Singer Libianca on the pressure to take sides in the Cameroon war
Despite residing in the United States for most of her life, Libianca takes immense pride in her Cameroonian heritage.
The Afrosoul sensation gained global recognition by performing with a Cameroonian accent. In 2022, she abandoned her typical American manner of speech for her breakthrough hit “People.”
Her Facebook bio proudly states, “IT’S LIBIANCA FROM BAMENDA,” a homage to her familial roots in the city where she spent around six years of her childhood.
Many of Libianca’s Cameroonian fans rejoice in seeing their homeland represented on the world stage, flooding her social media with their national flag and the abbreviation “CM.”
However, not all citizens of the Central African nation share this sentiment. Recently, the musician postponed her North American tour due to receiving over 50 death threats for displaying the Cameroonian flag during her performances.
These threats, disseminated across social media platforms and inundating her management’s inbox, included horrifying messages and menacing warnings against returning to Cameroon under threat of violence.
The separatists interpreted Libianca’s flag-bearing as implicit support for President Paul Biya, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
For over six years, separatist insurgents have waged a relentless conflict against the predominantly French-speaking government, resulting in a death toll of at least 6,000.
The roots of this conflict lie in the longstanding grievances of English-speaking communities in western Cameroon, who feel marginalized and resist perceived efforts by Biya’s administration to eradicate their language, culture, and legal traditions.
When announcing the postponement of her tour, Libianca told her 500,000 Instagram followers that she faced a “relentless pressure to take sides” in a war she “hates”.
“There’s always a side to be on and I’m just not on either,” she tells the BBC.
“Because both of them include violence and I’m not about violence, I’m about love.”
It is perhaps unsurprising that both separatists and government supporters seek Libianca’s backing – she is one of the few Cameroonians with reach beyond the nation and its diaspora.
In 2021, before the success of People, Libianca appeared on The Voice US. She impressed judges with a soulful rendition of SZA’s Good Days and made it to the live shows before being voted out.
Then People – a candid look at Libianca’s experience of the mood disorder cyclothymia – went viral on TikTok. After it was released as an official single, People became Spotify’s fifth most streamed Afrobeats track of 2023 and Libianca made history as the first Cameroonian to break the UK Top 10.
She has since performed at Coachella, won the BET Best International New Act award, and her first EP, Walk Away, featured international stars like Chloe Bailey and Oxlade.
Libianca refuses to use this platform to “take sides”, but this decision should not be mistaken for indifference. In her most recent song God’s People, she belts out: “So we steal from the poor and ravishing the blood of the people.”
The “we” in question is both sides – the government and separatist fighters, Libianca explains. She adds that profits from the song that would normally go to her will instead be donated to organizations assisting war victims on the ground.
Libianca moved from St Paul, Minnesota to Bamenda when she was four – her mother was grappling with immigration issues and decided to leave before she was deported.
Libianca has fond memories of Bamenda.
“I remember always singing, being the one to sing the hymns in the chapel,” she says.
“I remember writing songs in boarding school… I remember just being joyful, man. Just being a kid.”
The once-thriving city is now at the heart of the current war – residents report the frequent killing of civilians and fighters from both sides. They also speak of bombings, shootings, arsons, and weekly lockdowns imposed by the separatists.
“[Bamenda] is basically in ashes… there is nothing there,” Libianca laments.
“I got to have an environment that was healthy and vibrant. I got to be a kid, run around and not worry about my safety.
“There are kids who are there right now that are in that age group that lost their whole families, and a lot that also died as well.”
While the war remains on her mind, Libianca is keen to move on from the death threats she received – and was always clear that she was determined to go ahead with the tour, at a later date.
She is currently preparing for a string of European concerts, which will kick off at the end of May and last week, she announced new dates for her North American tour, starting in August.
“I’m excited to just bring some love and serenade people’s souls,” she says.
And although Cameroon’s conflict continues to rumble on, Libianca believes there are grounds for optimism in her beloved country.
“There’s a lot for us to free ourselves from,” she acknowledges.
“But I believe that even if we have 100 people out of the whole country that are like me and are determined to make things work, we can do it together. We can come back from it.”
