Camerron: Speaking Up

CAMEROON

Speaking Up

The arrest of Cameroonian-American writer Patrice Nganang in Douala earlier this month brought home a conflict that has remained obscure in the US.

A literature professor at Stony Brook University in New York, Nganang criticized President Paul Biya’s handling of a secessionist movement in the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions of the largely French-speaking African country.

“Detaining an important independent voice like Patrice Nganang, who has used his writing to investigate the consequences of violence, is indicative of a movement by the government to silence all political criticism and dismantle the right to free expression,” said PEN America in a statement to the Associated Press.

Serving in office since 1982 – he’s one of many African strongmen to remain in power for too long – Biya has cracked down on the secessionists. The president claims he’s fighting terrorists, but critics said he’s discriminating against a minority that’s standing up for their rights.

An online campaign to free Nganang has sprung up. Local media wrote that he was likely to remain behind bars in a maximum-security prison until at least Jan. 19 when he is scheduled to face a judge again. Newsday reported that he’s accused of threatening to kill Biya, inciting violence and insulting the army.

The crisis in the English-speaking regions erupted late last year when locals staged strikes and protests, saying they couldn’t use their language in courts or other government venues and teachers in English schools often spoke French as their first language. The army attempted to suppress the demonstrations, arresting leaders and allegedly killing as many as four people.

Schools are still closed in the northwestern and southwestern regions.

Recently, Voice of America reported that Cameroonian troops had burned down a village in Mamfe on the Nigerian border after clashes that resulted in the deaths of at least four soldiers and untold civilian casualties. “People are dying in (great) numbers in Mamfe,” a villager told the news service.

The problem has spilled over into Nigeria, where Anglophone refugees have swarmed across the border in search of safety. The United Nations counted more than 7,000 with plenty more seeking asylum. A heavy wet season in the area has made it harder to bring supplies to those folks as overwhelmed locals deal with the influx, the UN added.

The violence has also spread to Cameroon’s parliament, where the Guardian wrote that an English-speaking lawmaker threw an object – potentially a part of her desk or her shoe – at a colleague in protest of legislative leaders refusing to let her or other Anglophone lawmakers speak.

It was a symbol of how actions will replace words when voices are silenced.