Southern Cameroons Crisis and the Coffin of Mancho Bibixy

When was the last time you heard the name Mancho Bibixy? That deafening silence you hear is the silence of forgetfulness created by the crisis of improvisation - making up things as we go - which is now the state of the crisis. But Mancho Bibixy is a name that is central to the uprising now rocking Anglophone Cameroon. He is now languishing in prison in Yaoundé, Cameroon, after his arrest in January 2017 and his sentencing to fifteen years in prison, in May 2018, for spearheading the call for a federal state in Cameroon. When Mr. Bibixy first came to the spotlight, he was standing in a coffin. He made his demand for the change of the status quo standing in a coffin, a powerful symbol that has been interpreted as representing the death of Southern Cameroons.

However, the coffin in which Mr. Bibixy stood says more than simply representing the death of Southern Cameroon. If Southern Cameroon were dead, Mr. Bibixy would not be standing, let alone standing in a coffin. Mr. Bibixy chose the coffin because it is the reality of many of those who dare to challenge the status quo in much of Africa. Those who have stood up against the machinery of power that wreaks havoc on the lives of many Africans, more often than not, end up in the coffin. Sometimes this coffin is a tight cell and other times it is placed in the ground. The coffin is a symbol of the overcoming of the fear that inhibits people's ability to stand up to the terror of the African state. It is a demonstration of the willingness to die for the cause, thus setting people free to rise up with abandon.

The coffin is also a more powerful symbol: it is the symbol of the person of peace. It may be surprising that a symbol of death may be a sign of peace but there is a long history of instruments of murder standing for peace, especially in the story of the cross of Jesus. Thus, when Mr. Bibixy stood in that coffin, he was not only announcing his willingness to die for the Southern Cameroons cause; he was also announcing his willing to die rather than take a life for the cause. And that is perhaps the main difference between Mr. Bibixy and the Ambazonia people who have taken up arms. But the difference is great. Killing for a cause debases the killer and jeopardizes the cause. Killing is the work of anger not fortitude, of revenge not determination. By standing in the coffin, Mr. Bibixy brings together fortitude and determination, doing more for the cause with less resources. His confinement today, even when it is rumored that there have been means for him to escape, is a powerful continuation of this willingness to lay down his life rather than take the life of others, even if his cause is just. Else, he could have escaped when the opportunity presented itself and join the ranks of those who have taken up arms with self-justifying righteousness, dancing the dance of death in Cameroon. Remember the name: Mancho Bibixy. He stood in the coffin and announced a new day. That new day belongs to people like him.

Factions of the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis

The brutal murders of Paul Biya's soldiers in Anglophone Cameroon and the Far North of the country and the murders, kidnappings, and wielding of weapons of the different factions of Ambazonia fighters seem to have given the impression that there are only two sides to the Cameroon Anglophone Crisis - the government and Ambazonia fighters. But nothing could be far from the truth. I will show below the different factions to the crisis and state where my sympathies lie, given that I have a dog in the fight and plan to continue to be part of any future to which this process may lead.

The first faction is of course the Biya junta which has been in the news recently for the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by its soldiers in both the Anglophone region and the Far North of Cameroon. Its goal is to see the status quo maintained, come what may. This goal is of course not tenable. The Biya junta has to go! The current elections it is organizing is a sham and should be boycotted by all. Given that the thing has already been rigged, the Biya junta will continue to be illegitimate, serving the interests of its overseas partners instead of the people of Cameroon.

The second faction is the group that calls itself Ambazonia and its fighters. Their goal is to see Anglophone Cameroon become a new country which they are to lead. Their diagnosis of the problem in Anglophone Cameroon is that things are the way they are because of the machinations of the Francophone-dominated government. Only separation from the Francophone part of the country would bring the requisite transformation they seek. I oppose this group for several reasons, including its diagnosis of the problem, its use of violence and its lack of clarity about how to strategically do so, and its connection of the fate of its hoped-for country to Europe and the United States. First, its diagnosis of the Anglophone problem. It is true that Anglophones have been marginalized in many important ways that have been discussed elsewhere, but to claim, as some Ambazonia sources have done, that economic matters have no role to place in the current crisis, is to give a superficial reading of the situation. One does not have to be a Marxist to know that the base of any war like this one is economic. Second, their use of violence throws away any moral high ground Anglophones had over Biya in their struggle against marginalization. The strategies they have used have been all over the place, showing profound lack of careful deliberation on the matter. The fact that they have closed schools in the Anglophone regions is despicable. How can the lost time in the classroom ever be recovered? Finally, the fact that they are relying on foreign help to create this new country they hope for just shows that the new country is going to be a client state of America or another European country, just as Cameroon is now a client state of France. I therefore do not see any difference between their new state and the current Cameroon.

The third faction is made up of Anglophones who are working in French-speaking region of the country. Some of them work for the Biya junta and so support Biya's vision. There are some, who support Ambazionia's vision and others who clearly do not. Some of the people in this third group are vocal about their stance but most are not. Some have chosen to remain neutral for strategic reasons.

The fourth group is those Anglophones in the Anglophone region of the country who support the status quo. A good example of this is the notorious mayor of Buea, Patrick Ekema, and his followers. They are whipping up the latent xenophobia in the south west part of Anglophone Cameroon to challenge Ambazionia vision of a united Anglophone front.

There is a fifth group made up of those Anglophones living in both the Anglophone and Franco-phone regions who clearly do not support Ambazonia's vision and they have made that known. There are many ordinary people in this group but the group is led by politicians. Joshua Osih, the SDF (Social Democratic Front) Presidential candidate and Anglophones who support him belong to this group. Kah Walla, the President of the Cameroon People's Party and her supporters belong to this group also. A significant difference between Kah Walla and Joshua Osih, however, is that Kah Walla has called for Biya to go and has refused to participate in the upcoming Presidential election. She holds that the Biya junta must go before a better future for Cameroon can be reasonably discussed.  She clearly rejects the violence of Ambazonia, and, like Osih, she has a vision for Cameroon as a whole rather than just part of it.

My sympathy is with Kah Walla's position. First, I hold that Biya and his junta must go before there can be any meaningful discussion of the future of Cameroon. Second, I strongly reject the idea that the Anglophone region should be a new country because I hold that the problem of our marginalization will not be solved by a new country. I say this with somber knowledge of the many refugees this crisis has created, the horrible deaths and destruction of villages, imprisonment and torture, that have been visited on many. But the fact that Biya is doing the same thing in the Far North tells me that the problem is the Biya junta and creating a different country to address the foibles of the Biya junta is not radical enough. Also, there are latent forms of marginalization among Anglophone Cameroonians that will not be solved by a new country. Further, given that the central economic problems are not even acknowledged by leaders of Ambazonia, it is not clear how they would prioritize it. Finally, my vision is that the African continent should become one country. Breaking the continent into separate, little countries cause more harm than good to the people of the continent, as Kwame Nkrumah saw over fifty years ago.

Based on these considerations, my position is that Cameroon should become a genuine federal state.