Cameroon’s civil war has marked women’s lives with insecurity – facing economic, physical and sexual violence. Yet despite women’s experience of the conflict, they have been left out of dialogue to bring the conflict to an end. Corinne Aurelie Moussi argues that Cameroon must honour its commitments to women’s rights and shows how they have been successful agents of change who belong at the dialogue table

Moussi, Corinne Aurelie

English

LSE Research Online

12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 1/10Corinne Aurelie Moussi November 27th, 2020Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: themissing voices of the Anglophone Crisis0 comments | 1 sharesEstimated reading time: 3 minutesCameroon’s civil war has marked women’s lives with insecurity – facingeconomic, physical and sexual violence. Yet despite women’s experienceof the con ict, they have been left out of dialogue to bring the con ict toan end. Corinne Aurelie Moussi argues that Cameroon must honour itscommitments to women’s rights and shows how they have beensuccessful agents of change who belong at the dialogue table.The 21  century has been marked by growing calls to promote theinclusion and participation of women in peace processes as well asst12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 2/10recognise their unique lived experiences in wartime and peacetime. Thesecalls have materialised in various UN resolutions which articulate thecommitments made by the international community towards addressingand redressing the experiences of women. In spite of these, there exists asigni cant gap between rhetoric and action at national levels. The nationof Cameroon has been embroiled with a civil war and women in theaffected regions have unfortunately been disregarded in terms of theirinclusion in peace processes and redress for their experiences.Background to the con ictThe Anglophone civil war continues to have devastating consequences onthe civilian population with rising casualties. This current con ict withinthe borders of Cameroon has its roots in colonial legacies and eruptedfollowing protests initiated by teachers and lawyers in 2016. Anglophonelawyers and teachers protested the imposition of French legal institutionsand of French speaking teachers in the Anglophone regions andAnglophone schools respectively.Other grievances included the socio-economic and politicalmarginalisation of the Anglophone regions and people. While theseprotests were initially peaceful, they were met with a violent militaryclampdown by government armed forces. This military clampdownescalated into a con ict in 2017 between government security agents andarmed insurgents from the Anglophone regions who demanded completesecession of the Anglophone regions from the Republic of Cameroon.After much pressure from the local, regional and internationalcommunities calling for peaceful and non-militarised solutions to thecon ict, the government of Cameroon agreed to host a major nationaldialogue with the aim of ensuring peace and national unity. This dialogue12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 3/10was held from September 30 to October 4, 2019 and comprised ofdifferent stakeholders.Where are the women?While a national dialogue had always been advocated for in order toresolve the Anglophone con ict, the gender representation in this dialogueand the proposals which followed were not inclusive. The non-inclusiveness of women’s experiences and low representation of womenfrom the Anglophone regions and other regions of the country werestriking features of this major national dialogue. This absence orexclusion are revealing of the various systems of inequality andrepression that are in place and how patriarchal the Cameroonian stateremains.The con ict-related experiences of women during the Anglophone con ictwarrants recognition and redress. Women in the Anglophone regions havebeen bearing the brunt of the con ict and within the humanitarian crisiswhich has ensued, women account for 51per cent of the internallydisplaced populace. Women have been vulnerable and continue to bevictims of violence and this violence ranges from economic, physical andsexual violence as well the threat of the use of such violence.Women’s lives have been marked by insecurity and in September 2020,women in Cameroon took to the streets to deplore and highlight theviolent conditions women in the Anglophone regions are subjected to. Thebackdrop against these protests was the tying up and slaughtering of a34-year-old lady, Comfort Tumassang by armed separatist  ghters knownas the ‘Ambazonia boys’ who allegedly considered her a traitor because ofher union with a member of the government armed forces.Comfort is not the only woman to have been killed by separatist  ghtersfor alleged links to the government armed forces. Mbah Florence was12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 4/10another woman who was brutally murdered by insurgents for allegedlyaiding the government armed troops. These incidents are only the tip ofthe iceberg in terms of the myriad forms of violations women in theAnglophone regions have been subjected to.While women have been victims in the Anglophone crisis, they havehowever exercised agency. Escaping from the victimhood cloak that hasoften been used to blanket women in con ict, the women in the affectedregions have claimed their agency by being advocates of peace as well asbeing activists. They have mobilised themselves through various NGOsand taskforces to bring international and local attention to the con ict andthey continue to advocate for the end of this con ict.Examples include the South West and North West women’s task force(SNWOT) and Women for a Change Cameroon (WFAC). The variousmarches organised by women and the various women-led taskforcesdisplay women’s agency and their politics of engagement. Through thispolitics of engagement women are actively taking up spaces in the publicrealm and collectively demanding what they deem as proper treatment inspite of state silence.While women have been victims in theAnglophone crisis, they have howeverexercised agency…the women in the a ected12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 5/10regions have claimed their agency by beingadvocates of peace as well as being activists.The WPS Agenda and CameroonThe Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda of the United Nations hasbeen considered as harnessing transformative change for women in warzones and post-con ict societies. Various UN resolutions make up theWPS agenda and of distinct relevance is UNSCR 1325 which is thelandmark resolution of the WPS agenda. This resolution recognises theimportance of understanding the consequences of armed con ict onwomen and girls and calls for the increased participation of women inpeace processes.While UNSCR 1325 was adopted in 2000, it was only on 16 November2017, in a historic move that, the Government of Cameroon adopted its rst National Action Plan (NAP) in its implementation of the UnitedNations WPS agenda.  This adopted NAP, which covers a period of threeyears (2018-2020), renews and rea rms the government of Cameroon’scommitment to women in wartime. Notwithstanding this rea rmation,women’s experiences in the affected areas require immediate governmentaction and the government of Cameroon needs to do more.In its NAP, the government of Cameroon recognises that “[women] areabove all promoters and agents of consolidation of peace”. Consequently,in light of the Anglophone con ict, the government should be honouringits vision and elements of action as stated in its NAP which call for the12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 6/10leadership and participation of women in the processes of prevention andmanagement of con ict and post-con ict situations, to construct peaceand social cohesion. Secondly, as stipulated in its NAP, the governmentshould better integrate the gender dimension in its con ict resolution andhumanitarian aid initiatives aid. This has the potential of redressing andaddressing the experiences and representation of women in theAnglophone war zones.The government should be honouring itsvision and elements of action as stated in itsNAP which call for the leadership andparticipation of women in the processes ofprevention and management of con ict andpost-con ict situations.The way forwardThe Anglophone crisis and its resulting dynamics in terms of thedisregard of women’s experiences and exclusion from national dialoguesare revealing of a status quo whereby women are treated solely assubjects of patriarchal benevolence and consequently erased from public12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 7/10discourses. Women’s insecurity as experienced in terms of beinginternally displaced persons (IDP), physical assault and sexualvictimisation need to be considered and redressed.Although there is a need to acknowledge these experiences, women’scontributions should not be limited or con ned to their stories of pain andsuffering. Women in the Anglophone regions have shown their role andin uence as change-makers through the various organisations thatcontinue to advocate for peace in the con ict-ridden areas. Thesetaskforces should not be con ated with the patriarchal notions of womenbeing naturally peace-loving but should be seen as a display of women asable changemakers who belong at the dialogue table.Subsequently, as a member state of the United Nations, the governmentof Cameroon ought to not only ensure the increased participation andrepresentation of women in future national dialogue initiatives, but itneeds to recognise and redress the unique wartime experiences ofwomen and girls. A willingness by the government of Cameroon to makegood commitments to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325will be a big step in bringing the Anglophone con ict to an end in order tohalt its resulting consequences on women and girls.  Secondly by makinggood commitment to the WPS agenda, the government of Cameroon canredress systems of inequality which exclude women from public/stateinstitutions.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog post are those ofthe author(s) only, and do not necessarily re ect LSE’s or those of the LSECentre for Women, Peace and Security.Image credit: UN Women(CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)About the author12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 8/10Posted In: Peacebuilding | Sexual Violence in Con ictLeave a ReplyYour email address will not be published. Required  elds are marked *Post CommentName Email SiteComment Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.Corinne Aurelie Moussi is a PhD candidate and Lisa Maskell fellow atStellenbosch University. She was a visiting scholar at the Centre forInternational Criminal Justice in Amsterdam. She considers herselfan African feminist and has keen research interests in women’speacetime and wartime experiences, gender justice beforeinternational criminal institutions as well as the Women, Peace andSecurity Agenda.Corinne Aurelie Moussi12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 9/10Related PostsPeacebuildingFrom ‘bad women’ to role models: making Demobilisation andReintegration gender-transformativeAUGUST 3RD, 2020PeacebuildingWomen and Peacekeeping: Time for the UN to Commit toGender EqualityNOVEMBER 24TH, 2016Continuum of Violence12/9/2020 Women, Peace and Security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone Crisis | LSE Women, Peace and Security bloghttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2020/11/27/women-peace-and-security-in-cameroon-the-missing-voices-of-the-anglophone-crisis/ 10/10© LSE 2020Myths about legal obstacles to pursuing individual criminalaccountability for sexual exploitation and abuseSEPTEMBER 9TH, 2020PeacebuildingA Response: In defence of Kurdish diaspora feminismOCTOBER 7TH, 2020

Women, peace and security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone crisis

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Women, peace and security in Cameroon: the missing voices of the Anglophone crisis

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