The prolonged holding of the President and prominent members of the Ambazonia interim government by a Nigerian Security Outfit after their abduction more than a week ago, underscores the dilemma facing the Nigerian government.  The bungled operation was intended to be an assassination project blamed on alleged individuals from Ambazonia opposed to the interim government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. A claim of responsibility for the crime would have been made shortly after the assassination. The Federal Government would as it is required in such circumstances have condemned the assassination and promised a swift and efficient investigation to fish out the assassins.   Ambazonian refugees in Nigeria would have been the primary targets of these investigations. Till this moment, the Federal Government of Nigeria has not come out with a comprehensive statement taking responsibility for the abduction and providing the reasons for the abduction. The inability of the Federal Government to make a comprehensive public statement on the matter portray the Federal government in very bad light. That an abduction occurred  in Federal Capital territory, and seat of power without an official explanation, portray a negative image of the Federal government, its security and intelligence network with a mission to provide security to Nigerians and persons on the territory of Nigeria. If anything, an anxious analysis of the abduction appears to portray a miasma of conflicting interests whose unintended outcome if not well controlled, may haunt the soul of the soul of the federation for long.

It comes as no surprise that several French Cameroun’s intelligence operations with a mission to assassinate Ambazonian leaders and thousands of refugees in Nigeria are coordinated from its Embassy in Abuja and Consulate in Calabar. Some infiltrated military defectors whom we wrote about in a previous publication were deployed to join in a coordinated planned operation to abduct and assassinate our leaders.  Others are French Cameroun’s certified Boko Haram hostage facilitators/negotiators with close links to the political Islam power base in Northern Nigeria and Northern French Cameroun. The ailing Ahmadou Ali and Isa Tchiroma Bakary are among the key members of this crime syndicate. 

The prosecution of the war against Boko Haram and facilitating/negotiating hostage release is the Alibaba war chest on which the political empire of these zealots is built and sustained within and across national frontiers.  Paul Biya and his Beti ethnic controlled neo-colonial army have benefitted from this war by corruptly amassing enormous wealth and by selectively deploying mainly Ambazonian and Bamileke military commanders and soldiers to be slaughtered. There is a disproportionate number of soldiers from these communities killed through sabotage operations or as war casualties. The same trend occurred during French Cameroun’s military deployments to Ambazonia territory of Bakassi. The same trend is occurring in the ongoing war of aggression against Ambazonia.  Ambazonia is a cash cow for French Cameroun’s warlords’ crime syndicate.

The declaration of war against Ambazonia was not intended to keep cameroun one and indivisible, because it has never been.  There is no international law and treaty base or justification for the existence of such a union. The war is intended to provide another opportunity for Paul Biya and his ethnic dominated army to mobilize resources on the precious blood of Ambazonians to enable him eternalize power and control over Ambazonia’s mineral and natural resources economy. French Cameroun citizens mobilized against Ambazonia for defending its citizens and its territorial integrity are mere puppets in the hands and control of the sanguinary butcher Paul Biya to attain his personal political power ambitions.

The Ambazonian revolution and its revolutionary leadership under President Sisiku Ayuk Tabe stood on the way of Paul and French Cameroun’s continued colonial annexation agenda. For this, Paul Biya initiated a plan to abduct and assassinate them in Nigeria. For this to materialize, he needed the complicity and support of influential power brokers within the corridors of power and security operatives within the intelligence services.  This required an elaborate corruption scheme for the success of the operation and it’s cover up.

 If the purpose of the abduction was to investigate an alleged violation, a summons, an invitation or a warrant properly obtained and executed would have fulfilled that legitimate rule of law purpose.  They needed all Ambazonian to be in one place to facilitate their abduction and execution. The delayed flight schedule of Millan Atam and his late arrival at the venue of the meeting where the abductions occurred changed the fate of the operation.   He eluded abduction upon being informed of the fate of the President and members of the interim government who were with him.

Political assassinations are a common fixture of the Nigeria society. This one would not have come as a surprise to most Nigerians although Ambazonians would have held French Cameroun accountable.  The corruptive implications of some people within the Nigerian security and intelligence community would have been alleged but not that of official Nigerian government involvement. The official involvement of the Federal Government would not have been reasonably contemplated considering that the abductees are persons of considerable weight internationally who were legally in Nigeria and their respective residences were well known to Nigerian security and intelligence services. The interim President had just returned from a trip from the United States of America passing through Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja. Millan Atam travelled from South Africa passing through the same airport.  The Federal Government would never have been reasonably suspected of being behind or complicit in the assassinations had they occurred as planned.

The failure of the operation left the Federal government struggling more than a week after to find a justification for the abductions. It still has not, underscoring the enormity of the embarrassment and confusion. The Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs lacked the appropriate words to characterize the abduction; telling newsmen who confronted him about the abduction that he had met security units who conducted the operation and did not know whether it as an arrest or an invitation to the abductees to submit to investigations which were ongoing.  The answer provided by the Hon Minister underscores the embarrassment caused by the abductions as well the dilemma the Federal Government finds itself in on this matter.

It is possible that several units of the Nigerian intelligence and security community were not aware of the operation or were not informed after it occurred. It is also possible that several members of the Federal Government, possibly the President were not aware either.  The surprise evident in the cursory information provided by the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs points in that direction. This was unusual because intelligence sharing is a critical security operational imperative.  The fact that neither the Attorney General of the Federation or the Inspector-General of Police made a statement on the abductions may also be a credible indicator.

The silence by the French Cameroun government through its genocide apologist and prominent member of the Boko Haram facilitation/negotiation criminal network Isa Tchiroma Bakary is a result of it’s total frustration for the failure of the operation and its fallout.  In the aftermath of the failed operation, French Cameroun struggled to have the captives delivered to it but again this option failed. The request for Nigeria to deliver the abductees to French Cameroun in violation of international law, its national legislation and its constitution had it occurred, would have attained the same objective for French Cameroun of having them executed through a court-martial. Although, manifestly illegal, that would have at least whitewashed the execution process as an exercise of sovereignty by both nations. Judicially whitewashed assassinations and executions are standard practice in French Cameroun. This is not an acceptable policy in Nigeria under civilian rule where the rule of law is the pillar of Nigerian democracy and the legitimacy of its Federal institutions.  Complicity in handing over Ambazonian leaders to a sanguinary genocidal regime would have stained the soul of Nigeria and provided a precedent for similar treatment to be meted out to Nigerian citizens worldwide. Nigeria prides itself as the giant of Africa and must not be influenced by French Cameroun to support its campaign of genocide against Ambazonia and Nigeria citizens on the territory of Ambazonia.

Nigeria must not forget so soon that the ICJ Bakassi Judgment left the question on the determination of nationality unresolved and thus outstanding.  It was and is a sensitive matter touching on the life of the Federation.  Politicians from Cross River State as well as their peers in all the border communities continue to raise this matter in the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives. French Cameroun gendarmes and soldiers continue to massacre these civilians without any concrete attempts on the part of the Nigerian government to abate the criminal and provocative attacks on this civilian population.

French Cameroun conceded before the ICJ that the citizens on the disputed territory of Ambazonia were Nigerians. Lately one of French Cameroun’s ethnic genocide ideologue Enoh Meyomesse in a widely publicized article stated that Ambazonians fighting back in self defence against French Cameroun aggression were Nigerians and should be exterminated. One Owona Nguini another ethnic genocide ideologue echoed the same sentiments.  A television channel TV4 closed to the crime syndicate in power called Ambazonians rats, a colonial governor called them dogs and a colonial proconsul ordered Ambazonians in Manyu county to vacate their ancestral homes and close all human and economic activities within the county. Considered with the massacre and harassment of citizens whom French Cameroun conceded at the ICJ were of Nigerian nationality and required protections afforded by international law, and the ongoing genocide in Ambazonia aimed at Ambazonians of the same ethnic affiliation, must Nigeria continue to play the Ostrich while the genocide continues unabated?

 The question that Nigeria must consider seriously in deciding which side to support in the ongoing genocide in Ambazonia is, with the nationality issue deferred by the ICJ unresolved, with the common ethnic and nationality composition of the declared war zones, with over two million Nigerian citizens facing the genocidal onslaught of French Cameroun, will Nigeria aid the genocide of Ambazonia and with it that of its ethnic nationalities?  Where does the moral compass direct Nigeria to pitch its tent of national and human dignity and continental relevance in preventing an ongoing genocide at its door steps?

The declaration of war aiming the border communities with Nigeria and consistently closing the borders with Nigeria and violating the international borders with Nigeria were calculated acts of provocation against Nigeria. Should Nigeria reward these acts of international brigandage and criminality by supporting the genocide against Ambazonia? Nigeria pursuant to the Greentree Agreement, must give the criminal invader French Cameroun, an ultimatum to withdraw its forces to its borders at independence on January 1, 1960 which is at the River Mungo and nowhere near the war front within the Nigerian border communities which is within the territory of Ambazonia. Nigeria must additionally obey the Judgment of the Federal High Court Abuja that enjoined Nigeria to take the Southern Cameroons case to the UN and other international courts for adjudication. Nigeria cannot legally recognize or support the criminal activities of French Cameroun in Ambazonia in violation of the Judgment of its own Federal High Court Abuja. Were that to occur, then the rule of law on which the soul of the Federation is anchored will be significantly violated. 

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

When news broke out that the President of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Julius Ayuk Tabe, and his cabinet had been arrested in Nigeria, many people thought that was the end of the struggle. A feeling of frustration and despondency swept across the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, especially in Manyu Division, Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe’s place of birth. The Yaounde government had already planned a huge party, with many journalists waiting at the airport in Yaounde to take a peek at the fallen Ambazonian leaders. The struggle was being discredited in many quarters in Francophone Cameroon, but the party was not going to last. The government had organized a party that might never be.

Milan Atam, the new Southern Cameroonian hero, had cut the party short. His late arrival at the meeting venue where Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe and his comrades were holding a meeting on refugee management turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Milan Atam had witnessed flight delays and this happened to be God’s plan. He quickly turned off the Yaounde music that had been blaring to the dismay of Southern Cameroonians. The Southern Cameroonian struggle seems to have received the blessing of the Almighty and Mr. Atam did all the right things. He immediately put the information on social media and informed the network of lawyers that sprang into immediate action. This helped to puncture the move by the Biya regime to cut off the neck of the struggle. Today, the African Bar Association is up in arms against the federal government which it accuses of abduction.

The Nigerian Secret Services has been left with a hot potato on its hands. It has been tricked by the corrupt government in Yaounde to join a mission that was doomed to failure right from the beginning. Poor planning and early celebrations speak to the quality of investment that had been put into the event. Millions of dollars are alleged to have been spent on this failed mission. Rene Sadi, Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, was in Abuja on the day the drama was playing out and a Cameroonian military jet was seen at the Abuja international airport ready to pick up Mr. Ayuk Tabe and his cabinet to Yaounde where they would have been ridiculed and maybe sent to an early grave.

But this may never happen. The road ahead is long. Cameroon has ended up with a huge embarrassment on its hands. It has to explain to the Buhari government how it had to corrupt members of its secret service just to abduct Southern Cameroonians who are being considered in Nigeria as freedom fighters.

The Southern Cameroons crisis that had started cooling off has been thrust back to the global arena and the entire world is now aware of the Machiavellian plan the Yaounde government has been hatching while pretending to preach dialogue and unity. The road ahead is long and bumpy. The only chance the Yaounde government now has is to try an extradition application. But as things stand, Cameroon and Nigeria have no extradition treaty and some of those arrested are refugees recognized by the United Nations, while others hold American and European passports.

This might have caused the Nigerian government to panic. It has promptly declared that it had not arrested the group of freedom fighters, but from every indication, not many people are buying into what Nigerian authorities are selling. Besides, Mr. Ayuk Tabe is well connected in Nigeria. He was granted the presidency of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia because of his ability to carry the Southern Cameroonian crisis to the right places. His tentacles reach the highest levels of the Nigerian government.

For now, a few big Nigerian guns have come out to throw a few jabs at the Cameroon government for its recklessness and abuse of human rights. Speaking on the BBC Focus on Africa on Thursday, January 11, 2018, Nigeria’s former president,Olusegun Obasanjo, called on the government of Cameroon to treat its citizens with dignity. But the most vocal calls have come from the Governor of Cross River State. He has been throwing lots of punches and striking the right places. He has chided the federal government for doing nothing to ensure that the Southern Cameroons problem is properly addressed so as to stem the flow of refugees into his state.

By chasing Southern Cameroonians out of their homes in Manyu Division, the government of Cameroon has unfortunately internationalized the Southern Cameroons crisis. If care is not taken, the fighting in Manyu Division and the abduction of Ambazonian leaders could finally drag Nigeria into the mess. The mess is spreading and very fast too. Everyone is expecting to see the Yaounde government submit its extradition application which will be examined in a Nigerian court.

A tough battle lies ahead since as a rule of international law, extradition is not automatic. According to Dr. Mbeli Valentine Tebi, a holder of a Ph.D in law from a NigerianUniversity and the current dean of the faculty of law in a Ugandan university, “there is no obligation on states to extradite suspects or offenders to other sovereign states. Extradition is largely regulated by conventional international law through the instrument of treaties. This rule however operates subject to an exception.Even where there exists an extradition treaty allowing a sovereign state to arrest and deliver a fugitive to another state to stand trial or serve a punishment, there is an explicit legal procedure that must be followed. This procedure is espoused in the relevant statutory instruments. Extradition is not simply an arrest and handover process. It has to go through the rigorous process of court adjudication where an application to that effect may either be granted or rejected. A decision not favourable to any party to an extradition suit may equally be appealed through the relevant appellate channels to the Court of Appeal and eventually to the Supreme Court.”

He adds that “It is trite law that an extradition order will not been granted where it is aimed at prosecuting or punishing the fugitive on account of the fugitive’s race, religion, nationality or political opinions.” He points to Section 3(2) (a) of the Extradition Act, adding that political offences are clearly not extraditable.

According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Country Office in Nigeria, these offences are “acts or conducts that are directed against governments or sovereign authorities of state without elements of common crime. These crimes violate the State and not any individual person.” “Examples of political offences have been given by Kenelly J.J. to include treason, sedition, espionage and, to a large extent, disagreement with state ideology. The crimes alleged to have been committed by the Ambazonian leaders by all descriptions fit the notion of political crimes which as earlier indicated, are not extraditable,” he stressed.

The arrest of the leaders seems to be delivering some good fortunes. While the leaders sit quietly in their luxurious villa in Abuja and are enjoying their VIP treatment, many observers are already arguing that this is time for the government of Cameroon to meet Southern Cameroonians halfway. The Yaounde government is clearly running out of options. Its bullying and intimidation have only gone a long way in radicalizing Southern Cameroonians. Its military action in Manyu Division has only sent many young military men to an early grave and this is causing the Francophone majority to start asking questions about the usefulness of an expensive and poorly thought out military adventure.

It should be recalled that Mr. Ayuk Tabe had once clearly stated that Nigeria would be a huge player in any negotiations with the Yaounde government and this might turn out to be the case. Though Cameroon’s minister of communication, Issa Tchiroma, had declared last Saturday that his government had nothing to do with the abduction of Ambazonian leaders, it is obvious that the Yaounde government has been given food-for-thought by this action that has once more exposed it as an iron fist in a velvet glove.

The Southern Cameroons crisis will never be addressed through brinkmanship. The Cameroon government will have to swallow its pride and go over to Abuja to talk about the new republic whose time has come. While in captivity, Ambazonian leaders may be asked to tone down their rhetoric and walk away from their gospel of separation. They will also be called upon to embrace a new philosophy – federalism – which will bring more power to the regions and transform Yaounde into an empty shell. Abuja will certainly require a median path. Secession will not be in its interest and given the failure of the unitary state, it might have to breathe down the neck of the Yaounde government for it to accept the lesser of two evils – federalism. Yaounde just like Ambazonia must come to the realization that their chances are greater at the negotiating table than in the Manyu jungle where many young men have been sent to an early grave.  Many political analysts and observers are already seeing a silver lining on this political and military cloud that has been hanging over the country for more than a year like the Sword of Damocles. It is time to talk and both parties must swallow their egos to face the truth.

By Betek Kingley in Abuja

Cameroon Concord News has identified two groups of French Cameroun political elites seeking efforts towards providing an alternative solution to the ongoing crisis in Southern Cameroons or better still the Federal Republic of Ambazonia.  They are the pro President Biya minority following and persons seeking political power under the French neo-colonial state and those genuinely for a one and indivisible Cameroon.  We understand they are fundamentally different in significant ways.

On ideological basis, the Biya supporters are a group of political activists championing the philosophy within a neo-colonial political, economic and cultural construct. They are agitating to share in the spoils circumscribed within a neo-colonial criminal power syndicate acquired on the blood of Southern Cameroons martyrs whom they invariably called ” terrorists” to justify their assassination and genocide.

There is the liberation ideology that emphasis freedom and total emancipation of people.  Very few French Cameroun political elites are a product of the people revolutionary base.  They identify with Um Nyobe and Ernest Ouandie as the ideological leaders of this base and have been appealing to peoples of Africa origin far beyond Cameroun. That is why, their appeal to Southern Cameroons leaders was from the very beginning of the revolution trusted until political activists within the ruling CPDM clan affirmed and represented by President Biya infiltrated and derail the train of freedom.

The difference between these two groups of French Cameroun political elites is that the Southern Cameroons crisis has provided an opportunity for the Francophone CPDM gang to make advances to their common ideological base with Biya and the French government to forge and define an ideological basis to justify the genocide which has been ongoing for 56 years. They have no alternative solution for the problem which has justified and sustained their illegal claim to political power.

On the contrary, those of the liberation ideology have firmly articulated and publicly stated their firm conviction on how to resolve this conflict.  They are guided by the fact that the consultations and discussion which the late Um Nyobe commended in Kumba in 1952 was prematurely subverted and high jacked to serve a neo-colonial agenda. The bastardisation of the process sowed the seeds of the annexation and military takeover of the Southern Cameroons under a French military cooperation treaty.

We of this publication are not surprised that there are major splits within the Francophone political structure. It was to be expected. The Beti Ewondo French surrogates long built a political base led by Andre Fouda and then the Patriarch of Beti had previously defined the Southern Cameroons as the enemy in the house. The Beti Ewondo groups headed by President Biya have moved the hate literature further by providing the definition within the context of an armed conflict making Biya the first person to define the enemy in ethnic terms, thus providing an ideological perspective to the crimes making them genocide.

We strongly suggest that the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia provide a strong military response to Yaoundé, warning them against the risk and consequences of their actions and by so doing discouraging against the perpetration of crimes against Southern Cameroons on the basis of ethnic/nationality identity.

We also encourage the Interim Government headed by His Excellency Sisiku Ayuk Tabe to continue to push ahead alternative solutions to this conflict. If Sisiku stop doing this, then persons who share his ideological perspective who are a silent majority in this so-called division within the struggle will again not be present at the negotiation table when Paul Biya will no longer be there.

To this I put my name

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year 2018

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

Cameroon Concord News Group

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Christoph Messner

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

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

Reprisal against Bamenda County

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

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

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

The Kumba Onslaught

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

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

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

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

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

Attacks against Southern Cameroonians

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

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

Invasion of Bamenda, Jakiri and Mamfe

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

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

The April 6^th Coup

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

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

Culled from Cameroon Intelligence Report

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

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