Abstract

This study aimed at examining the conditions, the plight the IDPs in the Buea Municipality find themselves. The study specifically examine the impact of the Anglophone crisis in the lives of IDPs in Buea; identify the challenges and situation of the IDPs in the Buea Municipality; investigate the remedies adopted for the suffering IDPs.

The research design adopted for this study was the quantitative design with the use of survey research method. The instrument for data collection was questionnaires and interviews where i gathered the information i needed and came out with my conclusion from the information gathered. The manifestations of physical movements seriously implicate the affected individuals. IDPs major problem is economic vulnerability. They are unable to meet up with their basic requirements.

They also have to cope with physical, social, socio-economic, mental and emotional problems which affect them psychologically. The living condition of a majority of the IDPs are a great call for concern as some live in overcrowded houses and feeding becomes a problem to them, in the course of this crisis, the vulnerable group such as women have been raped leaving them with unwanted pregnancies, some have been killed, some burnt alive inside their houses.

The problem of IDPs if not adequately handled could jeopardize the sustainability of peace and development in the Buea municipality.. My findings revealed that the crisis have a psychological effect on IDPs and also endangering the stability of the town. Also recommendations were made to the government, NGOs and other Stakeholders which will be helpful not only to them but to the IDPs as it will help improve their living conditions.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Devastating violence and conflicts in many regions have resulted in millions of people fleeing violence, whether in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, or Syria. States have recognized the need to find better solutions for huge migration and refugee flows across international borders, and 2018 will see the negotiation and adoption of Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees.

What has attracted less attention, however, has been the challenges for internally displaced persons (IDPs). This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, a set of non-binding guidelines that address the plight of IDPs—those that have not crossed an international border, and who seem to have fallen off the international community’s agenda. Phuong, C. (2005).

IDPs are among the most vulnerable people in the world, and the number of those fleeing violence and conflict in 2016 was estimated at 40.3 million, with an unknown number of people displaced as a result of natural disasters. This is nearly double the number of refugees worldwide. IDPs tend to suffer from extreme poverty, as they are forced to leave their belongings and their work when they flee.

They can have difficulties in accessing healthcare services due to lack of proper documentation, the fact that health facilities in host areas often struggle to cope with new arrivals, or the lack of access to medical facilities altogether. Internally displaced children may go months or years without school, and women and girls are at increased risk of gender-based violence.

IDPs face dire needs for shelter as well, as most do not find their way to displacement camps. For those that do, they often struggle with limited access to water, sanitation, and energy; and displacement camps are often overcrowded, with few livelihood opportunities. Furthermore, IDPs often face multiple displacements, in that they have fled more than one location. Mooney, E. (2005).

Syria has one of the largest populations of IDPs, estimated at 6.6 million. A majority of these people are living in urban settings, including those living under siege and whose houses have been destroyed. Over a million have sought refuge in IDP sites, often situated in more rural areas, which are described as last resort settlements.

One of the key drivers of displacements are conflict-related events, such as the use of explosive weapons in urban areas, and so as the front lines shift, people flee. Most IDPs in Syria have experienced multiple displacements, and rarely find lasting safety. Displacement trends in Syria were described by the UN in 2016 as “fluid and dynamic,” with UNICEF estimating that some children have been displaced up to seven times before reaching safety.

All of these issues are often compounded by the fact that crises today are usually protracted ones, and that those displaced will not have a realistic and safe opportunity to return to their homes for several years. Some may also prefer to stay where they are and be integrated there, or be resettled elsewhere. There is a need, therefore, to think about long-term, durable solutions, whether return and reintegration, local integration or resettlement. Mooney, E. (2005).

The challenges that IDPs face are not dissimilar to those of refugees, but they can be accentuated. If they are not, or are no longer on the other side of an international border, vulnerable populations will not be protected by international refugee law, including the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol, and it is highly unlikely that their situation will be addressed by the Global Compact for Refugees.

 

This is not to say that IDPs do not have legal protections. Despite the absence of a specific international legal framework, IDPs are protected by International Human Rights Law and domestic law at all times, and in armed conflict, benefit from the protections that any civilian is entitled to under International Humanitarian Law. This is the basis for the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which, without creating new legal obligations, identify the clear and existing responsibilities of sovereign states to respond to the needs of IDPs.

Building on these Guiding Principles, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa was passed in 2012, affording legal protection for IDPs at the regional level. Several countries, like Kenya or Colombia, have also developed domestic laws and policies based on the Guiding Principles, which provide for the assistance and protection of IDPs.

However, global attention to the plight of IDPs has been wanting, in part because it is perceived to be an internal issue to be dealt with by sovereign states, and because highlighting immense displacement crises puts in the spotlight the failure of states in fulfilling their responsibility to protect and assist their citizens. Indeed, violations of international human rights and humanitarian law are among the main causes of internal displacement.

This lack of attention is problematic, and not the least because vulnerable populations often experience both internal and cross-border displacement. A majority of people facing violence and conflict will travel inside their own country in an attempt to seek safety and aid, but some may end up fleeing across an international border and become refugees.

Those who have fled and obtained refugee status elsewhere may well want, or be forced, to return, and could once again face internal displacement in their country of origin if violence continues or their home has been destroyed. Whatever their legal status, all of these people are in vulnerable situations and are therefore in need of assistance and protection—from the acute emergency phase of their displacement, to a more stable or even protracted displacement—in order to find durable solutions.

The plight of these vulnerable people deserves the attention of the international community. Addressing the drivers and causes of internal displacement, as well as the often long-term needs of IDPs, will ultimately assist in tackling not only the refugee crisis, but also help progress towards and achieve sustainable development. As such, if a Global Compact on internally displaced persons is unlikely, the international community should make the most of existing processes and frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda, in integrating IDPs concerns and ensuring that truly no one is left behind

The current Anglophone crisis is an extension of the historical resistance to the alleged assimilation of the indigenous English speaking population. It began with the unprovoked harassment of Anglophone lawyers engaged in peaceful protest matches in September 2016 to vent their grievances over the perceived marginalisation of the Anglophone common law practice in the country. In October 2016, they went on strike, and in November the Anglophone teachers’ trade union also staged a solidarity strike to protest against the distortion confronting the educational system in the Anglophone regions

Grievances by Anglophone Cameroon specifically lawyers and teachers have been conveyed in many ways, the lawyers and the teachers had been pushing with memorandums and strike calls, which basically received half-hearted attention or were ignored by the government. In 2016, the English speaking lawyers went on strike.

Aljazeera, (2016) They protested against widespread marginalisation of the Anglophone Linguistic, Culture, educational and legal systems and calling for a return to Federal State. The strike further degenerated into violence, resulting to the deaths of several persons. The Anglophone problem is seen as the feeling of marginalisation, assimilation, domination and the systematic destruction of the Anglo-Saxon culture, faced by people of today’s North West and South West regional ethnic origins.

Kum, N.V (2017) In terms of manifestation, the marginalisation of Anglophones has been visible in all spheres of public life. In the political domain, it has been manifested in a history of exclusion from the most important government and official party positions with the feeling that Anglophones were only fit to play deputy to Francophone.

Revue Africaine D’Etude politique et strategiques(2002( In the economic domain, it has entailed discrimination against Anglophones in employment within the state bureaucracy and corporations, the private corporate sector which is predominantly French – controlled or located in French speaking areas and inequalities in the distribution of public investments.

The recognition of internally displacement as a distinct area of study emerged from the late 1980’s due to the persistence of crisis in many parts of the world and became prominent on the international agendain the 1990’s.

The origins of the internal displacement regime are widely believed to have stemmed from the fireless and selfless efforts of a coalition of Non – Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and individuals who lobbied, reported and pressured powerful governments and institutions to consider internal displacement not solely as a humanitarian but a human right issue that required new norms, structures and institutions to address for the dignity of human land. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has dramatically increased since the cold war outnumbering that of refugees. R. Cohen and F. Deng(1989)

Over several months, violent clashes in Cameroon between the military and the armed separatist’s groups have driven thousands of Cameroonians into internal displacement. The displaced most of who are women and children face a grave humanitarian situation.

As of October 2018, the United Nations Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated there were about 437000 IDPs in Cameroon, 246000 of them from Southwest Region, 105000 in the Northwest Region and 86000 in the Littoral and West Regions. The North West and South West regions of Cameroon are affected by a deep socio-political crisis resulting in civil disobedience, prolonged closure of some schools and the destruction of infrastructures.

Since the last quarter of 2018 confrontations between armed groups and security forces escalated solely, leading to a general insecurity context which is now forcing people to flee to safer regions of Cameroon as internally displaced persons. Most of the IDPs came from areas such as Kumba, Muyuka, Ekona, Mile 16, Bomaka, Edili, Buea, Bamenda to places such as Yaounde, Douala, Ebolowa, Bafoussam, Dchang, Bertoua in search of Peace and security. The security situation remains highly volatile in the Northwest and Southwest region of Cameroon.

The conflict has fundamentally changed the regions physical, economic and social landscape which at the onset looked much more hopeful Houses have been destroyed together with schools and hospital infrastructures where traces of bullets can be seen on the buildings. The road from Ediki right up to Muyuka is very bushy and looks abandoned as a result of the conflict because inhabitants of that area have fled to other towns in search of security.

Along that road, we can find abandoned houses with holes which are traces of bullets on them and which grasses have even grown in some of the houses because it was abandoned by their inhabitants due to the constant gunshots in the area. Pictures of the Ediki to Muyuka road will be seen subsequently. People found it fundamental and imperative to flee for fear of been shot or taken by a stray bullet

1.2. Statement of Problem

The major problems of internally displaced persons are caused by economic vulnerability. Finding a job in their new places of residence is very difficult especially for single parents. A majority of them lack money to feed themselves and other dependents. They are also unable to pay rents for housing highly dependent unemployed and also discriminated against because their presence leads to competition for jobs and also increase the burden on host communities and local authorities.

The primary sources of income of IDPs are support from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and salary from the government for state workers. There has been noticeable loss of lives, destruction and burning of homes and property, work space and other infrastructures in several parts of Kumba, one of the epicentres of the Anglophone crisis.

Areas such as the Ediki – Muyuka road is been abandoned and we can find burned cars along that road and infrastructures which have been destroyed. In response to those traumatic experiences, IDPs have reacted in different ways. Most of them have fled to other communities in search of peace and security; they have also had to cope with physical, socio-economic, mental and emotional problems that may have long lasting effects on their lives if not urgently attended to by the government, NGOs and other stakeholders in the on-going conflict.

The problem of internal displaced persons if not adequately handled could jeopardise the sustainability of peace and development in the Buea municipality and by extension to Cameroon as a whole. Social development and economic stability have been negatively affected in the Meme Division (Buea).

In the course of this crisis the vulnerable group such as the women have been raped leaving them with unwanted pregnancies, some have been killed, some burnt alive inside their houses, some kidnapped and being for turned by their kidnappers, this explains why the main contention in this study is to examine the psychological and mental torments that the IDPs have undergone as a result of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon.

The government, some NGOs and stakeholders have given humanitarian support such as distribution of some basic necessicities like buckets, matress, soap, reusable sanitary pads, wrappers but could not completly remedy their situation because this support is not consistent.

1.3. Research Questions

1.3.1 Main Research Question

What is the condition the IDPs in the Buea Municipality find themselves in?

1.3.1 Specific Research Objective

1. What is the impact of the Anglophone crisis on the lives of the IDPs?
2. What are the challenges and situations of the IDPs in the Buea Municipality?
3. What are the remedies for the suffering IDPs in the Buea municipality?

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