Cameroon: “Violence in English Speaking Regions Senseless and completely unnecessary” – Dr Wilson Eseme

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

Dr Wilson Lobe Eseme of the Cameroon Federalist Movement has said the killing of security forces was a sad day for all Cameroonians. The US-based medical doctor was speaking in a video shortly after a video emerged showing the decapitated bodies of security forces, who met their doom against separatist fighters. 

Unbearable images of soldiers shot in armoured vehicles stripped naked are currently making rounds on social media in Cameroon. These horrific images are accompanied by comments from one of the separatist generals, "No Pity" promising hell on Cameroon's security forces.

"No one deserves to die like that, however wrong they may be. And no one deserves to take lives however right they think they are. This was is completely unnecessary and should end," Dr Wilsom L. Eseme said in the video.

"To the Cameroon government we ask, how many lives are you willing to sacrifice for a war you cannot win; a war you will not win because it is a mistake. To the rebels fighting the government we ask you this, how many lives are you willing to take for a war you will not win; a war you will not win."

The Cameroon Federalist Movement is an association of Cameroonians from all ten regions who believe that Federalism is the right political system for Cameroon. Federalism addressed two realities: on the one hand, it will correct a historical constitutional error made in 1972 when the Federation was dissolved. Also, it will address the rich diversity we enjoy in this country. "It is therefore not by mistake that our slogan is Unity in Diversity," Dr Wilson Lobe Eseme once said in an interview.

The Anglophone crisis that escalated in 2017 has seen many people killed, displaced, maimed and others kidnapped for ransom. The Cameroonian government has taken some steps in addressing the present problem but many feel the government has been too slow or given a solution that does not have weight.

And Dr Wilson says the special status that the government has been selling to the population has not worked, is not working and will not work because it is a wrong solution.

He went further to make several recommendations, some of which we made during the Major National Dialogue organized last year. Dr Wilson and the Federalist Movement have called for the Cameron government to immediately facilitate the organization of an Anglophone General Conference amongst the people of the NW/SW to determine their future.

"…Such a conference will eventually lead to an agreement to form a federation; a system of government where each state will elect their local government and take charge of their affairs to be it in the economy, internal security, public health, education, infrastructure," Dr Wilson Said.

"The central government will be limited to only five areas, protecting the borders; regulating trade between the states; formulating immigration policy; formulating financial policy and formulating foreign policy. It is time to end the outdated system where administrators are appointed."