At the beginning we just wanted to
pay tribute and demonstrate solidarity. It started at an after work drink in
one of Yaoundé’s pubs, a group of professional friends observed with regret how
distant (emotionally and geographically) the rest of the country was from the
horrific realities of the war on terrorism in the country’s northernmost tip.
As journalists a few of us had been to
the battlefront and still heard the ringing sound of gunshots, and shared the
tension felt by the soldiers each day and night. But this anxiety is nothing
compared to the deep pain of actually losing a loved one in the fighting.
Guibai Gatama had felt this pain so many
times. As a northerner some of his family members had been slaughtered by Boko
Haram terrorists, as a journalist he had shared the anxiety of the soldiers and
could measure the sacrifice they are making protecting our homeland.
We
didn’t expect five to ten thousand Cameroonians to show up on the May 20 Avenue
in the heart of Yaounde on a fine February 28 morning, two hours before the
Great Patriotic March most desperate for the event’s t-shirt. The day before
had been frantic. The communication of the United for Cameroon Coalition on its
support march for the population of the Far North and the Cameroon army had
been extensive. News magazines, tabloids, broadcast, online and even social
media was awash with the call for an apolitical demonstration of patriotism and
solidarity. Producing gadgets, t-shirts, flags, banners, and hats for the event
became more difficult as the enthusiasm grew and we raced against the clock.
In
a context of war, suspicion, and politicking it was a bold move, that a rainbow
of journalists from public and private media and various regions of Cameroon take
the challenge of uniting the country over a very divisive and opaque conflict.
To say loud and clear that the war against terrorism, is not a war opposing
Christianity to Islam, nor a war of the northerners by the northerners, but a
war all of Cameroon is waging against a threat to its civil liberties and
freedoms, and paying a heavy price for it.
For
Guibai and his friends the spark that started the fire, were everyday comments
of ordinary Cameroonians, and often controversial comments made by government
officials that sometimes sounded like warnings and at other times like
accusations. But while Yaounde and Douala talked, children in the Far North
stopped learning because 1,700 schools had been closed or destroyed, 150.000
internally displaced persons had lost their homes, in an area where deserts rise
into stony foothills and then into
mountains 132.000 tonnes of cereals had not been grown this year, and o
 |
| Military Honours to the fallen |
ver
200.000 Nigerian refugees were pouring in.
News
of every new casualty on the war front hurt even more in the face of stinging
criticism from colleagues, politicians and activists, who seemed scared to see
a united and strong Cameroon chanting “Boko Haram you cannot dare us!” We had called
the nation’s attention, not only to the war, but on its victims, and had revived
a dormant national conversation on citizenship and solidarity.
THE MAKING OF A MARCH
February
28 has become a legacy in the war against terrorism in Cameroon. The day the
communion between the army and the people was caught in image, video, selfies. Posted,
tweeted, blogged and broadcast across the world. The day Cameroon sent out a
strong message of unity to the world
Seven
years ago, on the same date violent clashes had erupted in the major towns,
what has become known as the 2008 Riots, over the high cost of living. Young
Cameroonians were killed, maimed, forgotten. We owe them tribute, and forever
remember their sacrifice. In 2015 we picked a random date February 28 to honour
other deaths, civilian and military. A date that scared even the state,
infuriated our critics, but for us was simply a coincidence, and we did not
make only friends holding on adamantly to the Great Patriotic March on that day.
While
we met for about a month planning it, we agreed on some core values, no
profit-making, no political messages, just a united for Cameroon support and
solidarity message to the population of the Far North and our soldiers.
With
youth leaders we hammered down our convictions. With government members we
persuaded on our purpose, with the media we raised awareness on the horrors of
the violent war on terrorism. In social media, we popularized the hashtag #U4CMR,
on Facebook we pushed our likes up to 3,514, on WhatsApp we invited friends and
contacts to save the date, and two days to the March we sent out 3000 smses in
the Centre region.
People
who doubted the purpose, though obvious, of our march went beyond promising to
attend, but frantically seeking for t-shirts, many asked how to join the
coalition, others travelled from around Yaounde and even Douala to attend.
THE REBIRTH OF CITIZENSHIP
As
I shared the first shots of the emblematic May 20 Avenue on social media that
morning, some wondered where were the participants, each passing minute
Cameroonians of all walks of life from around the seven hills of Ongola poured into the city-centre.
Within
an hour, music icons, politicians, business leaders, scholars, and above all
the people, young, aged, rich, poor marched into the Central Post office
roundabout happy to march for Cameroon, and Cameroon alone!
This
can only happen after a messy fight to make enemies into allies. Will the
solidarity fizzle as fast as it flared?
We
hope for a maturity in our citizenship, a revolution in the way we relate to
our country and our issues, and a collective purpose and spirit, depicted in
the words of the February 28, 2015 declaration “the symbol of
our unity, the heartbeat of a nation that refuses to bow down and which is determined
to forge on.”
