Cameroonians in Colorado Rally Against President Paul Biya

PRC.CM

Cameroon Pres­i­dent, Paul Biya, and First Lady, Chan­tal Biya, at a recep­tion for the Cameroon Nation­al Foot­ball team at the pres­i­den­tial palace in Yaounde. Feb­ru­ary 2017

Since Novem­ber 2016, the African nation of Cameroon has been embroiled in civ­il unrest marked by demon­stra­tions and boy­cotts against the Fran­coph­o­ne-dom­i­nat­ed gov­ern­ment of Pres­i­dent Paul Biya.

Recent news reports point to many civil­ian deaths through police action, while oth­ers, includ­ing jour­nal­ists, lawyers, and civ­il soci­ety lead­ers, have been arrest­ed and placed on trial.

The Cameroon admin­is­tra­tion recent­ly began the use of French in courts and class­rooms in the Anglo­phone regions of the coun­try as a way to pro­mote bilin­gual­ism and nation­al inte­gra­tion. This action sparked demon­stra­tions led by teach­ers’ and lawyers’ unions.

In an attempt to con­trol the sit­u­a­tion, the gov­ern­ment autho­rized the shut­down of inter­net ser­vice to the North­west and South­west regions, the two Eng­lish-speak­ing parts of the coun­try where the trou­ble began. The admin­is­tra­tion has tak­en oth­er mea­sures to pre­serve order, such as the cre­ation of a com­mis­sion on bilin­gual­ism and cul­ture to be chaired by the president.

Around the world, the country’s dias­po­ra has tar­get­ed British and French embassies and con­sulates, say­ing their colo­nial mas­ters are com­plic­it and doing noth­ing against human rights abus­es and the oppres­sion of minor­i­ty Anglo­phones by the Biya administration.

The Eng­lish-speak­ing Cameroo­ni­ans in the North­west and South­west regions also say they have been mar­gin­al­ized for too long and want a return to the two-state fed­er­al sys­tem the coun­try formed when East and West Cameroon came togeth­er in 1961. Oth­ers are call­ing for the seces­sion or sep­a­ra­tion of the country’s Anglo­phone regions to form a coun­try which they have named South­ern Cameroons or Ambazo­nia Republic.

While the sit­u­a­tion has received plen­ty of inter­na­tion­al media cov­er­age, it’s dif­fi­cult to say what comes next in the coun­try of about 25 mil­lion peo­ple. The coun­try has gen­er­al­ly enjoyed peace, but there are fears the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion could esca­late and threat­en sta­bil­i­ty in the Cen­tral African region.

Why a Cameroon Ral­ly in Colorado? 

In Col­orado, the Cameroon dias­po­ra of more than 500 (many of them U.S. cit­i­zens) is spread around South East Auro­ra, Cen­ten­ni­al, Den­ver, Boul­der, and Col­orado Springs. The com­mu­ni­ty wants to make their voice heard about the sit­u­a­tion in their native country.

Com­mu­ni­ty leader, Lucas Nkwelle, a teacher with the Auro­ra Pub­lic School sys­tem, said he recent­ly met with Den­ver May­or, Michael Han­cock, and oth­er city offi­cials to seek solu­tions to the sit­u­a­tion in Cameroon.

Nkwelle said his com­mu­ni­ty will gath­er at the Auro­ra Pub­lic Library on Sun­day, Feb­ru­ary 26, for a town hall meet­ing to express their con­cern about the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion in the country.

The lead­ers have also sought help from for­mer Auro­ra city coun­cil­man, Ryan Fra­zier to address the sit­u­a­tion in Cameroon.

Mean­while, in an inter­view grant­ed to the British Broad­cast­ing Cor­po­ra­tion (BBC) for the pro­gram “Focus on Africa,” gov­ern­ment spokesper­son and com­mu­ni­ca­tions min­is­ter Issa Tchi­ro­ma Bakary said many of the accu­sa­tions made against the admin­is­tra­tion are untrue.

Bakary told BBC’s Audrey Brown the gov­ern­ment is open to dia­logue and nego­ti­a­tions with the Anglo­phones, so long as their demands are with­in the laws and con­sti­tu­tion of the coun­try. He said while the inter­net is a “mar­velous tool,” the gov­ern­ment shut it down in the Anglo­phone regions because it was being used “to incite hatred, polit­i­cal upheaval, riots” in the country.