SELF-DETERMINATION TODAY: THE CASE OF BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS REVISITED

Arguments as to why Her Britannic Majesty's Government should intervene in the interminable case of the British Southern Cameroons asking La Republique du Cameroun, its next door neighbor to evacuates its troops from its territory is appended. This message was presented loudly and clearly to the learned British Parliamentarians, London, UK by Hon. Nfor N. Nfor at the august House of Commons on April 26, 2016. We are appending it here for those who had no opportunity to read it. 

Had the British Government taken action by offering to sponsor a conference for the parties concerned to iron out their grievances, perhaps blood of peaceful demonstrators in the British Southern Cameroons on 12 November 2016 could not have been shed.  The people of this territory still have that inextricable bond with the UK Government, its systems and many more that will never be severed willy-nilly. In consequence, many of them have been relentlessly inveighing not to let any of the systems be eroded away. To them, the UK systems and type of democratic government are the best and nothing can replace them that would satisfy them.  

THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS AKA AMBAZONIA IS THE FORMER UK TRUST TERRITORY OF THE SOUTHERN CAMEROONS / SOUTHERN PART OF THE BRITISH CAMEROONS.

Some of us are witnesses to what Her Majesty's Government did when there was tumult in the then Rhodesia /Zimbabwe in the 1970s. The so-called rebels were on the verge of invading Salisbury / Harare and other cities. Again we can only conjecture the outcome but it was evaded by the quick thinking and action of the British Government.  The Lancaster Gate House Conference http://www.rhodesia.nl/lanc1.html  of September to December 1979 did pave the way for peace and lives were saved. Grievances were aired thus pacifying Ian Smith's  UDI Government and ZANO PF and others led by Messrs. Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo. Any person interested in peace was grateful to what your able Lord Carrington,  Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs did. He brokered peace and everyone came out a winner. If there are skirmishes today, the onus are no longer on the Great Britain.

If such a conference were to be suggested maybe  similar dialogues could be  held between The British Southern Cameroons irrespective of the occupying forces being recalcitrant. If that were so, perhaps many summarily arrested or killed by the forces of La Republique du Cameroun would be alive. Others are presently incarcerated in the prisons cells of La Republique du Cameroun where some are dying from hardship and diseases in droves. 

Her Majesty's Government could imagine the outcome if the UK Government wanted to leave the EEC after the stunning referendum of June 24 2016, Brexit and the armies from the mainland Europe were deployed to suppress and oppress the ever-gentle British citizens to forcefully remain with the EEC. We guess, that would tantamount to a declaration of war. The British Southern Cameroons has vowed never to take up arms but to exhaust all channels of peaceful negotiations before exiting from its unholy union with La Republique du Cameroun. They want it to be like what Gambia did when the Senegambia experiment of 1982-89 could not materialize. It was amicably dissoved on September 30 1989 and both countries have been living side by side peacefully.

Having made the above points, it is never late for the action of Great Britain irrespective of her pressing domestic and international matters. There was a time when the sun never set on the British Empire and the UK with its genius was able to solve all her problems and those of her dominions, colonies and possessions. How did they do it? They can still do that marvel today but not as colonial masters but as experts in governance.  However, this document and our statements would stand as testimonies that the highly esteemed Her Britannic Government, the British Southern Cameroons and others states around the world, have been alerted of the tension brewing even after 12 Southern Cameroonians had been killed by the invaders for demonstrating peacefully, some seriously injured and others languishing in prisons. 

It is sad that in North America, the media hardly mention it irrespective of transparency of information and posting of video on the Twitter and Facebook. We conjecture it is due to the perpetual distraction from the Arab countries that had never learned to sit down and dialogue but to resolve matters by destruction of lives and properties. History has taught us that brutish solutions are ever ephemeral. That is why they are not entertained by the British Cameroons. 

We can only conjecture what could happen as the ordinance from the invading state, La Republique du Cameroun is that no demonstrations are allowed without their sanction. They have been imposing their systems for the last 56 years and would not stop imposing their power on anything. Is there any end in sight? The only solution is for The British Southern Cameroons to be allowed to be assimilated and be French as they in the Napoleonic systems. Those are imponderable, cannot be entertained and are dreaded. It therefore means that they are encouraging outbursts of tension since there are no dialogues on their terms and peaceful demonstrations.  So, living in the British Southern Cameroons becomes a living hell as had been since 1964 when La Republique du Cameroun's gendarmes stormed in.  The ongoing strike of no-work by Southern Cameroonians in anything, schooling, having courts, and so on seems indefinite. Your guess of the outcome is as good as ours. 

The British Southern Cameroons need that permission to ask permission to dialogue with them. The AU and the U.N.O. need permission from them to dialogue with them or to tell them what to do for the mutual interests and peace of all. If the African Union, or the United Nation Organization of which La Republique du Cameroun is a member, suggest solutions, they are just tossed outside. What do you call these ridiculous impasses in international jurisprudence? It is not late for the British Government whose systems are known and have been practiced by the Government of the British Southern Cameroons since its inception from 1915 to 1961 to broker peace rather wait to receive streams of refugees running away from hardship or skirmishes. 
VVN 

NOW WATCH THESE AND YOU CAN HAVE A BIT OF THAT ANGER, HUMILIATION AND BARBARITY  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WakQc35ZMfo
MUST-WATCH VIDEOS PLEASE. watch Hon. Joseph Wirba denouncing the barbarity in The Southern Cameroons       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg79opziByw

AN ADDRESS ON SELF-DETERMINATION TODAY:THE CASE OF BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS, BY NFOR NGALA NFOR, NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, SCNC, AT CONFERENCE ON SELF-DETERMINATION, HOUSE OF LORDS, LONDON, April 26, 2016.
Mr. Chairman of Conference,

Distinguished Parliamentarians for Self- Determination,
Honourable Members of the House of Lords and House of Commons
Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

The SCNC leadership, on behalf of the people of the former UN Trust territory of Southern Cameroons under UK Administration, is grateful to be here once more to cry to the British Government and people and the international community at large for their rights to self-determination and national sovereign existence. To our friends Parliamentarians for Self-Determination who are working for justice and the rule of law for all peoples we heartily congratulate you for selfless service to humanity and pray that you remain steadfast and intensify your efforts for world peace based on justice. 

The British Southern Cameroons Question will remain a recurrent issue until UK, as the Administering Authority or the trustee, and the UN, as the trustor, summon the necessary political will and from a legal frame of mind, as defined by the UN Charter, other international instruments and in respect of the will of the people of British Southern Cameroons, adopt a road map for a permanent solution.

On the strength of the incontrovertible facts before us all, it’s self-evident that British Southern Cameroons is a victim of botched decolonisation in 1961. Both the UN Charter, as the supreme law of all humanity and the Trusteeship Agreement were disregarded. Through external manipulation and building of political hurdles the right to self-determination was denied the people of British Southern Cameroons. To this effect a plebiscite was imposed with two obnoxious questions denying the people their inherent right to sovereign independence. 

Prime Minister J. N Foncha who won the 1959 general elections on the platform of secession from Nigeria wanted that Southern Cameroons should of right attain independence as prescribed by the UN Charter and the Trusteeship Agreement. In addressing the powerful 4th Committee of the UNGA on September 24, 1959, he said “Any attempt to force us gain independence in a way that does not accord with our wishes would tantamount to a breach of the UN Charter and a violation of our fundamental human rights.” It is bewildering that HM Government failed to understand, respect and defend manifest will of the people of British Southern Cameroons as enshrined in the UN Charter.

But we all know that:
1) The right to national self-determination is an inherent right of any people and dependent territory defined by colonial treaties.
2) They are no preconditions attached.
3) This right is not only inherent, it is equally permanent.
4) This inherent right becomes more active when the people are subjected to foreign domination and alien rule and that when repression is intensified and prolonged it can ignite revolt in the oppressed. This is natural for each people are entitled to their rightful place within the family of the human race in order to make their just contribution for a better world and greater humanity.
As bad as the failure to respect the UN Charter and Trusteeship Agreement was/is, the situation was made worse by non-implementation of UNGA Resolution 1608 of April 21, 1961. This landmark resolution was adopted for the holding of a post plebiscite conference - a tripartite – between the Government of British Southern Cameroons, la Republique du Cameroun, and UK as the Administering Authority to finalise arrangements for the formation of the UN-envisioned FEDERAL UNITED CAMEROON REPUBLIC. The formation of this federal union of two states Equal in Status was to take place under international supervision with UK playing a key rule as the Trustee with the moral and legal duty of reporting to the UN. British Southern Cameroons was not to be abandoned at the mercy of la Republique du Cameroun nor was British Southern Cameroons to be handed to la Republique du Cameroun as a gift for annexation and military occupation.

Botched Decolonisation Facilitated Annexation

La Republique du Cameroun’s hidden plot to annex British Southern Cameroons was hatched when the plebiscite vote went in favour of “independence by joining” la Republique du Cameroun. This was clearly demonstrated before the UN as follows;
1. At the 4th Committee of the UNGA on April 19, 1961 la Republique du Cameroun, France and all French-speaking Africa, except Mali, staged a walkout when they failed to block the vote for the independence of British Southern Cameroons. UK with 49 other nations, USA, USSR, Nigeria, inclusive, voted overwhelmingly “YES” and 1st October, 1961 was declared Independence Day of British Southern Cameroons.

2. On April 21, 1961 on the floor of the UNGA, la Republique du Cameroun supported by France and all French-speaking Africa except Mali, voted against UNGA Resolution 1608. This certainly blocked implementation for the Tripartite Conference couldn’t hold without one of the key players, la Republique du Cameroun. By voting against this landmark resolution la Republique du Cameroun did not only reject forming a federal union of two states Equal in Status with British Southern Cameroons, it clearly exhibited its imperial annexationist fangs.

Unfortunately, la Republique du Cameroun’s display of annexationist tendency on the floor of the UN failed to attract appropriate action in defence of British Southern Cameroons right to national self-existence. This is what has led some authorities on the British Southern Cameroons decolonisation to conclude that, this UN Trust territory in which the Westminster Parliamentary system functioned so well (witnessed peaceful transfer of power in February 1959) for a long period in colonial Africa was simply betrayed. 
Warnings Unheeded

It needs be recalled that prior to this imperialistic posturing exhibited by la Republique du Cameroun at the UN in 1961, other authorities had warned that British Southern Cameroons and la Republique du Cameroun were completely incompatible, consequently can’t coexist under one national polity. HRH Fon Achirimbi speaking for the Natural Rulers at the Mamfe Plebiscite Conference in 1959, opined that Nigeria is deep “Water” and French Cameroun is “FIRE” and declared, “Sir, I support secession without unification.” i.e. to say they favoured secession and sovereign independence for their nation. 

On Oct. 6, 1959 the US Ambassador, H. E Clement J Zabloiski contributing to debate on the political future of British Southern Cameroons, congratulated the people for attaining self-government. Opposed to the idea of unification declared “The results of a hurried choice imposed on the population of the Trust territory would be catastrophic for their political future.” 
And in the British House of Commons G.M Thomson (MP) (later Lord) on 1st August 1961, said, “The problem of uniting these two territories would in any event be difficult. There are two territories of completely different cultures with different political systems... there are extremely complex problems in bringing these two countries together within one national state.” He concluded, “I therefore raise the matter because we in the House are concerned with the good name and reputation of the Government in administering this kind of trusteeship territory”.(emphasis, mine).

To justify “independence by joining “ either Nigeria or la Republique du Cameroun, UK as the Administering Authority argued that British Southern Cameroons was small and economically unviable. But interestingly while denying British Southern Cameroons with an area of 43,000 sq km, population of about a million and a variety of mineral and natural resources and wide variety of food and cash crops with the CDC at the head, Kuwait, a British colony, with an area of 17,818 sq km and then population of less than 300,000 inhabitants, a sandy barren territory though blessed with large deposits of oil, was granted independence on June 19, 1961. However on December 14, 1960 UN amplifying the right to self-determination of all peoples as enshrined in the Charter, adopted Resolution 1514 which makes independence the inherent right of all dependent territories: neither size, nor lack of economic or educational preparedness was/is to serve as condition for delaying the people’s right to sovereign independence for their enjoyment and exercise of complete freedom. This landmark resolution for universal application was adopted some three months before the ill-fated UN Plebiscite of 11 February 1961. British Southern Cameroons currently with population of more than five million is more populous than 60 UN Member Nations, 18 AU Member nations, and 30 Commonwealth Member nations. And with an area of 43,000 km2 it is larger than 12 AU Member States and 30 UN Member Nations.

CONSEQUENCES OF ANNEXATION AND MILITARY OCCPATION

From the founding of the League of Nations in 1922 and the UN in 1945, this territory was firmly under international instruments and obligation. It was protected against annexation. 
An annexed people live under despicable circumstances worse than a colonised people. A territory under annexation is under a constant reign of terror and with the policy of divide and rule the people are kept weak, decapitated and submissive. The imperial dream is to perpetually keep the people subjugated. While colonised territories are recognised and enjoy some protection under international system, the annexed enjoy no such international visibility.
The consequences of annexation are not far to seek. They are political, economic, cultural, legal/judicial and psychological. The annexed are ruled by an evil mind to decapitate the territory and people – body, mind and soul perpetually for the glory, prestige and splendour of the annexationist state. It is for this reason that the UN declares annexation a crime against humanity and a threat to world peace.
What we have suffered since the 1961 botched decolonisation that facilitated annexation can be summarised as follows:
1. The Southern Cameroons, a UN Trust Territory under UK Administration lost its international standing and protection. The territory has been balkanised into two provinces and sunk into the territory of la Republique du Cameroun. While every other UN Trust territory and colony on the African continent emerged into sovereign independence with a seat at the UN, British Southern Cameroons is the only trust in recorded history annexed by another former UN Trust territory, namely, Cameroun under French Administration.

2. Under British Trusteeship Indirect Rule, in which the indigenous political system was respected and the Natural Rulers under the Native Authority system participated in governance, annexation has imposed direct rule in which the venerated Natural Rulers of yesteryear have become subjects of the Francophone proconsuls to be seen and instructed only. One painful consequence of this is direct interference and imposition for self interest and grabbing of choice lands by the proconsuls and their political elites thus depriving the poor large chunks of ancestral lands. This facilitates population dilution. The poor are weak and powerless. 

3. Incredibly, British Southern Cameroons which attained self-government in 1954 three years before French Cameroun, adopted Westminster Parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, conducted free and fair elections, is today ruled by foreign proconsuls. By Presidential decree of the Yaounde state backed by crack down occupation force, the Buea Parliament and Government and all state institutions were abolished.

4. One of the immediate consequences of annexation was the loss of preferential treatment which British Southern Cameroons enjoyed with Britain and the Commonwealth. Britain and the Commonwealth nations used to be the main trading partners and consumed the highest portion of our banana, palm produce, tea, among others. Annexation dragged us, like a sacrificial lamb, into the Franc zone and French established trading partners without rights to market our produce but without a choice to accept their expensive goods which many described as inferior.

5. Intensified repression and persecution in different forms and across the territory is the constitution that rules this former British Trust territory that was a shining example of Westminster style parliamentary democracy in Africa.
6. To erase the British heritage which we cherish and are proud to preserve and promote cultural assimilation through Francophonisation and despoliation is tacitly sponsored by the Yaounde state. Bilingualism is a deceit. It is euphemism for Francophonisation.

7. The Anglo Saxon educational system and the Common Law heritage which emphasises the dignity of man are under serious attack and are being eroded. The Napoleonic civil code is being imposed to replace the Common law. To Yaounde Cameroun is one and indivisible.

8. As it is a crime to wear even a T-shirt with the map and inscription of British Southern Cameroons, so have we as a people lost our identity and inherent right to our natural resources and wealth which are being plundered for the development of la Republique du Cameroun and prestige and grandeur of the powers that be and France their master. Is it not heart breaking to learn that petrol tapped from British Southern Cameroons soil is more expensive in the territory than anywhere else in la Republique du Cameroun territory? Is it not revolting to hear that though SONARA (French acronym) is located in the sea port town of Victoria (changed by Yaounde to Limbe) management is in the hands of Francophone and royalty is paid but to Douala City Council? This is just a tip of the iceberg.
9. To reduce the well-endowed British Southern Cameroons to an economic liability and wrongly paint it as dependent territory, all the sea ports, airports, river ports, economic and financial institutions and infrastructure which Southern Cameroons successive governments established, for example, National Produce Marketing Board, Santa Coffee Estate, Powercam, Cam Bank, were by decree closed down. Bereft of industries to employ the growing manpower, Southern Cameroonians suffer from mass unemployment and with repression this has encouraged mass exodus of the youths. Foreign investors are discouraged from investing in British Southern Cameroons which has no good roads. To move from the north to the south and vice versa, one is bound to traverse two provinces of la Republique du Cameroun territory.

10. With annexation by la Republique du Cameroun, the people of British Southern Cameroons have been disenfranchised. Though the Yaounde regime has some three hundred political parties on its register there is no democracy: Cameroun is a one-party dictatorship ruled by an ethnic oligarchy. The stark difference and our love of democracy is self-eloquent in the fact that between 1954 and 1960 British Southern Cameroons had two Prime Ministers, democratically elected. But since 1958 la Republique du Cameroun has had only two leaders who rule and reign. As an annexed people the few in President Biya’s government and parliament do not represent the will and supreme interest of the British Southern Cameroons nation and people. They have no voice. Freedom and sovereign independence under UN Charter and international instruments through external self-determination is what the people want. This is to correct the error of 1961.

JUSTIFICATION FOR RESTORATION

The warnings made against “independence by joining” la Republique du Cameroun have come to pass. As demonstrated on the floor of the UN twice in April 1961, la Republique du Cameroun’s determination of annexing British Southern Cameroons has been fulfilled. It has been reduced to two Provinces of its territory ruled by proconsuls. To decapitate the people and keep them perpetually weak and subservient, military repression and kale kales as happened recently in Wum are constant. In spite of these Machiavellian tactics, the annexationist regime is faced with stubborn resistance of a people who are proud of their identity and determined to maintain their cherished values, their belief in the dignity of man and their “English way of life”. If they are being repressed, maimed, imprisoned and tortured, murdered in cold blood for being proud of their inherent identity and resisting Francophonisation, should the British collaborate with their oppressor? The history of liberation struggle the world over, point to the fact that, the annexed and the oppressed, can never regain freedom and independence without foreign assistance and support.

The UN has declared annexation a crime against humanity and threat to world peace and for this reason UK and USA, for example, led the Gulf War against Iraqi annexation and occupation to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty. This was not intervention in Iraqi internal affairs. We believe, as was with Kuwait in 1990, that the UK owes a moral and legal responsibility to British Southern Cameroons and in this light should use its diplomatic influence and under preventive diplomacy place the British Southern Cameroons right to self-determination on the agenda of the UN. We believe you have a key role to play to bring about the change that is our right without bloodshed that will bring dishonour to the British Crown.

In conclusion, we state without fear of error or contradiction, that HM’s Government did not administer the UN Trust territory of British Southern Cameroons on behalf of France or the UN Trust territory of French Cameroun with a reversionary right. Bound by the UN Charter, the Trusteeship Agreement and good conscience, HM Government under the SACRED TRUST was duty bound to lead this trust territory to sovereign independence. 
Thank you most sincerely for your kind attention.

VIBANFLAGBOOKSCANADA: WHEN A CHRISTIAN PRESIDENT OF CAMEROUN DOES NOT LI...

VIBANFLAGBOOKSCANADA: WHEN A CHRISTIAN PRESIDENT OF CAMEROUN DOES NOT LI...:  The leaders of La Republique du Cameroun and their overseas supporters should know that to obey the Bishops of God serving Him in The Brit...

WHEN A CHRISTIAN PRESIDENT OF CAMEROUN DOES NOT LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF BISHOPS

The leaders of La Republique du Cameroun and their overseas supporters should know that to obey the Catholic Bishops that are servants of Jesus Christ in The British Southern Cameroons aka Ambazonia is to obey God, and that is joy and peace all of us pray for. If we do not fall into this category then we are desperadoes. Are we?

The relationship of The British Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroons in Western Africa has taken a dangerous twist. It is now a thorny relationship that must be severed willy-nilly, no matter how long it will take to be done, wherever and whenever. It should not be prolonged if irreparable harm is to be avoided. All peace-loving persons have to support the helpless citizens of the British Southern Cameroons, particularly Her Britannic Majesty's Government that laid the foundation of this state to revert to its former political independent status of 1961. When a supposed Christian head of state Mr. Paul Biya, a dictator for 35 years refuses to adhere to the pleas of Catholic Bishops of The British Southern Cameroons to withdraw his troops from that the Southern Cameroons that wants to revert to its former independent status of 1961, what are the explanations? When this president sends his army to shoot to kill, teargases and arrests and imprisons unarmed peaceful Southern Cameroons demonstrators what are the explanation in the 21st century? It is barbaric and unnecessary in the 21st century for a country aspiring to be developed in 2035.

Paul Biya's career took a different turn. Initially, Biya had wanted to become a Catholic priest before changing his mind to pursue jurisprudence.  God just told him that to be 'fishers of men', one did not necessarily have to wear a long cassock and do theology in seminaries.  One could be a lawyer and a pastor, a head of state and a pastor. We all saw the exemplary works of Mahatma Gandhi who did a law degree in England, and we all witness the Christian work of President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania.  These men did not become corrupt because they had been catapulted to be leaders. These men believed in sacrificing their lives for the welfare and peace in their countries. They used their heads and never ever encouraged the use of force. So were our Brother Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others. They won and their names are magnetic and do not repulsive as those of dictators as Paul Biya, Mubutu Sese Seko, Franco and many more. They never became hypocrites as Paul Biya.

Students at the Buea University are pulled out of their dormitories in the British Southern Cameroons, beaten and forced to lie down in raw sewage and mud by the armed forces of La Republique du Cameroun in November 2016. To them, any peaceful demonstration is a punishable transgression.

Biya is now a hypocrite for he sends his soldiers to shoot peaceful demonstrators of The British Southern Cameroons, rape Southern Cameroons students, torture others and falsely tells the world that the British Southern Cameroons belongs to his country, La Republique du Cameroun. He and his country have no shred of evidence to prove this.

The soldiers he sends to shoot and rape children bear Christian names. They should not obey their commander-in-chief to commit unpardonable sins because they are in the army. If you are ordered to commit sins do you do it when you know that it is wrong because you want to obey a corrupt pagan leader?  One better resigns from one's army that to shoot a civilian in the back for demonstrating.  A demonstration is not transgression. Is it?

The soldiers should know that they have children too and that after Paul Biya, La Republique du Cameroun will coexist side by side with the British Southern Cameroons - Ambazonia. They are being fooled to fight to get Southern Cameroons resources and that is stealing. As Christians, they have to confess when they steal and kill their fellow human beings as they are against the Commandment of God. These are not entertained by any democratic government on earth or any sensible and free-thinking person on earth or in the universe. If your false leader sends you to commit heinous crimes to sustain his lavish lifestyle and you knowingly do that, you are a sinner.  They who commit the heinous crimes of killing, raping and stealing for their earthly god cannot be forgiven unless they confess and return the stolen properties back to their rightful owners. Then should you commit crimes with your free will because you will confess? Has one ever lied to God? Should such sinners recite Our Lord's prayer?.

By the president of La Republique du Cameroun barefacedly committing of sins, he does not show his allegiance to the Catholic Church's faith. Could he the world that he is a Catholic Christian and defend his Catholic faith? Meet with the Holy Father in Rome and receive his blessing for imprisoning, killing, and torturing Southern Cameroonians (Ambazonians) for refusing to remain perpetually as slaves under his regime when they have their own country? In the old days, he should have been excommunicated. It could still be done today by Pope Francis. A president does not become intoxicated by his power to the extent of killing his neighbors and expect to be supported by the Bishop of Rome and Catholics around the world. Will the today's leaders of the church tell us that one should not be the judge of a sinner? Hmmm. We should not be a judge of a Nazi after killing innocent Jews? We should not be a judge of the Hutus going on the rampage and killing the Tutsis so as to be good citizens of the world? Should seal our mouths and not point our the evil of our leaders so as to be good citizens?

Biya was the first to rush to the high altar to receive the Holy Communion from the hands of St. John Paul II and Bishop Benedict IV when these Bishops of Rome visited La Republique du Cameroun. What a sacrilege! People got to know that God who created us is the genius of geniuses and you cannot fool Him by praying like Pharisees and expecting St. Peter to open the doors of Heaven for you.  Unless I am reading the devil's bible, you cannot commit sins and bath in Jesus Christ's blood and expect to be forgiven for your transgressions.

President Paul Biya who is responsible for the killing of Southern Cameroons because he and his foreign entourage are after their oil, gold, iron and other natural resources. When you love some one you do not kill him or her to take over his oil. 

Today Biya has sent maddened men to shoot unarmed civilians of The British Southern Cameroons demonstrating fro their right to their political independence. His army has flooded the streets of Bamenda, Buea, Kumbo, Victoria, Kumba, Wum, Mamfe and other towns in British Southern Cameroons to ensure that there are no more demonstrations and the people remain under his draconian rule. Sadly the arms President Barack Obama of the USA gave to Biya to fight Boko Haram are now turned against the citizens of Southern Cameroons. Could President Donald Trump and his able entourage address this and give Paul Biya an ultimatum to withdraw his troops from The Southern Cameroons.  Biya's ministers call Ambazonians enemies. How do you explain this? Southern Cameroonians (Ambazonians) do not rape and kill Camerounians, nor do they steal from them and cannot be vilified as enemies. Instead, Biya and his entourage are enemies of the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia). They have invaded The Southern Cameroons, committed and still commit all sorts of heinous atrocities.

A Christian does not kill his brother or sister or wife; a Christian does not put his neighbors in harm's way. A Christian does not steal from his neighbor. A Christians do not send his body guards to rape daughters of his neighbors and rush to receive consecrated Holy Communion and receive God's blessings.  A Christian does not  loot from his neighboring country with impunity to sustain his epicurean lifestyle and when being denied this callous acts, he turns to kill them and cry wolf. A Christian president will not impoverish another country so as to make it depend on him for basic necessities when it is producing oil, gold, green gold, and agricultural  produce. A person who does these is not a Christian or believer but a devil incarnate. Having said these, God is ever forgiving. Biya and his senseless supporters could be forgiven if they repent and return the stolen properties to the British Southern Cameroons and get out o f there immediately. It is not part of La Republique du Cameroun and does not aspire to be now or in the near the future. Those are the right things to be done for peace in the region now and in the future.

President Paul Biya of La Republique du Cameroun has been ruling the country single-handed for the last 35 years. Compare this with the image above. "There is no art to find a man's construction on his face," William Shakespeare. How a good-looking man turns to be a tyrant in the dawn of his life is puzzling beyond words! Biya some 40 years ago. 

The price people pay for demonstrating peacefully and for asking for aliens to leave them and their country the Southern Cameroons / Ambazonia alone. In a crowded prison not even fit for slaves. Many are dying here. Temperatures go above 100 Fahrenheit.  Where are the French who are the friends of this president?

The Southern Cameroons is located to the East of Nigeria, north of the Equatorial Guinea Republic and west of La Republic du Cameroun. His Excellency Antonio Gutteres, Secretary General of the UNO, would you sit complaisantly and watch Portuguese citizens maltreated as in these pictures yet call yourself a leader simply because they want their political independence back?

He is shot with others for demonstrating to have his country's independence back. There is no ambulance to take his shattered body to the mortuary. President Paul Biya responsible for this still receives Holy Communion in the Catholic Church and meets the Holy Fathers at Rome. This is his love for his brother and sister according to his book of the devil. Yet this president wants to bribe blacklegs of the Southern Cameroons to support him. Look at the fear in the eyes of these helpless students, they feel the same pains like you. They are all of God's image like you. 

The world is now seeing the meaning of dictatorship from a man who would have been a Catholic priest. Dictatorship is the worst sort of government that is crippling industrial and economic developments in most third world countries and La Republique du Cameroun and the Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) are some of them. It would be seen that all the mayhem in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa above all stem from dictatorial governments, often sadly supported by some development countries. When streams of refugees are oozing out to Europe and America before they turn their eyes to look. It should not be so. The evil that generates this calamity could be halted when leaders of these countries turn to be autocratic. Where there is genuine democracy, no one person rules ad infinitum. Where there is a democracy no one man kills his neighbors, journalists, the oppositions so as to remain in power forever. No one person is allowed to be head of state for 35 years as this man on the assumption that he is a divine head of state.  No matter how good his befuddled citizens believe in him, things are bound to go wrong that cannot be corrected. They are further prostituted by some developed nations that benefit enormously from the folly of the people and their glorified heads of state. We are witnesses to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Angola, and what was called Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo under Mobutu. No one learns but is ready to gamble after having seen what happened to his predecessors. Why?

Demonstrators at the impoverished City of Bamenda, The British Southern Cameroons aka Ambazonia his trooped had been occupying since 1964. 

Read for yourself what we have appended for the world to read. Tell your governments wherever your domicile in the world to personally tell Paul Biya, the head of state of the Cameroun Republic in West Africa to withdraw his troops from The British Southern Cameroons aka Ambazonia that shares border with his country. They should release the Southern Cameroons leaders of the Consortium and those arrested because they were demonstrating, journalists, and elites languishing in their appalling prisons. The plea to the UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION is to send in their troops to a transitional government of the Southern Cameroons towards their restoration of their political independence. The UNO should be reminded that their Resolution 1608 (para. 5) was never ever implemented and the misadventure inversion of the Cameroon Republic in the Southern Cameroons to loot its natural resources is in international law illegal.

The thorny relationship must be severed today and not tomorrow, hither and not thither. He should know that to obey the Bishops of God is to obey God and it is joy and peace all of us pray for. He should be reminded when he meets the Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis that heaven is not on earth and that the voice of the people is the voice of God. Withdrawing his troops is the right thing to do now and not tomorrow. Let this gesture, we are certain France, the country that stands by this awful man will endorse, be that new year wish to The British Southern Cameroons and not defiance. President Biya, of what good is the whole world to one when one loses one's, soul? You must know that the cry of people of The British Southern Cameroons aka Ambazonia is the plea from God.

Citizens of the British Southern Cameroons arrested for demonstration at Wum County. The Southern Cameroons is perhaps the only country in the world where peaceful demonstrations are interpreted as  transgressions.  Second class citizens are treated like slaves in the 21st century.

At home and in the diaspora, Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia) citizens demonstrate. They want their political independence back. They want the Republic of Cameroun out of their country. They want freedom like you. 

BAMENDA PROVINCIAL EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE [BAPEC]

THE SECRETARIAT

ARCHBISHOP’S HOUSE

P.O. BOX 82, BAMENDA

NORTH WEST REGION

C A M E R O O N

BAPEC/PRES/2016/30 22 December 2016

[Read the grievances too]

MEMORANDUM PRESENTED TO THE HEAD OF STATE, HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT PAUL BIYA, BY THE BISHOPS OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCE OF BAMENDA ON THE CURRENT SITUATION OF UNREST IN THE NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST REGIONS OF CAMEROON

Your Excellency,

For almost one month now there has been a series of unrests and violence in some towns of the Northwest and Southwest Regions(1) of Cameroon occasioned by the strike of the Anglophone Lawyers and of the Teachers’ Trade Unions of the English Sub-system of Education. These have led to the loss of human life andto the destruction of property of some of our citizens. There have been flagrant abuses of human rights, as demonstrated by credible eyewitness accounts and by pictures on local television channels and social media. This has led to a premature end to the first term of the school year and paralysed the court system in these regions to the detriment of school children, students, parents and the administration of justice. At the moment, it seems that the government and the striking groups have reached an impasse and it is not likely that the schools are going to open even when the second term begins for the rest of the country. These unrests are symptomatic of a deeper unease among the inhabitants of this geographical circumscription of our nation.

We, the Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Bamenda, which is coterminous with the Northwest and Southwest Regions, where we hold responsibility as Shepherds, cannot remain indifferent to this situation. The Church,in this season, celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. She has as mandate to proclaim the message of peace (Luke 10:5; Matthew 5:9), and has always stood for justice and peace, and worked for the attainment of the common good of society.Because of her role and competence, the Church is not identified in any way with the political community nor bound to any political system(2). This places her in a uniquely privileged position to provide a balanced perspective on the current problem between the government of Cameroon and the population of significant segments of the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. It is for this reason that we have presumed to seize the moment and to make the following submission, with a view to assisting the government to seek a lasting solution to this problem and enable its citizens to live in peace and harmony.

Historical Background of the Problem

Most of the territory known today as the Republic of Cameroon was a German protectorate from 1884. However, German Kamerun also included British Northern Cameroons, which elected to become part of Nigeria in the plebiscite of 1961. This protectorate was divided into British and French Cameroons in 1916 and confirmed, with some slight modifications, by the Milner-Simon Agreement of 10 July 1919. British Cameroons, which was comprised of Northern and Southern Cameroons, was one fifth and French Cameroun was four-fifths of the entire territory. They were Class B Mandated Territories of the League of Nationsuntil 1946 when they became United Nations Trust Territories. 

British Cameroons and French Cameroun were separate legal and political entities and historians have postulated that although this partition was said to be temporary Britain and France instituted two different administrative styles and systems which were to impact on any subsequent movement towards eradicating the provisional nature of the partition and facilitating reunification.(3) After the Second World War, the United Nations (Article 76, b) explicitly called on the British and French to administer their respective spheres of Cameroon towards self-government. It called on the Administering Authorities to “promote the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the Trust Territories, and theirprogressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples…”

Before the London Constitutional Conferences of 1957 and 1958, three political options had emerged in British Southern Cameroons, namely independence as a separate political entity, independence in association with Nigeria, and independence by reuniting with French Cameroun. The Mamfe Conference of August 1959, which was called to hammer out consensus among Southern Cameroonians on one of the options, did not succeed to arrive at a consensus. The three political options persisted, with the most popular being independence as a separate political entity, the next being association with Nigeria and the least popular being reunification with French Cameroun.

Paradoxically, the UN General Assembly Resolution 1352 (xiv) on the British Cameroons’ Plebiscite of 1961, clearly ruled out the separate independence of Southern Cameroons(4), the most popular of the three options. This was thanks to the British who tactfully blocked every chance of the Southern Cameroonians voting for independence as a separate entity, convincing the United Nations that Southern Cameroon was not economically viable and could only survive by leaning on Nigeria or the Republic of Cameroon, and recklessly steering the Mamfe All Party Conference of August 1959 to ensure that the parties did not achieve consensus(5). In fact, the British wanted Southern Cameroons to gain independence in association with Nigeria. Consequently, the two questions adopted for the plebiscite were:

1. Do you wish to achieve independence by joining the independent Federation of Nigeria?

                                               OR

2. Do you wish to achieve independence by joining the independent Republic of Cameroun?

Southern Cameroonians were apprehensive of this move and put pressure on John Ngu Foncha to lead a delegation to London in November 1960 to include the option of independence as a separate political entity. The request was rejected. Nevertheless, according to United Nations Resolution 1541(XV) Principles VII and VIII, Southern Cameroons was qualified to achieve independence either through association or integration which “should be on the basis of complete equality between the peoples of the erstwhile Non-Self-Governing Territory and those of the independent country with which it is integrated. The peoples of both territories should have equal status and rights”. It was with this understanding that on the 11th of February 1961 British Southern Cameroons voted to join French Cameroun while British Northern Cameroons voted to join the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

The Foumban Conference of 17th- 21st July 1961 agreed broadly what the “marriage” between the two Cameroons was going to look like. The Yaoundé Tripartite Conference of 2nd-7th August 1961 put this agreement in legal form. Worthy of note here is the fact that the draft 1961 Constitution was never presented to the Southern Cameroons House of Chiefs (SCHC) and the Southern Cameroons House of Assembly(SCHA) for deliberation and approval as should have been the case. Further, it was signed by President Ahidjo on the 1stof September 1961 as President of the Republic of Cameroon when the Federal Republic of Cameroon had not yet come into existence. Be it as it may, the two territories came together in this union as a Federation of East Cameroon and West Cameroon (1961 Constitution, Article 1-1).(6)

 In September 1966, all the political parties went into dissolution to form one party in the Federal Republic of Cameroon (the Cameroon National Union), giving birth to one party rule. In 1968, Honourable Solomon Tandeng Muna was appointed to replace Honourable Augustine Ngom Jua without the required Parliamentary endorsement and in contravention of the law which did not permit Muna to handle the posts of Federal Vice President and Prime Minister of the State of West Cameroon concomitantly. Southern Cameroonians saw these moves as dictatorial and undemocratic. They had come from a multi-party democratic society where free debate, alliances, consensus, and respect for the Constitution were the accepted modus operandi.  

Referendum of 20th May 1972 

While West Cameroonians were still bracing themselves for life in a political dispensation which they regarded as imposed on them by circumstances beyond their control and struggling to cope with the manoeuvres of President Ahmadou Ahidjo, he proposed a Constitution that would make the Federal Republic a unitary state, the United Republic of Cameroon. As we all know, in those days it was politically unwise and even unsafe to hold and express views different from those of the President on any issue, and so there was no public debate on the constitution. This constitution was voted on in a national referendum organized and conducted by the Cameroon National Union (CNU), by now the sole political party in the Republic. The results show that the overwhelming majority of the electors in East and West Cameroon voted in favour of a unitary state. Looking back at what happened, many Anglophone Cameroonians now believe that this was the high-water mark of Ahidjo’s deceit and manipulation of West Cameroonians, and some have linked the birth of separatist movements in Anglophone Cameroon to this referendum.  

Subsequent Constitutional Amendments

Three years later, the Constitution was amended to include the post of Prime Minister, appointed by the President. Following another amendment in 1979 the Prime Minister would be the constitutional successor of the President of the Republic.In 1984, a constitutional amendment changed the country’s name from the United Republic of Cameroon to the Republic of Cameroon. In the eyes of West Cameroonians, Law No 84-1 of 4 February 1984, was incontrovertible evidence that the original intentions of our Francophone brothers and sisters were to absorb Southern Cameroon and not to treat with it as equals. After thirty-threeyears of union, we had all ended up as citizens of the Republic of Cameroon or East Cameroon.

The Anglophone Problem

It should be clear, from the brief historical sketch presented above, what the crux of the so-called Anglophone Problem is. No matter what some self-appointed elite and spokespersons for Anglophone Cameroonians as well as government Ministers say in public, the participation of various strata of the population and the growing popularity of separatist movements among young and older members of the Anglophone community demonstrates that there is an Anglophone Problem.  There is a consciousness among Anglophone Cameroonians that all is not well and something needs to be done about their plight.

What it is

The Anglophone Problem is:

i. The failure of successive governments of Cameroon, since 1961, to respect and implement the articles of the Constitution that uphold and safeguard what British Southern Cameroons brought along to the Union in 1961.

ii. The flagrant disregard for the Constitution, demonstrated by the dissolution of political parties and the formation of one political party in 1966, the sacking of Jua and the appointment of Muna in 1968 as the Prime Minister of West Cameroon, and other such acts judged by West Cameroonians to be unconstitutional and undemocratic

iii. The cavalier management of the 1972 Referendum which took out the foundational element (Federalism) of the 1961 Constitution.

iv. The 1984 Law amending the Constitution, which gave the country the original East Cameroon name (The Republic of Cameroon) and thereby erased the identity of the West Cameroonians from the original union. West Cameroon, which had entered the union as an equal partner, effectively ceased to exist.

v. The deliberate and systematic erosion of the West Cameroon cultural identity which the 1961 Constitution sought to preserve and protect by providing for a bi-cultural federation.

The Management of the Anglophone Problem

It is our conviction that the Anglophone Problem would have been solved, or at least mitigated, if it had been well managed by those concerned. A lack of proper management seems to be what has aggravated the problem.

The Government and Government Ministers

It is unfortunate to note that the government of Cameroon seems to have made every attempt to downplay or even deny the existence of an Anglophone Problem. Government Ministers (even those of former West Cameroon extraction) have denied the existence of any such problem in the media and in public speeches. Furthermore, it is widely believed in Anglophone Cameroon that government has consciously created divisions among the English-speaking elite, remunerating some allies with prestigious positions in the state apparatus previously reserved for Francophones only, and repressing all actions designed to improve on the status of Anglophone Cameroonians in the union. This seems to have been proven true in the recent unrests by the utterances of government Ministers in the Press Conference on CRTV, in the dispatch of an Anglophone Elite delegation to the Northwest Region, and in the brutal suppression of protests by certain professional groups and sections of the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

Secessionist Groups

In the face of this denial of the existence of an Anglophone Problem by government and the consequent deafening silence from the government to the cries and protests of Anglophone Cameroonians, certain groups have emerged in Anglophone Cameroon that call for the secession of Anglophone from Francophone Cameroon. The Southern Cameroons Youth League, the Southern Cameroons National Council, and the Ambazonia Movement are some of the most strident of these groups and are currently members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) in The Hague.

Federalists

There are different forms of federalism, and federalists in Anglophone Cameroon will differ as to the specific nature of the federal state they would want. However, they are all agreed that they do require a federation which recognises and preserves the region’s peculiarity, as did the 1961 Federal Constitution.

Unitarists

Successive amendments to the Constitution up to and including the Amendments of 1996 insist on the fact that Cameroon is one and indivisible (Article 1-2, 1996). Cameroon is described as a decentralised unitary state. Unitarists believe that everything must be done to avoid federalism or secession. However, even the decentralisation announced by the 1996 Constitution has not been implemented, and government and administration have been highly centralised. 

Symptoms of Discontent

What some people mistake for the Anglophone Problem are just symptoms pointing to the fact that an overwhelming majority of Anglophone Cameroonians are not happy in the union which they entered with East Cameroon in 1961. They have complained against widespread and systematic marginalisation in various areas of public life which point to the existence of a huge problem. Some of these symptoms include the following:

Marginalisation in Human Resource Development and Deployment

i. Anglophone Cameroonians have complained about the fact that National Entrance Examinations into Schools that develop the human resources of this country are set per the French Subsystem of Education which makes it very difficult for Anglophones and Francophones to compete on a level playing field. Majority of the membership of these Examination Boards are Francophone so that the interests of Anglophone candidates are hardly, if ever, protected. 

ii. Out of the five Ministries concerned with Education, which is the means of the transmission of culture, none of the Minsters is Anglophone and none even qualifies to be a deputy or Secretary of State. This gives the impression of a calculated attempt to kill Anglophone culture.

iii. In human resource deployment, there is a gaping inequality in the distribution of posts of responsibility between Anglophones and Francophones. Of the 36 Ministers who defended the budgets for the Ministries last month, only one was Anglophone. In addition, there seem to be key ministries that have been reserved for Francophone Ministers only and Anglophones do not even qualify to be Secretaries of State under them. These include, but are not limited to, Defence, Finance, Territorial Administration, and Economy.

iv. In the 1961 Constitution, the Vice President was the second most important personality in state protocol. Today, the Prime Minister (appointed Anglophone) is the fourth most important person in State Protocol, after the President of the Senate and the President of the National Assembly. Even so, Anglophone Cameroonians believe that he wields no real authority and, like was the case with J.N. Foncha as First National Vice President of the CPDM, finds it “impossible to use [his] exalted position to help in any way shape or influence the policies of the party and nation.”(7)  There are clearly Francophone ministers who wield more power than he does. This seems to have been proven true in the last Teachers’ strike. When the Prime Minister was in Bamenda negotiating with the Teachers’ Union Leaders, a group of Francophone Ministers were giving a Press Conference in Yaoundé on the same issue, giving the impression that the negotiations of the PM in Bamenda were of no consequence. 

The Treatment of the English Language

There have been widespread protests about the way the English Language has been treated in the public life of the nation. 

i. State institutions produce documents and public notices in French, with no English translation, and expect English speaking Cameroonians to read and understand them. 

ii. National Entrance Examinations into some professional schools are set in French only and Anglophone candidates are expected to answer them. Sometimes this happens even in the English-speaking regions.

iii. Visitors and clients to government offices are expected to express themselves in French, even in the English-speaking regions, since most of the bosses in the offices speak French and make no effort to speak English.

iv. Most Senior Administrators and members of the Forces of Law and Order in the Northwest and Southwest Regions are French-speaking and make no effort to understand the cultures and customs of the people they are appointed to govern. 

v. Members of Inspection Teams, Missions and Facilitators for Seminars sent from the Ministries in Yaoundé to the English-speaking Regions are generally predominantly French speaking, and expect to be understood by audiences which are predominantly English speaking.

vi. The Military Tribunals in the Northwest and Southwest Regions are basically French courts.

vii. Basic Finance documents which businesses and other institutions are expected to work with are all in French. Examples include the COBAC Code, the CIMA Code and the OHADA Code.

The Flooding of Anglophone Cameroon with Francophone Administrators and Workers

Apart from the fact that Ministers, Directors General, Heads of Parastatals, Senior Divisional Officers, Heads of Law Enforcement Institutions, etc. are disproportionately Francophone, there seems to have been a conscious effort made to flood the Northwest and Southwest Regions with Francophone Heads of Service. 

i. The Magistrates in these Regions are disproportionately Francophone. So are the Senior Divisional Officers, the Divisional Officers, Commissioners, and Commandants. In the educational sectors, there are increasingly Francophone principals posted to Anglophone schools. Personnel in Hospitals, Banks and Mobile Telephone Companies (even those which originate from Anglophone countries), are predominantly Francophone. And this extends to even non-expert workers in petrol stations. 

ii. The situation is aggravated by the fact that these Francophone administrators are often overbearing, very arrogant and treat people as if they were second-class citizens, and have no iota of respect for the dignity of the human person.

Mismanagement of ‘West Cameroon’ Patrimony

Apart from neglect of infrastructure in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon and the mismanagement and ruin of buoyant companies like Cameroon Bank, West Cameroon Marketing Board, WADA in Wum, West Cameroon Cooperative Movement, etc., oil revenues are alleged to be used by those in power to feed ‘the bellies’ of their allies, and to stimulate the economy in other regions. In addition, there is also great anxiety in Anglophone Cameroon that its major agro-industrial enterprises, especially the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) and Plantations Pamol du Cameroun Ltd (Pamol), are sold or their headquarters moved elsewhere.

The ‘Francophonisation’ of the English Educational Subsystem and the Common-Law System

The flooding of state Anglophone educational and legal institutions with French-trained and French speaking Cameroonians who understand neither our educational subsystem nor the English Common Law undermines Anglophone education and legal heritage and subverts the original intentions of the founders of the nation to build a bi-cultural nation, respecting the specificity of each region. This is the cause of the current strikes by common law lawyers and teachers.

Admissions into State Professional Schools

The exclusion of qualified Anglophones in admissions into state professional schools (especially Schools of Administration, Medicine and Medical Sciences and Higher Teacher Training) even in the Anglophone Regions is a glaring example of marginalisation which the Teachers Unions cited.

These, and many others, have led to the unease and discomfort of the people of the Northwest and Southwest Regions. They perceived this marginalisation as institutionalised as they have been labelled “Biafrans”, “enemies in the house” and “traitors” by highly placed government officials and ministers who were never reprimanded for doing so.

Gradual Erosion of Anglophone Identity

There has been a misleading argument from some quarters where some have argued that an Anglophone is anyone who can speak English, as a way of countering Anglophone Cameroonians who protest the issues we have enumerated above. It might be helpful, for the purposes of our presentation and future discourse, to note here that ‘Anglophonism’ goes beyond the mere ability to speak or understand the English language. It speaks to a core of values, beliefs, customs, and ways of relating to the other inherited from the British who ruled this region from 1916 to 1961. ‘Anglophonism’ is a culture, a way of being which cannot be transmitted by merely learning a language. In fact, as Dr. Anthony Ndi intimates, Southern Cameroonians had “a distinctive outlook and way of life that went further than the mere fact that the educated ones among them spoke the English Language or a version of it. So, therefore, language could not even be the qualifying factor”.(8) This Anglophone identity is the reason most Southern Cameroonians who voted to join the Republic of Cameroon in 1961 did so. It was to preserve their cultural identity as a distinct people.

Anglophone Cameroonians are slowly being asphyxiated as every element of their culture is systematically targeted and absorbed into the Francophone Cameroon culture and way of doing things. These include the language, the educational system, the system of administration and governance (where appointed leaders are sent to lord it over people who cherish elected leaders), the legal system, and a transparent democratic process where elected leaders are answerable to the electorate who put them there in the first place.

Anglophone Cameroonians have seen through this and are raising their voices in protest. The two All Anglophone Conferences (AAC I and II) of the early 1990s, the rise and popularity of the SCNC and other secessionist voices are born of the frustration of Anglophone Cameroonians of being ignored and ridiculed for asking for what they deem to be theirs by right, namely the preservation of their culture. You would remember that, in his resignation letter from the post of first Vice President of the CPDM on the 9th of June 1990, J.N. Foncha cited in point 9 of the letter, as a reason for resigning, the fact that the constitution was “in many respects being ignored and manipulated”.

A Natural Reaction

The reaction of Anglophone Cameroonians to preserve their culture can only be described as ‘natural’. Is it any surprise that the first Opposition party that forced the door open for multi-partyism in Cameroon, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), came from Anglophone Cameroon? Following the formation of the party, the architect who brought Southern Cameroonians into the union with the Republic of Cameroon, John Ngu Foncha, resigned in disillusionment as the First Vice-President of the CPDM. He explained: 

The Anglophone Cameroonians whom I brought into the union have been ridiculed and referred to as ‘les Biafrians’, ‘les ennemies dans la maison’, ‘les traitres’ etc., and the constitutional provisions which protected this Anglophone minority have been suppressed, their voice drowned while the rule of the gun replaced the dialogue which the Anglophones cherish very much.(9)

This is not to say that we do not see the other side of the argument. In any polity formed bytwo or more ethnic, cultural, religious, or linguistic groups, there is bound to be a majority versus minority problem. In any such situation, the wise thing to do would be to make constitutional provisions which would protect and safeguard the existence and rights of the minority, rather than trample on them. The Church teaches that “not even the majority of a social body may violate these rights, by going against the minority, by isolating, oppressing, or exploiting it, or by attempting to annihilate it.”(10) Cameroon prides itself as a state of law. In this area, she is at one with the Church which teaches that society should be organised on the principle of the “rule of law”. This is the principle “in which the law is sovereign, and not the arbitrary will of individuals”(11) So, apart from the plethora of issues which enhance Anglophone disaffection with the union, there is the additional problem that they are a minority in that union.

Proposed Way Forward

It is not for us to dictate to the Cameroonian people what form the government of this countryshould take or what solutions should be provided for the problems we have highlighted. The Church respects the legitimate autonomy of the democratic order and is not entitled to express preferences for this or that institutional or constitutional solution. Her contribution to the political order is precisely her vision of the dignity of the person revealed in all its fullness in the mystery of the Incarnate Word(12). That notwithstanding, we feel obliged in conscience as the religious and moral leaders in this part of the country, who exercise care over a people who are hurting, to propose the following lines of action which, hopefully, should lead to peace and harmony among our people.

Honesty in the face of the Anglophone Problem

One of the most disingenuous things any enlightened Cameroonian, talk less of educated Cameroonian of Anglophone upbringing, can do is to deny that there is an Anglophone Problem. If former French President, Jacques Chirac, the Commonwealth, the European Union, and many others have recognised that there is an Anglophone Problem and advised that the government of Cameroon and the discontented Anglophones engage in dialogue, how can Cameroonians deny that there is a problem? To play the ostrich and bury our heads in the sand is to sow disaster for the future of the nation we all love. It is to give way to extremist tendencies in the Anglophone community born of frustration at not being listened to or understood. Is it possible that the government has not heard the cries of distress of the All Anglophone Conferences which represented a broad base of Anglophone Cameroonians? Is it possible that the government has not heard the Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA), the Common-Law Lawyers, the Teachers’ Trade Unions, Students, and others who are not only uncomfortable but are choking under the present dispensation? 

Is it possible for us to look this beast in the eye, confront it together and overcome it for the sake of peace and unity in our country? The government’s continued denial of any Anglophone Problem, and its determination to defend the unitary state by all available means, including repression, could lead to an escalation of Anglophone demands past a point of no return, and this is not something any responsible citizen would wish for their country.

The All Anglophone Conferences (AAC) of 1993 and 1994

In May1993, the 65-member Anglophone Standing Committee established by the AAC submitted a draft constitution which would provide for major political, financial, and fiscal autonomy for the two federated states, for the provinces inside both, and for the communities inside each province. Theyproposed the usual separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judiciary, and a senate and national assembly for each federated state, as well as a rotating presidency for the Federal Republic, whereby after at most two consecutive mandates of five years an Anglophone would succeed a Francophone (or vice versa). This proposal was even reiterated for each of the federated states to ensure alternation between the provinces. This would be for us a lasting solution to the irksome Anglophone Problem, and would be acceptable to the majority of Anglophone and Francophone Cameroonians. 

The Implementation of the 1996 Constitution

We know there is never a perfect constitution and that is the reason why constitutions are amended to make them responsive to changes in time and situation. The 1996 Constitution, even though some have had issues with sections of it, is good enough as an immediate remedy for the ‘woes’ Anglophones are listing and which make life together in this nation burdensome to them. As the second-best option, we recommend an urgent and immediate implementation of the 1996 Constitution. We recommend that all the institutions created by that constitution be put in place, and that those put in place be empowered with persons charged with rendering them functional. This would include the Regions, the Senate and, by extension, the constitutional council, administrative courts, the minor courts of accounting/auditing. It is important for Cameroonians, especially those who seek protection under the ‘rule of law’ and of the Constitution, to know that the constitution has really been deployed as a means of regulating the political process in Cameroon. It is our firm belief that if this is done immediately, it would satisfy the majority of Anglophone Cameroonians and silence the calls for secession which have characterized this period of unrest. 

Constructive Dialogue and the Establishment of a Roadmap

In the short term and, because the Lawyers and Teachers Strikes have paralysed our legal and school systems, it is imperative for the government to dialogue with the Lawyers and Teachers as soon as possible and agree a possible roadmap regarding their legitimate and genuine demands. We cannot solve a problem if we are unwilling to talk to each other. In the spirit of the African family, we would expect the father of the family to find out from a hurting (even if errant) child what the problem is and what they can do to alleviate their pain and suffering. There are a good number of the problems raised by our lawyers and teachers which can be solved now and there are others which can be solved later, but we need to agree a roadmap and respect it. This will enable the Teachers’ Unions to call off the strike and permit our children, who have already lost four weeks of schooling, to return to school. Indeed, openness to dialogue and to cooperation is required of all people of good will, and in particular of individuals and groups with specific responsibilities in the areas of politics, economics and social life, at both the national and international levels(13).

Respect for Human Rights

While it is the duty of administrative and law enforcement officers to maintain peace and order in their areas of jurisdiction, many of them have been unnecessarily overbearing and arrogant. Issuing orders and threats for teachers to return to school, for instance, is not the way to solve their problem. Further, the current unrests have shown up a very ugly and embarrassing side of our administrators and the forces of law and order. Without any provocation from the lawyers or students at the University of Buea (who carried placards saying ‘No to Violence’ and raised their hands in the air), the forces of law and order brutalized some of them so badly and so inhumanely that seeing the pictures one would have thought they came from the Stone Age. It was shameful to see law enforcement officers drag female students in the mud, spray students’ rooms with tear-gas and contaminated water, and then lock some up for days just for exercising a basic human right to make their voices heard in a peaceful manner.

The Church teaches that

“A just society can become a reality only when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person... Every political, economic, social, scientific, and cultural programme must be inspired by the awareness of the primacy of each human being over society... For this reason, neither his life nor the development of his thought, nor his good, nor those who are part of his personal and social activities can be subjected to unjust restrictions in the exercise of their rights and freedom.”(14)

Our administrators and the forces of law and order need to be called to order. In the exercise of their duties for the common good of all citizens, they must never trample on the rights of those citizens and deal out subhuman treatment to them. Such behaviour contravenes the law and provides a seedbed for deep resentment which later manifests itself in very ugly ways.

It is in light of this that we propose that the government should immediately withdraw the forces of law and order from the streets of the Anglophone towns to which they have been deployed, open proper investigations into any abuses of human rights by the forces of law and order, and release or charge those who have been locked up as a result of the recent unrests. In this way, we would have a better climate for the negotiations which have been proposed between the government and the teachers and lawyers.

Justice for All

Every Anglophone group that has raised its voice in protest has chronicled a number of perceived injustices which either the group or the Anglophone community in general suffers. Again, if the government gives them a listening ear, it would become clear to all whether these perceived injustices are founded or just imaginary. As long as these people, rightly or wrongly, continue to feel that they are the victims of injustice, we cannot build ‘the Island of Peace’ in Central and West Africa we have been proclaiming that we are, and we cannot develop our country without this peace either. We do not believe, in conscience, that locking up people who speak up against injustice (real or imagined) will kill dissent and bring peace. Maybe some examples will help clarify the point we are making.

On the 14th of December 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. made a statement outside a California prison where Vietnam war protesters were being held. He said: There can be no justice without peace and there can be no peace without justice.On the World Day for Peace, 1st January 1972, Pope Paul VI had as theme for his Message: if you want peace, work for justice. These great crusaders for social justice teach us that without justice, peace will be an elusive goal. 

Of course, you would remember the Apostolic Visit of Pope St. John Paul II to Cameroon in August 1985. In his Address to the President, Constituted Bodies, and the Members of the Diplomatic Corps, he said:

« Devant les conflits qui demeurent ou renaissent, tout le monde doit se poser honnêtement la question de leurs causes. Les injustices commises par certains régimes, concernant les droits de l’homme en général ou les revendications légitimes d’une partie de la population qui se voit refuser la participation aux responsabilités communes, déclenchent des soulèvements d’une violence regrettable, mais qui ne pourront être apaisés qu’avec le rétablissement de la justice. »

These examples show that we need to examine, in a dispassionate manner, the root causes of the unease and unrest in the Anglophone Region of Cameroon and, if these causes are connected to injustice in any form, do all we can to root out those injustices.

Conclusion

Your Excellency, 

We stated at the beginning of this Memorandum that it is our bounden duty as Shepherds of the people in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon where there are unrests and dissatisfaction, to make a contribution to the solution of the problems that have been posed. We hope that you will find our contribution helpful as you try to navigate this very sensitive and delicate period in our nation’s history. We are aware of the gravity of your responsibility before the people of Cameroon and before History, and that is why we tried to do all we could to help. In addition, we commend you and the people of Cameroon to God in prayer, in the belief that He will give you the wisdom you need to carry out this task. We can only add that in this case, time is of the essence as some of our children have already missed school for a month.

A certain religious leader is credited to have said: There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice without truth. And there can be no truth, unless someone rises up to tell you the truth.What we have set forth here is what we believe to be the truth, told as part of our prophetic mission, in the hope that it will bring justice, peace, and harmony to this country which we all hold dear to our hearts.

May Mary, Queen of Peace, and Patroness of Cameroon, intercede for us and for our country.

+George Nkuo

Bishop of Kumbo and President of BAPEC

+Cornelius Fontem Esua

Archbishop of Bamenda

+Immanuel Bushu

Bishop of Buea

+Andrew Nkea

Bishop of Mamfe

+Agapitus Nfon

Bishop of Kumba

_________

ENDNOTES

1. The territory which covers the Northwest and Southwest Regions has been called various names in the History of Cameroon: British Southern Cameroons, West Cameroon, Anglophone (English-speaking) Cameroon. These names will be used in this document as appropriate to the historical period in question.

2. Gaudium et Spes, No. 76

3. Ngoh, J. V., (2011:4), The Untold Story of Cameroon Reunification: 1955-1961, Limbe, Presprint Plc.

4. Mukete, V. E., 2013:419, My Odyssey: The Story of Cameroon Reunification With Authentic Letters of Key Players, Yaounde, Sopecam.

5. Ndi, A., (2013:6) Southern West Cameroon Revisited (1950-1972): Unveiling Inescapable Traps, Volume 1, Bamenda, Paul’s Press.

6. Constitution reproduced in: Ndi, A. (2013), Southern West Cameroon Revisited (1950-1972): Unveiling Inescapable Traps, Volume 1, Bamenda, Paul’s Press. See Appendix IV

7. J.N. Foncha, 9th June 1990: Letter of Resignation from the CPDM

8. Ndi, A., (2005:249-50), Mill Hill Missionaries in Southern West Cameroon (1922-1972): Prime Partners in Nation Building, Paulines Publications Africa, Nairobi.

9. J.N.  Foncha, 9th June 1990: Letter of Resignation from the CPDM 

10. John Paul II, Centissimus Annus, No. 45.

11. John Paul II, Centissimus Annus, No. 44.

12. John Paul II, Centissimus Annus, No. 47.

13. John Paul II, Centissimus Annus, No. 60

14. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church, Nos 128, 13