CI-NEWS

Anglophone Problem: Swiss gov't mediation effort picks spanner in the wheel.

2019-07-09

No: 435

Anglophone Problem:

Swiss gov't mediation effort picks spanner in the wheel.

Discordant notes among separatist leaders mar negotiations said to be shrouded in secrecy and lacking in good faith!

The media, both national and international is awash with news that the government of President Paul Biya and some 'Ambazonia' separatist groups have chosen the government of Switzerland to mediate a peace process that should end the current armed conflict in the North West and South West regions before the situation there spirals into a full-blown civil war.

The news first broke out on June 26, 2019 in a press release issued by the Swiss Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Separate releases from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) and leaders of some Ambazonia separatist groups confirmed imminent negotiations with the government of President Paul Biya. Although the Yaounde authorities have yet to say a thing about the announcements, several international bodies have hailed the move.

However, there seems to be much more to the Swiss government initiative than is yet known by the ordinary Anglophone in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon. While one expected to see more harmony among separatist leaders ahead of the upcoming talks, there are rather a lot of discordant notes.

In a social media outing on Saturday July 6, 2019, the leader of the Ambazonia Governing Council, AGC, Lucas Cho Ayaba, took a completely opposite direction saying; “Until the international system gives us the assurance that they recognize us as who we are then it means they are not acting in good faith. We are not a geographical part of Cameroun. I will not go to Geneva and sleep in cozy hotels. Negotiations are tough business; the venue must be right. We have nothing against Switzerland but let us have this imagination, for us to have a negotiated settlement we must move with the Ambazonia people and kill perception”.

Lucas Ayaba accused the international community of lack of good faith, arguing that by continuing to consider “Ambazonia” as a geographical part of Cameroon and thinking the country could act on good faith, they are pushing some like him to seem intransigent. Hear him; “Good faith requires the international system to openly recognize the two parties involved in the conflict -Ambazonia and Cameroun. Some of you think I am intransigent. I am not but when you deal with a country like Cameroun with untold abuses and unable to implement resolutions, then it’s being firm not intransigent”.

The tone of that outing heightened when Lucas Ayaba raised suspicions that Switzerland may after all not be an impartial mediator. He emphasized the closeness of Switzerland to Yaounde as a red flag; “We cannot have any discussion of our independence in Geneva when Geneva is too close to Yaounde and Cameroun. Switzerland is yet to clarify her position if they are for mediation or facilitator. We will only accept Switzerland if they accept to work with another mediator representing Ambazonia while they represent Cameroun and if Switzerland HD accepts that Independence is one of the options of the negotiated settlement”.

Even as we were about to go to press, another release landed on our news desk from the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) raising about the same apprehensions as the AGC (See full release on page 11). The Consortium release dated Monday July 8, 2019 notes; “We have observed that the mode of operation of HD consists in brainwashing through purported capacity building, divide-and-rule as a method of obtaining a mediation mandate, slander of other international stakeholders and blackmail of Southern Cameroons groups and faction leaders and an incomprehensible insistence on the need for secrecy where transparency should be the norm. This approach has created suspicions that HD is indeed acting on behalf of the government of the Republic of Cameroun in its desire to tone down international pressure while at the same time pursuing the massacre of unarmed civilians in the former UN Trust Territory of the British Southern Cameroons in all tranquility. This would enable them to make negotiations at some point no longer necessary”.

Like the AGC, the Consortium, the organization that ignited this wave of protests in 2016 insists on seeing another organization operate side-by-side the Swiss outfit, HD as mediator. The Consortium not only emphasizes the need for multiple mediation, but calls on the public to only look in that direction; “The Consortium in this regard, opts for and calls on the entire civil society of the Southern Cameroons that make up its membership, to stand for multi-mediation with all the advantages that come with it: openness, clarity, diversity and transparency”.

Earlier last week, a self-defense grouping known under the name Ambazonia Military Forces (AMF) issued a statement indicating they shall not recognize the outcome of any negotiations held in Switzerland championed by people they claim do not represent them. (See AMF elsewhere on this page). These media outings add to one by the AyukTabe-led faction of the “Ambazonia Interim Government”, drifting away from the position taken some 8 leaders in Geneva. Even among the 8 organizations that signed to the mediation deal, one; the Federation of Southern Cameroons Women Organization (FSCWO) retracted its adherence in a press statement signed by the vice president, Flora Nangah.

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Anglophone Problem: Swiss gov't mediation effort picks spanner in the wheel.