Yes. As a result of the killing of unarmed civilians, the arrests and the burning down of villages, anglophone groups decided to come together to protect themselves.... It was in self-defence. That is how we had the creation of various separatist groups and armed groups that are now also operating in the country.
These separatist movements have always existed. They existed in the nineties...the Southern Cameroons National Council. Because of the historical set-up of Cameroon between the French and English, and the fact that the process of reunification and the constitution...at the conference in Foumban did not really go as it was supposed to, most anglophones believe there are attempts to assimilate, conquer and dominate them. There have always been these protests by various groups in anglophone Cameroon clamouring for independence.
The commission of bilingualism and multiculturalism, if you talk to an average anglophone in particular, is really of no object. I know it was created whilst we were in jail, but it was more to please the international community. It was more to show the international community that they were doing something. The problems, for anglophones, are not about multiculturalism or bilingualism. The average anglophone understands and speaks French. It's a cultural problem. It's a problem of assimilation. It's a historical problem. It's a problem of marginalization, oppression and suppression.
It is a problem where the people feel that the form of the state, unitary decentralization, has failed. It's not addressing the problems that face the specificity of the anglophones in Cameroon. It cannot be addressed in the unitary decentralization as seen in the 1996 constitution and as amended in the 2008 constitution. There is the cry for a return to either the two-state federation, or at best, an independent Southern Cameroons.