The escalating tensions in Cameroon are a scourge on the image of Africa. Anglophone secessionists have imposed curfews and closed schools as part of their protest against President Paul Biya's French-speaking government and its perceived marginalisation of the English-speaking minority.

The tensions between English-speaking Cameroonians and the West-central African nation’s French-speaking government stretch back to the end of colonial rule nearly 60 years ago. At the heart of the tension is Anglophones’ desire to form their own independent state, Ambazonia. English-speaking Cameroonians say that the government led and dominated by French-speaking Cameroonians has ruled the country with an iron fist since the unification of the two former United Nations trusteeship territories – French Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons – in 1961.

It is a shame that Africans have lost identity and are struggling over foreign identities despite the fact that the continent is fast integrating.