CI-NEWS

If only Yaounde authorities had listened to Ntumfor Nico Halle

2019-06-04

No: 430

If only Yaounde authorities had listened to Ntumfor Nico Halle

This reflection is inspired by the fact that unlike many an Anglophone elite who hitherto were noisily claiming to be the mouthpieces of their constituencies and who had since the outbreak of the conflict gone into a trance like Rip Van Winkle, only to noisily awake the day they discover a final solution has been sought to the conflict to once again claim they worked out the solution behind the scenes, celebrated international peace crusader, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle, has not only been putting in the extra hour and the extra energy to publicly proffer solutions, but also, has been articulate on the fact that only an inclusive dialogue without any preconditions can put a definitive end to the raging conflict.

It is the more informed by the fact that as Yaounde authorities have, for the past three years, been reticent on providing real time and appropriate solutions to end the conflict, more than five generations of unborn Anglophones have been radicalized, given that a dream bottled is but a dream deferred.

It is also inspired by the fact that as it stands, the government of Cameroon is running too late to resolve the problem without any external intrusion as it has squandered the last clear window of opportunity it had after the Prime Minister's visit to the two English-speaking zones, and as the UN Human Rights Commissioner warned recently.

Just like the story is told of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle who instead of engaging in constructive dialogue with his nagging wife rather wandered with his dog off into the mountainside where weird spirits lured him into consuming a concoction that made him to sleep for 20 long years, many a hitherto noisy Anglophone elite who before the crisis claimed to the unsuspecting local populations how they had the ears of Yaounde, also since went mute. After waking up and discovering that he had not only grown old but had developed long beards, Rip Van Winkle reluctantly returned to his community only to discover his nagging wife had not only died but also that his community had been totally transformed as the old order had changed giving way to the new. As he moved toward a crowd discussing with a lot of vibrancy how the elections went, one person asked him how he voted. Having never voted in his life, he confidently tells them he is still faithful to King George III.

He is almost lynched by the excited mob but for a neighbour who identified him as missing Rip Van Winkle. During his long slumber, the American revolutionary war had been fought against Great Britain and George Washington, the President of the new America, had in turn guaranteed them wide-ranging freedoms. He also discovered most of his friends had died while fighting the liberation war. Rip Van Winkle's nagging wife could as well be the restive Anglophone activists whom elites and by extension, Yaounde authorities, are whiling in actively engaging them in constructive dialogue.

In taking the challenge, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle, alongside other few liberal-minded elites, has since the start of the crisis been articulate about a five-stage road map President Paul Biya ought to take in order to quickly put an end to this situation. The first building block to the solution, according to Ntumfor, would be for Biya to publicly apologize to Anglophones for what government has done or failed to do in the past to make the experience of living together an enjoyable one. Ntumfor had held and continues to hold that apologizing would not make President Paul Biya any less a worthy father of the nation. Rather, it would make him greater. In urging the President to address a public apology to Anglophones on behalf of the nation, Ntumfor finds expression in the fact that Christ chose to die for sins he did not commit and to pay a debt he didn't owe.

Stage two of Ntumfor's road map to solving the crisis would be for the President to declare a ceasefire. According to him, the declaration of a ceasefire is a condition sine qua non to building confidence on both sides of the divide. By this, it goes without saying that the initiative to make the guns go silent lies with the President of the Republic for the rest to follow.

After the guns have been silenced, Ntumfor suggests the next step to be the declaration of an amnesty to all who both at home and abroad have been involved in the revolutionary war. To achieve its intended results, the amnesty needs to be general and not selective as we have seen with other decisions in the past. It also sends a message to activists that they are still sons and daughters of the same nation.

A logical step four, going by Ntumfor's road map, would be to grant clemency to those already convicted of crimes in relation to the running Anglophone conflict. This would enable them be part of the enlarged constructive dialogue that would bring all shades of opinions on the table.

According to him, the proposed dialogue must be without any pre-conditions. Contrary to what government officials hold that for dialogue to hold the form of state must not be on the agenda, Ntumfor seems to see differently, and for good measure.

The final step to the road map entails that government sets up a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. It is the belief and understanding of this son of a pastor that just as there can be no peace without justice, there can be no justice without truth. When truth and justice are in place, reconciliation naturally follows.

What with the Articles of Association being rewritten at the end of the reconciliation and inclusive dialogue process? It should be recalled that Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle is not at his first experience proposing such workable road maps to crisis-ridden situations. He was solicited for the same exercise in Rwanda and in Zimbabwe. On the occasion of this year's Ascension where on going up back to Heaven, Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and Advocate, it would make sense Cameroon authorities seize the moment, as if it were, and give a listening ear to this international peace crusader and advocate, as well as the pleas of Cameroonians of good will. Ntumfor's persistent cries may as well be God's voice that is calling on high. Through Ntumfor's voice, and those of other Cameroonians earnestly working to find a solution to the conflict, God may as well be telling Biya that 'If you hear my voice, harden not thy heart'.

Ntumfor's cries come to add to the numerous voices and foreign dignitaries that have been making rounds at Cameroon's Unity Palace urging President Biya to resolve the crisis through an inclusive dialogue that addresses the root causes of the problem. From the UN Secretary General's Representative in Central Africa, to the UN Secretary General himself, through the Secretary General to the Commonwealth of Nations, the U.S Under Secretary of State for African Affairs to the Secretary General to the Francophonie and not lesser than six ambassadors, including those of France, Switzerland, America and Canada, President Biya had been as adamant as King Pharaoh. Like Moses, Aaron and other elders that God sent to Pharoah and Egyptians urging them to leave His people go, Ntumfor, other well meaning elites and bilateral and multilateral partners have in the past three years been urging Biya to urgently resolve the Anglophone Crisis before it goes past the level of 'si je savais'.

The consequences of any further delay may not be the 10 plagues God sent to Pharoah and the Egyptians but they may be far worse. Ntumfor's voice may still be a voice in the wilderness, but it may not take the 400 years the Israelites suffered under Pharaoh and the Egyptians for change to come because the Egyptians we see today, we may never see them again.

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If only Yaounde authorities had listened to Ntumfor Nico Halle

If only Yaounde authorities had listened to Ntumfor Nico Halle