Conflict refers to the situation where to or more parties are involved in a clash, because one man’s or party’s interests restrict the interests of the other.  It can also be defined as an expressed struggle between interdependent goals, scarce resources and interference. For there to be a conflict, there must be an expressed struggle, which is different from a mere disagreement ‘.

Intra-state conflict refers to conflict within a state. There are many types of intra-state conflicts which include but not limited to political conflict otherwise known as regime change conflict, ethno-national conflict, inter-religious conflict and inter-tribal conflict

Communication on the other hand is the act of conveying meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs, symbols and semiotic roles. In communication and conflict, students study the different avenues and communication methodologies that can be effective in resolving a conflict. In the book ‘’Effective Conflict Management in Marital Relationships’’ published by Tatoh Kenneth, he outlines what he calls the important tips of communication, which is this context are used in resolving conflict in marital homes between couples. The question maybe asked as to whether this tips can be applied within the context of violent intra-state conflict, which involves different dynamics, such as dealing with the mass and sometimes against a government, unlike in a marital relationship that involves just two people;, the couple.

For us to understand the possibility of this applicability, it is important for us to use a particular case study, which is the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon’s North West and South West regions. Our paper does not have standard ‘’Yes, it is possible’’ or ‘’No, it is not possible’’ responses. It involves a critical overview of each of these tips and to what extends, elements of such tips can be used or not in putting an end to the Anglophone crisis, but before we get there, below is a brief historical overview of what the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon is all about.

It has been a very difficult task for scholars in peace studies to clearly define what the Anglophone crisis is all about. It might not have a clearly defined problem statement per se, each scholar defines the problem according to the perspective of their research. Apart from a scientific definition attempt, many political actors have attempted the definition of the problem cum crisis according to their different political ideologies and agenda and by so doing, have added to the complexity of the whole conflict, making its resolution more complicated. Some call it a failure of decolonization, others call it the marginalization of the Anglophone minority in Cameroon while others think it is a problem of governance, which by the way is a general Cameroonian and perhaps, an African problem.  However, for the sake of this paper and the clarity of its objectives, we will use the most widely known problem statement advanced by prominent actors of the conflict, which is marginalization and segregation of the Anglophone minority in Cameroon, otherwise known as the former British Southern Cameroon

The Anglophone problem in Cameroon can be traced as far back as the first world war when Germany lost her overseas territory Kamerun to Britain and  France and the territory was later partitioned between the two countries. France took the larger part and Britain a smaller part which was still partitioned between British Northern and Southern Cameroons and governed under the British administration in Nigeria. In 1960, French Cameroon got her independence from france and later on the 1^st of October, Southern Cameroon under a UN organized plebiscite choosed to join the French speaking part of Cameroon while the Northern Cameroon chose Nigeria.  Yet the union treaty in Foumban that brought French Cameroon and the Southern Cameroon together in 1961 stated that the federal form of the state which was adopted to contain the both cultures inherited from Britain and France was never going to be tampered with, but unfortunately, president Amadou Ahidjo in 1972 under what historains call an illegal referendum decided to terminate the federal form of the state and created a new united republic of Cameroon which years later will move to the Republic of Cameroon by president Biya Paul. Many saw this as the beginning of what is today known as the Anglophone problem with different voices calling for outright independence of Southern Cameroon and those calling for a return to the 1961 federal constition. But the government of president Biya has maintained that Cameroon is one and indivisible and the form of the state is non-negotiable. This has led to the conflict that has existed since 2016 when lawyers and teachers of the English speaking regions matched to the streets demanding an end to what they called the ‘’francophonization’’ of both the the legal and academic systems of the English speaking regions. Government’s brutal response to the peaceful protests led to the infiltration of the independence movement, turning the protests from a pure corporate demand to a political conversation, leading to the declaration of independence in 2017 and eventually, turning a peaceful protest to an armed conflict

Haven established the crux of the matter in question, it is now time to examine the possibility of the seven communication tips advanced by Tatoh Kenneth,and how possible can they be applied within the context of such a complicated ethno-national conflict between the state of Cameroon and pro-independence groups in the North West and South West regions

1: Avoiding unclarified assumptions

By unclarified assumptions here we mean when a message is communicated, there might be a difference in the assumptions formed by the receiver and the assumptions intended to reach the receiver. Hence, doubts must always be entertained by the sender of the message. Could such unclarified assumptions have contributed to the ongoing conflict and could avoiding it solve the problem? First the problem in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon comes from the fact that the United Nations assumed that the British Southern Cameroon was not ready for self-governance and that by joining the French Cameroon, and forming a federal structure, it was going to permit the territory to be able to govern itself. History says there were options that advocated for neither Nigeria nor Cameroon as a means of gaining independence, but the UN assumed that the territory was not ripe for independence and could not stand alone. The UN did not make use of its early warning mechanisms and didn’t listen the voices of those who saw this present conflict as a result of a difficult coexistence of the different cultures. It is important to note that the reason why Britain and France failed to govern the territory as one nation and decided to divide it in to two was as a result of a clash of two cultures. This led to the failure of the condominium hence the partitioning of the territory into two. By not taking such a lesson into consideration, the UN assumed wrongfully that the two systems could cohabit together without any problems

Secondly, the Foumban accords in 1961 that were supposed to be supervised by the UN were not done so, consequently, there were less experts on the side of British Southern Cameroon on constitutional matters to examine the files and avoid the lapses that have led to the present conflict.

Another instance of unclarified assumption case that could have avoided the outburst of the crisis occurred when the lawyers protested and tabled complaints in front of government and instead of examining them, a government minister rather assumed that the lawyers were hungry and that they will eventually go back to court when they will get hungry. Obviously the minister wrongly assumed that lawyers protested because they wanted personal gains, instead of looking at the problem from a holistic perspective

2: Using Appropriate Channels of Communication

By channels of communication, we mean the means through which information is disseminated targeting a particular audience, in this case, the Anglophone crisis was driven by youths and by consequence, they  were the target population. With a paradigm shift from the analogue to the digital media, government from the beginning of the conflict in the North West and South West failed to engage young people using the digital media space, instead the maintained the traditional channels of communication which was mostly followed by the advanced generation. The population in general had lost trust on the state broadcaster who was constantly accused of giving out wrong information, which some went to the extent of describing it as a fake news channel

The government however knew that the digital media had a lot of influence on the population. This was demonstrated when the Anglophone civil leaders were arrested and internet was automatically shutdown in the North West and South West regions, due to the power of influence the Anglophone diaspora had on the population using the internet. Even though the internet was shutdown, activists in the diaspora still derived a means of sending messages to those found in the Francophone regions that had access to internet and they in turn sent to the population in the Anglophone regions via SMS. This channel of communication successfully put down the two Anglophone regions for months even without the presence of the internet. Two young Cameroonians in the diaspora used the internet to paralyze the two English speaking regions while government watched helplessly. Instead, government spent time granting press conferences on state television rather than engage in a constructive conversation with young people using the digital media space, where these young people are mostly engaged

3: Avoiding Secrecy among Ourselves

The ideas of open communication helps in confidence building between citizens and the government. In the case of the Cameroon Anglophone crisis, the issues of trust gaps have been constantly dominant within the context of the conversation between government and citizens in the two English speaking regions. There have been instances where government has sent out information concerning operations of soldiers that have turned out to be untrue. In some cases, soldiers have committed human rights violations and government has come out to defend them. Only for them to later come out to accept that in reality, the act was committed by state forces. This has created a very big trust gap between the population and the military therefore making cooperation between them very difficult.  In another instance, when the separatist leaders were arrested in Nigeria and held incommunicado for several months, people were left in the dark and nobody knew what has happened to them. Some people felt they had been killed since no information was available about their whereabouts. This act of secret operations alone further created the divide between government and the pro-independence groups, making dialogue becoming more difficult. Whereas an open statement from the government acknowledging their arrest and where they are being held, allowing access to their lawyers and family members would have reduced tensions.

Last year, a certain dialogue was announced between the government and the separatist leaders and the story was carried by major journals including Jeune Afique, a credible Paris based pan African magazine and some credible diplomatic representation , but official information from government few day later downplayed the information, stating that no such dialogue was taking place. With such denial from government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi, it became obvious that government was hiding something and didn’t want to come out clear. It became obvious that there was a lot of secrecy in the whole political set up, making conflict resolution not very easy. This usually is done in order to preserve the pride of the government  , as it may not want to be seen openly negotiating with what they call an irregular group or what they have always branded as terrorist

On the other hand, avoiding secrecy may not work in favor of conflict resolution as people become so emotional on issues of political conflict. Experts in mediation always want to be secretive in their operations, doing backdoor negotiations with the actors of the conflict before the real open dialogue or negotiation is taking place. This is usually done in order to avoid public and media influence over the mediation process

4: Be Honest

The Anglophone crisis in Cameroon can be described as a conflict of honesty or dishonesty. From the Foumban conference in 1961 where it is alleged that the delegation from the Republic of Cameroon had a different agenda that was different from the agenda of a true Federal Republic of Cameroon. History says, the then president Amadou Ahidjo had promised the United Nations and the entire international community that he and his delegation had no agenda of annexation on Southern Cameroon and that the relationship was going to be that of two equal partners living together and respecting the cultural heritages of the two systems, but events turned out to be different, as the 1972 referandum considered by poundits to be illegal dismantled the federal constitution only 12 years after the promise was made. This posed a serious problem of honesty and trust, given that the referendum in 1972 was not just in for Anglophones but for the entire Cameroon, with an already known outcome. Others talk of two options that meant the same thing (oui and yes) and the result came out to be 99.9% in favor of the United Republic of Cameroon against the federal terms. This again built an atmosphere of dishonesty and created disgruntleness among Anglophones who started feeling that they have been deceived or tricked into the union by the republic of Cameroon.

Even as the conflict is ongoing, lack of honesty is still driving people to extreme camps and creating more avenues for radicalization. President Paul Biya admitted in Paris France during the Paris Peace Conference in 2019 that his government has tried assimilating Anglophones in Cameroon to no avail. This statement from the country’s number one personality is a confirmation that in the real sense of it, there is truly an Anglophone problem and that Anglophones have genuine reasons to complain. But unfortunately it has been difficult  for government ministers to accept that the Anglophone problem exists, including prominent Anglophone ministers. The president of the republic himself has not been able to publicly acknowledge the existence of the problem within a Cameroonian territory and within the context of finding solutions to the conflict.

Secondly, government officials have failed to make true statements concerning the war situation and what is happening on ground. In most cases, they distort figures, either for the war economy reasons or for fear of the unknown. They have told authorities in Cameroon and even at the United Nations that the situation in the North West and South West regions was under control, but for several years and counting, the conflict rages on with devastating humanitarian figures.

5. Keeping Current .

In this section, Tatoh Kenneth advises that couples should avoid digging up stories, except for those stories that edify them and make the home more harmonious. But in the case of a political conflict, and one deeply rooted in the history of the country, it is important to dig deep into the root causes of the conflict which dates right back from the days of colonialism. Digging into the root causes of the conflict permits a better understanding of the grievances and paves a way for negotiations and mediation. It is more advisable for a mediator to dig and have facts about what happened before the conflict escalated in 2016.

It is also very important to teach Cameroonians the history of their country, because some Cameroonians don’t know the real history of the country and consequently don’t even know why there is an Anglophone crisis and by so doing cannot position themselves as part of the solution to the conflict. By implication, making sure that the past is exploited will also help in making 3^rd parties to the conflict understand how they can mediate.

On the other hand, it can also be said that those who still have memories of a state of Southern Cameroon are unnecessarily revoking memories that  could be forgotten and the country moves forward. Proponents of one Cameroon advance that  it is high time we forget about the past with the narrative of a once independent state and forge ahead in the spirit of a united Africa. But also the stories that could edify Cameroon today include the fact that Southern Cameroon used to be one of Africa’s fastest growing democracy and that Cameroon could learn those lessons in order to advance its fragile democracy

6. Attack Problems, not people

With the advent of social media, a lot of people have been given the opportunity to speak even without censorship since everyone can access social media with just having a smart phone and some data. The space has been polluted with hate speech and gradually it is becoming a space for breathing violence. If care is not taken, the next Rwandan type genocide will not be caused by the traditional media, it will be caused by the social media where no censorship of information occurs. Consequently, people have diverted from attacking a problem to attacking individuals. Government has directly targeted individuals while separatist groups do the same, they both arrest and kidnap individuals, while separatists send threats to individuals using the social media and they are sometimes targeted.

The problem in Cameroon is not between Anglophones and francophone, but rather it is problem of marginalization of Anglophones by a government that also has Anglophones. By constantly mistaking the target, people are victimized and that makes it difficult to actually find a solution when people live the problem and rather to attack individuals. Henceforth, for the problem to be addressed, people need to shift from attacking individuals to attacking the real problem. Individuals such as the president of the republic may be directly involved, but attacking the head of state from an individual perspectives and not from a crisis management perspective, reduces the chances of peacefully resolving the conflict.

In the present Anglophone crisis, people have openly called for others of another region to leave their community, because they think that these people are the problem in their community. This has been heavily condemned by right thinking Cameroonians who believe that the problem is elsewhere other than asking people from one region  to leave

7: Being more positively reactive than vengeful

The crisis in  the North West and South West regions has gone to this level because people have not been trained to look at things from a positive perspective. This is largely due to the pollution of the mind by most media especially the digital media. It is common to see and read news about how the army has killed members of the non state armed groups and vice versa. People wake up in the morning to start reading news with corpses all over social media. This has certainly contributed towards the radicalization of young people as they constantly consume negative information that transforms their minds and drives them to becoming violent.

The media stands the chance of turning things around by focusing more on peace journalism and promoting what is still good about our communities, and how we can transform the conflict into a positive conversation that heals our land . the government could also adopt a policy of appeasement by accepting the grievances, making concessions and transforming the conflict to the development of Cameroon where each and every one is seen and regarded as equal.

To conclude, we actually used this paper to demonstrate how the conflict in the North West and South West regions can be solved using the seven methods advanced by Tatoh Kenneth. Just like we outlined during the introduction, the purpose of it was to see which of them can work in the context of an intra-state conflict. It is important to note that there is actually a difference between intra-state conflict and a conflict between a husband and a wife, therefore the application of some tips in this context appear to be impossible because intra-state conflict involves the state and maybe a particular group within the same state which will have several dynamics. Like in our context of the Anglophone crisis, it was difficult to actually say forgetting about the past or keeping current will help solve the crisis, rather, for us to understand the conflict itself requires a deep research about the foundation of the country and how the two entities came together to be united as one country. Apart from that, the application of other tips such as honesty, channels of communication, avoiding secrecy and attacking problems, instead of people are more relevant tips in resolving conflict, but also we looked at how secrecy in a mediation process will avoid a mass influence of the process with emotional reactions.

NB: This conversation is inspired by the Seven Tips of Communication in Tatoh Kenneth’s book “Effective Conflict Management in Marital Relationships”.

Berinyuy Cajetan, Publisher

Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.