The current situation in the country, particularly in the two Anglophone regions, may seem to many observers, more like a thrilling movie watched in a cool and chilly night, so to at least keep their hearts and bodies warm, but which actually is not the case.
It is a sure situation bordering on the reality. Indeed, a matter of life and death, and of course, a case of a country that is facing the risk of being torn apart. We in this Newspaper have always insisted that the current crisis has reached a point where it requires a more pains-taking assessment of the root causes. It certainly no longer needs the elitist-armchair-style of managing such a crisis situation.
Neither has the option of war ever been known to heal wounds. In the face of all this, we have never failed to appreciate government’s concern for the security of the state, especially when it concerns life and property. But the option of war is what we have never believed can take us out of the woods under the present circumstance.
The week which started on Sunday, February 11, which is a date dedicated to the youth of this country, bore hopes not only for the youth, but for the country as a whole, especially as popular anxiety was focused on what the head of state had in mind concerning the present crisis. This anxiety was hinged on what the head of state would deliver in his speech to the youth.
Fortunately, in his address to the youth, he acknowledged the fact that the last few years have not been easy for the country, naming some of the challenges which include the Boko Haram threat in the north of the country, armed gangs at the eastern frontier, the hosting of thousands of refugees from Nigeria, and of course, in his own words “managing the outburst of unrest in the north west and south west regions, marked by sporadic acts of violence, and countering the impact of falling oil and commodity prices, in a bid to return to growth.’’
Concerning the situation in the North West and South West regions, we think Mr. President, in his assessment, seems to have skipped the muddy ground to land on hard ground. We certainly do not want to undermine the steps he has taken so far, but all we know is that the situation is not stabilising as the president seems to believe or which he has been informed.
The truth is that, violence has only escalated in parts of these two regions. For example, even as the president was addressing the youth on the eve of February 11, violence was escalating in the North West region. The Divisional Officer of Batibo, in Momo division, Namata Diteng Marcel, was being kidnapped to an unknown destination. In Kembong, a village in Manyu division of the South West region, at least three gendarmes were reported killed.
Another gendarme officer was stabbed to death and another seriously wounded by unidentified assailants at a mixed control post in Kumba on Friday, February 16, 2018.
The military, on its part, is equally reported to have unleashed terror in Bamenda, following the murder of another gendarme. This is certainly not good news to back-up the president’s claim that the situation in the North West and South West is stabilising.
We only wish to correct that this claim does not represent the true picture on the ground. The only truth that remains to be told is that the situation is still far from stabilising. By this claim the authors seem to want to convince the public that the commission for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism now stands a better chance of achieving its set goals. We have mentioned it before, that the crux of the matter is not just one that stems from our bilingual set up, or from our ethnic cultural diversity only. This, we want to believe is a diversionary approach to the reality, and it only lends credence to the universal call for an inclusive dialogue, not the one entrusted to the commission for the promotion of bilingualism and multiculturalism, which we doubt its competence to handle the crisis at this stage.
It would, therefore, appear senseless for anyone to think that the youth of this country, particularly of the two regions affected by the Anglophone crisis, can look forward to better prospects in the future when the very foundation of the country is being threatened by thundering sounds of guns trained against a people, involving both the old and the young. When the head of state is not being fed with the true situation on the ground, when the presidency seems to be run on an elitist platform and is surrounded by men who enjoy lording it on those who put them there and are not willing to speak the truth, there is genuine grounds for us to suspect that there are some who want the current situation to prolong. For whatever reason only time shall tell.
We would conclude by advising that since the president has always shown his concern for the future of the Cameroonian youth each time he finds the opportunity to do so, we can only call on him to provide the enabling atmosphere for the government to realise that they too have been unfortunate, time and again, to have fallen victims of the prevailing violence, and that even from their youthful experience, they have realised that the gun has never been an effective weapon for the settlement of any dispute.