Cameroon Unification: Were Southern Cameroons Leaders Inexperienced and Illiterate?

Dibussi Tande

"While the UN and UK may be blamed to a certain extent for the bungled decolonization of Southern Cameroons, the bulk of that blame lies with the Southern Cameroons political class which allowed ethnicity, personality conflicts, and inter-party rivalry to interfere with the adoption of a truly pro-Southern Cameroonian agenda."

1961: Southern Cameroons Premier John Ngu Foncha returns from a trip to the United Nations

Cameroon's history is a history replete with half truths, myths, fallacies, and outright distortions. The Foumban Conference of July 1961, which sealed the fate of the British Southern Cameroons in its stormy marriage to French-speaking La Republique du Cameroun, is no exception to that rule.

It has always been the position of even the most seasoned experts on Cameroon that the Southern Cameroons delegation was routed by their French Cameroons counterparts at Foumban because that delegation was composed of a bunch of politically inexperienced and intellectually inferior politicians who were no match for the politically savvy Ahmadou Ahidjo and his French advisers.

This was a view which Dr. Nfor Susungi articulated in a series of articles on the now defunct SCNC forum back in 1997. Back then, he argued that the British abandoned "...the inexperienced Southern Cameroonian team of Foncha, Endeley, etc." to their own devices at the conference. To hammer this point home, he emphasized that "Foncha [was] a Grade Two teacher who had been a Prime Minister for only two years." Definitely not a person who could logically be expected to negotiate the future of an entire nation!

Most recently, the issue of the “illiteracy and inexperience” of Southern Cameroons political and administrative class in the late 1950s and early 1960s has resurfaced on Camnetwork, the leading Cameroonian internet forum, as some insisting that this is the reason behind the inferior status that Southern Cameroons ultimately had within the bilingual Cameroon republic.

My Contention
This school of thought completely ignores the fact that the fate of Southern Cameroons was sealed long before the June 1961 Foumban conference, or even before the plebiscite, and that by the time this conference took place Southern Cameroons was doomed-- not even the most astute negotiators from Her Majesty's Government could not have saved her from the clutches of Ahidjo's La Republique – and this had little or nothing to do with the Alhadji’s “superior political skills” as some claim today.

My contention, therefore, is that Southern Cameroonian politicians were neither naive nor inexperienced negotiators, and that even if they were, they had they benefited immensely from the expertise of  Southern Cameroons intellectuals who played a key role the movement toward unification. The resolutions of the Bamenda Conference, for example, which the Southern Cameroons delegation presented at Foumban tend, confirm this claim. My claim therefore is threefold;

1. That Southern Cameroons politicians were political veterans who knew what the stakes were at Foumban;
2. That the pro-unification positions of these politicians had been defined and refined over the years by various pro-unification lobbies in Southern Cameroons whose members were products of the some of the best universities in Nigeria and Britain, and;
3. That other Cameroonian and British administrators, legal and constitutional experts also helped these politicians at both informal and formal levels.

1) Southern Cameroons Politicians, Country Bumpkins?
What is generally ignored is that while Southern Cameroons politicians may not have been Ph.D. holders, they were nonetheless veteran politicians who had been groomed in the tough and very dynamic pre-independence Nigerian political scene. The Kales and Endeleys, etc., had fought alongside leading Nigerian nationalists in the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, and later, they successfully wrested major political concessions from the British on the negotiating table -- ranging from the granting of quasi-federal status for Southern Cameroons, to the granting of full regional autonomy and ministerial government. Many, like Muna, Shang, Mukete, etc., had occupied top legislative and ministerial positions in the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly and the Federal government in Lagos. Others like Mbile [and Endeley] were not just seasoned politicians, but also reputable Trade Unionists who had successfully launched the CDC trade union which was a perpetual thorn in the British colonial flesh.

Practically all of these politicians were veterans in political negotiations; skills that had been developed and sharpened not just through their involvement in Nigerian politics, but also at various constitutional conferences from Enugu in Nigeria, Lancaster in Britain, to Mamfe in the Cameroons, etc., -- conferences which were no different from that which took place in Foumban . To put it bluntly, these guys were not illiterates and neophytes from the backwoods but political pros. The reasons for their "failure" at Foumban should therefore be found elsewhere.

2) The Pro-Unification Lobby
It should be noted that the fight for unification was not merely a concern of politicians. In fact, the essence and ideology behind the Pan-Kamerunist idea were articulated primarily by the various pro-unification lobbies that existed at the time. The most influential of these was the KAMERUN SOCIETY, the KNDP brain trust, whose members are considered by many to be the real architects of unification. Its members were among the crème de la crème of Southern Cameroons intelligentsia trained in the most prestigious British and Nigerian universities.

Prominent among them were; Dr.  G.G. Dibue, who later worked with WHO in East Africa;  British-trained lawyer E.T. Egbe; Dr. Victor Anomah Ngu, Prof. of surgery at the University of Ibadan from 1965 and winner of the prestigious Albert Lasker award Medical Research Award in Clinical Cancer Chemotherapy in 1972; Oxford-trained economist, S.J. Epale, who in 1956 had aided S. A. George to formulate his famous "Kamerun Unification : Being a discussion of a 7-point Solution of the Unification problem"; famed West Cameroon educationist A.D.Mengot; PEN Malafa; REG Burnley; S. Lyonga; O.S. Ebanja, J. Pefok; Tamanjong Ndumu; S.C. Tamanjong; N. Ekeng, J.A. Kisob,  F. N. Ndang, E.D. Quan, N.A. Ngwa, I.N. Malafa, J.B. Etame, N.A. Ngwa and S. E. Abangwa, etc.

Members of this KNDP think-thank, who helped to articulate most of the KNDP positions on unification, can certainly not be described as uneducated even if a good number of them were at the beginning of their careers in 1961. Their boss may have been a Grade Two teacher but they were intellectuals in every sense of the word.

Also prominent in the Pro-Kamerun camp were the various branches of the National Union of Kamerun students, whose members like Albert Mukong (Nigeria), Fon Gorji Dinka and Anomah Ngu (Great Britain), etc., were active participants in most of the conferences and discussions leading to unification. The Secretary General of the Ibadan Cameroon Students' Union which championed secession from Nigeria, for example, was a certain J.N. EKANG, who later became deputy foreign minister of the Federal Republic of Cameroon and OAU Secretary General under the name of Nzo Ekhah-Nghaky.

3) Contributions of Administrators and Legal Practitioners
The formal and informal contributions of British and Cameroonian administrators and legal practitioners, and constitutional experts should not be overlooked. Some like retired Ghanaian supreme court judge and former Attorney General for West Cameroon, Emmanuel Kofi Mensah, a British-trained constitutional expert, was a legal adviser at Foumban. Retired Justice Inglis, originally from the British West Indies, was also a prominent player in the reunification process and eventually occupied a ministerial seat in the first post-unification West Cameroon government as the Attorney General.

Southern Cameroonian politicians, therefore, had more than enough "intellectual backup" in their frenzied quest for the Pan-Kamerun chimera, and their failure to achieve unification on their terms can be traced to factors that existed well before Foumban. To blame the so-called rout at Foumban on naiveté and illiteracy is a cop out. It is sometimes quite hilarious to watch both the supporters and critics of the Southern Cameroonian leadership use this particular argument to defend their contradictory positions; the former to absolve these leaders of any blame for the Anglophone predicament in the bilingual Cameroon republic, and the latter to simply denigrate the intellectual abilities of Anglophone Cameroon's pre-unification leadership.

The Real Culprits
The truth is that while the United Nations and Britain may be blamed to a certain extent for the bungled decolonization of Southern Cameroons, the bulk of that blame lies with the Southern Cameroons political class which allowed ethnicity, personality conflicts, and inter-party rivalry to interfere with the adoption of a truly pro-Southern Cameroonian agenda.

The widespread belief that Ahidjo outsmarted the Southern Cameroonians at Foumban is one of those myths that take a life of their own over time, and substitute themselves for reality. Ahidjo was never the smart, cunning and calculating politician that history has made him to be. He was just another brutal African dictator who, thanks to an accident of history (i.e., the early independence of La Republique du Cameroun, and the political myopia of Southern Cameroons pro-unificationists) found himself in total control of the process leading to the unification of the two Cameroons. And like a true tropical dictator, he simply imposed his will on everybody else.

Comments

[SJ]

What is undisputable is that a former UN Trust Territory, in this case the Southern Cameroons, contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, and unlike other former Trust Territories, is yet to become an independent nation. It moved from being a British colony to being a French colony at the moment when she was set to attain her independence. This is what must be redressed so the people of the Southern Cameroons can enjoy the same status that all other inhabitants of former Trust Territories do.

As a colony, Southern Cameroonian politicians had very little power in real terms, no troops under their command for example, but that is indeed the essence of being a colony: there is a more powerful super structure that imposes its will, its whims and its sadistic and unrestrained impulses on the colonized victim. France and her surrogate, la Republique du Cameroun, has shown us, ever worse than the British before them, the brutality of a colonial relationship.

At that critical moment when the Southern Cameroons was to become independent under the rules of international law, those that constituted the super structure were really the UK and France, they simply used the "UN" moniker for appearances. The UK as the trustee "spoke" for the people of Southern Cameroons (remember, SC was still a colony until the French Alliance forces moved in after the British expeditionary forces left on the eve of October 1, 1961), what they said mattered more than what their colonial subjects, the SC politicans, who were still travelling with passports that read "PROTECTED PERSON OF THE UK" or something like that, while France spoke and still speaks for her colony, la Republique du Cameroun.

The erstwhile colonial master, the UK, refused to give the Southern Cameroons her independence for reasons best known to them, but some insights can now be gleaned from their now declassified archives.

Since the Southern Cameroons is not independent today and since the UK is long gone, who is the new colonial master? What is the nature of this colonial master? What have the other actors (we know what is in the UK archives on SC say) in this super structure that decided the fate of the Southern Cameroons said on record?

In my analyses and opinion, France is the new colonial master, with the Southern Cameroons appended to her current colony la Republique du Cameroon (la Republique du Cameroun, like most francophone African countries entered secret COOPERATION AGREEMENTS with France that essentially negated any benefits to the average citizen of these "former" French colonies of independence).

As France, based on a foundation of genocidal policies crafted by and under various French Haut Commissaires since World War II (Robert Delavignette, Rene Hoffher, Jean Soucadoux, Roland Pré [who banned the UPC and institutionalized the genocide machinery], Pierre Messmer [enthusiastic executor of the French genocide in French Cameroun], Jean Ramdier, Xavier Torre, Amadou Babatoura Ahidjo and Paul Biya) continues to speak for la Republique du Cameroun, and has encouraged and facilitated them in implanting genocidal policies and practices in the Southern Cameroons, we must come to terms with the reality that we are dealing with the most senseless set of people as colonial masters.

So who these people? What makes them tick? When in 1830, France invaded Algeria and claimed it to be part of France: "l'Algérie est française" was the big fat lie that France intransigently repeated, came to believe, and then sent hundreds of thousands to their deaths as Algerias sought to re-establish their humanity and dispell the myth created by narratives based on fiction, fantasy and fallacy.

Similarly, dispelling the big fat lie and narratives erected under French tutelage by her intransigent surrogates in Yaounde that the Southern Cameroons is part of la Republique du Cameroun and somehow went through a "unification" will tell us the cost we must endure. The problems with such big fat lies is not when they become dispelled as the truths and stubborn facts of history catches up with them, but at what cost will it be done in our case, in the Southern Cameroons case. At a relative cost to us as a people comparable to the reversal of Hitler's colonization of other European states? At a relative cost to us as a people comparable to the Algerian independence stuggle against the same French?

Between the UK and the French, the groomed African negro and native, in this case Ahidjo, simply received and executed orders from the metropole as a French Haut Commisaire does in the periphery. This accounts for the primitive arrogance and disdain Ahidjo showed Southern Cameroonians, and the intransigence and a similar arrogance and disdain, another groomed negroid native, French Haut Commisaire Paul Biya displays.

But for all the comings and goings of a vibrant Southern Cameroons democratic discourse at the time, they remained in real terms, and as the reality today obviously reveals, at the mercy of their trustee, the UK, who really mattered ultimately. The were constrained within a tunnel carved out by the oppresors, the British, acting as the colonial and occupation force and in complicity with their French cousins, the Southern Cameroons remains a colony. That is why the undiplomatic and flippant De Gaulle made is infamous remark of the Southern Cameroons and her people being a "gift to France [not la Republique du Cameroun where the Haut Commissaire Ahidjo was the native puppet] from the Queen of England."

Pierre Messmer (another French Haut Commissaire) who just recently croaked was equally derisive and dismissive of what some want us to believe was "unification." In his memoirs, "Les Blancs S'En Vont," he called Fumban, "a sham that safe for appearances was the annexation of the Southern Cameroons." He continued that the Southern Cameroonian politicians had no chance, where Ahidjo had been meticulously prepared by French lawyers, advisers and experts.

Of course, these statements in and of themselves reveal that France had the green light from Britain to annex the Southern Cameroons to their French Cameroun, la Republique du Cameroun, which remains a French colony by dint of their COOPERATION AGREEMENTS. Gorji Dinka, upon reviewing some of the archives and records of that peroid now calls it a slave trade deal. The people of the Chagos Islands are there to demonstrate just how wicked, racist, and cavalier the British can be when dispensing with the humanity of natives in the periphery for the benefit of one of their own.

[Louis_Mbua]

Yewah,

You mixing things up. Honkong was on 99 lease to the British from China. Hong Kong is and was Chinese Territory. She was not an international concern like Southern Cameroons which was never part of the French Cameroons. They were two different countries; and they must act as such. Again, the UN works on events and Resolutions to counter future crisis and not by pre-meditated claivoyance of events.

There were terms of the referendum. Terms of Referendum is not a treaty. Southern Cameroons being a UN Territory was not immuned to UN Resolution.

Even if there was a cast iron UN guarantee, you must sign a Treaty for the entire world to see; and for the state to become international and to meet UN Charter and international law. Hong Kong was not a UN Territory or of international concern. It was a matter between Britain and China. The international community had nothing to do with it. They didn't have to have a plebiscite. Unlike Southern Cameroons.

[UnitedStatesofAfrica]

I think I would have to agree with Louis_mbua that the conclusion doesn't have enough depth. He just points a figner at the "real culprits" but he doesn't really back it up with sufficient evidence. Other than that it is a good piece. However, I would have to defer a little bit. To me, the cause of the Southern Cameroonian problem was simply GREED on the path of Southern Cameroonians politicians like Foncha and the manipulative S.T Muna. Ahidjo had promised them good positions in the new united Cameroon( Foncha will be Vice president and S.T Muna would be speaker of national assembly) and this motivated them to execute Ahidjo's devious plans.
If they had stood firm by the propositions that were drafted at the Bamenda conference, we will not be in this mess today. Southern Cameroon could forsee danger and that is why clauses in the propositions in the Bamenda conference said things like, southern cameroons should maintain their own currency, they should have their own government, they should still maintain their house of chiefs etc etc.
If these clauses were followed, we would have been fine. Instead Foncha, Muna and the others went to Foumbam, drank wine, slept with young girls, ate popcorn, slept on soft mattresses and clapped as Ahidjo closed the merriment occasion. Greed, I will stand by my story, it's all GREED.

[yewah]

I found the following excerpt on the Southern Cameroons website, which is from a
declassified British document:

“Any idea of a prolonged period of continued Trusteeship or of separate independent existence of the Southern Cameroons must be ruled out… If Southern Cameroons political parties did combine to take action envisaged in paragraph 2 of telegram under reference, this would place us in a very embarrassing position. With support of moderate Afro-Asians and others, we have always argued that separate independence would produce an entirely unviable State. We have supported a unanimous resolution prescribing plebiscite which involves choice between Nigeria and Cameroun Republic.”

Comment: Take particular note of the sentence “If Southern Cameroons political parties did combine to take action…” What this tells me then, is that Southern Cameroons politicians were not as helpless as some would like us to believe. They were not passive spectators in a alien movie but active participants in a movie in which they had numerous chances to modify the script but which they did not because of some of the reasons advanced in the course of this discussion.

The geo-strategic / external angle of the Cameroon decolonization is great but this alone does not tell the entire story; the internal component is equally as compelling and relevant to understanding this affair and mapping the course for the future

[Ma Mary]

I do not get this obsession with the foibles of the Southern Cameroonian leadership of 1961 at the expense of action in 2007.

In my view, being held in thralldom as a person or a nation is unbearable and unacceptable and such an order must be overthrown. It matters little what circumstances led to that circumstance, be it the greed of our brothers or the greed of the enemy. Greed is greed and is all immoral and sometimes illegal.

Slavery used to be legal enterprise. Are you to tell me that a slave should not try to reverse his or her condition regardless of the mechanism which made him or her a slave? Does it matter whether a person is a slave by inheritance or through capture in war or by way of trade or through betrayal and ill use by family? In all these circumstances, the slave has the right no the duty to aspire to, plot or even kill his slaveholder to become free. It is a human right to which I fiercely adhere. We were dealt a certain hand, some are thinking of how to use it. Others are merely looking at the hand, and admiring the cards and feeling their texture.

Please, someone tell me, why the weaknesses of the class of 1961 bear more scrutiny. At least they worked and failed. What would the class of 2050 say about 2007. A caste of navel gazers?

[Mina]

Ma Mary,

Somebody talked earlier about an information embargo that some would like to impose on SC history. I am a 32 year old Cameroonian who never learned SC history in school save for the official CNU/CPDM version - and snippets picked up on egroups and a few academic journals. So the details that have been provided in this article and subsequent commentaries have been very educative - and I believe many others are in my situation.

You don't expect me to fight in a war or defend a war when I don't understand its origins. So I don't see any "obsession" here. If talking about Foncha, endeley and co is an obsession, then we can equally accuse the nationalist camp of being obssessed with the UN, the Uk, La France and Ahidjo - in fact, the entire SCNC case is built on the historical failings of these four!!!

We cannot place an embargo on part of our history just because it does not tie in with our narrative, and then force-feed the public with another part just because it gives credence to our cause - that is what Ahidjo did!!!. As someone wrote in an earlier commentary I WANT TO KNOW - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Nationalist camp assumes that talking about foncha and co., or even arguing that unification did in fact occur automatically means that one opposes "the struggle". That is wrong! I fully support the fight for SC independence, but I support that fight knowing that the mistakes of the SC political class in the 1950s and 60s is very important because those same mistakes are being repeated TODAY, albeit in a different manner by the various nationalist groups.

So from a historical and strategic perspective that story is even more critical than the Francafrique argument which underlies every nationalist discourse.

I just saw the following quote on camnet this morning and I fully agree with it:"Nationalism cannot be based, much less thrive, on an ignorance of the very facts that are supposed drive that nationalism." We are being asked to support the SC nationalist struggle while at the same time being chided for wanting to learn the facts about the origins of the struggle. "Give up your life for the cause, take action, but don't you dare try to educate yourself about the cause"... No way Jose!!!!!!!!!!

[Louis_Mbua]

Yewah,

I am not saying the SC leaders could not have united. However, we have to realise that this was a fledging democracy. Even in England today, there is division as to utility of EU or the introduction of a new Constitution. Democratic societies always have different shades of opinions. In this case Ahidjo had an advantage that the banned UPC did not have to have their opinions considered by France or UN for the Independence of French Cameroons as it was an autocratic rule by Ahidjo.
You made some interesting points about Hong Kong although it was a mix up. Hong Kong never negotiated with China. Britain negotiated on their behalf. All Britain had to do was to do the same for Southern Cameroons as against LRC for an agreement after the plebiscite as resolute by the UN after the declaration of the results and the vote for SC independence in April 1961. That was their responsibility as a Trustee. There is no Union that is executed without an international agreement.

Finally, in your analysis of the declassified report, it is not whether SC's politicians were not united or not but rather the sinister plans by the British that is more important. Their aim was to deny the independence. The conjecture as to Southern Cameroons political unity was just a precaution on how to deal with the circumstance so as to achieve their main goals of independence denial in violation of UN Charter. This slavery must be destroyed.

I will leave you with the statistics of Western Samoa that was awarded independence and supervised by the same Sir Andrew Cohen who argued against "unenviable" SC independence:

Western Samoa:

Population 163,000

Area: 1094 sq miles

New Zealand granted League of Nations Mandate in 1919

UN Trust Territory 1946

Independence 1962

Largely Agricultural Subsistence Farming: Yams, Coconuts etc

Cambridge Encyclopaedia 1990

SC has a population of at least 20 times and an area at least 40 times this independent former Trust Territory.

[yewah]

Hi Louis,

Those familiar with the decolonization of the French Cameroons note that one of the arguments put forth by nationalist forces was that a multiparty election take place prior to the granting of independence under the auspices of the UN in order to prevent any manipulation of election results by Ahidjo and his French masters. Cold war politics came into play and the UN refused this option. We all know what happened...

Are we now saying that "La Republique" is still a colony in the international law sense of the word since in granting independence, the UN ignored the wishes of the majority of its people? I don't think so.

The same cold war concerns also influenced the manner of decolinization in Southern Cameroons - a "bad thing" in the moral sense of the word, but not "illegal" from an international law perspective.

A recent BBC documentary based on declassified documents shows how the decolonization of Nigeria, including the british-supervised elections that ushered in the first "post-independent" leaders was a massively rigged affair to suit British interests. So should we now claim that Nigeria is not a state but still a colony in international law.

As far as I am concerned, the real basis for the call for southern Cameroons independence is found in the actions of the Francophone leadership after the plebscite - which is why as recently as the 1990s those who are today advocating independence was mostly federalists, still seeking solace in the bossom of La Republique.

The legal arguments put forth by the independentists stands up only as long as it is accepted as dogma, as a political creed that is infallible and must not be challenged.

[ngomba]

Thanks Dibussi for bringing up such an interesting topic. You see one interesting thing about the history, especially the reunification, of Southern Cameroons is that English speaking Cameroonians refuse to accept the facts as they are.
Southern Cameroons political leaders before, at, and after reunification were neither illiterate nor inexperienced. What happened was that these politicians worked on greed, for themselves and their families, and preferred to satisfy their personal egos, rather than work for the good of the Southern Cameroons.
Dibussi is right in concluding that these people knew what was at stake (especially at Fumban); else how could they have shunned the advise, if there was any, of an intellectual and experienced group like the Kamerun Society? Oh before I forget, did the Society take a look at S.A George's " Kamerun Unification: Being a discussion of a 7-point solution of the unification problem"?.
On or about 1960, John Ngu Foncha visited the UK to sensitize Cameroonian students on the reunification process and the proposed Fumban constitutional talks. When asked by a student as to why he did not deem it necessary to get advice from intellectuals like Dr Benard Fonlon, so as to better prepare himself for the forthcoming constitutional talks, Foncha reportedly replied, "..... we don't need advice from such 'book people'(sic)which would complicate.............". The sense behind it is that such people would make talks with the Republic of Cameroon difficult.
One should not also forget the inter/intra party squables among Southern Cameroons' political leaders before and after reunification. Prior to Fumban such squables created a situation where by those in power in the Southern Cameroons, and who had the priviledge to negotiate the territory's future shunned, and outrightly rejected the advice and views of the opposition. By the way did I read somewhere that the UK abandoned Southern Cameroons, and one of the reasons was because Commissioner J.O Field never showed up at Fumban?. History has it that the British gave the K.N.D.P government sound legal advice in preparation for the Fumban talks. The question is " What did the K.N.D.P do with it?
After Fumban, which is what Dibussi's article is not about, the political enmity in West Cameroon created a situation where each politician jockeyed for political recognition and favors from Yaounde. Literally speaking, West Cameroon politicians in order to be included in Ahidjo's "good books" engaged in backstabbing of the worst kind, thereby facilitating Ahidjo's scheme to obliterate the territory's indentity.
We would continue debating the issue of who was responsible for English-speaking Cameroon's delimma,until Anglophone Cameroonians dig into History and accept the facts as they are, without distorting them.

[SJ]

Let me re-post my comments the did not make it on this blog last night.

Yewah, the quote you picked out and the conclusion you draw from it is very misleading in my opinion. One can reasonably suppose that the French genocidaires in la Republique du Cameroun could have said or theorized on a similar scenario about the UPC nationalists viz., "If the UPC ..." That did not and does not change the master/slave balance of power in the colonial relationship.

Indeed, in the Mamfe Conference of 1959 were 44 political representatives of the Southern Cameroonian people met to ascertain their position, 34 or so voted for outright independence. Amongst those who were vocal on this point were P.M Kale and Fon Achiri Mbi of the "fire and water" fame. The the UK, the trustee whose word ultimately mattered dismissed the expressed aspiration of the representatives of the Southern Cameroonian people to outright independence.

The Mamfe Conference, called by the UK, represented an unequivocal expression of the peoples will through the overwhelming majority of their representatives. This very important conference has been omitted in various debates about what transpired and the conspiracies that led us to remain a colony. These types of omissions that decontextualize the discourse, literally strips it of the historical framework so the false narratives that blames the victims can be created. So people can talk of "unification" and other big fat lies.

[Kemi Bantu]

I don't understand why nobody write on real history: The Kamerun entity was shaped at Berlin in 1885.
I prefered history from 1885 to 1917, others are for 1917 to 1961.

History are facts, continuity and cultural identities. What are we talking about?

[Ma Mary]

Mina- I get your point. Learning all the facts is a good thing. Americans have a colorful way of conveying what I am trying to say here. They say: "I can walk and chew gum at the same time" or they pose it as a rhetorical question: "can you walk and chew gum?" What I would like to see is people engaging in the struggle while simultaneously learning the history. Do not think I am not engaged in the study and analysis of what happened in the past, with West Cameroon and Southern Cameroonian politics. I am deeply interested.

There are fledgling groups for example that are dealing with the question of the so called NW/SW divide and need to dig deep to provide answers to some of those questions. If that is your interest, please by all means step forward and get engaged. We need more people to engage that question and others seriously and not to merely end here, once Dibussi posts another interesting article. People are getting specialized. Most people engaged in the struggle now are not getting into arguments on the internet. They are performing specific tasks.

What irks me is the attitude that says until we fully understand what happened between 1959 and 1969, I am not engaging in the struggle. That is what I mean by an obsession. An obsession in my view is an unhealthy focus on a detail that leads to dysfunction in the whole. It is like the teenage girl who sees a large pimple on her forehead and refuses to go to school or to meet her friends until that pimple is gone.

[Tayong]

I would say thanks to Ma Mary for corroborating what I replied to Ebie, to Mina.Well Ma Mary you used gums to drive your message maybe we use our local proverbs for better conveyance.Back home we say Gorillas in the parlour to relate to a bigger problem.

So Mina the 1000 pounds gorilla in the parlour isn't the lack of sufficient knowledge on the Southern Cameroon case but as Ma Mary would love to put it, obssesion with faults committed by corpses many of whom gasped in vain to reverse the tides of events on their deing beds.

The facts are clear.Which side of the dichotomy do you belong? In this debate there are federalist, there are nationalist, there are republicans etc etc but from my experience true Southern Cameroonians who've felt the Gaulist extinction of their progeny stand up to defend it irrespective of their political affiliations or school of thought.

So come on Board countryman(woman)

[Mina]

Ma Mary,

Thanks for your succint clarification and your call the need to be engaged while still in the "learning process". It may surprise you to know that I fully agree with you. However, even this clarification is based on a false premise, i.e., when some of us ask questions it is because we are not engaged. That is not true. Some of us are engaged in the movement but are very frustrated when (even within SCNC circles) our questions are always met with the categoric "we have moved past the discussion stage. Now is the time for action". It is the nationalist camp which seems to insist that we cannot chew gum and walk at the same time!!! Because of this embargo on knowledge, many of us are thrilled when an article such as this one gives us the chance to freely ask and discuss our questions without the nationalist "action police" on our case.

So if I ask a question - any question - about the decolonization of SC just give me an answer if you have one. don't try to figure out my status in the struggle before deciding how to respond to me. Good example: In SJ's last email, he talks about the Mamfe confernce and the key role that it played in decolonization of SC. Well, well, well. I have been reading SJ's postings on a variety of forums for at least 3 years now and not once has he ever mentioned the Mamfe conference. That to me is the hoarding of information, a practice based on that false - and probably arrogant - assumption that everyone must by now be as informed as he is about southern Cameroons history... even as he is among those chastizing those who are seeking that very knowledge.

The southern Cameroons movement can "walk and chew gum" at the same time. That movement, like similar liberation movements must have a solid education wing that could produce weekly or monthly bulletins on different aspects of Southern Cameroons history. Trust me, this will not hinder the struggle, but give it a huge boost. "EDucation and Action" must go together or the movement will forever remain a fringe movement with static membership, strategies and ideas.

[mola]

"OH CAMEROON THE CRADLE OF OUR FATHERS". A well framed acknowledgement of the Cameroon we inherited from our forefathers. What type of heritage are we going to pass on to our children,and childrens childrens.
An "Independent southern Cameroon"? No I think thats a dream we should completely forget about. All the historical facts brought out from the above discussions are extremely rich in substance and a real living archive which I and many of this forum users will agree has one particular issue in common. "TOP CONSPIRACY, BY THE WHITE RACE TO PERPETUALLY AND CONTINIOUSLY SUBJECT BLACK AFRICANS TO INDEFINITE SURFFERING AND MISERY". Yes history is very important because it takes us back to the past, gives us an idea of what that past was, and by so doing, we learn on how to live in the present and prepare for the future.
Surprisingly, most papers,discussions etc., about Cameroon or black African history can only be traced back as far as the white man knowledge data base of black Africa can be deciphered.

Its not a coincidence, rather its just part of the entire white mans machinery. The issue of southern camerooon or west camerooon, is not isolated or different from likely issues predominant in almost every single country in Black Africa-Biafra, Delta boys, Dafour, Tuaregs, southern Congo, Casamanse(senegal), Hutu/Tutsi,Matabelleland, the Lords army in Uganda,you name the rest.
Starting from the home front, we all are aware of the fact that, our present north west province share alot of common values (cultural) apart from the English language, with Western province, than with the South West province. How come that these two common entities ( NW&Western province) ended up being geo-seperated, with one joining the present-day southwest province, and the other joining La republic. There was absolutely no logic in such a seperation. The only logic in it and other similar cases was to bring confusion amongst its people, which is very common in every incompatible marriage.
Its was all, and its still part of this grand conspiracy by the white man to bring confusion amongst the blacks race hence subjecting them to the perpetual state of virtual beggers, and at the same time feeding fat on our resourses. Intellectual expliotation has of recently been upgrated to this list.
Advocating seperation from "La republic", will never resolve our plight, neither will it guarantee a safer future for our children. In the first place, the whiteman masquarading under Biya, or who ever suceeds him, will thank their evil god for giving them yet another opportunity, to expliot more oil,gold,timber sell more ammunition, and help reduce the population of "Niggers"( combatting global warming).

*How come that after living side by side for close to 50yrs suddenly Nigeria and Cameroon started disputing Bakassi and of a sudden French forces appeared from no where. This very France whose economic interest in Nigeria far surpasses the one in Cameroon, stood there promising to defend Cameroon. (check Ivory coast, Sudan, Zaire, Tchad, Congo, etc for similar incidents)

*Can anyone explain to me why international medias rang Aids as the number one killer in Africa when between you and me we know the havoc Malaria is causing in black Africa.

*In the first place how come that after living close to monkeys and even eating them for generations, suddenly these monkeys unleached a sudden illness, which, initially suddenly crossed to the US, and started killing homosexuals, and then latter came back to Black Africa and unleached its full wrath, almost eliminating an entire working forces in certain black African countries.

* For almost a year ago Tony Blair and other white politicians began singing songs about debts cancellation and reliefs. It was a music well composed and sang over world media. Amongst the beneficiaries were Cameroon. Normally if I bearly survive and living in rags, and can't buy basic medication or send my children to school, because I use my income in servicing my debts, once these debts are cancelled, is it not just to proper that I start wearing good cloths, eating better food, and easilly affording for basics like malaria medicine. In all having some hopes for the future? But can anyone tell me if the situation in Cameroon has improved after all these debts cancellation, or relief. In the first placed how much were we owing, and how much was cancelled. For those of you who know other Black Africans, try asking them if situations have changed in their country or if there is any glimmering of hope, after the so called cancellation.

*Most of you must have attended or are attending foreign universities. When they lecture on foriegn investments, how many times is black african mentioned. Is it mentioned at all. Are we not capable of providing low cheap labour like south east asian countries, where multilaterals can outsource some of thier
productions, but do they do that.

*How many virtual billions of dollars or aids do we recieve every year from the whiteman? Has it made any difference in you or my life? NO. In Biyas and his accomplises life? Alot. Has it improve the life of your family, your village, the roads, the hospitals, schools,? The answer is a clear no. Instead what we see infront of our very eyes are the dilapidation of all the memorable kumba-mamfe, Tombel- Nyassosso, Kumba -Lum, roads, falling down of our memorable general hospitals around the country, unrecognisable primary schools structures we use to have, fulled burial grounds because of rapid increase of death rate, a
direct consequence of poverty and hopelessness. For those of you who knew Nkongsamba, back in the eighties, just go there now, and see for your self. Go to Tiko town and visit clerks quaters or water tank, the situation is the same all over the country not only SW and NW provinces. Same in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mali, Togo, etc.

*Apart from Black Africans in the medical or IT sectors, how many of you out there with recognised social science degrees are capable of landing jobs with your qualifications in the whitemans country. For those who end up being employed how are you treated by your white collegues. (came out and tell the truth..like shit! Im I wrong) How do they treat an Arab working together with you, much more like themselves. If I am wrong tell me. Maybe England and US can be different.

*What about the children we got in the whitemans land how are they treated in the white mans nurseries, kindergardens school.Is that how and where we want them to grow and spend their retirement. What are we going to tell our forefathers that we did to the heritage they handed us.

*I happen to be working with APPLE INC. A few days ago during the launcing of some of our new products, the CEO, was using the occassion to announce that anybody who buys the new iTOUCH will be contributing to the fight against, Aids,poverty, and starvation in Africa. Almost all eyes in the fullroom turned on me. That is how Black Africans are advertised and sold world-wide. The next time anybody in the audience or who saw the live launching sees a black african, the only thing he/she thinks about is Aids, poverty, misery.

Brothers and sisters, the list is long. But it all boils down to one simple fact. "THE WHITEMAN IS OUR NUMBER ONE ENEMY, BIYA, AND HIS ADVOCATES BEING THIER ACCOMPLICES".

How then can we reddress our plight. I am afraid SCNC is not the solution, because it will never work. Instead we should start looking at strategies which will result in mass demonstrations similar to the ones in Geogia, Philipine, Rumania. It is very posible it will succeed in Cameroon seeing the present circumstances. 98% of Cameroonians want Biya out. It jsut needs a trigger, and believe me the streets of Yaounde, Douala, Kumba, Bamenda, Garoua, Nkongsamba, I mean everybody will be out to chase the cancer out..
If it happens in cameroon, other African countries will follow. They are all feed up. We hear about Zimbabwe everyday over international media, but what they fail to make mention is the fact that what is going on in Zimbabwe is similar to for example Cameroon. Take 10.000 cfa and go to the market and see what you will buy. Compare that to what you could with the same amount of money, just 10yrs ago. Its a complete disaster. The truth is that there is no money, but the prices have sky- rocket.
The only difference between Zimbabwe and Cameroon is that Mogabe opted to identify the white man as the devil, hence international outrage, while Cancer -Biya, opted for continue conspiracy with the devil.

cheers

[Louis_Mbua]

Hello Mina,

It is important to learn. However, a slave does not have to be told that they are slaves. It is a live experience which can never be missed by the oppressed and the oppressor.

While we are learning, the main aim is to free SC from this undignified position of having our future being decided by LRC politicians who clearly have shown that they despise Southern Cameroonians; and discriminate Scians in every aspect of Cameroon life including discrimination in our own land. All this debate would be worthless if we accept evil. Further, you talked about "Foncha et al. tried but failed"; and that we are still discussing 50 years on. My opinion on this is that, at the present circumstances, there is absolutely no margin for failure. We are not prepared to go through another 50 years of deprivation and torment by another African in our own land. We of this generation must get it right by FULL emancipation of the people. There is no margin for failure. It would be unwise for us to even contemplate failure.

Yewah,

I am afraid it is totally impossible to accept evil and total injustice. UPC or no UPC SC deserves independence. LRC had their independence. SC is not part of their country.

Ngomba, it is true that an element of greed and disunity was at play. But what have we of this generation done to correct it?

Kemi Bantu, that Cameroon History did not begin in 1917 does not justify oppression and cheating of SC by LRC. Independence is SC's right form the same history you quote. Evil must be destroyed from eternity to now. There is no room for compromise in evil and oppression on the basis of common history.

[Akoson]

Mr. Dibussi,

I sincerely apologise for posting this on your blog but my website is still under creation. This message is very urgent especially as Christmas is drawing near...and a lot of Cameroonians out there would like to order in huge quantity for their businesses.

Some may like to order suits and other wears for christmas for their desired markets.

Dear Cameroonian businessmen/ prospective businessmen and women,

Discover China to promote your business and make more than 200% in
profits.

China has really amazed me. I've lived and worked in China for quite a
long time now. Frankly speaking I wouldn't have known what I know
about China without having been physically present. Do you know that
for the same products(same brand and quality) you order from other
European factories, you can actually order them for thrice the price
less in China?

I actually liaise oversea businessmen and women to Chinese factories.
If you deal in ANY PRODUCT whatsoever (ALL hardware including Computer
soft, and hardwares, textiles, lat top computers, cocoa-sprayers,
cosmetics, furniture, automobile etc etc etc), and hope to place and
order from China let me know.

It is worth mentioning that a cocoa sprayer that sells in Africa for
at least 40.000frs/piece costs JUST 200 Chinese yuan(about 13.000frs).
A 20 ft container can take 650 of such sprayers. If you order a 20 ft
you need 8.450.000frs. Your gain plus customs duty and shipment is
17.550.000frs. Customs duty and shipment will not surpass
7.000.000frs. Which means that you are talking of a 10.000.000frs gain
for the one trip ONLY. There are many other businesses that you could
make more than 200% gain!

...and then my commission for running your errands or taking you from
factory to factory.

Please if you're interested doing business from China 'halla' me at
13713162745. Or email me at akosonako@yahoo. com.

Akoson Raymond,
Principal, Power English Academy,
Changan, Dongguan, China (People's Republic of)

[Lilian]

Sob Fadil wrote:
"We need a detailed, succinct and impartial analysis of the interregnum between 1972 and today, to see the dynamic operation of these forces that continue to stall and obfuscate the emancipation of Southern Cameroons - and I think that figures like Kofele Kale, Francis Nyamjoh, Tande Dibussi, Jing Thomas Ayeah, Ntemfac Ofege (if he let's go his fire) and many others of their competence, would do well to enlighten the Cameroonian English-speaking public.

I find it sad that most of the English-speaking Cameroonian literati and academic corps have neglected engagement on this issue, in easily accessible digital forums."

You may want to check out their works available in books, book chapters or journal articles:

Piet Konings and Francis Nyamnjoh (1997) "The Anglophone Problem in Cameroon" in The Journal of Modern African Studies (35): 207-229

Nicodemus Fru Awasom (2000) "The Reunification Question in Cameroon History: Was the Bride an Enthusiastic or a Reluctant One?" in Africa Today - Volume 47, Number 2, pp. 91-119

Piet Konings & Francis Nyamnjoh (2003) Negotiating an Anglophone Identity: A Study of Recognition and Representation in Cameroon. (Book)

Jean-Germain Gros (ed.) (2003) Cameroon: Politics and Society in Critical Perspective. (Book) Check out:
Chapter 2: Tata Simon Ngenge: "The Institutional Routes of the "Anglophone Problem" in Cameroon"
Chapter 3: Nangtang Jua: "Anglphone Political Struggles and State Responses in Cameroon"

Piet Konings (1999) The Anglophone struggle for federalism in Cameroon Published in L.R. Bastia and J. Ibrahim (eds)
Federalism and decentralization in Africa: the multicultural challenge., Fribourg: Institut du Fédéralisme, p. 289-325.

[The southwesterner]

Ethnicity,tribalism,shortsightedness etc. Thats the real issue. Whether graffi people like it or not, its pretty clear they sold out the Southern Cameroons. Today they are clamouring for a Southern Cameroon rebirth. A hopeless battle. There is no turning back. The onward matcht for a better Cameroon is the only solution. As a south westerner i see no point in a sounthern Cameroons nation. We will be overwhelmed by those greedy men from the hill. No way. We looking forward to the ten region agenda. No more no less. Southern Cameroons is death. The Cameroons is what we should be concern about. North westerners painted us as the seccessionist. When they wanted to creat their SDF ,they never bothered to reach out to us instead prefered their brothers the Bamis. They voted overwhelmingly cpdm in the 90s while true to our character we of the SW choosed change by voting the moderate undp. The south west will not be taken again for a ride. Forget it. If the Southern Cameroon ever happens to emerge again, then we are out. Period. The bunch of south westerners are moderate ,open and welcoming. Our friends from the hills are greedy,conservative and too tribalistic. A southern Cameroon nation will never be peaceful. I see a place where the south west will be dominated,discriminated and above all true to their real nature will surely be intolerant to crtique. The ten regional arrangement is the best option. Afterall that's what devolution is all about. Let local people decide on those kitchen table issues in the own corner. We can't crticise those bureucrats in Yaounde,just to turn around and creat another bureuacracy in Buea which will be dominated by graffis. The graffi institutional domination in the CDC ,Cameroon baptist convention, Presbyterian church of Cameroon etc is a pointer to our fear.In some of this institutions i just named, you see and feel it. From promotions and appointment,scholarships awards etc. Come on guys you have never treated us fair. Why must we want to have a nation with people like that. After losing the battle to change the system in Yaounde through the sdf, today former SDFers have chosen another fight - An independent Southern Cameroon. To them this one will be easy to accomplish. It just tells us what the graffis want all along. Somewhere to have control and institute their system of domination and tribalism.

[Esimo]

Mr. "southwesterner",

Just when we thought that for once we"Anglophones" were having a sensible, rationale, heated but issue-oriented discussion, you jump in with the same appeal to base emotions, to insults, generalizations and demonizations... typical indeed

[Galabe Elvis]

Our people should take concrete steps to rights the wrongs of the past lest we drown. Francophones cannot continue to rule and reign on our land and people, imposing their alien culture while drowning our own. Foncha and Muna did what they did. At least they did something - what are you and I doing?

[Galabe Elvis]

Excuse me for some typing lapses. I hope they don't impair your understanding. I did not see the recent comment of the 'southwesterner'. The common enemy is the francophone trying to destroy anglophone culture and instead of giving him a good dose of retaliatory opium, you let him be and attack your fellow brother victim. Many people do not understand the anglophone problem.

[Unitedstatesofafrica]

All of these lengthy write-ups are making me lethargic. The simple truth is that Anglophones are where they are today thanks to the greed of S.T Muna and Foncha. If they would have pocketed their self-interests and listened to the pleas of the people at the Bamenda conference, we would not be in this hot mess today period.

[yewah]

SJ talks about the Mamfe conference, you talk of the Bamenda conference but none of you gives details about this supposedly important conferences. Are you guys just showboating or what?