Violence in Cameroonian schools: Anglophone crisis deteriorates

During the months of October and November, in the English-speaking area of ​​Cameroon, there have been several episodes of violence related to the separatist crisis in the region. Among the events that took place, those of November 4 stand out, when an attack was registered against a school in the southwestern region of the country, mostly Anglophobic. In this case, the episode has caused damage to the facilities but no victims have been reported, although several of them, according to the ActuCameroun portal, have suffered physical and sexual abuse. That same day, six teachers from a primary school in the northwest of the country were also kidnapped.

These events take place the day after the kidnapping of 11 teachers and several students after another assault in the northwestern region of the country. Ten days before these episodes, on October 24, seven students were also shot at a school in the southwest of the country. The alleged culprits of these attacks that have horrified the international community are, according to the Cameroonian government, secessionist rebels from the English-speaking part of the country. The fact that attacks on schools multiplied in October and November is due to the fact that, after 7 months of closure in national schools due to the coronavirus, the State encouraged schools in these regions to open schools on October 5, promising protection to students and teachers.
 

Some of the schools in the English-speaking region had closed in 2016 due to threats from separatist groups and did not open until October 5, 2020. Some separatists have defiantly understood that government promise to defend teachers and they have begun to attack schools again, demonstrating the inability of the state to protect schools and that the crisis of separatism has not ended. Many of the schools that would have reopened at the beginning of October after the four years of forced closure, have had to close again due to threats and attacks.

These episodes of violence are related to the unresolved conflict of British decolonization that has given rise to the independence movement in the Anglophone region of Cameroon. In 2016, peaceful protests began in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, better known as the Ambazonia area. During the demonstrations, the population of the area claimed that the bilingualism promised by the laws was not being respected. Despite it being a recognized right, most civil servants were not able to speak or understand English, and this affected the rights of people who did not speak French and who needed public attention.

The case of the lawyers is a very illustrative example. The judges from the French-speaking area were unaware of the rules and procedures of the “common law”, which is the legal system used in the English-speaking provinces. The lawyers, therefore, claimed that neither the procedural guarantees nor the rights of those represented were being respected. Despite the fact that some of the protests were valid, the harsh repression of the State during the protests ended the lives of 17 people and the self-proclamation of the independence of Ambazonia on October 1, 2017.

Since the protests began in 2016 until today, the crisis has left more than 700,000 displaced by the conflict and 3,000 dead. The armed separatist militias and the State are the main actors in this violence. Since the beginning of the crisis, both the leaders of Cameroonian civil society and the leaders of the political opposition have opted for an inclusive dialogue, rather than an armed response, to end the crisis. Finally, the government decided to organize a conference of the Great National Dialogue at the end of 2019 with the aim of solving the English-speaking crisis.

The separatists did not attend the dialogue since months before, the government had sentenced several of the separatist leaders to life imprisonment. The dialogue concluded with the government releasing several opposition leaders and granting an alleged special status to the Anglophone region with a controversial law, which MPs from the Anglophone region considered insufficient.

The conflict, therefore, continued as if the dialogue had not taken place. On December 6, the first regional elections will be held in which 90 regional councilors with limited powers will be selected, including 20 representatives of the traditional authorities. These elections, which will presumably also be held in the Anglophone regions, will allow the "traditional councils" provided for in the 1996 Constitution to be set in motion, which will grant greater decentralization to the Anglophone provinces. Although the constitution provided for it, this will be the first time they are held.

Some separatists are opposed to the holding of these elections, considering them insufficient without a complete electoral reform and a true resolution to the Anglophone conflict, and have already announced that they will do what is in their power to boycott them. The enmities between the separatists and the 87-year-old president who has been in power since 1982, Paul Biya, complicate the possibility of reaching an agreement while the latter remains in power. Regardless of the outcome of the regional elections, it seems that this stalled conflict is not going to be resolved in the near future.