The Anglophone Crisis, a war in Cameroon that has been escalating for the past 10 years, has gone vastly under-reported, earning little attention from international media.
What started as protests against the Cameroonian government has quickly developed into an official conflict.
Yinyu Divine Mburi, a citizen and lawyer of Cameroon and a past resident of the Roaring Fork Valley, shared his and others’ personal experiences and grievances with the Anglophone Crisis.
Beginning in October 2016, Anglophone (the English-speaking minority of Cameroon) students, teachers and lawyers began protests against the Francophone (French-speaking) government, with Mburi taking part in the first day of protests.
Anglophone citizens believed the government was marginalizing them by forcing the French language in schools and civil law in Anglophone courts, in addition to the absence of proper care across English-speaking areas in Cameroon.
“Another glaring impact of marginalization is the lack of quality basic social amenities in the English part of the country,” Mburi said, “The regime had almost abandoned Anglophones to themselves.”
As an Anglophone Cameroonian, Mburi and others have also been forced to take University subjects in full French, even though they had been brought up speaking English. Often, Mburi has been refused service at public offices because of the language difference, being told to “go and speak your dialect in your place or village.”
Mburi also stated that the government has attempted to assimilate the French language into English-speaking schools and courts. In these classrooms, Anglophone students have received half-baked and incorrect information, Mburi said.
Mburi continued, saying that the protesters desired to solve this dilemma peacefully, and in response, the government began severe repression and crackdowns, such as sending troops and soldiers into towns.
During these crackdowns on civilian populations, Mburi saw violent acts on civilians, such as wanton killings, burning of villages and looting.
The government continued to employ excessive force by mass-arresting protesters, classifying them as terrorist groups and shutting off the internet to stop the spread of information. A blackout in 2017 in an Anglophone region, for example, lasted for months.
The crisis quickly continued to escalate. Because of the government crackdowns, many Anglophones have resorted to violence, forming separatist groups such as the Ambazonia Defense Forces, which came out of the Ambazonia Governing Council.
Anglophone protesters asserted their desire for independence from the French-dominated regime as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. Citizens began strikes and boycotts, continued to protest and armed separatist groups began to fight for independence. In 2017, the Federal Republic of Ambazonia was self-declared.
In December 2017, the Cameroon government officially declared war on the separatists.
Since the crisis began, Mburi has observed millions of internally and externally displaced Cameroonians. Mburi and his family have been internally displaced, being forced to leave their home and move to another town. With this displacement, Mburi said that his family had to adapt to a whole new lifestyle. Notably, they struggled financially to find a place to rent and find food, as Mburi said that everything in Cameroon is growing more expensive. They also struggled with switching school lessons from English to French in this new town.
Mburi described how many parts of Anglophone Cameroon, including his own village, became cut off due to armed separatist fighters and military checkpoints. Because of which, Mburi struggled to transport his mother back to his village for burial, after she passed away in a medical facility. He still faces difficulty just to return to place flowers at her grave.
Mburi added that the culture in Cameroon has been affected by the crisis, with people having to leave home also having to abandon cultural traditions.
When asked why he believes the Anglophone Crisis has been so under-reported, Mburi expressed his frustration and shock at the lack of media coverage, along with concerns that the government might be lobbying the international media to keep it quiet.
Mburi also said that he believes that the international community has little concern for Cameroon as a whole.
“It would appear some international bodies and sponsors and lobby groups, and even governments, do not have a direct interest in Cameroon and in the English-speaking [Cameroonians],” Mburi said.
As a former resident of the Roaring Fork Valley, Mburi believes that although the cultures of the two places are drastically different, the people are the same, with good hearts and intentions. The real problem in both areas is the government, Mbrui said.
Mburi encouraged residents in the Roaring Fork Valley to create awareness and urge members of Congress to use their influence for aid. Being a lawyer, Mburi said that financial support cannot be ignored for many who cannot afford legal fees, as he attends court to help vulnerable detainees, some of whom were arrested at street protests.
“We have to make it known,” he said. “But I pray that we don’t have to die in millions before the world knows. I don’t want people to die just for that purpose.”