Written by Valerie Viban

Cameroon Diaspora Dialogues: Osnabrück! Here we come 

This Saturday in Osnabrück, some Cameroonians living in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen and Lower Saxony will meet for a town hall meeting to reflect on the theme ‘The Cameroonian Diaspora Community as a possible conflict transformer and counter hatespeech actors’. 

 At the offshoot of the current conflicts in Cameroon, several references have designated or sighted Cameroonians living abroad as a plausible conflict influencer. While this information didn’t fall from the sky, it may also have been too hasty given that just like in every community, a single opinion may not represent a collective one. While the city of focus this time will be Osnabruck, it shall not be the first time  this topic finds resurgence within the Cameroon community in  Germany especially within the context of #defyhatenow. Cameroonians most often remain very connected to their home and hence topics of politics and concerns from back home animate almost every meeting. Under the #defyhatenow banner,  defyhatenow, this shall be the second townhall meeting . The first had been in Berlin back in 2021 at the start of the Defyhatenow Diaspora dialogues. 

Who is the Cameroon diaspora? How do they relate with the country?

In local Cameroonian pidgin English, the word ‘bushfaller’ refers to people who have traveled abroad. The term got more and more famous in the early 2000s in English speaking parts of Cameroon as more and more people traveled abroad in search of better opportunities in education, business and academics. The most famous routes for Cameroonian journeys abroad include: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Africa, Nigeria and Canada,the United Arab Emirates. Traveling abroad became something many young people looked forward to at the end of their elementary studies in Cameroon hence most countries reputed for  educational opportunities have always been a great attraction for Cameroon. Until now Cameroon has earned quite a good reputation for producing very successful students in most of the countries mentioned above with most of them ending up in very strong professional and alumni associations such as the Cameroon association of Medical Doctors in Germany (CAMFOMEDICS), Association of Cameroonian Engineers in Germany among others .

With another glance, these migration dynamics have also witnessed some changes in the last decade following the rise of political tensions and eminent violent conflicts in Cameroon. The number of Cameroonians seeking asylum in Europe and elsewhere has been on a steady rise, sometimes carving out new routes of migration, new risks and new destinations. For instance, not so long ago Cameroonian refugees on the move were reported in accidents in countries in the Caribbean and also in Latin America while finding a long irregular path to the United States of America. While it is still very difficult to claim asylum as a Cameroonian in most of the countries of the west, this has not been a deterring factor as the numbers rise every given day amidst the growing anti-immigrant sentiments spreading wild across the global North. 

Connection to Home 

As regards the connection to home, Cameroonians living abroad have always had a deep interest in connecting to their roots and continue to reflect on Cameroon as home even after living abroad for several decades already. This  desire to connect back home can be seen in several ways both economically and socially. Most Cameroonians living abroad belong to different socio-cultural organizations that most often are tied to their ethnic roots of origin or their religious affiliations constructed already through growth.Even more so, they   join passtime groups that connect them to their home countries:for instance football groups. There are more than 15 football associations of Cameroonian origin in Berlin alone and more than 100 across Europe sometimes meeting for championships and tournaments across the year. One of the key ways Cameroonians living abroad are noted for connecting with back home is via deporting lots of remittances back home either as business ventures or simply to support families and transfer earnings to their families. This has become quite popular especially as the economy remains stagnant amidst ever rising levels of inflation.  As regarding relations with the government,it is a double sided coin. Acknowledging the contributions of the Cameroonian diaspora to the development of the country, the government created a special department at the Ministry of external relations dedicated to strengthening ties with its citizens living abroad. This department is tasked with reaching out to different Cameroonians abroad, coming to their aid in issues where the embassies cannot directly help, facilitating investments back home for Cameroonians amongst others.  Even political parties in Cameroon have diaspora branches across the world. However there is also the other side. With the growing political tensions in Cameroon and the eminent violent crisis, fingers have profusely pointed to the diaspora as a veritable conflict influencer. From calls for secession from English Cameroonian activists based abroad, to anti regime activists such as Brigade Anti.Sadinard movement and even more dreaded attacks of Cameroonian embassies especially in Germany, France and the United states, the relationship between the government back in Cameroon and its citizens of the diaspora have reached sour heights in the last years with some Cameroonians living in the diaspora being tagged or labeled terrorist or live with the suspicion that they are on wanted lists back home.(some actually got arrested upon arrival for visits). Against this backdrop, dialogue platforms such as the #defyhatenow diaspora dialogue initiative offer rooms for mending the bridges, revisiting the difficult points in the discourse and offer a potential for Cameroonians living out of home to reclaim regency and play a laudable role in conflict transformation and solutions to the issues back in Cameroon. 

Some Remarks from our last town-hall meeting 

What to expect from the Osnabrüch Diaspora Dialogue event

Osnabrück shall offer an opportunity to bring the dialogue a step further . We shall get into some key areas which in our online events have not been covered . Also very important is the fact that we shall organise the event in Osnabruc kin partnership with some Cameroonian diaspora organisations around there. We are looking forward to not just discussing Cameroonians abroad and their possible contributions to peace back home but also on how to ease integration in Germany and making life abroad slightly comfortable .