Armed conflict in NW, SW:
Germany says external powers can’t resolve crisis

Germany has noted that Cameroon’s Anglophone Crisis cannot be resolved by external bodies, but by internal stakeholders.

Addressing the crisis which has culminated in a four-year-long armed conflict and the loss of thousands of lives, Germany’s government said impetus for a sustainable peace process must come from within the Central African nation and cannot be given by external actors.

The German government made the statement as a reponse to pressure from 40 of its lawmakers led by FDP MP, Dr Christoph Hoffman.

The MPs had sent a questionnaire seeking to know what their government’s position on the persisting violence and loss of lives was.

Hoffman, it should be noted, visited Cameroon in 2019 to have a first hand view of the situation.

“… The conflict between the Anglophone and Francophone regions of the country continues to claim lives and has led to a massive abuse of human rights,” he told German Chancellor, Angela Merkel in a June 4, 2019 letter.

Urging the German leader to engage the belligerents involved in the crisis, Hoffman said “… the parliamentarians told us that a visit by Chancellor Merkel to Cameroon could ignite a dialogue process which could lead to a solution…”.

“This could be a good contribution if the German chancellor wanted to go there — not just for a dialogue, but also to honor the people of Cameroon in general,” the German lawmaker is quoted further.

Cameroon and Germany, it should be recalled, share a colonial history till 1916 when the latter lost to the allied powers in the First World War.

Germany ceeded control of the territory to France and Britain which later broke it up to ease administration, an action that would play a key role in the ongoing armed conflict today backed by among others, linguistic and cultural differences.

Mimi Mefo Info

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