Cameroon: Anatomy of Repression

By Tatah Mentan - Illinois Wesleyan University

Europe and America are home-in-exile to many people who have faced severe and often life-threatening political repression in Cameroon. This paper will examine causes of repression, methods employed (political imprisonment, torture, disappearances, extrajudicial killing, pacification programs, surveillance of citizens, suppression of the rights of expression and association), impact on survivors, and various strategies designed to cordon of the legacies of systematic and regular notorious repression in Cameroon

Cameroon: Anatomy of Repression

By

Tatah Mentan

Illinois Wesleyan University

Abstract

Europe and America are home-in-exile to many people who have faced severe and often life-threatening political repression in Cameroon. This paper will examine causes of repression, methods employed (political imprisonment, torture, disappearances, extrajudicial killing, pacification programs, surveillance of citizens, suppression of the rights of expression and association), impact on survivors, and various strategies designed to cordon of the legacies of systematic and regular notorious repression in Cameroon.

Introduction

Most treatments of the countersubversive mentality disconnect demonology both from Cameroonian social divisions and from institutionalized political repression. Most versions of the country’s history, by a complementary set of choices, chart a progress toward freedom and inclusion. To link countersubversive thinking to political repression is to write another history of Cameroon. Such an account hardly stands in for Cameroonian history as a whole. But if certain familiar patterns recede into the shadows, neglected, dark areas emerge into light.

At the same time, the subject of political repression must not be confined only to the suppression of already “legitimate” political opposition. A history of Cameroon political suppression must attend to the repression of active, political dissent. But it must also direct attention to prepolitical institutional settings that have excluded some Cameroonians from politics and influenced the terms on which others entered the political arena. An account of Cameroonian political suppression must acknowledge the suppression of politics itself. It must notice the relations between politics and private life. Countersubversive ideologies, psychological mechanisms, and an intrusive state apparatus all respond to the neurotic fear of subversion in Cameroon.

The objective of this study therefore is to analyze the Cameroon case to give guidance in anatomizing repression. The common themes identified in the case study include: 1) informal repression as propaganda, 2) informal repression as "traditional" conflict, 3) informal repression and "traditional" authority, 4) informal repression and elections, 5) state exploitation of grievances, 6) informal repression and the absence of the rule of law, 7) evidence of informal information in the exchange of information regarding repressive tactics between Anglophone-Francophone divides, 8) the long-term impact of failing to denounce repression in its early stages, and 9) the role of media in repression.

These tactics are intended to completely disenfranchise their own Cameroonian citizens in order to make them so weak, so impoverished and so powerless, so helpless that at no time in the future can they become strong enough to resist predatory autocracy.

Background

The Republic of Cameroon is located in Western Africa with a population of approximately 15 million people divided amongst ten provinces.[1]  Two of these provinces are English speaking and the rest are French speaking.[2]  In 1919, shortly after the overthrow of German Kamerun, the League of Nations divided the territory between the British and the French with the French acquiring a significantly larger portion.[3]  During this period, despite French Cameroon’s higher GNP, a common identity characterized the two territories.[4]  There were tensions, though, particularly since English Cameroon was administered by Nigeria, while French Cameroon functioned administratively independent.[5] 

After World War II, a wave of nationalism began to take hold.[6]  Opposition parties emerged and by 1957 French Cameroon became an autonomous State gaining independence in 1960.[7]  When Nigeria gained independence that same year, the majority of the Southern Cameroonian province (Anglophone) desired to be an independent state.  The United Nations refused, arguing that this was politically undesirable and not economically feasible.[8]  The Southern Cameroonians harbored a great deal of hostility toward Nigeria and felt that being under their administration resulted in the neglect of development within the province.[9]  The Southern Cameroons ultimately decided to reunify with Francophone Cameroon.[10] 

Ahmadou Ahidjo, leader of the Northern Union Camerounaise and a French educated Fulani, became president of the newly formed autonomous State, now called the Republic of Cameroon.[11]  The French zone then became known as East Cameroon and the former British zone, West Cameroon.[12]

The Anglophones hoped to maintain their own cultural heritage after reunification, but the French wanted a unitary state to promote a national identity.  Ahidjo “[s]aw federalism merely as an unavoidable transit on a journey to the total assimilation of the Anglophone minority into a strongly centralized state a la Française.”[13]  The French supported the Francophone elite during the transition, but the Anglophone elite received no support from the British who viewed the Anglophone’s decision to reunify with French Cameroon, as opposed to joining Nigeria, with strong resentment.[14]

Ahidjo’s leadership became increasingly repressive, as he outlawed all political parties but his own in 1966.[15]  Any member of this party that supported federalism was penalized.[16]  By 1972, a new constitution established the unitary state, the United Republic of Cameroon, and the country became a single party system.[17]  He censored the media and established a strong and powerful military and police presence.[18]  He also divided the Federated State of West Cameroon into South West and North West Provinces, in order to prevent a united Anglophone front.[19]  As a result of his authoritative rule, opposition grew, particularly amongst the English speaking South West, but due to the lack of unity and the repression, criticism could not be voiced until Biya became President and the political liberalization process took hold[20] for a while.

The reunification of the 1960’s is the root of modern day Anglophone grievances.  In addition to the political grievances, Anglophones fault the Francophones for economic and social problems as well.  The Anglophone portion of Cameroon is rich in natural resources, in particular, petroleum and timber.[21]  Francophones have used the revenue generated from these resources for their own regional economic benefit, while the infrastructure within the Anglophone provinces is poor as roads, natural seaports, and airports  have been neglected and are inaccessible.[22]  Moreover, until 1992 the only university in Cameroon was the University of Yaounde, located in the Francophone province.  While the university was bilingual, most courses were taught in French.[23]  In addition, English is barely understood in French Cameroon and government business is conducted in French.[24]  As such, Anglophones are often absent from the decision making processes, since English is the official language within the Anglophone region.[25]

Although reelected, Ahidjo resigned in 1982 and handed over the presidency to Paul Biya, a Francophone from the South Province, who is the current president.[26]   During the initial years of Biya’s presidency, greater freedoms existed, but Ahidjo, who still held a powerful position within the government, continued to wield his influence and exert his authoritative control.[27]  The conflict between Ahidjo and Biya intensified, culminating in an attempted but unsuccessful coup in 1984, which “weakened” the Biya regime.[28]  Ahidjo was exiled that same year.[29]

Despite the initial efforts to tolerate greater freedoms within the Republic, Biya began to secure tighter control, particularly after the “attempted coup”, by forbidding a multi-party system.[30] In 1984, Biya replaced the United Republic of Cameroon with the “Republic of Cameroon,” the former name of the Francophone province.  When Biya changed the name back to the Republic of Cameroon, “[t]he last visible symbols of the 1961 union was removed.”[31] The significance of such an action, and the continued strife between the Anglophone and Francophone populations, has been the domination over the Anglophone minority, which has included erasing the cultural and institutional foundations of their identity.[32]

In an interview with THE MAIL newspaper of  October 16,2001, Dr.C.  Fomunyoh of the National Democratic Institute said “one cannot deny that there is an Anglophone problem in Cameroon. It is there and it is real…Ironically, those who govern Cameroon today seem to think that turning a blind eye or using tough-fisted tactics would resolve the grievances of Anglophones. They should think again and especially note that tensions have been exacerbated with each passing year." Instead of seeking a speedy solution to the impending identity war before it starts the Yaounde geriatric predatory autocracy revels in the twin fantasies of self—idealization of French cultural antiques of One Cameroonness and the demonization of Anglophones as “secessionists”. In other words,

Security forces continue to arrest and detain arbitrarily various Southern Cameroons National Council SCNC members, opposition politicians, local human rights monitors, and other citizens, often holding them for prolonged periods, often without charges or a chance for trial and, at times, incommunicado. The regime’s concern is with the rule of order, not the rule of law.

Consolidating Predatory Autocracy

The virtual monopoly of the Cameroonian society’s resources by the government relative to other social organizations compounds the undemocratic state structure and its blindness to its social context to raise the political stakes very high. This explains why Cameroonian politicians will jump onto any political programme which gives them any hope, however false, of coming to power even if through a patently undemocratic route that promises the country no future. The successful politician wins everything; and, the unsuccessful one loses everything. Those who win state power can have all the wealth they want even without working; while those who lose the struggle cannot have security in the wealth they have acquired even by hard work. The capture of state power in Cameroon inevitably becomes a matter of life and death. Thus Cameroonian politicians are uniquely absorbed in the quest for absolute power as access to wealth.

The post-colonial regime in Cameroon is a government in which a single leadership (Ahidjo-Biya) or party (CNU-CPDM) exercises absolute control over all citizens and every aspect of their lives. In fact, it is a potpourri of absolutism. Ahidjo and Biya have wielded and held absolute power. Each autocrat has uncontrolled and undisputed authority.This predatory autocratic rule explains why an entity like the Southern Cameroons (Anglophones) were excluded from the political process in antebellum Cameroon for more than two dozen years. Fears that they would enter politics in a revolutionary way, through uprisings and mass murder, led to harsh penal codes. These codes forbade the formation of political associations based on linguistic affinities and prohibited Anglophones from congregating for social or religious purposes without the authorization of a c(e)ivil administrator.

The government slowly became characterized by corruption, as Biya favored his own ethnic group causing tensions amongst Northerners and Muslims.[33]  Anglophones have been underrepresented in government positions.[34] Moreover, the economic situation in Cameroon deteriorated in the 1980s when the oil boom ended and unemployment rose resulting in further tensions throughout the country.[35] 

In 1990, legislation approved an amendment to the constitution authorizing a multi-party system.[36]  President Biya, however, continued to express reluctance and cancel elections.[37] The reason for such reluctance is that the Biya government is controlled by a handful of powerful ethnic figures and the duty of members of the legislature has been to raise their hands in approval of whatever the president required. The brain-dead intellectuals that had filled the university, arts, entertainment, and media positions busied themselves helping to write a new constitution  from 1991-1996 where every possible dream became a citizen's right and thus the full enforcement of the new constitution could only mean instant national bankruptcy. Since different groups, especially Biya’s ethnic kith and kin, fought to include their pet projects in that new constitution. And placed Biya above the very constitution. Thus, he could flout the constitution at will and revise it by decree.

However, Biya did allow elections to hold in 1992, which he “won” by a small margin, but his victory was tainted with widespread accusations of fraud.[38]  The National Assembly promulgated a new constitution in 1996, which allowed Biya to run for a fourth consecutive term, lengthened the presidential term from 5-7 years, and broadened the executive’s powers.[39]  During his presidency, Biya has made some concessions by allowing for a multi-party system, but his party, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, continues to dominate the political scene.[40]  “A shrewd and strategic thinker, Biya has continued to profess a firm belief in freedom and democracy, but has not allowed any changes that threaten a continuation of his stay in power.  Changes have in effect been more symbolic than real-he has preached about changes but his actions have fallen far short of his words, palliatives designed to weaken his opposition.”[41]

With the dominance of Biya’s party and the deep control over the country, discontent within Cameroon has only grown under his rule, resulting in the formation of numerous opposition parties.  The onset of what has been termed an Anglophone consciousness or Anglophone problem did not occur until the political liberalization process of the 1990s.[42]  At this point, the Anglophone elite began to demand self-determination and autonomy.[43]  Thus, the main opposition parties which formed within Cameroon are the Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU), the National Union of Democracy and Progress (NUDP) and the Social Democratic Front (SDF).[44] 

The SDF has been the more successful opposition party.  While the SDF, however, began to take somewhat of an ambivalent stance towards the return of Cameroon to the federal state, it gradually began to be viewed as failing to represent the views of English speaking Cameroonians.[45] Thus, the SDF in recent years has been losing support from the Anglophone community.[46] 

After the Second All Anglophone Conference (AAC) in 1994, it was declared that if the Cameroon government refused to provide meaningful constitutional talks, then the Anglophones would secede.[47]  This would later be referred to as the Bamenda Proclamation, and at this same conference, the AAC voted to replace its name with the Southern Cameroons Peoples Conference, which in August 1993 was named the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC).[48]

The SCNC, a pressure group and not a registered political party, has been regarded as mobilizing Anglophones to create a federal or independent Southern Cameroons state.[49]  In addition, the SCNC has impressively gained international support for its cause.[50]  For instance, in 1995, SCNC members went to the United Nations to protest the annexation of the ex-trust territory that was once under the UN’s control, thus raising the UN’s awareness of its struggles.[51]  The implications of this international support are telling.  “These missions to the United Nations may not have yielded any tangible results, but they have given wide publicity to the Anglophone cause and helped to discredit Biya’s regime.”[52]

To explain the political environment that permitted such unchecked official repression in Cameroon, one should also note the criminal and immoral silence of the country’s economic elite. Believing that they would materially benefit from the repression of the opposition, students and trade unions most of the country's business class failed to condemn or oppose the wide use of state terror. This acquiescence earned many of them tax evasions. This they did at the cost of destroying the sense of national unity and any semblance of democratic rule.

Torture As State Policy

Public policies are statements of principles underlying governmental action; they can be expressed as local, state or national governmental action such as legislation, resolutions, programs, regulations, appropriations, administrative practices, and/or court decisions; and public policies are solutions to public issues. Public issues do not have a right or wrong solution. They are controversial by nature. We all have different values, preferences for life because of differing circumstances, experiences in our lives. These differences are resolved through the political process i.e. the creation of public policies. It is the political process that arbitrates the diverse values of society. Public policies therefore reflect our social values in action.In the case of Biya’s Cameroon torture is state policy reflecting the values of crass repression as a psychological compensation for the government’s inability to solve the country’s nagging problems.

Biya’s government has been threatened by these opposition groups, particularly the SCNC, since this group has expressed the intent to secede and has also drawn international attention to its struggle.[53]  As a means of restricting the freedom of assembly of opposition parties and groups, Biya’s government has resorted to torturing activists and arbitrarily detaining and harassing them.[54]  In December 2003, Amnesty International reported the use of lethal force against demonstrators, and in July of that same year, police killed five people and wounded 30 in a demonstration in Douala.[55]

Despite a law providing for freedom of assembly, activists are routinely arrested arbitrarily for participation in demonstrations or other opposition activity.[56]  When the AAC attempted to hold its first conference at the University of Buea in 1993, the Government prohibited this, and the next year at the second conference tried to prohibit it again since the group had convened to declare “secession.”[57]  “Repression has increased with mounting threats of the proclamation of an independent Southern Cameroons, and SCNC rallies and demonstrations are officially banned in the anglophone provinces.” [58]

Moreover, members of opposition groups are frequently detained.[59]  Individuals are detained in overcrowded prisons, sometimes four to five times the intended capacity, with conditions tantamount to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”[60]  A report indicated that there are 67 detention centers for 20,000 detainees.[61]  The prison conditions are so atrocious, that prisoners routinely die as a result.[62]  Almost all prisons are deficient in health care, sanitation and food.[63] Detainees are required to pay for medical care, and in Douala’s New Bell Prison there are only seven water taps for 3,500 prisoners.[64]  While there are time limits on custody, these are not enforced in practice.[65]  Moreover, eighty-percent of the prison population consists of untried prisoners. [66]

Most disturbing is the use of torture within police and gendarmerie stations.  The UN Committee Against Torture expressed concern over the systemic use of torture throughout the country and reported that in 2004, “torture seemed to be a very widespread practice in Cameroon.” [67] Torture continues to be used to extract confessions, and confessions obtained through these measures are admissible in court.[68]  One common form of torture employed is rape.[69]  In a study done on torture survivors from Cameroon, almost all of the women (25 out of 27) had been raped by agents of the Cameroonian State and/or in the custody of the State.[70]  Other methods of torture include electrical torture and cigarette burns.[71]

These abuses are committed by the government of Cameroon. The National Intelligence Service, the Gendarmerie, the Ministry of Territorial Administration, military intelligence, the army and to some extent the Presidential Guard, all share security responsibilities, though the police and gendarmerie have the dominant role.[72]  These security forces are under the control of the President, the civilian Minister of Defence and the civilian head of police.[73]  In fact, the Ministry of Defence has the sole authority to allow the gendarmes to be prosecuted for offenses committed in the line of duty.[74]  The President appoints the governors in the ten provinces, and these governors are authorized to ban political meetings and order the renewal of detention periods for detained individuals.[75]

Indeed, what the shrewd Biya regime does is the use of five essential elements that compose the substance of counter-insurgency strategy in

The Bamileke and Bassa  regions of Cameroon during the nationalist struggle, not only at the high points but on a day to day working

basis:

     a. Identify the “enemy” and its reasons for existence;

     b. Co-ordinate the battery of repressive resources and personnel of all sections of the establishment(police, gendarmes, military and administration) against it;

     c. Contain the “enemy” and wear it down tactically by torture, arsons, rapings, murders,etc..;

     d. Isolate and frustrate it in every way, politically (blackmail, lies-telling, bribery,etc.) and militarily;

     e. Destroy it; and,

Conclusion: Repressing the Soul of Intellect

In silencing political dissent, the Ahidjo-Biya duo engineered a rapid disintegration of civil liberties in Cameroon. Emboldened by the nearly uncontested passage of the state of emergency laws, the autocratic administration quickly set about issuing law-and-order edicts, overseeing law enforcement operations with ominous names, legitimizing invasive interrogations, detaining without due process or access to counsel, and closing ranks to prevent inquiry or investigation into the machinations of the 'War On Subversion of State Authority.'  The result? Mass arrests, preventative detentions, late night visits from interrogators at the houses of suspected individuals, allegations of cruel treatment in captivity, a drastic increase in political police requests for communications data from service providers like Postal Services, and surveillance, surveillance, surveillance galore. Despite the brevity of this article, a few conclusions about the dynamic of organizing and repression In Cameroon are possible. The facts make clear that during the past decades the regime has employed massive terrorist violence against the citizens it is supposed to protect. At certain points the violence has been determined by counterinsurgency logic of fighting “subversion”. Nevertheless, the Cameroonian state has routinely attacked other forms of opposition to its authority, including pacifist and democratic movements. Even with a civilian in the Presidency the student movement in any Cameroon university continues to suffer a series of extra-judicial killings, notably the massacre of students at the University of Buea in May, 2005.This sustained state violence can be understood as a response to the threatening strength of independent political organizing. The attitude of the Francophone governments in power helps explain the patterns of violence. For example, during the entire period the administration maintained an antagonistic attitude towards the University and meaningful political opposition; under the Biya government students and intellectuals died, far more than under Ahidjo, showing itself willing to extra-judicially attack, or permit its security forces to attack or kill opponents in the University as was the case in 1990-1993 at the University of Yaounde.

Most of Cameroon’s universities are a show window for fraud, extortion, bribery, nepotism and unconsciousness of service. The manufacturing industries are the professors, students, administration and unskilled personnel. I crave your indulgence to lend me your earnest and fervent attention so I can excoriate askewness. Canards could be repeated lies gaining belief but these, yes these, are more than bundles of fabrications meticulously interwoven to derogate the humble personality of whosoever. Obviously, there are overwhelmingly detailed facts. Cheats, who are animated by somatism, obscurantism and paranoia, adumbrate Cameroon universities like a false prophet oversees his church. To resist fraud with  blood is less the cost and damage of taciturn. As such, I do not blame the students for taking into the streets to strike. After all, they were on a non-violent and peaceful strike until the police made them angry by the killings wanton and brutalities.

The salvation of Cameroonians from state terror lies in transitional justice. Transitional justice is a particularly robust arena of contemporary political practice, situated as it is within the busy intersection of political transition, peace-building, conflict transformation, legal reform, and democratization. It includes those temporary civil, political, and legal processes that both civil society and governments establish to negotiate a society's pathway from widespread violence and tyranny to relative degrees of peace, justice, and democracy. This is where intense suffering and partial healing coalesce, where massive political repression gives way to modest social reconciliation, and where crippled political institutions are repaired so that partial justice may be meted out, the rule of law restored, and public confidence in political institutions rebuilt. At least that is the theory and the hope behind a variety of tactics employed to promote democratic values in society.

---

[1] Olivia Ball Maps, Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Every Morning Just Like Coffee: Torture in Cameroon (June 26, 2002), available at http://www.asylumlaw.org/countries/index.cfm, [hereinafter “Every Morning Just Like Coffee”] .

[2] Every Morning Just Like Coffee, supra note _, at _.

[3] U.S. Dep’t of State, Bureau of African Affairs, Background Note: Cameroon (released Jan. 2005) available at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26431.htm [hereinafter Background Note],.

[4] Institute for Security Studies, Cameroon-Political, available at http://www.iss.co.za/AF/profiles/Cameroon/History.html, [hereinafter Cameroon-Political],.

[5] Piet Konings, Ánglphone University Students and Anglophone Nationalist Struggles in Cameroon 3, available at http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:n1dIdHIArNwJ:asc.leidenuniv.nl/pdf/conference24042003-konings.pdf+anglophone+university+students+and+anglophone+nationalist+struggles+in+cameroon&hl=en [hereinafter Anglophone Struggles].

[6] Cameroon-Political, supra note .

[7] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.   

[8] Anglophone Struggles, supra note _ at 4.

[9] Anglophone Struggles, supra note _ at 4.

[10] Anglophone Struggles, supra note _ at 4.

[11] Background Note, supra note _.

[12] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[13] Piet Konings and Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Construction and Deconstruction: Anglophones or Autochtones? 6, Most Ethno-Net Africa Publications: Anthropology of Africa, available at http://www.ethnonet-africa.org/pubs/p95konings.htm (1999) [hereinafter Construction and Deconstruction].

[14] Anglophone Struggles, supra note _ at 4.

[15] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[16] Cameroon Struggles, supra note _.

[17] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[18] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[19] Piet Konings and Francis B. Nyamnjoh, 35 The Journal of Modern African Studies 207, 211, The Anglophone Problem in Cameroon (June 1997) [hereinafter Anglophone Problem], at http://www.jstor.org/view/0022278x/ap010137/01a00020/0?currentResult=0022278x%2bap010137%2b01a00020%2b0%2cFFFFFF&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26Query%3DThe%2BAnglophone%2BProblem%2Bin%2BCameroon%26mo%3Dbs .

[20] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 213.

[21] Tazifor Tajoche, Cameroon History In The 19^th & 20^th Centuries (Education Book Centre 257) (2003).

[22] Tajoche, supra note _ at 257.

[23] Tajoche, supra note _ at 261.

[24] U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Cameroon: Information on the Relationship Between the Anglophone and Francophone Communities 2 (Oct. 16, 2002), available at http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/documentation/CMR03005.htm [hereinafter USCIS Report], attached hereto as Exhibit _.

[25] USCIS Report, supra note _ at 2.

[26] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[27] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[28] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[29] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[30] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[31] Anglophone Struggles, supra note _ at 4.

[32] Anglophone Struggles, supra note _ at 4.

[33] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.  The President continues to favor his ethnic group, the Bulu-Beti, and key positions in the government and security forces are held by members of this group.  See 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[34] Anglophone Struggles, supra note _ at 4.

[35] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[36] Background Note, supra note _.

[37] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[38] Background Note, supra note _.

[39] U.S. Dep’t of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor, Cameroon: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2 (2004) (released February 25, 2005), available at http://www.state.gov[hereinafter “2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights”].

[40] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[41] Cameroon-Political, supra note _.

[42] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 207.

[43] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 207.

[44] Every Morning Just Like Coffee, supra note _ at 15.

[45] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 216.

[46] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 216.

[47] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 220.

[48] See Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 220.  The SDF and SCNC consist of both Anglophones and Francophone sympathizers. 

[49] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 220.

[50] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 220.

[51] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 221.

[52] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 221.

[53] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 219-24.

[54] Amnesty International, Cameroon: Covering Events from January-December 2002, (2003), available at http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/cmr-summary-eng, [hereinafter Amnesty 2003 Report].

[55]Amnesty International, Cameroon: Covering Events from January—December 2003, (May 2004), available at

http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rsd/print.html?CATEGORY=RSDCOI&id=40b5alf..., [hereinafter Amnesty 2004 Report] .

[56] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[57] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 228.

[58] Anglophone Problem, supra note _ at 228.

[59] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[60] Every Morning Just Like Coffee, supra note _, at 19.               

[61] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[62] Every Morning Just Like Coffee, supra note _, at 19.

[63] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[64] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[65] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[66] Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee Against Torture: Cameroon, U.N. Committee Against Torture at 3, CAT/c/CR/31/6 (2004), available at http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/03160cd35c14bdd0c1256e68003617ac?Opendocument [hereinafter CAT Report].

[67] CAT Report, supra note _ at 2.

[68] CAT Report, supra note _ at 3.

[69] Every Morning Just Like Coffee, supra note _, at 26

[70] Every Morning Just Like Coffee, supra note _, at 12

[71] Every Morning Just Like Coffee, supra note _, at 27

[72] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[73] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

[74] CAT Report, supra note _.

[75] 2004 State Dep’t Report on Cameroon Human Rights, supra note _.

Comments

[Neba Funiba]

Good Job Tatah Mentan. Another brain lost from Cameroon to overseas (for the better) where personal abilities and potentials are encouraged. Again Bravo!

[Mutia Irene]

I consider it pure weakness and a sign of total failure for a person like Tatah Mentan to abandon the fight in Cameroon and fall Bush. It is a shame.
If at his "retirement" age, a father like him should fear "death", then all those younger than he is should leave Cameroon. Just imagine what this would look like.
Mr. Tatak Mentah was brave and he fought for freedom in our country, especially through the media. For him to surrender now is a disgrace and a poor example. What would have happened if people like Mandela had fallen bush?

Mutia Irene
Germany

[kitiyfo]

The issue is the issue, the person is the person. We can leave the issue and follow the person or follow the issue and forget the person - that would be selflessness - or something like that - is'nt it? The issue is still there I suppose!?

[Franklin chumboh tamanjoh]

I am realy in deep hell.I managed to escape from the genocide government of Biya after serveral toture.I am now in mauritania.I have a medium now to expose the government to The United nation for i am a potential victim now.I need you people to send lattest human right abuses in cameroon and the lattest bad governence of Biya to the united nation high commissioner for refugees in Mauritania Nouakchott the capital as soon as possible

[Martin Njume]

Prof.Tatah Mentan’s meticulous study of the “Anatomy of Repression in Cameroon” is a wonderful scholarly piece. Certainly, it is not for intellectual pygmies and brats to comment on. Otherwise, how does a commentator who cannot correctly spell Tatah Mentan ( at times Tatak Mentah) in a ten line write up judge a densely documented article?
Did Prof.Tatah Mentan sign a pact with anybody to “fight” for the liberation of Cameroon? He did not. How then does his freedom to migrate and continue spreading his academic wings across continents anger someone with a very faltering English expression to call him names: “disgrace”, “poor example”, “total failure”,e tc. This densely documented article is an eye-opener to those who want to know “repression.” Let commentators do so about on the article and avoid silly ranting, raving and bane prejudices. What does the socalled Mutia Irene know about Tatah Mentan’s life agenda?
Martin Njume, Leeds

[Martin Njume]

Prof.Tatah Mentan’s meticulous study of the “Anatomy of Repression in Cameroon” is a wonderful scholarly piece. Certainly, it is not for intellectual pygmies and brats to comment on. Otherwise, how does a commentator who cannot correctly spell Tatah Mentan ( at times Tatak Mentah) in a ten line write up judge a densely documented article?
Did Prof.Tatah Mentan sign a pact with anybody to “fight” for the liberation of Cameroon? He did not. How then does his freedom to migrate and continue spreading his academic wings across continents anger someone with a very faltering English expression to call him names: “disgrace”, “poor example”, “total failure”,e tc. This densely documented article is an eye-opener to those who want to know “repression.” Let commentators do so on the article and avoid silly ranting, raving and bane prejudices. What does the socalled Mutia Irene know about Tatah Mentan’s life agenda?
Martin Njume, Leeds

[PETER WUTEH VAKUNTA]

I think this Irene Mutia fellow is either suffering from selective amnesia or is plain silly. Read below some of the reasons why some of us have elected to shift the battle-ground from Cameroon to the diaspora. I wonder what our QUEEN IRENE is doing in Germany! Has she not also "fallen bush" to mimick her gutter English?

ANIMAL FARM: THE CAMEROONIAN VERSION

You may remember Animal Farm, the 1945 classic written by George Orwell. Many in my generation had to read that book in order to pass the General Certificate of Education ((GCE) examination. Over the years I have come to see the relevance of the message in that novel even more as I ponder the Cameroon Anglophone Question.

The plot of the book is centered on the dissatisfaction of farm animals who feel they are being mistreated by Farmer Jones. Led by the pigs, the animals revolted against their oppressive master, and after their victory, they decided to run the farm themselves on egalitarian principles. However, the pigs became corrupted by power and a new tyranny was established. The famous line: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” still rings true to date.

The socio-political status quo in Cameroon is a parody of Animal Farm. After fighting together to decolonize Cameroon, French-speaking Cameroonians now tend to lord it over their English-speaking compatriots.

There is no gainsaying the fact that there exists a generation of English-speaking Cameroonians who now find themsevles at a crossroads and would like to know where they belong. Many Anglophone Cameroonians ask themselves why they are condemned to play second fiddle in the country of their birth. The unfair treatment meted out to English-speaking Cameroonians by francophones in positions of leadership is the time bomb that needs to be defused before it explodes to do irreparable damage. The cohabitation between Anglophone and francophone Cameroonians is a marriage of convenience to say the least. In fact, the frictional co-existence between these two linguistic communities has been likened by some critics to the attitude of two travelers who met by chance in a roadside shelter and are merely waiting for the rain to cease before they continue their separate journeys in different directions. No other metaphor could better depict the uneasy marriage between Anglophonie and Francophonie in Cameroon.

The culprits in this state of affairs are our French-speaking political leaders who relish fishing in troubled waters. They divide and rule. By so doing, they stoke the flames of animosity between anglophone and francophone Cameroonians. Many of them have been heard to make statements intended either to cow Anglophones into subservience or to incite them into open revolt. Yet these are the same self-styled leaders who would jump onto rooftops to chant to the entire world that there is no Anglophone problem in Cameroon. This type of hogwash will come back to haunt them before long!

The fact of the matter is that there is an acute sense of dissatisfaction among in the pyche of Anglophones in Cameroon. Questions that remain unanswered are legion: Are anglophone Cameroonians enjoying equal treatment with their francophone counterparts in the workplace? Are anglophone Cameroonians having their fair share of the national cake? Do they feel at home in Cameroon? These and many more questions constitute what has been labeled ‘the Cameroon Anglophone Question’. It is a problem that often manifests itself in the form of complaints from English-speaking Cameroonians concerning the absence of fairness and equity in matters relating to political appointments, participation in decision-making as well as power-sharing in the country. The Anglophone question is not a figment of anybody of imagination! It is the cry of an oppressed people who lament over the ultra-centralization of political power in the hands of an oligarchy in Yaounde, the nation’s capital, where most anglophones with limited proficiency in the French language go through all kinds of odds in the hands of bashful francophone bureacrats who refuse to attend to anyone speaking English.The Anglophone problem stems from the arrogant attitude of francophones who perceive anglophones as unpatriotic. This bigotry boosted by conceit has given rise to the use of offensive slurs such as” les anglophones sont gauches”, “c’est des ennemis dans la maison”, “ce sont les biafrais, and so on. This anti-anglophone sentiment has created the misconception that anglophone Cameroonians are unreliable and untrustworthy, and therefore, undeserving of positions of leadership. This explains why key ministerial positions in Cameroon are the exclusive preserve of francophones. Such ministries include: defense, finance & economy and territorial administration. Anglophobia has also led to the appointment of francophones with no working knowledge of the English language to ambassadorial positions in stategic countries like the US, Great Britain, Germany, Nigeria and South Africa where they wind up making a complete fool of themselves linguistically speaking.

The presidency of the Republic and its ancillaries are some of the no-go areas for Anglophone Cameroonians. Although political appointments in this country ought to be done with due regard to the established ‘regional balance paradigm’, it is common knowledge anglophobia has made the implementation of this modus operandi dysfunctional over the years. It should be stressed that the relegation of Anglophone to the back burner in matters pertaining to appointments has nothing to do with incompetency on their part. In fact, the cream of Cameroon’s intelligentsia are anglophones thanks to the existence of world class anglo-saxon schools such as Sacred Heart College-Mankon, St. Joseph’s College-Sasse, CPC-Bali and a host of others. Sadly enough, the system in Cameroon pays no heed to merit. Corruption and nepotism are the only criteria needed for national selection of employees in this unfortunate country.

Statistics indicate that seventy percent of Cameroon’s wealth in natural resources is located in the English-speaking part of the country, yet the francophone region swallows the lion’s share of the national budget earmarked for the building of roads, hospitals, schools etc.

Open hostility toward anglophones reached its acme many years ago when English-speaking Cameroonian students protesting against discrimination on the basis of language at the University of Yaounde went on strike and sang the “we shall overcome” rallying song. Francophone members of government with limited English proficiency accused them of singing the Nigerian national anthem and told anglophones to go to Nigeria if they were not happy in Cameroon! In the civilized world, these office-bearers would been asked to resign instantly. Not in Cameroon, where nonsensical statements like that earn you accolades. How else can leaders show the world that they are square pegs in round holes?

In a similar vein, the clamor for the democratization of the Cameroon political landscape has been branded by some narrow-minded francophones an "anglo-bamis" conspiracy to overthrow the government of the lame duck called Paul Biya. Talk of political halotry! There have been open attempts by francophones to whip up anti-anglophone sentiments in order to score political points.The Cameroon GCE Board imbroglio that spat fire and brimstone in the early 90s is a case in point. The saga to create a separate examination board for the General Certificate of Education Examination for anglophones brought Cameroon to a standstill because francophones did not understand why underdogs could have the temerity to ask to fair treatment.

The justice system in Cameroon is another bone of contention.There is no language policy, to the best of my knowledge, put in place to prevent the miscarriage of justice. The interpretation of the letter and spirit of the law is left to the whims and caprices of francophone judges who have no knowledge at all of the anglophone judicial system. This miscarriage of justice was self-evident during the Yondo Black trial way back in the 1990s when an anglophone witness was deprived of his right to testify on the grounds that the presiding judge could not understand his testimony in English. One wonders what has become of the pool of interpreters who are vegetating at the presidency of the republic. The Cameroon Radio & Television (CRTV) is another sore point. It has been so frenchified that 95 percent of the programs are broadcast in French only, to the detriment of English-speaking Cameroonians. Programs in English obtained from overseas are feverishly translated into French to serve the francophone public at the expense of anglophone Cameroonians. The language of training and the daily routine in the military,police and gendermarie is French. Anglophones can go to hades if they do not understand French! That’s the state of affairs in that part of Africa called Cameroon! That is the anglophone problem in Cameroon! There is no turning a blind eye to it. It will come back to haunt us willy-nilly. We’ve got to face it, and face it squarely and now.

Peter W. Vakunta
Madison
United States of America

[PETER VAKUNTA]

OPPRESSION: ROAD MAP FOR AFRICA

As macabre winds continue to blow leisurely over the continent of
Africa, conscientious Africans spend sleepless nights pondering
remedies to the myriad maladies that afflict the continent. Africa continues to be mis-misgoverned by a bunch of avaricious self-seekers who have invented neither powder nor the compass, to parody the celebrated Caribbean poet and playwright, Aime Césaire. These lumpen bourgeois are only good at "apemanship” and “parrotry" to quote another illustrious son of Africa, Ngugi Wa-Thiongo. The struggle to mentally decolonize Africa is too
urgent to be left in the hands of political nitwits! Meaningful
development in Africa requires commitment by Africans at home and in the Diaspora. Above, our leaders must rid themselves of what Franz Fanon calls the ‘mentality of the colonized’ in his classic work Black Skin White Masks. This presupposes jettisoning the status quo
characterized by a culture of subservience shoved down the throats of ill-informed masses. By their very nature revolutions are defined by the degree of involvement of the people determined to effect meaningful change. The struggle to liberate Africa from imperialistic neocolonial bondage calls for the involvement of our intelligentsia from all walks of life. It makes no sense to stand hands akimbo gazing into a vacant sky while your house is ablaze.
The genuine African intellectual must be distinguished from the armchair critique who is neither a man of action nor a change agent. Thandika Mkandawire buttresses this perception when he postulates: "The role of our intellectuals should be to enhance the capacity of the continent to mobilize the vast human capital (diasporic and continental) and natural wealth in order to eradicate the endemic poverty and stagnation that have become our lot for so long.

In a nutshell, the onus is on the intelligentsia south of the Sahara to take up the cudgels and do battle now. The time for yes-mania is over. The time for bootlicking is bygone. We will have to do or die. We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand and act like the proverbial ostrich. It is incumbent upon us to work in tandem with
all and sundry in a bid to achieve the lofty goal of African economic
integration earmarked by NEPAD. South-South dialogue is the modus operandi. There is no time for dilly-dally.

PETER VAKUNTA WUTEH
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON
USA
[email protected]

[VAKUNTA PETER WUTEH]

A CASE FOR THE AFRICAN WOMAN

A community that persists in relegating some of its members to the periphery is doomed. Sadly enough, this is what is happening in most black communities. Take the case of married women in Kenya, Africa. According to the Luo culture in this African country, the eldest son of a polygamous husband who dies leaving behind young wives is entitled to "inherit" the youngest stepmother. This is disgraceful to say the least.
To justify this practice, Kenyans call it "widow guardianship." It is hard to imagine what this really means. They claim that no sexual intercourse takes place between the widow and the so-called 'protector.' However, experience has shown that, more often than not, the protector winds up making children with his own 'mother'! Isn’t this incest? What type of custom is this? Most black cultures frown on incestuous relationships.
In traditional African societies, marriage is considered authentic only after the lobola has been paid. This practice has wide-ranging implications for the bride. The husband regards his wife as his ‘property’ because he has ‘bought her’. This means that the husband feels he has the right molest his wife because she is his ‘property’. This explains why wives get beaten and raped every day in black communities by their own husbands but nobody raises a voice in protest. In fact, most black men find it hard to understand the concept of marital rape. In some communities, bride price is paid in the form of cows, pigs, goats, cocks and hens, luxuries which poor Africans men cannot afford. Cases abound where after paying such expensive bride prices, husband and wife are reduced to abject poverty for the rest of their lives. No wonder many black women resort to prostitution in order to make both ends meet. In the event of divorce, the bride’s family is required to pay back the lobola. This places a huge financial contraint on the family.
Custody of children in a broken marriage is another thorny problem. Children are considered a man’s ‘property’ in most black communities whether or not they are born in wedlock. In Africa, for instance, if a woman decides to leave her matrimonial home, her children are compelled to remain with their father regardless of their ages. The question of arranged marriages is also a cause for concern for most women in black communities. In some cases, a girl is not given the chance to choose her own husband. Parents ‘sell’ her to a man. There are cases in Africa where indebted fathers have given their daughters in marriage to creditors in order to have their debts cancelled. Sometimes, the creditor may be a man as old as the girl’s father.
Black women often feel discriminated against in a male-dominated community. They view themselves as victims of gender repression. Some men say that democracy and human rights are alien concepts. Another despicable practice prevalent in black communities is wife battery. There are some unenlightened men out there who believe that the only way to correct a woman is to give her a snake beating. Come to think of it, women are not schoolchildren. Even if they were school kids, where on earth is corporal punishment used as a corrective method nowadays? This writer argues that black women need to empower themselves in order to fight back male domination. Speaking to Africa Today, Senegalese musical virtuoso, Baaba Maal, observed:
Majority of African women are uneducated, unemployed and have limited opportunities in trade or government [ …] In the lyrics of my song I talk about an African woman one day joining the good male leaders to lead the continent out of our predicament because women have the power and have shown the determination when they get the opportunity (38).
Another thorny problem that black women face in Africa is the rite of virginity tests. It is hard to remain indifferent to the plight of young girls who are compelled to undergo virginity tests in many parts of Africa. These tests are carried out to assure that teenage girls maintain remain virgins. Experience shows that this practice does harm to the girls. A number of reasons could be given to argue for the abolition of this custom. Firstly, these tests affect the girls physically and psychologically. They feel raped by the old women who conduct the tests. The sneaky experience remains with the girls throughout their lives. Besides, virginity tests are not foolproof. The main objective of the rite is to prevent pre-marital sexual intercourse and promiscuity. Interestingly, experience has shown that this is not one hundred percent reliable because virginity restoration surgery has made the entire exercise ineffective. Worse still, virginity tests facilitate the spread of HIV/AIDS and STDs because the testers insert the same instrument into the private parts of several girls without sterilization. There is no question that virginity tests are acts of brutality perpetrated by the older generation on youths. All too often, these tests target only girls. Do boys not the potential to be promiscuous? This writer argues that virginity tests are counterproductive. They are an outdated custom that is being used to subjugate the black woman.
Closely linked to virginity tests is female genital mutilation. This is another scary aspect of our culture. In spite of numerous attempts by custodians of African tradition to justify this time-honored custom, no one has been able to logically explain why it is necessary to mutilate a young girl’s clitoris.
In a nutshell, suffice it to say that the way women are treated in a community is generally an indicator of the mental maturity of men in that community. Women play a significant role in every society. The same holds true for black communities. If we continue to relegate our women on the background, we will stagnate incessantly because our development requires that all hands be on deck. How many times have we heard the wise saying: ‘behind every successful man there is a woman”? There is logic in this axiom. The black woman should not be confined to a second fiddle role.

Vakunta Peter Wuteh
University of Wisconsin-Madison
United States of America
vakunta@ gmail.com

[VAKUNTA PETER WUTEH]

THE SACRALIZATION OF CORRUTPION IN AFRICA

There is no denying the fact that with the exception of a few countries all African nations have been on a downward slide for many decades due to corruption. More often than not, graft goes unpunished in Africa largely because Africans have the tendency to sacralize political leadership. In Africa, traditional rulers are viewed as intermediaries between the living and the dead. In other words, fons, chiefs, kings, lamidos and sultans, to name but a few are perceived as immortals, wielding sacred power over their subjects. In many parts of Africa, the sacred role assigned to traditional leaders has been transferred to political leaders. The consequence of this state of affairs is that abuse of office and the misappropriation of public property go unpunished. There is no question that corruption constitutes a stumbling block to development in Africa. In fact, some pundits have described corruption as Africa’s cancer. It is a canker that eats deep into the fabric of the African society. According to the findings of the international watchdog, Transparency International (TI), post-colonial Africa is one of the worst victims of political corruption on the globe. Statistics indicate that a huge chunk of national budgets in Africa is squandered on corrupt practices. This trend has to be reversed in order to give Africa the chance to develop.
In spite of the abundance of natural resources in Africa, the continent remains one of the poorest on earth! This is an irony of sorts. Needless to say that corruption is not restricted to bribery or what is generally called small corruption in Africa. Bribery includes the illegal, unethical peddling of influence. Extortion is an example of big time corruption existing in every African country. Other forms of corrupt practices are: fraud, nepotism, kickbacks, favoritism and the misappropriation of state funds. In a nutshell, corruption is a spoke in of Africa’s developmental wheel. It hampers development initiatives throughout the continent. This problem is compounded by inept leadership.

The way forward

In order to salvage the African continent from corruption and the socio-economic morass that it engenders, Africans at home and in the Diaspora must take the following bold steps:
•We need to come up with a new vision of political leadership and power-sharing that would ensure good governance. Multiparty democracy in Africa will remain window-dressing if we continue to turn a blind eye to wanton abuse of power and corrupt practices;
•We must take our destiny into town own hands. No amount of goodwill is enough to resolve Africa’s developmental problems. Africans must combat endemic corruption through education and the inculcation of good moral values (truth, integrity, loyalty, respect, honesty, trustworthiness, patriotism) into our children right from birth;
•Last but not the least; we must learn to invest in the future. A saving continent is a wealthy continent.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A
[email protected]

[kitiyfo]

Who is the kitiyfo who signed in his story from Nouachchot - or some place in mali in 2005? I'll like to communicate with him at [email protected]

[ruthtm]

This is a response to madame Irene's comment. How dare you speak of Dr. Tatah Mentan in such a manner when you cannot even stand in the same environment as he is. This man has suffered in Cameroon for so many years, and is still today fighting for the liberation of the people of Southern Cameroons. When your life and family is threatened but yet you cannot give up on fighting fro what you believe in is what this man has done. Being in the US has given him to give his children an opportunity to achieve something so as to use their knowledge in the future in the place they as well as others can call home, for which he as well as others are fighting for right now. Speaking as a young woman who knows Dr. Tatah Mentan personally, I think you're an ignorant and probably disturbed woman, who should get educated as well as get your facts straight.

[Michael ONU]

I've known brother TM right from his postgraduate years at Nsukka in Nigeria and would be glad to get in touch with him again. He's fighting an important and noble course.

[lumumba]

T Just want to caesed this opportunity to thank Mr Ntemfac for this ineractive forum. I wish we should tackle issues on a more contructive manner like Mr Vukanta Peter of the USA has handled the issues. I just want to applaud Pa Tatah Mentah for his works, it has enlighten me so much to hanle the Southern cameroons issues. Yes, its unfortunate that so many southern Cameroonians don't know about their history but haven been faced with the atrocities that are going back home, and we're fortunate to to out of the Country, its our place to articulale the issues back home. For i'm in south Africa and many south Africans don't really know what the Anglophones are going through. When you speak english, most are baffled that Cameroon speak english and french.
Pa Tatah, has fought the good fight in his own way, its our time to consiously make the world know about the hostility we are all going through. By us harmmering on this issues, i feel its time for us to built genuine solidarity as we happened to be out of the country to make things work in our favour.
I'm not saying that Anglophones should show when they go back home. But what have we done to see that we contribute to a significant change in Cameroon. its not time for us to attack each other for thats the very tool Biya is using to divide and rule us.
I need some support from you to further the struggle of the Anglophones back here.
I'm doing a small research on the impact of neo-liberalism on Cameroon. So if you can forward me acrtiles that can support this course and exposed the happenings in Cameroon then i'll be so glad.
We all know that one hand can't tie a bundle.togther we can collectively achieve more.
I do workshops here , so i'm doing one come 12th june 2009.
I'm doing work with social movements back here in South Africa, sad about the Afrophobic attacks but we're educating the working class and the common goal.
Lumumba
Cape Towm,
[email protected]
God bless the struggle!!

[lumumba]

I just want to say i made some spelling mistakes, my above opening statement was I not T, and to handle not hanle, hahahaha, hope some of those careless errors can be understood. thanks!!articulate,consciously,etc etc!!
Lets take the debate further to enahance our knowledge about issues in Cameroon.
Thanks for understanding!!

[PETER W. VAKUNTA, PHD]

Hello Mr. Lumumba!
Thanks for the kudos on my article. You and I communicated some time in the past on the situation back at home. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Keep up the good fight, bro. I lived in Pietersburg and Pretoria for over 5 years before emigrating to the US; so I know what you are talking about when you talk of Afrophobia. It's so sad that Azanians have decided to suffer from selective amnesia! For the work you are doing there, I need to know more and then you and I can talk further. In the meantime, if you would like to get more info on the goings-on in Cameroon and Africa, please visit the Upstation Mountain Club website: http:// www. postnewsline.com and read Prof Tatah Mentan's three illuminating books:

1)DILEMMAS OF WEAK STATES: AFRICA AND TRANSNATIONAL TERRORISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY (Aldershot, 2004)

2)HELD TOGETHER BY PINS:LIBERAL DEMOCRACY UNDER SIEGE IN AFRICA(Africa World Press, 2007)

3)WITH NEITHER GUNS NOR BULLETS:RECOLONIZATIION OF AFRICA TODAY(Global Media Publication, 2007)

You may want to consult my own book: CRY MY BELOVED AFRICA: ESSAYS ON THE POSTCOLONIAL AURA IN AFRICA (LANGAA PUBLISHERS, 2008)
Happy reading!