Asanda-Jonas Benya speaks with Eileen Manka Tabuwe Akwo
In this interview, Asanda-Jonas Benya (AB) speaks to Eileen Manka Tabuwe Akwo (EA), a scholar and feminist activist based in Cameroon. Since the war in Cameroon broke out in 2017, Eileen has been active in women’s peacebuilding activism in the South West and North West Women’s Task Force (SNWOT). Below, she takes us through the work that women have been doing to bring about peace in the country. The background to the mobilisation efforts of the SNWOT women can be traced back to the “Anglophone Crisis” which started in 2016.
This crisis was sparked off by a series of protests by Anglophone lawyers against the appointment of a majority of Francophone magistrates to Anglophone courts. Anglophone teachers later joined these protests to demand reforms, especially regarding the educational system. Though the government tried to address these concerns through a commission it set up, the protests continued and later turned into demands by some members of the Anglophone public, for a separate state. A violent conflict broke out on the first of October 2017 between non-state actors in the Anglophone Regions and state military and structures. The women of Cameroon that Eileen is a part of came together under SNWOT.
They work across Cameroon and have been involved in public demonstrations calling on different parties to silence the guns and resume peace talks. Most notably, SNWOT has facilitated dialogues to bring peace to the war-affected regions. Critical dialogues and popular education within the group and with other actors are some of the tools the SNWOT women use to facilitate teaching and learning, as well as their advocacy and mediation work. Below, Eileen gives us some background on their formation, work, and the lessons that they have learned.
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