Cameroonians are not in a mood to celebrate an
independence many feel is flawed because of the perceived continued
dominance of France in the country. They feel that mistakes of the past
have led to the crises today.
Cameroonian activist Andre Blaise Essama feels his country is still a
far cry from decolonization. He has been repeatedly sentenced and
jailed for damaging statues that, in his view, contradict all that
independence stands for. In 2016 he spent six months in prison for
destroying a monument to French colonial general Leclerc. Earlier he had
been sentenced to three months for knocking over the statue of the
Unknown Soldier, because it was represented by a white western man. The
statue's head disappeared in April of this year. The suspicion fell
immediately on Essama.
On the 60th anniversary of the
independence of the French-speaking part of the Cameroons on January 1,
2020 the activist plans to pay another visit to Leclerc's statues. His
own way of celebrating Independence Day is to strike at the image. "Once
you have decolonized a people, they should no longer submit to France,"
Essama says in frustration. "France would never allow a Paul Biya
monument to be dedicated in the country. Do they have a Cameroonian
general honored that way? No."
France continues to rule
French General Leclerc's statue still has pride of place in Douala
Essama
is not the only Cameroonian who feels that 60 years on his country is
still not decolonized. Both French and English-speaking Cameroonians see
France more as an enemy than a friend. Historian Edward Nfor says that
France deceived the world in 1960 by pretending that Cameroon was
independent, although it continues to rule the country today. "The
French rule by remote control. Cameroon's President Paul Biya goes to
France to get instructions or ask what to do in his country."
Cameroonian
economist Babissakana Thomas says that one of the main reasons for the
growing anti-French sentiment is that more than half of Cameroon's
financial reserves are kept in the French treasury. This is the result
of an agreement signed in 1948, long before independence. "A country
cannot have independence if its currency, which is an essential
instrument for its economic policy, is controlled by a former colonial
ruler. Cameroon should ask all French citizens working in its central
bank to leave the country."
Anti-French feelings
Building
contractor Etienne Essomba agrees. He knows that if he applies for a
project against French competition he will lose out, because many
government projects are awarded to French companies. "I don't understand
why Cameroon should be treated this way," he says. "We are no banana
republic. We are a state governed by the rule of law and people should
respect that. We should all defend our country always."
Despite
all the French influence in Cameroon, Cameroonians find it hard to
travel to France. Only 30% of a total of 300,000 visa applications were
accepted in 2019. According to the French ambassador to Cameroon,
Christophe Guilhou, relations between the two countries are positive.
"France has always been and will always be on Cameroon's side, because
Cameroon is an important economic partner in Central Africa. France is a
very important partner in the Cameroonian economy, with more than 300
companies creating thousands of jobs in Cameroon," he told DW.
President Paul Biya's (left) closeness with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron is not welcomed by all Cameroonians.
A controversial independence
In
1919, after the First World War, France and Britain each got a piece of
formerly German Cameroon. In March 1959, French Cameroon's legislative
assembly held a heated debate on the country's independence. The
National Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) under the leadership of
Dr. Félix Roland Moumié argued that reunification should precede
independence. But then Prime Minister Ahmadou Ahidjo saw independence as
the country's primary goal.
This led Moumié to found the
Cameroonian Liberation Army in May 1959. It consisted of UPC fighters
who had already rebelled against the French government months earlier.
"They believed that this independence was a false independence," recalls
writer Enoh Meyonmesse, who, at the time, lived with his parents in
Douala. "Douala was at war. It was not unlike what is happening right
now in northwest and southwest Cameroon. The violence was terrible. As a
child I was used to seeing cut off heads and bodies in the ravines in
the morning. It became commonplace in Douala."
On New Year's Eve
of 1959, shots rang out in the city. The next morning, President Ahidjo
proclaimed independence, says cultural entrepreneur Luc Delors
Yatchokeu, who lived with his parents in Mbanga, an hour's drive from
Douala. "I remember that there was a big military parade outside our
house." The country was beside itself with joy when the independence
speech was broadcast live by Radio Douala, Cameroon's leading radio
station.
A part of Cameroon lost
The secession drive in Anglophone regions threatens to tear the country asunder
According
to Nfor, France should never have had a say in Cameroon's independence:
"In 1960 Cameroon was a protectorate of the United Nations, divided in
two. How could France grant Cameroon independence? They should have
obtained independence through a referendum organized by the United
Nations, as happened in the Anglophone part of the country."
South
Cameroonians, controlled by the British, were watching very closely
what was happening on the French side. According to historians, there
was great enthusiasm among political leaders in British Cameroon for the
independence of French Cameroon. There were expectations that British
Cameroon too would quickly become independent and that this would pave
the way for unification.
British South Cameroon gained
independence in a UN referendum on February 11, 1961. It was immediately
attached to the former French Cameroon, while the British northern part
was annexed to Nigeria. The Republic of Cameroon and South Cameroon
became federal states. Nine months later, on October 1, 1961, they
formed the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The federation of two states
became the United Republic of Cameroon after a second referendum on May
20, 1972.
South Cameroon becomes part of the Republic
More than half of Cameroon's financial reserves are kept in the French treasury.
"We
were very happy to see our English-speaking brothers return. But we
believed it had been Ahidjo who had allowed the other part of Cameroon
to join Nigeria," said the writer and academic emeritus Patrice Kayo.
"Ahidjo was an agent of French colonialism. And France did not want
theEnglish-speaking people. They urged Ahidjo to allow the country to be
divided in two before the referendum. If there had been a referendum,
all of Cameroon would have returned."
In 1984, the young
President of the Republic, Paul Biya, decided by decree to rename the
country the Republic of Cameroon. The Anglophone population of Cameroon
felt excluded and systematically oppressed in a country they had not
wanted to belong to from the start. "Paul Biya himself said that they
had tried to make the Englishmen live like Frenchmen. Today, the
Englishman is rebelling," said Nfor. This was at the root of the
Anglophone crisis in which Cameroon, a country of 26 million
inhabitants, finds itself submerged today.
The central government
in Yaounde is trying to defuse the tension through measures like
decentralization and the recognition of a special status for the
English-speaking regions. But three years of war have done much damage.
So far the civil war started by Anglophone secessionists has claimed
3000 lives. Thousands were displaced. Almost the entire economy of the
English-speaking part of the country has been badly
affected. Sixty years after independence, Cameroon has yet to shed the
burden of the past.
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