Between October and November 2016, Cameroonians witnessed the origin of an armed conflict that will now be part of their history. Indeed, a group of men of law, with whom a group of English-speaking teachers and students later joined, expressed their dissatisfaction by a succession of strike movements which made it possible to improve a judicial and educational system which was unfavourable to them.
These legitimate claims have unfortunately been the starting point of a latent crisis which has caused considerable loss of human life and material to date.
The distant origins of a conflict
After the Second World War, the Territory which was under German protectorate (1884-1922) and under mandate of the League of Nations (SDN [1922-1946), then passed from 1946 to 1960 under the supervision of the United Nations organization (UNO) entrusted to two allies namely: French East Cameroon and British West Cameroon which was the southern extension of the other northern part of the British Territory which was in Nigeria. On January 1, 1960, French Cameroon became independent under the name of the Republic of Cameroon. The desire of Great Britain and the UNO to reunite the two Cameroons led in 1961 to the organization of a referendum inside Western Cameroon, at the end of which the northern part of this British territory chose to join neighbouring Nigeria while the southern part chooses to join the new republic of Cameroon to form the federal republic of Cameroon on October 1, 1961: the country was then under a federalist regime, that is to say the division of a State into several autonomous federated states which participate in the exercise of power while having at their head the same leader. Was this mode of governance bad? We do not know.
Also read : Cameroon : October 1st, commemoration of the beginning of a march towards the Nation-State.
What we do know, however, is that the leader at the time, namely President Ahmadou Ahidjo, felt that it was better to return to a centralized unitary system, that is to say a model of governance where there is only one Territory ruled by an all-powerful president. To achieve this, he opted for the referendum route so that his project would not be perceived as an imposition because he knew very well that this project went against the Foumban clause (1961) which prohibited any proposal for the revision of the federal constitution and made this same proposal subject to a vote by all the members of the federal assembly. If we must recognize that there was indeed a violation of the texts, we must also recognize that it was the beginning of a long fight in favour of the unitary state. After the referendum which led to the constitutional reform of June 2, 1972, the Federal Republic of Cameroon became the United Republic of Cameroon. And since the successor of the first president, namely President Paul Biya was in favour of the same project as his predecessor, he improved this work through the constitutional revision of 1984. The United Republic of Cameroon becomes the Republic of Cameroon. Two other constitutional revisions will refine this centralized system, namely that of 1996 and that of 2008.
As long as a pro-federalism does not take power, will the change of the form of the State be possible? Can the acceleration of the transfer of skills and resources to the decentralized territorial communities make it possible to respond to the concerns of the two regions in crisis? Beyond the joy of living together, wouldn't the greatest challenge of the unitary state be the ability to put an end to a conflict that threatens or weakens the peace of the Territory?
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