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Cameroon the role of imperialism in anglo-francophone bloodshed

Marxist Theory · 2026-05-13

Core Argument

The article argues that the ongoing anglophone-francophone conflict in Cameroon is not a primordial ethnic or linguistic civil war, but the direct consequence of imperialist partition, colonial administration, and the cynical manipulation of national unity by bourgeois elites. The central thesis is that the bloodshed in Cameroon's English-speaking regions — from the 2016 crackdown on lawyers and teachers to the current insurgency for an independent Ambazonia — is the product of a chain of imperialist decisions stretching back to the 1919 London Declaration, which divided the former German colony of Kamerun between Britain and France. The present crisis, the article claims, cannot be understood without grasping how French and British imperialism created the anglophone minority, then used the United Nations to block genuine self-determination, and finally installed and sustained the dictatorships of Ahidjo and Biya as reliable clients for the extraction of Cameroon's natural resources.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis is grounded in the classical Marxist theory of imperialism, drawing on Lenin's understanding of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism and the division of the world among the great powers. The article deploys a materialist method that traces political conflicts back to the economic interests of imperialist states and their local bourgeois allies. It situates itself within the Marxist tradition's critique of "national liberation" movements that fail to break with capitalism, exemplified by the tragic trajectory of the UPC (Union des Populations du Cameroun), which began as a genuine anti-colonial, Marxist-influenced mass organisation but was destroyed by French repression, the Sino-Soviet split, and its own illusions in the United Nations.

The article also draws on the Marxist understanding of the state as an instrument of class rule, showing how the Cameroonian state — from Ahidjo to Biya — has functioned as a transmission belt for imperialist interests, using repression, fraudulent elections, and the suppression of federal structures to maintain the conditions for capital accumulation. The concept of "Bonapartism" is implicit in the analysis of Biya's personalised, repressive rule, which stands above a fractured society while serving the interests of foreign capital.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article was published in October 2018, during the Cameroonian presidential election in which 85-year-old Paul Biya sought a seventh term. The conjuncture is defined by the escalation of the anglophone crisis into an armed insurgency following the October 2017 declaration of an independent Ambazonia. The article provides specific data points: at least 400 dead in the preceding year, 160,000 internally displaced, 34,000 refugees in Nigeria, and a turnout of less than 5 percent in anglophone regions compared to 55 percent in francophone areas.

The article connects this immediate crisis to the broader geopolitical dynamics of contemporary imperialism. It notes that the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) — the elite unit carrying out the worst atrocities — is trained by US, French, Israeli and British military personnel, demonstrating how the "war on terror" framework and military aid programmes are deployed to suppress anti-imperialist resistance. The article also situates the crisis within the longer arc of French neocolonialism in West Africa, where formal independence in 1960 masked the continued subordination of former colonies through the Francafrique system.

Where the Argument Continues

The article leaves several questions open that are developed elsewhere in the Marxist corpus. First, the analysis of the UPC's destruction and the Sino-Soviet split's impact on African liberation movements invites deeper exploration — this is taken up in IDOM articles on the degeneration of national liberation movements and the role of Stalinism in Africa. Second, the article's concluding call for "true international socialism" and a "socialist federation" across West Africa remains programmatic rather than strategic; the practical question of how to build revolutionary organisation in the current conjuncture is addressed in IDOM's broader writings on the united front, the transitional programme, and the necessity of revolutionary parties in the Global South. Third, the article does not analyse the internal class dynamics of contemporary Cameroonian society — the composition of the working class, the peasantry, and the urban poor — which is a necessary foundation for any revolutionary strategy. These questions are taken up in Against the Stream episodes on African political economy and in Marxist analyses of the continent's working-class formation.

Connections

This article should be read alongside several key Marxist texts and IDOM articles:

  • Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism — the theoretical foundation for understanding the partition of Africa and the role of the League of Nations/UN as instruments of imperialist rule.
  • IDOM, "The national question and the struggle for socialism" — for the Marxist approach to national oppression and the distinction between progressive and reactionary nationalism.
  • IDOM, "Africa: imperialism, neocolonialism and the struggle for socialism" — for the broader analysis of the continent's integration into global capitalism.
  • Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa — for the historical materialist account of Africa's underdevelopment through colonial and neocolonial exploitation.
  • IDOM articles on the UPC and the "Hidden War" — for a more detailed treatment of the 1955-1964 period and the French counterinsurgency.
  • IDOM analyses of the Francafrique system — for understanding the continuity of French imperialist control from de Gaulle to Macron.

Key Quotes

  1. "Cameroon is undergoing a crisis that has its roots in the imperialist domination and carving up of the country. The anglophone and francophone divisions date back to British and French occupations, which took over from German colonisation."

  2. "The problem for the UPC was that their argument, although not fundamentally incorrect (that is, the imperialist looting of Africa was holding back the development of its people) ignored the fact that the United Nations does not work as a debating club, where argument and debate fundamentally affect their course of action. The UN is governed by the main imperialist powers and can only act when these powers agree."

  3. "The elite wing of the military, the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), which reports directly to President Biya and is trained by US, French, Israeli and British military personnel, has been videoed executing unarmed women and their toddlers, faced corroborated reports of shooting into peaceful demonstrations and also stands accused of implementing torture techniques (learned from the Americans) on the separatists."

  4. "France and Britain have supported, and continue to support, the dictatorships of first Ahidjo and then Biya. The working peoples and peasants of Cameroon, and Africa more broadly, have been subjugated to the will of imperialism, aided at times through mechanisms of the United Nations, to continue their looting of the continent."

  5. "What is needed is to renew struggle based on the best traditions of the UPC and fight for true international socialism, which can unite the working people and peasants of Western Africa under the banner of genuine anti-imperialist struggle. This can only be achieved by expropriating the multinational corporations that are sucking the blood out of this potentially rich continent, and by building a socialist federation throughout the whole region."