Maintaining The Path Of Peace Over Violence In Addressing National Grievances

By Sammy Kum Buo*

Following the recent turbulence in our country, some compatriots jokingly asked me if it was not time for the UN to intervene in Cameroon. I replied instantly and firmly in the negative.

Cameroon, I insisted, can resolve its problems by itself, and through compromise, NOT through civil war.Cameroon has long enjoyed a well earned reputation as a land of peace. Its rare stability in conflict-prone central Africa has attracted nearly 100,000 refugees fleeing war and destruction in neighbouring countries, in particular the Central African Republic and Chad.

Cameroon's hospitality in welcoming fellow Africans in need of refuge, has further enhanced our image and standing in the community of nations, while strengthening, in concrete terms, the sense of solidarity that we Africans so often espouse.

Although our efforts at nation-building are neither perfect nor complete, we have already succeeded in positioning a unique and very promising experiment in the heart of Africa. Not only are the people talented and enterprising, Cameroon's immense potential remains largely untapped and underutilised.

The power to be mobile and make international calls at discounted prices - MobileCaller.com.

I am, therefore, concerned that despite being a proud and intelligent people, we seem constantly to overreact to the slightest hint of criticism. Why can we not simply engage in dispassionate dialogue or refute what we may view as unwarranted and false accusations, without being defensive?

Above all, as a country that constantly reaffirms its respect for the rule of law and has signed various international conventions on civil, political, socio-economic and human rights, Cameroon should seek to ensure that the enjoyment of these rights by its population is unfettered and protected. In that way, we can reduce criticisms and continue to build an even stronger nation.

Most Cameroonians were born after independence. They have, therefore, known only peace. Those who remember the violent conflicts of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, certainly do not want to relive the nightmare of those dark years. We, therefore, are capable of pulling back from the brink, on our own, and consolidating the precious, even if still fragile stability we have achieved.

That is why I am very proud of the spontaneous and categorical rejection by the overwhelming majority of Cameroonians of recent unpatriotic statements which sought to incite hatred and divisions among Cameroonians under the pretext of defending the government.

It is significant that the government dissociated itself from such a dangerous fringe. After all, the government is for all Cameroonians. As we all may know, since the Cold War ended in 1989, and following the lessons learned from the shaky response to the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, the international community has become increasingly resolute in opposing and punishing egregious malpractices, such as genocide,

war crimes and other massive violations of human rights, in particular through prosecution by international tribunals. We should, therefore, not allow our country to be dragged into or otherwise become associated with such an ignominious pool.

A strong democracy is built by free, independent and responsible citizens. The freedom of the press that we enjoy is both a symbol of and a tool for our nascent democracy. So is the freedom of assembly. There was a time when Cameroonians needed a laissez-passer to travel from one town to the next.

That was a reflection of the unstable and insecure period at the time. Today, we have the constitutional right to travel and to speak freely. It would be regressive to attempt to pull us back. What is especially important, however, is for us to exercise our rights with a high sense of responsibility and, above all, patriotism.

A true patriot will not violate a fellow compatriot's rights, destroy public property, loot private businesses or otherwise undertake or promote actions or policies that diminish his/her country.

Patriots are found at every level of society, but the expectations for patriotic deeds are understandably higher for those who are entrusted and paid by their people to lead them. After all, in a democracy, the government is, in the final analysis, accountable to the people. It takes all of us working together, the government and the people, to build a better Cameroon.

In fact, to paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, we should "ask not what the country can do for us, but what we can do for the country."In my many years of professional involvement in conflict resolution and the restoration of peace in war torn societies in Africa, I have learned many important lessons, including the following:

The cost of conflict, not only in terms of loss of lives and the destruction of property, or the divisions and polarization within the society is higher than any possible benefit that could be derived from resort to violence; dialogue and negotiation are the most effective tools for the peaceful settlement of conflicts.

Again, to paraphrase President Kennedy, we, as a nation, should not negotiate out of fear, but mostly, we should not fear to negotiate"; while a conflict can explode in a second, it takes years to repair the damage; the peace that reigns in Cameroon has given Cameroonians greater credibility as peace facilitators or mediators; Africa's chronic instability has tarnished the continent's image, hampered its ability to attract foreign investors; and above all, severely degraded the dignity of Africans; societies which make peaceful demonstrations and freedom of expression impossible, make violent conflicts inevitable.

In a recent study published by a group of international NGOs, it emerges that 38 percent of the world's armed conflicts are being fought in Africa, with the continent accounting for almost half of all high-intensity conflicts in the world. The financial cost of those conflicts to the African economy is estimated annually at US $18 billion or over US $300 billion since 1990.

That is approximately 8 FCFA trillion a year. In addition to the direct cost in lives lost, infrastructure damaged and resources diverted from development to emergency humanitarian care, conflicts result in reduced economic activity due to insecurity, the brain drain, reduced investment and export, increased debt, loss of development aid and the increased diversion of national revenue to illicit, private use.

The intangible political and psychological consequences of war, resulting from divisions among the population due to heightened mistrust, also cast a heavy shadow and undermine prospects for prosperity and development.

I have chosen to highlight that somber background from other parts of our continent to underscore the need for us to cherish and nourish the peace we have enjoyed for decades, by learning from the mistakes of our neighbours in conflict. The fact that President Paul Biya responded to the people's strong expression of frustration over the high cost of living is an example of the way in which Cameroonians seek to settle disputes.

That example needs to be consolidated and faithfully replicated at all levels in our society if we are to avoid plunging the country into the bottomless pit of conflict.

The views expressed in this article are solely his personal views and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Organisation

Director of African Affairs in the UN Department of Political Affairs in New York.

Comments

[TAGRO]

The Southern Cameroons must be de-colonized; by any means necessary.

Unfortunately, because the UN and France, the owner la Republique du Cameroun, have displayed "a fear to negotiate" with Southern Cameroonians over the years, the day is coming when they must "negotiate out of fear" because they, contrary to what you write Sir, have already resorted to violence. For colonialism, as Frantz Fanon says, "is violence in its natural state, and it will only yield when confronted with greater violence."

Sir, you and your organisation have been playing the Ostrich with head firmly buried in the sand and taunting the people of SC to do exactly what you purport to frown against.

As you so well put it, "the cost of conflict, not only in terms of loss of lives and the destruction of property, or the divisions and polarization within the society is higher than any possible benefit that could be derived from resort to violence; dialogue and negotiation are the most effective tools for the peaceful settlement of conflicts." We of the Southern Cameroons are living this reality, living in a manufactured conflict made of France and la Republique du Cameroun's colonization of our homeland.

But yours is a platitude that both the French and American revolutionaries will spit on. Africans love that type of language. We of the Southern Cameroons, like the French, American, and close to home, the black South African revolutionaries, must not be afraid to embrace "violence" in order to secure justice!

If you are so concerned about your peaceful Cameroon, and I believe you are, you should send your nice write up to the French-implanted Yaounde junta for them to stop the violence they have been visiting upon the people of the Southern Cameroons since 1961. You can ignore the elephant in the living room only for so long.

[Ma Mary]

Sammy, join OUR OWN NAME competition. If you win, plough it back plus change into the cause, in which you must believe in your heart of hearts, like all Southern Cameroonians. Like all Southern Cameroonians, you know we are trapped like a spouse in an incredibly abusive marriage with nothing but a bleak end in sight.

OUR OWN NAME

[Ma Mary]

Sammy, you may also want to SHOW THIS to your friends in the UN. Why should the Camerounese authorities get away with mass murder, then use their tribal surrogates to threaten even more of it.

[Akume]

Ma Mary, and co. When will you people realise that you are fighting a long lost battle? If you and your separatist aspirants really love your children, you should join forces with right thinking Cameroonians to get rid of Biya and start rebuilding your country.
Cameroon was maybe divided by the colonialist years ago, but we are one and indivisible now. That is a fact which is reflected back home. Majority of south westerners more than 85% are very non challant with your idea of seperation. Go home and check this detail for yourself. What they need is a future for their children and a stable economic and a political environment, and not the spirit/message of fear and hatred which you and your so call freedom fighter keep on spreading on this forum.
If you people are the real freedom fighters you claim to be go home, and do the fighting there, not sending or motivating the children of the poorer classes to go on the street and get killed by Biyas gang,. Emulate the fearless spirit of Nationalist like Ekindi, Fru Ndi, Modi etc by standing ahead. Stop being cowards. Tell Carson Anyangwe to go home, and join forces with right thinking Cameroonians opposed to the corrupt system in place, and fight it there in Cameroon and not from Zambia.

[Ndiks]

The UN Scribe spoke of the cost of conflicts,but failed to point out it causes and or symptoms.The UN SG,Ban Kimon another Harvard graduate was not heard anywhere condemming the loutish Junta´s high handedness costing morethan hundred lives,but will be quick if it was Zimbabwe.Did Ban Kimon censure the Junta´s brute response?This is the hypocrisy which we absolutely frowned at.

"What they need is a future for their children and a stable economic and a political environment" [Akume]

Yes,they don´t have this because they are under alien control and subjugation,and indeed Annexation.The hallmarks of Alien rule is to starve the subjects,politically,economically,culturally and make them beneath dignity.Any qualms why?They,the black on black colonialist have to be made numb to restore all this,willy nilly,whether the people Akume claimed they are non challant are ready or not.How can they be nonchallant but wanting future for their children.Who will deliver it?The LRC Metropolis?

[TAGRO]

Wether they like it or not, the nonchalant ones will be pulled kicking and screaming to their liberation. DeGaulle did it England, yes he motivated others from England; Oliver Tambo, from Zambia as well, he motivated his people from exile too!

[Pa Ramon]

Complying with Ma Mary's view of this whole issue
Ma Mary I comply with you, they are fighting a lost battle, there are better things to think of than just fighting to seperate Cameroon. Even the Southwesterners will not like to start comparing NorthWest with West Cameroon in future. So they should start thinking of how to fight corruption which everybody is involve than to be pusing poor innocent children to the war front of Biya's battle feild and they themselves are hiding out so that others should die for them to come and enjoy in the end.
Yes we all know BIYA's government is not good it is not that seperation will make it good this is because even seperation, some of the Biya's followers come to the Southern Cameroon so they will still come and plant the bad seeds there what do U say about this?
Better look for mean and money to invest in Cameroon so that the youths should gain employment...start to treat corruption from your own homes and stop thinking about seperation because it will not work.
Fighting to seperate is not fighting to fix the Biya's government. we should not confuse about these issues. So start no to handling the second option and let Cameroon keeps its status in the presence of God.

[Ma Mary]

One of nature's most regrettable sights is Southern Cameroonians without insight, settling into bovine compliance!

[Danny Boy]

Ma mary,
I can not believe what I have just read! "bovine compliance"? So you thought you were dealing with idiots/sheep, who will follow you to the slaughter-house! Southern Cameroonians are free thinkers who can decide what is good for them or not. They do not need you speaking from the comforts of your recluse in AMERICA, lecturing and hectoring them!
I see you are miffed above. It is tactless for an aspiring leader(you and what your organisation stand for) to abuse these denizens.
Inadvertently you offend some of us. Asinine is not the word I will use. I will be polite for now to point to your errors as above. Your purported subjects are not COWS! Mind your language.
In good faith and have a wo0nderful Easter.
Danny.

[Akume]

Ma Mary,
I said it earlier, and I will like to repeat it again. Go home and talk to the people. Your separatist crusade is not as popular at home as you make people to believe. Majority of Southwesterners where I came from, and presumably Northwesterners will rather have a peaceful one cameroon void of the fear, division and hatred you and your so call freedom fighters are spreading. This crusade of yours is a complete failure, and will not go anywhere, so long as it is being championed by upstarts and dreamers, who seems to have no sense of purpose, other than gratifying and contending themselves with these unreachable illusions, of creating a Southern Cameroon.
What southern Cameroon ?The fact is that culturally and traditionally a northwestener is closer to the Bamileke than to the southwestener. The Bakweris have more in common with the Sawas (Douala), than the northwesterner, and so on.
What we need right now at home are persons capable of fearlessly standing up against the present regime with a clear agenda on how to restore the dignity, peace, security,prosperity, and above all the hope which Cameroonians are all craving for. The likes of Mboua Massock, Fru Ndi, Ekindi, Modi, etc, are the examples we should emulate, Cameroonians are all suffering not just anglophones, which I happen to be one of them. Injustice, bad management, bribery and corruption are vices we all are earning to wipe out in our blessed cameroon, not fear, destruction, threats, hatred, tribalism, and the all too negative image you and your cohorts, are spreading.

[Danny Boy]

U.S of Africa,
Pa Ramon represents the voice of the silent majority. His dissention from SCNC newspeak is characterised as "bovine compliance" to, I guess, his freedom of choice? The gentleman does not want to be a cursory death statistic for the SCNC bigwigs to use to advance their cause!
Kudos to him and all others. My advice to Pa Ramon would be to put up two fingers or maybe one to whoever thinks he is a cow/bull.
There they are, hiding behind their keyboards in America, Europe; and Zambia?
Freedom fighters indeed!
Blessed be Cameroon.

[Ma Mary]

Actually, Mr Sammy Kum Buo's write up is squarely targeted at la Republique Francais du Cameroun and its surrogates that have chosen misrule, corruption and the use of oppressive force over rational policies, dialogue and respect for human beings, hence leaving their long suffering people no option but violence as an outlet.

As for us Southern Cameroons, we came to this marriage peacefully, an we desire to leave in peace. If a marriage without love has come to its end, threats of violence by an abusive spouse do not constitute a reason for prolonging the agony of such a false union.

Fear of retribution by the wicked is no reason for bovinely accepting shackles. Freedom is its own reason and needs no other excuse, Danny Boy. MOOOO....

[Danny Boy]

Ma Mary,
very funny. Do bulls go "MOOOO" as well? I thought only cows did!
Whatever, MOOO, to you too and have a wonderful Easter.
Danny.

[rexon]

Danny Boy,

I thought you told us that you are a bull and declared war against anyone fighting for the restoration of the statehood of the Southern Cameroons. Stop naively talking nonsense, you are chauvinists. By the way, what made you ask Southern Cameroonians to clamour for devolution instead of full independence if they are legally part of La Republique? How soon have you forgotten that you have consistently asked us living abroad to ask our local parliamentarians to table a bill in support of the Southern Cameroonian statehood. Now you are scared of the power of thesame keyboard you once asked us to use against the agents of darkness. Sooner or later these CPDM hypocrites masquerading as SDFers would be exposed.

[simplice]

Ladies and gentleman of the core. Let freedom of expression reign; let diversity of opinion as the "raison d'être" of this forum prevail. Let this academic debate subsist on grounds on mutual respect of opinion and belief.
In my opinion, the expression of anger and resort to violent and undiplomatic propaganda as depicted above by some forumites ,is sheer frustration and eloquent display of "jungle debating tactics".

[Danny Boy]

Mr. Rexon,
before Herr Simplice accuses me of disrespectfulness, let me begin by wishing you and the entire fraternity, a wonderful Easter holidays.
Chauvinist? I fail to see the sense of its usage above. I am not fanatical about anything. I believe in a devolved system of Government in Cameroon, a gradual process that will take time to accomplish and from within the present structures, without bloodshed!
You may laugh, that will not surprise me. Afterall, you were in Scotland when the Scots had their Parliament back, after 300 years of subjugation by the English! This historical event seemed to have passed you by, or did it not occur to you that, the "Scottish Question" bore similar traits to our plight in Cameroon? They were marginalised and made fun of, for speaking with a weird accent. The English, like the Francophone, thinks he/she is superior and no Scot was good enough to rule this country. And look at what the Scots contribute to the economy-North Sea Oil; just like that produced from our territory.
The similarities are many for me to go into all that now. Suffice to say, the Scots patience and resilience are paying dividends now. They have their Assembly and a Scot is PM of this country!
Devolution will grant us a measure of autonomy. This I believe is the way forward. You can quote me on that anyday.
Have a nice day.
Danny.

[rexon]

Danny Boy,

Yes Scotland have a devolved government but it would be naive to think that the English wanted a devolved government in the first place for Scotland. Devolution was granted as a result of pressure from the Scottish public. After devolution, the Scots have not abandoned their long held believe that they should be able to set the pace for their own future and fully develop when they would acquire full independence from the UK. You might also want to know that, the Scottish executive is now called the Scottish government and the SNP have the power to call for a referendum if they can secure majority seats in parliament. Devolution have a deeper meaning to the Scots and you should not underestimate that.

All the facts you listed above are real, but what you should understand is that winning organisations must set their goals clearly and fight for it. We are not marking around when we are telling La Republique and the world that what we want is full independence under international law. There have never been any treaty of Union between the two countries and you cannot force us to accept the current status quo. If you want anything like devolution, you should set up your own organisation with your own objective (probably devolution) rather than cosying up each and every time you hear SCNC. It is your human right to fight for whatever you want and to even declare war on the people of the Southern Cameroons but it is also our right to defend ourselves against the exploitation and colonisation of our land by La Republique.

[Danny Boy]

Rexon,
i admire Ma Mary for her honesty and for her acumen.When she talks of breaking away from a failed marriage, she means exactly that. There was a marriage, an act of union between West Cameroon and East Cameroon, sanctified in 1972. That much you should knoow. Let us leave the plebiscite, prior, and ask ourselves, how do we get out of this marriage of convenience? Pack our bags and walk away?
Not that simple as you well know. There has to be a "nisi" and and an "absolute"! that is the modus operandi. Ma mary knows it and I would wish you firebrands ask sometimes for her advice.
Before Pa Ramon, there is Pa Kwenti joseph, who do not wish to belong. There goes your experiment. MOOOO.
Happy holidays.
Danny.

[Akume]

There you people go again. The so call future leaders,never willing to accept or promote free thinking.
Just because I have an opinion different from yours automatically qualify me a CPDM supporter, and a non southern Cameroonian. Shame shame on you all.
Just a reminder to you people Ma Mary, Rexon, etc. Compromise is what makes the game of democracy even much more interesting. When you opin, be prepare to accept others opinions.