Cameroon’s trompe l’oeil unity One nation’s lingering divisions hold a powerful lesson for Africa Unification is easy on paper but it takes political will to make it work. Cameroon, still deeply divided along colonial-era language lines, has this lesson to teach the continent. The west African nation’s French-speaking political elite pay lip service to notions of “integration”, but remain unwilling to take the steps necessary to share power with their Anglophone compatriots. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the republic’s reunification French- speaking President Paul Biya visited Buea, capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking south-west region, in February this year. The trouble…
