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Cameroon’s Minister of territorial administration has overtly declared that as part of measures to end the long lasting Anglophone crisis, it will accept dialogue.
The minister, who is of Anglophone extraction, however maintained that, the sole condition to the dialogue will be that, it will be held with persons who are promoting the unity of Cameroon as a nation.
According to critics, his declarations effectively mean that the country is not going to engage armed separatists whose activities continue to threaten members of the security forces and disrupt life in the Northwest and Southwest of the country – the Anglophone regions.
“We can still solve the problem without burning, looting, raping, destroying. The government is ready to dialogue with those who seek the oneness of Cameroon,” the Minister said in a visit to Buea, capital of the Southwest region on Tuesday.
His declaration though described as “lofty” by some Cameroonians, has received a strong backlash from many who think that the only form of dialogue that can break the current impasse is inclusive dialogue, that is, one that brings every aggrieved party on the table.
However, the newly appointed minister of territorial administration who has been touring the two English speaking regions of Cameroon, has in each of his stops, declared emphatically that he was a bearer of a message of peace and has also challenged secessionists, to put a stop to their activities and come out of the bushes were they “are hiding”.
In spite of the good faith that the minister might have exuded so far since his appointment to the current portfolio he occupies, some opinion holders have unleashed severe opprobrium on him, for initially refuting that there is an Anglophone problem in Cameroon while the crisis was at its embryonic stage.
Recall that Atanga, is one of two Anglophones who were handed positions in the government following a cabinet reshuffle carried out by long-serving leader, Paul Biya.
What has become known as the Anglophone crisis, has enraged the country’s two English-speaking regions. A previous cry against discrimination and marginalization from French-majority Cameroon has now taken a violent turn.
Secessionists under the so-called Ambazonia Republic continue to push for a breakaway from Cameroon, a move the government has flatly rejected. After a crackdown on protests in October last year during a planned symbolic independence declaration, the secessionists turned to arms.
They have since assaulted and murdered several members of government forces – police, soldiers and gendarmes. They have also kidnapped two government officials.
The call for dialogue has continually been made by several countries and groups but has yet to be seriously pursued. A number of the separatists leaders have been arrested and deported from Nigeria since January but they have yet to appear in court.
The humanitarian crisis arising from the situation has also led to Cameroonians fleeing the Anglophone regions in their thousands. The United Nations refugee agency has openly tasked parties to use dialogue to avoid further escalation of the crisis.
By Landzeh Verla
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