Addressing the United Nations Security Council through Video Tele-Conferencing Wednesday, Ambassador Günter Sautter, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations in New York urged the government of Cameroon to negotiate with separatists.

“A peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Anglophone regions is the most pressing issue,” Ambassador Günter Sautter said in a statement during the Security Council Video Tele-Conferencing (VTC) meeting on the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, UNOCA.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations, after addressing the issues in the central African sub-region, turned to Cameroon, “where cross-cutting challenges accumulate and reinforce a multi-faceted crisis.”

He said the crisis in Cameroon’s North West and South West Region requires greater international attention, also because of its potential impact on the entire region.

His words: “A peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Anglophone regions is the most pressing issue. We are deeply concerned about the recent rise of violence. We condemn in the strongest terms the attack against a school in Kumba on October 24th. There will be no military solution of the conflict. Inclusive political dialogue is the only viable path to peace. Measures taken so far – including legislation adopted in the aftermath of the Grand Dialogue National – do not suffice.”

Germany is of the opinion that sustainable peace can only be attained if the government of Cameroon engages in direct negotiations with separatists.

“There will be no sustainable peace process without direct negotiations between the Cameroonian government and the separatists. We strongly support the Swiss-led mediation process, which aims to improve the conditions for such negotiations,” said Ambassador Günter Sautter. “Conflict parties must show resolve to deescalate and act in a spirit of compromise. Activities of diaspora groups in social networks, including incitement to hatred and violence, open calls for secession, and attacks against Cameroonian embassies, are not acceptable. The Cameroonian government – on the other hand - must do more to address the legitimate aspirations of Anglophones, including taking concrete steps to strengthen regional self-governance.”

Cameroon’s state forces have been battling to dislodge armed separatists who pitched their tents in the North West and South West Regions since Anglophone protests transformed into an armed conflict in 2017.

Corporate demands by Common Law Lawyers and Anglophone Teachers led to protests in November 2016. The street demonstrations later morphed into ongoing running gun battles between state forces and armed separatist fighters in the predominantly English-speaking regions, leading to untold destruction of human lives, their habitats, and livelihoods.

Tit-for-tat killings, kidnappings, arsons, maiming, and outright terror have become part of daily lives in some parts of the English-speaking regions.