Is Cameroon sitting on a volcano? Conflict expert proposes ten priority areas to defuse tensions, restore trust.

Alarm is insufficient. Cameroon must now listen to weak signals, prevent escalation and act systemically.

A disagreement is not necessarily a conflict, and conflict is not yet violence. The shrinking space between disagreement, polarization and violence is where collective action must focus. The absence of armed conflict is not the same as peace. Peace is a collective public good for all. Ten worksites should be pursued together.

National forum for renewal & an emergency plan for enclaved regions
The 2019 Major National Dialogue created an important space for discussion on the North-West and South-West crisis. Its lesson is that dialogue builds trust only when it produces prioritized, time-bound commitments, independently monitored and measured. 

A National Forum for Renewal should therefore be more than another meeting: it should renew the social contract between citizens, leaders and institutions. 

It should include government and opposition, civil society, religious and traditional authorities, youth, women, the private sector and diaspora, producing a roadmap for national renewal and an emergency plan for isolated regions.

Negotiated political exit from Anglophone crisis

After a decade of institutional disruption, economic losses and suffering, a negotiated exit deserves serious consideration. Negotiation does not mean abandoning national unity or legitimizing violence. The special status of the North West and South West provides an institutional framework whose promised powers and resources should be made effective. 

Priorities should include an immediate and verifiable ceasefire, renewed Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration for combatants willing to leave violence, and post-crisis reconstruction and stabilization, including a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.

Peaceful transition at the top of the State
Uncertainty over Cameroon’s political future is itself a source of fragility. Polarization, rivalry among political networks and uncertainty about succession can turn institutional transition into confrontation. 

Forthcoming senior appointments should reflect ethics, integrity, accountability, competence and performance, with results. Stability should rest on strong institutions and constitutional procedures, not one individual.

Credible electoral reform for a peaceful 2032 election
Electoral trust must be built before, during and after voting. Recurring disputes have weakened public confidence in whether results reflect ballots. 

Electoral institutions should strengthen independence, voter-register reliability, counting transparency and impartial dispute mechanisms. The objective is to enable peaceful acceptance of defeat and credible government.

Structural fight against corruption
Corruption is not only a matter of individual wrongdoing; repeated corruption exposes weaknesses in control and accountability systems. Reform requires independent oversight, transparent procurement and consistent sanctions. 

When access to jobs, public examinations, services or contracts depends on networks rather than merit, distrust deepens across rulers and ruled, generations and communities. Restoring confidence requires evidence that nobody is above the law, including effective asset-declaration rules.

Security sector reform & access to justice
Citizens’ trust depends on their daily relationship with security and justice institutions. Security forces should remain focused on protecting people and territory while strengthening professionalism, human rights and accountability for documented violations. 

Justice reform should further reinforce judicial independence, address corruption and delays, reduce unlawful or excessive pre-trial detention and expand Alternative Dispute Resolution, including mediation. Preventing conflict before violence erupts is more effective than responding after escalation.

Truly implemented decentralisation
The 2019 legal framework provides an important basis for decentralization. Its credibility now depends on transferring clearly defined responsibilities, adequate resources and effective administrative capacity to local authorities. 

Bringing decisions closer to citizens can reduce marginalization and tensions. Decentralization should also include meaningful citizen participation, transparency and accountability.

Massive economic inclusion of youth
Lasting peace is difficult when youth face unemployment, poverty and limited opportunities. The response should move beyond isolated pilot projects toward a sustained five-year policy focused on productive sectors, skills, employment, entrepreneurship and access to finance. 

Investment in renewable energy and private-sector development can create jobs while addressing infrastructure gaps. Youth economic inclusion is both development policy and conflict prevention.

An expanded civic & media space
Civic space is a safety valve for social tensions. When opportunities for expression, journalism, association and peaceful demonstration shrink, frustration does not disappear; it can migrate to less regulated spaces where anonymity facilitates rumors, ethnic polarization, revenge narratives and incitement. Expanding civic and media space can channel grievances into accountable forms of participation.

Proximity dialogue & mediation infrastructures
Cameroon does not lack dialogue; it lacks accessible infrastructures for early, local dialogue. Many conflicts follow a familiar sequence: tension, unresolved administrative frustration, perceptions of injustice, withdrawal and violence. Too often, situations that could have been mediated are instead policed, judicialized or militarized. The Public Independent Conciliator created for the North West and South West offers a useful prototype but remains limited in reach and resources. 

Cameroon could develop a three-tier architecture: village, neighbourhood and commune dialogue centres able to trigger listening and mediation rapidly; a generalized Public Independent Conciliator mechanism across all regions; and an independent National Mediator, supported by Ombudsmen in universities, hospitals and public administrations and by popular expression forums. Such infrastructure would strengthen peace.

A systemic issue, not isolated measures
These ten worksites cannot succeed in isolation. Electoral reform without inclusive renewal risks remaining cosmetic; decentralization without anti-corruption measures can reproduce clientelism locally; security reform without a negotiated path out of the Anglophone crisis may manage violence without preventing it. They require coordinated implementation.

Cameroon is not doomed to erupt. But peace cannot be decreed. It must be built patiently and methodically through listening, dialogue and early conflict prevention—before disagreements harden into conflicts and conflicts explode into violence.

By Robert Ngangue: He is a conflictologist, IMI-certified professional mediator, President of Ombudsperson & Mediation Initiative