This reflection is inspired by the fact that
unlike refugees who flee their countries because of sectarian or ethnic
conflicts, Rohingya refugees just like Anglophone Cameroonian refugees fled
their respective countries because of the rampaging actions of government
forces.
It is also informed by the fact that while the military in Myanmar took
the pretext of the border attack on a Myanmar uniform officer by a Rohingya to
descend on Rohingya to kill, maim, arrest and brutalize any able bodied
individual they found in the community, the military in Cameroon also took the
pretext of an attack on the military in Jakiri, Bafut and Mamfe, to descend on
Anglophone communities with reckless abandon, living in their wake hundreds
killed, maimed, arrested, and thousands displaced. It is also inspired by the
fact that just as the Rohingya crisis dates back to centuries, with Myanmar
government always claiming that the Rohingyas
are from Bangladesh descent and so should not
enjoy full Myanmar citizenship, the Anglophone Cameroon crisis dates back to
the tampering of the federal arrangement in 1972, and subsequent protest by
Anglophone leadership of their being treated as second class citizens by
francophone led regimes. It went to an extent that some francophones refer to
Anglophones as Biafrans who could as well go back to Nigeria if they are not
comfortable with Cameroon. Just like Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar President is
heaving a sigh of relief that the Rohingyas have finally left Myanmar back to their
ancestry in Bangladesh, Cameroon's President, Paul Biya may quietly be
expression the same contentment. For one thing, he knows and for a fact that
none of the over 40 000 registered refugees in camps in Nigeria constitute any political capital for him. So
it is good riddance they continue staying with their Biafran brothers in
Nigeria.
While some 420,000 Rohingya Muslims, a
religious and
minority community in Myanmar, have fled to
neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017, upwards of 40,000 Anglophone
refugees fleeing violence in the two minority English speaking Regions of
Cameroon started fleeing to neighbouring Nigeria since September 22, 2017.
While the Rohingya have been qualified by the
United Nations as the most persecuted minority group and described atrocities
by Myanmar's authorities as ethnic cleansing, a situation whereby one group
removes another ethnic group through violence, I dare qualify the Anglophone
minority in Cameroon today, as Africa's most persecuted minority group. You
just need to listen to heartrending accounts of fleeing survivors who tell you
the names they have been called by the rampaging francophone- dominated
military. Just as the persecution of Rohingya is not new or did not start in
2017, so too is the persecution of
Anglophone activists. If that of Rohingya dates back to 1948, the year the
country achieved independence from their British
colonizers, that of Anglophone Cameroonians
dates back to 1961, the year they decided to achieve independence by joining LA
Republique due Cameroon.
Just like West Cameroon that was promised
love, care and equality by the francophone leadership at independence, the
Rohingya in Myanmar had been promised an autonomous state within Myanmar by the
British before independence. Just like the Rohingya who were instead called foreigners by Myanmar
after independence when they started asking for the promised autonomy, West
Cameroonians were also denied all the advantages promised them by Ahidjo immediately
after independence. As animosities continued to grow, some within the
francophone leadership in Cameroon saw Anglophones as a nuisance, a people who
were not grateful to have been allowed to benefit from the wealth of larger
Cameroon. Like the Rohingya, the more Anglophones asked for their own fair
share in the larger body polity, the more they were treated as second class
citizens.
Like Anglophone activists who are today being
referred to as terrorists, Rohingyas were referred to by Myanmar government as
Mujahid. As stated by Engy Abdelkader, Rutgers University 2017 fellow, right up
till now, the international community has never agreed on how to define
terrorism. Although as she holds, the legal definition could vary by country as
politics dictates its contours, both Myanmar and Cameroon have found it
difficult convincing the international community that their freedom fighters
are terrorists. As another researcher, Ben Saul says, officials in a country
can use its meaning as a weapon against even valid political rivals and
demands. One does not need to negotiate the next bend before discovering that
Cameroon and Myanmar governments have use the meaning of terrorism as a weapon
against valid political demands.
Just like in 1962 where a military coup in
Myanmar culminated in a one party military state with democratic governance
woefully lacking and
worsening for the Rohingyas, it could also be
said that the 1972 abolishment of the federal system of government in Cameroon
by President Amadou Ahidjo and the unilateral change of nomenclature of the
country's name in 1984 by President Biya from the United Republic of Cameroon
to just Republic of Cameroon, also saw things beginning to worsen for
Anglophone Cameroonians. That single act ignited nationalist identity feelings
amongst Anglophone elites. Just like the
2017 Rohingya crisis where the army killed, tortured and raped, the same
scenario was text booked in Anglophone Cameroon. In much the same way the
Myanmar government had since independence systematically transferred all the
private Rohingya businesses to government ownership, the various
francophone-led governments in Yaoundé have since independence, systematically
transferred public West Cameroon profitable structures to Yaoundé and Douala,
or worked tirelessly to kill private and flourishing businesses in
Anglophone Cameroon. Cases abound, and not
limited to Marketing Board, Powercam, Air Transport, Wada Sum, Ombe, the Nanga
Company, and you name the rest. Like Rohingyas who, over the years have
suffered from systematic discrimination when it comes to employment into the
public service, arbitrary detention and physical abuse leading to so many
escaping to Bangladesh and other European and Western countries, Anglophone
Cameroonians have suffered same. In their frustration, those who could not
afford to go further afield found solace in neighbouring Nigeria. The more
determined found themselves in countries with jaw breaking names in the Middle
and Far East, Europe, Russia and America. Get to states in America and you
actually see colonies of Anglophone Cameroonians making the place community
look like an extension of a quarter in Bamenda or Buea. Just like in 1977, when
authorities in Myanmar launched a national drive to register citizens and
considered Rohingyas as foreigners, when authorities launch census or head
count in Cameroon they make sure real statistics of the growth of Anglophones
are doctored. In Myanmar, when Rohingyas protest and military come to molest
them and they flee to Bangladesh, Myanmar authorities point to their flight as
purported evidence of their illegal status and the fact that by fleeing to
Bangladesh means they are not Myanmar. In the same light, when clashes between
military and Anglophone activists push them to take up refuge in Nigeria,
authorities in Yaoundé point to their flight as evidence they are Biafra. Just
like the statelessness of Rohingya makes them defenseless in the face of
Myanmar military, the second class citizenship of Anglophone Cameroonians also
make them defenseless in the face of rampaging Cameroon military who now claim
to be fighting terrorists. Thousands of defenseless minority English speaking
Cameroon's are detained, molested, maimed and killed for their sports. The same
way flies are to wanton boys, so are Anglophone
Cameroonians to the military.
As Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been
telling Human Rights Watch that government forces carried out armed attacks,
and burned down their homes, as well as beheaded men, raped women and murdered
children, same picture is being painted by fleeing Anglophone refugees in
Nigeria.
Like in the case of the humanitarian
catastrophe in Myanmar with Rohingya refugees where the Army denies any
wrongdoing, so too is the situation in Anglophone Cameroon. Apart from
government ministers taking turns to praise our military for their
professionalism, a military spokesman just two weeks ago issued a disclaimer
urging those claiming Cameroon military is carrying out exactions to bring
proof. Just like Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi shunning criticism
and refusing to acknowledge the plight of the Rohingya, Cameroon's President
Paul Biya has made no effort to recognize the plight of the thousands of
Anglophone refugees and the thousands of internally displaced. The Muteff Boy's
Take
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