République du Cameroun in a federal union and became known as the federated state of West Cameroon. Following the demise of the federation in 1972 the Anglophones were partitioned into the North West and South West Provinces which were later transformed into regions under the Biya administration. The Anglophones unilaterally declared independence of La République du Cameroun (as they prefer to call Francophone Cameroun) on 1 October 2017 as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
3 Maximilien Robespierre Jacobinism in French revolutionary history distinguished itself by a high level of political violence, a reign of terror (1793–1794) that claimed thousands of lives and a highly centralized organization of the state that gave to the Jacobin political group great power and control over every facet of French society. The French bequeathed this terrible legacy to Francophone African states, particularly the French Cameroons (For the Jacobin model of centralization, see Le Galès Citation2008).
4 See, V/a (1960) 18, Statutory Instruments 1960. No. 1958 West Africa: Southern Cameroons (Constitution) Order-in-Council, 1960.
5 See Decree no. 68-DF-431 of 29 October 1968, in Journal Official de la République Fédéral du Cameroun, Nov. 1968.
6 Interview with J.N. Foncha at his Nkwen-Bamenda residence on 1 May 1990.
7 La Presse du Cameroun, 11 August, 1961; Ahidjo “Contribution à la Construction Nationale”; Ahidjo “Anthologie Des Discours, 1957-1979”.
8 This is still the official position of the hegemonic Francophone regime today.
9 La Presse du Cameroun 17 August, 1961.
10 See, Constitution de la République Fédérale du Cameroun; Loi No 61-24 du ler September 1961 Portant Révision Constitutionelle et Tendant à Adopter la Constitution actuelle aux nécessites du Cameroun Unifié in : Journal Officiel du Cameroun, 30 Septembre 1961. N.A.Y.
11 See Decree 61-DF-15 October 1961 in Journal Officiel de la République Fédérale du Cameroun 1961
12 Journal Officiel de la République Fédérale du Cameroun 30 October, 1961.
13 Journal Officiel de la République Fédérale du Cameroun, 30 October 1961.
14 Interview with Foncha, 23 January 1993; See also Johnson, Citation2015.
15 See Top Secret No 323/CF/CAB/PR, Representation to His Excellency. The President of the Republic of Cameroon by the West Cameroon Government requesting the Rectification of certain Matters Tending to Hinder the Smooth Effective Functioning of the Federal Republic, N.A.B.
16 These groups include The Free West Cameroon Movement, The Southern Cameroon National Council, the Cameroon Anglophone Movement, etc. (See Konings and Nyamnjoh 289–325; de Vries et al. 1–20; Byrne and Englebert 455–88).
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Nicodemus Fru Awasom
Nicodemus Fru Awasom is a Visiting Professor of African History at the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra. He is Cameroon’s leading constitutional historian with a special focus on the constitutionality of the Anglophone problem in post-colonial Cameroon. His teaching interests include New Directions of the Methodology of African History; Oral History, Slavery and Memory; Comparative Colonial and Post-Colonial African Historiographies; Comparative African Colonial Systems; and the resurgence of radical Islam in West Africa. He is a co-editor of the recently published book by CODESRIA on Youth and Identity in Africa. His many works appear in edited books and journals including the Journal of Global South Studies, Canadian Journal of African Studies/La Revue canadienne des études africaines, Africa zamani and Africa Today.