By Elah Geofrey Mbongale
There seems to be a widening crack between those who are fighting for a federation and those who want to separate from the republic of Cameroon and restore what they term the independence of the former British Southern Cameroons.
The protagonists are growing more and more apart with respect to strategy and solutions to the ongoing crisis that has engulfed the North West and South West regions of the country for a little over a year now.
End to schools boycott
The rift became even more evident after one of the main protagonists of federalism, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla granted an interview to the BBC on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 at Bush House, London where he called for an end to schools’ boycott and protracted ghost towns
The comments by the human rights lawyer and president of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, now outlawed, drew scathing criticism from separatists and even some federalists in the Diaspora and at home.
Federalism versus ‘independence’
In the interview, Agbor Balla called for the return to a two-state federation as was the case after the Foumban Conference in 1972, a stance Agbor Balla has held for several decades now which led to his arrest and detention in Kondengui for almost eight months. He also added that the fight for the restoration of independence of the former British Southern Cameroons is an emotional option which is impossible to achieve.
“Independence is a very emotional thing. People, everybody likes it. But I look at the reality. I am a realist. You know, I look at the feasibility of having it. I am for a federation [two-state federation] that will bring the Cameroons together – the Anglophones and Francophones – to build a stronger country. Let us be honest, we can have unity in diversity”, Agbor Balla told the BBC
Burning the bridge
Balla also furthered in the interview that he stands for a united Cameroon while calling for schools resumption after more than a year of boycott and extended ghost towns in the Anglophone regions.
“I believe that it is time for the leadership in the Anglophone community to ensure that kids should go back to school. I urge the leadership to consider that kids should be able to go back to school.”
Balla commenting on the toll the extended ghost towns have on small businesses said “It is a price that we all pay. I can understand a ghost town for one day. But when it is two or three days, I think it is heavy. Most of the business people that I talked to are okay if there is ghost town on Monday. But when you start making it for two or three days, especially in Buea which is considered the silicon mountain, it has a lot of effect on small businesses”
The heat on Balla
These comments drew scathing criticism from supporters of separation who think Balla wants to kill their only strategy that, according to them, seems to resonate with the population back home.
According to protagonists of separation, these same strategies helped put pressure on government to secure the release of some of the Anglophones arrested and detained in the ambit of the Anglophone crisis-including Barrister Nkongho Felix and other Anglophone leaders.
They question why Balla should call for an end to the strategy when some other Anglophones are still being held in prisons in Yaounde, adding that if the strategy was good enough to have Barrister Agbor Balla and others released; it should be good enough to get the remaining Anglophones in detention released.
Some of the supporters of separation, commenting on the Balla’s call for end to schools’ boycott and restricted ghost towns questioned why the Human Rights lawyer would choose to burn a bridge after crossing it, knowing that there are others like Mancho Bibixy, Pen Terence and others who were left behind and still languishing in jail.
The attacks, mostly from proponents of separation were nasty and brutish with some saying that the president of the outlawed Consortium has been compromised by government after spending eight months in jail and has been sent on a mission to kill the fight for the restoration of the ‘independence’ of the former British Southern Cameroons.
SCACUF stays mute
SCACUF and the Southern Cameroons Governing council, made up of mostly Anglophone activists in “exile”, have been calling for a continuation of schools boycott and ghost town but have not officially responded to Balla’s calls to the contrary.
However, a conclave of the Governing council that took place over the weekend was characterised by serious disagreements which prompted the Chairman, Sisiku Ayuk Tabe to suspend deliberations. The conclave also saw the resignation of the Secretary General Milan Atam. No resolutions were released at as press time yesterday when the conclave was expected to wrap up.
At the beginning of the conclave, the Chairman said “The Struggle is bigger than all of us put together, No one person or groups of persons can kill the struggle but the struggle, if it chooses, will kill all of us and still, the struggle will not die.”
Who speaks for the people?
It is unclear where the pendulum of the Anglophone struggle is now swinging to. Before and during the arrest and detention of some Anglophone leaders early this year, which forced many others to go underground or on exile, there seemed to be some correlation between federalists and separatists, at least in terms of strategy.
While separatists think they have the backing of a good number of Anglophone Cameroonians, evidenced by the massive turnout during the September 22 and October 1 demonstrations respectively, called by the Southern Cameroons Governing Council, proponents of federalism also think most Anglophone Cameroonians are now learning more towards the federalism option.
“I think lots of Anglophones also are now talking about a federation. And I think we have moderate francophones who have joined the call for a federation. Prior to our arrest, federation was a taboo. Discussions about it were taboo. We think now that everybody understands at least that federalism is a form of government that can be acceptable to everybody. And it ends up being a win-win situation. So, it is a balance between those calling for restoration of Southern Cameroons’ independence and those who believe in a unitary state. So, if we can have a federal structure, it will help the country”, Agbor Balla told the BBC during the famous interview.
Balla’s homes under attack
The social media war between supporters of separation and supporters of Balla witnessed a major twist early Sunday, October 29, 2017 morning when the houses of Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor Balla in his native Bakwelle village in Manyu division and that of Buea where targeted by arsonists in what seemed like a coordinated attack. The SUN reached out to Barrister Agbor Balla through his communication team and was told that; “Barrister Balla is in shock and can’t make any statements at this time. He confirms that his Bakwelle home was torched and an attempt made on his Buea residence.”
Stalemate in the ‘struggle’
Despite calls from several countries and international bodies including the US, UK, France and the United Nations for an inclusive dialogue to solve the Anglophone crisis, with most of them calling on government to address the root cause of the problem, nothing concrete seems to be happening.
Government recently dispatched a delegation, of what many termed pro-government Anglophone elites, to the North West and South west on a peace and dialogue mission. The report of the mission is yet to be made public and President Biya is yet to make any official public statement on the crisis.
Many have castigated the nature of the talks, saying that those who were invited to the talks, in most cases were carefully selected to avoid any anti-government reactions.
With the perceptible fissures between protagonists of what has now been termed the Anglophone struggle, government seems to have developed a ‘wait-and-see’ posture to allow the feuding camps to tear themselves apart while hoping that the tension in the two Anglophone regions will fizzle out with time.
Government apparently is banking on the gradual return to normalcy in the two regions with the ever increasing turnout in schools, dismal respect to calls for ghost towns and the announcement by some Common Law lawyers in Fako and Meme to suspend their year-long strike.