By Scott A. Morgan.
The news over this past weekend that 21 Members of the Cameroonian military were killed in an ambush in the controversial Bakassi region did nothing more but to highlight the ever increasing tensions in the region.
Initial Reports indicated that the Nigerian military may have been involved due to the proximity to the border of the attack. But the attack was carried out by a group known as the "Liberators of the Southern Cameroon People."
A check of several websites after doing a search after reading the item that appeared in the Nigerian This Day newspaper reveal an interesting list. Most of the sites that deal with a Government in Exile for Southern Cameroon (they do exist) all have an interesting timeline. In 1961 the region known as Southern Cameroon which speaks English was merged with a French Colony to do what President De Gaulle was quoted as describing as a "Gift to France from the Queen of England" to form the country of Cameroon.
After the end of the First World War which saw the dismemberment of the defeated German Empire, the area of the Cameroons was divided. A small enclave was mandated to Britain under a mandate of the League of Nations. The rest of the country went to their French ally. One of the key platforms of those seeking independence for Southern Cameroon is that they feel that the plebiscite that created the country was illegal. They feel that since elections were allowed for only the French part of the country they(anglophones) were never part of the agreement. Hence they consider themselves still under the power of London.
The Southern Part of Cameroon which includes Bakissi is the home of a substantial oil field. And the closeness to the Niger Delta may give some security and oil analysts fits. A major oil pipeline from Chad has a terminus in Cameroon. So two rebellions ongoing at the same time could cause another spike in the price of oil. As part of the US African Command (AFRICOM) a US Naval Vessel will be stationed in the Gulf of Guinea as part of a training program.
The English speaking south may have a legitimate grievance against the rest of the country. One highlighted case on a web page tells about a meeting between the French ambassador to Cameroon and a Catholic cardinal. The ambassador asked why is it taking so long to "Frenchify" the Anglophones down there. The cardinal replied, much to the chagrin of the Ambassador, that he was one of the Anglophones. This is the mindset that residents of both the Northern and the Southern Cameroonian peoples have.
So what will the future entail? The group that carried out this attack stated that this was their first assault ever. This opens up a new slew of questions such as where will the next attack occur? And when? How much support will they get from Nigeria? Will the Cameroon government receive any assistance from France or the United States? What role can the US play in this drama? Will ECOWAS or the AU have to intervene in the country like in Liberia back in the 1990s? There are too many questions that will develop as this year ends and a new one begins.
This situation could be a test for the new US African Command. It could also be a huge test for the new Nigerian government as well.They have an insurgency within its borders and one close by. Nigeria has stated officially that it will not host the forward base for the African Command. So as long as these tensions simmer under the surface of what appears to be an unstable African republic who knows what can or will happen?
Photo: President Paul Biya of Cameroon.
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