The Nigerian government’s handover of the hotly contested Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon two weeks ago concludes a quarrelsome chapter in the region’s history. The handover, brokered by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, followed a World Court ruling in favour of the territory being returned to Cameroon.
This tiny fish-rich peninsula, on the Gulf of Guinea, has massive gas and oil resources, which some estimates put as high as 10% of world reserves.
One of the loudest voices of protest came from the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (Scapo), which is demanding a republic separate from Francophone Cameroon, to be called Ambazonia.
Scapo is not the only faction calling for the creation of an autonomous Anglophone Ambazonian state.
Edwin Ngang, a United States-based representative of the Ambazonia Liberation Party (ALP), insists that the current state of Cameroon was created “on illegal premises” and is demanding the liberation of Ambazonia from Cameroon.
The name Ambazonia — meaning the zone of Ambaz — comes from the southern coast of the British Cameroon that was called Ambaz Bay. Ngang said the UN and the African Union are not sympathetic to the secessionist cause. “They continue to treat our case as an internal matter. They said it is an internal matter that can be resolved in Cameroon,” he complained.
ALP’s Cameroon-based coordinator, lawyer Blaise Berinyuy, told the Mail & Guardian that the indigenes of Ambazonia were not amused by the decision to hand over Bakassi to Cameroon. “This territory has never been part of Cameroon,” he insisted. He said that although his organisation was committed to a non-violent approach, its youth were getting restive. “Our young people think we are too cautious and are considering taking up arms to fight for our independence,” he warned.
But Achille Mbembe, a researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research and a native of Cameroon, said the demands were “ridiculous”, and “unrealistic”, explaining that “it won’t happen, because there is no place for a mini state in the Gulf of Guinea”.
He argued that from a geopolitical point of view, the Gulf of Guinea is “an important” part of the region, as most of the oil on the continent is produced in the belt which extends from the south coast of West Africa to the west coast of Southern Africa.
“I don’t see any major power allowing another mini state because it would destabilise their access to oil. The troubles in the Niger may extend beyond the delta. The stakes are against them.”
He said that at a time when the continent is working towards synergy, “further balkanisation” is not desirable.
However, Mbembe believes the Paul Biya-led government in Cameroon should take the grievances of Anglophone Cameroonians seriously. He said the “process of bilingualism” should be revitalised and minorities should be treated according to international law.
Cameroon, a German colony prior to the first world war, was divided between Britain and France after the defeat of Germany. French Cameroon became independent in 1960 and the southern British Cameroon got independence a year later. The remainder became part of Nigeria.
The name Cameroon comes from camarão, the Portuguese word for prawn, which colonial explorers found in abundance in the Wouri River.