CI-NEWS

Anglophone crisis: Towards a negotiated settlement?

2019-12-03

No: 459

Anglophone crisis: Towards a negotiated settlement?

International community “encourages” resumption of Swiss talks as idea of sending peace-keeping troops to enforce ceasefire is mooted.

The storm clouds of autonomy seem to be looming over the North West and South West regions of Cameroon. Probably disappointed that President Paul Biya’s government has not shown enough political will to bring an end to the vexed Anglophone crisis, the international community is now inclined towards a negotiated settlement.

Although President Paul Biya declared at the recent Paris Peace Conference that he was granting a Special Status to the Anglophone regions as a means of bringing normalcy to the two Anglophone regions, this appears not to have been enough assurance. That is why in a bid to ramp up action to end what has become a crisis of humanitarian proportions, senior officials of three international organizations were in Cameroon last week to encourage the Cameroon government to do more towards resolving the crisis.

The joint delegation comprising the chairperson of the African Union Commonwealth, Moussa Faki Mahamat; Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland Qc; and the Secretary General of the Organization international de la Francophonie (OIF), Louise Mushikiwaho came to discuss the security situation in the North West and South West Regions and to see how feasible the three organizations can assist Cameroon in bringing back peace to the two regions. It emerged from the discussions that Patricia Scotland had encouraged President Biya to accept the Swiss mediation to put an end to the crisis. It is also alleged that she also did not rule out the suspension of Cameroon from the Commonwealth in the wake of calls to this effect.

Addressing the House of Lords earlier, Viscount Waverley had described the North West and South west regions of Cameroon as a humanitarian disaster and called for the stationing of a joint AU and UN peace-keeping force to enforce a ceasefire between government forces and Ambazonia fighters. He expressed fears about political exclusion of Anglophones by the Biya regime, recommending effective federation as the way out. The Lord also said Cameroon was admitted into the Commonwealth so as to take the wind out of the sails of secession, but the Biya regime did not build on that membership.

This flurry of diplomatic activity is taking place at a time a video is circulating on the social media in which a US military attaché is quoted as having elaborated on why the US has suspended military assistance to Cameroon and cooperation in other projects.

The media is also awash with reports of an aborted effort by the Biya government to convince the US government to have a rethink of its decision to terminate the designation of Cameroon from AGOA as from January 2020.

According to a report carried by Washington Tribune, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, advised a delegation led by Cameroon’s Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in charge of Cooperation with the Commonwealth, Felix Mbayu, that no amount of begging from Cameroon delegations can fix gross human rights abuses, adding that the US was calling for military intervention in Cameroon.

The report has since been dismissed as fake news. But it is believed that it was on the strength of such reports and the tough stands adopted by the international community on Cameroon of recent that MRC leader, Maurice Kamto, decided to boycott the February 9 2020 twins elections, citing the persistence of the Anglophone crisis, non-revision of the electoral code and the difficulties faced by his party in compiling candidates’ files for the election. It is even alleged that President Paul Biya had been advised by the visiting officials to step down and pave the way for a transitional government. They are also said to have called for the postponement of the February 9 2020 twins elections. This might have influenced the declarations of Hon. Joshua Osih, deputy National President of the SDF, and Cabral Libii whose parties had fielded candidates for the elections. They both said they were proposing a postponement of the elections in the face of the persistence of Anglophone crisis and give time for more candidates to compete.

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Anglophone crisis: Towards a negotiated settlement?