The ramification of Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis: conceptual analysis of a looming “Complex Disaster Emergency”

Bang, Henry Ngenyam; Balgah, Roland Azibo

doi:10.1186/s41018-022-00114-1

Journal of International Humanitarian Action

Table 2 Comparism of the Robert Strauss Centre’s complex emergency framework with findings from the Anglophone crisis to determine whether the latter is a complex emergency

From: The ramification of Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis: conceptual analysis of a looming “Complex Disaster Emergency”

Robert Strauss Centre’s complex emergency framework			Relevance to the Anglophone crisis/scores				Scale score
Complex emergency types and themes		Variables	Low relevance	Relevant	Very relevant	Extremely relevant	Theme scores	Types of complex emergency scores
Complex emergency types and themes		Variables	1	2	3	4	Theme scores	Types of complex emergency scores
Acute	Components	Acute high-intensity conflict: level is higher than the country’s baseline of violent events				✓	10	36
		Acute environmental disaster	✓
		High level of poverty				✓
		Complex social and ethnic geography	✓
	Relative impact assessment	Large area affected				✓	15
		Food insecurity price hikes			✓
		High mortality rates			✓
		Concentrated forms of conflict-induced refugees and internally displaced persons				✓
		Epidemic outbreaks	✓
	Types of instability	Political (acute conflict): level of violent events higher than the country baseline of recorded events and fatalities				✓	11
		Environmental (environmental disasters): acute disasters lasting 1 to 15 days (flood, drought, storm, insect infestation, wildfire)	✓
		Economic (high level of poverty): high poverty (HP) headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (PPP) (% of population)			✓
		Demographic (complex ethnic geography): multiple ethnic groups, demographic pressure			✓
Chronic	Components	Chronic, low intensity of armed and fatal political violence			✓		11	29
		Vulnerability to climate change-induced hazards	✓
		High level of poverty: marginalised region				✓
		Changing demographics between groups			✓
	Relative impact assessment	Large area affected				✓	8
		Medium-to-high level of displacement: internal, short term, and circular		✓
		Chronic food insecurity: collapse of market and price hikes		✓
	Types of instability	Political (low-intensity conflict): low and persistent level of violent events recorded over 5 years		✓			10
		Environmental (climate-related hazard exposure): chronic and long-lasting disasters of over 15 days (drought, floods)	✓
		Economic (marginalised region vs. rest of the country) Low GDP per capita under-development of the region			✓
		Demographic (settlement in camps): refugees, internally displaced persons				✓
Urban	Components	High level of civic violence: rioting and protesting			✓		11	30
		High level of exposure to climate change hazards	✓✪
		High level of unemployment and high percentage of the under-serviced population				✓
		Unstable demographic dynamics: rural-urban migration and urban refugees			✓
	Relative impact assessment	Localised affected area	✓				9
		Epidemic outbreaks	✓
		Concentrated forms of displacement			✓
		Acute food insecurity: seasonal price hikes		✓
		Large slum population		✓
	Types of instability	Political (urban violence): high level of riots and protests compared to other violence			✓		10
		Environmental (high level of climate-related hazard exposure): rainfall, chronic water scarcity, cyclones, wildfires, floods, and coastal zones	✓
		Economic (high poverty): urban poverty headcount ratio (% of urban population)			✓
		Demographic (migrants in urban areas)			✓
Protracted	Components	High level of unemployment and high percentage of the under-serviced population			✓		16	34
		Unstable demographic dynamics: rural-urban migration and urban refugees			✓
		Absence of central authority and protracted conflict with multiple non-state actors			✓
		Severe vulnerability to climate change-induced reoccurring and sudden disasters	✓
		High level of poverty and collapse of state and local economies			✓
		Disturbed demographics			✓
	Relative impact assessment	Transnational with local hotspots	✓				6
		Epidemic outbreaks	✓
		Chronic food insecurity and famine: food availability		✓
		Intermittent phases of displacement		✓
	Types of instability	Political (protracted conflict): constant high level of violent events and fatalities recorded with periods of over 5 years of acute conflict				✓	12
		Environmental (high level of climate-related hazard exposure): long-lasting disasters of over 15 days (drought, floods)	✓
		Economic (collapse of the national economy): national GDP drop, high poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (PPP) (% of population)			✓
		Demographic (high population of refugees and internally displaced persons): collapse of life expectancy				✓
Total scores			14	7	19	11
Percentage of scores			27.5	13.5	37.5	21.5

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