LETTER FROM TANGIE SUH-NFOR

INTRODUCTION How time flies! Below is a `Letter to the Editor` of the then WEST AFRICA magazine, located at 43-45 Coldharbour Lane, Stockwell, in London. This letter was published in the issue of the magazine dated 26 July-1 August 1993, ten years ago! It was written by one of the publication`s regular readers, the Cameroonian educationist Tangyie Suh-Nfor, at the time a student in Leeds, United Kingdom. Here is the letter in its entirety. ___________________________________________________________________________ BAMENDA `CHOP` FIRE "I read with great interest Tikum Mbah Azonga`a profound article, `The Bamenda factor`, in WEST AFRICA of July 12 1993. It reminds me of one the many songs which characterized entrances and exits during SDF rallies, entitled “Bamenda chop fire”. It is an English précis of the image of “the Bamenda man” evoked in Tikum`s analysis. An important element on which I would perhaps have liked greater emphasis is the caliber of people at the forefront of the Bamenda notoriety - the ordinary men and women, drawing inspiration from rtheir humanity , rather than the pomposity of the so-called elite. Witness for example the role of the Takumbeng (a women`s secret society) which humbled overzealous policemen and gendarmes during those rally days. Most striking in Tikum`s article, however, is the attention drawn to the paradox in Dr. Biya`s image in the eyes of Bamenda people. I wish I were convinced that he genuinely realizes this swing from love to burning hate. There is no doubt that “the Bamenda fire will soon reveal which meat has fat”. God bless Cameroon!" Leeds, July 1993