Ethno-regional grievances and political (mis)uses of memoranda in Cameroon

This article aims to contribute to the study of memoranda, which, in the Cameroonian context, constitute a set of ethno-regional grievances submitted to the President of the Republic for consideration by the elites of a region or ethnic group. It sheds light on the dual role of this original and as yet little-studied political object—both as a vector of ethno-regional aspirations and as a strategy of political positioning—by integrating it into the analysis of the Cameroonian political field. The article contextualises the emergence of the memoranda before questioning the instrumentalisation to which they are subjected, and considers the future of this type of mobilisation in a context of popular distrust with regard to the political sphere.