My dear friends, Anglophones, Francophones, Southern Cameroonians, Ambazonians, West Cameroonians, Cameroun(ians), CPDM, SDF, et cetera. With a heavy heart I humbly write to you all, and hopefully with the wonders of the social media our entire nation.
I am grateful for the trust bestowed on me as ‘Ambassador for Peace’ by traditional institutions that take credit for the overwhelming 1961 Yes Plebiscite vote, who know the fervour and the determined will that animated the struggle of their people for reunification and the high hopes that fired that struggle.I thank you for your service to countless victims of the Anglophone crisis. Through generous deeds many of you gave life to lifeless bodies in hospitals, shelter for some to endure the humiliation of arrest and the loneliness of a prison cell; food to undo the constant threat to life in jail, and by dint of your determination and prayers you inspired this generation to transform itself and begin to live up to the meaning of its creed. Thank you all.
That Cameroun is in the midst of crisis and on the eve of a bloody civil war is now well understood. The Anglophone Problem whose existence had been denied by the government for decades has finally plunged our nation into a political mayhem, creating a major fragility in the regional and ethnic alliances which its much-vaunted stability rest. Today, the foundation of reunification is shaky, teetering on the brink of collapse.
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| The Anglophone Problem - The Pathway Towards A Compromised Solution |
The big question is - how did we get to this point?
Critically examined, based on data and statistics, the Anglophone Problem can be traced back to 1961 when the leaders of the former UN Trust Territories of Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroun; Prime Minister John Ngu Foncha and President Amadou Ahidjo respectively agreed in Foumban that the Federal Constitution would preserve the statehood of Southern Cameroons which became West Cameroon and the Republic of Cameroun which became East Cameroon. That was the spirit of Article 47 of the Federal Constitution, a promissory note to which every Cameroonian was to fall heir. This note was the foundation of our nation, a promise that West Cameroon and East Cameroon will be guaranteed equal unalienable rights in a federal, bilingual Cameroon.In retrospect and according to expert analysts the Republic of Cameroun (East Cameroon) defaulted on that promissory note when president Ahidjo used Article 2 of the Federal Constitution, superseding Article 47 to call for the 1972 referendum which shredded the federal constitution and dismantled the federal structure of West Cameroon and East Cameroon.
This obscure gyp according to luminaries of the Anglophone struggle was the tortuous road that paved the way for the autonomy of West Cameroon under a Prime Minister to be reduced from statehood to minority-hood: North West and South West provinces (regions).
This they believe is the road that led to the submergence of Anglo-Saxon Educational, Legal, Economic and Socio Cultural systems and over which millions of Anglophones are shut out of jobs, denied fair political representation and deprived of their traditions, decent education and a fair share of the national cake. This same road many say transformed the once booming former West Cameroon into a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity - with Anglophones languishing in the corners of the Cameroun society and find themselves exile in their own land.
The road has opened into plane fields of Diaspora sanctuaries where uncountable Anglophones are travelling to find a new sense of dignity, and it will - they are convince, be widened and lengthened into a super highway of collective anger and frustration that will snowball into a major political crisis reminiscent of events that prompted the Southern Cameroons to end its forty five years of integration with Nigeria – if Yaoundé’s flagship for dialogue continuous to be surreal brutality or corrupting a self-interested, easily beguiled and sometimes irresponsible so-call-Anglophone-elite in exchange for material reward or social honours.
Put in proper perspective, this has been a traumatizing experience for a people who freely come into a union because they were guaranteed a federation of two states equal in status.
Over the years, all attempts by Anglophones to voice their anger were brutally suppressed by the government. It was this frustration, born of oppression, subjugation, marginalisation and neglect that finally led some Anglophones in desperation for the cause of an ante-1972 status quo, organised political dissent, to which some senior government officials ridiculed and referred to them as “les Biafrais, les ennemies dans la maison, les traitres” etc, telling them to go anywhere. But initially Anglophones did not want to go anywhere else, their cry was much like a marital union calling for a genuine conversation and the bonding of hearts. Yet, every so often they were intimidated to submission, killed, raped, maimed, imprisoned and forced to seek refuge abroad.
Amidst gathering clouds and the raging storms of national integration, Anglophones kept walking beneath the shadows in despair not simply because they could not extricate themselves and gaze up with eagerness to regain a paradise lost, but because they remained faithful to the ideals of their forbearers and wholeheartedly committed to the task of healing the festering wounds of the nation's original sin. They saw injustice and endured pain in order to right what was wrong, fearing nothing and risking everything for those brotherhood ideals. But strangely, in spite of all the sacrifices Anglophones made in that longed-for-place, the land of their forbearers’ dreams despised them. Lost and content with suspicion, anger and long-held grudges the people of the North West and South West regions of Cameroun finally chose unity of purpose over division and discord that for far too long had strangled their politics.
In the spirit of the “Original Thirteen”, the spirit of the Endeleys, Fonchas, Mbiles, Juas etc, they decided to proclaim an end to years of false promises, recriminations and worn out dogmas, that enslaved them for five decades. To Anglophones at home and those scattered around the world it was time to reaffirm that enduring Southern Cameroons spirit of Enugu 1953. It was time to choose their better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that God-given promise, a noble idea, passed on from the Mukongs, Gorjis-Ayambas-Litumbes to the Ebong-Fussung-Elad-Munzu-Anyangwes, to the Bobgas-Tassangs-Fontems-Ballas-Wirbas-Ayahs to the Manchos-Tapangs-Baras-Ayabas-Akwangas-Tabes (not exclusively) that from generation to generation all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
It was within this context that Anglophones of all ages; men, women and children unperturbed by the annual October intimidations, and sporadic incarcerations venture to march towards their promised land, singing songs of freedom, when they were massacred by a far-reaching network of violence and hatred by men who moralised on the prodigious virtues of brotherhood.
Amid mortar bursts and whining helicopter bullets these martyrs laid prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of Ndu, Nso, Kumba, Buea, Bamenda, Mutengene, Mamfe and Akwaya (not exclusively).
In their numbers, Anglophones say the road they have taken to this point has not been easy. But then again, they all agree that the road to change never is. Today their cities, towns and villages are sick of what many now call “doorbell fever” a contagious nervousness that keeps families in a state of fear that gendarmes might ring their bells at midnight and take them away for questioning or torture.
I am also mindful of the gendarmes, the police and the army officers brought down by youngsters who have become radicalised by the most brutal expression of a government's inhumanity to its own citizens.
Now this is really scary! Never in a million years would I have guessed that gendarmes could open fire on unarmed young people, or that young people might someday find the strength to kill gendarmes and police officers in our neighbourhoods. These are the ingredients of a civil war, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of our entire nation.
On November 11, 2014, long before the Anglophone crisis escalated I led a Royal delegation of Paramount Fons from the North West region to Yaoundé. In an audience with Prime Minister Philemon Yang at the Star Building, I took exception to some Anglophone elite who claimed the Anglophone Problem did not exist. I described it as “a potentially explosive situation that needs to be handled in order to stop it from degenerating into a full-fledged conflict one day”, finally submitting a blue-print proposal for solution. After that meeting, our delegation was received by the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MINATD), Rene Emmanuel Sadi. I pleaded with the MINATD boss to “make hay on the Anglophone Problem while the sun shines” but unfortunately, the government did not embrace our wise counsel (see The Post Newspaper No. 01580 of Friday, Nov 14, 2014).
This outreach was a precursor to numerous consultations luminaries of the Anglophone struggle, meetings with senior government officials including letters to H.E President Paul Biya, a press conference at Mont Febé Hotel, appearances on Equinox TV, CRTV News, Morning Safari, Face the Nation, Cameroon Calling etc.
Drawing from these consultations, I strongly believe that even though the government acknowledges that what ails the Anglophone community is real and the people’s anger powerful, it is assuming that this wave of Anglophone protest will peter out as in the past. But what the government fails to understand is that this generation of Anglophones are not ready for short-cuts or to settle for less. They are well schooled; they know the facts and have refused to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. Above all, this generation of Anglos wholeheartedly believe that unarmed truth and unconditional North West –South West love will have the final word in reality. This is why they are convince that right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.
So, as the whirlwinds of revolt continue across Anglophone Cameroun, with low-hovering clouds of ghost towns and curfew nights darker than a thousand midnights, there is hardly any moment more self-offering, more natural and more opportune than now, the eve of what might be the worst civil war in our history. Now is the time for us to lift our brothers and sisters in Anglophone Cameroun from this dust of shame to reign supreme like all of God's children.
In 2012, I made a pledge to more than 400 traditional rulers of the North West and South West regions that I will do my utmost for a peaceful permanent solution to the Anglophone problem. I am not qualified to dictate what Anglophones want, neither am I qualified to decide on their behalf. But I strongly believe that to end this marvellous new militancy which has engulfed the Anglophone Community, and avert such a calamity in a manner that would appease both the government and aggrieved “Ambazonians”, we should give a chance to ongoing consultations for a member state of the United Nations to take the UN Trusteeship Council to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), for the sake of peace.
The Trusteeship Council which was assigned under the UN Charter to supervise the administration of UN Trust Territories – French Cameroun and British Northern Cameroons / British Southern Cameroons was the main colonisation machinery in Africa. Under its watchful eyes, French Cameroun was drenched in the blood of revolutionary heroes. The Council connived with France and Britain against the will of Southern Cameroons with the effects still visible. With an unprecedented surge in independence movements, which led to the dismantlement of colonial systems, decolonisation prompted colonial powers to formally suspend the operations of the Trusteeship Council, strategically shifting their neo-colonial agenda to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). In spite of its primary responsibility under the UN Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security, UNSC is a legalised caste system and the most significant legacy of colonialism and institutionalised discrimination.
Though there is growing and concerted UNSC call for peace in Cameroun, P-5 members (Russia, the United States, Britain, France and China) don’t really care if we literally kill one another. What matters to them is our natural resources and who they can use to exploit it. War is big money, so if there is chaos in Cameroun it will be big business for the elitist veto club who will embark on delay tactics to ensure they supply their missiles, bombs and other weapons of death, while covering up for each other and addressing only their strategic interest. Worst of all, with its veto power France who happen to be Cameroun’s landlord will block motions and prevent multilateralism that is based on democratically-evolved global consensus to proactively end any genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity in Cameroun.
It is solely for this reason that taking the United Nations to ICJ is the best way forward. It will serve as an international solidarity to oblige the Security Council to implement the ruling of the Court (an inclusive, sincere and genuine dialogue between the government and Anglophone leaders).
The rationale for taking the UN to court is apparently on the understanding that resolution 1608 (XV) of April 21, 1961 which had terminated the Trusteeship over Southern Cameroons was not fully implemented by the UN Trusteeship Council. Drawing from the fact that the resolution had definitive legal effect and the political debate cannot be reopened, the plaintiff’s goal, with remarkable modesty in this circumstance is “simply to ask the Court to state the law, and no more”.
It is worth mentioning that it was the ICJ ruling against the Republic of Cameroun on 02 December 1963 that handed Northern Cameroons to Nigeria. Likewise, it was because of the ICJ Judgment of 2002 that Nigeria finally conceded the disputed Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic of Cameroun.
It remains a truism that serious violations of international law could not be overlooked simply because a General Assembly resolution had changed the context in which those violations had been committed. Based on this premise, “The Unrefined History of Southern Cameroons” was commissioned by some Paramount Fons of the North West region, and will soon be made public.
“The Unrefined History of Southern Cameroons” is an independent finding into the root causes of the Anglophone Problem in Cameroun from 1884 to 1984. From the United Nations to France, Britain, Nigeria, Yaoundé and Buea (not exclusively) this 350 pages of historical compilation, adorned by countless photographic evidence revisits central debates in Southern Cameroons’ political history, especially those pegged around events prior to, during and after reunification.
The venerated kings recognise that if our country is to continue on the path of a more perfect union, it would be categorically imperative that Francophones and Anglophones know the truth, and in seeking the truth, no question whatsoever should be considered a taboo. This means that ethno-regional bias, partisan politics and historical negationism be taken off the academic discourse of our political history.
Considering the magnitude of the debate and the outbursts of ‘emotions- deep’, the Paramount Fons realize that not presenting the root causes of the “Anglophone Problem” in its entirety either inadvertently or deliberately is unhelpful to the discussion, controversial and weak (too weak) for such a unique opportunity to finally set the record straight and pave the way for a brighter common future - where Francophones and Anglophones can achieve their full potential irrespective of colonial inheritance or any other form of discrimination.
I would like to assert conclusively that our motives are pure and sincere and that we are moved to this by our profound love for our country and our deep concern for its welfare.
Thank you all, God bless
Emmanuel Nebafuh
North West Fons Ambassador for Peace
