Grievance, greed and economic opportunism in the Anglophone Cameroon separatist conflict

Abstract

Separatist movements remain a common feature of contemporary African politics, largely because of the arbitrary fusion of different cultural, ethnic and linguistic groupings into modern-day states by European colonisers. The ongoing separatist conflict in Cameroon is just one example of this lingering colonial legacy. Although engendered by genuine grievances over the socioeconomic and political marginalisation of Anglophones by the Francophoneled government, the conflict has been hijacked by opportunists to prosecute their economic ambitions. The paper uses qualitative data from interviews with various stakeholders in the conflict, field observations and documentary sources and the greed versus grievance framework of analysis. It argues that the separatist conflict has provided an avenue for separatists, government officials, security forces and criminals to engage in unscrupulous economic enrichment. It concludes that opportunistic behaviour by government/military officers, separatists and criminals has escalated and prolonged the conflict. Such behaviour includes the smuggling and sale of illicit petrol from Nigeria, kidnapping for ransom, embezzlement of war funds, extortion of civilians and benefits from an increased security budget.