1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background and problem 

ne of the greatest challenges of a modern nation state is the protection of political rights, social and economic interests of minority groups within their borders. The problems of minority groups are usually aggravated during an uncertain political or cultural situation, and in order to cope, these minority groups tend to nurture a high sense of group identity, longing for lost opportunities and a desire to return to a specific political circumstance which sometime becomes the main objectives of the leaders of this minority group (Lyombe 2003:2). This is the situation of the Anglophones in Cameroon today. Cameroon is a sub-Saharan African country found basically between West and Central Africa. It was colonised by France and Britain, this explains why Cameroon is a bilingual country speaking both French and English. Those speaking French are called the Francophones and those speaking English are called Anglophones. Cameroon has a population of 18 million, the Francophones make up about 85% (majority) of the population while the Anglophone about 15% (minority) of the total population, this could also be clarified using the provinces, as there are ten provinces in Cameroon with eight belonging to the Francophones, and two provinces to the Anglophones.

The latter are called Northwest and Southwest provinces. French Cameroon is found in the Eastern part of the country, so their region before reunification was first called East Cameroon while Anglophone Cameroon is found in the Western part of Cameroon and before reunification was called West Cameroon. The latter´s name was later changed and today West Cameroon is known as Southern Cameroon. We can note that, the Anglophones are comparatively small as compared to the other part of the country and this small nature has affected it existence in negative directions. Cameroon like most other African countries has its internal problems although there has been no major armed conflict since independence in 1961, there is the problem of the minority group being dominated by the majority and this majority also controls the government, thus Anglophone Cameroon has been at the forefront of ethno-regional protests and demands for rearrangement of state power.

Two Scholars, Konings and Nyamnjoh, claim that “there is a widespread feeling in this region that reunification with Francophone Cameroon in 1961 has led to a growing marginalisation of the Anglophone minority in the state project controlled by the Francophone elites, endangering its political heritage and identity” (Konings and Nyamnjoh2003: 2). They make us aware that it was during the political liberalisation period in the early 1990s that the Anglophone elites began to mobilise the regional population against their subordinated positions to demand for self-determination and autonomy, reintroducing federalism and later secession to the political agenda. Still, Konings and Nyamnjoh (2003:2) mention that there exist ethno-regional divisions and tensions within the Anglophones themselves particularly between the Northwest and the Southwest.

Thus we realize that conflict exists at different levels in the country, besides the Francophones and Anglophones conflicts, the two main Anglophone provinces are also at conflict with each other and this makes their fight against Francophone marginalization a difficult one because they are not united in their action. The post-colonial state has taken advantage of these existing contradictions within the Anglophone community to play off the South-western elites against its North-western counterpart in persistent efforts to bolster the unitary state and to deconstruct the Anglophone identity. Eko Lyombe views the Anglophone problem as a collection of political, economic, and social grievances expressed by the English-speaking minorities in the predominantly Frenchspeaking Republic of Cameroon. These grievances are expressed in terms of discrimination, second-class citizenship and marginalization (Lyombe 2003:2). Although the marginalisation of the Anglophone minority in Cameroon has not yet reached its peak by resulting in an armed conflict, it is however very necessary for steps to be taken for a proactive prevention of a violent conflict in Cameroon