Cameroon: The civil war led by language
Issue 10: Voices Section | author: Becky Hunt
Becky Hunt is an MA student at the University of Sussex studying Applied Linguistics and TESOL. In this article, she summarises the ongoing civil war in Cameroon caused by disputes surrounding the two official languages, French and English.
Since 2016, the Republic of Cameroon has been in the throes of a civil war, with its roots in language. The country is thought to be “one of the most linguistically complex regions in Africa”[1], with estimates of over 260 national languages spoken there[2]. However, there are only two official languages: French and English, serving as a reminder of Cameroon’s colonial history. Perceived discrimination against Anglophone speakers has left separatists calling for an independent breakaway state called “Ambazonia”. The war continues with acts of violence from all sides of the crisis, which has killed over 6,000 people, displaced over 765,000, and deprived about 600,000 children of effective schooling[3].
Cameroon is situated on the West coast of Central Africa and is home to approximately 27 million citizens[4]. As well as its coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, it also shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic. Cameroon was under German colonial rule between 1884 and 1916. When this ended, the country was split: around 80% was given to France, and the remaining 20% to Britain. These rulings continued until 1960 when French Cameroon gained independence. British Cameroon then voted a year later whether to join newly independent Cameroon or Nigeria. They were not given the option of becoming independent themselves. Whilst the Northern region chose to join Nigeria, the Southern region opted to merge with Cameroon. Because of this, Cameroon has since had an Anglophone Western region, whilst the majority of the country remains Francophone. It’s estimated that there is an 80/20 split between Francophone and Anglophone speakers respectively[5].
This unequal split between the number of English and French speakers can be seen as the spark that began the civil war. The first major event in the timeline took place in October 2016. Strikes and peaceful protests were staged by teachers and lawyers who felt “neglected” and “marginalised”[6] as Anglophone speakers because French dominated both the courtroom and the classroom. In response, the Government transferred Francophone teachers and magistrates out of Anglophone institutions. Additionally, they formed eight new commissions to address “bilingualism, cultural diversity and social cohesion, education, justice, reconstruction and development, decentralisation and local development, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, and the diaspora”[7]. The Anglophone citizens did not view this as satisfactory and consequently held further peaceful demonstrations. The situation became violent when soldiers reportedly shot unarmed protestors[6]. This prompted many – already angry – Anglophones to form separatist groups. Since then, there have been countless reports of violent acts by both Government forces and separatist groups. However very little, if any, responsibility has been taken by either party.
A key strategy within the separatists’ movement is a boycott on education. A number of principals and teachers have been killed and injured. It is thought that the separatists are responsible for an improvised explosive device which was thrown onto a roof of a building at the University of Buea, in the South-West region, injuring at least 11 students[8]. Additionally, separatist fighters are suspected to have kidnapped, attacked and killed civilians. Both medical and religious centres have been targeted, including one in Mamfe, a South-Western region, in June 2021, in which a 12-year-old boy was killed, and a 16-year-old boy injured[8].
There have been reports of suspected Government soldiers attacking civilians across the Anglophone regions. This has included looting homes and harassing, threatening, and killing residents. Mbuluf, a village in the North-West region was attacked by the army in a ‘security operation’ in June 2021. In the process, they “killed a 58-year-old man and raped a 53-year-old woman”[8], and caused damage to multiple homes and shops. In October 2021, a four-year-old girl was shot and killed on her way to school by a gendarme[8]. There have also been reports of soldiers torching villages in the Anglophone regions, although it is not clear if these are connected to the Government.
So what does the future look like for Cameroon? By 2030, it is planned that the country will have decided on a third official language, a national one that is not reflective of their colonial history[2]. This is intended to calm the violence, by weakening the French or English divide, to ultimately promote a more united, and peaceful country. However, the issue here is that there isn’t one indigenous language that everybody speaks, so no matter what, some citizens will be excluded. Another option could be to create a new language. This was attempted in Nigeria in the 1960s; Guosa is a language constructed from a combination of at least 118 local languages, the most prominent of these being Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo[9]. Despite this, the language has not been taken on as a lingua franca of Nigeria, so whether a similar approach would work in Cameroon is questionable.
Whatever approach Cameroon takes in resolving their language-based dispute, hopefully the country will soon see an end to the violence.
References:
[1] Ayafor, M., and Green, M. 2017. Cameroon Pidgin English: A Comprehensive Grammar. John Benjamins Publishing Company: Amsterdam/Philadelphia.
[2] Kindzeka, M.E. 2020. “How Cameroon Plans to Save Disappearing Languages”. https://www.voanews.com/a/africa_how-cameroon-plans-save-disappearing-languages/6184626.html. Accessed 30/9/22.
[3] International Crisis Group; 2022. Cameroon. Accessed 30/9/22.
[4] The Data World Bank; 2022. Population total. Available from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?end=2021&locations=CM&start=2017&view=map. Accessed 30/9/22.
[5] O’Grady, S. 2019. “War of words: Cameroon being torn apart by deadly language division”. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/cameroon-language-french-english-military-africa-ambazonia-a8770396.html. Accessed 30/9/22.
[6] Orock, R. 2022. “Cameroon: how language plunged a country into deadly conflict with no end in sight”. https://theconversation.com/cameroon-how-language-plunged-a-country-into-deadly-conflict-with-no-end-in-sight-179027. Accessed 30/9/22.
[7] Hendricks, C., and Kiven, G.N. 2019. “Why Cameroon must move beyond dialogue to solve its Anglophone crisis”. https://theconversation.com/why-cameroon-must-move-beyond-dialogue-to-solve-its-anglophone-crisis-125241. Accessed 30/9/22.
[8] Kouagheu, J. 2022. “Cameroon Events of 2021”. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/cameroon. Accessed 30/9/22.
[9] Igbinewka, Alex, G. 2019. The Complete Dictionary of Guosa Language. 2nd Revised Edition. iUniverse.
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