This
reflection is inspired by the fact that as both government and secessionist
forces claim victory over one exploit or the other, the peace loving and
innocent population in the areas they attack, suffer.
It is also informed by
the fact that although the media has been documenting the crisis since its
outbreak, the true scope of the crisis has not yet been revealed. It is the
more informed by the fact that more people than expected are already suffering
from psychological illnesses and difficulties by the very fact that they wonder
what next may happen to them, their relations in the trouble spots or those in
refugee camps.
As
the national and the international community continue to look elsewhere as if
nothing is happening in the two English speaking regions to merit their
attention, more than a humanitarian catastrophe is emerging in this minority community.
If
according to the international community, a humanitarian crisis is meant a
singular event or series of events that are threatening in terms of health,
safety, or wellbeing of a community or group of people, then the Anglophone
regions of Cameroon have had more than a fair share. The statistics are gory.
As I write, close to half a million people have been displaced internally and
to refugee camps in neighbouring Nigeria. A million more are likely to suffer
from famine by year end if the situation continues. Although the humanitarian
crisis in the two English Speaking regions is man-made, it has already gone
past the level of a complex emergency by all international standards. Going by
the fact that the situation in trouble spots in the Northwest and Southwest
Regions prevent people from assessing their fundamental needs such as food,
clean water or safe shelter, the international community needs to turn
attention to it. The crisis since turned into an armed conflict with mass
movements of people. It has also become a refugee crisis.
Currently,
women and children make up 3 quarters of the Internally Displaced Persons or
IDPs with homes in Bamenda, Buea, Kumba, and other secure villages hosting
upwards of 20 persons. Worse still, one quarter of these Internally Displaced
Persons are of reproductive age. This means that a fifth of this population is
likely to become pregnant before the end of the year if they continue to leave
out of their natural abode. Worse still, we are likely to register more deaths
within the Internally Displaced Persons communities due to pregnancy,
reproductive health, serial violence and serial exploitation. To measure the
magnitude of the looming humanitarian crisis, one has to take into
consideration the fact that since the start of the crisis, women in these areas
have lost access to family planning services, prenatal care, and other health
and safety services. This is to say that women and children are unfortunate
most at risk in this crisis.
It
would be an uphill task to try counting the cost of this crisis. For the
purpose of this writeup, it is worthy of note that the crisis since led to
economic downfalls in the two English Speaking regions with far reaching
impacts on the national purse. There is no gainsaying the fact that the
Northwest and Southwest are at a stage of civil insecurity and economic
shortfalls. If the situation were to continue unabated, it shall in a few years
to come cause Yaoundé to collapse as government coffers are being dried off to
finance the costly war.
Contrary
to a deceiving narrative in especially Bamenda that the institution of Ghost
Towns forced many to return to the farms on such days and that would be more
supplies of food in the future, the two English Speaking Regions are likely to
experience food insecurity, famine, corruption and various other issues.
On
a purely humanitarian disaster front, gross human rights violations and mass
murders have since become the defining characteristic of the crisis. The crisis
has led to women and children being forced to work in dangerous conditions to
gain income and food both in and out of their habitats as all the able-bodied
men who used to take care of them have forced to flee.
In
terms of equal and proportionate force, there has been a mismatch between
sporadic attacks by secessionist fighters and the collective punishment meted
on the population by rampaging government forces following each attack. The
military air raids and the debilitating blockade of the long Cameroon/Nigeria
border have been depriving the population of the two regions from getting
essential supplies from Nigeria.
As
I write, many a village in the two English Speaking Regions are still being
evacuated or deserted in anticipation of imminent attacks from both government
and separatist fighters. But for residents in these villages, the paths out of
these areas are shadowed by threats of death from hunger and thirst. Staying
within the confines of the village, however, exposes them to the clutches of a
military known for treating innocent civilians with reckless abandon and who
have raised brutality to the level of fine arts. Rather than acting as a
professional army, by calling on residents to maintain safe distances from
secessionist fighters positions because these are obvious military targets,
they just descend on the population with heavy artillery shelling, maiming and
killing. Families are at extreme risk of being caught in crossfire. As stated
earlier, thousands have forcefully been expelled and others trapped between the
fighting lines. Unfortunately, and as stated earlier, women, children, the
elderly, and the disabled have been particularly vulnerable.
As
the separatist fighters are being pushed out of most communities, and together
with the population, the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis is becoming
palpable. Those who were living their independent lives in the affected
communities before the
crisis,
now have to depend entirely on the accommodating communities. Homes and
livestock have been looted or destroyed in the ongoing and senseless violence.
Although we are into the farming season, people in these communities are unable
to cultivate crops.
The
need for assistance is urgent. The humanitarian organization, The Ayah
Foundation, has been able to provide some timely and critical assistance to
some areas. Some people requiring medical aid have been transported to
facilities where they can receive treatment.
As
one moves from one accommodating community to the other, it becomes
heartrending to see children who are just obviously emaciated and in desperate
need for help. As the solution to the crisis whilst, child soldiers are
beginning to be recruited. Who knows, we may soon be confronted with suicide
bombings.
Statistically,
the situation is such that of the close to half a million displaced, over 10%
are now getting to borrow money to purchase basic foodstuff, with another 5%
selling asserts for the same purpose.
In
terms of destruction so far, it is estimated that approximately 500 homes have
been completely destroyed by government forces between January and April, 2018
alone.
On
the sanitation and health front, health experts now talk of an increasing risk
of communicable disease outbreak in both the affected and accommodation
communities. Due to diminished access to portable water, overcrowding in
receiving communities, and inadequate shelter, possible disease outbreak, such
as cholera, is a growing concern. Anglophones
living in affected communities, and those with chronic disease conditions such
as renal failure, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension, have been interrupted due
to access, affordability, and accessibility related issues. Births attended by
skilled workers in these communities have drastically decreased. School attendance that was picking up after
an end to school boycott was called off, have returned to near zero. Rape,
child abuse,
and teenage pregnancies, have become a new common. The child immunization
programme in these conflict ridden areas has since broken down. Government
extension services in affected areas have been forced to scale back as non-
indigenes are hardly welcomed. In the towns and cities where closures and
curfews have become a new common, access to emergency medical services is
hardly granted during the night. Truth be told, most Anglophone communities,
directly affected or not, suffer from widespread psychological illnesses. Many
a family now report psychological difficulties for one family member or the
other.
If
care is not taken, and if more national and international humanitarian
organizations do not come in, a whole generation of Anglophones would be
wasted.
That
is the Muteff Boy's Take
By Colbert Gwain
Author
(most recent book; Bamenda source of inspiration for Modern Cameroon),
Columnist for The Voices Weekly Newspaper, Radio Host, Rights (internet,
girls, women and minority) Activist and Communication Consultant.