Diasporic voices of opposition: Virtual pursuits for identity and secession on AMBASOS; a Yahoo group discussion forum by Southern Cameroonians.

This essay argues that with the advent of computers and the convenience of computer mediated communications, it is easy for communities and nations to be created and sustained in cyberspace. After the Banjul verdict of May 2009, communications on AMBASOS and member’s quest for the Anglophone identity was fueled by the fact that most of them claimed to have fled marginalization and/or prosecution from Cameroon to seek refuge overseas. After analyzing email communications of members, this essay argues that even though not all Anglophone Cameroonians agree on a unique identity and the call for secession, most members of AMBASOS prefer to live separately from the Cameroon state. Because it is not so easy to cut off from their roots, members of this Yahoo discussion group have created and are recreating and holding on to certain practices, that remind them of home and give them hope of settling in their own nation in future.