Breaking News

21, January 2017

Amnesty International calls for urgent access and release of detained Consortium leaders ⁰

CAMEROON: ARRESTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY BANS RISK INFLAMING TENSIONS IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING REGIONS

20 January 2017, 15:56 UTC

The Cameroonian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release two civil society leaders arrested in the English-speaking part of the country, and lift the ban imposed on their organization, Amnesty International said today.

On 17 January the Minister of Territorial Administration banned the activities of the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) and the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC). The president of the CACSC, Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor-Balla, and its Secretary General, Dr. Fontem Aforteka’a Neba, were arrested, sparking protests in the southwest city of Buea.

On the same day both Agbor-Balla and Dr. Fontem Neba had signed a statement calling for protest activities to be carried out without violence.

“These two men have been arrested solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression. This flagrant disregard for basic rights risks inflaming an already tense situation in the English-speaking region of the country and is clearly an attempt to muzzle dissent,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, Amnesty International Central Africa Researcher.

According to the Minister of Territorial Administration, “all activities, meetings and demonstrations initiated or promoted by the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC), any other related groups with similar objectives or by anyone partisan to these groups, are hereby prohibited all over the national territory”.

The government has accused the two groups of supporting a series of demonstrations that began in late October 2016 across several cities in the English-speaking region of Cameroon. The protesters are calling, among other things, for an end to the use of French in courts and schools. This week a “ghost town” strike – where citizens are asked to remain at home – was called in the regions’ main cities.

“This worrying pattern of arbitrary arrests, detention and harassment of civil society members is entirely at odds with the international human rights law and standards that Cameroon has committed to uphold,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi.

In December, at least two unarmed protesters were killed in Bamenda, the largest city in the English-speaking region, when security forces used live ammunition to disperse a protest.

For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in Dakar, Senegal, +221 77 658 62 27 or +221 33 869 82 31; Email: sadibou.marong@amnesty.org

21, January 2017

Bamenda: Consortium declares secret Ad Hoc Committee meeting with CATTU null and void ⁰

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has sounded a note of caution to some members of the teachers trade union known as CATTU currently holding a meeting in Bamenda with the defunct Ad Hoc Committee who entered the North West regional capital like a thief in the night. The Consortium leaders have stated that the meeting is null and void and only aims at marginalizing Southern Cameroonians.

Cameroon Concord News understand the Ad Hoc Committee was dissolved and a public announcement to that effect was made by its Chairman Paul Ghogomu Mingo. Events took a dramatic U-turn when the leaders of the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government pulled out of dialogue, banned the Consortium and arrested its leaders.

The Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo who attempted bribing the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium leaders, signed a ministerial order immediately after the government’s crackdown and extended the mandate of the Ad Hoc Committee.

A lot of under-the-table talks have been going on ever since the Fame Ndongo decision on the Ad Hoc Committee that was created by the Prime Minister and Head of Government, Philemon Yang. With age telling on Biya, it is hard to say who is really in charge in Yaounde.

Today’s Bamenda meeting is in line with what the ministerial order signed by the anti Anglophone Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fama Ndongo that the Ad Hoc Committee will begin dialogue with legalized teachers trade unions. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has warned that West Cameroonians will not tolerate any betrayals coming from the much respected CATTU leadership.

By Sonne Peter

21, January 2017

Southern Cameroons Problem: Anglophone University Lecturers are for the deprived and marginalized ¹

THE POSITION OF THE NATIONAL UNION OF TEACHERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION (SYNES) UNIVERSITY OF BUEA

Dear Anglophone University Teachers,

It is typically Anglophone for intellectuals to stand up or speak for the deprived or marginalized. Their role as torch bearer is even more urgent when we witness the scale of injustice that has pervaded our society and pushed Anglophones to the fringes of our society. How can we sit quiet when the students who go through our educational system have no place in a country they rightly think is theirs too. They are not fit to enter even the professional schools they think were created to serve their interest because everything requires that they know someone or have money. The fact that students who go through our system with 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 or even 25 points in the GCE A/L cannot enter Medical School in UB or UBa is inexcusable. This, and a long list of other grievances pushed ALL Anglophone teachers to go on strike after they had been ignored for 10 months.

I will like to thank ALL Anglophone teachers and parents for saying “ENOUGH” to a system which insults us and our children and makes us to feel like strangers in our own home. We would also like to thank our Francophone counterparts who have stood by us and believed in the need for justice for children who go through our system of education. May I also thank our students for understanding that our goal is no less than to give them equal chances in a bi-cultural, bilingual and bi-jural Cameroon. They have well behaved so far; they stayed at home and have not yielded to any provocation.

It is, however, shameful that some intellectuals, at this critical moment in history, some of them retired professors, can still afford the shameful option of thinking that they can continue to protect their “garri” at the expense of the people’s aspirations. The press is not surprising, but it is a needless distraction and shameless expression of their appetite for impunity.

May I reiterate that the strike continues until we are given a definite solution to this beggarly life that has been imposed on us and our children. We are working in synergy with other Anglophone teacher unions and will stop at nothing to obtain fair treatment for Anglophones in Cameroon. The teachers are still on strike and we will inform students when the issues have been resolved satisfactorily.

Once again, we salute your massive support and determination to make a date with history.

PROF. JAMES ARREY ABANGMA

PRESIDENT, SYNES-UB

21, January 2017

Anglophone Uprising: Francophone government threatens to Gag media ¹

The Francophone Government of Cameroon has just revealed its ugly face in the ongoing struggle by Teachers and Common Law Lawyers to fight for the restore of the Anglo Saxon system of education and Common Law practice by using brutality and all measures to mute protesters.

After shutting down internet connection last Tuesday in the North West and South West regions without explanation from any of the mobile Telecommunication companies, the President of National Communication Council who was appointed by Presidential decree, Peter Essoka has just made another step forward in gagging the Press.

Newspapers such as Le Massager, The Times Journal, The Guardian Post, Cameroon Post; Television Channels such as Equinoxe TV, Canal 2 and Spectrum TV have been warned to desist from given rooms to people who talk of Federalism or secession which according to Mr Essoka will undermine the integrity and unitary nature of the country.

The National Communication Council has promised to shut down such media houses if they continue to broadcast such. Observers hold that Peter Essoka in his release did not sound like an instructor teaching his pupil new things, his choice of words was a perfect indication that the regime is bent on seeing into it that the Anglophone struggle crumbles especially gagging the Press which for now has stood as a means of information. The NCC boss used words like anti-democratic which observers see as a leeway to tell the media that they are not free to cover such events because their closure will be eminent.

Anglophone so-called political elites in Yaounde passing for Biya emissaries have been crossing towns in North West and South West regions to lure parents send their children to school next Monday. The Leaders of the Consortium, Tapang Ivo and Mark Bara have called for ghost towns beginning on Monday the 23rd and runs through Tuesday and Wednesday. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium stated that the three-day ghost town operation shall be observe for a period of one month before further instructions on the struggle will be made public.

Cameroun Info.Net

20, January 2017

Detentions of Anglophone figures continue as ghost town returns on Monday ⁰

Several Francophone government officials have downplayed the ghost town operation and non resumption of schools in Southern Cameroons describing the Anglophone strike as a non event and nonsense. Large segments of Southern Cameroonians have already engaged in a three-day civil disobedience campaign called by the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium to protest the recent rapes, killings and militarization of the Anglophone regions of the country by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.

Southern Cameroons activists launched a wide electronic campaign to mobilize West Cameroonians to engage in the second phase of the civil disobedience action starting Monday the 23rd and to run through Tuesday and Wednesday the 24th and 25th of February 2017. Opposition forces and groups have expressed support for the general one month strike called by the detained leaders of the Consortium and Southern Cameroonians including those in the Diaspora and their affiliates are expected to play an active role to ensure its success.

This week, the 83 year old dictator, Paul Biya who has been in power for 34 years boastfully told one of Cameroon Intelligence Report’s informant at State House that his government wouldn’t be overthrown by “WhatsApp” and Face Book including Twitter pointing he wouldn’t hand over the country to a new leader but arrest and jail any Anglophone activists hiding behind the “keyboards”. The Minister of Communication and the Francophone government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma told reporters last night that the outcome of the previous ghost town operations in Southern Cameroons was zero and the upcoming one would be a big zero since the presidency has shut down all internet and telephone services in the British Southern Cameroons territory.

Issa Tchiroma accepted that his government was holding many Southern Cameroons political detainees including the Chairman and Secretary General of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, Barrister Agbor Nkongho Felix and Dr. Neba Fontem. We got intelligence that the leader of the Anglophone teachers trade union, Wilfred Tassang has seek refuge in the American embassy in Yaoundé and the whereabouts of Barrister Bobga Harmony is still unknown. Commenting on the recent crackdown including rapes and extra judicial killings going on in the Anglophone regions of the country, the Minister of Communication said the Yaoundé authorities have the right to take all the necessary measures to maintain the security and stability if there is any security threat to the country.

Boko Haram is now a thing of the past as the Francophone dominated Intelligence and Security Services has recently intensified crackdown on journalists for publishing news reports and articles on the Anglophone Problem. Radio stations and newspapers houses have been forced to close down. With the world turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by the Francophone regime in Southern Cameroons, the Yaoundé government launched a large arrest campaign and has detained senior Anglophone officials including attempts at arresting Justice Ayah Paul of the Cameroon Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has said the civil disobedience could be extended beyond February with the sole aim of paralyzing all economic and academic activities in Southern Cameroons. Southern Cameroons youth have been called to join a telephone campaign to increase participation in the ghost town operations and the Anglophone struggle. At the time of filing this report, Consortium forces announced more detentions among its members across Southern Cameroons as Monday the 23rd 2017, the date of the civil disobedience approaches.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

19, January 2017

Bamenda: Many feared dead as Francophone troops clash with civilians ²

The Francophone Army has reportedly killed civilians today in Bamenda in a clash between soldiers and some residents of the city. The regime in Yaoundé has shutdown internet and telephone services in the Anglophone region of the country making it difficult for our cream of reporters to send live pictures of the prevailing situation.

Cameroon Concord News understands the incident started earlier today at 2.00 a.m. when troops loyal to the Biya Francophone government stormed the residence of a prominent Southern Cameroons activist and arrested him and his partner. The 31 Artillery Brigade of the Francophone Army presently stationed in Bamenda, the capital of the North West region intervened when the population came out massively to clamor for the release of those arrested.

Our North West bureau is yet to establish a tally of those who have been killed and arrested by the joint police and army operation.

By Sama Ernest

19, January 2017

Banning the Consortium and the SCNC: A desperate kick of a dying horse ²

This so-called Ministerial order banning the SCNC and the Consortium of Southern Cameroons Civil Society Organizations is a desperate kick of a dying horse. This desperate move is not new. Southern Cameroonians have lived with this since the annexation and colonization of our territory in 1961. Southern Cameroonians have resisted colonial governance through dictatorial fiat and the ongoing popular revolt against colonial rule and bestiality are but an irrevocable step towards regaining our freedom. We have lived under a permanent state of emergency in our territory since 1961 and the so-called Ministerial Order in context tacitly affirms that. But the egregious violations like abductions, assassinations and all forms of crimes against humanity did not drive us underground even under Babatoura Ahidjo and Forchive. On the contrary, the coercive methods they deployed against us convinced even those who were born into colonial rule and skeptics that life under colonial rule is simply unacceptable and impossible. The liberating spirit of freedom which our ancestors endured and which we inherited must not be frightened into submission.

A regime that invites the Consortium into purported negotiations and failing to bribe or intimidate them to betray the popular aspiration of the people they were mandated to represent is itself living on life-support. It is on life support because it no longer has the pleasure and benefit of time or the hitherto docility of its own emasculated citizens to realize its desperate goals. The requests made by the Consortium that are cited in the so-called Ministerial Order banning the Consortium were made within the context of the supposed negotiation convened by the government of La Republique. What a responsible government would have done would have been to provide a reply to the requests made within the context of the purported negotiations. To ban and abduct a negotiating party on the basis of proposals made within that context of a negotiation in which it is party and indeed convened the meeting, and on the basis of legitimate actions taken within the context of the issues in contention is criminal and indeed an act of state terror.

The purporting banning of the Consortium is null and void ab initio and no legal consequences whatsoever. The purported baning and abductions must therefore be condemned worldwide and the abducted persons and all other Southern Cameroonians abducted prior to and during the ongoing resistance unconditionally released.

The supposed ban of the SCNC is laughable. The SCNC has litigated cases with La Republique du Cameroun internationally. At the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the SCNC, SCAPO and SCYL litigated the Southern Cameroons Case and La Republique du Cameroun accepted the outcome of the case and in writing, accepted to abide by the decision of African Leaders for a resort to dialogue under the supervision of the African Commission to discuss constitutional arrangements aimed at resolving the Southern Cameroons issue.

The fact that La Republique has so far not submitted itself to the decision of the AU long after the extension of time it sought does not invalidate its acceptance of the outcome of the case. The SCNC has an international status and has been recognized as such, including by La Republique du Cameroun. Curiously, the purported decision banning the SCNC does not refer to any specific legal instruments indicating that it had at any time sought legal status or legitimacy from a colonial contraption it has always rejected. The SCNC has and will always operate in the territory of the Southern Cameroons/Ambazonia and will never ever be driven underground at the threshold of success when previous attempts failed and failed woefully.

One act of panic on the part of the neo-colonial contraption aimed at frightening the Southern Cameroons to capitulate was the meeting of CEMAC countries summoned on or about the 23 December 2016 at the heart of the resistance purportedly to discuss matters relating to the colonial currency, the Franc CFA. The real purpose of that meeting had nothing to do with the colonial currency but intended by the humiliating presence of two French colonial representatives to send warning signals to the Southern Cameroons not to mess up with the French colonial economy within our territory.

Again the banning of the Consortium and the SCNC and the abduction of the Chairman of the Consortium, distinguished President of Fako Lawyers Association and Vice President of the African Bar Association Barrister Agbor Nkongho and others only a few days after the anniversary of the assassination of Ernest Ouandie whose assassination on 15 January, 1971 provided a pretext to impose a state of emergency under which the Yes /Oui fraudulent referendum was conducted on 20 May 1972 was intended again to frighten us and force us underground.

Again this is a miscalculation for this time around, fear has changed sides as HRM Fon Gorgi Dinka prophetically said many years ago. The ongoing resistance of the Southern Cameroons against colonial rule, oppression, injustice and bestiality will be determined by a number of factors all which are on our side: Justice, history, resilience, and time. The glorious days of colonial rule are in the past. Only the sovereign will of the people in the exercise of their right to self-determination will determine our fate and not force and the abusive use of force. The people have taken control of their destiny and there is no looking back under any cowardly use of force against armless and peaceful people.

Chief Charles A. Taku

18, January 2017

Southern Cameroons : Time to elect your new own Government is NOW! ⁰

DEAR AMBAZONIANS,

The ghost town strikes are a wonderful and effective way of resistance against an illegitimate occupation army which may not be much longer loyal to such a senile, untrustworthy embezzler like Mr. Biya. Even France will drop him soon for his incompetent and illegal actions. Nevertheless while the human rights violations and arrests of Ambazonian leaders are increasing still, the Ambazonian population should be aware, that no little scattered, lousy “army” of corrupt dictators has any chance against 8 million determined Ambazonians, and that Ambazonia can open its constituent assembly or government all the same right now, because it does not need any OK from foreign nations for that. And as soon as the occupation forces try to close any ministry of the (interim) Ambazonia Government, it can re-open that ministry immediately at just another location! Be tactical and confuse your enemy!

Also the UN has granted Ambazonia independence since 1984 and the UN Convention for the LAW of the SEA grants Ambazonia full property of its oil and gas as well up to 200 miles from the shore, so Ambazonia can actually forbid Sonara and La Kleptocratique du Craboon the stealing of the oil. As soon as Ambazonia promises Exxon and British Petrol some higher share (without being pulled over the table!), the USA and UK and Nigeria and even may be Spain will support Ambazonia by allowing an own Ambazonia Army to defend from the French. And together with a new Constitution of Ambazonia, which guarantees that the revenues of the oil (taxes) and agricultural exports will flow back to the Ambazonian People, Ambazonia will become unbeatable and the admired pearl of Africa. And on top of that, the new Ambazonia Government can organize a referendum soon after, in which the many tribes can vote on a new name for the nation, which is not a colonizer’s name anymore, but a native languages name. How about “Baland”, the land of the many Ba Peoples, Ba-kossi, Banso, Bali, Bafaw, Balundu, Ba-ngwa, Ba-kweri, Bayangi, Bafut …. ?

Yet for now, the Ambazonian diaspora can get expertise from the UN and Norway on how to regain control over its resources and territory and transform oil into wealth, as well as from all BRIC countries on how to open the Ambazonia National Bank and issue a new currency by attracting its futures to foreign investors, and to force France / Switzerland this way to send Biya into permanent exile retirement and bring him before International Court for his human rights violations and embezzlements. Don’t hesitate, just do it! Overcome intertribal ditchfights before your common enemy and start teamworking! Elect your new own Government NOW!

By Christoph Messner

18, January 2017

Consortium uncovers the deployment of thousands of “secret service” personnel in Bamenda and Buea ⁰

Biya has ordered the deployment of thousands of undercover military personnel in Bamenda and Buea, a source at the presidency of the republic has hinted. Our informant added that the special forces acting as secret service officials have been given directives to arrest any West Cameroonian citizen exhibiting any sort of violence, be it throwing stones, stopping another person from opening his/her store, burning the flag, carrying the southern Cameroon flag, or simply yelling at someone for not obeying the strike.

Cameroon Intelligence Report understands these military men and women are dressed in civilian attire to blend well with the local population. They have been told to show up in churches to spy and arrest those militating against the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime.

Information also filtered that many of the members of the elite force appear in torn trousers or shirts or native attire looking like a villager. The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society has issued a warning to all Southern Cameroonians to be extremely careful and exercise non-violence in whatever they do. The Consortium recently revealed that If West Cameroonians see any suspicious person they have never seen before around their neighborhood or church, they should know that the said individual is an undercover military personal.

At the time of filing this report, we gathered that many Southern Cameroonians have been arrested and tortured by the members of the new secret service force created to stifle the Anglophone uprising. The presidency of the La Republique has also sent personal threatening letters warning the Anglophone Roman Catholic Bishops not to send out another memo in support of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

The Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium has again announced that strikes and the civil disobedience campaign will go ahead until our Southern Cameroon demands are met. In a statement, the Chairman of the Consortium called on “West Cameroonians not to allow the selfish ones among us to destroy our struggle.” It is vital to include in this report that ghost town operations will begin next week and will hold on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Southern Cameroonians are called upon to listen to leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

18, January 2017

“The Problem with the Cameroons” ²

The arrest of the leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the shutting down of internet services in West Cameroon by the Biya Francophone regime has served as a major boost to Southern Cameroonians advocating for an independent West Cameroon state. Cameroon Concord News does not want any Anglophone to feel left behind of the happenings that matter in Southern Cameroons. Our contributing editor Barrister Shufai Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy in this soul-searching article says the liberation of Southern Cameroons is highly regarded and facts remain the vital tool in achieving victory:

The problem with the Cameroons to my mind is falsehood and spiritual wickedness in high places. The government of La Republique du Cameroun tells a lot of lies and seems to truly believe its lies. The country can never stand because it is built on lies and maintained by a desperate and very costly attempt to sustain the falsehood at all costs.

The history of the country has been thoroughly falsified. Everybody seems to overlook the impact of the falsehood and it will never triumph over truth. This history has been erroneous to the extent that even legal minds tend to believe that there was a valid and subsisting federation in the Cameroons between 1961 -1972 whereas what obtained was a gigantic fraud orchestrated by the government of President Ahmadou Ahidjo against the gullible and unsuspecting leaders of the Southern Cameroons under Premier John Ngu Foncha in 1961. Ahidjo and La Republique du Cameroun carefully put in place an undeclared hidden agenda to systematically annex and assimilate The Southern Cameroons over time. This is what happened;

When the Second World War ended, the United Nations Organization (UNO) was created to take over the role hitherto played by the League of Nations to safeguard world peace and stability in the comity of nations. The Mandates System of the League of Nations under which former German colonies were administered by members of the League of Nations came to an end in October 1947 when the United Nations Trusteeship Council was created as an organ of the UNO to oversee the various European powers administer and prepare the said former colonies for independence. As part of the said Trusteeship System, France was given The United Nations Trust Territory of French Cameroons whilst Britain was Given the UN Trust Territory of British Cameroons.

The British Cameroons was divided for administrative convenience into two territories (British Northern Cameroons which was administered from Kaduna as part of the Northern Region of Nigeria and British Southern Cameroons which was administered from Enugu as part of the Eastern Region of Nigeria).

In 1954, there was a crisis in the Eastern House of Assembly at Enugu that caused the representatives of the Southern Cameroons in the said Eastern House of Assembly to withdraw from there and come home to Buea where they set up the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly. Britain, the administrative authority quickly gave its blessings to their plight and a parliamentary system of government with a bi-camera assembly akin to what obtained in Great Britain was put in place with an elected Prime Minister who was Head of Government´s business and a cabinet of ministers appointed from the House of Representatives by the Queen of England who handled issues of sovereignty like Foreign Affairs, Defense, Police and currency. There was a Constitution for the territory known as The Southern Cameroons Constitution Orders in Council. Sovereignty was then still vested with the Queen (administrative authority). Dr EML Endeley was the first Prime Minister from 1954 – 1958 when he was defeated in a free and fair elections by John Ngu Foncha to whom he handed power gracefully and sat in House of Assembly as leader of the opposition.

In October 1959 the UNO General Assembly passed Resolution 1541 setting a deadline for immediate independence of all colonial territories under trusteeship in 1960. The British ironically complained that the British Southern Cameroons was not ready for independence having been administered from Nigeria with most of the Civil Service, Police and other staff coming from Nigeria and so with their mafia, the UN Resolution got modified and the notion of independence by joining either Nigeria or former French Cameroons that had just obtained independence on 1^st January 1960 was crafted. Meanwhile, French Cameroons got its independence on 1^st January 1960 and was admitted into the UNO as member on in 1960 with its territory clearly mapped out, frozen and her flag, Coat of Arms and articles of state which did not include the territory of Southern Cameroons which though quasi autonomous with bi-camera parliament and government under an elected Prime Minister, was still a trust territory of the UNO under Britain.

Meantime campaigns raged in British Cameroons as to independence by joining either independent Nigeria or La Republique du Cameroun. The third option spearheaded by PM Kale with the support of scholars like Fr Paul Verdzekov (then Curate in Catholic Mission Bota) who had just returned from studies in Ireland and Soborne in France was unpopular and muzzled out. Hence the plebiscite was organized on the 11^th February 1961 under the auspices of the UNO with the publication of the pamphlet entitled The Two Alternatives which clearly spelt out the terms of either eventual union. Voting was done separately in Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons and as was secretly planned by the British, Northern Cameroons voted to join Nigeria while Southern Cameroons voted for union with La Republique du Cameroun.

To give meaning to and settle the issues of the plebiscite results, the UNO General Assembly passed Resolution 1608 of 21^st April 1961 which further clarified the conditions under which the respective federations would be constituted on the basis of equality. Thereafter Northern Cameroons pursuant to the same Resolution got independence by joining Nigeria on 22^nd June 1961 while the Southern Cameroons was to have its own independence from Britain on 1^st October 1961. It must be underlined here that the Northern Cameroons that went to Nigeria got partitioned into two regions within the Nigerian federation and never acceded to Self government with an elected Premier and House of Assembly like the Southern Cameroons from 1954 when they rioted and left the Eastern House of Assembly at Enugu and consequently has undergone a peculiar political evolution and development as part of Nigeria.

As soon as the territory was thus partitioned by the UNO that created the trusteeship system, President Ahmadou Ahidjo of La Republique conceived his fraudulent, grand plan to systematically annex and assimilate the British Southern Cameroons which he announced at the UNC (CNU) Party Congress in Ebolowa in 1961 how part of their territory which was estranged had come back to the motherland.

June 22^nd 1961 – British Northern Cameroons obtains independence and becomes part of independent Federal Republic of Nigeria while British Southern Cameroons is still under UN Trusteeship waiting for midnight 30^th September when trusteeship would end so she becomes independent and joins La Republique du Cameroun in a UN sponsored federation “…equal in status” as per UNGA Resolution 1608 of 21/04/1961.

July 1961 – La Republique du Cameroun conceives draft Bill to change name of country to “Republique Federale du Cameroun” and allegedly smuggles bill to John Ngu Foncha who does not reveal same to Southern Cameroons House of Representatives nor government that he headed.

July 1961 – Ahidjo organizes Foumban Constitutional Conference where the draft Bill for federal constitution was to be debated but unfortunately the conference ends in disarray without any Resolution.

August 24^th-25^th, 1961 – the Draft Bill for Federal Republic of Cameroun is debated and adopted in the parliament of La Republique du Cameroun only. Neither House of Representatives, House of Chiefs nor Government of The Southern Cameroons who had voted to join them were consulted.

1^st September 1961 – President Ahmadou Ahidjo by virtue of powers granted him by the constitution of La Republique du Cameroun promulgates the adopted draft Bill into Law No L/F/01 of 01/09/1961 on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Cameroun which immediately goes operational in his country whilst the Southern Cameroons is still under UN Trusteeship with The Southern Cameroons Constitution Orders in Council as our own governing law under the British Crown and Union Jack.

30^th September 1961 – at the Tiko international Airport in the afternoon, while Southern Cameroons was still under UN Trusteeship that was to expire at midnight for the territory to achieve independence and join La Republique du Cameroon, Ahidjo comes for official visit, the Union Jack is lowered and the Two Stars Flag of La Republique du Cameroun is hoisted, Ahidjo inspects Guard of Honour mounted by the remaining British soldiers and Ikeja trained Police, Ahidjo is thus handed The Southern Cameroons illegally and prematurely by J O Fields (last Commissioner)who waves Good Bye, enters the plane and goes off to England.

1^st October 1961 – Ahmadou Ahidjo, Head of State of the Federal Republic of Cameroon and Commander in Chief of Armed Forces

– Had already sent his troops to occupy Buea and Bamenda

– appoints John Ngu Foncha an elected Prime Minister as Vice President of the Federal Republic with office and fabulous salary/allowances in Yaounde.

– appoints J C Ngoh as Federal Inspector of Administration answerable to the president and with more powers than the elected Prime Minister of West Cameroon.

– Signs Decree in 1962 extending Terrorism Law of La Republique du Cameroun to West Cameroon to give legal cover to arrest and incarcerate political opponents like Nde Tumazah, Albert Mukong, Peter Banfegha etc of the UPC and One Kamerun party stock who were still enjoying liberties in West Cameroon.

– 1966 – One party system is rammed down throats of Southern Cameroonians who had managed a vibrant multiparty system with multiple free and fair elections since 1954.

– 1968 – Augustine Ngom Jua another elected Prime Minister of West Cameroon (never appointed Vice President of Federation) is sacked ignominiously whilst addressing parliament in Buea and replaced with S.T Muna

– 1970 – S.T Muna is appointed Federal Vice President whilst J.N Foncha is appointed Grand chancellor of National Orders (whatever that means).

– 20^th May 1972 – hoax of Referendum is organized to create United Republic of Cameroon, sovereignty is vested with the President who creates 7 Provinces dividing West Cameroon into South West and North West Provinces respectively making sure that seeds of division are sowed, watered and nurtured between them and sponsoring VIKUMA (Victoria, Kumba, Mamfe alliance against the NW).

– 1^st February 1984 – Paul Biya signs decree resurrecting the erstwhile Republique du Cameroun which had only gone into abeyance with the illegal imposition of the Federal Constitution on the UN Trust Territory of the Southern Cameroons.

– 1992 – High Court of Bamenda in Judgment No HCB/28/92 per Justice FOMBE Richard, between The State of Southern Cameroons alias Ambazonia & 2 Ors Vs La Republique Du Cameroun & 1Or declared the administration of La Republique du Cameroun illegal over the Southern Cameroons territory … (judge is subsequently killed and Case File has disappeared).

– May 2009 – Notwithstanding the existing illegality, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) in Communication 266/2003 dated 27/05/2009 between Kevin Ngwang Gumne, SCNC & SCAPO Vs Cameroon wherein the special tribunal of the African Union held that Southern Cameroonians are a distinct people different from citizens of La Republique du Cameroun and recommended Constructive Dialogue between La Republique du Cameroun and the peoples of the Southern Cameroons. In fact when the leader of the Cameroon delegation (Dr Dione Ngute) raised the issue of them being tried in the military tribunal because they were terrorists, the court asked him whether terrorists go to court and he was dumbfounded. In fact this same recognition was made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in Communication 1134/2002 dated 17/03/2005 between Fon Fongum Gorji Dinka Vs Cameroon as well as in the very recent Communication 1813/2003 dated December 2014 between Ebenezer Derek Mbongo Akwanga Vs Cameroon wherein the UNHRC went ahead to award damages in the sum of US$3.445.904 against the Defendants.

– The recommendations for constructive dialogue between the two peoples of La Republique du Cameroun and the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) by both the African Union and the UNO Secretary General Koffi A. Annan has been roundly frustrated with impunity and utmost disdain by Paul Biya’s La Republique du Cameroun and everybody seems so helpless!!

– It must also be underlined here that while it was legal and legitimate for the Draft Bill for the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Cameroun to be debated only in the parliament of La Republique du Cameroun and then promulgated into law by their president Ahmadou Ahidjo and implemented in their territory, it remains a gigantic fraud and illegality for that Federal Constitution and ALL OTHER SUBSEQUENT LEGISLATION and practice deriving from it to be implemented in the territory of the Southern Cameroons(Ambazonia). A law that was adopted and promulgated without our consent should not be implemented on us. This happens to be one of the principal causes of the American War of Independence, the principle of NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. How can a law adopted for example, in parliament of Nigeria be implemented on Cameroon!!!!

– By the same argument should Southern Cameroons continue to pay taxes and sponsor a government that rather than build roads, schools and hospitals sends armed police and gendarmes to torture, maim, rape and even kill innocent armless school children? Do we suffer with children like this only for them to get to the University and be tortured, maimed, raped and killed by armed troops of La Republique du Cameroun? Why the carnage as if we were conquered in War?

– Etc …

PUZZLES:

Help me find answers to following puzzles;

Ø Was it correct by any stretch of imagination for President Ahmadou Ahidjo of La Republique du Cameroun after adopting a federal constitution in his country, promulgating same into law and applying same in his country from 1^st September 1961 to unilaterally impose same constitution on the British Southern Cameroons as from 1^st October 1961?

Ø Was there any legal basis for the alleged Federal Republic of Cameroon that included the territory of former British Southern Cameroons?

Ø Considering the United Nations Charter, was it legal or legitimate for La Republique du Cameroun a member state since 1960 to simply extend its territory to include the territory of the UN Trust Territory of British Southern Cameroons even after the Plebiscite without a priori depositing a signed Treaty of Union with such a territory in the Secretariat of the UNO as mandatorily required by Art 102(1) of the UNO Charter?

Ø Is there any legal basis for the governance of the British Southern Cameroons territory by respective Governments of Presidents Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya since 1961 till today?

Ø Was the imposition of the Constitution of La Republique du Cameroun on the peace loving people of the Southern Cameroons from 1^st October 1961 not an Act of Annexation pure and simple that is roundly condemned at international law?

Ø Is there any difference between what La Republique du Cameroun did in October 1961 and the Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq?

Ø Is it not crystal clear that there was an illegal mafia arrangement or conspiracy, in fact a slave deal involving Britain our administering authority and the UNO on the one hand and France and La Republique du Cameroun on the other hand wherein instead of granting independence to the Southern Cameroons trust territory in conformity with mandatory provisions of Art. 176 (b) of UN Charter on 1^st October 1961 before the joining they handed us illegally and prematurely to Ahmadou Ahidjo at the Tiko international Airport (since closed down) on 30^th September 1961?

Ø Can this problem be resolved peacefully without the UNO and the British coming back to complete and rectify (in conformity with international legality) the decolonization of Southern Cameroons that they thwarted?

Ø In the alternative since liberty and justice is priceless, must The Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia as many citizens want it to be called) engage in an avoidable War of independence against La Republique du Cameroun before the the UNO, Britain and the international community can give value to the UNO Charter and the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights?

Ø So preventive diplomacy becomes an empty slogan when it comes to basic truth as in the case of the Southern Cameroons?

You will definitely bear with me that everything that has happened in the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) since 1^st October 1961 remains an absolute illegality until the independence and sovereignty of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) shall have been resurrected. The fight for legality, truth and justice is a just cause for which every sacrifice is worth it and shall find justification. WE SHALL OVERCOME!!!

By Barrister Shufai Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy

Taku Chambers Buea