The Geopolitics of Power in Cameroon: A Rejoinder

(Originally Posted on CAMNET in May 2000)


This posting is based on excerpts from two reactions to my original article on the geopolitics of power in Cameroon. Both rejoinders, which appeared on CAMNET in 2000, deal primarily with the rise of the Fulbe (also referred to as the Fulani or the Peul) to political prominence in Cameroon. They also shed more light on the ethno-political configuration of the Northern provinces of Cameroon, where the Fulani hold the reins of political power although they are demographically a minority ethnic group in the region.

1. Political Hegemony and Demographic Minority
Your commentary on the geopolitics of power sharing in Cameroon is interesting. But let me take it from where you left off to expound a little further.  The interesting aspect of the two ethnic groups which you mentioned namely the Fulani (Fulbe) and the Beti is that they are themselves tiny minority groups even in their regions or provinces of origin and demographically insignificant on the national level.

In the Far North, which is the largest province in terms of population, the Kirdi and the Toupouri are by far and away the majority.  The Kirdi (who are Christians or animists) of the Far North actually live on the mountaintops where they have sought refuge from the Fulani who came down from the Mandara Mountains over 200 years ago and chased them (the Kirdi)away from the flat plains where they had practiced crop farming for generations.  Up to the present day, the Kirdi practice subsistence agriculture up on the mountaintops while the Fulani minority raise their cattle down the plains.

The Fulani control all the towns from the powerful positions of Lamido. The conflict between the Toupouri/Kirdi majority and the Fulani minority is so intense that the Fulani will never accept democracy the way we know it because it will lead to the Fulani losing political power to the Kirdi/Toupouri. Although the UNDP is said to be a Northern Party, the reality is that the UNDP is a Haussa/Fulani party which will never allow a Kirdi or a Toupouri to occupy a senior position within its ranks. For the time being the Toupouri and Kirdi will rather be members of the CPDM than the UNDP.  The SDF has been unsuccessful in penetrating the Far North largely because the CPDM has used the Préfets to make sure that the Kirdi/Toupouri vote is always counted as CPDM.

In the South and Center provinces, the Beti are in power.  In reality, however, it is the Boulou, a Beti Subethnic group, who control power. The entire population of the South Province, the homeland of the Boulou, is smaller than that of Mezam Division in the Northwest province.  The population of the Center and the South Provinces is made up largely of Bamileke, Northerners and Anglophones.  Based on this population, all the seats in the National Assembly which are allocated to the Centre and South provinces are occupied by the Beti.  In other words, the Beti even though a tiny minority group derive political power in the legislature from the presence of strangers in their province.

The true demographic picture of Cameroon shows that the total population of the Bamileke and Anglophones all over the national territory of Cameroon is close to 60% of the entire population of Cameroon. It is therefore not an accident that the so-called Anglo-Bami Group constitutes the greatest threat to the power-sharing arrangement between the Fulani and the Boulou. 

As the Biya reign draws to a close, the question is where the center of gravity of political power shall move to.  Shall it remain in the South in the hands of the Boulous?  Shall it move back to the North into the hands of a Fulani? Or, shall it move West into the Anglo-Bami group?

2. How Ahidjo Contained the Kirdi Majority
The situation in the Northern part of Cameroon with the Peul on the one side and the Kirdi/Toupouri on the other is similar to the Tutsi/Hutu situation in Rwanda. Dr. Ajoulat the first French Administrator of these parts during WWII used a population the French had been familiar with, in the rest of West Africa - the Peul - who were later to be more exposed to education than the other ethnic groups. Their political hegemony was therefore of a French making than of logical circumstances.

Consequently, when the French-sponsored parties to counter the UPC dynamism during the 1950s and these parties were based in the Peul dominated areas. These included Union d'action France-Cameroun (UAFC) in the Ngaoundere area; the Front National Camerounais in the whole of the Adamawa; and the Ligue Progressiste de defence des intérêts des populations du Nord-Cameroun, all Peul led. It was not a mistake that Mr. Ahidjo, a Peul was the chosen one by the French not only to bloc the UPC ambitions but, and most importantly, to handle this new Anglo-Saxon challenge/threat that was personified in reunification. To subdue the protest from the strong Toupouri, they were given high positions and influence in the army - the first General was from there. While the Peuls made significant inroads into the civil service and the economy, the Toupouri/Kirdi were "given" the army during Ahidjo's time and the Kirdi/Toupouri malaise was contained.

The disappearance of Ahidjo and his influence also meant the near disappearance of this Northern play on power between the Peul and the Toupouri. The threat posed to the new group by the Northern influence and following the events of 1984 alliances were shifted, but very carefully managed, by bringing in a heavily harnessed Anglophone presence. Here the use of Anglophone is deliberate to signify individuals who would be seen to represent the Anglo-Saxon system but who, in fact, were just individuals speaking English and of Southern Cameroons origin but were more interested in personal gains than being involved in defending the system they were supposed to advocate in the spirit of 1961. In the midst of all this, the Northern influence was still very present and used by the leadership of the UNDP to effectively neutralize the Anglo-Saxon threat.

If the SDF has not been successful in laying hands on the Kirdi/Toupouri vote it is therefore not necessarily because of the CPDM. It is the entrenchment of the French interests and seeing the SDF through the same lenses as the age-old threat of the Anglo-Saxon/French saga which by their reckoning is worse than the Peul hegemony. Until the SDF can make reason of a neutral Cameroonian hybrid system of government of the two systems as advocated at reunification, this sponsored situation will remain the same for a long time.

Graphic of the northern provinces obtained from entdeckungstour

Tags: cameroon africa

Comments

[paolo laurent]

DEBUSSI WHICH CAMEROOON ARE YOU MENTION
THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW THAT

THE NAME CAMEROON MEANS THE FRENCH CAMEROON, MEANWHILE THE 6 MILLION SOUTHERN CAMEROON DONT HAVE A CITIZENSHIP,AND THEIR
HISTORY AND POLITICAL HISTORY IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT, PLEASE CLARIFY TO THE WORLD NEXT TIME WHAT CAMEROON ,YOU ARE REFERRING.

[paolo laurent]

DEBUSSI WHICH CAMEROOON ARE YOU MENTION
THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW THAT

THE NAME CAMEROON MEANS THE FRENCH CAMEROON, MEANWHILE THE 6 MILLION SOUTHERN CAMEROON DONT HAVE A CITIZENSHIP,AND THEIR
HISTORY AND POLITICAL HISTORY IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT, PLEASE CLARIFY TO THE WORLD NEXT TIME WHAT CAMEROON ,YOU ARE REFERRING.

[Dibussi]

Hi Paolo,

I am referring to the Cameroon where Foncha, Jua Muna, Achi, Musonge and Inoni have been Prime Ministers. So, however you refer to that Cameroon, it is my frame of reference in this article.

The status and and travails of the ex-British Cameroons/Southern Cameroons is a topic for another day.

[paolo laurent]

no dibussi, its not a topic for another day.
universities in as, and the world as myself love to set the record straight, remember you are not just writing to your
fellow s in africa. THE CAMEROON OF THE PEOPLE YOU NAMED ABOVE IS CALLED SOUTHERN CAMEROONS OR AMBAZONIA< THIS IS THE NAME
THE PEOPLE HAVE CHOSEN, PLUS THE CAMEROON YOU ARE MENTIONING,( LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN) RULED BY PAUL BIYA
LEGALLY HAVE PASSED A LAW NUMBER 84/001
WHICH MAKES THE 6 MILLIONS CITIZENS OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONS NOT CITIZENS OF LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROOON, AS SUCH THEY CANNOT BECAME PRESIDENT OF THAT COUNTRY
AND, THEIR RIGHTS ARENT RECOGNISED. DONT YOU KNOW THIS? ALL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS ARE CARRIED BY THE LANGUAGE AND LEGAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE LA REEPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN, ITS WELL DOCUMENTED THATS THERE ARE TWO CAMEROONS, BUT YOU WRITE AS THOUGH
THERE IS JUST ONE CAMEROON, AND IF ACCORDING TO YOU, THERE IS ONE CAMEROON, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS?
PLEASE READ HISTORICAL DATA BEFORE WRITING YOUR ANALYASIS.
FOR NOT ALL THATS WRITTEN BY ANY FAILED STATE OR GOVERNMENT IS CONSIDERED
FACTUAL. EG LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN.

[paolo laurent]

DIBUSSI,
AGAIN YOU MISSED THE TRAIN, ABOVE MENTIONED.
JN FUNCHA, DOESNT CONSIDER HIMSELF A CITIZEN OF LA REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN,
IN HIS LATTER DAYS HE SAID SOO, PLEASE
READ ABOUT THIS MAN, JUA, SAME,
THIS NATIONALS CONSIDER THEN SELVES CITIZENS OF SOUTHERN CAMEROONS . THE OTHERS INONI, ACHIDI ETC ARE ALL BOOTLICKERS, WHO WERE NEVER VOTED BY THEIR
PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN CAMEROONS TO RULE THEM

EXCEPT THE COLONIAL CHIEF (BIYA)

[Ndiks]

Massa Paolo,

The Cameroon of Achidi Achu, Inoni, Musonge, etc., is definitely Southern Cameroons, but the Cameroon in which they have been Prime Ministers is that illegally constituted country known as the republic of Cameroon which extends beyond Southern Cameroons to include French Cameroons.

I am sure that we can safely assume that when people talk of "Cameroon", without any qualification, they are talking about what some have termed the "bilingual Cameroon Republic", whose legality is contested today, but which is nonetheless a political and administrative reality.

We can also assume that if anyone wants to talk specifically about English-speaking Cameroon, they will clearly make that distinction by using the terms Southern Cameroons, West Cameroon, or Anglophone Cameroon, depending on the context or on their political inclination.

[Ndiks]

The man who adressed Massa Paolo using Ndiks
should stop doing that.Your e-mail says of [email protected] which is not my email adress.Please stop this
stupid scam.

[paolo laurent]

i wont coment on fools like u
ndiks

[Ndiks]

paolo laurent,the person who adressed you with "massa paolo" falsely used Ndiks to do
so.I'm asking the person to stop doing that.
I did not adress you.If you were not a pumbavu thyself,you would reason before writing what you wrote above.Some of you commentators are wonderful.

[paolo laurent]

NAN
IS A FRENCH CAMEROUNIAS, HE IS A LOST SOUL
IF NOT, HE WOULD LIKE EVERY AFRICAN
MAN AND WOMAN, DEFEND HIS LAND AND PEOPLE
IN FRENCH CAMEROUN, WESTERN PROVINCE
AND QUIT INTERFERRING IN THIS FORUM
FOR NDIJIKUM DOESNT BELONG IN SOUTHEN CAMEROONS(AMBAZONIA)

[kyla collins]

why is that in cameroon people are not free to have wat they want?e.g no one is allowed to have a limosine simply because the president is having it.don't they know that the people in country make up yhe country?