The Colbert Factor :
Ending deadly Anglophone conflict : Points to Ponder @Canada Round of Talks
As the various 'Ambazpnian Interim Governments' continue to fight each other over who is legitimate enough be invited to the Canadian round of talks ; and, as they dévelop one sophisticated argument over another on Canada's neutrality in facilitating the talks that could go a long way to end the deadly Anglophone conflict, we @TheColbertFactor prefer to proffer suggestions to those who have the power to influence government of Cameroon delegation to the Canadian conference.
If we were to be invited to the talks, we would have jumped on the idea to tell Canadian, Cameroon authorities and all the factions running the show supposedly on our behalf out there that as they wine and dine in their comfort zones, streets in disputed territories are being painted on a daily basis with blood, pain and suffering. We would remind them that those living in the two English-speaking regions are 'living and partly living'. That youths in the former Southern Cameroons are self-immolating themselves over a conflict that could have been avoided, in tje first place.
If we were invited to Canada, we would have been telling participants to the conference that since the neutral position and ambiguous language employed by the UN with regards to self-determination through secession is evident in the 1992 Agenda for Peace Report, where the UN Secretary General stated : 'The United Nations has not closed its doors. Yet, if every ethnic, religious or linguistic group claimed statehood, there would be no limit to fragmentation ; and peace, security and economic well-being for all would become ever more difficult to archieve', we should for now concentrate our efforts at gunning for internal self determination.
This could be done simply by uploading the content of federalism, confederalism and indépendance into the Special Status granted the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon by the 2019 law. Now that from all indications, government is overwhelmingly beginning to be insisting on the content and not the container, can the federalists, confederationists and independentists not begin to dare or challenge government to upload the federal, confederal or internal autonomy contents into the Special Status, since the name of the container government seems to be comfortable with is, Special Status?
Can these three schools of thought that have emerged since the outbreak of the conflict, that is; federalists, confederationists, and independentists not draw inspiration from the special status success stories we have around the world that has nothing to admire from a federation?
Rather than spending tons of energy on labels and names, (what's in a name ? That which we call a rose can smell as such), could those currents not be used in forging out from Yaounde authorities a Special Status of the likes of Quebec in Canada, Aland Islands in Finland, Svalbard in Norway, Cook Islands in New Zealands, Heligoland in Germany, Barbuda in Antigua and Barbuda, Greenland in Denmark, New Caledonia and Corsica in France, Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq, Sardinia, Sicily, Campione d'Italia and others in Italy, New Mexico in Mexico, Chechnya and others in Russia, Zanzibar in Tanzania, Northern Ireland, British Virgin Islands and others in the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands in the United States of America, Torres Strait Islands in Austrialia, Hong Kong in China, or Jammu and Kasmir in India.
As demonstrated in truimphant detail @TheColbertFactor Part I, that it behooves on government more than anyone else, to deliver on their Special Status option for a solution to the ragging Angloohone conflict, the surest way government can ensure Cameroon continues to remain one and indivisible would be in making the two English speaking regions autonomous special status regions of the likes of Jammu and Kashmir in India.
In that way, Chief Dr. Dion Ngute and his Follow-Up Committee members would be beginning to understand the real meaning of John Locke's tabula rasa theory of the minds ability and freedom to author its soul to the exclusion of the basic identity of the human species which cannot be altered.
What with proposals galore for the internal workings of the Special Status Regions, ranging from those put forth by the Working Group on the Special Status, Prof Dorothy Njeuma's concerns, Cardinal Tumi's AGC Recommendations, the SDF's proposed Federal Constitution, the Simon Munzu-Anyangwe-Elad 1993 proposed Federal Constitution, the 1961 Federal Constitution, and above all, the proposed draft Constitution for the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.
Could there be a better way for Yaounde authorities to proof to the world that they are taking all views into consideration for the building of a new Cameroon that President Paul Biya announced on December 31, 2019, than factoring in the draft Ambazonian constitution, which is a sum-total of their views, in building a veritable autonomous Special Status for the North West and South West Regions?
That could be another way for government of Cameroon to signal its readiness for genuine and inclusive dialogue, given that no political science theory exist to the fact that one dialogue, however major it could be, has ever completely resolved an ideological and armed conflict in the world. And just like Quebecois attend 'Le Jeux de la francophonie' with a Quebecois-only football team (not Canadian national team), could such arrangements not be made in Cameroon to enable Anglophones attend Commonwealth games with Anglophone-only football team, not Cameroon national team as has obtained in the past.
*Colbert Gwain is digital space citizen/native, author, radio host and content creator @TheColbertFactor
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