Eric Kangha Chu, (Ph.D),
University of Buea-Cameroon | chu.erickangha@yahoo.com / eric.chu@ubuea.cm | (+237) 677 375 336
Over the last few decades Africa has registered devastating inter-state wars and cross-border conflicts. This has prompted the rather derogatory assertion that Africa is the home of endless wars and insecurity. Most pathetic about these is that they have flouted any meaningful solution and their negative implications have retarded growth and development in the continent, while an end to them seems obscure. Cameroon, a country in the CEMAC sub-Region, has registered several border conflicts in the North, South, East and Western frontiers since independence. Some of these inter-border disputes are connected to colonial legacies, but recent trends indicate that other dynamics such as trade, insecurity, search for and control of geo-strategic resources at the border have made crossborder conflicts almost indispensable. While drawing inspiration from other known case studies of cross-border disputes in Africa, the study uses the Menchum economic border zone with Nigeria as an epicenter of border conflicts that has the potentials of provoking war between two states; Cameroon and Nigeria. The research seeks to answer the following fundamental research questions; What are the causes of these border disputes? How have they affected social cohesion, unity and political development in affected countries and cross-border relations? What can we do to overcome the problem? This paper provides answers to these and related questions.
Keywords: Menchum, Mbelogo, Inter-state Conflicts, Cross-border Conflicts, Insecurity, Cameroon-Nigeria
