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Par Hyppolite Ikome
The Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Cameroon’s The Guardian Post newspaper, Kristian Ngah Christian, has issued a strong appeal to separatist leaders and Ambazonian fighters to immediately halt violence in the North West and South West regions.
In an open letter made public, the journalist says he is writing “on bended knees”, not as a politician, but as an Anglophone who shares the pain and suffering of his people since the crisis began in 2016 and escalated into an armed conflict in 2017. Nearly nine years on, he argues that the armed struggle has failed the very population it claimed to defend.
Kristian Ngah Christian paints a grim picture of life in the English-speaking regions, marked by deepening poverty, hunger, displacement and trauma. He states that many Anglophones are now refugees or internally displaced persons struggling to survive, a situation he says did not exist before the crisis.
He strongly condemns what he describes as the “milking, maiming and killing” of civilians in the name of freedom, insisting that the balance sheet of the struggle shows Anglophones are far worse off than they were before 2016, educationally, economically and socially. According to him, the movement has committed more errors than the injustices it initially sought to correct.
The Guardian Post publisher singles out the collapse of the Anglophone education system as one of the most tragic consequences of the conflict. He laments the impact of prolonged school boycotts, which he says have cost an entire generation its right to education. Prestigious schools in the North West and South West, once symbols of excellence, have been reduced to shadows of their former selves, while many experienced teachers have fled to Francophone regions in search of safety and better pay.
Kristian Ngah Christian also denounces kidnappings, killings and extortion targeting teachers, students, parents, medics, traders, clergy and even children. He criticises the imposition of ransoms and so-called funeral taxes, arguing that such practices have only deepened suffering and fear within Anglophone communities.
In his assessment, the scale of atrocities committed in the name of independence has so disillusioned the population that, if a referendum were held today, an overwhelming majority of Anglophones would choose to remain in a united Cameroon. He questions whether history will judge the toll of the conflict kindly and urges separatist leaders to abandon what he calls “anti-people undertakings”.
Calling for an immediate end to killings, kidnappings, ghost towns and lockdowns, Kristian Ngah Christian appeals for a return to peaceful methods of resistance and dialogue. He concludes by invoking Mahatma Gandhi, stressing that while violence may appear to bring short-term gains, the damage it causes is permanent.
The Anglophone crisis in Cameroon began in 2016 following protests by lawyers and teachers in the North West and South West regions, who decried marginalisation within a predominantly Francophone state. The situation escalated into an armed conflict in 2017, pitting government forces against separatist groups seeking an independent state known as Ambazonia. The conflict has since claimed thousands of lives, displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and severely disrupted economic activity, education and social life in the affected regions.
