A chronicle of ethnic strife and peace building in the North West Region of Cameroon

A chronicle of ethnic strife and peace building in the North West region of Cameroon

The North West Region of Cameroon, unlike many other parts in Africa, has the reputation of being the world's leading theatre for ethnic strife. The continent is experiencing an in- crease in the scope and intensity of conflicts underlined by internecine ethnic rivalries. Many such conflicts, which involve land and boundary problems, have antecedents in historical legacy. This study thus addresses ethnic strife of similar circumstances amongst the people of Oku and Mbesa from 1942 to 2017. Besides colonial demarcation, population expansion and the rocky and undulating topography with limited fertile lands in the Oku and Mbesa Fondoms, constituted the major causes of their differences. However, conflicts erupt and escalate between these friendly communities due to group struggles and are underpinned by complicated alliances in which ethnic identity and affiliations are key variables. These differences grow with time then generated to open wars episodes in 1982, 1988, 2007 and 2008. These wars did not at all encourage any friendly relations noted in the political, social and economic sphere of life. The early mechanisms put in place for peace- building had never bored any lasting solution for the people consider it as brutal peace. But as time goes by, it became necessary for both traditional leaders engineered by external elites to look for a permanent solution and live as was the case before. However, the year 2017 remain impacted on both communities as a result of the series of peace-building propagated by traditional authorities and institutions.