Cameroon Concord News Group has demonstrated throughout 2017 its commitment to the dispassionate publication of news relating to the ongoing revolution in Ambazonia with admirable success.  We are grateful to our network of reporters and information channels in the battle fields of our territory under siege by the genocidal government of French Cameroun.  We are also grateful to our informal channels with the administrative and military structures of French Cameroun, many of them who are opposed to the genocide in the territory of Ambazonia.

Our commitment to bring critical analysis of the events at the national and international levels has earned us the enviable and commendable possible of the news organization of choice by key international actors with a mandate to critically evaluate the situation on the ground and develop appropriate solutions to the human calamity unfolding in the Gulf of Guinea due to the criminal activities of French Cameroun.

In the discharge of our professional obligations we have declined any invitation by detractors to change our focus on the people’s revolution and their just resistance against crimes against humanity and genocide.  We will stay the course in the New Year 2018 in the firm belief that bringing the spotlight on the crimes that shock the conscience of humanity against our people is more valuable than attempting to pull down the edifice and structures put in place to garner diplomatic, defense and protection measures support for our cause.

We had in the past stated that our presence in the territory of Nigeria was preordained by God. In pressing for certain actions, we must endeavour to be sensitive to the certain realities, which include diplomatic norms.  Diplomatic practice as far as our case is concerned may not necessarily accord with the realities on the ground which militates in our favour.  But we must not take this strategic advantage for granted.  Our news organisation is aware of this.  Indeed we have led by example by eschewing reckless publication of information aimed at compromising our revolution and the structures put in place to move us towards victory.  These structures require more efforts and support to enable them effectively and efficiently lead us to victory.  This requires the support of a variety of national and international actors, our nationals and foreigners of good will.

La Republique itself relies on France why must Ambazonia not seek support beyond its frontiers? For this reason we support the interim government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia and call on other professionals to exercise responsible restraint in publishing information aimed at diverting attention from the main objectives of our struggle.  They can in exercise of their rights to opinion write and publish what they think. But there is something wrong when in doing so; they turn themselves into the object of the news under the guise of exercising a fundamental right.  When that occurs, the temptation to be swept away by the strong tides of the revolution is great.  If you doubt this, ask Agbor Balla and many others.  Not to say they may necessarily be wrong or right in what they write.  Just that their intended audience expect mistakes to be raised where they can be righted without compromising the focus on the revolution and the precious sacrifices of our people within and without our homeland.

Happy New Year 2018

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

No other territory in history has been so exploited and left to gnash its teeth in psychological and physical agony as Southern Cameroonsfollowing its recolonizationby French Cameroun.

 From 1953, Southern Cameroons was, to all intents and purposes, a country of its own, with almost all the appurtenances of a nation state, including self-governance, its own police force, parliament, and a senate known as the House of Chiefs. Despite the one, united and indivisible Cameroon hoax, the fact is that French Cameroun was a different country which gained independence from France on January 1, 1960 (as Republic of Cameroun) with international borders that did not include Southern Cameroons; which gained independence after a UN referendum on February 11, 1961. Even after the independent Southern Cameroons state joined French Cameroun in a two-state federation to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon on October 1, 1961, no Union Treaty was registered with the UN General Assembly secretariat as mandated by Articles 102 and 103 of the UN Charter.Over the past 56 years,the international community has looked the other way while Southern Cameroonians have been denied their independence. Southern Cameroonians have been emasculated to concur in the despoliation of their land by their passive indifference and cold complicity in the face of reckless dissipation of their commonwealth by French Cameroun. For a people that already experienced such high level of self-government under colonial rule, this anomaly makes independence worse than colonialization.

The occupation, annexation and colonial rule of Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun violates Article 4(b) of the African Union Constitutive act. It also violates UN resolutions against colonialism and external domination of other people; and it contravenes Articles 19-24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Right; and other principles of International Law. In short, it is recolonization, pure and simple. The unilateral abrogation of the two-state Federation by French Cameroun under the subterfuge of the May 20, 1972 referendum was a constitutional coup d’état, which violated Art 47 of the Federal Constitution.The plebiscite vote never made Cameroon one, united and indivisible; nor was it intended to.Even were Southern Cameroons to be an integral part of French Cameroun, any such referendum on abolishing the federation ought to have been an issue solely for the people of Southern Cameroons to decide, since they were the ones who voted to join French Cameroun, in the first instance.

 The two Cameroons were never one, because post-German Kamerun, the two territories remained fundamentally different in terms of political evolution and governance. Southern Cameroons evolved a functional parliamentary democracy, whereas French Cameroun was administered as a French overseas territory, and remained tragically stuck as a French neo-colonial outpost even after independence in 1960. From 1953-1961, Southern Cameroons was a vibrant democracy with an electoral system based on direct adult universal suffrage with single-member constituencies. Elections into the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly featured only indigenous parties like KNC, KPP, CPNC and KNDP, which had broad appeal across the six divisions of Victoria, Kumba, Mamfe, Bamenda, Wum and Nkambe.

Unlike Southern Cameroons, the democratic framework in French Cameroun was aligned to France. French men contested elections in French Cameroun and French Cameroun politicians contested elections intothe French National Assembly (Assemble de l’Union Francaise (AUF), and the Conseil de la Republique,the French Senate. British parties never contested elections in Southern Cameroons. The opposite was true in French Cameroun where, French political parties like Rassemblement de Gauches,Mouvement Républicain Populaire (MRP),and Section Française de l’Internationale Ouvrière, (SFIO)dominated electoral contests into the French Cameroun parliament–the Assemblée Representative du Cameroun (ARCAM), later transformed to Assemble Territoriale du Cameroun (ATCAM)in 1952.

Until the UPC was created, political parties in French Cameroun like Jeunesse Camerounaise Francaise (JEUCAFRA),Union des Camerounaise Francaise (UNICAFRA) and Association des Colons du Cameroun (ASOCAM) were administrative parties created to defend French interests and all espoused attachment to “Mother France.” When the UPC led by Mayi Matip was banned in 1955, the parties that contested the December 1956 elections in French Cameroun like Ahidjo’s Union Camerounaise (UC), Andre-Marie Mbida’s Partie de Democrates Camerounaise (DC) and Betote Akwa’s Action Nationale (MANC) were more or less satellite tribal groups. In Southern Cameroons, political parties were tribe neutral, but in French Cameroun,every ethnic group had a party. Therewas even one to defend the interests of Mollatoes; cross-breeds of Franco-Cameroun heritage led by an elected MP, Frenchman, Léon Foulétier.

In matters of electoral politics, Southern Cameroons was a showroom of political pluralism in its day. Right from the first elections to the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly (SCHA) on October 26, 1953; Simon Enow Ncha, blazed the trail to run as an independent candidate, in Mamfe Division, defeating the two main political party candidates – Martin Forju (KPP) and Chief SA Arrey (KNC). SE Ncha inspired other independent candidates like Solomon Anyeghamoti Ndefru (SAN) Angwafor, now Fon Angwafor III, who defeated DA Nangah (KNDP) and Maximus Chibikom (OK) in the 1961 elections in Upper Ngemba. Ncha also inspired Bernard Tajoh Beja (BTB) Foretia, who ran as an independent and lost the 1961 elections in Mamfe East to the formidable KNDP baron PM Kemcha, whom he eventually replaced in the 1968 Muna government. In Southern Cameroons, nomination of candidates was by two voters in the candidate’s electoral district; people who knew the candidates at the grassroots. Fon Angwafor III was nominated by GP Tuma, a mechanic and David Che, a teacher.

Against this background could be appreciated the fact that in French Cameroun, French men contested elections into French Cameroun Assembly within a dual electoral college system, comprising a French college and a College of indigenes. In the March 1952 elections into ATCAM, the French College elected Emile Victor Albert, Henri Chamaulte, AndréDuret, PM Chalot, André-Albert Gerberon, AndréDuru, Antoine Giard, Arthur-Louise Gouelle, Jean Grassard, Joseph Guyard, Henri Paul Journiac, Marcel Lagarde, Pierre Laouilheau, Alfred Mandon, BrieucPenanhot, Jean-Marie Poileux, Mohamed Koudjali and Pierre Rocaglea. Form the College of indigenes came: Louis-Paul Aujoulat, Ninine Jules, Ahmadou Ahidjo, Jean Akassou, Charles Assale, Abega Martin Atangana, André-Marie Mbida, Paul SoppoPriso, Gaston Medou, AndréFoudaOmgba, Jean EkwabiEwane, Mathias Djoumessi, Dissake Hans, BabaleOumarou, Njine Michel, ArounaNjoya, SeidouNjimoulouhNjoya, Abbe Joseph Antoine Melone, Paul Francois Martin, Jean-Baptiste Mabaya, Etonde Guillaume, Charles Mbakop, Rene Blaise Mindjo, Lara Zoua, YoussoufMarouf, Ahmadou Mahonde, Marcel MarigohMboua, Kotouo Pierre, Ousmanou Hamidou, Iyawa Adamou, Chedjou Joseph and Alphonse Woungly-Massaga.

It is interesting to note that French citizens like Louis-Paul Aujoulat contested elections in the college of indigenes. In the view of the average Southern Cameroonian, the presence of Frenchmen in the French Cameroun parliament was a political monstrosity that advertised to the whole world a certain definition of democracy that diminishes the ideal and mocks the primacy of the indigenous people in the process. This anomaly raises fundamental questions about the average Francophone’s definition and perception of public office and explains why they are so lacking in the vital attributes of democratic engagement.In Southern Cameroons, expatriate involvement in the political process was limited to logistics. For example, EL Cox and AJ Cordy served as Chief Electoral Officers in the 1957 and 1959 elections, while AB Westmacott, Resident for Special Duties in Bamenda demarcated the constituencies.In French Cameroun, the colonial administrators picked winners and losers and elections were run by the Interior Minister designated by France.The standing view is that, he who controls the electoral machinery (pays organisateur) determines the outcome. It is a sad commentary on the character of French Cameroun politics and politicians that rigging and other electoral malpractices are deeply embedded in their political culture.

It is a matter for regret, indeed shame that Francophones continue to hee-haw the one, united and indivisible Cameroon fallacy, even as the bonds that bind the two Cameroons appear tenuous, if not snapping. A review of UN General Assembly resolutions and other international legal principles regarding the right to self-determination shows incontrovertibly that Southern Cameroons became independent in 1961, but has since been recolonized and occupied by French Cameroun. The ongoing struggle to restore Southern Cameroons independence is therefore consistent with International Law, including the right to self-determination. The right to separate from French Cameroun is also laid out under Principles VII and VIII of UN General Assembly Resolution 1541 of December 15, 1960.Besides, the obligation imposed by the UN that Southern Cameroons should obtain “independence by joining” either Nigeria or Cameroon violated Article 76(b) of the UN Charter, and UNGA Resolution 1541; both of which reaffirm independence as the inherent and inalienable right of all colonies and Trust Territories.

It all stands to reason that Cameroon was never one, united and indivisible. French Cameroun, in violation of international law, has supplanted the 1961 federation of two equal nations with annexation of Southern Cameroons.The declaration of war on Anglophones removes any pretence that Biya views Southern Cameroons as a conquered and captured people. It is indeed a pity yet again that Biya misread public opinion and chose to stand on the wrong side of history.It is evident the president still doesn’t realize that force has never triumphed over ideology in all of history.A situation where the president declares war against a section of the country, and calls them terrorists, cannot be in the interest of national unity. Such executive lawlessness is a sad manifestation of the rule of force over the rule of law.The audacity of this impunity was a reminder to Southern Cameroonians, if any was needed, that the music has changed to a war song; all Anglophone terrorists must now sing and dance the new song.

 By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai is a Public Intellectual and graduate of Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. A former Research Analyst for Freedom House, he is a Consultant and lives in Boston, USA. Talk back at ekinneh@yahoo.com

Many people have asked me as German with an Ambazonian heart: “Mr. Messner, where do you see the key to the success for an independent Ambazonia?” and I answered: “Well, it’s true that we seem divided and unarmed and much weaker than our occupier and annexor “Republique” du Cameroun, but since Mancho Bibixi started the coffin revolution and millions of Ambalanders marched and sang the Ambazonian anthem holding the own flag proudly, it is clear that we will win, because the clocks can never been turned back after that and Biya’s clock has run out.

He is making more and more mistakes on a sinking ship and we will be soon surfing on a global wave of support, because all arguments and legal facts speak for us and against an outdated, rotten corruption exploitation-system like France-afrique. The Europeans are understanding the fact that France-afrique is producing more and more refugees better and better and they will whistle France back and support Ambazonia, because Ambazonia has hundreds of millions of Africans behind it who can be promising business partners if they are self-governing well.

But both Europeans and Africans need to learn still what good self-governance and true federalism in it means. It does not mean what centralist governments in Paris or Yaoundé say: “We have decentralization.” No, the French model uses “decentralization” or “federalism” only as figleaf for a basically centralist, Unitarian type of politics. But true federalism means that sub-national entities like regions, districts, provinces are allowed to truly self-govern even in some existential fields like own taxation, own army, own trade laws, own politicians, which have to have their residence in that sub-national entity.

But since French Cameroun is not able and willing to run true federalism it is better and necessary for Ambazonia to be its own sovereign state and nation, which decides for itself, how much federalism it allows in itself. But in order to convince French Cameroun and the whole world that an independent Ambazonia will not lead to a permanent instability in Central Africa Ambazonia needs to just say that it plans to have a CONFEDERACY with French Cameroun later IF Biya has gone and French Cameroun has reformed its government and constitution.

Many now in Ambazonia will say: “No! We don’t want to have anything to do with French Cameroun anymore!” That is very understandable, but the point is: in a Confederacy Ambazonia does not need to have anything to do with French Cameroun other than not attacking it militarily and having mutual treaties of not attacking the other’s nationalities on the own turf. Ambazonia would have zero French Camerounese politicians or military on own territory and the other way round. In a CONfederacy Ambazonia would have own government, constitution, economy, military, federalism, and French Cameroun would have own government, constitution, economy, military, federalism. Ambazonia and “Sanagia” won’t federalize with each other, but just confederalize on military non-attack-treaty and by that put all powers in the world at ease that this Central African region will keep stability and not produce refugees.

So our tactics on international political stage should not be: “We want all (independence) or nothing!” but we rather say “CONfederacy after restoring our elevated autonomy.”, because this is the bait which France and UK can swallow, and then we can easily make an independence out of our recognized elevated autonomy. In all this we Ambazonians shall never negotiate from a weak position, but always say: “We will never accept illegal foreign troops on our territory or corporations stealing our resources. But if you foreigners don’t want to die all, you better agree with our goodwill offer of a CONfederacy after Biya has gone and French Cameroun has elected a new government as much as Ambazonia will also have elected its own government!” So the word “CONfederacy” is just the tactical, nice looking wrapping around the gift “Ambazonian solution to France-afrique’s crisis” to the French, British, AU and EU, which makes them think about dropping Biya, and whistle his troops out of Ambazonia. And maybe someday, when the Biya nightmare is long over and French Cameroun has reformed it’s Constitution and government and may have found a new, young, progressive, modern leader, he and the Ambazonian leader will work out a Confederacy between the two sovereign nations which will be the biggest peace- and prosperity-bringer for all sides as never imagined.

So don’t see the word. Confederacy negative right now but be against federalism between “Anglophones and Francophones” with all your might. Speak always about the “Ambazonian solution to the French Camerounese malgovernance problem”. And say: “Let the Anglophones federalize their way (by restoration of independence) and let the Francophones federalize their way (by reformation of their system). Only this will bring lasting peace in Cameroon.”

By Christoph Messner

President Paul Biya is gaining international notoriety for torturing and murdering hundreds of Southern Cameroonians. Biya believes ruling with an iron fist is going to keep his country, divided by ethnicity and the Anglophone problem intact. However, his actions bespeak a tyrannical despot who is stopping at nothing to punish those who opposed him and those clamoring for political change.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court already have hundreds of crimes to choose from, these are some of Paul Biya’s most heinous.

Reprisal against Bamenda County

In 1992 following the launching of the Social Democratic Front, SDF, Biya ordered the Francophone dominated army to punish the entire city of Bamenda. More than 80 fighting-age men were apprehended and never heard from again.

Approximately a hundred other townspeople, including children, were rounded up and taken to prison in French Cameroun, where many were tortured. After a year or more in prison, many were abandoned in Yaoundé.

Though Paul Biya’s 1992 reprisal against Bamenda is considered one of his lesser-known crimes, Cameroon Intelligence Report wants it to be chosen as the first crime for which he must be tried.

The Kumba Onslaught

Following the destruction of a drink depot owned by Brasseries du Cameroun in Fiango Kumba, Paul Biya’s regime carried out the Kumba campaign against the large North West population in Fiango.

The purpose of the campaign was to reassert Chief V.E. Mukete and Biya’s ruling CPDM party control over the area; however, the real goal was to eliminate the North West majority population problem in Kumba permanently.

The campaign consisted of eight stages of assault, where up to 1000 Francophone troops attacked the area, rounded up civilians, and razed houses. Once rounded up, the civilians were divided into two groups: men from ages of about 13 to 70 and women, children, and elderly men.

Some of the men were then shot and buried in mass graves by the Mukete Thugs.  The women, children, and elderly were forced to return to their area of origin in the North West province.

Hundreds of North westerners fled the area. Many people consider the Fiango-Kumba campaign an attempt at genocide.

Attacks against Southern Cameroonians

Ever since the beginning of the Southern Cameroons revolution, the French Cameroun army has used combat helicopters and massive deployment of troops to wipe away Southern Cameroons villages.  It is estimated that the Francophone dominated army has staged airstrikes on 14 villages in Manyu Division, with the largest of these attacks occurring in Agborkem-German.

The Francophone army rained down volley after volley of tear gas filled with a deadly mixture of mustard and nerve agents on Akwaya and Eyumojock. Immediate effects of the chemicals included blindness, vomiting, blisters, convulsions, and asphyxiation. A long-term effect includes permanent blindness, cancer, and birth defects.

Invasion of Bamenda, Jakiri and Mamfe

French Cameroun troops have invaded and are currently occupying Southern Cameroons territory. The genocidal intent of French Cameroun leaders in the prosecution of the genocide and crimes against humanity against the Southern Cameroons has consistently been expressed during their official functions and through news networks under their control. Unlike genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes that were committed in some parts of the world by carefully sophisticated institutional frameworks and death squads, the planners, commanders and executioners of the genocide of the Southern Cameroons have publicly taken credit for their brazen acts of criminality.

They deployed and commanded the criminal death squads and praised them for the cruelty with which they have been executing the genocide and sundry international crimes against Southern Cameroonians :  The unexhaustive list of  criminals and persons who bear the greatest responsibility for the international crimes committed against the Southern Cameroons are,  Paul Biya,  President of French Cameroun,  President of the National Assembly of French Cameroun, Cavaye Yegui Djibril, President of the Senate of French Cameroun, Marcel Niat, French Cameroun’s government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Minister of Justice, Laurent Esso, Minister of Higher Education, Fame Ndongo, Minister of Defence,  Joseph Beti Assomo,  Minister in charge of Missions at the Presidency, Paul Atanga Nji,  Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng Governor of the South West, Bernard Okalia Bilai, Governor of the North West, Adolphe Lele Lafrique, Minister of State in charge of the Gendarmerie, Jean Baptiste Bonkam, Delegate General in charge of National Security, Mbarga Nguele Martin, Army Chiefs of French Cameroun and all their proconsuls so-called senior SDO.s , Mayor Ekema Patrick Esunge, CRTV, Vision 4 television, Cameroon Tribune, French Cameroun Military Court, and the CPDM party etc.

The April 6^th Coup

At the end of the 1984 April 6^th coup against Mr. Biya, soldiers from the North rebelled against Biya’s regime. In retaliation, Biya brutally suppressed the uprising, killing hundreds of Muslim soldiers and systematically ruined the way of life of the respective families. Most of the young soldiers from Garoua were forced to flee and their way of life decimated.

We of Cameroon Intelligence Report believe that Mr. Paul Biya will be found guilty of crimes against humanity in regards to the reprisal against Manyus.

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

A combination of factors helped French Cameroun to prosecute the genocide of the Southern Cameroons with near absolute impunity over the past fifty-six years.  The complicit silence of the international community towards the policy of international criminality which conservative estimates place at hundreds of thousands of Southern Cameroonian lives slaughtered in cold blood, many more abducted and interned in military and para-military concentration camps in French Cameroons energized the impunity and cruelty with which these crimes were committed.

It did not matter to the United Nations and the international community that colonialism is an international crime against which the civilized world was called upon to prevent and penalize.  It did not matter to the United Nations and the International Community that there was no binding treaty of Union between French Cameroun and the Southern Cameroons.  It did not matter to them that the Geneva Conventions (1949) which French Cameroons acceded to in 1963 and its additional protocol which French Cameroon ratified in 1984 contained stiff penalties against the perpetration of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On the 2 December 2017, the diplomatic shield with which predatory neo-colonial economic power interests prevented the international community from acting to abate the culture of impunity and criminality against Southern Cameroons collapsed to the ground when the advanced aged senile French Cameroun despot formally declared war against the Southern Cameroons.  The declaration of war made from a prepared statement provided as a reason for his declaration of war an allegation that “Cameroun has been attacked repeatedly”. And thatit was due the alleged repeated attacks against his country, Cameroun that he ordered the high command of his army to go to war against the Southern Cameroons which he declared “terrorists” and “secessionists”.  He then ordered the extermination of Southern Cameroonians.

After a year of playing ostrich from his Geneva Criminal Command Centre, the senile despot finally confessed to his personal responsibility for the slaughter of Ambazonia armless civilians within the territory of Ambazonia by his military, administrative and political crime syndicate. These international crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity have claimed more than five hundred lives, maimed thousands and hundreds of thousands abducted, and others disappeared and unaccounted for.  The concomitant press statements made by French Cameroun’s Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense and the Senior Divisional Officer for Manyuidentified the civilian populations of Manyu as the target of the genocidal military campaign. The deportation or forceful transfer or evacuation of the civilian population of Ambazonia in Manyuviolates  article 49 of the Geneva Convention IV (1949) and article 7 (1)(d) of the Rome Statute (July 2002) establishing the International Criminal Court for which Paul Biya and his criminal commanders, administrators and political subordinates must be held to account.

The declaration of war made by Paul Biya against Ambazonia and the criminal means by which the said war is prosecuted validates the complaints made by the Southern Cameroonians to the United Nations and the International Community over the past fifty-six yearsthat a reign of terror, genocide, crimes against humanity and looting of the economy was imposed in the Southern Cameroons.  The formal declaration of war targeting the people and territory of the Southern Cameroons by French Cameroun has the merit that it has at long last raised the profile of the Southern Cameroons conflict from  justa case of the actualization of the independence of the Southern Cameroons to include a case of French Cameroun posing a threat to the peace and security of the world, requiring the Security Council to trickle its Chapter VII authority to deal with the threat.  Since the declaration of war and violation of the Geneva Conventions by French Cameroun targets not only Ambazonia but ethnic nationalities on both side of the Ambazonia/ Nigeria border, Nigeria is called upon to legitimately intervene to prevent a human calamity targeting Ambazonia and its ethnic nationalities.

We of the Cameroon Concord News Group calls on the United Nations Security Council to urgently invoke its Charter VII authority and order French Cameroun to halt the ongoing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the territory of the Southern Cameroons. Additionally, the United Nations Security Council should refer Paul Biya and his genocidal crime syndicate to the International Criminal Court for prosecution for the international crimes in the territory of the Southern Cameroons which they have publicly admitted committing with impunity. There is a life span for every living thing. That of French Cameroun and its crime syndicate Hitler Biya Bi Mvondo and his crime syndicate has come.

The President of the interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has called on all Ambazonians to activate their right of self-defense to protect their families, their communities and the fatherland. Cameroon Concord News Group supports this legitimate right of self defence. Symbolically, French Cameroun has chosen Nsanakang to commence its genocidal war of aggression. That symbolizes the hole they have dug themselves into. This war of choice will teach crime syndicate of French Cameroun that no aggressor goes to Nsanakang to attack the people of Manyu and comes back the way he went.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Anglophones never voted to become the footstool of French Cameroun exploitation and plunder. (Part 1 of this soul-searching write-up is found on Cameroon Intelligence Report)

Despite claims to the contrary, French Cameroun never wanted any union with Southern Cameroons. In the countdown to the 1961 plebiscite, the standing view was that Southern Cameroons was not economically viable and would be a drainpipe on Her Majesty’s government who was passing the buck to French Cameroun taxpayers. But if Britain had consulted the geological survey maps left by the Germans after their defeat in WWI, they would have granted Southern Cameroons full independence because the Germans had documented huge potential oil reserves in the Rio del Rey basin. Thanks to British indolence, the 3rd option of independence agreed by the 43 delegates at the August 1959 all party conference in Mamfe, chaired by Sir Sidney Phillipson, Acting Southern Cameroons Commissioner, was rejected by Andrew Cohen, Britain’s representative to the UN Trusteeship Council; and not presented as an option during the 1961 plebiscite.

Even after the UN Plebiscite, in which Southern Cameroons voted for independence by joining French Cameroun, French Cameroun acted in bad faith by challenging the plebiscite results and proceeded to vote against UNGA Resolution 1608 (XV) of April 21, 1961 to prevent unification with Southern Cameroons. There were 64 votes for; 23 against and 10 abstentions. Amongst the countries that joined French Cameroun to vote against unification with Southern Cameroons were France, Ivory Coast, Congo-Brazzaville, Zaire, Senegal, Dahome (Benin), Niger, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Chad, Central Africa Republic and Gabon (the last three being former German Kamerun territories). President Ahidjo even went ahead to declare Feb 11 a day of national mourning for British Northern Cameroon, which had voted to join Nigeria. This begs the question: if Cameroon was one, united and indivisible as Francophones are now claiming, why did French Cameroun vote against unification at the UN?

This act of bad faith remains a sore point in Cameroon’s history and speaks directly to the hypocrisy and contradiction of French Cameroun’s assertion that Cameroon is one, united and indivisible. By rejecting political association with Southern Cameroons, French Cameroun maintained its international boundaries duly recorded when it was admitted to membership of the UN after obtaining independence from France on January 1, 1960. Southern Cameroons was then a self-governing British UN-mandated territory with all the trappings of a nation-state, including internationally recognized borders. French Cameroun started asserting territorial claims over Southern Cameroons only after Yves Bie’ville; the French jurist who drafted the French Cameroun constitution learned about the existence of huge oil deposits in Southern Cameroons from a German intelligence source and informed officials at the Quai d’Orsay, who ordered Ahidjo to drop his opposition to unification.

The French then dispatched a team of advisers to help Ahidjo navigate the Foumban conference of July 17-21, 1961. The Foumban conference was to be followed by a four party conference to work out modalities of the federation ahead of the planned October 1st unification date. But the conference never held. Rather, on August 6, 1961, Ahidjo announced an amendment of the French Cameroun constitution to “accommodate Southern Cameroons as the western part of German Kamerun.” On October 1, 1961 shortly after the Union Jack was lowered, Ahidjo sent French Cameroun troops into Southern Cameroons; where they have remained till this day. The hidden agenda of the deconstruction of Southern Cameroons had begun in earnest. In 1962, the pound sterling was abolished and the East Cameroun CFA franc imposed on the whole country. In 1964, the measurement system of feet, pounds and miles was abandoned in favor of the metric system of kilometers and kilograms.

In 1966, an unsuccessful attempt was made to harmonize the legal systems of the federated states, but this precipitated a crisis and was shelved. In the same year, all the political parties were dissolved to form the Cameroon National Union (CNU). Three years later, all trade unions in the country merged into a federation attached to the CNU, forswearing its allegiance to the international labor movement. French Cameroun’s sickening interest in Southern Cameroons is driven only by the desire to continue exploiting Southern Cameroon’s natural resources to finance their corrupt system of abusive patronage and ethnic-inspired clientelism, while Southern Cameroonians wallow in abject poverty and misery in the midst of plenty. Proof: in the 2017 Public Investment Budget, the South region (the President’s region of origin) with a population of 800,000 was allocated FCFA 126.2 billion; while the two English speaking regions (which account for over 60% of national GDP) with an estimated population of eight million people was allocated FCFA 85.7 billion. This is insulting and unacceptable!

Before Francophones continue peddling the hoax of a one, united and indivisible Cameroon, they need to answer these questions. When they reaffirm their commitment to a united Cameroon, are they referring to the territory or the people? When government spokespersons cite former German Kamerun to justify why Cameroon must remain one, united and indivisible; why then did French Cameroun oppose unification and voted against UN Resolution 1608 in April 1961? Can anyone not blinded by prejudice and self-interest justify this act of bad faith? From 1961-1972 when the country was a federal republic, was Cameroon one, united and indivisible? Even as Francophones continue to remonstrate about one, united and indivisible Cameroon, they must apologize for the 1961 vote against unification and stop pussyfooting and paying lip service over addressing the needs of the exploited Anglophone region which produces the bulk of the nation’s wealth. Anglophones are no longer fooled.

While French Cameroun argues that Southern Cameroons is an integral part of its territory because they have been administered jointly for 56 years, it is worth noting that Ukraine and Russia parted ways despite sharing over 1,000 years of common history. Southern Cameroons broke away from Nigeria in 1953 despite sharing 44 years of common history as well. Even if French Cameroun claims Southern Cameroons is only two of its ten regions, it cannot forget that Eritrea used to be the only former Red Sea Province of Ethiopia. That did not stop Eritrea from gaining independence. The decentralization offer for regional autonomy sold as tangible reform under the 1996 Constitution is unacceptable notably because it makes the assumption that Southern Cameroons is part of French Cameroun, and not an illegally occupied and recolonized territory.

Besides, the past 56 years are littered with evidence that French Cameroun violated the terms of unification. It has broken every promise beginning with the promise to the UN to create a federation of two equal states. In addition, autocratic regimes do not honor such pledges. It was the case when in 1961, the emperor of Ethiopia revoked the autonomous status granted Eritrea by Britain in 1952, annexing it as Ethiopia’s 14th province; leading to the 30-year war of independence. In 1989, Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, revoked the autonomous status of Kosovo leading to a decade of repression, culminating in the NATO war against Yugoslavia in 1999.

With Anglophones expressing disgust about the union, many are seeking a redefinition of the association in such a way that the imbalance and injustice in the system could be addressed for the emergence of a stronger and virile union.Within the circumstance, no amount of threat or intimidation will make Cameroon united. The government should stop reveling in self-delusion; we are no longer in the 1970s. The government can say what it wants, but nobody is fooled anymore. This generation of Anglophones are well-educated and know that the issue at stake here is their natural resources. And they have demonstrated their resolve to fight and die for their future and that of posterity!

The ostrich evasion of the President who pretended to dismiss the escalating crisis as the handiwork of terrorists masking as secessionists is a self-defeating strategy, which only aggravates the self-inflicted tragedy of a nation not prepared to engage in hard thinking; unwilling to introspect dispassionately and speak hard truths to itself; to muster courage to re-direct itself and do what is germane to peaceful co-existence.The only thing that will bring unity in Cameroon is for the government to eschew this conquest mentality and dialogue with Anglophones in a sovereign national conference where both sides will renegotiate the unity and the future of Cameroon as equal partners. This will enable French Cameroun to reconcile with the truth about unification – the subject of the next article in this series.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

*Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai is a Public Intellectual and graduate of Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he was Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. A former Research Analyst for Freedom House, he is a Consultant and lives in Boston, USA. Talk back at ekinneh@yahoo.com

Over the last thirty-six years, Paul Biya Bi Mvondo, the blood thirsty leader of French Cameroun has pursued the colonial and annexationist agenda of his predecessor Babatoura Ahmadou Ahidjo over   the Southern Cameroons with brutal and cruel arrogance.  Southern Cameroonians have endued fifty-six years of French Cameroun’s colonial rule of terror with revolting indignation in the hope that the international community would come to our rescue.

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of petitions filed by Southern Cameroonians to the United Nations, the African Union and international organizations established to protect and promote the liberating ethos of freedom and respect for international law received only timid acknowledgement. The bureaucratic shield surrounding the United Nations system and the corrupting influence of French Cameroun using the wealth obtained from looting the natural and mineral resources of the Southern Cameroons guaranteed French Cameroun the impunity to prosecute its policy of oppression and criminality over the Southern Cameroons. Considering French Cameroun and himself insulated from scrutiny over the brutality of French Cameroun’s colonial policies in the annexed territory of the Southern Cameroons, the leaders of French Cameroun ignored all entreaties and appeals to dialogue with the leaders and peoples of the Southern Cameroons to find a lasting solution to longstanding issues.

The time has come for all the leaders of the various liberation movements of the Southern Cameroons to join the revolutionary train set on the rails by our people back home in the Southern Cameroons to support the interim government established at the just ended conclave in Kaduna, Nigeria to kick French Cameroun’s out of our territory. This support is critical because the only language that will get the UN and the international community out of slumber to right the consequences its misfeasance in our territory is that of a united targeted field action. The time for that action is now.

At the threshold of the ongoing irreversible popular revolution in the Southern Cameroons, Paul Biya Bi Nvondo the sanguinary vampiric emperor of French Cameroun paid two visits to Abuja in one month. He met with His Excellency President Mohammandu Buhari.  Nothing but the Southern Cameroons revolution could have compelled this aging dictator to make the unprecedented visits to Aso Rock considering his legendary record of ignoring Africa.  He hoped that he could persuade the Nigerian President through diplomatic means and may be corruption which is his hallmark, to deport hundreds of thousands Southern Cameroonians and their leaders who over the years,  sought refuge in Nigeria.Among these Southern Cameroonians future prominently, SesekuAyuk, the humble but determined pillar of the Southern Cameroons revolution.

Those who know the President of French Cameroun, his missions to Nigeria portrayed his tacit acknowledgement at long last, that the much-anticipated David of the Southern Cameroons struggle had emerged in Nigeria to confront the Goliath of French Cameroun brutal annexation of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.

The dispatch of French Cameroun’s Minister of Territorial Administration Rene Sadi to Nigeria where he was received by the Vice President of the Federation His Excellency Professor Yemi Osibanjo a few weeks ago carried further symbolic weight. This visit is a testament to the fearful impact on the colonial regime of the outcome of the conclave of the Southern Cameroons that took place in Kaduna, Nigeria. Far reaching decisions were taken in that conclave regarding the road map for the actualization of the liberation of the Southern Cameroons. This road map is premised on the threshold of the Southern Cameroons independence and freedom pact that was sealed on October 1, 2017 with the blood of hundreds of thousands of our citizens.

These desperate actions by the criminal regime in French Cameroun underscore the significance of Nigeria in our liberation struggle. The presence in Nigeria of our interim leader and hundreds of thousands of Southern Cameroonians are key advantages that we have in our wining strategy. This is one compelling reason why we must support our interim leader and the interim institutions of governance established at the conclave for the actualization of our freedom.

Currently, there are officially over forty thousand Southern Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria. These are but conservative figures because over the last fifty-six years, hundreds of thousands of Southern Cameroonians sought refuge in Nigeria fleeing from the brutality of the annexation of our territory. They did not fold their hands and resigned themselves to fate. They have been active in our struggle in many ways. They, for example, are significant participants in the grass roads revolution that has reclaimed our independence and are actively defending it at the colossal costs of blood and limb.

Nigeria is of great importance to our cause not just because the Federation has offered our people and leaders the protections and support afforded in international law to victims of war crimes and international criminality. Nigeria is and was and will always be a key player in the defense of our liberty, freedom and independence. The Southern Cameroons has some enduring historic ties with Nigeria.  The ethnic,nationality and cultural identity that the Southern Cameroons shares with Nigeria from the Niger Delta, Bakassi, Cross River, Ogoja through to Mubi in the North are indelible factors that must be seriously weighed and acknowledged.  The presence of our leadership and hundreds of thousands of our people in Nigeria, and millions more directly concerned with the ethnic and nationality component in this struggle, calls for urgent attention. It is in our best interest to support a leadership that realises this reality and has the capacity to mobilize it for our common good.

Nigeria is the natural environment where our people will and have always sought refuge in time of need. Our interim Head of State Seseku Ayuk Tabe was in Cross River State of Nigeria to visit and support our people. Our diaspora has been blackmailed by some collaborators of the colonial rule making Nigeria the natural ideal environment where they will sooner or later meet and commune with their families.  For example, over the past few days, one Benard Foju, a disgraced CPDM MP for Lebialem accused the Lebialem diaspora of brainwashing Lebialem youths and providing them drugs to torch his house and to resist colonial rule. This conduct which is not isolated, was intended to mobilize the enemy forces of oppression to target members of the diaspora, making Nigeria the natural environment for many to establish contact with their families back home.  There is therefore good reason for us to support the interim government whose base in Nigeria offers the best hope yet to liaise with all Southern Cameroons organizations to prosecute the urgent realization of our peoples’ freedom.

We are conscious that there are many Southern Cameroons organizations and individuals out there agitating for leadership or to present alternative leadership of our struggle. It is possible for them to make meaningful contributions towards the realization of our cause without tacitly helping our adversary French Cameroun in dislodging us from Nigeria and depriving us of a natural environment for the realization of our liberation. This perforce must lead to the vacation of our territory by the occupation forces of French Cameroun.  Those who are attacking the interim President and the interim government are missing the target and in ignorance advancing the objectives of our enemy. They should spare the invectives in them and direct them towards French Cameroon. The Southern Cameroons needs a leader who is humble, matured, composed, resolute, determined and focused.

Sisiku Ayuk Tabe has demonstrated that he can reach out to front line leaders and all Southern Cameroonians. The postings by some leaders disclosing the subjects of their communication portray him as a steady leader who reaches out to Southern Cameroonians in the hope of building a consensus and grand coalition for the realisation of our objectives.  This is what the leader of a revolutionary struggle must be.  He has demonstrated that he can accept criticism and wise counsel in all humility.  He is approachable, and available. We salute his endurance, steadfastness, vision and focus. He has depersonalised the leadership of the struggle. This is an attribute we sought many years ago. He is at the very heart of every man, woman and child in the Southern Cameroons.  We strongly call on all the leaders of the various organizations in the Federation of Ambazonia to work with the interim government to confront our common enemy. There is a place and role for everyone in this struggle. Let us support Sisiku Ayuk Tabe who so far has led us this far. In him, we see the star of the Ambazonia revolution shining.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

For the past few days, Zimbabwe has been in the spotlight for the wrong reason. The country’s former president, Robert Mugabe, who thought he would die in power, is now caught in tough negotiations just to spare himself the humiliation that has been the fate of many dethroned dictators on the continent. The negotiations are going on behind the scenes to persuade Mr. Mugabe to kiss Zimbabwe goodbye so as to avert a situation wherein he would be reduced to a villain. From every indication, the man who transformed Zimbabwe from a “bread basket” into a basket case is insisting that he would not exit honourably as that will legitimise the coup. The military has, however, been saying that its action is not a coup as it is seeking constitutional means to put an end to Mr. Mugabe’s dictatorial rule that has thrust the country into a tough political crisis.

After having served the country for thirty-seven years, the liberation struggle hero felt he could spin any and everybody around his little finger. He has always thought that he would die in power and nobody born of a woman could change that. Under his wife’s influence, the man who had transformed Zimbabweans into “poor millionaires” as the country’s currency, the Zimbabwe dollar, took a nosedive and lost its entire value, had even started purging ZANU-PF, his political party, of the very people who had brought him into the presidency. He simply failed to understand that only a fool challenges his god after having eaten to his fill. He had successfully fired many of his fellow comrades from the party, but the dismissal of his vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to make way for his wife, Grace Mugabe alias Gucci Grace, to succeed him as the country’s next president was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Mr. Mugabe had clearly crossed the red line and the military had to stop him before he could implement his ill-advised plot.

Grace Mugabe who had thought she would be the next president of Zimbabwe has seen her dream shatter into pieces. She has been hiding ever since the military stepped in to put an end to her husband’s comedy that has cost the country its economy and image. Her arrogant public pronouncements had angered the military and made her feel that she was untouchable. But this could not continue indefinitely. When nature wants to destroy you, it gives you madness. Grace Mugabe had tasted power and it had gotten to her head. She could no longer control herself. She failed to understand that management and governance are not sexually transmissible. Being upgraded from a typist to a first lady did not imply she had all what was necessary for her to run a country like Zimbabwe. If she had any doubt about how difficult it was for her to rule the country, she has now figured out that she will never be a president in Zimbabwe and not even in her native South Africa.

While Mr. Mugabe is still dragging his feet, the military is working hard to make sure he stays in the past where he clearly belongs. Mr. Mugabe must understand that time is not on his side and when a monkey has to die; all trees will be very slippery. His gimmicks will surely come to nothing as even the youth wing of his party is gradually gravitating towards the military. The pouring of thousands of Zimbabwean onto the streets of the country’s capital on Saturday to demonstrate the people’s support to the military looked like a well-choreographed exercise designed to lend legitimacy to the political transition that is being discussed by the military and politicians. The size of the crowd was a clear demonstration that Mr. Mugabe’s support base hadcollapsed and his chances of returning to power were indeed very slim. His fellow independence war veterans, who have always stood by him for thirty-seven years, are also walking away from Mr. Mugabe who has become more and more isolated.

But the most devastating blow to Mr. Mugabe and his ego will surely come on Sunday, November 19, 2017, when the central committee of his ruling Zanu-PFparty meets to recommend his dismissal as their party chairman. Though Mr. Mugabe looked unfazed on Friday during a graduation event he presided over, it was clear that the 93-year-old had lost his arrogance and tough language during the event. He spent a good part of his time at the event sleeping and reflecting on the unfortunate fate that has become his. He has been demystified and his arrogant wife has been cut down to normal human proportions.  Mr. Mugabe has seen the writing on the wall, but the fighter and trickster still believes that he can still pull a fast one. He fails to understand that times have changed and that the attractive aura he had about him when he came to power in 1980 has worn out and nothing will be good enough to restore that aura to its pristine state.

While the Mugabe saga is bringing smiles to many Zimbabwean faces, the drama playing out in this beautiful country seems to be robbing many people in Cameroon of their sleep, especially the country’s president who has been in power for thirty-five years. The country’s authorities have been displaying an air of indifference to what is happening to Mr. Mugabe. For more than three days now, the country’s national TV channel, CRTV, has not discussed the Zimbabwean situation and no pictures of the incident have been shown on the channel. According to a source at the country’s presidency, the network director, Charles Ndongo, has been given firm instructions to ensure that nothing relating to Zimbabwe is shown on the network. The source added that Cameroon’s leader,  Paul Biya, on Friday, November 17, 2017, had a secret meeting with the country’s top military brass at the presidency where he thanked the generals for their support during the numerous crises that have brought the country and its economy to their knees.

He urged them to continue supporting the government, adding that it was only by working together that the country would be able to roll back Boko Haram and Anglophone secessionists who have robbed him of a good night’s sleep and ruined his health. The octogenarian, according to our source, was visibly disturbed, as he is conscious of the fact that he is as popularly unpopular in Cameroon like Mugabe was in Zimbabwe. Mr. Biya is scared that history might repeat itself on the continent, but this time, not in Zimbabwe, but in Cameroon where his thirty-five years of mismanagement and corruption have angered many and sent millions into voluntary exile.

It should be recalled that like Mr. Mugabe, Mr. Biya came to power on a wave of popularity, with many Cameroonians holding that he was the right man to transform their country into an El-dorado by virtue of his education and experience, but after thirty-five years, Mr. Biya has been a disappointment to many. Unemployment is unbearably high and many university graduates have been reduced to beggars. Many of these graduates are still living with their poor parents who have spent their fortunes just to give their children the education that can help them become financially independent. Besides, being unemployed, it is increasingly hard for these students, especially those from poor backgrounds and whose parents are not in the ruling party, to have access to some of the higher institutions of learning, popularly known in French as “GrandesEcoles”. Many Cameroonians hold that in order to gain admission into the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), the school that trains magistrates and administrators in Cameroon, candidates are expected to unofficially pay about USD 10,000; an amount that is well beyond the reach of many Cameroonians.

Also, after thirty-five years, the country’s economy is on life support. High taxes are crippling many businesses and corrupt tax and customs officials have transformed the country’s treasury into their ATM where they can withdraw money whenever they want. Mr. Biya and his ministers have been cited in many cases of corruption. It should be pointed out that many of his former ministers are currently in jail, including a former prime minister, two former secretaries-general at the presidency and thousands of middle level collaborators.

Regarding infrastructure, Cameroon is completely bereft of modern infrastructure. The country’s roads have become death traps, killing more people than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. In 2017 alone, the country’s roads have already killed more than 20,000 people and the government is doing little or nothing to improve upon things.

Besides the country’s roads, its hospitals have been reduced to consultation clinics where many Cameroonians are sent to an early grave. Medical doctors and nurses have entered into an unholy alliance where they are ripping the sick just to make themselves rich. It is normal for patients to be turned away by nurses and doctors if they do not have money to pay for any services, regardless of their health situation. A few years back, a lady had to operate upon her pregnant sister to get out the fetus when officials of a prestigious government hospital in Douala, Laquintini, refused to attend to the lady who was in travail. The negligence of these officials resulted in the death of the lady and her fetus; a situation that shocked the entire country, but strangely, no one was held accountable and no heads rolled.

While Cameroonians have been losing their lives due to poor healthcare, the president has made it a duty to head to Switzerland for treatment even when he has malaria. Recently, he spent almost thirty days in Geneva with a staff of about 50 persons where he had been admitted for a failing heart and a devastating prostate cancer. After such a long period abroad, the country had to disburse some USD 2 million to pay for Mr. Biya’s health and hotel bills, while the common man has continued to die of curable and preventable diseases due to lack of resources.

From every indication, all the ingredients that have resulted in Mr. Mugabe’s ouster are also in place in Cameroon. Personality cult, corruption, embezzlement, mismanagement and authoritarian rule are blighting the lives of Cameroonians just like they did to Zimbabweans during Mr. Mugabe’s time. This has caused many Cameroonians to start asking if Cameroon will be the next. Mr. Biya has been in power for thirty-five years and he holds that he has been ordained by God to lord it over his people. The same flawed thinking Mr. Mugabe had. Mr. Biya’s wife, Chantal Biya, who is noted for her flaming red hair, is also noted for her love for shopping. A crime Mrs. Mugabe was charged with by the people and something that earned her the title “Gucci Grace”.

If Mr. Biya has to spare himself the embarrassment that has come Mr. Mugabe’s way, he has to start thinking of handing over. Cameroonians are sick and tired of the corruption and mismanagement he has imported into the country. He might be thinking that he has the support of the military, but he must also know that palace coups are always staged by people you trust. After thirty-five years in power, Mr. Biya should be bidding goodbye to his people. He has to stop listening to the bunch of criminals around him. They are there to serve their interest and will never tell him the truth. There is some time for him to see the writing on the wall. It is time for him to leave when the ovation is still loud. Cameroonians are really looking forward to the day he will leave or the day the Lord will recall him. He has inflicted a lot of pain on his people. He must not wait for popular anger to spill onto the streets of Yaounde for him to know how popularly unpopular he is. Zimbabwe is a good lesson for him and his party members. However, will they take time to learn the lesson?

A Cameroon Concord News Group Production

London Political Summit 2017

“Nationalistic Tendencies: What Future For Global Citizenship?”

 Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe

President

Interim Government of UN-Recognized Southern Cameroons

or Self-Proclaimed Republic of Ambazonia, West Africa

 London, United Kingdom

October 23, 2017

Abstract

Identified people with defined territories seeking nationalism towards recognition in the international community of states in rising throughout the world including in Africa. Four recent independence events confirm this trend. On June 23, 2016, the British people voted “yes” in the Brexit referendum to leave the European Union. Two recent referendums — one held in the Iraqi Kurdistan region on September 25 and the other in Spain’s Catalonia on October 1 — resulted in overwhelming victories for “yes” voters calling for secession. And in Africa — the independence proclamation and celebration in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions on October 1, resulted in at least 300 dead, 500+ maimed, 2000+ missing and 40000+ refugees. Southern Cameroon movements seeking secession from La Republic du Cameroun was already underway since 1961 and many of the political developments and non-violent protests emerging since October 2016 are direct manifestations of its resurgence.

However, when Southern Cameroons independence is discussed, it is usually understood to mean, disgruntlement of young Anglophone Cameroonians abroad who do not sympathize with the Government of La Republic du Cameroun and had been prevailing since the Foncha era. And it is also understood to characterize what is exactly opposite to state unity, democracy and globalization. Worst, it is branded a “terrorist group.” If explicitly expressed in such statement, it is obviously wrong. There have been, are still and will be popular feelings towards national consciousness in Southern Cameroons: attachment to “Southern Cameroons”, loyalty to the state of Southern Cameroons, desire to have pride of being Southern Cameroons, fondness of Southern Cameroons culture and life-style and love of native-land. Those phenomena, often taken for granted and suppressed by existing Cameroon’s Paul Biyagovernment, characterize basic features of a modern independent-democratic-sovereign Southern Cameroons. A rare perspective and understanding of Southern Cameroons’ complete and unconditional independence rest in the answers to questions: What is the nature of Southern Cameroons nationalistic tendency, how does it differ from other secessionist movements, and what impact does it has on British foreign policy attitudes?

For Southern Cameroonians, more than seven-million indigenes at home and in the diaspora, have decided they cannot secure their rights within the framework of the Cameroon’s Paul Biya government, and must separate from it. The people recognize they live in an occupied territory called Southern Cameroon and the occupying power La Republic du Cameroun has no intention of extending the full rights of citizenship to them or of complying with constitutional principles. Although we favored enforcing constitutional compliance within the existing union with La Republic du Cameroun Government for over half a century unsuccessfully, independence is the only way.

Acknowledgement

Good morning.Thank you to the organizers and sponsors of this meeting. A special thanks to the chair of this session.

Introduction

As we’ve already heard this morning, we come together in London at a remarkable time. We live in a world of constant and at times turbulent change.

So let me start by explaining the background. As you may know, UN-recognized former British Trusteeship Territory Southern Cameroons (and self-proclaimed Federal Republic of Ambazonia) is a unique case of recognized people and territory seeking recognition of its sovereignty, independence and democratic state in the international community of nations using legal and diplomatic frameworks and institutions with the ultimate goal of urging Mr. Paul Biya, President of La Republic du Cameroun, together with his appointed officials and defence forces station in our territory, to seize all activities and depart our homeland that they have illegally occupied and in turn enslaved our citizens for more than 56 years.

And when we think of the non-negotiable resolve and resilience of the over 8-million people of Southern Cameroons in the homeland and more than 3-million who have acquired refuge in scores of democratic-peace loving countries across the world including the United Kingdom, we are clearly dealing with a growing problem – a problem in need of urgent and new solutions.

I would like to take a few minutes this morning to ground ourselves in the problem and then talk together about some of the solutions I believe we have the opportunity to pursue together.

Problem

But let’s start with the problem. The problem is clear. We see them everywhere. We see them in the actions of the President, Government and people of LRC toward the territory, resources and people of Southern Cameroons. We see this in the enslavement, abuse and violation of the rights of the people of Southern Cameroons.

But more than anything, if you think about what has happened over the 56 years, if you think about the recent massacre and destruction of property of the people of Southern Cameroons by the armed security and defense forces of LRC following the largest peaceful protest staged by the citizens of Southern Cameroons globally on September 22 and the independence self-declaration by the people of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia on October 1, I think we should come together and reflect on one thing, one thing that has clearly made the situation even more challenging – that is the drive for people to seek unorthodox means like North Korea and Iran to create their statehood and ensure their survival. We’ve seen my people use only their voice and bare hands to seek freedom and they have been killed in return, injured, kidnapped and dehumanized by LRC army. This is unacceptable, unsustainable and cannot be tolerated any longer.

And think about these facts.  First,the pioneer President of La Republique du Cameroun Mr. Amadou Ahidjo proclaimed independence of La Republique du Cameroun from France on 1 January 1960 and Southern Cameroons was not a part of his territory. Second, international law provides the international boundary that separates Southern Cameroons from La Republic du Cameroun. Third, despite a UN-sponsored referendum in 1961 in which Southern Cameroons voted to join La Republic as equal partners, neither the parliament of Southern Cameroons and La Republic ratified and deposited the instruments with the UN. Therefore,no agreement or treaty or convention establishes and binds a union between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun, per Article 102(1) of the UN Charter. To that end, LRC illegally and forcefully annexed Southern Cameroons. Yet, we’ve seen these issues burst into the news in terms of geopolitical controversies. We’ve seen them become even more pronounced.  And the world powers must stand up and lead the world toward global citizenship, peace and stability.

Solution

I think there are three things that we should consider enhancing Southern Cameroon achieve statehood and become a global citizen, and I’d like to talk about each of these three this morning.

First, for the sake of world peace and the respect of the value of human life, the international community must urge Mr. Paul Biya of LRC to seize all military campaigns in the territory of Southern Cameroons and withdraw all forces to its internationally recognized boundaries, which are the boundaries LRC inherited from colonization.

Second, the international community using appropriate forums such as United Nations, European Union and African Union have to apply the principles of international law to its case. This should include a UN sponsored referendum for Southern Cameroonians to fully restore their independence and statehood under international law and institutions.

Third, the international community have to initiate an investigation into the unlawful killings, injure and disappearances of thousands of family members and loved ones of Southern Cameroons and hold Mr. Paul Biya and his government and defence forces accountable for all crimes committed against humanity under international law.

Conclusion

As we think about Nationalistic tendencies: What future for global citizenship, achieving global peace and security as we think about addressing theillegal annexation of the territory and people of Southern Cameroons by LRC, this forum is a powerful force that should inspire us, and on which we can build to use international laws and instructions to build on my recommendations.Let’s use that inspiration. Let’s use what we have learned. Let’s build on what we share with each other. And let’s go forward and show the world that it needs us to be what we can be when we’re at our best – free nationals and democratic states with working for global peace.  A global society that earns everyone’s trust every day. A world that even in an age of nationalism, is a peace loving community of states on which everyonedepend and rely for peace and security.

Thank you very much.