Côte d'Ivoire / IVORY COAST: AN IRRITATING ANACHRONISM IN WESTERN AFRICA

Ivory Coast / Côte d'Ivoire (adopt and adapt Sassandrie; Bandamia or Komeostan to be Africanized)

In an attempt to reply to your inquiry I wish to draw you attention and those of our dear readers to the following fact about the place name IVORY COAST, many do not know. Ivory Coast whose present generation would like to impose its French appellation Cote d'Ivoire on English-speaking peoples for lack of a proper African or indigenized regionym, was at the epoch of slavery and slave trade (1400-1900) a very lucrative region in Western Africa in the supply of slaves. Western Africa was variously known as Guinea, Western Sudan, Negroland or Nigritia. In those days (1400-1900) slave dealers could buy white or black ivories. The white ivories were elephant tusks and black ivories were sadly, black skinned Africans. In consequence, the designation Ivory Coast is a way European slavers and to some extent Arabs immortalized the despicable lucrative trade in human beings and not only ivory tusks as must of you erroneously believe.

Some Ivoirians are of the opinion that by masking the phrase regionym Ivory Coast with the gallicized Côte d'Ivoire they could get away with the past opprobrium of slavery and slave harvesting in the region. They are wrong. Peter in English or Pierre in French still stands for the scriptural 'rock' and nothing more. By playing with words, you do NOT alter the meaning.

In my book published in 2009 entitled Origins of African Place Names: An Introduction to Toponymy and Politics in Africa, Ottawa: Bianco Publishing, 699 pages, I have underscored shameful colonial legacies in place names on African maps that must be expurgated to give Africans a new face-lift and Ivory Coast is one of them. I suggested to the citizens of that country to adopt Songhay as Gold Coast once adopted Ghana on the eve of their independence. Alternatively, I suggested names of major natural features in that country that could be adopted and adapted, among which were Sassandria, Bandamia and Komoestan.

I considered these more authentic than the opprobrious Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast that remains us each time we pronounce it of the shame of slavery and slaver trade that hitherto put African as inferior humans in the eyes of rosy and yellow races. I went on that IVORY COAST or translated into any language was and is still and 'irritating anachronism or a misnomer' that Africans of good will at home and in the Diaspora had to do all they could to expurgate from all maps and atlases of the world.

So Marika Sherwood, Ivory Coast was not and cannot be exonerated from the debasing human trade, slave trade that laid the seed of colonialism, neocolonialism and what is subtly known as globalization today. Historical evidence to substantiate this is overwhelming. In fact, a sensitive person from this region who is aware of this should even be ashamed of calling himself or herself an Ivorian. It is another way of saying SLAVE. Exhuming slavery and any that reminds us of that appalling phrase in the history of man must be locked and keyed. Furthermore, if my first language is German and we have a way of calling a place name in German, I do not see the reason why citizens of that country or place would want me to leave my language and use theirs when I want to write or call the name of that country. In the French atlas map, Ivory Coast will be Cote d'Ivoire but in an English atlas or map as had been before we do not see any scientific season why all of a sudden the English would be corrected to call Ivory Coast, COTE D'IVOIRE. That name is humiliating to those who know its origin. Are Africans not ashamed of being last lots of developments in the world.

Dr. Viban Ngo,
The author is a toponymist and writer of the following books: Before You Leave For Europe and North America: A Rough Companion Guide for -African- Students (2007) AuthorHouse, Indiana, USA and Origins of African Place Names (2009), Bianco Publishing, Ottawa, Canada; etc.
> Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2010 22:17:43 +0000
> From: beckerleschar@ORANGE.SN
> Subject: Ivory Coast Elections: REPLY
> To: H-WEST-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU
>
> From: "Marika Sherwood"
> Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2010 17:57:05 -0000
>
> -------------------
>
> So colonialism has much to do with what goes on today. But did the trade in
> the enslaved to the North also exclude today's Ivory Coast?


Addendum for French speakers. It has been observed that it took so long for some persons to read texts in English owing to the fact that it took so long for intellectuals to translate them from English into their languages, French, Chinese, Russian or whatever language or dialects. Am I suggesting a global scientific language for everyone? If the above comments were published in French there would have been reaction from the predominantly ex-French speaking colony of Ivory Coast sadly that is not so. Since it is in English no one from the said country has posted any comment or those who read it do not just bother. Let us try a Google Translation which is never all that right but could give the readers in French a gist of what is being discussed. Perhaps they will tell their head of state or members of parliament to seriously think over their country's name.  Interested French readers may be encouraged to read and comment:

Côte d'Ivoire / ou IVORY COAST (adoptent et adaptent Sassandrie ; Bandamia ou Komeostan être africanisée pour tenter de répondre à votre demande, que je tiens à vous attirer l'attention et celles de nos chers lecteurs sur le fait suivant sur la Côte d'Ivoire nom lieu, beaucoup ne savent pas. Côte d'Ivoire dont la génération actuelle voudraient imposer son appellation Français Côte d'Ivoire sur les peuples anglophones par manque d'un bon africain ou locaux regionym, était à l'époque de l'esclavage et la traite négrière (1400-1900), une région très lucrative en Afrique de l'Ouest dans l'approvisionnement en esclaves. Afrique de l'Ouest était diversement appelée de Guinée, de l'ouest du Soudan, de Negroland ou de Nigritia. En ce temps-là, marchands d'esclaves (1400-1900) pouvaient acheter ivoires blancs ou noirs. Les ivoires blancs étaient des défenses d'éléphant et ivoires noirs malheureusement, noir peau africains. En conséquence, la désignation de Côte d'Ivoire est une voie européenne esclavagistes et dans une certaine mesure les Arabes immortalisé le méprisable lucratif commerce des êtres humains et pas seulement Ivoire défenses comme nécessité de vous croient par erreur. Et cetera..

Scholarship-Positions and studies abroad: Are Africans elegible?

Occasionally, scholarship listing from all over the world are posted to me. I peremptorily pass them to my dear readers but I have never had any positive feed back. My assumption is that they make good use of the information. Whatever, is there any of my readers who has benefited from these? I would like to hear from you in this forum or privately?

Lately, the UK Government announced that it will be cutting down on the number of immigrants coming to study in the UK. This move has been applauded by many and others have pointed out the invisible balance of trade these foreign students contribute to the UK economy. This government that has been educating many an African will start not to admit those who are coming in for low-level courses and many of you will be affected. Sad as it may sound, the UK government has got a rider but that does not make us not to be concerned.

Our apprehension is that they might go into the higher education level, that is, specialist institutes of higher education, universities and collages that offer first grade degrees and those that offer masters and doctorate degree courses for this spurious reason that upon completion many third world students simply stay in the UK and get jobs needed by the locals. The naked truth is that if they stay, it is because they are offered jobs or not encouraged to return to their homes of origin.

I have categorically stated in my book, BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA: A ROUGH COMPANION GUIDE FOR (AFRICAN) STUDENTS (2007)for the need of Africans to return to Africa after their studies abroad and assist in laying its badly-needed economic, social, and industrial foundations. Time and again I have referred to the example of Japan where it was mandatory for students to return home after their studies. If they had to work in Europe and North America after the Second World War, it was to gain industrial experience and not to settled or naturalize. They returned and implemented what they had learned and Japanese economy does not only rival those of its erstwhile teachers but is superseding. Is Japan and China not the envy of must of us? Is the blood in their veins not the same as we have in Africa? Why can we not emulate them as they did the Europeans and Americans and are success stories.

If Africans are to be allowed to work in North America and Europe or wherever they are studying in the world outside Africa, it should be to gain beneficial industrial experience and nothing more than that. It is for this reason that I am asking the British Government not to be hard on those African students who would need internship to put into practice what they have learned theoretically for the mutual benefit of the educating nation, UK and their nation states in Africa. It must be stated here that there should be a limited period students are allowed to work in their host countries and that giving them provisional work permit does not tantamount to their naturalization in those host countries.

In my aforementioned book, I have also underlined the sticky topics of naturalization and refugee status which are better handled by the foreign missions or home offices in European or North American countries where African or third world students are studying. In the past, foreigners were wanted, particularly after the Second World War where there were labor shortages. The reverse is true today and the sudden burgeoning population and no jobs to go round is responsible. It is true that there is population explosion in the UK and the standard of living dropped considerably since it joined the EEC. With the liberal nature of the British society, coupled with that fact that foreign students are not chased and asked for particulars as in Belgium, France, Germany and a good number of mainland European states, many Africans and other third and East European nationals moved to the UK either in the guise of studying, and were and are still prepared to take up any menial jobs not necessarily commensurate with their qualifications. The locals have the feeling that they are being cheated. It is not only that. This has put their welfare state and accommodation under tremendous strain. It is not surprising to find a room that was only fit for one person in Central London being split into four lilliputian cubicles to accommodate eight persons. The standard of living has thus deteriorated and most locals are prepared to leave to other cities and climes. It is no doubt that the Conservative Government of P.M. Cameron chose the option of cutting the support for students and the number of foreign students coming in to study. This has triggered demonstrations that seem interminable in major cities in the UK. What is the next option for foreign students?

With the proliferation of the internet, and distance learning, first and low level diplomas may have to be studied in the home countries and only students intending to study for masters and doctorate degrees may be allowed to migrate to the UK and other European nation states to study. Having made this point, their could be dispensation to this rule where the students concerned have demonstrated beyond any shred of doubt that they are not economic migrants or do not intent to naturalized for economic or other reasons unless it was imperative. Also, the home governments, that is African states may have to make conditions conducive for Africans not to feel that they are having second class education if they study in their home nation states. Corruption in schools, colleges, universities and within the government has to be stamped out willy-nilly. Any student who has worked hard the right way and followed prescribed courses should pass his or her exams and not the ones whose mentors, parents or uncles are wealthy and bribe the examiners. This attitude gainsays the Western tradition of education.

Viban Ngo, PhD, (London).


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Forwarded UNPO Newsletter

It is good to learn that there is an organization over there that remembers our fallen heroes and heroines. Of particularly interest is the mentioning of Ken Saro Wiwa's story of Nigeria. It is a story that invokes memories of Pius Njawe of the Cameroun and many more.
Dr. VN

UNPO Newsletter
Newsletter October 2010



Dear UNPO Members and Friends,



Gandhi Day and International Day of Nonviolence, celebrated on October 2nd reminded us of our commitment to nonviolence, one of the 6 core tenets of UNPO. On October 8th, jailed Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize for two decades of nonviolent struggle for human rights. UNPO commends the decision, since it underlines the lack of protection of human rights, which should not be forsaken for economic growth.

On October 24th the United Nations celebrated its 65th Anniversary. Yet the issue of those whose voices are excluded from its halls remains pressing. Despite its successes in many areas, the United Nations system has ultimately failed to adapt to changing global realities. Many have highlighted this anniversary as a day to celebrate the accomplishments of the United Nations; UNPO, however, marks this as a day on which we resolve to do more to bring the voices of the unrepresented to the UN system.



An important development this month was the United States’ reconsideration of its position towards the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, having voted against it at the U.N. more than three years ago. The Declaration confirms the fundamental rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples across the world, and whilst this marks a huge step forward, the document remains not legally binding.



Thirty-eight Mapuche political prisoners continued their hunger strike to draw attention to the leveling of their villages for forestry enterprise. Many Mapuche were arrested on arson and destruction of property charges after the Chilean government sold a large portion of their land to forestry companies, allegedly without their consent. In the first week of October, 24 of the prisoners ended their strike following partial reform to the legislation after pressure from Amnesty International and the United Nations on the Chilean Government. But 14 prisoners remain in Chilean hospitals, continuing the protest fast until all Pinochet-era anti-terrorism laws are repealed.



Significantly, UNPO has been admitted to a prestigious coalition of Dutch NGOs in whose meetings UNPO will have the opportunity to feed into Dutch policy decision making processes, extending our influence to the newly formed government and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as well as with Dutch embassies worldwide.



On a bittersweet note we like to remind you that it has been 15 years since the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and this will be commemorated on November 10th. This tragic event will be marked by inspirational festivities intended to celebrate the life and accomplishments of Ken Saro Wiwa who was a truly remarkable leader and gave his life for the cause. UNPO is functioning as chair of a Dutch coalition for the commemoration of Ken Saro-Wiwa's life and campaigns. A public gathering outside the Dutch Parliament will take place followed by a concert "Standing Before History" featuring the internationally renowned singer Nneka. The events will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, and we would like to invite you all to extend this information to your networks, particularly to those people who would like to be a part of witnessing the commemoration and are able to come to The Hague. Please also visit the website UNPO has designed for the event: www.CleanTheNigerDelta.org



Best wishes and kind regards,



Marino Busdachin

UNPO General Secretary


OCTOBER ACTIVITIES & EVENTS





1 October



Panel discussion on 'Humanitarian Interaction with Armed Non-State Actors'

International Press Center, Brussels, Belgium



UNPO Meeting with Simon Zoltan and Joana Triana on Balochistan

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium



UNPO Meeting with Toby King

European Commission, Brussels, Belgium






2 October



Celebrations Gandhi Day

The Hague, The Netherlands

Gandhi Night with GHRD and City of The Hague






4 October



UNPO Meeting with Bogdan Deleanu regarding Balochistan

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium



Panel Discussion on 'The Emerging Role of Civil Society in Burma/Myanmar'

Brussels, Belgium






5 October



Public debate with José Ramos-Horta, President of East-Timor on Peace and Democracy in Burma

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

During this debate on the road to Peace and Democracy in Burma, several important figures held a contributory speech. Among them were of course José Ramos-Horta: President of East Timor and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Joseph Daul who is Chair of the EPP Group on the European Parliament, US Ambassador to the EU William Kennard and Catherine Ashton in the function of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The debate ended with a roundtable on the "Views on the developments in Burma" which was moderated by MEPs Jose Ignacio Salafranca and Elmar Brok.

For more details, please see click here.






6 October



UNPO Meeting with Mr Khan and MEP Jean Lambert

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium







7 October



UPR NGO round table discussion

Geneva, Switzerland UNPO's Maggie Murphy attended the UPR NGO roundtable discussion feeding in UNPO’s experience with the UPR process since 2006 and offering recommendations for its reform based on UNPO Member experiences.



Current Cross-Strait Relations and Prospects for the Future

Brussels, Belgium






8 October



UNPO Meeting with International Service for Human Rights

Geneva, Switzerland

Maggie Murphy met with ISHR representatives to discuss UNPO’s involvement in Treaty Bodies and to discuss the situation of the Ogaden and Oromo Members.



UNPO Meeting with international Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims

Geneva, Switzerland

Maggie Murphy met with the Geneva head of IRCTV to discuss UNPO’s involvement in the forthcoming session of the Committee Against Torture, and in particular our plans to bring an Ogaden victim to speak at Ethiopia’s examination.



UNPO Meeting with Graham Fox, Assistant to UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues

Geneva, Switzerland

Maggie Murphy met with the senior advisor to the UN Independent Expert of Minority Issues. She discussed the 3rd Session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues for which UNPO is bringing a large delegation. She also discussed the situation of the Khmer Krom and Degar (Montagnards) in Viet Nam.



UNPO Meeting with Human Rights House Foundation

Geneva, Switzerland

Maggie Murphy met with HRHF representatives to discuss UNPO’s involvement in Treaty Bodies and to discuss the situation of the Ogaden and Oromo Members in particular.



UNPO Meeting with Borys Brzezinski regarding Balochistan

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium



UNPO Meeting with Mr. Gaston Lion on the Mapuche

Brussels, Belgium






11 October



UNPO Meeting with Office of Norica Nicolai MEP regarding Balochistan

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium



Seminar Carnegie Europe: 'US Democracy Policy Under Obama: Rebalancing or Retreat?'

Brussels, Belgium



UNPO Meeting with Gaston Lion & Ana Miranda Paz regarding Mapuche

Brussels, Belgium



UNPO Meeting with Mr. Mehmet Tohti (East Turkestan Representative)

Brussels, Belgium



UNPO Meeting with Mr. Mohamud Daar (Somaliland Representative)

Brussels, Belgium



UNPO Meeting with Mr. Abdul Hamid Khan (Gilgit-Baltistan Representative)

Brussels, Belgium






12 October



Broad Human Rights Meeting (BMO)

The Hague, The Netherlands

In light of the newly formed Dutch Government and the role of NGO's and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in human rights issues, the following topics were discussed: the Dutch Human Rights Strategy, a possible 4 year plan from the Ministry and the concept governing agreement.

Cooperation with NGOs was considered valuable for they have expertise concerning some countries or themes.






13 October



UNPO Meeting with US Embassy regarding Iran

The Hague, The Netherlands

Maggie Murphy met with a senior policy advisor at the US Embassy, informing him of the situation in Iran for minority groups. She attended with Ahwazi Arab representative Mr. Abdolsallam Hasennezhad Nesi.






14 October



Extraordinary Meeting of AFET, DEVE and DSAS on Pakistan

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

UNPO distributed a concise and effective briefing note on the situation facing all Pakistan’s provinces and occupied territories in advance of the meeting convened by the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET), Development Committee (DEVE) and the Delegation for Relations with South Asia (DSAS). The success of this initiative is being utilized on a national level with the ongoing discussions on Pakistan.






18 October



UNPO Meeting with Mr. Mehmet Tohti (East Turkestan Representative)

Brussels, Belgium






21 October



UNPO Meeting with Mr. Rokas & Ms. Lane

European Commission, Brussels, Belgium






22 October



UNPO Meeting with Ms. Abbey Faugus (African Rights Monitor)

Brussels, Belgium






25 October



"Somalia & Somaliland: living apart together"

Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Andrew Swan represented UNPO in a discussion on Somalia and Somaliland concerning the topics: piracy, Islamic militants, the independence declaration of Somaliland, the lack of recognition and how the diaspora can make a positive contribution. For more details, please click here.



UNPO Attends at CEDAW

Geneva, Switzerland

UNPO's Caroline de Bruin and Dominic Wall, along with representatives of Ethiopia’s Ogaden minority, attended the Pre-Sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva (CEDAW).






26 October



Conference Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP): Geneva Call Fact-Finding Mission

Geneva, Switzerland

UNPO’s Caroline de Bruin attended the public discussion on Fact-finding during Armed Conflict. The Conference discussed 2009 Verification Mission to the Philippines to investigate allegations of Anti-Personnel landmine use by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). As decided at the 11th Session of the UNPO Presidency, which took place 25-27 September 2010 in Geneva, the MILF have been granted UNPO Membership.



Myths of Nuclear Power - A Guide

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

UNPO attend event support by the Heinrich Boell Foundation with Rebecca Harms MEP and Fiona Hall MEP in attendance.



Building a Liberal Europe - The ALDE project

European Parliament, Brussels Belgium

UNPO attends book launch of Graham Watson’s latest work, Building a Liberal Europe - The ALDE project’. Mr Watson has been a past supporter of UNPO initiatives in the European Parliament.






27 October



UNPO Attends Meeting of Delegation for Relations with South Asia

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

Meeting sets forward proposed timetable for 2011 delegation visits to Pakistan.






28 October



UNPO Attends Meeting of Delegation for Relations with Iraq

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

Meeting notes desire for a hearing on the situation facing ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq.


UNPO Meeting with Cultural Department of the Indian Embassy

Brussels, Belgium
UPCOMING EVENTS





5 November



International NGO Network Meeting

The Hague, The Netherlands






7 November



Elections will be held in Burma






10 November



15th Anniversary of the Execution of Ken Saro Wiwa

UNPO and Dutch coalition (chaired by UNPO) kick-off their commemoration of Ken Saro Wiwa’s life and campaigns, focusing on progress made and future strategies for change.



Niger Delta Public Gathering outside the Dutch parliament

The Hague, the Netherlands

A public rally and debate will take place involving key stakeholders related to the ongoing environmental crisis in the Niger Delta.



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23 November



Broad Human Rights Meeting (BMO) hosted by HIVOS

The Hague, The Netherlands






10 December



International Human Rights Day



Tulip Award for Human Rights Defenders

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands

Ms Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World Uyghur Congress, is among the list of nominees put forward, following a concerted campaign by UNPO to win support from national and European deputies.






TBC



Kashgar Conference

European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium






TBC



Gilgit Baltistan Conference

Brussels, Belgium

Sponsored by Jurgen Creutzmann MEP the conference will examine the human rights and political situation in Gilgit-Baltistan and the impact of recent flooding.
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Zintgraff's Explorations in Bamenda, Adamawa and the Benue Lands 1889-1892 By E.M. Chilver

A book review

The authoress, Mrs. E.M. Chilver at 96 is a very methodical researcher and a scholar extraordinaire. She is an incomparable authority in the BC and Cameroon history. She has presented a valuable document that will stand the test of time and I will not hesitate to recommend to interested readers.

I read the manuscripts of this book donkey years ago. (A similar account by Mrs Chilver was OSCAR ZIMMERMANNN’S DURCH BUSCH UND STEPPE 1892-1902. As the one under consideration, it was a traductum from German into French by a friend of Sally as her friends like to call her, called Beatrice Griffiths. Mrs Griffiths was a British career diplomat who had worked on consular affairs at Bonn, then the political capital of West Germany and as a school mistress in England. This is another work that could also be published if polished). Zintgraff’s Explorations in Bamenda… edited by another Oxford don, Mr. E. W. Ardener in a different format first surfaced in 1966. It was meant for private circulation. I was a toddler and could not read. However, I got to peruse this work later on in life while researching for my doctorate of philosophy degree at LSE. The authoress, Mrs. E.M. Chilver was still the Chair of Lady Margaret's Hall, Oxford University. As a close friend and confidant, I had the opportunity to ask her for clarifications on certain pertinent questions raised in this book. Whatever, the work immensely contributed to my research on the mapping of the Cameroon by the Germans, particularly Zintgraff and his eight pioneering followers’ slice of place names accounts that I have since then expanded and published as ORIGINS OF AFRICAN PLACE NAMES (2009), Bianco Publishing , Ottawa. I was amazed at the detailed explanations of Sally and Dr. Eugen Zintgraff's observations as how the Grassfielders lived in their natural environment, their concept of tribal boundaries which were akin to those of European nation states we know today; the paying of tributes as travelers traversed each others abutting borders and wars they fought with the support of their friendly tribe, the Bali.

Besides, the book has several revelations as Chilver’s earlier publication on the Grassfields; CAMEROON’S TYCOON (2001) by Verghahn Book, Oxford which to me is a gem of a kiss-and-tell captivating narrative with more illustrations than the work under consideration. However, I was appalled beyond words reading Zintgraff's recording of slavery and slave trade that was still extant in the Grassfields, BC and the inhuman treatment of slaves. (Although slavery and slave trade were still going on in the hinterland of Western Africa, it was abolished by the British Government in the British spheres of influence as far back as 1834). As paraphrased by the authoress, Zintgraff’s report vividly portrayed the abandonment of some slaves to be eaten by vultures who were so emaciated from lack of food, diseases or fatigue owing to long trek en route to the coast for transshipment most probably clandestinely to the New World.

Zintgraff's amity with the supreme King of the Bali people, Fon Garega I is highlighted. His welcome by the King gave him a base and psychological courage from where he and his entourage carried out their explorations of the surrounding areas and his famous march to the River Benue ports of Ibi and Jebu (in the present day Nigeria) before his eventual return to Bali where he had built for himself a European styled bungalow using local materials. King Garega who was megalomaniac saw his friendship with the Germans as an open door to make himself leader of the Grassfields as in this except:

“Garega had the intention of making himself leader of all the Grassfield people. This certainly would be difficult if he were to rely solely on the guns and spears of his 5,000 Bali warriors. He has indeed, already made a name for himself as a successful warrior and is feared. The Bali had entered the land as conquerors and had continued to expand after their settlement. Then a white man, the first of a race about whose power and wealth many rumors had reached the areas, had come to him. Garega had not killed and robbed him but had sought to win his friendship, admittedly in his own interests and possibly over-estimating his power to help. But Garega also saw beyond this, and had found in the European outlook something worthy of respect. ‘War and force,’ Garega used to say, ‘make people fear and empties the land, but land without people is like a burnt-out-fire. Consequently Garega is aiming to become the chief arbitrator of disputes between the neighboring tribes. This he sees as the best means of uniting the Grassfields under Bali leadership….”

I will state that this work is like a review of Zintgraff’s report Sally has carefully cited as a Memorandum to the Colonial Bureau of the German Foreign Office of his path-finding peregrinations in the Grassfields. His report as those of his contemporaries was his way to entice the German Colonial Government to intensify their colonization of this region of Western Africa. Irrespective of this, what the locals viewed as invasion by Europeans was dangerous. Most tribes saw Europeans as belligerent aliens and engaged them in wars. Consequently, Dr. Eugene Zintgraff lost six of his cronies in battles with the neighboring tribes (Fut, Mankon, Fang, Bungo, etcetera).

With the prevalence of wars, it was no doubt that Dr Zintgraff’s immediate apprehension was security of Europeans. On this, he concluded that this could be achieved by the establishment of a base at Baliburg (Bali)that would primarily protect European traders, missionaries and other types of incomers from Kaiser Germany, secure caravan routes, establish justice among the locals and to unify all the Grassfields tribes under the sovereign that has welcomed him, Garega of Bali.  The last proposition interested the King whose predecessors had fought their way with their people all the way from the present day Northern Nigeria to settle in the Grassfields, BC. There was still that burning desire to expand the kingdom of Bali through internecine inter-tribal wars.

When the Germans eventually finished their wars of subjugation with the tribes of this region they were to carve out and christened the Kamerun (The Cameroons) Bali language, know as Mugaka was chosen as the lingua franca for the Grassfielders of Kamerun. Duala language, erroneously called by some ethnographers dialect was chosen as that of the forest dwellers, Foresters. We can only conjecture the outcome of this as all German plans in their colonies were shattered by the outbreak of the First World War.

Although this was the official plan of the Germans to inculcate these two languages into congeries of tribes that formed their new colony of Kamerun (The Cameroons), the German officials and business persons realized that Pidgin English was the best lingua franca. To start with, it was widely spoken as it had its spread in the region from the days of slavery and slave trade in Western Africa. It was not until circa 1912 that the German Colonial Government saw the need to start teaching German in earnest in their Colony. They had been alarmed at the spread of English that was privately taught by European missionaries and business persons of English extraction principally in the littoral regions at the expense of German. Their naivety or racist attitude made colonial Germans to believe that Africans were inept or not intelligent enough to learn a sophisticated Teutonic language as German and that it was too precious to be taught to Africans whom many had looked down upon. The German Sacred Heart Missionaries, S.C.J. and the German Pollotin Missionaries who had had no shred of doubt that Africans could not master European languages (Europhone) had started teaching German to African students at Kumbo, Duala and elsewhere at Schools they had founded. Some German officials were even impressed while touring the Grassfields that Fr. Johnnes Emonts’, S.C.J. students could not only read and write in German but could address them in that language fluently.(See the forthcoming work: To the Grassfields and Highlands of Inner Cameroon by John Emonts, SCJ, edited by Dr. Viban Ngo, ISBN 2-940352-00-3)

The book is full of goodies that Africanists, scholars of Cameroon, ethnographers, anthropologists or social historians will treasure. More of pristine Africans could have been recorded by Dr. Zintgraff but for the fact that there were sometimes misinterpretation of situations, lack of in-depth knowledge of Africans [irrespective of his previous experience in the Congo]then who were not sure of what the Europeans were up to and would not divulge all about themselves or their neighbors, lack of proper communication, as they relied on the interpretation of a belligerent tribe who falsified data for their interest and not of the German explorer, etc.. The authoress, who is a very methodical researcher, scholar extraordinaire and an authority in the BC and Cameroon history, has presented us with a valuable document that I will not hesitate to suggest to interested readers.

Dr. Viban Viban Ngo.

Ottawa, Canada.

* £17.95
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* New release
* About the author

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Zintgraff's Explorations in Bamenda, Adamawa and the Benue Lands 1889-1892

E.M. Chilver

The following pages, initially prepared for limited circulation in 1961, contain brief extracts and summaries of those parts of Eugen Zintgraff’s book Nord-Kamerun (1895), of most interest concerning the colonial Bamenda and Wum Division. Zintgraff’s book, the first by a European about the Grassfields, has not been translated and is hard to get second-hand.

In using these notes the following points should be borne in mind: Zintgraff’s knowledge of Bali (Mungaka) and Hausa was very slight, and his discussions of character, motives and political institutions are consequently superficial and open to criticisms. He had no means of checking what he was told, or thought he was told. He had no previous knowledge of any similar culture and no training in ethnographical method. He was, however, a good observer, and his descriptions of tools, dress, weapons and the like, can be regarded as fairly reliable. Finally, it must be remembered that Zintgraff wrote the book to justify his own actions and to support that small but influential section of public opinion in Germany which favoured rapid imperial expansion. A full account of the actions and motives of Zintgraff’s opponents in the Kamerun Government and in the Colonial Bureau of the German Foreign Office has not been written: we only have one side of the story. But there are some suggestive points made in Rudin’s Germans in the Cameroons and others referred to in these notes.

What is perhaps most striking about Zintgraff’s account is the fact that the people of the Western Grassfields were not so isolated from one another or their neighbours as might be thought. A network of trade-friendships covered the country and big men exchanged gifts over long distances. These links must be set beside the insecurity due to raids and slave-catching, and are well worth investigation.

ISBN 9789956616718 | 92 pages | 203 x 127 mm | B/W Illustrations | 2010 | Langaa RPCIG, Cameroon | Paperback

Categories:

* Humanities & Social Sciences |
* History

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About the Author

E.M. Chilver

E.M. Chilver was one of the first historians and ethnographers of the Western Grassfields of Cameroon. Her work remains an invaluable guide to the region.

Ps. BC in this text stands for British Cameroons

The Phrase Third World

In Canada that I know at close quarters, people referred to as RED INDIANS or ESKIMOS, the later term meaning meat-eaters are no longer designated as such. These terms are outmoded. They were given by naive and sometimes racist early European discoverers or pathfinders in North America. The rosy Europeans (who are erroneously referred to as whites) gave them the prefix name "red," because of the red ocher leaves they smeared on themselves for decoration and not that they were truly red. [Recall that in the past some continental African women smeared red cam-wood pest on themselves as cosmetic decoration. It would have been wrong for a new comer to call them red Africans because of this coloration as was the case with the First Nation Peoples of North America.] Calling them red or Eskimos nowadays is considered derogatory, racist and that is politically incorrect.


A new phrase-term has been coined for them and that is the First Nation People (s). Use that and Canadians and to some extent enlightened Americans will understand what you mean. "First" in this context stands for the prima occupantis, that is the aboriginals. If this line of thought is applied to Africa, and Africans being the first persons on earth (archaeological evidence), Africa could be called the First Continent and its nation states be called First Nation States and its peoples First Peoples.


It has to be crystal clear that 'Third' that the French journalists who started this application is misapplied. It originally stood for those who would not side with the capitalists or communist in the UNO General Assembly during an election. Therefore, they were non-aligned. Japan, then the Republic of South Africa, Korea and many others were under this third world and economically they were by far developed than African states. Those who misapplied it, used it for those countries that were economically developing or underdeveloped and many in Asia, South and Central America and Africa fall under this category. This was then a misnomer.


Of course journalists who are predominantly from the northern hemisphere who employ it in their literature, feel good psychologically. It must be understood that in order to dominate a person you have to make him feel inferior to you. Make him know that his color, ways of life, food, name and even language are inferior vis a vis yours the invader or colonialists. Consequently, colonialists or neocolonialists apply these tactics to sit on Africans and other so-called Third World citizens. Remember too that this was what slave owners did to their slaves, properties so as to treat them the way they liked.


A time will come when the so-called developed will be underdeveloped and developing. Do not ask me when and how? Some states that were once upon a time called developing or underdeveloped are now developed and to keep on referring to them as developing is wrong. There is nothing that developed Westerners can do that they will not do and even better. If the once upon a time less developed are developed in the way Western want, that will be good for all mankind. It will be when African nation states will wake up from their slumber as some are grudgingly doing and know that they have the know-how, natural resources, and ability to convert all their raw materials to finished products before they can leave their shores for developed "climes". When that time will come, some Western journalists will stop the use of DARK CONTINENT of Stanley, Third World and many more that make them feel "superior" to others. One wonders what term these excited journalists would employ?


Another abused term is Afrique Noir, Black Africa. Again this comes out so often in French literature when they want to continue with the fragmentation of Africa and perhaps go back to when the lighter-your-skin was the more of a human being you were in the days of slavery and slave trade. Instead, they should say Arabic Africa and Africa South of the Sahara. The use of color is anachronistic, divisive and misleading as it leaves out many in the so-called Black Africa who are not stricto senso black. In Nigeria, Chad, The Sudan, Kenya, Zimbabwe aka Monomotapa, South Africa and Botswana there are sizable numbers of Caucasians. For your information, the Tauregs, Fulani, Chao Arabs in Western Africa are African Caucasians and you cannot scientifically classify them as black else you are colorblind. When you head to Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the San People, the early rosy (white) man once called Bushmen are in a sense Mongoloids. Therefore, to generalized that Africa South of the Sahara is Black Africa is not only erroneous and misleading but fragmentary and should not be bought. Why not call anyone who emanates from mother Africa, African be he or she from the three prototypes of man on earth, Mongoloid, Negroid and Caucasoid.
Dr. Viban Ngo
vibanngo@hotmail.com

> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 09:38:47 +0000
> From: beckerleschar@ORANGE.SN
> Subject: The term "third world": REPLY
> To: H-WEST-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU
>
> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 09:08:53 +0800
> X-Posted from H-NET List for African History and Culture
>
> From: Lorna Zukas
> ________
>
> Date: 1 September 2010
> From: Tshepo Sebakile
>
>
> Yes Africa would come first but the world today is highly operational
> along economic lines hence it will always come third. The past is the
> past we can grab something from it but also we are very much defined as
> a people by the current events, local, regional and global. It can still
> be argued that Africa is the wealthiest continent(natural resorces?)but
> to others wealth is everything and mostly its money in the Bank and how
> you use to influence others and exercise power over them. and the way
> things are, Arica has all resources, the 2nd process them, the 1st sell
> them. the value of these resorces increase with every stage, from
> extraction to finished product; and the region occupying the last stage
> would be the wealthiest and vice versa.
>
> Archaelogical evidence and evolutionary theory? They are not sufficient
> enough to convience that Africa should be termed the 1st world. the
> theory has some huge limitations and has failed to answer other
> questions raised from other disciplines. With archaelogical evidence,
> yep! one could have a point but would not win him the debate. FACT!
> everything exists, what is thought not to exist is one which has not
> been found yet. The current archaelogical evidence holds that
> the oldest animal remains are from the Ngorongoro crater, but
> have archaelogists completed their course in the quest to justify that
> the 1st ape remains were in Africa? A larger surface area still remains
> uncovered,untouched and unknown. Whatever exists in there, as long as it
> is not known remains a room to be covered to answer all questions.
>
> Yes, it has been accepted the world over, but what if the color 'ORANGE'
> is not really ORANGE but rather 'YELLOW'; but just because somebody
> somewhere named these colors and has been accepted worlwide, we have
> come to terms of recognising them as such. But if i was to cage a
> hundred kids away fom this world and teach them to recognise yellow as
> black, black as green etc. and someone from this world would be thought
> to be very abnormal, stupid and dull to recognise black as black in The
> Cage World.

Dangers of a fracturing regime: Cameroon, Western Africa

Most we wait for the rains to come before we look for a shelter? Most we wait to be famished before we think of sowing our seeds or planting our crops? If there are dark clouds in the horizon, are those not enough signs for those with seeing eyes that we shall soon have a deluge? How many times do third world nation states wait for these? If we are soon caught by the rains when we have been given ample time to prepare for it, do we attribute our tribulations caused by this to nature or to ourselves? There is no single road that is not potholed in the Cameroon; there is not a single law-enforcement officer who given opportunity in that country will not pilfer. There are no intellectuals in position of authority in institutions of higher learning who do not ask for favors of the flesh from their students before they are made to pass their examinations; there is no gendarme or police officer on the highway who does not openly extort money from taxi drivers, bush lorry drivers, and other road users; there are no priests in that country who do not extort from their Christians to sustain their opulent lifestyles: they ask for pencils and pens to be brought to the pulpits to be blessed for a price before pupils go to write their examinations. I said to them that no amount of blessing could make students pass their exams if they have not prepared in the appropriate way for them. In other words, the taking of the aspersion had to be throughout the studentship and not for stipends given to priests on the verge of writing examinations. They could even submerge themselves in holy water and drink some and they will never pass. I called that trivializing the tasks of God for personal gains and that was a transgression. On reflecting with others, on the nature of things in a state called the Cameroon located in the armpit of Western Africa, a buddy called me aside and told me that it was no use bemoaning as shading even tears, sweat and blood will not change or make the rulers of the country show remorse over their citizens they were treating like slaves for their personal benefits. I could not imagine how one would be taciturn on seeing potholed roads where locals were not even allowed to take their shovels and close the holes to enable their bombastic jalopies ferry their goods to their markets for fear that the government of the day would persecute them. The reasoning of the regime of Mr. Paul Biya who has been ruling that country as his private property for the last 28 years, I was told that it would be interpreted by the local folks as a weakness, being lackadaisical and not caring. How long can that government continue to befuddle its citizens and they keep on singing its bogus praises as on the celebration of its 50th anniversary of independence on May 20th 2010? Do they not see the examples of other fallen states in Africa and elsewhere? Another denizen told me that the only solution was a complete revolution. He did not elaborate on that. However my apprehension was that they should refrain from the type of revolution of dog-eat-dog we witnessed in Sierra Leone, Liberia and other autocratic banana republics in central Africa. Now that the rainstorm is gathering its momentum in the horizon and the worldly ombudsmen are sitting put with their folded hands and pampering themselves that it is only a blessed aspersion drizzle, can a true thinker not predict the outcome of the storm if the forthcoming 2011 presidential election is viewed by marginalized oppositions parties as shrouded in fraudulence? If the army takes over as some thinkers purport to predict, will it not be getting the egg from the fry pan to the blazing coal? Americans and Frenchmen who are interested in this region for their economic gains what is your damn feeling? It shudders me right to my marrow bones when I read stuff as this below. If the rainstorm could be halted before it could reach the land by the peace-loving men who value their lives and those of others, could that not be done on time even in the name of God or for the sake of peace? What does Mr. Paul Biya and his entourage say when they read reinvestigation of this nature?
Dr. Viban.



Source: International Crisis Group
Source Website: www.crisisgroup.org

African Charter Article# 23: All peoples shall have the right to national and international peace and security.

Summary & Comment: Le francais suit. Recent analyses by international crisis group suggest that Cameroon is a fragile state run by a fracturing regime. Its 20 year old democracy has consolidated corruption, elitism, illegality, and inequality. The absence of legal and constitutional certainty before the 2011 presidential elections may cause the army to step in if things go wrong. Cameroon therefore risks becoming another Guinea. The Executive Summary and Recommendations follow. MUB



1. The dangers of a fracturing regime
2. Les dangers d'un regime en pleine fracture
********************************************

1. The dangers of a fracturing regime

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/africa/west-africa/cameroon/161-cameroon-the-dangers-of-a-fracturing-regime.aspx

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

After 28 years of the Biya presidency, Cameroon faces potential instability in the run up to the presidential elections scheduled for late 2011. Constitutional and legal uncertainty; rivalries between the regime’s leading figures; the government’s attempts to control the electoral process; the rupture of the political contract between leaders and the population; widespread poverty and frustration; extensive corruption; and the frustration of a large part of the army all point to the possibility of a major crisis.

To escape this Biya and his government must restore the independence of the body responsible for elections; institutionalise an impartial fight against corruption and ensure the military’s political neutrality. They must also urgently establish the institutions envisaged by the 1996 constitution, so that a power vacuum and the potential for violence can be avoided in the event of a transition, including an unexpected one such as the death of the 77-year-old president in office. Cameroon’s most influential partners, particularly France and the U.S., should actively support such measures to avoid unrest.

The ruling party is increasingly divided. Although it dominates political life, it knows that it lacks legitimacy, and it is weakened by intense internal rivalries over control of resources and positioning for the post-Biya period. Having done away with the constitutional limitation on the number of presidential terms, Biya, who is at the same time feared and opposed in his own party, is deliberately maintaining uncertainty over whether he will stand again. Many members of his party harbour their own presidential ambitions.

The security forces, a pillar of support for the regime, are also divided. A small number of elite units have good equipment and training, while the rest, although they do receive their correct salaries on a regular basis, lack resources and are poorly prepared. The military as a whole suffers from tensions between generations, not least because the refusal of older generals to retire blocks promotions for more junior officers. Some members of the security forces are also widely believed to be involved in criminal activities.

With the country afflicted by high levels of corruption, a clientelist political system and a heavy security presence in all areas of life, many citizens feel excluded from the system. Fully half the population is younger than twenty, so the high level of youth unemployment and under-employment is a considerable source of social tension. Given such fissures, were Biya to die in office a serious crisis could unfold, aggravated by the unclear constitutional provisions for a transition. Such an event may not occur for some time, but, with democracy at an impasse, the immediate post-Biya period is already a significant factor in intra-regime politics, and acknowledged as a major potential cause of instability.

In any event, the 2011 elections could easily lead to conflict if they are poorly organised or lack transparency. The organising body has no legitimacy and has already made a bad start in the preparations. If there is no option for democratic political change, there is a good chance ordinary citizens, members of the political class and/or military elements will eventually choose violence as a way out of the current impasse.

The long Biya era, his manipulation of ethnic identities and the corruption and criminality among elites have generated numerous frustrations. The serious unrest of 2008, when economic grievances, political protest and elite manipulation resulted in dozens of deaths, gives an indication of the risks of violent conflict. A chaotic situation could lead to a military takeover and would certainly have detrimental effects on the region, in which Cameroon has up to now been a point of stability. In the medium term, Cameroon faces numerous challenges to improve management of public resources, an issue which lies at the heart of its problems. But in the shorter term, urgent actions need to be taken to avoid a crisis around the 2011 elections.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government of Cameroon:

1. Promote greater transparency in electoral processes by restoring the independence of the electoral body; revising the electoral code; drawing up credible electoral lists; and enlarging the electoral register, whose current very restricted scope risks excluding many citizens.
2. Set up, as soon as possible, the institutions provided for in the 1996 constitution but still not in place, including the senate, the constitutional council, and the regional governing bodies.
3. Improve anti-corruption efforts by:
a) reviewing the “Epervier” anti-corruption operation, which has so far seen
the arrest of several dozen high level officials and ministers, in order to
make it part of an institutional and impartial fight against corruption;
b) creating an anti-corruption body which is truly independent of the
executive and follows clear legal processes; and
c) fostering anti-corruption public awareness and instigating transparent,
systematic sanctions against those responsible for unlawful practices.
4. Enter in good faith into dialogue with opposition forces on election management and tackling corruption.

To the International Community, in particular France and the U.S.:
5. Put maximum pressure on the government to establish the senate, the constitutional council and regional governing bodies.
6. Continue to support electoral processes, but speak out clearly against poor and/or unfair practices.
7. Begin planning observation missions for the 2011 elections; agree on common positions with regard to unacceptable practices before, during and after the elections; and emphasise the need both for all parties to accept the outcome and for neutral legal means to be available for them to contest results peacefully.
8. Use their aid and training support to the security sector to pressure the government to acknowledge the role its security forces have played in human rights abuses, especially during the February 2008 protests, and to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.

Dakar/Brussels,
24 June 2010

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The Truth About The Southern Cameroons Occupation

What led the rest of the world to rally behind France to expel Germany from Alsace Lorraine and many more was injustice. For those who are Christians, we all pray for it each blessed moment we recite "Thy Kingdom Come..". We are begging for peace which we cannot attain if we turn our brothers and neighbors as slaves. One in a million ways this Kingdom can come to us is to set our neighbors and brothers and sisters of the Southern Cameroons free. All sort of subterfuges that are not acceptable in that Kingdom of Freedom we fervently kneel each day and pray for from God cannot come if we deliberately sit on others using all sorts of deceitful tactics as we have been doing.


We can fool man but never till the end of man's existence on earth can God be fooled for our ephemeral existence here. I recall the little lady, Harriet Beecher Stowe the writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin, pleading with Caucasians Americans of her days to set African slaves free from their shackles and many did not want to hear. Many instead dug bunkers and built stony hearts to continue with their enslavement of Africans and the USA later on paid heftily with blood, sweat and tears. The pains still rankle, even hitherto. Let it not be so for the Southern Cameroonians who see themselves as under the occupation and assimilation of Cameroon Republic and its cohorts.


If the world do have ears and sincerely pray for peace, Thy Kingdom come... the message below should be read not only once but twice and action taken.
This should be done
not because this author has said so,
not because I have drawn your attention
to the plights of a people of Southern Cameroons (Ambazonia)
who perpetually feel trampled upon,
but because it is the right thing to do for peace humanity
as we all rallied behind the French
when the Nazis occupy their territory
and vehemently said that it was wrong.
We were right and have never regretted it.

It will be our way of imploring God to send us a modicum of His Kingdom on Earth. Many of us paid for the peace that came with our blood, the sins and injustice of the Nazis under Adolf Hitler. We should in the name of God, Allah say that any occupation that is not accepted by the occupied or victimized should be belayed and the occupied territories or countries set free.
Dr. Viban Viban Ngo.


Colonial occupation of the Southern Cameroons



In its Memorial in Communication 266 complainants asserted and demonstrated that the Southern Cameroons has been annexed by Republique du Cameroun and remains under the colonial occupation of that country. The Commission rightly characterised this development as very serious. Indeed it is, and the people of the Southern Cameroons do not make the charge of colonial occupation lightly. First, the occupying State does not deny that it is in complete and asphyxiating control of the Southern Cameroons and administering the territory following its inherited French system. Over the years it has been fishing for some possible justification of its seizure of that territory. In the 1960s it argued that it simply took over a hitherto separated part of its territory handed over to it by the UN and Britain. When challenged to produce the instrument by which the UN and Britain allegedly ceded the Southern Cameroons to it (a legal impossibility since neither the UN nor Britain were owners of the territory), Republique du Cameroun changed its story. It claimed that its occupation of the Southern Cameroons is by virtue of what it called “reunification on 1st October 1961 following the plebiscite vote on 11 February 1961”. But when it was pointed out that one cannot credibly talk of so-called ‘reunification’ when the Southern Cameroons was never, in the first place, a part of French Cameroun, and when at the plebiscite there was no such option as ‘reunification’ and there could not have been any, Republique du Cameroun then changed once more the basis of its hopeless claim. It then sought to found its claim on a brief and ill-defined German Kamerun entity and then proclaimed itself the state successor to that entity. But German Kamerun (parts of which are now legally within at least five different countries) lasted only some 25-odd years and was long since extinct. Besides, the political existence of Republique du Cameroun dates not from 1884 but from the inception of French colonial rule in 1916.



Further, it is both a legal and a factual impossibility for a country to succeed at independence not to the territory of the immediate predecessor state but to the territory long extinct of a remote predecessor state. Furthermore, the plebiscite itself was a complete refutation of the lie that the Southern Cameroons is a part of Republique du Cameroun. If the Southern Cameroons were a part of that country the plebiscite would have been redundant and the territory simply handed over to Republique du Cameroun like Ifni handed over to Morocco by Spain, Hong Kong to China by Britain and Walvis Bay to Namibia by South Africa. Claim to territory can never be founded on mere geographical contiguity or on a remote, superficial and ephemeral historical connection. That is why the claim of Spain to Gibraltar and the claim of Argentina to the Falkland Islands have never succeeded. The plebiscite in the Southern Cameroons was a clear and loud statement by the international community that the native inhabitants of the Southern Cameroons constitute a people and therefore have the inalienable and continuing right to self-determination.



Let the record be put straight. At the plebiscite the people of the Southern Cameroons voted first and foremost to achieve independence (the effective date of which was set by the UN to be 1st October 1961) and, as a secondary matter, to form a political association with Republique du Cameroun under certain terms and conditions. At the plebiscite there was therefore no such thing as a so-called ‘vote for reunification’ . There could have been no such vote because there was no such alternative. Nor was there any so-called ‘reunification’ on 1st October 1961. That date was billed as the date on which UN trusteeship over the Southern Cameroons was to end, resulting in independence for the territory; it was also the date on which there was to come into existence an agreed federal form of political association between the Southern Cameroons state and Republique du Cameroun, duly underpinned by an Act of Union subscribed to by both parties.



But before that date Republique du Cameroun had illegally assumed jurisdiction over the Southern Cameroons by performing acts of sovereignty in the territory, while the British conspiratorially looked the other way. On 1st September 1961 Republique du Cameroun passed in its parliament an annexation law (in the form of a constitutional amendment law deceptively denoted as a ‘federal constitution’ ) by which it formally claimed the Southern Cameroons as part of its territory and asserted jurisdiction over it. In that same month Republique du Cameroun’s French-led troops marched into the Southern Cameroons and immediately announced their presence and demonstrated their trigger-happy nature by murdering six citizens in cold blood, again while the British looked the other way.



1st October 1961 witnessed the formal ending of UN trusteeship over the Southern Cameroons. But the independence which the people had voted for and whose effective date the UN had set for 1st October 1961 remains paper independence to this day because its enjoyment was immediately suppressed by Republique du Cameroun in two very significant ways. Republique du Cameroun sent its troops into the Southern Cameroons, with the result that it remains an occupied territory to this day. Then, after the British Commissioner of the Southern Cameroons departed on 1st October 1961 Republique du Cameroun immediately appointed one of its citizens to the Southern Cameroons as the new colonial governor, stepping into the shoes of the departed British Commissioner. The new and French-speaking colonial officer was euphemistically styled ‘inspecteur d’ administration’, a denomination later changed to that of ‘governeur de province/region’. Thus, the so-called ‘reunification’ much trumpeted by Republique du Cameroun is a mere myth and at best a Nazi-type ‘reunification’ of Alsace Lorraine and then Austria, with the Third Reich.



In the 1970s, believing it had achieved its colonial goal of complete assimilation of the people of the Southern Cameroons and total destruction of their identity, and in order to have unhindered access to the wealth and natural resources of the Southern Cameroons, Republique du Cameroun contrived to manufacture another ‘reunification’ which it called ‘unification’, a stage in its imperial agenda admitting of no diversity, no multiculturalism, no multi-nationalism, within its colonial set-up: the Southern Cameroons had to be completely extinguished, its people destroyed as a distinct and separate people and then sunk wholesale into the French world of Republique du Cameroun. But Republique du Cameroun did not reckon with the innate human yearning for freedom, the innate human nature and ability to resist oppression and domination, the innate individual and collective human instinct for survival, and the resilience of the people of the Southern Cameroons in the face of great national adversity and peril.



Now that its colonial occupation of the Southern Cameroons has been thoroughly exposed Republique du Cameroun claims to have been able to find a new basis for its tragic colonial adventure in the Southern Cameroons. It now makes the dishonest and infantile claim that the ICJ ruling in the ‘Bakassi case’ confirms that the Southern Cameroons is part of the territory of Republique du Cameroun and that the ruling acknowledges Republique du Cameroun’s sovereignty over the Southern Cameroons. But this is more of wishful thinking than what the ICJ decided in that case. The ICJ could not have decided those points for the simple reason that those matters were never pleaded before the Court. It is elementary that a court of law does not adjudicate on matters not put before it and argued by the parties. Sovereignty over the Southern Cameroons and the boundaries of the Southern Cameroons were not issues before the Court. Therefore, the Court cannot possibly be taken to have decided those issues. In any event, the ICJ is not a territorial sovereign; it does not have territory with which to assuage the colonial cravings of expansionist states. In 1961 Republique du Cameroun had tried to lay the foundation for its expansionism by claiming in the Northern Cameroons case that it had an interest in a so-called “reunification of all the people of Cameroun.” Republique du Cameroun had already set its eyes on annexing the Southern Cameroons. Its next step was to grab the Northern Cameroons via the ICJ. Had it succeeded it would have moved on to lay claim to parts of Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic and Chad on the basis that the pieces of territory in question formed part of German Kamerun. Fortunately, the ICJ at the time quickly saw through this imperial agenda and non-suited Republique du Cameroun which promptly declared what turned out to be an ephemeral day of crocodile tears.



The evidence of annexation and colonial occupation of the Southern Cameroons is therefore overwhelming; and every citizen of the Southern Cameroons is a colonized being however much those co-opted into the administration of the colonialist (a typical French colonial practice) might pretend. But there is further evidence of colonialism which tallies with the findings of a study (2009) by the Middle East Project of the HSRC entitled ‘Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid: A Re-assessment of Israel’s practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories under International Law.’ “The terms of the Declaration on [the Granting of Independence to Colonial Peoples and Territories] ,’’ the study affirms, “indicate that a situation may be classified as colonial when the acts of a State have the cumulative outcome that it annexes or otherwise unlawfully retains control over territory and thus aims permanently to deny its indigenous population the exercise of its right to self-determination.”



First, the indigenous population of the Southern Cameroons have no control over their territory, the territorial integrity of which has been violated by Republique du Cameroun by the fact of occupation of the Southern Cameroons and the partitioning of the Southern Cameroons into provinces/regions tagged to contiguous Cameroun Republic areas. This violates the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence.



Secondly, the people of the Southern Cameroons hitherto self-governing under British colonial rule have since been deprived of the capacity for self-governance. Republique du Cameroun exercises total civil and military administration of the Southern Cameroons through a hierarchy of Republique du Cameroun officials. Unlike under British colonial rule, there is now no Southern Cameroons parliament, no Southern Cameroons government, no Southern Cameroons judiciary, no Southern Cameroons administration, no Southern Cameroons public service, and no Southern Cameroons police service. Republique du Cameroun retains full and total control over the territory. The people of the Southern Cameroons cannot freely determine their political status. They cannot freely pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they should freely choose. They cannot exercise the right to their economic, social and cultural development. The enjoyment of the independence voted for at the plebiscite in 1961 has been suppressed by Republique du Cameroun, thereby violating the right of the people of the Southern Cameroons to self-determination. Republique du Cameroun is seeking permanently to deny the people of the Southern Cameroons the exercise of their inalienable and continuing right to self-determination.



Thirdly, whereas international law ordains that the territory and economy of a colonial territory must remain separate and distinct from that of the colonising power, Republique du Cameroun has completely subordinated and subsumed the territory and economy of the Southern Cameroons to its own, in fact fused the economy of the Southern Cameroons into its own so that structurally there is no longer any distinction between the two, with the result that the people of the Southern Cameroons have been totally deprived of the capacity to govern and order their economic affairs. Their right to economic self-determination has thus been suppressed.



Fourth, Republique du Cameroun is in breach of the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources in relation to the Southern Cameroons. The right of permanent sovereignty over natural resources entitles a people to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources and in no case shall they be deprived of it. Oil, timber, gas, mineral and cash crop resources are taken from the Southern Cameroons for the exclusive development of Republique du Cameroun. The Southern Cameroons has changed little in the past 50 years: The existing few kilometres of tarred roads are the typical colonial ‘extractive routes’ meant to facilitate the evacuation of natural resources and food commodities from the Southern Cameroons to Republique du Cameroun. Most parts of the Southern Cameroons are unreachable throughout the year and head load over long distances is still very common. Water, electricity and health facilities remain rare amenities. Infrastructural development is virtually absent. The enjoyment of second, like first, generation human rights remain a pipe dream.



Fifthly, Republique du Cameroun has denied the people of the Southern Cameroons the right freely to express, develop and practice their culture. The practices of Republique du Cameroun privilege the French language, the French legal system, the French administrative system, the French educational system and the French-based cultural referents of Republique du Cameroun, while materially and purposefully hampering the Anglo-American- based cultural development and expression of the people of the Southern Cameroons.



Clearly, the implementation by Republique du Cameroun of its colonial policy has been systematic and comprehensive. The exercise by the people of the Southern Cameroons of their right to self-determination has been frustrated in all its principal modes of expression. Living in complete denial even in the face of compelling evidence, Republique du Cameroun argues lamely that Africa is now free and therefore the Southern Cameroons is not under colonial occupation. But that is like arguing that there is now no slavery in the world because slavery was abolished a long time ago. Colonialism is colour-blind. It is no less reprehensible because it is perpetrated by one of our kind. No one has ever argued that Americans and the Irish were never colonised by the British because they are all whites (and even with a substantial cultural and blood relations). German occupation of France was rejected as was Japanese occupation of China.



Colonisation is slavery, a form of terrorism and a threat to international peace and security. Article 20 of the African Charter emphatically rejects it and the AU in the preamble to that Charter strongly denounces it. The existence of colonialism in any form or manifestation, including economic exploitation, is thus incompatible with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It is also incompatible with the United Nations Charter, the United Nations Declaration on Decolonisation and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is duty bound to affirm its support for the aspirations of the people of the Southern Cameroons, under Republique du Cameroun’s colonial rule, to exercise their right to self-determination, including independence. If there is any doubt about this aspiration let an independence referendum, internationally supervised and monitored, be held in the Southern Cameroons. That is an internationally recognised peaceful method of resolving an issue of this nature and for which there are many precedents.



People



It has always been self-evident even to the blind that the indigenous population of the Southern Cameroons constitute a people separate and distinct from the people of Republique du Cameroun. But true to its logic of destroying us as a people with every right to existence, the colonial occupier keeps repeating ad nauseum that we are “a small linguistic tribal minority” in Republique du Cameroun, not different from minority groups in that country. And this, in spite of the fact that the self-determination plebiscite in the Southern Cameroons was the clearest proof that under international law we constitute a people. A self-determination plebiscite is resorted to by the UN when it is satisfied that the dependent population concerned constitute a people within the meaning of international law. There is also UN Resolution 1608 of 12 April 1961 in which the General Assembly of the UN expressly and advisedly refers to us as a people. With the recent ruling by the African Human Rights Commission in Communication 266/2003 any lingering doubt on this matter has been put beyond question. This point must now be regarded as definitively settled.



One of the foremost implications of the jurisprudence that the indigenous populations of the Southern Cameroons are a people is that they necessarily have a territory and are free to name it as they see fit. There cannot be a people without a territorial link. A people must necessary have a homeland. When the Jews, dispersed as they were all over Europe and America, were recognized as constituting a people the international community had to find a homeland for them. The Jews were settled in part of the British mandated territory of Palestine. They named the area Israel and proclaimed their independence. The populations of the Southern Cameroons are native to the territory they occupy and which the British colonial authorities named as ‘the Southern Cameroons’. It is up to the people to rename that homeland when and by whatever name they chose to, before or on the day of independence.



Other implications are that the people of the Southern Cameroons, qua people, have the right to:

(i) Self-determination (i.e. the right to freely determine their political status, and the right to freely pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have chosen);

(ii) Existence (the only adequate guarantee of which is sovereign statehood);

(iii) Equality with all other people;

(iv) Enjoy the same respect as all other people;

(v) Have the same rights as all other people (including the right to be free);

(vi) Freedom from domination by another people;

(vii) Free themselves from the bonds of domination by resorting to any means recognised by the international community (i.e. right to resist colonial rule);

(viii) Assistance from States Parties to the African Charter in their liberation struggle against Republique du Cameroun domination;

(ix) National and international peace and security;

(x) Cultural development;

(xi) General satisfactory environment favourable to their development;

(xii) Freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources;

(xiii) Lawful recovery of property and to an adequate compensation in case of spoliation.



Self-determination involves the all-important issues of survival, identity and dignity.