A heated debate is opposing historians on the role of Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon's first president, and the colonial legacy in the genesis of the Anglophone crisis. The "Mémoire 60" collective has reacted strongly to a 2017 op-ed by historian Daniel Abwa, reviving sensitive questions about the roots of this conflict.
In his op-ed published in the Cameroon Tribune, Daniel Abwa (since deceased) described the Anglophone crisis as a "paradox," pointing to Cameroonians who, while proud of independence and reunification, would claim a cultural dependence on the former colonizers. He accused elites with "oversized egos" of fueling these tensions, while the coexistence of legacies should, in his view, make Cameroon a model of Pan-Africanism. However, Abwa acknowledged shortcomings, including imperfect bilingualism, a lack of "bilingual spirit," and inequalities between Anglophone and Francophone cultures.
The Mémoire 60 collective challenges this interpretation, arguing that the crisis stems from an unfinished decolonization and the exclusion of nationalists from independence negotiations. While Abwa acknowledged the role of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) in the struggle for independence, the collective criticizes him for glossing over the reasons for the UPC's ouster in favor of Ahmadou Ahidjo, who was supported by France. The war against the maquis, electoral fraud, and the marginalization of nationalists, according to the collective, weighed on the construction of the post-colonial state, undermining unity.
Another point of contention concerns the existence of a decree from the 1990s, allegedly issued by Paul Biya, elevating to the rank of national heroes both the figures who fought for independence and the supporters of close cooperation with the former colonial power. The Mémoire 60 collective denies the existence of this decree and considers it impossible to put figures such as Ruben Um Nyobè, Félix Moumié, or Ernest Ouandié, who died violently, on the same level as leaders who died of natural causes.
The collective also criticizes the analysis of the Foumban negotiations (1961), stressing that Anglophone leaders, such as John Ngu Foncha, initially supported a unionist project in connection with the nationalists. Their rallying to Ahidjo, under the aegis of the Franco-British, would have transformed a democratic ideal into a sharing of posts, sealing the integration of Southern Cameroons into a system dominated by the single party from 1966. This original "betrayal" still weighs on current resentment, according to the collective.
Finally, the "K" of Kamerun, defended by the nationalists, would not only refer to the German period, but to a political vision of unity, anchored in the history of parties and petitions since 1919.
To overcome these memorial blockages, the Mémoire 60 collective proposes the organization of conferences in Buea and Foumban, which would lead to a historical memorandum, popular education programs, and a new Constitution. The objective would be to restore a shared memory and to refound a unified, democratic, and reconciled Kamerun. These proposals come in a context where the origins of the Anglophone crisis are subject to divergent interpretations, reviving debates on the colonial legacy and the leading figures in Cameroon's history. Ahmadou Ahidjo, the first president of Cameroon, played a major role in establishing Cameroon as an independent state in 1960 and in integrating the French and English-speaking parts of the country. His legacy continues to be a subject of debate.
