The recent elections in La République du Cameroun have once again exposed a painful weakness in the global system that claims to defend democracy and human rights. Every major organization — the United Nations, African Union,Commonwealth, and France — saw what happened. They knew the playing field was uneven, that the outcome was written long before the first ballot was cast.
By Ali Dan Ismael
Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist (London Office)
When truth is visible to everyone yet power pretends not to see, the result is never peace — it is pressure. That is exactly what the people of Cameroon, and especially the oppressed citizens of the former Southern Cameroons, are feeling today.
The recent elections in La République du Cameroun have once again exposed a painful weakness in the global system that claims to defend democracy and human rights. Every major organization — the United Nations, African Union, Commonwealth, and France — saw what happened. They knew the playing field was uneven, that the outcome was written long before the first ballot was cast. Yet they responded with the same tired phrases:
“We take note of the results… we urge calm… we encourage dialogue.” The world has heard these words for more than thirty years, and the people are no longer impressed.
Empty Words, Dangerous Silence
How can institutions that preach human rights remain silent while voters are intimidated, opposition leaders arrested, and entire communities denied the chance to vote? How can organizations that fund “election-integrity workshops” fail to monitor the very elections they train officials for?
This contradiction is the heart of the problem. Condemnation without consequence is permission disguised as diplomacy. It tells dictators that the world will bark but never bite. It tells citizens that even when they risk their lives to vote, no one will defend their choice.
When people see that both their rulers and the international community have turned away, civil unrest becomes inevitable. It is not rebellion; it is self-defence against hopelessness.
The Great Illusion of Workshops and Signatures
Could Adolf Hitler have been stopped by workshops or polite signatures on paper? Ask Neville Chamberlain, who returned from Munich in 1938 waving a peace agreement that cost Europe six years of war and millions of lives. Could Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, or Idi Amin in Uganda have been restrained by roundtables and “capacity-building seminars”? History answers with rivers of blood. The truth is this: tyranny does not fear training manuals; it fears accountability.
For twenty-three years — since Cameroon’s first openly disputed presidential election in 1992 — international organizations have been holding conferences, issuing communiqués, and urging reforms that never happen. What makes them think that year twenty-four will be any different?
The Global Pattern of Denial
Dictatorships rarely die by dialogue; they die by confrontation with truth.
From Eastern Europe to the Balkans and South America, the record is clear:
Eastern Europe: Nicolae Ceaușescu (Romania), Erich Honecker (East Germany), and the communist leaders of Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia resisted reform until their regimes collapsed in the revolutions of 1989.
The Balkans: Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia promised “unity and peace” while engineering genocide; the end was civil war and NATO bombs.
South America: From Pinochet in Chile to Videla in Argentina, Stroessner in Paraguay, Somoza in Nicaragua, and Batista in Cuba — the story was the same: repression, denial, and finally violence and collapse. History proves that when justice is postponed, conflict becomes the only language left.
The Real Weakness of the Global Guardians
Dependence on governments they must judge.
The UN and AU can act only with the consent of the same leaders accused of abuse.
Fear of instability.
Western capitals prefer a “stable dictator” to an uncertain democracy.
Workshops without watchdogs.
Millions are spent on seminars, yet almost nothing on independent monitoring or enforcement.
You cannot reform tyranny by PowerPoint.
No public accountability.
Their reports are written to sound neutral so no embassy must recall its ambassador.
Trump’s Lament and the Hypocrisy of Comfort
Even U.S. President Donald Trump recently lamented the inaction of the United Nations and other world bodies, calling them talk shops that have lost touch with the people they claim to protect. He may be controversial, but on this point he is right.
This moment — Cameroon’s 2025 election crisis — is the true test of that lament. No action, no courage, no presence — just officials sitting in air-conditioned offices, writing endless policy papers and delivering seminars on “good governance.”
They publish volumes of “strategic frameworks,” yet cannot change the lives of millions in desperate situations. What do they produce? Grammar upon grammar, reports upon reports, while the suffering continues.
What Real Responsibility Would Look Like
No recognition without verification.
If an election is not independently monitored, it should not be endorsed. Period.
Attach consequences to fraud.
Suspension of aid, visa bans, and public naming of offenders must follow violations.
Empower regional oversight.
The African Union should create an Electoral Justice Mechanism to investigate and sanction election fraud across Africa.
Fund citizen observers.
Local and diaspora groups can collect credible data when official observers are blocked.
Link training to results.
Every funded workshop must include post-election audits and public reporting.
If They Continue to Watch, They Will Be Watched
International organizations must understand: neutrality in the face of oppression is not diplomacy — it is complicity. The world cannot keep issuing statements about “dialogue” while entire communities disappear in conflict and prisons overflow with dissenters.
If the guardians of human rights continue to watch from their balconies, the people will rise from the streets. That rising will not be imported from abroad; it will be manufactured by the silence of those who should have acted.
Cameroon is once again a test — not only of democracy but of conscience. If the global system fails this test, it will not be because it lacked information, but because it lacked courage.
Ali Dan Ismael
Editor-in-Chief, The Independentist
