YAOUNDE—Anglophones are outraged and calling the marking of 50 years of Cameroon independence a deliberate campaign to wipeout Anglophone identity and distort its history. And as Yaounde authorities try to downplay the “divisive” nature of the issue, French and other foreign media were calling it what many Anglophones call it: the independence of French Cameroon.

Fireworks lit up the skies here at midnight on 31 December 2009 to mark the passage into the 50th year since French Cameroon obtained its independence from France. Authorities said events would run throughout the year.

As part of lined up jubilee year events, President Paul Biya is due in Bamenda later in the year to speak at an event to mark 50 years of the Cameroon military, the most significant symbol of independence. A day has not been set but Biya’s visist is now expected to come before 20 May, which may close the commemorations.

The choice of an Anglophone province for the military event appears to have been conceived to douse any misgivings. Also the civilian events are headed by an Anglophone minister, Ama Tutu Muna of culture. It is now doubtful if that strategy has worked.

Threat to National Unity

Critics say the commemoration was a provocation and undermined Anglophone Cameroon. It could deepen already fragile relations between the two states that united in 1961, after Anglophone Cameroon obtained independence from Britain.

The Anglophone independence came one year later, which means that part of the country is only 49 this year. The taking down of the Union Jack on 1 October 1961, followed voting in a plebiscite earlier on 11 February to join La Republique du Cameroon as a condition to obtain independence.

Cameroon as it is today started off as a federated nation, with two autonomous states called West Cameroon and East Cameroon.  The federation collapsed to form the United Republic of Cameroon, but in 1984 the country changed to the Republic of Cameroon.

Anglophones have always been uncomfortable with the post independence evolution. Between 1991 and 1993, Anglophones tried to push for a return to the federal arrangement and walked out of the.

Owona Constitutional Committee when they failed. The walkout led to the holding of the All-Anglophone Conference in April 1993. And later the emergence of Anglophone separatist movements such as the Southern Cameroons National Council.

“The change [to the Republic of Cameroon] was in the hope that by a stroke of the pen, the identity of one UN Trust territory would disappear in that of another,” says political analyst Tazoacha Asonganyi.

“Not too many reasonable persons would be surprised about this divisive official policy,” says Hon. Ayah Paul, a parliamentarian of the governing CPDM.

“Since Ahidjo’s resignation in 1982, there has been the systematic effacement of the Anglophone identity and the distortion of the history of Anglophone Cameroon in manner inimical to national unity.”

Yaounde authorities have been fighting back. The independence of Cameroon is registered at the United Nations as 1 January 1960, says the minister of communication Issa Tchiroma. “There is only one declaration of independence,” Tchiroma told journalists here on 30 December.

“This is a feast for all Cameroonians. One part of the county should not feel wrongfully frustrated,” Tchiroma said, admitting the “delicate nature” of the commemoration. “Politicians have a different way of looking at these things.”

But the government offensive has been weak both at home and abroad. The international media stuck to the historical background of the event. RFI, the French state radio called the event: Discret cinquantenaire du Cameroun francophone or Quiet jubilee of French Cameroon.

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