CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Ethnic diversity is one of the greatest pillars of any society world-wide. The variety and competition that comes with it is good for socio-economic growth. However, ethnic groups’ interests and competition for scarce resources among the different groups bring about ethnic polarization. Most countries especially in Africa have experienced a form of conflict that has an ethnic relation. These wars take an ethnic perspective even when the real cause could be land/natural resources, politics, religion, discrimination or unequal distribution of resources. Interethnic differences have caused a lot of destruction in many great nations. It is worrying to see the trends of this phenomenon in Africa and across the globe and it is important to discuss it. Africa has lost a lot of resources because of these ethnic differences in the last 50 years. It is ironical to say that before the start of colonialism, most countries in the continent were so united. Different communities that comprised of people of different cultures lived close to each other and in different types of relationships. They intermarried, did business with each other, learnt from each other and respected each other’s way of life.  In the 20th century, ethnic hatred started creeping in and sparks of violence started showing up. Some communities have remained in conflict for over half a century now resulting from ethnic differences.  These differences open up spontaneously either because of resources, power, elections or boarder issues and cultural differences.However, ethnic diversity in itself is a good thing because it offers variety of doing things in a country. Those nations that have managed to create good structures of equity among the different ethnic groups boost of a very cohesive way of living with beauty in diversity.In Cameroon, the government in all its power is doing all it takes to promote interethnic cohabitation through unity in diversity. This might be the reason why there are scarcely open confrontations between ethnic groups in the country though there may be tensions. This research seeks to understand the interethnic relations between the Mbororos of Sabga and the people of Babanki Tungo taking the Mbororo community of Sabga and the people of Babanki as case study.

1.1 Background to the study

The diversity of ethnic groups brings in an aspect of diversity in cultures, language, and religion. A country endowed with different ethnic groups boast of successful intercommunity trade, tourism attraction, a lot of learning from each other and generally a super blending among people of different back grounds. It is the best thing that brings about unity in diversity and a lot of symbiosis. The result of all these is a hybrid community. However, those communities that have gotten a solution to ethnic tensions always sit staring at a potential time bomb, a volcano of ethnocentrism ready to erupt anytime. The effects of ethnic violence are huge and at times they have brought down huge economies into becoming banana nations. These effects stretch from loss of lives to massive displacement of people, and to economic downfall. For instance, the Rwanda case where they lost over 1million people in 1994

Historically, Cameroon is an example of ethnic diversity. It is made up of about 250 ethnic groups with different cultures and languages with each of them striving to survive its heritage (Minority Rights group, 2018). This has made it pretty difficult for the authorities to govern the territory. However, government’s ability to effectively manage diversity through the promotion of unity in diversity by enacting laws and policies through education and seminars has helped quell tensions among ethnic groups. Some of these ethnic groups are either in the minority or majority making co-existence pretty difficult with frequent skirmishes. The focus here is on the Fulani or those commonly referred to as the Mbororos. According to Jabiru (2002), the Mbororos just like the Hausas migrated from northern Nigeria in search of greener pastures and grazing grounds to feed their cattle. Around the first half of the 20thc the first Ardo by name Sabga led the earliest permanent group from Banyo through Foumban and Jakiri that settled on the Babanki Tungo escarpment overlooking the Ndop plain now known as Sabga. Jabiru (2002), says they were thirty Jafun herdsmen of Gosi clan who owned considerable herds of cattle. Having settled, they established trading links with the local population in which while the Mbororo men looked after their cattle, their women took care of domestic chores and children. From the first half of the 20th century, the Mbororo community has co-existed with the people of Babanki Tungo who had been the original settlers in the entire area. The interest of this research work is to understand inter- ethnic relations that exist between these two groups. Theoretically, sociological and anthropological theories that inform the phenomenon under investigation will be considered. Generally, theories explain phenomena and sheds light supporting ideas to view points.

1.2.1 Babanki location and background history

Babanki Tungo also known as Kejom Ketinguh is one of the four villages that make up Tubah Subdivision, Mezam Division, North West Region of Cameroon. The village covers an estimated area of about 108 km2 (Ngwe 2007:12). It is bounded by the following villages: Kejom Keku and Kom in the north-west, Bamessing in the south-west, Bamali in the south, Bambili in the north, Balikumbat in the south-east and Awing in the north-east. It falls between longitude 10:15 and latitude 6o N of the equator. Kejom Ketinguh is located some 20km from Bamenda town, the North West Regional Headquarter and about 9km from Bambui, the headquarter of Tubah Sub-division, along the highway from Bamenda to Ndop in Ngoketunjia Division. The village is made up of forty-eight quarters, with an estimated population of twenty-seven thousand inhabitants (Head count by Kejom Ketinguh village Traditional Council in 2010).

As Tamanji (1987) reports, the Babanki people moved into Northwest Cameroon along with the Tikar group around the 19th century. Due to hostilities from neighbors, the Tikar group was forced to split up into smaller groups which drifted South and East. The Bafuts, Kom, Nsos and the Babankis are said to be  the last to arrive and settle in the Bamenda highlands. The Babanki people later moved from there traveled westwards and finally settled around Oku.  Following a dispute over the ownership of Lake Oku, the Okus successfully fought the Babinskis and they were forced to move out. Meanwhile the Kom people had moved in and settled in Ashing. An intimate relationship developed between Kom and Babanki following the marriage between the Fon of Kom and a sister of the Babanki Fon. Due to cultural differences related to family succession, the two people again separated to settle at the Ku Wee area. The two Babanki people later came to being during the reign of Awunti, the reigning king. It happened that during his reign, a prince died shortly before the Babanki annual dance. Contrary to the custom which demanded that funerals related to the royal family be settled before the annual dance. Awunti went ahead and ordered the kick-off of the annual dance thereby postponing Tinsha’s Funeral to a later date. A disgruntled section of the people decided to move off under the leadership of a prince. This group finally settled in present day Babanki Tungo (Kedjom Ketinguh) leaving behind the reigning chief and his supporters in present day Big Babanki (Kedjom Keku).  The kedjom people (Kejom Keku and Kedjom Ketinguh) and the Finge (Bafinge) speak languages which are generally classified under the ring groups of Grass fields Bantu. Their languages bear similarities to the ItangiKom (Kom), Lamnso, (Nso), Oku and to some degree Babungo, all languages of central and Eastern Ring. Linguistic distinctions are clear in tones, syntax and phonology although there may be a high degree of inter-intelligibility in terms of Lexicon all over the grassfield (Yenshu & Ngwa, 2001 pp.163-190). The Babanki people and their affine, on their part, have been itinerant smiths and herdsmen who changed several settlements over the past five centuries within the area. These constant shifts in settlement were conditioned by defense needs, the search for fertile areas, salty water and pasture for dwarf cattle, surface deposits of iron ore and wooded area for carving and charcoal and trading posts (Warnier, 1979). Their historical traditions point to a form of a form of upland use associated with herding dwarf cows and with smelting, smithing as important occupations. Fragments of this group are scattered over a large area. They appear to have moved their settlements frequently. The oral tradition of the Kedjom also points to dramatic events such as natural catastrophe around Lake Oku and dynastic disputes which led to the dispersal of a significant of its population over a wide area. The Babanki people claim their princes founded the communities of Finge and Kedjom Ketinguh (Babanki Tungo) while another was awarded the Fonship of Bafut. These claims which are echoed in different forms in these communities’ forms the basis for competition and struggles in the Mezam division (Chilver, 1990). The Babanki people are historically farmers who grow maize, yams, Beans and peanuts as staple crops. They also raise livestock including chicken and goats which play and important role in Daily sustenance. Women, who are believed to make the soil more fruitful, are responsible for the task of planting and harvesting the crops. Men are responsible for clearing the fields for planting and practice some nominal hunting. The region is astride important regional trade routes connecting the seaport of Douala in the south and the Fulani and Hausa traders in the North. Politically, the Babanki people like all of the peoples who make up the Cameroon grassland culture area, pay allegiance to the head chief (Fon). Each village is governed by a leader who is selected by his predecessor and who is usually the head of the dominant lineage within that community. Each Fon is served by a council of elders who advise him on all important decisions and who also play an important role in the selection of the next Fon. Most chiefs serve for a life time, abdicating the throne or stool only when nearing death. Complex age grade societies also help to structure the community. The Fon oversees these secret societies. Religiously, the Babanki people reserve the highest allegiance for their lineage ancestors. Ancestral spirits are embodied in the skulls of the deceased ancestors. The skulls are in possession of the eldest living male in each lineage, and all members of an extended family recognize the skull as common heritage. When a family member decides to relocate, a dwelling place, which must be first purified by a diviner, is built to house the skulls in a new location. Although not all ancestral skulls are in the possession of the family, the memories of all ancestors are honored. The spirits of ancestors whose skulls are not preserved have nowhere to reside and may as a result cause trouble for the family. To compensate when a man’s skull is not preserved, a family member must undergo a ceremony in which libations are poured into the ground. Earth gathered from the site of that offering then represents the skull of the deceased.  Respect is also paid to female skulls, although details about such practices are largely unrecorded (Lee and Roy, 1998). The people of Babanki call themselves “Kejom” and call their language” Ga-Kejom”. Others call them “Babanki” which is a designation the people themselves recognize and accept. When speaking with English speakers, they refer to themselves as “Babanki.” This name, “Babanki”, was given to them by the Bali people when they were popularly known as people who weaved baskets. The Babanki language is spoken in two villages 20 kilometers apart in the Subdivision of Tubah, Department of Mezam, Northwest region, Republic of Cameroon. (From the Atlas Linguistique du Cameroun [ALCAM] as well as road maps). The language is spoken primarily in the two villages of Kejom-Ketinguh (called “Small Babanki” when speaking English) and Kejom-Keku (called “Big Babanki” in English). Each of the two villages claims a local population of 15,000 speakers, not counting an external population of 2,000 speakers originally from Kejom-Keku and 7,000 from Kejom-Ketinguh now living in the cities and other towns outside of the Babanki-speaking area. The entire Babanki speech community claims a total population of 39,000. (Census information indicates that in 1987 Kejom-Keku had a population of 6,781 while Kejom Ketinguh then had a population of 9,284. Assuming an annual growth rate of 2.9% from 1987 through 1999, Kejom-Keku would now number approximately 9,500 with Kejom-Ketinguh being about 13,000, for a total village-based population of 22,500 Babanki speakers.) (Brye, 2001). During the colonial period, the Babanki people were classified amongst the “Tikari” group whose history was highly simplified in terms of a migratory model transposed from an “English mania for migrations” (personal communication 6/5/1996 from Mrs E. M. Chilver). This reconstruction made their history to tie in with the principle of regularity which would account for carving contiguous areas into administrative units.  The peoples brought together with an administrative unit were made to have the same history so as to ensure co-operation (Yenshu & Ngwa 2001). The alliances of co-operation that existed between Babanki, Bafut and Nkwen were thus transformed into relations based on common ethnogenesis. This was not without consequences as each group had its own version of this common history which it sought to project in the competition for leadership or protocol in the British colonial Indirect Rule framework and the budding of a post-colonial state. The Kedjom are also mentioned extensively in the oral histories of a variety of groups which are at the heart of the Grassfields (Kom, Bafut, Mankon, Oku, Nso, Ndop, Bamum, Ndop plain, Nkwen, Mmen, Wum, Bum, Noni)  (Yenshu 2000, 2001).

This study will focus on the people of Babanki Tungo also known as Kejom Ketinguh as seen above. The study seeks to understand inter-ethnic relations between the Mbororos of Sabga and the people of Babanki Tungo, paying attention to, Exchange of goods and services, intermarriage, Language of communication and social interactions.

1.2.2 The Mbororo in Babanki

The Mbororos are predominantly nomadic people located almost exclusively within the savannah zone of West and Central Africa, and whose original home is said to be the Senegambia region. From Senegal, the Mbororos continued their movement alongside their cattle and headed to Northern Nigeria. The 19th century Jihad movement and epidemic outbreaks force them to move from Northern Nigeria to Northern Cameroon. From Northern Cameroon, they moved south and started penetrating the North West Region in the early 20th Century Pelican 2006: 335–41). Ardo Sabga led the earliest permanent group from Banyo that settled on the Babanki –Tungo escarpment overlooking the Ndop plain, now known as Sabga.  Ardo Sabga came through Foumban and Jakiri with thirty Jafun herdsmen of Gosi Clan, who owned considerable herds of cattle. Having settled, they established trading links with the local population of North West Region (Jabiru 2002). Their settlement was named Sabga after its initiator, and later became the headquarters of the Mbororo community in northwest Cameroon. During the subsequent decades, many more Mbororo were attracted to the Western Grassfields, as the Bamenda Highlands became renowned for their favorable ecological conditions, offering fertile pastures and numerous salt springs. Most pastoralists migrated in kin or lineage groups, headed by an Mbororo leader (Fulfulde: ardo) (Boutrais 1995 15–210). The Mbororos were warmly welcomed by their hosts because of their economic input reflected in the cattle they introduced in the region and the heavy taxes paid to the government. The quest for grazing land in an environment of increasing population of farmers puts the Mbororos on daily conflicts with their neighboring farmers. Henceforth, the Mbororos were regarded as “undesirable aliens” and the local farming population clamored for their expulsion. Historically, farming has always been (and stills remains) the main livelihood of the people of the people of Babanki Tungo just like the Rest of the North West Region. The most common use of land in agriculture is for food crops (maize, cassava, cocoyam, beans, Irish potatoes, and sweet potatoes). In this case, the land use directly relates to the soil potential of the area. The area around home states is usually used for growing of food crops in order to sustain livelihoods. Farmers put together many types of crops on the same piece of land, which is a strong indication of conflict within the same piece of land. They also exploit any available small space between constructed areas. Farms in the rural areas generally range from 0.2 ha to 2 ha in size (BEDEVCONSULT, 2005).  While Grazing is also one of those activities in which land has been put to, in this area. These grazing activities are mostly carried out in the outer districts, like Sabga, Chuku and Yoruba (Babanki Tungo), given that grazing needs to be carried out in large sizes of land covered with thick turfs of grass, this activity cannot be carried out in the inner areas, where most of the land has been utilized for human settlement. At first, this grazing activity was carried out by the Mbororos and the Moslems but today, the indigenous people have greatly embarked on it for its economic value.   Farmer–grazier conflicts are a major characteristic of relations between the Mbororos of Sabga and the people of Babanki Tungo. Farming and grazing really need large hectares of land for their activity to be practiced, especially grazing Cattle rearers usually face a lot of problems in catering for their cattle, as grazing land is very limited. Thus, with this, grazing land becomes very scarce to carter for the increasing number of cattle. This result to herdsmen allowing their cattle to wander about in search of pasture, these cattle eventually end up into people’s farms, in which the results are usually the destruction of farm products such as maize, beans and potatoes. This is the case with farmers in Babanki Tungo and the Mbororos of Sabga often spend their time in court, solving farmer–grazier problems. On the other hand, good farm lands have become very scarce, thus farmers tend to search for it in virgin forests and faraway from the village in hollow frontiers. in most cases farmers tend to utilize grazing lands which goes a long way to accelerate the conflicts. These areas quite often are situated in the middle of grazing land, used by the Fulani (Mbororos) pastoral tribe on traditional grazing rights. These rights are given by the Mbororo Chief (Ardor), thus, conflicts arise as farming encroaches into the grazing land.

1.3 Statement Of The Problem

The development of every community depends highly on the interethnic relations between two or more groups living together. The relationship between two or more ethnic groups is characterized by suspicion, conflicts, violence and aggression stemming from economic political, social, religious manoeuvers. The case of Sabga (Tiengeh) inhabited by the minority Mbororos and majority people of Babanki Tungo seem to be different. Although there have been skirmishes of conflicts of interest manifested through farmer grazer conflicts and neighborly differences, there has been little or no open confrontations. Both groups still get along peacefully. There is therefore need for an investigation to identify and establish the magic behind this peaceful coexistence between them. It is against this backdrop that a study has been proposed on inter-ethnic relations between the Mbororos of Sabga and the people of Babanki Tungo.

1.4 Research Questions

1.4.1 General Research questions

What is the nature of inter-ethnic relations between the Mborors and the people of Babanki Tungo?

1.4.2 Specific Research Questions

1. To what extend do Inter-marriages occur between the Mbororos of Sabga and the people of Babanki- Tungo?
2. What is the nature of exchange of goods and services between the Mbororos of Sabga and the People of Babanki Tungo?
3. How is language used as a medium of communication between the Mbororos and the People of Babanki Tungo?
4. To what extend do social Interactions occur between the Mbororos and the people of Babanki Tungo.