By Dibussi Tande (Originally posted on the CAMNET discussion forum in 1998 on the 10th anniversary of EML's Death)
Had he not by accident of birth come from a minority tribe, monuments would have been raised to his honour in the Cameroons, for his thirty-seven years of counsel and vision to his people. N.N Mbile
Ten years have gone by since Dr. Emmanuel Mbella Lifafe (EML) Endeley, the first Premier of the British Southern Cameroons, passed away on June 29, 1988. Over the years, much has been said about and against him, particularly by a younger generation of Anglophone Cameroonians who still do not understand his naive romanticizing of the Nigerian option during the 1961 plebiscite, and his lukewarm attitude towards the so-called Third Option (i.e., the school of thought defended by P.M. Kale, that called for the complete independence of Southern Cameroons from both the Nigerian federation and La Republique du Cameroun).
Continue reading "Revisiting The Legacy of Dr. EML Endeley " »









Early this week, the French TV network, France 5, broadcast a fascinating documentary on Franceâs macabre role in the violent decolonization of the French Cameroons. Using archival footage, most of which is being made public for the first time, the documentary shows how the French crushed the UPC armed insurgency. More extensive than Frank Garbely's equally compelling documentary on the assassination of Felix Moumie, autopsie covers the period from the 1944 Brazzaville conference to the 1971 execution of Ernest Ouandie, the last historic leader of the UPC.

The United Nations-organised plebiscite on 11 February 1961 was one of the most significant events in the history of the southern and northern parts of the British-administered trust territory in Cameroon. John Percival was sent by the then Colonial Office as part of the team to oversee the process.



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