#Cameroon activist campaigns against colonial monuments

Essama has flogged, beheaded and toppled statues honouring the French colonial era, earning himself arrests, fines and jail time for vandalism.

Over the years, one monument has drawn his particular ire – a statue of French World War Two general Philippe Leclerc who was sent by Charles de Gaulle to the colony to rally local leaders and conscripts to help free France from Nazi occupation.

“I have removed General Leclerc’s head seven times. I buried them in my village,” Essama, a 44-year-old former computing engineering student, told Reuters.

The authorities replaced the head each time. A wrought iron fence was built in 2015 to protect the monument but that has not stopped Essama.

The French general’s place is in a museum, he said. He does not want Leclerc and other colonial administrators to be erased from history but believes they should not be celebrated in Cameroon’s public spaces.

The statue of Leclerc, leaning on a cane in front of a commemorative mural, was inaugurated in 1948. It stands by the central post office in the administrative district of Cameroon’s commercial capital Douala.

The area is dotted with colonial vestiges.

Opposite the monument is a square named after Leclerc, which contains a memorial to French and allied World War One soldiers and sailors. The main avenue from the square, one of the longest in Douala, is named after General de Gaulle.

“National monuments are important. They impact national memories and evoke national pride,” Essama said, dusting dirt off a statue of Cameroonian football legend Samuel Mbappe Leppe.

“Mbappe Leppe was a great player. He made you dream. He paved the way for many footballers. Mbappe Leppe is a real hero,” Essama shouted, raising his fist to the sky as onlookers applauded.

When Essama started his campaign a decade ago, people thought of him as slightly eccentric. He has since created an association that includes artists who have sculpted more than 30 works of arts in honoring various Cameroon heroes.

A few years ago, they tried to erect a statue of one of Cameroon’s independence leaders on a major roundabout in Douala but it was taken down by the police.

Cameroon was a German colony until it was split between Britain and France after World War One. Under United Nations trusteeship, the French administered area gained independence in 1960 while the southern British Cameroons voted to join French Cameroon in a federation in 1961.

Andre Blaise Essama, a Cameroonian activist who wants to purge his country of colonial-era symbols dusts off the statue of Maurice Kamto, the Cameroon’s main political opponent, exhibited in his house in Douala, Cameroon.

Reuters

Andre Blaise Essama, a Cameroonian activist who wants to purge his country of colonial-era symbols, is pictured in front of a statue of the unknown soldier, erected in memory of French soldiers, sailors and allies in Douala, Cameroon.

Reuters

Andre Blaise Essama, a Cameroonian activist who wants to purge his country of colonial-era symbols, cheers with his supporters in front of a statue of late international football player Samuel Mbappe Leppe, who is considered to be the greatest Cameroonian footballer of the time, in Douala, Cameroon.

Reuters

Andre Blaise Essama, a Cameroonian activist who wants to purge his country of colonial-era symbols, is pictured in front of a statue of the unknown soldier, erected in memory of French soldiers, sailors and allies in Douala, Cameroon.

Reuters

Andre Blaise Essama, a Cameroonian activist who wants to purge his country of colonial-era symbols, shows a photograph on his mobile phone displaying him celebrating after he beheaded the statue of the the Second World War General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, in Douala, Cameroon.

Reuters

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