On 10 May 2023, the Centre for Human Rights,Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria hosted a Panel Discussion on the Anglophone Crisis, moderated by Smith Naseri Edumebong. Ntokozo Sibanyoni welcomed all the participants in physical attendance and virtually, with over 80 participants joining the discussion and others following the event Live on the Centre’s YouTube Channel accessible here. 

Panelists:

1. Baiye Frida is a Frontline Defender for women and children in Cameroon.  She currently serves as the executive director of BAWAC Cameroon. She is also the project coordinator of the Feminist Engagement Coalition, Coalition for Women’s Rights and Empowerment, and Skills4Peace/Tech4Peace training programmes. 
2. Gaby Ambo is  the Founder/Executive Director of Finders Group Initiative (FGI), a human rights focus organisation in Africa with headquarters in Bamenda, Cameroon, and a Human Rights Advocate/Consultant particularly on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. 
3. Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho is a Cameroonian human rights lawyer and activist. He has worked as Legal Officer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Sierra Leone and as a Human Rights Officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. Felix founded the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, an organisation representing victims of human rights violations.
4. Achaleke Christian Leke is a young peacebuilder and violent extremism expert with 15 years of experience working as a practitioner, researcher and academic from Cameroon. The African Union recently appointed him to serve as the African Union Youth Ambassador for Peace representing the Central African Region with the mandate to champion the Youth Peace and Security Agenda. He holds an MSc in Conflict Security and Development from the University of Birmingham.

Barrister Felix Agbor Nkongho explained the Ambazonian crisis, stemming from colonial history and the partition of the country between Nigeria and French Cameroon. He highlighted that governance issues left the Anglophones feeling marginalised, with the government focusing on the Francophone region. He noted that the Boya conference resulted in a memorandum to the government about the potential of a tripartite government, which was not respected. He further highlighted that in 2016, a civil society consortium was formed to advocate against linguistic discrimination in the education and business sector.There were school boycotts and other activities to draw the attention of the government to the issue but in 2017, Consortium leaders were arrested. In 2019, a full blown armed conflict arose leading to destruction of the economy of the Anglophone region, children could not go to school and many were displaced. Barrister Nkongho concluded that despite attempts at dialogues, they were not representative or independent, and that even the separatists are actively violating human rights, although they rose to prominence as a liberation movement. 

Baiye Frida observed that from 2018 to 2020, young people were seen as perpetrators or victims of the conflict, but this changed due to young-people-led organisations, doing meaningful work to restore peace in Cameroon and to mediate issues in society through programs for peace-building. She stated that women and girls were being left behind in peacebuilding, but when their contribution was noticed, they were also invited to the front and started to build up capacity in their schools and communities.Ms. Baiye was critical that women and girls, mainly victims of war, were taught how to tell their stories in order to heal their trauma and educate the communities, becoming peace ambassadors.  Ms. Baiye highlighted that women-led organisations are now involved in evidence-based programming, by collecting data (surveys) and using it to contribute to solutions and peace. She also stated that faith based and traditional movements have been trained by CSOs on hate speech and xenophobia, such that using social media, the movements track trends and train communities to avoid hate speech.

Acheleke Leke highlighted that the conflict emerged when conflict resolution mechanisms in Cameroon were weak, and people thought fighting was beneficial, so when dialogue was proposed, the leaders were not ready. They did not have a culture of problem solving but assigning blame, without a peacebuilding approach, being peacebuilding: inside the room, beside the room, outside the room.These layers influence the consequences of the peace process and determine who is involved in the process. Mr. Leke stated that negotiations in Cameroon have failed to notice that the lowest of the people should be brought in and their voices heard in negotiations. Negotiators do not consider people that are not in the room. Negotiations have also excluded young people and that has created challenges. He also raised capacity-building as a challenge, focusing on building negotiation systems, but not the capacity for implementation, contributing to why processes fail. He stated that people cannot support dialogue when they do not have capacity and dialogue is not easy and is not accomplished through conferences.

Gaby Ambo highlighted the case before the African Commision in 2009, Gunme v Cameroon, alleging linguistic discrimination affecting business and human rights in the Anglophone region. He explained that despite the dynamics changing,  there are still recommendations relevant to restoring peace and resolving the Anglophone crisis that remain unimplemented. He recalled that the African Commission recommended that Cameroon should abolish practices that did not conform to democracy and promote discrimination. He highlighted the recommendation on equality between languages, trying people in the language they understand, or that interpreters be employed in courts and tribunals, with a reflective, regional balance in state projects. Ambo highlighted that Civil Society is calling for the implementation of the Gunme decision and for national dialogue to happen. It needs to be a structured dialogue such that there are equal voices between the well-positioned elites and people on the ground. He stated that reform of judicial structures is necessary but so far as the president is the head of judiciary, reforms will not be effective. What is needed is a dialogue to ensure that the key players also agree with the need to change, and a healing process begins. The responsibility is mainly on the state to ensure that justice is done, and is seen to be done.

The participants posed pertinent questions to the panelists, including how to ensure the peace process after the conflict, and whether the focus should be on calls for peace or justice. The panelists responded that without peace, it is difficult to attain justice. They also restated that In Cameroon they have been burning down the courts and other institutions to the ground so people cannot access justice. They agreed that justice is very important, but the priority of the people is for the conflict to end now, because peace creates an environment to easily address injustice. The conclusion was that focus on peace does not mean relegation of justice to the background. 

Mr. Naseri thanked all the panelists and committed to continued partnerships towards implementing the Group’s Advocacy Strategy.

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