ABSTRACT

In Cameroon the state has not been able to know the influx of migration rate in the country and as such, people have engaged in migration in several ways. The objective of this study was to investigate how crisis induced internal migration affects the livelihood in Yaoundé vi. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of study consisted of inhabitants of Yaoundé vi municipality. A questionnaire survey study was used to carry out the research work. Primary data was collected using questionnaires where all the issues on the questionnaire were addressed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Furthermore, interpretations were made based on the results presented on tables, chats and figures. For findings, a total of 50 participants were enrolled in the research. In the analysis, the study found several causes of crisis induced internal migration in Yaoundé vi which included mostly security; 68% and the availability of land; 72% where in it is recorded in less than 6 months affecting mostly Biyem assi. Equally, the livelihood of the population is affected as high dependency ratio; 84% is being recorded. This brings forth challenges like in security, sexual harassment, high crime wave and many other related. The various stakeholders involved especially the government agencies; 64% ensure that they provide solutions to the challenges faced. While doing that, they face challenges as the population gives false information and as there is poor management from some of the stakeholders. This study therefore recommends the creation of a national institution for the proactive governance of internal migration attached to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization in cooperation with several other government ministries.

Keywords: Crisis induced internal migration and its Implications on livelihood, sociopolitical challenges, Yaoundé VI municipality.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Back ground to the Study

 Crisis is a perception or experience of an event or situation as an intolerable difficulty that exceeds the person’s current resources and coping mechanism (James, 2001). This crisis may be as a result of financial crisis the 2007-2009 Global financial crisis  which ignited in US and later spread  across of the develop world, natural crisis  for example earthquake and tsunami in  Japan, (2011), personnel crisis economic crisis and political crisis that has induce migration, (James, 2001). Migration is defined as “movement of people from one country, place or locality to another.”(Athens, 2021)Historically, humans have always been on the move and this has been an important means of economic and social development (Neill, 1984). In the past decade, the number of people moving within and across borders has been steadily growing, surpassing global population growth rates (UN, 2017).

 According to the United Nations, there were 258 million international migrants globally in 2017, an almost 70 per cent increase compared to the year 1990 (UN, 2019). Of those, approximately 68 million were forcibly displaced persons, including over 25 million refugees and 3 million asylum seekers. Additionally, there were more than 40 million internally displaced people, (UN, 2019). Forced displacement is also part of human history, reaching its peaks in the 20th century due to the II World War. Ever since the earliest humans began to spread from Africa, humans have been on the move. Even today, 3 percent of the world’s population at least 258 million people live outside of their country of origin. Whether voluntary or forced, migration has profoundly shaped our world. (Erin, 2019). Their spread to Eurasia and elsewhere remains a matter of significant scientific controversy. (Erin, 2019). The earliest fossils of recognizable Homo sapiens were found in Ethiopia and are approximately 200,000 years old, (UN 1945).

The ancient Greeks expanded their dynasty with a laundry list of colonies, (Raleigh, 2011).  Ancient Rome sent its citizens as far north as Britain. Imperial China, too, used its military to expand its borders and house refugees in ever farther-flung borderlands. Migration has long been characterized and complicated by war, enslavement, and persecution. Jews fled their ancestral lands after waves of exile and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., creating a widespread diaspora. At least 12 million Africans were enslaved and forced to relocate to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade between 1500 and the 1860s. In the aftermath of World War II in 1945, hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors and other civilians became displaced persons, emigrating to Western Europe, the territory of British-Mandate Palestine that later became Israel, and the United States. And at the end of the Vietnam War, over 125,000 people from Vietnam migrated to the United States in the face of a humanitarian crisis, (Albert G.et al 2019)

In Africa, The “out of Africa” theory posits that around 60,000 years ago, Homo sapiens dispersed across Eurasia, where they met and eventually replaced other human ancestors like Neanderthals, (Erin,2019). However, that theory has been challenged by evidence of migrations from Africa to Eurasia 120,000 years ago. Either way, early humans are thought to have migrated to Asia either across a strait that lies between the Horn of Africa and what is now Yemen, or via the Sinai Peninsula, (Erin,2019). After spreading to Southeast Asia, early humans are thought to have migrated to Australia, which shared a landmass with New Guinea at the time, then to Europe, then to the Americas. Those migrations were likely driven by climate, food availability, and other environmental factors. As time passed and cultures became less nomadic, war and colonialism began to fuel migrations, too, (Erin,2019).

In Cameroon crisis could be traced back in 2014, with the Bokoharam insurgency in the Far North region, (IDMC, 2019). The continuous attacks by Bokoharam on inhabitants of the Far North region of Cameroon, has continuously led to high insecurity and eventual displacement. However, in 2016 there was an outbreak of mass protest in the two English speaking regions of the country, which escalated to an armed conflict in 2018 due to the government cracking down on protestors during public protest meetings held in some towns by the Anglophone minority (IDMC, 2019). This has resulted to many becoming refugees in and some displaced internally while some have been displaced to some relatively calm and secure cities in the conflict-ridden regions, like Buea, Limbe and Bamenda. This has introduced a challenge for the Cameroonian government in relation to housing, feeding and health. Many state-owned enterprises significantly suffered such as the collapse of the Cameroon development cooperation (CDC), which saw many Cameroonians unemployed, (Christ, 2020). The only national airline (Camairco) saw many of its staff unemployed and the only oil refinery in the country went into flames on May 31st, 2019, which has made the company to still be offline presently (Christ, 2020). In Yaoundé VI internal migration can be seen due to the economic, social and political cause as such the political instable atmosphere has cause people to migrate to other region of the country, (UN,2016).

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study seeks to establish the link between the Internally Displaced Persons and their livelihood activities and to show the importance of crisis induced internal migration in scientific and policy cycle. It furthers shows that globally there are a series of crisis that has triggered displaced internally (movement within the country for find a place of safety ) or external (crossing borders to other areas of safety). This question has attracted a lot of attention. For instance in the North, people look at Internally Displaced Persons linked to Boko Haram insurgency but ever since the socio-political issues in the  English speaking Regions with little information   about the crisis in the Region  with YaoundéVI  being the case  this study seeks to establish the link between the  Internally Displaced Persons and their livelihood activities

 It appears that the causes of crisis induced internal migration is trigged more by socio-political issues linked to conflict concerning lack of space , secured livelihood opportunities, problems of space.

Although Yaounde VI has witnessed an increased in immigration and IDPs from crisis affected region, the different livelihood strategies adopted by this internally displaced persons have not been effectively established.  For instance some of the IDPs are  more involved in the informal sector activities such as roadside commercial activities like road vending,(“buyam sellam”) public transport. This spatial variation  of their livelihood activities in Yaounde is not fully understood

As the immigrant resettled in Yaounde VI, their presence seems to may have  stirred up a series of geopolitical and economic challenges some of which include  housing problems, limited job opportunities, inadequate educational and medical facilities, poor nutrition  ,lack the financial resource and essentials for a minimum standard of living, (James, 2023)

1.3 Research questions

1.3.1 Main research question

How does internal migration crisis affect the population of Yaoundé VI municipality?

1.3.2 Specific Research Questions

• What are the causes of crisis induced internal migration in Yaoundé VI municipality?
• How has crisis induces migration affected the livelihoods of Yaoundé VI municipality?
• What are the socio- political and economic challenges faced by those migrating internally in Yaoundé VI municipality?

1.4 Research Objectives

1.4.1 Main Research Objective

The main objective of this study is to investigate how crisis induced internal migration has affected the livelihoods of population in Yaoundé VI municipality

1.4.2 Specific Research Objectives.

• To identify the causes of crisis induced internal migration in Yaoundé VI municipality.
• To determine the impact of crisis induced internal migration in the livelihoods of Yaoundé VI municipality.
• To examine the socio-political and economic challenges of internal migration towards livelihood population of Yaoundé VI municipality.