On July 2, 2019, the Africa Forum (the Forum), a grouping of former African Heads of State and Government and other African leaders issued a communiqué in which it announced its intention to convene a Symposium on Cameroon. The objective of the Symposium, as stated in that communiqué, is to inform the Forum on the ongoing challenges facing the country and to lend its support to the peaceful resolution of those challenges.

The Africa Forum has thus set the date and venue for the Symposium as April 2020 in Kenya. 500 Cameroonians are expected to participate in the Symposium, representing a variety of stakeholders, including opinion leaders, civil society, the government of Cameroon, political parties, traditional authorities, religious bodies, different groups, youth leaders, the Cameroonian Diaspora and more. The Forum will count on the goodwill of the invited participants to have an open and honest dialogue which will be the building block on which a lasting solution to the crisis in Cameroon may be attained.

Ahead of the Forum therefore, Jeune Afrique in its edition No. 3082 dated February 2, 2020 reports that  Barrister Akere Muna was at the Yaoundé Principal Prison where he held heart-to-heart talks with Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the man considered to be the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

Akere is reported as engaging the separatist leader on why dialogue, and not guns, should be the solution to the current stalemate bedevilling Cameroon’s North West and South West regions.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, who is currently serving a life sentence along with his ‘aides’ is said to be open to dialogue that will end the crisis. It is however not known what his terms are. Many have their doubts if government will commit to the Africa Forum peace process.

The intervention of the Forum is to support the African Union (AU) guide the continent to achieve the objectives detailed in the Constitutive Act and to take steps without delay to contact a broad spectrum of the people of Cameroon and invite these to attend what the Forum intends must be an inclusive and open dialogue.

This Symposium on Cameroon will be one of series of interventions to seek lasting solutions to the ongoing humanitarian, political and economic crisis in Cameroon. Cameroonians seeking to attend the Forum have been advised to apply online.